Who would have thought?

Who would have thought, eight years ago, that in 2009 we would be happy and relieved to hear that the United States is eliminating torture, returning to the use of habeas corpus and allowing scientists to present their results freely?

While I am thrilled that Obama is stepping in and making necessary changes so quickly, the fact that they need to be made at all is a frightening reminder of just how close the Americans came to a fascist dictatorship.

Until shortly before the election, in fact, there were those who were convinced that Bush would find some method – a terrorist attack, a war with Iran – to prevent it, and remain in power. Possibly the economic crash prevented just that – we will never know.

But finally there is an intelligent, reasonable man in charge; a man with his hand on “the button” who can at least pronounce “nuclear”. And he is wasting no time in undoing some of the previous regime’s worst deeds. Guantanamo is to be closed, torture outlawed. He has hired real scientists to advise him.

And since this has been done in only a couple of days, it makes me hopeful that there will be continued improvements. An end to illegal wars would be nice, and to spying on people without just cause and a warrant. I would even like to see them turn “Customs and Border Security” (scary) back into “Customs and Immigration” (friendly), as it used to be.

Undoing eight years of Bush rule is not going to be easy, but Obama has already made a good start. Bush took a country that had the love and sympathy of the world on September 11, 2001, and made it a pariah. Hopefully Barack Obama will be able to undo at least some of that, and turn our neighbour back into a friend.