OBAMA TEAM BEGINS WORK ON PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION

The Atlantic ^ | Thursday, July 24, 2008 | Marc Ambinder

[kristinn]

With less than six months to go before he would be sworn in as the nation’s 44th president, Sen. Barack Obama has directed his aides to begin planning for the transition.

"Barack is well aware of the complexity and the organizational challenge involved in the transition process and he has tasked s small group to begin thinking through the process,” a senior campaign adviser said. “Barack has made his expectations clear about what he wants from such a process, how he wants it to move forward, and the establishment and execution of his timeline is proceeding apace.”

Last month, the Post’s Chris Cillizza reported that campaign advisers were sounding out John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and currently the president of the Center for American Progress, for his advice.

An aide confirms that Podesta will probably be asked to head the transition team, which would take over from the campaign if Obama wins in November, and would be tasked with ensuring a smooth handover of power.

Podesta’s Center for American Progress is working with the Third Way think tank on a Homeland Security Presidential Transition Initiative; its director is Michael Signer, a former senior policy aide to Ex-Sen. John Edwards.

Cassandra Butts, a longtime Obama friend who is a CAP executive vice president, is working closely with Podesta.

Butts, via e-mail, would not confirm her participation in the project.

Podesta remains a close friend of both Clintons and his participation will help assuage the concerns of Clinton-era Democratic policy and political appointees who might have felt abandoned in an Obama administration.

[Canedawg]

“I’m still not convinced that he will get the nomination.
Hillary has been awfully quiet lately.’

is there a smoking gun somewhere?

[Grampa Dave]

Just stop this stupid and outdated technicality of an Election. Osama/bama is now our FUERHER, er president.

The graphic below shows, the only difference between o-B-ama and o-S-ama is just a bit of B.S.

[Miss Didi]

Rudy was good on Fox this morning laughing at Barry. When asked about the hoopla he said—This may be the reason the crowds are turning out...this is the first time someone so inexperienced is running for president!

[ichabod1]

I believe the bolsheviks were pretending to a mass appeal they did not posess before the nazis.

[LonePalm]

If there is, we will see it in Hillary's hands standing over Obama's political corpse at the convention.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Canedawg]

That would be a heckuva photo-op.

;-)

[shadowgovernment]

“Who knew it was possible for someone to be more arrogant than John Kerry? It will make his defeat that much more enjoyable.”
>>>>>>>>>...............
Sadly, I was wondering if you were talking about MCCAIN, not just OBUMA.,, on the arrogant scale they are hard to tell apart

[Blood of Tyrants]

The ‘Rats have already decide how many votes that Obama will win by. Now they just have to make sure that the dead are properly registered.

[Non-Sequitur]

From a purely project management viewpoint, it makes sense to begin planning as early as possible based on certain assumptions (like winning). From a political viewpoint, it does show quite a bit of hubris on his part. It may come back to bite him.

[Sig Sauer P220]

Here’s the problem I see. There is such an expectation of winning among the Dems (check out DU if you doubt that), if he loses there will be crying and “gnashing of teeth.” They will be convinced that the election was “stolen” once again, and these fans are so rabid there’s no telling what will go down.

Thats ok, except for the hood dwellers, most demwits are unarmed. Advantage - Republicans, when the civil war begins.

[seekthetruth]

“If you notice, like it or not, hide your head in the sand or not, the Obama machine is running very smoothly despite a few gaffes here and there. WHILE CONSERVATIVES SQUABBLE INTERMINABLY AMONGST THEMSELVES AND PICK NIT AND GNATS ABOUT THE GOP TICKET-PRESUMPTIVE, OBAMA AND HIS OPERATIVES ARE PICKING A TRANSITION TEAM. Please let this last sentence sink in.”

You said it, Minutegal! And just thinking about it is scary to me! God help us if Obama gets into the White House!

[clintonh8r]

New Nobama book...The Arrogance of Hope

[PajamaTruthMafia]

Thank you for the complement. I wish it wasn’t easy and most importantly, completely true. And sorry, I am not Glenn.

[beckysueb]

I have been frightened since his speech in the 2000 election and the media was calling him the Democrats new rising star. Prince of Darkness is more like it.

[rjp2005]

“I’ve mentioned this before but Hillary is waiting for Obama to screw up and she will waltz in to “save” the party and get the nomination.”

I agree with you, I just can’t figure out how she’s going to do it.

[frankiep]

McCain needs a “Dick Cheney” type VP who is not afraid of the liberal media.

I know many people here wouldn't want to see it, but Rudy perfectly fits that description.

[Roklok]

This country won’t survive Obama’s first term.

[Ben Reyes]

Why doesn’t he?

In fact, why don’t we have the FBI and Secret Service do a background check on this character. That would be good. Let’s take care of that lingering doubt about his citizenship, drug use, past associations, etc.

[Islander7]

For the first time in my life (I’m 56) I donated to a presidential candidate. As much as I disagree with McCain on many issues, he just got a chunk of my hard earned money.

Obama is disgusting!! His Berlin speech did it for me!!

[upchuck]

I'm still not convinced that he will get the nomination.

Hillary has been awfully quiet lately.

I'm with you.

BUMP!