The other Obama transition
As Edward Luce reported in yesterday’s FT, Obama’s sensibly merged his campaign team with the pre-election transition team headed by former White House chief of staff John Podesta, thus trying to avoid the mistakes of the newly elected Clinton Administration in 1992:
Many Democrats believe with hindsight that Bill Clinton’s hazard-prone first term was derailed even before inauguration day in January 1993. A brilliant but mercurial leader, Mr Clinton was also chronically undisciplined. Much of the time that should have been spent fastening the nuts and bolts of an incoming administration was wasted on in-fighting between his campaign team, which decamped to Little Rock, Arkansas, and his ineffectual transition team in Washington DC.
But even if Obama manages to pull off a smooth segue between his top-level planning staffs, you can’t help but wonder what will happen on the public engagement front. For Obama’s challenge now is not merely that the many tens of thousands of people who signed up to help his campaign are likely to have unrealistic expectations of how much he’ll be able to achieve in the context of the appalling policy mess he’s inherited. More fundamentally, just imagine the comedown his supporters will be about to experience after the incredible adrenaline surges of recent weeks.