Those Lazy, Hazy Days of Presidential Transition
As President-elect Barack Obama rushes from secret job interviews with onetime rivals in the Democratic primary season to briefings on the financial crisis, to discussions of saving the American auto industry, the postelection period may feel frenetic.
But soon he and his transition team may look back on this phase as luxuriantly languid, a fleeting chance for “deliberate haste,” as Mr. Obama has characterized the pace of his cabinet selection process. Later it will be all haste.
This fall his running mate, Joseph R. Biden Jr., warned that the incoming president would be tested within six months by an international crisis. But history shows the rush of trouble does not wait for months, or sometimes even hours.
Day 1 largely permits new presidents to set the tone of their choosing. That was when Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself;” John F. Kennedy exhorted Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you;” and Ronald Reagan declared “government is not the solution to our problem.”
Immediately upon taking office, Jimmy Carter heartened part of the country by pardoning Vietnam draft resisters. Mr. Reagan basked in an external event that heartened the entire country when Iran released American hostages.
But Bill Clinton fought controversy even before his inauguration...
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But soon he and his transition team may look back on this phase as luxuriantly languid, a fleeting chance for “deliberate haste,” as Mr. Obama has characterized the pace of his cabinet selection process. Later it will be all haste.
This fall his running mate, Joseph R. Biden Jr., warned that the incoming president would be tested within six months by an international crisis. But history shows the rush of trouble does not wait for months, or sometimes even hours.
Day 1 largely permits new presidents to set the tone of their choosing. That was when Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself;” John F. Kennedy exhorted Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you;” and Ronald Reagan declared “government is not the solution to our problem.”
Immediately upon taking office, Jimmy Carter heartened part of the country by pardoning Vietnam draft resisters. Mr. Reagan basked in an external event that heartened the entire country when Iran released American hostages.
But Bill Clinton fought controversy even before his inauguration...