Friday, November 7, 2008 3:20 PM

No Time To Waste For Obama's Transition Team

President-elect Obama's economic summit in Chicago today may remind some observers of Bill Clinton's summit during his 1992 transition period, but Democratic insiders said Obama's would be focused and intense, not a "gabfest" but a session "that serves his need to know." The tone reflects both the seriousness of the times and the lessons learned from the last Democratic changeover.

National Journal's Alexis Simendinger reports (subscription) on the logistical and policy challenges Obama will face in the run-up to his inauguration Jan. 20, as well as his and the Bush administration's preparations.

The incoming commander in chief has been receiving the same daily national security briefings as President Bush since Wednesday, Simendinger writes.

The White House National Security Council kept the national security advisers to both presidential nominees abreast of Bush's foreign-policy decisions on, for instance, North Korea and Iraq, said spokesman Gordon Johndroe. But most of the Bush White House's transition work this year focused on preparing detailed explanations and briefing materials about Bush policies and operations, so that the next president's team will have a solid foundation of knowledge on day one. Now that Obama is president-elect, he is privy to classified information that he could not see before -- about Iran, for example. Half of the NSC career staff -- approximately 100 people -- will remain in place to serve Obama until he replaces them. Although by law Bush's NSC records will be removed and archived, copies of records and information will remain behind, and the NSC's records-management staff members will be able to quickly find almost anything the new president and his advisers request, Johndroe added.

Simendinger also writes that the buzz is loud for Obama to move quickly on nominating key economic advisers, and not to take his party's increased majorities in Congress for granted.

A former lawmaker predicts that it will be tougher than it looks for Obama to command his party's troops on the Hill. "It's going to be a challenge," said one former Democratic lawmaker. "You're going to have Democrats who feel they've had eight years in Siberia and [have] a lot of pent-up frustrations. And there will be a greater number of Blue Dogs to reckon with.... The basic decision Obama has to make is, does he try to work with Republicans, or are they going to be so insular it won't work?"

The full report is available exclusively to National Journal subscribers.