Obama Cabinet vetting historically fast

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: CNN

President-elect Barack Obama is already making presidential history by naming -- or at least his transition team is leaking to the press -- his Cabinet picks faster than nearly all of his predecessors.

"If we do not act swiftly and boldly, most experts believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year," Obama said Monday.

With an economic crisis spiraling out of control and a lame duck in the oval office, presidential scholars say the next commander in chief simply had no choice.

"This is really unprecedented. But it's an unprecedented situation," said Larry Sabato, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia. "Obama is doing what the public and the markets demand be done -- and that is to show that the next president is really in charge before he even takes the oath of office."

The conventional wisdom by observers was that the Obama transition team's vigorous vetting requirements would slow down the selection process, or scare away talent altogether....

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Nonetheless, potential Cabinet and high-level White House posts are filling up fast....

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The Obama team, observers said, started early to avoid getting blindsided by unexpected problems. "There's no question that plenty of work was done in anticipation of victory," said Kenneth Gross, a vetting attorney for political appointees....

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/25/obama.cabinet/index.html

[wisteria]

1. Yes, and he is going to regret some of these quick fixes and appeasement appointments. n/t

[aquart]

2. I'm thinking this was started before November.

Let's just say he's showing exceptional executive skills and he's going to need all of them.