Between Presidents, a Dangerous Gap

[groovedaddy]

NOW that we have presumptive presidential nominees from the two major political parties, we need to turn our attention to the transition that will take place six months from now. One of the observations of the 9/11 commission was that the deeply flawed presidential transition of 2000 and 2001 created a dangerous period of vulnerability.

As always, the crowd coming in was dismissive of the concerns of the crowd going out. There was a mismatch between the concerns of the Clinton national security team and those of the incoming Bush team. While there were briefings between the election and the swearing-in, there was no trust — and thus no effective dialogue — between the members of the two administrations.

In addition, President Bush took too long to set priorities and direction for his national-security team. This was a result partly of the prolonged battle over the 2000 election, but it also reflected a basic problem in how we populate our government agencies — we do so much too slowly. Neither nominations nor confirmations come fast enough.

The 9/11 commission worried that terrorists would take advantage of our weakness during transitions, just as Al Qaeda did when it attacked Madrid just before Spain’s elections in 2004.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/opinion/16gorelick.html?th&emc=th

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Fine by me.

Just as long as Chertoff leaves on the first train out of Washington.

[groovedaddy]

2. That asshole should be forced to live in the projects in New Orleans

or are there any left?

[Warpy]

3. There was a similar gap between Carter and Reagan

Carter later described Reagan as a balloon, floating high above any consideration of what the government was currently doing, completely disinterested in anything that was going on.

Reagan was just the first in a string of GOP presidents whose intense devotion to party dogma prevented him from considering anything an opposition administration had done as having any validity.

This seems to be an ongoing problem when GOP administrations follow Democratic ones. The solution is obvious.

[BrightVictor]

4. The lesson

I think its important to take away from this that even though many vehemently oppose the current administration, not to disregard what their concerns may be during a transition.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

5. The question is a simple one

Will the next administration start setting up its cabinet and "First 100 Days" plan immediately following the election, or will it take a 2 1/2 month party, then on January 21 plop its ass into the chair behind the desk in the Oval Office and ask "Where's the big screen TV?"

Unfortunately Bush decided to do the latter in early 2001.