Is the Bush team trying to keep control after Jan. 20?

Presidential transitions are always momentous. The pagentry is magnificent -- bands play, supporters cheer, Americans look forward in hope. Presidents often leave a note to their successor in the top drawer of the Oval Office desk.

Now President Bush has signed an executive order creating a Presidential Transition Coordinating Council to smooth the transition. He proposes to coordinate with both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain until the election, then work with the winner. As White House press secretary Dana Perino explained, after eight eventful years in office, "Our nation is at war, we are dealing with a financial crisis and we are trying to protect ourselves from terrorist attacks."

But Paul C. Light, a professor of public policy at New York University and a long-time student of the U.S. federal government bureaucracy, is concerned. In an interview, he raised a red flag about the council's possible impact:

The Bush administration had such a reputation for secrecy and self- promotion that I don’t know if they’ll use the Council and these guidelines to control the incoming administration.

Noting that Bill Clinton also ordered up a transition council on Nov. 27, 2000, Light called his "similar but without all the bells and whistles." Among other things, the Bush executive order could keep agencies busy preparing briefing materials and a Transition Directory to include "federal publications and other materials that provide information on each executive department and agency."

Cynics might wonder if the Bush team wants to keep its hands in before the order expires on Feb. 20, 2009, one month after the new president takes office.

Whatever the motives, said Light, one of the presidential candidates will need the help more than the other. "McCain has done almost nothing about the transition," he said, except to criticize Obama for saying in mid-summer that he was appointing a team to begin contingency planning.

McCain accused Obama of being so presumptuous he was picking the curtains in the White House. But Obama was already late. Reagan started in the early spring of 1980, and was up and running for six months before then. It's the responsible thing to do.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Shawn Thew/AFP

Comments

[bkmur@msn.com]

The landlord is kicking them out .But Bush/Cheney want to keep the cleaning deposit and not have to explain those cigarette burns on the carpets, the empty liquor bottles and those mysterious holes in the White House walls. Trash. These people are trash.

[john]

are you kidding me bush is'nt going anywhere. this is the perfect opportunity for him. the nation is in another crisis. alls that this fool needs to do is declare a bank holiday, we all know there will be much civil unrest. he has already recalled the armies 3rd brigade back to the states to assist "just in case". thens alls he needs to do is suspend the elections or postpone the next pawns inagruation. people need to start waking up!

[ignacio Beltrán]

Bush has to finish his task: The total and complete destruction of the United States as you knew it. I doubt he will leave the White House without failing the American people, as nobody has in the history of the country.

The once free nation is about to turn into a nation of slaves.

Who is still such a fool to say he is free in America?

[Tim]

What a sad day when Bush leaves office. I wish he could stay FOREVER.....HA-HA-HA.....HAAAAAA,HAAAAAA,HAAAAAA.
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

[colin syme]

here in the UK you resign by informing the Queen, then you say goodby to the staff at No.10, and you are gone. A far better system as it take days to complete.

[Asomone Someoney]

I think that we can be guaranteed of 1 thing this time. No one is going to remove all the W keys from the keyboards and trash the place first. I guess when bkmur was talking about trash hewas talking about the outgoing Clinton administration.

Get a grip people. The transfer to Obama will go as smoothly as all of those before. I wonder why Obama wants a citizen corp though?