One of the GOP's newest talking points is that Obama is acting presumptuous. "How dare a presidential nominee act presidential!? Obama should act more like McCain who doesn't appear presidential at all." This is about the only criticism that they found to attack his overseas trip; Obama came across too much like a president. To further this new meme, they've decided that Obama's decision to begin working on his presidential transition process is also much too presumptuous and the McCain camp has begun to attack him for it. Paul C. Light, points out not only how ridiculous this argument is, in his article entitled McCain's Presidential Transition Gaffe, but explains how this is yet another example of how poor a campaign McCain is running, and how this foreshadows how bad an administration McCain is likely to run if he somehow gets into office.
An Obama campaign senior advisor recently released this statement regarding Obama's decision to begin work on his presidential transition process.
Barack is well aware of the complexity and the organizational challenge involved in the transition process and he has tasked a small group to begin thinking through the process. Barack has made his expectations clear about what he wants from such a process, how he wants it to move forward, and the establishment and execution of his timeline is proceeding apace.
Hmm... foresight, planning, leadership; sounds pretty good to me. Obama's organizational skills have been brilliantly displayed many times over the course of his campaign and they are one of his strongest assets. Of course Obama can't sneeze without being criticized for it by the McCain camp. And so the McCain camp countered with a statement of their own:
Before they’ve even crossed the 50-yard line, the Obama campaign is already dancing in the end zone with a new White House transition team. The American people are more concerned with Barack Obama’s poor judgment and readiness to lead than his inaugural ball.
To be honest with you, this response, on face value, isn't that bad (assuming your completely uninformed). The American people are more concerned about readiness to lead than the inaugural ball. The problem with this attack, like all McCain's attacks, is that it is completely dishonest. It infers that a transition team's sole duty is that of party planners for the inauguration. The truth of course is that a transition team is responsible for so much more than that. And ironically having a transition team this early speaks volumes for Obama's judgement and readiness to lead, which again, is what people are concerned about. Paul Light rips McCain not only for this criticism but for not having the judgment himself to have started his transition team yet. Here are few quotes from the article which illustrate the wisdom in Obama's decision to start this transition process early. It starts by establishing the historical precedent with no less than one of McCain's political heroes:
Obama has plenty of historical precedent to draw upon. On the Republican side of the aisle, Ronald Reagan began his 1980 planning effort in early spring under a senior confidant. The planning produced the fastest transition to governing in modern history, which translated directly into Reagan's victories on budget and tax cuts only six months into the term.
Oh, so a transition groups focus on more than choosing the menu at the inauguration ball? And may lead to being able to implement your agenda early? Now it sounds like a great idea. The article also mentions the success that early planning brought George W. (if you consider his tax cuts a success), and the difficulties not having adequate plans for after winning the election brought Clinton and Carter. Light is just getting warmed up, he goes on to explain why else planning is important:
McCain seems to assume, for example, that the presidential appointments process will somehow bend to his will. Having watched it all these years, he should know better. The process is nasty, brutal, but not at all short.
[snip]
Given the inevitable delays and detours along the way, the next president will be lucky to have his team in place by mid-2009. In a first-come-first-served process that can only handle so many candidates at a time, the president-elect better know just who comes first.
This transition planning is beginning to sound better and better. With the complexities of the job, it is no suprise a candidate would want more than 3 months to lay detailed plans for what they want to get accomplished when in office and perhpas more importantly how they are going to get it accomplished. It seems like McCain hasn't given this much thought, and he should because plenty will need to be done:
[McCain] almost certainly want to submit revisions to the final Bush budget as part of his broad attack on congressional earmarks. He will also want to develop an executive order or two for early release.
[snip]
McCain will even need to pick a White House computer system, a rather daunting task for someone who has only just discovered "a Google."
The closer I watch these campaigns, the more evident it becomes that McCain has no idea what he's getting himself into. He seems woefully unprepared for the job at hand. It's disturbing that he doesn't even appear smart enough to surround himself with people that can give him good advice. While Obama's campaign is humming like a well oiled machine, McCain stumbles and bumbles from gaffe to gaffe. His campaign has no direction, no clear message, no clear lines of authority, and most damning no leadership. And this is a man who wants to lead the United States of America. There is no question a McCain administration would be a disaster. Paul Light ends by offering McCain some advice:
[McCain] must find a way to back out of his ill-advised attack on transition planning. He cannot wait until November 4th to start thinking of November 5th. Doing so not only endangers his administration, but the country as a whole.
The decision not to plan for the transition is not just presumptuous on McCain's part, it is irresponsible. The next president faces a huge agenda of national problems that must be addressed as soon as possible. Instead of criticizing Obama for planning, McCain should congratulate him for taking an essential step toward governing. If anyone should have moved first, it should have been McCain. He is the one with the long resume after all.