The Transition Report: Influencing Change
November 14, 2008
by Anna Lafferre
Before the ballots were finished being counted (and when the thought of pregnant chads still loomed over our heads), there was endless speculation over who President-elect Obama would appoint to several key senior cabinet positions.
The ultimate decision of who he appoints will be President Obama’s to make, but there are an endless amount of people, organizations and agencies with their own opinions on who the new leaders should be and what the important issues are.
Although Obama has made few appointments thus far, he has named one key official, his Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel, former Congressman from Illinois. In addition, the transition team is being led by John Podesta, former Bill Clinton Chief-of-Staff and founder of the Washington think-tank Centre for American Progress.
In his first act of transparency as President, Obama announced the creation of a website, www.change.gov, where the public can monitor the work of the transitions team. This website is the first step in Obama’s much-discussed plan to use IT more effectively in government, namely to use IT to make government more transparent.
This week, the transitions team announced the Agency Review Team leads for the Departments of the Treasury, State and Defense. According to Change.gov, these teams will complete a thorough review of key departments, agencies and commissions of the United States government, as well as the White House, to provide the President-elect, Vice President-elect, and key advisors with information needed to make strategic policy, budgetary and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration.
I’ve often thought that if I were appointed Treasury Secretary or Defense Secretary (well, really, I’ve thought if I were elected President) I would really want a list of problems to solve, and I could just go through the list and knock them off one by one. Apparently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office follows this same line of thinking because they provided their list of list of their Top 13 “Most Urgent Issues” facing President-elect Obama as he takes office. Among them are caring for service members, defense spending and protecting the homeland. You can read this full list here: http://www.gao.gov/press/press-transition-release2008nov06.pdf
We’ve heard the GAO’s opinion, and now we’d like to hear yours – what are your thoughts on the most urgent issues facing the Obama Administration?