Getting A Jump

All too aware that, should he win, these cascading crises will leave Obama with no time to gain his sea legs and terrifyingly little margin for error, he and his people, to a degree few realize, have been planning their transition from campaigning to governing for months with characteristic care and rigor. Like so much about Obama’s historic bid for the presidency, the first few days and weeks and months will be like nothing we have seen before—and all of it grounded in the insight that, mind-boggling as it might sound, winning was the easy part.

from: The Next New Deal: The huge opportunities—and huge risks—of a possible Obama administration by By John Heilemann (NY Mag)

Win or lose, Obama had no choice but to launch himself early and aggressively into a thorough and accelerated transition process. It’s just that, as is his style (which dean of political photography, David Burnett, articulates here with the long-range view), he has kept the ramp up mostly in the background.

Read Heilemann’s piece. And then, there’s this transition preview from yesterday’s NYT describing how McCain, true to form, has hardly prepared at all.

(Photo: David Burnett/Contact Press Images. Omaha, Nebraska)