The Clinton-Bush Transition Seemed to Be Tidy. Was It?

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, April 2 — It was among the shortest presidential transitions in American history: the five and a half weeks from the Supreme Court's ruling in the disputed election of 2000 to George W. Bush's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2001. And yet it was considered among the smoothest.

(snip)

It was a team that was right up to speed.

Or was it?

"There are a lot of changes in eight years, both on the surface and more subtle changes, in whatever areas you want to talk about, and certainly in national security," said Charles O. Jones, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who is an expert on presidential transitions.

"It's possible that previous experience, which we normally think of as an advantage, can also kind of lock you out of attention to all of what has changed during that time, simply because you weren't a part of it," Mr. Jones said. "That isn't to say they ignored it. It's just to say that all the subtleties involved are not something that you're up to speed on, necessarily."

(snip)

"Generally the outgoing administration is eager to brief the new administration," said one expert on the presidency, George C. Edwards III of Texas A&M University. "The problem is usually on the part of the incoming administration, which is thinking, `We just beat you guys,' or at least `We're the new team in town,' and there's a certain amount of arrogance and hubris and adrenaline and ignorance involved."

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/04/03/politics/03MEMO.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1080964821-QuS71b8wK25PamETrMreOw

[Eye and Monkey]

1. That headline. ROTFLMAO

[Momof1]

2. But, But they TRASHED the White House,....

Those darn people caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to the White House....

:puke:

Maybe if the incoming group would of been busy working, instead of spreading lies....

[Virginian]

3. Took all the W keys off all the keyboards.

Lynn Cheney said they couldn't move into the VP quarters because the Gores had trashed the place with all their parties.
What really went on was the construction of an "undisclosed location"
under the flower garden.

[MikeG]

4. Have they finished cataloging all the alleged damage done?

[kskiska]

5. Well, Bob Barr made the mistake of calling for an investigation

by the GAO. The final report found nothing but normal wear and tear that came with any move. The photos of trash represented nothing more than collected trash waiting to be removed. Whatever pranks there were was on a par with what the Clintons found when Bush I vacated the premises. There was no damage or anything missing on Air Force One.