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Government From Scratch

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The Associated Press

Published: November 10, 2008

WASHINGTON - Nearly 8,000 jobs waiting to be filled. Empty file drawers. Missing computer hard drives. Even furniture piled in the hallways.

Talk about a startup.

The most powerful office in the world has less than three months to come into being, essentially from scratch.

"It is a very weird thing to walk into," said White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, who helped President Bush build a new government eight years ago. "There are no papers, no books. You have computer equipment but there's nothing on there. You've got a telephone but you just sort of barely know what everybody else's phone number is."

Bush's White House started working nearly a year before Election Day to get the government in shape to be handed off. Aides to President-elect Obama also began planning before the voting, just in case their candidate won. But everything accelerates into overdrive now that the 77-day presidential transition clock is ticking.

Everything on the daunting transition to-do list will certainly not be checked off by Jan. 20, when President-elect Obama walks through the door of the White House as President Obama. But much must be done, especially naming staff and officials.

There's the White House meeting between the outgoing and incoming commander in chief. This time it's taking place much sooner than is typical, today, less than a week after Election Day.

What White House spokesman Tony Fratto called "a very special meeting in our democracy" brings the new guy to the White House in a way he never has visited before. Obama will tour the home of the commander in chief with the eyes of someone about to move in.

In other words, Obama will get to hear and see the good stuff: maybe the weapons cache hidden in the West Wing or the instructions for summoning a cup of coffee.

Another transfer-of-power tradition is the chain of events for Inauguration Day.

The night before, the Bush White House staff will leave their offices for the last time, turning in badges and keys.

The next day, as soon as Bush leaves the White House to go to the Capitol to watch Obama take the oath, and while Obama rides in the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and sits in the reviewing stands outside his new residence, an army of workers will box up and cart off the Bush-related contents of the building, personal and professional. Obama's, likewise, are brought in.

Administrative Startup By The Numbers

40,000

Number of resumes expected in the first few weeks from people looking for White House jobs

75,000

Number of resumes expected in the first few months

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