More Deja Vu: Betty Currie on Obama Team

Bill, Al Gore and Robert Rubin leave mark on transition

(NEWSER) - Three of Barack Obama’s most important advisers will accompany him to the Oval Office only in spirit, Gerald Seib writes in the Wall Street Journal: Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Robert Rubin. In leaving behind a healthy record as Democratic building blocks, the Clinton years left Obama “what we didn’t have, which is a usable past,” says a Clinton transition member. More»

President may encourage having families to White House for evening meals

(NEWSER) - The early-bird White House of the Bush administration is almost history, Politico reports. Unlike President Bush, who was usually out the door by 6pm, President-elect Obama’s staffers are expecting long, late hours to match their heavy workload. The Obama team is already working on ways to keep workers in touch with their families. One idea? Communal meals at the White House. More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama is moving to DC this weekend, and he's already got an interesting lunch date lined up next week with some fellows named George Bush (both of them), Clinton, and Carter, ABC News reports. Wednesday's meeting at the White House will bring together the president-elect with all the living former presidents for the first time. More»

30K resumes? Clintons? Veteran juggles it all for Obama

(NEWSER) - The man in charge of Barack Obama’s transition doesn’t just know where the levers of power are—he practically lives in the engine room. John Podesta is managing his immense task—juggling 30,000 resumes for 8,000 jobs, not to mention some big egos—with surprising calm, despite his reputation for a snappish temper. “Let’s just say my in-box is filled,” he tells the Washington Post. More»

Lobbyists, corporations banned from contributing to transition

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's transition team has set out what one official called "the strictest, most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition in history,” the Hill reports. Lobbyists, corporations and PACs will be barred from donating funds to the transition operation, and lobbyists on the team won’t be allowed to work on the same issues they once lobbied. Transition staffers who become lobbyists will be banned from lobbying the administration for a year. More»