BlackLiberalBoomer

As we transition from November to December, and fully into the 2008 holiday season, our President-elect is very busy managing the (hopefully) smooth transition into his new administration.

According to the MSNBC website, the transition process as it is known now has been used since 1952 and was started by President Harry Truman:

Since 1952, at the urging of President Harry Truman, transition processes have been in place to help facilitate the change from one administration to the next.

The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 formalized the process, providing federal funds and logistical support. The act was updated in 2000 by President Bill Clinton to accommodate an increasingly complex transition process.

Presidential transitions today involve the turnover of over 4,000 political appointments, all of whom must be identified, vetted, and confirmed. Over 1,000 of those positions require Senate confirmation. By some estimates, recent transitions have taken an average of one year to be seen through to completion. The last time a transition occurred across political party lines was in 2000, between Clinton and President George Bush.

This year, just 77 days separate election day from inauguration day, but the transition process began long before any ballots are cast, and will continue long after Barack Obama takes the oath of office.

Until the mid-20th Century, the Presidential Inaugurations took place in March, to allow for the slower communications and travel available at that time. Now that the new President takes office in January, there is much less time to accomplish an increasingly more complex process.

It will be exciting to watch the Presidential appointments and nominations along with all of the politicking going on. December will be especially busy; so far only about 12 people have been officially named. However, historically, Presidential Cabinet and Staff positions didn’t even begin to be filled before December. President-elect Barack Obama realizes the seriousness of the job ahead of him, and as he stated: “There is not a minute to waste!”

You can see a great pictorial chart of the Cabinet and top staff members who will be named in the next few weeks here at MSNBC.

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