The
presidential transition of
Barack Obama began when he won the United States
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
on
November 4, 2008, and became the
president-elect. Obama was formally elected by the
Electoral College on December 15, 2008. The results were certified by a joint session of
Congress on January 8, 2009, and the transition ended when Obama was
inaugurated at noon
EST on
January 20, 2009.
[
]
Organization of the transition
The Obama transition
organization was called the Obama-Biden Transition Project.
[
] The transition team was convened during the height of the
campaign, well before the outcome could be known, to begin making preparations for a potential administration. It was co-chaired by
John Podesta, who was
Bill Clinton's fourth and last
White House Chief of Staff and the president/
chief executive officer of the
Center for American Progress,
Valerie Jarrett, who is one of Obama's longest-serving advisers,
and
Pete Rouse, former Senate chief of staff for
Tom Daschle
Thomas Andrew Daschle ( ; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he became U.S. Senate Minority Leader in 1995 an ...
who succeeded
Rahm Emanuel as Obama's chief of staff.
On November 5, the
General Services Administration declared that Obama was the "apparent winner", making him eligible to receive transition funding and other government services, and granting him access to their 2008 Presidential Transition Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Podesta estimated that the transition would employ approximately 450 people and have a budget of about $12 million: $5.2 million would be paid by the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
and the remaining $6.8 million would be funded by private sources, with each contribution limited to $5,000. The transition project would not accept money from
political action committees or federal
lobbyists.
Transition team
On November 5, Obama announced his complete transition team, which was organized as a nonprofit tax-exempt organization under U.S. federal tax code
501(c)(4)
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...
. The advisory board consisted of
Carol Browner,
William M. Daley,
Christopher Edley
Christopher Fairfield Edley Jr. (born January 13, 1953) was the Dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law from 2004 to 2013. He serves as President of the Opportunity Institute, an organization he co-founded with Hillary Clin ...
,
Michael Froman,
Julius Genachowski
Julius Genachowski (born August 19, 1962) is an American lawyer and businessman. He became the Federal Communications Commission Chairman on June 29, 2009. On March 22, 2013, he announced he would be leaving the FCC in the coming weeks. On Januar ...
,
Donald Gips
Donald Henry Gips (born February 1, 1960) is the CEO of the Skoll Foundation. He is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa from 2009 to 2013. Ambassador Gips was appointed by President Barack Obama on June 4 and confirmed by the S ...
,
Janet Napolitano,
Federico Peña,
Susan Rice
Susan Elizabeth Rice (born November 17, 1964) is an American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official serving as Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Rice served as the 27th ...
,
Sonal Shah,
Mark Gitenstein
Mark Henry Gitenstein (born March 7, 1947) is an American lawyer and diplomat who is serving as the United States ambassador to the European Union since 2022. He was nominated by President Joe Biden on July 27, 2021, and confirmed by the United ...
and
Ted Kaufman.
[
]
Members of the transition team's senior staff included:
*
Chris Lu
Christopher P. Lu (; born June 12, 1966) is a Chinese American political advisor who serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform. He is also an alternative representative to the United Nations General Assembly d ...
– Executive Director
*
Dan Pfeiffer
Howard Daniel Pfeiffer (born December 24, 1975) is an American political advisor, author, and podcast host. He was the Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, Barack Obama, for strategy and communications from 2013 to 2015.
Pfeiffe ...
– Communications Director
*
Stephanie Cutter
Stephanie Cutter (born October 22, 1968) is an American political consultant. She served as an advisor to President Barack Obama during his first presidential term, and was deputy campaign manager for his 2012 re-election campaign. She previo ...
– Chief Spokesperson
*
Robert Gibbs -
Press Secretary
*
Cassandra Butts
Cassandra Quin Butts (August 10, 1965 – May 25, 2016) was an American lawyer, policy expert, and Deputy White House counsel. On December 23, 2008, Butts was selected by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as Deputy White House Counsel, focusin ...
– General Counsel
*
Jim Messina – Personnel Director
*
Patrick Gaspard
Patrick Hubert Gaspard (born 1967) is an American former diplomat who serves as president of Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank.
A noted Democratic Party leader and strategist, Gaspard served as executive director of the D ...
– Associate Personnel Director
*
Christine A. Varney
Christine A. Varney (born December 17, 1955) is an American antitrust attorney who served as the U.S. assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division for the Obama Administration and as a Federal Trade commissioner in the Clinton Admini ...
- Personnel Counsel
*
Melody Barnes
Melody C. Barnes (born April 29, 1964) is an American lawyer and political advisor. Formerly an aide and chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barnes later worked at the Center for American Progress, a thi ...
– Co-Director of Agency Review
*
Lisa Brown – Co-Director of Agency Review
*
Phil Schiliro
Philip M. Schiliro is an American political consultant and strategist. He has spent much of his career on the staff of prominent elected officials, including President Barack Obama.
Schiliro was born August 6, 1956 in Brooklyn, New York and grew ...
– Director of Congressional Relations
*
Michael Strautmanis – Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs
*
Katy Kale
Katy Kale is an American government official, serving as the Deputy Administrator at U.S. General Services Administration; she served as the Acting Administrator of the General Services Administration in the Biden Administration, Biden administrat ...
– Co-Director of Operations
*Brad Kiley – Co-Director of Operations
Joshua Gotbaum and Michael Warren headed the transition team of the
Treasury Department. In addition,
Thomas Donilon
Thomas Edward Donilon (born May 14, 1955) is an American lawyer, business executive, and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. and
Wendy Sherman oversaw the transition of the
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
.
Seth Harris oversaw the transition in all of the labor, education, and transportation agencies with
Edward B. Montgomery
Edward B. Montgomery (born July 3, 1955) is an American economist, academic, and politician who currently serves as the president of Western Michigan University. He is one of the key players in helping pull the United States out of the automotive ...
leading the
Labor Department
The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...
agency review team,
Mortimer Downey
Mortimer Leo Downey III (August 9, 1936 – November 2, 2023) was an Federal government of the United States, American government official who was Deputy Secretary of Transportation from 1993 to 2001, making him the longest-serving person to ev ...
leading the
Transportation Department agency review team, and Judith Sherman leading the
Education Department
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
agency review team. Finally,
John P. White
John Patrick White (February 27, 1937 – September 3, 2017) was an American university professor and a government official who served in the Clinton Administration.
Life and career
White was born in Syracuse, New York in 1937 and received ...
and
Michele Flournoy led the transition of the
Defense Department.
Activities as the president-elect
Bush administration
In mid-October, the
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
administration convened a 14-member council to coordinate with and brief the winning campaign's transition team.
''
The New York Times'' reported that White House Chief of Staff
Joshua Bolten then planned to recruit his predecessor,
Andrew Card, to oversee the activity.
On November 6, Obama received his first
classified intelligence briefing from
Director of National Intelligence
The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...
John Michael McConnell and
Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden.
[
]
President Bush invited Obama and his team to attend the
2008 G-20 Washington summit
The 2008 G20 Washington Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy took place on November 14–15, 2008, in Washington, D.C., United States. It achieved general agreement amongst the G20 on how to cooperate in key areas so as to streng ...
held between November 15 and 20 in order to introduce him to more than 20 world leaders who attended the event. However, Obama did not come, and his transition team instead sent former
Republican Rep.
Jim Leach and former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright to meet with the heads of state.
Obama was expected to address a
United Nations global warming summit in Poland in December or allow a representative such as
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
to present his policies.
On November 10, Obama traveled to the
White House and met with President Bush to discuss transition issues while
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
Laura Bush
Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...
took his wife
Michelle
Michelle may refer to:
People
* Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael
* Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle"
* Michelle (German singer)
* Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottis ...
on a tour of the mansion.
NBC News reported that Obama advanced his economic agenda with Bush, asking him to attempt to pass a stimulus package in a
lame duck session of Congress before the inauguration. He also urged Bush to accelerate the disbursement of $25 billion in funds to bail out the
automobile industry and expressed concern about additional Americans losing their homes as
mortgage rates increase again.
[
][
]
The Bush administration reportedly went out of its way to make the transition as seamless as possible for the incoming administration, earning accolades from Obama staff members and outside experts alike. According to nearly all accounts, the Bush administration streamlined the process for new officials to obtain
security clearances and planned training exercises for the incoming
national security
National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...
team, to ensure that they would be ready to face a possible crisis on the first day in office. Part of this enhanced cooperation is required by laws passed at the behest of the
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
, while part is attributed to the difficulty that the Bush administration had with its own transition, which lasted only five weeks and was felt to have had a deleterious effect on Bush's ability to govern. "I'm not sure I've ever seen an outgoing administration work as hard at saying the right thing", said Stephen Hess of the
Brookings Institution. "This is really quite memorable."
During the transition, the Bush Administration had many important matters to address, even as a lame duck president. There was
an ongoing financial crisis,
and this was the first presidential transition since the
presidential transition of Richard Nixon to occur while the United States was at war.
Resignation from Senate offices
At the time of their election, President-elect Obama and
Vice President-elect Joseph Biden were incumbent
U.S. Senators
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and power ...
from
Illinois and
Delaware respectively. In accordance with Article I, Section 6 of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
, both were required to resign their respective Senate seats on or before January 20, 2009, in order to become President and Vice President.
Obama Senate transition
Obama resigned from the Senate effective November 16, 2008. Initially, it was thought that his replacement would be named by Illinois Governor
Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...
. Since the term for the seat expired in January 2011, it would come up for its normal election in 2010 with no
special election necessary. Blagojevich was expected to name Obama's immediate successor in the Senate by January 3, 2009. However, on December 9, 2008, the status of Obama's succession in the Senate was cast in doubt after
Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges, which included allegedly attempting to sell the appointment. Although placed in federal custody and released on $4,500 bail, as long as he remained governor Blagojevich continued to have sole authority to make the appointment. Several Democrats, including Sen.
Dick Durbin, asked the
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...
to schedule a special election instead.
Speaking through a surrogate, Obama called for Blagojevich's resignation on December 10. Had Blagojevich resigned or been removed from office before making the appointment, the duty would have fallen to Illinois Lt. Gov.
Pat Quinn, who would succeed Blagojevich as governor. However,
Illinois Senate
The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...
president
Emil Jones said that he would call the Senate back into session to write a law that would result in Obama's replacement being determined in a special election.
However, after the state legislature did not pass a law mandating a special election for the seat, on December 30, Blagojevich announced that he was appointing
Roland Burris, a former
Illinois Attorney General,
Illinois Comptroller, and
U.S. Treasury Department official, to the seat, citing his
constitutional duty in the absence of a law requiring a special election.
Blagojevich, Burris, and Representative
Bobby Rush urged the public to consider the qualifications of Burris as a public servant and not the scandals in which Blagojevich was embroiled.
However, the Senate Democrats released a statement in which they reaffirmed that they would refuse to seat anyone appointed to the seat by Blagojevich, as that individual would be an ineffective representative of Illinois because of "questions of impropriety."
Some members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, including Rush, expressed their support for seating Burris, who would be the only African-American in the Senate; Rush compared a Senate rejection of Burris to a
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
.
However, President-elect Obama released a statement condemning the appointment and again calling on Blagojevich to resign.
In addition, the
Illinois Secretary of State,
Jesse White, reiterated that he would not certify any appointment made by Blagojevich, although at the time it was not clear whether this could prevent Burris from taking office. Furthermore, the Senate might not actually have been able to refuse to seat Burris, as he met all constitutional requirements for the office and was not involved in the Blagojevich corruption scandal (per the
U.S. Supreme Court decision ''
Powell v. McCormack
''Powell v. McCormack'', 395 U.S. 486 (1969), is a United States Supreme Court case that held that the Qualifications of Members Clause of Article I of the US Constitution is an exclusive list of qualifications of members of the House of Repre ...
'').
On January 9, 2009, the
Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...
ruled in the case ''Burris v. White'' that the appointment only required the signature of the governor to be valid, and not that of the Illinois Secretary of State, and that the state of Illinois is not required to use the Senate's recommended certification form, as it is only "recommended" under the Standing Rules of the United States Senate.
The Court further remarked that "no explanation has been given as to how any rule of the Senate, whether it be formal or merely a matter of tradition, could supersede the authority to fill vacancies conferred on the states by the federal constitution".
Following the ruling, White provided Burris with a certified copy of the appointment's registration, and Burris delivered that copy, that bears the State Seal, to the
Secretary of the Senate. His credentials declared valid, Burris was finally sworn in on January 15, 2009, by outgoing President of the Senate
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
.
Biden Senate transition
Biden had indicated that he would remain in the Senate until he was sworn in as Vice President on January 20, 2009.
Although he was sworn in for a seventh Senate term in early January 2009, he resigned from the seat on January 15, 2009, having served just over 36 years in the body. He was Delaware's longest-serving senator.
On November 24, 2008, Delaware Gov.
Ruth Ann Minner
Ruth Ann Minner (née Coverdale; January 17, 1935 – November 4, 2021) was an American politician and businesswoman from Milford, in Kent County, Delaware. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 72nd (and, to date, only female) gov ...
announced that
Ted Kaufman would serve as Biden's appointed replacement.
Kaufman was sworn in on January 16, 2009. A
special election was held in November 2010, which elected Democratic candidate
Chris Coons.
During his abbreviated final term in the Senate, Biden went on a diplomatic fact-finding trip to
Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan, becoming the first Vice-President-elect to undertake such a mission before entering office.
Change.gov website
On November 5, 2008, the transition team launche
change.gov the official website of the transition.
The website included a
blog and jobs page.
It also had a section that allowed visitors to share stories or their visions for the country. Visitors were able to comment on issues important to them using the
Citizen's Briefing Book
''Citizen's Briefing Book'' is a compilation book of recommendations made to President of the United States, President Barack Obama by visitors to the Change.gov website, given to the President after his January 20, 2009 United States presidenti ...
. Individuals applying for work within the Obama administration via this site were required to go through intensive consumer and criminal background checks performed by the
ChoicePoint Corporation.
.
Obama held near-daily press conferences as President-elect to announce his administration nominees to the public. He introduced the nominees and occasionally took questions from the press regarding issues such as economic difficulties and the War in Afghanistan.
The appointments of
to key economic positions were criticized, on grounds that they had been prominently involved in creating many of the conditions that led to the
, so "failure is being rewarded".
, was repealed.
Geithner instead was criticized for his failure to pay $34,000 in income taxes.
The appointment of
for Attorney General raised concerns, due to his role in the last-minute pardon issued by
.
During his first press conference as President-elect, on November 7, Obama remarked about former first lady
s in the White House, which gained widespread attention. Termed his "first gaffe," Obama called Mrs. Reagan later that evening to apologize for what his spokesperson said was a "careless and off-handed remark."
*
was selected by President-elect Obama on November 6, two days after the election.
*
, current director of personnel for the Obama Transition team and former chief of staff to Senator
.
, who has been serving as Obama's Senate chief of staff.
, a lawyer who served as Chicago's planning commissioner and later was chairperson of the
. In 1995, Jarrett left public service to join the Habitat Corporation, a Chicago real estate management company.
.
, announced on November 22.
.
.
.
. Richardson's administration was, at the time, the subject of a federal corruption probe; while maintaining that his administration was responsible for no wrongdoing, he withdrew so as to prevent a lengthy confirmation process from hindering the work of the
. The position was filled by
who has clashed with Obama and his advisors in the past. Kaine served concurrently as
until his term ended in January 2010.
Chief Performance Officer and deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget
Initial reaction to Obama's choice of
as CIA director was mixed, with some intelligence professionals expressing concern that Panetta lacked specific intelligence experience,
praising the choice.