Obama's transition has been impressive, and not just for the reasons usually cited.  He's also the first President-Elect to start running the country a month early. 

Obama has selcted his entire Cabinet and upper-level White House staff in record time, and now can go on a two-week vacation in Hawaii, leaving his new administration in charge  (Go on in, Barack, the water's fine!).  Almost all of his selections have been widely praised and none needed to be withdrawn because something came out about them.  None have caused controversy except Eric Holder, and he's only controversial because Republicans are afraid he might prosecute them (You think they care about Marc Rich? Yeah, they just hate that kind of corruption).  And there have been no leaks except the ones that were obviously on purpose. 

What all this means is not just that Obama is a good judge of people.  It means that he already has an administrative bureaucracy up and running.  He started setting up this bureaucracy way before he won the election, in fact as soon as he clinched the Democratic nomination.  Like his other far-sighted moves, this one is now paying off.  His vetting process for everyone was notably rigorous and thorough, and that seems to have prevented mistakes.  Something could still come out about someone, but it won't ne Obama's fault. 

Now economic policy is starting to flow from his economic team.  They are already working out the details of the stimulus package, so it can be presented when Congress convenes on January 6, two weeks before Obama takes office.  They are also clearly engaging in a series of planned leaks as part of this planning process.  These leaks seem designed to both assess political oppostition and build political support.   They are assessing opposition by putting out ranges of numbers and general components of the package to see how Republicans and pundits react.  So far, their plans have not provoked any threats of opposition, so they'll probably be presented roughly as they've been leaked, although further bad economic news could make the numbers bigger.  I love the way they're building support.  Several people high up in the transition are telling the media that they've been consulting with outside economists across the political spectrum, but the only names any of these people give out are those of conservatives like Martin Feldstein and Mark Zandi.  Putting out the names of conservative economists as advisors makes Republican opposition look irresponsible.  What this tells you is that the leaking is planned and coordinated.  

Meanwhile, the health care team is also working, but under less scrutiny.  Obama and Daschle know that this one will be difficult, both intellectually and politically, so they are already mobilizing supporters to give ideas and vote on them.  This way, they can see what kinds of policies have what kinds of support.  Other policy task forces are also working, while administrative task forces are combing through the Executive Branch, making detailed assessments of departments and programs so that they can get to work immediately on January 20.   

The general strategy for Obam's first term is pretty clear, and pretty smart.   Obama knows that Presidents get elected on promises and re-elected on performance, and where people most want performance is the economy.  He has a huge mandate to take action to rescue it, and he is going to use this mandate as a way to enact his other main priorities as well.   Obama is apparently going to try to fold energy, health, infrastructure, and antipoverty initiatives into his stimulus program to whatever extent is possible, and try to kill several birds with one stone. The trial balloons being floated by his people about the stimulus plan make this clear, and it's an excellent strategy. 

It's amazing.  He hasn't even taken office, and  he's running the country already.  And he's made enough progress in doing it to go on vacation.  This guy is as good as Bush is bad, and that's really saying something.  Can't wait for the Inauguration. 

I grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1960s, a blue-collar, working-class Catholic city with no minorities except for the Protestants.  My dad was an engineer, a nice, quiet guy who kept his own counsel, and my mom was the town liberal.  Both my parents grew up in the Depression, and both lost their fathers, their family businesses, and their homes.  My mom had to move to a small town that she hated, my dad was sent away from his family when his mom had a breakdown, to a small town that he loved.  My dad spent a year there as an outcast from his family, and says it was the best year of his childhood.  His ashes are buried there, along with those of my mom and my brother, in a single grave. 

My mom was also the liberal in her family.  Her brothers, my uncles, were rough-and-tumble, smart-ass young Catholic guys who became successful enough in business to do well by their families, and were pretty pleased with themselves because of it.  My mom was the Little Miss Perfect of her family.   My uncles were pretty conservative, but when my mom was around they acted like wingnut reactionaries because it guaranteed a fit of outraged indignation from her.  One of them was my dad's best friend, and introduced my mom and dad to each other.  My uncles were a lot more fun than my mom. 

I was pretty much of a nerd, a poindexter among tough guys, but I was savvy enough to have tough friends.  One was Speedy, a great guy who loved guns and was a hunting nut.  After the movie Dirty Harry came out, he went right out and bought a .44 Magnum.  It seemed to weigh about fifty pounds and almost broke my wrist when I shot it.  One year Speedy went hunting and hit a deer with his car on the way.  He just strapped it to his car as if he had shot it, and brought it back.  After that every time Speedy went hunting we asked him if was taking his guns or was just going to use the car.  Then he'd tell us that he was taking the guns, but was going to practice first by shooting us all. 

My other friends were Skippy, Gomez, and Mike.  Gomez was Portuguese, we just liked to call him that.  Mike was the Pigpen of our group, and was always getting teased for it.  People used to call his house 'Garbegia'.  We thought that was hilarious, and I still do today.  I always liked that 'e' in 'Garbegia'.  Mike became a State Policeman and died in a car fire.  Gomez runs an environmental group.  Skippy I lost track of. 

In junior high they put me in the smart classes, which wasn't much of an improvement because this was Lowell.  One of my friends was Frankie.  Frankie had a brother who was in college and left a bunch of skin mags at Frankie's house when he went back to school.  Frankie was popular in junior high. 

He also was an entrepreneur in sexual entertainment, junior-high-school style.  He got an older guy to buy a deck of nudie playing cards for him, then sold them at a profit to all the kids in school.  I think I had the two of hearts and the nine of spades.

I wasn't so popular.  I was really good at math, which in Lowell practically made you a homosexual.  The girls made fun of me, so I learned to play basketball, and got good enough to make the J-V team as a sophomore.  That was my introduction to high school basketball coaches.  Wow.  Those guys made my uncles look like Gandhi.  I hated it and quit after a year. 

Then I volunteered at a summer camp for emotionally disturbed children and found myself.  I started volunteer programs and worked in them throughout high school.  This got me in to Brown, where I lost myself again.  My mother went into a mental hospital, I started using drugs, thought I was cool by doing it, and dropped out. 

I did the 1970s manhood ritual of working my way around the country doing odd jobs, then finally took an office job in D.C.  That made me finally understand why people got college degrees, and I went back to Brown and finished, and then became a math teacher. 

I also went into therapy, and it really helped me.  Plus, I looked at my therapist and said, "Maybe I could do that job".  And that's what I did.  I met my lovely wife in grad school, had my beautiful daughter shortly after, and have been lucky enough to find happiness after quite a long search.   Thanks for listening.