Obama Begins Planning Presidential Transition

The Obama campaign has begun to prepare a transition team already, more than three months before the general election, and a little more than four weeks before Sen. Obama receives the official nomination of the Democratic Party, according to a report at The Atlantic's blog. A senior campaign adviser told The Atlanitc's Marc Ambinder that the campaign has undertaken to begin the process of a presidential transition in order to be able to tackle the "complexity and the organizational challenge" that such a transition would require.

"[Obama] has tasked s small group to begin thinking through the process. Barack has made his expectations clear about what he wants from such a process, how he wants it to move forward, and the establishment and execution of his timeline is proceeding apace."

The decision could pose some risks for the Obama campaign, which has been showing a disturbing tendency to take the election almost as a mere formality. Republicans pounced on the report, sending out an e-mail to media outlets titled "Barack Obama Audacity Watch." Republicans accuse Obama and his campaign of acting like a White House in waiting, claiming press privileges that are only afforded to Administration officials and comparing the candidate to a sitting president.

Two such incidents have occurred on Obama's foreign trip this week. In one, an Obama foreign policy adviser demanded that a press briefing remain off the record. Reporters had to remind the adviser that only White House officials can give press briefings on background. In another, an Obama campaign adviser, in response to questions about Obama's Berlin speech, said, "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally." Reporters, again gently reminded the adviser that Obama is not yet the president. The most famous example of the Obama campaign's growing self-assurance is the faux-presidential seal that the campaign debuted at a meeting of Democratic governors that Obama attended. The seal was roundly ridiculed in the press and was immediately dropped by the campaign.

The Obama campaign's confidence about the eventual election outcome is not borne out in the polls. The Real Clear Politics poll average shows a four point lead for Obama nationally, with no poll showing him ahead by more than seven points. The Gallup and Rasmussen tracking polls show the race as a statistical dead heat. Obama's advisers may be attempting to create an air of inevitability around the candidate as a means of countering voter unease at Obama's relative lack of experience compared to Sen. John McCain. But voters are traditionally averse to go along with attempts to anoint a president. Despite the media buzz surrounding him, Obama will have to earn the trust of the voters; and he can start by stopping his campaign from seeming to take the voting for granted.