Team of Strategists

Matt Yglesias thinks that the Obama transition has a different book from Doris Goodwin’s Team of Rivals as its blueprint. Maybe so, but Obama sure does talk a lot about Lincoln (and Goodwin). In any case, after one of the best run campaigns I’ve covered, this is now one of the best-run transitions. Especially notable is the fact that Obama broke with the FDR precedent of lying low and letting Hoover stew in the Depression, which a lot of talking heads were advising him to do: he’s taken an active, public role in attempting to reassure the markets. So far as I can tell, there have been no false steps yet.