Presidential Transition
U.S. Government sites:
• Change.Gov - U.S. Presidential Transition
• America.gov: Transition - Forming the Next Government
• USA.gov: Presidential Election 2008
• White House: Transition
Related Current Issues areas:
• Elections 2008 news
• Foreign Policy (general)
• President George W. Bush
Contacting President-Elect Obama
Please address all correspondence for President-Elect Obama to:
President (Elect), Executive Office of the President
451 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
Tel: (202) 540-3000
The Inauguration
The inaugauration of President-Elect Obama will take place on Tuesday, 20 Janaury 2009. Information on attending the Presidential Inauguration is available from the Washington DC Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Nominations for U.S. Government Officials & Departments
We will update our page of nominations for U.S. Government Officials as they are announced by President-Elect Obama.
News & Texts
06 January 2009 New U.S. Congress Convenes Amid Controversy When the 111th Congress began January 6, two men who hope to be their states' new senators were absent. The U.S. Constitution mandates that a new Congress convene at noon on January 3 in each odd-numbered year, unless the previous Congress passes a law designating a different date. Much of the day was spent taking care of routine business. Nancy Pelosi was easily re-elected as speaker of the House and then administered the oath of office to all members of the House of Representatives. All newly elected members of the Senate, including those who just won re-election, took an oath of office administered by Vice President Cheney. The U.S. vice president serves as president of the Senate.
06 January 2009 Obama Inauguration Will Honor Black Civil War Volunteers "Will the slave fight?" asked abolitionist Wendell Phillips in 1863, at the height of the American Civil War. "If any man asks you, tell him 'no.' … But if he asks you whether the Negro will fight, tell him 'YES!'" At that time, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of enlisted African-American soldiers and white officers, was just being formed. It would prove Phillips correct and inspire greater African-American participation in U.S. military forces.
30 December 2008 Barack Obama's Cabinet Selections Complete Immediately following his election, Obama began naming and meeting with advisers who will help guide him on these tough issues. Most of these advisers, including all Cabinet members, will have to be formally nominated by Obama once he becomes president and confirmed by the Senate. Obama has announced his selections much sooner than did most of his predecessors.
23 December 2008 Obama Announces Science and Technology Team In his weekly radio address, Obama said he has selected the following scientists: John Holdren to direct the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Eric Lander and Harold Varmus to serve as co-chairs of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
23 December 2008 Obama to Expand Volunteerism to Meet Global, Domestic Challenges President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to build on Americans’ fundamental belief in volunteerism to address growing domestic and international economic difficulties.
16 December 2008 Obama Names Energy, Environmental Team Although Barack Obama does not take office until January 20, 2009, the president-elect is busy preparing for his presidency by meeting with former and current government officials and appointing advisers who will play key roles in his administration.
10 December 2008 Gates Discusses Security Challenges Facing Obama Days after the November elections, President-elect Barack Obama toured the White House with President Bush, then quietly met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the fire station next to the runway of Washington’s Reagan National Airport to ask Gates if he would consider staying on the job.
04 December 2008 Personnel Is Policy Interview With Stuart Holliday on the steps needed in getting a new government up and running.
04 December 2008 A Checklist for New Presidents
03 December 2008 Bill Richardson Selected as Obama's Commerce Secretary New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is President-elect Obama’s choice for secretary of commerce, a job Obama describes as being "a leading economic diplomat for America." Speaking in Chicago December 3, Obama said that, along with active commerce among U.S. states, America’s robust participation in the global economy is key to its economic recovery, and Richardson "understands that the success of today's business, in Detroit or Columbus, often depends on whether it can sell products in places like Santiago or Shanghai."
01 December 2008 Obama Announces His Choice for U.S. Attorney General President-elect Barack Obama has selected Eric Holder for the job of U.S. attorney general. "Eric Holder has the talent and commitment to succeed as attorney general from his first day on the job, which is even more important in a transition that demands vigilance," Obama said in a December 1 press conference in Chicago.
01 December 2008 National Security Team Announced by Obama President-elect Obama has announced choices for his national security team, calling for "a new dawn of American leadership." Speaking in Chicago on December 1 with Vice President-elect Biden, Obama named Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as his choice for secretary of state, asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to stay on and chose former Marine General James Jones as his national security adviser.
26 November 2008 President-elect Obama Forms New Economic Advisory Board Calling for fresh ideas and perspectives on how to respond to the U.S. economic situation, President-elect Barack Obama created the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide outside expertise and advice on federal economic policies. The board will be chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and its chief economist and staff director will be Austan Goolsbee, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
24 November 2008 President-elect Obama Announces Top Economic Advisers Responding to what he describes as "an economic crisis of historic proportions," President-elect Barack Obama announced key members of his economic team, including Timothy Geithner as secretary of the treasury, his first official Cabinet nomination.
17 November 2008 Obama Will Appoint Thousands to Government Positions President-elect Barack Obama will appoint thousands of people to important government positions in his administration, but more than 2.6 million employees of the federal government will continue in the jobs they now hold.
13 November 2008 Obama Team Severely Restricts Role of Lobbyists in Transition President-elect Obama's transition team is implementing a set of rules designed to severely limit participation of federal lobbyists in what transition co-chairman John Podesta describes as "the most open and transparent transition in history."
08 November 2008 President's Radio Address " Ensuring that this transition is seamless is a top priority for the rest of my time in office. Our country faces economic challenges that will not pause to let a new President settle in. This will also be America's first wartime presidential transition in four decades. "
07 November 2008 Obama Foreign Policy May Be Rooted in Multilateral Diplomacy When Barack Obama takes the oath of office January 20, 2009, a new American approach to foreign policy may be in the works. But change will not come immediately, a political analyst says. For the Obama administration, there is "potential for making real progress" in foreign policy, Stephen Flanagan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told journalists at the State Department's Foreign Press Center.
07 November 2008 President-elect Obama Planning Response to Economic Crisis President-elect Obama said he and his transition team will confront economic challenges "head-on" in the coming weeks, working with economic experts to develop policies to ease the flow of credit and to support struggling American families.
07 November 2008 The official website of the U.S. Presidential Transition Change.Gov, is now available.
06 November 2008 Illinois Congressman Is Obama's First White House Appointment Less than 48 hours after his election victory, President-elect Barack Obama made one of the most crucial personnel selections for his White House by asking Illinois Democratic Representative Rahm Emanuel to serve as White House chief of staff.
06 November 2008 Votes Still Being Counted in Handful of Congressional Races The process of ensuring every vote counts might take days or even weeks in some extremely close congressional races across the United States. Although the outcomes of some very close races are still unknown, it is clear that Democrats will increase their majorities in both houses of Congress — majorities achieved in the 2006 midterm elections. The 2008 results were not surprising in a year in which some Republicans opted not to run for re-election.
06 November 2008 Some American Forces Leave Iraq Ahead of Schedule Dramatic security progress in Iraq will allow the U.S. military to reduce troop levels faster than expected, says White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, who announced that approximately 3,500 American soldiers will return to their home base nearly two months ahead of schedule.
05 November 2008 World Celebrates Barack Obama's Historic Win In homes and on streets across the U.S., Americans celebrated the election of the first African-American president as a significant moment in U.S. history. Democrat Barack Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, had won the presidency with 349 Electoral College votes (as of noon November 5). Although some ballots remain to be counted, at least 63 million Americans voted for the Illinois senator.
05 November 2008 Work Begins Immediately for Next U.S. President and His Team Barack Obama will not take the oath of office until January 20, 2009, but work to address the many challenges that await him in the presidency begins immediately. As campaign staffs across the country clean out their offices, a transition team begins its work to ensure the Obama administration is ready to handle the major foreign policy and economic challenges facing the United States.
05 November 2008 Statement by President Bush on U.S. Presidential Election Results
05 November 2008 Barack Obama's Victory Speech On November 4, Americans elected Illinois Senator Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. At the end of a very long Election Day, he addressed supporters at a park in Chicago.
05 November 2008 John McCain’s Concession Speech On November 4, Americans elected Illinois Senator Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States. In a concession speech that underscored the importance of the U.S. democratic process and the personal dignity and integrity of Senator John McCain, the defeated Republican nominee called on Americans to unite behind an Obama presidency in an address to supporters in Phoenix.
05 November 2008 Barack Obama Wins Historic Election Victory
04 November 2008 What's the State of the Party ? (Election Night party homepage)
• Election Night photo gallery
04 November 2008 2008 U.S. Voter Turnout on Course to Set Record Reports of large voter turnout are particularly significant in a country where, in recent decades, barely half of eligible voters cast ballots. The high numbers estimated for 2008 speak not only to voter engagement and concern, but also to a willingness to set aside weeks of polling data and exercise their right to vote, even for long-shot candidates.
03 November 2008 State-by-State List of Election Resources A directory of official government and unofficial local news media outlets.
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Documents & Texts
