Successful Presidential Transitions: Challenges and Government Support

This essay examines the critical elements that contribute to successful presidential transitions in the United States, emphasizing the importance of minimizing national security risks and maximizing opportunities for the incoming president. It highlights the tradition of peaceful power transfer and the necessity of early planning, referencing the 2008 transition from Bush to Obama as a case study in successful cooperation between administrations. The essay discusses challenges such as understaffing due to lengthy Senate confirmation processes and suggests that focusing solely on national security is insufficient, as economic stability also depends on a fully staffed government. Ultimately, it underscores the need for bipartisan collaboration and proactive transition planning to ensure a smooth and effective transfer of power.

Running head: PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITIONAL PHASE
Presidential Transitional Phase
Name of the student
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Author note

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The main goal of a smooth presidential transition is to ensure that the chances for
national security catastrophe have been minimized at a crucial time when the condition of the
United States is the most vulnerable. It helps in maximising the opportunities for that of the
country’s newly elected leader to deliver the promises that were made during significant
months of the White house term.
The United States is proud about the tradition of that of peaceful transition of power
from one administration to that of the next. The key to a successful transition is to ensure that
the planning starts months before that of the election. The presidential contenders can think
about governance before the period of campaigning. In the year 2008, Bush wanted to do
things in a different manner and Bush gave instructions to Bolton to make the phenomena of
transition-planning a priority and the entire government has to get the message in order to
ensure that the process is successful. Lu was the executive director of the transition team of
Obama and he remarked that the Bush White house helped to a great extent in ensuring that
the process of transition planning was successful (Theatlantic.com 2018). The 2008 transition
of power from that of the Bush to that of the Obama was successful owing to the fact that
senior officials from that of the Bush administration was meeting in secret with that of the Lu
along with other members of the team of Obama in order to ensure a smooth takeover of the
government.
Months before the election of the year 2008, the administration of Bush asked for
input from that of the two campaigns on that of a new software that was kept for that of
personnel management (Theatlantic.com 2018). The Bush administration encouraged both
Barrack Obama and Mc Cain to submit names of people who would occupy positions on that
of the national security team. This would help them in gaining proper clearance so that they
can work in the week between that of the election and that of the inauguration (Cotter 2017).
The Bush administration knew that the Democrats would be reluctant to turn over names to

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that of the Republic administration. Bolton thought that the setting up of a system can help in
shielding anyone outside that of the FBI from knowing whom Obama has cleared. Working
on the aspect of transition planning and building a transition team is of great importance in
making the process of presidential transitions successful (Miller 2016). Working on the
process of transition can be a tedious process and one should start doing this from beforehand
in order to rise over the challenges and in order to ensure that the government runs in an
effective manner once it assumes office.
Senior officials from both the parties coming together and conducting a meeting can
help in resolving differences and helps in the smooth transition of that of the government.
Focussing only on the aspect of national security cannot render much useful service but being
understaffed across that of the government can also pave the path for an economic crisis. The
invasive senate confirmation process for that of the presidential appointees proves to be
arduous and leaves the new administration short-handed for that of months.

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References:
Cotter, Michael W. "How the Presidential Transition Process Works And Why This One Will
Be Like No Other." American Diplomacy (2017): 1.
Miller, Eric. "Classified information: unnamed carriers to play role in presidential
transition." Transport Topics (2016).
Theatlantic.com, Russell. 2018. "'The Most Important Takeover Of Any Organization In
History'". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/improving-the-
presidential-transition-2016/477528/.