Transitioning

There’s a lot to like about Obama’s change.gov website, starting with the weekly state-of-transition video.

First, there’s the fact that it exists at all, demonstrating not only transparency, but also proactiveness. He’s not waiting until January 20, and he’s letting us all in on what’s going on.

Secondly, and this is part of the transparency, we get a transcription right below the weekly video. No need to try to remember what was said; it’s all right there to read, copy, and paste (you can guess why Dubya or Sarah Palin wouldn’t want their phrasing printed out). And of course the very idea of a video presence is state of the art, alerting us to what we can expect of the new administration.

Valerie Jarrett, as transition co-chair, has a blog to keep us up-to-date on appointments and so on.

There is a Transition Directory you can follow to see a block diagram and lists of executive, legislative, and judicial movers and shakers; and Plum and Prune books that explain to new hirees how to hit the ground running.

There are agenda links that break down the platform into manageable parts, and a button to push to add your own two cents to any part of them.

So do it! Do it two times, baby: on this website, where everyone can read your ideas and piggyback off them, and on change.gov, where Obama’s staff can do the same.