folo

Today the White House announced some transition measures and appointments that to me seem, beneath their veneer of naturalness, a little suspect.

For instance, as the top-dog Dem, they picked my old junior-year English classmate, Clinton’s first White House chief of staff Mack McLarty. Now, while Mack was the BMOC back in our day at the University of Arkansas and went on to become way richer than he already was before joining the Clinton Administration — I always thought his piss-poor job as WHCoS had much to do with what a near-trainwreck the first half of Clinton I became. So of course I bet BushCo’s happy that he’s the Dem in position to receive this assignment.

Camp Obama will know this too, and they’ll probably be able to work with/around his limitations. (Shoot, who knows, maybe even Mack himself has done some lessons-learned looking-back; on the other hand, he may have been so occupied lucratively partnering Henry the K at Kissinger Associates that he’s done no such thing.)

Anyhow, another point I find interesting is the phrasing of the last paragraph (especially, the last sentence) of the release:

All interactions with the candidates and their transition teams have been equitable. The cornerstone of the Administration’s contact has been uniformity of access. Materials, meetings, and guidance given to one transition team are simultaneously offered to the other.

Okay, by now I’m just automatically suspicious of anything BushCo touches (and of much the Clintons do), but the difference between the verbs I’ve italicized really does strike me. Does that mean McCain-Palin gets served first, fully, and automatically, while Obama-Biden is only handed a menu from which to order? I could well imagine so.