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Missile-defense skeptics yearning for a fresh look at the wisdom of pumping $10 billion annually into missile defense aren't going to get it from Barack Obama when he moves into the Oval Office. The Russians - along with the two men most likely to end up running the Pentagon for the President-elect - have already made sure of that. It's a bracing reminder of just how difficult it is to counter momentum once a big-league defense program achieves what aerodynamicists call "escape velocity" - that synergy of speed and gravity that lets a vehicle soar smoothly into...
...desk, used by 21 of the past 24 Presidents, Harry Truman placed his THE BUCK STOPS HERE SIGN (the reverse read I'M FROM MISSOURI). And while its darker hours saw Richard Nixon's secret taping sessions and, in adjoining rooms, Bill Clinton's trysts with Monica Lewinsky, the Oval Office is where the President comes to draw the nation together--as Ronald Reagan did after the Challenger disaster, or George W. Bush after 9/11...
...historical standards, George W. Bush and Barack Obama were remarkably civil in their Oval Office summit. They had never engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Despite the loathing for Bush that animates many in his party, Obama ran less against the man than his record. Bush, apparently in an undisclosed location throughout Campaign 2008, seldom had a bad word to say about Obama, beyond privately dismissing him as a naive lefty. He called Obama's victory a "triumph of the American story, a testament to hard work, optimism and faith in the enduring promise of our nation." Obama's team...
...that's another important ritual. Former Presidents tend to rise to the occasion when the call comes from the Oval Office, even if the caller is an adversary. It is an act of patriotism and perhaps pity by men who, knowing what the job entails, are uniquely positioned to help. Obama will take office with at least this advantage: he will have four predecessors with very different skill sets to call on. It's by no means certain who would be the most useful, since the history of these ex-Presidents is full of plot twists. There's Jimmy Carter...
...Planning Ahead By all indications, this is shaping up to be one of the most amicable transfers of power between the parties in recent years - thanks in no small part to the extraordinary efforts of the current occupant of the Oval Office. Planning for the handoff was under way well before the Obamas paid a visit to the Bushes at the White House on Nov. 10 for a tour of the place that they, their daughters and the new President's mother-in-law will soon be calling home. Since September, Podesta has been quietly working with current White House...