Powershift
The most important (and least known) 10 weeks of a President’s (and any politician’s) term.
“Powershift” on the Presidential Transition
Powershift is a book on the transition from Election Day to the oath of office for any politician and is available as an ebook on Kindle. This piece is focused on a U.S. President’s transition to office.
Every four or eight years, America often finds a new person to be named President. Or governor, or mayor, or congressperson, or city councilor. But between Election Day and taking their oath of office is a strange, little understood gap of time occurs called “The Transition.” Besides seeming to be a political time of purgatory, it is actually a frenetic scrum of decision making that essentially cements the course for the incoming administration.
These changings of the guard are of great consequence, and demonstrate the strength of our Republic. But they are not without drama, controversy or intrigue--and within them are lessons for political officials, business leaders, voters and taxpayers alike. These seven weeks will send the new leader towards a sunny horizon or dash them against the rocks.
It might be helpful and fun to pause and take in the enormity of the task to transition in as a new U.S. President by running through the numbers.
$9,620,000: The budget made available to each campaign in 2020 to prepare for a potential transition. And all funds to be spent in a 120-160-day window.
78: The number of days from the 2020 election to the inauguration in 2021 to prepare for these tasks.
4,000: Your IMMEDIATE new hires. Sure, some of them you’ll keep around from the last President. But most of these do get new staff.
1,200 The number of those 4,000 that will have to prepare themselves (and their backsides) for approval by the U.S. Senate.
4,000,000:The number of federal and military employees expecting direction and vision led from the new President from the moment they take office.
$4,760,000,000,000: The size of the U.S. budget the new President will manage.
Circling back….all of this is to be accomplished with $9,620,000 in under 80 days!
These numbers give a peek at all that is going on during a Presidential Transition. Yes, there is a lot of hiring, but much more is also needing to be done. It is no surprise that the Center for Presidential Transition wrote“Preparing for the enormous responsibility of running the federal government is the most important job for any presidential candidate.”
The new Commander in Chief and their team need to:
· Understand about the state of the federal government and the departments
· Fathom the massive budget.
· Set a course for policy and priorities for the term.
· Staff and set up operations for a White House.
But there is a special feature of the transition as well! No other time in your term will the President be allowed, even expected, to make such rapid, major decisions. It is like they have the freedom of zero gravity and can move as fast as they want with no pull towards the ground. After being sworn in, the President and the entire team come back to earth and the normal rules of governing will now apply.
Unfortunately, everyone else is in the same zero gravity chamber with them. Smartly seizing the moment, advocates will try to pull the emerging administration in every direction to help their needs. Staying true to what the President set out to accomplish while working with the many pulling constituencies is one of the most difficult tests in any elected official’s transition.
And it is all accomplished in around two months. It used to be much longer, at least for Presidents. Originally, they would take office on March 4th but in 1933 the 20th Constitutional Amendment moved it up to January 20th. Some transitions are even shorter, in 2017, due to the prior mayor’s resignation, incoming Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was sworn in as soon as the election was certified, a period of only three weeks.
Any other organization setting out on a four-year effort would want significantly more time to plan. The small window of time is made all the worse given it begins after what was likely a brutal, tiring campaign.
“Powershift” was written to help understand and guide this harried process. It is not a blueprint as much as a self-guided checklist to help anyone find paths through a transition of power. Obviously every elected official, their office, their region, and their constituencies are unique. But the importance to having a strong start applies to all.
“Powershift “was written by Marco Lowe who teaches courses at Seattle University based on campaigns and government relations. He has staffed several political transitions and is fascinated by the topic. Marco can be reached at marcomlowe[at]gmail.com .