Tell Us, Just Where Should a President-elect Go To Work?

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

Chicago has been alive with Barack Obama sightings in the weeks since the Junior Senator from Illinois became the nation's President-elect. There is even an "Obama Watch" web page that updates his every trip to the gym. That is why it surprised us at BuzzFlash.com to read in The Chicago Tribune a few days back, that:

Obama is planning his administration mostly in a suite of offices in the [downtown Chicago] federal building ...

Most of the transition team is at work in Washington, so Secret Service agents outnumber staff members in Chicago.

From this Spartan suite, Obama contemplates issues both great and small.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news...

We had assumed that the President-elect was surrounded by his bustling and numerous staff right here in Chicago -- not growing lonely and isolated in a Secret Service bubble, as this report implies, until such time as he can move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

It seems the problem as to where a president-elect should camp and work has not been resolved by past presidential transitions. Today a Chicago Sun-Times gossip columnist reported that Obama explored the option of settling in for a few weeks at the Blair House, but he was rebuffed:

Sneed hears Obama wanted to move his family and his transition team to Blair House, which is across from the White House, nearly two weeks before the president-elect historically moves there on Jan. 15 -- five days before the inaugural. ...

An Obama spokesman tells Sneed they were told Blair House had guests until Jan. 15. ... Sally McDonough, a spokesman for first lady Laura Bush, tells Sneed: "Respectfully, we are keeping transition conversations quiet. But Jan. 15 is historically the time when incoming presidents occupy Blair House, which is the president's guest house."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/...

It may be realistic to assume that President Bush would feel Obama was breathing down his neck if he were allowed to camp so nearby for the coming weeks. And there is only one U.S. president at a time, as Obama has recently reminded all. But can it be denied that the President and the President-elect have urgent business to conduct contemporaneously on behalf of the American people?

If the Blair House is unavailable or even unsuitable, just where should a president-elect conduct essential business? During the transition period, does a president-elect need a sanctified office and residence situated close to the seat of the U.S. government? Is it too hard for an incoming administration to hit the ground running, as these critical times require, when they must cobble together an impromptu workplace? Or work from a number of them, when phones and internet-enabled devices are so notoriously hard to secure?

There is one other issue, brought to the fore by recent political developments in Chicago. Could anyone argue that the more physical distance the President-elect and his transition team can put between themselves and Chicago-based Governor Rod Blagojevich, the better? (The political distance betwixt the two was already considerable, but still not enough for absolute comfort.)

Lest anyone misconstrue my message, Chicagoans have totally enjoyed having the Obama family with us here for a while. And for the road-weary Obama family, undoubtedly, "there's no place like home for the holidays," as the song lyric goes.

In just five weeks, Barack Obama will be working from the Oval Office, but where he should be working in the mean time remains an open question. The other question is, how can the issue be resolved once and for all for future presidents-elect?

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS