Thinking about the speed with which the Obama team has managed to get up and running and effective, one could simply attribute it to the quality of the team and the thoroughness with which they'd planned this week. I bet that's it, except I bet they're also bypassing -- maybe just this week, maybe for the duration -- the political filter system which was top priority for the Bush administration. For starters, the Obama administration has an approval rating which is astronomic compared to that of the Bushies, even at the very beginning of the Bush administration. The numbers include a pretty large number of self-defined conservatives. So the new administration is skating -- fast! -- on ice which is extraordinarily smooth and deep.
Political filters? Karl Rove has moved out. Rahm (a no less hungry and often brutal pitbull) may be on some kind of leash. So okay, in spite of the electronic mess in White House offices, the Obama team has been ready to go. That friends-and-corporate supporters filter has been set aside, I betcha, at least for now. See also the new lobbying rules.
Off-topic: The photo of Hillary Clinton surrounded by State Department functionaries today appears to show a smiling Hillary, smiling women in the crowd, and almost every man is unsmiling. I don't think it means anything in particular, but it was odd.
