When the White House readies for a new regime, political scientist and presidential scholar Professor John Burke becomes a hot commodity, his expertise tapped by journalists around the country. Likewise, in early November, the view wasted no time getting his thoughts on the Obama transition and early administration. It was an exercise in speculation based on solid credentials — Burke authored the seminal Presidential Transitions: From Politics to Power and Becoming President: The Bush Transition, 2000-2003. Here are some of Burke's early opinions and a few new ones on the building of this new presidency. THE VIEW: Reading about this transition, one encounters a lot of similar rhetoric, some of which seems contradictory. “There is only one president at a time,” is the old saw, but now the President-elect is facing “the worst economic crisis since FDR in 1932.” How can Obama effectively and diplomatically navigate the intense pressure he’s under to turn things around? BURKE: There’s not much he can practically do until he becomes president. There’s a lot he can rhetorically accomplish but he has to be careful that it doesn’t seem like he’s assuming that he’s president already; it’s a fine line to walk. The public orchestration, particularly in terms of the economy, is important, as in the advisory board (he appointed within two days of election). It’s to provide him advice but also a signal that, here’s the first time you see me since I was elected and this is what I’m focusing on. I think that’s about the best he can do. “There’s one president at a time” is pretty much the road map here. THE VIEW: At his first press conference, Obama used the phrase “deliberate haste” to characterize how he will make his staff and cabinet selections. You mentioned the public face of the transition; can you offer some insight into what it might look like behind the scenes making these choices? BURKE: My sense is that the Obama transition is very well organized. They have done an excellent job before Election Day in beginning to get the pieces together. Those of us who study transitions think that is very important and important to do so in a quiet way, which they’ve done. It’s clear from reading between the lines in some of the coverage that has come out that the Obama transition has been studying the kinds of policies they want to pursue with the new Congress and figuring out which ones to go with now and which ones to hold off on. They’ve taken a very deep look at the executive orders that President Bush has issued — and this is before Election Day — to figure out after inauguration which ones (they’re) going to rescind quickly. So all of that, I think, bodes very well. THE VIEW: You write about “decisions about decision-making.” Is it generally more important to spend the transition mapping out how the process will work than making specific decisions? Are we in special circumstances that challenge that notion? BURKE: You have to do both. Clearly, during the transition you’ve got to focus your agenda. From all of the things talked about during the campaign, what will get through Congress? You can’t have everything. You have to make decisions about who to appoint. But in appointing these people, in terms of a White House staff, cabinet, and sub-cabinet positions, the information and advice that the president gets and will use to make decisions will come internally and you have to think about how that information gets to the president. What kind of meetings are we going to have? Are we going to rely on various cabinet councils like the national economic council? Are there new councils we might create — an energy council? When the president is making decisions, who are the people in the room? I think the classic example of a failure would be Clinton because they made appointment decisions late. And once they got into office, at least early on, they were very disorganized, and I think that really affects what the president can do. The early period — and I won’t say a hundred days, I think that’s artificial — the first six to seven months are key. That’s the most productive period any president will have, and that’s where successes will come — maybe not immediately, but that’s where you lay the groundwork. That’s where Bush got his tax cuts, where Reagan got his tax cuts, where Clinton began to go off the rails in terms of his health care plan. I think the Obama people recognize that. THE VIEW: It seems that a president’s leadership style can have major consequences in the transition and the effectiveness of an administration. What is your assessment of Obama? BURKE: I don’t have a fully formed sense yet, but I think there are a couple of things which have struck me. One, he ran a very organized, disciplined campaign. They stayed on message; they didn’t get rattled. Obama seems open to input; it’s not like he’s fixed in his views, he’s calm and collected, an intelligent consumer of information. I think what we’ve seen so far bodes well for him as a decision maker. Also, the staff operated as a very collegial group, which is interesting because usually campaign people are supercharged, type-A personalities who are often after each other; I think that is a good sign. Now, the unknowable is how new people will affect the mix. How is Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff going to fit in? That might be interesting. THE VIEW: Many top posts have now been filled. What is your assessment of the picks — does it feel like Clinton administration redux? BURKE: There are a lot of people with Clinton-era experience, but in many ways that is an advantage: they know how the White House works, how Congress works, how Washington works. At the same time, there are many appointees — especially in the White House — who have close ties to Obama. So I think there is a good balance. This is especially so in terms of his foreign policy team: Gates' continuation at Defense will be a good balance to Clinton at State; Gen. Jones, NSC advisor, is a respected figure with ties to both parties and he looks like someone who will be an effective, honest broker of the decision-making process. THE VIEW: Would you care to venture any predictions of how this early presidency may play out? BURKE: This is a hard transition to project forward because the context in which they are operating is so difficult. This is not a normal transition time given the severity of the economy, given that it is during wartime, given the budgetary restraints, recession — the cost of the bailout. I think it will have a significant impact on what this administration can do, but I don’t know exactly what that is. He won’t be able, at least immediately, to push forward big-ticket items that aren’t related to the economy. They’re going to have to think about these constraints in ways that we haven’t seen recent presidents have to. Usually it’s a political calculation. Now it’s going to be both a political and economic calculation.