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When Barack Obama moved into the White House, a dizzying 8,000 political appointments opened up. 1,000 of these require Senate confirmation. Today, only 63 have been confirmed, and yet, according to Prof. Terry Sullivan, this is remarkable success. Sullivan, the author of Nerve Center: Lessons in Governing and executive director of the non-partisan White House Transition Project, studies the chaotic world of presidential appointments. But Sullivan is no armchair political scientist. His quantitative research and detailed briefing books, intended to smooth out the political and byzantine federal staffing process, were used by transition teams in both 2001 and 2009. Recently, I asked Prof. Sullivan about his research and what makes the 'long' transition to executive power ultimately successful.

100 days in, how is Obama stacking up on appointments compared to other presidents?
There is typically a surge in the last few days and, assuming that surge, we should anticipate a record setting performance. At this pace, they will have most of the top positions in the policy government filled and that means they will be ready (and early by comparison) to fully address the challenges facing the American government.

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