The Obama transition began with a running start. On November 5th the first day after the election the members of the Obama transition team. The first appointed was John Podesta who was appointed the head of the transition team. Podesta had been the chief of staff in the Clinton administration. David Axelrod who was Obama chief political strategist will serve as Senior Advisor to the President. The third appointment of the day was Valerie Jarette, who was appointed as co chair of the transition team. Robert Gibbs was appointed to be the spokesperson of the transition team.

On November 6th the second day of the transition it was announced that Rahm Emanuel had been appointed to be the President-elect Obama’s White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel had worked in the Clinton White House. He also worked briefly in Finance before beginning his political career in Congress where he rose rapidly to become the fourth ranking house member in just a few years.

On November 7th the third day of his transition- president elect Obama held a meeting with his transition team of economic advisors. That team consisted of:
David Bonior, former Democratic congressman from Michigan
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Role Campos, former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission
William Daley, former commerce secretary
William Donaldson, former chairman of the SEC
Roger Ferguson, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve's board of governors
Jennifer Granholm, Michigan governor
Anne Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp.
Richard Parsons, chairman of the board for Time Warner Inc.
Penny Pritzker, chairman and founder of Classic Residence by Hyatt
Robert Reich, former labor secretary
Robert Rubin, former treasury secretary
Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google
Lawrence Summers, former treasury secretary
Laura Tyson, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles mayor Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman

After the meeting Obama held a press conference where little news was made, but in which he clearly exuded a Presidential demeanor. The Press Conference was well received by the political observers.