I have spent the last few weeks talking to economists who are plugged into the policy establishments in both parties, to politicians, and to policy-makers in the think tank community. There is broad agreement on several important points.
The new administration is benefiting from President Bush’s decision to make the transition to an Obama administration seamless. Having suffered from the nasty, sullen treatment he and his team received from the outgoing Clintonites–they ripped the “W” off their computer keyboards–Bush is determined to have his outgoing team put the national interest above any personal pique. Bush is deferring to the president-elect in important matters, most notably the question of a bailout of the auto industry, which he is supporting because he doesn’t want Obama to face an immediate bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler, in addition to the other domestic and foreign crises that he will confront. Were he not concerned to make the new president’s life easier, Bush might well have joined Senate Republicans who want to let the bankruptcy courts rewrite the auto makers’ labor and dealership contracts.
