Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk is very familiar with how presidential transitions work. He served as U.S. Trade Representative during the first four years of the Obama administration.
He said for campaigns, the transition is a mixture of excitement and anticipation because the teams have to immediately turn to the task of government.
“There is a lot of excitement but then there is a lot of internal jockeying, because now people are wondering who is going to be who,” Kirk said.
He said he liked what he saw Monday morning, when President-elect Joe Biden, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spoke about COVID-19 and announced the transition team's coronavirus advisory board.
“I think President-elect Biden correctly did what he promised, which is announce his task force this morning, which is job number one to confront this horrible pandemic,” Kirk said.
Kirk said vetting and background checks for those positions have been going on for some time.
“It is an arduous process," he said. "Some of that began even before the election but now we are in the difficult process of winnowing down and identifying people for these important positions."
Krik said he expected the most immediate attention on the secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury and the attorney general.
