The Breitbart News White House correspondent told Curt Schilling, mighty righthander and host of Whatever It Takes, that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Thursday meeting with President Barack Obama is more than just grip and grin; rather it is a crucial part of the peaceful transition of power.
Schilling asked Charlie Spiering, who was calling into Whatever It Takes from inside the White House fence by the West Wing: “They’re not going to talk about the Iran nuclear deal, neither one of these guys likes each other–the fact that they have to get along? What’s the conversation like? What do you think?”
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Spiering said the president received amazing support and cooperation for President George W. Bush.
“President Obama really saw the transition of power right up close, when he came in,” he said. “I think that he was very thankful for that, when he was transitioning.”
The White House correspondent said Bush seemed to ignore or dismiss that Obama had run for president promising to reverse everything Bush had worked for.
“If you remember back then, in 2008, President Bush briefed Obama personally on some major issues, including the Iraq War,” he said.
The modern transition began when New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt succeeded President Herbert Hoover on the Constitution’s original date of March 4, 1933, but that interregnum was considered too long in light of the Great Depression. The 20th Amendment moved the date to January 20. Congress funds transition teams for each of the party nominees as the presidential election goes on, but the real work starts after Election Day, when decisions become real.
Spiering said Obama and Trump are addressing serious issues, even in this first relatively short meeting.
“This isn’t necessarily going to be a ‘Hi, how you doing–Nice to meet you’ kind of meeting,” he said.
“There is going to be business discussed about how to transition power, and they are going to have to be very business-like about these discussions,” he said.
Schilling told Spiering that he spoke to Bush about how he handled the transition with Obama. “I remember him talking about the directives—him to his transition team to the Obama team, his utmost priority was to transition smoothly, softly, and respectfully the office of the president–he always had a reverence for the position and the people he was overseeing.”
Schilling said, “I am hoping we’ll see the same thing, but the contentiousness–the fact that these people don’t like each other–and there is no other way to put that: They don’t like each other–that has got to be an awkward thing.”
Spiering said it could have been awkward between Bush and Obama, and Bush made sure it was not.
“Bush really set the precedent. He was as respectful as possible,” he said.
Bush set the standard for the transition to be non-partisan and professional and Obama seems to be taking that standard and his role very seriously, he said.
Obama even spoke about Bush’s example Wednesday with reporters at the Rose Garden, he said.
Join Curt Schilling weekdays from 9 a.m to 11 a.m., as he hosts Whatever It Takes broadcast live online at Breitbart.com.
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