Miscellaneous

O ... oh! ... OH! ... OBA--yaaaaaawn

Sounds like it's going to be some gruelling and tired times for the Obama staff:

With the metabolism of a White House set by its occupant, Obama's team is preparing for a return to long nights, heavy weekend shifts - and a boss who will venture into Washington far more than the place's current resident.

It's a throwback to Bill Clinton's cramming-for-an-exam style, a shift from George W. Bush's early-bird routine. Aides expect the workload to be so intense, at least for the early months, that they're trying to formalize ways to help staffers stay in touch with spouses and kids - with ideas under consideration that include inviting family members into the White House for casual after-hours meals.

Another possibility: urging aides to go home for dinner, as long as they come back to finish the night.

***

Bush famously arrives at the Oval Office by dawn, leaves by 6 p.m. and goes to bed by 10 p.m. Dinners out are as rare as a lunar eclipse.

Obama, by contrast, stays up late. He holds conference calls with senior staff as late as 11 p.m., and often reads and writes past midnight. Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, he spent consecutive nights holed up in a Chicago hotel room, working on his speech until 2 a.m.

More power to them. Sounds like they're going to be keeping the kind of hours I was keeping while in trial mode. That was only three months and it all but killed me. Four (or eight) years of that? Oy vey.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on January 21, 2009 (boomark / email).