The Weird Feeling of Governing

Interesting profile in the Washington Post Style section today of Alyssa Mastromonaco, Barack Obama's director of scheduling and advance, who will retain that title in the Obama White House. But she won't be overseeing the kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation that she headed up during the campaign.

Here's how the Post's Shailagh Murray described what Mastromonaco has to look forward to:

In her new role, Mastromonaco will execute elaborate protocols that have been in place for decades, and her immediate staff of about 35 will include a "diarist," responsible for recording every one of Obama's moves -- the telephone calls, the meals, the basketball games. Each step in the White House scheduling process, from request to approval, must be documented in writing. Decisions are made by committee -- a very large committee of administrative heavyweights from the national security and domestic policy offices, speechwriting, catering, the first lady's and vice president's shops, the Secret Service and so on. Advance teams involve casts of hundreds, swarming into each of the locales, here and abroad, that a president will visit.

Little wonder that Mastromonaco has this to say about her situation: "The government feels a little weird right now."