During Bill Clinton’s last week in office, Slate asked me, then a speechwriter for the president, to pen daily essays about life inside a White House winding down. I’m reposting them here to provide a contrast with a very different scene unfolding now /1
https://slate.com/human-interest/2001/01/paul-glastris-5.html

In the first, I speculate that one reason America had long managed to transfer power without violence is fatigue: White House work is so exhausting that “as the end approaches, the urge to resist is far outweighed by a sense of relief. Ahhh, I’m going to get my life back!’” /2

The second tells of Clinton delivering the last speech I wrote for him, in the East Room, before a gathering of mayors. /3 https://slate.com/human-interest/2001/01/paul-glastris-4.html

They gave him a standing ovation--not because of my words (which the president barely referred to) but because they (and most voters) admired the job he’d done. /4

The third essay is mostly observations of the White House “in full bug-out mode”: IT folks coming to shut down our computers; staffers pushing hand trucks full of boxes to their cars; final carry-out meals from the White House mess, etc. /4 https://slate.com/human-interest/2001/01/paul-glastris-3.html

In the fourth and final essay, about the last 24 hours, I try to describe the vibe I felt of an administration leaving but not ending. My colleagues, even the senior staff, were relatively young. /5 https://slate.com/human-interest/2001/01/paul-glastris-2.html

They had learned “the skills of running a superpower” and you had the feeling they’d be back./6

And indeed many of them did come back to the White House under Obama, and a good number—Ron Klain, Susan Rice, Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti—are embarking on their third tour of duty under Biden. /7

That is what successful administrations like Bill Clinton’s do: they create a cadre of highly competent public servants who command government for decades. I suspect that will not be one of the legacies of Donald Trump./8