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Obama this weekend virtually completed the naming of his government's top officials.By JONATHAN WEISMAN
President-elect Barack Obama this weekend virtually completed the naming of his government's top officials, setting transition records for speed but passing over some longtime aides for posts and irritating some liberal groups hoping to see greater representation of their interests.
By the end of his 11th and final transition week, George H. W. Bush had named 26 senior executives and White House staff. Richard Nixon had named 25. After Week Seven, Mr. Obama had named 69 and has started to appoint officials below the top layer. His latest, on Saturday, were Harvard University physicist John Holdren as White House science adviser, and marine biologist Jane Lubchenco as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief.
It is not unusual for a president-elect to have most of his entire cabinet named and confirmed within days of his inauguration, said Paul Light, a New York University professor and expert on transitions. But Mr. Obama will have subcabinet officials and less-prominent people – who oversee the government's day-to-day operations -- in position months before any prior president.
"They are proceeding right now on a pace to break all records by the first 100 days," Mr. Light said.
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