As Barack Obama vacationed in tropical Hawaii this week, back in frigid Chicago his staff released an internal review of their dealings with Rod Blagojevich.  It was clearly a good moment to be away from the Windy City, even though most observers regard the Blagojevich scandal as though it were a winter cold germ that Obama and his lieutenants managed to avoid contact with.  Being several thousand miles away when the report was released certainly didn't hurt.

The transition now returns to deal with policy substance and the intricate choreography of planning the Obama Administration's first hundred days.  The highly competent and ambitious team Obama has assembled for his cabinet is nearly complete and appears eager to pursue the major changes that Obama promised during the campaign.

But the question will soon become which changes, in which order?  Not every issue, foreign and domestic, can be pursued at once, and certainly not all in the first year.  Special responsibility will rest with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, whose position does not require Senate confirmation, to translate Obama's priorities into practical managerial decisions in the early weeks following the Inauguration.  (By coincidence, it was Emanuel who had the transition team's only direct contact with Blagojevich.)

Look for economic stimulus to get the highest priority, followed by decisions on how to use the remaining funds in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and steps to restore the mortgage market. Economic stimulus can focus on alternative energy supports as well as transportation and other infrastructure improvements.  Foreign policy, meanwhile, will focus on southwest Asia, including ensuring an orderly disengagement from Iraq and strategy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In this way, the focus can be maintained on three lynchpins of Obama's first year , economic recovery, energy independence and climate change, and security in southwest Asia.  Other issues may force their way to the priorities’ short list, but for now if Obama can stimulate the economy, change energy policy and improve the security situation in Iraq-Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan, he will be doing well indeed.