President-elect Obama took the first step toward following through on a campaign promise to make his transition, and presumably his White House, the most transparent ever.

Transition co-chair John Podesta on Friday announced a new policy called "Seat at the Table" under which proceedings of meetings between the Obama transition team and outside groups would be posted on the transition website, and the public would have the opportunity to comment on those meetings as well as see policy documents and recommendations under discussion. Still behind closed doors, and thus not to be disclosed, are discussions involving personnel matters, hiring recommendations, and issues involving classified information.

Here's a link to Podesta's memo:

It will be interesting to see if this affects policy development. For sure, it will provide fodder for news stories.

                                                                                                                    -- Bara Vaida