WASHINGTON _ As a weekly strategy meeting in the White House came to an end on a recent Monday, the staffers gathered around the table hesitated before pushing back their chairs.
It would be the last meeting of its kind. And no one was quite ready to leave.
"We're at the end," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest, in recalling the moment. "And people are nostalgic."
In a few days, President-elect Donald Trump's team will occupy the same table in the same meeting room, eager to get to work dismantling President Barack Obama's legacy.
For now, though, Earnest and the other people who toiled to build that legacy are savoring their final moments in the cramped corridors of the 115-year-old West Wing.
The last meetings. The last meals in the Navy Mess. The last chances to linger on punishingly long days, just to banter with colleagues.
The adjustment will be a big one for Earnest, a native of Kansas City, Mo., who spent the better part of the past decade on the campaign trail or in the West Wing, working for Obama.
