As the Obama Administration gets settled in at The White House, a few blocks away at the annual conference of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), held Jan. 27-29 in Washington, D.C., several veterans of the legislative wars on Capitol Hill say it's a little too early to tell how well the new administration will work with NAW and other pro-business trade groups.

Between them, Dirk Van Dongen, NAW president, Jade West, senior vice-president, government relations, and Jim Anderson, vice-president government relations, have close to 100 years of experience as lobbyists, and they have seen many U.S. presidents come and go. While they agreed Obama has made some early overtures toward business supporters in both political parties, Van Dongen, West and Anderson said the real work has yet to begin in the crafting and passage of legislation. During a press briefing at the NAW conference, they said they have seen some similarities between the early days of the Obama Administration and the same time period during other administrations.

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