The Governement Services Agency (GSA) is the administrator of the .gov TLD. The only way the Obama people culd have that SLD delegation is with cooperation of the Bush Administration.
It pleases me to see them come to wisdom, however late and however limited. And for those who would now launch into explanation of how this atones for nothing and they are still dickweeds, remember: always make it easy for people to do what you want them to do. This is about being effective, not about feeling good.