Brits: Obama Regime Difficult

From Nicholas Cecil at Britain's Evening Standard:
Btitain's top civil servant has revealed how hard dealing with the US has become since the handover to Barack Obama's administration, with the G20 summit a particular problem.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell said Downing Street was finding it “unbelievably difficult” to prepare with Washington for the crucial G20 summit in London on 2 April.
He said No 10 was even having trouble getting in touch with key personnel at the American treasury department. “There is nobody there,” he told a civil service conference in Gateshead. “You cannot believe how difficult it is.”
Sir Gus criticised the American system of new administrations appointing their own senior civil servants, saying it would be “absolute madness” to introduce similar rules here.
“You get to a certain point, and you can't go any further,” he said. “If there's a change of administration, you're out, and a whole new bunch of people come in who probably haven't been in government before.”