The Nexus

Americans are clearly the most impatient group of people known to man. Just look at us. We get antsy after five minutes on hold on the phone. We get annoyed after a couple minutes in a line at the grocery store. We have fast food, instant coffee and one-hour photo shops.

So why we continue to put up with more than two months of a lame-duck president remains a mystery. In this day and age, the entire lame-duck period is completely unnecessary. With the president unable to accomplish anything substantial and the president-elect powerless and awaiting transition, Americans’ need to reduce this idle period.

Originally, both the president and the vice president took over on March 4, four entire months after the election. Back in the 19th century, this four-month block of time actually served as a practical necessity. The newly elected official needed those several months to put his affairs in order, not to mention undertake the arduous journey on horseback from his home to the national capital.

There were no planes and no cars. No instant forms of communication were in place to notify the voting populace of the winner. People had to send telegrams or even mail a letter.

Americans did take a step in the right direction in 1933 when the U.S. ratified the 20th Amendment, which changed the inauguration date to Jan. 20. This two-and-a-half month block of time separating election and inauguration is supposed to allow the president-elect time to get up to speed on all the important and top-secret issues. It’s supposed to give him a chance to recover from his campaign, to arrange his cabinet and to transition smoothly from his previous life to that of a president.

But President-elect Barack Obama doesn’t need two and a half months to prepare himself for the Oval Office. He doesn’t need two and a half months to appoint his cabinet members; he probably started to privately narrow down a list of names months ago. And the American people, as impatient as ever, don’t want to wait until Jan. 20 to make adjustments either. However, we have no choice.

Despite the fact that Americans voted and expressed their desire to have Obama occupy the White House, we’re inhibited by the specifics of the 20th Amendment. And now President Bush sits there, a Lame Duck, until his term is officially over.

This must be awkward for him as well. He’s probably ready to leave. Bush’s choice to hold the G-20 Financial Summit, although important given the current economic crisis, does not bode well for the U.S. The rest of the world simply acknowledges the fact that he won’t be in power to enforce any of the collective decisions. However, he still retains complete executive power for another two and a half months.

In their final days, both his father, George H.W. Bush, and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, took to pardoning old cronies and financial contributors. President George W. Bush likewise has the ability to issue anyone a pardon or sign off on any pending bill, as long as he does so before midnight on Jan. 20. The lame-duck period simply allots too much time, potentially leading to consequences that may not be 100 percent kosher.

We need to reevaluate our process around this period of presidential transition. The future president-elects should not be forced to sit idly as the departing president enacts policies that cannot be enforced. It’s time to send this lame-duck period to the history books.