ThunderDragon Blog

I’ve written before about the absurdity of the US electoral system that leaves more than two months between the election of the President and them actually taking office, and this is an example of it

Disgraced media tycoon Conrad Black is seeking clemency from outgoing US President George W. Bush.

Black, 64, is serving a six-and-a-half-year jail term for fraud and obstruction of justice in Coleman, Florida, and has asked the President to free him as one of his last acts before he leaves office in January…

President Bush has the power to grant pardons to criminals under the US Constitution and has already been inundated with 2,000 requests. He is also able to shorten sentences. (The Telegraph)

How bloody stupid is an political system that elects a new President but then leaves executive power with the previous incumbent for several months, allowing them to continue to pass legislation and edicts such as releasing criminals from jail?!

The democratic mandate of George W Bush ended the moment Barack Obama achieved the necessary number of electoral college votes. So why does he continue to wield the power of the ‘leader of the free world’?

The G20 financial summit will indeed be “pointless” without Obama. What, precisely, is the point of having a summit to try and sort out the global financial crisis without the man who will soon be inaugurated as President of the US?

There isn’t any.

President-elect Obama needs to stand up and be counted right away, not wait the two months (plus) until he is inaugurated.

He should be choosing his Treaury spokesman as a matter of urgency, and they should be attending all international conferences on financial issues. After all, what would the point be of such meetings? No decisions can be made, as George W Bush no longer has any real authority to make decisions for America.

Either Barack Obama needs to go to these summits, or they need to be postponed until after January 20.

Of course, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States

There was another vote in America on November 4th, with a less salubrious result, as gay marriages are banned in Arizona, Florida and California.

I’m shocked that so many Americans can vote for change in a Presidential election and for the prevention of change in another election at the same time.

It seems that America is only prepared to vote in favour of theoretical rather than specific change.

Final results:

• Electoral college: 349 seats to 162 seats (270 needed to win)
• Popular vote: 52% to 46.7% (6 million vote plurality for Obama)

This is a landslide victory for Obama. America has decided that it wants change, and voted in a Democrat as President, a Democrat-controlled Congress and a Democrat-controlled Senate.

Now it comes entierly down to President Obama to show that the trust America - and the rest of the world - has put in him is justified.

The hard work starts here [well, in two months time].

If you want exclusive US election information, go elsewhere. If you want my random thoughts, questions and responses, read on.

(Just so you know, I’m ProBama.)

23.17 - I don’t get the US system. Why have two months between election and office?

23.21 - If either candidate wins only on electoral college votes, will they take office? After all, if they’ve lost the popular vote, their legitimacy is in doubt from the start…

23.27 - Is Obama Labour or Conservative? I mention it because one of the search links that brought someone here asked that, leading them to this post. I think he’s more a Conservative than Labour - but then I would.

23.29 - On the Beeb, Dimbleby explains the difference in the US political party colours, saying they’re “confusing”… not really (see comment above).

00.00 - Polls closed! Now we’re just waiting for results…

23.32 - Thinking about it, comparing the Democrats and Republicans to UK parties is silly. Obama is closer to the Conservatives than Labour - and Palin is closer to the BNP than any other UK party.

23.43 - I don’t think that the “Bradley Effect” isn’t going to be strong. America must surely be over race by now. At least enough not to feel the need to lie about it.

23.47 - BTW, Iain Dale’s live election webchat is very good. Come join in! Liberal Conspiracy also have one, but I can’t pay attention to two at the same time - not along with the TV and liveblogging too!

23.55 - Five minutes until the polls close. Nearly!

00.00 - First polls closed! Now we just have to wait for the results…

00.04 - First electoral college vote results: 8 to 3 for McCain (270 to win)

00.09 - BBC coverage is pretty damn crap. I’m only watching it because I don’t have Sky. Or any more than four channels.

00.16 - Now watching Sky News online - thanks to Mike Rouse for the link!

00.21 - Waiting for results. Glad I have beer - though probably not enough.

00.31 - West Virginia for McCain : 13 to 3 for McCain.

00.43 - Obama ahead on popular vote - 51-48

00.51 - Why are the US so slow at counting votes? Don’t they use electonic voting for a reason? It’s rubbish.

00.54 - 4.1 million votes 54-46 for Obama

00.55 - Electoral collage votes : 21-3 for McCain (South Carolina - North Carolina too close to call)

01.00 - Fifteen states polls closed.

01.02 - 52 - 16 Obama (BBC)

01.06 - Networks jumping the gun with calling states? Sky says yes.

01.10 - Every network seems to have a differentrunning total at the moment…

01.18 - 39-32 Obama (Sky); 103-34 Obama (BBC)

01.28 - 75-32 Obama (Sky)

01.34 - Beginning to get bored now. Come on results!

01.36 - 103-39 Obama (Sky); 103-49 Obama (BBC)

01.45 - Obama expected to win Florida and the White House (Sky)

01.52 - From my American Correspondent in Virginia:

My grandpa, a World War II vet, cast his first vote in 24 years today. He had a stroke several months ago, and it’s hard to get him out and about; however, he was very insistent about this trip. We left bright and early, at 7 a.m., for the five-minute trip to the polls. We arrived, and the line was already out the door. I found an election official, who took his ID from the window of the car.

He came left and came back a few minutes later, another election official in tow. I filled out a proxy form, giving me permission to fill out his ballot, and he signed it. I got the form and got in the back of the car, and my grandpa gestured for the names he wanted. I sealed the ballot in the provided envelope, and handed it to one of the officials.

My rural, white, veteran, 86-year old grandfather cast his first vote in 24 years, and his first vote ever for a black man.

01.57 - *waves at anyone visiting from Twitter*

02.00 - Another load of states polls closed.

02.03 - Fox News called Ohio for Obama - then retracted. Obviously too close to call at the moment.

02.08 - It’s got to be an Obama victory. It’s just a matter of time before McCain concedes. Both Ohio and Florida are suspected/expected to turn blue.

02.27 - Obama wins Ohio. Obama is going to be President!

02.32 - 195-90 Obama. Only 75 more electoral college votes needed for Obama to officially win.

02.40 - Only a miracle could save McCain now.

02.42 - Could someone please explain why there is a two month gap between the election and the new president taking power? I just can’t understand it.

02.50 - Apparently this delay is due to the inauguration timetable in the US Constitution, which was set due to give COngress members time to get to to Washington, but has stayed at January 20th since 1941 (thanks to people at Iain Dales webchat).

02.55 - Minimal differences in popular vote counts at the moment - somewhere around 300,000, despite the big electoral vote differences. But the very proBama west coast polls have yet to close. And in the end, it comes down to the electoral sytem - and that is based on electroal college votes, not the popularist vote. Otherwise Al Gore would have been President in 2000.

03.00 - Obama is now being talked of as a dead cert to win, considering the electoral college votes of states which are traditionally Democrat (ie California).

And as I have to work tomorrow, I’m off to bed. To wake up to a President Obama.

Night all!

Today is the American election day. Either Barack Obama or John McCain will be the new American President, yet they won’t take office for another two months.

Why do they do this? We do it immediately. Out with the old, in with the new. Why do they take so long? What possible need is there for a two-month transfer period?

I agree with Gordo Brown that whoever is elected US President tomorrow needs to step up immediately. Two months with a dead duck President in the middle of a financial crisis is not a good thing.

Sarah Palin - Republican Vice Presidential candidate, anti-abortionist, gay-hating, pro-guns, creationist, and fully paid-up religious nutcase - is apparently going to be the Republican’s Presidential candidate for the next US Presidential election in 2012, since they have already decided that they have lost this one.

While I’m glad that even they think that Obama is going to win on November 4th, I find the very concept of Palin as President horrifying.

The Republicans used to be an enlightened party, now they’re far more a subsidiary of the “Christian Right” - which is neither - than an intelligent political party.

If Palin is the Republican candidate for 2012, this will be another time when I simply cannot support them. No matter what the Democrats might do or say, nothing is worse than the disgusting values that Palin espouses and has come to represent.

Sarah Palin may not be of Washington, but she is worse. Far worse. Everything she is, says, and does shows this. She is everything that is the matter with American politics. She is a symptom, not a cure. She is part of the disease.

This serves as an example of the intense polarisation of American politics.

John McCain was booed by his own supporters during a rally on Friday after he described Barack Obama as a “decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”

McCain was responding to a town hall attendee who claimed he was concerned about raising a child under a president who “cohorts with domestic terrorists such as [Bill] Ayers.” Despite the fact that McCain and his campaign have repeatedly used Ayers to hammer Obama in recent days, the Arizona Senator tried to calm the man.

“[Senator Obama] is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States,” he said, before adding: “If I didn’t think I would be one heck of a better president I wouldn’t be running.”

The crowd groaned with disapproval.

Horrific.

At last there is one good thing about having the Lib Dems in British politics: it prevents this sort of political polarisation.

Wow, I’ve found a good reason for the Lib Dems to exist! I didn’t think there was one.

UPDATE: The video of the incident is here.

John McCain has courted controversy by foolishly referring to Barack Obama as “that one”. That is way too dismisive language to use in the midst of a presidential battle, especially during a presidential debate.

When it comes to being careful about what you say, American politics is even more sensitive than ours. And both candidates have got their fingers burnt through saying the wrong thing.

If it’s a choice between “that one” and the doddering old man, I know who I’d choose.

UPDATE: Iain Dale has finally declared his support for Obama.

Apparently Little Britain USA is too “crude” for American audiences.

Variety magazine complained that the show’s wit “seldom rises above what’s scrawled on a school bathroom wall”. (BBC)

Yes, they’re serious [stop laughing at the back].

Little Britain is hardly a purveyor of the most highbrow humour, true, it’s no Blackadder or Yes, Minister with their verbal sophisatication - but for an American to term it “crude” is just hilarious.

That’s like a German complaining about the quallity of our food, or the French complaining that we don’t pay our fair share towards the EU.