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The Junior Senator from Illinois and the Lame Duck Session

Hello darlings-
I have a question about the process of government....

So from now until January 20th, the current government holds office. Moreover, President-Elect Obama will not constitutionally be the next President until the electoral college meets in December. The Pres-Elect is also still an elected Senator. So my question is, will Pres.-Elect Obama vote in a lame-duck session of Congress? I'm just kind of curious. I've not seen precedent for this in my lifetime, as only presidents to be elected in my lifetime came directly from executive positions. I know of no Constitutional restrictions. So, does anyone else know?

Best,
Sabrina

Until he becomes president, Obama is a senator and has all the abilities of such a position.

As president-elect, he will also have greater influence in how the rest of his Democratic colleagues vote.

I figured as much...I just didn't know if it was frowned up because of the enormous incipient power he now holds.

He said pretty clearly (though a bit between-the-lines) in his press conference today that until he's sworn in on 1/20/09, W is still the president, and Obama has no policy authority beyond his Senate seat. The thing I think he wanted to communicate without saying it is, this is still Bush's economy to deal with, and a lot can happen in two months.

He will be participating in the lame-duck session, as well as working with congress on his transition plan.

I appreciate that Obama isn't trying to take over his new position too soon--he seems very respectful of giving Bush time to do whatever the hell he's going to do (kind of scary, actually) before he steps in.

On a sidenote, I've always found the term "lame duck" to be rather odd... looking it up on Wiki, apparently it has two possible roots. One in which President Cleveland started domesticating ducks (when he wasn't doing so well), and another from a duck that fails to keep up with its flock, making it an easier target. I would think a metaphor more along the lines of "hogtied" would be more appropriate for these situations, but I don't decide these things! :D

The same applies to Joe Biden.

One thing you might take into consideration - he hasn't actually ever been a senator - he has been a presidential candidate, full time, fom the moment he got to Washington. If he doesn't pay any more attention to the representation of the people who elected and sent him to the senate in the beginning - it really doesn't matter.

I sense a twinge of bitterness...

It's a bit more than a twinge.

Quote:

Hmmm. Here's a tidbit about his service to his electorate in Illinois. The conservative republican who moved into Obama's former state house office space had nothing but glowing praise for his ability to work across the aisle and find new ways to solve problems.

Not to mention Obama's overwhelming victory in Illinois....he won 62% of the vote in that state.

where did that expression come from? these are the type of questions that can send me scurrying away into a burrow of obscure infotainment for minutes.....and many are the valuable minutes of my life that fritter themselves away because of this.

if you emphasize the word "duck":

Quote:

9. lame duck: a disabled person or thing: spec. (Stock Exchange slang): one who cannot meet his financial engagements; a defaulter. Also, short, duck.

1761 H. WALPOLE Lett. H. Mann 28 Dec. (1843) I. 60 Do you know what a Bull, and a Bear, and a Lame Duck are? 1771 GARRICK Prol. to Foote's Maid of B., Change-Alley bankrupts waddle out lame ducks! 1806-7 J. BERESFORD Miseries Hum. Life (1826) XII. xviii, Attending at the Stock-exchange on settling-day amidst the quack of Ducks, the bellowings of Bulls, and the growls of Bears. 1832 MACAULAY Mirabeau Misc. 1860 II. 95 Frauds of which a lame duck on the Stock exchange would be ashamed. 1889 C. D. WARNER Little Journ. xvii, Do you think I have time to attend to every poor duck?

if you emphasize the word "lame"

Quote:

3. lame duck, (a) (see DUCK n.1 9); (b) U.S. Politics, an office-holder who is not, or cannot be, re-elected; spec. (before 1933), a defeated member in the short session of Congress after a November election; also attrib.; (c) a ship that is damaged, esp. one left without a means of propulsion; (d) an industry, commercial firm, etc., that cannot survive without financial help, esp. by means of a government subsidy; hence as v. trans. (rare), to help (a disabled person); to lame-duck it: to travel with difficulty; {dag}to come by the lame post: (of news, etc.) to be behind time.

1658 OSBORN Jas. I iii. Wks. (1673) 469 Till by a lamer Post he was advertised of his being joyfully Proclaimed in London by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. 1701 MOTT in Sir J. Floyer Hot & Cold Bath. II. 240 Yours of the 24th of May I received, but it had the misfortune to come by the Lame Post, or else you had sooner received an Answer. 1761, etc. [see DUCK n.1 9]. 1863 Congress. Globe 14 Jan. 307/1 In no event..could it [sc. the Court of Claims] be justly obnoxious to the charge of being a receptacle of ‘lame ducks’ or broken down politicians. 1876 C. CHAPMAN First Ten Yrs. Sailor's Life at Sea x. 411 A lame duck on the sea means a ship which has been more or less damaged while crossing the perilous ocean. 1910 N.Y. Even. Post 8 Dec. 8 ‘Lame Duck Alley’..is the name they [sc. reporters] have given to a screened-off corridor in the White House offices, where statesmen who went down in the recent electoral combat may meet. 1922 N.Y. Times 6 Dec. 18/2 Senator Norris is all for the plan ‘to have the convening of Congress moved up to avoid lame-duck Congresses’. 1925 Independent (Boston, Mass.) 21 Feb. 213/1 The proposed Constitutional amendment..has been usually designated as the ‘lame-duck’ amendment. 1932 Times 14 Dec. 13/2 A ‘lame duck’ Administration was in power, and a ‘lame duck’ Congress still in being. 1933 P. A. EADDY Hull Down xiv. 256 Our old ‘lame duck’ had not done so badly after all. 1943 N. BALCHIN Small Back Room 70 It's so bloody dangerous lame-ducking it home by yourself. 1963 J. FOWLES Collector II. 213, I want to be his friend and lameduck him in London. 1970 New Yorker 14 Nov. 175/3 My father, with his predilection for lame ducks, was the natural person to try to rescue it. 1972 Economist 26 Aug. 8 The Economist calls lame ducks those industries whose survival is claimed to depend on government subsidy. In the United States a lame duck is a politician whose current term is his last, owing to defeat in a primary or general election, or other reasons. 1973 Times 5 June 22/6 The Government, being at that stage still keen on its lame duck policy, refused to help, and the board went away to have a further think. 1973 Listener 29 Nov. 741/1 It is now the Congress..which will be disposing what a lame duck President may propose.

apparently in american, the accent falls on lame, not so much on duck--but the duck did not seem to have been the leading edge of development of this Important Lexical Formation---rather there was a floating Lameness to which only gradually was a Duck attached. the mystery in all this is of course the process of Duck Attachment, which seems to have unfolded sometime between 24 may 1701 and 1763, perhaps in a Laboratory somewhere.

uncovering the remaining traces of English Duck Attachment Industry is a worthy task for archaeologists who otherwise would be traipsing about central asia looking for noah's ark and such. they should get on this.
i think i'll write a letter.

but first:
huzzah!
huzzah for the oed!
say it yourself, now, to your monitor.
you know you want to.

Oabam is resigning his Senate seat this weekend:

Obama will resign Senate seat Sunday | Clout Street - local political coverage

Its now in the hands of the governor of IL who will have to fill the seat within 60 days.
-----Added 13/11/2008 at 03 : 09 : 37-----

Quote:

Originally Posted by roachboy (Post 2559982)

....and many are the valuable minutes of my life that fritter themselves away because of this.

rb...I did enjoy your duck fritter.