(Jake Turcotte)
Breaking News: Barack Obama is the next President of the United States!
By Jimmy Orr | 01.08.09
Hey, how about this…. Vice President Cheney spoke and hundreds of Congressmen jumped up for a standing ovation today. And most of the crowd were Democrats!
Crazy talk?
He’s just dreamy
Nope. The outgoing Vice President of the United States (who currently has a chilly approval rating of 29 percent) stood amid thunderous applause, shouts of encouragement, and looks of pride.
It was almost as though he was Leif Garrett in a 1976 Tiger Beat magazine.
His secret? Barack Obama.
Joint session
The Vice President announced in front of a joint session of Congress that Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States.
No, Cheney didn’t just get the memo. It’s a constitutional thing.
What the Vice President did today was to confirm the results of the election.
It’s official
In case you weren’t paying attention. Barack Obama won.
He and Joe Biden received 365 electoral votes while John McCain and Sarah Palin recorded 173.
Electoral College
As the Associated Press explains, the announcement today is all apart of the stately electoral college process that has flummoxed high-school civics students for generations.
Congress fulfilled “its centuries-old constitutional duty to certify and tally the electoral college vote from each state”
“The 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, directs the electors chosen by the states to meet and vote for president and vice president, conveying the results to the president of the Senate.
“That was accomplished Dec. 15, when the electors, in a largely ceremonial rite preordained by Obama’s Nov. 4 victory over McCain, gathered in state capitals to cast their votes. As on Thursday, the tally was 365 for Obama, 173 for McCain.
“The electoral college is made up of 538 electors, with each state getting its equivalent in the 435-member House and the 100-member Senate. The District of Columbia gets the other three electors.”
It’s inauguration time
Bottom line: Barack Obama won.
Next stop, the inauguration. The swearing-in ceremony will occur on the West Front of the US Capitol at 12 noon on Jan. 20.
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2. lydia douce | 01.08.09
I’m with Nancy there at the end. “Yeah” Smirk all ya want ****. You hafta MOVE back to Wyomin.’ Yeee Hawww!
3. susan | 01.08.09
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.
The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The bill is currently endorsed by 1,246 state legislators — 460 sponsors (in 48 states) and an additional 786 legislators who have cast recorded votes in favor of the bill.
The National Popular Vote bill has passed 22 state legislative chambers, including one house in Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, and Washington, and both houses in California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These four states possess 50 electoral votes — 19% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. PacificGatePost | 01.08.09
Where is outrage over responsibility for the recession now that facts are clear in the rearview mirror?
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http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2009/01/democrat-responsibility-for-economic.html
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It was evident then, it is even more evident now. Yet no feet are being held to the fire. Can we assume Madoff arrived just in time to take the brunt of it, deflecting all attention from where it should be focussed?