President Elect Barack Obama (post-election-official)

[Gatorubet]

Originally Posted by Steve19

Are you guys seeing press coverage about the alleged angst developing being attributed to Islamic extremists, due to the election of Obama?

We are beginning to hear more and more that there is fear that Obama cannot be counted on to over-react and push moderates toward the extremists. The argument goes that Obama will be able to sway moderate Muslims to dump the extremists. It is really gathering steam out here in the emerging economies.

Well, America as a white racist state that hates third worlders like Arabs was part of the extremist rhetoric. The dumping on Obama because he was a "Muslim" was what they pushed too, as proof that whites would not elect him. The fact that he was elected makes their spiel look like a bunch of lies...which is why they had to call him a house boy when he won. Sort of makes them look silly now that we weren't the racists they predicted.

So that is a good short term side effect of his winning. We'll see how it goes.

[shetuck]

Originally Posted by Gatorubet

Well, America as a white racist state that hates third worlders like Arabs was part of the extremist rhetoric. The dumping on Obama because he was a "Muslim" was what they pushed too, as proof that whites would not elect him. The fact that he was elected makes their spiel look like a bunch of lies...which is why they had to call him a house boy when he won. Sort of makes them look silly now that we weren't the racists they predicted.

So that is a good short term side effect of his winning. We'll see how it goes.

There you go again... acting like this is a game of chess with defined moves and agreed-upon stakes.

Somehow I think the Ayman Al-Zawahiris, the Ahmadinejads, and Hugo Chavez's of the world will quickly come up with and lob another baseless charge claiming that the wrongs of Montgomery and Selma are far from exorcised. I'd bet the Louis Farrakhans of the world wouldn't disagree.

[Steve19]

The story is gaining traction. There was quite a discussion on al-Jazeera about it yesterday in relation to the attacks in Mumbai.

[Bleed S & G]

A guy who works in our office just told me that California is NOT giving Obama there electoral votes until he comes clean with his birth certificate.. any truth?

[sandgk]

Originally Posted by Bleed S & G

A guy who works in our office just told me that California is NOT giving Obama there electoral votes until he comes clean with his birth certificate.. any truth?

Any truth to California withholding the electoral votes? No.

I suspect this is connected to the Alan Keyes case filed with such a premise.

It is not the position of the State of California at all, and the only issue precluding rapid certification of the results in CA is that the State is, well, large, and they are still counting votes. The outcome there isn't in doubt. But, to the point you raise - here is the Honolulu Advertiser article on the case.

(Keyes filed suit in many States - presumably including the State of Denial, and the State of Total Inebriation).

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by buckeyefool

Completely off subject, but has anyone before had a sign they put on their podium that says The Office of the President Elect? I don't ever remember seeing that before with any other president elect.

I was mentioning that to a co-worker this morning. What ... the ... [censored]? Hey, Phi Slama Obama, there is no "Office of the President Elect".

Homey ain't [censored] until he takes the pledge...

[generaladm]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

I was mentioning that to a co-worker this morning. What ... the ... [censored]? Hey, Phi Slama Obama, there is no "Office of the President Elect".

Homey ain't [censored] until he takes the pledge...

There most certainly has been an "Office of the President Elect" and an "Office of the Vice President Elect" since the "Presidential Transition Act of 1963". Each is supplied with a budget for office space, staff payroll, and operating expenses from the federal budget. All staff members of the two entities are considered federal employees.

GSA - Presidential Transition Act of 1963

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by generaladm

There most certainly has been an "Office of the President Elect" and an "Office of the Vice President Elect" since the "Presidential Transition Act of 1963". Each is supplied with a budget for office space, staff payroll, and operating expenses from the federal budget. All staff members of the two entities are considered federal employees.

GSA - Presidential Transition Act of 1963

Wrong. Read your link again. Although the president-elect and vice-president-elect have been supported in their tranisition to elected office since implementation of the PTA, there is no "Office of the President Elect". Even Obama himself admitted it's not an official office. No one had ever used that term/title until now.

[Gatorubet]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Wrong. Read your link again. Although the president-elect and vice-president-elect have been supported in their tranisition to elected office since implementation of the PTA, there is no "Office of the President Elect". Even Obama himself admitted it's not an official office. No one had ever used that term/title until now.

So you're saying he doesn't have an office?

Anyway, is it his fault the other guy quit early?

[generaladm]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Wrong. Read your link again. Although the president-elect and vice-president-elect have been supported in their tranisition to elected office since implementation of the PTA, there is no "Office of the President Elect". Even Obama himself admitted it's not an official office. No one had ever used that term/title until now.

So, is he supposed to use his old stationery and just cross out "United States Senator"? I'll agree with you that the "OPE" is not an official governmental position, as there is no oath taken, but to refer to the "OPE" is not something that did not exist before Obama. Stephanopolous confirmed he used the term during the transition period in 92. I don't recall previous PEs having a sign on the podium facade for press conferences, but I also can't recall a time when the transition of office was considered this important. In the end, what he had on the podium won't be remembered a year from now. This is reminiscent of people searching thru every Obama photo to find one of him without a flag pin, a non issue.

[sandgk]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Wrong. Read your link again. Although the president-elect and vice-president-elect have been supported in their tranisition to elected office since implementation of the PTA, there is no "Office of the President Elect". Even Obama himself admitted it's not an official office. No one had ever used that term/title until now.

To quote a fictional Government Official (Independence Day) -

NIMZIKI
Uh, excuse me, Mr. President, but
that's not entirely accurate

In fact, Richard Nixon used it first - nearly forty years ago.



Notably, this letter to a famous supporter is dated December 10th, 1968, fully 6 days before the electors met that year.

(Electors meet on the first Monday following the second Wednesday in December of the election year).

[Gatorubet]

Originally Posted by sandgk

In fact, Richard Nixon used it first - nearly forty years ago.



Notably, this letter to a famous supporter is dated December 10th, 1968, fully 6 days before the electors met that year.

Entirely different......

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by sandgk

To quote a fictional Government Official (Independence Day) -


In fact, Richard Nixon used it first - nearly forty years ago.



Notably, this letter to a famous supporter is dated December 10th, 1968, fully 6 days before the electors met that year.

(Electors meet on the first Monday following the second Wednesday in December of the election year).

So, if I gin up some Ohio State stationary with the letterhead "Executive Assistant for Recruiting", I can get an office next to Tressel's?

Bottom line is that there is no such official entity as "The Office of the President-Elect".

[sandgk]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

So, if I gin up some Ohio State stationary with the letterhead "Executive Assistant for Recruiting", I can get an office next to Tressel's?

That isn't really even a close parallel, is it?

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Bottom line is that there is no such official entity as "The Office of the President-Elect".

Well, of course there is.

First - there is the neat circular argument:
There is a President-Elect, who has an office and thus there is an office, which the President-Elect occupies, which is the office of the President-Elect.

Then there is what right-wing pundits are pounding since 11/7 - that there is no elected office of "The President-Elect".

What seems to have some like Malkin et al all riled up is that he uses proper capitalization on the words "Office" and "President-Elect." Now, when you boil it all down, it is truly meaningless hot-air on her part. She along with others, conflates the lack of any official (in the Constitution) elected office of "The President-Elect" with what has been, in all transitions save this one, an accepted honorary title for a quasi-governmental office which facilitates the smooth transition from one Presidency to another.

True, it is ostentatious for Obama to put it on a placard in front of the podium, but Presidents-Elect Republican and Democrat alike have used the term for decades. Not just Nixon, for example.

Patrick adds: "The Office of the President-elect comes from the Presidential Transition Act of 1963. Stephanopoulos signed letters back in 1992 from the ?Office of the President-elect."

So, there is clear precedent for the use of the term "Office of the President-Elect" whether or not you or I believe it to be real - which in truth, as a matter of written fact, it is.

BTW, Bush 43 also used the title - though for fewer days, for obvious reasons.

[Gatorubet]

Honestly, there is a power vacuum in the Oval Office. We are in an extraordinary precarious time. With the economy tanking, the war on terror still at max, and the country needing there to be a seamless transition, he apparently decided to take the established title of TPE one step further and add a seal to the existing Office of the President Elect.

When an Obama hater like Lou Dobbs is giving Obama points for trying to fill the power gap left by the current office holder's decision to ramp down his involvement and mentally get back to brush cutting a few months early, it becomes more a choice between being criticized for being ostentatious versus setting a tone that a firm hand is on the tiller waiting to take charge of the economy. The market is one place where perception becomes reality. If he is thought to be weak and indecisive, it can cost our economy. I am happy he chose to try and enhance his prestige as a take charge guy during these troubling times.

If I was an anti-Obama guy, then I'd look for reasons to pot shot him. But the trouble is, our problems are such that the need to back our President is more pressing now than at any time. He has displayed a willingness not to be vindictive (see Lieberman and Clinton) and not to be a liberal ideologue (see keeping Gates). I just don't see the criticism as anything more than sour grapes. But I could be wrong and seeing this through my partisan glasses.