There is a vacuum in the White House. There is no President running the country, and nobody seems to have noticed. Oh, sure, Barack Obama is still living there, albeit packing up boxes (figuratively) of souvenirs and framed photographs of famous people, but he isn't actually DOING anything. There are a few Presidential Decrees that have been issued; a last minute chance to leave his mark on the nation while there is no real Congress to stymie the final Public Relations gestures, but these have been on ice for the better part of his second term and are now being rolled out like a pre-recorded Last Will and Testament that everyone has to listen to even though they know the speaker is dead, and all the money is being left to the cat.
You see, once Donald Trump was pronounced victor at the November election, Obama became a care-taker living in a big house. He cannot make material changes to policy, or influence the direction of the nation any more, because the machinery of Government is gearing up for the new Administration.
Donald Trump is now receiving the same daily Security briefings as Obama. Trump is being educated on the United States' position in relation to other World Powers, and possible future scenarios involving those nations. In effect, Obama is powerless unless a major crisis occurs involving National Security, Fiscal meltdown, or something similar.
On the other hand, Donald Trump is being schooled in Presidential Etiquette, names of Heads of State, how the Secret Service, FBI, and other arms of Government operate, as well as the aforementioned Security updates. But Trump has no real power. Until he takes the Oath of Office, and signs on the dotted line, (what is that thing they sign? I think it's a three year lease on the White House...) he cannot wield power in any real form apart from using the potential influence that his impending appointment gives him. He is, in effect, a private citizen who has accepted a massive promotion in the biggest company on the planet, but has to wait until the previous job-holder hits 65 and retires.
So, we have an existing President who has the power but can't use it, waiting to hand over to an incoming President who wants the power, but can't have it yet. So who is making the decisions? Well the same machine that runs the country on every other day of a Presidential Term; The Bureaucracy.
These are the ones that make the little decisions that keep the United States of America heading down the Road to the Future... whatever that Future may be.
That brings me to my real point in this diatribe...It doesn't matter who gets elected, nothing changes. The interim between Presidents is the clearest example of how little influence really resides in the Oval Office. If a country of 320 million people can exist for three months with two titular Presidents, neither of whom can make or influence policy, then why not for the rest of the year?
Of course it's not that simple. The President has the power of veto over Congress, and he can introduce Bills and formulate Policy, but a veto makes headlines in the news, and how many Bills and Policies are buried, diluted or defeated by the Congress, or poorly enacted by the Civil Service?
Finally, in the few weeks since his election, we have watched President-Elect Trump back down over the Mexico Border wall, Deportation of illegal immigrants, and a softening of his hard line with the Republican Party that isolated and disowned his Campaign. Already Trump is being transformed into ever other U.S. President, his edges are blurring, his stance is softening and he is becoming equivocal in his political alliances. Soon Donald Trump will be like every other President in modern times; generic and interchangeable....and the Machine of Government will continue on its way... only the hair colour will change...
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