WHO'S MINDING THE STORE?

A massive rift in the way the US political system functions in the 21st century has finally been revealed. Maybe the fact that the country remained effectively leaderless for some two and a half months following a presidential election didn’t matter in the days of stage coach, railroad and the telegraph, but, in the brave new electronic century, when every nano-second counts, a superpower cannot simply drift on the tide of events with no one minding the store. With two more weeks still to go before Barack Obama is inaugurated, we have already seen the militantly lame duck Bush administration do everything it can to booby trap the future with their legislative scorched earth tactics, seven hundred billion dollars of public money has been effectively disappeared into the banking system, while the global economy still spins to perdition, and now Israel using this weird post-election dead zone to go a-howling into Gaza with artillery blazing. And few days still remain in which Dick Cheney can destroy the planet.
How is it we never noticed this before? The answer is that 2008/9 is the first smooth transfer of presidential power in the 21st century. In 2000/1, the hung election and the Florida recount filled up the dead air between November and January as they went all the way to the Supreme Court. In 2004/5, of course, Kerry failed to unseat Bush and no power was transferred. This is the first time the world and the White House has had the full chance to do their worst.
Can this be rectified? Who the hell knows apart from a handful of constitutional scholars. But obviously something needs to be done or everyone from the Taliban to the Somali pirates will be well aware that when America changes presidents there’s a seventy-five day window to wreak all manner of havoc. (Or maybe it doesn’t matter because capitalism has collapsed already, but is too dumb to lay down.)