Desperate Times Call for Jump Starting Next Presidency

In the current economic morass, the US cannot afford to wait 9 weeks to install the new president after he is elected in November, Richard Tedlow and David Ruben write in the Boston Globe. But wait—doesn’t the Constitution dictate the date of the inauguration? “Changing that would take years, not days,” write the two Harvard profs. “But there is a way out…”

With the “feckless, lame-duck” Bushies unable to deal, Dick Cheney should step down after the election, to be replaced by presidential fiat with the winning candidate; then, Bush steps down, Barack Obama (or John McCain) is president, and he appoints Joe Biden (or Sarah Palin) as VP. “The new administration would be in place, on the job, and ready to tackle the economic crisis—in November, not January.” Simple, right? (More Election 2008 stories.)