The unflattering descriptor alludes to the senators and representatives who have lost reelection or whose terms are almost up but can still help make laws for a few more weeks. Is true of both Democrats and Republicans.Post-general election meetings of Congress, which have become routine in recent decades, are commonly known as “lame-duck” sessions. The Republicans right to call Obama a lame duck? Their use of the term departsįrom the dictionary definition, but politicians frequently define words in Reason, he suggested, was that President Obama is now a lame duck. Would refuse to hold hearings on any nominee President Obama submitted to the Within hours Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell announced that he In the wake of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in FebruaryĢ016. Their most energetic use of the phrase came Have tried to stigmatize Obama as a lame duck to curb his power. Major agreements on trade and climate change. International Service at American University, recently told Politico Magazine that Obama’s final year willīe remembered for building relations with Cuba, the nuclear deal with Iran, and Ways his final year is proving to be one of his most consequential. Most presidents usually find it difficult to rack up accomplishments in theirįinal year in office, President Obama has been successful in doing so. We've been flapping our wings a lot over that year and a President Obama, speaking at a Democratic National Committeeįundraiser in Chicago, said, “About a year and a half ago, people we're saying This is what Republicans have been doing in Barack Obama's final years in office, much to the administration’s frustration. Their political opponents, of course, have sought to shape the perception that they were. Since then all presidents in their second term, both Republican and Democratic, have worked hard to demonstrate that though they might not be eligible for a third term they were by no means lame. So we were back to where we started after George Washington. Republicans afterwards proposed an amendment to the Constitution to limit presidents to two terms. Then Democrat Franklin Roosevelt shattered the two-term tradition by running for a third and then a fourth term. The two-term tradition established by George Washington affected the perception that all presidents in their second term were, in effect, lame ducks, because they weren't expected to run for re-election. The amendment moved up the inauguration date expressly to shorten the period when the incumbent was serving as a lame duck. Until the 20th Amendment to the Constitution (1933) inauguration day took place on March 4. Using this definition, a president is only a lame duck for a little over two months, from the election in November until January 20, when the president is inaugurated. Second term president, not a lame duck, according to this definition. Jordan Weissmann, senior business and economics correspondent for Slate, has said that Obama is currently a Would also mean President Obama is not technically a lame duck until November 8,Ģ016. Period between the election and the inauguration of a successor.” Thisĭefinition is generally referred to as the original meaning of the term and “an elected official or group continuing to hold political office during the As weĪpproach Election Day this November, the spike in interest has quickly With presidential and legislative elections in the United States. In search interest for the term, “lame duck.” These surges of interest coincide To Google Trends every two years there is a surge

Lame duck president definition