Sometime between now and January 20, even the lame-duck Bush administration may conclude that a deteriorating economic situation needs extreme measures--such as an immediate transfer of power to the president elect. This is very simple under the U.S. Constitution's 25th Amendment:
Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
and can be done in a day if Congress is in session:
9am: Vice-President Cheney resigns.
10am: President Bush appoints Barack Obama as the new Vice.
11am: House and Senate concur.
12noon: President Bush resigns.
1pm: VP Obama sworn in as the 44th President of the US.
2pm: President Obama appoints Joseph Biden as the new VP.
3pm: Congress concurs.
4pm: Obama cabinet appointments announced, sent to Senate.
Even if the Bush policies were the same as Obama's, this early transfer of power would resolve the lame-duck period's serious problem, much exaggerated during a crisis: that the incumbent in a negotiation cannot make follow-through commitments.
At some point, the financial community might lean hard on Bush to make such a confidence building move--as the psychology of it might just turn around the markets.
--William H. Calvin, Seattle