the.com/lame duck
all the title, none of the leverage — everyone's already texting your successor.
means an officeholder serving out remaining time after a successor is elected or announced, with diminished power to act.
from 18th-century london stock exchange slang for a broker who defaulted on debts and waddled out unable to pay — by the 1860s americans applied it to politicians voted out but still in office until inauguration day.
us origin20th amendment of 1933 shortened the lame-duck period.
before 1933outgoing congress sat idle for 13 months.
animal logica lame duck can't keep up with the flock.
for instance
buchanan 1860-61 — watched the union collapse while doing nothing to stop it.
obama 2016 — pushed merrick garland nomination that senate simply refused to touch.
japan pms — often resign mid-term, spending final months as caretakers.