the tindog coffeehouse

With only a week to go before the 2012 election, the race is effectively a toss-up between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, with the deciding votes likely coming down to a handful of so-called “battleground states”: Ohio, Nevada, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The winner, of course, will be whoever collects a majority of the 538 available electoral votes according to Article II of the Constitution.

The electoral college was devised by the framers of the Constitution as a way to prevent an unpredictable general population from directly voting for the president. Instead, their vote would count as a preference for how their state’s appointed electors should vote (although the electors are not legally bound to abide by those preferences). Such a system seems completely antiquated today, however. We have a much more organized electoral system and better technology, which should in theory reduce fraud. Besides, with many states strongly trending Republican or Democrat, many votes don’t seem to really matter. If you’re a Republican in California or a Democrat in Texas, for example, it seems pointless to vote since the outcome for your state is all but guaranteed. It’s no surprise, then, that in recent years there’s been a greater call to eliminate the electoral college, allowing the winner of the popular vote to be the winner of the election.

But I think you could actually make an argument for keeping the electoral college. Let me explain.

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It’s hard to believe, but it was 10 years ago this week that I first went to work at Microsoft, the ink on my new MCSE certification still fresh. To this day, I’m still not sure how I made it through the rigorous interview process, but somehow I made it on as a “blue-badge” (a full-time Microsoft employee, as opposed to the “orange-badge” contractors that mostly walked through the door), hired to provide professional server support from the still-under-construction Las Colinas campus in Irving, Texas.

I arrived just as Windows 2000 was being released to manufacturing and just in time for Y2K. It was also right before the dot-com bubble burst in early 2000. Indeed, in the two years I worked there, I saw the glory days of the late ’90s — a time when working at Microsoft meant swimming in lucrative company stock options and bonuses and work was something you did between foosball tournaments — give way to the harsh realities of the falling stock market, before regaining a sense of hopeful optimism with the impending release of Windows XP.

It was from my cubicle that I watched the presidential debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore in which Gore touted his infamous “lockbox” and where I watched the ugliness of the 2000 election drag on with all its “hanging chads”. And it was from my cubicle where I witnessed the horror of September 11th. But it was also a place where I made numerous friendships and countless memories.

It was a stressful job, and I can’t say I fully miss it. But I learned more there than I have at any other job I’ve ever had. It provided invaluable experience that I’ve taken with me in the years since leaving, and I’m grateful for the time I was given there.

On June 28, the President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was seized by that country’s military on the orders of the Honduran Congress. Upon being escorted out of the country, he was replaced by the head of the Congress, Roberto Micheletti, who was named interim president until the scheduled election in November.

Zelaya’s removal from office was prompted by his pushing of a referendum which would’ve allowed him to serve a second term in office, something not allowed under Honduras’s constitution. Supporters of the coup argue they were only siding with the rule of law. But the international community, including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Obama administration, have sided with Zelaya, ordering that he be restored to power.

Who’s right?

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Today is the National Day of Prayer, an annual event dating back to 1952, and this year’s observance will be much different than those of the past 8 years. That’s because Barack Obama is now in the White House.

Prior to George W. Bush, most presidents honored the day with proclamations or other low-key events. But President Bush went further during his administration, inviting Christian and Jewish leaders to the White House for a more formal observance. President Obama, however, is not continuing his predecessor’s tradition, instead opting for a proclamation and nothing more.

Does that matter?

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William McGurn writes in the Wall Street Journal that George W. Bush’s greatest failure was his victory in Iraq:

Mr. Bush’s disfavor in Washington owes more to his greatest success. Simply put, there are those who will never forgive Mr. Bush for not losing a war they had all declared unwinnable.

In other words, many people expected Iraq to be a complete and total failure, yet President Bush stubbornly proved them wrong, much to their dismay.

The article goes on to explain how this expectation of defeat is clearly rooted in “Vietnam thinking,” which begs the question: When everything is said and done, how will history ultimately judge the Iraq War?

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Soon-to-be-former-President George W. Bush has signed a 10-year lease on an 8,000 square foot office in North Dallas not far from his new home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood.

Wouldn’t it be weird to see him in the elevator in the morning? Or would he and his Secret Service agents get their own elevator? Yeah, I can see it now. You’re running late for work, trying to catch the elevator doors before they close, and just as you get close, two Secret Service agents pull their guns on you as the 43rd President of the United States waves goodbye. Awkward.

But here’s my complaint. Dubya’s office is about three miles from his home. Three miles! What kind of commute is that?! I don’t think you’re even legally allowed to live in the Metroplex if you don’t sit through at least two traffic jams a day!