Glossary on the Republic

Lame duck

Union

Before it meant a fading politician, a lame duck was a bankrupt trader waddling out of the London Stock Exchange in disgrace.

The phrase was born in finance, not politics. As early as the 1760s, traders on the London Stock Exchange used lame duck for someone who had defaulted on his debts. The image was of a broker unable to pay, waddling out of Exchange Alley like a wounded bird that cannot keep up with the flock.

It crossed the Atlantic and landed on American politics by the 1830s, replacing the even harsher dead duck. A lame duck became an official who had lost an election or was leaving office, but who still held the job for the remaining weeks or months, his power draining away by the day.

The American calendar made the problem worse. For most of the nation's history, defeated officials lingered in office for months after the November vote. That long, awkward stretch of waning authority became so notorious that it drove a constitutional fix.

The Twentieth Amendment, ratified in 1933, is literally nicknamed the Lame Duck Amendment. It moved the start of presidential and congressional terms earlier, shrinking the dead time between the election and the handover of power.

Origin

From 1760s London Stock Exchange slang for a trader who defaulted on his debts.

Why it matters

A lame duck still has every formal power of the office, which makes the period strange. Freed from facing voters again, an outgoing official can act boldly or settle scores, issuing pardons and orders on the way out the door. The bankrupt London trader gave American politics one of its most vivid descriptions of power slipping away.