doctor who "the sound of drums"

[fox]

It will surprise no one who knows me to learn that my favorite bit of this episode was not "Are you asking me on a date?", nor "You too, huh.", but the careful point they made about the definition of "decimate".  Heh.

Talking of semantics, though, I'm thinking about the POTUS character.  He was certainly presented as though he were the President of the United States; in the third person he's called "President Winters" and in the second person he's called "Mr. President".  But then he introduces himself to the Imperial probe droids alien bot things as president-elect.  I suspect this may have something to do with whether it's acceptable (to the BBC, I suppose, because at this point they don't care about the FCC, do they) to have the president disintegrated on television, even in such an obviously fictitious and fantastical situation.  I can't believe it's because Rusty and his team of writers, editors, directors, producers, etc. etc. etc. don't know what "president-elect" means.

But I'm not actually interested (much) in why they switch from "president" to "president-elect".  I'm interested (mostly) in the fact that the Master says to Mrs. Master, "The last President of America".  (I'm also not interested in "America" vs. "the United States" here.)  Because if the fellow is in fact the president-elect, then of course he's not the last president of the United States, because he's not president yet when he dies.  And if he really is the president, then he's not the last president, because the whole world just saw him get blasted on television; the vice president would be sworn in approximately seventy-five seconds later, no?  In fact the VP becomes acting president the moment the president is dead, doesn't he?  Which is among the reasons they inaugurate the vice president first?  In short, not the last president, no matter which way you slice him it.  I'm just sayin.