I hate to give anyone any ideas, but early November would be the perfect time to pull something like this.
Obama has already sown so much division that it would hamper our ability to respond even without the communications breakdown that would ensue.
But on top of that, we have two presidential candidates that would likely go in completely different directions on most issues and (if the polls are to be believed) neck and neck for the election to POTUS.
So you’d have a situation with a lamest of lame duck, a damaged infrastructure, and no clear leader able to take over. If Obama tried to stick around, it would be almost as bad as if either Trump or Clinton tried to assert themselves as the rightful new President. Without an election, no one could take the reigns with any degree of effectiveness. It’s almost a perfect storm of chaos.
And that doesn’t even begin to consider the issues with the military thanks to King O.
We held elections during the Civil War with no electronic infrastructure. We held elections during WWI with limited infrastructure. It took longer to get the results, but they were obtained and the elections were accepted.
The thing now, is so many people are so soft and so dependent upon electricity. Focus would be on heat, water, sewage, food distribution and medical facilities, not an election. Few would care who was POTUS if they were freezing and starving in the dark without medical facilities. We have a couple of generations who would melt down without instantaneous communication.
OTOH, we had Brit and German forces helping out over NYC after 9/11. I can’t believe the Anglosphere and what passes for the remnant of the free world wouldn’t come to the aid of the USA, even w/o invoking NATO.
We also have a strong prepper population and there are still pockets of old-fashioned can-do attitude. I read “One Second After” and I think today it might be a bit better than folks thought when it was written. My area just experienced unusually heavy rain in a short period. It wasn’t enough to trigger FEMA, which happened about 7-8 years ago from severe flooding, but people were quietly out checking on neighbors and helping where they could. Same thing happens when someone has a catastrophic fire. In an EMP, we’d see a lot of tractors on the roads. They’re slow and eat diesel, but combined with horses and old vehicles (both in good supply around here)people would organize in relays and get stuff and casualties moved.
There would be tragedies and some would seek advantage, but others would stand together in the breach. Over all, I think we’d survive. Americans as a whole don’t wait to be told how to respond, we just do it.
I won’t tempt fate and say “bring it”, but I don’t think it would be the end of America.