“The reason that the press (sycophantic or otherwise) is using the term “President-elect Obama” is because, like it or not, that is what he is.”
No, actually until the Congress counts the electoral votes in January it is merely presumed that Obama will become President-elect. But he is not that yet.
And yet he and pretty much every person who has ever been elected to the office has been called 'president-elect' from the moment popular votes have been counted. Yeah, "presumptive president-elect" would be a better descriptor, but my point is that we cannot pin the mistaken use of the term on David Axelrod.