Is the president elected by the electoral college, or a direct vote of the citizens.

Answer 1

Read Article II Section 1:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleii.html#section1

Answer 2

http://politicom.moldova.org/news/electoral-college-obama-365-mccain-173-175422-eng.html

The formal and official election of Obama was just over a week ago