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
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4th, 1961

“Barack” means “one who is blessed” in Swahili.

On his high school basketball team, he earned the nickname
the “O’bomber”.

He’s 54 years old.

Graduated from Colombia University & Harvard Law School

Worked in Chicago as a community organizer before he
finished Law School.

Worked as a civil rights lawyer in Chicago as well.

Taught a “Constitutional Law” class at the University of
Chicago from 1992-2004.
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
Served 3 terms in the Illinois Senate.

Favorite music: Bob Dylan & Miles Davis

Favorite food that he cooks: Chili

Doesn’t drink coffee, rarely drinks alcohol.

Bad Habit: Constantly checking his BlackBerry.

He has read all 7 Harry Potter books.

When he lived in Indonesia, he had a pet ape
named Tata.
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Obama After One Year: The Loneliest Job
Read & Answer the following questions in the blanks provided
1.) According to the article, what do you think is difficult about being
President?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________.
2.) It’s been about 6 years since President Obama has been in office.
How do you think he has done? Has your opinion changed of him?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________.
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 According
to the Constitution:
• Natural born citizen in the U.S.
• Be at least 35 years old
• Have been a resident within the United
States for 14 years.
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A
Presidential Term lasts 4 years – and each
President may serve for 2 terms.
• Typically the longest a President can serve is 8 years.
• However…if a VP must step in & become President
mid-term (for 2 years), he may still run for the
additional terms remaining. This means we could
have a President potentially serve for 10 years.
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 Up
until 1951, the Constitution placed no
limit on the number of terms a President
may serve.
 FDR
 In
served as President from 1933-1945.
1951, the Constitution was amended for
the 22nd Amendment limiting Presidential
terms.
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Some
argue we should
abolish term limits. Why? Why
not?
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
The President of the United States is known as the “Leader of the Free
World”.

The President simultaneously fills 8 different roles:
• Chief of State
• Chief Executive
• Chief Administrator
• Chief Diplomat
• Commander in Chief
• Chief Legislator
• Chief of Party 
• Chief Citizen
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 This
means the President is the ceremonial
head of the government of the United States,
the symbol of all people of the nation.
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
This means the President is vested by the Constitution with
“the executive power” of the U.S.
• “The most powerful office in the world”.
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 This
means the President is the director of the
entire executive branch of the Federal
Government.
• Under President Obama, there has been an increase in
federal employees (Dept. of Homeland Security/Dept.
of Justice/etc.)
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
This means the President is the main architect of U.S. foreign policy
& the nation’s chief spokesperson to the rest of the world.
• Ex: Taking trips around the world and meeting fellow presidents
or prime ministers, making speeches abroad.
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
This means the President is control of the nation’s military.
• According to President Bush’s book, aspect of the job was his favorite.
• The President in charge of the Army, Navy, Air Force, etc.
• Makes the ultimate decision on going to war, with Congress having to pass an
official declaration.
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
This means the President is the main architect of its public
policies.
• The President sets the Congressional agenda.
• Ex: Healthcare Reform
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 This
means the President is the
acknowledged leader of his political party.
• Ex: President Obama and the Democrats
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
This means the President is expected to be the “the representative
of all the people”.
• He’s expected to work for and represent the public interest.
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 They’re
 The
all connected.
decisions the President makes as one
role affects all the other roles.
 For
example, the decisions President Obama
has made as the Chief Legislator has affected
his role as the Chief of the Party.
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 Congress
determines the President’s salary.
• The salary cannot be changed during a President’s
term.
Date
Salary
Salary in 2009 dollars
1789
$25,000
$566,000
1873
$50,000
$865,000
1909
$75,000
$1,714,000
1949
$100,000
$906,000
1969
$200,000
$1,175,000
2001
$400,000
$487,000
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 In
addition to the $400,000 yearly salary:
• $50,000 expense account
• $100,000 nontaxable travel account
• $19,000 for entertainment
 Government
pays for state dinners and
official functions, but the president must pay
for food that he, his family, and personal
guests consume.
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
Presidential Succession: The scheme by which a
presidential vacancy is filled.

Article II is vague regarding Presidential
succession…does not explicitly state whether the V.P. is
an “Acting President” as opposed to a “true” President.
• Tyler Precedent
• 25th Amendment deals with Presidential and Vice Presidential
Succession.
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1
Vice President of the
United States
Joe Biden (D)
2
Speaker of the House
Paul Ryan (R)
3
President pro tempore
Orrin Hatch (R)
of the Senate
4
Secretary of State
John Kerry (D)
5
Secretary of the
Treasury
Jack Lew (D)
6
Secretary of Defense
Ash Carter (D)
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Attorney General
Loretta Lynch (D)
—
Secretary of the
Interior
Sally Jewell (D)[a]
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Secretary of
Agriculture
Tom Vilsack (D)
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Secretary of
Commerce
Penny Pritzker (D)
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Secretary of Labor
Thomas Perez (D)
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Secretary of Health
and Human Services
Sylvia Mathews
Burwell (D)
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Secretary of Housing
and Urban
Development
Julián Castro (D)
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Secretary of
Transportation
Anthony Foxx (D)
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Secretary of Energy
Ernest Moniz (D)
—
Acting Secretary of
Education
John King, Jr. (D)[b]
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Secretary of Veterans
Affairs
Robert McDonald (R)
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Secretary of
Homeland Security
Jeh Johnson (D)
1.Jump up^
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
Congress fixes the order of succession
following the V.P.
 What
about Presidential disability?
• President can transfer power in cases of disability,
even temporarily.
 In 2002, President Bush had surgery for 2 hours. For these 2
hours, Bush transferred his power to V.P. Dick Cheney.
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• “I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I may be
everything.” – John Adams, 1st VP
• “The most insignificant office that ever the invention of man
contrived or his imagination conceived.” John Adams
• “Honorable and easy” , and “tranquil and unoffending”.
Thomas Jefferson
• Through much of history, the VP has been treated as an office
of little importance.
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
President Theodore Roosevelt was annoyed by a
chandelier making a tinkling noise. He ordered it to
be removed and said:
• “Take it to the office of the Vice President. He doesn’t
have anything to do. It will keep him awake.”

Yet, the VP is a heartbeat away from becoming the
President of the U.S. (8 Presidents have died in office. 1
President has resigned).
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 Usually, the
presidential candidate picks
someone who will balance the ticket –
which means someone who can strengthen
his chance of being elected by virtue of
certain ideological, geographic, racial,
ethnic, gender, or other characteristics.
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 Remember, parties
have committees and
convention to nominate their candidate for
President.
 How
does this process begin?
• Presidential Primary – An election in which a
party’s voters choose their preference among
various contenders for their party’s presidential
nomination
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 Iowa
held the first primary this
 N.H. holds
the first primary of any state every
election year, in January.
• The N.H. primaries are early indicator of success – so
candidates spend a lot of time and money there.
• Romney won the 2012 N.H. Primary.
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 Not
all states have primaries, they use a
“caucus-convention” process.
• Iowa’s caucus gets the most attention, as it is the first
of all caucuses.
 Iowa
Caucus in 1 Minute
 Iowa
Caucus: Explain Using Corn
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 Founding
Fathers gave more time to the
method for choosing the President than to any
other matter.
• Against the two obvious ways: Electing the President
by Congress or Electing the President by a direct vote
of the people.
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 Too

political.
Hamilton said that to elect by way of
Congress would be “too much under the
legislative thumb.”
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 At
the time, the process would lead to “tumult
and disorder”.
 At
the time, people were scattered over so
wide an area they couldn’t know enough
about the available candidates to make
informed choices.
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
Electoral College is the group of people
(electors) chosen from each State and D.C. to
formally select the President & V.P.
 They
case their Electoral Votes, which are votes
cast by electors in the electoral college.
 Total
of 538 votes.
 270 are needed to win.
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• Representatives + Senators = # of
Electoral Votes
• Virginia: 11 Representatives + 2
Senators = 13 Electoral Votes
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(The purple hands represent a visit by a
presidential campaign as the election
was nearing its end.)
(Each green money sign represents 1
million dollars of campaign money spent
as the election was nearing its end.)
- Why do you think both presidential
campaigns were targeting these
states?
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 Elections
of 1876, 1888, & 2000 the winner of the
election did not win the national popular vote, yet
still won the presidency.
 If
a presidential candidate can win these 11 states:
CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PA, OH, MI, GA, NJ, and NC….then
he/she will win the Presidency, despite losing the
other 39 states.
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 The
Electoral College does have some positives:
 Example of federalism – An idea our country
was founded on. Gives the States a voice.
 Prevents urban-centric victories : This means
a President winning by simply winning
heavily populated areas.
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
President must balance many different roles and jobs.

Though the V.P. is thought to be somewhat useless, the
V.P. is a heartbeat away from being the President.

The way we nominate and elect our President is
rather complex.

Major controversy of this unit: The Electoral College.
Is it fair?
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