Mr. President
A tough job but the perks are mighty fine
Power of the President
◦Commander in Chief
Wars Powers Act◦Must consult Congress
◦Report within 48 hours
◦Not more than 60 days
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Grant PardonsBush pardons
Clinton pardons
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Receive ambassadors
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Sometimes they just annoy World leaders
Execute laws
 Open to interpretation- G. Bush used
signing statements to circumvent this
responsibility:
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Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2863, the "Department of
Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address
Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act,
2006." The Act provides resources needed to fight the war on
terror, help citizens of the Gulf States recover from devastating
hurricanes, and protect Americans from a potential influenza
pandemic.
 Sections 8007, 8011, and 8093 of the Act prohibit the use
of funds to initiate a special access program, a new
overseas installation, or a new start program, unless the
congressional defense committees receive advance notice.
The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that the
President's authority to classify and control access to information
bearing on the national security flows from the Constitution and
does not depend upon a legislative grant of authority. ..The
executive branch shall construe these sections in a manner
consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.
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Washington Post Headline: Senate Supports
Interrogation Limits- Bipartisan rebuff of White
House
Bush statement- Today, I have signed into law
H.R. 3199, the ``USA PATRIOT Improvement
and Reauthorization Act of 2005,'' The bills will
help us continue to fight terrorism effectively The
executive branch shall construe the provisions of
H.R. 3199 that call for furnishing information to
entities outside the executive branch, in a
manner consistent with the President's
constitutional authority to supervise the unitary
executive branch and to withhold information
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Appoint officials:
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Supreme Court Justices
Lower court judge
Ambassadors
Cabinet members
◦ Process becoming more difficult:
Pres Bush nominated 39 people for 27different
judgeships that were blocked by filibuster
Bork: “The process is no longer controlled by the
Senate…controlled by well-endowed constituency
groups
 Make
treaties:
◦ 2nd treaty of Versailles- Ends WWI
◦ North Atlantic Treaty- Established
NATO
◦ NAFTA
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Approve or veto legislation
Vetoes:
Bush-12
FDR- 635
Reagan- 78
Washington-2
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The President has tools:
1. the Constitution
2. Good will (interpersonal skills)
3. Personal popularity
4. Willingness to act
5. Executive order- Oh man!
Examples:
FDR-internment of Japanese-Americans after
the attack on Pearl Harbor
 Truman -integration of the armed forces
 Eisenhower-integrate the nation's schools.
Article II sec 1:
"The executive power shall be vested in a
president of the United States of America…."
Article II, section 3:
"The President shall take care that the laws be
faithfully executed”
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Executive order- is this OK?
Presidentialist- More common since FDRbelief in active government- Policy maker
not just executor of laws
 Congressionalist- “ Faithfully execute the
laws”. A much more conservative
approach. LBJ said it is not enough, pres
must build coalitions, legislate
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Using power
T. Roosevelt:“the executive power was
limited only by specific restrictions and
prohibitions appearing in the Constitution
or imposed by Congress “…bound actively
and affirmatively to do all he could for the
people and not content himself with the
negative merit of keeping his talents
undamaged in a napkin.
Which is he?
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Taft:”The president can exercise no power
which cannot be fairly and reasonably
traced to some specific grant of power or
justly implied and included within such
express grant as proper and necessary to
its exercise. Such specific grant must be
either in the federal Constitution or in an
act of Congress passed in pursuance
thereof. “
 Which is he?
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Richard Neustadt’s famous essay:
1. Power is the ability to persuade and
bargain
 2. Power is dispersed in the political
system- president can not command
things and expect results
 3. the other institutions have their own
constituencies and sources of power
 President needs cooperation of others, he
must meet their interests too
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Presidential Power
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1. Washington DC, the political leaders- must
command respect- The Johnson Treatment
◦ Its tone could be supplication, accusation, cajolery,
exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint, the hint of
threat. It was all of these together. It ran the
gamut of human emotions. Its velocity was
breathtaking, and it was all in one direction.
Interjections from the target were rare. Johnson
anticipated them before they could be spoken. He
moved in close, his face a scant millimeter from his
target, his eyes widening and narrowing, his
eyebrows rising and falling. From his pockets
poured clippings, memos, statistics. Mimicry,
humor, and genius of analogy made The Treatment
an almost hypnotic experience and rendered the
target stunned and helpless.
Three audiences
2. Party activists- exemplify party
principles/carry out slogans/ be
ideological- This can be a problemremember that “hope and change guy”?
-"I want to be realistic here. Not everything
that we talked about during the campaign
are we going to be able to do on the pace
that we had hoped."
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3. The public- many different publicsPresidents give fewer impromptu
speeches want to control the message.
Bush was great at it-Obama not so much
So who helps this poor guy?
Cabinet- Not part of Constitution. Grew
over time. First cabinet, Sec of war, Sec of
Treasury,
State & Atty General
Cabinet grows:
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Cabinet once met regularly with
President. Not so much now. This is really
just a photo op:
Cabinet has never been a good tool for
sharing ideas with President.
 Natural conflict- they serve at the
pleasure of POTUS but have own agendas
as the represent their agencies interests.
They represent dept to President instead
of President to dept.
 President has little control of departments
as he appoints just a few members of
each. Most are career bureaucrats.
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White House Staff has real power
◦ 1. Rule of propinquity- Power is in the hands of
those that are in room when a decision is
made.
◦ 2. 100’s on staff/ powerful when close to
president
◦ President sometimes can’t control them either
(Watergate, Iran/Contra). Huge workload
allows staff to act independently
Who else then?
MYTH
REALITY
Small
Large
Anonymous
out frontHalderman, Regan,
Stephanopolus, Rove
Honest brokers
Decision makers- sometimes
against what is best for PresWatergate
Staff myth vs reality
Well do you love me?
•Typically
public support is needed
•Instant polls provide info for better
or worse
•Public expects the good, blames for
the bad
• Time hurts most Presidents
Make me a star
 Approval
ratings rise:
◦ 1. Good economy
◦ 2. National appearances
◦ 3. Short successful wars ( Mission
accomplished)
◦ 4. Diplomatic breakthroughs
◦ 5. Control of the message
Never speak off the cuff…never
But still:
It aint easy:
 No president has ever received over 50%
of the vote of all eligible voters. LBJ at
40% in 1964 was the closest.
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Popularity and legislation
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Getting your agenda passed
President
year
Eisenhower
1953
69.3
89.2
1959
54.6
69.2
1969
61.4
74.8
1973
25.9
59.6
1981
57.0
82.3
1987
48.0
43.5
Nixon
Reagan
popularity % Bills
approved
“Sir, I’ve got bad news and bad
news”
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Agenda also hurt by the unexpected
crisis:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Nixon – Watergate
Carter- Iran hostages
Reagan- Iran/Contra
Clinton- Monica
President and coattails
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Nope!
Coattails after all???
Success of party in mid terms often ties to
presidents approval ratings:
Examples:
President
approval
rating
Loss/gain
Nixon 1974
24%
-48
Bush 2002
71%
+8
Selection system
Time period
Features
Original
1788-1828
Congressional
caucus chooses
nominee, Elec College
acts independently
Party convention
1832-1900
Nominees chosen at
party convention, EC
casts votes with pop
vote winner in states
Party
convention/primary
1904-1968
Like previous but
SOME delegates
chosen through
primary election
Party primary,
caucus
1972-present
Like previous but a
MAJORITY of
delegates via primary
and caucus
The chosen
The Men We Chose
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Do we ask too much of presidents
(Burt Solomon):
1. Higher expectations
2. Must be all things to all people
3. Must be an everyman, a star but one of
us
4. Telegenic, smart, pristine
5. Mobilize unwieldy coalitions
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Why Great men Are Not Chosen (James Bryce):
1. Great men don’t seek it because:
◦ The role of Congress inhibits great men
◦ Great men take chances, step on toes,
create enemies- The party takes the
path of least resistance.
◦ Consequently we gets candidates who
don’t quite exhibit greatness…..
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Like this:
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Or this:
Or even this