Presidential Power

1. Presidential Power • Institutional Sources of Presidential Power • Powers enumerated in Constitution • Behavioral or Individual Sources of Presidential Power • Power of Persuasion- Neustadt • Importance of Personality- Barber • Going Public- Kernell

2. Institutional Sources of Presidential Power • Chief of State (symbolic/ceremonial roles) • Chief Executive (appointment power, control over executive branch/executing laws) • Commander-in-Chief • Chief Diplomat • Chief Legislator (recommending legislation, executive orders, veto/signing legislation)

3. Individual Sources of Presidential Power • Power of Persuasion • Richard Neustadt - Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents • Importance of Personality • James Barber – Presidential Character • “Going Public” • Samuel Kernell – Going Public

4. Neustadt and Presidential Power • Way to persuade is to convince members of Congress that what the W.H. wants of them is what they ought to do for their own sake and on their authority • Power of persuasion is the power to bargain • Key is a bargaining game

5. Neustadt Continued • All of the players have different advantages: • President- status of office, public standing (if high), veto, appointments, budget • Bureaucracy- since also beholden to Congress, will not necessarily go along with what Executive wants • Congress- hold purse strings, approve appointments • Public- only important in approval of President and to prove that the actor cares about an issue

6. Barber – Presidential Character • Personality plays an important role in shaping presidential behavior • Will affect whether president has persuasion powers • Two Important dimensions: • Active/Passive- Energy towards Government or what Government should do • Negative/Positive- How feel about the job

7. Barber - Typology of 4 Types • Active-Positive • High self esteem, oriented towards results, adaptive • Examples- Kennedy, Truman, and FDR • Active-Negative • Intense effort with low emotional reward, motivated by personal ambition- • Examples- Johnson and Nixon

8. Barber - Typology of 4 Types • Passive-Positive • Try to please others, compliant with decisions by others • Example- Reagan • Passive-Negative • Minimal Performance, low self esteem, work out of sense of duty • Example- Washington, Eisenhower? • Where would we place Clinton or George W. Bush?

10. Kernell – Going Public • Definition • Strategy of appealing to the public to get Congress to do what the President Wants • Examples • Clinton and Health Care Reform • George W. Bush and the Homeland Security Bill • Evidence for its Importance • Public addresses, travel, speeches

11. Going Public vs. Bargaining • Why does Going public violate bargaining model? • Rarely includes the kind of exchanges in bargaining theory • No benefits to members from complying with the President- only costs if don’t comply • Entails public posturing- makes compromise difficult • Undermines the legitimacy of other politicians

12. Why Growth of Going Public? • Growth of the welfare state • Constituencies outside of D.C. • Modern Communications • President in News everyday • Easier to mobilize public opinion • Decline of Political Parties- Divided Government • Hard to bargain with individual members, especially if different party

13. Implications of Going Public • Congress will only listen if the President has high levels of approval (50% at least) • Constant Campaign to Sway Voters • Every White House since Carter has had an in-house pollster • Constantly track public approval of President and opinion over the issues

14. Evaluation of Theories of Presidential Power • Presidents clearly have institutional power • However, the use of these powers have varied over time • Most political scientists think that Barber’s “presidential character/personality” measure is no good • Going public vs. Bargaining