Mr. P resident

1. Mr. President A tough job but the perks are mighty fine

2. Power of the President • Commander in Chief • Wars Powers Act- • Must consult Congress • Report within 48 hours • Not more than 60 days

3. Grant Pardons- Bush pardons Clinton pardons

4. Receive ambassadors

5. Sometimes they just annoy World leaders

6. Execute laws • Open to interpretation- G. Bush used signing statements to circumvent this responsibility:

7. 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.

8. 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

9. Appoint officials: • 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

10. Make treaties: • 2nd treaty of Versailles- Ends WWI • North Atlantic Treaty- Established NATO • NAFTA

11. Approve or veto legislation • Vetoes: • Bush-12 • FDR- 635 • Reagan- 78 • Washington-2

12. The President has tools: • 1. the Constitution • 2. Good will (interpersonal skills) • 3. Personal popularity • 4. Willingness to act • 5. Executive order- Oh man!

13. 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” Executive order- is this OK?

14. Presidentialist- More common since FDR- belief 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 Using power

15. 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?

16. 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?

17. 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 Presidential Power

18. 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

19. 2. Party activists- exemplify party principles/carry out slogans/ be ideological- This can be a problem- remember 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."

20. 3. The public- many different publics- Presidents give fewer impromptu speeches want to control the message. Bush was great at it-Obama not so much

21. Cabinet- Not part of Constitution. Grew over time. First cabinet, Sec of war, Sec of Treasury, State & Atty General So who helps this poor guy?

22. Cabinet grows:

23. Cabinet once met regularly with President. Not so much now. This is really just a photo op:

24. 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.

25. 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?

26. Staff myth vs reality

27. 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

28. Approval ratings rise: • 1. Good economy • 2. National appearances • 3. Short successful wars ( Mission accomplished) • 4. Diplomatic breakthroughs • 5. Control of the message Make me a star

29. Never speak off the cuff…never

30. 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. But still:

31. Getting your agenda passed Popularity and legislation

32. Agenda also hurt by the unexpected crisis: • 1. Nixon – Watergate • 2. Carter- Iran hostages • 3. Reagan- Iran/Contra • 4. Clinton- Monica “Sir, I’ve got bad news and bad news”

33. Nope! President and coattails

34. Success of party in mid terms often ties to presidents approval ratings: Examples: Coattails after all???

35. The chosen

36. 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 The Men We Chose

37. 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…..

38. Like this:

39. Or this:

40. Or even this