Chapter 12

The Presidency: The Leadership Branch

The popular idea has been that the presidency has become greater and stronger in the last couple of decades than it has ever been. Yet the people chosen to exercise this enormous power, while surrounded by huge staffs, attractive perquisites, and automatic respect from others, have fallen far short of Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. In other words, while we put the presidency on a pedestal, the people that we have chosen to fill that job have time and again proven themselves to be all too human. Curiously, the power and prestige of the job has tended to cover up certain institutional weaknesses and shortcomings.

Today executive power is far‑reaching. Congress has delegated many emergency powers to the president, and the president has almost total control in national security matters. Television and the televised press conference have extended the speech‑making powers of the presidency. The office of the president is indeed enormous. It is the heart of policy formulation in both domestic and foreign affairs. It is the office to which we look in times of emergency and crisis. Likewise, the holders of the office are the public officials with the greatest volatility of public opinion. Public approval ratings of presidents can fluctuate wildly in short periods of time, as George Bush showed, moving from the heights of Persian Gulf War popularity in the summer of 1991 to the depths of a stubborn recession in the summer of 1992. This popularity drop carried over to his electoral defeat against Bill Clinton in November of that year.

The presidency is no longer one person but an assemblage of people gathered about the president to aid in the decision‑making process. Although ultimate power still rests in the hands of one person, modern presidents have created a staff to cope with national and international affairs. This extension is The Executive Office, with components that separately "manage" domestic policy, economic policy, national security (the co‑mingling of defense and foreign policy), congressional relations, and public relations.

The chapter presents a number of vexing questions. Do the qualities of personality and style that serve a candidate so well become stumbling blocks when the individual reaches the White House? Is the presidency equal to the jobs imposed upon the office? How can we make the office of the presidency safe for democracy?

I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Evaluate what the public expects of the president in the "unwritten presidential job description."

2. Describe the office of the presidency as established in the Constitution.

3. Explain the positive qualities that the public wants their president to have.

4. Explain why the media and the president are so often in conflict.

5. Evaluate why Congress and the Supreme Court have often been willing partners in the expansion of presidential power and identify factors that have strengthened the presidency.

6. Identify and summarize roles of the president.

7. List the functions of the vice president.

8. Examine two constitutional amendments that significantly affected the vice-presidency.

9. Evaluate the constraints on the ability of the president to act, such as the media and international pressures.

10. Debate whether the powers of the presidency are both too powerful and too weak.

11. Discuss the presidential legacy of Bill Clinton..

12. Discuss what factors make for a “great” president and what factors contribute to

a failed presidency.