Chapter 12

THE PRESIDENT

George W. Bush’s War Presidency

The Bush administration began under a cloud of illegitimacy, and with no mandate

For first 7 months, very low popularity ratings • unpopular policies• verbal bungling• Jeffords defection

Dramatic change post 9/11/01

The Expanding Presidency Presidential responsibilities, burdens, power,

and impact have increased dramatically since the nation’s founding.

The Founders’ conception of the office of President was much more limited than what we see in the modern Presidency.

The vague language of the Constitution has been flexible enough to include the great expansion of the Presidency that has occurred.

The Dormant Presidency

Until the end of the 19th century, the Presidency conformed basically to the designs and intentions of the Founders.

The nation did not often require a very strong Presidency prior to the 20th century.

Structural changes since the end of the nineteenth century: America becomes a world power with a corporate-dominated economy

Important early Presidents•Washington•Jefferson•Jackson•Polk•Lincoln

Twentieth-Century Transformation

In the 20th century, new structural conditions made an expanded Presidency both possible and necessary.• Theodore Roosevelt• Woodrow Wilson• Franklin Roosevelt

– World War II – Since FDR’s time, all U.S. Presidents have

administered a huge national state with large standing armed forces, nuclear weapons, and bases all around the world.

• John F. Kennedy• Ronald Reagan

How important are individual Presidents?

We cannot be sure to what extent Presidents themselves caused the great expansion of the scope of their office.

The great upsurges in Presidential power and activity were at least partially the results of forces at the structural level.

The Many Roles of the President

Clinton Rossiter introduced the image of the many “hats” that presidents wear simultaneously.• Chief of State• Commander in Chief• Joint Chief Legislator• Manager of the Economy• Chief Diplomat• Head of the Political Party

Each of the Presidential functions or “hats” is demanding; together, they are overwhelming.

The President’s Staff and Cabinet

White House staff • Key aides who are the President’s

closest and most trusted advisors– Chief of Staff– National Security Adviser

• The exact shape of the White House staff changes from one Presidency to another and is used by different presidents in various ways.

Executive Office of the President (EOP) —a group of permanent Presidential staff organizations that perform specialized functions• Office of Management and Budget• Council of Economic Advisers• National Security Council

Vice-Presidency• no constitutional powers or duties except to

serve as President of the Senate, a ceremonial function of no real power

• recent increase in importance• Presidential succession

The Cabinet —not mentioned in the Constitution, but all Presidents have had one; the cabinet is a highly visible symbol of the executive branch, but Presidents have usually not relied upon it as a decision-making body

The President and the Bureaucracy

Presidents have significant controls with regard to the bureaucracy, but the President’s ability to give orders and to gain bureaucratic acquiescence is limited.

Many people erroneously assume that the President has firm control over the executive branch of government.

To a large extent, Presidents must persuade other executive branch officials to take certain actions.

Richard Neustadt said that “Presidential power is the power to persuade.”

The President and Congress: Perpetual Tug-of-War

Conflict by constitutional design•Shared powers•Separate elections•Potential for divided government

and “gridlock”

What makes a President successful with Congress?•Party and ideology•Foreign policy and national security

issues•Presidential vetoes•Presidential popularity•Legislative skills

The President and the People: An Evolving Relationship

Early Presidents: seen as an elite leader, relatively distant from the public

Quickly evolved into a more democratic system, in which the people played a more direct role.

By 1880, the two-party system had begun to develop.

Early in the 19th century, state legislatures began to turn the power to choose Presidential electors over to the people through direct election.

The base of suffrage broadened.

Going Public By the beginning of the twentieth century, the

presidency had undergone a basic transformation: presidents began to speak directly to the public.

Woodrow Wilson created a new constitutional theory advocating close connections between the president and the public.

All presidents now attempt to respond to public opinion, and all try to speak directly to the people about policy.

Contemporary presidents frequently go public by using television to bypass Congress and the press.

Using the Media Modern Presidents have used

television to enhance their power to shape public opinion.

Leading public opinion Responding to the public Quiet influence Listening to the public

The Role of Presidential Popularity

The public’s influence works through Presidential popularity or unpopularity.

Presidents have strong incentives to anticipate public reactions and to do things that will please the public.

Determinants of Presidential popularity• Time• The economy• War

Interest Groups, Political Parties, and Social Movements

Interest groups• Organized groups exert important

kinds of influence on Presidential policy.

• The question of which interest groups have a greater influence on policy depends partly upon which party controls the Presidency.

Political parties•Changes in party control of the

presidency produce significant changes in policy.

•One result of party influence is that there are partisan cycles of Presidential action, with different policies depending upon which party holds office.

Social movements• Social movements occasionally provide

other political-level influences on Presidents.

• Mass demonstrations and protests may cause disruption that lead Presidents to take actions in order to defuse them.

• Mass movements may produce changes in general public opinion that, in turn, affect Presidents.

Structural Influences on the Presidency

We can speak of an enduring Presidency — a presidency that does not merely fluctuate with the whims of whomever holds office but reflects the goals and preferences of the people, groups, and institutions that make up American society.

The enduring Presidency is also the product of two structural factors• The international system• The economy

How Democratic Is the Presidency?

Determining how democratic the Presidency is becomes an extremely difficult task.

However, the office is considerably more democratic than envisioned by the authors of the Constitution.