Presidential Powers: A Comparsion of Predencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama

In 1960 when Richard Neustadt wrote the book Presidential Power his ideas on the powers of the president or lack there of were in contrast to what many people think of the office of the president. Neustadt’s ideas on the presidents rather weak position in the government as well as his reliance on Congress to achieve any significant change forced the president to use bargaining as his key tactic to influence legislation. Neustadt believed the best way to bargain was to use the power of persuasion. If the

In the most widely quoted and discussed model of presidential power, Richard Neustadt states that the power of the president lies in the power to persuade. According to Neustadt, the key to presidential success and influence is persuasion. Although some may view the president as a powerful authority figure, the checks and balances established by the founders makes the president’s skills of persuasion crucial.

In the article, “Unilateral Action and Presidential Power: A Theory,” Terry M. Moe and William G. Howell, two political science instructors from Stanford University, investigate a source of presidential power, which is the president’s capability to act individually and make his own law, that has been unacknowledged yet essential to presidential leadership that it defines how the modern presidency is distinctively modern. The authors’ purpose in the article is to outline a theory of this feature of presidential power by arguing that the president’s powers of unilateral action, which is developed from the ambiguity of the contract, are strengths in American politics since they are not mentioned in the constitution. They also claim that presidents push the ambiguity of the contract to make their powers grow and that Congress and the courts would not be able to stop them (Moe and Howell, 1999, p. 1-3).

Presidential power refers to the amount of power which the president has. The constraints to this power are time, information and bureaucracy mostly due to the checks and balances system.

The increasing power of the presidency in the domestic realm is evident in the growing ability of the president to set the policy agenda and use public opinion to control legislative outcomes. Going public is a strategy that is used by the president to promote his policies by appealing directly to the voters to pressure members of Congress to pass his legislative agenda or risk a contested primary. “Going public undermines the legitimacy of other politicians. It usurps

Beyond this “blunt instrument” of the executive branch’s formal constitutional powers, the presidency is largely what the president makes of it (Romance, July 27). The president’s real power is one of persuasion, or the ability to convince

Many argue that the most powerful branch in government is the Executive Branch. The President is considered as the most influential and the most important position in the U.S. government. However, the powers granted to Presidents and the prerogative they have exerted are not listed in the Constitution but instead have been adapted and expanded upon by each President. Although the Constitution does not define the powers of the President, it has defined Presidential powers in terms of peace, war, and emergency. A recent expansion of Presidential power, exerted by Bush and then Obama was this “War on Terror (WOT)”. President Barack Obama and his predecessor President George W. Bush have both expanded the powers of the President through the

The president also has the power Veto laws passed by congress. The president has the power to make political appointment and negotiate treaties with foreign countries, however this power also requires the approval of the senate. The President is responsible for making a for appointing his cabinet and federal judges. The president is capable of calling congress in session and the power to adjourn congress.

the US to sign a new treaty, the senate would have to ratify it with a

Richard Neustadt’s presidential powers presents a very radical and nuanced approach to presidency. Even though his book is also aged, it was not a difficult read. In fact, the explanations made it seem like a well written history book that used facts from different era within its scope to support its arguments. The book tried to define terms clearly before

This is clearly manifested by the rhetoric skills of President Obama but in contrast to the rhetoric actions constituting presidency, the majority of the presidents couldn’t be able to alter the public policy. So the modern system of presidency may well be frustrated due to its inability to solve or resolve the public policies issues and hence the chances of success. "Persuade us to conceive of ourselves in ways compatible with their views of government and the world” actually means that public wants the presidential candidates to convince them about their messages, mottos and agenda for the common public of America and the world in general. People play role in the election of president in the rhetorical actions, so it is important that they should be given complete information about what and how the prospective president would portray his/her agenda after being elected as president. People in this era are more conscious about the policies which are going to be made in their good will by the president so they are to be informed with every little detail and clear manifestation of ideas may win the fame for some candidate and make him/her eligible candidate for the

Even in matters of national security the president has secured new and immense power by way of the USA PATRIOT act, which, remains unfettered to this day. It would be appropriate to compare the process our leaders undertake to the ancient tale of Icarus. We find that often, our presidents simply fly to close to the sun in their quest for power. This is most apparent in their abilities to harness the power of the media, build a co-operative relationship with congressional law makers, or to implement domestic policy. In these areas, one president or another has enjoyed some level of power and success for a time; that success however, would not be absolute. Often, the power they wield, which they have empower to help them lead, would be threatened by a plethora of oppositional actors and stimuli in the political field, some of the oppositional forces would

In this paper we will compare the formal and informal powers if the President and we will explore how and why the Presidential powers have increased over time. The history of the Presidency is an account of aggrandizement; one envisions, today, a President with far reaching power, however, when looking at the Constitution alone we find a President with significant limits. Is the President of the United States the most powerful person in the world or merely a helpless giant?

Presidential power has increased immensely over recent years and little is being done in an attempt to restore the original intent of the Constitution. There are multiple factors that affect this, including the executive orders of presidents, the Constitution giving an unequal distribution of power between the executive and legislative branch, the failure to use checks and balances, and the ineffectiveness of Congress. With the lack of congressional involvement in legislative decisions, the president has the ability to take matters in their own hands.

Although it is often said that the President of the United States holds the most powerful office in the world, this does not mean that he is able to decide very much for himself. The American Constitution, which was adapted in 1789, clearly states the Separation of Powers. Thus, the president makes up only one third of the government, namely the executive branch. He is also controlled by a complex system of checks and balances, which makes sure that he (or any of the other branches, for that matter) does not become too powerful. We will now have a look at the different problems which may be facing a recently elected president, and then discuss to what extent his powers are important.