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PRESIDENTIAL LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY. FREE ESSAY SAMPLE

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The article "The Power to Persuade" starts by saying that despite the earnest intentions, the founding fathers of the USA instead of creating the 'separated powers' created the separate institutions that shared the powers. Eisenhower was quoted as saying that he was a part of the legislative process because of his veto.

The statement of Walter Bagehot "No man can argue on his knees" (Neustadt, 30) signifies that a President by definition has to be a powerful branch of the government whose power in the modern years, I should note also spreads on the international arena. Throughout the US history the US president has been a subject to different presidencies oriented towards the domestic and later towards the international audience. One should not forget that the evolutionary process of the US presidency has certainly been shaped by the given three things:

1. US constitutional doctrines.

2. US crisis and problems that required the US presidents to take definite steps and thus spread their power onto the other branches.

3. US resources given to the president.

The 'traditional presidency' that was originally designed by the US founding fathers to protect Americans from the authoritarian ruler was the first step in the presidency creation. The president (executive branch) has been constrained by the separation of powers with the judicial, and legislative branches. The articles given in class speak about the fact that the early US presidency was intended to be but a 'do-nothing' office, because the primary concern was to guard the young country against the authoritarian rule. As for the responsibilities of the US president in the early periods, they were limited to seeing that all the US congressional laws and decrees were executed in the USA.

As a result of such separation of powers, the US congress has been the dominant power giving very leeway to the US president, who adhered to a dry –and-cut interpretation of the US constitution. One famous interpretation was of Mr.Taft, that was shaped by the US isolationism at the time.

The more of the Presidential control over the legislative process was given to the US president during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) times that were shaped by the Great Depression and the WWII. The President’s advantages are greater than mere listing of his 'powers' might suggest (Neustadt, 31). The following ways for the US president to influence the US legislative branch were the following:

a) The US President was allowed to propose various legislation as well as make budget recommendations to the US Congress as well as to secure the congressional endorsement of his proposals. By making recommendations and proposals, the US president automatically starts to participate in the decision making process and thus have a proper yet weak control over the legislative process.

b) The US President was required to be an active leader in defending and advancing the US interests abroad. Apparently, without contributing to the formation of the proper laws that are the prerogative of the legislative branch the president cannot be an active leader abroad and would not be listened to on the international arena. Thus, we see that the power of the US president increases.

c) The US President was required to be a visible national leader who projects his personality and ideas through the mass media. We must remember that "legislative actions are scrutinized more closely by the media than in the past" (Oleszek, 54). The "4th estate/power" is the name of the mass media and the press in the USA and many countries around the world. The president thus, is the person who directly was supposed to cooperate with the press and the mass media, thus was able to derive additional ‘popular’ support from the people and scold his opponents.

a. If the president was popular the mass media would exaggerate his/her achievements and thus contributed even greater to his/her popularity.

b. If the president is unpopular, the mass media thus would scold him/her and depress his public image, thus removing the chance of him/her being re-elected.

Two good examples can be seen here in the current activities of the two US presidents, Clinton and Bush Jr. Clinton after having a short affair with Ms. Lewinsky lost his popularity and of his party, thus contributing to the victory of the republicans. Mr. G. Bush Jr., after the events of 9/11 decided to capitalize on them and launched the military campaign against the Iraq, that appear now to be a 'family business' that his father could not achieve. And although, it is the duty of the US congress to wage wars, one can be almost certain that it was Bush who started it. After various press-conferences where he created the 'axis of evil', 'rogue states' and said many times that the US would get them, the Congress would have no choice but to authorize the military operations. The newspapers and mass media made Bush a hero, who wanted to help the USA, and one would only guess what would be the popular response if the US congress would not support the military operation.

d) The US President was allowed and expected to command the political and national resources to meet the popular expectations. As noted above, the expectations can not only be met by the US president, but thus can be created (e.g. Call Iraqis terrorists, have the popular expectations that now the US has the right to fight, and force the Congress to support the war). Speaking about the institutional reaction as depicted in the articles, I will add that the US supreme court and the congress usually would acquiesce to the views shown above. As a result the US president currently has more resources as he had 50 years ago with the mass media being the biggest and most powerful resource.

Speaking about the modern US presidency I would like to draw the reader's attention to the fact that the presidents nowadays are more enmeshed in the US foreign policy for the economic and military reasons:

1. The former threat of the USSR and the communist world.

2. The maturing of the US economy and the economic threat from Asia and Europe.

3. US hegemony in the world fueled by the nature of the US social policy

The post-modern US presidents thus are likely to have even greater power than they do at present. One should also not forget that lobbying by or for foreign governments, corporations, or interest groups had greatly increased (Oleszek, 49). The fact that the US is the dominant player in virtually anything does not guarantee this country a security from the economies of Europe, Japan and the military of terrorists and potentially Russia. Thus, the US president besides the domestic support also needs international players and helpers. As a result, the post-modern Presidents would also derive support from abroad, which on one hand gives the US president more power on a domestic arena yet on the other hand removes some power from the congress. The coalitions and economic bailouts of economies (Asia) are not uncommon and as a rule are promoted by the US presidents.

Traditionally the US president is the chief executive, Commander in chief, Foreign policy director, party head, popular leader, chief of state, and the legislative leader. All these responsibilities as noted above give the president the power not to 'argue on his knees'.

The US President has the power to greatly influence the development of many laws in the USA passed by US Congress. Speaking about practical matters, I would like to add that at the very beginning of each session of the US Congress, the US president delivers a State of the Union address to the congress. In this State of the Union address the US president discusses the major pending problems that currently face the whole nation and recommends his personal legislative program to solve them. This right alone gives the US president a competitive edge in the legislative process for as a rule, the whole congress starts to play according to the rules set by the US president in the State of the Union address. The US president also gives the US congress various legislative plans throughout the year. As well as the President draws influence from bargaining advantages (Neustadt, 40).

One should also not forget that the oval cabinet officers and other presidential aides and assistants work to win congressional support for the given president's programs, thus playing the legislative game "President vs. Congress". At the same time the president may become involved in a struggle over a key bill that he has the power to veto and thus use his ability to veto to bargain for other bills that the congress might not want to pass. During the struggle over the bill, the US president may contact and speak to members of the US Congress many times in order to win their backing. I will add here that such presidential activity calls for shrewd bargaining and still usually fails despite the president's personal influence. Speaking again about the veto power, I would like to note that it is a very strong power of the US president. Despite the fact that if both the Senate and the House of Representatives re-pass the vetoes bill by a 2/3 majority, the bill will become a law, historically, the congress managed to overturn only about four percent of all vetoed bills.

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