The Presidency

Chapter 12
 Requirements for Office
• Constitutional Requirements
• Article II
• Election and Candidate Requirements
• Enumerated/Expressed Powers
• Commander-in-Chief
• Pardon
• Treaties
• Pardon
• Appt Power
• Veto
• State of the Union and Special Session
• Unofficial requirements
• Impeachment
• The political equivalent of an indictment
in criminal law.
• Power lays with the House.
• Trial conducted by the Senate (with the
chief justice of the SC presiding).
 • Andrew Johnson
• Bill Clinton
• Presidential incapacity
• 25th Amendment permits the vice
president to become acting president if
the vice president and cabinet
determine that the president is disabled
(Or if the president declares his own
disability).
 The Power

• Madisonian checks and balances

• Powers that were deemed the most
dangerous were checked by Congress
• Presidential responsibility
• Role has changed, expanded and
evolved.
 Evolution of Power
• Due to:
• Increased prominence on the world
stage
• Technology
• Personal initiative
• Necessity
 The Chief Executive
• One of the most important roles
• In charge of the federal bureaucracy
• Appoints top-level administrators
• Budgeting and Accounting Act of 1921
• Recommends agency budgets to
Congress
 The Role of the Vice President
• Evolution of role
• “Not worth a pitcher of warm spit” – John
Nance Garner (FDR 1933-1941)
• “The buck doesn’t stop here” – George
Bush (Reagan 1980-1988)
 The Cabinet
• Not in the Constitution but every
president has had one.
 The Executive Office
• E.O.P.
• National Security Council
• Council of Economic Advisors
• Office of Management & Budget
• NSA
• Links the president’s key foreign and
military policy advisors
• Council of Economic Advisors
• Three members who advise the
president on economic policy
• Office of Management & Budget
• Major responsibility is to prepare the
president’s budget
• Also acts as a clearinghouse for
legislative proposals
• The White House Staff – Chief of Staff
• Press Secretary, policy advisors, speech
writers
• Today, numbers around 600
• Relied on heavily for information, policy options and
analysis
 Roles of the President
• Chief Legislator
• State of the Union Address
• Veto
• Line-item veto (1996)
• Clinton v. City of New York (1998)
• Leader of the Party
• Party bonds
• Slippage in party support
• Presidential coattails
 Public Support
• Presidents with low approval ratings in
the polls find it difficult to influence
Congress.
• Two indicators of public support for the
president:
• Approval in the polls
• Mandates in presidential elections
• Public opinion and approval
• Bully pulpit
 National Security Policy
• Chief Diplomat
• Commander in Chief
• War Powers Resolution (1973)
• Crisis Manager
• Emergency Relief
• Working with Congress
• Divided Government
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0801767.html
 Relationship with the People
• Presidents frequently do not have
widespread public support.
• http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presiden
tial-Job-Approval-Center.aspx

• Honeymoon period
• Adversarial relationship with the media.