Chapter 7 - The Presidency Flashcards
How is the President elected?
- Voters in each state elect delegates (electors) to the electoral college.
- One for each member of the state’s congressional delegation.
What are the President’s expressed powers?
- Military
- Judicial
- Diplomatic
- Executive
- Legislative
What are the President’s delegated powers?
Military Action, Legislative Initiative
Inherent powers
When and what was the Legislative Epoch?
1800-1933
o Congressional Government: legislative supremacy; relatively weak presidents
-Exceptions: Abraham Lincoln had power during the civil war
o Small national government; most work done in congressional committees.
How did the New Deal affect the Presidency?
o Huge expansion of government programs during the Hundred days.
o Government massively increased economic powers/involvements.
o Executive branch takes on larger regulatory role
What are the formal resources for the President?
- Cabinet
- White House Staff
- Executive Office of the President
- Vice President
What is the Cabinet made up of?
- Secretary of defense is a civilian to keep military power separate from political power. (A check on the military)
- Department of State
- Department of the Treasury
- Department of Defense
- Department of Justice
What is the White House staff made up of?
Key Staff: • Chief of Staff • Press Secretary • Special Assistants • Senior Advisors
What is the Executive Office of the President made up of?
-Permanent agencies that help manage executive branch e.g:
♣ Office of Management and Budget (OMB): prepared budget, oversees regulation, reports on executive agencies.
♣ Council of Economic Advisors (CEA): Assists president with economic policy, analyses economic trends.
♣ National Security Council (NSC): Assists with national security and intelligence.
How is the party a source of power?
♣ President is the leader of their party
♣ United government: president coordinates co-partisans in house and Senate to pass policy agenda.
♣ Divided government” president must bargain with other party to reach compromises.
• Gridlock is common.
What makes the veto an important presidential power? How can he use it to effectively shape legislation?
Veto power: President can influence whether or not a bill is proposed by threatening a veto because Congress isn’t going to waste time by sending a bill the President will just veto. Congress can anticipate what the President would or wouldn’t veto. Gives the President incentive to be vague.
What is the going public strategy? How has popular mobilization as a tool of presidential power changed over time? What are the limits to going public?
- Going public: President reaching out to the public – travel (foreign countries), public appearances, speeches (especially state of the union).
a. Has become more common – advances in technology make this easier. Easy to travel, social media is very accessible.
b. Limits: if public opinion of President is always negative, it doesn’t help to “go public.” E.g. George Bush had very low approval ratings near the end of his second term, so wouldn’t want to go public on lots of issues as that wouldn’t raise support.
c. How do bargaining and going public relate to each other? Even if you’re really popular with the public, you still need to be able to bargain and talk with other politicians as they’ll be able to influence legislation more so than the public.
Why are the president’s reputation and popularity important? Why do we care about approval ratings?
If you’re a popular president, you can have more influence. Congress won’t want to appear to be going against a popular president. If they’re seen as undermining a popular president, their constituents will not like it.
How does public opinion influence government policy?
Electoral accountability – for Congress and the President. SCOTUS is also accountable to a certain extent as people elect President who then appoints the Supreme Court justices. AND: passing legislation is almost impossible without public support; disastrous for party behind legislation. Input in rule making and
How is public opinion measured? What are some of the problems with polling?
Based on sampling – can’t guarantee this will be representative of Americans at large. Issues in gathering sample, want random sample but very difficult. Usually fundamental difference between people who talk to pollsters and those who don’t. Polling can also get very expensive.
