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Politics paper 3 : Presidency > Informal sources of presidential power > Flashcards

Informal sources of presidential power Flashcards

1
Q

What are the informal powers ?

A
  • Powers that are political rather than constitutional
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2
Q

What are informal sources of presidential powers examples ?

A
  1. The cabinet (an advisory group set up by the president to aid in making decisions)
  2. The EXOP
  3. National events can effect presidential power
  4. Public approval (elections measure popularity in a snapshot but the presidents public approval rating can be important in their ability to get things done)
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3
Q

What is the Executive office of the president ?

A
  • EXOP
  • Umbrella term for 12 Whitehouse agencies that assist the president
  • Most important :
    1. WHO (personal office of the president + liaises with congress)
    2. OMB (reviews the budget and legislation)
    3. NSC (official forum for deliberating about national security and FP)
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4
Q

What are outside factors that can affect president’ chances of success (3) ?

A
  1. Electoral mandate
  2. Public approval
  3. National events
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5
Q

What is different about the US cabinet compared to the UK ?

A
  • Fewer reshuffles eg Obama only changed 3 and Trump changed 20
  • There is no regular meetings
  • Individuals may be important but the group is less so (no executive power)
  • They are not seen as a step up to presidency eg Hoover was the last person to step directly from cabinet to the presidency in 1929
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6
Q

Balanced cabinet

A
  • Since 1992, presidents apart from Trump have liked to maintain a balanced government in terms race, religion, gender, experience and political ideology
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7
Q

Cabinet meetings

A
  • The frequency varies from one president to another
  • Ronald Reagan held 36 cabinet meetings within his first year while Clinton only held 6
  • By Reagan’s fourth year he only had 12 meetings
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8
Q

Are cabinet meetings productive ?

A
  • They aren’t well regarded as they are specialists in just one policy area so have little to contributed to discussions in other policy areas
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9
Q

What are the functions of cabinet meetings for the president ?

A
  • Create team spirit
  • create media coverage (used by Trump to show his dominance)
  • Exchange information
  • Present ‘big picture items’ (eg 2020 Trump used his cabinet meeting to discuss the federal response to COVID-19)
  • Monitor congress (check up on legislation that is going through congress eg Obama 2015)
  • Prompt action (2014 Secretary of defence was told he was dragging his feet with the release of prisoners from Guantanama bay)
  • Enable personal contact (each cabinet is defined by its relationship with the president)
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10
Q

Why have presidents since the 1850’s needed help running the federal government

A
  • 1800’s : Industrialisation and Westward expansion
  • 1920’s when the depression hit the USA the states looked to the federal government for help (creation of the New Deal programme)
  • 1950- (Presidents have spent much of their time dealing with the consequences of the Cold War)
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11
Q

How many offices is the EXOP made up of and how many people ?

A
  • 12 offices (Executive residence, VP, domestic policy and council of economic advisors)
  • 2,000
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12
Q

What was the turnover of top officials under Trump ?

A
  • 86% due to a culture of resignation and sackings
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13
Q

What is the whitehouse office responsible for ?

A
  • Liaison between the White House and the vast federal bureaucracy
  • meant to act as ‘honest brokers’ not as policy-makers
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14
Q

White house chief of staff

A
  • Most important appointment that a president makes
  • The best model is a chief of staff is someone who always seeks the president’s best interests rather than their own + protects them from political harm
  • Eg 2001 : It was Bush’s chief of staff who told Bush of the planes hitting the world trade centre
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15
Q

Office of management and budget

A
  • Est 1970
  • Functions : advise the president on the allocation federal funds, oversee the spending of all federal departments + act as a clearing
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16
Q

National security council

A
  • Est 1947
  • Helps the president coordinate foreign, security and defence policy
  • Designed to operate as an honest broker, facilitator presenting carefully argued options for presidential decision making
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17
Q

What is the power to persuade ?

A
  • Presidents can use prestige of office and other means to get people/congress to do as they wish
  • Necessary due to separation of powers + checks and balances
  • Less effective in the modern era due to party polarisation / partisanship
18
Q

How long has there been united government for the last 30 years ?

A
  • 10.5 years
  • The president is more likely to be successful in congress during united government HOWEVER there is no guarantee of success eg Clinton failed to pass health care reform in 1993-4
19
Q

What are the means of persuasion ?

A
  • Appoint strong individuals in key cabinet positions
  • Effective and experienced chief of staff
  • Tailer policies or legislation to appeal to wide coalition within their own party or across party lines eg no child left behind
20
Q

How does the president use persuasion through people ?

A
  • Get an early start appointing key roles during the honeymoon period of presidency
  • Appoint a chief of staff who is a good political operator
  • Use closed discussion when formulating the detail but to be open to selling final programmes
  • Build an esprit de corps between staffers and cabinet secretaries
21
Q

Get an early start appointing key roles to exploit the honeymoon period of the presidency

A
  • Bush, Obama and Biden all ensured that key roles in cabinet were appointed when they came to office which meant their presidencies hit the ground running
  • Trump was far slower at appointing
22
Q

Appoint a chief of staff who is a good political operator and not just a gatekeeper

A
  • Bush was the most successful recently in finding a long serving and effective chief of staff
  • Obama and Trump both got through 4 in their first term
23
Q

Used closed discussion when formulating the detail but be open to selling final programs

A
  • 2001 : Rallied around the American Rescue plan (reached out to all sections of the party)
  • 2002 : Bush’s no child left behind policy (reached out to republicans and democrats)
24
Q

Build an esprit de corps between staffers and cabinet secretaries

A
  • Bush was extremely successful at creating a feeling of pride and loyalty in the ‘war on terror’ and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks
  • Most 2 term presidents lose this and become lame duck presidents
25
Q

What are the 3 types of direct authority ?

A
  1. executive orders
  2. Executive agreements
  3. Signing statements
26
Q

Executive orders

A
  • Official documents by the executive branch with the force of law
  • Cannot be used to create new legislation
27
Q

How many executive orders did Trump issue ?

A
  • More in his first 100 days than any president since WW2
  • 206 (not untypical for a president)
  • Used to enforce a travel ban that aimed to protect the nation from foreign terrorists + to enforce the separation of parents and children who travelled across the border illegally
28
Q

How many EO’s did Obama use ?

A
  • 276
29
Q

How many EO’s did Reagon use ?

A
  • 381
30
Q

How are EO’s not long lasting ?

A
  • Easy for a successor to revoke :
  • Biden spent his first 100 days signing executive orders to reverse a host of Trump policies including the construction of the wall on the Mexican border + ban on transgender people serving in the army
31
Q

Example of EO of Obama being unsuccessful ?

A
  • 2009 : closure of Guantanamo Bay
  • Aimed to ensure the detention centre would be closed within the year
  • Congress prevented this by refusing the effort
32
Q

Example of Trump successful EO ?

A
  • 2018 : Lawful detention of terrorists
  • Signed an executive order to keep Guantanamo bay, honouring an election vow to keep the prison open and ‘load it with some bad dudes’
33
Q

How else can executive orders be overruled ?

A
  • Can be ruled unconstitutional
    1. Federal courts
    2. Supreme courts (Trumans nationalisation of the US steel industry)
    3. Congress mobilising against the president eg Obama’s EO failed to close Guantanamo bay (2009)
34
Q

Executive agreements

A
  • An agreement reached between the President and a foreign nation on matters that do not require a treaty
35
Q

How do executive agreements cause tension ?

A
  • 1994 : Clinton cut a deal with North Korea by signing an EO which left a number of republican senators
  • 2015 : Obama agreed to a nuclear deal with Iran which congress would never have passed
36
Q

Signing statements

A
  • A statement issued by the president on signing a bill which may challenge specific provisions of the bill on constitutional or other grounds
  • Increasingly controversial
  • 2011 : National defence act, Obama highlighted his concerns over the detention + prosecuted of suspected terrorists
37
Q

The electoral mandate

A
  • Eg Bush was in a very politically weak position in 2001 having lost the popular vote + trump also fell short of winning the popular vote
  • Also worth noting that in the modern era of party polarisation if one or both the houses are controlled by the opposition party then they would struggle to convince congress to pass legislation
38
Q

Public approval

A
  • It will effect the President’s ability to get things done eg following 9/11 attacks, Bush’s approval rating reached 90% but reached a low of 25% in 2008
  • There is a widening ideological gap
39
Q

National events

A
  • This can weaken or strengthen the presidents position in relation to congress
  • Eg Bush
  • BUT Trump found dealing with the Coronavirus extremely destabilising
40
Q

Examples of negative responses to national events (Trump and Bush)

A

Trump : 2020 COVID-19 outbreak + Death of George Floyd in May 2020
Bush : 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina

41
Q

Examples of positive response to national events (Obama and Bush)

A

Obama : 2012 Hurricane Sandy (swift response)

George w. Bush : 2001 response to the 9/11 attacks

Politics paper 3 : Presidency (4 decks)

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