American Government and Politics Today

1
American Government and Politics Today

• Chapter 12
• The Presidency

2
Who Can Become President?

• Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution sets
  forth the qualifications to be president.
• The two major limitations are age, a minimum of
  35, and being a natural-born citizen, thus
  eliminating naturalized citizens.

3
The Process of Becoming President

• Nomination of one of the two major parties
• Majority of the votes cast in the Electoral
  College
• The electors are decided in most states on a
  winner-take-all system, with the candidate who
  receives the plurality of votes winning. Thus, it
  is possible for a candidate to lose the popular
  vote but still win election as president, as was
  the case in 2000.
• If no candidate receives a majority of the
  electoral votes, the House will elect the
  president by voting state by state for a
  candidate.

4
The Many Roles of the President

• Head of State
• Like the roll of the Queen in Great Britain or
  the President of France
• Chief Executive
• The Powers of Appointment and Removal
• The Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons
• Commander-in-Chief
• Wartime Powers-Bushs, Clinton, Reagan, Johnson,
  Kennedy
• War Powers Resolution-Requires consultation with
  Congress with approval after 60 day or withdrawn
• Chief Diplomat
• Diplomatic Recognition-USSR, China, Republic of
  Vietnam
• Proposal and Ratification of Treaties-NAFTA,
  Panama Canal
• Executive Agreements-In place while still in
  office.

5
The Many Roles of the President (cont.)

• Chief Legislator
• Getting Legislation Passed
• Saying No to Legislation
• The Line-Item Veto
• Congress power to override Presidential vetoes
• Other Presidential Powers
• Powers that Congress has bestowed on the
  president by statute (statutory powers) and those
  that are considered inherent powers. Inherent
  powers are those powers the head of government
  needs to fulfill his duties, as prescribed
  vaguely in the Constitution. The bureaucracy is
  one such power. Political party status is another.

6
The President As Party Chief and Superpolitician

• The President as Chief of Party
• Constituencies and Public Approval
• Presidential constituencies
• The Public, Their own Party, Opposing Party,
  Washington Community
• Public approval-Opinion Polls
• Going Public. When the president presents an
  idea to Congress, he may also go public in an
  attempt to generate popular support for his
  proposal.

7
Public Popularity of Modern Presidents
8
The Special Uses of Presidential Power

• Emergency Powers
• Embargo, Ordering State Militias into service,
  Mobilizing the Federal Budget and economy for war
• Executive Orders
• Executive order, a rule or regulation issued by
  the president that has the effect of law.
  Executive orders can implement and give
  administrative effect to provisions in the
  Constitution, to treaties, and to statutes.
  Demand adherence to Affirmative Action, Ration
  consumer goods, Administer wage and price
  controls.
• Require publication in the Federal Register, a
  publication of the U.S. government that prints
  executive orders, rules, and regulations.
• Executive Privilege
• United States v. Nixon--limiting executive
  privilege
• Clintons Attempted Use of Executive Privilege
• Used during 9-11 Commission Hearings

9
Abuses of Executive Power and Impeachment

• Article I, Section 2, gives the House the sole
  power of impeachment. If a majority of the
  members of the House vote to impeach an officer
  of the United States, the Senate will conduct a
  trial. If two-thirds of the Senators vote for
  conviction the officer is removed from office.
• The concept of impeachment is important because
  without this power there would be little that
  could be done to control criminal behavior by a
  top leader. On the other hand, this power could
  be abused and lead to politically motivated
  impeachments.

10
The Executive Organization

• The Cabinet
• The Members of the Cabinet
• Strong conflicts of interest due to budgets,
  political aspirations etc and the agencies
  customers and lobby.
• The Kitchen Cabinet
• Presidential Use of Cabinets
• Lincoln 7 nayes and 1 aye, the ayes have it.
• The Executive Office of the President
• The White House Office
• The Office of Management and Budget
• Clearinghouse for agency legislative proposals,
  also represents the presidents party platform and
  continuing priorities or agenda
• The National Security Council
• President, Vice President, Secretary of State,
  Defense and others.

11
The Vice President

• The Vice Presidents Job
• Traditionally used to Strengthen the Ticket
• Recent use to shore-up the Presidents weak
  points. Bush to Reagan, Gore to Clinton, Cheney
  to Bush.
• Presidential Succession-Next Slide
• The Twenty-fifth Amendment
• The Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet
  inform Congress, Vice president serves as acting
  president. If the Presidents condition is in
  dispute, Congress decides by 2/3 vote
• When the Vice Presidency Becomes Vacant
• Simple Majority required to elect vice-president.
  Spiro Agnew, VP Ford and Nixon resignation before
  impeachment, later pardoned by Gerald Ford

12
Line of Succession to the Presidency of the
United States