Guest Blogger: Mark J.

A quick note: I use he when referring to the president (sometimes) because it’s easier than typing he/she all the time. No offence to any females aspiring to the presidency. Also, my main source of information for this post is our government book.

About the President:
Hokay. So. Here’s the President. Dang, that is a sweet Office, you might say. WRAONG!
So, Assuming the majority party in both houses is still the same as the one the President is from, President man there is still going to have one heck of a time trying to get anything done. He’s called ‘The Chief Legislator’ but that phrase is way out of whack. His powers over congress are as follows:
1. he can veto stuff. All or nothing. Yippee. (this usually isn’t overridden, but still, it’s like trying to pluck a chicken with a sledgehammer). Also, this is only useful for negating stuff he doesn’t like. It doesn’t actually get stuff done.
2. Party lines help the President quite a bit (legislators voting to support things he supports), but they don’t give him any real power. Also, on super controversial items, they break. Not very useful.
3. Favors. Hey, how about you support this bill and I give you a ride in Airforce One and a picture of us together? Does that sound like it would work?
4. Coattails. Nowadays, they work less than favors.
5. Public Support. This is the first real tool, but if the president doesn’t have it, he can’t really use it to influence congress. Mandates are a big sign of public approval, but still only go so far.
6. Bribery. It’s disgusting, but no one said politics were beautiful.
7. Being ready to go and organized. The first hundred days in office weren’t just for Kennedy; the honeymoon period is important for every president, as is prioritization. Not really powers, but still useful.

Checks and Balances at work here. I just wanted to make sure that we’re all clear on how much influence a president usually has over congress (that is, not much at all). So will those who do please quit complaining about how the President never gets anything done. Getting legislation passed is not his job. Well what is, then? Let’s talk about that. Here are some things that are clear responsibilities of the president:

Ummm….

Hmm. Well…

Commander in Chief, but only on congress’s say-so. There was the War Powers Resolution thing, and presidents have been trying to kill it ever since. No wonder, since being head of the army seems to be the only ginormous responsibility they have.

Crisis Fighter: Great, he gets all the problems that Congress would completely fail at dealing with. Yippee.

Oh, and did I mention he gets to work with Congress? That’s got to be the highlight of Obama’s day, going to visit all these politicians who spend the vast majority of their time fighting with each other (or him).

It’s a very good thing that the Constitution was so obscure and vague about the President’s duties; however, vague as it is, there is still a lot of lack of concrete power in his office.

We should give the president more power. I think it could do us good to have somebody who could do (almost) whatever they wanted instantly. Things would go much faster. Even if they weren’t in the exact direction we wanted. It would definitely be interesting in Obama suddenly had complete control over and responsibility for the budget.