Evaluate how powerful a President is in US Politics?
The Founding Fathers created a singular executive, who would be both – the head of state
and head of government. As stated by Roosevelt ‘I am both king and prime minister’, the
president is representing a whole nation and is arguably the most powerful official in the
world. He is elected via the electoral college system and since the 22 nd Amendment he is
limited to a maximum of two terms. Article 2 of the Constitution lays out the role and power
of the president that has been the same for every president – some used them more, and
some less. However, the powers of the president have been highly deprived by checks and
balances; the growth of partisanship and the federal bureaucracy.
There are several notable powers mentioned in the Constitution that outline the
importance of the president. The role as the head of state is best understood as the
president being a public figure, who is a representative of the USA to the world. As the head
of state, the president has diplomatic and ceremonial duties, e.g. attending the G7; traveling
to other countries to negotiate treaties, e.g. Trump going to North Korea and meeting the
North Korean leader, etc. This is particularly important when there is a national crisis or a
national disaster because the president is expected to make speeches and support the
whole nation. For example, President Bush was seen as a symbol of American resolve and
pride after 9/11, as well as President Obama, who took a strong stance, giving an emotional
public address after the Sandy Hook shooting. Another key role of the president is acting as
commander-in-chief of the ‘Army, Navy and Air Force’. It is a mix between being the head of
state and head of government but essentially, the president must coordinate all military
operations as pronounced in Section 2 of the Constitution in order to defend and prevent
any potential threats to national security. It was particularly important between 1940 and
1980 during war times, but the most recent event that was that the US lost the war of
nearly 20 years in Afghanistan, highlights the idea that commander-in-chief makes the
president imperial and massively powerful or extremely weak. Linked to the perception of
an imperial presidency is also the formal power of nominating all federal judges. The
president is in charge of filling the vacancies not only on the federal Supreme Court, but also
on the federal trial and appeal courts. In other words, this has a direct impact on the whole
population because the president has to make sure that the new judges appointed will
continue his legacy after the end of the president’s term. Therefore, the new members of
the Supreme Court will share the same values and views as the president making the Court
an extremely political institution. For example, during Trump’s presidency, he nominated 3
judges Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett – all of them representing
republicans’ beliefs and pursuing originalists’ views of interpreting the Constitution.
However, the Framers of the Constitution feared the tyranny of the executive branch and
therefore, they hedged the president with a host of checks and balances. Commander in
chief gives the president huge constitutional authority over military action, but Congress
holds a number of important constitutional powers that can restrict the president. Firstly,
the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, and this makes the president
more inelastic in his decision-making. Despite this, there were cases when the president has
committed military action without a congressional vote, for example, Nixon continuing the
war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This led Congress to take further actions and assert its
constitutional control by passing the War Powers Resolution, which restricts more the
president. Congress also has ‘the power of the purse’, which can be used to control military
