Limitations on The Presidents Power

Factors in the growth of Presidential Power a summary

• The growth of big Government

• The importance of Foreign Power

• The personality of the President

• The conception of their roles in the office

• The inertia of Congress

• Erosion of the balance

• The Mass Media

Limitations

• ‘Presidential Power’ – Richard Neustadt (1960)

• Detected weakness in the Presidential system

• Re-iterated that personality is important– Must have an extraordinary temperament

Congress

• The President needs congressional support

• Faced with a hostile Congress, Presidents struggle to carry out their programme

• ‘Gridlock’ – Two branches of Government are locked in conflict

Impeachment

• The process by which Congress can remove Officers of the National Govt.

• The House votes on a charge and a trial is then conducted in the Senate

• Special prosecutors are appointed by Congress to bring the charges.

The Supreme Court

• The Court can negate a particular activity– FDR’s court packing scheme– President Nixon and the Watergate tapes– Clinton and Lewinsky

• President and the staff could be compelled to give evidence under oath

The Constitution and the amendments

• Any President wishing to bring any measure of gun control is limited by “The right to bear arms”

• President Roosevelt found that the Constitution can be a barrier to social progress

• Some amendments have weakened Presidential power – 22nd Amendment limits the Presidential term– 25th Amendment provided for the removal of person

considered mentally or physically unfit……

Mentally unfit?????

The Federal System

• The 50 states have a degree of fiscal and legislative authority

• This acts as a check on the role of Federal Government and therefore of the President

• The President often has to negotiate with state representatives in several areas of responsibility

Pressure Groups

• A Republican President has to contend with – Christian Fundamentalists, pro-lifers and big

business

• A Democrat President has to contend with– Labour Unions and environmentalists– Bill Clinton had many problems over gays in

the military

The Mass Media

• Television can be a source of power, but• Can also damage credibility, especially if

there is a poor performance or a gaffe, for example the Ford Presidential debates of 1976 – “Poland not under Eastern European Domination” – and you thought Dubya was thick!!

• Press journalists are very vigilant in exposing Presidential wrong-doings– Vietnam, Watergate, Irangate,

Whitewatergate and Monicagate….

Public Opinion

• Levels of support can fluctuate

• George Bush snr had a good rating after the Gulf War, but then down at the state of the domestic economy

• Clinton was able to retain a high level of public opinion despite misdemeanours– Power then checked by Congress, Media and

Bureaucracy

• George W Bush, losing support rapidly over Iraq

Bureaucracy

• Sooo many Govt. agencies• Fiscal Policy – How much power does the

Federal reserve have to determine interest rates?

• Foreign Policy – How powerful id the CinC, and how much does he rely on other countries support?

• Having powers does not necessarily mean ‘having power’

Questions…..

• So then…• What factors determine the power of the

President

and • in what ways is this power limited?

• President Turman argued that the ‘only power is the power to persuade’. Is this a valid description of Presidential power today?