Presidential Power
Institutional
Sources of Presidential Power
Powers
enumerated in Constitution
Behavioral
or Individual Sources of Presidential Power
Power
of Persuasion- Neustadt
Importance
of Personality- Barber
Going
Public- Kernell
Institutional Sources of Presidential Power
Chief
of State (symbolic/ceremonial roles)
Chief
Executive (appointment power, control over executive branch/executing laws)
Commander-in-Chief
Chief
Diplomat
Chief
Legislator (recommending legislation, executive orders, veto/signing
legislation)
Individual Sources of Presidential Power
Power
of Persuasion
Richard
Neustadt - Presidential Power and the Modern
Presidents
Importance
of Personality
James
Barber Presidential Character
Going
Public
Samuel
Kernell Going Public
Neustadt and Presidential Power
Way
to persuade is to convince members of Congress that what the W.H. wants of them
is what they ought to do for their own sake and on their authority
Power
of persuasion is the power to bargain
Key
is a bargaining game
Neustadt Continued
All of the
players have different advantages:
President- status
of office, public standing (if high), veto, appointments, budget
Bureaucracy-
since also beholden to Congress, will not necessarily go along with what
Executive wants
Congress- hold
purse strings, approve appointments
Public- only
important in approval of President and to prove that the actor cares about an
issue
Barber Presidential Character
Personality
plays an important role in shaping presidential behavior
Will
affect whether president has persuasion powers
Two
Important dimensions:
Active/Passive-
Energy towards Government or what Government should do
Negative/Positive-
How feel about the job
Barber - Typology of 4 Types
Active-Positive
High
self esteem, oriented towards results, adaptive
Examples-
Kennedy, Truman, and FDR
Active-Negative
Intense
effort with low emotional reward, motivated by personal ambition-
Examples-
Johnson and Nixon
Barber - Typology of 4 Types
Passive-Positive
Try to please
others, compliant with decisions by others
Example- Reagan
Passive-Negative
Minimal
Performance, low self esteem, work out of sense of duty
Example- Washington, Eisenhower?
Where would we
place Clinton or George W. Bush?
Kernell Going Public
Definition
Strategy
of appealing to the public to get Congress to do what the President Wants
Examples
Clinton
and Health Care Reform
George
W. Bush and the Homeland Security Bill
Evidence
for its Importance
Public
addresses, travel, speeches
Going Public vs. Bargaining
Why
does Going public violate bargaining model?
Rarely
includes the kind of exchanges in bargaining theory
No
benefits to members from complying with the President- only costs if dont
comply
Entails
public posturing- makes compromise difficult
Undermines
the legitimacy of other politicians
Why Growth of Going Public?
Growth
of the welfare state
Constituencies outside of D.C.
Modern
Communications
President
in News everyday
Easier
to mobilize public opinion
Decline
of Political Parties- Divided Government
Hard
to bargain with individual members, especially if different party
Implications of Going Public
Congress
will only listen if the President has high levels of approval (50% at least)
Constant
Campaign to Sway Voters
Every
White House since Carter has had an in-house pollster
Constantly
track public approval of President and opinion over the issues
Evaluation of Theories of Presidential Power
Presidents
clearly have institutional power
However,
the use of these powers have varied over time
Most
political scientists think that Barbers presidential character/personality
measure is no good
Going
public vs. Bargaining