Dabney notes 7-3

Jordan Conway

 Role of the President:

 Head of state
 Chief executive- ensures that programs that have been passed have been implemented
 Chief of the armed forces
 Chief diplomat
 Has power to make treaties
 Power to conduct foreign policy in countries abroad
 Has power to veto passage by congress
 (can also pick parts of the bill that he likes)
 Policy
 Overseeing policies enacted by congress
 Delivers State of the Union Address
 Conveys to the public what the administration wishes to accomplish, the direction that they
are going in
 Presidential power:
 Powers explicitly identified in the constitution
 Special powers
 Executive privilege
 Confidentiality (Nixon with Watergate tapes)
 Powers of persuasion (in favor of his agenda)
 Persuasion of people
 Congress
 Courts
 Foreign countries
 Based on charisma and performance, how one presents oneself in perceiving power?
 Can use the media/ dominate the news to do this- ex: FDR’s “Fireside Chats” through
radio
 Party leadership/ authority
 Erin Medovsky, political scientist, says there are two types of presidencies:
 Foreign
 Domestic
 Theory of/ on Presidential Power
 Prerogative Theory
 There are times in which the president must violate the Constitution in order to save the
Constitution
 The president is the only one who has enough energy to do this
 Stewardship
  Considered not only the right of the president, but the duty as a steward of the nation
 Literalist
 Interpreting the Constitution word-for-word
 Powers that people have over/ work against president:
 Divided government
 “Gridlock” that arises from Congress that is of a different party than the president