The presidential election methods that are traditional and the modern one have differed from each other centuries by centuries. Today’s rhetorical presidential practice tend to be the most accurate and useful because the presidents of the United States would aim to be clear to the public about their ideas and governmental policies. The modern way and the traditional way is very different from each other because the traditional presidential practice has to be in its own limits that is limited by the American Constitutions, although the modern one is more publicly. Jeffrey Tulis, in “The Two Constitutional Presidencies,” argues that there is a formal presidency and an informal presidency, and he also argues that Woodrow Wilson implemented the new one in the old …show more content…
one that was traditional (Tulis, 2009). Tulis argues that Woodrow Wilson tried to do this without revising and adapting the new one with the traditional one, and this created a dilemma (Tulis, 2009). Hence, “Scholars of the presidency often begin research or examination of the institution with the "modern" presidential era that is said to begin with Woodrow Wilson or Franklin Delano Roosevelt” (Teten, 2008).
Because of a constant conflict between the traditional presidential practice and the modern presidential practice stress out the executive people in the White House because people, including the executive ones, do not have an understanding of the contemporary presidency (Teten, 2008). Teten states that “when the presidents of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are closely examined alongside all of their peers, they are remarkable not for the ways in which they fail to resemble today's executive” (Teten, 2008). After the presidents, who understood the importance of the new way of presidential practice, taught people how to adapt the constitution according to the new one and showed the way hot to implement it, people began to understand the significant of the new presidential practice. That is, those were “the important contributions to the twenty-first century presidency” (Teten, 2008). It is very important to understand how the modern way of presidential practice would publicly influence
people. It should be questioned that the new and modern way of presidential practice should use the Constitution and it should be adapted with the Constitution to be useful for the Americans. Overall, the rhetorical presidency is a kind of political communication between the Congress and the other federal government powers, and its target is directly the United States citizens, and through the rhetorical presidential practice, the presidents of the United States would aim to be clear to the public about their ideas and governmental policies. In this manner, the new way of presidential practice is clearer than the older one that is the traditional presidential practice to be able to be understood by the United States citizens. References Michael Nelson. (2009) Editor. The Presidency and the Political System. Ninth edition. CQ Press, 2009. Teten, R. L. (2008). “The Evolution of the Rhetorical Presidency and Getting Past the Traditional/Modern Divide.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 38(2), 308-314. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/215686672?accountid=8289.
Skowornek writes, “these presidents each set out to retrieve from a far distant, even mythic, past fundamental values that they claim had been lost in the indulgences of the received order, In this way, the order-shattering and order-affirming impulses of the presidency in politics became mutually reinforcing.” (Skowornek, 37, book). These presidents are in the best position not because they are exceptional at their job but because the time they came into office offered them the elasticity and authority to make new orders and be welcomed by the public because he is taking the country out of its troubles and challenges.
Examining the conceptualizations and theories of Neustadt and Skowronek’s in comparative perspective, this essay makes the principal argument that both of these theories only represent partial explanations of how success and efficiency is achieved in the context of the Presidency. With Neustadt focusing saliently on the President’s micro-level elite interactions and with Skowronek adopting a far more populist and public opinion-based framework, both only serve to explain some atomistic facets of the Presidency. As such, neither is truly collectively exhaustive, or mutually exclusive of the other, in accounting for the facets of the Presidency in either a modern day or historical analytical framework. Rather, they can best be viewed as complementary theories germane to explaining different facets of the Presidency, and the different strengths and weaknesses of specific Administrations throughout history.
As the President of the United States, a president have powers that other members of the government do not. Presidential power can be defined in numerous ways. Political scientists Richard Neustadt and William Howell give different views on what is presidential power. These polarized views of presidential powers can be used to compare and contrast the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Of the most powerful people in the world, the President of the United States of America hits the top of the list. Even though the policy agendas that presidents set as they take office often go unfulfilled, the office of President is still one of the most envied spots to have. But why could this be? It is because the United States is the most powerful nation in the world and with the President as the leader, he is said to have the most power in the world ("Top Ten Most Powerful Countries in the World"). With power comes responsibility and with this position he must govern a country while abiding by the rules.
The U.S. president is a person deemed to be the most fitting person to lead this country through thick and thin. It’s been such a successful method that it has led to 43 individual men being put in charge of running this country. However, this doesn’t mean that each one has been good or hasn’t had an issue they couldn’t resolve when in office. But no matter what, each one has left a very unique imprint on the history and evolution of this nation. However when two are compared against one another, some rather surprising similarities may be found. Even better, is what happens when two presidents are compared and they are from the same political party but separated by a large numbers of years between them. In doing this, not only do we see the difference between the two but the interesting evolution of political idea in one party.
The most important phase that Neustadt argues about the presidency and presidents is the persuasion power. He writes that the president cannot simply command “do this, do that”, as we all know “nothing will happen”. Different branches of the government have different constituencies and different interests. To make things happen, the president must use his bargaining skill to persuade others. Neustadt, to back his view gives a historical prove in which president Truman,
Can you imagine president controlling your life? The constitution use three different forms to make a group or a person from getting too much power on his hands. The are three types of power that each contusion have in order to keep power equal. One of them is Legislative Branch Congress “Can approve Presidential nominations”(Document C). It’s a example how governments try to keep power equal.
The Evolution of the Power of the Presidency The views of the presidency by the first sixteen presidents varied widely but all of their actions set precedents for their successors to use, expand, or even curtail the power of the office. Some believed in the Whig theory of strict adherence to the constitution, while others believed the president was the steward of the people with a loose interpretation of it. The power of the office expanded through the years, however it only expanded as far as the public and congress allowed. George Washington was the first President of the United States of America and realizing this he acted carefully and deliberately, aware of the need to build an executive structure that could accommodate future presidents.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, had written a very important historical speech and document towards the end of his time in office. He had written the Farewell address which focused on helping America understand the importance of preserving unity, acknowledging the rise of political parties forming, strengthening religion and morality, and he stated his position on American foreign policy. He addressed these ideas with strong tone and used incredible amount of dictions that strengthens his tone as well as representing his appeal to ethos to a strong degree. However, today’s society seemed to forget Washington’s position on foreign policy and has created a new form of the policy. But nonetheless as time grew, change occurs. In today’s society Washington’s foreign policy would include many positive and negative manifestations, but it is still a speech and document that will always apply to America.
Richard E. Neustadt, the author of Presidential Power, addresses the politics of leadership and how the citizens of the United States rate the performance of the president's term. We measure his leadership by saying that he is either "weak or "strong" and Neustadt argues that we have the right to do so, because his office has become the focal point of politics and policy in our political system. Neustadt brings to light three main points: how we measure the president, his strategy of presidential influence, and how to study them both. Today we deal with the President himself and his influence on government action. The president now includes about 2000 men and women, the president is only one of them, but his performance can not be measured without focusing on himself.
Shugart, Matthew. "Elections: The American Process of Selecting a President: A Comparative Perspective." Presidential Studies, 34, 3 (September 2004): 632-656.
Understanding the factors that warranted the creation of the system is essential. When the constitution was being created, the framers wanted to avoid creating a strong executive branch. One idea the framers created was to have congress directly choose the president. However, the idea was rejected because some felt that making this choice would be too divisive and leave animosity in congress. Others felt that such a procedure would invite unseemly political bargaining, corruption, and perhaps even interference from foreign powers. An alternative reason why this idea was rejected is, “others felt that such an arrangement would upset the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government” (Kimberling 2). This idea was also rejected because many felt that it would ruin balance between the legislative and executive powers. A second idea for presidential elections was to have the president elected by the popular vote. The idea was discarded because the framers feared that the citizens would not have sufficient knowledge of candidate outside one’s state. T...
Understanding and evaluating presidents’ performance often poses challenges for political experts. The nation votes one president at the time and each presidency faces different tests. The environments surrounding a presidency have a tremendous impact on the success and failure of that presidency. In addition, the president exercises his power through a check and balance system embody in the Constitution. As stated in (Collier 1959), the Constitution created a government of “separated institutions sharing power.” As a result, a president works with others institutions of the government to shape the nation’s agenda. Thus, determining a presidential performance becomes difficult, especially when it comes to comparing the performance among presidencies.
Have you ever watched the Presidential Inaugural Address? Well, you should because you can learn what the new president wants to do with the country you are living in. I analyzed Barack Obama and George Washington’s Inaugural Addresses. There were many differences and similarities between Barack Obama and George Washington’s that I will further explain in this essay. One difference was that Obama’s speech was about trust while Washington’s was about the citizens rights for the new nation. One similarity is that both speeches talked about what each person wanted to do as president. Barack Obama and George Washington's Inaugural Addresses made a big impact on the country.
In the history of presidency, there have been five different types of presidents. They consist of the strict constructionist presidency, the stewardship presidency, the public presidency, the prerogative presidency, and the modern presidency. All presidents treat the office differently and they often set precedents for the presidents who follow them. The beliefs of these presidents, in their rights and limitations to power, shaped the way they made their decisions when they were in office. The presidential beliefs range from not acting outside of what the Constitution allows to using the Constitution more as a guideline for more modern times and situations.