The Executive Branch/ the President

In this section of our course I feel that my blog is going to be very similar to what I discussed in my Congress blog. The President as well as the House of Representatives, and the Senate rely strongly on the relationship, or how they are perceived. According to Richard Neustadt as was quoted by our professor the president power is limited to a certain extent by the checks and balances system however this power can be enhanced by several factors. One being public, and peer perception as well as  strong support from his party and the way in which the president can use his power to persuade others to support his policies. In order for a president to be able to effectively perform his job he must have the abilities shown above. The president must be able to effectively communicate to others his views and persuade them to agree with such views in order to further his agenda. The president must also be viewed by the people as an effective administrator of power and execute with knowledge the office which he has been elected to enforce.

As we have seen in our most recent elected president, a president can impact his office tremendously by carrying out his responsibilities according to his personal agenda. We have had the opportunity to see firsthand how the system of checks and balances works. We have seen how many policies have been enforced by a majority who support the president despite the will of the people. We have also seen how the will of the president has been suppressed by a majority from an opposing party. The current president has been challenged to carry out many of his policies even in cases in which we have seen increased support by his party.  We have seen cases, in which the president has been persuasive enough to have House, or Senate members cross party lines, and we have also seen cases in which he has not been persuasive enough to get the support of his own party. The power that the president is been privileged to have by being elected to represent our country is not limitless, however if said president can gain the support of his peers as well as that of the people they can influence our country and our laws in a great way.

As our nation has grown Congress recognized that the office of president can be a very power office and if left unchallenged could become more powerful than even Congress. In 1947 an amendment was implemented and later ratified 1951 in which term limitations were implemented. This amendment insure that the office of president could not be held for more than two terms by any sitting president, which would limit the amount of years that any president could serve to eight unless they were a sitting vice president in mid- term  when he became president.  Through the years we have seen how the parties that are able to gain the peoples support have been able not only to win the presidential race but also the House and the Senate. We have also seen how the way they deal with foreign policy has been a major factor in how the people perception of their effective has been. Throughout the years many different factors have been influential during election but foreign policy continues to be one of the deciding factors for the American people.