Title: The powers of the American President - History Learning Site
Headings: The powers of the American President
The powers of the American President
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Content: The federal system of government in America and the three distinct forms of government institutions in Washington limit presidential power. Bowles claims that presidents have to “bargain” with other politicians and that at times, presidential power is “illusory”. The other politicians who work out of the Capitol building, are not controlled by the president – his only chance might be to influence them but the recent out spoken Democrat members who wanted Clinton to resign rather than drag down the name of the Democrat Party (over the release of the Starr report and the video tape recordings etc.) are indicative of how little influence the president has over his own party members in a time of crisis. However, the president does have two great advantages : he does have the ability to set the nation’s political agenda which he can do by exploiting the powers given to him by the Constitution (see below). he can negotiate and bargain with other politicians so that he gets their support for his policies which are then adopted by the Federal government. Ironically the two above statements include the words one would least associate with a president : negotiate and bargain. That such a position as that of president of America has to do these despite being formally given power by the Constitution, is indicative of the position presidents find themselves in.