Title: How Presidents Get Things Done
Headings: 13.2
How Presidents Get Things Done

13.2 How Presidents Get Things Done
Learning Objectives
Link
Agenda-Setter for the Political System
Chief Lobbyist in Congress
Legislative Liaison
The Veto
Signing Statements
Presidential Scorecards in Congress
Chief Executive
Appointment Powers
Executive Orders
War Powers
Presidents and the People
Public Approval
Polls
Speechmaker-in-Chief
Video Clip

Content: Andrew Rudalevige, Managing the President’s Program: Presidential Leadership and Legislative Policy Formulation (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002). Crises and unexpected events affect presidents’ agenda choices. Issues pursue presidents, especially through questions and stories of White House reporters, as much as presidents pursue issues. A hugely destructive hurricane on the Gulf Coast propels issues of emergency management, poverty, and reconstruction onto the policy agenda whether a president wants them there or not. Finally, many agenda items cannot be avoided. Presidents are charged by Congress with proposing an annual budget. Raw budget numbers represent serious policy choices. And there are ever more agenda items that never seem to get solved (e.g., energy, among many others).