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: University Press of Kansas, 2008). Presidents often face intractable issues, encounter unpredictable events, have to make complex policy decisions, and are beset by scandals (policy, financial, sexual). Once in office, reality sinks in. Interviewing President Obama on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart wondered whether the president’s campaign slogan of “Yes we can” should be changed to “Yes we can, given certain conditions.” President Obama replied “I think I would say ‘yes we can, but…it’s not going to happen overnight.’” Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Hope and Change as Promised, Just Not Overnight,” New York Times, October 28, 2010, A18. So how do presidents get things done? Presidential powers and prerogatives do offer opportunities for leadership. Link
Between 1940 and 1973, six American presidents from both political parties secretly recorded just less than five thousand hours of their meetings and telephone conversations. Check out http://millercenter.org/academic/presidentialrecordings.