American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

316 CHAPTER 10|THE PRESIDENCY

unilateral action (presiden-
tial) Any policy decision made and
acted upon by the president and his
staff without the explicit approval or
consent of Congress.

actions might increase approval. Political considerations matter somewhat less to

a second-term president (since running for re-election is not an option), but politics

still matters in the second term. Members of Congress are more likely to support

policy initiatives proposed by a popular president, believing that this popularity

refl ects public support for the president’s goals. Conversely, an unpopular president

fi nds it much harder to build support for new programs.^53

Presidential popularity is more than just a measure of opinion—it is a resource

that presidents ca n draw on to adva nce their policy a genda s. However, high popula r-

ity doesn’t allow presidents to do whatever they want, nor does low popularity make

it impossible to do anything. Moreover, presidential popularity is shaped by factors

such as the state of the economy that are only partly under a president’s control.

Assessing Presidential Power

Throughout American history, presidents have realized major achievements.

They have expanded the United States, fought wars, and enacted large govern-

ment programs. Yet the Constitution grants the president only rather limited pow-

ers. Assessing presidential power requires examining this contradiction. Saying

that the presidents gained power because of the expansion of the United States or

the increased size of the federal budget or bureaucracy tells only part of the story.

W hy did this power go to the presidents rather tha n to Cong ress or to bureaucrats?

Debat es over t he sou rce a nd ex t ent of president ia l powers have a lon g h i s t or y. In

the 1790s, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, writing anonymously as Hel-

vidius and Pacifi cus, argued about whether George Washington needed congres-

sional approval to declare the United States neutral in the war between Britain

and France.^54 Even after more than two centuries, many of the limits to presiden-

tial powers—including which executive actions require congressional approval

and which ones can be reversed by Congress—are not well defi ned.

Presidents also derive power from the very fact that they are Head of State and

Head of Government. One classic work in presidential studies argues that this

infl uence comes from a president’s power to persuade legislators to accept his point

of view. Presidents can off er small inducements like visits to the Oval Offi ce and

campaign assistance, and they can draw on the natural respect that most people

(including members of Congress) feel for the presidency regardless of who holds the

offi ce, thereby achieving compromises that enable the president to reach his policy

goals.^55 Most presidents have considerable success in their persuasion eff orts.

The very ambiguity of the Constitution also creates opportunities for the exer-

cise of presidential power. Consider the president’s war-making powers: the Con-

stitution makes the president military commander in chief but gives Congress the

power to declare war and to raise and support armies, without specifying which

branch of government is in charge of the military. Thus, at least part of presiden-

tial authority must be derived or assumed from what the Constitution does not

say—that is, the ways in which it fails to defi ne or delineate presidential power or

grants inherent power to the president.^56

UNILATERAL ACTIONS AND SIGNING STATEMENTS

Constitutional ambiguities about presidential power have enabled presidents to

take unilateral action—that is, changing policy on their own without consulting

ANALYZE WHY PRESIDENTS

HAVE BECOME MUCH MORE

POWERFUL SINCE THE

FOUNDING