The power of the President is limited to the power to persuade. Discuss.

However, the power to persuade is not an official power of the President as laid out in the Constitution.  The President also possesses the power to appoint ambassadors and the Cabinet, propose legislation, make or prevent bills becoming law by vetoing or signing them, draft a budget (which Congress is usually disinclined to tamper with significantly) and pardon criminals.  He is also Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces (an extremely powerful role), and the United States’ chief negotiator and diplomat.  This means he has significant power in regards to foreign policy, and can deploy troops without consulting Congress.  The President also, arguably, possesses so-called ‘inherent powers’, i.e.: those powers afforded to the President which are not specifically called for in the Constitution.  The greatest success of ‘inherent power’ has been in foreign policy, where the President has “special prerogatives” (acknowledged by both Congress and the Supreme Court since 1936).  There has been less success domestically.  For instance, Nixon was impeached for claiming that withholding the Watergate tapes from the public was permissible due to presidential privilege, and the Supreme Court removed Clinton’s short-lived ‘line-item veto’ in 1998.  Bush had more success, when widespread public and congressional support post-9/11 led to a massive expansion in the domestic powers of the federal government.  The President also has the power to appoint justices to the Supreme Court, which is extremely important as the justices have life tenure, and, therefore, can influence the government for years to come.

So we can see that the President does have considerable power beyond the power to persuade, but these powers are, for the most part, severely limited.  For instance, despite the President’s “special and pronounced” powers in regards to foreign policy, he still requires the support of Congress before declaring war or signing treaties.  This has led to anomalies such as the Vietnam War, which was never really a war; and the Treaty of Versailles, which was drafted by Woodrow Wilson, but never signed by the United States because of a lack of support in Congress.  The Supreme Court also exercises an effective check of Presidential power by declaring acts of the President unconstitutional, perhaps most notably in the case of United States v Nixon.   Finally, in a democracy one of the most significant checks will always be the people- strength of public opinion, for example, against the Vietnam War, probably led to Johnson’s decision not to stand for re-election.  In an increasingly media-conscious society, the role of the media and pressure groups is also significant.  This can be seen in the massive growth of the media management wing of the White House in recent years.

As presidential power is so limited by the government, the significance of the power of persuasion becomes even more obvious.  Bowles wrote that “a President cannot lead unless he appreciates the perspective of other elected politicians and accepts their legitimacy.”  The power of persuasion is, in a sense, an inherent power, as it is not spelled out in the Constitution.  In this way, it can be seen as an unlimited power- the President is free to use his power of persuasion as much as he can, and can have unlimited influence over the legislature.  However, though it may not have obvious checks and balances like constitutional power, it is limited by circumstance.  Firstly, the President can only make as much use of the power of persuasion as his personality enables him too.  If the President is charismatic and popular among the people and his party, he will make more effective use of his persuasive powers.  Similarly, the nation, and therefore the party, tends to rally around the President in times of national crisis, making it easier for the President to persuade.  However, this can backfire if the President is not seen to respond to the crisis quickly or effectively enough, e.g.: Bush gained support from his party and the public after the September 11th terrorist attacks, but lost it after Hurricane Katrina, as he was criticised for his slow response.  Furthermore, the President’s power to persuade is almost always rendered useless if his party does not control both Houses of Congress.  For instance, when the Republicans controlled Congress for the first part of Bush’s presidency, he used no vetoes at all.  When the Democrats gained control in 2006, he issued the regular veto six times in one year.  Regardless of how extensive a President’s powers of persuasion are, he is unlikely to be able to talk members of the opposition into supporting him!  Presidents nearing the end of their term of office (known as ‘lame ducks’) also struggle to win support.  For the above reasons, the power to persuade can be seen as being as limited as constitutional powers.

Harry Truman famously said, “I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do things they ought to have the sense to do without my persuading them.  That’s all the powers of the president amount to.”  I would suggest that this statement is a little exaggerated- perhaps President Truman was simply feeling a little disappointed with the extent of the power his role actually bestowed upon him.  The power of persuasion is extremely significant within the role of the President of the United States.  After all, it is through this power that he carries out his manifesto.  However it is not an unlimited power, being curtailed by circumstance (i.e.: events) and the President’s own particular aptitude for persuasion.  The powers the President holds in other areas; particularly his freedom and “special prerogatives” in foreign policy; and, domestically, the powers of appointment, proposing legislation and veto; can be considered to wield far more weight than the power of persuasion, even despite their limitations.  The power to persuade only addresses the President’s power over Congress, and does not consider his power internationally or over the judiciary, military, civil service and general public.  For this reason, the power of the President can be seen as far more extensive than simply the power to persuade.