Obama and the presidency

American Politics students will be familiar with the gap between the expectations placed upon the President and the powers he has at his disposal to enact legislation. The Constitution of course hands all power to initiate legislation to Congress but since the 1930s the occupant of the White House has effectively become de facto chief legislator. In other words, the President is essentially hamstrung by the separation of powers put in place by the Founding Fathers who were cautious about creating a new political system that could lend itself to executive tyranny. For this reason modern Presidents must employ a range of techniques that can assist their power to persuade. So how has Obama attempted to deal with this challenge?

The expectations of Obama are exceptionally high. And Obama was an exceptional candidate. Intelligent, charismatic, and inspirational. His speeches drew enormous crowds, and often contained uplifitng messages. Questions are now being asked about whether Obama can govern as well as he can campaign. This week he deliverd his first speech to a joint session of Congress and his budget plan has been approved.

In response to critics who have said that he has been too downbeat about the state of the American economy, Obama’s speech this week was much more positive. In it he spoke directly to the American people, connecting to them through the cameras to say that their country will come out of the crisis stronger, and that now was the time to start the rebuilding process. Here he is using his skill as an orator in trying to lift confidence at a time when the economy is teetering on the edge.

Obama has also tried other techniques that play to his strengths. When his stimulus package was making its way through Congress, Obama got out of Washington and made public appearances outlining the rationale behind his plans. Obama, then, is like Reagan before him trying to appeal over the heads of Congress diectly to the American people.

Relations between the President and Congress are critical in determining the suceess or failure of a presidency. Scholars have variously noted that: the President needs Congress; the President and Congress are like two halves of a dollar bill, both useless without the other half; trying to get Congress to act is like nailing a custard tart to a wall/pushing a wet mattress up a spiral staircase/pushing treacle up a hill with a fork. Back in Washington Obama has also met with leading congressional Republicans in an attempt to build bipartisan support. On the surface it would appear that this plan didn’t work since not a single House Republican supported his measures. My feeling is that he probably knew that his bill would not get their support since it has been criticised as being too heavy on spending and too light on tax cuts. But he has been clever in trying to build political capital by reaching out across the aisle and entertaining the GOP since some way down the line he may need their support when legislators from his party refuse to give their support for measures such as health or energy policy.

Obama has acted quickly on a number of fronts: the economy, energy emissions, Guantanamo, Afghanistand and Iraq. Successfully exploiting the honeymoon period will prove critical in determining whether Obama can come within a fraction of meeting the abnormally high expectations the public have of him.

Watch the BBC clip of his speech to Congress here.