The document provides an overview of the West Wing and presidency. It discusses that the West Wing is the nerve center of the executive branch and houses the Oval Office and Situation Room. It then covers the constitutional qualifications to be president, the four-year term limit and two-term restriction. The president acts as head of the executive branch and oversees 15 cabinet departments and numerous other offices and agencies. The president has many roles including chief diplomat, commander-in-chief, and head of state.

2. The West Wing
Jay
Carney
Denis McDonough
Thomas Donilon
Jacob
Lew
 The president’s office – nerve center of the Executive
Branch
 Importance of other offices often determined by how close
they are to the Oval Office [propinquity]
 Situation room is below ground level

3. The Basics [quickly] – qualifications and term of office, etc.
 Constitutional qualifications:
 35 years of age
 Natural-born citizen
 Residence of 14 years
 Term of office:
 4 years
 Limited to two terms by 22nd

Only FDR has had more
 Election
 Elected by Electoral College [not directly by the people] total votes = 538
 # of electoral votes per state is = # of House seats + 2 for Senate [e.g. NC
gets 15 electoral votes, CA gets 55, WY gets 3; DC gets 3]
 Head of Executive Branch – the Administration
 15 Secretary level Departments
 Many other offices and agencies [more later]
 Has many roles to play [all at once]
270 TO WIN !

4. All the President’s Hats
[several at a time]

5. The President’s job approval
ratings

6. He gets a
lot of help!
More about
that later….

7. Powers of the President
 In Article II of the Constitution
 Expressed, but fairly general in language
 Furthered and extended by force of
leadership and inherent powers
 Executive powers
 Appointment power
 Cabinet and agency chairs*
 Federal judges* *= requires
Senate approval
 Executive Office of President
 Enforcement powers
 Executive agencies [FCC, FBI, etc.]
 Executive orders [force of law]
 E.g. no fed. funding for abortions in new health care law

8.  Diplomatic and Military Powers
 The two powers are often tied together
 U.S. military might can be a help or a threat
 E.g. Gulf Wars 1 & 2; relations with Taiwan
 Cmdr-in-Chief is a civilian
 Danger of too close association w/military
establishment [look at South & Central America]
 Aided by Dept. of Defense and NSC
 Fuzzy line between Pres. And Congress’ war powers –
resulted in War Powers Act of 1973 [no declarations since
1941]
 Time of war/emergency usually expands president’s
power
 Chief Diplomat
 Main shaper of foreign policy [define]
 Aided by the State Dept. and it’s system of embassies
and ambassadors
 NSC, CIA, DIA [and rest of intelligence community]

9.  Chief Diplomat [continued]
 goals of foreign policy include:




national security
world peace
promote democracy
international trade
NATO [North Atlantic
Treaty Organization]
President Clinton signs NAFTA
Treaty
 Think about how international trade is related to the
other goals
 President can make/propose treaties or
executive agreements with other nations
 Framers a bit anxious about treaties [Geo. Wash’s warning]
 ∴ requires 2/3 majority approval of the Senate
 Executive agreement doesn’t require Senate
approval, but expires at end of president’s term
 Tools include: trade sanctions, MFN status,
embargo [U.S. is a huge market], military power
 Sanctions/embargo – to punish or coerce
 MFN – ease of trade as a reward
North American Free
Trade Agreement

10.  Legislative and economic role
 What is/are Constitutional legislative power[s]?
 Sign or veto bills
 Lots of non-constitutional influence – such as?
 Head of party – works w/party in congress to set agenda and
pass/defeat bills [note: president cannot introduce or vote on bills]
 Appeal to American people [w/ VP, only nationally elected official]
 Use federal $$ as an incentive in states/districts
 Proposes the nation’s budget
 Not just a budget – a set of priorities
 Hammered out by the OMB [Office of Management and Budget]
 Requires congressional approval
 Judicial powers
 Appoints federal judges [subject to Senate approval]
 Grants pardons, amnesty [define these]

11. Federal Bureaucracy
– president’s
 Remember that
administrationincredible, insane organizational chart on slide #5?
Here’s the simple version:
 The Cabinet – the 15 Executive Departments
 7 since 1953 – growth of government due to
growth in size and people’s expectations of gov’t
services
 Dept. chairs called Secretaries – except DOJ
headed by the Attorney General
 Secretaries powerful as heads of dept., but limited
role in advising president [most advisement is
within the dept.’s area of specialty]
 Many agencies and offices within the departments
set and enforce policy [e.g. next slides]
 E.g. DOD and DHS on next slides
 Safety standards, ethical practices, etc.

14. Independent Agencies
 Hundreds of them – do the bulk of the work
of the executive branch [e.g. NASA, the Fed]
 3 types:
 Regulatory commissions – regulate or control
something –
 e.g. the FED controls the money supply
 e.g. SEC oversees stock market activity
 Executive agencies – set and enforce policy
 e.g. EPA supervises toxic waste cleanup;
enforces clean water standards
 e.g. NASA runs America’s space program
 Executive corporations – federal agency that’s run
like a business – e.g. the U.S. Postal Service [USPS
started out as a cabinet-level department]

15. Working for the government
 Over 3 million civilians + 100,000s in uniform
work for the Exec. Branch
 These are the people who really make the
government work on a day-to-day basis
 Top positions are political appointments –
proven ability and/or key supporter
 90% of gov’t workers hired via a merit system –
the Civil Service
 System of open competition for jobs based upon tests
and application
 Created by the Pendleton Act 1883 to stop unfair
patronage – i.e. putting unqualified people in position
as personal favors [the “spoils system”]
 Overseen and managed by the Office of Personnel
Management [OPM]