...Presidential Power Barack Obama had formerly said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” But there’s an accurate method and invalid method in undertaking such changes. Especially when conversing about the President of the United States the precise procedure, phases and guidelines are being assumed to be executed. In retrospect of President Obama prior decisions and actions, it can be obviously seen that he has been neglecting to obey presidential rules and regulation. On more than one occasion President Obama has overstepped his boundaries because, he has ignored boundaries of the constitution, taken action without congress approval, and he has undermined the...
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...“Presidential Power” by Christina L. Lyons represents a dispute that Congress is having with President Obama believing that he is overstepping his authority with executive power. To begin with, Republicans are making accusations saying that Obama is accusing Obama for abusing the Constitution and Democrats are defending him by saying he’s taking action because Congress is taking long to respond. Many presidents have overstepped the boundaries of using executive power to accomplish policy goals. But the debate over executive power has been building up over the years and has led a conflict between Republicans and Democrats. Between the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branch there has been a great gridlock with no one coming to an agreement. Due to the gridlock the conflict between Republicans and Presidential power has been a battle. Eventually, both sides will have to come to some sort of a compromise, whether a law comes into place of presidents having a limit to executive power. (Lyons, 2015, p. 219) During President Obama’s presidency, he has exceeded his power of enforcing executive orders over 210 times. That’s an average of 33 executive orders a year issued by President Obama alone. Executive orders are unbreakable legal orders given by the President to Federal Administrative Agencies. This power allows the president to create laws or determine how existing laws should be carried out. President Obama has overstepped his authority through the use of executive power by...
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...is congress a broken branch? As we go into the second year of the 114th congress it is clear that now more than ever there is a clear divide between the parties ideologically and socially, affecting the efficiency of congress. With the media having an even greater influence than ever, the general public are being influenced to view the opposite party as adversaries in commerce rather than comrades. Congress’ apparent neglection to perform their duties of representation, oversight and legislation, is under noticeable scrutiny form the public. Whether the bureaucratic system is altogether faltering and letting down the American people is still to be argued. Obama’s limitations are resultant of a Republican Majority in both the House and the Senate. With a Democrat in executive power and a Republican run legislative body, the legislation process is far less effective than in previous years, with either side causing restrictions for the other. Only 115 bills have been able to pass through and become enacted laws within the last year. In comparison to 385 when there was a Democratic majority in the House. In perspective, triple the amount of bills passed through the 111th congress than through the current one. One could argue that bills do not need to be passed through congress at a substantial rate, however this is congresses way of representing the wishes of their people and therefore an extremely important duty to perform. The conflict between the Republicans and Obama is continual...
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...Assess and evaluate the success of Barack Obama's presidency (45 marks) Barack Obama was elected to the White House in 2008 after being the Senator of Illinois since 2005. Although he still has two years remaining in his presidency, after winning a second term in 2012, there have already been significant events and actions that will dictate the success or failure of his presidency in years to come. His successes in reforming healthcare and gay rights are counteracted by his failures with Syria and relations with the EU. The relationship he has attained with the other branch of government has been a relatively successful one, introducing to new women to the Supreme Court, however losing two midterms and being office during the 2013 government shutdown and a severe reduction in the levels of bipartisanship in Congress have scared his presidency somewhat. Obama has made the presidency somewhat of a more trustworthy institute after removing the negative stigma left by George W Bush. However his introduction of policy tzars and using constitutional bypasses he said he wouldn't, such as executive orders and recess appointments, have caused backlash. Overall though, we can say that his presidency has been a successful one with some mistakes, but we can't really expect no mistakes to happen over 8 years as the a President. Obama has has both resounding success in his domestic policy as well as significant failures. One of his most notable successes, and one of the policies he...
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...To what extent is the Obama presidency ‘more imperiled than imperial’? (40) To a fairly large extent, the Obama presidency is more ‘imperiled than imperial’ seems largely true, with Obama suffering from major constraints such as Congress. The theory of the imperiled Presidency suggests that rather than being too powerful, the President does not have enough power to be effective. In contrast, imperial presidency is characterised as when a president has greater power than the constitution allows. One can argue that his pursuit of major domestic policy goals has been much more aggressive than his predecessor, Bush, suggesting Obama’s presidency as imperial. Obama once quipped, “I’m the President of the United States, not the emperor of the United States”. One argument supporting the assertion that the US presidency is “more imperiled than imperial” is the president being limited by political pressures. In 2012, Obama stated that if chemical weapons were used in Syria, he would use military intervention. However, when they were used in 2013, he seemingly tried to delay action. Explanations as to why he delayed include falling public support for intervention and the UK Parliament voting against intervention. As Commander in Chief, Obama had the power to intervene but was limited by informal, outside pressures. This demonstrates that although constitutionally a president has certain powers, political pressures limit him. Obama’s approval ratings would have fallen if he invaded...
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...than 100 senators or 435 representatives in congress. The Executive branch gets the most political attention because they are the face of the nation they represent. That does not mean that they are all powerful and whatever they want to accomplish can be done. Congress and the Supreme Court can either challenge or help the Executive branch with every decision that comes through the White House on a daily basis. The relationship with congress during a president’s time in office is crucial to his success. Not much can get done with an entire branch of the government opposing you. If congress helps and then the Supreme Court rules that your legislation is legal than great things can come form a president’s time in office. A large portion of President Obama’s time as a leader of the nation has been spent opposing views of the republican controlled congress. Harry Truman had much of that same difficulty during his tenure. It is hard to look at the past and see the truth but after Truman’s Honey Moon phase of his relationship with congress he had difficulties dealing with the republicans there just like Obama. Truman was quoted as saying “Republicans in Washington have a habit of becoming curiously deaf to the voice of the people” in referring to Republican leaders in Washington (McCullough, p. 661). Obama would most likely agree to this. After a take over of the majority in 2011 Obama has not had significant legislation pass through congress like he did during the first part of his...
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...Presidential Power Congress holds all power to declare war, however the president is the commander and chief of the armed forces. This is where as a country we run into problems with the president over stepping his boundaries in some areas. When a president sends troops they are only allowed to be deployed for ninety days before war must be declared. The framers of the constitution meant by Article II, Section 2 that once war has been declared the president’s responsibility as commander in chief is to direct war. This clause has been interpreted that the president has the power to act with free hand in foreign affairs or can send troops to battle without consulting Congress. There have been many instances where presidents have sent troops without consent of Congress. President Truman sent American troops to the war in Korea without requesting authorization from Congress, Clinton sent forces to Bosnia to support NATO operations against the Serbian aggression, and President Obama led a missile strike in Syria . Some criticize these president’s decisions but others feel that they acted with the country’s best interests in mind. In June 1950 President Truman sent U.S. troops to Korea without congressional authority. This still today stands as the most important precedent for the use of military force without approval. Truman believes since he is the commander in chief that he has the authority to send troops to Korea without authorization. No president had ever launched anything...
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...(Gable 85). These political interest groups seek to gain leverage in governmental policy through contributions to campaigns of congress members. These political interest groups are unique because they allow citizens of the United States to voice their opinions to those in the American government. Interest groups exist in a wide variety of differentiating views and goals. Some of these interest groups include, but are not exclusive...
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...senates, federal governments, and Obama it is known as a political discussion. This discussion is debated how the immigration system is not functioning correctly. How the border fence is not secured and the regulation for immigrants is not compatible. These common issues have been accumulating; creating an unbalance system for the immigrants. The Immigration System in America is broken. On March 5th, 2010, Joshua Hoyt, an executive director of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrants and Refugee Rights; wrote to the public stating how Obama is risking alienating latinos with the lack of immigration reform. In this literature introduces immigration reform and how the lack of support is declining(Hoyt, Joshua). In 2008 campaign, candidate Obama promised to make immigration reform a prime concern during the first year in office. This promise gave hope to the people and ambition. Giving Obama 67 percent of the Latinos vote. Which was much higher than John Kerry, 59 percent in 2004. But taking office Obama has pursued a policy of increasing deportation. The Obama Administration plan deport about 400,000 immigrants, which was far more than during George W. Bush’s last year in office. Obama has promised to make immigration reform a priority during his years in office. But last year in 2009 he briefly mentioned the issue during his State of Union Speech. Hoyt states that Obama has to call consistently for congress to pass the immigration reform(Hoyt...
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...the president is different from public opinion of Congress. The president is both a person and the head of an institution. The media pays close attention to any president’s actions, and the public is generally well informed and aware of the office and its current occupant. Overall the public opinion of a country changes over time, even if party membership or ideology does not change drastically. If presidents have enough public support, they use their level of public approval indirectly to get their agenda passed. When presidents have high levels of public approval, they are likely to act quickly and try to accomplish personal policy goals. They can use their position and power to focus media attention on an issue. Increasing bias has made it more difficult for presidents to use their power to get their own preferred issues through Congress. For this reason, modern presidents may find more success in using their popularity to increase media and social media attention on an issue. Even if the president is not the reason for congressional action, he or she can cause the attention that leads to change. Horserace coverage is often criticized for its lack of depth; the stories skip over the candidates’ issue positions, voting histories, and other facts that would help voters make an informed decision. Obama President Obama...
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...Ted Rall: BAD Obama! In this article, Ted Rall gives his view on Barrack Obama. He states that Obama is stupid, even more stupid than Sarah Palin. Ted gives his points and reason to why he felts that Obama is a bad president. The thesis is sentence five of the article. This is the Thesis because it tells the viewer what he is going to talk about. In this case it tells the reader that Obama is dumb. This is what the whole paper is about, Obama being a dumb president. This article is aimed toward younger to middle aged, left wing people that watch CNN and care about politics. He wanted Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to work over the holidays. With that being said younger people work more over the holidays than old. Older people are off during the holidays because in older generations stores were closed on holidays and it’s been in recent generation that stores have been open during the holidays so that people had to work. Then he talks about being at least 30 to understand the joke he makes in part 10 of the article. To understand the joke u had to be 30 which is middle aged. The article is aim toward left-wing people because Ted Rall is a left-wing Democrat and he’s arguing that Obama should be more liberal than what he already is. This article wants people that like to listen to politics and watch CNN to read this because this tells how Ted Rall feels about President Obama. A lot of people have to work over the holidays. But in older generations the only...
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...Barack Obama Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States —becoming the first African American to serve in that office —on January 20, 2009. The son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Obama grew up in Hawaii. Leaving the state to attend college, he earned degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago, where he met and married Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in 1992. Their two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha (Sasha) were born in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996 and served there for eight years. In 2004, he was elected by a record majority to the U.S. Senate from Illinois and, in February 2007, announced his candidacy for President. After winning a closely-fought contest against New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, Obama handily defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee for President, in the general election. When President Obama took office, he faced very significant challenges. The economy was officially in a recession, and the outgoing administration of George W. Bush had begun to implement a controversial "bail-out" package to try to help struggling financial institutions. In foreign affairs, the United States still had troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and warfare had broken out between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, illustrating the...
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...The Senate Committee On Foreign Relations voted on Wednesday to give President Barack Obama the power to a launch a limited military attack to punish Syria for using chemical weapons. The vote was 10-7. It marked the first time in more than a decade — since a 2002 resolution that preceded the Iraq war — that members of Congress have voted to authorized military action. The resolution, which could be voted on by the full Senate as early as next week, forbids Obama from using ground troops in Syria and allows the military response to last no longer than three months. The yes votes comprised seven Democrats and three Republicans, including Sen. John McCain, who had expressed reservations that the United States was not doing enough to arm the rebels fighting Syrian leader Bashar Assad. Earlier in the day, President Obama landed in Stockholm and, at a press conference with the Swedish prime minister, declared that punishing Syria for using chemical weapons was a matter of upholding the credibility of the world. Answering a question about his statement last year that Syrian use of chemical weapons would be a “red line,” President Obama said the response was not about him. “I didn’t set a red line — the world set a red line,” President Obama said. “The international community’s credibility is on the line, and America and Congress’ credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important.” He further...
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...demonstrated by the now considered bifurcated presidency. * Imperial – term comes from Schlesinger in 1973 when referring to Nixon. It is linked to the assertion of presidential power, especially in foreign policy, in presidencies from Truman to Nixon – term used to criticise the increasing dominance of the President in relation to Congress * Imperilled – refers to a reduced level in Presidential authority and power as a resurgent of Congress occurred – increasing its authority over the executive through a number of legislative policies, thus practically capping the President’s role domestically and abroad. Paragraph 1 – YES – could be considered to be more imperial due to the use of executive agreements * Use of executive agreements means that the president is able to bypass congressional approval – and so acts as an aid to circumvent congress * Obama has used a combination of executive agreements, memoranda, public declarations and press statements to push past constitutional restraint – which facilitates Kernell’s theory of ‘going public’ * EG – Exec agreement order 13687 in 2015 with sanctions on N.Korea * Obama & Cuba – ‘USA is changing its relationship with people of Cuba. This is the most significant change in our politics for more than 50 years’ – diplomatic relation, relax trade and travel restrictions and organising and prisoner exchange * ALL undermine the C&B’s –...
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...Year in Review The 111th Congress met for the last time this week, leaving in its wake a year of education highs and lows. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is grappling with how to sell its education reform agenda—outlined over the course of this past year—to an increasingly divided Congress. Here’s ASCD’s take on the nation’s main policy accomplishments (and failures) related to education during the past year, and our quick look at what’s in store when the 112th Congress takes over in January. ESEA Déjà Vu The congressional year ends essentially where it began with regard to the most significant piece of federal education legislation, which is more than three years beyond its expiration date. That isn’t for a complete lack of trying. The past year saw increasing clarity from the Obama administration about its education reform priorities. The March release of A Blueprint for Reform (PDF) outlined the president’s vision for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, from ensuring that all students are college and career ready to providing great teachers and leaders in every school. Congress responded by scheduling hearings on ESEA reauthorization, including a Senate hearing that focused on how to support the whole child. Clare Struck, a guidance counselor from Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls, Iowa (the 2010 Whole Child Vision in Action winner), testified at this hearing on ASCD's behalf. Late in the summer, the House and Senate...
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