Presidential Role

Presidential Role

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Description

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Obama Example

1) Chief of

State

/ Ceremonial head of U.S. government. Hosts foreign leaders and represents the American people at important ceremonies. / Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a round of golf at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
2) Chief
Executive / Enforces the laws and carries out the policies passed by Congress. / Trump ordered the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency to round up and deport more undocumented immigrants.
3) Chief
Administrator / Head of all government agencies and employees. Appoints people to help run the government. / Trump appointed former Exxon/Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be his Secretary of State.
4) Chief
Diplomat / Main architect of American foreign policy. / Trump is pushing the European countries who are members of NATO to make bigger contributions to their own defense.
5) Commander-
in-Chief / In charge of the armed forces. / Trump launched airstrikes against Syria to punish their leader for using chemical weapons against his own people.
6) Chief
Legislator / Works with Congress to make laws. / Trump worked with Congress to try and pass a bill that would repeal and replace Obamacare.

Qualifications of the Presidency

1) Age –35 years old when taking office.
2) Citizenship –“Natural born” citizen of the United States.
3) Residency –Must live in U.S. for at least 14 years of their life.

President’s Term

1) No-third-term tradition –Although it was not required by the Constitution, George Washington set an important precedent when he chose to step down after serving two terms. Over the next century and a half, although a couple (like Grant and Cleveland) tried, no president was elected to a third term.

2) FDR – He broke the no-third-term tradition when he was elected to a third term in 1940 and a fourth term in 1944. He died in 1945 only a few months into his fourth term, leaving many people questioning whether or not we really want a popular person serving as “president-for-life” only to die while in office.
3) 22nd Amendment (1951) – No person may be elected president more than twice. Furthermore, a person who replaces a president who leaves office in the middle of a term may only serve as president for a maximum of 10 years.
Presidential Succession
1) 25th Amendment (1967) –
a)What happens if the presidency becomes vacant in the middle of a term?
The original Constitution only said that if the president left office in the middle of a term, that the powers of the presidency would “devolve” to the VP. It did not clearly state that the VP in this case would become president and wouldtherefore no longerbe the VP. Because this language was ambiguous, Congress, after the assassination of JFK, passed the 25th Amendment which clearly states that if the president were to leave office, the VP would become president. Example: Ford became President when Nixon resigned in 1974.
b)What happens if the vice-presidency becomes vacant in the middle of a term?
The VP spot can become vacant in the middle of a term if the VP dies, resigns, gets impeached and removed or if he/she replaces a president who leaves office early. The Framers made no provision in the original Const. for replacing the VP. Historically whenever the VP spot became vacant in the middle of a term, it was just left vacant until the next election. The 25th Amendment provides for the president to appoint a new VP when the spot becomes vacant. This appointment must then be approved by a simple-majority vote in BOTH houses of Congress. Example: Ford appointed Nelson Rockefeller to replace him as VP when he became president.
c)What happens if the president becomes incapacitated?
If for whatever reason the president becomes incapacitated in the middle of a term and cannot carry out his/her duties, the 25th Amendment says that the VP serves as “acting president” holding all of the powers of the presidency until the president is healthy enough to resume his/her job. In this case, the VP does NOT become president and is still officially the VP. Example: In 2002 when George W. Bush had to be put under anesthesia for a colonoscopy, his VP Dick Cheney became “acting president” for two and a half hours.
2) Presidential Succession Act of 1947 –
a) Purpose – Provides a line of succession to the presidency in case a number thetop leaders of our government are killed at the same time. During the Cold War this was thought to be a very realistic concern if the Soviet Union were to launch some kind of a coordinated attack on our government.
b) Who is on the list? – There are currently 18 people on the list:
1) Vice-president;
2) Speaker of the House;
3) President pro tempore of the Senate;
4)-18) the 15 members of the Cabinet in the order their positions were created.

Warm-up Question: What is the purpose of presidential primary elections?

The word “primary” of course means “first.” Before we can have a presidential election in November, we first have to narrow down the candidates from each party so only one of each will show up on the ballot. The primary elections take place in the winter and spring of the election year. Over the course of several months, in a couple of states each week, voters go to the polls and vote for the candidate from their own party they like the best. This process usually begins in February with voting taking place in Iowa and New Hampshire and ends with California voters having their say in June. During these months, Republican candidates are running against other Republicans and Democratic candidates are running against other Democrats. By the end of the primary season, a single winner emerges from each party and the final stretch of the campaign begins with one Republican going head-to-head with one Democrat for the position of leader of the free world.

Of course in 2016, the candidates Donald Trump had to beat out on the Republican side included people like Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio – in all there were 17 Republicans who wanted to become the official nominee of the party – and Trump beat all the others. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton’s main competition came from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, but there were three other candidates in the running as well. As a result of the primaries, by June it was down to Trump and Hillary as the official candidates for their parties. Without this primary process, on the November ballot there would have been a total of 22 candidates between the two major parties. Since a candidate has to win a simple majority of the Electoral College votes to become president, having that many candidates on the ballot would have made it almost impossible for any one of them to win a majority.

One way to think of the primary elections is they are similar to the NBA playoffs. Before we can have a championship series between the two top teams in the league, these teams have to beat all of the competitors in their part of the country. Eastern Conference teams play each other for the right to represent the East and Western Conference teams play each other for the right to represent the West. When we get it down to one of each, we can have the NBA finals (which is similar to the general election in November).