Executive Branch

The President and his/her Crew

The President (remember to capitalize, even though the media don’t seem to) is the head of the executive branch of the national government. He/she is thus called the Chief Executive, but is also our Commander-in-Chief and Chief Diplomat. Thus, he/she dominates the conduct of our foreign policy in a way the founding fathers never intended.

In fact, whereas the Framers intended the three branches to be about equal, the document actually made the legislative branch- Congress- the first among equals. For example, only Congress has the right to declare war. But every time there’s a war, or an event like 9/11, or a depression for that matter, the President takes a little more power away from Congress. When normal times return, he/she doesn’t give it back.

Presidents appoint all federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, all ambassadors to foreign countries and to the U.N., and of course, members of the Cabinet. These appointments must be confirmed by the Senate…but they usually are.

That has led some political scientists to speak of the “Imperial Presidency”, as if we elected a king to a four-year term. That’s not really the case when it comes to the President’s role as head of government. Checks and balances still exist. But it is the case when it comes to his/her role as head of state. He/she is the face we present to the world.

Because it’s so important, there are strict requirements for being President. For one, you must be 35 or older. For another, you must have lived in the U.S. continuously for 14 years. Finally, you must be a natural born American citizen. That does not mean born in the U.S.A., as Rockefeller’s parents thought. Mitt Romney’s dad, George, was born in a Mormon camp in Mexico, but George’s parents (Mitt’s grandparents) were American citizens, so George was allowed to run for President in 1968.

To prevent abuse of power, the President cannot serve more than two elected terms, plus up to half of the term of a President he/she replaces. Ten years is the absolute maximum time in office.

One of the compromises at the Constitutional Convention was the Electoral College, where each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of Representatives in the House plus its two Senators. Add three more (for DC) to the 435 Representatives and 100 Senators, and you get 538 electoral votes. So you need 269 to tie and 270 to win.

Electoral Map in 2000:

The last time someone won the Presidency while coming in second in the popular vote was 2000, when Al Gore out-polled George W. Bush. But it hadn’t happened before that since 1888, and the last time no one got a majority in the Electoral College (meaning the House elected the President, one vote per state) was back in 1824 (John Quincy Adams).

When the public votes in November, we are really electing electors, who vote in December and seal their ballots. In early January, they are read in the Senate, and the new President’s identity becomes official. He/she is inaugurated on January 20th, a few weeks after the new Congress, but six weeks before the old inauguration date (March 4th), which had been in effect until 1937.

If something happens to the President, the Vice-President takes over. Besides presiding over the Senate, that’s the VP’s job: “spare tire”. But if something happens to the President and the Vice-President, the 25th Amendment set up the Presidential order of succession. Next comes the Speaker of the House, and after her, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, followed by the Cabinet members in a certain order.

Altogether, there are 15 executive departments, the heads of which form the Cabinet. In order of seniority, the Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton) is first, followed by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. On the right is Robert Gates of Defense.

Did you know?

•That the former President, George W. Bush, was the second son of a former President to hold his dad’s old job, but that he’s related to another, Franklin Pierce, who is his mother Barbara’s great-great-great-great grandfather.

•That Benjamin Harrison, who beat Grover Cleveland in 1888 and lost to him in 1892, was the grandson of Old Tippecanoe, William Henry Harrison.

•That between 1952 and 2004, in twelve of the fourteen Presidential elections, the Republican ticket (Pres. +VP) included either Nixon or one of the Bushes.