Americans expect too much of the President

This excerpt from an article by a grad student in 2012 reflects me belief that Americans expect (and demand) too much of the President.


What we have come to expect from our president isn’t exactly what our founders intended. George Washington and John Adams’ performances were not evaluated based on the economy. As the nation has progressed, so much more has become expected of the president. Yet, the Constitution hasn’t changed to include these new expectations. It was not until Woodrow Wilson sought to challenge the founding fathers’ perspective of leading the country that these high expectations came about. He felt the president should be viewed as the premiere executive that leads the other two branches of government. The founders alternatively viewed the presidency as a piece of a whole. In an effort to gain recognition and encourage political participation, Wilson incorporated the element of moral leadership into the presidency, which was previously unheard of. This may have lead to a disconnect from what we expect and the actual powers of the presidency.
The United States was built on the premise of three equal branches of government with delegated duties to the nation: the judiciary, executive and legislature. The second article of the Constitution explains the powers of the presidency , which includes commander and chief of the armed forces, power to make treaties with the consent of the Senate, nominate the Supreme Court justices as well as cabinet positions and to administer the State of the Union address. The powers of the presidency do not include any notion of moral leader or any mention of power over the economy.

https://dailycollegian.com/2012/02/do-we-expect-too-much-from-the-president/

 

When you have been conditioned to believe that everything that happens is somebody else's fault, the president is the prime target for blame. Nobody wants to be responsible for themselves or with dealing with life as it is- they think life should be adjusted by our government to suit their preferences. After all, they are "entitled". Things are supposed to be "free". If not, you have been cheated and somebody owes you. That's why we have over three times as many lawyers as the next nation on the world list.

 

How the government works
The king wanted to go fishing, and he asked the royal weather forecaster the forecast for the next few hours. The palace meteorologist assured him that there was no chance of rain.
So the king and the queen went fishing. On the way he met a man with a fishing pole riding on a donkey, and he asked the man if the fish were biting.
The fisherman said, "Your Majesty, you should return to the palace! In just a short time I expect a huge rain storm."
The king replied: "I hold the palace meteorologist in high regard. He is an educated and experienced professional. Besides, I pay him very high wages. He gave me a very different forecast. I trust him."
So the king continued on his way.
However, in a short time a torrential rain fell from the sky. The King and Queen were totally soaked. Furious, the king returned to the palace and gave the order to fire the meteorologist.
Then he summoned the fisherman and offered him the prestigious position of royal forecaster.
The fisherman said, "Your Majesty, I do not know anything about forecasting. I obtain my information from my donkey. If I see my donkey's ears drooping, it means with certainty that it will rain."
So the king hired the donkey.
And so began the practice of hiring dumb asses to work in influential positions of government. The practice is unbroken to this day.

 

It's not just the president... it's govt period. We had 2 typical spring thunderstorms (no rotation) that moved thru Sun afternoon. 4 times they ran EMS warnings that it was gonna rain.

WTH? Do we really need Big Brother to tell us it's raining? Geesh.

 

So we shouldn't expect the president to not be a lying dick head because it's not written into the Constitution? Holy ****. Just how far the Trump faithful willing to go to protect their god-emporeror?

 

Not to worry... you guys certainly didn't expect anything from Barack. (Good thing, too)

 

I didnt vote for Trump. Calm down and answer the question.

 

Obama brought the USA through a very difficult economic period. He made some mistakes like other presidents but it's thanks to his policies that Trump can claim the results as his own. Trump is spending money that the US cannot afford instead of waiting for revenue to increase. Obama had no choice but the borrow. Revenue was just enough to make mandated payments and little else. Without borrowing the US would have been in trouble paying other bills and interest on its debts. Your debt is now above GDP. and that is not a good sign. As someone once wrote $1 in and 99 cents spent is happiness. $1 in and $1.1 spent disaster.

Looking at the US from across the Atlantic. Megalomania reigns supreme.

 

President Obama pulled us out of the Great Recession and created a national framework with installations ready to swoop in and curtail an outbreak like the coronavirus met fierce resistance, and funding for pandemics was forced to stay at the levels approved in 2010 through the end of Obama’s final term in office.

Trump destroyed the economy by removing the safeguards

 

It's not exactly like the left had anybody who could qualify for any position above court jester in his place, is it?

He may not be perfect, I never said he was. He's just so damn far ahead of anyone else that they are not yet visible in his rear-view mirror. We hear them wailing and whining for sure, but we don't see them bringing anything but BS to the table.

 

Hogwash. Obama stood by and watched while America pulled itself out of the hole. If has had slept through his presidency- we would be better off, because he did find time to create a door for the socialists to creep in. Then Trump came along and turned that recovery into a rocket launch. Now I voted for Obama the first time around, and I'm ashamed to admit I was hoodwinked by a smooth talker with no real leadership skills of knowledge- but I was.

 

Well, it goes back to the OP. If you expect a President to wipe your butt every time you make doody, you are bound to be disappointed in whomever I might support, no matter how perfect his character may be.

Notice too that Dems have moved from alleging Trump is a fascist to complaining about him yielding too much initiative to the several states. How can one reason with such fickle people.

 

I notice that it's only the conservatives who are even understanding the question.

 

Nice

 

Sound pretty much how Mr. Obatard handled it too.. Only difference is it took a Global pandemic to take Trumps, and our economy down.. Mr. Obatard had the luxury of just throwing money at a fake recovery and no one had to stay home from work, businesses didn't have to close and everyone could still hug, kiss and have sex without climbing in to a 100 gallon garbage bag

 

Facts show otherwise

Other than the short bump when Trump passed the " Wealth Shift Legislation" for the rich and juiced the economy

Then started borrowing $ 1 Trillion dollars a year to pay for it

In 2018, GDP growth stood at 2.9%, but the economy expanded only 2.3% last year, the weakest pace of his presidency yet.

 

Congrats on finding the bold button. Impressive.

 

Obama inherited a financial 'pandemic' after the financial crash 2008. Millions were out of work because of that. It took the whole world years to recover, and we are still feeling some effects now. This coronavirus is not the first, nor will it be the last, that the world will have to suffer. Removing lockdown too early will simply increase the chances of you, or your vulnerable people getting it.
If kissing and hugging and sex are all you are concerned about then get rid of lockdown and catch the disease. Not my problem.

 

I am going to agree with you on your broad point, and the people to blame are the president's themselves, grabbing credit for what they have no business taking credit for, and then they are stuck with the blame when things go belly up, or more accurately their successors.

We have not talked about legislation. Somehow we have forgotten who puts the 12 hour days in, to come up with bills and the language that might do a job and be able to pass through four committees and two legislative bodies? Its not the President.

For good or ill, Obamacare was not all about Obama. It was about Pelosi and Reid. They did the work to cobble together that compromise bill from some broad goals set out by Obama. Same thing with the republican initiatives that we gave credit to Bush or Reagan.

 

It's funny how this was written in 2012 and yet there are people that are thinking that you meant it as an excuse for President Trump. This can actually be discussed without once mentioning any specific President except as examples of how things have changed. And even then its not actually needed. But of course partisans have to be partisans. :shrugs:

Anyways as to your topic, this is correct. The President was never meant to handle all of the things that Presidents are expected of today. The things they were meant to do can be boiled down to just three things. Enforce laws passed by Congress, Defend the nation against foreign invasions and domestic rebellion, and as a negotiator and arbiter (same thing really... just words used to describe two different types of groups). That's it. They were never meant to try and manipulate the economy. They were not meant to make laws via regulations of various alphabet soup agencies. And they CERTAINLY were not meant to push social agenda's via executive orders or otherwise.

 

The president is an executive. The article should be aimed at the federal government in general, not the president. In my opinion, the voters are softies. They require too little from federal government.

 

People get angry and frustrated when they sense that the powers that be are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.

It follows that the temperature in this country would drop significantly if the People's expectations of those in power were modified.

 

And obama's Nobel Prize was nothing more than a participation trophy. The MSM fawned over loser obama.

 

Since us Trumpsters get accused of ignoring Trump's bad points, makes you wonder why they can't see that's exactly what mass media did for Obama? Can't imagine MSNBC blaming Barack for H1N1... or anything else for that matter.

 

That's a great question. Dems are asking that of Trump. One day, he has total authority. He just blurted it out to show what a powerful man he was. Then, after his presser/rally, likely someone told him that he just placed himself in an untenable situation - he will have to claim ALL responsibility going forward. Soon after, he decided to abdicate responsibility to the States. Its up to them - they have to make all the decisions. But Trump being Trump, he couldn't help but tweet out support to the protesters. Mighty fickle, wouldn't you say?

And for the record, Dems aren't complaining about him yielding too much initiative to the several states. We are complaining about him cutting them off, essentially. He didn't like criticisms so he told them to fend for themselves. And, as previously mentioned, he didn't want to be blamed for opening too soon.