Changing Nature of the Presidency

Whether in exploiting favorable conditions to advance policy goals or in attempting to improve the incumbent's prestige, the strategic prescriptions of going public put the office on a campaign footing. Governing, according to a Reagan staffer, amounts to little more than an extension of the campaign that brought him into office (Kernell 148).

In truth, this mode affects those in Congress and the U.S. Senate as well and in governor's houses and state legislatures to a lesser degree. One reason for this is the massive amount of money needed to run a campaign, and the primary reason for the higher expense today is the need for television advertising, but other reasons include a looser party structure, increased citizen activism, and similar for

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s of the presidency during the Johnson and Nixon administrations were such that there was growing talk of the Imperial Presidency, a presidency with more power than the Founding Fathers would have wanted. There has been talk recently of the Imperial Congress as Congress has put more provisions in place requiring congressional approval for presidential actions. The president has increasingly had to deal with a Congress that has its own agenda. In recent years, loosening of party ties in Congress has made it more difficult for the president to control even his own party. Leadership traditionally has meant that the president seeks to guide the country in a certain direction, but more and more presidents are basing their decisions not on principle but on polls of voters to ascertain what the people want and then to give it to them. The role of the two houses of Congress was designed to give voice to both the minority and the majority and to protect each from the other. Too strong an executive would also give the majority more power than was desired, since the election of a president by the majority would then decide most issues thereafter. The Constitution not only provides form the form of government but also codifies certain p
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Approximate Word count = 1556
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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