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Changing Nature of the Presidency

Samuel Kernell makes the observation that the nature of the presidency has changed as those holding the office have tended to spend their time in office campaigning for the next election more than governing. There is always an element of campaigning in governance as those holding office know that their actions will have some effect, pro or con, on their chances in the next election. In the case of the President, the man holding the office knows that his actions will affect not only his own fortunes but those of his party. Kernell finds that the campaign mode that now affects the executive branch so severely has developed because of changes in the political environment and in the ways in which the President reacts to these changes:

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 forces. The looser party structure places more of the onus for fund-raising on the candidate. Increased citizen activism means more groups to be tapped for funding, which can increase participation, though it is not clear that this is so.

Candidates running for president have to raise millions of dollars, so much so that they have a goal of many thousands a day. The amount needed is less at lower levels, but more and more campaigns are becoming money-dr...

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Changing Nature of the Presidency. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:46, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689677.html