The Presidency
Read this chapter on the institution of the presidency. The office of the presidency is not administered by just one person. The president heads a team, which includes the vice president, a cabinet of advisers, and staff. Can you summarise the responsibilities of the president? What checks and balances are woven into this office?
Preamble
On
May 21, 2009, President Obama gave a speech explaining and justifying
his decision to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center (prison). The
facility had been established in 2002 by the Bush administration to hold
detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq. President Obama
spoke at the National Archives, in front of portraits of the founding
fathers, pages of the Constitution open at his side. He thereby
identified himself and his decision with the founding fathers, the
treasured Constitution, and the rule of law.
Presidents can connect their policy proposals to revered American forebears and documents, but this does not guarantee success.
Yet,
years later, the prison remained open. The president had failed to
offer a practical alternative or present one to Congress. Lawmakers had
proved unwilling to approve funds to close it. The Republican National
Committee had conducted a television advertising campaign implying that
terrorists were going to be dumped onto the US mainland, presenting a
major terrorist threat.
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