president

President’s Job Description

Informal Qualifications

Have some sort of government role/experience (gives people the knowledge they need to run the US, allows them to create alliances)
Have lots of money to run for president (need to pay for campaigns, travel, staffing)
Have good leadership skills
They must understand the American people. Public support will greatly help a president/candidate
have good communication skills (being able to speak in public and have confidence and stay calm)
Know when to act and when not to
Be able to compromise (being able to settle for not all the things they want)

Presidents can sometimes do things out of their power given to them if the public and Congress agrees to it (Jefferson purchasing the Louisiana territory)
During certain situations, presidents might also be given more power (like wars, The Great Deal)
However, most of the powers come from whether or not the public agrees with the president
Public opinions can either give the president more power or limit it. Congress takes the public's response and uses that to determine whether or not to act on the president's actions
Congress can also impeach a president which would have to go through both the house and senate for voting until the president will actually be removed

Four years per term
According to Hamilton, four years is enough time to gain experience, demonstrate abilities, and establish stable policies
Term limits were not restricted originally in the Constitution, but it was done by tradition
FDR broke the “two term” tradition by running for a 3rd and 4th term
In 1951, the 22nd amendment was passed limiting the presidency to no more than 2 terms OR ten years

Job Titles

Seen as the symbol of all the people in the United States
They reign and rule the US (like a queen/king) but also direct the government (like a prime minister)
Some of their duties includes hosting kings/queens, visiting the scene of a tragedy to share words, throwing first pitch at a game

Head of the executive branch
In charge of all the employees who work for the executive branch,
The president decides on how to execute laws Congress passes
They have the power to appoint the Supreme Court justices and the officials who work under him in the executive branch. This gives the president power as he can fire people who disagree with him, and hire people who share the same political views as him, making everything more biased.
Causes trouble when congress and the president are led by two different political parties
Presidents can also issue executive orders, orders that have the power of the law without needing Congress’s approval
The president can give out pardons, amnesty (pardoning a group of people) to people who committed crimes against the government

Kinda like the CEO
Oversees the “company”
Deals with economic problems
The president works with officials to set the annual budget. Programs the president favors will usually get more funding.
Elon is helping Trump do this job*

The president is the diplomat for the US, they make the decisions about the relations the US has with the other countries
They can sign treaties but need 2/3rd approval vote from the Senate first
The presidents received more information about foreign affairs then Congress, and is led by a single person so they can act quickly
Presidents can also make executive agreements with different countries without the need of approval from the Senate
Presidents can also decide if the US governments acknowledge other governments (ex - they ignore Communist government of Cuba

Controls and gives final orders to all the branches of the military
Can use military in the US to control things like riots
Congress passed War Powers Act - the president has to get approval from Congress to use the military troops in battle for more than 60 days
During war, presidents usually receive more power in how they handle the troops
Shadow War - presidents use secret drones, troops, spies to track down terrorists (refrain from telling the public even when they got backlash)
However, does NOT deal with military rules or law (that is done by Congress)

Initiates, suggests, requests, insists, and/or demands that Congress enacts much of their major legislation (like bills)
Has to work with Congress to influence them
Public support can help the president a lot as Congress is a representative of the people, meaning if the people support the president's policies and ideas, they have a higher chance of Congress agreeing to them

Seen as the overall leader of their political party (Biden was leader of Democrats when he was president)
Can be helpful or hurtful to the party (ex - since Trump is leader of Republicans, people might blame republicans saying that “you believe in mass deportations” because Trump is doing mass deportations, and is seen as the representative and voice of the party
They might attend events for their party, or give speeches to assist people in their party

When elected, the president is seen as representing EVERY person
As such, we are supposed to look up to them, and they’re supposed t be someone we want to be like