As Americans continue to the polls, I wonder how many people actually understand the role of a US President. There are both explicit powers granted to the executive branch through the constitution and there are those powers that have been established through practice and precedent by acting Presidents, sometimes questionably so.
For some people, the original intent should define the role and for others, the constitution is an organic foundation upon which the powers granted are allowed to grow and evolve. Both schools of thought culminate in what we have come to understand as the role of President of the United States.
Some of a President’s explicit powers include:
The president can issue rules, regulations, and instructions called executive orders, which have the binding force of law upon federal agencies but do not require congressional approval.
The president nominates, subject to Senate confirmation, the heads of executive departments, agencies, and other high ranking federal officials.
The president has the power to veto any bill passed by Congress.
The president has the power to nominate federal judges, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The President has the power to grant a full or conditional pardon, except in a case of impeachment.
The President appoints ambassadors, ministers, and consuls, which are subject to confirmation by the Senate.
These are some of the powers granted to the President and make-up part of the job description. However, most people’s understanding of a President consists of what they read in the news and see on television. The visual images, the press conferences, the international meetings – these are the ways that both the US and the rest of the world most often perceive the President.
I do not want to diminish or trivialize the role. Powers over the budget and powers such as veto hold great sway over the trajectory of our nation. Moreover, the President helps set the vision for the country, much as a CEO would for a corporation. In addition to these powers though, the presidency is an office that symbolizes to the world everything that is America. When people protest our country’s involvement in their affairs they either burn our flag, a symbol, or hang our President in effigy, another symbol. It is this intangible aspect of the office that plays an almost equal part to the actual prescribed functions.
In some ways, it is similar to being a lead singer for a band. Don’t laugh. When you think of the Stones you think of Mick Jagger. When you think of Led Zeppelin, you picture Robert Plant. Aerosmith: Steve Tyler. Bon Jovi: the Jov. Midnight Oil: the bald guy. You get my drift. All of these men are part of a band and they play their own role within it, but they also serve as the face of the entire band. Their singing is crucial, but their presence epitomizes the entire experience. In a very similar vein, our President serves as the front man for our little band.
How many Londoners know that the US President has the power to suspend habeas corpus? How many Berliners know that our President can send soldiers to battle without the consent of Congress? But then how many people the world over, when asked to name one American, think of our current President? Certainly there are more famous Americans, but the American face is redefined every 4-8 years by one person, regardless of party or politics.
The person we elect to office is the face we choose to represent us to the rest of the world. We have the ability to help shape the world’s understanding of who we are when we cast our ballots. The face we put into office is, in fact, our own.
Now we must consider what this face will be. We have yet another white male running on the GOP side. He is viewed as very typical of every President who has served in this office throughout our history. Moreover, he has been broadcast to the world singing a song about bombing Iran.
So, we have one face, a very white male face, who is viewed as another American who likes to start wars.
In the party of the donkey we have one candidate who is a woman. That is a big change from what we have previously seen. She has been actively campaigning upon, and would seem to then one day actively build upon, the legacy of her husband. She could be the second President Clinton, which is not all that bad in the eyes of much of the world.
Our last real option is that of a man of a different color than every other President we have elected. He is a break from what much of the world views as America. He has a name that sounds more familiar in the far corners of the globe than it does here in our own land. We have an option that is a symbol of the diverse nation that is America.
If this seems superficial, it is. If it seems trivial, it is not. If I were to put on a cowboy hat every day, not only would I look cool, but people would assume I was a cowboy. If I put on a police uniform every day people who don’t know me will assume I am a police officer. Those who do know me will assume I have been drinking again. Appearance makes the first impression, almost necessarily, and thereby dictates the course of perception from the initial moment on.
If we continue leading with Bush, or even Bush-lite John McCain, people will continue seeing us as a self-absorbed, arrogant, uneducated and war-hawkish people.
There will be a curiosity if we lead with Clinton, but she is still part of the establishment and, even though her candidacy is historic, is a turn to our past.
If we lead with Obama, there is a legitimate moment of pause from the rest of the world. What do they make of a black man with a Muslim-sounding name leading what has been viewed as a nation of white Christian crusaders? Many stereotypes will have to be put aside momentarily, if not completely redefined.
Is this superficial? Mostly. Is it trivial? Not at all.
We have spent the last eight years destroying most of the good will the international community was willing to give to us. It is not trivial to demonstrate a decisive turn from the predictable status quo of past American leadership. It is not trivial to give a display of our multi-ethnic heritage and make a statement that all people can live and thrive in our country. It is not trivial to say that, despite the monstrosity of slavery in our past, we are now a people who truly gauges a person by the merit of their character. It is not trivial to be a country of free people electing free people.
The office of President encompasses real power and so it is not like the figurehead roles of British royalty, but we must also acknowledge that our separation of powers exists so that many of the most visible portions of our government’s authority reside within the domain of our legislative branch. The President is, despite the mantle of Commander in Chief, an avatar of everything American as much as a formal leader. It is both a position of authority and a living proclamation from the American people saying that ‘This is who we are and the best of what we hope to be.‘
Will our best be more Bush? Will it be more Clinton? Instead, couldn’t our best be an example of our diversity, a symbol of our social progress and a voice of leadership 232 years in the making?
How will you define yourself America? Will it be by the tattered vestiges of yesterday or by a hope of a better future?
