Presidential Power

January 31st – In the article about Obama’s State of the Union address,”Room for Debate: Presidential  Power vs. Congressional Inertia,” Obama states that he will use his power to help American families. The power he is talking about is his ability to make decisions by himself and without the approval of Congress. If the past few months and the Government shutdown weren’t any indication, Obama and the majority of Congress do not agree with each other. The article asks the question of whether the presidents power to act by himself, without the approval of Congress, is a good thing, and what the downfalls to that may be.

I read a response article to this question written by Eric Posner, who is a professor at the University of Chicago Law school. He responds by writing about how this power is given to the president because the system that Congress follows is so slow, and conflicted that this is the only way that anything would get done. He writes about three concerns about the executives power. The first is that the president ail indulge in his own ideologic fantasies, but follows by writing that the president is more of an advocate for the american people than congress. The second concern is that the president “short circuits” democratic deliberation and cites his surveillance policies as proof of this.  The third concern is that the power can eventually lead to tyranny, but this hasn’t happened yet, and probably never will. I agree with his position but I think that the power should remain with the president, solely based on the fact that congress takes a very long time to establish laws.

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