Is Presidential Power the Power to Persuade?

PRESIDENTIAL POWER, THE POWER TO PERSUADE
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PRESIDENTIAL POWER, THE POWER TO PERSUADE
Even though presidents may seem to be very powerful individuals, it is argued that they only have power to persuade a country’s governing bodies (Pika and Maltese, 2014), which constitute of actual power to make decisions that matter. This paper analyses this subject matter in context of political leadership of the United States of America.
The separation of government powers amongst the executive, legislature and judiciary branches is largely responsible for this concept of power of persuasion by the president. Since the president is head of the executive branch of government solely, he has to depend on the action of other leaders in other branches of government to ensure his leadership agenda for the country is implemented. In the United States, like in many other developed countries, this forms the basis of the argument that a president’s real power is that of persuasion. This also happens since most of these leaders (save for those under the executive branch) are not obligated by law to concur with every directive of the president, at least with the exception of official protocols and or mandate of the office of the president (Howell, 2003). Examples of state organs’ groups that act as watchdogs over the president include House Ways and Means (financial watchdog) and Senate judiciary committee (judicial appointments) among others.
Richard and Nelson (2014) speak of an assumption by scholars that the constitution was designed to establish a weak presidency because of fears of extreme power previously held by monarchs. All the same, these authors are keen to point out that the society has been subject to significant changes in many if not all aspects of life and so the relevance, purpose and scope of government; such, they indicate, makes more wanting the being of a powerful president to uphold the united states constitution.
All the same, one cannot decline to note that as the head of state, the president represents the nation on the internationa...