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The head of a government is typically seen as the most important part of the government. From kings to dictators, the founding fathers knew they had many options when setting up the new American democracy. They knew it was important to place restrictions on the office of the President so that his power would not run unchecked. Let’s take a look at the role of the presidency in American democracy starting from the creation to the job up until the current president of the US, Barack Obama.
The President also plays a large role as the leader of the country. It is his job to represent his nation and serve as a voice for its interests both domestically and abroad. After 9/11 the whole country turned to President George W. Bush for support during the tumultuous time. Franklin D. Roosevelt engaged in his famous “fire-side chats” to speak to the American people. The president’s role also has international ramifications as the United States has long been a global power. The President is expected to make well-informed decisions regarding war situations and relations with other countries.
The American people view the office of president as both a highly prestigious job but also a very difficult one. Being president in no means guarantees the blind support of the American public, which often questions and criticizes sitting presidents. News publications and scholars also examine the president’s policy with close eye. But how is the president elected?
According to the Constitution, there are three prerequisites that have to be met in order for someone to be president. First, he must be a natural born citizen of the United States. Second, he must have had residency in the US for 14 years. Finally, he must be over the age of 35. Historically, presidential candidates usually have served as Congressmen, governors, or vice presidents before taking office as president. President Obama was a Senator from Illinois before starting office. So far there has never been a woman president. The annual salary of the president is $400,000.
As detailed by the Constitution, the president is elected through the process of the Electoral College and is only allowed to serve for a term of four years twice. The United States political system is essentially a 2-party system consisting of the Republicans and the Democrats, though there are other 3rd parties which in some cases have had some impact on election results. The United States has had a long history concerning the right to vote, several decades and amendments later, every citizen of the United States regardless of gender, education, or economic status has the right to vote. When a US citizen registers to vote, he or she first registers with a political party, either the Republicans, Democrats, or a third party. This is so that he or she can vote in the primary. If the voter does not register with a party he or she cannot vote in the primary but can vote in the general election.
The primary is an election that takes within each party. For example, there is the Republican Primary and the Democratic Primary. In each state, a voter first votes in a primary to decide who will represent each party in the general election. In the case of the 2008 election, John McCain won the Republican Primary and Barack Obama won the Democratic Party, meaning each would be the party’s nomination to run for president. Traditionally, the party selects its candidate at a national convention, thereby officially announcing the candidate running for office. After this has been done, the same electoral process applies towards selecting the vice president running mate, although currently presidential candidates exhibit a large influence on this choice, and often make their own pick to submit to the nominating convention.
Finally, it is time for the general election and the Electoral College to come into play. The Electoral College is set up by the founding fathers in the Constitution. Each state has a determined number of electors, which is determined by the number of representatives and senators the state has. Generally, in most states, the presidential candidate that has the majority receives all of the state’s electoral votes, in a winner-takes-all system. There are 538 electors and a candidate has to get 270 electoral votes to win the presidential election.
Candidates exert a lot of effort and money on campaign efforts in order to be elected. They go on speaking campaigns across the country as well as paying for television and radio advertisements. In the 2008 election, media commentators noted Obama’s effective use of the internet to attract voters, particularly young ones. Campaign financing is a controversial issue in the United States. Many people feel that the influence of money in a campaign is a negative one, leading to corruption and inequality. Others argue that money spent on behalf of a candidate is an important part of free speech guaranteed by the Constitution. On the federal level the majority of campaign funds come from individuals, along with political action committees. There are limits on how much an individual or a PAC may donate to a candidate.
Swing states are also an integral part of the election process, and a result of the Electoral College. A swing state is a state in which no single candidate has overwhelming support in securing that state’s Electoral College votes. Because of the winner-take-all system of allocating electoral votes, the presidential candidates have no incentive to campaign in states where they will win or lose by a sizeable margin; these states are often called “safe states”. There is nothing to be gained by garnering extra popular votes (the votes of each voter, as opposed to an electoral vote), so candidates focus their money on energy on these swing states, where the winner is not clear.
Barack Obama’s election was noteworthy for several reasons. First of all he is the first African-American president in the United States’ history, a great achievement for blacks who at one time did not even have the right to vote. Secondly, he is quite young in comparison to most other American presidents; this lead to allegations of inexperience but also embodied an optimistic rejuvenation of the government that had broken many Americans’ trust in the past years. His message during the campaign was one of hope and change, this effectively capitalized on the growing distrust of the government that had arisen out of the Bush years of the Patriot Act and the Iraq War which many Americans disapproved of.
President Obama has been in office for almost 2 full years now and has faced many critical issues. In his first days in office, President Obama got started on plans to draw down from Iraq as well as close down the controversial military detention center in Guantanamo Bay. His domestic agenda has been dominated with a health care reform bill (signed into law on March 23rd) and the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama is also trying to mend the broken economy of the US after the recession, and just signed into law a financial regulatory reform act. Hillary Clinton, a former opponent in the democratic primary, is currently Obama’s secretary of state. Obama’s foreign policy agenda has been marked by a show of friendship towards the Muslim world with a much talked about speech in Cairo, Egypt. President Obama is also has to deal with the aftermath of the Iraq war along with the current war in Afghanistan.
As always, there is mixed debate about the effectiveness of Obama’s presidency. He still receives harsh criticism from some Republicans and the media is always critical of the job the president is doing. According to Gallup.com, 45% of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing and 47% do not. In January 68% Americans approved of the Job he was doing and 21% did not. This is probably a result of the current situation in Afghanistan as well as concerns regarding the oil spill as well as the state of the economy. Only time will tell how Obama’s presidency will turn out, so far he has accomplished a lot but still has a long way to go to satisfy the American people.
(转载本文请注明“中国选举与治理网”首发)作者: adamslu283 时间: 2011-12-23 19:00
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