Third Essay Assignment

Choose one:

1 See a day in the Ford presidency or choose a day in the Clinton presidency. Did the president use his time wisely on that day? If so, why? If not, what should he have done differently?

2. Anthony Kennedy has just retired from the Supreme Court. Whom should President Obama nominate in his place? Explain, considering qualifications and confirmability.

3. Identify a personnel change that you would make in the Obama administration. In other words, whom would you sack and whom would you hire in that person’s place? Explain how your proposed change would serve the president.

4. The recently-ratified Twenty-Eighth Amendment has made you – yes, you, a college student here in Claremont – the 45^th president, filling the rest of President Obama’s term. Explain a program or idea that you would attempt to carry out, other than what the current president is already doing.

5. Rahm Emanuel has asked for your advice: “I need your ##@!!!% help,” he says. “What the &&%%$#@ should President Obama do to influence congressional action on either health care or climate change? Write me a **&&^%$ memo, and do it $$#%^& fast.”

6. Write on a relevant question of your own choosing, subject to my approval.

• Essays should be typed (12 point), stapled, double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page.

• Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages.

• Cite your sources. You may use either endnotes or parenthetical references to a bibliography. In either case, put your documentation in a standard format (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style).

• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.

• Return essays by the start of class, Wednesday, 18 November. Essays will drop one gradepoint for one day's lateness and a full grade for two or more days' lateness. I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency.

The shifting conventional wisdom

Not so long ago, everyone was talking about the failures of the White House's hands-off approach to the the health care reform legislative process. But I think this new understanding reflects the way the White House has seen the field since Day One.

President and Congress

This week, we look at relations between the branches.

How does the president try to get his way with Congress? (See roll call votes).


How does the president try to get his way around Congress? The answer to both questions involves a mix of formal authority (e.g., vetoes, executive orders, signing statements), public pronouncements (veto messages, statements of administration policy (SAPs) and informal persuasion.



As for the former, note how both President Clinton and President Bartlet used the Antiquities Act. In this case, as in others, have presidents overstepped their authority?



As for the latter, shall see a classic video presentation of LBJ working his will on Congress. Here is an audio on the same topic. (And another.) Could you picture similar conversations with President Bush?

On Wednesday, we take the view from Capitol Hill. How does Congress seek to influence or restrain the president and the rest of the executive branch. The ultimate weapon is impeachment, which Representative Kucinich tried to use last year.