President not all-powerful

Faith Grimes, Issue 17, obama, opinions, Opinion - By Faith Grimes on Thursday, February 9, 2012 - 04:43

In President Barack Obama’s short time in office, he has faced much criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Every president has faced this at some point in his term of office, but there comes a point when this criticism goes too far. Not only for Obama, but for many of his predecessors as well.

Many of the complaints I have heard about the Obama Administration in the last few years center around one larger complaint: “he’s gotten nothing done.” This is debatable in itself, but many of the things which our president (and those before him) has tried and failed to do are ultimately beyond his control.

The complaints which fall under that umbrella include insufficient tax and economic reform and the diminished abilities of measures such as Obama Care. Yet according to Article I of the United States Constitution, these tasks fall not under the jurisdiction of the president, but as responsibilities of Congress. Among other duties, Congress has the power to regulate taxes, international and interstate commerce and to make laws. The aforementioned economic policies fall under those categories, as do the votes on bills such as Obama Care.

Looking at Article II of the Constitution, however, one can see that the duties and powers of the president include functioning as Commander in Chief of the military, making treaties (which must be approved by at least two-thirds of the Senate), appointing ambassadors, Supreme Court Justices and other public officers (also with the consent of the Senate) and providing Congress with information on the state of the union and recommending proper courses of action with regards to that information.

Of the powers listed above, Obama has used all of them. Whether or not everyone agrees with his methods or his politics in those areas, one cannot deny that he has accomplished many things. Since Obama first took office in 2009, U.S. troops have been removed from Iraq and two Supreme Court Justices have been appointed. While many of the measures he suggested to Congress haven’t gone through or have been modified beyond recognition, this isn’t due to Obama’s inaction. The president of the United States can recommend a measure to Congress. He can make a case in its favor. He can modify the bill to make it more likely to succeed. But at the end of the day, it is up to Congress whether or not to let it pass.

This is not to lay all the blame on Congress, nor to suggest Obama or any other president is completely free of blame. But the President is a single person who has the appearance of a great deal of power, and a single person makes a much more ready scapegoat than a large group of people.

Our government was designed based on the idea of checks and balances; we have not one but three branches of government, all of whom control different aspects of governing and all of whom keep the others from becoming too powerful. Thus, the president is only a third of the governing power rather than the one person with the final say.

So before assuming that any discontent with the government is the fault of the President, stop and consider where the blame truly lies. Sometimes it may indeed be with the President, but it may turn out to be the fault another person (or several other people) far more often than one might think.