The Power of the American President Is the Power to Persuade

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The power of the president are the tasks, functions and duties that he may undertake while in office. The powers of the president are laid out in Article II of the constitution. In Article II of the constitution, ten powers are laid out for the president including the power to propose legislation and to act as commander-in-chief. It can be said that the president has an eleventh power, an unofficial power, which is not mentioned in the constitution. It could be argued that this power is the most important power that the president of the United States commands; the power to persuade. In essence, the power to persuade is the power of the president to bring people around to his point of view or at least to support him in his view. In order to use the power of persuasion effectively, a president should be both charismatic and have a high public profile as in the cases of John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton. The power to persuade is an important power that the president has and to ensure that the power is used effectively, he may go about persuading people, typically members of Congress, in a number of ways, either personally or through people on his behalf. The president may also employ carrots and sticks to persuade members of Congress. One way in which the president may use his power to persuade is by making a personal phone call to a member of Congress. This worked well for president Bill Clinton. In 1993, there was an important budget meeting in the House of Representatives. Clinton himself knew that when the vote was cast that the results would be close. Anticipating this, Clinton made a personal phone call to Democrat arose member Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky in a hallway just off the chamber of the House. Because of her phone call with Clinton, in the vote, she cat the crucial 218th vote, thus ensuring the passage of Clinton's budget by 218 votes to 216.
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