# Does the POTUS get any special training?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 28, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943 "2014-01-28T12:57:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/21 "2014-01-29T00:10:56Z")
Yes, yes he could. The President is their boss. The worst they could do is threaten to resign if the President wouldn’t listen to them.
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### Author:  [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/22 "2014-01-29T19:27:17Z")
I was watch a special on the Secret Service and they interviewed Bill Clinton. He stated that in 8 years as president, the only ones that ever told him “no” were the Secret Service.
Rob
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/23 "2014-01-30T03:38:26Z")
No to what? A ride in a convertible with the top down? To a BJ?
We must say no to your request Mr. President. What do I look like? An intern?
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/24 "2014-01-30T13:26:09Z")
> [@sweeteviljesus](#):
>
> I was watch a special on the Secret Service and they interviewed Bill Clinton. He stated that in 8 years as president, the only ones that ever told him “no” were the Secret Service.
>
> Rob
They might have been the only ones to say the word “no,” but that doesn’t mean that they could make it stick if he chose not to accept “no” for an answer.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/25 "2014-01-30T13:33:49Z")
See this [article](http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/02/29/bill-clintons-running-habit-a-secret-service-nightmare) about Bill Clinton’s requirement to jog around the Mall several times a week, and let other runners join him. The Secret Service tried to talk him out of it, including building a track on White House grounds, but eventually came up with a way to let him do it. Doesn’t sound like their “No” won the day.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/26 "2014-01-30T15:06:33Z")
I read the OP hed differently, and since I judge my reading as having been acceptable and plausible, and there’s no appeal, I declare this not a hijack, but a drift:
I first thought of “training” as in:
Who and how explains/trains how the hell some things work? The famous football, how to propose war to the Congress, how to execute executive military actions (the procedural stuff)?
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/27 "2014-01-30T15:30:24Z")
I’m with **Leo** on how to read the question. I suppose you get to see a bit of the job while you’re a congresscritter, or a parallel of the job as a governor–which you learned something about as a state-level congresscritter. But when I look at my boss’ job I recognize it’s different enough from what I do that I couldn’t step into it tomorrow. For the POTUS I have to expect you’d have access to a fair bit of mentoring & advice from surviving ex-presidents to complement the details you’ve picked up on casual observation and careful study of the roles and relationships between the government branches. For the big international social ordeals a clever POTUS would have some etiquette experts on hand to minimize the possibility of major faux pases.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/28 "2014-01-30T15:49:51Z")
[quote=“Keeve, post:6, topic:679943”]
This is an important point that many don’t realize. Every president since Grover Cleveland had been either a governor or senator before that, with very few exceptions, and even those exceptions are remarkable:
[ul]
[li]George H. W. Bush was a lowly congressman for 4 years, but after that he became Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Director of the CIA, and Vice-POTUS.[/li][li]Gerald Ford was a congressman for almost 25 years, the last 9 of which were as House Minority Leader. And then a few years as VP.[/li][li]Eisenhower was President of Columbia University, and then Chief of Staff of the Army and Supreme Allied Commander Europe.[/li][li]Hoover was Secretary of Commerce, and not much else that I could find. Okay, I guess he’s the exception to the rule. Either that, or he was a transition sort of guy. Go further back and you’ll find many more cases of limited prior experience.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
> [@flurb](#):
>
> Small nitpick: Ford was VP for only about 8 months. He was nominated for VP when Agnew resigned, and was confirmed by Congress and sworn in on December 6, 1973. He was then sworn in as President upon Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974.
This was the first time the 25th amendment was invoked.
But, let’s stick with the OP and not take this off on a tangent.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/29 "2014-01-30T15:50:15Z")
Oh, I’m sure there is some thorough orientation during the transition period, on top of how the campaign team usually includes or at least has on call as consultant one or more each former WHCOS, Cabinet Secretary, and former or current chair of major congressional committees, who will bring him up to date on how things REALLY work. Before meeting other dignataries he surely gets briefed on what to do or not do like a corporate executive would.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-potus-get-any-special-training/679943/30 "2014-01-30T20:32:52Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> …If he wants some pointers on the law, he calls up the White House Counsel–his private lawyer–and asks questions…
Only up to a point: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/privilege072898.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/privilege072898.htm)
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#):
>
> Taking this one further - how much authority does the Secret Service have over him? If the Pres wanted to do an hours-long speech in broad daylight in the middle of Central Park, advertise it months in advance and stand in front of a giant red X on the city’s annual ‘we love sniper rifles’ festival, could he just tell the Secret Service to piss off when they tell him that’s a tremendously bad idea?
Yes, he could: [Is the Secret Service responsible for keeping the president from getting drunk? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2910/is-the-secret-service-responsible-for-keeping-the-president-from-getting-drunk)
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