# Just how powerful is the US president? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757 "2012-09-15T03:22:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pieceofresistance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5a626/32.png) [@Pieceofresistance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pieceofresistance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/41 "2012-09-19T02:38:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Correction: The President can wage war. There’s a difference. :smack: Read the article. The U.S. is not at war with Yemen. Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/42 "2012-09-19T02:44:54Z")
> [@Pieceofresistance](#): > > :smack: Read the article. The U.S. is not at war with Yemen. Jesus. Wars don’t work that way any more. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/43 "2012-09-19T03:06:03Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Wars don’t work that way any more. For good and for bad. We haven’t _declared_ war since 1941. ---
**Author:** ![Pieceofresistance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5a626/32.png) [@Pieceofresistance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pieceofresistance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/44 "2012-09-19T03:08:02Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Wars don’t work that way any more. That’s great. If only Americans knew more about their wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and possibly the Philippines. Alas, the drone program does not officially exist. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/45 "2012-09-19T03:35:56Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Wars don’t work that way any more. Right, so the US president can order the extra-judicial execution of a US citizen in any country of the world if it can somehow be justified as part of the overreaching “war on terror”. Thats pretty broad. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/46 "2012-09-19T03:43:53Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Right, so the US president can order the extra-judicial execution of a US citizen in any country of the world if it can somehow be justified as part of the overreaching “war on terror”. > > Thats pretty broad. Hey, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/47 "2012-09-19T04:54:59Z")
> [@Pieceofresistance](#): > > That’s great. If only Americans knew more about their wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and possibly the Philippines. Alas, the drone program does not officially exist. Indeed it does: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/brennan-speech-is-first-obama-acknowledgement-of-use-of-armed-drones/2012/04/30/gIQAq7B4rT\_story.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/brennan-speech-is-first-obama-acknowledgement-of-use-of-armed-drones/2012/04/30/gIQAq7B4rT_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/48 "2012-09-19T05:48:26Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Is that really a given perk of the office? It must certainly help, but I doubt George W. Bush could get an audience with anyone he wants. Well, to even have favorite authors to invite to the White House, you have to read. ---
**Author:** ![Pieceofresistance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5a626/32.png) [@Pieceofresistance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pieceofresistance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/49 "2012-09-19T05:50:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Indeed it does: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/brennan-speech-is-first-obama-acknowledgement-of-use-of-armed-drones/2012/04/30/gIQAq7B4rT\_story.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/brennan-speech-is-first-obama-acknowledgement-of-use-of-armed-drones/2012/04/30/gIQAq7B4rT_story.html) The Obama administration has never formally acknowledged the CIA-administered targeted assassination program that is being used in Yemen and Pakistan. That’s classified. Brennan’s acknowledgment was brilliantly ambiguous; he does not specify where the drone strikes are occurring. He could have easily been talking about the military drone strikes in Afghanistan, which isn’t classified information, and aren’t the same as the CIA-conducted ones. From the same article: > [@](#): > > Brennan’s speech was also noteworthy, however, for what he withheld. He did not disclose how many people have been killed, list all the locations where armed drones are being flown or mention the administration’s increasing reliance on “signature” strikes, which allow the CIA to fire missiles even when it doesn’t know the identities of those who could be killed. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/50 "2012-09-19T07:07:34Z")
> [@Pieceofresistance](#): > > The Obama administration has never formally acknowledged the CIA-administered targeted assassination program that is being used in Yemen and Pakistan. That’s classified. Which is completely irrelevant. “The Obama administration today argued before a federal court that it should have unreviewable authority to kill Americans the executive branch has unilaterally determined to pose a threat.” > **[Obama Administration Claims Unchecked Authority To Kill Americans Outside...](https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/obama-administration-claims-unchecked-authority-kill-americans-outside-combat-zones)** > > Federal Court Hears Arguments Today In ACLU And CCR Case Challenging Administration's Claimed Authority To Assassinate Americans It Designates Threats... They did actually then execute an US citizen with no judicial process. So the US president does have the power to execute US citizens with no trial or due process, and has actually done so. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/51 "2012-09-19T07:45:07Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Hey, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. 🆒 Yes, well… the “kitchen” is Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/52 "2012-09-20T00:32:48Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > The House and Senate together form the Congress. Thanks > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, to even have favorite authors to invite to the White House, you have to read. Not necessarily, Whilst it is true GWB read very few books in office, he listened to a heck load of audio books whilst exercising. ---
**Author:** ![Frisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Frisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frisco)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/53 "2012-09-20T01:07:30Z")
President Bush was a voracious reader while in office. Reportedly heavily focused on biographies, which wouldn’t be unusual for a Yale history grad. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757/54 "2012-09-20T16:42:07Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Rosalyn Carter said the same thing. You could invite anyone in the World and they would show up. > [@suranyi](#): > > I think Miss Manners once said that the only legitimate excuse for refusing an invitation to the White House was that you were at death’s door. Minor aside – I recently was invited to a [White House Kitchen Garden Tour](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/tours_and_events/garden) by an insider who procured tickets for our family. Admittedly the tour takes place outside the building; nevertheless I wore a suit, tie, and good shoes. Several people asked me _why_. _Why_ did I dress up? OK, I am no fan of formal dress – I’m always uncomfortable in suit and tie. But it seems to me, even in this increasingly informal world, that _an invitation to the White House_ is one of the most clear-cut arguments for dressing up that remains. I was prepared to hear “Oh, you needn’t have,” but to be _earnestly asked_ left me all but speechless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-powerful-is-the-us-president/634757.md?page=2)