The President need not bother with TicketMaster or scalpers.
The President has near-absolute control over the military – in fact, US armed forces pride themselves on their obedience to civilian authority (in the form of the President), viewing it as what distinguishes their professionalism from tin-pot militaries that meddle in their countries’ governance. US Presidents have overruled, sacked, and made demands of generals since there the office was occupied – not always leading to improvement, mind you.
The Prez has launch authority (really, “release” authority, meaning he tells others they can launch) but my impression is that typically requires concurrence from at least one other official.
Just to be clear, there’s no parliament. The Congress consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
If you’re only familiar with parliamentary systems, then the American system will seem unusual, because the president is both the head of government (like a prime minister) and the head of state, like a king or ceremonial president in many other countries.
Additionally, unlike parliamentary systems, the executive and legislative organs of government are entirely separate. This means that the president can (and frequently is) in a different party than that which controls one or both houses of Congress.
In spite of this, the president is very powerful, for the reasons enumerated by others above.
The President and the Secretary of Defense are together designated the “National Command Authority” in DoD parlance. The SecDef works for the President, though. A President who goes nuts and wants to pointlessly start WWIII couldn’t be “overrruled” by the SecDef, as such, but you can bet that those around the President would try to restrain him. Washington lore has long been that SecDef James Schlesinger asked to be told if Nixon, in his final days in office, started giving odd or disturbing orders to the military.
As for the President’s authority to appoint and remove military commanders, see these instructive examples:
And here’s an NPR story on the subject that may be of interest: Generals Gone Rogue: A History Of Friction : NPR
The president also has a lot of political clout by virtue of the fact that he has been elected. Congress is judicious about overturning vetoes of a popular president because they all want to get re-elected.
There are also signing statements.
Also the United States Intelligence Community. The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act established the position of Director of National Intelligence; this person leads the USIC and reports to the President of the United States.
To add to the examples already given here: Truman famously fired General Douglas MacArthur for insubordination during the Korean War. Lincoln replaced his top generals several times during the Civil War because of the generals’ ineffectiveness or unwillingness to pursue the war in the way Lincoln wanted. Reagan sent troops to El Salvador without seeking permission from Congress (not parliament), and Clinton authorized the use of U.S. bombers in the NATO action in Kosovo, again without Congressional approval.
I think a somewhat simple way to put it would be; Congress decides what the Federal government will do; The Supreme Court decides if the Federal government is allowed to do it; and the President controls how the Federal government will do it. Deciding how something gets done is a lot of power. It’s just more subtle than you might expect at that level. An example would be how under Obama the Attourney General is not defending the Defense Of Marrige Act in court.
Plus, c’mon - your name in the history books, living in the White House, riding around in Air Force One, relaxing at Camp David, etc. etc. etc. Bill Clinton once said one of his favorite parts of the job was inviting his favorite authors to private lunches at the White House… and nobody ever said no!
I was just using it as shorthand for both houses. What is the correct term for both the House of Representatives AND the Senate.
Anyway, thank you all for your responses, This Englishman is tempted to slip the Hawaiian Governor a few bucks to get myself the US birth certificate I need.
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. Bill was way cooler.
The House and Senate together form the Congress.
Just remember that when you get elected president, it is your patriotic duty to bang the interns.
Rosalyn Carter said the same thing. You could invite anyone in the World and they would show up.
I believe GWB had William Gray and Zera Sharp to lunch while in office.
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.
The president can order anyone even US citizens to be executed..
Correction: The President can wage war. There’s a difference.
One question that might help is to consider this. If the POTUS decides one day to ignore the federal courts, Congress, and the governments of all the states and territories and do his own thing, how much could he legally accomplish? Could the POTUS send troops to burn Montreal not only without explicit congressional approval, but against the will of a Congress that is actively trying to stop him? Could he grab a fighter jet from Andrews AFB and joyride wherever he wants knowing that nobody has the legal authority to make him land or attack him?
He’d be impeached rather quickly. The military would refuse to follow illegal orders. It would end suddenly and poorly for our rogue president.