In this week’s episode, I pose a simple question to the audience…can anyone, regardless of experience or education, possibly meet the full responsibilities of the American Presidency?
In the United States, we require our presidents to be Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful, capable global military on Earth, head of state for all foreign policy matters, head of the executive branch of the federal government for all relevant domestic issues and the head of their political party. All of that in addition to an expectation to act as the personification of the entire country in times of conflict and strife, as well a voice of moral clarity on controversial social issues. In times of natural disaster, the President must provide comfort and empathy while pushing a slow moving government to provide immediate relief and recovery support. In times of unspeakable tragedy, the President is expected to offers prayers and solutions all while respecting the wishes of the grieving.
It is an impossible job. The best anyone can hope for, is to do more good than harm; to help more people than you hurt and to get most of the biggest decisions right even though you will never have enough information to feel confident that you didn’t just set off a chain reaction of bad events.
There is no magic solution to breaking up the responsibilities of the office of the U.S. President. The U.S. Constitution is clear in laying out the expectations for the office as well as its limitations. But the founders of the U.S., who drafted its Constitution did not envision the scope or scale of what it could become. Aside from the shear size of the country and its economy, the founders would not have envisioned that the President would be the single most powerful political figure in global affairs. Decisions made by this one person can impact the lives and well being of tens of millions of people around the world. And yet that person, with that potential impact, is constantly distracted by domestic considerations and flavor-of-the-month cultural events.
So, given the constraints of the U.S. Constitution, what can we do formally or informally to further decentralize the powers of one office so that each issue they are responsible for gets the attention and focus it deserves. I offer a few thoughts in this week’s episode, which you can download now wherever you get your podcasts. I want to hear from you? As an American citizen, would you like the opportunity to vote from two chief executives, one for domestic issues and one for foreign policy? If you live outside the U.S. what impact would it make to have an American head of state focused on global issues? And for everyone, is a powerful chief executive simply a necessity for a country like the U.S. whose domestic strength enables its international authority?
I want to hear from you. Let’s get this discussion started:
E-mail me: info@brianjmatos.com or visit the contact us page on this site to reach me on your favorite social media website.
Brian J. Matos
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