What can the President of the United States of America really do?

What can the President of the United States of America really do?

Unlike what some candidates pretend, the President cannot fix Social Security, Medicare, Health Coverage, tort reform, Immigration, balance the budget or even approve treats (such as Kyoto Protocol). These all require the Legislation Branch (Lb) to actually accomplish anything. The Executive Branch (EB) can suggest plans, try to influence the LB, or yell at the top of their lungs that something needs to be done. The closest thing a President can actual do is the issue a executive order (EO). An executive order bypasses the LB but is always trumped by actual law. If a law and EO conflict with each other, the law wins hand down.
Here is what a President can really do.

• is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces. He or she has the power to call into service the state units of the National Guard, and in times of emergency may be given the power by Congress to manage national security or the economy.

The President gets to direct the troops and can even call them to service for a short time but needs the LB to declare war.

• has the power make treaties with Senate approval. He or she can also receive ambassadors and work with leaders of other nations.

The President talks to other countries and can negotiate a treat but without the LB approval it is just talk. The LB makes it a law.

• is responsible for nominating the heads of governmental departments, which the Senate must then approve. In addition, the president nominates judges to federal courts and justices to the United States Supreme Court.

The President, though their cabinet, enforces and interrupts the laws that the LB creates. If the President interrupts it wrong then the Supreme Court can step in.

• can issue executive orders, which have the force of law but do not have to be approved by congress.

The President can make up a law only if it does not conflict with an existing law or any new law that is created. The only defense an EO has is the veto but a veto can be overridden.

• can issue pardons for federal offenses.
  

The pardon goes back enforcing the existing laws and apparently can be sold for the right price.

• can convene Congress for special sessions.

The convene Congress is what I’m refering to when I say “yell at the top of their lungs”.

• can veto legislation approved by Congress. However, the veto is limited. It is not a line-item veto, meaning that he or she cannot veto only specific parts of legislation, and it can be overridden by a two-thirds vote by Congress.

The Veto is the EB part of the check and balance between the different branches. It does nothing to create only to hinder or stop. This is one area that the EB can affect the budget.

• delivers a State of the Union address annually to a joint session of Congress.

The State of the Union is part Yelling and part influence.

So there you have, the President can’t actually fix the laws of this nation. A president can influence the fixes, can suggest fixes and can ask for fixes. But the president is there to manage what we currently have and what the LB gives them in the future. Anyone who has actual fixes should either stay in the LB or run for it because that is where the changes have to happen.