Understanding Presidential Powers: Myths and Realities

Often times I notice that uneducated people assume that all of the plans that the president claim they will do when in office, they believe will actually happen. The president does not have as much power as people may presume. Of course the president is the head of the executive branch, but that does not mean he makes all of the decisions like many people presume. Our government is split up into three major sections the Executive branch the legislative branch and the judicial branch. Each branch holds its own amount of power in the government. These three different branches work almost as a team to develop policies.
The president has distinct advantages of his position that other politicians in other branches do not, but he still has to be able to work with the other government officials to coincide on policies. The president is able to create and set the nation’s

political agenda. Of course agendas sometimes do not stay on track as some might presume. It may change at any given time. When it comes time to pass policies at the president's wishes, he must first gain the support of other politicians. When doing this, the president is able to bargain with these politicians until he gets their support. The president's official powers are found in Article II of the Constitution.
Many people mistake that the President has all the power to pass a bill or law.

There is a much more complicated way, people may not understand that happens when a bill becomes a law. It not only has to get passed through by the president, but also the congress. It almost seems like a game to me. The President's power is not much of a power in terms of changing a bill into a law. A bill becomes a law when signed by the President. If the President does not sign this bill within ten days and Congress is in session, then it is turned back to Congress who then creates the law. If Congress withdraws from session within those ten days and the President does not sign, the bill was then pocket vetoed. Even if the President vetoes the bill, it is then sent back to the Congress listing the reasoning of why the President vetoed. The chamber that created the bill can attempt to overrule the veto by a vote of two-thirds of those who are present. If the veto is overruled it then becomes a law. It is crazy to think that the President wouldn't have more power than they do when it comes to creating bills and

laws.
In my opinion, those who do not understand the process of changing a bill into a law, may presume that a law, they may not be in favor of, was passed by the president when really it could have been passed by Congress. I think it is important for American’s to educate themselves in understanding the powers of the President. The President takes a lot of grunt for other members of the government, just because of the status he holds as the President. I think it is very important to take time to educate yourself in the understanding of the specific jobs each part of our government holds. It gives you a better understanding of why something may have happened rather than just assuming why something occurred. You did a great job explaining this question Sam.