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A bully pulpit is someone who is in a sufficient position to speak out and be listened to from people. The term was coined by one of our former presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, and this term has created the question of whether modern presidents exemplify a bully pulpit. Being a bully pulpit can be done through many different avenues and means of persuasion, but I will look specifically at three aspects of the bully pulpit. In this paper, I will look at whether the president can still access the whole public attention. I will argue that the even though the president’s access to the public is down, the president’s access still can be very advantageous to creating the public agendas. Last, I will argue that foreign policy and the economy are the two most important issues between the president and public’s relationship.
When the president speaks, does the public watch and listen? The president has long made speeches on national television to help speak to the people of America and lead the public but over time the public has been gradually turning the channel and looking else where for their nightly entertainment. In Mathew Baum and Samuel Kernell’s article, “Has Cable Ended the Golden Age of Presidential Television,” Baum and Kerknell look at the effects of cable television have had on the public’s attention to televised presidential speeches. Baum and Kernell looked at audience rating’s of presidential addresses all the way from 1961 to 1998. Baum and Kernell concluded that in the 1960’s and 1970’s presidents possessed an enviable tool of persuasion due to their presidential address being televised on most of the channels during that time (Baum and Kernell 1999). Over time though, with the introduction of cable television, cable t...

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...o the high expectations put upon them and come up short in the eyes of the public and consequently hurt his own reelection chances, hurt members of congress of the same party, and hurt the parties overall image. So, in perspective the economy is a much more influential topic between the president and the public’s relationship than foreign policy and possibly every other issue out there.
The public and president’s overall relationship may be a complex relationship, but nevertheless is an important and beneficial one. With approval ratings, pieces of legislation and reelection all impacted by either a positive or negative relationship between the president and the public, being a bully pulpit is important to a president’s success as a politician. It’s one thing for a president to voice his opinion, it’s another thing for a president to voice his opinion and be heard.