What do we elected Presidents to do? And, what if he loses? by gimleteye

With some perspective-- watching the performance of presidents for four decades -- I have come to some conclusions about the circus of a presidential primary that just left the state of Florida.

The big picture is that presidents are just like you and me: they can be lucky, smart, dumb or stupid. Sometimes, all of the above. The claims of the contenders of the GOP mantle of presidential candidate seem especially hollow because presidential achievements are mostly misrepresented. Say all you want, the limits of presidents are as finite as the limits of democracy.

To say-- as all presidential candidates do-- I will represent the values you hold important is only to be a totem, like the ones the native Americans in the Pacific Northwest carved out of wood. Of course, presidents are not just ceremonial, but the connection between cause and effect, action and reaction, is rarely direct or without unintended consequences.

Richard Nixon, an odious man in so many respects, advocated for an ensured passage of the nation's most important environmental laws; laws that Republicans have been trying to undo ever since. He passed those laws, not because he had an environmental bone in his body, but because he thought the popular issue could deflect attention away from Watergate and a failed war in Vietnam. 

Ronald Reagan didn't use moral authority to beat the Soviet Union. His predecessors (and he) simply ground the Soviets into dust through the accumulated weight of military budgets. We spent the Soviet Union into oblivion.

Bill Clinton -- yes, a Democrat!-- wasn't responsible for a glowing economy (one that Newt Gingrich now takes responsibility for). He was the beneficiary of the historic leap of economic productivity through new technologies.

These are swift and broad brush strokes, I know. This is a blog. But the point is important: presidents -- like Barack Obama-- find themselves relatively powerless once in the White House and it doesn't matter, much, whose flag or colors they bear. 

There are a few areas where presidents can have real influence: the appointment of the federal judiciary, tax policy, military spending, and regulatory authority of the federal government. 

It is my experience that most Americans have very little understanding how the federal judiciary works and the importance of these political appointments. The rightward shift of the country is largely due to a highly conservative and orthodox court that is activist by nature (opposite of the attributes conservatives portray). In terms of tax policy, this is the area of biggest distinction: Americans have a very short memory of tax rates that applied to the rich only a few decades ago. Military spending: it was a Republican, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who best understood the threat to the nation from the industrial military complex. With respect to regulatory authority: most of the money raised for political campaigns -- thanks to Citizens United-- will be as a result of wealthy corporations and shareholders seeking to protect their rights to pollute.

Washington Monthly has an intriguing series of essays related to President Obama: "What if he loses?" Take a look, for yourself.