Introduction
The President of the U.S. holds the powers of the executive branch, acts as the armed forces’ commander-in-chief and head of state. The President is also responsible for enforcing and implementing the laws written by the Congress and, appoints the federal agency leadership, including the Cabinet (The White House N.pag). Despite holding these vast formal powers, there are several constitutional legal restricts, balances and checks, the incumbent President usually finds as mentioned by the former President Harry S. Truman, that “the powers of the president mostly amount to getting people to do what they ought to do without him asking” (Pious N.pag).
President power often involves persuading, rather than their power to command, which defines the outer limitations of the Presidential powers. The President Incumbent, Barack Obama has shown several times the utilization of the diplomatic, military and judicial powers.
Presidential Powers and Examples
Diplomatic Powers
The United States President works as the chief diplomat for the country, they possess the power of making treaties, which are subject to Senate’s ratification. President’s diplomatic powers include the right of making executive agreements and treaties with other countries and the right of giving reception. The President also possesses the power to recognize and not recognize the government’s legitimacy in other countries (The White House N.pag). The first example of President Barack Obama utilizing diplomatic powers is the 2010 Nuclear Arms Control Agreement, which was based on reducing the stockpiles of nuclear weapons in nations. This treaty was an example of the President utilizing the diplomatic powers of the executive office and signing an agreement with the Russian President (CNN N.pag). Another way President Barack Obama has displayed diplomatic powers is through executive agreements. The Iran Nuclear deal signed to ensure that Iran would not develop any nuclear weapons for the next 15 years and safeguards their pursuit of nuclear weapons for an indefinite term. The executive agreement required President Obama’s leadership and negotiation from the Secretary of State, John Kerry (Feiveson N.pag)
Military Powers
The United States Constitution grants the Congress the power of declaring war, but the commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces is the American President. In the past, many American Presidents have gotten involved in wars without the consent of the Congress. The President outranks and military personnel and has the power to promote, fire, or demote any person involved in the military (Cornell University N.pag). One of the examples of President Obama using military powers is the deployment of 300 U.S. troops to Cameroon to fight against Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram (Cooper N.pag). This is a direct example of the U.S. head of state utilizing their military power to send American troops in foreign wars. Another example Barack Obama using the military powers is him, sending 1,500 troops to Iraq to help train the Kurdish and Iraqi forces to the growing threat of ISIS (Collinson N.pag).
Judicial Powers
The President’s judicial power includes the constitutional powers of appointing public officials. But, the confirmation of federal judges includes the consent of the Senate. The impeachment power is also part of the judicial powers that grants pardons to anyone who breaks federal law. The pardoning power is also part of the President’s judicial powers and been embraced by many in terms of reduced fines and shortened prison sentences (IIP Digital N.pag). One of the examples of the Barack Obama using judicial powers is him pardoning 95 prisoners, mostly drug offenders during the 2015 Christmas time. This was an active use of judicial powers used by President Obama to pardon convicts (Davis N.pag). Appointment of Michael Taylor as the head of the FDA in 2009 by Obama was an example of use of judicial powers (Layton N.pag). Also, the appointment of John Kerry as the secretary of state in 2013 was another use of judicial power by Obama as the President.
Counterclaim
Even though the President of the United States holds the judicial, military and diplomatic powers, to practice these powers freely the President needs the consent of Congress in the Senate. But, the President also has the veto power and can ensure a treaty is passed as an executive agreement, declare war without the consent of the Congress and can appoint public officials even with the negative publicity. The Presidential powers are based on the U.S. constitution and in case a President overreaches the use of his powers, there is a possibility that the President can be impeached.
Conclusion
The President of United States of America has several powers among them are diplomatic, military and judicial powers. The diplomatic powers have allowed President Barack Obama to sign treaties and executive agreements such as the Nuclear Deal with Iran and Nuclear Arms Control Agreement with Russia. The military powers have granted the President of the United States of America with the power to declare war and command the armed forces such as the Obama sending troops to Cameroon and Syria. Finally, judicial powers allow the President to appoint public officials and pardon American citizens such as Obama pardoning 95 prisoners and appointing a new FDA chief.
Works Cited
CNN. Obama, Russian president sign arms treaty. CNN. cnn.com. 8 April 2010. Web. 24 January 2016.
Collinson., S. Obama sends 1,500 troops to Iraq. CNN. cnn.com. 7 November 2014. Web. 24 January 2016.
Cooper., H. To Aid Boko Haram Fight, Obama Orders 300 Troops to Cameroon. The New York Times. nytimes.com. 14 October 2015. Web. 24 January 2016.
Davis., J.H. In ‘Fairness,’ Obama Commutes Sentences for 95, Mostly Drug Offenders. The New York Times. nytimes. 18 December 2015. Web. 24 January 2016.
Feiveson., H.A. The Iran Deal Explained. Truthout. truth-out.org. 13 August 2015. Wen. 24 January 2016.
IIP Digital. The Executive Branch: Powers of the Presidency. US Department of State. usembassy.gov. n.d.. Web. 24 January 2016.
LLI. War powers. Cornell University. cornell.edu. n.d. Web. 24 January 2016.
Pious., R.M. The Powers of the Presidency. U.S. Department of State. ait.org.tw. n.d. Web. 22 January 2016.
The White House. The Executive Branch. The White House. whitehouse.gov. n.d. Web. 22 January 2016.
