Question

• If Congress makes major changes to a bill supported by the president before passing it, should it be considered a presidential success? Explain.
• If a president vetoes a bill that he opposes, is that a "success?" Why or why not?
• How does a divided government affect a president's ability to press for his or her legislative priorities?
• How do events like wars and economic recessions affect popular approval ratings and Congressional support differentially?

Answer 1

This is a good question and will warrant a basic understanding of how the machinery at the White House is run.

Let me help you with a few pointers that you can build on to elaborate on the answer.

If Congress makes major changes to a bill supported by the president before passing it, should it be considered a presidential success? Explain.

This is a tricky question. While it is mandatory that once the Congress decides on what is to be written in the bill and what is to be passed down as the law, it does go to the President for approval. However, the question is whether the Congress can make changes to a version of the bill supported by the President. The answer is yes, they can, provided they have 2/3rds of the support for passing the bill through. So it is a gray area on whether this can be considered a presidential success, however, it is expected that the President comes to some form of an intermediate alignment with the Congress on the changes and both parties agree, in which case it might be considered a Presidential Success as well.

If a president vetoes a bill that he opposes, is that a "success?" Why or why not?

If a president vetoes a bill, it cannot be considered a complete success. Why is it so? This is because a veto by the President does not mean the bill is null and void. If the Congress has a two-third support in favor of their law, then the veto of the President will not hold any value. So, it is not right to call this a success.

How does a divided government affect a president's ability to press for his or her legislative priorities?

The answer to this lies in a way in Question 2. If a president is facing a divided government, then it might be good for the president in a way as it might be difficult for one single party to collect two-thirds majority (we have a divided government, remember?). Hence, the president would have more power in terms of overriding the bills that he/she might not agree with.

How do events like wars and economic recessions affect popular approval ratings and Congressional support differentially?

Events like wars and recessions are issues of national stability. We cannot have room for individualistic egos or populist motions. These events require quick and swift decisions which will be for the greater good of the nation, and might not even be able to support the lead time that the back and forth discussions between the various committees require before passing a bill. Such situations demand that the president be given unquestioned authority in matters of national importance so that quicker decisions can be taken.