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Here are the responses by one Presidential candidate on what it means to be a President.
The Presidency:
The blueprint for how to make a president is set forth in Article ll of the constitution. The powers and duties of the president that are so much in dispute are all spelled out very clearly in that article. Conversely, what is not spelled out is not within the president's powers and duties.
We have before us, in George Bush, the perfect example of what is not a president. Aside from a few administrative requirements, just about everything that George Bush has done is outside his powers and duties.
Getting Congress to pass legislation:
The constitution says that I, as president, can recommend measures for congress to consider. My recommendation has no more right to be considered than any other citizen of the United States.
Foreign policy:
The constitution gives the president the power to make treaties and appoint and receive ambassadors. By not including it, it does not provide the president with the power to engage in foreign policy. The creation of enmity for the United States by every country on earth is the result of George Bush practicing his disastrous foreign policy in violation of the constitution.
Appointing heads of departments:
The president appoints heads of departments and can request their opinion. The president is not given the power to direct their activities.
Religion in government:
The constitution does not provide for the president to express any opinion at all about religion. Under the separation of church and state doctrine, it is inappropriate for the president, as a government official, to mention religion.
Declaring war:
Article 1, Section 8 provides the congress the power to declare war, not the president.
Executive privilege:
The term is not included in the president's powers.
Your position on various issues, such as abortion, gay marriage, immigration, prayer in schools, the pledge of allegiance, presidential sexual activities:
None of those issues are within the president's powers and duties. I, like everyone else, have my own opinion about them, but they are, just as yours are, private. If Bill Clinton when asked about his private sex life, had kept his trap shut and just said that it was a private matter not subject to discussion, he would not have been impeached. The pledge of allegiance is not in the constitution and therefore is not part of what constitutes the United States. Our country became one of the greatest nations in the world without it and it has not prevented our decline under George Bush.
What you would do as president:
If you want to know what I'd do as president, read the constitution. If you want me to do anything that is not included in the president's constitutional powers and duties, revise the constitution. Until that time, everything that I can, will and should do is spelled out right therre in Article ll of the constitution.
As you know there is no presidential candidate like the one above. If there were, that's the candidate I would vote for, because I would do exactly the same if I were president.
