Based on the accounts of the two Democratic candidates’ debates I’ve read, there’s something crucial missing from the campaign so far: the presidency.
As defined in the Constitution the president has the following jobs:
- Commander-in-chief of the military
- Foreign policy
- Managing the federal government
- Making appointments
- Signing bills enacted by the Congress into law
pretty much in that order. As originally defined the president is not a prime minister, the head of his political party and, honestly, just a stand-in for it. He or she is not the domestic policy-maker-in-chief. Not the symbol of the country, its inspiration, or its collective parent. Not a monarch.
From the short shrift the actual jobs the president does has received you would think they’re running for some other job entirely.
At this point in his presidency IMO the best grade you could assign to President Trump is an Incomplete. I recognize that many would award an F. He has so many active but unresolved foreign policy initiatives I don’t see how even the strongest Trump supporter could honestly give anything other than an Incomplete. As far as managing the government and making appointments is concerned, he’s clearly not doing a good job.
And if anything he’s overqualified for not being the symbol of the country, its inspiration, or collective parent.
The seat of government is not the White House but the Capitol. Some would say the Rayburn Building. The most powerful person in government not the president but the Speaker of the House, closely followed by the Senate Majority Leader.
“At this point in his presidency IMO the best grade you could assign to President Trump is an Incomplete. I recognize that many would award an F. He has so many active but unresolved foreign policy initiatives I don’t see how even the strongest Trump supporter could honestly give anything other than an Incomplete. As far as managing the government and making appointments is concerned, he’s clearly not doing a good job.”
Of course it is incomplete. He’s been in office for two and a half years. There are five and a half yet to go.
Foreign policy is the toughest part of the job. He has to convince people to do things they don’t want to do – otherwise they’d be doing it. Still; ISIS is gone, the Arabs are cozying up to the Israelis, Syria has been pretty quiet, NATO defense spending is up, Russia has been quiet, NOKO hasn’t fired any more missiles, China has made concessions on trade, Mexico is toughening its borders, …
As far as managing the government; he’s appointed a record number of judges, he’s made serious cuts in regulations, he gutted the CFPB and Obamacare… You may not like these changes but he’s been more effective at actually managing the government than any of his predecessors.
Which brings us to the economy, stupid. The stock markets are at record highs, unemployment is at record lows, wages are rising faster than they have in 50 years, and the growth rate is something that Obama said we’d never see again. There are some who say that Obama sowed the seeds but I think that’s kind of weak. I attribute most of it to what John Maynard Keynes called the “animal spirits of capitalism”. Business confidence and consumer confidence are way up. Happy, optimistic people make things happen.
“As far as managing the government; he’s appointed a record number of judges, he’s made serious cuts in regulations, he gutted the CFPB and Obamacare… ”
He got to appoint a record number because McConnell stopped confirming Democratic nominations. That credit goes to Mitch. He cut regulations, but we arent seeing any effects from those cuts. Obamacare is actually perking along pretty well.
GDP growth rate last year was 2.9%, same or lower than Obama’s good years. Link goes to three month moving average of wage growth. Dont see the 50 year claim.
https://www.frbatlanta.org/chcs/wage-growth-tracker.aspx
“There are some who say that Obama sowed the seeds but I think that’s kind of weak.”
Clearly the Trump admin should get some credit, but growth rates are pretty much unchanged from what we had in the Obama years. Also, under Obama we had decreasing deficits. Trump has maintained growth with deficit financing, which is not sustainable. (But then, this has been true of all Republicans since Reagan.)
Otherwise I agree on incomplete. North Korea could hand over all their nukes and minute now. Now that we are an Israeli client state maybe they will send us money rather than the other way around.
Steve
Steve