The President As Chief Legislator

Binkley, Wilfred E.

doi:10.1177/000271625630700110

Cited by 3 publications

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“…The SUA has changed as the presidency has evolved, with Fisher (2007) describing the evolution of the presidency due to the invocation of inherent powers. Binkley (1956) further describes the office as moving from a "…Chief Executive of the written Constitution into the Chief Legislator of our unwritten constitution..."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Analysis of High-Level Features from State of the Union Addresses

Bihl

Bauer

2017

International Journal of Information Systems and Social Change

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A computational political science approach is taken to analyze the State of the Union Addresses (SUA) from 1790 to 2015. While low-level features, e.g. linguistic characteristics, are commonly used for lexical analysis, the authors herein illustrate the utility of high-level features, e.g. Flesch-Kincaid readability, for knowledge discovery and discrimination between types of speeches. A process is developed and employed to exploit high-level features which employs 1) statistical clustering (k-means) and a literature review to define types of speeches (e.g. written or oral), 2) classification methods via logistic regression to examine the validity of the defined classes, and 3) classifier-based feature selection to determine salient features. Recent interest in the SUA has posited that changes in readability in the SUA are due to declining audience capabilities; however, the authors' results show that changes in readability are a reflection of changes in the SUA delivery medium.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Analysis of High-Level Features from State of the Union Addresses

Bihl

Bauer

2017

International Journal of Information Systems and Social Change

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“…Since the emergence of the president's role as chief legislator in the 20th century, a president's legislative success has become intimately tied to our perception of leadership. The move from the written annual message to oral delivery of the SUA was a key component of how the president came to be viewed as the legislator‐in‐chief (Binkley, ). As this new presidential “hat” of chief legislator was being recognized, a related and fundamental change in the presidency had also taken place .…”

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confidence: 99%

Obama in Words and Deeds*

Hoffman

Howard

2012

Social Science Quarterly

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Objective We assess how President Barack Obama acted as chief legislator using the rhetoric contained in his initial joint address to Congress and his three subsequent State of the Union addresses (SUAs). Method Using content analysis, we analyze how Obama conveyed policy substance (both credit claiming and position taking) and used symbolism as he carried out the constitutional requirements of reporting and recommending measures to Congress. Results Obama's first‐term SUA rhetoric is consistent in regard to credit claiming; he devotes about 17 percent of his speeches to this activity. His SUAs typically contain about 35 legislative requests, and these are frequently requests for fairly large‐scale actions. His use of symbolic rhetoric is unique. Obama uses individuals and historical examples to highlight the instrumental and effective role government has played in supporting the pursuit of the American Dream. His legislative requests, for his first three full years in office, have been fully or partially successful at a median rate of almost 45 percent, placing him slightly above the median yearly rate since 1965. Conclusions Obama's rhetorical choices in the SUA portray him as an unusual chief legislator in many ways. He is deferential to Congress on legislative detail, tending to focus his SUA requests on large‐scale items and leaving the details of legislation to Congress. If Congress failed to act, he occasionally sought to accomplish his policy goals through executive actions if he could. He was then able to use the rhetoric of the SUA to portray himself as an active and effective president, something that would aid his reelection and legacy goals. Furthermore, Obama often had to confront unreasonably high expectations, and this strategy helped him position himself against the unpopular institution of Congress as he sought reelection.

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Auditioning for the Rhetorical Presidency: Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speeches as 'Presidential' Documents

Hoffman

Howard

2009

SSRN Journal

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The President As Chief Legislator

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Statistical Analysis of High-Level Features from State of the Union Addresses

Statistical Analysis of High-Level Features from State of the Union Addresses

Obama in Words and Deeds*

Auditioning for the Rhetorical Presidency: Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speeches as 'Presidential' Documents

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