Power in America American Political Culture

b. Presidential Power in America

This study analyzes the addresses delivered by an American president so that to look at the concept of presidential power in the related country is needed in to explain the discourse in its critical sense. According to Theodore H. White 1969 the idea of President as a country leader in America has been exaggerated to some extents. First, the president is portrayed as the unifying element in the American political system. Second, president is as the genuine architect of United States public policy. Third, president is as the nation‘s personal and moral reader and the only leader who can guide the nation to the fulfillment of the American Dream. Fourth, president is the only leader capable of making things go well for the society, providing that he is the right man. The exaggerate notions above are derived by the mixture of myth and reality which affect the deep physiological and emotional needs in American Society Greenstein, 1973: 6. First is that the president simplifies the perception of government for the people and gives them a handle for understanding what government is doing. Second is that a president provides the emotional expression as one who is publicized and does exciting things. Third is that a president serves a symbol of unity for the people. Fourth is that a president gives the citizens a sense of involvement. Fifth is that a president gives a sense of social stability. James David Barber 1971 says that the emotional needs in the society are what define the presidential images. However, the president will not be powerless without this distorted view because a president has the constitutional, legal, and historic capacities to employ power. Furthermore, one must believe that president should be powerful and the constitutional system was designed to support extensive presidential leadership. The presidential power in America has been described as the influence the president uses his power to persuade the citizens. The citizens are to follow what the president thinks as the right and best for the country even in its realization it could give benefit for some and disadvantage for the others. Thus, president is also possible to abuse his power.

c. The Ideology of American, the Liberties and Rights

Today, ideology is not often considered as a science of ideas, but the ideas themselves, and moreover ideas of a particular kind. Ideologies are related to political purpose. Thus an ideology exists to confirm a certain political viewpoint, serve the interests of certain people, or to perform a functional role in relation to social, economic, political and legal institutions. So, to know the ideology held by a particular community, in this case American citizen is important. The writer takes The Bill of Rights of American as the foundation of American liberties and rights. This is because The Bill of Rights has become the major source of law enforcement in the American society. The Bill of Rights and the Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen Amendments are concerned with individual rights. Here are the quotations of The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: 1. All men are born equally free and independent; therefore, all government of right originates from the people, is founded in consent, and instituted for the general good. 2. All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights; among which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty-acquiring, possessing and protecting property and in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness. Articles I and II of the Bill of Rights to the 1784 New Hampshire Constitution. Text from Thorpe, p. 2453. American nationality, as written in the Encyclopedia of Nationalism, is not based on common descent or religion, and not on a unique literary or legal tradition, but rather on beliefs in natural rights, n amely, ‗‗that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.‘‘ 2001. The American Ideology is that every individual possesses basic rights and liberties simply because human has the right to get the respect from his fellows.

2. Profile and the Ideology of Barrack Hussein Obama

Barrack Hussein Obama is a phenomenal figure in the history of American Politics. He is the 44 th president of the United States who is originally nonwhite people. His political career has been a long journey but when he applied as president candidate, it was considered a brave decision yet it brought new hope for whole America and gets a lot positive support from nations around the world. In Change We Can Believe In , a book made for Obama‘s campaign, it is said: ―The American people want the simple things that—for eight years—Washington hasn‘t delivered: an economy that honors the efforts of those who work hard, a national security policy that rallies the world to meet our shared threats and makes America safer, a politics that focuses on bringing people together across party lines to work for the common good. It‘s not too much to ask for. It is the change that the American people deserve.‖ Llewellyn et. al, 2008: 13 It clearly describes how Obama puts attention to develop more economic security to indiv iduals by giving them equality to take chance in aspects of jobs,