The President’s job description requires him to fulfill eight primary roles, dependent on the situation and the role needing expressed. In addition to the President’s position as chief executive, the President must also simultaneously act as the chief citizen, party chief, chief diplomat, chief legislator, chief of state, chief administrator, and the commander-in-chief.
As chief executive, the President must enforce the legislation and policies enacted by Congress on both an international and domestic spectrum. However, the position of chief executive is not rigidly defined in the Constitution, and thus the President is able to interpret how one should utilize this role, on a very broad scale.
A similar function of the presidential office, is to act as chief legislator. Though the Constitution doesn’t necessarily direct the President to perform such a function, as the presidential office has evolved, so has the role of the President. In this role, the President assumes the responsibility for “suggesting” public policy, as he sets the congressional agenda and utilizes his other roles (i.e. party chef) in order to “encourage” Congress to initiate legislation he deems favorable.
One of the most demanding roles in which the President must perform, is that of the chief administrator. Simply put, the President is in charge of the world’s largest government with a work face of over three million employees. The President is tasked with the responsibility of directing government finances among other things, and his role can be best likened to that of an office manager, responsible for ensuring that operations run smoothly.
Unfortunately, partisan politics are ever-present in the government, and the President acts as the head of his political party. Using his role as the party head of the current executive branch of the government, the President is able to influence other party members to side with his policy-making. During election years, the President is tasked with campaigning for his party’s candidates, which draws him away from his elected position.
The President, and the office in which he holds, is always symbolically representing the United States nation and its people. The President, in this manner, acts as the figure-head of the nation, conveying his constitutents’ views and concerns. While some nations have a chief of state that doesn’t actually perform a role in government operations, the United States President performs both functions.
One of the evident roles for the President to perform, is that of the commander-in-chief of the United States military. While the President isn’t actually a member of the military, and professional commanders normally run daily operations, the President has the “last word” in regard to military policy. He is responsible for all of the military personnel and their equipment.
In a role that often contradicts (or goes hand-in-hand), with that of the commander-in-chief, the President also serves as the chief diplomat of the United States. The President is responsible for the negotiation of foreign policy and relations. The role of chief diplomat is the most crucial in most instances.
Finally, the presidential office is supposed to be an accurate representation of the American constituents and their desires. The President is ultimately accountable to the American people and thus must always strive for policies that favor the public interest, rather than the interest of a select few.
In order to act efficiently as the President of the United States, the President must find a proper balance of the forementioned roles, otherwise the American nation will always be in a state of distress and the President cannot be an effective leader.
