Perceived presidential power

[squirrelitude]

A thought popped into my head today regarding this weird overestimation Americans have (or at least the American popular press has) of the President's ability to get shit done: Perhaps it is easier for people to praise or blame a single person rather than a group (Congress). If the executive branch were headed by a triumvirate, would there be less of a laser-like focus on its importance?

I'm not much of a political scholar, so I'd like to know if this idea has any relation to reality.

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Or if anyone knew what the Vice President did.

Or considered the rest of the Cabinet part of the Executive branch.

Dunno, it feels like it's a reflection of the Daddy Principle, where people think (a part of ) the government is a stern, authoritative father who can do anything but whom they have a hard time relating to, and who doesn't always do things they want (and sometimes hurts them).

So I'm not sure whether a split role like that would help, or whether people would scramble to make one of the triums the "real" leader.

[elusiveat.livejournal.com]

Zaphod Beeblebrox 2016! (I want my Daddy to be a rock star too! We can have that, right?)

On the other hand, controlling a major nuclear arsenal is nothing to sneeze at, and we *have* seen substantial consolidation of executive power in the last decade...

All that stuff about presidents causing recessions and whathaveyou is just silly though. : )