Is the President supposed to make desicions based on what we want or what he wants?

Question

Someone just answered a question asking if Bush is the worst president ever like this:
"Remember your insight 25 years from now when you are an adult and Bush is considered one of our better modern presidents. He is the first to take on this modern warfare of terrorism. He is not an idiot, he won the election to be the most powerful person on earth, twice! He is making unpopular decisions in spite of all the slander against him. If you remember Clinton, he made decisions based on polls.

When all the complications of our modern world are sorted out in the years ahead, history will be kind to Bush. It is media and Democratic propaganda that makes Bush look bad."

So even though the majority of people are not approving in the way he is going he shouldn't listen to them? isn't it the president's job to work FOR the people, he isn't a king, so shouldn't he listen to what we want? He should be listening to the polls, they represent the will of the American people... don't you think?

When bush put into practice most of the things that are so damaging (Both wars, Lack of response to Katrina, Lack of response to Guantanimo and Abu Grab, No child left behind, etc) it all started in his first term, when he wasn't actually elected so yeah...

Answer 1

Actually he wasn't elected to his second term either. His brother Jeb bought voting machines that his successor as his first official act, got rid of. They could be hacked into. They had no paper trail and no audit trail. They could not be verified. But, what the hell, isn't that what brothers do for each other?

Bush's decisions are made by Cheney. Bush is just his puppet. And all of his decisions are made based on what will make Bush, Cheney, big oil and big business and their war profiteering cronies even richer. To hell with what the people want. To hell with what is best for America. To hell with the rest of the world, they just want to enrich their coffers. That is the only thing Bush has been successful at. He promised his oil buddies he would have gas at $5 gallon by the time he leaves office and it looks like he is delivering on that promise.

Answer 2

The president has access to more information than we do and should make decisions regarding the country based on this information and on what he thinks is best for the country. Popular opinion and polls should not influence him. Unfortunately, the president's decisions are subjective. Being such, he will never have the approval of all the people and perhaps may not have the approval of any of the people.

Because Presidential decisions are so subjective, it is imperative that voters thoroughly understand what a presidential candidate stands for prior to voting for him or her. It is not likely any candidate will ever meet all our expectations or wishes. Therefore, most often we have to vote for the least worst candidate judged so by our own subjective opinion. I have voted now for 47 years and have yet to vote for a president I considered any better than the least worst, and only voted for them because I judged the other candidate to be the worst worst.

In my opinion one cannot rely on anything presidential candidates say. It's too easy for them to say that what they said was taken out of context. Decide who you think is the least dishonest and who will most likely have the best interests of the United States in mind at all times and vote for that guy - then hope for the best.

You're only going to get one choice out of two. Not voting for one guy leaves a positive vote for the other guy.

Answer 3

Excellent question!

I believe all public officials should do their best to represent the views of the people. It's a bit of a balancing act because they need to have some beliefs and convictions of their own so that the voters know where they stand.

In the 2004 debates W said he had to make a lot of "unpopular" decisions because as we all know now, he is the self-proclaimed "Decider". Needless to say, it rubbed me the wrong way and he didn't get my vote.

Answer 4

Both

A President is a elected representative. As such he is elected to serve the people of the United States, that dose not mean how ever that they cannot make decitions that go against the will the of the majority of the people.

Every president in US history has at one time made a choice that was unpopular, but that power was given to him by the electorate.

We live in a representative republic not a direct democracy.

Answer 5

The Presidents are elected to head the Executive branch of the US government. It is the President's job to make executive decision in the running of our government and our military. He is NOT our Representative. We each one have a Representative in the Federal Government and it is THAT person's job to represent our own personal wishes.
The only input we have and should have is once every 4 years, we get to vote for our choice of person to head the executive branch.
No, the President should NOT listen to the people. He should listen to his advisers and experts who are especially selected to provide information and advice to him. We don't know nearly enough to be well informed about the country's needs.

Answer 6

The president is supposed to base his decisions on what is in the best interests of the nation.
Bush failed us by ignoring national security and terrorism until after we were attacked!
He recieved a warning on August 6 2001.........He should have sent out some kind of an alert to inform the intelligence agencies of a possible threat!
FBI HQ in Washington obstructed terrorism investigations in Minneapolis by denying FISA warrant requests!!!!
I want to know why!

Answer 7

I disagree, the President has to do what he thinks best. That's why we elect a leader; someone who knows more and has better insight. Doing what he thinks is right does not make him a dictator, you've obviously been spoiled by a free society if you think Bush is a dictator.

Congressmen are closer to needing to listen to their constituents. Even then, so long as he has their best interest in mind when he goes against them, he's representing the people.

As a leader, if you listen to what everyone is saying, and then try to please them, you will fail because you can't please everyone. Therefore listen to the people, represent the interest of your district and tell them why your actions was in their best interest.

Answer 8

I'm going against popluar belief here, but the President really has little control over most things. Congress, the Senate, the House of Representative, etc. have the power, the President just puts his two cents in.

Answer 9

Sorry to burst your bubble, but most polls are not reliable sources of information. Polls can be made to get certain answers, depending on the people you ask.

Also, the President really doesn't have as much power as you seem to think he does. The President, the houses of Congress, and the courts are supposed to balance each other out so that none of them has too much power, and so they are working as a government "by the people, for the people."

Answer 10

I think he should make decisions based on what is best for the future of our country. not based on what satisfies people temporarily, not based on what is popular. I think our leaders need to have better vision for the future and stop installing programs that we can't afford but they enact them to pacify all the crybabies. It all started with Franklin Roosevelt and the social security pyramid scheme he devised.