Just a Figurehead!

I tried to be as unbiased as possible in the post and (believe it or not) have not decided who I am going to vote for yet. Although I am leaning one way. After writing the post I am even more confident in my (potential) choice than before. I truly feel that this is true:


In my personal opinion the office of President of the USA is little more than a figurehead position.

Meaning they don't make decisions based on their own history, experience, or thoughts. But they take advice from a panel of advisers and then make a decision. Basically they get all the credit for great decisions and all the blame if something goes wrong.

I personally feel that the key to the office is the people they put around themselves. And then it comes down to how well they take advice and how stuck in their ways they are.

All of the candidates promise multiple things like tax cuts, health care, or education.

But what everyone has to remember is that they can't do any of those things without Congress.

Everything they are proposing has to be agreed upon by so many people that it will never happen.

What will end up happening is that no matter what is promised it will be watered down and will barely make an impact when it is finally accepted and made official.


On top of that, all Presidents have a bunch of advisers for everything they need to know. There are speech writers/advisers, combat advisers, scheduling advisers, and everything else.

So the real key to a successful President is one that is open-minded (as much as politician's can be) and one that chooses the right people around them.

And I am not referring to the VP position because that is even more useless than the President position and is really only there in case something happens to the President.

The best Presidents take the information that they are given from their advisers and take the interest of the American people and decide on the best course of action.

This is the reason why I don't blame Bush for the war in Iraq. I am pretty sure that everyone in his circle wanted to go into Iraq and get Saddam out of there. So he took every one's opinion and decided that they all couldn't be wrong. But they were!

And I think any President would have done the same thing unless they refuse to fight in which case they shouldn't be in office.

Even most of the American people wanted Bush to respond with military action. And yes maybe a lot of us didn't think Iraq was the right way to go but we didn't have access to the reports and information that was being given to Bush and his staff.

But Bush isn't a very open-minded President in my opinion. I think he has a plan in his head and he is following it completely. He is not straying from it and won't.

I think the first George Bush and Bill Clinton were much more open-minded and weren't set in their ways or ideas.


But this year I think we have a candidate that is perfect for doing what he needs to do. And that is Obama.

I think he will always listen to his advisers BECAUSE of his lack of experience. Where as McCain is very stubborn and stuck in his way. Just look at how he is handling the Iraq war issue! He will not waver in his theory and decision.

And a person like that can NOT run this country right now.


But it really all depends on who is appointed to adviser positions.

Does the new President put in people along party lines or do they branch out and create a diverse staff.

I think a diverse staff that crosses party lines is KEY to the Presidency.

And I have more faith in Obama to appoint the advisers necessary than McCain.


I read somewhere that people are confused by the "Change and Hope" campaign by Obama. They don't understand what that means.

I think it means exactly what I am saying.

Instead of the same thing from the same people like the last 8 years we are going to get a different perspective on things from here on.

He is going to be more open to listening to other opinions and take everything into account prior to making a decision.

And that is what we need right now. Someone that we can trust!