§ ≡ A section of Preserve, Protect, and Defend: Faithfully Executing the Office of the President
{Section 2.5 « Section 3.1 » Section 3.2}
The President of the United States (POTUS) is first and foremost our Nation's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of its Armed Forces, as noted previously in Section 2.1. Secondarily, perhaps, but no less importantly, the POTUS is our de facto Chief Administrator as well. How best to make the distinction between Executive and Administrator? As is frequently the case, we turn to Lincoln:
During the circus we call the presidential election campaign, the party candidates like to focus on their presumed heavenly qualities (i.e., their "God's gift to the electorate" personas). But we may never again be blessed by another executive like Lincoln. Better hope for some semblance of an effective earthbound administrator, one who can discern what needs doing, as opposed to what he believes he was destined to do.
{Section 2.5 « Section 3.1 » Section 3.2}
The President of the United States (POTUS) is first and foremost our Nation's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of its Armed Forces, as noted previously in Section 2.1. Secondarily, perhaps, but no less importantly, the POTUS is our de facto Chief Administrator as well. How best to make the distinction between Executive and Administrator? As is frequently the case, we turn to Lincoln:“You may hold political sentiments that spring entirely from the Declaration of Independence, as Lincoln said he did when he spoke in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on the way to being sworn in as president of the United States. [...] But when you arrive in Washington and actually become president, you find that you are a humble instrument, not to advance the great cause of the equality of all men but rather to keep the slave state Kentucky in the Union. Legend has Lincoln saying, ‘I hope to have God on our side, but I must have Kentucky.’” — William Lee MillerIf I may be permitted a gross oversimplification, the difference between the President's executive and administrative functions is analogous to the conceptual difference between God and Kentucky, with no disrespect intended toward either The Deity or the Bluegrass State.
During the circus we call the presidential election campaign, the party candidates like to focus on their presumed heavenly qualities (i.e., their "God's gift to the electorate" personas). But we may never again be blessed by another executive like Lincoln. Better hope for some semblance of an effective earthbound administrator, one who can discern what needs doing, as opposed to what he believes he was destined to do.
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