The Cult of the Presidency

Cato Institute ^ | August 2009 (reprint) | Gene Healy

[Lorianne]

The chief executive of the United States is no longer a mere constitutional officer charged with faithful execution of the laws. He is a soul nourisher, a hope giver, a living American talisman against hurricanes, terrorism, economic downturns, and spiritual malaise. He — or she — is the one who answers the phone at 3 a.m. to keep our children safe from harm. The modern president is America's shrink, a social worker, our very own national talk show host. He's also the Supreme Warlord of the Earth.

This messianic campaign rhetoric merely reflects what the office has evolved into after decades of public clamoring. The vision of the president as national guardian and spiritual redeemer is so ubiquitous it goes virtually unnoticed. Americans, left, right, and other, think of the "commander in chief" as a superhero, responsible for swooping to the rescue when danger strikes. And with great responsibility comes great power.

It's difficult for 21st-century Americans to imagine things any other way. The United States appears stuck with an imperial presidency, an office that concentrates enormous power in the hands of whichever professional politician manages to claw his way to the top. Americans appear deeply ambivalent about the results, alternately cursing the king and pining for Camelot. But executive power will continue to grow, and threats to civil liberties increase, until citizens reconsider the incentives we have given to a post that started out so humble.

[Lorianne]

This article originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Reason magazine

[dr_lew]

The vision of the president as national guardian and spiritual redeemer is so ubiquitous it goes virtually unnoticed.

Not true. FDR was the epitome of this vision, and there were many demurrers. I do have to admit that I learned of them only by degrees, and lately. Still, it's inaccurate to say that this has all gone "virtually unnoticed."

[ReadTheLaw]

Welcome to the Fourth Reich.

[backhoe]

[gunnyg]

Yeah—and get rid of that presidential palace on Penna Ave too—replace it w/an abandoned strip mall for the potus and his tribe, or maybe just give it a monthly allowance equal to an army e-4....

[suthener]

As long as we elect people whose campaign speeches include lines like “this will be the day the oceans quit rising” etc. etc. we are in trouble. I want a president who, when asked a question, gives a direct, simple answer (like Cheney and Fred Thompson do), not someone who babbles for 10 minutes without saying anything. I don’t think I will ever see that, though. Not in a era when people think Obama is a great speaker.

[SaraJohnson]

Good find! The media’s mass hysteria over blaming Bush for 911 and Katrina had the reaction from the President to vastly increase the police state in order to be ready for all possibilities to “save” us.

The public fell for the media’s blame game making the President of the US responsible for even the people who do not evacuate the coasts for natural disasters. The sky is then the limit for what a President must do to keep us from harming ourselves. The sky is the limit for the Left’s nanny state.