The President

It is interesting how the office of the president works and has evolved over the years. It definitely seems to have become much more intertwined in many more areas of government, yet the word of the president still does not simply get things done, which I think is a good thing. I liked Truman's quote from the Lanahan reading starting on page 199 that "[Eisenhower]'ll say 'Do this! Do that!' And nothing will happen. Poor Ike -- it won't be a bit like the Army. He'll find it very frustrating." I think that is an apt description of the presidency. It is an office with all of this power and influence, but it still does not have the last word. Simply the president saying "Do this!" does not make it done. There is a lot more that goes into the running of this country.

The quote also points out that the position of President of the United States is a rather stressful, frustrating position. It always sort of surprises me how many people want to be the president. I know I would not like such a position because of the stress. Presidents generally start their terms with such lofty goals, but often it seems find that it is much more difficult to get things done than they had hoped, as it can be said was somewhat the case with President Eisenhower. Eisenhower did get quite frustrated as I'm sure have many other presidents at the difficulties and pressures of the job.