Exam Review Topics

Review the following information in preparation for your exam. Use your textbook and class notes.

• James Madison
• Views on factions
• Views on government
• Political Parties
• Political Spectrum
• Differences between Republicans and Democrats
• Midterm elections
• Process
• Debates
• Local results
• Important races
• Two-Party System
• Reasons for and against
• 3rd parties and their potential for success
• Interest Groups
• Types of lobby and membership
• Positives and negatives
• Potential for bias
• Tactics/techniques
• President
• Creation of position
• Constitutional basis
• Powers (formal and inherent)
• Expansion of powers
• Leadership
• Compared to other types of leader (Prime Minister)
• Clinton, Bush and Obama
• Changing size of U.S. government over time
• Public opinion of the president

The following are possible essay topics:

• Interest Groups
• Political Parties
• Clinton, Bush and Obama

Wednesday, 12/8/2010 Homework Questions

Use pp. 377-379 in your book to answer the following on loose leaf:

1. When does a president's success in Congress typically begin to decline?
2. What reasons could be behind this?
3. What did Jimmy Carter (photo, to the right) have to say about interest groups? What did he mean?
4. How do interest groups affect a president's decision-making process?
5. Why might a candidate/president be "intentionally vague" about some issues? How might overuse of this tactic affect public opinion?
6. What is a "mandate"? Why would a newly elected candidate want to claim one?
7. What typically allows a candidate to claim that he has a mandate?

Tuesday, 12/7/2010 Homework

For homework today, read the section titled "The Political Context" on pp. 377-378. Then, answer the following on loose leaf:

1. What are partisans?
2. What is a "Divided Government"?
3. What is "gridlock"? How might it affect a government's ability to function?

Monday, 12/6/10 Homework

•Re-read pp. 362-365 (stop at the point where it says “Congressional Delegation of Power”.

•On a piece of loose leaf paper, outline the ways in which presidential power expanded during the Bush presidency. Argue whether this is a positive or negative thing for Americans.

Wednesday, 12/1/10 Homework

Answer the following questions on loose leaf paper using pp. 366-368 in your textbook.

1. What is the role of the President's Chief of Staff?
2. Why do presidents need a national security adviser?
3. What three major roles does the White House staff serve?
4. 1 pt. EC: Which recent White House Chief of Staff wants to be mayor of Chicago?

Turn the assignment in to the bin at the start of tomorrow's class. It is worth a total of 5 points, with a maximum possible score of 6/5 if you get the EC question correct.

WWCD?

Issues faced by Bill Clinton during Presidency:
•Large Federal Deficit

•Growing gap between rich and poor

•Eligibility of homosexuals to serve in the military

•Trade imbalances between North American countries

•Health Care Reform (Push for Universal Health Care)

•Illegal Immigration

•Domestic and Foreign Terrorism (and emergence of al-Qaeda, attempt to capture bin Laden in 1996)

–Oklahoma City Bombing

–Terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda on American embassies in East Africa

•Threats to U.S. in Iraq, Somalia and Eastern Europe

•Conflict over land between Israelis and Palestinians

 

And the activity:

•Your book lists the many powers given to the president by the Constitution, as well as examples of inherent powers which can be inferred to belong to the president.

•Choose 5 of the 9 major issues faced by Bill Clinton during his presidency.

•For each of the issues you choose, select a presidential power. Then, explain how Clinton could attempt to use that power to address your chosen issue.

•Each issue should take about 3 sentences to address

•2 pts. each, 10 pts. total.

The President -- A Sketchy Commander-in-Chief?

After reading the article "Wanted: One Chief Executive, No Experience Required," answer the following on a sheet of loose leaf paper. Your response should take about one paragraph.

What evidence does the article give to support the argument that the office of the president was created "intentionally sketchy"? Why do you think the founders were not more specific in their requirements for the position of Commander-in-Chief?