Examine the extent to which the President's power is the power to persuade

Originally claimed by Richard Neustadt, it can be argued that the President's power is in the power to persuade due to the lack of constitutional powers. The constitution gives legislative powers to Congress rather than the President, so the President must use persuasive techniques to pass his legislative agenda. These techniques may include economic perks like funding state projects for Congressmen to gain constituency support, or threats such as giving support for a Congressman's opposition candidate in primary elections. Further persuasion would be made towards the public whereby the President may go on TV shows to use his charisma in order to get the public to support his agenda which leads to constituency pressure upon Congressmen , for example Obama's TV appearances to gain public support for Obamacare.On the other hand, the President's power is not only in persuasion. The constitution provides the President with the power of pardon which can be used for political strategy purposes, e.g. President Ford pardoning Nixon for the Watergate scandal. Further power lies in the President's power to command the US military as commander in chief as well as declare national emergencies.