The presidential power has greatly expanded since the creation of the Constitution. The Founders broke the government into threes branches in hopes that "ambition would counteract ambition." Recently President Obama had stated, "America does not stand still- and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's' what I'm going to do." This shows the shift and expansion of the executive branch. The president now has a greater role of influencing Congress by influencing the people.
When the Founder's created the Constitution, they addressed the roles and restriction of each branch. In Article 1, it addressed the legislative branch, and their role of creating policies, and law and in Article 2, it addressed the executive branch and the role of the president. Creating this document, the founders did not want a monarchy, like King George. They created the legislative branch so that the executive wouldn't create ridiculous laws because the legislative branch is formed by people would were elected from each state.
In order for Congress to not pass ridiculous laws, the founders gave the executive branch the power to veto a bill. Yet again, the founders saw that this branch can veto every bill, so they wrote that if Congress had a 60/40 majority they could override an executive branch veto. As time change, however interpretation of the Constitution had helped expand the role of the president and his/her power to influence policy.
There are many ways for a president to influence policy due to times of crisis or other measures. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt felt that Section 304 of the Urgent Deficiency Act of 1943 was unconstitutional. However, he had no choice, but to sign the bill because he didn't want to...