From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: Greg Abbott and the $200 million bully pulpit

In 2306 we've discussed the factors that have led to a gradual increase in the powers of the Texas governor. Here's

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The governor of Texas doesn't really have the authority to freeze hiring, except in his or her own office, but he’s got the bully pulpit.

And Greg Abbott used it to full effect in his State of the State speech last week, telling state agencies to pull down the hiring signs until the end of August, when the state’s fiscal year ends. He is making exceptions for public safety and other issues on a case-by-case basis.

The bully pulpit is a powerful soapbox, of course, and there is always the threat that a governor might get really, really mad at anyone who disobeyed his wishes. But the law doesn’t actually give him the power of hiring and firing in state agencies that aren’t part of the governor’s office. Texas governors can't fire the heads of other state agencies, university regents, or even the members of the commissions and boards that they themselves appoint.

Texas is not a strong governor state, whether any particular governor is a strong personality or not.

Texas governors can veto bills. They can appoint people to selected offices. And they can talk.

Vetoes are subject to overrides, if the Legislature is sufficiently stirred up. Appointments only stick if the Senate confirms the governor’s choices. And talk only works if someone says “How high?” when a governor says “Jump!”

Abbott's recently announced hiring freeze is an exercise of that third power: Talk.
Don’t dismiss it outright. Agencies are jumping. Yes, the budget is written by the Legislature and the governor signs it and has a line-item veto power. But he can’t add to it. He doesn’t control the state’s checkbook — that’s the comptroller’s job. He doesn’t handle payroll (comptroller again). And his powers are limited if someone tells him to stick it up his nose.

But the power of suggestion is, after all, a power. If you want to prosper in the executive branch of the Texas government, you’d best believe that the chief executive can find a way to bring praise or opprobrium to your office door. He might not be able to fire you, but he can probably make you want to quit.

The Bully Pulpit 2013

One of the criticisms lobbed at President Obama from liberals was that he did not forcefully push for the passage of legislation they supported. Laws like the Affordable Care Act ended up looking more like conservative - market oriented - programs rather then the government run programs they preferred.

Whatever the reasoning behind this, it is commonly argued now that Obama will spend more time travelling and giving speeches at rallies to promote his agenda. Here's a story about him taking his gun control agenda public. He is going to do similar things with his immigration proposals soon.

There is precedence for this with other presidents, and we will discuss this in 2305 when we cover the expanding nature of presidential power over time. The term "going public" was developed to refer to the efforts of Ronald Reagan to bypass Congress and take his case directly to the American people. The theory was that if he was more popular than Congress - which he was - he could get the public to onvince the general population to support his proposals and convince their members of Congress to go along. It worked.

When Bill Clinton was president, he never really dismantled his campaign operations, and used it to - try to - rally support for his innitiatives. He was a bit less successful than Reagan - but it got him reelected and saved his from removal from office followig his impeachment. This was called the permanent campaign. Obama seems to have adopted this strategy. We'll see it in action and determine whether it works for him.

Historical Inauguration Speeches

C-Span has a You Tube channel focused on historical inauguration speeches. It includes footage of FDR's 1933 speech which contains his "the only thing we have to fears is ...." line - one of the more famous in history.

Here's a link to that speech:

There's a debate going on now about the importance of a good inauguration speech. Obama didn't get good marks for his first one - we'll find out tomorrow if he does better this time, and if that even matters.

FDR's speech is noteworthy for his explicit request that he be granted additonal executive powers to handle the Great Depression. We will cover this when we discuss the expansion of executive power that happened durign hiw presidency.

The Washington Post has an interactive site with info on all past addresses.

Fallows and Gore want Obama to be more Persuasive on Libya and Climate Change

James Fallows here.

Al Gore here.

White House Video Blog

Each new leap in technology allows the White House new ways to frame how it presents itself to the public. This doesn't meant the efforts are necessarily successful. Here's a link to the White House's video blog.

Presidential Persuasion

Obama's push for passage of health care is a test of his powers of persuasion. Andrew Sullivan sees evidence it might be working.

The Bush Speechwriters

Access to this article requires a subscription to The Atlantic, but it's well worth it (the ACC library probably has a copy).

It's called "Present at the Creation" and is written by a pretty ticked off Matthew Scully, who was a speech writer for both Governor and President Bush until just before his re-election. It's primary purpose is to challenge the claims of one of his fellow speech writers, Michael Gerson, who he says has falsely claimed to have single handedly written most of the Bush's most famous speeches and to have come up with some of the most noteworthy phrases in those speeches (like "axis of evil").

Gerson has since parlayed his position in the Bush administration into a lucrative career as an op-ed writer for the Washington Post. Scully is pretty brutal. He accuses Gerson of deliberate dishonesty. But aside from taking licks at Gerson, Scully also provides a great overview of the process they used to create Bush's speeches. It's a great inside look at how political rhetoric is shaped.