Political Science

Introduction

 The cabinet, the Executive Office of the President (EOP), and the White House Office play different roles but they have interdepartmental coordination. The cabinet assists the President in decision making, the EOP helps the president perform major duties, and the White House Office handles the political needs.  However, the lack of precision organization planning will hinder the President from making collective decisions. Despite the fact the bureaucracy is made under democratic support, tension will create a hostile bureaucracy and thus, affect the decision making.  

The cabinet

            The cabinet is part of the executive branch and it is made up of 15 departments. In total, the executive branch has many agencies and civilian employees who make the executive bureaucracy (Chapter 8).  It is important to understand that the cabinet and the Executive Office of the President have different roles.  First, the cabinet has fifteen departments and the department that has been created recently is the Department of Homeland Security. In cabinet choices, the president ensures gender equality so that both men and woman can have equal participation.  For example, during the George W. Bush presidency, there were Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans in the cabinet (Chapter 8).  The importance of considering diversity is to consider different views and meet organized interest. It is also important to note that in the cabinet, the cabinet members have an independent outlook or in other words, being the leaders of different departments, they present varying views to the president. This means that they are not loyal to the President's ideas but they only focus on their leadership roles.  However, in addressing the different needs and views of the cabinet members, the president uses a form of centralized decision making and this where the Executive Office of the President comes in to act as the top management in giving advice and making planning and decisions (Chapter 8).  In general, the appointed cabinet members who are the leaders of different departments such as Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Defense, among other departments evaluate the national problems and presents the problems to the head of the government and makes decisions concerning the national issues. Note that all the cabinet officials have a collective ministerial responsibility and they evaluate run day-to-day issues affecting the public. 

The Executive Office of the President

 The Executive Office of the President is made up of immediate staffs who acts as the closest advisers and assistants to the President.  The EOP was established by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to provide advice and assistant to the President (Chapter 8). Unlike the cabinet members, EOP officials are loyal and intelligent individuals who are willing to offer immediate assistance to the President and also conduct other sophisticated tasks. For example,  the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)  services an important role in that when the president creates, decisions,  policy and priorities in different areas such as the economy and national security,  the  OMB  assist the president with budget development, and management,  coordination (Chapter 8).  The Council of Economic Adviser plays a critical role in providing economic advice to the President.  The council conducts economic research on economic trends, evaluate the programs and activities for development and it assists the President in making the national economic policies that would maintain employment and production (Chapter 8). The National Security Council (NSC) helps the President in overseeing foreign policy matters. The NSC staffs are a close adviser to the President and ensure that all the government agencies understand the implementation of foreign policies towards maintaining national security (Chapter 8). Generally, the above organizations and others work together with the President in management and administration, among other various fields. Note that the President may not hold the political matters alone and this means that the organizations play a critical role in ensuring better performance through administrative management.

 

  White House Office was established by Roosevelt.  It had 60 members but today, it has 300-400 members (Chapter 8). The White House Office is closer to the president due to its three critical function which includes;

 Policymaking and coordination

 The White House Staff play a critical role in research projects on policy matters in different areas such as national security, and economy. The staffs have different skill sets and they provide quantitative analysis to make a policy decision and ensure coordination with other agencies. They conduct research on different areas including education, health, immigration, social innovation, among other areas, and works with multiple sectors such as the communities and business to come up with a policy agenda (Chapter 8). White House Staff are dedicated staffs who also engage in legislative affairs and work with other representatives to pass bills such as access to health care, equal payment, among other issues.

Spouse and communications

 Another role that makes the White House Staff a close adviser to the President is the Spouse and communications- this is an important role in that the office collaborates with planning on how to communicate the President's agenda (Chapter 8). The office also conducts research and writes firsthand speech. The press secretary works with media in collecting news media using current techniques.  In the communication department, the Office of Public Liaison works with other organizations to build a strong line of communication. The office of communications allows the department of Intergovernmental Affairs to communicate with state, local and county officials in addressing the serious matters that need a quick response. 

 Internal coordination

The final role that makes the White House Staff a close adviser to the President is the internal coordination- for example, the chief of staff informs the President of the decisions that the staffs have made. When staffs discuss issues and come up with policies, it is the role of chief of staff to ensure that the President does not get the information from other sources such as from friends since the information may be distorted (Chapter 8).  Thus, the chief of staff delivers the right information and also gives the President honest advice in policy issues. White House Office is also important in that the staff secretary ensures internal coordination through preparing the briefing book. The office works with other White House Offices to ensure that the compiled Presidential speeches and press releases are well organized and edited. The Office of Cabinet Affairs ensures that the White House understands the Cabinet operations, and therefore work together in managing issues. The management and administration department fosters connectivity and communication between the President and the White House to ensure effective day-to-day operations. In general, the White House Office is a special unit to the president in that all these offices support the President through ensuring effective communication, coordination, and policymaking. The officials have considerable influence in that there takes a special interest in making policy and ensuring that the President executes all the necessary duties effectively.

The tension between the offices of the executive branch will have negative effects on presidential decision making. Note that the President expects the officials to be the facilitators of domestic, foreign, and international affairs (Chapter 8). However, if there are an internal conflict and disagreement in opinion, their roles as well the Presidential decision making will be affected.   The President does not rely on one executive branch in making decisions and this means that if the executive branches have operational problems, then it will not be easier to implement policy.  Note that decision making is a coordination process and therefore, the executive branches should create a strong official relationship so that the President can tackle the toughest management assignment and achieve the national objectives (Chapter 8). An important point to note is that the officials in the executive branches should provide adequate information and advice and guidance to the President for him to make a policy decision.  However, tension will cause a burden in the President's office and this will hinder the President from achieving policy goals.

 

Conclusion

 The paper has researched the different roles of the executive branches and it has found that even though the offices have different roles, there is a coordination mechanism. This is because, for the offices to achieve policy goals, they work together in addressing domestic and national matters. They work toward the same objectives of supporting the President in carrying out his duties. However, the tension which may arise from a conflict of interest may prohibit the President from making decisions and serve the public.

 

 

Reference

 The attached reading: Chapter 8 Presidency