Most of the listed responsibility items would not fall under the purview of the Executive (the President) but rather the Legislature (Congress - the House + Senate).
There seems to be a persistent expectation in the United States that the President is an all powerful position that can dictate laws, etc. Remember that he can merely suggest to the legislature what should be done. While executive orders are available they often have limited scope and can be easily challenged (or even ignored).
In fact, legislatively the only real power the US President has is negative, not positive - he can say no to a legislation (by vetoing it).
Let's take a look at a few of the proposed items here:
* Issue #1: Teach Programming at an Early Age
The majority of curriculum decisions are deferred to a LOCAL level in the United States - mandates from individual states & school districts primarily decide what is being taught. Worse, because Texas is one of the largest text book markets many manufacturers simply print the textbooks used across the US to the Texas educational standards.
The only major influence I've seen in recent years on a national education standard is No Child Left Behind which, by many reports, has simply pushed schools to focus on test taking. By many reports, "Race To The Top" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_Top) has made this no better.
If you look at Wikipedia's article on the Department of Education, they do not really set policy in the US. Instead, 'The primary functions of the Department of Education are to "establish policy for, administer and coordinate most federal assistance to education, collect data on US schools, and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights."[10] The Department of Education does not establish schools or colleges'
* Issue #2: Fixing Immigration
Again, this is primarily up to Congress to act on, and there seems to be no desire to do so. The President really has no influence on this issue directly.
* Issue #3 Abolish Software Patents
This is primarily a legislation issue – we must fix the patent system and that has to be done in Congress. The one place a President might influence this would be the appointment of Supreme Court Justices; and let us not forget that Congress has veto power over these.
* Issue #4: Internet Freedoms
This discusses amending the US Constitution; this process is not done by the US President. There are, to my knowledge, two ways of amending the US Constitution.
1. The US Congress can draft a proposed amendment with a MAJORITY of Congress approving it (2/3+), and put it to the States to ratify - 3/4+ of them must ratify it.
2. A Majority of the States can demand Congress form a Constitutional Convention to discuss creating a new amendment, then 3/4+ of them must ratify it.
I don't recall if every state deals with the Ratification of amendments the same, but I believe some can have the state legislature ratify on the people's behalf, while others have a direct popular vote.
* Issue #5: Cybersecurity
You might pull this off at the Executive level, by further empowering agencies like Homeland Security. But real action requires coordination with a Congress who can draft penalties for companies that don't comply, etc.
* Issue #6: Refactoring Congress and Agencies
Only Congress may refactor Congress; the Executive has little to no power over this.
* Issue #7: Improve Government UX
Again, we need Congress to refactor this, and probably constitutional amendment processes. A system like our Congress thrives on "insider" behavior and has little incentive to change itself.
* Issue #8: Space
Developers may care about space (I do, as well) but the majority of the United States does not. The President may propose a budget, but ultimately the Congress decides it.
the NASA budget tends to be less than 1% of the US Federal Budget, and getting it higher than that is a battle that would require a radical change in the perceptions of the American Public as well as Congress. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA#Annual_budget.2C...)
The office of the presidency has more power than you think it does. The president is expected to set the legislative agenda, meaning that he or she has a lot of influence over what the houses of congress will talk about. ie, the ability to block the agenda of others using veto power until they agree to discuss certain issues. The past several presidents have had control of at least one body of congress, and the majority leader will usually take direction from the president on what should be on the agenda.
For example, Barack Obama has had an impact on #5 and #7 from your list. He's most likely going to make a big push on immigration reform in his next term, though it most likely won't involve H1-B visas (though he has spoken in favor of the issue, at the urging of his many silicon valley supporters).
Your point is correct that the president is not all powerful. But if he or she really wants to push for any of the items you mentioned, they have the power to make it the subject of national discussion. A president who is particularly skilled at dealing with congress (like LBJ) can go a long way toward turning bills into law.
Yes and no. Obama repeatedly pushed immigration in his first term and it got nowhere. If Republicans control the house, I predict it continues to go nowhere (although he might be able to bash them over the head with it and other issues enough that they get thrown out in 2014).
But yes, there are some things he can do (and has done) within federal agencies that directly report to him as regards cybersecurity and UX.
The point is that in the public discourse, the electorate looks at the president as an office that can fix everything and has control over everything, and that's what the candidates imply in their rhetoric. So in a sense, you're right, but these are totally believable as platform points that a potential candidate could introduce.
There seems to be a persistent expectation in the United States that the President is an all powerful position that can dictate laws, etc. Remember that he can merely suggest to the legislature what should be done. While executive orders are available they often have limited scope and can be easily challenged (or even ignored).
In fact, legislatively the only real power the US President has is negative, not positive - he can say no to a legislation (by vetoing it).
Let's take a look at a few of the proposed items here:
* Issue #1: Teach Programming at an Early Age
The majority of curriculum decisions are deferred to a LOCAL level in the United States - mandates from individual states & school districts primarily decide what is being taught. Worse, because Texas is one of the largest text book markets many manufacturers simply print the textbooks used across the US to the Texas educational standards.
The only major influence I've seen in recent years on a national education standard is No Child Left Behind which, by many reports, has simply pushed schools to focus on test taking. By many reports, "Race To The Top" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_Top) has made this no better.
If you look at Wikipedia's article on the Department of Education, they do not really set policy in the US. Instead, 'The primary functions of the Department of Education are to "establish policy for, administer and coordinate most federal assistance to education, collect data on US schools, and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights."[10] The Department of Education does not establish schools or colleges'
* Issue #2: Fixing Immigration
Again, this is primarily up to Congress to act on, and there seems to be no desire to do so. The President really has no influence on this issue directly.
* Issue #3 Abolish Software Patents
This is primarily a legislation issue – we must fix the patent system and that has to be done in Congress. The one place a President might influence this would be the appointment of Supreme Court Justices; and let us not forget that Congress has veto power over these.
* Issue #4: Internet Freedoms
This discusses amending the US Constitution; this process is not done by the US President. There are, to my knowledge, two ways of amending the US Constitution.
1. The US Congress can draft a proposed amendment with a MAJORITY of Congress approving it (2/3+), and put it to the States to ratify - 3/4+ of them must ratify it.
2. A Majority of the States can demand Congress form a Constitutional Convention to discuss creating a new amendment, then 3/4+ of them must ratify it.
I don't recall if every state deals with the Ratification of amendments the same, but I believe some can have the state legislature ratify on the people's behalf, while others have a direct popular vote.
* Issue #5: Cybersecurity
You might pull this off at the Executive level, by further empowering agencies like Homeland Security. But real action requires coordination with a Congress who can draft penalties for companies that don't comply, etc.
* Issue #6: Refactoring Congress and Agencies
Only Congress may refactor Congress; the Executive has little to no power over this.
* Issue #7: Improve Government UX
Again, we need Congress to refactor this, and probably constitutional amendment processes. A system like our Congress thrives on "insider" behavior and has little incentive to change itself.
* Issue #8: Space
Developers may care about space (I do, as well) but the majority of the United States does not. The President may propose a budget, but ultimately the Congress decides it.
the NASA budget tends to be less than 1% of the US Federal Budget, and getting it higher than that is a battle that would require a radical change in the perceptions of the American Public as well as Congress. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA#Annual_budget.2C...)