Is the President of the United States an employee or boss?

[arcadian]

Of the People.

[niyad]

1. s/he (one day it will be a she) is the ultimate public SERVANT-- pity more people don't

recognize that fact, and make the servant hold to it.

[TexasObserver]

This one is definitely an agent for the powerful.

Change, my ass!

Change we can barely perceive.

He won't defend the constitution from its domestic enemies, which now includes his Justice Department. He's rolled over for the war party. He does Wall Street's bidding. He's the big bankers' best buddy.

What happened to that guy we supported, funded, and voted in a year ago? I don't know who this guy is.

[Mimosa]

14. WooHooo Tex...

Tex, I'm sort of there. LOL

I worked my fingers to the bones to get Obama elected. I didn't expect miracles. But the catering to Wall Street bothered me.

[TexasObserver]

15. The First 90 days, I was gung ho. The second 90 days, patient and hopeful.

But the last 120 days, it's been a huge disappointment. He seems to lack direction. He seems too willing to give up things without a fight. He's dawdled about getting quality people appointed across the board, and getting judges appointed. To quote Chris Matthews, he seems to think he's "too cool for school."

Well, he's not. He's starting to look like a guy who isn't up to making the hard decisions and facing down the powerful interests that oppose all the goods things our party stands for. I think party leaders need to have a meeting with him and tell him if he doesn't start leading aggressively, we are getting spanked November 2010.

[donco6]

2. Like anyone paid by taxpayers -

he's the boss of people who work for him, but he ain't the boss of me.

[Fire1]

3. Both. n/t

[Kaleva]

4. Other-both

The people as a whole are his boss but he's above each individual citizen.

[niyad]

6. where in the world do you get the idea that he is "above each individual citizen"

please show me where it says that in the constitution.

[Kaleva]

8. There's a number of items in the Constitution

He is the chief law enforcement officer.

He is the commander-in-chief

Only he has the authority to pardon anyone. One doesn't petition for a pardon from someone who is an employee or an equal.

[imdjh]

5. At this point and until he proves me wrong, I'd say he's the property of the insurance companies.

[Initech]

7. And the upper 1%.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

9. Have you heard him ask if you want fries with that?

Didn't think so.

At this point I'm beginning to think Feudal overload. Boss just does not quite capture the immense way this guy can fuck up your shit (see Bush II).

[Xipe Totec]

10. Yes. n/t

[leftstreet]

11. Private Contractor n/t

[AndyA]

12. I think they forget what they're supposed to be doing, and who they work for,

shortly after the inaugural.

Seems to happen to all of them. Same goes for members of Congress. Once in, screw the voters until next time elections roll around.

[Drunken Irishman]

19. What do you mean by that?

Or do you mean he should only work for the liberal citizens of this country?

This is where the argument becomes flawed.

He can't work for ALL America because ALL America is divided on every goddamn issue.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

13. Court Jester

:shrug:

[maglatinavi]

16. potus

is both ...

[ZombieHorde]

17. Both. eta: and neither, since he is neither the boss nor the employee of himself. nt

[Drunken Irishman]

18. Flawed question.

Because calling him the employee would mean he needs to meet the views of all Americans because this suggests we're his boss. Well if I am an employee, I have to pretty much do what my boss says or I'm fired.

In a way, that is what we're dealing with. If he doesn't do much, we fire him in 2012.

However, it's a bit different because there are 300 million bosses out there and all have different ideas and wants and needs.

Some are pro-choice and some are anti-choice. Some support healthcare reform and some do not. Whose opinion matters the most?

Who should he listen to? The half that says we shouldn't do something or that half that says we should?

That's where the contradiction lies because if he were an employee, he would have to do what you and I say. Except it's impossible to do what everyone says because not everyone will agree.

As the famous quote goes, "You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time."

It's true. Obama won't ever be able to please 100% of the country. No president can do that.

Does that make those who aren't pleased wrong? Were we wrong when we weren't pleased with Bush? No.

So, a president has to decide what HE believes is best for the country. If Obama does what is only popular, he will fail because what is popular often isn't what is best for the country.

Which means I don't agree with the question and believe it is flawed. If Pres. Obama were just an employee, he wouldn't be able to do anything because it's rare he'd have full backing of the American public.

Which leads to unpopular decisions. If they don't work out, we'll hold him accountable. However, if they do?

Well hopefully we're man (and woman) enough to admit we're wrong.

[Swamp Rat]

20. He's Jesus Christ.

I'm Dammit. :D