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The powers potentially at a President's disposal are awesome, but they also are limited. They are limited by the Constitution, by statute, by custom, and by what may be politically, diplomatically or militarily possible in any given situation. But we need a strong presidency for the '80s. This need transcends party, personality and ideology. It does not mean an "imperial" presidency. But it does mean that whoever holds the office must be prepared and permitted to wield its powers boldly when necessary — and also that he must be both astute and discriminating in recognizing when such action is necessary.
It is a mistake for a President to go too far in trying to show the "common touch." He is not just another man-in-the-street, and if he tries to appear like one, he is going to see his power diminished. Perceptions of power become like self-fulfilling prophecies. It is also a mistake for a President to try too much to be "loved." The desire to be loved is understandable, but more important is that he be respected.
Like nature, power abhors a vacuum. If a President fails to exercise power effectively, others are going to exercise it in his stead; and if America fails to exercise it effectively, other nations are going to exercise it in our stead. In the '80s, the alternative to the effective exercise of American power is the unchecked exercise of Soviet power.
The next President has to be able to concert the nation's energies, to coordinate its responses, so that its resources — material and spiritual — can be summoned forth effectively to meet the challenge of international lawlessness generally and Soviet ambitions particularly. He has to raise a standard to which free people will rally, not only to defend their own freedom but to extend it throughout the world.
To do this, he must be able to crystallize our purposes, and he must not shrink from the exercise of power.
Essentially, the presidency is a vehicle for the exercise of power. We choose Presidents to make things happen. Their success or failure depends on the clarity of their purposes, on their skill, and also on luck. Generally, however, successful Presidents are those who best choose the purposes for which power should be exercised, and who most effectively exercise it in the service of those purposes. This is simple to say, difficult to do — but it can be done.