What a president must know in order to handle his role as the most powerful man in the country has been up for debate for decades. There are some that believe the role is best served as a minimalist president in which the president allows his delegates to have more power in making decisions. Some believe that a “Self Reliant President” who takes the personal responsibility of handling most presidential responsibilities is best. Strategic competence is a mix of both approaches is which some situations are handled by the president’s delegates and some by the president himself. Every president have strategic competence in order to best govern the nation. A strategically competent president must have exposure to a wide range of policy makers and experts to carry out the best course of action for the country. This allows the president to tell if his delegates is making sound decisions and if he should listen to them or not. We can see how a strategic competent president is superior to a minimalist president when comparing the presidencies of Kennedy and Reagan. …show more content…
We can see how the strategic president is ideal by comparing the presidencies of Carter and Reagan. Both of these president had no experience as a politician in Washington so great persuasion skills were needed in order for them to get legislation passed. President Jimmy Carter did not hire many experience Washington politics as his delegates which hurt his case when he was trying to pass legislation through Congress. Reagan used the strategy of a strategic competent president by hiring very qualified officials in his cabinet, this helped Reagan to get his agenda passed greatly. Here we can clearly see the right mix of minimalist and self-reliance being used in the Reagan administration. The need to promote policy clearly shows that the ideal president uses strategic