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PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head
of government of the United States. The president is at the head of the
executive branch of the federal government, whose role is to enforce national
law as given in the Constitution and written by Congress. Article Two of the
Constitution establishes the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces
and enumerates powers specifically granted to the president, including the power
to sign into law or veto bills passed by both houses of Congress. The president
also has the power to create a cabinet of advisers and to grant pardons or
reprieves. Finally, with the "advice and consent" of the Senate, the president
is empowered to make treaties and appoint federal officers ambassadors, and
federal judges, including Justices of the Supreme Court. As with officials in
the other branches of the United States government, the Constitution restrains
the president with a set of checks and balances designed to prevent any
individual or group from taking absolute power. Because of the massive artillery
power of the United States, the President may very well be the most powerful
person on the planet.
The president is elected indirectly through the United States Electoral
College to a four year term, with a limit of two terms imposed by the
Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1951. Under this
system, each state is allocated a number of electoral votes, equal to the size
of the state's delegation in both houses of Congress combined. The District of
Columbia is also granted electoral votes, per the Twenty-third Amendment to the
Constitution. Voters in nearly all states choose a presidential candidate
through the plurality voting system, who then receives all of that state's
electoral votes. A simple majority of electoral votes is needed to become
president; if no candidate receives that many votes, the election is thrown to
the House of Representatives, which votes by state delegation.
The White House in Washington, D.C. serves as the official place of residence
for the president; he is entitled to use its staff and facilities, including
medical care, recreation, housekeeping, and security services. One of two Boeing
VC-25 aircraft, which are extensively modified versions of Boeing 747-200B
airliners, serve as long distance travel for the president, and are referred to
as Air Force One while the president is on board.[1] A salary of $400,000, along
with other benefits, is paid to the president annually.[2]
Since the adoption of the Constitution, forty-two individuals have been
elected or succeeded into the presidency, the first being George Washington,
serving forty-three presidencies altogether. The current president is George W.
Bush, inaugurated on January 20, 2001 to a first term and on January 20, 2005 to
a second. His term expires at noon on January 20, 2009, after which he will be
succeeded by the winning candidate of the 2008 presidential election. From the
middle of the twentieth century, the United States' status as a superpower has
led the American president to be dubbed "the most powerful person on earth" and
become one of the world's most well-known and influential public figures. The
official presidential anthem is Hail to the Chief. It is played whenever the
president makes a public appearance.
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