Bush is a 'disciplined and focused' president

Additionally, senators have dramatically increased both the threat and the use of filibusters and other delaying and blocking tactics, as Griffith experienced. At the same time, Congress passes fewer but longer bills that often restrict presidential discretion.

For example, during the late 1990s and since 2000, individual members of Congress increasingly secured "earmarks" in spending bills to tie the president's hands. Earmarks direct exactly how a grant must be used rather than leaving it to presidential discretion.

"From less than 100 earmarks a few years ago, the last round of appropriation bills reportedly contained 24,000 earmarks," Porter said.

In response to legislative gridlock, presidents have begun to achieve their policy goals through administrative and rhetorical means.

Administrative tools include using regulations, executive orders, executive agreements, presidential memoranda and directives. Also, the number of presidentially appointed officials has risen sharply, to roughly 500 cabinet and sub-cabinet posts and 2,000 political aides, giving the president a stronger executive branch.

What Porter referred to as the "rhetorical presidency" is the use of media and speeches to persuade the public.

"George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln, five of our greatest presidents, collectively held office for 32 years," Porter said. "In those 32 years, according to one estimate, they delivered roughly 121 public addresses, averaging roughly four addresses a year."

President Clinton averaged 560 addresses and public remarks a year, a pace President Bush exceeded in his first 16 months in office, Porter said.

"The challenge for the president institutionally is as great as at any time in our history since George Washington first sought to define the office," he said. "Formal powers are few. Expectations are high. And signs of impatience abound.

"Presidential leadership requires wisely utilizing legislative, administrative and rhetorical means," he said. "It is this combination of skills and abilities presidents must master to exercise power effectively in the 21st century."

Porter's lecture will be rebroadcast Sunday at 6 and 11 a.m. on KBYU-TV and at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. by BYU Television.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com