Reflective writing

Assignment Overview & Purpose:

You are going to be watching two 50 min. videos length, and writing a reflection that analyzes presidential action of Bush and Obama in order to assess the development of executive authority, and analyze constitutionality. I have provided you with multiple objectives, relative to this topic. You will select 1, from those provided, below, to write your response.

The purpose of this assignment is two fold.  First, it provides you with resources that can be used for future independent research outside of the reading and writing methods--especially useful for those of you audio and visual learners.  Second, it gives you an inside look into two Presidential administrations that have been surrounded by bias and partisan media criticism and praise.  Now that you have a better understanding of executive authority it is time for you to apply what you have learned, as evidence, to analyze presidential power in relation to modern political debates of "constitutionality of action" from you own personal perspective.

Formatting Requirements and Submission Instructions

When writing your essay, respond to the prompt thoroughly, and completely. Essays must be a minimum of 2 pages in length, double spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point font, and written in Times New Roman.

Your response should be your own thoughts and analysis. Research and resources should be incorporated with scholarly application. I.e. used as examples or evidence to support your analysis. Citations may be formatted in APA, MLA or Chicago style, as long as they are consistent throughout. You must include in-text (parenthetical) citations, as well as a bibliography.If you have questions about citation formatting, please ask me, or utilize the tool easybib.com. You must provide in-text citations, to show ownership of any information that you include, in your essay, which is either

1. not considered common knowledge

2. paraphrased

3. directly quoted

Failure to cite information, properly, will result in students receiving an automatic zero. Furthermore, to not do so is considered plagiarism, and will be treated, as such, in conjunction with HCC's policies.

Completion Expectations

“A” papers should include a critical analysis of the video’s by applying at least 1 example from each film to support your position.

A bibliography, references or works cited page, must accompany submission. This page does not count towards the minimum length, of the paper. Students must provide proper in-text (parenthetical) citations. Failure to cite paraphrased work or direct quotes, from the original work, thoughts and/or ideas of someone, other than your own, will result in an automatic 0, with no make-up work being accepted.

Video Access Directions:

The videos you are watching are provided by Frontline PBS, and include Cheney's Law and Obama's Deal.  I have provided you the links, below.  Copy and paste the links into a new tab in your browser so that you can view both of the movies.  Make sure to thoroughly read the objective before watching the videos so that you know how to apply the content you will be watching to the purpose of this assignment and lesson material.

Cheney's Law: (Links to an external site.)

http://video.pbs.org/video/1082073775/

Obama's Deal: (Links to an external site.)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamasdeal/

Response Objectives:

You may choose from one of the following objectives to write you response to.

1. Compare the strategies implemented by the Bush and Obama administration; and apply these as examples to explain presidential discretion and prerogative.

2. Explain the development of executive power, applying examples of executive behavior implemented, during the Obama and/or Bush observed from the movies,  to assess the nature of conflict or conformity with the framer's intent and what they envisioned for this officeholder's power when writing the Constitution.

3. After watching the movie(s) apply what you learned to defend your interpretation of Article II in relation to types, limitation, or necessary conditions presidential power by assessing if informal powers, outside of the constitution, exist; or if what is enumerated is what the president has executive authority to do.