a. Read President Obama’s State of the Union address from his first term (February 2009) b. Take note of those passages in which the President discusses specific policies or legislation he wants Congress to pass or other policies which he hopes will be put in place in the near future. Identify two or three major goals, the more specific, the better. c. Track what has occurred with those proposed policies using news reports and the President’s own claims. From this information, would you conclude that the presidency is a powerful and effective office for policy change, or a weak office that is severely hampered, or somewhere in between? Make a clear argument and provide justification for the conclusions that you draw. The following resources will aid you in your research: a.The President’s 2009 State of the Union address can be found here: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=85753 b.The White House website is whitehouse.gov c. New York Times, Politico, Washington Post