Defining the Modern Presidency

I asked my students to define the modern presidency in a Wiki discussion post. Below you'll see the prompt and the answers I've gotten so far. I thought some of them were pretty insightful and wanted to share.

prallekeehn Apr 13, 2012 1:53 pm How would you describe the modern presidency? Who do you think will leave the greatest legacy from the modern era? With the new wave of media will we ever have another legend like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, etc? Why do we still remember those greats? Why do we consider them great? Due Monday!  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency lm Sunday, 5:20 pm modern presidency is now more focused on the economy and ways to reduce the debt. i think that Obama will leave the greatest legacy because he was the first African American president. i don't think that we will ever have another great like George Washington etc. we still remeber those greats because they made big changes to our country and our culture. we consider them great because they followed through on issues even when public support wasn't completely with them  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency TC-15 Today 11:09 am Modern Presidency is now focused on getting publicity and not fixing our nations issues. A woman president would leave the greatest impression on the U.S. No we wont because the media tries to end great presidents. They are the greats because they were the beginning presidents so there was more to get done. The are great because they got the most done in there presidencies.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency BB Today 11:12 am I think that modern presidents are corrupt and only care for media. Obama, I think, will have the greatest legacy, but only for being the first black president. I think that the only way we will have another great president would be to kick them out of the media and force them to actually do something for America. We remember the greats for doing something extraordinary. Washington was the first president and a war veteran. Lincoln was the president who ended slavery.  [delete]
	THAD NJ Today 11:18 am The modern presidency is now rich people that are able to have advertizing and lie to people about what they are going to do when they are president. I think president Bush will leave the greatest legacy because he was president during 911 and was president when the Iraq and Afghanistan war started. No, i don't think we will ever have another legend like George Washington and the other presidents because they were war heros and people that ended major issues like slavery and a bad economy. We remember those presidents because they were war heros and people that ended major issues like slavory and a bad ecomomy. We consider them great because they started great things and did great things that helped our nation.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency kp Today 11:19 am I would describe the modern presidency as a more popularity race than a actually on issues which it should be because then we could have a president that actually knows what he is doing. I believe that the greatest legacy left from our modern presidency is that we elected a black man as president for the first time in history. no we will never have another great as long as the media keeps interfering because they can tarnish the presidents reputation which makes the people like them less. we still remember those greats because they did not have the media to tell the people about stuff they were doing wrong which allowed the people to see them as great presidents. we consider them great because they did do some great things but we never saw the do the bad things so presidents now cant be seen as great as them because of the reputation given to them by media. so we see them as great because we didn't see the bad. they still did great things that helped our nation which is why we see them as great.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency Bv Today 12:03 pm I would describe modern presidencies as trying to get the popular vote of the people and making tax cuts and creating more jobs for the united states people. I think that a woman president would also be our most memorable modern era presidency. I don't think we will because the media ruins a persons reputation by saying lies or false commericals to vote for the other president. We still remeber these greats because they helped with civil rights like lincholin abolished salvory and led the union troops to a victory. We consider them great because they were the original founding fathers and they were great leaders and role models and some fought in a war some didn't but the presidents back then were great.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency HN Today 12:10 pm I would describe modern presidency is more about the economy and trying to get out of debt. I think that Obama will have the greatest legacy because he is the first African American president. If the media keeps interfering with all the presidential stuff we will never have another legend like George Washington and the others. We remember them because they fought in wars, and helped with major issues, like slavery and the economy. We concider them great because they helped build our nation and they got things started.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency ST Today 12:15 pm I would describe modern presidency as its now more focused on the economy. I think president Bush will leave the greatest legacy from the modern era. No we wont have another great one like George Washington etc is what i think. Yes we still remember those great people because they made big changes to our country and our lifes. We also consider them great because they started great things and did great things that helped our nation out a lot.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency LC Today 12:18 pm The modern Presidency is the government trying to get involved in everyone’s business and take everything in their own hands with the Economy. They are also trying to bend the laws and make it so that the government gets more money so that they can get out of debt. I think President George W Bush will leave the best legacy because he was involved in making big choices with 911 and that we should go into war with Iraq. Obama just came in and said that he wants to change it and made us look like we were running away form the problem. We will never have a legend like Washington and FDR because the media had come in and taken all the bad that is going on in the war back home to the American People and make them lose faith in the President and his choices. We remember those greats because they are the ones that made our country and put us on the correct track and know we are starting to mess that up and lose what was the American Idea back when we were created. We consider them great because they did so much for us to be what we are.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency jr Today 12:26 pm The modern president is more focused on their publicity because the more they have the more they appear on tv, magazines, etc. The more the American people see them doing stuff like normal Americans. The way i put it the media controls the government today. I say this because when something gets put out on the internet the president has to come up with the reason why they did that and try to fix it. To be honest I wouldn't consider Obama great because what has he done with our economy? Nothing at all because he has tried to fix but when he tries something the worse he makes the problem. Why do we consider president of our past great? We consider them great because they have actually done something that has changed American history.  [delete]
	re: Modern Presidency as 5 minutes ago there are new laws and rules for the president, but other then that it's basiclly the same to the past. I think Reagan haqd the most impact in the modern lagcy because he brought us out of debt and was responisble for the soviet union collapse. No because the media has more power then it did before and will portray presidents and their plans worse then they seem usually. Also you have groups that split up the political and social groups and those groups will always oppose each other. We still remeber them because we compare how they did something to what a good president should do. We also see their names because they are great and many people dislike the current president. We consider them great for what they did as president and because they were very popular.