Guantanamo Bay: Obama's Persuasive Failure?

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2016-07-01

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en

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Guantanamo Bay detention center is still open in 2016, even though President Obama promised to close the facility within twelve months of his inauguration in 2009. This raises questions about Obama’s use of Presidential power and, therefore, Richard Neustadt’s Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents is used to appraise Obama’s failure to close Guantanamo. This thesis examines how Obama failed, which is relevant considering the perpetual incarceration of individuals stains the United States’ consciousness. It begins to examine Obama’s broadly endowed Constitutional clerkship and the gradual shift to Presidential government. It then turns to Obama’s use of his clerkship and the actions undertaken to close Guantanamo, and ends with the evaluation of Obama’s persuasiveness and his failure to persuade his five constituents. This, and Obama’s unwillingness to invest political capital in early 2009, constitute Obama’s persuasive failure. Keywords: Guantanamo Bay, President Obama, Presidential Power, Richard Neustadt, Persuasion, Power to Persuade.

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