EVALUATING PRESIDENTS.   Term Paper ID:22781 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines various leadership theories & approaches to measuring personal & political qualities of U.S. presidents.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines various leadership theories & approaches to measuring personal & political qualities of U.S. presidents. Paper Introduction: Evaluating presidents is one of the best-loved games in American politics, but it is also a game played without clear standards. Evaluation requires comparison, and a president is usually compared to other presidents. Presidents have much in common with one another, but there are also differences. Brace and Hinckley emphasize the importance of the office over the individual in it. They also see the importance of specific influences, which vary from administration to administration: It is only when we separate out, or control for, these multiple influences that we can begin to see how each president worked within the uneasy balance of the office (Brace and Hinckley 11). Some presidents have been highly successful in dealing with the office and with Congress. Ronald Reagan was perceived as a Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. . Presidents may or may not be successful in pushing theiragenda through Congress, and reasons have been sought for this fact: Studies have identified at least six factors that affect the president's ability top achieve his legislative goals: his partisans and ideological support in congress, his popular support, his style in dealing with Congress, the contexts in which the president must operate, cyclical trends in presidential-congressional relations, and the content of his programs (Thomas, Pika, and Watson 216). Barber begins with a consideration of that elusive component so muchdiscussed in the last election, character, as part of a pattern by whichBarber believes we can judge how a given candidate will behave and performin office: The burden of this book is that the crucial differences can be anticipated by an understanding of a potential President's character, his world view, and his style (Barber 3).Barber feels that a President's personality is patterned and that theindividual's character, world view, and style fit together in a dynamicpackage that can be understood in psychological terms. This is a key problem in the American politicalsystem--the ability to sway voters and get elected may not have that muchto do with necessary leadership qualities once in office. they become guardians of the right and proper way, above the sordid politicking of lesser men (Barber 1 ).It is easier to spot a long-range and large-scale trend than it is tofulfill the intention Barber has--to offer a way of predicting Presidentialcharacter before that character has been tested in the office. Passive-positive is areceptive, complaint, other-directed character with a life searching foraffection as a reward for being agreeable and cooperative rather thanpersonally assertive. The recent emphasis on character as a guide to presidentialperformance is only the most recent attempt to find a characteristic thatcan be used to evaluate the qualities of effective presidents, and thedifficulty of doing this shows how varied the requirements placed on andthe activities performed by presidents really are. Barber's thesis is that character is formed in childhood, worldview in adolescence, and style in early adulthood, and he therefore wouldturn to an analysis of the candidate in each of these periods as a way ofdetermining these elements. There is already a competition betweenthe president and Congress, and often this is true even when the two are ofthe same party. Short of an electoral solution, there appears to be little likelihood of overcoming the institutional competition that has characterized end-of-the century governance (Thomas, Pika, and Watson 446). New York: Basic Books, 1992.Powers of the Presidency. In his book The Presidential Character, James David Barber tries toaccomplish what voters have been trying to do in America for over 2 years--set forth a way of predicting how a candidate would do in the White House. However, it should be evident that the president who uses thelegislature and persuading the legislature as a way of getting an agendapassed needs to develop a style that allows him to bring opposing sidestogether and to achieve compromise. Presidents have much in common with one another, but there arealso differences. Formal powers derive fromthe Constitution, and inherent powers derive from the office and the jobitself. An important question is what sort of leadership a president shouldprovide, and the model cited by analysts like George C. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1992.Brace, Paul and Barbara Hinckley. The active-positive type shows a congruence between being veryactive and the enjoyment of the process, indicating relatively high self-esteem and relative success in relating to the environment. Franklin Delano Roosevelt pushed through hugeprograms to address the problems of the Great Depression and showedstrength as a managerial leader. They describe waysin which the President applies his character in situations calling for someaction: active-positive, active-negative, passive-positive, passive-negative. Barber furtherstates. Pika, and Richard A. Some theorists consider the most desirable traits for a president,and some emphasize that the best traits for a candidate may not be the besttraits for a president. The types are described asbaselines, or guides for defining Presidential types. He never succeeds in actually providing themethod for accomplishing this task with an unknown candidate, using insteada hindsight method for examining Presidents who have already been in officeand who have demonstrated their character. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1993.----------------------- 8 Evaluating presidents is one of the best-loved games in Americanpolitics, but it is also a game played without clear standards. An analysis by Congressional Quarterly of the office of thePresidency shows one reason why this could be nearly impossible to do--there are many different tasks in which a President is involved, and theyrequire different skills. Some of the powers ofthe president are formal and some are inherent. Brace and Hinckley emphasize the importance of theoffice over the individual in it. Passive-negative is a character type that is inpolitics because the individual thinks he ought to be: They may be well adapted to certain nonpolitical roles, but they lack the experience and flexibility to perform effectively as political leaders. Mark A. Formal powers derive from the Constitution, andinherent powers derive from the office and the job itself: Even though all presidents have the same formal and inherent powers, different chief executives use these powers in different ways depending on their skills, their personalities, the people who serve them, and, often, circumstances that are beyond their control (Powers of the Presidency 1).Barber cannot overcome the uncertainties involved to provide a realpredictive tool, but he does fulfill his basic intent of helping thecitizen sort out "the significant particulars involved in the nextPresidential choice" as well as "to help us hear, despite the cackle ofdaily events, the fundamental cultural themes that echo through the WhiteHouse time and time again" (Barber 484). Follow the Leader. Edwards today isthat of presidents as facilitators who can get others to go in thedirection they want to go anyway rather than as leaders who lead wherepeople otherwise would not go: A facilitator operating at the margins sounds very much like Neustadt's model of the president as bargainer, a prospect that observers concerned with policy effectiveness, like Sundquist, are likely to view with dismay. . The primary quality of an effective president is to use his powerseffectively at the time this action is required by circumstances. The Presidential Character. Dwight Eisenhower was seen more as acaretaker. Some of the powers of the president are formaland some are inherent. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1989.Thomas, Norman C., Joseph A. The question is often whether the leadership style fits thetimes. They also see the importance of specificinfluences, which vary from administration to administration: It is only when we separate out, or control for, these multiple influences that we can begin to see how each president worked within the uneasy balance of the office (Brace and Hinckley 11).Some presidents have been highly successful in dealing with the office andwith Congress. Watson. Evaluationrequires comparison, and a president is usually compared to otherpresidents. Even if we assume that presidents all have the same formal andinherent powers, different presidents will use these powers in differentways. Barber delineates four types ofpresidential character he sees as being exemplified in those who have beenin the office since Theodore Roosevelt. Ronald Reagan was perceived as a highly effectiveinspirational leader. Peterson offers the idea of tandem-institutions as a way ofexplaining the way the president and congress interact to shape a program.The two branches are separated in the Constitution seen as an invitationfor them to struggle, but the tandem-institutions model emphasizes how thetwo branches in fact need one another if any of their legislativeobjectives are to be realized, producing both legislative conflict andcooperation: Most important, rather than accentuating the interbranch confrontation, this perspective draws our attention to a legislative arena that combines Congress and the president, an arena in which presidents attempt to build coalitions by attracting congressional allies to support their public positions and programmatic initiatives (Peterson 455).Coalition building under this system is seen as problematic. Apresident is effective when he gets things done, but this is not the sameas being a great president--that requires that the agenda also be perceivedas valuable over time. Works CitedBarber, James David. The presidentrequires the support of Congress for the passage of an agenda, and Congressneeds the president to avoid the veto and the need for a massive majorityto overcome the veto. Active-negative is a contradiction between relatively intense effort andrelatively low emotional reward for that effort. The Politics of the Presidency. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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