Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others?

Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? PDF Author: David Shpigler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781735137933
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
If there was such a thing as a perfect president, what would that president look like? We might say that the president would be as honest as Grover Cleveland, unite the country like Abraham Lincoln, protect vulnerable Americans like Dwight Eisenhower, and create a vision for the country like John F. Kennedy. If we had a president who did all these things, perhaps our nation would be problem-free. The United States has never had a perfect president. Nevertheless, the nation has experienced strong presidents who excelled in a number of areas - and also weaker presidents who struggled in more ways than they succeeded. With over 200 years of presidential history to consider, we may consider how past presidents have provided a blueprint by demonstrating successful and unsuccessful examples of presidential performance. In doing so, we can identify why the strong presidents succeeded and why other presidents struggled without reverting to political ideology. Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? is the book that focuses on this issue. While political discussions too often follow predictable patterns of political tribalism, Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? looks into the deeper issues of what makes for a successful presidency.

Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others?

Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? PDF Author: David Shpigler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781735137933
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book Here

Book Description
If there was such a thing as a perfect president, what would that president look like? We might say that the president would be as honest as Grover Cleveland, unite the country like Abraham Lincoln, protect vulnerable Americans like Dwight Eisenhower, and create a vision for the country like John F. Kennedy. If we had a president who did all these things, perhaps our nation would be problem-free. The United States has never had a perfect president. Nevertheless, the nation has experienced strong presidents who excelled in a number of areas - and also weaker presidents who struggled in more ways than they succeeded. With over 200 years of presidential history to consider, we may consider how past presidents have provided a blueprint by demonstrating successful and unsuccessful examples of presidential performance. In doing so, we can identify why the strong presidents succeeded and why other presidents struggled without reverting to political ideology. Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? is the book that focuses on this issue. While political discussions too often follow predictable patterns of political tribalism, Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? looks into the deeper issues of what makes for a successful presidency.

Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others?

Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? PDF Author: David Shpigler
Publisher: R. R. Bowker
ISBN: 9781735137902
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Evaluations of presidential political effectiveness can become partisan, often regardless of actual performance. Getting past political ideology to judge a presidency requires a new way of objectively considering presidential performance. We can consider how past presidents have provided a blueprint by demonstrating successful and unsuccessful examples of presidential performance. Each American may consider a number of factors when considering which presidential candidate to vote for, but the simple truth is that we have no way of knowing what the top issues of the next four years will be. Regardless, as Americans we know that what we do want is a president who will handle whatever issues arise in service to the nation. That president's values, experience, and commitment to serve the nation will serve as the test of how that president will ultimately be assessed. For the benefit of the nation, we can hope that all future presidents will follow in the footsteps of the successful presidents in our nation's history. Why Are Some Presidents Better Than Others? provides a methodology to consider past presidents - and in doing so, provides a framework for future presidents as well.

The End of Greatness

The End of Greatness PDF Author: Aaron David Miller
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1137464461
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
The Presidency has always been an implausible—some might even say an impossible—job. Part of the problem is that the challenges of the presidency and the expectations Americans have for their presidents have skyrocketed, while the president's capacity and power to deliver on what ails the nations has diminished. Indeed, as citizens we continue to aspire and hope for greatness in our only nationally elected office. The problem of course is that the demand for great presidents has always exceeded the supply. As a result, Americans are adrift in a kind of Presidential Bermuda Triangle suspended between the great presidents we want and the ones we can no longer have. The End of Greatness explores the concept of greatness in the presidency and the ways in which it has become both essential and detrimental to America and the nation's politics. Miller argues that greatness in presidents is a much overrated virtue. Indeed, greatness is too rare to be relevant in our current politics, and driven as it is by nation-encumbering crisis, too dangerous to be desirable. Our preoccupation with greatness in the presidency consistently inflates our expectations, skews the debate over presidential performance, and drives presidents to misjudge their own times and capacity. And our focus on the individual misses the constraints of both the office and the times, distorting how Presidents actually lead. In wanting and expecting our leaders to be great, we have simply made it impossible for them to be good. The End of Greatness takes a journey through presidential history, helping us understand how greatness in the presidency was achieved, why it's gone, and how we can better come to appreciate the presidents we have, rather than being consumed with the ones we want.

Leading from the Center

Leading from the Center PDF Author: Gil Troy
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458735451
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Book Description
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy-most would agree their presidencies were among the most successful in American history. But what made these very different men such effective leaders? According to presidential historian Gil Troy, these presidents succeeded not because of their bold political visions, but because of their moderation. Although many of the presidential hopefuls for 2008 will claim to be moderates, the word cannot conceal a political climate defined by extreme rhetoric and virulent partisanship. InLeading From the Center, Gil Troy argues that this is a distinctlyun-American state of affairs. The great presidents of American history have always sought a golden mean-from Washington, who brilliantly mediated between the competing visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, to Lincoln, who rescued the Union with his principled pragmatism, to the two Roosevelts, who united millions of Americans with their powerful, affirmative, nationalist visions. As America lines up to select a president for the future, Gil Troy astutely reminds us of the finest traditions of presidential leadership from our nation's past.

Presidential Power

Presidential Power PDF Author: Matthew A. Crenson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393064889
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
This book explores how American presidents--especially those of the past three decades--have increased the power of the presidency at the expense of democracy.

Lessons in Leadership

Lessons in Leadership PDF Author: Steve Adubato
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813580579
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
In this practical guide, Emmy Award-winning public broadcasting anchor Steve Adubato teaches readers to be self-aware, empathetic, and more effective leaders at work and at home. His powerful case studies spotlighting dozens of leaders—from Pope Francis to New Jersey governor Chris Christie—are complemented by concrete tips and tools based in real-life scenarios. With Lessons in Leadership, readers can learn to steer others through difficult economic times, to mentor rising leaders, to provide straight talk to underperforming employees, and even how to lead a company through a significant change.

Two Presidents Are Better Than One

Two Presidents Are Better Than One PDF Author: David Orentlicher
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814724450
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
“Many Americans are unsatisfied with politics. Simultaneously, we are hesitant to question the basic soundness of our constitutional system. In this refreshingly provocative book, David Orentlicher explains why it is due time for us to reconsider dominant ideas about the presidency, now arguably our most powerful political institution. Challenging the conventional wisdom that the best executive is necessarily a unitary executive, Orentlicher makes a wonderful case for why ‘two presidents are better than one.’ Sure to be of interest to political scientists, legal scholars, as well as informed citizens justifiably worried about the fate of American democracy, this fascinating book dares to challenge everything you thought you knew about one of our favorite political institutions.” —William E. Scheuerman, Indiana University “Can Orentlicher be serious in calling for a plural executive? The answer is yes, and he presents thoughtful and challenging arguments responding to likely criticisms. Any readers who are other than completely complacent about the current state of American politics will have to admire Orentlicher’s distinctive audacity and to respond themselves to his well-argued points.” —Sanford Levinson, author of Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance When talking heads and political pundits make their “What’s Wrong with America” lists, two concerns invariably rise to the top: the growing presidential abuse of power and the toxic political atmosphere in Washington. In Two Presidents Are Better Than One, David Orentlicher shows how the “imperial presidency” and partisan conflict are largely the result of a deeper problem—the Constitution’s placement of a single president atop the executive branch. Accordingly, writes Orentlicher, we can fix our broken political system by replacing the one person, one-party presidency with a two-person, two-party executive branch. Orentlicher contends that our founding fathers did not anticipate the extent to which their checks and balances would fail to contain executive power and partisan discord. They also did not foresee how the imperial presidency would aggravate partisan conflict. As the stakes in presidential elections have grown ever higher since the New Deal, battles to capture the White House have greatly exacerbated partisan differences. Had the framers been able to predict the future, Orentlicher argues, they would have been far less enamored with the idea of a single leader at the head of the executive branch and far more receptive to the alternative proposals for a plural executive that they rejected. Like their counterparts in Europe, they might well have created an executive branch in which power is shared among multiple persons from multiple political parties. Analyzing the histories of other countries with a plural executive branch and past examples of bipartisan cooperation within Congress, Orentlicher shows us why and how to implement a two-person, two-party presidency. Ultimately, Two Presidents Are Better Than One demonstrates why we need constitutional reform to rebalance power between the executive and legislative branches and contain partisan conflict in Washington.

Why Presidents Fail And How They Can Succeed Again

Why Presidents Fail And How They Can Succeed Again PDF Author: Elaine C. Kamarck
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815727798
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Failure should not be an option in the presidency, but for too long it has been the norm. From the botched attempt to rescue the U.S. diplomats held hostage by Iran in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter and the missed intelligence on Al Qaeda before 9-11 under George W. Bush to, most recently, the computer meltdown that marked the arrival of health care reform under Barack Obama, the American presidency has been a profile in failure. In Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again, Elaine Kamarck surveys these and other recent presidential failures to understand why Americans have lost faith in their leaders—and how they can get it back. Kamarck argues that presidents today spend too much time talking and not enough time governing, and that they have allowed themselves to become more and more distant from the federal bureaucracy that is supposed to implement policy. After decades of "imperial" and "rhetorical" presidencies, we are in need of a "managerial" president. This White House insider and former Harvard academic explains the difficulties of governing in our modern political landscape, and offers examples and recommendations of how our next president can not only recreate faith in leadership but also run a competent, successful administration.

Personality, Character, and Leadership in the White House

Personality, Character, and Leadership in the White House PDF Author: Steven J. Rubenzer
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 161234285X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 644

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Book Description
Analyzing the American presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush

Reassessing the Presidency

Reassessing the Presidency PDF Author: David Gordon
Publisher: Ludwig von Mises Institute
ISBN: 1610166140
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 619

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Book Description

American Despots

Amazing low sale price in defense of authentic freedom as versus the presidency that betrayed it!

Everyone seems to agree that brutal dictators and despotic rulers deserve scorn and worse. But why have historians been so willing to overlook the despotic actions of the United States' own presidents? You can scour libraries from one end to the other and encounter precious few criticisms of America's worst despots.

The founders imagined that the president would be a collegial leader with precious little power who constantly faced the threat of impeachment. Today, however, the president orders thousands of young men and women to danger and death in foreign lands, rubber stamps regulations that throw enterprises into upheaval, controls the composition of the powerful Federal Reserve, and manages the priorities millions of swarms of bureaucrats that vex the citizenry in every way.

It is not too much of a stretch to say that the president embodies the Leviathan state as we know it. Or, more precisely, it is not an individual president so much as the very institution of the presidency that has been the major impediment of liberty. The presidency as the founders imagined it has been displaced by democratically ratified serial despotism. And, for that reason, it must be stopped.

Every American president seems to strive to make the historians' A-list by doing big and dramatic things—wars, occupations, massive programs, tyrannies large and small—in hopes of being considered among the "greats" such as Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR. They always imagine themselves as honored by future generations: the worse their crimes, the more the accolades.

Well, the free ride ends with Reassessing the Presidency: The Rise of the Executive State and the Decline of Freedom, edited by John Denson.

This remarkable volume (825 pages including index and bibliography) is the first full-scale revision of the official history of the U.S. executive state. It traces the progression of power exercised by American presidents from the early American Republic up to the eventual reality of the power-hungry Caesars which later appear as president in American history. Contributors examine the usual judgments of the historical profession to show the ugly side of supposed presidential greatness.

The mission inherent in this undertaking is to determine how the presidency degenerated into the office of American Caesar. Did the character of the man who held the office corrupt it, or did the power of the office, as it evolved, corrupt the man? Or was it a combination of the two? Was there too much latent power in the original creation of the office as the Anti-Federalists claimed? Or was the power externally created and added to the position by corrupt or misguided men?

There's never been a better guide to everything awful about American presidents. No, you won't get the civics text approach of see no evil. Essay after essay details depredations that will shock you, and wonder how American liberty could have ever survived in light of the rule of these people.

Contributors include George Bittlingmayer, John V. Denson, Marshall L. DeRosa, Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Lowell Gallaway, Richard M. Gamble, David Gordon, Paul Gottfried, Randall G. Holcombe, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Michael Levin, Yuri N. Maltsev, William Marina, Ralph Raico, Joseph Salerno, Barry Simpson, Joseph Stromberg, H. Arthur Scott Trask, Richard Vedder, and Clyde Wilson.