Active-Negative Presidents and
the Presidential Power Equation
Active-negative presidents give us a good opportunity to explore
the entire presidential power equation approach.
Their "character" shapes:
1) relations between themselves and the other branches of government
2) relations between the people and the president
3) affects the way they utilize opportunities
4) affects the actions they take
5) changes the pedulum of presidential power
We thus need to know about the president's character, where the pendulum of power is at any given point in time, and the climate of expectations
Active-Negative Presidents
(Wilson, Johnson, Nixon)
the problem of self-esteem:
1) parents who demand perfection
2) children either are told they are or feel inadequate
3) have an all or nothing component to their actions
4) always trying to control their aggression
5) always have the temptation to fight or quit
6) often see the world in terms of conspiracy and/or chaos
7) feel they live in a dangerous world where you either fight or quit
they all RIGIDIFY
the process of rigidification:
1) they fight against giving in
2) they think that if they work harder things will change
3) they view themselves as alone
4) they appeal to faith
5) the identify an enemy
Richard Nixon as Archetypal Active-Negative
a great deal of work without much enjoyment
the grueling campaigner who succeeded by "slowing the pace" in 1968
life isn't about enjoyment, but about conquest
Nixon as self-manager
Nixon world view
Nixon style
Keys to Nixon:
childhood
college
Richard Nixon's character thus influences his approach to the presidency
and ultimately his presidency:
1) his attitude towards "enemies" leads to an enemies list and a desire to "get" them
2) his focus on his place in history leads to Watergate and US policy in Viet Nam
James David Barber's Pulse of Politics
Not only do we need to know the character of the person who occupies the office but we need to
know about the public mood
Barber posits a recurring series of themes in elections
1) conflict
2) conscience
3) conciliation
Conflict: people ready for action and struggle
Conscience: people question the "morality" of action
Conciliation: people demand a respite
| CONFLICT |
CONSCIENCE |
CONCILIATION |
| 1948
Truman/ Dewey |
1952
Eisenhower/
Stevenson |
1956
Eisenhower/
Stevenson |
| 1960
Kennedy/ Nixon |
1964
Johnson/ Goldwater
"A choice, not an
echo" |
1968
Nixon/
Humphrey
"Bring us together" |
| 1972
Nixon/ McGovern
Vietnam |
1976
Ford/ Carter |
1980
Reagan/ Carter |
| 1984
Reagan/ Mondale |
1988
Bush/ Dukakis |
1992
Clinton/ Bush/ Perot |
| 1996
Clinton/ Dole/
Perot |
2000 |
|
The Match Between Personality and Mood
Table
The Reagan Prediction
Climate of Expectations:
"dominated by the tide of reaction against too long and hard a time of troubles, too much worry, too much tension and anxiety....Reagan came on as a friend, a pal, a guy to reassure us that the story was going to come out all right"
Power situation:
"fragile...having won in an election with the lowest turnout in 32 years".
Style:
"dominated by rhetoric, with little interest in homework on the issues and little taste for the charms of personal negotiation...particularly if they involve an element of disagreement or confrontation. Further, his rhetoric is essentially ahistorical and apolitical . He is bound to contribute to the ever widening gap in American politics between speech and meaning".
Worldview:
"despite various attributions of ideology, would be simpler than supposed: He is a Republican millionaire and hangs around with those folks...As long as Reagan's business friends are happy with moderation, he will be, too".
Character:
"Passive-positive. That meant he would be definitely no Nixon--not a rigidified compulsive. Rather the danger was in his type's tendency to drift, particularly with forces in the close-up environment. The danger is confusion, delay, and then impulsiveness".
Time analysis
"Thus if there were those who stepped into the Reagan years expecting him to be the rigid ideologue his opponents had described him to be, or a withdrawn, philosopher-king President like his hero Calvin Coolidge, or a go-get-'em results achiever like the Roosevelts, they were wrong. They had significantly misdirected their attention to the wrong clues because they had begun with the wrong questions. Reagan was a passive-positive linked through his extraordinary rhetorical style to a public ready, for the moment, for just such a hopeful and reassuring personality. That combination would turn out to be the simplist and the most significant thing to point out as the world rolled over towards 1984'.
"...understanding the "institution" of the Presidency tells you far less than you want to know, and provides only the shape of the stage and the arrangement of the furniture on and around which the action will take place. Theory which fails to reach the person of the Presient will fall short of useful prediction and into the ga will stop whatever speculations politicians can generate, as they struggle to bring power to bear on urgent problems".
The Presidential Power Equation