The Paradoxes of the American Presidency

by Cronin, Thomas E.; Genovese, Michael A.

• ISBN13: 9780195116922
• ISBN10: 0195116925
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-01-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

What, exactly, do Americans want from their president? A strong, innovative leader or someone who simply follows the will of the people? A president who insists on the ideals of a party or someone who builds bipartisan support? A president who exercises power forcefully or someone who establishes consensus before doing anything? The answer, according to Thomas E. Cronin and Michael A. Genovese in their provocative new book, The Paradoxes of the American Presidency , is that Americans want the president to be a leader and a follower, partisan and bipartisan, innovative and conservative. For example, we expect our presidents to provide visionary leadership, and yet at the same time to be ever-sensitive to public opinion polls. We want a president with the power to solve the nation's problems, yet we are inherently suspicious of centralized leadership and the abuse of power. Such conflicting demands put the president in an impossible position.Indeed, Cronin and Genovese contendt the duties and challenges of the office are so capacious and the public's expectations often so inconsistent that whatever course of action a president takes may result in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of criticism. While there is no way out of the constant paradoxical dilemmas presidents face, there are ways to deal with these conflicting and sometimes inflated expectations. Yet even master political statecraft is often inadequate in reconciling these paradoxes of the American presidency. In a book sure to encourage debate, The Paradoxes of the American Presidency gives us a fresh new understanding both of the presidential office and the public's inevitable dissatisfaction with it.

Author Biography

About the Authors:
Thomas E. Cronin is a noted political scientist and writer who has written widely on American government. His books include The State of the Presidency; Direct Democracy; and he is coauthor of the best-selling text Government by the People. He serves as President of Whitman College. Michael A. Genovese is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Leadership Studies. He is the author of The Presidential Dilemma, The Presidency in an Age of Limits, and other books.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
1 Presidential Paradoxes	1	(28)
2 Electing the American President	29	(37)
3 Evaluating Presidential Performance	66	(38)
4 Presidential Power and Leadership	104	(28)
5 The Presidential Job Description in a Separated System	132	(39)
6 The President and Congress	171	(35)
7 The President and Political Parties	206	(18)
8 The President and the Supreme Court	224	(49)
9 The President and Cabinet	273	(41)
10 The American Vice Presidency	314	(35)
11 "If Men Were Angels ...": Presidential Leadership and Accountability	349	(32)
Notes	381	(38)
Selected Bibliography	419	(8)
Index	427