Passages to the Presidency From Campaigning to Governing

by Jones, Charles O.

• ISBN13: 9780815747147
• ISBN10: 0815747144
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-06-01
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

The standard view of the transition is based on a distinction between campaigning and governing, with election day as the marker: campaigning before, preparing to govern after. Yet changes are blurring the distinction between the two activities. The Clinton transition in 1992 is the watershed case. Dubbed the "worst" for failing to meet many of the standard tests, Clinton and his aides, nevertheless, were attuned to a campaigning style of governing that was fine-tuned after the 1994 mid-term election.Future transitions will be judged by a revised set of expectations. The conventional rules will be supplemented by tests that account for campaigning as integral to governing. What is called the "permanent campaign" is upon us. Presidents in the 21st century will prepare to govern more publicly from the start, anxious to establish and enhance their status in a more communal style of governing.This book considers the critical ten weeks of transition for recent party changes in the White House (Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton) and signals a pivotal change for the future. Charles Jones identifies the conventional expectations for an effective transition in regard to such topics as dismantling the campaign, connecting with Congress, establishing a theme, and relating to the press.

Author Biography

Charles O. Jones is emeritus professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

Table of Contents

1 Transitions and Democracy	1	(19)
Changing Transitions	3	(1)
Thinking about Transitions	4	(3)
A Leisurely Pace	7	(3)
Budgeting for Transitional Government	10	(4)
Variations in Transitions	14	(4)
Transitions in a Separated System	18	(2)
2 Future Presidents as Candidates	20	(32)
Four Presidents	22	(28)
Signals along the Way	50	(2)
3 Beyond the Campaign Psychology	52	(31)
Campaigning Is Not Governing	54	(3)
Lessons from the Campaign for Governing	57	(5)
The Matter of a Theme	62	(4)
Preelection Transition Planning	66	(15)
Summary	81	(2)
4 Preparing to Govern	83	(51)
The Agenda	85	(2)
The Preferred Sequence	87	(6)
The Practice: Four Cases	93	(5)
The Role of the President-Elect	98	(5)
Making Appointments	103	(3)
Choosing from among Campaign Aides	106	(7)
A Public Presence	113	(5)
The Transition and Congress	118	(7)
Transition Teams	125	(7)
Summary	132	(2)
5 The Press and the Transition	134	(39)
Inside the Window Looking Out: Transition Aides	136	(11)
Outside the Window Looking In: Press Perspectives	147	(23)
Concluding Comments	170	(3)
6 "The Biggest Mistake" and Other Lessons	173	(26)
A Biggest Mistake?	175	(4)
Importance of the Transition for Governing	179	(5)
Realities of the Conventional Transition	184	(4)
The Clinton Case: Preparing to Govern by Campaigning	188	(6)
From Campaigning to Governing	194	(5)
Notes	199	(18)
Index	217