The Presidential Dilemma: Revisiting Democratic Leadership in the American System by Michael Genovese

Author:Michael Genovese [Genovese, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Leadership, Political Science, Political Process, General
ISBN: 9781351476492
Google: dJsuDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-07-28T12:51:04+00:00

Of Honeymoons and (Un) Happy Marriages

Gerald Ford, upon taking office in the midst of the Watergate scandal, said he wanted a happy marriage, not just a good honeymoon. He got neither. The marriage between a president and Congress is a mixed marriage that rarely turns out to be a happy one over the long haul. Therefore, presidents need to get all they can as early as they can before the marriage slips into bickering and sniping. To do this, a strategic president does all he can to take advantage of the honeymoon period and "hit the ground running:" The honeymoon is a brief period of time, lasting anywhere from roughly three to ten months (or, for Clinton, three to ten minutes), immediately following a presidential election, where the public, press, Congress, and others begin to give the president the benefit of the doubt, go soft on him, refrain somewhat from criticism, and are most likely to vote for measures proposed by the president. The president "claims" an electoral mandate; the opposition, uncertain of how strong the new president will be, usually goes easy on him; and everyone is waiting to see if indeed the new guy will seize power. In short, the vultures are not yet circling the president's carcass. Thus the president is often at the peak of his power in his honeymoon period.

As Lyndon Johnson said, "You've got to give it all you can, that first year. Doesn't matter what kind of a majority you come in with. You've got just one year when they treat you right."35 And the best way to get as much as you can, early, is to have a short, disciplined agenda, focus exclusively on that agenda, and push, push, push.

Presidents are more likely to propose new programs in their first year in office than at any other time. Their success rate with Congress in the first year is usually the highest of their term. The irony here, as Paul Light points out, is that presidents are at their strongest when they are least knowledgeable.36

To take advantage of this potential to exercise power during the honeymoon, a president must strategically approach his transition and early weeks of the new administration with a clear game plan, a focused mode of presentation, a short, disciplined agenda, and an unceasing sense of political pressure on the system.

It is considered wise to focus on a few big issues in the early going and to focus all attention on attaining those goals. The difference here, between Ronald Reagan on the one hand, and Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton on the other, is striking. When Reagan took office, his administration very self-consciously chose to focus on a select few big-ticket items: a tax cut, for example. All other issues, including important foreign policy matters, were put on the back burner (which infuriated Alexander Haig, the new and short-lived secretary of state).37 This allowed the Reagan administration to devote all its energies to hitting a select few legislative home runs, and it also conveyed an image that this president could succeed, could get his way, could win.

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