Second Term Curse Analysis

The president’s accumulation of personal power can make up for his lack of institutional powers. The president must act as the “lubricant” for the other sectors of government in order to preserve order and accomplish business. Neustadt emphasizes the president’s ability to forge strong personal relationships and his or her

America’s founding father, George Washington, set the pattern for presidential term limits to two four year terms; but not through any legislative means. Before 1947, there were no term limit rules. George Washington’s footsteps as the first President set an unbroken precedent for term limits, but it wasn’t until much later that the 22nd Amendment was passed. In more recent years, politicians and citizens alike have begun to point out more of the flaws in the two-term limit than ever before; and they are on the right track. Restricting the president to a two-term limits the president’s effectiveness in office, provides the opportunity for an elected president to abuse power, and restricts a current president from continuing a successful policy even when majority wishes for the opposite

This book is a bold work by George C. Edwards in which he shares his views of the political system in the US and how it has evolved over time. He has touched almost every president since the 1930s and brought to light some interesting details about how presidents have followed patterns and used their own style of actions to meet their unique objectives. The book describes in detail the attitudes of presidents and reflects his views on presidency. For instance, he has expressed three premises about presidential leadership: public support is used as a social resource by president, presidents must take interest in the problems of the people in order to actually garner support rather than just delivering speeches, and the public can be mobilized successfully by permanent campaigns.

The first category of presidential leadership is the politics of reconstruction. This is when the new inaugurated president is of the opposition party to the previous regime party and “the pre-established commitments of ideology and interests, have in the course of events, become vulnerable to direct repudiation as failed or irrelevant responses to the problems of the day.” A reconstructive president is of the opposition party and is inaugurated in times of vulnerability. Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt are examples of reconstructive presidents. Reconstructive presidents radicalize their reform effort by increased criticism of the previous regime and by increasing their party-building efforts to search for new coalition partners. By doing this, it allows the president to build a stable pillar of support

The 22nd amendment shafts a president's ability to have a successful second term. "It has made a virtue of inexperience among American presidents. The practice of having a new president every four or eight years has shown to lead to a failing and mistakes during a president's first or second year in office. That has been particularly true in foreign policy. Over the last fifty years, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama have had rocky first years in foreign policy. Kennedy – Bay of Pigs. Reagan – Lebanon. Clinton – flailing in the former Yugoslavia and with Japan. And Obama's initial Afghanistan policy was flawed." (The New

The United States has had several presidents each with their own set of beliefs and policies. Along with having different personalities, many are known for different things that happened during their administration whether it be a good thing or a bad thing. Two presidents who can arguably be most memorable because of bad things that went on in their administrations are Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. These two men has many different ways of thinking as well as being similar in some aspects. In this paper, these characteristics will be looked at.

Just as the original framers of the constitution established limitations on the government within the Bill of Rights, it is to the utmost importance that the president have term limitations imposed as well. Published by the Los Angeles Times, the article ‘Let Us Limit Presidential Tenure’, urges an amendment be passed by Congress to resolve this issue. Finding this specific passage was no easy task as the tedious process required search terms such as ‘Presidential Terms Constitutional’, ‘Executive Terms of the Presidency’, and ‘Presidential Tradition Broken’ were utilized to find the article. Various topics were found in the database such as public opinion regarding Roosevelt's term, the division between Republicans

Throughout history, president's have faced the decreasing approval ratings over their time in the White House. We see that when going into election voters tend to lean more to the individual persuading them things that seem like they are going to make the nation great again. However when elected president, over the years presidents have failed to meet the promises they have made. To win for the presidents is the "power to persuade," but when they lose the confidence of the people, they lose the ability to lead. This causes the next election process, to become very difficult because citizens do not see the right to put in another president who is not going to fulfill their job and promises. However, when the president's approval rating is

The longer the term the president obtains the more confidence he builds, which he can use to challenge the legislature when he feels it is necessary. Although a shorter term would protect against overly ambitious presidents, the four year term was chosen. The four year term would ensure liberty, authority and security to all. Therefore this paper sides with the four year term and no shorter than

“Presidents may be active or passive in terms of the effort invested in their jobs; they also may be positive or negative about their positions (Maltese, 164). In regards with President Bill Clinton and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, James Barber identifies them as an “Active-positive”. Active-positives display personal growth and stability, which they take pleasure in their job and the challenges they face with power productivity to pursue their objectives. Also, they pragmatic political figures that possess flexibility in their pursuit of achieving their goals and are willing to alter or abolishing their goals rather than experience severe consequences (Maltese, 164).

In Adam Clymer’s “Triumphant Obama Faces New Foe in Second-Term Curse,” he briefly described the possibility of Obama facing challenges during his second term due to the history of presidents in their second term. He first starts off by using the term “second –term curse,” which can be defined as the belief that presidents often do worse during their second term as compared to their first term (Clymer 105). For example, during the second term of the following presidents, they faced a couple of controversies: Franklin Roosevelt lost hold of Congress with his 1937 plan to

Evolution of Presidential Power Teng Moua California State University of Fresno Author Note This summary paper was prepared for Political Science 153, Presidential Politics, taught by Professor J. Cummins. Evolution of Presidential Power

Every transition between presidents can prove to be a rather exhaustive process, where each staff member under the U.S. president’s jurisdiction must be scrutinized and judged whether or not they are compatible with the upcoming president’s vision. More often than not, the former staff is gutted out to be replaced by new members personally assigned by the president elect.

The course of a presidency is shaped by decisions made before inauguration day. The choices a president-elect makes when staffing their White House determines how they will use the precious time they will spend in the Oval Office. The management style of a president is a function of the president’s personality with consequences for the future of the country. George W. Bush and Barack Obama are different men who constructed for themselves distinctly different White Houses, each with their own priorities, strengths, and weaknesses.

Being in a position of power where the public demands so much can cause multiple issues, in the case of the US presidency illogicalities can arises. As such, the central thesis for this paper is, presidents face contradictory expected from the public to be both decisive leaders as well as open minded politicians in addition; too being statesman’s and loyalist to their parties. What arise for the president is a host of challenges found in congress, his party, the executive branch as well as the abilities to make decisive choices of when to choose one side the publics perceptions over the other.