Discuss the power to persuade, going public, presidential character, and presidential style. Why are these personal features so important to presidential success? How do they help us to understand the presidency in ways that just studying the constitutional powers of the presidency does not?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The power to persuade is key for the president to convince Congress and other political actors to cooperate with his or her agenda. Similarly, going public--appealing to the public on an issue in order to pressure other political actors--is another key to presidential success. Personal characteristics (character and style) are vital to presidents’ ability to achieve their goals. Some scholars suggest that some types of personalities or presidential characters lend themselves to success. Strong answers should discuss Barber’s typology: energy level toward the job and orientation toward life and the job. Students may even suggest that active-positive presidents should succeed. Finally, different presidents have different styles, and successfully establishing a positive image of this style can lead to positive public evaluations of the president. The benefit of these approaches is that they look beyond the presidency as a constitutional office and acknowledge that success comes as much from the president’s personal characteristics and strategies as from the constitutional powers of the presidency.