What Are The Main Criteria For Rating

Presidents. Essay, Research Paper

More than any other political figure, the President of the United States of

America attracts the scrutiny and passion of the American people. As their

elected Head of State, he represents the presence of the masses, and is seen as

the figurehead of the nation in times of national crisis and grief. The last few

decades have seen a public disillusionment with the democratic process in

American politics, and, as a consequence, the electorate look to a strong

president to support their interests against those in power whom they do not

trust. During his term in office, the president is continuously examined within

the minds of the masses, most acutely through the various limbs of the media.

All presidents begin their terms, having just been voted in by the majority of

the populace, with broad public support. Evidence shows however that this

support, or `popularity rating’ wanes over time, peaking only after military or

other dramatic action. Political scientists have long considered this aspect of

the presidency a valid one for further study, and have designed several

mechanisms for the classification of presidents. These theories help to explain

exactly what makes a president `good’ or `bad’, and it is these that I will try

to define and explore in order to answer the question given.

Perhaps the greatest contributor to presidential studies, at least on the

specifics of success analysis, James Barber, puts forward a binary matrix

involving two baselines. The first, activity-passivity, places the presidents

according to the amount of energy invested in day-to-day activities. For example

the notoriously hard-working Lyndon Johnson, who slept as little as possible in

order to have more time to work, features far higher on this scale than the

lethargic Calvin Coolidge, who often needed an afternoon nap despite an eleven

hour nightly sleep. The second baseline is positive-negative effect. This

defines the actual attitudes of the men towards their office, whether they

actively enjoyed their political life, and whether they believed their position

was a privileged one, not a grim yet essential task. These two characteristics

are an attempt to commodify a president’s success, or lack of, and hence

understand their subsequent `rating’ among both the public and political

scientists. Barber describes the four extremes of this model as follows:

Active-positive: There is a congruence, a consistency, between much activity and

the enjoyment of it, indicating relatively high self-esteem and relative success

in relating to the environment.

Active-negative: The contradiction here is between relatively intense effort and

relatively low emotional reward for that effort. He seems ambitious, striving

upward… [yet] his stance toward the environment is aggressive and he has a

persistent problem in managing his aggressive feelings.

Passive-positive: The contradiction is between low self-esteem and a superficial

optimism. A hopeful attitude helps dispel doubt and elicits encouragement from

others.

Passive negative: [These] …types are in politics because they think they ought

to be. They may be well adapted to certain non-political roles, but they lack

the experience and flexibility to perform as political leaders.

This framework has its obvious limitations; all forty-four presidents cannot

feasibly be pigeonholed into just four categories. Barber’s system does not

categorise presidents into successes and failures, but merely alludes to this

through the analysis of presidential style and technique. From this

simplification of achievement we can go on to dissect their terms in office even

more.

Lyndon Johnson is a prime example of Barber’s active-negative category. He was

so dedicated to his position that he developed a system of making two days out

of every one, the first beginning with a bedroom conference at 6:30 or 7:00am

and ending with some lunch and a nap at about 2:00pm. After this he began work

again until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning – and even requested being woken should

something come up over night. This level of dedication and hyperactivity

certainly befits the active end of the baseline. Johnson’s term in office was

one of great turbulence, and many of his great domestic policies were undermined

by one overarching topic – the war in Vietnam. Perhaps Johnson made the mistake

of personalising the situation as his personal crusade when he said “I am not

going to lose Vietnam. I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia

go the way China went.” His refusal to back down in the face of such pressure

can be seen as a characteristic of a strong president, which he was, yet with

hindsight looks stubborn and bullish. Perhaps another political mistake of his

was his neglect in sharing responsibility for Vietnam with anyone else. He took