The Presidential Leadership Dilemma: Between the Constitution and a Political Party

Preface

ix Preface As with all books, a journey was involved in the completion of this one. It traces its origins back to a conversation between two junior scholars about the role of presidents as both adept politicians and august constitutional executives. Over a postpanel coffee at the 2007 Midwest Political Science Association meeting, Julia Azari and Lara Brown contemplated how it was that some presidents had successfully cultivated images as statesmen hovering above the fray of party politics, while others were generally remembered as crafty politicians. Yet we observed that all presidents must engage in both statesmanship and politics. In short, Harry Truman’s comment in 1951 deserved investigation: “I have an old definition for a statesman, a very old one: A statesman is a dead politician.”1 A few years later, after a Presidency Research Group meeting at the American Political Science Association conference, Julia suggested to Lara that we assemble a panel for the 2010 Midwest Political Science Association meeting on the topic of presidents as party and national leaders. We recruited an excellent slate of panelists and appointed ourselves the discussants. That spring, the panel provoked such lively discussion and such interesting papers that we decided to pursue the project as an edited volume. Warmly welcoming Zim Nwokora as an additional editor on the project, we again availed ourselves of the offerings at a certain national coffee chain and wiled away much of the afternoon talking about the possibilities for a volume. A book was born. At this point it is not only necessary, but also a pleasure to suspend this storytelling and thank our contributors who took this presidential leadership question seriously, produced quality scholarship, and believed in the possibility of an edited volume. We are grateful for your efforts and your encouragement. While the crafting of the manuscript took only a short time, its duration has coincided with an eventful period in American political history. x Preface When we began, a Democratically controlled Congress afforded President Barack Obama occasional prime ministerial indulgences, and the main impediment to his legislative goals was lax party discipline. When we completed the first full draft about eighteen months later, Obama faced a hostile Republican majority in the House of Representatives and a diminished Democratic majority in the Senate. As the partisan conflicts over taxes and federal spending brought the nation to the brink of a government shutdown and debt default, we felt the salience of this volume grow. That only multiplied when President Obama repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the U.S. military, succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden, and encouraged the protestors abroad who brought about an Arab Spring. Each of these instances invited new questions about presidential leadership. We also realized that it was vitally important to investigate not only Obama, but the ways in which all presidents, as both chief executives and party chiefs, grapple with this structural leadership dilemma. The dynamic political context under which we have been working has forced some of our contributors to reconsider their content, and we are grateful to them for their astute handling of these changes. Before acknowledging our amazingly efficient publisher, we must first thank one of our contributors, Nancy Kassop, who suggested the State University of New York Press as a possible home for this manuscript. Were it not for her wise counsel, we might still be lost in the publishing wilderness. We are truly grateful to Senior Acquisitions Editor Michael Rinella and American Constitutional Series Editor Robert Spitzer for their willingness to take on a project edited by three junior scholars and for their thoughtful guidance through the review process. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who provided us with both excellent feedback and generous praise. These years were eventful ones in our lives, as well as in politics. Our work on this manuscript has literally coincided with a wedding, a hurricane, and a funeral. Fortunately, in August 2011, Zim was able to complete his editing tasks at least a week before his wedding. During this same time, Lara stayed dry as Hurricane Irene hit Philadelphia. Even though Julia continued to inundate her with last minute questions about submitting the manuscript, she dutifully answered, presumably by candlelight, as the power dwindled on her smartphone. For Julia’s part, she fondly remembers her husband’s late grandmother, Charlotte Fett, and regrets that she cannot present her with a copy of this book. These events have left us grateful...