Comments on: In Honor of Presidents Day

By: Dale Steinacker

Dale Steinacker — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:19:45 +0000

I still remember that one of books for my first semester in college (Fall, 1963) was Richard Neustadt’s Presidential Power.
I remember the attitude of the time, and, as I recall, of Prof. Neustadt’s book was that Eisenhower was too reserved as President and had not been forceful enough. With JFK, we had a new, young, energetic President and many people, particularly liberals, wanted a more active, forceful President. Also, the preface of the book had a quote from Harry Truman indicating that “poor Ike” would give all sorts of orders and no one would listen because the President can’t give orders like a general can.

The assessment of Presidents usually changes with time, some go up and others go down. Eisenhower’s reputation seems to have been on a generally upward curve over the years. We now know that he preferred to work behind the scenes and let others be out front. Apparently the avuncular old man concerned about his golf game was a carefully crafted image.

I have often wondered if Prof. Neustadt’s view of Eisenhower changed over the years.
The other thought I have had about Eisenhower refers to the political environments he had experienced before he became President. He once worked for Douglas MacArthur and, during World War II, he dealt with FDR, Churchill, Montgomery, Patton, DeGaulle and all kinds of political situations. Truman’s view that Eisenhower was a political naïf is kind of hard to believe.

By: Matthew Dickinson

Matthew Dickinson — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:18:32 +0000

Chris – An excellent question! I’ll try to deal with it in my next post. The short answer is that I don’t think the Senate retirements point to a Republican wave, since more of the 10 Senate retirements (by my count) to date are by Republicans (6) than Democrats (4) so far. The House may tell a different story, but I’ll need to run the numbers. So what’s driving the Senate retirements, if not electoral calculations? I think alot of it is due to the polarization and partisan bickering that is particularly bothersome to moderates from both parties. But see my next post for a more detailed discussion.

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:39:18 +0000

We’ve talked a little of how the fundamentals affected the Mass special election. And there is pundent talk of how the tide is turning towards the GOP. The special election I believe was based on fundamentals. But now with the Evan Bayh “retirement.” Is there truly a shift that can be seen with the national fundamental favoring the republican party? I figured that a retirement like this is only because Bayh sees the writing on the wall and that reelection simply isn’t possible. What are your thoughts?

By: Andrew Rudalevige

Andrew Rudalevige — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:37:22 +0000

Cheers, indeed, to Dick Neustadt! Thanks, Matt, for the timely reminder. I would only amend this post by reminding President Obama to check out books with the word “imperial” in their title, should he want advice on dealing with Congress, or for the benefit of photographers. (Hint: Team of Rivals is not one of them.)

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:02:33 +0000

VIP raves as well for this manual of leadership:

http://www.innocentenglish.com/funny-bloopers-mistakes-quotes/top-10-bushisms-of-2006.html

By the way, when’s your next book due out?