Subscribe 300x250 - Love

Editorial: The Presidency

by | Jan 26, 2018 | Opinion

Presidents need oversight and scrutiny; they need a Congress that will press them and insist on consultation. They get very little of that pressure today.

Because we live in such tumultuous political times, it’s easy to believe that today’s intense public focus on the Trump presidency is something new — an obsession like none we’ve ever seen before. Yet to one degree or another, the president has always been at the center of the public’s attention.

This is because he or she is the central actor in American government. The sheer complexity of our system, with its three branches, separation of powers and competing centers of power, demands someone who can make it work.

So we have high expectations for the president in this country. We want him or her to run the government efficiently and effectively, to work hard to resolve our problems, lead the world, inspire the nation, console us in times of disaster, serve as an example for young people, represent the national interest, and in a sense carry our hopes and desires for the country on his or her shoulders.

Which is why, no matter who’s president, there is enormous public curiosity about every detail of his life and actions. When I was in Congress, the subject would come up whenever I was back home in the district, at formal public meetings and in casual conversations. People wanted to know about his family, his personal characteristics, his strengths and failings, and what he was doing to make the country work.

This fascination is exacerbated by the news media, which focuses attention on the president and much less on Congress, a body that by its nature is diffuse and complicated.

Presidents are both ordinary and extraordinary. They have all the strengths, vulnerabilities and limitations of the rest of us. They may be perceptive, politically astute, even wise, but they all make mistakes — the interning of Japanese-Americans under Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan’s dereliction of duty in Iran-Contra, the handling of the Vietnam War under LBJ.

Yet there’s also something out of the ordinary about the people who become president. You have to be driven by ambition to seek the office in the first place, as well as highly competitive and disciplined in both thought and speech. The most effective presidents are unusually persuasive. The greatest among them have a real connection to the American people, a sense of high moral purpose and the ability to summon Americans to reach toward that purpose.

Because as unremittingly difficult as the job is, in many ways the toughest part is persuasion: trying to build support for one’s goals. We talk about the president as being the most powerful person in the world, but over the decades I’ve been struck by how often presidents talk about the limitations on their power. Looking out from the White House, what they see are opposition and constraints.

Which may be why every president seeks to expand the power of the office, usually with some degree of success. This is not all bad — presidents do need power to get things done. But this trend has diminished the role of Congress and, fundamentally, of representative government. President Nixon had some 300 people on his staff; presidents these days may have as many as 2000.

This has allowed the president to insulate himself. Presidents are hard to reach today. They don’t want to be scrutinized on policy, and far too often, Congress has played along. The presidential press conference has also faded in importance. Presidents rarely have to answer questions in a free-wheeling give and take session with journalists or other politicians.

And so it’s harder to understand why the president does what he does now, why he makes the choices he does. Presidents need oversight and scrutiny, they need a Congress that will press them and insist on consultation. They get very little of that pressure today. Don’t get me wrong: I favor a strong president, but I also favor a strong Congress. And these days, we have a Congress marked by passivity and inability to exercise its constitutional responsibilities.

I’m equally impressed by the responsibility we have as citizens in choosing our leaders. We get what and whom we choose. Presidents really do make a difference in our lives. No choice as a citizen is more important.

For more editorials like this subscribe to our print or e-edition.

Grad Profile Leaderboard

0 Comments

Related News

Path of progress: radio to TV

Path of progress: radio to TV

Columnist John Moore still enjoys the old radio and TV shows, even though they went off the air decades ago. Courtesy John Moore My father used to talk about radio programs a lot. The Lone Ranger. Lum and Abner. Amos and Andy. Edgar Bergen. People tend to talk about...

read more
Raking it in

Raking it in

I hate pine needles. Growing up in Arkansas will do that to you. Pine trees are everywhere in Ashdown, Arkansas. They are pretty much everywhere throughout the Natural State.  Pine trees brought the paper mills, which brought the paper mill employees, which...

read more
Halloween season highlights

Halloween season highlights

There’s something about being scared. Some kids claim they don’t like it, but do. While a handful of other kids claim they don’t like it, and really don’t. I was the former. My sister was the latter. In the small, redbrick house on Beech Street in Ashdown, Arkansas,...

read more
John Wayne: Movie star superhero

John Wayne: Movie star superhero

Columnist John Moore believes that you haven't been immortalized properly until you've been painted on black velvet. Like this John Wayne rendering that's available on eBay from Lindy1017. Courtesy eBay Lindy1017 You’d think that John Wayne said the word ‘pilgrim’ a...

read more
Our stories shape the stories that matter most

Our stories shape the stories that matter most

It seems like about every time I am out in the public, no matter what the occasion, once someone realizes I own the local paper they seem anxious to tell me something.  And in more cases than not, it is how something someone has read impacts their lives. For...

read more
2024 trip prices far from magical

2024 trip prices far from magical

Photo by Ricardo Guzman, Pixabay As we left Ashdown, Arkansas, in my mom’s 1971 Buick Electra 225 Limited, my mom turned to my dad and asked, “Jimmy, are you sure we have enough money?” He responded, “Well, Mary. If four hundred dollars isn’t enough to spend two weeks...

read more
Iceboxes are cool

Iceboxes are cool

Columnist John Moore has an ice box that's been in his family for a long time. One that still works if he ever needs it. Courtesy John Moore The fridge. Frigerator. Some even called it, “The Frigidaire.” A few decades ago it had many names. Growing up, my family...

read more
The screening process

The screening process

Movies were better in a theater. A theater filled with people. Such was the case before the internet. Before HBO. Before people holed up in their living rooms and away from their neighbors and friends. A time when pay-per-view meant you bought a ticket to watch a...

read more
Scouting for knowledge

Scouting for knowledge

John Moore’s genuine Scouting pocketknife. Courtesy John Moore  I learned a lot from Scouting. Started as a Cub Scout, then joined Webelos, then the Boy Scouts.  Girls and making money took priority over my time around age 14, so I never made Eagle Scout....

read more
Subscribe 300x250 - Love