The presidency in a separated system - Jones, Charles O. (Brookings Institution, 1994)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references and index
Popular interpretations of American government tend to center on the presidency. Successes and failures of government are often attributed to presidents themselves. But, though the White House stands as a powerful symbol of government, the United States has a separated system intentionally designed to distribute power, not to concentrate it. Charles O. Jones explains that focusing exclusively on the presidency can lead to a seriously distorted picture of how the national government works. The role of the president varies widely, depending on his resources, advantages, and strategic position. Public expectations often far exceed the president's personal, political, institutional, or constitutional capacities for achievement. Jones explores how presidents find their place in the permanent government and how they are "fitted in" by others, most notably those on Capitol Hill
This book shows how a separated system of government works under the circumstances created by the Constitution and encouraged by a two-party system. Jones examines the organizational challenges facing presidents, their public standing and what it means, presidential agendas and mandates, and lawmaking - how it works, where the president fits in, and how it varies from issue to issue. He compares the post-World War II presidents and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each in working within the separated system. Jones proposes a view of government that accepts divided government as a legitimate, even productive, form of decisionmaking and emphasizes the varying strategies available to presidents for governing. He concludes with a number of important lessons for presidents and advice on how to make the separated system work better
Perspectives on the Presidency -- - Landslides and Presidential Power -- - Pictures in Our Heads -- - The Dominant Perspective -- - Variations in Party Splits -- - Variations in Presidential Advantages -- - An Alternative Perspective -- - The Politics of Partisan Variations -- - Change within Administrations -- - What Is to Follow -- - Presidents and the Presidency -- - How They Come to Be There -- - Who They Are -- - Governing Strategies -- - Organizing to Govern in the Separated System -- - The White House Staff -- - Cabinet Secretaries: Reaching Within -- - Organizational Experience of Modern Presidents -- - Organizing and Adapting -- - Public Standing of the President -- - The Most Popular President -- - Approval Ratings and the Diffusion of Responsibility -- - Going Public -- - The Public Standing of Modern Presidents -- - Public Approval and the Work of Government -- - Presidents, Mandates, and Agendas -- - Elections and Agendas in the Constitution -- - The Mandate -- - Judgments about Mandates -- - The Continuing Agenda -- - Agenda-Related Concepts -- - Modern Presidents and the Agenda -- - Presidents and Lawmaking in a Separated System -- - The Nature of Lawmaking -- - Presidential Success with Congress -- - Legislative Production: What Gets Done and When -- - Legislative Timelines -- - Making Laws -- - Presidential Preponderance -- - Congressional Preponderance -- - Joint Participation -- - Sequence, Iteration, and Partisanship -- - Thinking about Change -- - Principal Observations -- - Reform and Change -- - Lessons for Presidents -- - The Presidency in a Separated System