PRESIDENTIAL CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY

Chapter 12: Wilson

Presidential Character

Which of the presidents listed in the text in this section do you think Obama (or Bush II) were most like? Why?

Which of the three “publics” do you think Obama is most adept at persuading? The DC crowd The Party people The “publics”

Compare/contrast Obama’s job approval/popularity in the above chart with Wilson’s discussion of how presidential popularity has historically progressed. Draw a conclusion as to why you believe his approval has trended in this way.

Obama Approval by Group

Presidential Vetoes

How/why does Obama’s veto number differ from previous presidents? Would you expect this number to increase during the second half of his 1st term? Why or why not?

PresidentRegula

r Vetoes

Pocket Vetoes

Total Vetoes

Vetoes Overridde

nRonald Reagan 39 39 78 9

George H.W. Bush 29 15 44 1

Bill Clinton 36 1 37 2George W.

Bush 12 0 12 4Barack Obama 2 0 2 0

PRESIDENTIAL CHARACTER

AND PERSONALITY

Chapter 12: Wilson

Assignment #8/9: Tomorrow

Presidential Character according to Barber

Style Made up of rhetoric, personal relations, and homework All presidents have to deal with some level of each of these;

how they tackle them determines their presidential style The balance between the three will vary depending on the

president His “way of acting”

World-view Primary, politically relevant beliefs, primarily his

conceptions of social causality, human nature, and the central moral conflicts of his time

His “way of seeing” Character

The way a president orients himself toward life; not momentary, but enduringly

The previous three factors are purely psychology. Political Situation is environmental. It is the particulars of the political environment the president faces.

Does he or she face a friendly or hostile Congress? What about the Supreme Court? Does he or she have the support or opposition of the majority of the public? What is the situation internationally? Is it a time of relative peace and prosperity, or a time of conflict and hardships?

Lincoln and FDR faced a world of strife, but had a lot of support in Congress. Madison and Wilson faced a world of strife, but also opposition in the political system. Eisenhower was blessed with peace and prosperity, public popularity, and a relatively friendly Congress. Clinton likewise served during a time of prosperity, but faced a hostile political system.

Political Situation

Climate of Expectations describes what is expected of a president. As we have discussed, a lot is expected of all presidents, and those expectations have been increasing over time. However, some presidents certainly face more or less expectations when they entered office.

There are incredible expectations for President Obama, for example. He is expected to save the economy, fix our health care system, and successfully resolve two foreign wars.

By contrast, presidents like Coolidge and George H.W. Bush faced much lower expectations upon taking office. Primarily they were expected to just uphold the status quo of the previous administration.

Climate of Expectations

Together these five factors are what Barber uses to create his typology: Active-Positives are presidents that are positively

motivated individuals who enjoy their job and seek results. Active-Negatives are motivated primarily by the goals of

getting and keeping power, but receive little emotional benefit from their job.

Passive-Positives seek power as a way to obtain the love and admiration of the others. They are less interested in absolute power or policy ends, but enjoy the job as long as they are popular.

Passive-Negatives seek the office out of civic duty, but are relatively unhappy in doing the job.

Active/Passive – how much you do Positive/Negative – how much you like what you do

Typology of Presidents

Categorizing Presidents

Barber argues that the first four presidents fit nicely into the four categories of the typology…

Active-PositivesThomas Jefferson

Active-NegativesJohn Adams

James Madison

Passive-Positives George Washington

Passive-Negatives

Presidential Character

Categorizing Presidents

Other presidents have fit nicely into these categories as well. Can you categorize other presidents? Do you find that some presidents do not fit into this schema very well?

Active-PositivesThomas Jefferson

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Teddy RooseveltJFK

Active-NegativesJohn Adams

LBJWoodrow Wilson

Richard Nixon

James MadisonRonald ReaganWilliam H. Taft

Passive-Positives

George WashingtonCalvin Coolidge

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Ulysses S. Grant

Passive-Negatives

Presidential Character

2009 C-SPAN Great Presidents survey

65 historians and presidential scholars took part Rated presidents in 10 categories of leadership, with score

from 1 (ineffective) to 10 (effective) used. Categories Used

Public Persuasion Moral Authority Relations with Congress Performance Within Context of Times Crisis Leadership International Relations Vision/Setting An Agenda Economic Management Administrative Skills Pursued Equal Justice For All

Keys to Presidential greatness Rated Intelligence –

Although we did not have intelligence test scores, we did ask our raters how intelligent, inventive, insightful, complex, and wise they perceived the various presidents to be.

 Assertiveness, is the single most important trait to presidential success. Presidents are an assertive group, and

on the average score higher than eight of ten typical Americans.  Positive Emotions –

A president's optimism and enthusiasm are important for performance on the job, but also for getting elected.

 Activity Level – Highly energetic chief executives like TR, LBJ, and Carter tend to be rated higher on this scale

by historians than more placid characters like Grant, Taft, and Coolidge.  Achievement striving

(having high goals and working towards them in a systematic and focused manner) is an obvious asset and is related to success in most all walks of life apart from the arts.

Low Straightforwardness – Historians tell us that a president's credibility is essential to the ability to lead. Yet, the

tendency and ability to deceive is correlated with historians' ratings of presidential success.  Tender-Mindedness

predicts both presidential success and ethical behavior on the job.  Competence –

High scorers on this scale seek appropriate information when faced with a decision, have good judgment, and are broadly capable.

 Low Vulnerability – Presidents who feel unnerved by stress and unable to cope with problems on their own (score

high on Vulnerability) are likely to be given low marks by historians.

CSPAN Presidential Rankings

President's Name2009 Final

Score

Overall Ranking

2009 2000

Abraham Lincoln 902 1 1

George Washington

854 2 3

Franklin D. Roosevelt

837 3 2

Theodore Roosevelt

781 4 4

Harry S. Truman 708 5 5

John F. Kennedy 701 6 8

Thomas Jefferson 698 7 7

Dwight D. Eisenhower

689 8 9

Woodrow Wilson 683 9 6

Ronald Reagan 671 10 11

The Worst…2009

Overall Score

2009 Rank 2000 Rank

George W. Bush 362 36 NA

Millard Fillmore 351 37 35

Warren G. Harding

327 38 38

William Henry Harrison

324 39 37

Franklin D. Pierce 287 40 39

Andrew Johnson 258 41 40

James Buchanan 227 42 41

What Makes a President Great?

Historians, journalists, pundits and the public disagree. We all might choose different characteristics, beliefs, or accomplishments, view them through our own biased lens, and then draw our own conclusions. Which would you choose?