CMC Presidency Course

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

John Pohoretz describes the reverential attitude with which popular culture once depicted the presidency:

George M. Cohan, the song-and-dance man, is invited to the Oval Office by Franklin D. Roosevelt. He is an old man, and thrilled beyond words to discover his president is a fan. FDR asks Cohan to tell him the story of his life, and thus begins Yankee Doodle Dandy, James Cagney's glorious 1942 musical.

The face of the actor who plays Roosevelt is obscured. We hear his voice, but he is photographed from the back, from the side, over his shoulder. The effect is to raise FDR's status to that of a divinity, the Hollywood equivalent of the Lord telling Moses: "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live . . . thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."

Yankee Doodle Dandy clip here.

Polarization under Bush and Obama (Gallup data on Bush and Obama)

Organization Chart and West Wing Map

Writing for the Ear

Bill Clinton explains "crafted speech":

So what do I use polls for on the issues? What I primarily use polls for is to tell me how to make the argument that's most likely to persuade you that I'm right about what I'm trying to do. ... Okay. I'll give you an example where, according to the polls I have the unpopular position, okay? The Congress passes a repeal of the estate tax, an outright repeal. Now, I can--and I'm going to veto it if it comes to my desk, okay? Now, I can say the following. I can say, "I'm going to veto this because it only helps less than 2 percent of the people and half of the relief goes to one-tenth of one percent of the people, and it's an average $10 million." That is a populist explanation.
I can say, "I'm going to veto it because we only have so much money for tax cuts, and I think it's wrong to do this and say this is our highest priority, when we have done nothing to lower the income taxes of low-income working people with three kids or more or to help people pay for child care or long-term care for their elderly or disabled relatives or to get a tax deduction for college tuition."
Or I could say, "I think there should be estate tax relief." I do, by the way. "I don't care if it does help primarily upper income people. The way so many people have made so much money in the stock markets in the last 8 years, there are a lot of family-owned businesses that people would like to pass down to their family members, that would be burdened by the way the estate tax works, plus which the maximum rate is too high. When it was set, income tax rates were higher, but there was a lot of ways to get out of it. Now the rates are lower, but you have less ways to get out of it. You have to pretty much pay what you owe more." So I could say that.
So it's not fair to totally repeal it. Like even Bill Gates has said, "Why are you going to give me a $40 billion tax break." And he's going to give away his money, and I applaud him and honor him for it.
So I could make either of those three arguments. It's helpful to me to know what you're thinking. I know what I think is right. I'm not going to change what I think is right. But in order to continue to be effective, you have to believe I'm right. So that's kind of what I use polls for.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Second Essay Assignment

Pick one of the following:

1. Write a Saturday radio address for President Obama. (You may find past addresses at http://www.whitehouse.gov/weekly_address/). The address itself should take two pages. Then write a two-page essay explaining what you are trying to do in the address. What message are you sending to what audience for what intended effect?

2. Look at various schemes for rating presidents (e.g., Pika 149-150 and http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007243). Identify a president about whom at least two of the ratings disagree strongly. Explain why this president’s performance gets such divergent grades. That is, what did this president do to trigger such different reactions from different raters?

3. You have a time machine and the opportunity to advise Barack Obama or John McCain on one campaign decision. What should he do differently, and why?

4. Subject to my approval, write a four-page essay on any relevant topic of your choice.

Essays should be typed (12-point), stapled, double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page.

If you pick the second option, please provide me with a way to read the speech or article. If it is on the Internet, include the URL in your references. If it is available only on dead tree, please attach a photocopy, which will not count against the page limit.

Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages.

Cite your sources. You may use either endnotes or parenthetical references to a bibliography. In either case, put your documentation in a standard format (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style).

Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.

Return essays by the start of class, Wednesday 28 October. Essays will drop one gradepoint for one day's lateness and a full grade after that. I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Washington State Voting Changes Post Election of 2000

Washington State had its own controversial election in 2004 where Dino Rossi was announced the winner with 261 more votes than Democratic challenger Christine Gregoire. According to Washington State Law, a mandatory machine recount is done if the candidates differ in margin by 150 to 2,000 votes and a mandatory manual recount is done if the difference is less than 150 votes. After this recount, the gap narrowed to a 42 vote difference. After the manual recount the decision was REVERSED. Gregoire took a 133 vote lead and Rossi did not want to challenge further. These new recounts included ballots that were previously thrown out and recently "found" ballots in places like mail bags or inside envelopes.

The problems faced in our Gubernatorial election were met with serious election reform and overhaul. With the help of HAVA funding, the Washington State Secretary of State's Office is now on the cutting edge of election reform with things like:

Online Voter Registration Database

Statewide Guidelines for What Counts as a Vote

Only Absentee Voting Statewide (with the exception of one county)

and hopefully in the future Overseas Military Voting Via Internet

Just a quick plug for my home state that rarely gets national political attention.

The Electoral Process

From Federalist 39:

The executive power will be derived from a very compound source. The immediate election of the President is to be made by the States in their political characters. The votes allotted to them are in a compound ratio, which considers them partly as distinct and coequal societies, partly as unequal members of the same society. The eventual election, again, is to be made by that branch of the legislature which consists of the national representatives; but in this particular act they are to be thrown into the form of individual delegations, from so many distinct and coequal bodies politic. From this aspect of the government it appears to be of a mixed character, presenting at least as many federal as national features.