How does a president successfully use persuasion

When can it motivate followers? President Eisenhower gained enormous self-confidence as he went through life. In fact, by the time he was talked into running for the White House, he believed he was the best man for the job. But Eisenhower never fell into the trap that some CEOs and politicians do, of believing the rules no longer applied to him or that he was any better than anyone else in the eyes of God.

He was never arrogant or condescending, and he was thoroughly honest. The public wants leaders who have inner steel. I believe Jerry Ford was one of the most underrated of modern presidents.

Columnist Mark Shields says that everyone now knows that when you do something terribly wrong and are caught at it, the first rule of damage control is to get the truth out as soon as possible. Yet when trouble hits, he says, people always seem to embrace a second rule: Forget rule number one. And so we have had a continuing string of revelations and cover-ups that have been even more damaging: Nixon, Clinton, Enron, WorldCom, Tyco.

It takes nerve for leaders caught in a lie to tell the truth and ask for forgiveness. His personal politics and approach to the power of the Presidency will explain if he will try to lead the whole government and beyond that the whole nation, or if he will act as a clerk, putting into action the orders of Congress. In the most widely quoted and discussed model of presidential power, Richard Neustadt states that the power of the president lies in the power to persuade.

According to Neustadt, the key to presidential success and influence is persuasion. Ranking presidential greatness is a process, which is largely based upon opinion and personal judgment. With any ranking system, whether based on subjective or objective criteria, judgment and opinion is required to determine which factors best serve as indicators or measurements of greatness. While opinion serves as a major part of the decision-making process, a factual framework is also intrinsic to the process of ranking presidential greatness.

This framework serves as the basis on which comparisons are made and can include factors such as those related to historical events, presidential accomplishments, presidential performance, personal characteristics, etc.

The central focus of the paper is to discuss presidential greatness. Finally, I will conclude by using historical examples to analyze and support the presidential system, which would be a more desirable system for a democratic government. It was originated in British political system and is often known as the Westminster model as it was used in the Palace of Westminster.

There are four theories of presidential power. Each of the four theories describes the nature and scope of presidential power in a different view. Unitary Executive Theory: This theory grants the president control over the executive members and his power is only restricted by the constitution. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Neustadt, Richard E.

New York: The Free Press. This power is demonstrated by the authority that the president is given by the constitution and the way that is interpreted and how presidents have used their powers and challenged congress for more power. Even evidence that supports presidential persuasion may be marginal, mixed, time bound, or vary by domestic and foreign policy.

At times, presidents may not be able to lead public opinion because they have responded to it. And even the act of speaking, as expressed by scholars of the rhetorical presidency, may puff up unrealistic expectations for the occupant of the office. This section summarizes general assessments of public opinion that may not be related directly to presidential persuasion but that establish important concepts, theories, and findings upon which much important research is based.

Although many of the works cited in this article also contain helpful literature reviews, Edwards and Howell is an edited handbook on the American presidency that covers much of the relevant literature on the public presidency in one volume. Page and Shapiro takes a comprehensive look at public opinion change over time.

Geer examines leadership and followership or responsiveness in the context of public opinion polls. Neuman studies the political sophistication of American citizens, which reveals not unexpected findings but a useful overview of the difficulties of persuading an uninterested public.

Zaller provides a sophisticated theory upon which nearly all subsequent public opinion research is based, including much of that which explores presidential persuasion of the public. Pika, et al. Edwards, George C. Howell, eds. The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency.

New York: Oxford University Press, It is not ambiguous. Congress has the power of the purse. He cannot legally appropriate money or change tax law without Congressional consent. The president can delay tax collection, as he already did this year by extending the annual filing deadline to July.

By unilaterally declaring a delay on collecting payroll taxes he could put Congress in the awkward position of either passing a bill retroactively forgiving payroll taxes owed or leaving millions of Americans with a very nasty surprise coming when they file their next tax return. By moving first and shifting the status quo the president can force Congress to consider implementing a policy that neither Congressional Republicans nor Congressional Democrats wanted to consider.

Congress is now forced to re-fund those programs or let them collapse. President Trump has been terrible at persuasion but successful with unilateral action.

Even in a worst-case scenario, his actions could reframe the issue as Democrats blocking the president from providing aid to millions of unemployed Americans.

Unilateral action undermines the logic of checks and balances and creates a situation where the presidency can become far more powerful than the framers of the Constitution intended. To make matters worse, they can also create chaos and uncertainty.

Courts may strike down executive action, but the lengthy nature of the judicial process leaves Americans in a state of limbo while the case is pending. The long-term outlook depends on who happens to sit in the Oval Office.

Even with that shift in the status quo, he was unable to persuade Congressional Republicans to pass immigration reform making it permanent. President Trump moved to end the program, and while the Supreme Court ultimately ruled against him, it did so on narrow procedural grounds.