POLI 308 US
Presidency
Fall 2022
Review Two
Basic
Requirements
·
I will place the exam in Files folder
of Canvas at about 9:00 AM on Monday, December 12.
·
Due by midnight on Tuesday December 13 (as Tuesday December
13 becomes Wednesday December 14, but that deadline is a soft one; don't sweat
a few extra hours; by roughly 6:00 AM on December 14 it will be late).
·
Type or write the exam.
·
Either way, email me a file or pdf or even jpeg of the written
answers by the deadline
·
11- or 12-point font
·
One-inch margins
·
Double-spaced
·
Please use your name in the name of the file you send
me. I’d be happiest if you named the file like this: Your name Exam
2 POLI 308 (so if it was my exam, it would be Newmann Exam 2 POLI 308)
·
The exam is open notes (so you can use your notes, the book, the
review sheet, the recorded lectures, and the PPT slides)
·
I do not expect any outside research on this at all. You don’t need citations of any information; in that respect,
treat this like it was in-class exam.
·
Study for this exam as if it was an in-class exam. That way when
you get the exam, you don’t need to begin studying or reviewing material. You
should be ready, and then use all the notes, PPT, lectures as you need for reference.
·
Each part of the exam has a specific page number target. You
can go over the limit, not a problem, but don’t go too far over the limit. You
don’t need to.
·
You have choice of what you want to answer in each part,
so read the directions carefully
·
I think two to three hours will be enough time
for you to write the exam and do well. You can take more time of course, as
much as you need. The point here is that I don't think you need to spend
hours and hours.
·
It might be helpful to read the questions, then review your notes,
and the review sheet. Maybe make an outline of the essay. And then start
to write.
·
As always, the review sheets should be very helpful. You can use
the review sheet while you take the exam. It might be a good organizational
tool.
·
Feel free to email me questions if you have them, but as usual,
there are limits to how I can help you.
And, important:
Nothing to
worry about because you’re all ready for this, and you’re all going to do well.
The
exam has two parts:
This
review looks big, but don't worry. If
you have come to class and done all the reading, nothing here should be new to
you. Also, though there are a lot of
terms, obviously, not each one of them is the subject of an essay. These terms,
in order, form an outline of everything we've done so far. A group of them
might be the subject of an essay. Usually, you can't explain a single term
without referring to the terms next to it. So, really, if you can say one or
two things about each term and how it relates to the terms around it and fits
into the larger scheme of nuclear weapons you're doing fine. Some terms,
however, are filled with enough significance to be short
answers/identifications on the test, but you'll be able to figure out which
ones.
Terms
with (*) in front of them may not have been included in the lectures, but were
discussed, at length, in the readings.
Nixon:
*Electoral Realignment
Democrat’s loss of the South
Impact of 1950s and 1960s changes on
New Deal Coalition
Civil
Rights -- successes and failures
Expansion
of federal power -- Civil Rights and Great Society
Failure
in Vietnam
Division in Democratic Party over
Civil Rights
Losing
the South
Labor and
urban North
LBJ's challengers in the 1968
election
Nixon's coalition
The
Silent Majority/Quiet Americans
Southern
Strategy
George Wallace
The Southern Presidential vote in
1968 and 1972 vs. previous years
The Administrative Presidency under
Nixon
White House control/management of the
government
Domestic Council
John
Ehrlichman
National Security Council staff
Henry
Kissinger
*Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman
*“Berlin Wall”
*Haldeman as gatekeeper: the bad cop
*Nixon difficulty in dealing with
conflict; did not want to meet face-to-face with cabinet
*On not doing what the president
tells you to do, sometimes…
Problems with the Administrative
Presidency
*Cabinet
Government?
*Isolation
Line
vs. Staff
Their
definition of their responsibilities
*Staff
Protecting the President
*Feeding
Nixon's Flaws
*Nixon
and constant crisis atmosphere
*Enemies
List
*Paranoia
Watergate:
Cambodia Bombing and leaks
Secret investigative unit -- Plumbers
Their
links to the White House and CREP
Watergate Burglary of DNC
Headquarters 6/17/72
Investigations
The Tapes
Nixon's position on the tapes
Saturday Night Massacre
Elliott Richardson
Revelations in the Tapes:
Nixon
part of cover-up
Abuse
of Power
Nixon's
claims of innocence
House Judiciary Committee and
articles of impeachment
Spiro Agnew
*Gerald Ford becomes VP
*The Pardon
Ford
and Carter Review
Two incumbents beaten in a row
No-Win Presidency
Crisis of the Presidency
Imperial Presidency
Lying
Presidency and People
Presidency and Media -- Woodward and
Bernstein
Antagonism
*Rise of interest group power
Congressional Power:
War
Powers Resolution
Clark
Amendment
Congressional
Budget and Impoundment Act 1974
Impoundment
Information
and expertise
Goals
of New Congress
*Ford and spokes-of-the-wheel
*Rumsfeld as chief of staff
*Halloween Massacre
*1976 election
Carter campaign themes
Honesty
outsider
Carter's theory of Governing
*No
chief of staff
*Hamilton
Jordan
*Alienating the Democrats in Congress
*Economic Problems
*Crisis of Confidence speech
*Iran Hostage Crisis
Carter's misunderstanding of
leadership
A Crisis of Leadership?
REAGAN:
Reagan's past:
Happy
Midwestern upbringing?
Acting
Anti-Communist
Democrat
Goldwater
supporter
Governor
of California
Reagan (conservative wing) vs. Bush
(moderate wing) in New Hampshire
Landslide over Carter
*Reagan as Republican FDR --
confidence, hope, leadership
*Reagan Beliefs (four priorities)
Very important
*Reagan economic philosophy
*Criticism of the New Deal and Great
Society
*Principles of Reaganomics
*Government
vs. the Market
*Return
to laissez-faire; rejection of Keynes
Reagan and US political spectrum
*Reagan realignment
*Reagan Coalition
*Undoing the Great Society
The Teflon President
Reagan’s
slight reality problem
*The Troika
*Baker’s role
*Reagan’s disinterest in management
*Baker (pragmatist) vs. True
Believers
*Baker and Donald Regan switch jobs
*Regan a disaster as Chief of Staff:
poor management, thinking he was more important than the President
*Nancy Reagan power
Reagan political strategy
LBJ-style Bargaining compared to
Reagan style
Elements of Reagan Media Strategy:
*Bully
Pulpit
*Stage
Events in controlled settings
Feed
the Media
*Consistency
of message -- Line of the Day/Sound Bites
*Selling
the President
*Popularity
= Power
*Iran-Contra
*Weapons to Contras
*Arms to Iran
*lying to Congress
*Congressional reaction: enraged
BUSH 41:
1980s Changes
*Reagan realignment
*Reagan success
1984 Election
Government is the problem
Bush as Insider (his experience in government)
Reagan vs. Bush in philosophy and
political experience
The
Vision Thing
*Small “c” vs. capital “C”
conservatives (This is important)
Who decides the winner?
The success and power of conservative
media
Rush
Limbaugh
Fox News
Bush and party loyalty
"The Vision Thing" again
Bush history:
Moderate
Republican
Appointed
jobs for Republican Party -- loyalty
1988: No New Taxes
1990: Budget Deal
1992: a mistake to raise taxes
Gulf War
Wasting opportunities after the Gulf
Bush and failure to remake the party
Movement
Conservatives win the day
CLINTON:
Democratic Party after 1984 election
Context
Why the growth of a moderate center?
*Democrats
lost South
*Impact of Reagan revolution
(shifting US politics to the right)
*Deficit
tax
revolts of 1970s and 1980s
economic
slowdown since 1970s
perceived
failure of:
1.
Democratic New Deal/Great Society
2.
Reaganomics
Fight in each Party
*Democrats:
centrist vs. liberal – centrists win
*New Democrats – Democratic
Leadership Council
Socially
liberal
Fiscally
Conservative
Pro-Business
Government
has limited, but important role
*Clinton as New Democrat
Education reform in Arkansas
1992 election: Three way race
Ross Perot
President elected with only 43% of
the vote
Is Clinton really a New Democrat?
1. Gays in the military
2. *Health care
3. *Budget
4. Triangulation and Welfare reform
5. Trade
Fighting
protectionist Democrats
Economic world order building and
globalization
Pro-business
Democrat
Aggressive
promotion of free trade
Modernizing the workforce
Republicans take the House and Senate
1994
The trust issue
Scandals and accusations
The Gingrich Style: GoPac Memo
Clinton haters
Whitewater investigations (not the
details)
*Vince Foster’s death
Lewinsky
*Ken Starr
*House impeaches
*Senate acquits
*Undisciplined Clinton
*as his own Chief of Staff
*Thomas McLarty as Chief
*Leon
Panetta to save the day
George W. Bush (Bush 43)
Bush background
Prescott and Bush 41
Governor of Texas (moderate
Republican)
*2000 Election
Gore
(pretends Clinton doesn’t exist)
No winner on election day
Florida
recount
537
votes
Impact
of third party candidate (Nader)
The
red and Blue map and polarization
*Bush as uniter and divider
*Goal of Republican unity instead of
bipartisanship
*strategy of division or polarization
Trying to satisfy all conservative
wings of Republican Party
Compassionate conservatism
Pre-modern presidency vs. modern
presidency
Modern presidency as crisis
presidency
Post-Modern Presidency?
Cold
War ends
Fate of Bush 41, Clinton, and Bush 43
before 9/11
Impeachment of Clinton
Modern presidency really a crisis
presidency and crisis has ended
Characteristics of Post-Modern
Presidency
Weak executive
Powerful Congress
Madisonian style checks and balances
Governor of the USA?
Then 9/11
Crisis presidency reborn/New imperial
presidency
Example of Bush increasing power
Example of Restraint on Bush
Congress and Courts restrain Bush
quickly
Example of AUMF – unlimited power?
Military
Order and Detainees
Used
by Obama and Trump
Unitary Executive Theory
Executive
power and Congressional oversight?
National
security
Signing Statements and Unitary
Executive Theory
Bush approval ratings decline
Iraq, Katrina, Great Recession
Obama
Obama
background
Born in Honolulu, HI (which is a state of the
US)
From
Illinois State Senate to White House in four years
Balancing
inexperience with experience in picking VP Biden (like Bush and Cheney)
*McCain-Palin (conservative and
Movement Conservative)
*Palin
as a precursor to Trump style
*The Birthers
2008 victory
Great Recession
Obama response: FDR style government
spending
Massive deficits
*Affordable care Act (Obamacare)
*Reaction to Obama Care
*Legitimate
criticism vs. demagoguery
*Birth of TEA Party
*TEA Party fringe elements
Obama ultimately loses House and
Senate to Republicans
Obama wins reelection
*Republican Strategy: refuse to pass
Obama legislation
Merrick Garland example
Obama strategy: executive orders
DREAM Act example
Legislation
stalls
Obama
implements law as if legislation passed
Obama approval record
No
Drama Obama
Trump
The crisis in US democracy
Demagoguery
Lies and The Big ie
January 6, 2021
What comparative politics tells us
about the future of elections if people believe The Big Lie
Covid19, vaccinations,
disinformation, and the loyalty to the leader
Trump and populism
nationalism/neo-authoritarianism
1.
Election of 2016
Republican
Primaries: Trump defeats establishment Republicans
His style
Clinton vs.
Trump
Ugliness of
the election
Two
unpopular candidates
Trump wins Electoral College; loses
popular vote
Third
party candidates
States that voted for Obama and Trump
And
manufacturing decline
Russia, Disinformation, and Trump
Campaign
Mueller Report
2. Trump Policies
Movement Conservative Policies
A
satisfied constituency
Pro-life Justices
Gorsuch
and Kavanaugh and Barrett
Evangelical Support
Trump Policy on Immigration
Trump Policy on Trade
3.
Trump Style
Twitter
Attacking
Lying
Roy Cohn Style
Trump is Cohn protégé
4. Impeachments
Allegations against Biden
Ukraine investigations
US aid to Ukraine withheld by Trump
to get Ukraine to announce investigation of Biden
Extortion
First Impeachment
Acquitted
Second Impeachment and January 6
Acquitted
Job approval plummets
Biden elected
Terms from Sykes
*battle among conservatives
*alternative reality bubble
*impact
of hyperpartisanship
*misinformation/demagoguery
*polarization
and sorting
*Hatred of media
*belief in conspiracy theories
*the negativity and anger
*Trump as a deal with the devil for
Republican Party?
*TEA Party taken over by political
operatives
*Radicalization of the party
*Refusal to compromise
*Radio and television becomes more
radical, sets the agenda
*ideological purity
*social media amplifies
*end of journalism norms on the net
*Breitbart/Alex Jones
*Power of Fox News
*Impact of Rush Limbaugh
*Supports
Trump 2015
*Alt Right
*Antisemitism
*Racism and white nationalists
*”Culture War”
*Belief that democrats are
anti-Christian
*Anger at mainstream media
Terms from Brownstein relating to Red
and Blue Polarization thesis
*Brownstein’s main thesis:
*The
Democratic and Republican parties had both been coalitions of conservative and
moderate/liberal elements
*In the 1960s this began to change (Civil Rights, Great
Society, Vietnam, collapse of the New Deal Coalition and rise of the Reagan
Coalition)
*Conservatives Democrats began to move to the Republican
Party; Moderate Republicans began to move to the Democratic Party
*This led to a new party system: A conservative party faced
off against a liberal party
*The result is greater polarization
Populist Nationalism or Neo-Authoritarianism
To Establish Authority
1.
Personalistic
Rule
2.
Conspiracy
Theories
3.
“Alternative
Facts”
4.
Attacks on the
Press
5.
Attacks on
Institutions
To Delegitimize Opponents
1.
Scapegoating
2.
Trolling of
Critics/Rivals
3.
Encouraging
Violence against Press and Political Opponents
4.
Calls for Jailing
Political Opponents
5.
Declaration of
Fraud at Elections that Don’t Go as Planned