The American Presidency Under Siege

This book explores the failure of the modern American presidency, a failure the author attributes to the development of a political system that impedes creative leadership. The American presidency, Gary L. Rose argues, is under siege. Surrounded and blockaded by a reactionary Congress, an entrenched bureaucracy, an aggressive media, lobbyists, political action committees, and special interest groups, American presidents fail not because of a lack of ability or character but because of the political system and style of politics inside the Beltway. Rose ascribes this emergence of a political system that obstructs presidential leadership to the decline of political parties as electoral and governing mechanisms. As political parties have declined, presidents have lost vital political connections that historically have enhanced their capacity to lead. He presents a variety of prescriptive measures, including political-party and legal reform, that have the potential to restore political parties and the governing capacity of the presidency.