March 11th, 2017

Power Without Persuasion

I’m getting back into the groove of studying and in U. S. Presidency we’ll be looking at “The Unilateral Presidency.” Neustadt puts forth the problem with the presidency today is the expectations of the people far outstrips the power presidents have. I work for a U. S. Senator and I met with a group that wanted to know what the Senator thought about a news story that went across the chyron on the bottom of the TV in the reception area while they were waiting to see me. I had to reply, “If your expectation is that he will have an opinion on everything that is scrolling on the bottom of a TV screen on any given day, you will be disappointed.” Have our expectations exceeded our ability to meet them?

Maybe.

One of the key points we are studying this week has to do with the research of presidents and trying to get away from their personal attributes and trying to come up with measurable patterns. It is possible to measure and categorize the many things that presidents do. However, this semester and last when we looked at this, I could help thinking of all else, the presidency is personal.  And that got me thinking about one of my favorite movies, “You’ve Got Mail.” If you haven’t seen it, it is the movie that has all the answers to the questions of life.

So study today, go to a movie and dinner tonight. Church will my kid tomorrow, lunch and more studying and writing.  Then, back to school on Monday.

While I’m terrified of my research papers this semester, I have a quiet calm that I know I will get it done.