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"Pfiffner, James P"
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The Contemporary Presidency
President Trump differed significantly from other recent presidents in his management of the White House staff, domestic cabinet appointments, and relations with his national security team. This article traces the roots of White House dysfunction, particularly the lack of a strong chief of staff, the absence of a regular policy process, and the factions that fought for control of policy. It then examines President Trump’s unusual approach of appointing domestic cabinet secretaries hostile to the traditional missions of their departments. Finally, it analyzes the fractious relations between President Trump and his national security cabinet secretaries.
Journal Article
Character Factor
WATERGATE. MONICA LEWINSKY. PAINKILLERS IN THE OVAL OFFICE. IRAN-CONTRA. READ MY LIPS. THE CHARACTER FACTOR.
The American president’s character matters. To most Americans, it matters deeply. But how do we define what character means, and why can’t we agree?
In this sober, probing consideration of “the character factor” and the presidency, veteran political analyst James P. Pfiffner leads us through a survey of three aspects of presidential character that have proved problematic for recent chief executives: lies, promise-keeping, and sexual probity. His goal is not to tell us which presidents have been “good” and which “bad.” Rather, he helps us think critically and impartially about complex character issues and invites us to reach our own conclusions.
The Character Factor avoids both the abyss of moral relativism and the desert of political cynicism. It helps us look at our presidents (and our presidential candidates) without illusions, knowing that flawed men can still be great leaders but that some flaws deserve defeat at the polls—or even the ultimate presidential sanction, impeachment.
eBook
Power Play: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution
The framers of the U.S. Constitution divided the federal government's powers among three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. Their goal was to prevent tyranny by ensuring that none of the branches could govern alone. While numerous presidents have sought to escape these constitutional constraints, the administration of George W. Bush went farther than most. It denied the writ of habeas corpus to individuals deemed to be enemy combatants. It suspended the Geneva Convention and allowed or encouraged the use of harsh interrogation methods amounting to torture. It ordered the surveillance of Americans without obtaining warrants as required by law. And it issued signing statements declaring that the president does not have the duty to faithfully execute hundreds of provisions in the laws he has signed.
Power Playanalyzes the Bush presidency's efforts to expand executive power in these four domains and puts them into constitutional and historical perspective. Pfiffner explores the evolution of Anglo-American thinking about executive power and individual rights. He highlights the lessons the Constitution's framers drew from such philosophers as Locke and Montesquieu, as well as English constitutional history. He documents the ways in which the Bush administration's policies have undermined the separation of powers, and he shows how these practices have imperiled the rule of law.
Following 9/11, the Bush presidency engaged in a two-front offensive. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the administration aggressively prosecuted the \"war on terror.\" At home, it targeted constraints on the power of the executive.Power Playlays bare the extent of this second campaign and explains why it will continue to threaten the future of republican government if the other two branches do not assert their own constitutional prerogatives.
eBook
The First MBA President: George W. Bush as Public Administrator
President Bush was praised early in his first term as a tough-minded decision maker who knows how to get things done. This essay argues that President Bush possesses formidable political skills that have helped him achieve many of his policy goals, focusing on his most important national security policies: the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism and the treatment of detainees, the use of intelligence leading up to the war, and the reorganization of the executive branch. In the end, however, President Bush's deficiencies as a public administrator have undermined his policy successes.
Journal Article
Presidential Signing Statements and Their Implications for Public Administration
For most of U.S. history, presidents have issued signing statements to comment on bills being signed into law. These statements often are hortatory and comment on the merits of the new law. In recent decades, presidents also have used signing statements to indicate portions of laws that they consider unconstitutional. Pointing out such parts of new statutes is not a problem, but indicating that the president may not execute part of the law is problematic. President George W. Bush used signing statements in an aggressive way to imply that he might not faithfully execute more than 1,000 provisions of statutes that he signed into law. This essay argues that this practice undermines the rule of law and threatens the separation of powers system.
Journal Article
Federalist No. 70: Is the President Too Powerful?
Federalist No. 70 sets the stage for a powerful chief executive through its emphasis on energy in the executive. This essay reviews the challenges of holding this energy accountable in a republican form of government and concludes that recent presidents have stretched their authorities beyond even the most aggressive defense of the concept. Comparing presidents Abraham Lincoln and George W. Bush, the author concludes that the founders never intended to give any president authority to suspend the law during emergencies. His appendix to Federalist No. 70 is designed to both restate and reset the debate about just how far presidents may go in pursuit of national goals.
Journal Article
The Constitutional Legacy of George W. Bush
This article examines the assertions of constitutional power by President George W. Bush and argues that he established significant precedents that have enlarged the range of future presidential discretion. Bush broke new constitutional ground in authorizing coercive interrogations, denying suspected terrorists the privilege of habeas corpus, warrantless surveillance of Americans, and the excessive use of signing statements. Senator Barock Obama often criticized Bush on constitutional and policy grounds. When he became president, he curbed some of President Bush's excesses, but he adopted similar policies and extended executive power in other areas. That a president so different from President Bush on partisan affiliation, policy priorities, and temperament would accept and continue important aspects of his constitutional legacy attests to the foresight of the framers of the Constitution that executives continue to seek power.
Journal Article
Magna Carta and the contemporary presidency.(The Contemporary Presidency)
Despite arguments by some scholars that Magna Carta has been inaccurately mythologized, this article argues that it continues to be relevant to contemporary governance. After an overview of the historical circumstances of the Great Charter, and a discussion of its major clauses, this article examines expansions of individual rights and limits on government in Anglo-American jurisprudence that trace their origins to Magna Carta. It argues that the timeless principles embedded in Magna Carta continue to be relevant to contemporary governments, particularly the U.S. presidency. It concludes that Magna Carta continues to be important as a classic statement of rule of law, limited government, and individual rights and a potent symbol and argument for restraining government in general and executives in particular.
Journal Article