I stumbled on this resource, which tracks presidential popularity going back to the Truman administration. It's pretty detailed, and has a lot of demographic breakdowns. You can also compare different presidencies, and look at general trends.
Enjoy!
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Today's buzzword is <<Brinkmanship>>. Look around, you hear it everywhere these days. History teachers, rejoice... you can dust off your lesson plans that connect to Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. So, here is a little ditty about brinkmanship and compromise. Brinkmanship: (brngkmn-shp) also brinks·man·ship (brngks-)n.The practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than concede. There is, without a doubt, evidence of brinkmanship in domestic policy today in D.C. (Unfortunately, the perilous events are impacting everyone but Congress... unless you count yesterday's sad events between the White House and the Capitol.) I decided that it was time to do some light reading about a time in which brinkmanship was not the standard practice between the Speaker (and the Dirty Thirty) and the POTUS. I got my hands on a new book, Tip and the Gipper, by Chris Matthews, after listening to an extended interview of Mr. Matthews on my way home on Tuesday. Partisan politics and the liberal leaning of Matthews aside, I have throughly enjoyed the easy cadence and prospective that he brings to the discussion of how things work in D.C. Matthews does a great job at offering a tutorial on how to compromise and negotiate against the odds... and states that what was an underpinning commonality for O'Neill and Reagan is that they both wanted to work for the common good... that inaction was unacceptable. (Wait, what are you implying today?) We don't see that today. In fact, the media has even brought in experts in negotiation to offer pointers. Specifically, I have really found Matthews' explanation of the relationship between the President and the second most powerful person in the government... The Speaker. He spins the tale so that it is easy to see how the Founding Fathers intentionally put these two roles (and their egos) at odds with each other... The President's expansive powers in the execution of law and the final check on the legislative process juxtaposed with the Speaker's hands on the purse strings of the Federal government.
This is a great resource for educators who want to add complexity and depth in their discussion of checks and balances, Congress, the President, the power of the purse, and even Presidential Signing Statements and Executive Orders. Perhaps we can purchase a copy for Boehner & Obama to thaw their all to frosty relationship. I think it needs to "after six o'clock" for the next few months. |
Photo via Flickr/Ted Eytan
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