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Leadership in the Obama Presidency
Princeton University Press
March 2012
On Sale: March 5, 2012
248 pages
ISBN: 069115368X
EAN: 9780691153681
Kindle: B007BOK6OI
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History
When Barack Obama became president, many Americans embraced
him as a transformational leader who would fundamentally
change the politics and policy of the country. Yet, two
years into his administration, the public resisted his calls
for support and Congress was deadlocked over many of his
major policy proposals. How could this capable new president
have difficulty attaining his goals? Did he lack tactical
skills? In Overreach, respected presidential scholar George Edwards
argues that the problem was strategic, not tactical. He
finds that in President Obama's first two years in office,
Obama governed on the premise that he could create
opportunities for change by persuading the public and some
congressional Republicans to support his major initiatives.
As a result, he proposed a large, expensive, and polarizing
agenda in the middle of a severe economic crisis. The
president's proposals alienated many Americans and led to a
severe electoral defeat for the Democrats in the 2010
midterm elections, undermining his ability to govern in the
remainder of his term. Edwards shows that the president's frustrations were
predictable and the inevitable result of misunderstanding
the nature of presidential power. The author demonstrates
that the essence of successful presidential leadership is
recognizing and exploiting existing opportunities, not in
creating them through persuasion. When Obama succeeded in
passing important policies, it was by mobilizing Democrats
who were already predisposed to back him. Thus, to avoid
overreaching, presidents should be alert to the limitations
of their power to persuade and rigorously assess the
possibilities for obtaining public and congressional support
in their environments.
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