The Presidential Character

In 1972 James David Barber published The Presidential Character, basically a typology of presidential attitudes and behaviors.  Here’s how it works.  Draw a line across the middle sheet  of paper.  Label the space above the line as “active” and below the line “passive.” 

    

 Barber says that some presidents are activist, proposing major legislation, attempting to influence Congressional policy, and taking a lead on major issues.  FDR springs to mind.  Other presidents do very little while in office, basically warming the seat.  Calvin Coolidge is one.  When told Coolidge was dead, Alice Roosevelt Longworth exclaimed, “How could they tell?”

Now draw a line in the middle of the paper from top to bottom.  Label the left side “positive” and the right hand side “negative.”  Positive presidents are those who love the job and get a kick out of being president.  Again, FDR springs to mind.  Negative presidents hardly ever smile; when they do it seems forced.  They run for president out of a sense of duty. Think Nixon or Wilson.

So now you have a matrix with four cells: active-positive, passive-positive; active-negative, and passive-negative.  While we could argue about individual presidents, we probably would agree on a number of them.  FDR--active-positive; the first George Bush--passive-positive;  Nixon--active-negative; Coolidge--passive-negative.  The last cell would have the least number, I believe, since if you don’t like the job and you don’t want to change policy, why even run?  (Coolidge took over when Harding died, and although he could have easily won re-election in 1928, he chose not to run.)

Beyond providing for interesting discussions, does any of this matter?  According to Barber, active-negative presidents are potentially a problem.  They don’t enjoy the job, but they see a need to change policies.  They tend to be testy, They do not play well with others.  

Barber thought that active-positive presidents were the most desirable.  Note that Barber was not concerned with what policies the president pursued.  I would put Reagan in the active-positive cell, but I certainly didn’t like his policy proposals, which have been a national disaster.

So in which cell does President Obama fit?  Justify your answer.

The other 364 days

I gave a small donation to the “Toys for Tots” program, and I commend the people who organize that activity, but I can’t help thinking that if we lived in just society with less disparity between the upper tier and the rest of us, and if we had a decent safety net, we could scale back that program considerably.

Congress has cut food stamps for millions of people and will end unemployment benefits for over a million people just a few days after Christmas.  The Toys for Tots is a sweet thing to do, but it is not enough.

Yellowstone wolves

Naturalist and Sierra Club founder John Muir once wrote, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”  The winter issue of Earthjustice has an example of what Muir was talking about.  

In the 1920s U.S. government policy allowed the extermination of wolves in Yellowstone, which caused an ecosystem collapse.  Here’s what happened.  Elk populations exploded.  The elk overgrazed the aspens and willows, which were used by beavers for food and dam material.  Scavenger species, such as bears and ravens, declined, since they no longer had wolf kills on which to feed.

Coyotes became the apex predator, but they eat rodents, not elk.  As a consequence, smaller animals that eat voles and mice, such as foxes and hawks, began to decline.

In 1995 wolves were reintroduced.  Coyote numbers dropped by half, elk numbers dropped, beaver colonies in the North range increased from 1 to 12, and scavenger species again had wolf kills to eat.

On another subject entirely, I had my root canal this afternoon.  It was almost painless--thank you Lehigh Valley Endodontics.  

Toothache

What are the two most dreaded words in the English language?  “Root Canal.”  I have all kinds of subjects to write about, but I have a molar that needs a root canal, but the infection is not quite responding to the amoxicillin, and I can’t concentrate, and I’m going to bed.  Maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow night.  The procedure is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Back from the abyss

Periodically the U.S. goes through periods of paranoia, its citizens frightened and willing to set aside the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution.  In the 1840s the fear was directed against the Irish and in the 1870s against Chinese.  After both World Wars we experienced what has come to be known as the Red Scares.  That is a very truncated list; I could add many more.

Our latest descent into fear and paranoia involves “terrorism.”  Beginning with the illegal roundup of hundreds of Muslims after 9/11, and including Guantanamo and torture, the fear has also prompted lesser annoyances, such as over 900,000 people on restricted fly lists, the necessity for passports to drive into Canada, and the tapping of friendly foreign leaders’ conversations.  

Terrorists are real. I know that.  What I don’t see is how that justifies the N.S.A. recording the phone calls and emails of ordinary Americans.  In the last two days, I’m proud to say, we saw some pushback in three different areas.

On Monday a federal district court judge, Richard J. Leon, said the N.S.A. recording of all Americans’ phone calls was “almost Orwellian.”  He said Madison would be “aghast.”

His opinion, of course, will be appealed by the Justice Department.  The Justice Department is an executive department under President Obama.

Secondly, when President Obama met with some of the nation’s leaders in the tech industry to discuss the health care website problems, those leaders were more interested in discussing the privacy rights of their users and customers. 

Third, a panel appointed to review the surveillance activities of N.S.A. released its report on Wednesday.  It made 46 recommendations, many of which called for limiting the N.S.A. activities.  The President is said to be open to many of the proposals.

Incidentally, we would not even have known how extensive the N.S.A. taps and recordings were if it had not been for Edward Snowden.  

A Marxist Pope?

Pope Francis, discussing the world’s economy, said, “In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which becomes the only rule.”

He went on to say, “Inequality eventually engenders a violence which recourse to arms cannot and never will be able to solve.”

Rush Limbaugh called this “pure Marxism.”   When told that people were calling him a Marxist, the Pope replied that he wasn’t a Marxist, but he knew many fine people who were.

I love this Pope.

Current events quiz

The Carbon County Democrats for Change held their annual Holiday Party tonight.  I had prepared a quiz consisting of 16 questions for the party-goers.  I won’t give you the whole quiz--just four of the questions.

1.  Senator Ted Cruz was born in:

     A.  Cuba.

     B.  Kenya.

     C.  Dallas.

     D.  Canada.

2.  Republican representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania compared Speaker John Boehner to:

     A.  Jesus on Palm Sunday.

     B.  Charleton Heston parting the Red Sea.

     C.  Sitting Bull at the battle of Little Big Horn.

     D.  George Washington crossing the Delaware.

3.  The number of women currently serving in the U.S. Senate Is:

     A.  6.

     B.  20.

     C.  32.

     D.  40.

Bonus point:  How many of those women are Republican? ____

4.  Santa Claus and Jesus were both white guys, according to:

     A.  Megyn Fox of Fox "News."

     B.  the Hallmark Greeting Card company.

     C.  recent legislation adopted by the Slovak Republic.

     D.  the Tea Party caucus in the House of Representatives.

Answers:  1-D; 2-A; 3-B, bonus point-4; 4-A.  How did you do?