« I'll Bring Home the Bacon. Fry it Up in a Pan. | Main | Youth Voting in Off-Year Elections »

October 31, 2009

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83534ac5b69e20120a69b3153970c

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Are We Entering A New Era?:

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Doug M.

I was Skowronek's TA back in 1998-9. He is touchingly modest about the book and acknowledges that his scheme is very broad and general (though, obviously, he still thinks it's useful).

One thing to remember is that Reconstructive presidents (he had another name for them, which I misremember) are often /less/ effective than their successors. That's because they're busy changing the paradigm, shifting the Overton Window, and dealing with the damaged but still potent remnants of the ancien regime. It's often their successors -- the articulators -- who actually get more stuff done. So, Truman and Johnson arguably did more, or at least more per year of office, than FDR. Remember, most of the New Deal reforms were bitterly opposed, and much of the First New Deal got rolled back or repealed. Similarly, Reagan had a much more hawkish foreign policy than the couple of presidents preceding him, but it took the Bushes to actually get us into large foreign wars.

Skowronek takes a long view, and I don't think he'd see health care as definitive. (Though it might be very suggestive, sure.)

Note that pre-emptive presidents tend to win re-election (Wilson, Ike, Nixon, Clinton), but they also tend to have godawful second terms.


Doug M.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Everyday Politics Authors

Norton American Politics Books

February 2010

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28            

washingtonpost.com - Politics