THE ISOLATED EXECUTIVE, REMOVED FROM REALITY: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
A look back at a not-so-different time, courtesy of our friends from Delancey Place
In today's excerpt, the remote management style of Richard Nixon (1913-1994):
"Nixon fashioned an ingenious device to enhance his own personal authority. Where Lyndon Johnson had worked to the blare of news broadcasts from three televisions mounted on the walls of the Oval Office and to the constant clatter of two wire-service teleprinters behind his desk, Nixon preferred to have his news closely sifted and filtered.
He arranged for a daily summary of stories from the newspapers and the networks to be compiled overnight in the West Wing by trusted political aides for him to check out when he came to work in the morning. Not only were the summaries tailored to his tastes and political needs, but the president could use them as a launchpad for instructions to his aides that often took the form of angry outbursts against enemies, real or imagined, inside and outside the administration. 'FIRE HIM,' he would scrawl when learning of some bureaucratic outrage. These written orders minimized his exposure to subordinates outside the powerful threesome [Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Kissinger]. Somehow, amid the intense and even frenzied interaction of scores of West Wingers, the president of the United States remained a loner, seated in an Oval Office as hushed and solemn as a hermitage. ..."Within the executive branch, Nixon was almost as distant from his own cabinet. He utterly lacked any wish to work with his party in Congress or with his department heads as a team. 'I must build a wall around me,' he had told Haldeman on the very first evening of his presidency. ..."
One of the most poignant moments of Nixon's final departure from the White House was when he apologized to his staff for not having been in better touch with them. 'I just haven't had the time.' he said."
James MacGregor Burns, Running Alone, Basic Books, 2006, pp. 98, 105.
Other than the names of the insiders, is it so different today?
Labels: NATIONAL POLITICS
posted by UMRBlog @ 15:41
7 comments
7 Comments:
I would say there is a qualitative difference in that Nixon set things up that way to suit himself, whereas it appears that W is marginalized by his own underlings to a substantial extent. He may well have delegated authority at some point, but take a close look--I don't think W is actually running things, even though the decisions being made appear to coincide with his wishes.
Then again, maybe I need a tinfoil hat. :)
1156,
I started in the same place you are now. The problem with that thinking is the guys who were supposed to be the chessmasters are all gone, Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith. As the roster changes, one must eventually conclude Shrubby has set himself up this way by design.
TYFCB
What is the difference between George W and say our bloated City Council or County Board ?
Can you actually tell me how many members actually READ the packets that they are to review before voting ?
What about Sullivan passing the Turkey permit bill , yet Mr jones and CIPS are anally raping the Il consumer with rate hikes.
1537,
George W. is an isolated, in-the-bubble, unified executive branch. The operative words are "isolated" and "executive". "Executive" is a different branch for "Legislative". The difference between County Gov't and Federal Gov't is that Co. Gov't has no unified executive. It has the traditional judicial and legislative branch but the executive decsion-making is broken up into a whole bunch of specialized offices (all independently elected or appointed). So the answer to your question about the County and Bush is that they aren't comparable at all because County has no centralized executive decision-maker.
The City is about halfway between the two. The executive branch is more centralized than in County Gov't, Less than in State and Federal Gov't. The Mayor is out in the public all the time. Citizens can make an appointment and go and see him. He is not isolated at all. This has been true of our last five mayors (actually both Mayor Nicholson and Mayor Nuessen became a little less accessible at the end of their terms, but, overall, they were pretty easy to see.) So the City's not comparable to the Bush administration at all because the Mayor doesn't have nearly that centralized power and is interacting with the public. Getting this so far?
So what you are talking about with local gov't is what you perceive to be the quality of LEGISLATIVE acts. You have the protected constitutional right to think anything you want about any legislator's actions or intellects. What any of that has to do with either Executive action or isolation is truly beyond me.
I think you're talking about outcomes and I'm talking about process and process in a very specific place.
Having been the legal advisor for the county, I can say this about various County Boards. The level of preparation and familiarity with the items to be discussed was very uneven. There were some outstanding, hard-working, well-informed members (many of whom had opinions with which I disagreed) and there were some folks who couldn't or wouldn't prepare. There were always a couple who couldn't hear. That was a hoot!
TYFCB
Oh, and on your comment concerning the Illinois Senate: The mistake was made ten years ago and both houses of the leg. are just trying to react appropriately to it. Artificial Price Controls always have serious and unintended consequences.
TYFCB
Those not hearing members make debate a bitch but in hindsight can be very comical !
Yeah, but the all time all-timer could hear perfectly well. The topic was the adoption of a 911 service (which was then fairly universally referred to as "nine-eleven"). This member brilliantly pointed out that it would never work because there was no "eleven" on his pushbuttons. Not to be outdone, the guy next to him stated "Mine either!"
Everything after the pledge of allegiance is hazardous to your mental health.
TYFCB
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