2024 Election Reading List: The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House
What Does it Take to Be a Great President?
With the 2024 General Election in the United States of America approaching soon, some of you might wonder, "Who should I vote for?" If you haven't decided on your preferred candidate yet, the book, The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House, by James David Barber might help you decide who to vote for. As always, we're here for you.
Before we dive into the book, though, let's talk about the Presidency in general: who can be a president, and what are his/her formal job responsibilities?
Being a President: Constitutional Qualifications
The answer to the question of who qualifies to be President is spelled out in one of the fundamental documents of the United States: the U.S. Constitution. According to Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution:
A presidential candidate should be a "national-born" U.S. citizen, at least 35 years or older, and have resided in the United States for at least 14 years before running for President. In other words, a presidential candidate has to be a U.S. citizen by birth, either born in the U.S.A. or be a legitimate child of a U.S. citizen born abroad, mature, and have lived in the United States to be aware of the country's political discourse.
Being a President: Job Description
The U.S. President is elected every four years and can serve a maximum of 10 years. That equates to two full presidential terms plus finishing the term of a deceased president while serving as a vice president.
The U.S. President is the head of the Executive Branch, and his/her responsibilities are multi-fold. Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution lists all of them.
First, the U.S. President oversees the United States military forces. They include the Army and Navy and the Militia, which, according to the Militia Act of 1903, is divided into "organized militia," like The National Guard and Naval Militia, and "unorganized militia," which comprises reserve militia. The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the U.S. military's reserve of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force once activated by the federal government. The Naval Militia is a state-based reserve military force comprised of reservists of the Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve, retired and volunteers. The U.S. President has the right to pardon for all offenses except Impeachment.
Second, the U.S. president can sign treaties with foreign countries if the U.S. Senate approves them with a two-thirds majority. The U.S. President has the right to nominate and appoint Ambassadors, Ministers, Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and other Officers with the approval of the Senate.
Third, the U.S. President has the right to fill all vacancies during the Senate Recess until the session's end. To summarize, the U.S. President has a lot of executive rights and responsibilities, ranging from sending U.S. troops abroad to nominating Supreme Court judges.
So, the question arises, "What kind of person can thrive and succeed in such a demanding job?"
U.S. Presidency: The Most Demanding Job
Now that we know who qualifies as President and what the presidential job entails, we can return to the book, The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House, by James David Barber (Fifth Edition: Routledge, 2020). The book's first edition was published in 1972 during Nixon's Presidency and has been revised several times. Now it is considered a classic read on the Presidency.
James David Barber (1930 - 2004) was a Duke University political scientist who studied the psychology of presidents and presidential candidates and classified presidents by their worldviews. Barber's question in the book is, "What qualities should we look for in a President?" Barber's answer is simple: character, presidential style, and worldview.
Four Types of Presidential Character
The central premise of Barber is that, based on the existing pattern set in the previous political life of a candidate, one can foresee the candidate's performance during the Presidency. As the President's job responsibilities reach far beyond administering the Executive Branch, only a few can serve will in the first place of public leadership.
This job, according to Barber, requires "extraordinary sanity." He states, "If there is such a thing as extraordinary sanity, it is needed nowhere so much as in the White House." As the President's personality essentially shapes the President's behavior in office, Barber argues that the future performance of the President can be forecast. He bases his analysis on the activity-affect baseline, which refers to what one does and how one feels about what one does. The author defines four types of Presidential character.
Active-Positive
A President with this personality style is very active in pursuing their own political goals and enjoys the process, has a high self-esteem, and adapts to the political environment. The President, in this case, "shows an orientation toward productiveness as a value, and an ability to use his styles flexibly, adaptively, suiting the dance to the music.” In this case, the President is active and has a positive result.
Active-Negative
A President with this personality style is very active yet is not emotionally rewarded. This means that during the Presidency, such a President is often frustrated. In the words of Barber, “The activity has a compulsive quality, as if the man were trying to make up for something or to escape from anxiety into hard work.
"He seems ambitious, striving upward and seeking power. His stance toward the environment is aggressive and he has a persistent problem in managing his aggressive feeling. His self-image is vague and hold power, hampered by the condemnations of a perfectionist conscience. Active-negative types pour energy into the political system, but it is an energy distorted from within.” (Chapter 1)
Passive-Positive
“This is the receptive, compliant, other-directed character whose life is a search for affection as a reward for being agreeable and cooperative rather than personally assertive. The contradiction is between low self-esteem (on grounds of being unlovable, unattractive) and a superficial optimism.”
Passive-Negative
“Passive-negative types are in politics because they think they ought to be. They may be well adapted to certain non-political roles, but they lack the experience and flexibility to perform effectively as political leaders. Their tendency is to withdraw, to escape from the conflict and uncertainty of politics by emphasizing vague principles and procedural arrangements. They become guardians of the right and proper way, above the sordid politicking of lesser men.”
When you are deciding for whom you will vote, think about this framework of presidential characters. The essential question is which candidate is the best candidate for the toughest job in the world. Great news: it's up to YOU to decide. Happy Voting!