Who You Gonna Believe?

By Helen Vollmer, President

Do you buy into what the president says or not?  Are you persuaded to change your POV based on what the world’s single most important leader wants you to know?

As we begin the Presidential campaigns in earnest, these are questions posed in a recent New Yorker article that refutes the thinking, “The power of the presidency is the power to publicly persuade.”  Mmmm . . . not so much it would appear.

Presidential academicians, such a George Edwards, the director of the Center for Presidential Studies at Texas A&M, suggest that while we can be persuaded to vote for a candidate based on rhetoric, once they are in office we are less inclined to change our understanding and/or endorsement of White House policies based on what they tell us.  A President’s power of persuasion is strong once elected, but only within his own party.  Persuasion is a governing tool, not an election tool.

As David Axelrod, who served as Obama’s chief strategist during the 2008 campaign has said, “People are viewing their lives through the lens of their own experience, not waiting for you to describe what they’re seeing or feeling.”

Presidents win policy victories because life is good.  We call these presidents great communicators.  Case in point?  Ronald Reagan.

Which is why during a Presidential election year, we need to remember that the Presidency is about private leadership as much as it is public leadership.  Back room bargains and quiet negotiations are, of course, where many real battles take place.  Nothing new here- our Founding Fathers- who didn’t have to deal with pervasive media scrutiny- were masters of negotiation on this front.

So, red state or blue state, it would seem to me that while getting caught up in the rhetoric of a charismatic candidate is exciting, what we really need to keep our focus on is who is not simply a great orator, but a great negotiator who can play well in others’ sandboxes.