The power of the bully pulpit
After reading a recent New Yorker piece on presidential rhetoric, we wanted to know: How much power does a president have to persuade others?
George C. Edwards III, professor of political science at Texas A&M University, will join The Daily Circuit Tuesday. By the time a president makes it to the White House, they think they can persuade anyone, he said.
"Think about how these guys become President," he told the New Yorker. "The normal way is talking for two years. That's all you do, and somehow you win. You must be a really persuasive fellow... Barack Obama is only the latest in a long line of presidents who have not been able to transform the political landscape through their efforts at persuasion."
Frances Lee, professor of American politics at the University of Maryland, will also join the discussion.
"Whatever people think about raw policy issues, they're aware that Presidential successes will help the President's party and hurt the opposing party," Lee said in the New Yorker. "It's not to say they're entirely cynical, but the fact that success is useful to the President's party is going to have an effect on how members respond."
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