09/04/13

The presidency; The State of the Presidency, by Thomas E. Cronin. Boston; Little, Brown & Co. - CSMonitor.com

The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

The presidency; The State of the

Presidency, by Thomas E. Cronin.
Boston; Little, Brown & Co.
By Curtis J. Sitomer / July 14, 1980 at 12:07 pm EDT
As both political parties get ready formally to choose their standard-bearers ,
attention turns to the presidency as well as to the candidates. In recent months
books have rolled off the presses on the Carter years, the effect of the news media
on elections, and political movers and shakers who help shape administrations. Few
have been outstanding.
A cluster of them (including Clark R. Mollenhoff's "The President Who Failed" and
Haynes Johnson's "In the Absence of Power") detail what might be called the
"sorry" state of a particular presidency -- Jimmy Carter's.
By contrast, Professor Cronin, a former White House scholar and congressional
consultant now teaching at the University of Delaware, offers a broader, more
conceptional volume on the workings of the presidency. Often textbook-type
analyses go virtually unnoticed except in academic circles. The Cronin work should
be an exception.
It is well written, well annotated, and comprehensive. It raises the basic problem of
how the American political system and the relationship between leaders and citizens
can be altered to approach more closely the ideals of democracy.
Throughout his book (a volume revised and updated from an earlier one in the mid'70s) Cronin stresses a "need for a strong but also a lean and accountable
presidency, a presidency that could achieve the reforms and innovative changes that
would broaden the economic and political share of the common person."
The occupant of the White House must be powerful politically and otherwise,
Cronin maintains, but he also dwells on what he calls the paradox of the modern
presidency: ". . . it is always too powerful, and it is always inadequate."
Cronin shows that there are clear contradictions between the qualities needed to
get elected president and those required to serve with success in the Oval Office.
And this is compounded by an all-demanding, if not inconsistent, electorate, which
wants a president who is "just and decent but a decisive and guileless leader"; "a
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The presidency; The State of the Presidency, by Thomas E. Cronin. Boston; Little, Brown & Co. - CSMonitor.com

programmatic but pragmatic leader"; and "a common man who gives an uncommon
performance."
Cronin examines the pros and cons of turning to a "direct vote" and scrapping the
time-honored Electrocal College system. his thoughts may turn out to be especially
timely as the United States approaches a three-way contest, in which John
Anderson's candidacy could well throw the final election into the House of
Representatives.
Actually, Cronin rejects both "direct vote" and the present system in favor of a
"National Bonus Plan." Such a proposal would add a pool of 102 electoral votes
(in addition to the 538 state-based electoral votes) which would be awarded on a
winner-take-all basis to the candidate who received at least 40 percent of the
popular vote. It would virtually eliminate the possibility that the candidate with the
highest popular vote total could lose the election.
In an excellent section on presidential accountability, Cronin discusses proposed
checks on presidental power, or misuse of it, but patently rejects recurring
suggestions for congressional votes of "no confidence" (a la parliament), institution
of a "national [voter] initiative," or a six-year term of office as efficient remedies.
He insists that the answer lies not in removing the presidency from politics -- that
would make a chief executive less responsible, Cronin holds -- but in strengthening
political parties and making the White house "more open" and responsive to public
needs.
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