| Chapter 1: | Presidents in Tough Times |
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objections (including his own) about the constitutionality of the purchase. Several presidents, including Reagan, Clinton, both Bushes, and Obama, resorted to signing statements to shape the implementation or enforcement of laws passed by Congress, convinced in each case that his responsibility to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” included the power to interpret the laws in the process of their execution.
Fourth, presidents employ public politics as a form of unilateralism. Faced with resistance from Congress or other elements of the political system, presidents have employed direct appeals for public support as a means of pressuring the legislature, the bureaucracy, or others to comply with the president’s wishes.31 The classic version of public politics is the nationwide televised address from the Oval Office in which the president calls on Americans to “tell your senators and representatives by phone, wire, and Mailgram that the future hangs in the balance” (as Ronald Reagan said in 1981 on the eve of a crucial House vote on his budget proposal). Samuel Kernell called this tactic “going public” and argued that it is more akin to Neustadt’s notion of “command” than bargaining:32
*Public politics rarely includes the kinds of exchanges that bargaining requires—the president is calling on Congress (usually) to comply with his demands and the demands of his supporters, rather than offering to make a compromise;
*Appeals for public support for the president impose costs on those the president seeks to pressure and offer few benefits for compliance—instead of bargaining, the president seeks to force members of Congress to comply or face voters’ displeasure but gives nothing in return when members do comply;
*Going public involves the president staking out a public position, thus making compromise more difficult; and,
*Public politics undermines the legitimacy of other politicians by insisting that the role of Congress is to go along with what the president