Why did George W. Bush, once the beneficiary of the highest presidential approval ratings ever, end his tenure with the lowest marks on record? The answer, according to Stephen Skowronek, can be found in the patterns of “political time” (p. 18). Just over 15 years ago, Skowronekʼs The Politics PresidentsMake changed the way we think about presidential leadership, the history of the office, and their entwined significance forAmerican politics. In PresidentialLeadership in Political Time: Reprise and Reappraisal, he repackages and further develops the ideas that made his original work compelling, and does so with captivating results.
The subject of campaign negativity has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Political observers have bemoaned the rise of attack ads and the hostile tone of civil discourse. Many claim that our countryʼs campaigns are getting dirtier, and that this undermines the quality of American democracy. Yet few of these criticisms have been based on systematic evidence. Opinions and anecdotes often outweigh clear data or compelling reasoning