1. Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions
I. Do great crises encourage great presidential performance?
Do great times make for great leadership or great leaders
make great times?
Madison, Pierce, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Hoover
vs. Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, Truman
Skowronek’s “Political Time” Presidency: “Has Obama called
for united America too soon to make politics of reconstruction?”

2. Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions
II. A bias in favor of assertive and energetic presidents?
John Quincy Adams, Coolidge, Taft suffer in this context
How is an energetic president different from an imperial
presidency?  LBJ, Nixon, and George W. Bush (?)

3. Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions
III. Performance in office vs. Achievements over a life-time?
Grant: a great general but a weak president
Madison: a superb constitutional architect yet an average president
Hoover: successful cabinet member but far less successful as a president
Carter: a Nobel Prize winner, yet low marks for his presidency

4. Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions
IV. Can we objectively compare presidents from different eras?
Leadership is truly contextual.
Seldom are different presidents facing with the same
situations.
(Ex) Jefferson and Polk praised for adding vast areas to the
territory of the United States, yet recent presidents cannot
duplicate those feats.

5. Presidential Election
The “chief factors” influencing
how people vote in presidential elections
Party Orientation (Party ID)
Policy Preferences
Retrospective judgments on the performance of the incumbent or their political party
The way people perceive the integrity, character, and judgment of the candidates