Presidential Legitimacy Quotes
Obama was a President who believed deeply in the concepts of checks and balances and separation of powers. He did not punish members of Congress who opposed him by closing federal installations in their state of district, not giving government contracts to companies in his district and in the case of member of his own party who were “recalcitrant” supporting opponent in primary elections and failing to support in general elections. Presidents Nixon and Johnson used these techniques particularly effectively. As a result they pushed their legislative programs through Congress very effectively. All other modern Presidents have done this to one degree or another, but Obama did not. He believed that pressure on member of Congress should be limited to persuasion and public debate moving public opinion. Many seasoned politicians and political observers however thought that this was Obama’s biggest weakness as a President. Lyndon Johnson did not have to actually punish many member of Congress, as his willingness to do so was well known and thus few opposed him when he called or met with them and “gave them the treatment.” But Congress knew that Obama had taken punishment and retaliation off the table, and many opposed him including member of his own party.
Although the Jacksonian Democrats were the political successors to the Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans, Jefferson found Jackson wanting as a potential president. Although Jefferson had made this statement during the 1824 Election, it did not become public until the Election of 1828 — Jackson’s second term. At that time Edward Coles, Formerly James Madison’s Secretary, disclosed the quotation.
In 1995 the president had agreed with our allies to send troops to support a peace in Bosnia if there was one, but many in Congress attempted to block that possibility.
In a precursor to the 1948 unexpected 1948 Dewey defeat for the presidency, Charles Evans Hughes was favored to defeat Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Based on early returns in the East, New York Times and other newspapers had conceded the election to Hughes in their evening editions. Hughes retired early in his hotel. After midnight, a New York reporter called his suite. Hughes' son answered.
