Qualities of a Good President

¶ … Presidential Leadership

Significant relationship has been shown to exist between the success of a president and failure both coming from the nature of the strategies used in the making of critical policies. According to Thomas Patterson, several factors affect the presidential leadership in the United States of America and other countries. These factors are critical towards the realization of success by the president and the country, basing the success to be the fulfillment of the policies and strategies laid out for the people. This study has analyzed the various factors that affect the presidency and its leadership as stated by Thomas Patterson. Further, the study has proceeded to lay out where these factors affect the nature of leadership, together with the possibly important factors that are relevant to the leadership of any president in the world (Nye 78).

Discussion

Patterson Thomas has discussed factors affecting presidential leadership. These factors make the influence of the president upon the national policies to vary considerably. The success of the president in foreseeing a successful enactment of the policies depends on the stage at which the president is at, the force of circumstances, the nature of the individual support he or she gets from the Congress, and the nature of the domestic and foreign policies contained in the policy issue (Patterson 16). These factors are instrumental in explaining the nature of the presidential leadership many presidents tend to embrace. The president is the pinnacle force in a nation. He is the chief executive and he has a chance to be listened to by others. Nonetheless, effective leadership will want him to have effective and full-time support from his officials. He needs help from all the officers who are under him. He has a responsibility to respond to the needs and interests of those under him so that he can get the same replicated support. This is a challenge for many presidents in shaping effective leadership to the people. To get enough public support, every president has to respond to the high level of public assistance that will give him equitable leadership and hence respond to his or her needs. Like the American people, every president who comes to the office must win the public trust and dissipate enough trust through offering circumstances that meet the needs and requirements from the public. These needs are varied, meaning the president will not be able to assist every individual or a group. Such cases are challenging when it comes to managing effective leadership of the people (Cohen 56).

The force of circumstance is what drives most decisions and resolutions made by many presidents and their styles of leadership. Circumstances will always occur. Some are sudden, tragedy-like while others are initiated by the nature of the leadership delivered by the president. For instance, the incidence of economic meltdown has a massive effect and influence on the nature of the leadership style that will be assumed by any president. Cases of terrorism and natural occurrences like earthquakes and typhoons will influence in some way on the nature of the leadership that will be assumed by the president. These circumstances, together with others self-imposed by the leadership of the president, have an influential effect on the kind of leadership posted by the president (Patterson 24).

The stage of presidency matters a lot when it comes to the making and fulfillment of the policies within the Congress. This is why many past presidents of the United States of America experienced varying rates of success. At the start of the presidency, many presidents will have an almost full support, be it from the people directly of from the Congress members and the officials under the President. Many policies will be looked into and passed to success during this time. Nonetheless, as the period of presidency lapses, notably towards the end of the first term and towards the end of the second term, many presidents fail to garner enough support and trust from the people and those working under him. Such change of trust based on the stage of presidency affects the nature of leadership that will be yielded by the president (Nye 23).

Congress support is another prospectus aspect that greatly influences the nature of the presidency assumed by the president, and its success. The Congress made presidents like Lyndon Johnson to be successful in their nature of leadership while others like Bush and Reagan had to struggle in the 1980s. One factor that contributes to the success of these presidents was the presence, and absence, of the conditions of national concern that are demanding strong leadership styles to be put in place. The strength of the president's party in the Congress will ultimately influence his success and the success of his leadership style, and vice versa. The policy issues made by the president and his party are critical towards making his leadership be a success of a failure (Neustadt 43-67). These policies affect the country internally, and those that affect the external realms of the nation. Such policies shape the perception of the people on the nature of the leadership of the president, and hence its success. Today there are fewer occurrences of wars and powers on wars between different countries. Nonetheless, conflicts always will make many presidents make decisions that are central to the internal and external processes within a country. For instance, sending out troops in support of an internal or an external policy has a certain influence on the people and their perception of the style of leadership by the president (Patterson 33).

2) In Opinion Factors Important Presidential Leadership