Overview

What do the failed Iranian hostage rescue mission, the lead-up to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the hapless response to Hurricane Katrina and the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov have in common? They exemplify failed presidential leadership. They all have roots in a president's failure to "balance...policy, communication and implementation." Brookings Institution senior fellow Elaine C. Kamarck relates the causes and details of various presidential failures. Most of these downfalls, she reports - drawing examples from both Republican and Democratic administrations - stem from chief executives' overreliance on communicating with the public at the expense of policy and implementation, and from their unfamiliarity with the depth, history and power of the bureaucracy they head. While always politically neutral, getAbstract suggests this timely thesis to students, professors, policy makers, political campaigners and strategists, lobbyists, government employees, and readers who ponder the state of the US presidency.