Strange to start a list of problems with Congress by pointing the finger at another branch of government, perhaps. But one of Congress鈥檚 main problems is a lack of presidential leadership: For better or for worse, the president is a major part of the national political agenda.
鈥淭he president is always the leader,鈥� said former Rep. Dan Glickman (D) of Kansas, who also served as Agriculture secretary in the Clinton administration and as chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America. It鈥檚 up to the president to set 鈥渨here the direction of the country is going to go. The Congress may tinker with it or Congress may stop it. We can鈥檛 talk about the Congress without talking about the president.鈥�
Just like members of Congress, presidents often seek advantage by campaigning as 鈥渙utsiders鈥� untainted by time in Washington, D.C. While that doesn鈥檛 mean presidents can鈥檛 be effective working with consummate insiders, what Congress needs is a president with a plan. Without an executive branch keyed in to working with Congress, the potential for politically perilous legislation to cross the finish line with the president鈥檚 signature fades to black.
President George W. Bush and President Obama both came to Washington hoping to change Washington鈥檚 culture, says former Rep. Vin Weber (R) of Minnesota, now a top lobbyist and a GOP fundraiser. They just went about it the wrong way.
鈥淭hey thought they could do it through force of personality,鈥� Mr. Weber says. "You鈥檝e got to have real honest-to-God political skills, and you have to work it every day.
"The next president has to realize, 'This is a nitty-gritty political problem, and I have to put together real plans to achieve bipartisanship,' " he adds.
The president who got this right? 鈥淲e achieved a great deal under Bill Clinton,鈥� Weber says. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 because there wasn鈥檛 partisanship. But Clinton understood how to work the process.鈥�
