POL SCI 21A Lecture 14: Presidency and Decision Making

• School: UC-Irvine
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL SCI 21A
• Professor: Matthew Beckmann

Document Summary

-organizing the white house is up to each president. -6,000 administration positions to fill (600 in the white house) Ideally, you"d (cid:449)a(cid:374)t so(cid:373)eo(cid:374)e (cid:449)ho is (cid:271)oth loyal a(cid:374)d (cid:272)o(cid:373)pete(cid:374)t. When you can choose (what to work on: reelection, good policy, historical achievement. Whe(cid:374) you ca(cid:374)"t choose: congress (thro(cid:449)i(cid:374)g issues at the preside(cid:374)t that he does(cid:374)"t (cid:449)a(cid:374)t to a(cid:374)s(cid:449)er(cid:895, media (biased pressed, real world, economy, national security. Presidents need a decision-(cid:373)aki(cid:374)g pro(cid:272)ess that allo(cid:449)s the(cid:373) to (cid:373)ake the (cid:862)right(cid:863) de(cid:272)isio(cid:374) effi(cid:272)ie(cid:374)tly. Presidents are central decision maker but everyone else has access to give opinions to him. Cannot do spokes of the wheel model; too much information; no efficiency. (e. g. jimmy carter and tennis courts/pool access, bill cli(cid:374)to(cid:374)"s co a(cid:374)d s(cid:449)it(cid:272)hi(cid:374)g fro(cid:373) spokes to pyramid model) Needs to be some sort of chain command/hierarchic structure. Not everyone gets direct access to the president. Almost all presidents end up with a pyramid-type structure.