Obama Takes Presidency Back to Pre-McKinley

It was President McKinley who invented the modern presidency by converting the executive office from a largely ceremonial institution into an active branch of the U.S. government. Primarily in foreign policy, McKinley shaped the presidency for the 20th century.

With his "visionary" approach to the presidency, Barack Obama apparently wants to take the president's hands off the grinds of daily politics. The question is whether he is envisioning a figure-head presidency or is trying to reinforce the teamwork trend that has been underway for some time already.

The teamwork presidencies of Bush-Cheney, Clinton-Gore and Reagan-Bush have been very active. The president has been directly involved do a large degree in the day-to-day issues of politics. Getting the vice president involved, and having strong, active secretaries at, e.g., the State Department has been necessary in an increasingly complex political context.

It appears unlikely that Obama is going to follow that trend. More likely, he is going to revert back to the pre-McKinley tradition and leave Congress more room to set the stage for daily politics, especially on the domestic scene. The problem with this model is that both the economy, the needed reforms in the big welfare systems and foreign policy all call for an active presidency.

Others in Obama's incoming administration see this. If Obama tries to take a figure-head role it is more than likely that strong individuals in his administration will set the tone on their own. This is especially likely in foreign policy with a secretary of state who ostensibly has presidential ambitions for 2012.

Whichever way Obama wants to go, he needs to clarify his presidential philosophy in much more detail, and do it soon, in order to avoid a policy vacuum as the Bush administration phases out.