Prisoners of the White House
The Isolation of America's Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership
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- $44.99
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- $44.99
Publisher Description
Prisoners of the White House looks at the isolation experienced by presidents of the United States in the White House, a habitat almost guaranteed to keep America's commander in chief far removed from everyday life. The authors look at how this is emerging as one of the most serious dilemmas facing the American presidency. As presidents have become more isolated, the role of the presidential pollster has grown. Ken Walsh has been given exclusive access to the polls and confidential memos received by presidents over the years, and has interviewed presidential pollsters directly to gain their unique perspective. Prisoners of the White House gets inside the bubble and punctures the mythology surrounding the presidency.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Veteran White House correspondent Walsh (Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House) provides an uncontroversial review of efforts by presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama to maintain contact with the American people, despite their isolation in office. Arguing that the presidents who do this best have the most successful administrations, Walsh traces the evolution of the key technique of polling, which has become an indispensable tool. The author notes that polls are not always reliable, but they enable both a sampling of public opinion and a means of shaping that opinion. Other methods of keeping a finger on the public pulse include monitoring the media, sampling letters from constituents, consulting legislators and friends, and conversations with citizens. Unfortunately, Walsh doesn't offer a concrete escape plan for breaking out of the gilded prison of the White House a goal that might well be impractical anyway. Nevertheless, students of political science and history will find this to be a worthwhile reflection on how the presidency has evolved.
