Clinton Presidential Report

Clinton Presidential Report

One of the toughest jobs the president has is to understand their proper role as representative of the people and you President Clinton are no different from any other president in that respect, but you are different because of the recent scandal involving Monica Lewinsky, perjury, and the obstruction of justice (Pfiffner 456-457). In understanding how to handle the scandal we must look at the history of modern presidential scandals.

The first example of a presidential scandal I offer to you is the example of Richard Nixon. President Nixon had a group known as the plumbers work for him and commit illegal acts throughout his presidency. The plumbers’ main objectives were to stop leaks out of the white house and carry out other tasks of political intelligence and sabotage for him against his political opponents. James P. Pfiffner, political scientist and author, wrote; “What eventually brought down President Nixon was his involvement with the cover-up of the crimes. Nixon never seemed to consider seriously the possibility of denouncing the break in and promising that the White House would not conduct any such activity in the future” (Pfiffner 448). Nixon failed to realize that the most effective way in spinning the scandal would be to admit guilt and ask for understanding directly from the American people. Nixon did the exact opposite of being forward and truthful with the American people and consciously attempted to cover- up his involvement with the scandal and the plumbers. He paid the price by resigning while impeachment charges were being brought against him in congress.

The second example of Presidential scandal spin control is Ronald Reagan. As Pfiffner says, “Reagan had become extremely concerned with the plight of the hostages in Lebanon (during his tenure as president)” (Pfiffner 450). Due to his concern he allowed members of his staff to make arrangements to exchange U.S. arms and spare parts for Iranian intervention to have the hostages in Lebanon released. “The secret attempt to fund the contras was in direct violation of public law and a serious threat to the constitution”, discusses Pfiffner (Pfiffner 453). The difference in how Reagan and Nixon handled their own presidential scandals are as different as night and day.

Pfiffner writes, “President Reagan did not stonewall the investigations, as President Nixon had […] He established the Tower Board to investigate the matter; he brought the special counsel David Abshire to ensure that there would be no cover- up […] He refused to claim executive privilege and turned over documents to the independent counsel and congressional investigators. Thus President Reagan salvaged his presidency from what might have been far worse consequences” (Pfiffner 454).

Reagan and his staff handled the scandal quite well through the media. Representatives and staff of Reagan would show the media different polls daily, which the white house had paid to get taken. These polls showed that the American people still had faith in Reagan’s ability to lead the nation. Today this scandal is seen less negatively than other presidential scandals of recent history. I would suggest that you hire a political scientist to take, collect, and interpret poll data and redistribute that information to the American people through the media immediately.

After the admittance of wrong doing and being forward and truthful with the American people a positive image must be developed and pushed to the media and the public on a daily basis. Immediately after the scandal your presidency must be concerned primarily with maintaining and also increasing public support and sympathy for yourself. The media is the key to communication and communication is the key to gaining public support with the American people. So to gain public support you must effectively use the ‘bully pulpit’, as Teddy Roosevelt once did. President Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed, “People used to say of me that I […] divined what the people were going to think. I did not ‘divine’ […] I simply made up my mind what they ought to think and then did my best to get them to think it” (Pfiffner 185). This shows how President Roosevelt successfully used the bully pulpit, to shape his image, agenda, and policies through