The Craft of Leadership

 The House minority leader has limited power, as we discussed on Tuesday.

This week: Cocaine Mitch votes against Gabbard and RFK.

• For Monday, Davidson, ch. 7.  Next assignment will involve explaining the fate of a bill.
• Start thinking about which two committees you want to simulate.

What is leadership?  What is power?

• Transactional v. transformative
• Sources of power
• Knowledge of policy and procedure
• Understanding of what followers want
• Money
• Reputation:  fear and respect
• Influence on public opinion

Postscript to p. 137: McCarthy falls.

And PPS: change in the MTV

So why did Kevin McCarthy fail? Michael Tomasky:

McCarthy’s pulverizing failure as a legislative leader stems from two truths: One, he cared little about policy; two, his word was no good. He’d say anything to anyone. If you’ve read enough political biographies, you know that “he was always as good as his word” is a common form of high praise that can be delivered across partisan lines. McCarthy was as useless and malleable as his word.

Lesson:   pols understand that they mislead voters, but it is taboo to lie to fellow pols.

Narrow majorities require high levels of unity.

Boehner: 

• "Pelosi had gutted Big John Dingell like a halibut she found floating around San Francisco Bay, then calmly sat back and had a cup of coffee afterward. His entrails were left on display for everyone in the House of Representatives to see- and to remember."
• The Mark Meadows story: "Yeah, I said, I'd forgive him. But I knew he was carrying a backpack full of knives-and sooner or later, he'd try to cut me again with them. Which, of course, he did.
• How did Boehner lead the fight against the House Bank?  (He had help.)
• How did Bachmann turn the tables?

Barber Conable, a moderate Republican from upstate New York, retired in 1984, and wrote a column reflecting on life in the House. Instead of looking at the upstarts with horror, he instead saw something very natural:

Old as I am, I recall being a "young turk" at one point and participating noisily in a successful effort to change House rules which the then Establishment found adequate. I learned a lot about the institution from the effort, vented my frustrations, and gradually became part of the Establishment myself. Youth presses age, provides a good deal of the dynamic and the dialogue, and eventually ages. Partisans may not like the tranquility of my view of these recent histrionics, but I find reassurance in the cycle of renewal.

LBJ AND LEGISLATIVE LEADERSHIP

The Johnson Network

• The Favor Bank

The Johnson Intelligence System

• One week after becoming president, LBJ mentions his long relationship with J. Edgar Hoover (ab at 19:00).

The Johnson Procedure

• Unanimous consent agreement -- functional equivalent of a House rule

The Johnson Treatment

• Caro on LBJ, the House, and the Senate

LBJ in Frank Underwood's office

 

The inside game and the outside game:  in LBJ's time in the Senate, the outside game scarcely counted.  

Gingrich and C-SPAN start to change things. 

• Newt v. O'Neill 1984 (start clip at 9:30)

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