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Partisanship and Policymaking: The Clinton, Bush, and Obama Presidencies (POL121)
Brandeis University
Spring 2017
Last revised: January 12, 2017
Professor: Martin Levin 104
Email:
Office location: Golding 120
Office hours: Mondays & Wednesday 12:00-1:30 or by appointment
Class location: Olin-Sang
Class time: Mondays & Wednesday 5:00pm-6:20pm
Course Description and Objectives
Examines how recent presidents accomplished things in the face of partyopposition. Features concrete cases of the successes and failures of Clinton (welfare reform and healthcare) and Obama (Obamacare and immigration reform), as well as Bush’s aggressive foreign policies and the Politics of Fear after 9/11.
Success in this four- credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).
Learning Goals
In my view, teaching is an exchange of energy between the instructor and the class. I will also try to convey to the class my passions about American politics and policy, including critiques as well as positive assessments. We will try to develop a broad vision of the political process in the US as it shapes policymaking. But we will not be examine it through generalizations. Rather we focus on concrete case studies and concrete policies eg. health care policy (Clinton and Obama), welfare reform (Clinton), “the politics of fear” and national security (George W. Bush).
Course Materials
The books listed below are available at the Brandeis bookstore and on Amazon.
- Teles, Whose welfare?
- Levin, Seeking the Center
- Landy, New Politics of Public Policy
- Levin, Building Coalitions, Making Policy
- John Skrenty, Ironies of Affirmative Action
Academic Integrity
You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include e failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Citation and research assistance can be found at LTS - Library guides.
Disabilities Accommodation
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
Course Plan
I. Prologue: The Age of Reagan (And Bush #1) – 1980-1992: Tax Cuts, Deregulation, Deficit Production
Week 1 (January 18)
Required Readings:
- King, “The American Polity in the late 1970s: Building Coalitions in Sand”
- Wilson, “Politics Then & Now”
- Landy and Levin, “Preface” and "The New Politics of Public Policymaking" in Landy & Levin, New Politics of Policymaking
- James Q. Wilson, "New Politics, New Elites, Old Politics"; Schuck, “The Politics of Rapid Legal Change: Immigration Policy in the 1980s”
II: The Age of Perot: The Third Party Split in the 1992 Election Brings us the Age of Clinton
Week 2 (January 23 & 25)
Required Readings:
- Lubell, The Future of American Politics, “The Sun and Moon Theory of American Political Parties”
III: The Age of Clinton and The Age of Gingrich and the New Pattern of Frequent Alternation in Closely Competitive Elections --1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010.
Week 3 (January 30 & February 1)
Required Readings:
- Levin, Landy, and Shapiro, Seeking The Center--Mayhew , “Much Huffing and Puffing, Little Change”; Levin and Landy , “Durability and Change"
IV: The Age of Moderate Innovations: Welfare Reform, Deficit Reduction, NAFTA and The Age of Perot Redux — the 1996 Election and the Impeachment Blues Cured by a Coalition with a Few Republicans
Week 4 (February 6 & 8)
Required Readings:
- Teles, Whose Welfare: AFDC and Elite Politics, Chapters 1, 3-5, 8-9
- Teles and Prinz, “The Politics of Rights Retraction: Welfare Reform from Entitlement to Block Grant” in Seeking the Center.
- Martin , Cathie Jo , “Dead on Arrival: The New Politics of Health Care Reform in the Clinton Administration.”
V: The Age of An Electoral Split Decision — the 2000 Election and More Third Party Influence
Week 5 (February 13 & 15)
Required Readings:
- Levin, Shapiro & Disalvo, Building Coalitions, Making Policy: The Politics of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Presidencies
- Introduction and Chapter 1 (Levin, Emer, & DiSalvo)
VI: The Age of 9/11 and its Foreign and Domestic Effects: Iraq, Afghanistan, and The Patriot Act followed by Social Security Privatization, an Underfunded Expansion of Drug Coverage for Medicare, and Tax Cuts
Week 6 (February 22)
Required Readings:
- Lindsay, “National Security, the Electoral Connection, and Policy Choice” in Levin, Shapiro, & Disalvo
MIDTERM
The Midterm Exam is a 7-10 page take home essay. The prompt will be distributed on Wednesday, October 12 in class and due via email on Sunday, March 4 by 5pm.
VII: The Age of Bush and the Stealth Politics of Indirection: A Domestic Version of the Voodoo Dance of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Week 7 (February 27 & March 1)
Required Readings:
- Emer, “A Feint to the Center but Moving Backwards: Bush’s Clear Skies Environmental Policies and Non-Policies” in Levin, Shapiro, and DiSalvo
VIII: Policies to Serve the Business Providers to Government: Pillaging from the Right After a Feint to the Center
Week 8 (March 6 & 8)
Required Readings:
- Levin, Shapiro & Disalvo, Building Coalitions, Making Policy: The Politics of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Presidencies
- Weaver, “The Privatization of Social Security
- Oberlander, “Medicare Prescription Drug Reform”
- Tichenor, “Bush’s Immigration Reform Failure”
- Hess, “Compassionate Conservatism and No Child Left Behind”
XI: An Age of Frequent and Surprising Alternations in Power Redux -- the 2002 and 2006 Elections
Week 9 (March 13 & 15)
Required Readings:
- Wildavsky, “The Two Presidencies — Foreign and Domestic”
XII: The Age of Obama: Healthcare Reform, Dodd-Frank Financial Reform, and the Fiscal Stimulus Package
Week 10 (March 20 & 22)
Required Readings:
- Building Coalitions, Making Policy -- Oberlander, “Learning from the Clinton Healthcare Reform Failure”
- Tichenor, “Obama’s Immigration Reform Failure”
XI: And Again, An Age of More Frequent Alternations in Power: The 2010 Election Brings Us the Republican Coalition Building Strategy –‘Just Say No’
Week 11 (March 27 & 29)
Required Readings:
- Building Coalitions, Making Policy -- Mayhew, “Politics, Elections and Policymaking”
XII: The Age of a Surprising 2010 Lame Duck Session: A New Republican Strategy – ‘Just Say Yes’ If It Involves Tax Cuts and Help for Business
Week 12 (April 3 & 5)
Required Readings:
- Building Coalitions, Making Policy -- Levin, Emer and DiSalvo, “Some New Coalitional Configurations and Policies: The Surprising 2010 Lame Duck Session”
- Mayhew, “The End Note of Obama’s First Two Years: The 2010 Lame Duck Session
XIII: The Age of the Deficit Reduction Follies: ‘Just Say No’ Redux
Week 13 (April 19)
Required Readings:
- “Does Obama Really Like this Job?”: Alter, The Promise: President Obama, Y
XIV: Looking Forward And Back: Obama In Historical Perspective
Week 14 (May 1 & 3)
Required Readings:
- Keller, The Unbearable Heaviness of Governing: Obama in Historical Perspective, Intro, Chapters 1, 3-5 .
- “The Bipartisanship Fantasy Dream Machine: Obama wants to be President of a Country that Doesn’t Exist”: Wolffe, R: Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House.
- “Obama and the Failure To Exert Power: Faubus and Netanyahu ; MacArthur and McCrystal”: Neustadt, Presidential Power
- Levin, “A Politics of Institutions” in Davis, The Post-Imperial Presidency
FINAL EXAM
The Final Exam is a 10 -12 page take home essay. The prompt will be distributed via email Monday, December 12 and due via email Friday, May 12 by 5pm.
Evaluation
This course will be interactive and taught in a seminar style to encourage active student participation. As a way of facilitating this interactive style, there will be a class dinner with voluntary attendance in the first two or three weeks of classes.
Attendance is mandatory, and participation accounts for 10% of your final grade. Students are expected to complete all assigned readings and think critically about them in preparation for class discussions.
The midterm and the final are take home essays. Late papers will receive a penalty of 3 points per day (including weekend days). If you need an extension for any reason, please reach out to me and we can discuss your situation on a case-by-case basis.
Class Participation 10%
Midterm 25%
Final 65%
Communications
Most class communications will be done via Latte to your Brandeis email address. Any changes to the syllabus, exam dates and class cancellation will be done through email so it is critical to check for class correspondences often.
I’m usually on campus six days a week so that I will be quite available. Moreover, you can call me directly on my cell phone anytime 24/7 617-538-2961 and you can also use my cell to make an appoint if my office hours are not convenient to you.