Please first read the following items before engaging in our second discussion:
Read: Kathryne Dunn Tenpas (2020), “Tracking turnover in the Trump administration,” Brookings Institution: https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/
Read: James Pfiffner’s chapter in the Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency on presidential transitions, pp. 85-104. (Please make sure you read this as it will be necessary for the presidential transition memo)
After you complete the reading, please answer the following question and post your answer in your assigned group on Slack:
What are some of the challenges that president-elects face in creating their administrations? As President-Elect Biden puts his team together, what types of personal and professional qualities, in your opinion, are necessary for the individuals that Biden and Harris hire for their administration? Lastly, name one thing that the Biden Administration should avoid doing as they put together their team and new administration?

Prompt

In order for the Constitution of the United States of America to be ratified, a series of compromises were made, that sought to address the concerns raised by both the Federalist and the Anti-Federalist. These concerns included issues of representation and population size, slavery, and institutional structure as well as the very nature of federalism. In 750-1000 words, discuss why the Constitution of the United States can be viewed as a series of compromises. Your paper must define federalism, discuss the positions of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, as well as discuss the compromises made, which concerns they addressed, and how these compromises affect the institutional structure of the American government.

DIRECTIONS: Answer all three (3) of the questions below, typed, double-spaced, and submitted to me in Blackboard on or before Friday, Dec. 18 at 1:30 PM. You are to submit your exam through Blackboard. I would be pleased to receive your exam sooner if it is ready. Your exam will be graded based on its accuracy, specificity, use of pertinent specific information and examples from the readings and class, and general arguments. Late submissions will be penalized. Your total maximum exam length should not exceed 14 pages typed double-spaced (it may be shorter). Number your pages! NOTE: I do NOT expect to read two exams that are the same. If I do, they will be failing exams. You must write your own exam answers, and they must be written in your own words (direct quotes must have proper cites), not copy from books or other sources, which is PLAGIARISM, and will be treated as such by me.
1. It was a dark and stormy night. You sit alone, slumped at your desk, coaxing the last drops of what was once a cappuccino from a crumpled, stained, slightly sad paper cup. The clock says 1:14 AM. Suddenly, the phone rings. H-hullo, you stammer. Please hold for Ron Klain, President-Elect Joe Bidens chief of staff, says the annoyingly perky voice on the other end (remember the name). These words are as shocking to you as a sober Johnny Depp. Id like you to write me a briefing memo that draws from your presidency class on the Barber presidential personality scheme, the groupthink concept, analysis of the presidents agenda (youll recall the cycle of decreasing influence and increasing effectiveness, and related information), and the bureaucratic jockeying between the National Security Advisor/National Security Council and the Secretary of State/State Department in shaping my presidency. Applying these ideas (dont just list stuff), write me a memo that proposes how these perspectives should shape my management of President Joe Biden and the White House. As you start to hang up, Klain adds, and be as specific as possible. I hear that Spitzer is a bear for detail.
2. Oh, and theres more. (Great, you think to yourself what, does this guy want me to pick out Bidens neckties, too??) Drawing on Chapters 5-7 in Genoveses A Presidential Nation, Genovese lays out the traits of the post-9/11 imperial presidency and remedies for this over- extended presidency. Summarize and assess Genoveses facts and arguments by addressing two questions: 1) is the state of the post-9/11 presidency really as dangerous as Genovese suggests, and 2) how effective are his remedies likely to be? Spitzer told me that the more specific you are, the better.
3. James Pfiffners analysis of presidential character in The Character Factor proposes that the relationship between good character and good presidential governance is far more complex than the simple (and arguably false) bromide that good character equals a good presidency. Based on your analysis of lying, sexual behavior, consistency, and promise-keeping from Pfiffner, discuss specific instances when seemingly bad character traits (i.e. lying, sexual infidelity, inconsistency, and the breaking of promises) either help, or at least do not harm, a presidency. In order to answer this question, you must draw specifically and meaningfully from Pfiffners book, both for concepts and examples. (Note: for the purposes of this exam, assume that we all understand the meaning of lying, inappropriate sexual behavior, consistency, and promise-keeping. (Dont waste space defining these.) Are there any lessons here that might apply to President Trump?

Write an essay in which you demonstrate
your understanding of what was, perhaps, the most important extra-constitutional development in
American political history, viz., the creation of permanent political parties. Specifically,
Illuminate 1) the founders three arguments for a non-partisan political system, and
2) their reason for not banning political parties in spite of these arguments.
Discuss Martin Van Burens three-part defense of permanent, two-party competition.
Provide the late 19th
-century reformers (i.e., the Mugwumps) 1) critique of political
parties and 2) their proposed remedy for the problem you just identified.
Explain 1) how the Progressives critical view of political parties differed from that of the
late 19th
-century reformers, 2) the reform that the Progressives proposed, 3) the degree to
which the Progressives were successful in implementing that reform, and 4) when it was
that the Progressives proposed reform was fully realized.
Explain Michael Nelsons view of the Progressives success in this regard. (Nelson
wrote The Case for the Current Presidential Nominating Process.)
Why might Joe McGinnis (author of The Selling of the President, 1968) disagree with
Nelson?

) Using the three levels of analysis that we have employed this semester (viz., ends of society,
scope of government, and organization/distribution of power), provide a detailed treatment of the
Federalist-Republican Controversy with a view to explaining the following statement: One of
the grand ironies of American politics is that, while scholars of this field tend to focus their
attention on the thought of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the United States is in certain
important respects a Hamiltonian nation. (With regard to the matter of the proper scope of
government, recall that there are two policies that you must discuss.)