Slides

1. POL 375 / SOC 400
Fall 2018

4. THEODORE ROOSEVELT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT

6.  Increased Press Criticism
 Globalized World
 Ideology and Partisanship
 Majesty of the Office
 Less Potential to Persuade
 Limited Economic Control
 What HaveYou Done For Me Lately?

9. CHAOS MUPPETS
 Out of control, Emotional,
Volatile
ORDER MUPPETS
 Neurotic, Risk-Averse,
Regimented
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/low_concept/2012/06/what_kind_of_muppet_are_you_chaos_or_order_.html
Cookie Monster is most definitely a Chaos Muppet Richard Termine/PBS.org.
Every Last One of Us Is a Chaos Muppet or an Order Muppet
By Dahlia Lithwick | Posted Friday, June 8, 2012, at 9:12 AM ET
| Posted Friday, June 8, 2012, at 9:12 AM ET Slate.com
A Unified Theory of Muppet Types.
Every once in a while, an
idea comes along that
changes the way we all
look at ourselves forever.
Before Descartes, nobody
knew they were thinking.
They all believed they
were just mulling. Until
Karl Marx, everyone
totally hated one another
but nobody knew quite
why. And before Freud,
nobody understood that all
of humanity could be
classified into one of two
simple types: people who
don’t yet know they want
to sleep with their
mothers, and people who
already know they want to
sleep with their mothers. These dialectics can change and shape who we are so profoundly, it’s hard to imagine life
before the paradigm at all.
The same thing is true of Muppet Theory, a little-known, poorly understood philosophy that holds that every living
human can be classified according to one simple metric: Every one of us is either a Chaos Muppet or an Order
Muppet.
Chaos Muppets are out-of-control, emotional, volatile. They tend toward the blue and fuzzy. They make their way
through life in a swirling maelstrom of food crumbs, small flaming objects, and the letter C. Cookie Monster, Ernie,
Grover, Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and—paradigmatically—Animal, are all Chaos Muppets. Zelda Fitzgerald
was a Chaos Muppet. So, I must tell you, is Justice Stephen Breyer.
Order Muppets—and I’m thinking about Bert, Scooter, Sam the Eagle, Kermit the Frog, and the blue guy who is
perennially harassed by Grover at restaurants (the Order Muppet Everyman)—tend to be neurotic, highly
regimented, averse to surprises and may sport monstrously large eyebrows. They sometimes resent the responsibility
of the world weighing on their felt shoulders, but they secretly revel in the knowledge that they keep the show
running. Your first grade teacher was probably an Order Muppet. So is Chief Justice John Roberts. It’s not that any
one type of Muppet is inherently better than the other. (Order Muppets do seem to attract the ladies, but then Chaos
Muppets collect the chicken harems.) It’s simply the case that the key to a happy marriage, a well-functioning
family, and a productive place of work lies in carefully calibrating the ratio of Chaos Muppets to Order Muppets
within any closed system. That, and always letting the Chaos Muppets do the driving.

10.  Central Elements of Model:
 Skill: What presidents wants and ability to get it
 Leverage: Tools, resources, political capital
 Outcome: General objective (e.g. legislation)
 Skill  Leverage  Outcome

11. Model Skill Leverage Outcome
Ideal Leadership
(FDR and New Deal)
+ + +
Indiana Jones + - +
Pseudo-Leadership - + +
Right Place,
RightTime
- - +
No-Win Situation
(LBJ andVietnam)
+ + -
Wrong Place,
WrongTime
+ - -
Incompetent President
(Carter and Iran Hostages)
- + -
Undistinguished President
(James Buchanan)
- - -

13. Can we categorize recent presidents?
Barack Obama? DonaldTrump?
Active-Positive
Thomas Jefferson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt
JFK
Active-Negative
JohnAdams
LBJ
WoodrowWilson
Richard Nixon
James Madison
Ronald Reagan
William H.Taft
Passive-Positive
G GeorgeWashington
Calvin Coolidge
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ulysses S. Grant
Passive-Negative
Presidential
Character
Credit given to Dr. James M. Curry, GVPT 475, University of Maryland

15. MAIN CRITERIA
 Public Communication
 Organizational Capacity
 Political Skill
 Vision
 Cognitive Style
 Emotional Intelligence

22.  “The Final Call—The Right Call”
 Bartlet comes in at last minute and fixes everything
 ”Going It Alone”
 Bartlet does what he wants against staff objections
 “Jokes and Stories”
 Bartlet has time to tell jokes and long-winded stories
 Least like real presidency
 “And the Administration,Too…”
 Portrays staff as foregoing everything to help POTUS
 Most like real presidency