Christopher S. Kelley

Assessing Presidential Power Signing Statements and Veto Threats as Coordinated Strategies

Presidents have a wide array of strategies to influence legislation. One area that has seen less emphasis in the literature is the executives unilateral ability to issue signing statements and their role in shaping policy. We develop a spatial model illustrating how the presidents bargaining power with Congress can be expanded when the veto threat is coordinated with signing statements. The analysis suggests that signing statements, although underappreciated, may potentially be a valuable presidential tool in the veto bargaining process. The analysis also shows that veto threats are a key factor explaining the presidents use of the constitutional signing statement. We infer that veto threats and signing statements are linked together as part of a larger coordinated strategy to exert presidential power in the legislative realm.

A Review of “Two Presidents Are Better Than One: The Case for a Bipartisan Executive Branch”

appreciate an essay that examines the three static periods of the twentieth century: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover’s era of isolation; John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson’s period of overextension; and Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter’s post-Vietnam adjustment. Nye at least twice in this short volume wisely extols the importance of considering the dogs that did not bark in addition to those that did. Although he uses that metaphor for different purposes (i.e., recognizing presidents who avoided disruptions, not just those who made positive contributions toward primacy), it could easily and accurately be used to justify an additional focus on the quality of presidential foreign policy leadership in passive phases, not just active ones. Again, however, this is a quibble, and clearly beyond the scope of what was intended in this book. After all, what the reader does get already represents a significant contribution to interdisciplinary and transparadigmatic research on a vast and essential matter.