Extract
Presidential rhetoric and the power of definition.
Presidential rhetoric is studied from the perspectives of both the social sciences and the humanities. From a humanistic perspective, scholars are concerned with the uniqueness of exemplary cases as well as with recurrent patterns, and they seek insight and appreciative understanding more than prediction and control. I study presidential rhetoric in the beliefs that it increasingly is what the presidency is about and that it makes a difference.
These assumptions are directly challenged by the results of George Edwards' extensive research program. In his most recent book, Edwards observes that, although "[engaging] in a prominent campaign for the public's support" has emerged in modern times as the president's "core strategy for governing," still "presidents usually fail in their efforts to move the public to support them and their policies." (1) Edwards is particularly bedeviled by the paradox that, whereas people generally assume that presidential rhetoric makes a difference, "very few studies focus directly on the effect of presidential leadership of opinion...." (2) Edwards' findings are consistent with the "limited effects" model that has characterized media research for the past 50 years. Whereas people earlier had been concerned that mass media were like a hypodermic needle with which audiences were injected with strong doses of propaganda, the empirical research generally found that mediated messages had little effect at all--so long as one understood "effect" in terms of measurable changes in the audience's beliefs or attitudes. (3) And yet few would argue seriously that mediated messages make no difference, just as few would say that about the specific case of presidential rhetoric. So Edwards' conclusion remains paradoxical. The research agenda described here attempts, at least in a small way, to move past this paradox and to contribute to answering these questions: (1) How do we understand the nature of presidential rhetoric and its effects? (2) What does presidential rhetoric do? (3) How do we know? Understanding Rhe...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
