Last week I read the revised 6th edition of The Politics of the Presidency by Joseph Pika and John Anthony Maltese. At the end of their chapter on "The Presidency and The Public" they write about the "permanent campaign." They say:
The problem with such tactics is that campaigning--by its very nature--is adversarial, while governing is--or at lest should be--largely collaborative. As [Hugh] Heclo puts it, "campaigning is self-centered, and governing is group-centered." When the permanent campaign becomes the predominant governing style, however, collaboration becomes difficult. Not surprisingly, recent years have seen a breakdown of the elite bargaining community that used to collaborate to produce policy.
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