THE RISE OF THE RHETORICAL PRESIDENCY

One of the most revealing periods of President Carter's tenure in office ?and perhaps of the modern presidency itself? occurred during the summer of 1979. Fall ing to a new low in the public's approval ratings and facing criticism from all quar ters for his leadership, the President dra matically cancelled a scheduled televised speech on energy and gathered his advi sors together for a so-called domestic summit. Discussions moved beyond ener gy and economics to a reappraisal of the nature of presidential leadership and to an analysis of what, for want of a better term, can only be called the state of the national consciousness. Having served already more than half of his term, the President came to the conclusion that he had been mistaken in his understanding of the presidential office; he had, as he told David Broder, fallen into the trap of be ing "head of the government" rather than "leader of the people." As for the state of the national consciousness, the President concluded that the nation was experienc ing a crisis of spirit or "malaise" that went deeper and was more ominous than the