Introduction to Issue 4

Ideas drive elections -- at least big elections like the one we’ve had this year.

You wouldn’t automatically know that from following the campaign’s course. Questions about inflammatory former pastors, lobbyists-turned-campaign-managers, verbal gaffes on the campaign trail and ads that stretch or break the truth often dominate news coverage and commentary. This is the eighth presidential campaign I’ve covered, and after each one I’m all too aware of the daily push-and-pull that shapes, and sometimes devalues, our political coverage.

When the nation faces perilous times, however, Americans look for innovative thinking and fresh approaches, and they manage to sift through the rest. That was true in 1980, when the nation was rocked by the Iranian hostage crisis and a stagnated economy. Then, voters elected challenger Ronald Reagan despite Democratic efforts to paint him as an aging former actor who was too conservative to be president. It was true in 1992, when many voters feared the American dream was slipping away amid globalization and the remnants of a recession. Challenger Bill Clinton won despite Republican efforts to portray him as the failed governor of a small state who was prone to bad behavior.

Once again we face national angst and high stakes: The most precipitous economic decline since the Great Depression. The largest number of U.S. troops deployed in war zones since the Vietnam War -- with fragile gains in Iraq and a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. That’s not to mention the demands of Medicare (which began running a deficit this year) and Social Security (projected to begin running a deficit in 2011) and a stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process and a hostile Russia raising the prospect of a new Cold War. Perhaps it’s no surprise that nine of ten Americans say they’re dissatisfied with the country’s direction, the highest proportion since the Gallup Poll began asking that question three decades ago.

It’s enough to make you wonder why anybody would want the job of president.

Since World War II, neither party has managed to hold the White House for very long, generally swinging from one party to the other every eight years. (The only exceptions have been one 12-year run by the Republicans and a four-year stretch by the Democrats.)

I don’t think that’s the result of some sort of seesaw sense of fairness by voters. It’s because developing new ideas and fresh approaches takes the sort of critical thinking and reflection that’s difficult when you’re actually in charge. At some point, presidents see their best ideas enacted or rejected, and after dealing with whatever crises erupt -- as they invariably do -- they often seem to run out of energy and gas before they run out of time.

The ideas that fuel elections and spark innovation -- on how best to expand health care coverage, combat terrorism, improve education, contain nuclear proliferation and deal with the other challenges of our age -- are nurtured in a thousand places. They are developed at think tanks and universities, on city councils and school boards, by graybeards and young people.

And in journals -- such as this one -- that encourage thoughtful discussion. It’s my honor to introduce this edition of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Public Affairs Journal.

About the author: Susan Page is Washington Bureau chief of USA TODAY, where she writes about the White House and national politics. She frequently appears on NPR, PBS, CNN, MSNBC and other radio and TV outlets. She has won numerous national awards for her coverage, including the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency, the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for Deadline Reporting on the Presidency and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Washington Correspondence. She has served as president of the White House Correspondents Association and chairman of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards.