Is George W. Bush An Active/Negative President Like Nixon, LBJ, Hoover and Wilson?
By JOHN W. DEAN Friday, May. 21, 2004 Many political scientists believe it is possible to predict presidential performance. While no one can predict future events, the future performance of those who occupy the Oval Office can be ascertained, at least in a general fashion. Political scientist James David Barber first showed the analytical and predictive potentials of psychology in studying presidents with his classic, The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House. This work, originally published in 1972, has been republished and updated on four occasions. Barber first wrote — long before Richard Nixon’s troubles had fully unfolded but based on his scrutiny of Nixon’s personality and character traits — that Nixon would self-destruct in his second term. Since then, Barber has tested and retested his analytical tools, applying them to all the modern presidents up to and including George Herbert Walker Bush. In retirement, Professor Barber did not apply his techni
