By most accounts Nixon was a really horrible president. At the same time Nixon went to China which might have been on of the decisions of a US president that produced the most counterfactual wealth creation ever.
It would have likely not been as easy for a Democratic president to do the same as Nixon even if the Democratic president would have wanted to do so.
It would have been harder for a Republican attorney general to go after the Associated Press the was the Obama’s Eric Holder did.
It’s easier for a Democratic politician to push through Republican policy and easier for a Republican to push through Democratic policies.
I.e. hence you can’t tell how effective a president will be from their party’s policies, because sometimes their most effective actions are following their opponents’ policies.
Yes, could be. It’s in line with the Putanumonit arguments that you just can’t tell which party will be better for the country.
I can’t think of particular instances of this in the UK, so I don’t know if this is more of a US thing. What quite often happens in the UK (particularly since Tony Blair) is parties stealing each others’ policies, even sometimes in stronger form than the other party. But presumably that’s just them trying to tempt voters across from the other side with occasional juicy little morsels. I.e. both parties converging on the median voter. [ADDED] Though similar to your point that the other party may implement your party’s policies, and perhaps more effectively, which makes it harder to predict which party would run the country better.
By most accounts Nixon was a really horrible president. At the same time Nixon went to China which might have been on of the decisions of a US president that produced the most counterfactual wealth creation ever.
It would have likely not been as easy for a Democratic president to do the same as Nixon even if the Democratic president would have wanted to do so.
It would have been harder for a Republican attorney general to go after the Associated Press the was the Obama’s Eric Holder did.
It’s easier for a Democratic politician to push through Republican policy and easier for a Republican to push through Democratic policies.
I.e. hence you can’t tell how effective a president will be from their party’s policies, because sometimes their most effective actions are following their opponents’ policies.
Yes, could be. It’s in line with the Putanumonit arguments that you just can’t tell which party will be better for the country.
I can’t think of particular instances of this in the UK, so I don’t know if this is more of a US thing. What quite often happens in the UK (particularly since Tony Blair) is parties stealing each others’ policies, even sometimes in stronger form than the other party. But presumably that’s just them trying to tempt voters across from the other side with occasional juicy little morsels. I.e. both parties converging on the median voter. [ADDED] Though similar to your point that the other party may implement your party’s policies, and perhaps more effectively, which makes it harder to predict which party would run the country better.