ABSTRACT
Many presidential scholars and political pundits believe that public expectations of the presidency are excessive, contradictory, and unrealistic. Given the public's high expectations of presidential performance, presidential scholars have consistently argued that an expectations gap exists between what the public expects and what presidents can actually accomplish. A president's choice of image is also constrained by his or her own personality. As Mary Stuckey has written, "There are two sides to the presidency: the public side, the appearances presidents construct, and the private side, the 'real' president. Most presidential images are a combination of these two sides, since the ideal that the president tries to convey is usually hampered or affected by the encroachment of the private side." According to Daniel Boorstin, images can be created through what he calls pseudo-events. This chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed in this book.
