While Gergen makes seven great points on what makes a successful president, there are some criteria that I believe is missing. They include responsiveness and the power to manipulate. As Americans we hold high levels of expectations towards our president. The public hopes that he can assess the needs of his people. The president needs to recognize that the people gave him the power. The president didn’t ask for the power, but to a certain extent he was given the power. A successful president will focus on a certain issue that is important to the people. Sometimes presidents are unsuccessful because they pick an unpopular topic which causes struggle between the people and the president. Woodrow Wilson recognized that he needed to focus on neutrality. This allowed for the American people to really get behind the president and for both the population and government to stand behind the same cause. Narrowing in on the needs of the population creates not only a successful candidacy but also a successful term.
A president also needs to be able to…show more content… Ultimately Wilson won against Hughes though. Anytime when a current president runs for reelection they are faced with a difficult task. With the possibility of the Republican Party getting back together, Wilson faced being the “underdog.” The Democratic Party held onto states that stretched south and west of the Potomac, Ohio, and Missouri Rivers. The population was much smaller in comparison to the states that the Republicans typically had in the Midwest and Northeast. After the 1910 Republican Party split the Democrats now had the advantage which allowed Wilson to win the 1912 election. During his second candidacy however, there was the threat of the Republican Party getting back together which would ultimately make Wilson lose. This threat though didn’t cause any worry in Wilson. He enjoyed the idea of a fight and his spirits were high (Cooper