The Presidency Is Too Big for One Person

by Conor Friedersdorf

Todd Purdum writes in Vanity Fair:

Washington is hard to govern, above all, because of the radical growth in the scope of the federal government's responsibilities—it's an obvious fact, but it's where explanations must begin. On the eve of World War II, F.D.R. had six high-level aides who carried the title "administrative assistant to the president." Harry Truman, after the war, had 12 of them: they met every morning in a semicircle around his desk. There are now upwards...