It seems to me that Presidents alone are assigned credit and blame for policies that are the result of both congressional and executive action. Most political debates seem to be of this type. They go back and forth with "congress did this" but "the president did that" and so on.
Presidents are often given credit and blame for economic circumstances, for example.
Should we blame Reagan for the rise of the national debt? Should we give Clinton credit for balancing the budget? What about the role of congress then? Why pick one starting point over another? Should we blame Bush for sending troops to Somalia or give credit to Clinton for bringing them home? Should Nixon be blamed for letting the Vietnam war drag on or given credit for bringing the troops home?
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