"Presidents tend to give a lot of authority to the people they hope will keep them alive."

Presidents since then have tended to submit to the public's hunger for images reflecting their family life.

Presidents tend to be ruthless opportunists, no matter how ideological they appear.

"Presidents tend to run out of things to do in a second term, and that's when they get in trouble."

That is a mistake Presidents tend to make - underestimating the public's desire, right and need to confront whatever national dangers exist.

Presidents who have holed up during wars or their equivalents have tended to lose public support.

"Presidents tend to try to rewrite history from a kind of Olympian posture," he said.

Certainly, the President tended to make himself entirely at home both here and at the War Department.

But quickly, beset by myriad problems at home and around the world, the Presidents tend to lose ground.

Presidents who ran up big deficits, like George W. Bush, tended to say little or nothing about them.