To say that the dynamic of how a president (or any person for that matter) functions is not influenced by the outside world dramatically decreases the understanding of that individual. When reading Skowronek, I was surprised to find myself being able to categorize the presidents that I can think of to accurately fit into his suggested categories. The way in which Skowronek thought of the four types of presidents “politics” is well elaborated and makes sense. The presidency is encompassed by an individual’s interaction with the issues of the current times, a president’s entire agenda is motivated by what needs to be done for the American people at that period of time. Our nation doesn’t stay the same with one political group that agrees all the time on everything with no conflicts. Our nation and globe is ever changing, and it must be acknowledged that these conditions can have an effect on a presidency. A period where little is happening and the United States continues as normal, doesn’t mean that the president in command at this time is better or worse than a president who had to make a nationwide decision to invade a country. An individual can heavily influence a presidency and make a presidency a good or bad one depending on what they are handed, but this does not mean that the circumstances of the time have no effect on the outcome of a presidency. There are unpredictable factors that come into play. Skowronek isn’t denying that different presidents acted greater than others, he is merely adding that circumstances play a role. The circumstances not only influence the president directly, but also influence how the people view the president’s actions. If a president of the past raised taxes and people did not like this and decided they were a bad president, but now vote for a president due to their liking of better roads from tax payer dollars, this doesn’t make the prior president worse than the current one. Skowronek is providing organization to compare and contrast the institution in a way that is fair by considering the circumstances of the nation and its influence on the presidency.