Query: parliamentary presidentialism proposal

[Jim Gardner]

I am having no luck tracking down a source and would appreciate any guidance. 

I seem to recall that some years ago (the '80s, I believe) a proposal was floated that the Constitution be amended to divide the functions of the presidency into two offices along parliamentary lines: a figurehead president who would serve as the symbol or embodiment of the nation, and a prime minister-type official who would actually conduct the executive business of government.  The author, as I recall, thought that providing Americans with an opportunity to elect a symbolic figurehead would allow them to indulge whatever feelings of nationalist sentimentalism they might harbor without actually endangering the nation by handing real power over to an incompetent.  Having gotten that out of their systems, the author argued, voters could then focus on competence, experience, and other serious qualifications in considering candidates for the job of P.M.  

I thought initially this must have come from Lloyd Cutler, but I haven't been able to link him to it.  Any ideas?

Thanks for any help.

Jim

____________________________
James A. Gardner
Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad
   Professor of Civil Justice
State University of New York
University at Buffalo School of Law
Room 514, O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
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e-mail: jgard at buffalo.edu
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