Robert James Spitzer (born September 12, 1953) is an American political scientist, commentator, and author. Spitzer is the author of numerous books, articles, essays, papers, and op-eds on many topics related to American politics. His areas of specialty include the American presidency and gun politics. Career Spitzer is a distinguished service professor emeritus of the political science department at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland. He taught at SUNY Cortland from 1979 to 2021 and as a visiting professor at Cornell University for thirty years. At Cortland, he has served as chair of the Political Science Department from 1983–1989, 2005–2006, and from 2008 to 2020. He served as a member of the New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution from 1986–1990. At Cortland, he taught many courses in the political science department, including Introduction to American Politics, The American Presidency, the Legislative Process, and Gun Policy. Work Views on American presidency In 1983 Spitzer's first book, The Presidency and Public Policy, challenged the model for presidential success espoused by Richard E. Neustadt with a policy approach based on Theodore J. Lowi's "arenas of power." Spitzer argued that the type of policy proposed by a president, not personal political skill, shaped the president's success in Congress. Michael A. Genovese felt "a more explicit application" to Lyndon Johnson's and Ronald Reagan's early years would have improved Spitzer's study, but otherwise gave it a collegial thumbs-up. Prior to 1988's The Presidential Veto, there had been no analytical, book-length account of the subject in almost 100 years. Spitzer's work examines its history and concludes that the presidential veto has lost the revisionary power as the Founder's understood it at the Constitutional Convention. Melvin A. Kulbicki called the book an excellent text and a "well-written blend of theory and practical politics." Spitzer served as president of the Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association from 2001-2003. Gun control Since the 1980s, Spitzer has written books, spoken at public gatherings, written articles for newspapers, and appeared on numerous radio and television shows about gun control. His written work on the subject has appeared in the Washington Post and the New York Daily News. He has appeared on NPR's Fresh Air With Terry Gross and on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. After former president Jimmy Carter wrote an op-ed about the 1994 assault weapons ban, the New York