 It dates back to the progressive era when it was a more bipartisan project. Both Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson insisted that the president was a steward of the people and had to directly channel popular will. But it was in the 80s in particular, it was really a response to the Watergate era when conservatives, impatient at the series of checks that Congress had placed on the president after the Nixon scandals, began to insist that the president had to fight back.