Of course there's the cautionary movie "Wag The Dog" which posits a situation where the U.S. President, faced with a significant personal scandal, seeks some international confrontation to 'bury the lead' as the newsfolk say. Would have been easier to watch if there was anything at all humorous in it, which there wasn't.

And of course these days I'm reminded of the term "Seagull Management":

-Fly in, crap all over everything, fly out-

That now seems to be a brand of politics which manages by mismanagement leading us to disbelieve that government can set and accomplish positive goals.

Not everyone can remember the Roosevelts, Truman, Eisenhower, and some of LBJ's more positive accomplishments, and even true of Nixon (EPA, China policy).