22nd Annual Presidential Panel - George W. Bush: A Midterm Analysis

This event was held on April 21, 2003 in 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley.

Presidential scholars and White House reporters provide an inside assessment of the 43rd president's handling of the war on terrorism, homeland security, corporate ethics, and the economy, as President Bush prepares to run for reelection. The panelists are Michael Nacht, Eleanor Clift, and Nelson Polsby, introduced by Michael Lesser from University Extension, and moderated by Jerry Lubenow from the Institutue of Governmental Studies.

Professor Nacht teaches and writes in the fields of U.S. national security and foreign policy, and on management strategies for public organizations. He was a founding coeditor of the journal International Security, and he served in the Clinton administration as Assistant Director for Strategic and Eurasian Affairs of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Dean Nacht presently serves as Chairman of the Secretary of Defense's Advisory Committee on Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Eleanor Clift is a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine. She reports on the White House, presidential politics, and a variety of national issues. She is currently assigned to Capitol Hill, where she is covering the war on terrorism and its many aspects, from the ongoing anthrax scare to the various pieces of legislation dealing with the continuing threats to the nation. Her column, "Capitol Letter," is posted each week on Newsweek.com and MSNBC.com.

Nelson Polsby is the Heller Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. He was the Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at U.C. from 1988 to 1999, and editor of the American Political Science Review from 1971 to 1977. He is the author and co-author of fourteen books, including Community Power and Political Theory, Congress and the Presidency, Political Promises, British Government and Its Discontent, Consequences of Party Reform, Political Innovation in America -- The Politics of Policy Initiative, and Presidential Elections, written with Aaron Wildavsky, which is in its tenth edition. His forthcoming book is How Congress Evolves: Social Bases of Institutional Change, which will be published by Oxford University Press. Professor Polsby has a Ph.D. from Yale, and among his honorary degrees are ones from Oxford and the University of Liverpool.

The event was co-sponsored by University Extension and the Institute of Governmental Studies.