On Friday I had a short break from British Government & Politics - through attending a conference at the University of Westminster entitled "The Early Obama Presidency". It was sponsored by The Eccles Centre and the Cultural Office of the US Embassy in London.While the last few days have been tiring ones (and I had to get up and drive from Huntingdon in order to be at the BBC studio in Northampton to do an interview on the length of fixed term parliaments by 7.00 before travelling down to London), I kept fully awake for this very interesting conference.
The keynote address was given by George C Edwards of Texas A & M University. He spoke about the strategic assessments made in the first months. I hope to do a post on his comments later this week. Other papers given were
Stephen J Wayne - Presidential Character and Judgement. Obama's Afghanistan and Health Care Decisions.
James P Pfiffner - Organizing the Obama Presidency
Gary C Jacobson - Obama's Evolving Public Support
John E Owens - Obama and the Democratic Congress
Richard M Pious - Prerogative Power in the Obama Administration
James A Thurber - Changing the Way Washington Works? Obama, Congress and Lobbyists.
Much food for thought - and I hope to make further posts on the matters raised - and develop my own thoughts further.
