October 16, 2009
When former President Bill Clinton came to California to stump for gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom, he may have acted on a long history of political grudges dating back to 1992. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior fellow at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, traces the tangled tale.
August 14, 2009
Through the Clinton, Bush and Obama eras, the U.S. has sought the same things from the nation of Kim Jong Il. But how do we get those things? USC’s Clayton Dube reveals how America wrangles North Korea through indirect diplomacy, how those efforts are received, and why Clinton’s trip is a sign of progress.
June 19, 2009
What’s worse — a nuclear regime under Kim Jong Un, or a collapse that floods the world with North Korean refugees? Do we want a strong China, even if it becomes a rival superpower? Amid new aggressive posturing by Kim Jong Il, Korean Studies Institute Director David Kang looks at the major security concerns in the region.
May 15, 2009
Will it be Sotomayor, Granholm, Wood, Sears? In a decision expected soon, the president will name his successor for Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Obama’s pick, almost certainly a woman, is not likely to shift the balance of power, say Supreme Court experts Howard Gillman and Daria Roithmayr.
April 17, 2009
When it comes to how we see presidents, fiction often trumps fact, according to a
new book by Jeff Smith of the USC Marshall School.
January 13, 2009
When Barack Obama takes the podium on January 20 to deliver his big speech, who will he name-check? What subjects will be verboten? USC communication professor Thomas Hollihan, an expert on rhetoric, offers a tip sheet for inauguration viewers.
November 7, 2008
Patrick James of the USC College offers a play-by-play on the tactical decisions in each camp that led to Barack Obama’s victory. What did Obama do right? Did choosing Sarah Palin cause John McCain’s defeat? James also sketches a roadmap for Obama — and the smarting Republican Party — as they look ahead to 2012.
October 17, 2008
Novels and movies foretold many of the issues shaping this year’s presidential field — especially race, age and gender, says USC’s Jeff Smith.
October 3, 2008
The economic rescue package, whose fortunes have risen and fallen and risen this week, is not a socialist killer of free markets, says Aris Protopapadakis of the USC Marshall School of Business. Rather, it represents the nation’s duty to save Main Street, and to avoid the missteps that ushered in the Great Depression.
September 26, 2008
USC’s Julia Plotts, a former investment banker, recounts watching in dismay as Obama and McCain addressed the economic crisis with partisan sound bites instead of solutions. Government bailouts will punish the innocent and reward the guilty, she says, tracing the steps that could have prevented this mess.
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