Presidential Inauguration; Second Presidential Terms; Orange County Journalist “Roundtable”; A Status Update on the Reconstruction of Afghanistan; Banking on Baghdad
Presidential Inauguration
President George W. Bush will be inaugurated for his second term at noon today, Eastern Time. Thousands of people are in the capitol for the inauguration and the four days of celebrations surrounding it. Protestors and supporters of President Bush will line the streets from the White House to the US Capitol building, where Bush will be sworn in as the 55th President of the United States. Mitch Frank, political reporter for Time magazine, and Don Frederick, Congress/politics editor in the Los Angeles Times’ Washington, D.C. Bureau, join Larry Mantle to talk about the Inauguration.
Second Presidential Terms
Mark A. Peterson, chair of the UCLA department of public policy and professor of public policy and political science, and Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll, join Host Larry Mantle to discuss second presidential terms. How much approval do presidents get in their second terms? How does Congress regard a president who will not be up for reelection? What is the agenda for Bush’s second term?
Orange County Journalist “Roundtable”
Larry Mantle talks with Orange County journalists Chris Reed, Orange County Register op-ed column editor, Jean Pasco, Los Angeles Times staff writer and Gustavo Arellano, Staff Writer for the OC Weekly, about the latest news events and developments in Orange County.
A Status Update on the Reconstruction of Afghanistan
Dr. Larry Goodson, Director of Middle East Studies at the Army War College, has a new article coming out in the January issue of the Journal of Democracy, titled “Bullets, Ballots, and Poppies in Afghanistan.” Goodson writes that the US is learning some lessons and making some progress in Afghanistan. However, there remains much work to be done, and many problems to solve—-fragmentation, violence and an opium economy. Dr. Goodson joins Larry to give a status update on the US and allied efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.
Banking on Baghdad
Journalist and author Edwin Black joins Larry Mantle to talk about Iraq’s tumultuous 7,000 year history through the lens of global business--from banking corporations to petropolitics. Black traces the history of foreign involvement in Iraq, and explains why the country’s resources are still so prized in today’s global economy. His new book is called Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq’s 7,000-year History of War, Profit, and Conflict (Wiley).