published what i thought was a very helpful piece about the sexing up of the data from the blair administration, error by and saying that it was perfect information that was perfectly frigid purposely issued, the governor general and chairman of directors at the board of the bbc were forced to resign, a very telling moment meaning the government, even in a country like britain, we are not used to it in the united states and it raises the question of if we're going to a more publicly funded system, how do we make sure that the ultimate -- autonomy of journalists is maintained. >> so, let's stay on that note a little bit. "the oakland tribune" fell on hard times. how you think about the government stepping in? >> i agree with my colleague, but let's talk about how we get there. we have come together tonight against the backdrop of national discourse that has plundered into racial epithets, homophobia, threats to the lives of elected officials, their families, and my former colleagues being spat upon. that is how the conversation has deteriorated. by starting point is that a thriving democracy is

thoughts of the blair administration. tell us what we will find in there.: it was written in the final months of the blair administration, but it goes back over 10 years of his history so there is a lot about domestic events. he was a transforming live prime minister. -- transformative prime minister. it was written from the inside, because i was covering the prime minister very closely, traveling with him a lot. there is a lot of diplomacy in the arguments he was making and whether they were strictly honest or night. -- whether they were strictly honest or not. there was an election and it was very unclear who had won. eventually you got president bush. we had very similar -- different political system, a similar situation in our election last year were there was not a clear result in the election, there for three political parties -- there for three political parties had to negotiate with each other as to how they would form a government. they formed a coalition, and we have not had for 40 years. host: jeff, republican. you are on with adam boulton. prese

administration. he serves as chair of political science at perdue university. the floor is yours. >> thank you very much. thanks on behalf of all of us to the blair center.to be here. and also former president clinton. we are here to talk about george w. bush. in the latter stages of his presidency, bill clinton, be loaned to affect his presidency was devoid of the great challenges that could mark him as a great president. there are many challenges, very severe ones in his tenure as president but lack the wherewithal for greatness and confidence. bush came into office and the most inauspicious of circumstances, a drawn out election outcome that was ultimately decided by a bizarre decision of the 5-4 supreme court majority that lacked grounding in any constitutional law. someone had to be inaugurated on jan. 20th. a close election was perceived by the democratic base as a corporate outcome and bush as an illegitimate president. get over it was the republican mantra but it wasn't so easily gotten over. it was, and over by the public at large. given the resemblance produced by the election outcome bush came into office as a conciliator. his acceptance speec

administration in rms of selling himself? >> pretty poor, i would say. i feel like a leader who is good at selling himself, inspires people the way tony blair did before he went off. i remember when tony blair was urging england's to engage in the iraq war, he was -- it was really something to hear. it was truly inspiring. i do not think a president obama as an inspiring, charming salesman, not at all. i think he is super smart. i feel like he is e man for the moment, but i do not think he is doing a good job of selling. >> he is in a horrible situation. he has approval ratings in the 60's. >> he is under 50 in a majority of the states. >> but the big states that have more people -- i am not a math major, but i think his numbers are pretty good. >> do you think of him as a charming? >> any of these presidents, yours as love, there are things they do well and not so well. the part that is not so charming is the impression that he is not a commanding enough to gure on what he believes on and selling that hard. >> it is like he is waiting, testing. i do not know if it is clr to us as citizens. >> there are few people in modern american history who can stand

administration in terms of selling himself? >> pretty poor, i would say. i feel like a leader who is good at selling himself, inspires people the way tony blair did before he went off. i remember when tony blair was urging england's to engage in the iraq war, he was -- it was really something to hear. it was truly inspiring. i do not think a president obama as an inspiring, charming salesman, not at all. i think he is super smart. i feel like he is the man for the moment, but i do not think he is doing a good job of selling. >> he is in a horrible situation. he has approval ratings in the 60's. >> he is under 50 in a majority of the states. >> but the big states that have more people -- i am not a math major, but i think his numbers are pretty good. >> do you think of him as a charming? >> any of these presidents, yours as love, there are things they do well and not so well. the part that is not so charming is the impression that he is not a commanding enough to figure on what he believes on and selling that hard. >> it is like he is waiting, testing. i do not know if it is clear to us as citizens. >> there are few people in modern american history who can

administrator shaw on april 1st he pointed out only six government employees there. i think you have delegation problem there regarding sros that need to be fixed. >> thank you, mr. blair. chairman shays, the only thing i wanted to do in closing was to thank my panel members. thank you for this oversight hearing. i think it's this type of rich discussion, exploring the concepts in depth. getting different views, those types of conversations will result in better solutions than just a one-sided view. i think the department has a long way to go in order to get right and in order to put the effective oversight that it needs in place in order to determine that they're actually getting what they pay for. we're in it for the long haul. we will be here doing the same type of work year after year. i would, you know, welcome the opportunity to, to engage at the most senior levels and i do and we'll continue to make those recommendations because contracting is an integral part to our operations in southwest asia thank you. . . >> thank you. and let me just close by saying mr. bowen you have been in business for a long time now and you have done i that i think is superb job. mr.

administration, in terms of selling himself? >> creigh poor, i would say. -- pretty poor, i would say. a leader who is good at in selling himself inspires people the way that tony blair did before he went off. i remember when tony blair was urging england to engage in the iraq war. it was really something to hear. it was truly inspiring. i do not think of president obama as an inspiring, charming salesman, no, not all. he is super smart. he is probably the man for the moment. i do not think he is doing a good job of selling at all. >> i think you are being hard on him. he is in the middle of a horrible situation, approval ratings in the 60, still? >> under 50% in a majority of states. i am not a math major, but i think he is doing pretty good. >> do you think of him as charming? >> there is some things they do well and not so well. i think that the part that is not so charming is the impression that he is not commanding enough to figure on what he believes on and selling that hard. >> it is like he is waiting, testing, i do not know if it is clear to us as citizens what his convictions are. >> certainly on health care. there are few people in modern american history

thoughts of the blair administration. tell us what we will find in there. guest: it was written in the final months of the blair administration, but it goes back over 10 years of his history so there is a lot about domestic events. he was a transforming live prime minister. -- transformative prime minister. it was written from the inside, because i was covering the prime minister very closely, traveling with him a lot. there is a lot of diplomacy in the arguments he was making and whether they were strictly honest or night. -- whether they were strictly honest or not. there was an election and it was very unclear who had won. eventually you got president bush. we had very similar -- different political system, a similar situation in our election last year were there was not a clear result in the election, there for three political parties -- there for three political parties had to negotiate with each other as to how they would form a government. they formed a coalition, and we have not had for 40 years. host: jeff, republican. you are on with adam boulton.