From 1999 to 2001, the Transition to Governing Project focused on issues of governance, including candidates' governing approaches or visions. This website tracked the output and activities of the project.
If you are looking for the 2004 "How Would They Govern?" events, those are separate from this project and are located at: http://www.aei.org/govern
Executive Privilege/Congressional Power: Current Controversies over the Role and Prerogatives of the Branches
On July 2, 2002, the Transition to Governing Project held a conference to discuss the ongoing tension between the legislative and executive branches. The White House and Congress have had several recent clashes over the extent of legislative and executive powers, including the General Accounting Office's request for documents from Vice President Cheney's energy taskforce, the question of whether Tom Ridge should testify before Congress, and the subpoenas of Enron-related documents recently issued by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. A panel with extensive experience in the legislative and executive branches helped to shed light on the recurring conflict between the need for private deliberation in the executive branch and Congress's oversight function.
Moderators
- Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution
- Norman J. Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute
Panelists
- C. Boyden Gray, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering
- Lee Hamilton, Woodrow Wilson Center
- John Podesta, Georgetown University Law Center
- Michael Davidson, former Senate legal counsel
- Robert Walker, Wexler & Walker
The Bush Presidency: Transition and Transformation
On December 11, 2001, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a discussion with Karl Rove. Norman Ornstein of AEI and Tom Mann of Brookings held a question and answer session with the White House senior advisor.
This was followed by a luncheon panel that discussed The Bush Transition to the Presidency: Planning and Implementation. Clay Johnson, director of presidential personnel and deputy chief of staff, was the featured speaker. He was joined by Mark Gearan, former transition director to Bill Clinton; C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel to George H. W. Bush; Carl Leubsdorf of the Dallas Morning News; and Roy Neel, former chief of staff and transition adviser to Al Gore. John Fortier of AEI moderated the panel.
An afternoon panel discussing the "Bush Presidency, Before and After September 11" concluded the days events. Panelists included Carla Anne Robbins of the Wall Street Journal and Richard Reeves, syndicated columnist. David Brooks of The Weekly Standard and E. J. Dionne, Jr., of the Washington Post and Brookings Institution moderated.
Media Coverage from Scandal to Crisis: A Discussion with Marvin Kalb
On November 14, 2001, the Transition to Governing Project held a conference to discuss how the media covers scandals and crises. Marvin Kalb, award winning journalist and professor, talked about his new book, One Scandalous Story: Clinton, Lewinsky, and Thirteen Days That Tarnished American Journalism, that examines how changes in the journalistic ethos over the past thirty years led to saturation coverage of the Monica Lewinsky affair. Kalb and a panel of media experts also discussed how the media has covered the dramatic turn of events since September 11.
Featured Speaker
- Marvin Kalb, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government
Panelists
- Norman Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute
- Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution
- Tom Rosenstiel, Project for Excellence in Journalism
What If Congress Were Obliterated?
On October 22, 2001, the Transition to Governing Project held a conference to discuss what would have happened if the terrorists had succeeded in flying an airplane into the Capitol, killing or incapacitating many members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Our Constitution and laws have only makeshift and incomplete provisions for Congress to convene, do business, and make laws under those circumstances. This is no academic problem: among the last things the United States needs in the aftermath of a terrorist attack is the enduring absence of national leadership. At this event a panel discussed the security and constitutional issues surrounding a deadly attack on Congress. Norman Ornstein discussed issues raised in his pieces on the subject in Roll Call and the Washington Post. Congressmen Brian Baird presented his recently introduced constitutional amendment to allow Congress to function under such an emergency. Thomas Mann and Bill Frenzel, both of the Brookings Institution, also joined the discussion.
How Is Bush Governing?
On May 15, 2001, the Transition to Governing Project held a panel to assess the Bush administration's early performance. Topics of discussion included: what have we seen of President Bush's leadership qualities? How has he organized his White House? How does he work with Congress? How is he staffing his administration? How does this experience compare to other presidents?
Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution moderated the panel, which included Fred Greenstein, the author of The Presidential Difference and one of the nation's leading scholars on the presidency as well as a student of the various leadership styles of presidents; and David Gergen, Public Service Professor of Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government and the author of Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton, who over the past three decades has served as a White House adviser to four presidents: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton.
Assessing the Bush Foreign Policy Transition
On April 18, 2001, the Transition to Governing Project held a panel discussion that addressed the relationship between the incoming and outgoing administrations, the structuring and staffing of foreign policy institutions, relations with allies and adversaries during a transition, and the foreign policy challenges facing the new administration. Norman J. Ornstein, AEI, and Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution, moderated the session. Panelists included Ivo H. Daalder, Brookings Institution; James M. Lindsay, Brookings Institution; Robert C. "Bud" McFarlane, former national security adviser to President Reagan; and Carla Anne Robbins, Wall Street Journal.
Other transition events:
How Would They Govern?
View transcripts of selected Transition to Governing Project conferences to date:
At the First Presidential Debate
At the Democratic and Republican National Conventions
Foreign Policy
How Would They Govern? The January Series
Book conferences:
