Experts in the News

Biden doubles down on normal at White House

Chris Lu, who served as Cabinet Secretary in the Obama White House, drew a comparison between the new administration and the Obama, Clinton and Bush White Houses. “It’s refreshing how normal it is. This is what happens in a normal White House. You have a process for making policy decisions, you have a message of the day, you have a president who sticks to the message. You have a sense of order," Lu said.

Chris Lu

Biden Pledged Historic Cabinet Diversity. Here's How His Nominees Stack Up

"Numbers don't tell you everything. And so in this small sample size, just looking at the scene, it looks like he's doing OK with [diversity]. But in fact ... there are some historic firsts," said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a nonresident senior fellow with Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, who has compiled data on the diversity of presidents' Cabinets.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

How much control do presidents really have over the economy?

A lot also depends on Congress, Owen said, and on monetary policy, which presidents don’t control. “If we’re thinking about them acting unilaterally, they have very few tools,” said Bill Antholis, at the University of Virginia Miller Center. He said that’s especially true when the economy is in crisis. Their ability to perfectly correct the crisis is extremely limited.”

William Antholis

Shanghai’s old cinemas tell of a power reversal between China and Hollywood

Hollywood self-censorship comes down to whether America places more value on free speech or on “maximizing shareholder value,” said Aynne Kokas, professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and author of a book about China’s influence on Hollywood. “It goes to the very core of what constitutes free speech and what constitutes democracy, and how important corporate earnings are in that framing.”

Aynne Kokas

Chris Lu on U.S Jobs Report

Chris Lu, Former Deputy Secretary of Labor and Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center, previews Friday's U.S Jobs report with Doug Krizner and Juliette Saly on Bloomberg Daybreak Asia.