Will Republicans be able to unify behind Donald Trump? What does the nomination of such a divisive figure mean for the future of the party? Can Hilary Clinton defy the approval ratings and garner popular support? Join us as we debate the key issues facing both candidates.

Chaired by Michael Goldfarb, journalist author and broadcaster. He has reported for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR and Global Post.

The panel:

Christopher Caldwell is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard. He is a columnist for the Financial Times and the author of Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West.

Peter Trubowitz is professor of international relations and director of the US Centre at the London School of Economics and associate fellow at Chatham House. Before joining the LSE, he was professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin.

Ed Schultz is a broadcaster with over 30 years experience. He currently produces and hosts his own international show – News with Ed Schultz – which airs on RT America.

Leslie Vinjamuri is director of the Centre on Conflict, Rights & Justice and senior lecturer in international relations at SOAS, University of London. She is an associate fellow at the US & the Americas Programme, Chatham House.

L-r: Jonathan Freedland, Norma Percy, Paul Mitchell. Photo: Tolly Robinson

The first of the four-part series looks at the initial two years of Obama’s administration, during which he passed the largest stimulus in American history; pledged – ultimately unsuccessfully – to close Guantanamo Bay; bailed out Michigan’s automotive industry; and crashed a meeting at the 2009 Copenhagen climate change summit to secure a deal between the United States and China.

The documentary, which took three years to make, is comprised of interviews with key figures within the administration, as well as previously unseen archive footage from the White House.

Jonathan Freedland. Photo: Tolly Robinson

Chair Jonathan Freedland asked if the structure of the documentary – focusing on a few, defining points of the administration – risked dramatising rather than documenting Obama’s years in the White House, creating a ‘West Wing’ narrative of events at the cost of accuracy.

In fact, Percy said, what surprised her most about making the documentary was “how much real politics is like the West Wing.” She added that Gene Spurling, who is interviewed in the first programme, was a consultant to The West Wing.

Norma Percy. Photo: Tolly Robinson

“What we try and do is show what it’s like inside the room when the big decisions are made. So what were the big decisions? What were the key meetings?” Percy said.

“Sometimes, trivial stories can be much more revealing than big ones,” she said. Obama dressing down Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner after a shambolic press conference, for example, or one economic adviser failing to invite a rival adviser to a crucial meeting – both of which feature in the first episode.

Mitchell said that the programme was not considered dramatic by the BBC when it was pitched. “If you think that getting three economic stories in a row in an hour of BBC primetime TV is considered dramatic – well, you have no idea what that was like. They weren’t keen at all [initially].”

“There’s absolutely no way in two hours that you can do an encyclopedia. What you really want to do is three or four stories, and do them really well. You want to pick the right ones – the ones which are consequential,” Mitchell said.

Paul Mitchell. Photo: Tolly Robinson.

Nearing the end of his presidency, Obama is now beginning to address that question of consequence, and legacy. This is reflected by the fact that the production team were able to secure an interview with the President through a newly appointed “legacy team” of press officers.

“Obama’s legacy will only continue to grow,” Percy said. “He did some amazing things: bringing healthcare to the American people, opening up relations with Cuba, and Iran [the US deal which ensured Iran would not obtain nuclear weapons].”

Mitchell added that determining Obama’s legacy would be a long-term project. “He set out to transform America, to move it in a progressive way. I think part of his legacy is going to be the degree to which he’s done that. It’s going to take a long, long time to understand where he succeeded and where he failed.”

The next episode of Inside Obama’s White House will be broadcast on Tuesday 22 March 2016 at 9PM on BBC2.

When Barack Obama was elected, the world cheered. Not only was he the first African-American President, he inspired hope and trust – everywhere. His promises – to end the war in Iraq, close Guantanamo, fight climate change, reform American healthcare – seemed to mark a new era of civility and hope. What happened instead was the worst economic collapse in living memory, a Republican opposition that refused any sort of cooperation, and the rise of a populist anti-government Tea Party.

In this landmark series by Norma Percy, Brian Lapping and Paul Mitchell, four one-hour programmes look at how he brought America out of the Great Recession; how his triumphant reform of America’s healthcare system was followed by defeat at the polls at the hands of the Tea Party; the failure to close Guantanamo, the Arab Spring and the inside story of the secret nuclear negotiations with Iran; the struggle for gun control and his response to the racial unrest of Ferguson.

With unprecedented access and contribution from a number of key players within the administration, Inside Obama’s White House captures key moments when policy was made.

Jonathan Freedland is a weekly columnist and writer for the Guardian. A former Washington correspondent who has covered every US presidential election since 1992, he is also a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and presents BBC Radio 4’s contemporary history series, The Long View. In 2014 he was awarded the Orwell special prize for journalism. He has also published eight books including six bestselling thrillers, the latest being The 3rd Woman. He tweets @freedland.

Producer/Director: Paul Mitchell
Executive Producer: Brian Lapping
Series Producer: Norma Percy
Country: United Kingdom/USA
Runtime: 60′

No promises that the President will be doing the blogging himself, (he may have a few other slightly more pressing concerns), but Obama has committed himself to ‘making his administration the most open and transparent in history’.

The first blog post was written by Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House. He says new media efforts will initially focus on communication, transparency and participation.

There’s talk of slideshows, video, engagement, publication of Presidential decisions, and opportunities to comment on non-emergency legislation. In short, it’s ambitious. (Rather like the rest of Obama’s agenda.)


I was tipped off by Robin Hamman via Twitter though sure others were on it too. Like Adam Tinworth. Here’s Reuters. They feel it’s necessary to say ‘the site features a web-log or blog’ just in case you haven’t been living in the 21st Century these last eight years.