David Brady, the Davies Family Senior Fellow and deputy director at the Hoover Institution, kicks off the 2010 Board of Overseer’s meeting with a discussion on health care. He shares thoughts and research on why health care policy is—and will continue to be—hard to reform. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

During the Board of Overseer’s lunch on Monday, February 22, the Honorable Bill Thomas, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1979–2007), shares his observations on the 111th Congress, including insights on the unique challenges the Senate faces in its efforts to develop and pass legislation. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

David Traitel, chairman of the Hoover Institution Board of Overseers, meets with the Honorable Bill Thomas, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 2007, following a lunch on Monday, February 22, 2010, during which Thomas provides his observations on the 111th Congress. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

Award-winning professor Kenneth Jowitt spoke on the topic “America: Too Big to Fail?” during the two-day overseers’ meeting. Jowitt is the Pres and Maurine Hotchkis Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Robson Professor of Political Science Emeritus, at the University of California, Berkley. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

Chester Finn, Hoover senior fellow and chairman of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education, speaks about the challenges and pitfalls of President Obama’s approach to education reform. Finn is the author of 17 books, including his two most recent, Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut and Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

Award-winning author and three-time teacher of the year Russell Roberts leads a lively discussion regarding the future of capitalism. Roberts is a Hoover research fellow in the Washington, D.C., area and a professor of economics at George Mason University. Russell’s weekly podcast, EconTalk, which features conversations with authors, economists, and business leaders, was voted Best Podcast in the 2008 Weblog Awards. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

Monday night, during the Board of Overseers’ dinner, Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, shared his thoughts about collective bargaining in the public sector and the recent historic election in Massachusetts. Henninger currently writes a column for the Journal that appears each Thursday; he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing both in 1987 and 1996. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

Pulitzer Prize–winning syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer provides remarks on the current political climate. Krauthammer’s writings appear regularly in the Washington Post, as well as in Time, the Weekly Standard and the New Republic. Krauthammer is also a regular commentator on FOX News. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

The Honorable David Dreier, U.S. member of Congress from California, speaks at the first presentation on Tuesday afternoon. Elected in 1980, Drier represents California’s 26th District. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

The Honorable James M. Inhofe, U.S. senator from Oklahoma, offers remarks to the meeting. He has served in the Senate since 1994; he previously served as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, as minority leader of the Oklahoma Senate, as mayor of Tulsa, and as a member of Congress from Oklahoma’s First Congressional District. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

The afternoon sessions concluded with remarks by the Honorable John Cornyn, who has been a U.S. senator from Texas since 2002. Previously, he served in Texas as a district judge, as a member of the Texas Supreme Court, and as Texas attorney general. After one year in the Senate, he became a member of the deputy whip team; he has been a member of the Republican Senate Leadership since 2006. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)

Edward Lazear (left), the Morris Arnold Cox Senior Fellow; John Cogan (center), the Leonard and Shirley Ely Senior Fellow; and Victor Hanson (right), the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow gave presentations on domestic policy, international affairs, and the economy. (Photo courtesy of Goodman/Van Riper Photography)