"The 2005 White House Conference on Aging: No Time for Seniors" is the title of the lead essay by Boston University gerontologist Robert B. Hudson in the latest issue of the Public Policy and Aging Report (winter 2006). Hudson, editor of the quarterly, compares the "dismissive manner" in which the Bush Administration treated the conference with the engagement by past presidents, even those like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan who found themselves entering a contentious environment. George W. Bush is the first president not to attend his own WHCOA, choosing instead to speak at an upscale Virginia retirement community a few miles away.

Hudson casts a cool eye on the highly controlled proceedings and suggests that what the White House "orchestrated with considerable success was a prevailing message that the federal government cannot and should not be expected to play a central role in addressing the needs and desires of any aging population."

Hudson goes on to introduce six essays on the White House Conference by leading policy experts in aging, including Robert H. Binstock on the split between the White House and delegates over Social Security and Medicare, Jon Pynoos on housing and Nancy Morrow-Howell on civic engagement. Joseph F. Coughlin, founder of the MIT AgeLab, and Jasmin Lau contribute a piece about the role of technology; Coughlin also picks up this theme in "Invention Vs. Innovation: Technology and the Future of Aging," an article in the March-April 2006 issue of Aging Today.

The 28-page winter 2006 issue of Public Policy and Aging Report is available for purchase for $20; to place your order, visit the website of the National Academy on an Aging Society.

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