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Obama: Change We Can Still Believe In?

Date: March 9, 2010

Time: 7:00 PM

New York Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th St at Central Park West
New York, NY

More than a year after a critical shift in American politics, where do we stand? A volatile economy, two prolonged global wars, and a domestic values war have created a moment of global economic flux and domestic uncertainty for the United States. The current administration has mammoth goals: to reform the healthcare system; to stabilize employment, the financial industry, and lending; to reform immigration; to boost military intervention in Afghanistan; to draw down troops in Iraq; and to begin paring down the deficit, to name just a few.

Where should we see continued momentum for the rest of this year, and in what concrete ways has the new political landscape impacted, both positively and negatively, the goals we seek for America’s future? With mid-term congressional elections quickly approaching, what are the possible outcomes and challenges we face in achieving these goals?

Join Demos, the New York Society for Ethical Culture, The Nation Institute, and Common Cause New York for a public forum with leading journalists, policymakers, and scholars to discuss these and other salient issues. Panelists will provide original, incisive commentary on the administration’s 2010 political, economic, and cultural agenda and it’s execution. What benchmarks or achievements would define a successful year, according not just to historians and experts, but to everyday citizens? This event invites audience members to contemplate their own measures for progress going forward, and to brainstorm their own complicit role, if any, in the success or failure of these achievements by the White House and Congress.

A live webcast will be available at www.demos.org.

About the Speakers:

Katrina vanden Heuvel is Editor and Publisher of The Nation. She is the editor of Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover, (Nation Books, 2009); and co-editor of Taking Back America--And Taking Down The Radical Right. She is a frequent commentator on American and international politics on ABC, MSNBC, CNN and PBS. She writes a weekly column called "Editor's Cut" at thenation.com.

Ben Smith writes a popular blog about national politics for Politico.com. Before joining Politico, he was a political columnist for the New York Daily News, and in 2005 and 2006 started three of New York City's leading political blogs, The Politicker, The Daily Politics, and Room Eight, for which he still writes occasionally about New York politics.

Gretchen Morgenson is assistant business and financial editor and a columnist at the New York Times. She has covered the world financial markets for the Times since May 1998, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her "trenchant and incisive" coverage of Wall Street. She is the author of Forbes Great Minds Of Business and co-author of The Woman's Guide to the Stock Market.

Dr. Benjamin R. Barber is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and the author of 17 books, including the classic Strong Democracy, the international best-seller Jihad vs. McWorld (in 30 languages world-wide), and Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole. Barber was an informal consultant to President Clinton for five years, and continues to consult leaders internationally on issues of education, civil society and democratization.

Moderator:

Ari Melber is a correspondent for The Nation magazine, a writer for the magazine’s blog, and a columnist for Politico.com. As a commentator on public affairs, Melber frequently appears on national television, including NBC, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, FOX News and Bloomberg News. His views have been quoted by publications such as The Washington Post, The New York Times and Roll Call, among others.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30. Seating is first come first served.

To RSVP for this event, click here, or contact Jinny Khanduja at jkhanduja@demos.org or 212.389.1399.