7 Days in America Blog

Obama, Gay Rights, And The LeBron Factor

Carlos Watson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:02:28 -0400

I moderated a spirited conversation this week about president Barack Obama and gay rights. Like many progressives across the country, more than a few of my guests were dumbfounded by the administration's inaction over these first few months.

The 10 Most Powerful Political Daughters

Carlos Watson — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:03:04 -0400

Father's Day is still a few weeks off, but in the loving world of politics—some daughters have already given generous gifts to Dad. Meghan McCain gave Papa John a very public present last fall: a helping hand with the nearly impossible task of wooing the youth vote.

How the Prop 8 Ruling Will Help Gay Marriage

Carlos Watson — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:00:36 -0400

I know a lot of people are saddened and angered by the California Supreme Court’s 6-1 decision yesterday to uphold Prop 8.

Carlos Watson: Summer Economic Forecast Is Sunny

Carlos Watson — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:37:22 -0400

Two big economic trends appeared this week that might have flown under your radar, but they could have a real impact on your finances this summer.

Carlos Watson: Torture Won’t Be Solved On Cable News

Carlos Watson — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:10:47 -0400

You may have heard that Joe Scarborough and I got into it a little bit yesterday on Morning Joe. For those of you who missed it, here’s the clip (the fireworks start at the 3:25 mark):

The Democratic Party Is About to Get Crashed

Carlos Watson — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:24:34 -0400

It’s hard to imagine more on BHO’s plate during those first 100 days in office. He had to start the long process of restoring America’s place in the world, navigate the treacherous waters of bank bailouts, and get both his budget and his stimulus package passed. But the next 200 days will be even tougher.

7 Days in America: New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Talks Policy

Mark Green — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:33:03 -0500

She's called it her "baptism by fire;" literally one day a little known upstate Congresswomen, the next a national celebrity following her appointment by Gov. David Paterson to succeed her mentor Hillary Clinton. Her friends call her brilliant--her critics, expedient. 7 Days found a person thoroughly substantive and adaptable.

Change For America: Patricia J. Williams

Dorsey Shaw — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:48:32 -0500

One of the acclaimed speakers at Mark Green's recent Change For America event at New York University was Patrica J. Williams. She is currently the James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, and writes a column for The Nation magazine titled "Diary of a Mad Law Professor."

In this video Williams talks about the series of historical events that made possible the election of Barack Obama and the continued importance of civil rights law despite the election of a black man to the office of President of the United States. She also asks us to think about Obama's victory not in terms of some synchronous moment in history but instead as a human created effort. Watch the video after the jump.

Change For America: William Greider

Dorsey Shaw — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:25:10 -0500

Mark Green's recent Change For America event at New York University featured a panel of speakers that included William Greider, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation. Greider has also contributed as an on-air correspondent for Frontline on PBS. A former reporter and editor for the Washington Post and at Rolling Stone, Greider is credited with coining the term "Nader's Raiders."

In this video, Greider laments President Obama's lack of progressive choices in his administration and predicts yet another attempt to attack Social Security in the name of fiscal responsibility. Watch the video after the jump.

Change For America: Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org

Dorsey Shaw — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:03:30 -0500

Mark Green's Change for America event at NYU featured Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org who reminded the audience that it wasn't Barack Obama who created the movement but it was the movement that created the space for him to succeed.

In this video, Pariser also reminds us that it wasn't elected Democrats that stood up to the Bush era Republicans but rather it was the people themselves who decided that if they didn't do something about what was going on, things would have taken a turn for the worse. Watch the video after the jump.

Change For America: Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation

Dorsey Shaw — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:48:26 -0500

Mark Green's Change For America event at NYU gathered an excellent panel of speakers that included Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation magazine.

In this video, vanden Heuvel voices her pleasure with the current administration and the country's return to progressive values. Also discussed are her expectations for what Obama can do for future generations and her personal definition of what hope means.

Watch the video after the jump.

Obama and Progressives: The Start of a Beautiful Relationship?

Mark Green — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:18:39 -0500

We're the dog that caught the car. Now that a progressive, urban, black constitutional law professor is the president, what should be the relationship of progressive advocates who supported him? That was the topic of a Nation magazine-Air America colloquium at NYU this past week with speakers like Katrina vanden Heuvel, Eli Pariser of MoveOn, author Bill Greider,
among others.

7 Days: Spitzer on Wall Street and Obama, with Eliot Spitzer, Arianna Huffington & Katrina vanden Heuvel

Mark Green — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:07:19 -0500

In his first interview since his resignation as governor in March of 2008, Eliot Spitzer has again sharp criticism of Wall Street -- and ideas for the new president in Washington...and waves a cautionary flag for his successor. Paterson picked a new senator this week because Spitzer picked him over two years ago.

Interview with Eliot Spitzer, January 24, 2009

MARK GREEN: How do you think the President has done so far in his Transition, Inaugural Address, and first days?

ELIOT SPITZER: The transition was masterful. He has brought on board wonderfully talented, sophisticated individuals, who will be the ones day to day that will be pulling the levers of power in an extraordinarily tough moment both internationally and domestically. I think there are few transitions that have occurred at greater moments of crisis, perhaps, and none since Roosevelt has faced this sort of trauma that the nation is facing right now. He handled that with the grace and aplomb that defined his candidacy, having assumed office with an inaugural address that did not have the poetry that, perhaps, some had hoped for but had the substance that framed where we need to go. And I think in the long run that is just as important, if not more important. He has begun by setting a tone of transparency and determination. So we’re off to a good start. But it’ll get tougher every day as the expectation bar, that is so high, is going to be tough to match, or meet, or surpass. And the economic issues will begin to sink in and the economy is, really, still in free-fall.

GREEN: Speaking of his appointments, they’ve been all people of great talent but largely moderate insiders. Is that a problem or an asset?

7 Days: Lessons from Lincoln's Transition and Memorial

Mark Green — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:42:06 -0500

Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer shares the parallels between one lanky Illinois legislator president-elect and another. Think about it: without Lincoln, no emancipation proclamation, no Obama... and no United States of America. Read the interview with Harold Holzer, author of Lincoln President Elect, January 17, 2009.

7 Days: Green Jobs, Caroline Kennedy and Rick Warren

Mark Green — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:39:00 -0500

Does Caroline Kennedy have the right DNA and experience to replace Hillary? Is Obama's choice of Rick Warren another example of the President-Elect giving conservatives the visual while later giving progressives the policy?

7 Days Talks with Robert Kuttner

Mark Green — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 10:55:17 -0500

How soon before the headline, "GOP to Detroit: Drop Dead?" While Republicans throw $700 billion to Wall Street but complain about a $14 billion loan for blue collar workers, Bob Kuttner explains why this should be a transforming economic and political moment for Obama.

7 Days: National Security, the Bailout, and Beyond

Mark Green — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 12:05:59 -0500

45 days and counting... So while we have two presidents--or none, per Barney Frank's joke--Berger, Huffington, and Conason discuss the Clinton/Gates appointments, what they mean for actual policy, as well as whether the Big Three
might become the Big One and whether Rove can tarnish Obama's mandate.

7 Days Talks with Donna Brazile

Mark Green — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:59:46 -0500

This time "the whole world was watching" was literally true...and they were waving flags not fingers. Our A+ panel discusses why -- W's uniting influence, O's bottom-up campaign, McCain's dishonort.

7 Days: FDR = Obama? Alter, Huffington, vanden Heuvel & Green Discuss and Compare Their Transitions, Nov. 15, 2008

Mark Green — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:36:27 -0500

Two Democrats succeed two conservative Republicans during economic crises. How parallel actually are Roosevelt's and now Obama's transitions?

7 Days Interview with Jonathan Alter, author of The Defining Moment, Nov. 16, 2008

Yes It Was... A Mandate for "Progressive Patriotism"

Mark Green — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:25:36 -0500

President Bill Clinton once confided to an aide, "I'm a progressive president in a conservative era." Will Barack Obama be a progressive president in a progressive era, the first since 1965 and 1933?

Several Republicans leaders and media commentaries -- including a recent Newsweek cover story on "America the Conservative" -- say no. Obama ran a cautious, centrist campaign, they conclude, so should not "lurch left" as president.

This is stale, presumptuous and wrong.

First, elections have consequences. Because conservative values and programs - - like preventive war, trickle-down economics, financial deregulation - crashed into a reef of reality, the country is getting bluer. Hence net shifts of at least 11 Senate seats and some 53 House seats to Democrats in the '06 and '08 elections. Polling shows increasing majorities who are pro-environment, pro-choice, pro-expanded healthcare and anti-Iraq war, anti-big business. Indeed, it's hard to think of any issue where Americans are becoming more conservative.

While Democrats and Republicans were tied in registration in 2006, Dems now have opened a seven point registration advantage, which will likely grow as minorities and professionals grow as a percentage of the electorate.

So if Bush could claim a mandate when he lost the popular vote in 2000 and won it by under 3 million votes in 2004, why can't Obama claim one when he won by 8 million votes?

7 Days: Pre-Mortem on McCain...and Howard Dean on '08, w/ Huffington, Conason & Green

Mark Green — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:14:04 -0400

What went wrong with McCain? Nearly everything. But mostly, he ran an
ok GOP campaign for 1952, 1968, 1980...but not 2008. A Cold-War
candidacy in the age of Google?

Let's put aside for a moment the phenomenon of Obama, his eloquence,
equanimity, organizing skills. McCain was old-time religion in the era
of super-churches, a cold warrior when non-state actors are the biggest
variables, a deregulator when even Randian Alan Greenspan questioned
market fundamentalism. He always seemed to be Mel Gibson in Forever Young, a 1940s flyboy transported to and stumbling around in the 1990s.

He simply ran plays from the Grand OLD Party's playbook when, as Obama
was doing on the other side, it was essential to call audibles given
the context of Bush, Katrina, the credit crisis.

First, he had nothing to say about the economic meltdown other than he'd a) cut earmarks (under .005% of the federal budget), b) balance
the budget by the end of his first term (which no one believed and, in
any event, was not very Keynsian when stimuli were needed), and c)
continue Bush's Gilded Age tax policies. Amazing. Bushonomics produced
one-third the job creation of Clinton -- and has helped to create the
current recession -- yet McCain tethered himself to that mast.
Going-down-with-the-ship may seem noble for the scion of admirals but
it's bad economics and worse politics.

Second, instead of talking about real problems, he resorted to a
standard fear-and-smear campaign, more McCarthy than Maverick. Dean
discusses how he'd have been better off running as the McCain of 2000
than the one who daily resorted to guilt-by-ancient-association --
palling around with terrorists, PLO spokesmen, socialists. But none of
that had real traction when the closest thing definitionally to a
socialist was Hank Paulson and voters were more afraid of their bills

7 Days Talks with George Lakoff

Mark Green — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:33:00 -0400

So why is Obama in such a strong position in the final stretch? George Lakoff has a brainy explanation.

7 Days: Daschle on Obama and McCain, with Huffington, Reagan & Green

Mark Green — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:47:09 -0400

We now see McCain's split-level strategy for the remaining two weeks -- while he stays patriotic and funny, his campaign quietly floods the country with slanderous robo-calls and ads equating Obama and Ayers/ACORN. The public Maverick vs. the private McCarthy.

Interview with Sen. Tom Daschle, October 17, 2008

GREEN: You know him well from when you both served together in the Senate. What was going through McCain's head during and since the debate?

DASCHLE: I think he was advised to be aggressive, and I think that came off as anger. You know, one of the great taglines that they told us to use during the post-debate spin period was to say that he's already convinced two-thirds of the American people he's angry, and he spent 90 minutes convincing the final third. And I think he did a good job of that; he convinced a lot of people last night that he's an angry man. And I think that frustration showed increasingly during the debate.

GREEN: On this blog three months ago, I wrote that Obama seemed to be our Reagan, a teflon candidate due to his sunny composure. How much is that the reason for his success to date?

7 Days in America: Will McCain Put Reputation First in Wednesday's Debate? w/ Mellman, Conason, Huffington & Green

Mark Green — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:34:55 -0400

Dear Senator McCain:
We don't know each other well. We only met once when I interviewed you in 2002 for a book on money in politics. And like many progressive Democrats, I found you interesting, engaging, pretty independent.

What happened?

I understand how ambition can warp judgment. But your recent personal attacks on Barack Obama are so beyond the pale for presidential politics that you now face a fateful choice by the Wednesday debate -- will you pull back from the abyss of sleazy slander or risk losing not only the election but also your reputation and honor?

If Friday is any indication, you're on the fence. On the one hand, when another rally started turning into a mob, you chastized some hateful supporters by saying that Obama was "a decent person [who] you do not have to scared of as president of the United States" and "we will be respectful." But that same day your campaign released an ad that was anything but respectful, asserting that Obama "worked with terrorist Bill Ayers" and then "lied" about it. And of course Sarah Palin keeps repeating that Obama "started" his political career in Ayers' living room.

According to newspaper reports, this is a big lie -- one any candidate should sympathize with. Hundreds of people have hosted events for me, and I assure you that I don't know what awful things they did decades earlier. Indeed, it's known that the two of them worked together handing out educational grants on the same board of the Annenberg Foundation, whose widow endorsed McCain this week! So are you supported by terrorists?

7 Days in America: Palin Fades. Will Bin Laden Again Try to Pick Our President? Ferraro, Huffington, vanden Heuvel & Green

Mark Green — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:37:41 -0400

The VP debate is over and the reviews are in -- Biden exceeded high expectations and Palin exceed low ones...she stayed on message, though not on topic. And now it's likely that, as so many VP nominees before her, Palin will disappear into small markets to work her conservative base far from the national media "filter."
So short of some Obama gaffe -- and the man doesn't appear to make major gaffes -- we're down to only three significant variables over these final four weeks:
^First, the economy is tanking so obviously that it seems likely to dominate the election. Per most presidential campaigns, it'll come down to pocketbook issues -- and again, McCain hasn't passed the economist-in-chief test.
^Second, the McCain camp keeps threatening to try to Willie Hortonize Obama with ex-weatherman Bill Ayres. This guilt by association technique has worked before, but the economy is too big and the hour seems too late for such a despicable, lame linkage. What next, Steve Schmidt -- an ad connecting O.J. and B.O.?
^Third is an "October Surprise" that forces the race to be decided on international, not economic, grounds.
Enter bin Laden? I recall how in March of 2004 I cornered Wes Clark at an event and asked why wouldn't bin Laden do something provocative to help Bush win relection since each protagonist helped the other -- in any Bush-Obama comparison, Bush was advantaged in America and bin Laden could better recruit al Qaeda. Being a discrete military grown-up, Clark wouldn't engage me -- so I launched a "Name the October Surprise Contest" on Air America Radio. We got thousands of listeners to suggest what might happen...and then something did. John Kerry blames his loss in part on bin Laden's Friday tape before the Tuesday election for focusing attention on the terrorist threat just as Kerry was starting to climb.