America's Future: Conversations about Politics and Policy during the 2008 Republican National Convention

Foreign Policy

Building a Better, Safer World: What Would a McCain Presidency Do?
Special guest Joe Lieberman joins this panel the day after his speech at the Republican National Convention and argues that John McCain's experience in foreign policy is "unmatched" and would provide a steady hand in troubling times. Lieberman and his fellow panelists focus on how McCain would approach public diplomacy, trade, energy independence, and confronting America's adversaries.

Democracy and America's Role in the World
Special guest Henry Kissinger questions the United States' capacity to effectively implement an ambitious policy of democratization as pursued in Iraq and Afghanistan: "As a nation we have to understand our reach, but also our limits." The panel, which also includes Lorne Cramer, president of the International Republican Institute and Ken Wollack, president of the National Democratic Institute, considers the utility and effectiveness of a democratization policy in terms of overarching U.S. economic and security interests.

Foreign Policy Challenges for the Next Administration
When the 44th President of the United States is sworn in on January 20, he will face a dangerous world in which the United States' position as world leader is uncertain at best. In this wide-ranging discussion, panelists touch on the role of the U.S. economy in world stability, recent aggressive moves by Russia, the evolving role of international organizations such as the UN, Iranian ascendancy, and the prospects for curbing global climate change.

The Future of U.S. Foreign Assistance: Effective Development and National Security
This discussion delves into the byzantine workings of the foreign aid and development apparatus of the United States. The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act, written in 1961, has not seen major reform for over three decades and the panelists discuss how aid legislation must be reworked for the realities of the present day to bring it in line with broader U.S. interests, especially national security.

The Greater Middle East
How should the United States proceed in the Middle East beyond the borders of Iraq? Middle East experts Michael Barnett, Meghan O'Sullivan of the Kennedy School, Stephen Cook from the Council on Foreign Relations and Vali Nasr, author of the "Shia Revival" consider national security priorities from Israel/Palestine to Afghanistan and Pakistan, with particular attention paid to the rise of Iran in the wake of America's intervention in Iraq.

Politics and the 2008 Elections

Conservatism Today
Liberal commentator E.J. Dionne moderates this discussion of why contemporary conservatism has gotten off track during the eight years of the Bush administration and how "true" conservatism can be restored to prominence. Panelists David Frum, Mickey Edwards, and Ross Douthat consider what it means to call oneself a conservative in today's America and what it could mean in the coming years.

Faith and Politics
Moderated by Krista Tippett, host of American Public Media's Speaking of Faith, this panel of conservative evangelical Dr. Richard Land and liberal evangelical Jim Wallis separates faith from any one party and defines a broad faith-oriented agenda.

What Are Americans Looking For?
Modertor E.J. Dionne and pollsters Charlie Cook, Andrew Kohut, and Bill McInturff consider what Americans want in their next president from a statistical point-of-view. The panel considers how issues of John McCain's age, Barack Obama's inexperience, an uncertain world, and high energy costs move public opinion at both ends of the political spectrum and in middle America.

How Would They Govern?
Senators Jon Kyl and Amy Klobuchar join this panel moderated by Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and Thomas Mann from Brookings to flesh out a picture of how the next four years would look different under either a McCain or an Obama presidency.

Convention Politics and the Fall Elections I
In the aftermath of the national conventions, the 2008 Elections are clearly all about "change." The presidential election, in particular, is now framed as a choice between opposing ideological visions of exactly what that change will actually look like. The panel, moderated by former Minnesota Congressman Tim Penny, includes Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institute, Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review, and political analysts Larry Sabato and Vin Weber.

Convention Politics and the Fall Elections II
This panel, moderated by Lawrence Jacobs of the Humphrey School, focuses on the last leg of a very long campaign season and the impact that Sarah Palin as John McCain's VP pick has had on the dynamics of the race. Panelists: Norm Ornstein, Stuart Rothenberg, and Vin Weber.

Truth Telling in the Media and the Fall Elections
Kathleen Hall Jamieson from the Annenberg Public Policy Center talks with Brooks Jackson of FactCheck.org and Bill Adair of PolitiFact.com about the impact their organizations' fact-checking has had on politics and the 2008 Elections in particular. The panel expresses particular concern about the prominence of e-mail chain letters in influencing public opinion; in particular, the widely-circulated rumors that Barack Obama is a "secret Muslim" or "the Antichrist" are especially troubling to these political referees because they are nearly impossible to track back to their origins.

Health Care

Moving Forward on Health Care Reform
Senators Bob Bennett and Amy Klobuchar headline this panel considering current efforts to move the debate on health care forward to make coverage cheaper and more flexible and to bring it within the reach of more Americans who are currently only "covered" by expensive emergency room visits. The Bennett-Wyden bill (The Healthy Americans Act) promises to put control of health care services into the hands of the employees and out of the hands of employers is a bipartisan effort to demonstrate to the next president that health care must be a priority.

Economics, Energy, and the Environment

Climate Change and Energy Security
Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey frames the discussion by positing that future policy must make energy must be as secure as possible, as cheap as possible, and as clean as possible. Former New York Gov. George Pataki, Reagan National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, and former Asst. Secretary of Energy Michael Davis discuss what must be done to reach a workable policy for energy security.

Tax Policy at a Crossroads
Advisors from the Obama and McCain camps--Austan Goolsbee from the University of Chicago and John Taylor from Stanford University, respectively, lay out the candidates' tax plans and duel over what they would mean for the American economy and the average family. Leonard Burman of the Urban Institute-Brookings Institute joint Tax Policy Center and Joel Slemrod, Director of the Office of Tax Policy Research referee.

Transportation and Climate Change: Promoting Sustainable Growth and Prosperity
This panel, moderated by News Hour correspondent Ray Suarez, considers the nexus between transportation, environmental impacts, and energy needs. Because of the rise in oil prices and concern over global climate change, transportation is now a part of the national political discourse in a more central way than ever before and has been taken up by both parties at their national convention.

All programs were broadcast live on the internet and are now archived. The live internet broadcast was made possible through the generous support of the Wallin Foundation.