It was back to work this week at The Nation and in D.C., with President Obama and the Democrats in Congress grappling with how critical jobs and the economy are to their chances in November. In my web column for The Washington Post this week, I challenged Wall Street over their recklessness in attacking President Obama’s relatively mild efforts at reforming the financial system, after being made whole and profitable again by the bailouts. The reality is that Wall Street’s unwillingness to lend or to accept reforms has put the economic recovery at risk. I made a similar argument in this video conversation with Laura Flanders from The Nation on GRIT TV: Class warfare is not, as John McCain would have you believe, overturning Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. “Class warfare is when you have corporations sitting on $1.8 trillion.” Watch the segment here.
Also this week …
Video: The U.S., The U.N and The World
The Nation’s United Nation’s Correspondent Barbara Crossette joined Laura for a conversation about the role of the U.S. in global human rights – specifically our relationship to the U.N. But as President Obama embraces reforms abroad, are we applying the same principles to economic justice at home? Its a thoughtful conversation; watch the video here.
Podcast: The Breakdown With Chris Hayes
How can the Fed help the economy? Chris Hayes explains the role of the Federal Reserve in the economic recovery, with Neil Irwin of The Washington Post. Listen here, or subscribe in I-tunes.
1000 Shares
Contributing Writer Jon Wiener was prepping for a radio interview on KPFK with columnist Katha Pollitt (available here) when he noticed that her recent column, “It’s Better Over There,” had hit 1,001 “shares” on Facebook. The article is now at 1,045. It’s been remarkable to watch the growth of social networking as a tool to spark discussion around Nation content; we always appreciate the shares and re-tweets, and sharing a Nation article is one of the most significant things you can do to help the magazine – and independent journalism.
The State of the Race
Next Monday we’re starting a video series on Election 2010. Our Monday segments from “The Nation on GRIT TV” (posted here each Monday afternoon) will look at one facet of the midterm election, along with a dispatch from one of our reporters out in the field. This week, Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Laura will look at the impact that race is playing on the election: is the GOP race-baiting their way back to a House majority? And we’ll hear (via skype) from reporter Dan Bischoff, who is covering the Rand Paul-Jack Conway Kentucky Senate race. Videos are at thenation.com; full episodes are at GRITTV.org.
Election Day is Tuesday
A reminder that in many states, Tuesday is Primary Election Day. Here in New York, the big race is for Attorney General. I encourage you to get out and vote, and give some thought to my endorsement of Eric Schneiderman before you go.
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That’s all for this week. As always you can keep up by following The Nation on Facebook here, or follow me on Twitter – I’m @KatrinaNation.
