One year on since President Obama was elected and as our John Nichols notes, the fate of his presidency could come down to one word: Jobs. But for progressives, figuring out how to feel about the Obama presidency is daunting. Do we play the betrayal sweepstakes–or soldier on in a more sustained campaign for progressive change that seizes the opportunities of the moment? In The Nation‘s print magazine this week I offered my thoughts on "Obama, One Year On"–you can read them here.
Also this week was our special issue on youth and youth politics. A big thank you to Editorial Board member and Wiretapmag.org Editor Kristina Rizga, who guest-edited. For a good overview of the main topic–where Obama’s young supporters have gone, one year later–watch this VideoNation interview with Kristina and reporter Elizabeth Mendez Berry. We also revealed the winners of the annual Nation Student Journalism Contest. Our winner was Jim Miller, from Henderson State University in Arkansas. Read his fantastic winning entry on small-town America here.
Another video feature is launching this weekend at TheNation.com–an 8-week series of interviews with journalists and media insiders on the future of journalism. What will the media look like in 5 years … 10… 15? Can investigative journalism survive? The Nation‘s John Nichols leads off, followed by Nick Penniman (Huffington Post InvestigativeFund), Ana Marie Cox (Air America and MSNBC), Dan Rather, Jane Mayer, Mark Luckie (10000words.net) and Victor Navasky. You can view John’s video here.
Two last items of note:
•If you want to ask The Nation‘s Jeremy Scahill any questions, now is your chance. Jeremy has has been investigating and exposing the dangers Blackwater USA poses to democracy and human rights for years, and is now raising tough questions about why the Obama administration continues to renew Blackwater contracts. I’ll be hosting a conference call with Jeremy – part of our monthly, donors-only conference call to benefit The Nation Associates. We’ll open up this one to everyone as a preview; the call is at 3:00 pm Eastern / noon Pacific on Monday. For all the details and to sign-up, email rsvp [at] thenation [dot] com.
• Monday is the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I spoke with Mikhail Gorbachev about the monumental anniversary in an interview last month; last week I was a guest on C-Span’s Washington Journal, discussing the anniversary, the end of the Cold War, the lessons for us in Afghanistan and the state of the Obama presidency. Here’s the segment in full:
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