Nation Conversations: Ari Berman, Tim Egan and Eli Sanders on the Democrats’ Future

Nation Conversations: Ari Berman, Tim Egan and Eli Sanders on the Democrats’ Future

Nation Conversations: Ari Berman, Tim Egan and Eli Sanders on the Democrats’ Future

For Berman, Obama’s grassroots victory in 2008 built heavily on the fifty-state electoral strategy which Howard Dean pursued as DNC chairman. But in a political climate far different than the one that brought Obama to power, how can the Democrats harness this enthusiasm once again?

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

For Berman, Obama’s grassroots victory in 2008 built heavily on the fifty-state electoral strategy which Howard Dean pursued as DNC chairman. But in a political climate far different than the one that brought Obama to power, how can the Democrats harness this enthusiasm once again?

Ari Berman At Seattle’s Elliot Bay Book Company on November 3, the night after the midterms, The Nation‘s Ari Berman joined Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning New York Times commentator Tim Egan and The Stranger‘s associate editor Eli Sanders for an examination of the Democrats’ future after their significant electoral losses this fall.

For Berman, Obama’s grassroots victory in 2008 built heavily on the fifty-state electoral strategy which Howard Dean pursued as DNC chairman, a point Berman makes in his new book, Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics. The key to Obama’s early successes lay in his campaign’s emphasis on transparency and increased involvement, both of which the Democrats have left behind in the political scuffles of the past two years. How then, Berman asks, can the Democrats harness this populist power once again in a much-changed political climate?

Time is running out to have your gift matched 

In this time of unrelenting, often unprecedented cruelty and lawlessness, I’m grateful for Nation readers like you. 

So many of you have taken to the streets, organized in your neighborhood and with your union, and showed up at the ballot box to vote for progressive candidates. You’re proving that it is possible—to paraphrase the legendary Patti Smith—to redeem the work of the fools running our government.

And as we head into 2026, I promise that The Nation will fight like never before for justice, humanity, and dignity in these United States. 

At a time when most news organizations are either cutting budgets or cozying up to Trump by bringing in right-wing propagandists, The Nation’s writers, editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, and illustrators confront head-on the administration’s deadly abuses of power, blatant corruption, and deconstruction of both government and civil society. 

We couldn’t do this crucial work without you.

Through the end of the year, a generous donor is matching all donations to The Nation’s independent journalism up to $75,000. But the end of the year is now only days away. 

Time is running out to have your gift doubled. Don’t wait—donate now to ensure that our newsroom has the full $150,000 to start the new year. 

Another world really is possible. Together, we can and will win it!

Love and Solidarity,

John Nichols 

Executive Editor, The Nation

Ad Policy
x