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GRITtv: Julian Zelizer: National Security Myths
Presidents who don't articulate some kind of distinct national security agenda leave themselves open to continual attack from their opponents and often fall into a defensive posture while trying to formulate their policies. By trying to avoid angering everyone, they often end up pleasing no one. That's what Julian Zelizer, Princeton professor and author of Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security - From World War II to the War on Terrorism, said in a critique of Obama's foreign policy in his first year. In his book, Zelizer lays out a history of national security policy in the U.S. and makes the point that bipartisanship has largely always been a myth here. Instead, presidents who succeed lay out a concrete plan for what they want and fight to get it accomplished. Obama, he suggests, should take a lesson or two from the past.
Email this pageGRITtv: Goldman's Coup
"They frankly own the place," Dick Durbin said back in April, referring to the power that banks hold over policy decisions in Washington. If they own the place, presumably they can make the rules. But as Goldman Sachs brings in record profits and prepares to dole out handsome bonuses to employees and executives, many are lauding the company's willingness to take risks. So is Goldman Sachs, dubbed by many 'Government Sachs,' a risk taker or a coup maker? And what will it take to confront what may be the most powerful lobby in American history? Matt Taibbi, contributing editor at Rolling Stone and author of The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion, Robert Johnson, former chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee, and Michael Lux, co-director of Progressive Strategies and author of The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be on why the banks are benefiting and the American worker isn't. You can read Taibbi's recent article in Rolling Stone on how Goldman Sachs blew up the economy here.
GRITtv: The NAACP and 100 Years of History
The NAACP turns 100 and the civil rights organization is celebrating this week in New York. Looking back, looking ahead what?s changed and what hasn't? With the financial crisis disproportionately impacting African Americans, the first black president in the White House, and the nomination hearings of Sonia Sotomayor we review the past few days and the last 100 years. Hilary Shelton, Director of the Washington, D.C. bureau of the NAACP, Sonia Ossorio, President of the National Organization for Women in NY, Derrick Johnson, President of the Mississippi NAACP, and James Rucker, Executive Director of Color of Change on the role of the NAACP and other activist organizations inside and outside the beltway.
