Mountains Beyond Mountains; and What Is the Public Option (a simple explanation)

[Christopher Hayes]

I'm enjoying some time away from the city this August, but had the pleasure of speaking at a panel at Netroots Nation 09 in Pittsburgh. The panel was sponsored by the Roosevelt Institution (you can see some of their work here: http://www.newdeal20.org/) and focused on the parallels to and lessons to be drawn from the New Deal.

The fine folks at SumofChange.com videotaped the panel and have put up some clips from it.

The first are my introductory remarks about the difficulties that progressives face in crafting progressive policy in Washington:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-XDH9hjkE

The second is a response to an audience request to explain the health care reform bills and the public option's place in it. Here's my attempt to boil it down in five minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2aV6uJGkP0

(That talk inspired the very sharp Nicholas Beaudrot to craft this excellent flow-chart, which has been zipping around the internet:
http://www.donkeylicious.com/2009/08/flowchart.html )

That's all for now. I've got a cover story coming out next week, so will send that along when it's out. Enjoy summer!

Best,
-c