Public Agenda And The Maxwell School: Bringing World Leaders to Your Breakfast Table

Public Agenda joined with Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in November 2005 to launch the first in a series of policy breakfasts that have brought world leaders and some of the nation's most important policy makers in close contact with small gatherings of New York movers and shakers. With National Public Radio's Robert Siegel as moderator, the sessions have provided behind-the-scenes insights into some of the most crucial issues of the day.

Paul Begala               
April 2008

"The center of the country has moved left. And so the center of the Democratic Party has as well. The majority of Democrats did not support the war, even though many of its prominent leaders did. And the revulsion against that has really helped move the country, not just the party, to the left. The percentage of Americans who say that the government has an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves---the classic question of liberalism---has gone up. Even among self-described conservatives over the last ten years."

Amidst the heat of the Presidential primary campaigns, Paul Begala, political commentator for CNN and former counselor to the Clinton Administration, shared his very candid and pointed views on the 2008 presidential election. Begala spoke with great humor and little reserve about the campaign strategies employed by the Clinton and Obama campaigns, the pitfalls associated with balancing the role of the popular vote with superdelegates in the Democratic Party nomination process, the importance of placing energy independence and security higher on the national agenda, and the candidates' position on the looming fiscal crisis.

Click here to watch coverage of the event.

Congressman Charles Rangel               
February 2008

"We have to address Social Security. Assuming the next administration is Democrat, it would be immoral if we didn't immediately review it. Because each day, week, month that we do nothing about Social Security, about Medicare and to a lesser extent the Alternative Minimum Tax, the more indebtedness that we're getting involved in."

With the presidential primary season heating up and the economy teetering on the brink of recession, Democratic Congressman and Chairman of the influential House Ways & Means Committee Charles Rangel offered his insights on the Democratic candidates and addressed inequities in the current tax code, turning up the volume on the national debate about tax reform. The outspoken Congressman also shared his views on hot-button issues such as trade policy, the federal budget, universal health care and the philosophical policy differences between Democrats and Republicans.

Click here to read the transcript of the briefing.

Click here to watch coverage of the event.

Admiral Bobby Inman                December 2007

Public Agenda board member, retired U.S. Navy Admiral, Former Director of the National Security Agency and Former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Bobby R. Inman spoke officially off-record on some of the most pressing and difficult philosophical issues related to our nation's intelligence gathering and foreign policy. In a session titled "U.S. Intelligence: What Are the Prospects for the Future?" Inman talked candidly to the room of 100 about what motivates intelligence gathering heads, what are some of the common mistakes and how he believed the Department of Homeland Security ought to be operating. Inman is currently the LBJ Centennial Chair in National Policy at the University of Texas Austin and remains a key advisor to some of the nation's most prominent intelligence and international affairs leaders.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu                September 2007

"When you are seeking to work for peace... sometimes we say 'We are ready to speak to you, but not to them.' But my understanding of the concept of negotiation is that it is not something that happens between friends usually. Negotiation happens between enemies. If you want peace you must speak to those who are most unacceptable in your view."

Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu was the sixth speaker in the policy breakfast series and he brought with him an international crowd of world leaders. Co-hosted by Ireland's Niall Mellon of the Mellon Township Trust, the session ranged over a host of international issues including housing development efforts for the poor, truth and reconciliation efforts post-apartheid, the role of the United States in world affairs as perceived by developing nations, the shortcomings of South African's present government, crime in South Africa, thoughts on Zimbabwe and Mugabe, and turning the tide on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa.

Click here to listen to an audio recording of the briefing.

Kenneth Mehlman                June 2007

Former Republican National Committee Chairman and Campaign Chair of Bush/Cheney '04 Kenneth Mehlman put forth his predictions for the 2008 Presidential election just as things were starting to heat up in the race for primary positioning. With several members of the media in the room and breakfast attendees with some very pointed questions about how the 2004 election campaign was conducted, this session generated sparks. Mehlman not only talked about campaigning, but also the future of the Republican party and the influence of Evangelicals.

Brent Scowcroft                April 2007

"I don't think anything would release the energies of the moderates in the [Middle East] to do what in the back of their minds they know they need to do, which is to help calm down Iraq, than to make progress on the Palestinian issue¡­ I think that strangely enough in this period of conflict and weak government - no government on the Palestinian side, weak government in Israel - there probably has never been a better chance to resolve the issue."

As the war in Iraq seemed to be at its nadir, General Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush talked openly about his position on the war - what he told President George W. Bush before, during and after the invasion and why he thinks things went so wrong. This session focused on a range of foreign policy issues including how to deal with the new realities of our relationship with the European Union and the growing influence of China. This session was officially off-the-record.

Ambassador John Bruton                December 2006

"I think there is a sense in Europe that the threats we face at the moment are not so much military as criminal threats. Europeans would probably see 9/11 as a huge crime rather than a huge act of war making. And we would think, if one has to increase investments, it should probably be in intelligence of a criminal nature to prevent such crimes, rather than simply expanding more elaborate weapons systems, which are addressing something different than what the actual threat is."

In the third of the series, Robert Siegel interviewed Ambassador John Bruton, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. The session covered topics as varied as Turkey and the integration of Muslims into western cultures; the European Union's low birthrate; why Americans don't "get it" when it comes to global warming; bilateral trade agreements and building more commonality across the Atlantic on how businesses are regulated; common challenges for the U.S. and E.U. on aging populations and pensions; how or if to address Russia's threats to democratic functioning; and why America is "no longer cool" among young Europeans.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin                April 2006

"For those who like apocalyptic numbers for breakfast¡­ from now to five decades out¡­ Medicare and Medicaid go from 4% to 20% of GDP, which is the current size of the entire federal government - just enormous¡­ In contrast to Social Security, where we know what the problems come from-more old people, structure of the program-we don't understand why healthcare costs per person have risen 2.5% faster every year than income per capita for the past four decades¡­ Until we diagnose it, we can't fix it very well."

Former Congressional Budget Office Director, former Chief Economist for the White house Council of Economic Advisors and Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations Douglas Holtz-Eakin was the second speaker in the series. In an interview that covered a diverse array of topics ranging from tax policy to war funding, from global warming to the challenges that anyone elected President will face, Holtz-Eakin spoke unguardedly and humorously about some of the nation's thorniest issues.

Click here to read the transcript of the briefing.

Paul Volcker                November 2005

"The U.S. economy is doing very well, the question is how long it would last. Consumption is in general terms being financed by a lot of borrowing abroad."

In the inaugural breakfast of the series, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker not only provided extremely prescient thoughts on the American economy and the performance of leaders in Washington, but also imparted surprising insider knowledge of his experiences as Chairman of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme, which had just recently released its final report detailing corruption and kickbacks. Reuters reported on the event noting that Volcker warned that the U.S. is absorbing 80 percent of the net flow of international capital and that at some point central banks in countries like Japan and China will have their surfeit of dollars. "I think in the long run that's unsustainable," he said. The Associated Press focused on Volker's admonishment that "Congress first, but also the White House, should start addressing the issue of government spending to reduce the federal deficit and build up some assets for this inevitable time when the economy falters."