Bush Legacy Tour

As President Bush prepares to deliver his final State of the Union Address on Monday, and for what his supporters have dubbed his “legacy year” [U.S. News and World Report, January 10, 20008], Americans United for Change hosted a forum looking at President Bush’s legacy as he enters his final year in office. The forum, entitled “The Bush Legacy: The State of our Union Then and Now,” was held in the Zenger Room at the National Press Club on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 1:00 P.M.

Featured Presentations:

• Brad Woodhouse: powerpoint | PDF
• Dean Baker: powerpoint | PDF
• Diane Archer: powerpoint | PDF
• Daniel Weiss: powerpoint | PDF

Brad Woodhouse, President, Americans United for Change

Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at Bucknell University. His blog, Beat the Press, features commentary on economic reporting. He received his Ph.D in economics from the University of Michigan.

Brian Katulis is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. At the Center, his work examines U.S. national security policy in Middle East with a focus on Iraq. He is also a Senior Advisor to the Center’s Middle East Progress project.

Diane Archer, an attorney, is the founder and past president of the Medicare Rights Center. A nationally known expert on Medicare, Ms. Archer is a graduate of the Harvard Law School. Under her 12 years of leadership, the Medicare Rights Center grew from a staff of one to a nationally prominent consumer service organization with client services, education, policy and communications programs.

“President Bush’s approach to health care has failed our country by allowing the insurance industry to drive up costs and ration health care, while keeping the government from guaranteeing health security for all,” said Diane Archer at the forum.

Daniel J. Weiss is a Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy at the Center for American Progress, where he leads the Center's clean energy and climate advocacy campaign. Before coming to CAP, he spent 25 years working with environmental advocacy organizations and political campaigns.

“President Bush’s greatest environmental failures occurred over energy policy,” said Daniel J. Weiss at the forum.  “The former oil man handed over this critical portfolio over to another oil man.  Vice President Dick Cheney convened secret meetings in detail with big oil, coal, and utility executives, and produced a National Energy Policy report in May 2001 that was Administration’s road map for the next seven years.  It focused on drilling oil, burning coal, and fissioning atoms.  It also ignored the world’s gravest environment threat – global warming.”