Simon went on CNBC's The Call this morning to talk about the various forms of bank taxes that have been proposed since this December. Whether the idea was a windfall tax on bank bonuses around the new year, or the more recent $19-billion tax on large banks and hedge funds that was cut from the financial regulations bill, many Americans are convinced that bankers need to be made to pay. For Simon, the main question is whether these taxes can help us to create the dynamic economy we need in the 21st century.
NDN's own Rob Shapiro was on Fox News this morning to talk about Senate Republicans' refusal to extend unemployment benefits to millions of Americans. Now that Robert Byrd's successor has been appointed (I won't say "replaced" since no one can replace this), let's hope the stalemate comes to an end soon.
We've recently seen a new round of polling about the 2010 and 2012 elections. With hotly contested Congressional races coming up this November and the beginnings of chatter about potential presidential matchups in 2012, Alicia went on Fox News this weekend to help make sense of the poll results.
What will the Republicans have to do in order to win in 2012? Simon has pointed out a few times that with the right presidential ticket, the Republicans could be unexpectedly competitive in the Latino Belt. Demographics are on the Democrats' side, but two leaders who shouldn't be underestimated are Jeb Bush...
Bush is part of a Republican dynasty that has long been known for its skill at courting Latino voters; Bush himself is married to a Mexican woman and speaks fluent Spanish. Whitman has come out against Arizona's SB1070 law. The media is picking up on both these points and recently, Simon has been getting mentioned as one thinker who is urging Democrats to take these candidates seriously. Yesterday, Sam Stein's lead piece in the Huffington Post looked at how the Bush brand shouldn't be counted out just yet:
Simon Rosenberg is the most bullish of Democratic strategists. The former Clinton administration official and head of the young non-profit group NDN has been the chief proponent of the belief that Barack Obama's election produced the opportunity for a "30-to-40-year era of Democratic dominance." A specialist in the political habits of different demographic groups (specifically Hispanics), he insists that, absent a drastic makeover, the GOP risks cementing itself "as irrelevant to the 21st century."
Sagging poll numbers and policy setbacks have done little to dissuade these rosy prognostications. There's only one thing that makes Rosenberg nervous: another Bush.
"Jeb [Bush] is married to a Latina, is fluent in Spanish, speaks on Univision as a commentator, his Spanish is that good," Rosenberg said of the former Florida governor and brother to the 43rd president during a lunch at NDN headquarters last week. "And if you look at the electoral map in 2012, you have to assume that Obama is going to have a very hard time in holding North Carolina and Virginia. The industrial Midwest, where the auto decline has been huge, has weakened Obama's numbers... a great deal. So Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin become a bit more wobbly. So if you're Barack Obama, the firewall is the Latin belt from Florida to southwestern California. And there is only one Republican who can break through that firewall. And it is Jeb."
Such a sentiment, Rosenberg admits, carries a slight hint of hysteria. After all, there is a good chunk of the country that recoils at the idea of another pol with the Bush surname. But that chunk has begun narrowing. And even within Democratic circles, there is an emerging belief that in a Republican Party filled with base-pleasing dramatizers or bland conservatives, Jeb stands out.
And Simon's insights were also mentioned today on Fox News:
Alicia has been keeping busy over the last few days with a number of TV appearances. She was on Fox and Friends Thursday morning to talk about the NAACP's resolution condemning the Tea Party. Here's that clip, in two parts (we've spared you the commercial break):
And the second part:
Later in the day, she was on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan show to talk about BP's possible role in freeing the Lockerbie bomber, as well as a recent court ruling against the FCC's indecency rules:
Simon went on CNBC this morning to talk with Larry Kudlow and company. The conversation revolved about Republican attempts to block unemployment benefits in the Senate, whether the talking-points about the deficit stand up to scrutiny, and how to achieve economic growth once again.
This morning on Fox News, Simon engaged in a contentious debate with Dan Stein, the president of FAIR, over the proper role of the federal government in regulating immigration. He stated the case we've been making for awhile at NDN: only a comprehensive, federal immigration-reform bill can help us solve the current crisis.
In light of President Obama's speech pushing for comprehensive immigration reform yesterday, NDN's Alicia Menendez went on Countdown with Keith Olbermann to talk about the president's plan and how the two political parties will react.
Okay, it's no secret: We like talking about demography here at NDN. And in the last few weeks, Simon Rosenberg spoke at two panels about the major parties' changing electoral coalitions and the political implications of a rapidly diversifying United States.
From the America's Future Now! conference in D.C. in early June, here is Simon speaking with Howard Dean on The Emerging Progressive Majority:
More recently, Simon participated in a panel sponsored by the National Journal and moderated by journalist Ron Brownstein called The New America: Policy Summit on the Changing Demographics of a New Generation. Here is a clip of the entire panel:
Last night, Simon Rosenberg went onto Fox Business Channel to talk about a point we've been making at NDN for awhile: The Obama administration's plan for more stimulus is grounded in solid economics and is far more likely than a spending freeze to help the United States avoid a double-dip recession. Calls for sudden, total austerity are not only economically misguided, they misread the public mood: amid all the cable-news chatter about the deficit, it's surprising how few Americans actually list it as their primary concern in polls. The economy and joblessness remain Americans' top concern by a wide margin.
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