Greetings From Chile

I'm checking in from Vina Del Mar, Chile, where I am attending a terrific conference put on by the Policy Network, a British think tank. It is an impressive gathering of leaders and thinkers from Europe and the Americas. Today we will be hearing from Vice President Biden, Chilean President Bachelet, Brazilian President Lula, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and many, many others. I will be a respondent on an economic break out panel later today. 

For those interested, you will be able to watch some of the proceedings live today at the conference site. Be sure to check out their handbook of ideas, "Responses to the Global Crisis: Charting a Progressive Path," which contains a series of thoughtful essays from European, American and Latin American authors on where we go from here. 

First impressions: people here have great hopes for our young President. There is a powerful sense that we are entering a whole new era of politics, one unlike what has come before. There is fear that there are still very tough days ahead in the current economic crisis. And, as there is an ever greater sense that we, the people and the countries of the world, are all in this together as never before, we need to create more forums, more venues like this to connect current and future leaders of our nations to better able learn from one another, create friendships and partnerships, and to model the kind of global cooperation we all are advocating -- and believe is necessary -- to tackle the emerging global challenges of the early 21st century. 

Kudos to Policy Network for putting on a great event, and I hope to check in again a little later.