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Former Senator Bill Bradley is currently on a book tour promoting his book, The New American Story, and LAist had the opportunity to hear him speak at UCLA through the School of Public Affairs on Friday before his appearance on HBO's The Bill Maher Show. About 35 students, political activists and fans came to hear Bradley speak. An esteemed resume, Bradley is a former senator and presidential candidate, basketball champion, Rhodes Scholar and Olympian.
The Senator's passion for America, where we've come from, where we're at and what we need to do to move forward in a positive direction are sincere and obvious from the moment he steps into a room. A true politician makes everyone in a room feel noticed and Bradley did this effortlessly, and despite his slightly tardy appearance (Friday traffic and all), Bradley's poise and story-telling made it obvious to the naked eye that he has probably been a natural at just about every endeavor he's ever undertaken.
Bradley's theories combine revised rules and responsibilities for both the Democratic and Republican parties in which he talked about both what our government needs to do for us and also what we need to do for ourselves. A perfect example is his push for universal health care. That responsibility falls to our leaders to ensure that all Americans have access to decent health care, but it should be our responsibility as citizens to take better care of our health and in doing so help keep the cost down by not over burdening the system.
He also spoke about Why Tuesday an organization we first heard about last fall during the elections. As national co-spokesman with Jack Kemp, Bradley discussed the phenomenon of why we vote on Tuesdays and the concept behind legislation to move election day to a Saturday. This is a fascinating topic that we will definitely be following leading up to the 2008 election.
The former Senator had time for questions which ranged from his opinion on how the world views America as a result of the Bush administration, what can be done about wage inequality and the decrease of the middle class and his quick take on the democratic presidential candidates for 2008. If you're ever looking for a crash course in politics and what makes a politician great, find a way to get yourself in the same room as Bill Bradley. It can change your life.
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I fucking love Bill Bradley and thought he should have been president!
I was at the UCLA stop as well, but was incredibly disappointed. I have been a longtime Bill Bradley fan, having read the McPhee biography and been a former constituent. I had seen him pitch the book on Charlie Rose and thought that he was unfairly beat up. However, at the UCLA event, I came to realize that Bill Bradley has truly lost it. By "it", I mean political sensibility.
When asked whether the difference between the haves and the have nots was the biggest problem facing America, he responded with some bizarre argument about the savings rate, which then devolved into the supposition that the firing of Imus shows that corporate America cares about racial harmony.
He does have several great policy points, particularly his proposed fixes for Social Security. However, he overestimates America's optimism and willingness to pursue easy answers. The reason why people don't find consensus over issues isn't because they can't see it. Typically, things are pretty complicated. He tries to gloss over this with stories about mothers writing letters to young cancer patients. That is no doubt an honorable undertaking. However, it has no relevance to how to move forward politically.
Additionally, he indicated that he had been informed that he would have to touch on the Mitt Romney hunting controversy, but he had no idea what the controversy involved.
Overall, his poise and delivery was not as compelling as eight years ago. I'm not sure the author and I attended the same event.
As the author, I respect your opinion, but I think you're forgetting that Bradley is on a book tour not campaign trail. 8 years ago he was looking for votes and yes certainly would have been a lot more alive and lively, but the circumstances were completely different. His story telling is a reflection of where he is right now in his career and showed, to me, that he is stepping back and taking it all in a lot more. His book is a step to define what his legacy will be and what is so wrong about being a little optimistic? I found it refreshing and so in conclusion we were in the same place, I just think we were looking for different things.