POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR PANELS
Clearly, there are a variety of different directions we can go on these panels, but I think we should remember three very important components.
• First, keep it simple. We should strive for small panels that do not get too wonky. Also, donors like time to hear themselves talk, so a generous amount of Q&A should be allotted.
• Second, since we have a new administration, we should have a lot of exciting speakers from the White House or executive agencies that are “easily accessible” and that many of these participants have not yet seen.
• Third, people want to have fun. We should do a nice balance of policy, messaging, and just plain interesting topics.
Possible panel topics include, but are not limited to the following:
• The Press, The President, & The People
o Dee Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary, Clinton administration
o David Gergen, political consultant, former presidential advisor
o Paul Begala, political consultant and former presidential advisor, Clinton administration
o George Stephanopoulos, political commentator and former Communications Director, Clinton administration
o Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report
o Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show
o Jonathan Alter, columnist and Senior Editor for Newsweek magazine
• The Internet Revolution: Blogging and Progressive Messaging
or
• The Rise of New Media: The Impact of Twitter, Facebook, and other Social Media Tools
o Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg, Founder/COO of Facebook
o Andrew McLaughlin, incoming Deputy Chief Technology Officer
o Jack Dorsey, founder, Twitter
o Benjamin Rahn and/or Matt DeBargalis, Founders, ACT Blue
• Right-Wing Extremism in the Mainstream Media
or
• Anatomy of the Right-Wing Message Machine
o Will Bunch, Senior Writer, Philadelphia Daily News
o Karl Frisch, Director of Media Relations, Media Matters for America
o Paul Waldman, Senior Correspondent, The American Prospect
• Foreign Policy & America’s Changing Relationship with the World (featuring State Dept employees or ambassadors)
o Nico Pitney, National Editor, Huffington Post
o Rand Beers, Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security and former member, National Security Council
o Jim Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State
o Samantha Power, Professor of Global Leadership and Public Policy, Harvard
o Gen. Paul Eaton, retired, United States Army
o Richard Clarke, Counter-Terrorism Czar, George W. Bush and Clinton administrations
o Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus and Board Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
o Fareed Zakaria, editor, Newsweek International
o Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
o Ted Sorensen, former speechwriter and Special Counsel to President John F. Kennedy
o Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, Clinton administration
o Thomas Ricks, Pentagon and military correspondent, Washington Post
• Running the West Wing
o The Honorable Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff
o John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
o Andrew Card, former COS to President George W. Bush
• Social Innovation
o Melody Barnes, Director, White House Domestic Policy Council
o Mayor Cory Booker, Newark, New Jersey
• Obama and Linclon: A comparison on the Lincoln Presidency and Obama’s First Year in Office
o Ken Burns, Film Maker
o Harold Holzer, co-chairman of the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
o Matthew Pinsker, Associate Professor of History, Pohanka Chair in American Civil War History, Dickinson College
o Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
o Craig Symonds, retired professor from the Naval Academy, and most recent winner of the Lincoln Prize.
o Edna Greene Medford, professor at Howard University
• The Legacy of the American Car Industry and its Future
o Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change
o Steve Rattner, founder, Quadrangle Group
• The Green Economy
o Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change
o Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality
o Brook Byers, Founder & Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
o Joseph Lacob, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
o Al Gore, former Vice President
• The changing of the American Economic System
o George Soros, Chairman, Soros Fund Management
o Warren Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
o Tim Geihtner, Secretary of the Treasury
