"HOW VULNERABLE IS BUSH?" IS THE TOPIC OF A FORUM PRESENTED BY THE BARD DEMOCRATS ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 Speakers include James Chace, Heather Hurlburt, Mark Danner, and Mark Lindeman

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Bard Democrats are hosting a forum entitled “How Vulnerable is Bush?” on Tuesday, October 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center. The forum, which is free and open to the public, will include opening statements by four speakers—James Chace, Heather Hurlburt, Mark Danner, and Mark Lindeman—followed by an open question-and-answer session. The forum will critically assess what the organizers believe to be the apparent failures of the Bush Administration—including the lack of any real economic stimulus; the failure to have a strategy to “win the peace” in Iraq after the cessation of the main military campaign; the undermining of the legitimacy of the United Nations; and other related topics. After discussing these topics, the forum will then consider how Bush may face electoral repercussions in the 2004 election. According to the organizer, Bard student Adam Langley, the evening’s discussion will center on the increasing electoral vulnerability of President Bush. For nearly two years, there was an almost universal consensus that Bush, as a popular wartime president, was virtually ensured of success in the 2004 presidential election. However, that consensus has begun to unravel during recent months, as measured by recent polls. The president's approval rating (measured by the NBC News–Wall Street Journal poll) has plummeted from 88% in November 2001 to 49% in September 2003. For further information about the forum, call Adam Langley at 845-752-4899 or e-mail [email protected]. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: James Chace, director of the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program and the Paul W. Williams Professor of Government and Public Law and Administration at Bard, is the author of Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World; The Consequences of Peace; Solvency: The Price of Survival; and America Invulnerable: The Quest for Absolute Security from 1812 to Star Wars. He is a frequent contributor to Foreign Affairs, New York Review of Books, New York Times Magazine, New York Times Book Review, and other publications. From 1996 to 2001 Heather F. Hurlburt served in the Clinton administration. She was a State Department speechwriter and member of the policy planning staff for Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright, and from 1999 to 2001 a special assistant and speechwriter to President Clinton. Her recent publications include the articles “Why Democrats Can’t Think Straight About War” in The Washington Monthly and “Can Europe Hack The Balkans?” in Foreign Affairs (with Morton Abramowitz). In 2002, Hurlburt helped develop DATA (Debt AIDS and Trade in Africa), a nonprofit organization that brings celebrities, experts, and grassroots citizens together to press for a stronger response to the twin crises of AIDS and poverty in Africa. Mark Danner, Henry J. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College, is a staff writer for the New Yorker and professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War. His writing has also appeared in Aperture, Harper's, the New York Review of Books; in the New York Times Magazine and New York Times Book Review; and on the New York Times Op-Ed page. Mark Lindeman is an assistant professor of political science at Bard. His research interests include public opinion and public deliberation, American political institutions, quantitative methods, and environmental politics. He is a contributor to Research in Micropolitics; Public Opinion; What Is America, and What Do We Want It To Be?: Foreign Policy and Domestic Priorities; and The Role of the United States in a Changing World: Choices for the 21st Century.

This event was last updated on 10-08-2003

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