Background Briefing

Richard Parker / Alan Abramowitz / Nader Hashemi

As the Press and Republicans Clamour for More Policy Details, Harris/Walz Are Winning on Charisma and Change

We begin with the clamour from Republicans and the press that Kamala Harris should provide more details about her policy plans and sit down with the press, which she and Tim Walz have agreed to do with CNN. Joining us to discuss how FDR and Obama did not run on policy but change and whether policy wins over charisma is Richard Parker, who teaches economics and public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is a Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center. He is a former managing editor of Ramparts, was a cofounder of Mother Jones magazine, and serves on the editorial board of The Nation. His books include, The Myth of the Middle Class and John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics.

Today’s Harris/Walz Bus Tour of Georgia

Then we go to Georgia, an important swing state where Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are on a bus tour today, and speak with Alan Abramowitz, Professor of Political Science at Emory University who studies American politics, political parties, elections, and voting behavior. His books include The Polarized Public: Why American Government is so Dysfunctional and The Great Alignment: Race, Party Transformation, and the Rise of Donald Trump.

An Olive Branch to the U.S. From Iran’s Supreme Leader, as We Wait For His Promised Retaliation Against Israel

Then finally, we examine what appears to be an olive branch being offered to the U.S. from Iran’s Supreme Leader, as the world waits for the Ayatollah’s promised retaliation against Israel. Joining us is Nader Hashemi, the Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and a professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A non-resident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now, he is the author of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future and Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East.