he is a guy who cannot hide the truth well. that makes me more comfortable with the idea that i know who he is about so i can make a decision. >> are you talking about the women coming forward or the fact that he said he did not know what he would do about afghanistan when he became president and would check it out? [laughter] >> we have had presidents who have been reelected like that. we talked about transparency in the value to our society. -- and the value to our society. chris matthews was here peddling his latest jfk book. he is a huge fan. was jfk under estimated? that is the debate going on. talk about controlling the

message. in the obama administration, we talk about their view of the press. they are so controlling of the press. >> they have not done a good job. >> that was a campaign that was brilliant in its use of new media. that again is striking. every president uses the medium of their own time. radio, tv with kennedy. we have not seen this white house effectively harness and the -- any of the media. >> goldman sachs. >> one of the reasons i supported president obama was i did not want to see larry summers in the white house. [laughter] with hillary clinton, until the end of her campaign, there was

not a sense of how she could bring her history to bear. it was very much a restoration ist campaign. he fell if you are going to get the clinton administration part 3. -- you felt as if you were going to get the clinton administration part 3. if you feel it was such a crisis and panic at that time as many say it was coming out of the calamitous bush administration into the tar, bringing in a team of rivals as obama talked about, all you had was larry summers and tim geithner. both of them have their control over the policies that led to the crisis. in my mind, that opened the door to the tea party.

it opened the door to right-wing populism. people saw in this white house favoritism towards goldman sachs and the banks. the problem was the left populism has not emerged until now. for too long, many felt with the bomb in the white house that things would be sorted out. that is where movements become important. every administration in modern times has had to deal with insurgency's or movements on its left and right. reagan in many ways was a movement president. i say that with contempt for what he did in damage to this country. you need to see the pendulum has now swung. the tea party in many ways has lost a lot of this mojo because

of overreach. it is out of sync with the values of so many people. we could have seen that in the summer of 2009. one of tea party people stood up and said "government, take your hands off my medicare." you see how internalized those programs are. >> who does not want to watch a car wreck? >> it has done a lot of damage. >> this tweet says the obama administration is responsible for the tea party. >> it opened a backing tree that hot summer of 2009 -- it opened up a vacuum for it. that hot summer of 2009. the president could have mobilized.

there were people mobilizing on their own. a pragmatic, progressive president would have understood the power of having people in those places to combat a message that was full of misinformation. remember teh death panels? part of that is on us to fight back and expose that. only after labor day did the president come forward and begin to speak again to the people and explain where they were moving with the compromise to help program. >> even nixon went to the washington monument to meet with the anti-war demonstrators. >> i right in the book about this a little. if senator kennedy had been alive, he was so critical to the

election of president obama. his endorsement in the pivotal period with the turbulence in turmoil early after south carolina, i think he would have been important inside the system as a push towards something bigger and would have pushed to have more connection to outside the beltway. obama it is now traveling on the country. he is forced to because of the election. if you sit inside the beltway too long and get in the backroom deals -- >> even movements can be cloistered. i remember a dinner during the george w. bush administration in southern california. it was norman lear and his wife,

larry david, bob scheer. they were sitting around w eeping in their expensive soup about the fact that we were living in hell. rupert murdoch on the media. george bush was president. norman lear had his pulse on american culture for 30 years. why cannot figure out how to deal -- deliver a message that is important and happening? >> that is important. we can find messages that speak to people where they are. they can also have some satire like stewart or colbert.

there is the idea of exposing with satire. it opens people's eyes to the hypocrisy and corruption of our politics. the problem is you want the captivating stories and images and vocabulary, but a lot of the colbert-stewart stuff is so absurd and over the top that people do not want to get engaged. >> that is where a large number of people get their news. >> i think the obama campaign was a pivotal point, bringing people in. now they leave. there is the possibility that people will come back in. i agree with that movements also have their problems. i think it is a moment of people

waking up to the possibility of engagement in different ways, where they are, in communities, finding ways -- it is important not to weep in your soup. i am not into the the trail sweepstakes -- betrayal sweepstakes. you want to do the reporting and investigation to cull out abuses. you also want to put out ideas. just to do denunciations will lead to this apartment -- disempowerment that our adversaries seek. >> you did not answer the 1% question.

what tax rate would you be willing to be taxed at if people at that level are all taxed at a rate? >> i would go back to the eisenhower rate. you know what eisenhower was taxing people out? 70% to 90%. you want to go back to a rate where there is a supertax on the very rich and millionaires. you want to get rid of the loopholes. look at the capital gains tax of 15%. we are taxing work the barely taxing wealth region but barely tax and wealth. that is the wrong priority. -- we're taxing work but barely taxing wealth.

the robin hood taxes an idea whose time has come. radicals light nicholke nicolasy and angela merkel have a tax on currency transactions that would bring in $350 billion a year. some of my heroes are the nurses of this country. national nurses united heal america. tax-loss there are a slew -- tax on wall street. there are a slew of good things that 1%ers are for. >> he is not really offering of a lot. >> he is talking about being taxed less than his assistant.

there is a group of patriotic millionaires. it is the belief that you owe backe to a country that has helped to make you what you are. steve jobs -- we had a tough column in the last issue. it was tough not about apple labor practices in china. here you had a man of great wealth was talking about cutting taxes and never really gave of his philanthropic wealth. poor bill gates, he gets nailed for being so square. you can disagree with some things. but he is out there. >> all of them out there now came a little late to the party. they got very rich, very young. i wanted to leave some time for

audience questions. i have not read more questions from the audience because they are also good. usually it is the guy with the aluminum hat on getting cia messages. [laughter] not really. if you want to line up, we have a few more minutes at the microphones. we will take a few questions. please make sure that you make them questions. >> i have been interested in americorps and other related programs. from what i can tell, you do not support it or talk about it very much. the tea party is advocating limiting national service. president obama campaigned to expand to 250,000. senator kennedy helped to pass the expansion. i was wondering what role "the

nation" can play in helping to support the program. >> we've done a lot of work around expanding doctors into rural community centers. americorps is a good program. all of those should be supported. we have not done as much. there has been controversy at the magazine. i am more of a supporter of teach for america than my colleagues. they are good programs. >> what could we do collectively as the next up for occupy wall street? -- next step for occupy wall street? >> what is your main interest in

the issues raised by occupy wall street? if it is money and politics, you should join with those who are occupying the supreme court, fighting in states for clean money reform, and fighting for an amendment strategy to overturn the citizens united decision, and fighting in elections to change the supreme court. >> what would you think of having a national general assembly modeled on the original continental congress in philadelphia beginning on july 4 of 2012? coming up with a list of grievances that this assembly

debated. >> lawrence blessing has talked about a new constitutional convention. i think it is early. i think it is tricky. i do not mean to sound too conservative. when you say to make a list of grievances, we could sit in this room and come up with a list of six ideas or grievances that need to be made real and lead to change. you need to find your issue, work in your community. work in the organizing around the issue. link up with groups doing work. if it is student debt, find ways to take on the banks, local legislators, and congress in the short term. is not very revolutionary.

at the event we did on 9/11, i said i felt this country was in a pre-revolutionary moment. it was about a week before occupy was street launched. i believe in evolution, not revolution. >> katrina, did you read the foreign affairs article that backs up the occupy movement? there was a recent article about the new progressive movement. there is more coming out about the occupy agenda and what they want. you have articulated some of the agenda. geoffrey sax talked about three- regulating the market -- regulating the market. it is all there. why is it not been articulated by the media?

>> i think it is. it is not up to -- different occupy's have different demands. it is up to people like "the nation" and other groups like rebuild the dream, national people's action, the progressive caucus. occupy wall street is a spirit. they're committed at the moment to not having concrete demands. we have six ideas. one would be the robin hood tax. the other would be to change the way our tax structure is organized, how to get money out of politics, hold corporations responsible, support attorney general's fighting for for

closure relief. there are six of 10. >> have you ever been wrong? [laughter] >> occupy wall street is a moral compass. they are articulating what they think it should be. the lead essay is a shift. i am wrong all the time. >> give me one example. [laughter] >> i said on national television the night -- election night of 2000 as florida was coming in that the election would be decided that night. people may remember that election was decided by the supreme court. it went on for two or three months. it ended up being decided by the

governors, bush's brother, a supreme court judge chosen by his father. george bush was asked if he had ever been wrong and said he could not think of a time. he is still saying that. [laughter] humble man. we are about out of time. do you have a short question? >> what is the circulation of "the nation"? >> 1.5 million readers online and 160,000 paper circulation. paul newman was a great and loyal friend and supporter. his partner in crime, robert redford, has been a supporter.

we have a circle of 100 people who give each year. 30,000 associates give little each month above the subscription price in the belief it is not just a media institution but a community. there are 40 discussion groups around the country. [applause] >> these people obviously support it for what it espouses and believes in. do they all know that you have dirty martinis and marvin gaye? >> you have to keep perspectives. everyone's work is demanding. it is trying to make sense of these times and keep some hope. if we were meeting this time last year, it was a bully --

bleak time. we were coming off an election with the tea party claimed it had a mandate. i try to read history, drink dirty martinis, listen to marvin gaye, watch "true blood." vampires, everything. >> this has been fabulous. our thanks to katrina vanden h euvel, publisher of "the nation." [applause] we want to remind everybody that copies of her book are on sale in the lobby. she would be pleased to sign them. we aappreciate your allowing her to make her wait the lobby

as quickly as possible. this meeting is adjourned. [applause]