first of all, welcome congressman mickey edwards of oklahoma, now with the aspen institute. and a regular member here, senior fellow at the bipartisan policy center dan glickman. i also want to acknowledge and hope he will participate actively ron brownstein and ron has written a great deal about the issues we'll be talking about today. i'm very pleased that he was able to be here and join us. as you know, bipartisan policy center was established five years ago, building on the work in the national commission of energy policy. it was founded by four former senate majority leaders, howard baker, george mitchell, bob dole, and tom daschle, who believe that while there's a critical place in the making of public policy for partisanship and differing views and values, all of whom were certainly on the barricades, fighting for the things they believed in and for their parties. but they also believed and practiced that we had to be able, as they had been, to shape and negotiate solutions to tough and critical national issues across partisan, ideological, regional and economic lines

also with us, mickey edwards. he was a member of the u.s. house of representatives from oklahoma from 1977 to 1992. he's now vice president of the aspen institute and an associate of the program in law and public affairs at princeton university. linda greenhouse is a senior research scholar in law and knight distinguished journalist in residence at yale law school. previously, she covered the supreme court for "the new york times." share lynn ifill is a professor of law at the francis carey school of law. previously she served at the naacp legal defense and educational fund. and finally jeffrey rosen, professor of law at the georgetown university lieu school and is a nonresident senior fellow at the brookings institution. please welcome our panel. i want to begin with the the concept, everybody know the concept of the elevator speech? did any of you have to tolerate one on your way in today? this is in sort of sales or marketing or public relations this idea that if you have only captured a person's attention for the time it takes an elevato

first of all, welcome congressman mickey edwards of oklahoma. also, and i hope he will participate, a regular member here, senior fellow at the bipartisan policy center, secretary jim glickman. i also want to of knowledge and hope he will participate actively, ron brownstein. he has written a great deal about the issues we will be talking about today. i am very pleased he was able to be here and join us. as you know, the bipartisan policy center was established five years ago, building on the work of the national commission on energy policy. it was founded by four former senate majority leaders, howard baker, george mitchell, bob dole, and tom daschle, who believe that while there is a critical place in the making a public soon -- public policy for partisanship and different views and values, all of whom are certainly on the barricades, fighting for their parties. but they also believed in practice that we have to shape and negotiate solutions for tough and critical national issues across tough, partisan, regional, and economic climates. some of

also with us mickey edwards, mr. edwards was a member of the u.s. house of representative from oklahoma from 1977 to 1992 at the aspen institute and linda greenhouse is a senior research scholar and law and distinguished journalist president at yale law school previously she covered the supreme court from the new york times. sherrilyn ifill joins from the terrie school of law previously served as assistant counsel of the naacp legal defense and educational. finally jeffrey rosen at the professor to the dhaka university law school is also the legal affairs editor for the new republic and as a mullen resident seniors hello at the brookings institution please welcome our panel. [applause] >> i want to begin with the concept everybody knows the concept of the elevator speech. did any of you have to tolerate one on your way in today? this is in concert in sort of sales or marketing or public relations, this idea that if you have only captured a person's attention for the time it takes in an elevator to reach its destination and let's pretend it is the wi

congressman mickey edwards of oklahoma. also, and i'm sure that he will hopefully participate, a regular member here, senior fellow at the bipartisan policy center, secretary dan brinkman. i also want to acknowledge and hope that he will protect debate, ron brownstein. ron has written a great deal about the issues that were going to be talking about today or that i'm very pleased that he was able to be here during this period as you know, bipartisan policy center was established five years ago, building on the work of the national commission on energy policy. it was founded by four former senate majority leaders, howard baker, george mitchell, bob dole, and tom daschle. they believed that while there is a critical place in the making of public policy and partisanship, and for different views and values, all of whom were certainly on the barricades fighting for the things they believed in and for their parties. but they also believe and practice that we have to be able to shape and negotiate solutions to tough in critical na

mickey edwards is the forme chair of the republican house policy committee. he is a distinguished educator, regular political commentator and, columnist. is that this book is due out this summer. it is the parties versus the people, how to turn republicans and democrats into americans. you can see what i wanted to have them both here with us tonight. before i bring into the stage, i like to hear a clip of each of them in action. we're going to see to various short speeches ---- two very short speeches. to see jackieng salit appearing on "box and friends."and give us a moment and then we are going to have a look. >> democracy is about process. it is not about policy outcomes. it is about process. wilmot tap about the institutions, our political system is not working. our election system is not working. our governing system is not working. i want to say the root cause of these problems is the amou of control over all of the systems. our governments have ceded to the private clubs, at the political parties that control access to the ballot antagonistic lines are