Former senator and 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley came to campus Friday to discuss his new book, “The New American Story,” which chronicles his prescription for the problems in the United States and his hope to change negative perceptions of the country, both domestically and internationally.
Bradley’s accomplishments include his position on the U.S. Senate representing New Jersey from 1979 to 1997, running for president as a Democratic candidate, a 1964 Olympic Gold Medal for basketball, and two NBA championship titles.
But Bradley said he spoke to the audience not as a politician or an athlete, but as an American citizen.
“I felt it was my citizenship responsibility” to bring attention to a pessimistic perception of the United States that is “fundamentally untrue,” Bradley said to an audience of students, faculty and supporters.
Bradley referred to this view as the “old American story,” which states that the country is stuck in a web of unsolvable problems and there is nothing that can be done.
He said the United States is marked by “can’ts” ““ the country can’t cut its addiction to oil, it can’t solve the heath care problem, and it can’t cut back.
But Bradley said the characterization is false, because while there are problems, there is also the potential for change. He coined the phrase the “new American story,” which characterized a progressive and enthusiastic country.
He said he would like for the government to “tell people the truth about national circumstances, then give them very specific answers” about how to solve the large problems, such as the federal deficit or poor urban schooling.
Instead of having a helpless attitude, Americans want to know how to create specific solutions, he added.
At the core of Bradley’s discussion was his belief in the importance of “connectiveness” and the revival of the American spirit.
Bradley said after 40 years of traveling throughout the U.S., he had heard many stories that defined an optimistic American spirit and hopes for that same spirit to be embraced by the government.
“We can do great things, we’ve done great things, and we have things we must do to thrive in the 21st century,” Bradley closed, afterward opening the session to questions and answers.
One question Bradley addressed was about low voter turnout. Bradley answered by introducing the Why Tuesday? movement, a nonpartisan organization seeking to increase voter turnout by questioning the placement of Election Day on a Tuesday.
As honorary cochair of Why Tuesday?, Bradley said the idea of switching the day of the week on which elections are held could increase active citizen participation in politics.
Currently ranked 139th internationally in voter turnout, only 50 percent of Americans cast a vote, according to the Why Tuesday? Web site.
The No. 1 reason Americans cited for not voting was being too busy with schedule conflicts, normally because the day falls in the middle of the work week. Bradley said he believes a simple solution would be to move Election Day to the weekend.
Other questions asked included his opinion of the 2008 presidential race and the Democratic candidates. Though Bradley did not endorse any specific candidate, he spoke of his approval of the forerunners.
He said John Edwards was the most policy-specific candidate with the strongest political skills, but that Barack Obama has been able to connect and “touched a cord in America and could reflect light back onto the people.”
Lauren Post, a third-year political science and economics student who attended the event, said she liked how Bradley discussed changing the United States from the bottom up.
“He has a progressive outlook for reviving an enthusiastic and optimistic American spirit,” she said. “That is an important message, especially for the younger generations on college campuses.”