Opportunity 08: Independent Ideas for America's Next President

In partnership with ABC News, one of the nation's oldest policy think tanks, the Brookings Institute, hope to rouse productive, independent-minded debate with this collection of essays that examine policy history and recent presidential missteps to address the country's most urgent issues on the eve of the 2008 presidential election. From emerging technology and international relations to oil dependency and the importance of 401(k) plans, experts confront a wide range of topics in areas of policy, industry and attitude. Michael Green, formerly of Bush II's National Security Council, devises an organized, democratic strategy for China, suggesting that the next president will be judged more critically on that question than the Iraq war; former senators Warren Rudman (R-NH) and Robert Kerry (D-NE) fend off economic crisis by taking on skyrocketing health care costs and diminishing national savings; other concerns include retirement security, healthcare quality and access, and poverty at home. Each chapter contains well-organized, innovative and practical approaches not just for the sitting president, but for the campaigning hopefuls, and should inspire voters to look beyond all-too-typical horse race coverage-and perhaps demand more from their news media and their leaders.