2020 Special Moments. Our Search for Common Ground

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5.0 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From tragedy and disruption caused by COVID-19, to impassioned pleas for racial justice heard across the country, and the deep divisions in our politics, 2020 was a year like no other. On "Let's Find Common Ground", we've shared a remarkable range of thoughtful, personal and surprising conversations about some of the most important topics of our time. We revisit a few of the most memorable and special moments in this year-end episode. Among the highlights: Houston's Chief of Police Art Acevedo and New York City civil rights activist and mayoral candidate, Maya Wiley, discuss ways to find common ground on police reform. Eva Botkin-Kowacki of The Christian Science Monitor reveals how environmental activists and farmers use different language to discuss the threat of a changing climate. Republican Brian Fitzpatrick and Democrat Abigail Spanberger explain how they work together to pass laws and find solutions to controversial issues in a dysfunctional Congress. We also listen to fascinating insights from an inter-racial couple, Errol and Tina Toulon, about how they are viewed by others.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the appalling suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to deep divisions in our politics and demands for racial justice heard across the country,
0:10.0	2020 was a year like no other.
0:17.0	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Melntite.
0:21.0	And I'm Richard Davies. This is our year end show, Special Moments of 2020.
0:26.0	In our first year of this podcast, we've been amused, surprised and enlightened and not necessarily in that order.
0:35.0	And for reasons of time, we've also had to leave out some memorable shows.
0:39.0	Yeah, this has been a tough one to put together, mostly because of what we didn't include.
0:45.0	We start with creative strategies to pull out of the pandemic. That was the title of episode four, released in the late spring.
0:52.0	Our guest was retired Navy Admiral James DeVritis. He served in both Democratic and Republican administrations and led US Southern Command in Miami, as well as between 2009 and 13.
1:06.0	He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO.
1:10.0	I asked him how big a crisis the pandemic is compared to others in the past.
1:15.0	What is occurring now actually feels to me like a combination of 911 plus the great recession of 0809.
1:26.0	In other words, you have the uncertainty that manifests in itself coming out of 911 with this sense of how big is Al Qaeda, all the airplanes in the world aren't flying.
1:37.0	What are we going to do next? Uncertainty coupled with the certainty of significant economic downturn.
1:46.0	So I would say this is the biggest crisis thus far of the 21st century.
1:51.0	In the past, the US has played a major role in rallying the world in times of crisis. Do you think it still has a role to play doing that right now?
2:01.0	Well, I think so. Unfortunately, I think at the moment President Trump is now reaping what he has shown in the sense of underweight attention to this global network of alliances.
2:17.0	This is a time when the ideas of America first are not going to serve us as well as the ideas of America as a global leader.
2:26.0	Perhaps it's important to point out that this argument does not come from a Democrat.
2:34.0	You have said in the past that you're very bipartisan and you were considered for senior positions by both Hillary Clinton had she been elected and also Donald Trump in 2016.
2:48.0	So talk a little bit about the need to have bipartisan solutions or nonpartisan solutions to this.
2:55.0	Well, yes, I was vetted for vice president by Hillary Clinton, one of six people so formally vetted.
	...

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