Restoring America's Promise of Opportunity, Prosperity and Growth

Transcript

STROBE TALBOTT: This venture coincides with the 90th Anniversary of the Brooking Institution. It is one of several ambitious initiatives that demonstrate the commitment of this institution to coming up with bold, constructive, imaginative ideas on how to improve the way our nation governs itself and the world.

All of our research programs are involved in that effort — and very collaboratively. But our Economic Studies Program, led by Belle Sawhill who is here with us today, is especially busy. Just as an example of that, a week from today, our ongoing Budgeting for National Priorities Project will be convening here to work on an action plan for a sound fiscal policy for our nation. That is a goal I am sure Alexander Hamilton would have supported. So that project is clearly a complement to the one we are having today.

If you permit, I'd also like to offer a few additional remarks about the context of today's event and how it fits into Brookings's mission. Our agenda is broad, and our scholars represent a wide diversity of viewpoints. Yet everything we do at Brookings has three common denominators: quality, independence and impact. The Hamilton Project manifests all three.

First a word about quality: that could not be better demonstrated than by the intellectual leadership of Peter Orszag. He is not just one of Brookings's best economists but one of the nation's best. The advisory council of the project brings together outstanding thinkers and practitioners from public service, academe and the corporate and financial worlds.

The papers that will be produced under the aegis of the Hamilton Project have been through a rigorous peer-review process. As intellectual products, they meet the highest standards, both in terms of the way in which they identify the right questions and come up with the fact-based answers.

In that regard I would like to recall a bit of wisdom from someone I regard as a kind of iconic figure: the late Pat Moynihan — a Democrat who worked for Richard Nixon and had a Ph.D. Pat once said, "We're all entitled to our own opinions, but we're not entitled to our own facts."

You will, in the course of today's discussion and what ensues from this project, hear opinions and judgments, but they will be based on empirical data — on facts.

With regard to independence, Brookings is a non-partisan organization in a partisan town, at a partisan time. Being non-partisan does not mean being "policy neutral." That is a phrase and a concept that are anathema to our mission, which is to be policy relevant.

We let the chips fall where they may when we make prescriptions. I confidently predict that some of the proposals that are going to be produced under the aegis of the Hamilton Project are going to surprise people across the political spectrum. We hope members of both parties are going to be open to the ideas produced by this project.

With regard to impact, the Hamilton Project is designed to inject new thinking and bold ideas into the policy debate in this country. The analysis and the prescriptions that are going to be forthcoming are going to be forcefully presented. As with other projects we have going, we'll put the full communications and outreach capacity of the Institution behind maximizing impact. And that means, among other things, putting Peter Orszag himself out front to explain what this project is and what it's going to do and how it's going to do it...

Watch Sen. Obama's speech
Watch Robert Rubin's speech
Watch Peter Orszag's speech
Watch Rev. Jim Wallis' speech
Watch Robert Gordon on Teacher Quality
Watch Jonathan Gruber on Savings
Watch Molly Fifer on Summer Learning
Watch Austen Goolsbee on Return-Free Filing

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Read the full transcript (PDF—150kb)

Read Sen. Obama's remarks(PDF—20kb)
Read Robert Rubin's opening remarks (PDF—24kb)
Read Peter Orszag's remarks (PDF—19kb)
Read Rev. Jim Wallis' remarks (PDF—20kb)
Read Robert Gordon's remarks on Teacher Quality (PDF—21kb)
Read Jonathan Gruber's remarks on Savings (PDF—24kb)
Read Molly Fifer's remarks on Summer Learning (PDF—18kb)
Read Austan Goolsbee's remarks on Return-Free Filing (PDF—16kb)

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