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WASHINGTON, DC—The Center for American Progress Action Fund and the New Democracy Project today released a comprehensive transition manual: Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President. The book offers an agency-by-agency guide and dozens of policy recommendations that will steer our nation in a new direction. This book provides concrete recommendations for how to structure an effective White House and presents new economic, domestic, and national security ideas that will help the new president solve our nation’s most serious problems. CAPAF and NDP joined forces over a year ago to help the 44th president get the administration off to a fast start.
“Our goal was to bring together the best progressive policy minds to jump-start the transition process and help steer the new government in a new, more progressive direction,” said Michele Jolin, co-editor of the book and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
"While this volume has hundreds of solutions and proposals for the 44th president and his administration, Change for America is not a mere list,” said Mark Green, co-editor of the book, who is the former elected Public Advocate for New York City and currently president of Air America Radio. “For our thematic goal from the start was to ground all our proposals in four core values—democracy, diplomacy for security, economic opportunity and a greener world, which together comprise a holistic program of Progressive Patriotism. For what can be more patriotic than pursuing the progress that is America’s hallmark?”
Sixty-seven leading policymakers, scholars, authors, and former government officials provided their best advice and prioritized their recommendations for the next administration. Authors include Greg Craig, Christopher Edley, Laura Tyson, Joshua Steiner, Maria Echaveste, Harold Koh, Rudy deLeon, Joan Claybook, Michael Waldman, and James Lee Witt. Change for America reflects their expertise and insights for how best to shape policy and set priorities to bring real change to America
"CAPAF and NDP thought that there would be value in having a one-stop shopping volume that comprehensively looked at most Washington agencies and issues, both to help a transition team figure out the nuts-and-bolts of what to do agency-by-agency, and then to have a book that interested policy people could read as well,” said Green. “Hence, we are grateful that Basic Books will be publishing the book version January 5, 2009."
Jolin added, “We recognized that the 2008 presidential transition could be the most challenging and sensitive ever—given our nation’s economic turmoil and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our hope was to help ease and smooth that transition process, so that the new president could quickly and effectively get to the business of governing”
Click here to download ten chapters and read summaries of each chapter
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