GMF - The German Marshall Fund of the United States - Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation

Home  |  About GMF  |  Pressroom  |  Support GMF  |  Contact Us
Follow GMF
Events
Andrew Light Speaker Tour in Europe May 14, 2013 / Berlin, Germany; Brussels, Belgium

GMF Senior Fellow Andrew Light participated in a speaking tour in Europe to discuss opportunities for transatlantic cooperation on climate and energy policy in the second Obama administration.

Audio
Deal Between Kosovo, Serbia is a European Solution to a European Problem May 13, 2013

In this podcast, GMF Vice President of Programs Ivan Vejvoda discusses last month's historic agreement to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

Andrew Small on China’s Influence in the Middle East Peace Process May 10, 2013

Anchor Elaine Reyes speaks with Andrew Small, Transatlantic Fellow of the Asia Program for the German Marshall Fund, about Beijing's potential role in brokering peace between Israel and Palestine

Events

Democratic pollster sketches liberal challenges June 06, 2005 / Brussels



Speaking to a Brussels audience on the future of progressive movements in America and Europe, Democratic strategist and pollster Stan Greenberg said President George W. Bush is faltering with the American public six months after his re-election, but that Democrats are not making any corresponding gains. “The conservative Republican revolution is failing,” he said, citing the GOP’s falling poll numbers on a broad range of initiatives from privatizing social security to the Iraq war to low economic growth to religion’s role in American society. Democrats, though, are fumbling their moment of opportunity by failing to provide a clear alternative or strong leadership, hoping instead that they can come back to power based on Republican mistakes, he said.   Greenberg spoke as part of the GMF Transatlantic Center’s Distinguished Speakers’ Series. Dr. Ronald D. Asmus, the Center’s executive director, has expanded this series to include current intellectual, political, and cultural trends in the United States in order to better inform Europeans of domestic trends affecting the U.S. relationship with Europe.   In the fall, the well-known Republican strategist and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol will speak in a companion lecture on the future of the conservative movement in the United States.   Bush’s poll numbers are now the lowest of his presidency, according to Greenberg. Forty-one percent of Americans say they want to continue in the direction he is taking the country, unusually low numbers for a two-term president so soon after reelection. The Democrats, though, are only reacting to issues that Republicans put forward, and their coalition of interest groups cannot agree on a bigger agenda that addresses rising topics like globalization, education, and the environment. Reacting to the Republicans is seen by too many Democrats as a safe strategy; taking on an ambitious new agenda could involve risk, Greenberg said.   Greenberg, who has done polling for Tony Blair, Gerhard Schröder, and other European and international figures, said it was difficult now to draw lessons for European conservatives and liberals from the American experience. The experiences on each side of the Atlantic over issues like immigration, Iraq, and employment have been so different in recent years. For example, Bush has tried to align conservatives with multiculturalism, but rightist parties in Europe are averse to the idea.  At the same time, he pointed out that some of the factors fueling discontent in Europe — rooted in stagnating living standards and global competition — and that were important in the recent rejection of the EU constitution in French and Dutch referendums are also powerful undercurrents in American politics as well.