America's Millennial Makeover
Every four decades, America’s demand for change puts in motion a political realignment or makeover. Like all others before it, this realignment results from the coming of age of a new generation of young Americans and the emergence of new online organizing tools. Almost everything about American politics and government—voting patterns, the fortunes of the two political parties, the issues that engage the nation, and our government and its public policy—will change because of these two forces. This panel will feature presentations by Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, and Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais, co-authors of “Millennial Makeover: MySpace, You Tube, and the Future of American Politics.” Rosenberg will discuss the parameters and implications of this “Dawn of a New Politics” in America, and Winograd and Hais will detail the contours and causes of the country’s five previous political realignments. This panel will examine the impact the Millennial Makeover has on the elections, issues, and public policies that will characterize America's government and politics in the decades ahead.
Simon Rosenberg is President and founder of NDN, a leading, center-left think tank in Washington, DC. Rosenberg, a veteran of two presidential campaigns, got his start as a writer and producer in network television. He is a leading political thinker and commentator with a unique ability to identify important trends and decipher changes transforming American politics well before others.
Rosenberg is a member of the Aspen Institute’s 2001 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and served on the 2004 Democratic National Convention Platform Committee. In 2007, Rosenberg was named one of the 50 most powerful people in DC by GQ Magazine.
Morley Winograd is a fellow with NDN and the New Policy Institute. He and Mike Hais are co-authors of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics (Rutgers University Press, 2008). They are currently writing their next book on the impact of America’s youngest generation and their technology on America’s institutions. It is scheduled to be published by Rutgers University Press after the 2010 elections. Winograd served as senior policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore and director of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) from December 1, 1997 until January 20, 2001.
Michael D. Hais is co-author of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics. He is a fellow at NDN and the New Policy Institute. He served as Vice President, Entertainment Research for more than 22 years at Frank N. Magid Associates conducting audience research for television stations, cable channels, and program producers in nearly all 50 states and more than a dozen foreign countries. Hais received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, all in political science.
