BILL BRADLEY AND AMERICA'S PATH, PART 1
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Once upon a time before his years in the U.S. Senate, his Championship play with the New York Knicks, Bill Bradley was the subject of an acclaimed best selling book by John McFee titled "A Sense of Where you Are." As an All American player for Princeton, Bradley had an uncanny sense of where he was on the court. We spoke with Bradley recently and asked him.
Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
"(Osgood:) Where does your sense of where you are tell you about where the country is right now?"
(Bradley:) Well, I think we're in a difficult position. The thing to remember, though, is we've been in difficult positions in the past in our history and we've overcome them. And there's no reason we can't, as Lincoln said, 'Turn retreat into advance.'"
The title of Bradley's new book is another Lincoln quote."We Can All Do Better." We'll talk with him about that after this.
Bill Bradley's basketball career is long behind him. He's quit politics for good too, he says. Now a financial and investment advisor and the author of books. His latest, out today, is about the tough spot America is in right now.
Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
"(Bradley:) People are wondering whether their children will have a higher standard of living than they do - and children are wondering the same things.
"(Osgood:) And Americans have been traditionally been optimists."
(Bradley:) Yeah, and once that breaks, then we've injured a fundamental part of what it means to be an American - which is to believe in the future and be optimistic. And that's why it's important we turn it around."
But how can we? With politics so polarized and the debt dragging us down?
Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
"On the debt issue, you either deal with it - or ultimately it comes back and hurts you. In order for us to deal with the deficit or deal with any of the crises that we confront as a country, we have to have a better political process. Right now, it's corrupted by money. And it's polarized."
We'll talk more with Bill Bradley later on our next Osgood File. |
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