barack obama is in trouble. what about democrats in that? among democrat, 46% say they want him challenged in a primary. those are both troubling signs for an incumbent heading back into a cycle. other polls show is wide up. mit romney is also in there. we polled i think 11 names. any one of them could win that nomination. is the wild card? the wild card and the trump card. there have been a couple hints of positive economic numbers this past week even. if that were to continue, i would suspect barack obama s fortunes would change. aside from the polling numbers and the challenges, democrats and the incumbent president would in 2012. the nature of campaigning is changing. we have to become accustomed to these rapid swings in public opinion. and we see campaigning year round. having groups that will raise provocative issue and campaign slogan challenges to incumbents. what do you think that means for voter turn out? we heard a lot of young voters say they were turn
amongst all the directors. we have all seen it in anecdotes. the challenge though it is in the work of development by its nature. it has a very long time horizon. we are driven by the constant assessment, having quarterly reports, but the metrics used for approving new work. and afterwards, with public money, that is important. but i would put a bit of a marker in the conundrum of the peace corps. that is how you measure it in this way. we all of a story similar to this one. when i went to kenya after the bombings in 1995, i spoke to the minister of education. he said, the first american i ever met and the best teachers i ever had was my peace corps teacher. i went back to my office and looked him up. he was in south massachusetts. i told him stories on the phone. he said, i will have to look at the picture. there were 62 kids in my class. here is the development question. when the measure the success of that peace corps volunteer? is it after his 27 months of service? or
its sustainability. and if the journey of 50 years is a test, we are in a great place for the peace corps to do even greater things in the years and generations to come. thank you. what a wonderful introduction from a director. i find it is a privilege to say that i have worked for the peace corps, acting having after having served as a volunteer in the peace corps. i never imagined i would be someone with the opportunity to do this. i have been a beneficiary of able to establish volunteers throughout this tenure. i have been in 18 countries. let me share what i consider to be one of the great, great success stories of the peace corps. when i go to the country, typically a will meet with the ambassador in the country. often, the embassador or some of the staff are former peace corps volunteers. i will see the government officials, the minister of health, the minister of education. in their early years, they had a positive experience as a peace corps volunteer. i want to t
development and training are critically important. but i think that one of the greatest values the peace corps can bring i will never forget being in morocco and having someone said, you do not look like an american. he said, your skin is dark and your hair is dark. it is a different shade these days, but it was all dark bk then. he said, you do not look like an american. it gave me a platform to talk about the diversity of america. i think this is a critical component going forward and will be important in the future of the peace corps to have a depiction of the face of america in ws we have not seen in the past, for the benefit of the united states of america. i want to invite members of the audience to go to the microphones and ask questions of the panel. one of the great traditions of is john f. kennedy jr. forum that all speakers agree to take questions from the audience. the audience in turn agrees to ask questions. i will remind you of the rule for asking que
the peace corps is celebrating its 50th anniversary. the current director joins former directors to talk about what they learned it. from harvard university, this is about an hour and 15 minutes. a story of a long-awaited return to a place where generations of had a history of making a difference. president kennedy challenge to america s young people to help people in need, promote good will over the world. that challenge became the peace corps. tonight our story comes from sierra leone, where a brutal civil war forced the peace corps to pull out over a decade ago. tonight, ron allen has the story of the first u.s. volunteers to venture back in. jessica now does without so many things she took for granted in new hampshire. she draws on well water for a mornings in a bucket shower. breakfast is a fried chicken. away fromrd being home. waking up and thinking, i want starbucks. she is among 37 u.s. peace corps volunteers in sierra leone. a desperately poor nation, devast