David Letterman and the Commonwealth Club

(Image from CBS TV online video.)

Last night, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to appear as a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. (Obama had previously appeared numerous times while a senator and presidential candidate.) The appearance was part of the president's campaign to make his argument for his policies, chiefly health-care reform.

The appearance is getting a great deal of press attention, as you'd expect. But one throw-away line from the night was of particular interest to us here at The Commonwealth Club, and it made us wonder if Letterman and his staff are Club aficionados.

During the Top Ten List, the host read out the top 10 "reasons President Obama agreed to appear on The Late Show." The reasons ranged from the odd ("Heard the lady with the heart-shaped potato was going to be here" -- long story) to the political. But one of them resonated with us: Reason Number Seven: "Every president since Teddy Roosevelt has been here."

Well, we all know that the place that has hosted every president since Teddy Roosevelt is The Commonwealth Club of California, don't we? Roosevelt kicked it off by making the case in his Club speech for federal involvement in protection of common lands. Republican and Democrat, they've made their appearance here before our Bay Area audiences and -- through our national radio and internet arms -- before the whole country. So naturally we're looking forward to hosting a speech by President Barack Obama, and he's welcome to bring the jokes.

Director Michael Moore Discusses His "Love Story" at The Commonwealth Club

Michael Moore addresses a Commonwealth Club InForum crowd Thursday, September 17, 2009. (Photo by Camille Koue.)

In a surprise event that nevertheless managed to draw standing-room-only crowds, media attention and a flurry of Flickr activity, film director Michael Moore appeared at the Commonwealth Club for an InForum interview with Live from the Left Coast's Angie Coiro on Thursday evening.

The interview followed an advance screening of Moore's new documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story, at San Francisco's Metreon cineplex. Without divulging too much here (find out more on Moore's web site), the film is every inch the provocative, fractious and ofttimes humorous work that audiences have come to expect from the filmmaker-- or are we reading too much into this? As Moore shared with a full house at the Commonwealth Club following the screening, "It is a love story. It's about the wealthy who love their money. Except, the movie has a twist -- they not only love their money, they love our money, too. And they want all of it."

Over the next hour, Moore and Corio's discussion ranged over his more bloodthirsty critics, why he's calling on Barack Obama to fill FDR's shoes, what it really means to be called "liberal-minded," and how we're putting our own newspapers out of business.

The full discussion will soon be available on The Commonwealth Club's YouTube page, where you can find all of The Club's past speakers and future events online. Meanwhile, Capitalism: A Love Story hits theaters on October 2.

--By Andrew Harrison

Late-Breaking Event: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Commonwealth Club This Week

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be appearing at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco this Thursday. He will be talking about what California is doing to bring together states and countries together to cooperate on addressing climate change.

For additional details and to reserve tickets, click here.

Admiral Blair Makes Waves with Commonwealth Club Speech

The Huffington Post offers a brief rundown of the news made by last night's Commonwealth Club of California speaker, Admiral Dennis Blair, who is President Obama's director of national security. Blair spoke to The Club on the day of the release of an unclassified national security strategy report. Chief among the headlines made by Blair yesterday were numbers-related: The U.S> spends $75 billion on its intelligence services, and employs 200,000 people in the effort.

See also reports from the Associated Press, the Washington Independent, Fox News, the Federal News Service, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

CIA Director Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller will be making separate appearances at The Commonwealth Club this fall. For dates, details, and to register, go to The Commonwealth Club's web site.

Late-Breaking Event: Michael Moore to Address Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Thursday

Here's an event you'll want to sign up for quickly; the tickets are sure to go fast.

The Commonwealth Club's InForum division has just scheduled filmmaker Michael Moore for a discussion at The Club's downtown San Francisco headquarters immediately following a free screening of Moore's new film, Capitalism: A Love Story.

To get more information and to make your reservation, visit the event page.

Rajendra Pachauri on Hopenhagen

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, sent this video message because he was was unable to attend tomorrow's Climate One discussion of the Hopenhagen campaign. Greenhouse gas emissions, he says citing the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, need to peak by 2015 in order to stabilize the atmosphere and keep warming below 2.4 C degrees.

Traffic Patterns: Attitudes Toward Cars

Everything is bigger in America. From waistlines to portion sizes, the country has a knack for cultivating and embracing all things large. But lately, it seems to many as if family-sized everything is beginning to lose its appeal, especially in the form of cars.

During August’s Cash for Clunkers program, more than 400,000 cars were traded in, 84 percent of which were trucks. While some users opted to purchase newer large cars, 59 percent of vehicles purchased were compact cars like Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas. It served as only a temporary boon to the auto industry, but it could translate to long-term changes in air quality, financial responsibility and, simply, space.

As transportation secretary Ray LaHood told The New York Times, “This is a win for the economy, a win for the environment and a win for consumers.”

Though the benefits and repercussions of the program are still up for debate, on a basic level, the extra space on the roads and in the lots might be a welcome change, especially in California. For a long time, cars in America just kept getting bigger. The SUV craze of the '90s meant the Chevy Suburban continued to expand and gain popularity, the Ford Excursion rolled out with what some people probably thought was more room than anyone had any business occupying, and the oversize obsession reached its pinnacle when the Hummer became, literally, widely available. Grappling with an increasing number of cars – which California will have to do as its population continues to grow – might be done more easily if they come in a neat, compact package.

As the climate bill winds its way through Congress, favoring smaller, cleaner cars could be a natural move. Essentially, this month-long cash-for-clunkers program could end up initiating a shift in the way Americans regard vehicles. Even in San Francisco, the country’s second most densely populated city and one with little room for cars, driving accounts for 60 percent of trips taken. City planning officials have just unveiled their transportation vision for 2030, and ambitious is an understatement. The city hopes to cut car use in half, up transit use to 30 percent and bring bike and foot trips up to 40 percent. If California can set the bar for fuel efficiency, San Francisco could hope to set it for general travel efficiency.

California, which has long pushed for strict fuel efficiency standards and is now setting the nation’s standard, is the veritable ground zero for car chaos. The state is expected to double in population by 2050, so many observers believe that its transportation infrastructure is in dire need of updating and funding to accommodate more vehicles. An October panel at The Club will meet to discuss the challenges, while the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lisa Jackson will visit on September 29 to identify key strategies to cleaning up our act.

9/11 Anniversaries

This morning, President Obama observed the anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and elsewhere. That day, September 11, 2001, of course lives on as a date that has memories for everyone in this country, because of what it meant to be attacked by a well-financed and -organized terrorist organization and because of how it changed all of our lives since then.

During the ceremonies today, there have been many moving tributes to the heroes of that day, and memories of those lost. So we'll just take this space to provide some resources for people looking for more background on the events and context for what they meant.

Back in 2002, on the one-year anniversary of the attacks, The Commonwealth Club held a forum that was led by Ming Chin, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, Father Stephen A. Privett, president of the University of San Francisco, and Dr. Gloria Duffy, CEO of The Commonwealth Club. You can read the transcript of the program by clicking on the jpg images to the left; these are from the transcript printed in the October 15, 2002, issue of The Commonwealth, The Club's official magazine. Our web site also hosts a transcript of the event, which you can read here.

The Commonwealth Club held a series of 9/11-related forums and other programs after September 11, and it has continued to follow matters related to terrorism, public safety, and national security in the years since. For an introduction to some of those programs, visit our archives page.

On August 17, 2004, The Commonwealth Club held an event with two members of the 9/11 Commission, Slade Gorton and Richard Ben-Venistey. You can read the transcript of that event here, or you can listen to audio of the event.

New York Times reporter Jere Longman came to The Club on August 14, 2002, to speak about the "The Story of Flight 93 and Its Heroes." You can read that transcript here.

And, of course, there have been many others. From administration officials and their supporters defending the actions taken to ensure national security, to critics of the administration concerned about constitutional protection and human rights. Those discussions have all taken place at The Commonwealth Club, and they will continue to do so, including Admiral Dennis Blair, President Obama's director of national intelligence, who will be speaking on September 15.

There will be many more anniversaries of this date, and undoubtedly people from many walks of life will mark it in their own way. We'll continue to study it all at The Commonwealth Club.

Dr. Gloria Duffy to Discuss 9/11 Anniversary on KTVU TV "Mornings on 2"

Bay Area audiences might want to catch Dr. Gloria Duffy, president and CEO of The Commonwealth Club of California, who will appear on KTVU TV's live morning news show, "Mornings on 2," tomorrow morning, September 11, at 8:15 a.m. (Pacific time). She will share her thoughts on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, as well as the international situation today.

Visit Our New Health Care Resources Web Page

The Commonwealth Club has launched a new web page dedicated to covering health care from many angles.

Underwritten by the California HealthCare Foundation, the new page features information on upcoming Commonwealth Club health-care programs, audio and video of previous programs, a health & medicine news feed, and other online resources.

We'll be adding new features and resources to the page, so bookmark it today if you're interested in this country's health-care dialogue.

Visit the page directly, or go to our home page and select "Club Events" and then "Special Events" to find the page.