A decade later - Fundação Luso-Americana

ChRIS GRAEME
single state, to make sure that they were
up-to-date, and had trained people on the
ground. And I think that it helped expand
the number of states in which the
Democrats could compete.
[P] What about the power of the Internet?
[HD] The Internet works for both sides.
The Republicans have been doing a good
job duplicating what we’ll be doing on
the Internet, just as I duplicated some
things that the Republicans were doing
well in 2004 when I became chairman.
So both sides will use the Internet.
[P] But you instituted intensive use of the Internet.
Why did you choose this method?
[HD] We learned from the young people
who were doing it. Our ability to organize
a campaign logically based on the Internet,
was a result of our observing what young
people were doing, and how they consulted
the Internet.
[P] The country’s youth and the ethnic minorities
are very powerful (according to Obama). Don’t
you think it will be a huge challenge to mobilize
them again?
[HD] That is the challenge! The President
won because he had a huge outpouring,
particularly among the young people, and
that has to be duplicated. And it’s not
going to be easy.
[P] Portugal is in crisis because of its budget. You
balanced Vermont’s state budget without increasing
income taxes. What tips would you give our
country?
poLicy
[HD] I think Prime Minister Sócrates
began to address the problem long
before some of the other countries. Early
president obama won because of a huge wave of support,
which Howard dean hopes is repeated.
‘ The crisis: there was
some very, very bad
behavior on the part
of international banks.
on they made changes in the retirement
age; they made changes in public wages,
so Portugal is in much better shape than
Ireland and Greece for example.
Nevertheless, it’s a very small country,
and of course, it is going to get buffeted.
Portugal will have to do what all
those other places have to do: cut down.
But you can’t cut too much or too fast,
because then you hurt the economy
rather than help it. But there’s no question
that in the West – both in Europe
and US – there has been excessive spending;
and, of course, there was some very,
very bad behavior on the part of international
banks. We’re not talking about
Portuguese banks, we’re talking about
big multinational banks. Some of these
problems have nothing to do with
Portugal. They have to do with big multinational
banks speculating and betting
on the stock markets. And then there’s
the rating companies of course…
*with André Sebastião
Parallel no. 6 | FALL | WINTER 2011 35
ChRIS GRAEME
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