Jamal Simmons at our Youth Leadership Speaker Series

Leonora Hanks is the author and a Summer Fellow at 21st Century Democrats.

Jamal Simmons was our first speaker of the year, and he definitely opened up the Series with a bang. He had great insight to offer into the respective campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the opportunity that progressives have to take over and make change this year, and wise life lessons to pass on to the young people in the room.

Simmons spoke about how this year progressives are finally being paid attention to. He noted that Barack Obama is bringing the progressive democratic movement into places where it hasn’t gotten the attention it needs and deserves. He described movements starting in such remote American locales as Alaska, North Dakota, and Montana.

Mr. Simmons also his opinion that the republican brand is dying. Drilling our way out of oil prices, skyrocketing healthcare costs and enormous tax breaks for the rich are not helping put the U.S. on the right track, and Americans know the truth.

After a question and answer session, Simmons offered some last wise words of advice to all of us listening. He warned us against shortsightedness, saying not to sacrifice what we want most for what we want right now. Simmons also spoke about karma, quoting his father who used to say “If you’re angry and it feels good, don’t do it.” Finally, he encouraged us to maintain a sense of self in whatever we do, and to never operate in someone else’s framework.

Simmons is the President of New Future Communications as well political analyst and commentator seen most often on CNN and MSNBC. He is also currently working as an advisor to the Democratic National Committee for the campaign to elect Barack Obama President of the United States. His friendly demeanor, numerous anecdotes and openness with his experiences and lessons learned made for a great kick off to our Speaker Series.