A Yale Law School graduate, and former Special Advisor to the Obama White House, Van Jones is president and founder of Rebuild the Dream, a pioneering initiative to restore good jobs and economic opportunity. The co-founder of three thriving nonprofit organizations (the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and Green For All), Van is also the author of the New York Times' bestselling The Green Collar Economy - the definitive book on green jobs. The World Economic Forum named Van a Young Global Leader in 2005. In 2008 Time Magazine described him as a global environmental hero, and in 2009 called him 'one of the 100 most influential people in the world.'

The first Obama administration official to write a book on his experiences, Van offers a unique perspective. He unveils the seven biggest mistakes made by the White House and its supporters, and he systematically reveals surprising parallels between Obama's people-powered campaign, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. With the vaunted American Dream rapidly becoming a delusion, tens of millions of willing workers unable to find jobs, millions of homeowners already having lost their homes to foreclosure, and millions more underwater, our politicians merely continue giving tax breaks to the rich and slashing vital services. Workers' rights are being gutted and public unions are under siege. Countering this, Rebuild the Dream is a new movement growing across America and getting stronger by the day as millions stand up to defy right-wing attacks on the working class and the vanishing middle class.

Aimee Allison is co-Executive Director of RootsAction.

Hosted by Aimee Alison

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