With Congress’s passage of financial reform, the big banks and corporate lobbyists will fight to diminish regulation as much as they can.  That’s why I made the case this week for Elizabeth Warren–one of the leading activists and thinkers regarding what the bureau could get done–to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  On Thursday, I sat down to discuss Warren’s candidacy on The Bill Press Show. Listen here, while we wait to see if the Obama Administration will do the right thing and appoint Warren to this critical role. 

Also this week:

Video: Melissa Harris-Lacewell on the Vilification of Black Women

Nation columnist Melissa Harris-Lacewell appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann to discuss the recent debacle surrounding the frenzied resignation of Shirley Sherrod. Watch the segment here. For background on the Sherrod story, you should read Habiba Alcindor’s article from the March 20, 2005 issue of The Nation about the challenges facing black farmers; that story, "Losing Ground," is here. 

The Breakdown: Breaking Down Financial Regulation

On this week’s edition of The Breakdown, The Nation‘s Washington DC Editor Christopher Hayes and financial blogger Mike Konczal unpack the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The bill is supposed to prevent such a crisis and the subsequent bank bailouts from ever happening again, but does it really accomplish that? And more broadly, what does it do to reform the financial system that made those things possible in the first place?  Listen to the conversation here.

Interview: JoAnn Wypijewski on The Party of No 

On Monday, Nation contributor JoAnn Wypijewski sat down with Laura Flanders on The Nation on GRIT TV to discuss her conversations with Americans who feel defenseless in the face of catastrophes from job losses to the BP oil spill–and the willingness of Republicans to use this negativity to fuel their “party of no.” Watch here.

Listen: Is Obama Winning the Battles but Losing the War?

I joined a conversation on KCRW’s To The Point on Tuesday to discuss President Obama’s legislative reforms and his relationship with his liberal base.  With a system that isn’t serving democracy and isn’t serving people all too well, I argued that progressives must organize and push Obama for larger structural reforms and act as a counterweight to powerful corporate lobbies and money and right-wing media.  Listen to the segment here.

Coming Up on The Nation on GRIT TV … 

I’ll be on GRIT TV on Monday (posting at TheNation.com Monday afternoon) for a politics roundup. Also next week: Gabriel Thompson commentary on Arizona and immigration (posting Wednesday) and a conversation with Nation contributor Lynn Harris about "reproductive coercion." That posts Friday, or you can watch the whole episode in your local market – visit www.GRITTV.org for air times. 

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As always, thank you for reading.  Comments are welcome below.  You can also follow me on Twitter-I’m @KatrinaNation.