Leading conservative journalist to share insights into presidential election

October 3, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — David Frum, one of the nation’s leading conservative journalists and intellectuals, will share his insights into this tumultuous presidential election year during a public presentation at 6 p.m. Oct. 9. at the University of Florida’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service in Pugh Hall. The event is open to the public and it will also be streamed live at www.bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu.

A former speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush, Frum has distinguished himself as an independent thinker who takes his fellow conservatives and the Republican Party to task for what he frequently describes as a crisis within the conservative movement. His talk, titled “Why the American Political System Doesn’t Work,” will detail how Washington is changing and what these changes mean for the American people.

Frum is one of the busiest commentators working today, writing columns and blog posts for Newsweek and The Daily Beast as well as serving as a political analyst for CNN. Frum has such a knack for blending trenchant insights with humor that he is a frequent guest on Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show,” and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” And he’s no stranger to campaigns. In 2007-2008, he served as senior foreign policy adviser to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign. Frum is also a member of the board of directors of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Frum’s first book, “Dead Right” (1994), was described by William F. Buckley, the founding father of modern conservatism, as “the most refreshing ideological experience in a generation.” The liberal pundit Frank Rich, then of The New York Times, called it “the smartest book written from the inside about the American conservative movement.” In 1996, The Wall Street Journal acclaimed him as “one of the leading political commentators of his generation.” His memoir of the Bush administration, “The Right Man,” was a New York Times bestseller. He’s also the author of a critically acclaimed history of the 1970s and most recently, a novel about politics.

Born in Toronto in 1960, Frum received simultaneous bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Yale in 1982. He was appointed a visiting lecturer in history at Yale in 1986; in 1987, he graduated cum laude from the Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Federalist Society.