Phil Bredesen

It's the chart topping podcast produced by the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee.

Each episode, former Tennessee governors from both sides of the aisle, Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam, tackle timely policy conversations with world and U.S. luminaries like Al Gore, Judy Woodruff, and more.

You Might Be Right aims to inspire the next generation of leaders in government, public policy, and public service.

Thank you so much for having me.

It doesn't matter if you're from a famous family.

Uh, there is a little bit of sort of vibes like, uh, I don't know if people remember Phil Bredesen in, in Tennessee, where you have an ex-governor, in this case an ex-senator, but it's a famous family, and they come, and they run in a climate that's frankly just not befitting for Democrats.

Uh, and New Hampshire is not necessarily a Democratic version of Tennessee.

It's much more swingy than that.

Listen to The World on your local public radio station and wherever you find your podcasts.

Welcome to You Might Be Right, a place for civil conversations about tough topics, hosted by former Tennessee governors, Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam.

I'm Marianne Wanamaker, Dean of the Baker School at the University of Tennessee, where members of our producer circle make this show possible.

To learn more about our work, visit youmightberight.org.

And so we can go back to four commissioners ago, but I also like to harken back to the fact of the matter is that the godfather of education here in Tennessee is former Senator Lamar Alexander and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander, who really helped provide Tennessee that focus on public education and how we can improve learning for all students.

So I would say that because of the governors, each of these governors, Governor Bredesen, Governor Haslam, and now Governor Lee, because of their focus on education and the focus on student achievement.

It's not, as we earlier said, spoke about with the silver bullets.

It really is about ensuring that the pieces are in place, including high quality standards, grade level standards so that teachers know what students need to know at each grade level, and a strong accountability system.

In fact, these new voters are not disproportionately young.

Welcome to You Might Be Right, a place for civil conversations about tough topics, hosted by former Tennessee governors, Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam.

I'm Marianne Wanamaker, Dean of the Baker School at the University of Tennessee, where members of our producer circle make this show possible.

To learn more about our work, visit youmightberight.org.

Welcome back to another season of You Might Be Right.

It's good to be here with my friend and co-host, Phil Bredesen.

And it's good to be back with you again, Bill.

I'm really looking forward to this season.

Hopefully you have signed them up for the imagination library.

It was a program she started locally in East Tennessee, and then she and Phil Bredesen partnered in 2002, 24 years ago, to make it statewide.

And the second Jackson was born, we signed him up, and for 60 straight months, First five years of his life, we got a book in the mail from Dolly addressed to him.

And when he got to be like three or four and really realized he's getting mail and said, when's my next book coming, Daddy? It was just the coolest thing.

I mean, she has, she's obviously a very shallow person.

I mean, if you watch or read any of her public statements, perhaps people recall her endorsement of Marsha Blackburn's opponent in Tennessee, Phil Bredesen back in, gosh, I don't even remember how long ago that was, maybe 2020 or 2022 elections.

Um, she just sounds a little brain dead.

And so I don't even think that she's thought through what it means to be a pro-choice Christian.

And so we'd hoped that it would do good there.

And it became such a popular program that the governor of Tennessee at that time, Phil Bredesen, he thought the idea was so great.

They took it, it went all over Tennessee.

And then later it went on into Canada.