Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and founder of The Nation magazine, discusses the role that progressive social movements can play in the 2012 elections. Can we develop an independent program to push Obama to the left? Can social movements in the U.S. articulate an independent politics that would have high national visibility and help shape the national debate?

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the author of Change That I Believe In: Fighting for Progress in the Age of Obama.