Last Wednesday’s “In the News” event at the College brought Anita Dunn, a longtime Democratic political strategist and communications advisor who served in the Obama and Biden administrations, and Bob Bauer, an attorney and former White House Counsel who served in the Obama administration and as President Biden’s personal attorney and senior advisor, to campus for a conversation that, at first glance, seemed rooted in the past with talk of campaigns, presidencies, and institutional norms. But as the discussion unfolded, it became clear that the most urgent takeaway wasn’t about what has already happened in American politics. It was about what’s coming next and whether voters are prepared for it.
Bauer began by outlining a distinction that feels increasingly fragile: the tension between political power and legal independence. He emphasized that “nobody (Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal) would want the Department of Justice to be under political control and direction… that independence, professional independence… ought to be what people expect.” It’s a principle that sounds obvious, almost foundational, yet was one he suggested has been steadily eroding. Congress, he noted, could take steps to reinforce that independence, but realism tempers urgency. Reform may be necessary, but it won’t be immediate.
That same tension (between what should be and what is) carried into their discussion of elections. Drawing on years of experience, Bauer described his work building bipartisan efforts to defend election systems from partisan interference. At its core, he argued, “central to our democracy is the operation of a professionally administered, partial, electoral process that’s open to all eligible voters… free from political interference and pressure.”
Dunn, meanwhile, grounded the issue in access. Voting, she emphasized, is still too difficult in too many places. “It should absolutely be easier to vote,” she said, pointing to practical fixes like expanding mail-in voting or increasing polling locations, changes that feel obvious, yet remain politically fraught.
When I asked about artificial intelligence and whether it makes media literacy as essential as understanding the Constitution or the concept of voting itself, Dunn responded, “I think AI is moving so much more quickly than the political process… and I actually think media literacy is something that is critically important and becoming even more important because of AI.” She explained that many voters are stepping away from traditional news. “There are a number of voters in this country who… I call them news avoiders, because, simply, they don’t want to follow the news right now,” she said. “Increasingly, they’re turning to AI… to help them make decisions about who to vote for.”
That shift is subtle, but its implications are not. When information is filtered through AI, the challenge is no longer just finding reliable sources, it’s understanding how that information is being delivered. The line between information and interpretation begins to blur. And without the ability to question what we’re seeing, it becomes easier to accept it at face value.
Dunn pointed to a problem that already defines the current media environment: “misinformation, disinformation, just no information.” She suggested that AI could accelerate all three, not because the technology is inherently flawed, but because the systems meant to regulate or respond to it are moving at a much slower pace. Politics, as both speakers emphasized throughout the night, is often reactive. AI is not.
What stayed with audience members after the event wasn’t just the speakers’ analysis of elections or executive power, but an underlying disconnect: while institutions struggle to adapt, the information landscape is transforming in real time. And that transformation is quietly reshaping how people participate in democracy.
There’s an assumption, especially on college campuses, that civic engagement means showing up, voting, organizing, and asking questions. And it does. But what this conversation made clear is that showing up isn’t enough if we don’t understand what we’re engaging with. Media literacy, once treated as a secondary skill, now feels central to it.
If voters are increasingly relying on AI to tell them what matters, then the ability to think critically about that information isn’t just useful. It’s necessary.
By the end of the night, Dunn and Bauer reprised a familiar call: stay engaged, stay involved, vote. But they said something more, even if it wasn’t framed as directly: pay attention to how you know what you know. In this moment, that might be the most important civic skill of all.
~ Mia Dinunzio `28
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