U.S. policies have a huge impact on global development, and more successful development is crucial to U.S. goals. But global development has often been missing in the U.S. political debate. On Monday, January 28, President Bush will deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress, the American people, and to a global audience seeking to understand America’s priorities in the world.

The Center for Global Development’s State of the Union Bingo will be helping people from Washington, D.C. to Dhaka track global issues in President Bush’s last State of the Union address as his thoughts turn to the legacy he hopes to leave behind. Will he mention malaria, trade, poverty, climate change? Several of the 2008 presidential candidates have discussed the need to restore America’s image in the world and ensure our own national security, and point to our global development policies as one way we can work to make a better, safer world. Will President Bush make similar overtures? Will there be more or less attention to global development than in his past remarks? To help you keep track we prepared these handy printable State of the Union Bingo cards (pdf, 116k).

Some global development issues have sometimes been prominent in President Bush’s State of the Union addresses–HIV/AIDS and trade, for example. But a quick analysis of past speeches suggests that none has been a recurrent theme. This year, we encourage you to use the New York Times’ State of the Union Word Tracker, that counts and graphs the number of times the president has uttered “poverty” (6), “Africa” (15), “economy” (88), or “global warming” (0) among the 34,000 words used in his State of the Union addresses.

Global Development Matters’ founding organization, the Center for Global Development, will be hosting a State of Union Bingo party in Washington, DC. In past years, friends of the Center have hosted their own Bingo parties as far away as Dhaka, Bangladesh; Lexington, KY; and Napa, CA. Organize your own State of the Union Bingo party, perk up your ears and get your ink dabber ready to mark off mentions of malaria, trade, poverty, and maybe even global warming in President Bush’s final State of the Union address.

Post your plans or a report on your festivities as a comment on this blog, or tell us about it here; include a photo and we will be happy to post it.

If State of the Union Bingo sparks a heated discussion about why global development matters for the U.S., check out CGD’s Rich World, Poor World: A Guide to Global Development to help inform your debate!

This post appeared yesterday in the Center for Global Development’s blog, Views from the Center.

After drowning in Iowa analysis and New Hampshire speculation on Sunday, I was delighted that The Simpsons jumped on the election bandwagon with last night’s episode “E Pluribus Wiggum,” (watch the episode online), in which 8-year-old, paste-eating Ralph Wiggum is written in as Springfield’s presidential nominee. As the Simpson family watches “Decision ‘08″ (with accompanying Fox News-ESQUE bald-eagle-flying-into-voter-booth graphic) Lisa delights in how Springfield is the center of the political universe and likens herself to being a “pundit in a think tank.” In a surprising move, the usually donut-centric Homer picks up on his daughter’s reference in wondering “Think tank, eh?” as a thought bubble reveals the logo for “The Center for Global Progress,” Center for Global Development?complete with a globe-shaped logo that looks remarkably like CGD’s. The shot pulls back to reveal a small conference table with wonks discussing… wait for it…the World Bank’s lending policy to Micronesia!

Hmmm…Could it be? Did The Simpsons just spoof CGD? You be the judge! That was certainly the chatter this morning around our coffee maker. Without wanting to appear presumptuous, we would love to think that our reputation reaches well beyond the beltway. But hey, even if CGD was not the model (although the thought bubble conference room looks an awful lot like our conference room here at the Center!) its surely a good sign for global development policy that public awareness has reached the point where The Simpsons is spoofing our community’s work. And–cue to thought bubble–just imagine a world where exposure leads to awareness, which in turn leads to action. As Homer might say: “Think tank, eh?”

Public Radio International (PRI) just received a 3-year, $5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to produce and distribute content on global development and health topics. This is good news for people who care about global development—the more we talk about it (and our media talks about it), the more our future leaders will know that Global Development Matters to us, and will be able to shape US policy accordingly. PRI’s programming currently reaches around 11 million listeners each week.

PRI President and CEO Alisa Miller said, “This transformational grant will enable PRI to increase Americans’ understanding of the impact that global health and development issues have in today’s world….People and nations of the world are more interdependent than ever before, yet many media outlets continue to withdraw from international news. PRI is uniquely capable of aggressively developing compelling content, global reporting and interactive strategies to fill this urgent need.”

Stories on global development and health might focus on trade policy and how it affects developing countries’ food supplies, the effectiveness of development assistance, or personal stories of those with HIV/AIDS.

In addition to radio broadcast, coverage will also include online engagement tools through PRI’s website and other partner websites: blogs, podcasts, searchable transcripts, and mobile phone segments.

Read the press release to learn more.