mark: i'm mark halperin. john: i'm john heilemann. and with all due respect to bill clinton he can speak to me whenever he wants. mark: happy national ice-t day. jeb is jousting with the press. president obama is sending 450 more american troops to train the iraqi military.

the white house says these are not combat troops and denied the forces are a sign of a change in strategy. >> the president has been clear with what is now on the table, a large scale ground operation inside of the rack. the reason is the president does not believe it is in the national security interest of the united states to do for the iraqis what they must do for themselves. john: what are we to make of the announcement? mark: it is rare for government at war to say we are changing our strategy. we saw george bush do it. this president does not want to fight in iraq. it looks like mission creek to me. there will be troops there for a long time. the iraqis cannot fight this themselves. policy is they must. this is another sign the administration does not think

they can win there is anything critical and warring factions getting along. john: it is a huge problem. the mission remains the same to fight off the islamic state. what had happen is not only has moz old fallen -- mosul falling but ramadi. i think the president still is in the same place, no combat troops. we are about training the iraqis . he is not giving ground which is to say let's get a bigger force and fight this ourselves. mark: this is wacko mold. they are putting in more troops whenever there is a new problem to knock it down. the american people should be skeptical this is to goldilocks. this is not enough to change things but enough to keep

america involved. john: bill clinton advisor bill gallston argues it is not enough for hillary clinton to reassemble the obama audience. aiming at undecided voters and trying to win back groups such as working-class whites by imprisoning herself as a reformer. will she follow his advice? john:mark: tough for her to do. she's trying to win over liberals. i don't see an appetite with in her campaign to do things risky. being a reformer is risky. if you look at obama clinton bush already has reformers. mccain was the most popular politician for a decade.

i don't see it in the cards. bill is right. her chances of winning but governing big are greater if she runs as reformer. john: when barack obama won he had the electoral votes for the margin got smaller. it got harder to govern. he had a democratic congress the first term. if she does only what they are setting out to do, which is a recipe for victory but it is a recipe for victory with fewer electoral votes in that cannot make governing easier to have fewer electoral votes than obama did. mark: the most likely presidential nominee jeb bush, marco rubio, they will run as reformers. john: different kind of reformers. mark: and other clinton news, an interview with bill clinton. congresshe gave a defense of the

clinton foundation. bill clinton: 90% of what anybody has complained about was about when she ran before and no one when after the foundation to this extent. i'm happy to answer the questions but it ought to be a two-way street. there has never been a more i don't believe foundation with a prominent clinical person in law that can be more nonpolitical. i've had george and laura bush here, mitt romney, john mccain sarah palin. one of my republican supporters who has not been subject to public criticism called me the other day and said here is the message i get from this coverage . if i put my money in a tax

shelter in the cayman islands i'm a great man. if i give my money to one of these blackbox committees were where you never have to reveal the contributors i will never get any grief. if i give my money to you to help poor people there is something wrong with me. has anybody prove that we did anything objectionable? at we done good things? yes. in the end, the foundation will stand to fall on the work it does. mark: president clinton was asked about what the future would look like if hillary clinton becomes the potus. bill clinton: i believe if she had been the president and the current president of either party asked you to do anything if in good conscious you can do it you should do it. that will be not a easy decision should she be elected president. she will have to decide.

one thing she knows more about anybody on earth, on what subject i should be listened to. [laughter] and what subjects i shouldn't. mark: he said he will stop giving speeches that are paid. classic clinton in a lot of ways. what caught your ear? john: the soft defiance. he doesn't beat his chest. he basically is saying we haven't done anything wrong you have to trust us. we have done good work. it is all politics. that is throughout this thing today. this is just politics. it is not a big deal, it is what it is. that is where he has been. he may be like that unless there

is a change in the facts that come out. hemark: on the wet hand he is right about the clinton foundation. it is setup to advance the political causes of the clintons . he did not address the specifics today. on generalities he is on strong ground. i was impressed by how calm he was. this has had him seething over the criticism of the foundation. i thought today as compared to in africa when he was off key, he did himself a lot of good. the talking points in that tone is what will help those clintons get through additional questions. john: it is a good thing he stayed away. he talks down their degree of wealth. when he stays away from their personal wealth he is in good shape. he believes his own span, that they are doing good work on

balance. mark: jeb bush has completed the german portion of his sojourn. he is in poland to meet with the country's president. before he left berlin he took questions from the american media was asked about to adversarial forces in his world vladimir putin, and the personnel changes that have happened within his campaign. here is how we answer the questions about why he is going to make danny diaz his campaign manager. jeb bush: next monday i will announce my decision is. >> what was it about what was happening in your lead up that said i need to make a change? jeb bush: nothing except the magnitude of the journey. it is an overwhelming challenge. i decided to split up the duty.

mark: he was after previous administrations have made mistakes with the russian leader. jeb bush: i think putin has changed. this is a different putin, much more aggressive. i don't begrudge anybody trying to develop better relationships with any country but in this particular case it didn't work out. mark: those of the topics the question of how to deal with putin and how he made these changes at the top of his campaign. did he sound convincing? john: does he sound like he is having fun to you? mark: he looked all right. john: i'm for him taking questions. i thought the first answer was gobbledygook.

the putin answer made a fair amount of sense. putin is a complicated problem. the shakeup in the campaign at this early stage doesn't trouble me. she is -- he struck a decent tone. he is not taking egregious shots at obama and clinton. he has been ok on that front. john: he has something that sounds sensible, which was when his brother was president putin was behaving in a different way. i think on this one more than other issues he sounds like he has a good finger to the field. john: i wish he would not do those shrug things. it is not a lot of gravitas. the man is expected to announce his candidacy monday.

we will stream the speech live on our website remarkable anchor from miami and i will be in new york. coming up, what are hillary clinton's biggest vulnerabilities? the answer from bernie sanders' campaign after this. ♪

mark: our guest works for the bernie sanders campaign, has worked in the past for campaigns for al gore and michael dukakis. what is the state of the sanders campaign now? guests: it is good. we had a terrific lunch in burlington. we've had incredible crowds. we are raising a lot of money with small contributions.

i think the state of the campaign is good. john: mark and i have been taking bernie sanders seriously. i think it is fair to say none of us have a clue what his path to the nomination would be. what would it be? guest: we begin by recognizing we have a formidable opponent in hillary clinton. she is going to have enormous support. she has demonstrated her strength to the voters. bernie's path is to bring people in and demonstrate to three big issues, the need to deal with climate change urgently, and the threat to democracy itself. citizens united fundraising. if that message resonates and he

can be a strong messenger in a general election they will start to come to him and if we can begin to beat her in the early contests we have a real shot. mark: would you expect forces supporting hillary clinton will come after senator sanders a negative way? guest: i expect that. she is going to have the super pacs on her side. mark: what issues? guest: i think certainly issues. he has taken positions on issues, they will try to take up everything that he wrote and put in front of people. they will look at his record. in the senate race two 2006 his opponent ran a series of vicious negative attacks. they isolated votes he made in the congress. mark: you think of hillary clinton's forces attack came it

will make them weaker or stronger? guest: it depends on how we handle it. he has never run a negative ad. he was convinced voters are sick of that. we will respond not by counterattacking but by pointing out to voters he is not going to engage in that politics. that is one of the reasons why american government doesn't work anymore. john: hillary is a from edible candidate. what do you see and what does bernie see as her biggest phone or abilities? guest: i don't think we are going to run a campaign against her. we are not going to attack her on tv. we will compare records. on the iraq war she was member of congress who voted for it. they're going to be issues. with the tpp am a bernie is against it. we're not sure what hers is. on the pipeline, he is against

it. there will be differences on issues and he will articulate. i don't see it in the traditional campaign sense of us attacking her on tv. there will be a debate on issues. john: an attack is in the eye of the beholder. you're not going to shy away from making the contrast on issues basis. guest: that is right. the focus of his campaign is not going to be hillary clinton. despite her standing and her standing within the party, there is no way as to win by running against her. mark: you know democrats and talked with a lot of people who support the clintons. yes or no, do you think the clintons are worried and afraid of the strength of bernie sanders? guest: at this stage probably know. we hope that will become yes. we will see. mark: thank you. go talk to more later. up next, the man who has every

answer imaginable. colin quinn is after this. ♪

john: race relations is a touchy subject. colin quinn has written the coloring book. jerry seinfeld calls it hilarious and brilliant. chris rock says it is like roots with more jokes. nobody is off-limits in your book. you are an equal opportunity offender. what is the state of race relations in america? colin: it is a discussion about having a discussion. people are worried about -- justifiably so -- if you say the wrong thing you get boycotted.

people speak generically. john: are you not worried about being fired or boycotted? colin: i don't really have the unemployment. john: you can get fired? colin: you can get boycotted but that would probably help at this point. john: this is informed by being raised in brooklyn. brooklyn is not as racially diverse as it once was. how does the brooklyn of your childhood in form your view of race? colin: it is like i remember happy parts of the childhood. everyone in school together. there was racial tension but it was mixed together at the same time. people crossed over more.

they were living in the same building. it was more of a mixed. that was a rare place at a rare time. mark: every author has to make choices for you chose not to do pop-ups why? calling: i wanted to make it a coloring book. i wanted to do a graphic novel and the editor was like dismissing me. stop saying that. i said why? they are cool. i like cartoons. they did what about the holocaust. imark: you have told your share of jokes about the clintons. are they too old to still be funny or the still funny? calling: i feel she is going to win because she doesn't care. she is just like i don't care. she doesn't care. that's when people want to give

you everything. it is not funny but it is an observation. john: which offers greater comedy, a clinton candidacy or a bush candidacy? colin: he wrote bush at the end. incognito. not putting it at the forefront of people's minds. hillary also. you want to put clinton in there. mark: we don't know of chris christie will run. colin: now that fat shaming is a thing they can't make that jokes about chris christie. john: so it is good for him. colin: four years ago it was that jokes. at some point he's going to pull the fat card. john: it is off-limits now?

he had some pictures that some people made fun of. colin: he's going to be one of those guys that says i had a weight problem. it's true. he's going to have to say that. john: let's go back to the book. what is the take away? why does anybody besides us wanted by this? colin: why? people are either angry or placating and pandering. let's try humor. it probably won't do anything? let's be honest at this point. the world is on its last leg. i what to put in my two cents. mark: if this works out, world peace?

calling: a benevolent dictator occasional bloodshed like any pragmatic benevolent dictator. mark: as needed. colin: i like that. mark: any other ideas for books? colin: this is my first and last books. this was a tortuous process. everyone said you should write a book. i did. mark: if it is a bestseller? colin: and they offer me a lot of money? hopefully you will see me on, they updated the crayons. john: he has the new one-man play, colin quinn the new york story based on the book. it is directed by jerry seinfeld and begins in july.

colin: i am sorry my director is a bigger name than me. john: where is jerry? we thought you were bringing him. it's a letdown. mark: colin quinn, you are awesome. ♪

john: a breaking report jennifer jacobs says friday the governing board of republican party of iowa will decide if they should keep or kill the famed iowa straw poll. may be boom goes the dynamite. mark: the rest of the week we have presidential candidates appearing on the program. a tour de force. santorum walker romney.

sayonara. ♪

alix: we are moments away from the closing bell. i'm alix steel. bye-bye losing streak. the dow and the s&p looking at their best day in a month. the s&p is higher for a second day. it was a sea of green across the board. tech leading the way up 2% followed by financials. you can see