to put it on the ballot. i have but one little piece of advice. if they have a meeting, they may want to have some reese's pieces there. remember? >> you're good, erica hill. >> i have my moments, anderson cooper. "larry king live" starts now. >> larry: tonight, they walked into the white house without a formal invitation, walked up right to the president. is it just that easy? somebody screwed up. who? >> in this case, i fully acknowledge the proper procedures were not followed and human error occurred in the execution of our duties. >> larry: then, president obama's job summit. can he create jobs for millions

right now? magic johnson, tony robbins, google's eric schmidt and mitt romney are here to help you get back in business. get the calls ready, next. on "larry king live." good evening. the director of the u.s. secret service testified before the house homeland security committee today about the so-called party crashers. the salahis were no shows as was the white house social secretary, des'ree rogers. three secret service agents have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation. >> how in the world could this couple get past the secret service without having their names on the list, without having their socials in advance? and get right up to the president of the united states?

>> sir, i've asked myself that question a thousand times over the last week. what we keep coming back to here is that procedures weren't followed. and, again, what we have founded is when we follow the procedures, when we go by the protocols we have, these type of situations don't occur. >> larry: let's get into it with a pan toll kick things off. in washington, congressman denny thompson, chairman of the homeland security committee. in washington, anita mcbride, former chief of staff to first lady laura bush. in chicago, laura schwartz, former white house director of events during the clinton administration. good to see her again and in new york, joe author of "standing next to history." what did you learn today, congressman? >> we learned that procedures

weren't followed. the director admitted that there were some things that happened that should not have happened. we also learned that they have been fixed. we learned now that there's an expanded system of security. there's a layered security in place. more equipment will be available and better training for those individuals who will be working white house security. >> larry: you asked the couple to appear today. they did not. are you going to subpoena them? >> we will make that decision next wednesday in our next committee meeting. we set the motions in place for that to occur. and i assume our committee will do it, larry. >> larry: will you vote to do it? >> by all means, i will. >> larry: the representative peter king accused the white house of stonewalling by blocking the appearance of social secretary desiree rogers.

do you agree with that, that they were stonewalling you. >> well, security the primary responsibility secret service. and i don't want to mix the security with event planning or something like that. it is a cooperative effort but at the end of the day, the vetting of the guests, the approval of the entrance of the individual is the responsibility of the seefts. that's where our committee focused its hearing on today. >> larry: anita mcbride, former chief of staff to laura bush, what do you make of this story? >> well, i agree with the congressman. this is not the quality of protection that the secret service wants to be known for. they have to be right 100% of the time. i mean, it's the responsibility primarily of the secret service to protect the occupants and the complex at the and for events like the state dinner and any other large event at the white house, it is a collaborative effort between the staff and the

secret service to make sure that things go off flawlessly and also to make sure that people are handled appropriately at every point of the evening. >> larry: laura, you were director of events for the clinton administration. can you fathom how this happened? >> no, larry, because if you follow procedure it won't happen. i mean, we had a very unique partnership with the united states secret service and the white house social office. the social office is responsible for all the invitations and gathering the rsvps, communicating with the guests, how to come to a state dinner, bill signing, any event. we always had a staff member at the point of entry with the secret service because some nights somebody shows up and oh, they should have been on the guest list. so you quick take care of it. you make it smooth. they go right on in. sometimes they may bring a different guest than originally rsvp'd.

you make that work. you get them cleared in by the white house. being at that point of entry with the secret service, you are there to answer any questions and then radio to myself through the white house or the social secretary to see hey, if this name isn't on my list, were they ever even invited? if they weren't, that's when you run it through perhaps the chief of staff and if nobody knows that name you politely say i'm sorry, we do not have you on the list for the event. the secret service is there in case you need any heavies to make sure they go away. >> larry: all right. joe, can you guess how it happened? >> well, larry, first of all, you heard the secret service director today take responsibility for this event. i think we need to keep this in some perspective. the question really is were these two individuals, did they pose a risk to the president? both these individuals were required when they entered the white house to pass through the row bussing security screening process that exists there and i think that minimized the risk. let me say that the secret service is really in the

business of managing risk and they can't eliminate it. and secret service agents have always -- actually never assumed that the perimeters around the president, layers of protection that the congressmen referred to, whether at the white house or anywhere else, always going to be 100% perfect. that's why there are always agents around him at all times. it's sort of like that last line of defense. and, you know, they are there to react to something were to happen and trained to recognize those things and trained to react to those things. >> larry: are you saying we are making more of this than it deserves? >> well, listen, this was a serious mistake. no question about that. the secret service acknowledges that. if you put -- again, put it in perspective. the president is in the presence of thousands of people every week, you know, some are on lists and some at public events. the secret service has very

strict perimeters but don't count on them. so at the last perimeter, agents around the president, pay close attention to who is with him. >> larry: we will be right back with more. don't go away. ííííííííí

>> larry: let's hear how white house spokesperson robert gibbs defended social secretary desiree rogers. watch. >> the president, the first lady, and the entire white house staff are grateful for the job that she does and things she has done a terrific and wonderful job pulling off a lot of big and important events here at the white house. >> did she invite herself to the state dinner or a guest -- did the president invite her or -- >> no. that's a real question. do not fan it off. did she invite herself or did the president ask her? her name was on that list and social secretaries are the ones that put the names on the list. >> was she at the dinner? yes. she's the social secretary. she had the primary -- primary secretary for running the dinner. i'm going to get back to weightier topics like 98,000 men and women in afghanistan. >> larry: congressman thompson,

do we understand you right, you did not intend to subpoena miss rogers? >> that's correct. >> larry: the white house would probably not honor the subpoena if you did, right. >> larry, the issue is white house security. director sullivan testified before our committee today that meetings were held before the eve event. it would have been nice if someone had been there. but the fact is that this husband and wife couple never made any list. they should not have gained entry into the white house. whether the social secretary or that staffer would be around still would be no reason of concern because they were not on any list. >> larry: anita, is it standard for the social secretary to go to the dinner? >> certainly the social secretary needs to be at the dinner because they are the eyes and ears for everything that's going on, making sure that the event is going off flawlessly. and executed the way that the president and first lady wanted

it to be. you know, there have been times in the past where if last-minute emergency, a guest, doesn't come for dinner where the social secretary will take, you know, take that seat, and be seated at the dinner. but, you know, clearly, they have to be there. they have to be available. >> larry: did the bush white house ever fear strangers getting in? >> no. i think that when you work at the white house, you -- you always are conscious of the fact you are in a very secure environment. you take these issues very seriously. honestly, i dreaded the days when i showed up at the white house and there were very few i didn't have my pass because i had to wait and go through security screening process, present another form of i.d. before i could be let in. and i was somewhat known entity in the east wing, you know, of the white house. so we all took it very seriously. over the 14 years that i worked

there, i mean, we really watched procedures constantly changing, being adapted to the environment and the world that we live in. so we were conscious of security. but, you know, we also, of course, absolutely trusted the secret service to protect the complex and occupants. >> larry: during your administration and clinton administration, i did a long day with the first lady with hillary clinton taping a show with the tree. that night was the white house christmas party. i came back with my wife and jim grey and my friend and his wife and they were on the list. i wasn't. they didn't let me in. i had been at the white house all day doing a taping with the first lady and they had to go -- took 15 minutes to get approval to get me in. did you ever fear invasion when you were at the white house? >> you know, it is funny. i heard that story. larry king is at the gate, get him in. and i remember that night, larry. but, you know what?

i never feared that someone would get in that would cause physical harm to the president. you know, it goes one more step. the united states secret service absolutely protects the safety of the president. we as staffers have to protect the president from embarrassment. especially something on the world's stage. i don't think india is too happy with us right now, because instead of talking about the nonproliferation discussions, the economy the global world and business impact that america and india can have on each other, we are not talking about that. i have a feeling the next time that there is a state dinner, when we get -- when they get together with the delegation ahead of time, month or would, instead of just going over food allergies or possible impairments that need to be addressed they are probably going to ask desiree rogers, how are you handling your list? that happens. that happens. that's why having a point of contact is really helpful to get people through. >> larry: when i come back i will ask joe petro if he thinks this could happen again.

don't go away. that separates a man from his freedom. because freedom always finds a path... to build peace. this film is dedicated to aung san suu kyi, still prisoner in burma. let's fine-tune your business to take advantage of new opportunities. (music volume decreases) well, ups can help lower warehouse costs, (music volume increases) while increasing your global reach. (volume increases, decreases) more ups technology can help bring down paperwork. (music volume increases) and ups has more shipping options than anyone. hey, it's time to seize the opportunities with ups. (backbeat swells) there, now that sounds perfect.

>> larry: joe petro, do you think this is now preventible? >> i checked with the service today. the fact not many people probably realized it, so far this year, 1.2 million people have entered the white house. you know, that's an astounding number when you think about it. it was my experience working at the white house -- >> larry: unbelievable. >> my experience working there, i worked many years there, that the coordination between the secret service and the staff is so critical to these events and i think, you know the review of this event will, i'm sure, result in better coordination. you know, one of the -- one of the principles of the secret service and it's been mentioned at the hearings today and it's something we all felt, is that the secret service has no margin for error. that's a tough standard to meet for everyone. and secret service agents are human. mistakes are going to be made and i think that, you know, secret service over the years has benefitted from those mistakes and corrected them and i think they will do that in this case as well.

>> larry: thank you all very much. apparently we've not heard the last of this. magic johnson, eric schmidt and tony robbins are here to help you, after the break. - no vac? - ( laughing ) i can't afford it. you can if you name your own price. - i don't know how. - it's easy. priceline has insider deals-- empty hotel rooms, open plane seats. ( laughing ) you can save up to half off! that's a great deal! saving money is no laughing matter. ( laughs ) have put their faith in sun life financial. we should be a household name. and we will be. so you're suggesting that we change our name from florida, the sunshine state, to...? florida -- the sun life state. the posters will be so cool.

sooner or later, you'll know our name. sun life financial. welcome to the now network, population 49 million. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. 154 are tracking shipments on a train. 33 are iming on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email on a vacation. that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network.

right now get a free 3g/4g device for your laptop. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com during the share the love event, you helped us donate almost $5 million dollars to charity. i chose meals on wheels because i believe in food for all. i chose habitat for humanity. our pets are our kids. we chose the aspca. we're sharing the love again this year. because giving back feels good. on the subaru outback, motor trend's 2010 and two hundred fifty dollars gets donated to your >> larry: still to come, mitt romney. we welcome some heavy hitters in business to our show. eric schmidt, ceo of google. he's with us in washington. he attended president obama's jobs summit today. tony robbins, peak performance and turnaround expert here in l.a.

and ervin "magic" johnson rounds out the group, former lakers basketball star. "when the game was ours." terrific book. he's also number one on "ebony" magazine's annual power list. before we get to the business ahead, quickly, magic, what do you make of this tiger woods thing? >> well, it is probably a tough situation right now for him. i'm hoping that he can get his wife and they can huddle up and try to work it out and he should be just focusing on his wife and his kids right now. >> larry: when you had a difficult situation, you came right forward with it. should he have gone public right away? >> well, i they he's different than me. i would hope that one day soon he would come publicly, say, hey, i made a mistake. >> larry: sit here.

you know, tell the honest truth and then just move on. >> larry: according to the bureau of labor statistics, the unemployment rate in the united states is 10.2%. that's a 26-year high. and adds up to an awful lot of people without jobs. almost 16 million people are unemployed. which is why president obama held a jobs summit today. there will be a new employment announcement tomorrow. eric schmidt, you were there. what was it like? did it accomplish what it intended to do? >> the white house's goal was to make sure that they were listening to all of the new ideas. the biggest problem we have is that banks are not lending to small and medium-sized businesses. there's a lot of discussion about that. they have a lot of other ideas about fixing regulations and working on exports, that kind of stuff. and having said that, there's only so much they can do. at least they were listening. >> larry: do you think it is going to get better before it gets worse? >> well, unfortunately, with unemployment, it probably gets a little bit worse before it gets better. there's a lot of reasons that the recovery is sort of under way for most companies.

inventories are down. corporate profits are up. those things have to improve before everybody gets their act together with respect to hiring. so my message to friends that are unemployed is that it will get better and you have to wait a little longer. the government can make this a little faster by fixing regulations but not that much. >> larry: why is it, magic, when unemployment goes up the stock market goes up because investors say we can produce without less people? >> that's good for them but bad for the american people. especially when you think about here african-american males, 18 to 34, right now, the jobless rate for them is over 30%. so -- >> larry: 30%? >> yes, about 34%. we have to find a way to give these people a skill. train them, give them a skill so we can then put them to work. and what we have to do is come up with a general plan and then we have to come up with a latino plan and an african-american plan because that general plan

won't affect the african-american male or our community. >> larry: can the individual performance expert which you are -- an individual is in a bind here, isn't he? you can't overcome a problem like this? >> you can't change a country but you can change yourself. it is not a time for positive thinking. people think that's what i promote. it is not. be real. you have to really not make the mistakes some people are making now which is hoping the economy suddenly will turn around. it is a jobless recovery. as a result of that, companies are more efficient but we are not seeing those jobs and not going to just suddenly return. we have 25% of the people out there right now are upside down on their mortgage. i don't mean they're behind. i mean, if they pay it off, they are in the hole. it will be 50% by next summer. by next summer, we are going to see another change in the banking industry. what people have to say is okay, not like everybody else, i will not have the same job. where is the need today? there are new needs in energy, certainly will be needs in the medical field. we all know that. it is -- knowing that, once you know that, what do you love and

retool? if you don't retool now you will have to retool later. individual has to. you can't wait for the government to do it. >> larry: eric, in this, what is government's responsibility? the last time i looked, government is us. >> government has a lot of responsibilities. the most important responsibility they had was to stop the whole crisis. which they did pretty well. the next responsibility is to use their regulation and their financial power to get people to do the right thing for the long term. i completely agree with tony and magic. responsibility here includes making the world a better place and in particular, making america a good place by hiring american jobs and investing. there's lots of stuff you can do. health care issues, tony mentioned. so forth and so on. the government is focused on these and it is time for the government to act to help fund the private sector or getting tax relief and private sector is where the jobs are created. >> larry: get your calls and questions ready. get advice from people that

really do know. we are going to take them when we come back. at the first sign of a cold... ( sneezing ) i didn't take zicam cold remedy... but i did. zicam reduces the duration of a cold. ( sneezing ) no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... can you do it by 3:00 ? yes, i can. how about 2:00 ? hmm... ( sneezing ) ( moaning ) get over your cold faster. now try new throat-soothing liqui-loz and great-tasting zavors.

>> larry: magic johnson, you employ a lot of people. >> yes. >> larry: did you have to lay off many? >> we had to lay off some because we had to -- i had 125. we had to close 20 doors. so that's -- a lot of jobs were lost there. you know, it is funny because -- eric was right. if government can help the small business owners or come up with a game plan to do that, then

small business is what really make america go. because we employ so many people. so i would love to help president obama in his game plan of what he wants to do to put people back to work. >> larry: have you talked to him? >> not yet. i know he is having this and i will be talking to him or some of his people, anyway. >> larry: tony, you talked about retooling. 52-year-old autoworker on the job 25 years. all he knows how to do raise a family and how to make a car. how does he retool? >> well, a lot of people say how does he? he doesn't have a choice. if he gets that he will take action because it is a must and not a should. you do what's next. right now there's tests coming out. they have a car that goes 250 miles. it is all electric. the future. there will be jobs there. people bring this up. i'm too old. katherine, the lady from "desperate housewives," 42 years old. her mother had cancer. two kids. husband leaves her.

she has nothing. she gets three jobs and does one thing. what do i love? even though i'm not skilled in it, acting. terrible actor. ten years, she doesn't get one line. 15 more years before she says any lines. 25 years later, she's on a top show, "desperate housewives," two emmys. short term will be tough here for everybody. you know what, winter is the reason we are in and get tougher and stronger. people are stronger than they think they are. they don't know until they put themselves on the line. if you sit and wait, i want to see government do anything they can. but you and i as individuals, can't sit and wait. we have to feed our families. >> larry: what's google do, eric? >> in our case we are back in business in terms of hiring. we are going to hire a couple thousand people over the next 12 months. from our perspective, it is all about keeping our employees current and also trying to help these businesses especially small businesses get some money. in the case of the autoworker perhaps that autoworker is a fisherman or has -- a fan and all of a sudden could become a blogger and become well known

because of his or her expertise. and with that, begin to make money on the side that eventually becomes a good source of revenue. there are opportunities. even in our business using the internet. >> larry: well put. let's take a call. new york city, hello. >> caller: hi. how are you? how are you, larry? >> larry: fine. what's your question? >> caller: question is simple. three years ago i started up a business after going to one of tony robbins' seminars actually. one of the things i learned from that is that you focus and don't worry about what other people are doing to the right and left of you. we built a business and have about 40 employees right now. now that things have changed, we are trying to look at other things that can build the business and that can bring in more people. we are dealing with the school and doing a couple of things within. we are finding that the employees we have right now, they are starting to retool and bring out extra things that fortify the entire -- >> larry: what's the question? >> caller: how can we super-focus all of the energies that our employees have to meet

the business grow even faster? >> every business is different. it depends what kind of industry. what industry are you in? >> caller: we own a children's entertainment place, new york party zone. >> larry: i didn't hear the rest. what? >> caller: we own a place called the new york party zone. we're going to be opening up a school called the new york learning teaching language to children and parents. >> the only way you will be able to hire more people, focusing on one thing. you know what do to focus. see what's your customer need today. which is changing constantly as we all know. make the business successful. the more you know about what they need, now have you to be able to provide that and provide it in a way that adds more value than anybody else. there's no way to become wealthy. this man became successful in basketball because hay added more value. if you find a way to add more value you will employ more people. how do you focus those people? that's where you have to be crystal clear about the outcomes of this business and make sure

everybody knows and everybody's incentivized to do what is needed to move forward. >> larry: eric, you wanted to add something? >> the best ideas always come from the people in the organization you never talk to. if i were you, i would sit down and say to everybody in the organization, what is your single best idea to make the business explode. you would be amazed at what that 23-year-old you never talked to has on her mind. >> larry: that's how google got to be google. >> also to a point eric made earlier about small businesses and medium-sized businesses not getting loans, i'm launching a new company with tcw. we just launched it. we're going to help those companies get loans. we will tell the game plan later on. >> larry: do you ever ask employees for input? >> all the time. especially my young people, because they -- they will tell you things that are hot out there and, you know, in demand. and so you now -- once you find out what the demand is, i go and meet that demand. instead of trying to create

demand. >> right. >> larry: this ain't a bad panel, folks. we will be right back. don't go away. i have asthma.

and when my symptoms-the coughing, wheezing, tightness in my chest came back- i knew i had to see my doctor. he told me i had choices in controller medicines. we chose symbicort. symbicort starts to improve my lung function within 15 minutes. that's important to me because i know the two medicines in symbicort are beginning to treat my symptoms and helping me take control of my asthma. and that makes symbicort a good choice for me. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms.

and should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death. so, it is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on other asthma medicines. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. i know symbicort won't replace a rescue inhaler. within 15 minutes symbicort starts to improve my lung function and begins to treat my symptoms. that makes symbicort a good choice for me. you have choices. ask your doctor if symbicort is right for you. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> larry: mitt romney in a little while. let's take a call from the panel. kent, washington, hello. >> caller: hello. how you doing, larry king? >> larry: fine. >> caller: my question is to your panel, i have a professional degree. and training and development. i have a bachelor's degree in management. they are talking about retooling. a person like me, how do i

retool myself to get back into the job force? i have been out of a job almost would years now. >> larry: tony? >> i think that -- again, you don't have a choice. i mean, i think that's -- we have to come to the reality of. the old school in a different season where everything is going well, you have no choice. okay, i can go back to the old job. if that old job isn't there you don't have a choice. what you have to find is make a decision within yourself that says maybe life isn't happening to me. maybe this is happening for me. as corny as that sounds. maybe there will be a benefit here. because if it's winter, i have to prepare myself, protect my family, and create a future. i have to find an advantage. i can't tell thank you people that i know who came to the worst situation but as a result of that, they shifted and went in a new direction and more fulfilled long term. it is not how do you, it is deciding you are going to and then pursuing and finding what it is that appeals to -- you're passionate enough to put the time and energy into it to be great.

>> what tony is talking about is changing mindset and attitude. you have to change your mindset and attitude. then you may have to change your zip code. you have to move to where the jobs are. i feel your frustration but now you hospitality, you may have to change to go where the hotel business is thriving. because maybe in her city, state, it is not thriving. so you have to look at those situations. >> larry: did you hear any great ideas at that conference today? >> the most important ones are what the government can do to get things going again. promoting exports, the -- most interesting conversation was that most of the jobs are created by new companies. companies that are starting in the last five years. and that are growing very quickly. anything that we can do, anything that our caller can do to create a company, perhaps she has something she is excited about, she should try to found that business. she may not have done it another time but now that she has been -- had this trouble with jobs, maybe it is time for her to stake out on her own. you know, you can use the internet. you can go and research the things most passionate about.

there is an enormous amount of information about the things you care about. you will enjoy learn being it anyway. >> a lot of people think -- start a business today, worst time in history. cnn started in a recession. you know, disney started in a depression. microsoft started. you look at some of the most successful companies in the world, they started because that's when things are shaken up, the big players don't have the control anymore. you can compete as a small business and can create a place where you are in control of our own life and adding value. >> also get started now because people have so little money, they are very, very tough business people. and as the economy recovers, they end up being very, very smart with respect to how they use their resources. a lot of the greatest successes have come out of the toughest business situations. >> now have you low overhead because you are only talking about yourself, working in the business. so that's -- that's right. >> larry: you're free. >> so that's really the key to starting now. also, too, there's opportunity when there are tough times. >> larry: laurel, maryland, hello.

>> caller: good evening, larry, magic and tony. i have a small business in laurel, maryland. it's a management company. and i have been trying to get funding to help in my business. but i can't get funding. i'm a single parent, african-american. i have a son that just graduated from college. he's unable to find a job. and i have my small business. it is very difficult. how do i go about getting funding? >> larry: classic example. >> think about that. >> larry: quickly. eric, you go first. >> this is a good example of the problem we face. small business administration has a lot of information and programs that will grant you some money in dedicated areas. sba.gov is a starting point. >> larry: sba.gov. that's there for you. tony? >> the other piece is you can't have all your eggs in one basket. they may not come through for

you. the only way you do this, what do i need? what's my base cost? you may find yourself if you are doing this event planning, there are some companies that may do three events a year. you can give them a package, be my partner. i will do all of your events for free but help me get some of your customers. you have to think creatively about not just getting capital. you are going to spend that capital. what you need is a service that is serving people and you need a cuff base. you may able to have someone finance you and have customers to work with. >> beautiful, tony. it is called thinking outside the box. no longer can business be in this box that it used to be in. you have to think outside of the box. joint ventures. partnerships. or go to another event company, let me partner with you. i will do all the smaller events and still handle the big events. now you don't have to have overhead or build infrastructure. >> larry: thanks, guys. we'll be calling on you again. speaking of successful businessmen, we will be back in 60 seconds with mitt romney. he has a business plan of his own, next. .

ge capital understands what small businesses need to grow and create jobs. today, over 300,000 businesses rely on ge capital for the critical financing they need to help get our economy back on track. the american renewal is happening. right now. for a limited time, get more of the seafood you love... in more new ways than ever... when you create your own seafood feast at red lobster. choose two or three of ten selections. classic favorites like steamed crab legs... to new creations like wood-grilled shrimp... with garlic cream and parmesan. or new salmon with a sweet maple and cherry glaze. get more for your money... when you create your own seafood feast. right now, at red lobster. >> larry: tony wanted me to add he has a book for you.

"how to thrive in difficult times." it's free. "how to thrive in difficult times." just go to tonyrobbins.com. mitt romney has an opinion piece in "usa today" offering a ten-point plan to save the economy. what's see what president obama said about the job picture today and then ask governor romney about it. watch. >> while i believe the government has a critical role in creating the conditions for economic growth, ultimately true economic recovery is only going to come from the private sector. we don't have enough public dollars to fill the hole of private dollars created because of the crisis. it is only when the private sector starts to reinvest again. only when our businesses start hiring again. and people start spending again and families start seeing improvement in their own lives again that we are going to have

the kind of economy that we want. that's the measure of a real economic recovery. >> larry: before we get to your ten-point plan, do you want to comment on that, mitt? >> what the president is saying is correct. which is that jobs are created in the private sector. businesses hiring individuals to be able to provide goods and services to other americans. unfortunately, what he did coming into office with a stimulus plan was not to encourage the private sector to grow. actually he caused it to pull back. and he instead stimulated government. created a larger government. that makes it harder for businesses to grow. he took action which is obviously not what people hoped for. and that's why you have a very unusual setting. there are more americans out of work today than at any time in america's history. not as a percent but number of people out of work. 16 million americans out of work. this is just a tragedy. there have been a number of presidents who have been

inherited recessions. but the action of this president did not make things better. he said look, his stimulus plan would hold unemployment down to 8% and if we didn't pass his almost three-quarters of a trillion dollar stimulus that we'd get up to 10% unemployment. well, we got to 10%. which pretty much shows the stimulus plan didn't do what it was designed to do. >> larry: more with mitt in a minimum. we will talk about afghanistan, sarah palin. right after the break. me about. (announcer) certain medical conditions, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol, can decrease blood flow, which may lead to ed. that was news to me and my doctor told me levitra could help. (announcer) levitra works by increasing blood flow to help treat ed. ask your doctor if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. if you have heart problems, are on alpha-blocker therapy, or have uncontrolled high blood pressure, talk to your doctor before taking levitra. do not take levitra if you take nitrates for chest pains as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects may include headache, flushing and stuffy or runny nose.

to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help if you experience an erection lasting longer than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss of vision or hearing, stop taking levitra, and call your doctor right away. ask your doctor if levitra is right for you. for a free trial offer and more information, go to levitra.com about all the discounts boswe're offering. i've got. i some catchphrases that'llideas make these savings even more memorable. gecko: all right... gecko: good driver discounts. now that's the stuff...? boss: how 'bout this? gecko: ...they're the bee's knees? boss: or this? gecko: sir, how 'bout just "fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance." boss: ha, yeah, good luck with that catching on! anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

oh. god, i'm lost. which way is me? i guess i have to do everything. [ gasps ] [ angelic voices vocalizing ] on sale at bookstores everywhere. >> larry: before we get back with mitt romney, let's check in with anderson cooper. what's up at the top of the hour, anderson? >> we are on the trail of a cop killer. maurice clemmons. he's dead but we want to make sure what he was able to do never happens again. he gunned down four cops. why was he on the streets?

out on bail. we have new evidence tonight that washington state tried to keep clemmons behind bars but ran into resistance from authorities in arkansas. we are trying to figure out exactly who is responsible. keeping them honest. is the white house hiding something? they refused to let the white house social secretary testify before congress about those reality show wannabe party crashers. this is a white house which promised transparency. so what's going on? we're "keeping them honest." amanda knox, student on trial in italy, accused of murdering her roommate during a sexually charged game, the verdict could come as early as tomorrow. tonight the evidence against her, "crime & punishment." that and a lot more today on "360." >> larry: that's at 10:00 eastern. 7:00 pacific. governor romney, let's say obama called you. he said, mitt, i respect your business. what's the number one thing i should do right now? >> stop the stimulus spending because it is not working. instead use the stimulus dollars to make it easier and more attractive for businesses to

grow and hire. do that by putting in place a more robust and investment tax credit program and by letting businesses expense capital expenditures this coming year, the year the expenditures occurred. lower the payroll tax. those things will make a difference immediately. scrap the whole idea of the cap and trade energy program. that's scaring away the -- investment and jobs that's needed. and the president's actions on health care are putting the brakes on that sector. that's one-fifth of our economy. people are worried. he's scaring business. holding out a gm stock, talking about limits on executive compensation. and at the same time trying to take over a big part of health care. imposing unionization by the card check plan. these things are frightening investors and keeping businesses from growing. we have to turn that around and make it easier for people to hire. >> larry: how about running a war, two wars? >> he didn't have a choice in that regard. we were attacked on 9/11 and would had to respond. >> larry: iraq didn't attack us. >> president bush took action to make sure they wouldn't attack

us and at the same time he pointed out through the surge he carried out, president bush did, that that worked. i'm glad president obama has adopted the surge strategy for afghanistan. he's made a number of miscalculati miscalculations, however. this idea that it will be solved in 18 months is hopeful but probably not likely. his plan calls for fewer troops than the general asked for. if generals came to you and said, look, we're in a tough situation, we need a minimum 40,000 troops from the u.s. to solve this problem, i wouldn't be saying to them, can i cut you down to 30. i'd be saying do you need 45. >> larry: you don't just give them what you want. you're commander in chief. >> you don't cut back from the minimum. you ask them what they need to get the job done. >> larry: you want action on tax insichbts. how about creating a new jobs hiring credit. >> that's a good idea. i like the idea of saying, like, if you as a company hire someone who's been out of work for a long time, or somebody who's in

an industry that's really suffered and is not going to recover, if you hire one of those people and you're about to train them, therefore, we'll give you a credit, a tax credit. if our case it was a $2,000 tax credit to hire someone like that, give them the training they need and put them in a real job. i like encouraging and incent e incentivizing businesses to hire people and train them, give them the skills they need. right now you have 16 million americans who are really suffering. we have to take action to help encourage the private sector, just like the president said. but don't talk about the private sector and then give more money to government. if you're going to talk about the private sector, find ways to encourage them and incentivize the private secretarier to hire people. >> larry: lots of dilemmas, though. you admit there's a health care problem? >> oh, sure. >> larry: what's your solution? is there a solution? >> oh, there is. there is. there are two problems really in health care at least. one is we have a lot of people without insurance. >> larry: that's inexcusable. >> that's something we solved in the state of massachusetts.

the right way to solve the problems is to let state by state create their own plans. if you don't like my plan, fine, it's our plan and it worked for our state. number two, we have to bring the cost of health care down. that's not something we took on at a major way in our plan. >> larry: how do you do that? >> we are paying docs in hospitals for all the things they do. i think it makes more sense to consider options of paying them for providing a given treatment for somebody who has a condition. one solid fee, if you will ab a single fee and let them do whatever is necessary to give them that treatment. >> larry: no government involvement? >> government plays a role. the right answer in health care right now is not to say how do we put more government into it with more controls and regulations? that stops innovation. the right way to fix health care is to say how do we get it to act more like a consumer-driven, free choice market? how do we get government out of it. government has to play the role of making it more like a market.

encourage the right kinds of incentives to doctors and hospitals and patients do the right thing. when you have 38% and 40% of americans obese and overweight, we have a problem with incentives. >> larry: mitt has a book coming. it's called "no apology." >> the case for american greatness. thanks, larry. >> larry: by the way, will the job summit mean more jobs? go to cnn.com/larryking and let us know. we'll talk some things political. xxxxxxxxxxx

>> larry: i hate to state the obvious but you're going to run, right? >> i'm going to campaign for people running in 2010. i'm going to campaign for senate candidates and house candidates. >> larry: republicans? >> republicans, conservatives across the country. probably state governments and treasurers. in washington we need balance again. i'm going to work hard to get republicans elected. my own plans will take shape after that. >> larry: concerned about governor palin? as an opponent? >> i'm not making any decision about my own plans to run. she's an energetic person. >> larry: what do you think of her. >> she would make a terrific candidate. she has great energy. i heard john mccain say her book was an enjoyable read. i haven't read it yet. i always enjoy enjoyable reads. i wish her well. >> larry: another perspective opponent is mike huckabee who has a problem right now with this pardon.

what do you make of his potential candidacy? >> he's a good man, worked hard as a governor. with regards to the pardon, i think we're all focused on the extraordinary tragedy in the lives of families in washington. you have three families that lost their father. one family that lost their mother. this is tragic. as mike said, i think he indicated had he got the chance to do that again based on what he knows now, of course, he wouldn't have made that decision. i believe that's true. >> larry: how did you deal with pardons as a governor? did you have a rule of thumb. >> early on i got a whole stack of pardon requests. i said before we go through these, i need to put together some guidelines so i'm not swung by personal impressions of people. i need to really think this through. we put together guidelines and they were particularly strict as it related to folks who perpetrated violent crimes. and we passed all those through the screening. after four years i had not pardoned or commuted any sentences at all. >> larry: none? >> none.

my conclusion was if somebody has been convicted by a jury of their peers and they've been prosecuted and the police were able to get the evidence necessary, why in the world would i step in and reverse that sentence. >> larry: why have a pardon board? >> if you find there's a setting where let's say there's been prosecutorial indiscretion or dna evidence shows there's been a wrongful conviction, there's a good reason for reversing an action. i would be willing to act in those circumstances. i didn't see that. the requests suggested to me if they were behind bars, they should stay there until the sentence they were committed to was one that was complete. >> larry: can the chairman of federal reserve be appointed again? >> i think he's doing a good job. >> larry: you do? >> yes, i do. i think it's important to have the fed as an independent agency. i do not think you want to have the congress of the united states try to pull strings at the fed. we're in a very perilous time.

we're printing money like crazy. we borrowed money and we're spending money at a rate that's unconscionable. we're a trillion dollar a year deficit. these numbers are unthinkable. and i don't want to have the fed becoming part of that party that's going into washington right now. i want to keep it independent. >> larry: good seeing you, mitt. >> thanks, larry. >> larry: that's in "usa today," his ten points, excellent read. thanks for joining us. we look forward to "no apologies." >> thank you. >> larry: we leave you with a washington tradition we all can enjoy, the lighting tonight of the national christmas tree on the elipps. anderson cooper and "ac 360" will follow that. that's next. good night. and now to the serious business of pressing the button and lighting this beautiful tree. so guys, come up here. i need some assistance. i'm technologically challenged. i