including a modest increase in job growth expected to push the employment rate down to 9%. this is a half an hour. >> good morning. i want to thank you for coming.

as a present the aba economic advisory committee economic forecast and monetary policy predictions. you should have received a blue-and-white packet that includes our press release, a forecast spreadsheet and also the package that includes our card with my name and john's which is a contact for follow-up with media interviews following the event today. i would like to introduce aba's chief economist, jim chessen who will start the meeting off here today. >> thank you john. let me add my welcome to you, the aba and aba boardroom. i've had the distinct leisure of working with 14 chief economist from major banks around this country over the last several days. many of them were able to stay for this press conference and i will introduce them. you will have the opportunity to

meet with them afterwards. dana johnson from coal america is their chairman of the committee this year. unfortunately he was unable to make this meeting in person so hugh hoffman who is there chairman last year and chairman several times i think in this committee over the several decades we have had the pleasure to work will chair the group for this session. as always, this group meets twice a year. as part of that meeting we meet with the federal reserve ward. we do not discuss anything about that meeting. it is completely off the record. we like to keep it that way so if you have questions that relate to the fed, asked the fed. and we know how responsive they are. we'd like to keep that relationship the way we have had it in the past. what you will hear today is essentially the same type of presentation that we made to the fed and just to be clear, this is the eac's forecast and it reflects the viewing of this

committee. with that i would like to introduce the members of the committee on this site, ethan harris from bank of america merrill lynch, scott anderson from wells, john from wells, scott brown from raymond and james, george from huntington and nathaniel karp from pbca company. with that let me turn it over to stuart hoffman. >> thank you jim and good morning to everyone. thank you to the committee and my colleagues that were just introduced. we had a busy day yesterday in preparation for that a lot of indirection and e-mails getting ready for yesterday. what i would like to do is share with you the highlights. really there are six and as a lookout i can see a lot of familiar faces. glad to have you back. but there are six main highlights of our economic outlook and as jim said, we

shared with the board of governors and have been outlined in both the press release and of course the details about the numbers in the tables. let me start as they say -- there are six highlights. let me start with the real highlight from gdp. as the press release says in its headline, our committee and again as jim emphasized there is consensus for the median of our committee and i will talk a bit about the balance of risks around that that our committee felt real gdp growth this year of around 3.3% was on a fourth to fourth quarter basis. that compares to what we thought we would call potential gdp of around, centered around 2.5, 2.75 so we did feel as though the economy would be growing ahead of the speed limit, the long-term speed limit in the coming year. in 2012 and 2013 we had very preliminary kinds of numbers but

we continue to see economic growth in those years as well, maybe something closer to the order of 3%. in terms of the implication for the job market which we are all focused on, that kind of economic growth we anticipated would add just over 2 million jobs over the course of 2011 to the economy. last year there were just shy of $1.2 million added so clearly an improvement as economic growth is faster. that it is enough to take a small bite out of the unemployment rate from of course 9.4 in december although this may be me speaking, that may understate things a bit. the fourth quarter average of last year was 9.6. the forecast of our committee is the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter this year would be down to 9.1%. so even the 3.3% real gdp growth to provide job growth and not

the unemployment rate down clearly that the leaves and well well above what the committee felt was sort of the long run unemployment rate which centered around five-3/4% so a year of progress and clearly a lot mor that needs to be done over time to bin remain relatively -- depending on. somewhere in the order of one to 1.5%. that would be pretty much in line with what we had in 2010 them even given the announcement this morning of the .5 rights in the headline cpi and core cpi was point one i think on a year-over-year basis. the core cpi was around three-quarters of 1% and are forecast and it would be up maybe a slight increase this year something on the order of one-to-one .5% of which still seems to be a bit below what the fed often says isreferred

inflation rate of somewhere around 1.5 to 2% in terms of the core deflator. in terms of of the balance in risk of the forecast, as jim said i have been doing this now for many, many years but is chairman also last year and on the committee the year before i can tell you that as i stood up in front of you do last year while he talked about the forecast it was clearly a biased and biased and are forecast to the downside. there was much more concerned that the extent of the forecast was wrong. it would be weaker rather than stronger. this time it is more balanced. around that 3% economic growth the committee felt there were clearly still downside risks in the housing market and house prices, and problems in state and local government financing, in some commercial real estate and where oil prices go substantially higher than they are. but they also fell, we felt there were upside potential's.

the effect on the stock market, stronger global economic growth would be another one. very very healthy corporate bance shtso this time we saw more of a balance. we could have outside risk but we could have upside surprises and we felt that it was sort of balance on both sides. another is the median forecast higher but some sensed a degree of confidence in the odds of them midst are not all skewed to the downside that if it doesn't happen it will more likely be worse than better this time. maybe it will turn out to be a little better than we had forecast. in terms of bank lending, the committee and looking ahead the majority of us thought the availability of credit to consumers and businesses would improve over the coming year and there were some signs that already have begun to happen. we thought there would be growth as it says in the press release we think consumer lending will actually rise around 2.5% this

year in and business lending around four-point 25% so that would be growth and business loans that we haven't seen in a while and we also thought to link with seasoned charge-offs on the banks would decline of little bit as they often do in lag response to the economy. and then finally in talking about the fed, the forecast was that there would be no change in the fed funds rate. i think there were two or three people that didn't think the fed could start to gently nudge the funds rate up by the end of this year but the overwhelming majority of us and certainly the median was that the funds that rate charged for quite a while will last throughout 2011. the committee fell unanimously the fed would finish the 600 billion of quantitative easing but again unanimous expectation that there would not be a need for another facet

urges of qe3 or long-term asset initiated in the latter half of the year so the fed would complete what they were in the midst of and be somewhat dormant to use my term for the second half of the year in in the sense of not initiating new asset purchases or for that matter making any movements in their target fed funds rate. that pretty much summarizes the highlights of the forecast. obviously there is lots more detail and numbers in their quarter by quarter but hopefully at that point let me just sum it up with that and be glad to open it up to your questions and as i say at the end of my remarks in your questions my colleagues also will be available to speak with you as well. so, questions? >> to questions related. why are you anticipating such a jump in oil prices and secondly, can you rate that as a risk to

your forecast as against the european debt prices? >> yeah, i don't know if we have a large jump in oil prices. and are forecast we do assume that oil price, it looked to me like we talked about them standing around $90 a barrel. maybe some creep up in the spring as seasonal. it was a downside ri that if there was, not that we were forecasting that, but if there were bigger increase in oil prices for anyone of a variety of reasons, supply constraints or problems of that nature, that kind of a bigger increase in oil prices we didn't have a specific number but in my mind certainly over $100 a barrel would become a negative for downside risk not only to u.s. but cool economic growth. but it is not our baseline expectation. the expectation is oil will stay around $90 a barrel and we listed though so is the potential downside risk where they are to be some supply

disruptions that push oil prices much higher over the course of the year. >> lesser risk than europe? >> we didn't order the risk so we didn't exactly talk about the priority. i think though we might feel that a run-up in oil were to occur if there would be a greater risk. maybe i'm speaking for myself rather than the committee, morgan negative potential than any sovereign debt issues in europe. >> peter barnes. how much of a factor which the bush tax cuts in the initial stimulus in the forecast assuming it probably effected a change may be to the upside? >> in terms of obviously we know what is going to happen with fiscal policy in 2011. of course there are questions about whether some of the temporary effects will be renewed or not in 2012 which we didn't specifically address but

i think there was a feeling and i certainly speak for myself, that the bush tax cuts and i refer to it more as again be speaking, it was the dog that didn't bark or bite and rates didn't go up and then of course you have the payroll tax cuts and the expensing as well as the extension of unemployment benefits. i think our group felt that degree of certainty in and of itself so that was and what is going to be our tax rate was settled then to the extent that the rates were extended and indeed with some modest stimulus coming from the payroll tax cut was i believe part of the reasons why the forecast of our group was a little higher than it was six months ago but i can't say specifically we ask how much more did you add to your forecast either in terms of jobs or gdp as the ripples of the tax cut. maybe a little later individual members could speak to that but i think the feeling was to the degree of certainty we know what it is and that it was modestly

stimulative probably did push up a bit on outlook and a greater sense of confidence in that outlook for 2011. >> real estate for 2011, what kind of a factor is there in your forecast and will it be a headwind for the economy? >> in terms of the gdp numbers, we do have small increases in residential investment in terms of house prices we have a pretty flat, maybe a small increase in house prices. so i don't know, i would say it is more of a neutral. it was a downside risk. there was concern that could be a bigger drop in house prices, perhaps from this foreclosure issue and how that is resolved but i think the feeling was with some job growth, with some still fairly low although modestly higher interest rates we do have the 10 year treasury rate up

from 330 currently to around 378 year ended we have a fixed mortgage rate in our forecast, up to around i think 520 at year-end from around 470 today. but the feeling was that the housing would still be somewhat of a drag, neutral to a drag on the economy but not a downward cycle, not another quote double-dip in housing of house prices. said clearly that was not what was propelling the economy. was more as this investment, consumer spending, exports to global economic growth rather than any real significant improvement in housing construction, home sales are any event of home prices. >> how do you factor in the crunch on state and local government and especially the -- market? >> we talked a lot about that at length. we certainly view that as a

downside risk and i think the feeling was we talk about job growth but we didn't break it down between private and public. i think the committee would probably agree that the expectation is jobs will decline in the public sector so the growth in jobs we get will be all accounted for in the private sector as opposed to the public sector and we didn't talk about the numbers. we noted of course the public sector jobs have been declining all through 2010. we thought that would continue so from a jobs point of view or an investment point of view state and local governments would be a drag on the economy. i think we felt as a group that there wouldn't be a major financial event, a crisis event in the municipal market that would spill over to the rest of the financial markets. i know there is obviously been a lot of publicity about that and a lot of focus in the last couple of days. we saw that as a downside risk but it was something we felt would be manageable and not the

kind of a municipal bond crisis that would become infectious to the rest of the financial markets or cause an even sharper decline in jobs and investments in the public sector. >> if you could repeat the question. it would help with the audio a little bit. >> will do. the next question that i can repeat? >> on the inflation was consensus quite strong that it would stay very low throughout the year or where their fears because of high energy prices we could see a real pickup? >> the question was about inflation, how strong was a feeling that it would stay low and was there concern about picking up later this year because of energy prices or other commodity prices? the consensus was fairly strong on about a one-to-one .5%. we also do a balance of risk and you know in terms of both economic growth and in terms of inflation, out of the 10 people

that responded, six of them felt that the risks on inflation were balanced. to felt they could be to the upside but two felt they could be to the down so i would say that is a pretty solid consensus on inflation remaining relatively tame in the us their concerns particularly on the headline site of inflation that energy or other commodity prices or fruit races could push the headline cpi up that i would say that was definitely not a big concern, not something that gave us a lot of hard earned and quite balanced around the idea of continued low inflation, not deflation but continued low inflation in both the core and headline numbers this year. >> you believe the united states united states will become a more competitive player on the gold market? >> the question is do i believe for just the committee believes that the u.s. will become more competitive on the global market? we certainly have exports as a

source of growth for the u.s. economy. in terms of the value of the dollar i think you can look on here. i'm not sure if we listed on here. we did -- at the click it was fairly stable but we don't forecast a significant either rise or decline in the value of the dollar over the coming year. we didn't spend a whole lot of time talking about that what i think in terms of the competitiveness of the u.s. economy certainly in the year ahead let alone beyond the feeling was that manufacturing sector and productivity improvements were making the u.s. more competitive not only in price but also in quality of goods and that exports in a growing global economy would be part of the growth story for the u.s. economy in 2011 and not specifically discussing it for probably beyond that as well so i think the answer is yes. >> to questions about the fed.

could you guys talk at all about when you think they will start raising the federal funds rate or start typing. could you put in a date on that? it looks like by the end of the year more people are expecting expecting -- so could you talk about 2012 at all? >> the question is beyond 2011 did we talk about what they said might move the funds rate? i think there was feeling amongst the committee and i can certainly speak for myself best that sometime in 2012, maybe towards the spring, you could actually see the fed starting to raise its fed funds target. it is a unanimous decision on the part of the committee and afterwards you can ask ask members individually so we focused more on the fact that at least for the next year at one could say you reasonably foresee that the fed would not be raising the rate. i would guess that when we do face six months from now and now we are looking out to 2012 there

will be more than two or three people that would think the target rate on the funds rate will start moving up next year. >> on the bank reserves that are piling up at the bank and aren't being lent, what is going on in that dynamic? will there be, time when those funds will come out into the market? >> the question about reserves being lent and our forecast is you will see more landed on the part of banks. you know, not specifically tied -- he reserves are reserves are at it there so there is more than enough reserves and they felt both from a demand side of more barbering creditworthy borrowers as well as a willingness on the part of banks to loan money, that we would see a rise in consumer lending this year and an even faster rise in business lending particularly the little mark but also the smaller companies as well as a number of us talked about how

our individual banks are competing aggressively for a good quality far worse in the middle market and in smaller companies, and so the feeling was that those reserves are there, that the balance sheets as we said that many companies are very good and for those who do want to borrow, there is a willingness on the part of banks and certainly an ability on the part of banks to lend money and this year we would see increases in loans both for businesses and consumers. >> you what that includes mortgage credit? >> we didn't specifically brea mortgage credit out. i would think probably depending on how this foreclosure issue works out and that is a major issue but i think the issue would be that mortgage availability, mortgage money would also be on the rise as well and that you know as i say we talked about consumer. we talked about business but given what we said about housing being sort of neutral i wouldn't

think we would see a lot of demand for mortgage credit but it could well be up a little in terms of from the banks and of course there are many many mortgage lenders. beyond simply which is the banks do. >> if i could follow-up on that. is not just a demand question, does also a leading lending standard question so not necessarily in your portfolio but without the part of the equation and increased lending by demand and perhaps easing of lending standards? >> yes. again we didn't specifically targeted to real estate as opposed to other types of loans that the vast majority of us thought, think it was eight out of 10, who saw an increase in credit availability in the coming years. as well as an increase in the quality of credits not only new credits applying for loans but those already on our books. so i can remember six or nine

months ago or 12 months ago it was sort of a mixed bag. some set probably about the same. maybe a few of us would would he said improving availability and some would have said deteriorating so the evolution of that question from this committee since i have been watching this for a while has gone clearly to the side that says credit availability is expected to be much better in the year ahead than we have seen in the last couple of years and if that is matched i demand it should result in more loans made and outstanding. >> you said no one expects -- how much of a factor in the overall forecast is what they are going to do and what you expect them to do? >> again the question, no one is expecting the fed to go beyond 600 billion, it is hard to

answer your question exactly. we all i think agree that there is this monetary stimulus coming from the purchase of 600 billion of some magnitude that there would not be a need to do anything beyond that but i think the general backdrop of a fed that completes the purchase of his unannounced and indie progress and not raising the fed funds rate in the latter half of the year is a degree of monetary stimulus or a combination that underlies the improvement and is making a contribution to the improvement in the economy. we think it is effective, yes. >> due to talk at all about what happens though as all of this gets withdrawn both from the federal government on a physical level and these low interest rates, the theory being here

they are trying to help the economy achieve the escape velocity if you will where job creation and so the government can step back and discuss the? >> the question was about sort of disgusting the perhaps eventual withdrawal of either monitoring the fiscal stimulus and a word you used is escape velocity which is the title of my news later that i just published yesterday but that is me. that is not the committee. we have differences of opinion sort of around the world self-sustained. is the economy self-sustaining in the sense that the private sector is feeding upon itself or are there still a lot of monetary and fiscal stimulus and i think the compromise was we need more job growth. we need more solid job growth to really say we are in a self-sustaining economic expansion so clearly monetary and fiscal stimulus is still

part of the ingredient that is keeping the economy growing and they be growing more rapidly. in terms of looking beyond the next couple of years there was a lot of discussion about perhaps eventual tightening of fiscal and monetary policy with frankly no agreement or no firm opinion as to what the economy or what it would look like or how it would occur but the feeling that was probably not a 2011 event that out there i think there is an acknowledgment that fiscal policy is quite similar to monetary policy and at some point in the future both of those will have to be less stimulative and when that occurs whether it is 2012, whether this 2013, we didn't come to any firm conclusions on that and i don't want to say it was beyond our forecast horizon but we were focused more on 2011 and even to some extent 2012 and i think the feeling was that was not going

to happen in that timeframe. or starting to happen maybe in 2012 but not in 2011. both from the monetary and fiscal side. >> could you talk a little bit about the consumer and the savings rate? >> the savings rate is about flat, round 5.5, 6%. we know it did to little or think it dipped a little in the fourth quarter. we got the retail sales numbers and it does appear as though the savings rate fell off a little in the fourth quarter as spending outgrew income but i think the feeling was over the course of 2011 that income growth generated by some jobs or maybe some hours worked will be in line with consumer spending. so the pace of consumer spending if you look here is, let's see, somewhere just around 3%, little lower than the 3.3% we are

forecasting for gdp growth so consumer spending is making a solid contribution but clearly it is nonresidential or some little nonresidential particularly business equipment and export. so i think the feeling was that income would grow pretty much in line with spending or maybe the other way round. real spending would grow in line with income particularly after-tax income taking into account the tax cut that is occurring this year on the payroll tax and so the consumer spending in line with income would mean a savings rate would stabilize, somewhere around 5.5 to 6% soy big move up from near zero or 1% three or four years ago to around 5.5 to six but over the next couple of years i don't think there was a feeling it was going to go from six to seven to eight or something like that nor was it likely to start coming back down again on a persistent basis with consumer spending war than their income growth.

>> any other questions? if not, thank you very much. i will be sticking around in my colleagues are sticking around and if you want to talk to us one-on-one we welcome that opportunity and thank thank your attending again. we will see you in six months. 

>> i believe the best way to carry on dr. james work is to reach out to someone in need and to make an ongoing commitment to community service. >> on 82nd anniversary of martin luther king jr.'s birth use the c-span video library. there are hundreds of programs on the life and legacy of the silver rights leader. find a program, watch it, clip it and share it. >> on tuesday night mississippi

governor haley barbour gave his final state of the state address to a special joint session of the mississippi legislature in jackson. this is the eighth time governor barbour has delivered a state of the state address, part of his announced agendas to add 100 state troopers to mississippi roads. the governor's speech also focused on job creation and improving education in his state. governor barbour also endorses a civil rights museum for downtown jackson. this is 40 minutes. >> this is the first time ever got more applause than -- blasco thanks to you and thanks to all of you in the legislature for that warm welcome. but more important for the work we have done. this is a bittersweet time for me. let us start off by recognizing general freeman who is here and

while we don't have the state of our national guard in harm's way as we have sometimes in the past when i've made this speech we should never forget to be thankful for the sacrifice of our guardsmen and the sacrifice of all our people in uniform, law enforcement, firefighters, corrections and conservation officers and emt. so let's start tonight by if you would joining me in a moment of silent prayer for these men and women off -- and for their safety and success. thank you. this is the eighth and final time marsha and i will appear on this podium to deliver my state of the state address. you know when marsha and i married 39 years ago i knew i had out-married myself. i just didn't know that over the

seven years you and all the people of mississippi would recognize that fact too. she is not only joining me at every one of these occasions, she has also been part of the work that i've tried to do for our state, specially in the grueling weeks and months after katrina. and i have to tell you i am proud of her. [applause] you know, as i composed this last state of the state address i couldn't help but think about how much things have changed in the seven years. to start with, i did my speech on my new ipad. in 2004, ipad is what marsha called what i did to my waist

line during christmas. [laughter] which reflecting back is essential that state government has made changes like we have from when i stood up here that first half of january 2004. the state budget was in awful shape with an enormous shortfall and we had about 3 million dollars in unallocated monies in a rainy day fund. lawsuit abuse had created a health care crisis in our state and every small business in mississippi was one lawsuit away from bankruptcy. despite a surging drug epidemic, the drug enforcement budget had been cut by nearly 40% and though the national recession had been over for more than two years, the need for job creation was the first thing on the minds of almost every voter. you know mr. speaker, i vividly remember the first time we ever

visited. the speaker told me that campaigning for re-election in 20003, he had gone down this country road and add each one of three houses in a row, somebody had lost their jobs at year. legislators and friends, i applaud you and your predecessors on the actions you took to deal with these problems and with other problems. it wasn't easy and it wasn't always pretty. sometimes we battled, but we have accomplished a lot together. while it took two plus years, we got our budget back to where the state spent no more than it receives in annual revenue and we could rating balances and special funds. we replenish the rainy day fund to its statutory limit of $375 million and created other reserves to cover potential federal liability and we did it

without raising anybody's taxes. [applause] despite the worst recession in generations and a steep drop in state revenue, we have kept our budget talents by cutting spending and without depleting all of our reserves. if you adopt my budget recommendation for next year, fiscal year 12, the new governor and legislature who will follow us will have some $200 million left in reserves for fy13, plus our school districts have more than $450 million in their reserve funds. i realize this is an election year and every penny of appropriate spending has a constituency. you are going to get pressure tooth vendor for this, spend more for that.

as governor, i cut the budget by a total of $700 million in just the last two years. just as our constituents have had to cut back, they expect state government to cut back. they know the alternatives is raising taxes. government has no money, except for what it takes from taxpayers. the people of mississippi deserved to keep more of what they earn and we owe it to the people of mississippi not to raise taxes, but instead -- [applause] only do i urge you not to consider tax increases for this year, i implore you to keep spending at a level this year that protects more of our reserves for next year.

that way, we can stop any tax increases in 2012 as well. remember, what you have accomplished in controlling spending over the last seven years can be lost in only one year. our first years, you passed and i signed the most upper hands of tort reform law in the country and it worked. medical liability premiums have declined by 61% and the number of medical liability cases against mississippi positions fell monday% within one year of the laws going into effect. tort reform also has been a major factor in economic growth and job creation. starting that first year, we implemented significant, successful changes to spur the creation of more, higher paying jobs for our people.

after tort reform we reorganize the development authority, gave it outstanding new leadership and began our momentum mississippi campaign. nda's results are striking. this team has supported business that created 64,666 jobs in the state. [applause] we created our new department of employment security and expanded it to take over workforce development job training. the state workforce investment board was established and the workforce enhancement training or wet fund came into existence through a diversion of the unemployment insurance tax, a tax you also cut by 25% that same year.

now every year the wet fund puts about $20 million into workforce development and skills training in our 15 community colleges, which do a great job. a study of graduates of wet fund financed programs shows they make $4300 per year more than before that training. our improved skilled workforce has been a reason companies like toyota, ge aviation, and the long list of high-tech energy companies have come to mississippi. coupled with workforce quality, the state has focused on attracting advanced manufacturing with advanced materials. we have targeted aerospace, automotive and energy as well as service sectors. we have also beefed-up our

efforts to help existing businesses. the results in the first six years include a 27% increase in personal per capita income in mississippi despite the recession. that is the 15th highest increase of any state in the country in this six-year period. while we are not abusing the effects of the national recession we fared better in other measurements too. for instance when our employment percentages increased it has done so at a rate of -1/2 as great as the nation as a whole. i see the leaders of law enforcement standing in the corner back there. in law enforcement, we have five the scourge of illegal narcotics with a vengeance. in 2005, you pass laws to reduce

the production and use of crystal methamphetamine. when a criminal learns how to get around those laws, you made the necessary changes to stop them and those changes are working. in the first six months of this fiscal year, that is july 1 to december 31, 2010, we have 68% fewer meth labs reported. mass arrests are down 62% and the number of drug -- drug endangered children has fallen by 76%. [applause] i not only congratulate the euro of narcotics in the department of public safety but i want to congratulate you in the legislature for sticking with it, for doing what needed to be done with these legislative changes. to keep law enforcement where we wantedwant it, i am announcing

tonight that i will dedicate $7.3 million of the governor's discretionary funds to hold the troopers school this calendar year. [applause] and let me say, if you will join me in moving the motor carrier enforcement from m..to the department of public safety, freeing up another 40 highway patrolman, that means we would have nearly 100 more state troopers on the road, so i hope you will move that program where

we can have all of law enforcement on our highways in one department instead of being divided. as they i think back seven years ago, there is one other thing i'm very proud of. i'm proud that mississippi cash for higher percentage of its vote in any country for the defense of marriage act, defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman and that in that first year, 2004, after we worked together to enact comprehensive pro-life legislation, americans united for life, the national right to life organizations named mississippi the safest state in america for an unborn child. [applause]

yet, you have accomplished a lot positive changes been the norm and mississippi despite the global recession, is a better place in so many ways than it was seven years ago. even with this progress though, we all know there is more to be done. while state government can't eliminate many effects of the national recession, we can improve the ways we do things and in turn improve the lives of our citizens. the education of our children and the prospects for our employers and employees. last week i announced the division of medicaid appears to be on track to run a surplus of 40 to $50 million this year, probably because of less utilization of projection but i do want to congratulate medicaid for an outstanding job of managing this enormous program

and of controlling its enormous cost. let me remind you what a change that represents. when i became governor, medicaid called -- calls were skyrocketing. system controls were so weak that the last year before he came into office, medicaid spend $79 million of state funds and didn't even enter it on its books. many of you will remember the special session that we had to hold in order to clean up that mess. i am pleased to tell you and the people of mississippi that today our state medicaid program is run with compassion and efficiency for its beneficiaries, their providers and for the people who pay for it, the taxpayers. the federal authorities reported last year that mississippi's medicaid air were raised is

3.47%, the fourth lowest in the country. the national error rate is more than twice as high. [applause] the product of this is this surplus the cause of which i have instructed the division of medicaid to exercise its authority under state law to use a portion of this fy11 surplus to create 7800 additional slots for eligible medicaid and fisheries to receive home and community-based care. [applause] currently, currently we have about 61 other beneficiaries who are on the waiting list to be providing care to their homes

and communities and i expect the entire 7800 allocation to be filled this fiscal year [applause] both senator bob ryan and representative steve holland, who chairs the senate and house public health committees respectively are outspoken proponents of increased home and community-based care for people on medicaid. it happens that both of them are democrats, but i appreciate our agreement and our ability to work together on this. i will tell you all that the increase in the number of home and community based care slots will lead to a broader stronger infrastructure to deliver these services across the state and that in the long run will provide that her health care at lower cost. this will be a blessing to both the anna fisheries who want to,

can and should be receiving care and services at home and in their communities but also a benefit to the taxpayers. [applause] last week he started the session for the cutting-edge low-cost manufacture of thin-film solar panel which invested $500 million in employing 1000 people with its six years. i want to applaud and thank committee chairs senator dean kirby and representative hersey watson on that. we all know it was a job creator. [applause] governor we all know the big job

creation project is a good way to start a legislative session. a lot of smiling going on. the national recession notwithstanding job creation ll pick up in our state this year. there is evidence of that in the first three-quarters of 2010. mississippi some more new jobs and investments that were announced and all of 2009. toyota stepped up hiring. ge aviation, and paccar are adding employees while new companies like twin creek technologies in south haven and xenophobia and schultz in tenneco will be operational this year. nissan, which had an outstanding year in 2010, is also ramping up, including introduction of its new light commercial vehicle. agriculture had a tremendous year last year. because farming does not

directly imply that many people some people lose sight of how large and important a part of plays in our economy. in 2010 total value of our crops including poultry and timber was nearly $7 billion, a word in mississippi and commodity prices are promising for this year. we just can't forget as public servants how important agriculture and forest products are to our state and communities. i mentioned these things because our goal has to be to grow our economy faster than the nation as a whole and we can do it. we have to focus on our advantage is, low taxes, a friendly business climate, rational regulation, abundant natural resources and especially a first-rate, affordable

workforce. and we are committed to continuous improvement of that great workforce. hour for research universities have become effect of engines of economic growth. all four have a lot to offer. mississippi state's center for dance b. bk keeler studies and the rest that flight center, they be center in jackson state, the polymer institute at usm and the center for manufacturing excellence at ole miss are obvious resources for major and small employers. they find them terrifically useful. and our universities even spawned businesses like semisouth in starkville, fnc in oxford, warm craft in taylorsville were all spun off from our research universities. further our community colleges have been and remain critical in the enormous and continuing

improvement of skills and our workforce. to otis at the main reason they chose mississippi for its newest assembly plant, the most sought after economic development project in the united states that year was the quality of our workforce. i remember well when the vice chairman of general electric one of the biggest manufacturers in the world, announced ge aviation would locate a facility to make composted jet engine fan blades and assemblies in batesville. he said, this is the most sophisticated manufacturing general electric does anywhere in the world and we are going to do it in north mississippi. what a tribute to our workforce. [applause] 89% of our states kids go to public schools. to have the kind of workforce

for mississippi to succeed in the 21st century we have to start in k-12. [applause] our schools are getting better. our last nabe scores were up more than the national average and the dropout rate is going down. but the amount of improvement is not enough. we have got to do better. we need to make doolan brohm and easier and more common. that way the students can learn more but their parents can also save money as college credits or burned while they are in high school. in constrained budget times we have got to put more resources into the classroom and reduce what is spent on administration. [applause] we must continue to focus on

improving the quality of teachers coming out of our colleges of education while simultaneously using technology more in teaching our kids. finally, because competition is good in every sphere, i urge you to reform the charter school law so more children can benefit. [applause] with excellence in education we will keep pushing job creation. hopefully, the federal government will start making it easier for us instead of harder. congress' passage in the lame-duck session of an extension of the bush tax cuts removes a critical obstacle to economic growth. for two years, the threat that the president and the majority in congress would let the largest tax increase in american history going to effect this month was an enormous cloud over

the economy that investment and job creation. now that is gone. we still have federal policies that stifle economic growth and if the obama administration's health care mandates actually go into effect, employers don't know what their costs and responsibilities will be, so it impedes hiring, and uncertainty about the dodd-frank financial services law and its implementation stymies investment and the gigantic deficits and resulting purchases of trillions in u.s. treasuries by the fed mean all that money can't go into financing private sector projects. more obvious every day, the obama administration's energy policies are driving up the cost of energy. gasoline as you noticed costs more than $3 a gallon and it is

because the administration's energy policy can be stated in one sentence, increase the cost of energy so people will use less of it. don't take my word for it. remember the president said in 2008 that his cap-and-trade plan would necessarily cause electricity rates to skyrocket and energy secretary chu said what the country really needed was for our gasoline prices to europe. that is $69 a gallon. sunday's clarion ledger includes a column by dr. sugar to a professor at ole miss that catalogs example after example of the environmental protection agency's anti-energy efforts, all of which drive up energy costs. well we don't need higher fuel prices in mississippi.

for dollar gas brought us to our knees in 2008. but other than litigation and encouraging our congressional delegation we can't change federal energy policies. even when it closes down production of oil and gas that go from mexico and cost thousands of jobs and an hours and other gulf states but we can make mississippi and energy reliable state. we have an energy policy and as long as i'm governor that policy is more american energy. we need to promote all forms of energy that can compete in the marketplace successfully. all of the above, plus conservation and efficiency. more american energy means more energy security and less of our money going for foreign oil, often sold to us by people who don't like us. abundant, affordable energy will

help american this is especially manufacturing stay competitive in the global marketplace and of course that means more jobs aor americans. the current federal policy of more expensive energy so people use less energy is not an energy policy. it is an environmental policy, one that hurts the economy, blocks job creation and ultimately reduces standards of living. ..

continues to invest hundreds of millions. the largest refinery of the united states and next door to chevron, lng is halfway finished with its one plus billion dollar national gas train. then there is the recovery that helped increase the oil production. it's begun construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant in foltin and plans that waste the energy from the nuclear transportation fuels is of the. were gone and the 100 million-dollar ethanol plant is fully operational. the twin creeks facility will

begin manufacturing solar panels. staunch operation will begin this year, and the will draw high-tech dynamic when the plan and olive branch will be in production this year as well. finally we are optimistic breaking ground in columbus for the first biofuel refinery. and ran tech purchased the coulter liquid motor fuels facility in manchester. these projects are generating more in what $10 billion in capital investments in our state and thousands of jobs. many of these resulted in new markets and high your prices for mississippi farm and timber products. critically, many will reduce the energy use and reduce emissions.

in fact commercial scale coal-fired power plant in the u.s. with carbon captor and sequestration. it will be the equivalent of a natural gas-fired power plant. our economy is much bigger than a few industries. tourism is and will continue in mississippi and a big piece of our economy. plus truism helps our image. while mississippi suffered from a negative image of my life, people who actually visit here almost always go home with a better impression and a positive experience. in 2007, our -- i recommended to you that we build a civil rights museum in our state. civil rights struggle is an important part of our history. millions of people are interested in learning more

about it. people from another world would flock to see the museum and learn more about the movement. the commission headed by the former supreme court justice ruben anderson and former federal judge charles pickering develop the design and plan to propose went sideways because of a disagreement about where the museum should be located. justice anderson and former governor william winter recently talked to me and the of recommended solution. i am presenting it tonight because this is the year to get this museum going. this is the 50th anniversary of the freedom riders and it is the 150th anniversary of the civil war. this is the year that we should start with our civil rights museum. [applause]

[applause] governor winter recommended we build the civil rights museum adjacent to the proposed mississippi history museum at the existing site in downtown jackson. [applause] we have to resolve this fighting issue so that we can get this done and now, this year, this session is the time we've got to cut that doherty and notte and get it done. [applause] the reason i urge you to move on

this is it is an appropriate way and the only appropriate way for us to do justice to the civil rights movement and to have a museum that will stand as a monument of remembrance and reconciliation. [applause] if i close i want to return to the subject that is heavy on my mind and that's mississippi leading out of this recession. we are well prepared to make a major leap forward. we saw it in the surge cut off in the national recession 2008. that period was marked by increasing employment rising incomes, replacing low-skilled lower paying jobs with higher skilled, better paying jobs and we can get back on that road. we have better vintages over other studies that we've talked about. but i think what we've got to

focus on is attitude. we showed that can do attitude after katrina we've got to get it back. when the coast got obliterated by the worst natural disaster in american history and hurricane force winds extended 240 miles north left of west point, our people didn't want an and mope, they were not looking for somebody to blame. mississippi proved themselves to be strong, resilient, self-reliant people. they got knocked flat to got back up and went to work. went to work helping themselves and helping their neighbors. and the country and the world notice. i can't tell you how many times after the store other governors or senators or ceo's told me you got to be proud of your people. and of course i was.

but you know it is true that the lord works in mysterious ways. because today i realize with katrina something you wouldn't want to happen to your worst enemy that the response of our people to katrina and its devastation has done more to help the image of mississippi than anything else that has happened in my lifetime. [applause] people saw our state and people in the new light. they gave us a chance to compete for their business, for their vacations, for their expansions. that got us on that road, and now we've got to get back on that road. the country in the world have a new image of our study. they are prepared to give us a chance. but always a chance to compete.

so what's it up to us to meet the challenge. bigger said it's up for us to meet the opportunity. if we grasp this opportunity it will propel mississippi to its rightful place as a leading, thriving state and the fastest-growing section of the country. people used to say mississippi is the most underestimated place in america. and mississippians are the most underestimated people. well today, after we learned to quit underestimating ourselves, we've proven to the world what mississippians are made out of. and the world liked what it saw, the world likes what it sees. now it is up to us to seize this moment. the stakes are simple but huge. the can be put into one short paragraph. our goal is for mississippi

mothers and grandmothers to see their children and grandchildren choosing to stay in mississippi because mississippi is the best place to build a successful career. because mississippi is the place with the most opportunities and it is the place you can enjoy this sweet land quality-of-life. that is the dream of every mother and grandmother in mississippi. and it is we, with the right attitude and hard work who can help make it a reality in this decade. that is what we have all been trying to strive for. thank you for all you've done to change our state for the better. and thanks for all you're going to do to make sure we keep moving toward together. thank you. god bless you and god bless

america. [applause] [applause]

iowa governor terry branstad was sworn in for a fifth term today at the hy-vee hall in des moines. in his inaugural address governor branstad voted to increase the judicial system. from iowa public television, this is 25 minutes. ♪ ♪ god bless america ♪

stand beside her and guide her ♪ ♪ ♪ god bless america my home sweet home ♪ god bless america ♪ my home sweethome ♪

[applause] >> thank you heartland collier directed by mr. jim cacitore. >> the bible held by chris branstad and printed with his name on the cover. it's the same bible used on the floor previous inaugurals for governor terry branstad. >> i would guess that this is not a position the chief justice mark cady would be in a minister in the oath of office.

>> he is new to this position becoming the chief justice after the election. >> i invite to the podium chief justice marc cady to administer the oath of office to governor-elect branstad. >> raise your right hand, please. i, terry branstad. >> i, terry branstad. >> do solemnly swear that i will support the constitution of the united states. >> that i will support the constitution of the united states. >> and the constitution of this d'italia busbee mike and the constitution of the state of iowa >> and that i will stick and that i will >> faithfully and impartially >> faithfully and impartially -- to the best of my ability to speak to the best of my ability >> the struggle of the disease. >> the structure of the duties >> of the office of governor >> to the office of governor

>> in the state of iowa has now >> has now >> or hereafter as required by law. >> or hereafter required by law. >> congratulations, governor pete >> thank you very much. [applause] a smile of pride to the estimate of done this so many times, this is the fifth. i think there is excitement on both of their parts. as he told us yesterday a little bit of nervousness is good but he doesn't feel too much because he's been in this position. >> he admitted to butterflies. he said it wouldn't be right if i didn't. >> and when you are speaking to more than a thousand people, you are bound to have them. [applause] a standing ovation for the governor right now, devotee liked terry branstad, well, nous

bourn and governor branstad again. >> madam lieutenant governor, mr. speaker, madam and mr. leader, mr. chief justice, justices and judges, legislators, elected officials, distinguished guests, relatives and friends, senator danielson, thank you for presiding today. and even though governor culver is not with us today, i want to thank him on behalf of the iowans for his service. [applause] leader altmire, let me congratulate you on being the first woman elected majority leader in the history of our state. we are all proud of you. [applause]

your dad, dell, is smiling down on us today very proud. lt. governor reynolds, thank you for your inspirational remarks, and you i finally met my match and energy and passion for iowa. [laughter] [applause] and i look forward to the day when i witness the swearing-in of our first woman governor of iowa. it's about time. [applause] for the past 15 months, i've traveled all over our state from river to river, border to

border, farm to factory, from cafe to office building. it's been an experience of a lifetime to reconnect with iowans of the jobs, schools, places of worship and play, to have a conversation with them about our state. where we are and where we want to go. and what i would like to do today on this committee occasion of my fifth inauguration as your governor. [applause] i want to tell you what i have learned. to make my attempt to distill our collective wisdom into a statement of principles a new covenant between a state and its people to read this new covenant must add as its star the fact that dalia what is an exceptional place.

we are blessed. [applause] we are blessed with the richest resources of soil and water. we are the envy of the world populated by hard-working, honest and caring people that feed and power the world and it ignited by our ingenuity we've only scratched the surface of our potential. audio stance oppressiveness of opportunity greater than any time since our ancestors crossed the mississippi to view the expansive prairie as far as the eye could see. with the advent of open markets, a growing world middle class and the need for sustainable solutions to the world's problems, i know what sits at the catbird seat of history.

[applause] the world is hungry for our food and biomass, envious of our technology, pining for our productivity. in the economic winds, which for a century or more blue in our face are now firmly at our back. i know what is exceptional, and these are exceptional times. our challenge to seize the day. to those that say our goals of 200,000 new jobs and a 25% increase in family income is too high, i would say you ain't seen nothing yet. [applause] only wrong-headed policy choices can prevent us from entering a golden era of iowa history. and we must start with the government. it must change, listed dampen our opportunity and squelch the

individual initiative which is our engine for growth. our old way of doing government business must be radically altered to do the people's business. we must rid ourselves of the yoke of too much government, which taxes us to much, spends too much and regulates us into much. [applause] government must come as abraham lincoln once said do only that which the people cannot do for themselves. that is a new principle number

one. new covenant principle number one. we have too much government. state, county, city, school, local and it must be reduced. for too long we have papered over the fact our appetite for government exceeds our pocketbook to pay for it. [applause] am i 86-year-old data, edward, is sitting here in the front row, and he would tell us that our eyes are too big for our wallet. [laughter] our state auditor tells us at least 15% must be permanently eliminated from government in order to make our books balanced once and for all. i aim to make sure that we do it and that we do it now. [applause] we will all share in the

sacrifice while protecting those that need our help. but we will remove the lead boots of excess government from our economy, and without the burden, we will be able to run it like the wind in the race for prosperity. [applause] second, the government must serve the people and not vice versa. leadership is about surface, not power. i stand here again as your governor, with my wonderful wife, kids and grandkids, and i am here because of a year and to serve. [applause] and i ask each government employee from the quirks to the supervisors to the department

heads to never forget it is the people who are our boss. [applause] and we must serve each other without the compulsion of government. in 1835 a french nobleman named alexis de tocqueville turned the united states and he noticed that americans were different than europeans. he said wherever at the head of some new undertaking you see the government and france and england. in the united states you will find an association of people. and you know that is still true today. every day how humans volunteer to make a mistake a wonderful place that it is to live, work and raise a family. the hope foundation is a great extent of this. kids were coming to school in boon without a warm coat or were hungry, tired, sick or worried about their families.

teachers like many others throughout iowa use their own funds to help these kids knowing students can't learn when the basics are not met. those caring teachers started something called the bone hope foundation and the foundation since 2005 has raised $129,000 from community donations to help students and their families in a time of crisis. the groceries, medical bills, eyeglasses, snow boots and mittens have all been provided to children in need because of community care. let us all we knew our commitment to get involved, to help the homeless, feed the hungry, minister to the sick, pray for the wayward, to make each of our communities better by sticking out and stepping out and to those who are the most fortunate, we bear a special

responsibility to extend the latter opportunity to those in need. [applause] we need to look no further than the record number of iowans currently deployed in our armed forces from salvatore giunta to anthony sellers, our service men and women protect us everyday with their valor and sacrifice. we all know the story of salvatore giunta, our most recent recipient of the medal of honor. to all iowans, we are bouncing our buttons proud of this young iowan for his bravery, courage and resolve. [applause]

i doubt that many of you know sergeant anthony sellers of burlington, but i was privileged to meet him introduced to me by his proud father. kent is a veteran himself, now confined to a wheelchair, but in burlington he was beaming when he introduced me to his son who has completed two tours in iraq and is now at fort benning preparing for another diplomat. anthony, like thousands of other iowans has answered the call of freedom and he embodies the spirit of selfless service that makes our state and our country that shining city on the hill that tom paine wrote about over two centuries ago. surely we could use the example

as an inspiration to us all. [applause] to a third, it's time to restore transparency and integrity to our government decision making process. in iowa we pride ourselves on limited but from the government services. when the government said it would do something, we did it or and for the right reasons. our problems were serious but manageable and as a people of good faith, we've rolled up our sleeves and salt them. but we have gotten off track. we have over promised and under delivered, turning solutions into problems iowans deserve better. [applause] and we will get back on track with a slim better managed and

sustainable government the you can count on when you need and it will start by opening up to the people. our budgets, briefings and the like. sunshine remains the best cure for what ails our government. [applause] the fourth principal of the new covenant in iowa must be a renewed commitment to provide the best education in the world. [applause] providing iowa's children with a globally competitive education is key to their future and to

the future of our state. employers say of the need a better prepared work force. this means high your expectations for schools. sadly, i was the five educational system was once the envy of the world. today it is the middle of the pack. our young people must be able to think critically, solve problems and communicate effectively. they need a strong background in math, science, english and social studies. the bar is continually being raised in this knowledge based economy. it's time to put in place reforms that are the hallmark of high performance school systems starting with assuring that there is a first-rate teacher in every classroom. [applause]

this is a time to put in place reforms that are hallmarks of high performance was systems. and as i said, we start with having the first absolutely top rate teacher in every classroom. but the new year is also an opportunity for iowans to have a conversation about how to accomplish this. how could we attract top students into the teaching profession? what do good experienced teachers need to become effective instructors? and how we get rid of teachers whose students consistently do not learning enough even after those teachers have received coaching to improve? i plan to convene a summit, i

plan to convene a summit with some of the top education leaders of the nation and state to benchmark the audio status and lay out a plan for legislative consideration that will give our kids the best education in the world. [applause] it's not just the schools that must do more. teaching children the value of good education is the job of parents. [applause] instilling the importance of lifelong learning not just by words but by example will help families and iowa prosper. it's time for all of us to get involved. finally, we must celebrate success. our tax system, whether it be

property or income taxes, punishes those who create jobs we need. that will change. both will be reduced and simplified. [applause] [applause] the job creators will be rewarded. they are welcome here, and it's about, the time our tax system reflects that fact. as with our tax system, so must our attitudes toward success change. well our modesty in the face of success and sometimes charming, it can often limit our reach. alex haley once said we should

find the good and praise it. in our state and in our communities, we should find success and praise it. we should reward responsible risk-taking for it is through the creation of the spirit of entrepreneurship that all parts of our state, rural and urban will grow. it is the ticket for bringing our sons and daughters home and getting all who live here the chance to share in our bounty. [applause] that then is what i learned on my travels around our state. iowans have worked harder, sacrifice more, tighten their belts further, and endure the greatest recession since the great depression. and now it's time for government to do the same but it's time for an new covenant between iowans

and their government. it is the covenant found upon the principles of limited government. surface of soft. transparency and integrity. world-class schools and so the reading of the success of iowa. these are the principles that will guide day as your governor. the collective wisdom of iowans will inspire me every day to give iowans a government as good as the people that it serves, and i ask all of you, republican and democrat, liberal and conservative, young and old to join me in that effort. no one of us has all the answers, but together we cannot fail. one day on the campaign trail and was visiting with some folks in the small town cafe and one

of the farmers who appeared to be in his 80s asked me what it accomplished running by governor again. well, i reveled of our goals and then i stopped and looked at him and asked what he felt he had accomplished in his time. he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye, took a long sip of coffee and shifted his feet. well, he said, i left my farm better than i found it. when our days are done, when our time has come, we will be asked how do we mash the vehicle which to measure our days? i for one remember that farmer in that cafe. i hope to leave the state better than i found it. if all of us would approach our days with that same sense of stewardship, we would have fulfilled our mission. with your help and god speed, that will be the case.

and the remarkable history of an exceptional state will march on unedited. thank you. god bless you and god bless the great state of fallujah. [applause] -- the great state of iowa. [applause]

now the annual state of the state address by kansas governor sam brownback, who was sworn in on monday. prior to his term as governor he served as u.s. senator and ran for president in 2008. this half-hour yvette comes courtesy of kansas public television. [applause]

[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] [applause] >> and governor, will come. [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] >> mr. speaker, mr. president, minority leaders hensley, davis, mr. chief justice -- [inaudible] i guess you have to turn it on. [laughter] i will start again. mr. speaker, mr. president,

mr. chief justice, minority leaders hensley, davis, legislators, cabinet officers and elected officials, honored guests and my fellow kansans, i understand my predecessor gave his speech last year without using notes or and using the teleprompter. i've got important things to say and i want to make sure not to miss them and a source with this i love kansas and they're really truly is no place like home. [applause] this is such a fabulous state. i was born here raised here, educated here, married here, raised my family, commuted to washington for 16 years and i am

glad to be back and we've got some things to do and that's what i'm going to talk about tonight. and i feel we're up to do it. this is inappropriate time to it. we are in our centennial year, 150 years of kansas. and this state has done well and we are going to do even better in to our future. also it is inappropriate time to reflect on the past and to look just what the future should be. the first generation of kansans pledge their lives and destinies to forge kansas of freedom in the midst of blood and fire of war. they were against almost inevitable aunts and they succeeded, and god bless this state. with generations of men and women who have the courage to build a kansas of humanity and hope to read these kansans have a long view of the state's future. the interest of the heritage of the state and the judgment history would rest not on what was in their time, but rather on

the seeds sown for all of time. courage, humanity, hope and good times and bad movies that rock characteristics of kansans have stood the test time. [applause] and it is this heritage and legacy that prepares us for the challenges kansas offices today. i want to speak directly to those kansans who are out of work or underemployed or if you're falafel losing their jobs. kansans looking to leave the state to find opportunities so your families may thrive, to the kansas children who live in poverty and despair. please note that the courage, humanity and hope of kansas are not lost. they will never be lost to these challenges will be met and they will be overcome and met and overcome because like those kansans before us, we will

remain strong, steadfast and we will be focused on them and their future. [applause] this administration will tackle the daunting challenges facing the state through for distinctive, separate initiatives including growing the state's economy, excelling in education, reforming the government and protecting the kansas families. in these initiatives we not only pledged to lift kansas out of its economic morass, we also commit to assess, monitor and publish that progress that is it is made. growing at the kansas economy is my first priority. we must take bold steps today to create economic growth to mauro, and in saying this, however, let me be clear we cannot government program or borrow our way into strong doherty economy.

it doesn't work that way. [applause] and we cannot hope for the best and cheaper over the worst. kansas will emerge stronger economically through hard work, practical ingenuity and removing the government impedimenta both rural and urban private-sector growth. in the coming days i will be proposing an integrated strategic plan to spur the kansas economy. this plan will create the framework for more private sector, not government sector jobs. it will put more earnings in the pockets of savage kansans and help to result of poverty many families and children who now despair. i plan to create private sector jobs we paid for by eliminating corporate tax subsidies enjoyed by all only a few. these reform efforts -- [applause]

these reform efforts include enhanced expensing, allowing kansas businesses, all kansas business small or large to immediately deduct a higher percentage of the cost of an investment. and then an area that i am calling role opportunity zones or roz's will provide an individual relocating out of step into any particular to the culprit is pitting county that is experienced double-digit population declined last ten years. 40 of their counties have seen over 10% population losses last ten years. that is way too much. we need people, we need their money, the jobs, their ideas and we are trying to stimulate that with five years of no state income tax for individuals moving into those areas. [applause] additional the other items critical to my plan will include

a three-year, 105 million university economical finished it to enhance job growth in key economic sectors such as aviation, cancer research, animal health and engineering. each university will be required to provide through private sector or reprogram funds 50% of the cost the program initiative. while the creation of the governor's economic council chaired by myself and this council will consist of some of the state's most successful men and women who are leaders in the private-sector, the council will assure strategy integration, coordination and accountability across all of the state's economic development agencies and initiatives. we will do full funding of the wichita fares to underpin this critical economic growth initiative in south central kansas. [applause]

i also intend to work with a little statistical and people of kansas to to get vintage of the growth in the states emerging industries of opportunity. we will build the expansion of western kansas. [applause] affordable energy and electricity exports will help underpin kansas 21st century economy. we will expand and start new wind energy projects in the state and if we do this right we will see the development of the renewable energy corridor throughout the state of kansas the will provide jobs for rural kansas and clean energy for the world. i want kansas to not only be known as the wheat state but also the renewables state, and we can do it. [applause]

we will update our telecommunications to facilitate greater investment in broadband and wireless deployment and we will grow the animal like a cultural sector particularly list of 81 highway facilitating greater investment and livestock production and terrie. and we will share with the world the beauty of the hills and the undisturbed tall grass prairie land. increased tourism so our environmental treasure will benefit our rural communities, the state and anyone who chooses to spend their vacation time and this peaceful expanse. [applause] and for all of this to work, we need a state tax code this pro-growth. i ask the legislatures to start the process this year of

reviewing our entire taxation system with an eye toward economic growth. we need to do this. [applause] my administration's offers purity will be creating jobs to provide more income and opportunity for kansas families. when my cabinet meets i am going to ask each time what are we doing now to help create jobs in this state? let's talk about education. educating children is through the state government as national defence is to the federal government. it is the primary function. takes the lion's share of the budget as it should be. a great educations growth rate futures. yet our public universities have seen severe cuts and stagnant rankings at a time when the

kansas economy needs better educated students and ascending institutions. a crisis of learning excess for many of the kansas children failing to acquire the basic reading skills they need to succeed in school and in the workplace. the situation is especially dire for those children who are economically disadvantaged. the budget i am submitting to the legislature for its consideration will provide school districts with more overall state funding and also stabilize state support for ayittey education for the first time since the great recession began. [applause] since state money will be tight and federal funds declining for the foreseeable future, we need to make sure we target our funding in the right places to get children the foundation the need for success and this is why i am proposing we dedicate

$6 million this year in the children's initiative fund to the development of early childhood education centers and the most needed school districts. look for to meeting with the children's cabinet to focus more funding on early childhood reading. let me be very clear no child in the state of kansas should pass the fourth grade without being able to read. [applause] unfortunately, that is not the case today. yet if a child cannot read boe rall contracts and the child can read their world expands. before leaving the critical topic of education, let me briefly touch on the issue of what our kansas constitution means when it speaks to the need is providing a suitable the education for our children.

i know many of you know the code word means politically. but you don't know what it means legally. for years we've faced repeated legal action against the state because no one knows what a suitable education actually means. i invite this legislature to define suitability and end the confusion. [applause] this will provide us with a definition of what we need to undertake reform of our school finance formula and provide our school districts with stable sustainable funding for the future. and also, this is where it belongs under the constitution, the legislature should result school finance, not the court, so we can send more money to the classroom and not to the courtroom. [applause]

the days of ever expanding government are over. and under my administration will not return. [applause] the future demands of us a commitment to deliver core services and innovative more efficient ways coming and we will do that beginning with a structural lowering of the job positions in state government. in my fiscal year 2012 budget recommendations i have eliminated over 2,000 unfilled state employees positions. [applause]

yes, the days of ever expanding government are over. in the next few days i will submit a series of executive orders and reorganization orders designed to reduce the total number of state related entities through targeted realignment, combination and setting. this will include eliminating eight state agencies. these reductions will not be easy, but these reductions are necessary. and in the aggregate, these changes not only will save kansas taxpayers millions of dollars each year, they will help us for what we must do for the future which is of a nimble responsive and forward looking state government. this is imperative. now in order to ensure the reforms continue, i have established an office of the repeal. and i have appointed dennis tayler, secretary of administration to be the repeal.

now his job will be to work closely with the administration with of the legislature and with the public to identify regulations or statutes or repeal that our cost become outdated and ineffective. let me repeat that if i haven't made it clear. the days of of expanding government are over. [applause] my proposed total state spending of total funding for the state government this next fiscal year will be more than three-quarters of a billion dollars lower than this year. this will be the first time the total or all of the fund budget has been caught since 1972. yes, the days of the ever expanding government are indeed over. [applause]

now kansans, as we all know, or can do people. we take care of each other even when circumstances are difficult as they surely are now. we have those in the time of need we protect those who cannot protect themselves. join us tonight sergeant first class david edington it simplifies it means this difficult call of helping somebody in a difficult circumstance. while performing his duties and iraq in 2007, sergeant edington was wounded in a surprise mortar attack on his position without regard for his safety he ordered troops to take cover and began the area for the wounded he discovered one of his soldiers sustained a wound to her leg and even though he was injured himself he applied for state and successfully slowed her blood loss and saved her life. sergeant edington this is from a long tradition of kansans who

sacrifice themselves for others. and tonight we salute their service and hayes and he has kindly joined us in the gallery. sergeant edington? [applause] thank you. [applause]

we are proud of you and all of the men and women you serve. [applauding] as i was saying, yes, we help those in their time of need. many of our states families are being tested in ways holy unimaginable to previous generations. because of this, the people of kansas have created a myriad of services designed to sustain parents, children, families, and disabled citizens who live on the margin or in poverty. that is all to getting -- altogether fitting and proper. the bulk of total expanded state funding for fiscal year 2012 relates to the increased cost of caseloads in srs and medicaid and the federally mandated increases in the state share of funding for these programs. with this increase in caseloads,

budget. if we don't reallocate funds to address these issues we will face a crisis affecting health care. the most vulnerable people in our state. because of this i come into legislature to pass telephony speech that -- funding -- spending freeze bill and have it on my desk by the end of this month. had to think about that one for a minute. this bill takes care of our most vulnerable this year and leaves us with an ending balance so that we can address the critical needs when they arise next year. quality affordable patients injured health care is a priority for all of kansas. next year medicaid it will take almost 18 percent of the state general fund. the program is going faster than our economy. additional commitments required of us by washington have said us on the path of unsustainable spending and lower quality care.

rather than dick receiving dictation from washington i've pledged to fight for kansas health care needs. under the of lieutenant governor of dr. jeff collier our lead demonstration will begin this month. if we are going to keep our promises quality must be improved for the patient and the taxpayer, cost must be controlled if and only if we do this we protect canter's families and help those in their time of need. let us also ensure that capers is made sound so that those promises are kept. currently under the most favorable set of estimates the system has an unfunded actuarial liability of nearly $8 billion.

some private auditors have suggested that capers is the second worst funded public pension system in the country. i encourage the legislature to work to ensure the integrity and soundness of the system for the decades to come. it is time that it be addressed. successive generations have been charitable people. over the years doctors and dentists in our state have provided free services to thousands of needy people, and this is the sort of community action that our laws should encourage. unfortunately medical professionals who provide this free care are subject to malpractice lawsuits for the free care that they provide. i call in the legislature to address and change this and also to allow incoming governors to use funds raised from their inaugural gala on charity and not on peter crest.

[applauding] this is our calling. help those in their time of need, including and especially those who are the most tolerable. i call on the legislature to bring to my desk legislation that protect the unborn and establishes spec culture of life in kansas. [applauding] [speaking in native tongue] we must support the dignity of every human being whether that

person is unemployed, under educated, or unborn. few if any of us in this chamber will merit mention in the line judgment of kansas history, but let each of us do what we can to improve the lives of kansas today and those to come tomorrow. my administration will put 45 measurable significant to note -- goals that cumulatively will help push our great state for word. these are increasing net personal income, increasing private-sector job employment, increasing the reading level of fourth graders in kansas. increasing the percentage of high-school graduates who are career or college ready and decrease in the percentage of kansas children who live in poverty. we are certainly subject to global economic forces, but we are not rather less. i believe these polls are a significant and achievable. successfully reaching them will

change callus lives with a better and make the future brighter. through more strife, economic chaos, doubt and trepidation the people of kansas have borne our straight to it -- state to greatness. each generation have maintained the right it carries to meet every challenge and overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles with humanity and optimism. this is our legacy, our heritage, to profound give to those who have come before us and led us to stay. mr. speaker, mr. president, leaders of kansas, the state of our character is strong. at back it is strong because sie

186-1150 years ago generations of kansans, waves of immigrants have had the courage, humanity, and hope to make it so. god's abundant grace has certainly favored us. by his continued grace and the good character of the people of kansas the greatness of kansas will grow. they you for being here tonight. god bless you, god bless kansas and these united states. [applauding] [applauding] at back. [applauding] [inaudible conversations][appla] [applauding]

>> tonight on c-span2 from washington, ari berman on the it democratic party. then the news coverage of the tucson shootings. later the 2011 economic forecast from the american bankers association. >> each year the washington center brings hundreds of students to washington to experience the workings of government firsthand. sunday they will discuss politics, government, and their future on c-span q&a. >> middle and high school students, it is time to up put your videos for the student can documentary competition.

did your 5-8 minute documentary on this year's topic to c-span by january 20th for your chance to win the grand prize of $50,000. the video documentary competition is open to students chris 6-12. for complete details go online to student cannot org. >> ari berman, a writer for the nation, is the author of the book after 16. a guest on this morning's washington journal. this is washing -- 45 minutes.,i >> our guest ari berman, the ourhor of the book at "herding donkeys."is this rebuilding the american pa. >> thanks for having me. >> that start off with theherdin reflections and writing this week in the wake of the arizona shooting. how do you think the liberal face of the democratic party hae responded to this? >> i think the liberal face of

the country at large responded very well to barack obamaonded speeds. there were a lot of questions therwere a lat should he say? how shotould he say it? whashoud how ouldonce obama started speaking, and especially as the speech gained some force peoplee salize that it was a veryspeecn powerful message that he was delivering and it was thehat he message that obama was you need to be able to deliver.hat obam i heard from a lot of supporters afterwards and they said, this is the obama that we voted for.s we have an ability to rise toot. bi hashe aon. that is what they wanted to see and have been wanting to see from this president and the lass few years.years, real. use your incredible ability to orate and really deliver that powerful message to the american people. i don t't think a political spe. would have been appropriate. the speech is what obama and the country in general wanted to and from the president

deliver the message to the american people. host: let's look at president obama's comments. >> as we discussed these issues, let's each do so with a good dose of humility rather than appointing -- then pointing fingers or assigning blame. -- rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame. let's look use this occasion to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together. host: president obama speaking this week at a memorial service in arizona. a lot of conservative commentators have praised him for this speech and not delving into the political realm, as you mentioned. why do you think they have been so positive and is there any political calculation in that? guest: it is nice to see them do that for once.

he put politics aside in his speech. it is funny because there is this caricature of obama of -- as this un-american socialist. it is an image that has been created on the right. when you saw his speech this week, that could not have been further from the truth. it was such a heartfelt, pro- american message. as he said, he was speaking to the american family, 300 million strong. barack obama sounded like ronald reagan in that speech, the president that conservatives so revered. things're looking at the they value, american values cannofor example, they gave him credit in his speech. i do not think it is going to last, but it was nice to see 419. host: what you think of the blow back that has taken place -- to see for one night.

host: what you think of the blow back that has taken place with conservatives, that there have been accusations of accusations -- there have been accusations of responsibility, this sort of blow back from the cause of the shooting. guest: i watched a lot of coverage the day of the shooting and part of it was great because we were getting a lot of live coverage. but part of izhak was -- but part of it was stuff that should have been saved for later. the right to a lot more than the left. a lot more of this has happened on the right. i think both sides, liberals under the bush era and conservatives under the obama era have had some hysterical rhetoric about the president. but the fascination with gun

imagery is much more prevalent on the ride down the left. -- the right than the left. host: the book you wrote came out in october. did the liberals get left behind in president obama's first two years in office? if guest: they had mixed feelings about obama. on the one hand they look at what he has done and say, ok, the stimulus bill, health care bill, financial reform, i mean, these are big pieces of legislation. at the same time, they look at the size of the democratic majority and the opportunity he was handed and they do not believe he is able to change washington in the way that he claimed to when he was campaigning. he talked a lot in his campaign about bringing his supporters in to washington, making them a

parallel force off to lobbyists and legislators that are blocking change in the capital and that never happened. instead, obama cut a lot of deals to get things passed, you know, deals with health insurance companies and the like during the health-care debate. and on a broader level, he ran a much more conventional, top- down white house and still with a lot of names from the clinton and bush era. i think, many liberals were open there would be a lot more new faces. -- were hoping there would be a lot more new faces. host: you write in your book, " is typically one sided. guest: i think that happened a lot during the health care debate. president obama said he wanted a public option but did nothing to

fight for it. when it died, people said, you did not fight for it. and it has happened again with the tax cuts. the president has said he did not want to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, but he basically did not fight for it. i think they want him to fight, for what he believes in and if he cannot get it, ok. but have the fight before you compromise. i think that has been the central critique of the obama administration of his supporters on the left that remain today. host: our guest is a contributing writer to the nation and is doing an investigative fellow show that the nation institute. let's hear from john in kentucky on the republican line. caller: i would like to

understand about the speech that was given, how the people worswe complaining of the left. it was a beautiful speech, no doubt. but wouldn't it have been much better if he had spoke from the oval office, first, and directly on the situation instead of in a college atmosphere where it was more of a pep rally situation? it seems to me like it would have been more effective and he would have shown more empathy toward the families and the nation and brought it together more had it not been a seemingly -- whether it was or not -- a political atmosphere. guest: this has become somewhat of a common critique on the

right and i could not disagree with it more. it was not a political pep rally. the president did not choose the format. tucson went through a horrible tragedy. the university of arizona went through a horrible tragedy. and when the president came, they wanted a moral, but they also wanted to feel better about themselves and their community and they wanted to feel that from the president. i thought when he was optimistically and quite graciously praising those who lost their lives and people were cheering, i thought that was a great and healing moment. from what i hear, the people there felt the same way. what i have heard from people who were there is that people wanted to cheer. it was not a directive that came down. i think he was able to reach out to people in a way that he would not have if he was just sitting

in his oval office. he does not come through in that setting as well. host: and here he was acting as minister of the nation, almost a religious moment rather than the commander in chief. guest: it is hard to convey empathy when you are in the a state room. the audience with its cheers and the motion is what gave it its power. -- with its cheers and a motioen is what david is power. you want to be around a lot of people. you do not want to just be with someone sitting behind her desk. host: carroll writes this is on twitter, about president obama and his identity with the

liberal base. and her handle on twitter guntotindem. guest: [laughter] that is great. i think if you look at the obama administration, he has many people that also served in the clinton administration. paul thereof -- there obviously are a lot of similarities between obama and clinton. the times, though, are quite different. even though there are a lot of recurring similarities, and we saw this week with dealing with the oklahoma city -- in dealing with a velocity.

-- oklahoma city. i read an article in -- i have an article in the nation coming out about this next week. asdf

guest: it was a 13 person e-mail list and now it is called organizing for america. it has not been a top priority for the obama administration, especially in the beginning. people wanted this grassroots thing from the president. by and large, they were not made part of the transition, part of the team as they could have been. and i think obama has been playing catch up on that issue ever since. if you look at the electorate, it is radically different of the 2008 electorate. it would have voted for john mccain.

that is the way people registered -- in some ways, democrats registered their complaints with the obama administration. he stayed home and he cannot afford to do that in 2012. he has to be attention to the legitimate complaints of his supporters and try to balance what they want with all of the pressures he is facing on capitol hill. host: we're looking at numbers from gallup that came out this month. party identification is looking at the trends in the republican and democratic leanings. ari berman, d you think it is significant to look at how people self identified, what the percentage of people is the self identify as democrats? guest: what are the latest numbers? the host: saying 45% r.

democrat and 45% are leaning republican, but interesting to note that the democratic idea actually dropped last month. in 2010, 31% of americans identified as democrats. that is down five percentage points from just two years ago and is tied for the lowest measurements in many years. republicans rose to 38%, and that is on the high end of what god has measured in the last two decades. -- the high end of what gallup has measured in the last two decades. guest: there is a major economic crisis in washington that neither party has sufficiently addressed. i think it is significant. i think the parties are evenly divided, which is where we are right now. rising, and keep

that has been happening for a long time. a lot of them are probably conservative, but many are also democratic cleaning. that is what the electorate has been so volatile and it has been hard to have some realignment because independents jump from one party to another. host: let's take a comment from florida. caller: i want to say that i think president obama did a wonderful job arizona. i think the vitriol that has been going around this country is ludicrous. you have people like sarah palin who has the brains of a toad. she is out there talking and everything is about her.

we need to change the vitriol in the country and we need to get along. guest: gained about 10 minutes without talking about -- we made it about 10 minutes without talking about sarah palin. [laughter] that is our record. the contrast between obama and kailyn on wednesday could not have been more striking she looked defensive end somewhat petty in her video address before obama spoke. and after he spoke and laid out an expansive vision for the country, she looked more petty and smaller. and republicans will call-in and yell at me for that.

she is a very more polarizing figure. chic -- i don't know how she is expanding her coalition. obama wanted to be a leader who could reach out across party lines. host: much of your book focuses on howard dean and the influence, the legacy that he really left behind before running for president. you write that the campaign provided the manual for a bottom-up mass movement. his 50-state strategy --

you write -- guest: dean is assassinating to me. i wanted to write about what propelled him to the white house. if you look back, his campaign -- he stumbled upon a new political playbook, figuring out how to democratize politics. through mobilizing to the internet in a variety of forms. even though his campaign was not ultimately successful, the

president -- he rode the same ideas to become chairman of the democratic party which people thought was crazy, this outside insurgent suddenly become chairman of the democratic party. a lot of democrats and insider democrats say they have been left out of the democratic party. they wanted to be relevant in the red and blue states alike. they were yearning for some way to be involved in the party, and they believed they could win if they were given the resources to do so. the swing states will still be important, but they were going to give money to alaska and rebuild the democratic party. that is something that democrats rallied around if you look at what happened in 2006 and in 2008. the obama campaign said that when they were running in all

different places. it states like indiana and north carolina which nobody thought would go blue in 2008, how they went blue, and then if you look at 2010, the tea party picked them up. they wanted to organize all of these places. we are in this interesting era where the right and the left are committed to doing grass-roots politics. >> does howard dean get credit for that? caller: he should get credit. i don't think as much -- guest: he should get credit. i don't think as much. there were a lot of democrats that did not like him. republicans who endlessly replayed his screaming and i walk and love to make fun of him, now they say very openly

that they were copying his playbook. i think he gets a lot more credit compared to where he was two or three years ago. i don't think he gets as much credit from the insiders in the obama administration to date. host: let's hear from barry down in florida. caller: i think the last caller showed typical [unintelligible] of democrats. sarah palin has the brains of the total but we have to down the rhetoric, we should not do these kinds of things. also, mr. ari berman is very disingenuous about the reaction of democrats to these tragedies. it is all like -- it is a wasted tragedy. what they did with the minnesota -- i can remember his name, the minnesota senator that died a few years ago, why they did at

his memorial service, what they do in general is to use these debts to its advance their own political agenda. guest: and there was no political agenda and barack obama's speech other than wanting to be more civil with each other. he specifically said now is not the time to debate health care or gun-control. he specifically rejected to talk about these issues. so i don't see that in terms of barack obama's speech. host: new jersey on our democrats aligned. -- line. caller: it is all of the politicians need to start learning how to tell the truth.

this country has risen drastically and they are telling of federal employees -- of their wages are frozen. they did the same to the senior citizens two years in a row. food went up 11%. senior citizens do not need a flat screen tvs and computers, and doctors do not prescribe them medicine for high blood pressure or sugar. considering them as a part of the economy going up or down is ridiculous. guest: i missed the first part. he talked about the deficit going up? host: concerns about politicians telling the truth and balancing people's economic reality when you talk about how the economy is doing on a larger scale. guest: the economy is not doing well, and i don't think anyone would dispute that.

a lot of people are struggling, people who have jobs, and even some of the jobs that they have -- a lot of people have stopped looking for work. to me, this is still the same issue in the country. we were talking -- we were talking about tucson this week, probably for another week or two, and then we will get back to the economy and the pain that people are feeling. republicans basically it docked in the 2010 election, saying we have to cut spending and taxes and we have to cut the deficit. you are probably not going to do all three in combination. democrats have not really a laid out in my view the next step. what is next? we have not seen that from the obama administration. how are you going to address the pain that people are feeling?

how are you going to relate to all of the struggling americans? president obama has not been as good on bread-and-butter issues that americans are facing. i think that is one skill that obama could borrow from bill clinton, which is to have empathy for the plight of people who are struggling in this economy. i hope he starts talking with us a lot more in the next two years and talks straight with the american people about what is going on in the country, the magnitude of the crisis he inherited, and how much time it will take for it to get better. host: a recent story from a roll call --

what does the obama administration to to stay relevant as republicans lead in the house and a democratic majority in the senate shrinks? guest: i think the president has shown in tucson he is still relevant and still the president. house republicans can do what they want to do what they cannot make laws. the president can veto what they do. he has a much bigger pulpit and go out in the country and basically say to john boehner, you do what you want to do and i am going to do what i want to do. i am not going to abandon my agenda to do that. i was talking to a former reagan biographer and i was asking him how he was able to be successful. reagan went out and sold his

policies to the american people. he had a democratic congress. he did not give up his message. he believed in what he was doing. if obama believes in his own plan and in his own policy ideas, he needs to either try to bring republicans where he is, and if he can't, he has to go out and talk to the american people about what is best for the country. host: it republican caller from minnesota. good morning. caller: i have a comment and question. i feel the fairness doctrine promotes the partisanship. when they first guarded counterpoint speeches, i was appalled. does this not increase by partisanship?

more strongly, the president should be bipartisan. he should be more in the middle, americans think. the presidency is the position of bipartisan and should be worthy of all americans trust. he should be more of a statement like a total american leader. guest: we will see if that happens in the next two years. i don't think he got the cooperation he expected from the other side. i think republicans made the determination that if they helped him to succeed, obama would rise as a result, so they would say no to anything, which is of course what happened. the strategy of saying no actually worked pretty effectively. i think it is going to be hard for them to do that now.

i think it is going to put some impetus on president obama to try to be bipartisan. he has to be bipartisan if he feels like it is actually going to help solve problems in the country today. sometimes it will and sometimes it will not. i don think for example cutting social security and medicare is going to be something that a lot of americans are going to like because i think that is going to be a major issue in the coming years. in terms of the responses, we have had responses to the state of the union, and people tend not to watch it. they tend to turn off the tv whenever a respondent comes on. host: looking at the partisanship, this piece in the political -- -- in politico --

let's go on to frankfurt, kentucky, where richard joins us on the democrat line. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i have a couple of comments and a question. president obama and the stimulus package, saving our basic auto industry and millions of other jobs. for over eight years, we had the bush tax cuts that everybody is talking about. where are the jobs that these tax cuts were supposed to produce? my question is why does the democratic party not put out as

many advertisements as the republican advertisements to promote what they have successfully done to try to get the economy stimulated, provide more jobs, and i will end the call now and wait for your response. thank you very much. guest: there was an alarming statistic for democrats before the election. something like 95% of americans got tax cuts and only 8% in new about it. if you give someone a tax cut, they need to at least know about it. i think they undersold the stimulus, absolutely. i think there needs to be a two- prong strategy. number one, talk about how you got here and what you have done subsequently in terms of the crisis and talk about how the stimulus and other policies that have been pushed, the auto bailout which has been

incredibly successful -- i think they need to talk more about that, but that is not enough. i think there needs to be some prescription now to go beyond it. and lot of these funds are going to expire soon. states are hamstrung in terms of their budgets. there are a lot of issues in the next two years that the stimulus will not address. i think a lot of americans are looking to howl obama address is the economy and if there will be any action on jobs. the number one concern and priority of the american people. host: ari berman is a contributing writer of "the nation." he is also the author of the book, "herding donkeys."

if it talks a lot about howard dean and his strategy. you talk about his -- when he left the chairmanship of the dnc, and that was turned over to mr. mccain. you talk about how the dean was getting -- was being downplayed a bit. james carville wrote -- you said howard dean's snob did not matter because of one man's bruised ego --

guest: if you look at one of the main enemies that he made in his fight to rebuild the democratic party and decentralize power away from washington was rahm emanuel who in 2006 was running the campaign committee. he and dean got into a fight of how to fund the democratic party and also a larger vision of what the democratic party could be. rahm emanuel wanted to spend money on tv advertisements and target swing districts. there was a difference in opinion there. after obama made rahm emanuel his chief of staff, a fairly controversial decision, he was not the most popular figure in the capital. he made it clear he did not want howard dean around. not only that, but rahm emanuel

had a very contentious relationship with the democratic base in general who worked so hard to select president obama. he went further and called them f'ing retarded. i think it had a bad affect on obama and his supporters. rahm emanuel will likely be the next mayor of chicago. unfortunately, he leaves obama's administration pretty severely reduced. they have to spend more attention with their base. i think repealing "don't ask, don't tell" and things like that helps. this balance, the balance between negotiating with the public and dealing with the business of the capital, and

also dealing with his supporters who are going to be so important to his reelection, the white house is going to have to figure out how to navigate that better in the last two years. host: a republican from houston, texas, go ahead. caller: i am a black senior citizen grandmother just a few years shy of 80 years old. i left the republican party years ago and i have not regretted leaving one minute. i want to talk to that young man. the only reason the democrats -- you are deathly afraid of her. she believes in the constitution and the sanctity of life. you all are so stupid, you democrats. the more you tax us, the more you push us into her campus.

-- her camp. sitting here prison obama, obama is only president today only because he had a black daddy. remember, he has a white mother. the joe biden was all right then and he is right now. guest: in terms of sarah palin, i am not a spokesman of the democratic party. they are not afraid of her at all. the intensely do not like her but think she would be the easiest candidate for president obama to defeat in 2012. i think if you look at polls, they show that. she is very divisive and very polarizing. i don't see how she broadened

her political coalition beyond that 25% or 30% of republicans who really love her. i think she is too divisive even for the republican party. she will get enthusiastic support if she runs for president from the tea party, but those that of one alexians year in and year out, are going to be terrified of her and do everything they can to defeat her. host: joe is on our independent line. caller: thank god for c-span. we are going after the wrong thing. the fairness doctrine -- let congress opened their doors up. let us decide. washington is getting us

aggravated, calling in about democrats, republicans, and pundits. open the doors. put everything in plain english instead of a 2000-page insurance that we just passed on health care. guest: if you look at obama's speech, he made the argument that if we were more civil to each other, we would have a better democracy. i also think if you look at the main problem of washington, it is that powerful interest and very organized interest has more power than everybody else does. in my opinion, that is a structural problem that exists in both administrations. it bothers americans in both parties, which too much money in politics. the interest of a lot of lobbyists count more than regular, everyday americans who

basically buy off politicians and through campaign contributions and through fund raising. to me, that is the real issue of what washington is broken and it remains broken. if obama wants to pass health care, the first thing he has to do is cut deals with all of the industry's he is about to regulate. that is not a republican or democratic problem to me. that is a structural problem that not enough people are talking about. caller: i think they ought to change the republican party's it tit title. they have been fighting obama since he has taken office. why not -- why haven't they cooperated in the last two years? host: do you think there will be more cooperation moving forward? guest: i think they are in a

bind. the bond is that the american people do want the parties to work together. that is one reason why obama picked up after the lame-duck congress because he was able to pass the number of bills people wanted for once. but the bind that he is in is that -- that the party has been very clear to try to thwart his agenda to elect a president in 2012. those issues are going to pull the republican party in both directions. i am not sure how republicans are going to solve eight. it seems to me they are overriding people out in 2012 and their overriding interest is not going to be entering their constituents. republicans are saying i do not

want it to be me, which makes working with the other side much more difficult unless you are based -- unless you are from a state -- most republicans are getting pulled further and further to the right. it is going to be very interesting to see how they navigate this going forward. host: carl in mississippi, a republican. hi there. go ahead. caller: i cannot believe the memory loss of people who do not remember that when this president was elected, they were going to get health care passed through without republicans. they were going to do it with or without republicans. now, everybody wants to work with the republicans now that we won back the house. have they forgotten -- they were

doing things they wanted to do without the republican party. we have always been a two-party system and a check and balance system. they wanted to do anything they wanted to whether we like it or not. guest: for six months, there were bipartisan negotiations in the senate finance committee led by max baucus. that was a central democratic strategy, to try to bring these republicans on board. it became terry clear that the republican party was not going to support this legislation -- it became very clear that the republican party was not going to support this legislation. they went around the country saying obama was going to pull the plug on a grandmother. in my opinion, obama waited too long to try to push for a democratic-only bill because it

was obvious that republicans were not going to go along with this. they wanted to be -- they wanted it to be obama's waterloo. if it just slows things down and stalls everything, i don't think it should be something that is a prioritized just for the sake bipartisanship is bipartisanship. host: share more of that message guest: i think i have a fairly nuanced view of the president. i think in terms of the report that i did for the book, i followed him for not prioritizing his supporters as

much as he should've been. i followed him for what he did on the stimulus. i don't think tax cuts or big enough. i think there were too many deals cut for the health-care bill to get past. i think they have not been as aggressive as they could have been in terms of dealing with the economy. i think there is a wide variety of criticisms that i do not like, and a think many obama supporters do not like the appointment in the white house, not enough new thinking and new ideas. i think the president has been far too passive at times selling his agenda and fighting for his agenda and laying out what his core priorities are and how far he is willing to push. i think those are all criticisms of the obama administration. if i am far from a stout obama's defender.

sometimes i feel like i am portrayed as an obama critic. you cannott really>> "washingto" continues. host: thank you for coming in this morning. what is your impression at this point in the week, nearly a week after the tucson shooting, what is your impression of the media coverage? guest: before committing to that, everybody should express's the nation's sorrow for the victim's and for those who continue to suffer and their families. the media coverage. it has been a national disgrace.

i can't get any harsher than that. every day that goes by underscores a that the national press had had a roofless agenda to use this horror for their own ends. even though on a daily basis, more and more evidence comes out that proves unequivocably that the media are wrong in what they are saying. they simply will not let up. host: why is it that they are saying that is wrong? guest: that this is politics in general, and conservative politics in particular, that this is about rush limbaugh, sarah palin, or glenn beck, about the tone of politics. we are learning that, for example, this killer had no political affiliation.

we know that he cited two works, the communist manifesto and mein campf. neither one of them are conservative. we now know that he never listened to talk radio. we know that he never watched the news, so how in the world is he affected by the news and by talk radio? if that is the case, then why the continued fascination with wanting to talk about that and halt talk radio has to curb its often do a better job, when in fact we know it has nothing to do with it? we might as well bl