leadership, persuasiveness, decisionmaking, bipartisanship and presidential campaigns of jeb bush and hillary clinton. they took part in a bush foundation graduation ceremony for the inaugural class of presidential scholars. this is about 35 minutes. >> it's now my privilege to invite to the stage three leaders who have send into the arena on a global scale. leaders whom i have the jut most respect ands a mr. face for, first, mr. great spellings the president of the president bush center and she will be moderating the conversation, and then two leaders whom i had the privilege of serving under as my commanders in chief, two leaders from whom we have all learned valuable lessons about leadership and life. it's my honor to introduce you the 42nd and 43rd presides

of the united states, president william j. clinton and president george w. bush. [applause] >> you know, know two people are glad he's not running for president. [laughter] >> hey, that was my line. all right. i thought y'all -- >> glad he didn't run earlier. >> exactly. >> thank you both for being here. i thought you were going to be the highlight of the program, but it's debatable at this point. >> i don't think anybody can top mark cuban.

he was great. thank you for beg here, mark. we really appreciate it. [applause] >> president clinton, welcome back to the bush center. we're thrilled your here and just a quick personal privilege. it has been a delight to get to work with both you're teams, especially bruce and valerie. we love each other and have had a blast working together. >> i think everybody knows that you were the sparkplug that made this happen and we're glad be to happy to be here and it exceeded my wildest dreams. so thank you for giving us a chance to do something i think is of lasting importance. >> we all echo jake's sentiments, so without further adieu, seems like just yesterday that josh bolton was sitting in my place in washington, launching this program together, just last september, ten months ago. so here we are, graduating this

awesome class. so let me start by asking the importance of the two of you working together. that particular feature has meant a lot to scholars and you both had the opportunity to spend time with the scholars. what have you thought about them? what surprised you about them? what impress you? what dot you think of this generation of leaders. >> well, mark said something very interesting. he runs into pessimistic people about the future of the country, and i understand that. i do, too. but when you meet these scholars, you can't be pessimistic. these are fine people that inspire hope. clinton and i are getting a little long in the tooth these days. [laughter] >> this is the one month of the year when he is older than me. so, speak for yourself.

>> i'm much longer in the tooth. >> i guess as you get longer in the tooth, and as society moves on, there's a tendency to be -- for some to be mess miss -- pessimistic, and my advice is, hang out with the scholars, president. >> president clinton? >> the one thing i found particularly interesting about this group that i like it when they were admitted, but when i read more about their specific projects, when we preparing to come here, is that they're diverse in every way. they don't just look different and think different. have different skills. so think we have this much talent and innovation going into so many different aspects of our national lives.

i don't get people who are down on the future. i'd rather be america looking ahead, what i think the world will look like in 20-30 years, i like our chances. we are younger than every big country except china. and if we get a good immigration reform, which you tried to do and which i hope we'll get, we'll stay young. either that or have to encourage that young woman who works for you've i met today to keep having more babies. [laughter] >> having lost it, i can tell you. youth matters. youth matters. but i like our chances, and i think everybody who -- you got to -- besides all the other advantages, it's the people that matter, and as long as this is a free country and people are free to debate and free to be creative, and as long as when it really matters we can come together, i have to say this.

i almost cried when i saw that picture of the south carolina legislature yesterday, with republicans and the democrats and the african-americans and the white people embracing each other, and making that vote and seeing the decisive speech made by a woman who was a direct descendent of jefferson davis, don't tell me we can't get together across the lines that divide. we just have to keep working. >> yes. so, as you know, these scholars have had an opportunity to study your decisions through the case study approach, as well as those of president george h.w. bush and lbj. so take a minute and talk about your decisionmaking process. president clinton, how do you know when it's time to decide? these are questions or scholars want to know. and how do you move on and not get totally tied in knots over your decisions?

>> first of all, i think knowing when it's time to decide is a big deal. you have to know, to answer that question, what all is going on and what kind of decision you're making. that is, if you make a mistake, it is irrevocable? if so, then you maybe ought to take a little more time. but there are lot of decisions where a decision is una scale of 1 to 100, 70% right today is better than the decision that is 100% right six months from now when the train has left the station. so i always asked myself, are the consequences irrevocable? give you one example. whatever we were -- whenever we were getting ready to bomb somebody, sometime mist advisers would say if you don't do this today, you'll look weak. we'll look so weak.

and i always said, can i kill them tomorrow? you're laughing but think about this. i can't bring them back to life tomorrow. if the answer is, yes, i can kill them tomorrow, then we're not weak. so let's debate whether we should do it today. on the other hand, there are those decisions that you literally will paralyze yourself if you debit just good in and make because waiting for six months, you can get 100% right is foolish, and i think to make the best decisions you have to have people that know things you don't know, who tell you what you don't want to here and who aren't afraid to debate, and you have to have a sense when the time has come to decide. >> president bush? >> well, he is -- a lot of wisdom there. but sometimes the circumstances -- at least in the presidency, the circumstance made it really imperative you decide, and decide decisively.

i guess the thing that dominated my administration was an enemy that wanted to kill again, and, therefore, i had to make decisions that protected the homeland. it was my goal. and some of the decisions that i had to make needed to be made fairly quickly. because the enemy, sadly, still exists, is -- doesn't really care about whether a president agonizes over a decision or not, and -- anyway, i think the most important point for the scholars is -- and bill said this -- is to know what you don't know and find people who do. sometimes when you get to be real powerful the tendency to say, must know everything. otherwise i wouldn't be so powerful. and you don't. and it's essential that you know

yourself first, and find people who are capable of fighting through all the trappings of power and -- give you good advice -- a couple here in this room. you, josh. people like -- that it don't think would have served in my administration if they felt their primary job was to make me look good, which was an impossible task to begin with. [laughter] >> so, jake talked about strategy and principle are really important that everybody on the team knows, and that the environment is such that the psycho fraternities are not allowed in. i don't know if that makes sense help told me to use big words.

>> this is when i reach in my back pocket to make sure my billfold is still there. i don't know any big words. itinerant. >> president bush, okay. so, the scholars read your father's book about relationships and building relationships -- >> my question is why didn't they read mine? >> they did. they did. >> thank you. >> but his letter-writing and development of relationships over many years, not just when you need something but over time, and so talk about what they should learn from your dad and how y'all have developed relationship. >> one of the most remarkable

relationships described in the book called "41. "a lot of copies in the store over here. was a relationship that bill had with my dad. so, losing election isn't fun. i've lost one, you've lost one. he lost one. to him, and, yet they ended up having a friendship. so how does it happen? how does a -- what people think are bitter enemies able to put aside victory and defeat. i income dad's case, that win and losing elections was not the most central thing in this life. the most central things in his life turn out to be his faith and his family, and, therefore, if it makes it much easier to deal with disappointments on the daily occurses occurrences of lh second it helped that bill was

so gracious. it's important to be a humble winner and i find that relationship to be very instructive. that's why i spent a fair amount of time in chapter 7 on it. [laughter] >> one of my favorite stories for those who haven't heard this and didn't read the first book i wrote -- when i introduced putin to barnie bar any was our scottish terrier, and he dissed him. he said, you call that dog? and it really, frankly, to the extent it hurt my feelings, didn't let him know. anyway, a year later, putin says you want to meet my something to -- my dog, i said, sure, out bounds this giant russian hound, and putin says bigger, stronger, fastest than barnie. now, you can take umbrage at

something like that, but the point of the story is, i learned a lot about putin then. i said my dog is bigger than your dog. it's instructive that you -- the lesson is, listen carefully to what others say. don't prejudge their sentiments, and let them speak. and 41 was a great personal diplomat because he listened to the other person a lot. >> president clinton, when you were with the scholars in little rock you said if you don't have respect for your adversary, if you don't believe the other guy is well intended, means to do right, then you're not going to get very far with them. what are some of the ways that you have worked to understand the other guys' point of view, the other person's point of view? >> well, i think i said this when we had the opening of the presidential -- all these books. i can't remember the -- anyway,

my family raised me to believe in a story-telling culture, and i couldn't tell one until i could listen to one and reiterate, and one of the most enduring stories of my childhood was my eighth grade science teacher who was not an attractive man, telling me nobody would ever arm what we had in eighth grade science. he said remember this. every day i get up and start the day in the bathroom throwing water on my face, shaving, wash mission face off and i leak in mirror and say, vern, you're beautiful. and he said you just remember this. everybody wants to believe they're beautiful. if you remember that, it will take you a long way, and i have tried to remember that. and i remember one other quick same. the loss of trust is paralyzing

this country and this world. 20 years ago, this fall, prime minister ranin can -- prime minister rabbin was murdered because he handed over land to the palestinian. the whole thing was nearly screwed up because one of the maps they were signing said a road looked to israel that arafat thought was his. i told them to figure out what the truth was. we were late and the world press corps was waiting so they walked out and rabbin said, he's right, that road should be his. it was the road to jerico, around a christian monument. said, what are we going to do? arafat said we're going to find

the maps. i said you realize, the sign these maps, they belong to israel, and arafat, for all of his faults -- he had a lot of them -- looked at me and said, all rabbins word is worth any written contract. he said, yeah, i'm going to give him the road tomorrow. and he did. now, you cannot imagine somebody doing that today over there, can you? i'm telling you, if people trust each other, everything else is possible, and if they don't, i don't care how many people they listen to it's hard to get anything done. >> so for both of you in austin, the lbj library did a terrific job of hosting them and scholars had the opportunity to learn about communication. lbj is well known for his physical presence and his relentless style, and they listened to the tapes of him talking in real-time to martin luther king and everett dirksen

as he negotiated the voting rights act. talk about your persuasive style and how you adapted to a particular situation, when to push, when to cajole, when to fold. president clinton? >> first you have to know who you are trying to persuade. when i was working with other world leaders, i never consciously, at least, made an argument for what was in america's interest. i always told them why i thought was right for america was in their interests. in other words, these other people didn't hire on to help you or this country. they hired on to help their people. so i think whenever you're arguing with someone else, first it proves you listen to them. you have to listen very carefully to other people.

if you should also make the arguments in terms of their interest. when i tried to persuade in congress, i tried to figure out if there was anything they wanted i could in good conscious give them. and if there was, i did it. sometimes we were right at the border of the definition of "in good conscious." [laughter] >> a reason mark twain said the two things people should never watch being made are sausage and laws. i think it was a mistake to get rid of ear marks because it's harder for the president to argue, and i think sometimes congress knows better than federal employees what the best way to spend money is in their districts. so, anyway, think it's a different for different conditions, but first you have to be able to listen to who its you're trying to persuade and see if you can respond on the merit or changing the subject. >> president bush i washed you do this -- watched you do this

for year and you're real good at it. talk about how you persuade people -- you tell me why you think so. >> i think that it is important to earn capital to spend capital. in other words, i can remember on the tax cut plan, trying to get out of the recession, i would go to state where i'd done well politically and -- well, ben nelson, democratic senator in nebraska. frankly, an endangered species. so i went to his state, flew him down on air force one, as i recall, and did a tax cut event with him there, and trying to get his vote. and we got it. i think that -- so my only point is you can earn capital all kinds of ways in the political

process. there are some people that just are not going to vote with you've at all, and so it's frankly important not waste your time. on the other hand i do think it's important to create an environment amongst even those who are less likely to vote for you, to -- cordiality. one of the most unique relationships i had was with ted kennedy. a lot of it had to do with you. some issues we could agree on and a lot of issues we didn't agree on, but i knew when to -- try to convince him on what issues. you got to know your -- the people you're dealing with. republicans were generally easier for know work with. particularly when i was riding high. a little more of a challenge after '06. but it turns out that if you're polite, kind, considerate to

people, there are a lot more likely to listen to you. >> give an example of that on the international stage. that sort of persuasive-we're watching the debate -- the negotiations on the deal right now. talk about use of that persuasive style in an international setting. >> by the time the issues get up to the president there's been a lot of persuasiveness going on. that's what you have a secretary of state for and national security council for. and generally, the issues are pretty cooked. by the time you get there. and always -- well, just a lesson, i know cuban knows this -- never negotiate principle to adviser unless you're the one providing the adviser. you always want somebody playing their hand and the person has to go back and say, have to make

sure bush keys it. so i never got myself in a position where the person said, i have to get back to my principal, always good principal to principal if your negotiating, never go, you're the principal with a nonprincipal. understand nat? they understand that. so, i'm kind of avoiding your question. >> okay, i'll move on, then, if you'd like me to. >> i had 26 meetings with putin. one-on-one. more or less, i think. i'm not exact sure. and every one of them started with, how is your family? so laura and i 2009 his house expect his little girls and dad loves to talk about his kids and his daughters, and so i started off, how is your daughters doing some and no matter how difficult the subject would be. the whole purpose was to try to

create a human connection, and then we get to the issues at hand. >> so one of our scholars observes that obviously y'all have an authentic friendship. you have spend time together and enjoy it. i know you know some of the folks that are running for president. and so the question is -- [laughter] >> -- what are your thoughts on the way that the candidates can elevate the discourse so that it's foundational for governing and then tell us the stories from the campaign trail. you have been on it for many years, both of you. >> yeah. >> president bush, you want to start? >> well, you know, i think the discourse generally is lowered by surrogates, and the internet is a brutal place these days for political figures because

there's a high going of anonymity. there's no personal responsibility whatsoever. people can say whatever they want to say, and it kind of becomes currency. i suspect -- i know jeb and i'm confident secretary hillary will elevate this discourse. i can't attest to their surrogates. i can attest to this surrogate. i'm not going to be a surrogate, but it's -- [laughter] >> -- but, look, i really -- i think american people expect to be some sharp elbows in a campaign. i think what really discourages them post campaign, that the inability to govern in a way that is congenial, and hopefully that will change. tends to good in cycles, by the

way. >> president clinton? >> i may be naive. they say you get naive when you get long in the tooth. but i think they ought to have these debates, both in the republican primary and the democratic primary, and i think that i expect it to be very vigorous in the primaries and then whoever wins the two primaries will have a hard debate, but they need to keep in mind that what we are trying to do is to take the advantages america has -- and as mark cuban said, we're well-positioned but haven't proved we can solve the problem that is bedeviling the world, if we can create so many jobs we have a large percentage of our work force in and we can have shared prosperity, and we ought to show respect for the debate by trying to be as specific and clear as we can

about the policy choices before us. and we can trust the american people just by saying, look, it's not that simple. i if it were simple we would have already done it. but these are the five thing wiz think are most important and this is what i would do about them. i think the more we can keep it on that and he less we can just do what i see in -- so much in the media today, sort of culture of anger and resentment. we have to rise above anger to answers. to rise above resentment to a real response. if you get this job, the next day, it doesn't matter what was wrong with your opponent in the election. the next day you're on your own you walk in there and don't have somebody debating you behind the oval office desk. you have to show up to work and make decisions. so that's all i hope.

i hope we clarify for the american people that this is a big bunch of choices, they're not simple, but we are -- we can do it. the quality of these young people proves it, and the inherent assets and the system of freedom of choice we have proves it but we got a lot of tough decisions to make. that's all i really care about. beside is know who i'd like to win. but the more important thing for america is that we know what the heck we're deciding on and we make a pretty good decision. >> so, this is -- we're about to granddaughter wait these scholars -- graduate these scholars. what advice do you have for them as they return to their communities? you heard jake's call to action. what's your advice for them? >> don't watch a lot of tv. >> read, like mark cuban. >> actually, act. do things. and don't be afraid of failure.

i'm not worried about this crowd. >> president clinton? >> i agree with that. the other thing i'd say is, if -- whatever it is doesn't work out, get up. i lost two elections. i was the youngest former governor in american history after the reagan landslide. i had one guy appointed to the cabinet, walk across main street in little rock to avoid being seen shaking hands we me for fear the guy that beat me would fire him. that was a humbling experience. and i think you got to realize, there's no personal ambition you have which can be extinguished by anybody else. only you, by giving up your dreams, can extinguish them, it will still take you someplace

interesting and will make a difference. my advice is, like george said, don't be afraid to fail, but you probably will whether you try to or not, and it's scary. you just got to get up. the world belongs to tomorrow, not yesterday. don't give anybody else permission to take your life away? just keep living and keep giving never think that what i'm doing is to little to make a difference. that's not true. ...

expected. >> that i couldn't read. [laughs] >> never thought i could. >> so how do you react to that with respect to the filter of the media and -- and how, you know, what that means for them as they try to present, you know, their true themselves? >> you know, i don't know. i mean, i think we're both pretty confident people. if people don't get us, what

we're all about, then, you know, you just have to keep moving on. i try not to worry about it. i can't tell you the number of people that told me that met me that said you're a lot taller than what i thought. [laughs] >> 5'11 since i was 18. image doesn't matter. yeah, you get -- people say things about you all of the time. but if that's a criteria for success for you, then go into the field. [laughs] >> i would also say, if you were -- if you cover political news, you have to realize that it's sort of in the nature of things.

conflict news is better than concord. if that's all you put on evening news at night, you go broke. so the nature of the evening news would be to make people in two dimensional cartoons instead of two dimensional people. it's just the nature of the beast. you need to keep the caution light will your will your burnif your head. lets say we were in a campaign against each other, he wouldn't have his narrative and i would have mine, we would try to convince that each narrative is better than the other. the people covering it, they develop a narrative too.

it's almost impossible for the real story to be the same as the storyline. so you just have to keep all of that in mind as you try to be good citizens, and still show up. most important thing is showing up. >> so we want some people to show for the second class of scholars and people can apply at presidentialleadershipscholars .o rg. what advice do you have for those speaking -- >> e-mail those and see whether it's worth your time. i mean, there's no better testimony than what's happening than people going across the stage. go to our websites.

do y'all think it's a good idea? >> i think that's a great idea. president clinton, what do you think? how should people distinguish -- i thought you were going to have more stories. [laughs] >> okay. >> why don't you just get the graduation going? >> okay. first, i have to ask you about being a grandparent and you're about to have a second grandchild. >> when we did the first time, when we started this program, he said to me, that when you became a grandfather you fall in love all over again, and that's what happened. we got -- hillary and i have our granddaughter for three days and i came down here, but hillary

was static. [laughs] >> she was grandmother of the year. last year my granddaughter for the first time when i walked her room, she said, there's you grand dad and she pointed out at me. that was worth more than anything that anybody had said or done or anything else. everything you said about it is true. >> yeah. last night my granddaughter spoke to me in mandarin. [laughs] >> i kind of think that's the end of the program. everybody please join me in thanking the two grandfathers. [applause]

>> that was so excellent. thank you. that was really fun. okay. you're staying up here. >> "shark tank" investor mark cuban spoke about the american dream. this is about half an hour. [applause] >> thank you very much. now, since we are in dallas we thought it also only appropriate to start with the program with two mavericks. [laughs] >> one of them danced with the stars and one of them went to the big dance with president bush. kevin sullivan got his starting with the dallas mavericks, the lessons he learned in the nba's western conference ultimately landed him in the left wing where he served as president

bush's communication director. today he draws on his experiences to advise leaders all across sectors. last month he received an e-book called breaking through, communications from the locker room, board room and the oval office. our other panelists has no problem breaking through, specially when it comes to making his voice heard by the referees from court-side seats. mark cuban, the owner of the mavericks is one of america's successful entrepreneurs, beginning by the age of 12 by selling garbage bags door to door. he learned about the kind of per -- perseverance. finally, i think it's an

appropriate setting to share that in just two weeks mark will be adding another job title, president of the united states, with acting role, so mark -- [laughs] >> so mark, if you need some tips, there are a couple of very distinguished gentlemen here who would be willing to share some advice. please welcome kevin sullivan and mark cuban. [applause] >> that's funny. welcome, everybody. that was a great introduction. take a look at this photo from his early days. [laughs] >> that was about 1982 or '83? >> yeah.

>> getting involved with computer for the first time. the american dream taking hold right there. >> you see the thing in the back that says poverty sucks. [laughs] >> so you're a guy -- it's in the doing, not the dreaming. >> the american dream is alive and well. has anybody heard of "shark tank"? it's a great show on friday nights. it's the number one shows watched with families together. people wanted me to talk about basketball now i have 80-year-olds telling me about their companies, i don't think there's any question that with the education, type of people we have here, that this is -- the best is yet to come. some of us get the sense that we

are down, it's so far from the truth. i see more amazing businesses and more amazing dreams. >> you have to go -- >> heck, no. hopefully there's no media. [laughs] >> it's a lot like hollywood used to be. they're looked over your shoulder for the next big star or big deal. you come to dallas, you come to austin and you get people who come to work. the university system is amazing. utd,ut austin, smu. there are so many schools where we hire locally. it's less expensive and just as smart and just as driven. while i'm not here to say silicon valley, but texas it's

the amazing state to creating new companies. [applause] >> now, the sports fans are among us. i know you had a tough night last night. this week on "shark tank" -- [laughs] >> while i'm rehashing the deal with jordan commitment -- what do you say to your people? >> the conversations today, it's over. is there anything i can change, what have you learned so i can do it differently, you move forward and say, what are our options. you have to reearn your business every single day, you have to look and sigh -- see if you need to reinvent your business every

day. all the great talent, they are out there trying to kick your butt. if i'm going to say ahead whether it's nba and my companies, i have to keep on moving forward. that's the way it is with the mavericks. we had a big tall german that's pretty good. he's pretty good and we signed with matthew. we've been fortunate with my 15 years. we had great leadership and keep on moving forward. >> presidents make a lot of decisions, obviously, scholars have had the prif -- privilege to going to clinton library, landmark reform legislation, president clinton, president bush saying, a lot of tough decisions, i had the privilege of witnessing up close and personal.

he did what was based on principles from texas to dc. how do you handle conflict advice? >> i try to know -- i try to have smart people around me all of the time and i cros -- cross my fingers. there's some decisions you have to trust yourself. preparation is everything. people always say, you're such a huge risk-taker. i never take risk. i always felt that i've done my homework and preparation. this isn't a risk. unfortunately i've never been in the same circumstances as our two presidents and i couldn't imagine the stress but in my little world, i just try to be prepared and have great people around me and be prepared, make the best decision and hope for the best.

>> what kind of things do you do to be prepared? >> i read everything i can get my hands on. i talk to as many smart people as i can. someone once said, you have to test your hold card. a lot of times we think we know something -- sometimes success can be your worst enemy. you know, even though i feel confident about something, i feel good about something, i'm always like, okay, am i sure or does that change. so i want to talk to smart people always and check my cards. >> in terms of your team of advisers, i know you're a big hierarchy guy, would that be a recommendation made to scholars as they go forward? >> everybody is different. there's so many communication mediums that you have to figure out, a, leader is and b put them in a position to succeed and really understand how each of them needs to be communicated

with. it's not one-size fits all. everybody with their head down in their phones. i tend to try to do everything via emails as much as i can. when i get the bad news, i have to reach out and go face to face and be there to help people. you've always got to be in a position where it's not about you, it's about putting people in a passion to achieve your goals, because if you help them and have a vision for them to be successful, that's going to duck-tail with the organization, if the point comes where you go your separate ways, there's mutual respect. >> all about empowering women to empower women with basic business schools. terry asks for your advice, i'm

better partnering -- >> there hasn't been a business that doesn't have social conscious. you're not going to be in a situation where you're the only person knocking on the foor or sending them an e-mail. and so you have to reck -- recognize that every no gets you closer to a yes. there will come a time, oh, my goodness, they are going to say, no, that's when they say, yes. whether it's women's issues, no matter what it is, if it were easy it would always be done. it's not supposed to be easy. it's supposed to be hard. it's not a template that everybody follows for success. you have to put in the energy to be prepared and if you care about what you're trying to

accomplish, it's going to work. if you wake up and you're taking notice about your business because that's what you were thinking about, it's right for you. and if you have conviction, who cares if it's one more company what you speak to. cost what it takes. >> what. >> -- >> what is an obstacle for starting a business? >> yourself. lack of money 99%. they fail for lack of brain and effort. the only thing you can control, i say to athletes as well, the one thing you can control, your effort. that's the one thing nobody can take away from you that you can control. that is always, you know, that's the key. and if you're learning, always look to go improve and putting

in the effort, you have a shot and you can be successful. >> i hear another kind of same mark cuban "shark tank" contestant, scotty was the name of the company. >> right. >> a patent, trying to license a patent. why don't you tell the story because that pushed your buttons pretty good? >> there's a gentlemen who came on the show who had an outdoor's coat. he had a lot of pockets. he had a patent so that if you ran a wire up your sleeve using headphones and connected them something to listened, that's what he had patented. how do you patent that? when i was a kid i would listen to the pittsburgh pirates and i would have a radio that i would hide from my teacher and listened to the pirates and run

old-school headphone thing that is you can listen that had a wire and run it up my shirt so the teacher wouldn't see me. how the heck do you patent that? i went off on him. it greated big -- created a big uproar. mark cuban chair to eliminate stupid patents. we can't name it that. that's exactly the point. there's so many patents, and to me that's an inhibitor to progress. i'm a clean-room fan. if you go back to the '80s of computer, you can run with it and create your company, that led to the start of the internet and the computer boom. but now, it's a way to patent office -- to tell another quick

story, back in 2006, i have a movie distribution company and a theater company in town, so we decided we needed to change things up so we wanted to put movies on tv on dvd and online before they were in theaters. just natural course of business. we got sued because somebody patent that after reading and what i had done they created a patent and literally referenced what i was doing in the patent and turned around and sued me for it. so i gave a little bit for money to that foundation. [laughs] >> i think there's things that we need to do because it does inhibit progress. >> a scholar question asks, software for nonprofits, but also her profit is teaching

teenage girls how to start business so they can earn money to stay in school. >> wow. very cool. >> she mentioned "shark tank" in making decision, how do you measure the social goods, the way ideas help the community? >> return on your heart. what else is there? you know, it's not easy to get people to believe, but you're not there to -- there's no eye. it's about heart. so thank you. it's something special, you know. i don't know what else i can say about it. >> we saw -- >> we will leave this discussion with mark cuban. go live now to fort meade in maryland. the president is going to talk

about 9/11 and u.s. response to terrorism. this is being described as an as post event just getting under way. >> thank you, mr. president for joining us at the defense meeting activity, it's very exciting to have you with a face-to-face conversations. we are pleased to have you. >> nathan, thank you so much for participation. i want to thank everybody who appeared in fort meade. there are a couple of people that i want to acknowledge. first of all, your commander. there he is. he is in charge of a lot of stuff. with everything that's going on out of this incredible facility, obviously we can't succeed in our missions without a strong support from congress and we've got a can he congressmen who woy hard on behalf of military.

where is dutch? there he is. thank you so much. i'm going to be brief and front because i want to mainly take questions from folks, not just here but all around the world. today is a solemn day. i started my day come -- come >> comemorating9/11. i've had an opportunity to meet with many of the survivors, family members of those who were killed. on this particular day we are constantly reminded of their loss. we want to let them know that we do not forget those who have fallen. we are inspired by the survivors, many of whom still

have the scars both seen and unseen of that terrible, terrible day. and it's also a good time to remember all of the people who have served and sack -- sacrificed since 9/11. you know, we have veterans now from every state in the union who have served often time in multiple tours both in iran and afghanistan. although we have made enormous strides in degrading the core al-qaeda including bin laden himself that helped the plot on 9/11, we are well aware of the fact that those threats still exist out there, and here at fort meade, we do some of the most important work in helping to coordinate our efforts to

make sure that we are bringing all elements of american power against those who try to do us harm here in the homeland or overseas or threatened our allies. it's still critically important that we have thousands of trainers and advisers who are supporting the afghan military efforts there. our combat rules complete, we still have to make sure that they get help and assistance that they need. the emergency of isis in syria, hasment -- meant that we have to be present and pounding him every single day. airmen are doing work and providing training and assistance and support to security forces on the ground as they continue to push back isil.

both in iraq and syria and afghanistan, in north africa, what we are clear about is that we still have significant coming from terrorist organizations and the terrorists ideology. we also have the traditional threats that our military has to be prepared for. and from a new pacific region where historically we have underwritten the security of a region that came back after world war ii and where we have tremendous alliances to europe and cornerstone of nato. and so we are going to continue to have to, you know, work at every level to make sure that our men and women in uniform are

provide it had resources they need to succeed, equipment, training and in this new era that's not just a matter of tanks and riffles as many are aware, specially here at fort meade. cyber security is a whole new era in which we have to watch our adverse -- adversaries. i have to say thank you from all the american people. when i look out and look at all the members of the armed services around the world who served, this represents america. you have people of every race, religion, faith, every region of the country, but what we share is a common creed, a common commitment to freedom, rule of

law, a common belief that america is an indispenceable force around the world and our military is a linchpin in our ability to project our values along side our diplomatic efforts and the people-people relations that help to spread those core believes that all of you sacrifice for. i want to say thank you to you and specially those who are serving overseas and are watching here today. many of them are away from family right now. we are grateful for your service. i don't have a greater honor than serving as your commander in chief. and every single day i see the extraordinary work and i benefit as well. with that, why don't we start taking questions? >> yes, of course, sir. we do have many watching through

american forces network and arms ships at sea. we are going to go out there in a little bit. the first question from the many service members we have here. the first question will go out to the audience if someone has run ready. microphone here for you. >> good morning, mr. president. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> i'm from texas and my question is what made you initiate nbk in february 2014 and will you create something similar for females and what will you miss the most once you are no longer president after oval office? >> what part of texas are you

from? what we are referring to when we talk about nbk, my brother's keeper. one of the most important principles is that no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, if you work hard, you can get ahead. there's poverty in places where people don't have an opportunity and that's particularly true among young men who too often are ending up in prison instead of going in school or serving military. what we are trying to do is set up mentorship programs to make sure they are aware of what's going on, provide them with job training. i had a meeting with folks in new orleans, young men who had come from terrible circumstances, terrible neighborhoods. we want to make sure that they're aware how they can break the cycle and do right by

themselves and do right by their families. one of the young men that was sitting next to me, was enrolled in the marines. he was worried because he had tattos. i don't think that's going to be a problem. [laughs] >> but it gives you a sense of some young people are out of the loop and they don't know where to go, and how to -- how to -- you know, apply themselves in ways that allows them to succeed. so we are working diligently on that, not just ourselves, but businesses, military leaders are helping out on this issue. young women, we have a whole another set of initiatives. a white house counsel on women and girls to provide opportunity for themselves as well.

the young women are doing better than the young men. that's because you guys are a little smarter, but obviously they need opportunities as well. in terms of what i am going to miss the most, you know, i meant what i said, the greatest privilege i have is serving as your commander in chief. when i travel around the world, every place i go, i see folks who are doing incredible work and not physically fighting. a lot of times is helping train other countries so that they can secure themselves. a lot of times is helping on engineering projects or development projects or helps people after a national disaster. you are embassadors and spread good will around the world every single day, and so i'll misthat

a -- miss that a lot. you know, the plane is nice too but my lease is running out. i'm hoping i don't have to start taking off my shoes going through security. i live in what is call it had -- called the bubble. if i just want to take a walk, i have to have helicopters and boats, and all that stuff. everybody in position. and i can't just on a saturday morning, you know, go down to starbucks or something, not shave. it sounds pretty good to me. [laughs] >> those are some of the things i'll be doing when i get out of here. i probably won't wear a tie for

at least a month. thank you very much. >> i promise we are going to go world wide, and we are, you have traveled there a few times, the first question is going to come down -- >> mr. president, we have your first live satellite question from afghanistan. we have sergeant erin. if you can hear me go ahead and nod, you are on the live -- on the line with the president, go ahead with your question. >> good afternoon, mr. president, my game is sergeant erin, i want to take time to thank you for the opportunity to speak with me today. >> thank you, erin. >> my question for you is, due

to resent russian activity in syria and possibility of future activity, what -- how will that affect our current military strategy within the region? >> well, it's a great question. first of all, let me just say thank you for your service and please tell everybody in your unit that we appreciate them as well, we are thinking about them and you are in our thoughts and prayers. as i indicated indicated in my g remarks, we've done an incredible job and going after and dismantling the core al-qaeda network that was operating in the region between afghanistan and pakistan. they still pose a threat but it is much diminished. but what happened with this radical violent extremism it's spread to other areas, and you

know, right now ground zero for those can i have activities is a with isil. our strategy is that we will use our air power to support by iraqi security or where we can find it modern opposition in syria to push back on isil, go after financing, go after networks, their supplies, a lot of them -- a lot of their operations are funded by oil fails and so blocking those, going after the infrastructure that they build up, those strategies will all continue. the challenge we've had in syria is that the president there

assad has been so destructive towards his own people, destroying entire cities, dropping bombs, creating conflict inside of syria. it has become a magnet for gentlemen -- gentlemen >> jehadis throughout the region . share it is view that isil is very dangerous. so despite our conflict with russia in areas like ukraine is converting interest. the bad news is that russia continues believe that assad is somebody that is worthy of continuing support.

it has been my view and the united states government as long as assad is there, he has alienated of the syrian population, that it will not be possible to arrive at a peaceful cease fire. so russia has for many years now provided financial support, sold arms to assad. i remember a conversation i had with mr. putin four or five years ago when i told him that was a mistake, it would make things worst as long as he continue today support assad. he did not take my warnings and as a consequence, it has gotten worst. it appears now that assad is worried enough that he's inviting russian advisers in and russian equipment in, and that

won't change our core strategy, which is to continue to put pressure on isil and iraq and syria, but we are going to be engaging russia to let them know that you can't continue to double down on a strategy that's doom to fail and if they are willing to work with us and the 60-nation coalition that we put together, that there's the possibility of a political settlement and a new coalition of moderate and inclusive forces could come together and restore in the country. that's our goal. this is going to be a long discussion that we will be having with the russians but it is not going to prevent us from continuing to go after isil very

hard. it could prevent us from arriving at the political settlement ultimate needed to bring peace back to syria, and you know, this is where our military efforts have to be combined with effective diplomatic efforts. one of the thing that is i -- things that i said is that you shouldn't be fighting for our security and our freedom alone. you have to have the support of diplomats and intelligence experts and others because you are vital and necessary. if you are doing it by yourselves, we can win any battle, but you know, our main challenge right now in a lot of these countries, syria, north africa is disorder. the only way you restore order

unless you're occupying every country that starts breaking down is through political negotiations. that's where the russians are going to have to start getting a little smarter than they have been. they are in threat in many ways by isil. and the strategy that they are pursuing right now is doubling down on assad is a big mistake. >> thank you for that question from afghanistan. we do hope that you and others do stay safe. we do have thousands of members overseas watching the network or streaming live and they too are eager to talk to you. >> sir, we have a question from jay rita 2192.

mr. president can you share with us your personal experience and memories of when 9/11 first happened? >> michelle and i were just talking about this morning. sasha, my youngest daughter had just been born. she was four or five month's old, and september 11th was malia's first day of preschool or kindergarten. so michelle had gone with the girls to drop malia off at school. they were tiny. i was at the time a state senator so i was going to downtown chicago to a hearing on an issue and i remember driving

on lake shore drive in chicago and hearing the reports of a plane crashing into the buildings, and at first, the reports weren't clear so thaw thought it -- you thought it was some accident had happened, so it wasn't until i got to downtown that we started realizing that it was something much more serious. at that time no one was sure whether this was going to be an on-going attack. the building was evacuated and i remember standing in downtown chicago with thousands of people. it was called the sears tower.

people didn't know what to think and i remember going to my law office and that's what we saw the images of the towers starting to come down. that evening i have memories of, you know, giving sasha a bottle and rocking her to sleep while we were watching. you know, the aftermath of those attacks, and like everybody here, you know, most of you were a lot younger, you know it gave you a sense that our homeland could be vulnerable in that way. we hadn't seen an attack like that since pearl harbor. it inspired all of us just to

remember how precious what we have is and the need to defend it at any cost, and, you know, although subsequently i would have, you know, strong disagreements with the previous administration about certain decision that is were made, i remember and getting great credit for president bush for being at the site, throwing the first pitch at the yankee stadium and everyone remembers that, you know, you're not a democrat first or a republican first or, you know, texasan -- texan first, you are an american.

we will remember that what binds us together is much more important than anything that divides us and that what makes this country special is the fact that, you know, we are bound together. we -- we or our parents or our grandparents come from different places but we have a shared creed, a shared belief in the system and a shared set of commitments, and, you know, all of you in our services every day. >> the next question from social media and our viewers can join in twitter, the department of defense facebook page or go back overseas for you, mr. president. >> sir, we are headed to

belgium. we are going to talk to navy commander scott. go ahead with your question to the president. >> thank you for your time, mr. president. i was honor today march in your parade. we all kind of look alike. in a serious note, we're seeing more and more refugees come to europe by land or sea, do you think there should be a dat -- response to this crisis? >> we have to work with our european partners. the refugee problem is not just a european problem, it's a world problem. we have obligations.

i made certain through send through every agency that we have to do our part, first of all, in taking our refugees, that small boy drowned, anybody that is a parent understands that, you know, that stirs all of our conscious, not just, you know, folks on the other side of the atlantic. i've been in discussions with people like prime minister of italy t -- the greeks and others about how we can enhance efforts so that people that are loading up on the boats are safe and we're not seeing enormous loss

of life there. we are encouraged by the efforts of the european union to accept refugees in all countries and spread out some of the burdens and the pressure. the united states needs to do our share. we should establish a floor of at least 10,000 that we are willing to accept. ultimately, though, as you well know, it is really important for us to go to the source. the old story if you see a bunch of bodies floating down a river, part of your job is to pull those folks up and safe who you can and see what is happening. the crisis is prompted by the collapse of governments in

syria, and the growth of isil and the cruelty that assad is perpetrating on his own people. and that's why the response i gave earlier, the importance of us continuing our military efforts against isil but trying to pull together a strong international diplomatic effort to bring some sort of political accord inside of syria is going to be so important and so vital. last point i'll make about this, this is where nato planning becomes difficult, even though in the short-term we are helping counties respond to the crisis. unfortunately we can anticipate that refugees will be an ongoing problem for decades to come. the reason is because there are too many states that are not

doing well by their people, the spread of media gives people in war-torn countries or poverty a vision of a better life and they are desperate and willing to take extraordinary risks to get there. you then have, you know, other factors that may end up resulting in more migration and refugees. for example, climate change. i just came back from alaska. as temperatures rise, the pentagon is on -- this will be a national challenge in part because people will be displaced from their traditional lands either by drought or flooding, and that can create more refugee problems. we are going to have to work globally and one of the topics when i go to the united nations,

leaders gathering that we have at the end of this month is to start coming up with a more effective structure for an international response. no one country can solve these problems alone, but the united states obviously is the world's leader and nato has the premier alliance and the world is going to have to play a essential role. >> i want to thank the commander for that question. we've gone online. it's time to come up here for the question. we'll have one of our mic -- do we have a question at the front? >> from arizona. you alluded in our opening remarks about the threat of cyber. there's been a lot of talk about a separate branch of the military dedicating to cyber.

>> it's a great question. yeah, we initiated cyber command anticipating that this is going to be, you know, a new they they for potential conflict. what we've seen by state and non-state actors, sophistication of hacking, penetrate systems that we previous thought would be secure and it is moving fast, so offense is moving a lot faster than defense. a part has to do with the internet was originally designed. it was not designed with the expectation that there end up being three or four or five million people doing promotional transactions, etc. it was thought this was just going to be academic, you know, network to share papers and form --

formulas and what not. the architecture makes it very difficult to defend consistently. we continue to be the best in the world at understanding and working within cyber, but other countries have caught up. the russians are good, the chinese are good, the iranians are good and you have non-state hackers who are excellent, and unlike traditional conflicts and aggression, often times we don't have a return address. if somebody hacks into a system and goes after critical infrastructure, for example, or penetrates our financial systems, you know, we can't

necessarily trace it directly to that state or that address. that makes it more difficult as well. what we try to do is deemphasized number one a coordinated response and over the last several years, what we've done is to bring military agencies, cyber command with the nsa, with our intelligence and working with private sector to try to strengthen our defense much better. we are making progress but not enough progress. i anticipate that we are going to have to do more both through defense department -- again, we are going to have to work we are going to have to work with a whole bunch of other actors and coordinate with them much more

effectively. the bulk of vulnerable information and data isn't in our military, it's in the private sector. it's throughout our economy. it's on your smart phones, and so we're going to have to both strengthen overall networks but we're also going to have to train millions of individual actors, small businesses, big vendors, individuals in terms of basic, you know, cyber hygiene. we are going to have to be much more rapid in responding to attacks. this is something that we are in the infancy of. craft agreements among state actors about what's acceptable and what is not. for example, i'm going to be

getting a visit from shi of china. we've made very clear to the chinese that there are certain practices that they are engaging in that we know are emanating from china and are not acceptable. you know, we can choose to make an area of competition, which i guarantee you we will win if wee have to or come to an agreement in which we say, this isn't helping anybody, lets have basic rules in how we operate. there's still going to be individual actors, there's going to be terrorist networks and others so we are still going to have to build a strong defense. one of our first and most important efforts has to be to get the states that may be

sponsoring cyber attacks to understand that there comes a point to which we consider a national threat and we will treat it as such. >> i have a question from one of our cyber warriors from maryland. we are on the west coast but we will -- >> from a c17 instructor pilot major jennifer moore. major moore, go ahead with your question. >> mr. president, good afternoon. sir, both my husband and i have been serving side by side for the past 11 years and we have two amazing and thriving children. how do you and ms. obama know

how to balance work so that they can be successful in their children endeavors? >> first of all, thank you and your husband and tell your kids i say, hi, and they should do what you tell them to do. how old are your kids? >> well, my daughter gabi is seven and my son robert is four. i have a picture, sir. >> hold up the picture. [laughs] >> that's a good-looking crew right there. adorable. [laughs] >> absolutely. thank you, sir. >> well, i'll give you best advice that i probably can offer is for me, at least, i just do what michelle tells me to do and

it seems to work out and then your husband make that same approach, and those are great ages, seven, four, because you come home and they are jumping on you and so excited to see you. when they get to be 17 and 14, they still love you but you're not very interesting. [laughs] >> but, you know, everybody here with demands of job are extraordinary, it's not like you're always on the clock, you have to get the job done and that puts a lot of pressure on folks. you know, one thing i know that we can do is make sure our military is supporting families and that means making sure that housing and child care, you know, all the things that go into supporting families when

they're stationed particularly given how much they are moving becomes critical. you know, michelle has worked with dr. joe biden and, you know, do so much critical work, making sure that theyave the opportunity, for example, to find a job if they are getting transferred and have the kind of backing that they need, so that's really important. you shouldn't have to do this alone. what michelle and i did with malia and sasha is we are a strong believer of structure and rules and unconditional love

but, you know, being pretty firm too. you know, we started really early. here is your bedtime, here is when you're not watching tv, you'll sit there and eat your vegetables even if we have to sit there chew for 20 minutes and watch you swallow. if you start early enough with just high expectations, i think kids do well with that. and part of that involves, you know, loving those kids to death, but letting them know, i am your parent, i'm not your best friend. i'm not that interested in what your friends are doing. you know, that's -- that's --

they've got parents. their parents can make a decision. this is what you're doing in our house. and when you leave here, you'll be able to make your own decisions, but we are trying to prepare you so that you have some sense when you get out of here and, you know, i think that's worked. i think that's been appreciated. sometimes they complain. well, how come, you know, so and so is able to stay out until whatever hour. well, you know, that's not really our problem, is it? [laughs] >> and i -- you know, they're getting old enough now where sometimes they appreciate it. mainly because they know that we just, you know, we adore them and last thing i get is just as much as possible, we try to make sure every night when we are home that they have to sit and

eat dinner with us and i'm a big behavior in not getting the tv trays out and washing the kardashians. you leave your cell phone somewhere else. that's all by the way me just -- the main thing for your husband is listen to you. [laughs] >> that was an excellent question. i know my wife would agree. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and i know all of our service members will agree a large part of what we do and how we do what we can do is because of the loved ones at home. we do have family members watching. i know my wife is watching with my 2-year-old son and they have an opportunity to talk to you through social media.

>> we are headed online to facebook, sir, this question is coming from michael onn. mr. president, how do you keep striving for great accomplishments while everybody seems to be hating and talking smack about you? [laughs] >> you know, the truth is, is that not everyone is talking smack about me, but there's a percentage in country that talks about me, no doubt about it. you know, it's interesting. you know, when you go into public service, i think there's two ways to approach it. one way to approach it is that you just want to be popular, you want to get elected, stay in office and want to be popular.

another way of approaching it is i want a particular position because i want to get something done for the american people. and not everything that is right to do is going to be the popular thing to do. and, you know, i made the decision early on that if i was going to do this, i was going to run for elected office, that i had to have some sort of belief and principles that there would be times where i made mistakes or a wrong call but that i was guided by what i thought was best for the american people, and that i couldn't worry about

short-term popularity if i was going to do my best. so now, i'll give you a good example. when i came into the office early on we had the worst financial crisis in the u.s. history. one was the auto industry. the auto makers were on the virtue of flat lining and were getting bailouts but they weren't changing what they were doing, and a lot of folks that the chrysler was going to go bankrupt then gm and all the suppliers woald -- would lose out and pretty soon we would be able to buy jap -- japanese and german cars. i said, this is an industry that's too important. one that we essentially built for us to let it go.

and i knew that we had to put more money into it to get the industry back on its feet, but also knew that needed management to start competing again. when we put forth our plan, i think that 10% of people agreed with me. even in michigan, i think the overwhelming majority of people oppose to it, oppose our plan. and if i had been thinking in terms of just looking at the poll numbers i wouldn't have done it, but i looked at the evidence and what i thought was going to be best and we did it. this year we are probably going to sell more u.s. cars and hundreds of thousands of workers and it's been driving a rebound of american manufacturing that

is vital to our economy. so, you know, the longer i'm in this offense, -- office, the more committed i am in making those calls. part of the challenge in this job is that if it's an easy question, it doesn't get to my desk. the only thing that is -- things that come to my desk is something that hasn't been resolved. you're working on the percentages. when i made the order for us to get bin bin laden at the house n pakistan, it was probably a 50/50 as to whether that was, in fact, and the risks were enormous. if i had been making the decision based on wanting to avoid risk and not having

someone talk smack about me, then that would not be a decision that i would have been prepare today me. -- prepared to make. part of it is a support of incredible family and friends and, you know, seeing the sacrifices that all of you make. when i go to read and i visit wounded troops, i said to myself, well, i've got to be serious about what i do and i can't be worrying about poll numbers or what cable says. i have to make sure that i'm to the best of my ability making decision that is are most important for american

prosperity and american security for the long-term. and, you know, that way you can at least sleep at night. when i go to bed, i go to bed easy because i know that i've made the best decisions i could make. now, the only way that works is if i'm also open and listening to see if the decisions i made were the right ones, is it worth it. sometimes i may not make the right decision and i'm willing to correct it. and i've got to own that. that's what i always tell anybody in the white house, if somebody screws up, because there will be screwups. own it and correct it and learn from it and everybody on my team applies to me as well. so i think some of you may recall when we passed health

care. everything was working fine until there was this website that didn't work. it was a disaster. even though i had been asking every two weeks, how is the website going, i hope it works, but it didn't work. we had to own that and double-down and corrected it in three or four months and it's actually cost less than people anticipated and is working the way it should have. that was a screwup, and there's no point in trying to hide things when they don't would wo. a lot of times you take the long view on things. political polls, what the politicians say, that comes and goes. it goes up and goes down. i try to think 20 years from now

when i look back, would people say, this person operated with integrity and made decisions that were best for the country. so far that's working for me, anyway. it doesn't mean that sometimes i'm a little offended. that's why i go to the gym and work it off. >> mr. president, your next question. >> your next question is coming from sergeant and he he is at germany. genny, go ahead with your question. >> first of all, thank you, good afternoon, thank you for taking my question. mr. president, my question is how are military exercises like african line with morocco

strengthen u.s. and the nations? >> that's a great question. we appreciate it. i just came back from africa several months ago and there are huge challenges and huge opportunities. first of all, there's a comment that appreciates america. when you look at polls, positive views of america are as high as any other continent in the world. the people in africa admire the united states, they appreciate our values and our way of life and, you know, there's a real connection. it also is the kind that some of the fastest-growing economies around the world. we have stereotypes about

africa, ebola, poverty. when you travel there, they are moving. you go to cities there, everybody has a cell phone, everybody is hustling and working. that's going to be one of the great next arenas for economic and trade, and that means the united states is selling more goods there and they're selling more here, you know, enormous opportunity. our prosperity is tied together. what is also true that particularly north africa, it's steeping down the coast where violent islamic extremism has taken holt. somalia being a prime example. nigeria.

al-qaeda, and so we have to have a strategy to partner with those countries to ensure that our intelligence capabilities are a rapid response capabilities and their own capabilities for maintaining order or pushing back against extremism, that they are a lot stronger in the years to come. the good news is that these countries are eager for that kind of cooperation. countries like nigeria, countries like kenya welcome our presence, welcome our training of their troops. we have excellent ct cooperation with them. the problem that they have is capacity. capacity is one of those things you can solve if you have a willing partner, so we are working with the joint chiefs to

develop plans so that we are continuing to build up partnership capabilities across the continent and that will help us not only with home-grown problems inside of africa, but those platforms that also allow us to act more effectively against deeply organizations like al-qaeda on the peninsula in yemen because that's right across the ocean, and we want to be able to make sure that we can target those terrorist networks effectively. having african partners help us do that. >> we're hope to -- hope to go squeeze one more question. >> what do you know, the sailor is going to take you out to sea,

mr. president. on the phone we have petty officer. you are on the line, go ahead. >> good afternoon, mr. president. i'm calling you from the roosevelt -- >> hold on, joe. we are having trouble hearing you here. slight technical difficulties. if anybody else can hear, they can repeat the questions to us. >> would you like to try the question again? >> good afternoon, mr. president. this is petty officer calling you from the roosevelt, i want to thank you for giving me the opportunity today and i am very honored. >> i can hear you just fine, joe, and tell everybody on the ship we appreciate them. hope they get back home safe,

you have a question for us? >> yes, mr. president. during your presidency you had a lot of great experiences, what would you say is the most rewarding? >> that's -- wow. well, that's a big question. i tell you that, you know, though there are different rewarding experiences obviously in this office, but across the board what ends up being more rewarded for me is when somebody combs -- comes up to me when i'm appearing in some event and they say, mr. president, you helped me. you know, i've had moms come up

and say, mr. president, you know, my son who is, you know, 25 year's old, didn't have health insurance, when you passed that law to make sure he got health insurance, he finally got a check-up. they found a tumor and they took it out in time. this wonderful couple was there both the husband and wife were service members and two adorable little kids and as i was shaking their heads one of them said that the wife said, thank you because the husband had had ptsd

but wasn't getting help and she had written to us and -- and i had folks at dod reach out and he had gotten counseling and now was doing well and the family was thriving. you know, sometimes we see things as abstract, and there's a bunch of folks talking on television and it all seems like politics and arguing, but one of the things that you learn the longer you're in this is that these decisions matter and you're touching people directly in some kind of way, and you know, when you hear that something you did actually

helped, then you say to yourself, all right, this was worth it. this was a good day, and -- and i know that everybody here feels that same way. you know, there's going to be frustrations in our work, there's going to be challenges in our work. many of you operate and people don't always say thank you. but then every once in a while, you see that, all right, what i did helped, made a difference. somebody is safer. somebody -- who was hungry has eaten. somebody's home was destroyed, now they have shelter. now they have security and freedom. and that's what keeps you going.

that's what inspires you, so those are the most gratifying moments of my presidency. you know, and practical -- >> we know that one of those challenges is that you have obligations and time constraints. we want to thank you, marines and coast guard, we are representing the coast guard here as well. thank you and if you have any final remarks for all of us. >> thank you for your extraordinary service. what you do is vital to our way of life. it is vital to our country. you know, i started off talking

about 9/1 -- 9/11 and how shane -- shaken all of us were, angry, frustrated and moved by it, but when you travel to new york now, you know, there's a new tower soring in the sky. you know, those first responders, the cops and the firemen and the emt's, a lot of them are still serving and still doing great work every day, and, you know, it's just a good reminder of the essential spirit of the american people. you know, we don't always get things perfect the first time. there are times where we take a

hit. there are times where unfortunately we have self-imposeed, you know, problems because of politics or conflicted inside our own country. our political system is not always serving people the way it should. a lot of the things that we didn't have a chance to talk about is congress that had a budget that they're supposed to be passing at the end of this month, and we've been operating under what's call a se -- modernization and research and development and support for our troops that's needed. it's preventing us from funding education and job training and infrastructure that is vital for our long-term economic

competitiveness. i hope congress is paying attention to how you operate and how you do your job, because if they were conscientious about it, we would be in a position where we would make the investments. so, we've had challenges, but just think about how we've bounced back from 9/11, from the worst financial crisis since the great depression. may recollect is the strongest, the most diverse country on earth and the 21st century is being shaped by our ideas of the internet and international trade

and free markets, and then the reason for all of that is because of our people. sometimes, you know, we hear about all the bad stuff that's going on, specially during political season, but america is strong, it's strong because of all of you and i never want you to forget that. you should be very proud of what you do and very proud of, you know, the people that you represent in uniform every single day because this country is full of good, generous, working people and they rely on you and grateful to you. say, hi to your families back home. >> our commander in chief.

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