it dips a little bit in the middle, and then it goes up among the high income, higher educated folks. that is probably inherently unstable, because how is he going to pay for all of the government programs to support the people at the lower end? eventually, it is going to be taxes, and quite stiff taxes, on people on the upper end. we asked to implement those taxes, -- when he asks to implement those taxes, i think we will see the suburbs populated by the better educated professionals swing back into the republican direction. >> i think there's a lot of truth to that. also, you have to think about these groups. each person belongs to more than one group. we think about the people who are considered to be highly educated in the polling from the last two elections, they also

tend to be unusually young and they also tend to be wealthy. i think we have to think about the appeal of republicans and conservatives across this spectrum. democratic governance tends to make the wealthier is little more conservative because it taxes them more highly. i think that edge of things will tend to balance out, flat out a little bit. but there is no question that you want to be the smart party, the party that appeals to people who think of themselves as sophisticated political consumers. .

that in itself is not a huge problem. we have to think about what your point to things that underlie it. >> anything to add to that? >> i think it is too soon to say. with the enthusiasm for president obama, it stemmed from a lot of miscellaneous sources and upper income people. it was a luxury first. [laughter] in the sense that it did not seem a threat economically. there was the history and the natural desire for change that

was a fashion statement for some people. i'm not disparaging that. people wanted to demonstrate their enthusiasm for a society which we could elect an african- american president. i am not sure how that holds up over time. the luxury is gone now. even since the election, there has been a heck of a scare for a lot of people that are not quite so certain of their economic futures. there is the threat of higher taxes and severe restrictions on their life and lifestyles. it'll be more evident. let's wait a while and see whether it is a pattern or a one time thing. >> also, in terms of obama's use and sensibility, it was the first opportunity in american history to vote for a graduate student for a united states president. i think there was an element of

identity to it, in that sense. >> if i can meld arguments. what they are saying is the democrats disproportionately has the support of people who did not finish high school and those that study gender studies. [laughter] the republicans continue to win those with a bachelor's degree and go to work. where the future leads, it is your guess. >> admittedly, i have a question. i heard a lot of descriptions that may sound like conservatives -- conservatism is not being held these days by the republican party.

it is a logical conclusion that either a nonpolitical approach to pushing conservatism is right or looking for some sort of structural change for new party is right as opposed to banning all our hopes on the other party. >> that is not that of not is of a question. -- of noxious of a question. i think it should be political expression for conservative goals. the only viable one of the moment and over the last 30 years is and has been the republican party. we have to be concerned about its health and direction. >> governor? >> we focus on either side by the time -- by the way. they are trying to construct something new.

it is not very practical. the system tends to find an equilibrium and will again. the reference more than once was anything is today's american of all ages. there are lots of choices. i'd think that the would not sit still for the distinguished -- extension of one of the two that they have. >> we should not be to dismiss the of the republican party conservatives. it is important for an electrical -- and intellectual party to be winning elections and do something for the country rather than arguing about if we could. the republican party has been an effective vehicle for conservatives for getting in power. it has not always work out we are in power, but we could've

said the same thing in the 1970's. we could said the same thing in the early 1990's. we could have said the same thing in 1998. it is worth the investment and effort to make the republican party a vehicle for conservative ideas. there are not a lot of options. in the democrats decided, it helps to have to filter yourself for some sign of process that forces you to talk to voters. they need to think about what the political system ask the people of one to exercise power. our two parties do an excellent job of this. it is going to take a lot of effort to revise the republican party. it is worth the effort. >> would be benefit to the country if the conservative movement detached from the republican party and able to influence right minded

democrats? >> yes, that should obviously be our goal. one of the great political watchwords of the 1980's was "reagan democrat." of course you want to appeal to the democrats. >> reagan democrats were voters, not politicians. you have the sentimental influenced by speaking to voters through the vehicle of a party. reagan democrats voted for republicans. >> we have time for one more question. i am sorry i will have to make a decision between both of you. you've had your hand up for a long time. this will be our last question today. >> john goodman, national center for policy elements. one of the thing that -- they have talked to blue-collar workers and explain what capitalism is good for them.

except for a few references to healthcare, i've not heard anything like that on this panel today. there is no real interest in using a conservative point of view to solve economic problems for the americans. >> governor? >> i do all the time. i guess it did not come to mind here. i talk to people all the time about what it will mean in their life and their job and their economic prospects if we dramatically raise the price of energy in our state. i talk to them all the time about why higher taxes not only means higher paychecks, but less chance for their son and daughter to get a job.

your questions are very important. i think we did not give the right illustrations. i think you heard each of us in different ways recognize that to be a credible preeti credible -- to be credible and earn the right to be in a leader and a part of this country, we have to address ourselves and put ourselves in the shoes of the large majority of american citizens. we need to reserve our greatest concern. our greatest concern for those who have shared the blessings the freedoms that are brought to this country. you are right to remind us. it is every breath that he started from the standpoint of decisions that have not got up the ladder yet. he will always be a great his

role model in that respect. >> i think your question exactly the essence of the challenge that we face. we have not gone that across, then we did that to do our job. that is exactly the poitn where conservatives need to see -- point where concerts is me to speak to voters. america does not need to stand back and think about accountants. it means to think about the lives of a family. it means to think about apparent to confront a difficult balance between the needs of raising a family of prospering and making money. it is a balance that exists at the core of conservatism. there is this tension between what we think of now social consumer system and visible consumers and. that is not a philosophical problem. that is in the life of every american family. our effort to deal with that

needs to express itself. in the to speak to the problem that middle-class parents face, that inner-city parents face, and speak to the challenges of bringing up a new generation of americans to bling in the american dream of social mobility. that is what conservatives need to do. that is what it means to think about the problems that we face. >> absolutely. i agree with all of that. it is not just john campeau's on to this. abraham lincoln said a good if there is any measure that will help the lot of the average working man, i am for that measure." i think that attitude should be at the core of what we are about as conservatives. >> we end on the note that free enterprise is at the center of

american culture. it is the essence of opportunity and freedom. on to greener should is a question of character. it is a vehicle on which we will take not as a conservative moments, but take americans to greater heights. before we break up, i do want to remind you or ask you to join me in thanks the bradley foundation. as many of you know, and they have been the leader of a lender -- of philanthropy in expanding access -- entrepreneurship. it is something that has been a great benefit to our communities and to the united states. please, join me in thanking the bradley foundation. [applause]

thanks also to the hudson institute for their hard work and organize in this event. and to our panelists who will be here after war. i am sure these conversations will spill over. thank all of you for your attention and energy in a conversation we had today. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> you can watch this forum on the future of the republican party again later tonight. earlier today, president obama held a town hall meeting on health care. he took questions about health benefits, the single payer system, and the overall cost of health reform. the town hall meeting is next on c-span. also tonight, and abetting a pakistani opinion poll. most people in the south east

asian countries and you al qaeda and the television as a major security threat. -- the taliban as a major security threat. >> live coverage begins at 9:00 eastern on c-span2. >> now town hall meeting with president obama on the u.s. health-care system. in addition to the audience here in annendale, virginia, he also takes question submitted through facebook, you to come and twitter. from the campus of northern virginia, this is about an hour 15 minutes.

>> thank you. thank you. have bases. thank you and good afternoon. this the second largest community college in the united states. health care work force professionals in the washington metropolitan area. metropolitan area. i want to thank the president i want them thanks the host. we are joined by numerous officials. all, but we have federal, state, local, from boards of supervisors to senators here on such an incredible topic. we are glad to have them. the president has had plenty to do in the last five months working to bring our american economy back, regulate credit cards, regulate tobacco so our

kids will be safe. so many issues, pay equity for women. but in the massive issues, he has not failed to pay to virginia. he has not failed to pay attention to fambing -- fairfax county. we stood at the edge of the fairfax parkway, a long project, and thanks to the support of our representatives from congress, that bill was passed, and the president signed it. and today of the dollars going to virginia from the transportation infrastructure, the two largest projects are the two sections of the parkway. that happened balls of this president. [applause] >> and in may, at mount vernon, i stood together with lisa jackson, the present e.p.a. administrator as she announced

a first, the first-ever presidential executive order about chesapeake bay to truly save the bay. it was a historic day and again, it happened because of this president right here in fairfax county. today her here to talk about an important issue, the issue of health care. we have done some wonderful things in virginia, but we are working at the margins, because in virginia and in the nation, one in seven americans and one in seven vearns don't have health insurance, and those that do find serious difficulties in costs and quality. our president is joining us today to talk about that, and it is so great to welcome him here. i want to introduce the moderator of the session today as the president gives remarks and takes questions from the add conference. valerie is the senior advisor to the president who is both the senior advisor and assistant for intergonchtal

affairs. she is a long long-time friend of the president and has worked in several capacities in washington. of particular note, this topic, the need for health care reform, is one that she knows a lot about. she was the chairman of the university of chicago medical center board of trustees working on training of health professionals and provision of care through the university of chicago hospital. please join me in giving a great northern virginia welcome to valerie jarrett? [applause] >> thank you, governor kaine, and good afternoon everybody. we are delight delighted to have you all here. we are going to really try to

get everyone engaged. i want to first start by thanking the people from the northern virginia community college. we have students, we have administrators, faculty and staff. thank you all for being here, and we look forward to your participation. also all of those who are here from the annandale community, a community that has been very hard hit by the health care crisis that we face here in america. as health care reform moves through congress, it is important to president obama that we take the time to engage the american people. we want to hear their questions. owe about want to engage them and have the president have an opportunity to answer their questions. in addition to the people we have here today, we are also live-streaming this session over the internet. we want to make sure that everybody has a chance to get in the action and participate. so we are going to have a multidimensional session, if you win, three different ways. first of all, we are going to have a chance to hear the video responses to the questions that were put to us here today.

over the we could the president did a youtube video, and he actively solicited questions, and so we will have video questions first. in addition, the white house is doing a live chat on white house.com and our facebook page. my guess is we are going to also have some questions coming across from twitter. all this is going on while the president is answering questions. if you see a nice gentleman come across the stage and hand me a question, it is because we are going information coming across. and then of course we want to hear from those of you in the audience as well. so the audience, the facebook as well as the videos all coming at us at the same time. so, let's get started. without any further adieu, i would like to introduce to you the person whose first priority is passing health care reform this year. please welcome to our town hall, president barack obama. [cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause] >> good to see you guys. thank you, everybody. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, northern virginia. thank you very much. everybody please have a seat. have a seat. what a wonderful welcome, and i'm so grateful to all of you for taking the time to be here. a couple of quick acknowledgements. i want to thank the college president and others for their hospitality. we have some extraordinary elected officials.

first of all, you have got one of the finest governors in the country. please give tim kaine a big round of applause. [applause] >> part of the reason tim is such a good governor is because he took notes while being lieutenant governor to the former governor and now senator for the state of virginia, an outstanding public servant, mark warner. [applause] >> and three outstanding members of congress, bobbie scott, jim moran, and mr. conley. thank you guys for the great job you do every day. i know there are all kinds of stuff valerie was explaining. don't worry. she is in charge, and she will organize us. i want to give a few remarks at the outset and we will save most of the time for questions. it is wonderful being here in

annandale, and i am looking forward to answering questions about what is obviously one of the most important issues faces american families, american businesses and it is american government. but before i begin, i just want to say a few words about where we are as a nation, and where we need to go. we are living through extraordinary times. i don't need to tell you. this generation of americans, our generation, has been called to confront challenges of a magnitude that we have not seen in decades, perhaps unlike anything we have seen in recent history, challenges that few generations of americans are asked to face. in addition to the immediate threats that we face, we've got two wars going on and a very deep recession. our economy has always been weakened by problems that have plagued us for decades. the question of the cost of health care, the state of

schools and and our continuing dependence on foreign oil. i know some say we can't tackle all of these problems. it's too much. congress can't handle it. the president is juggling too many things. my administration has taken on too much too soon. we are moving too fast. what i say is that america has waited long enough for action on these issues. it is not too soon to fix our schools when we know that if our children are not prepared, they are not going to compete in the 21st century. it is not too soon to wean ourselves off of dirty source of of energy so that we can grab hold after a clean energy future. we have been talking about clean energy since richard nixon, and it's time for us to act. i congratulate, by the way, the house of representatives for beginning action this past week on a historic clean energy bill. it is also not too soon to

reform our health care system, which we have been talking about since teddy roosevelt was president. we are add a defining moment for this nation. if we act now, then we can rebuild our economy in a way that makes it strong, competitive, sustainable and prosperous once more. we can lead this century the same way we led the last century. but if we don't act, if we let this moment pass, we could see this economy just sputter along for decades, a slow, steady decline in which the chances for our children and our grandchildren are fewer than the opportunities that were given to us. and that is contrary to the history of america. one of our core ideas has always been that we leave the next generation better off than us. and that's why we have to act right now. i know that people say the cost

of fixing our problems are great, and in some cases they are. the cost of inaction, of not doing anything, are even greater. they are unacceptable. and that's why this town hall and this debate we are having around health care is so important. let me just give you a few statistics. in the last nine years, premiums have risen three times faster than wages for the average family. i don't need to tell you this because you have seen it in your own lives. even if you have got health insurance, and 46 million people don't -- if you've got health insurance, you have seen your costs double. they have gone up three times faster than wages. if we do nothing, then those costs are just going to keep on going higher and higher. in recent careers, over one third of small businesses have reduced benefits, and many have dropped coverage all together since the early 90's.

not because small business owners don't want to provide benefits to their workers, but they simply can't afford it. they don't have the money. if we don't act, that means that more people are going to lose coverage, and more people are going to lose their jobs because those businesses are not going to be competitive. unless we act, within a decade, one out of every five dollars we earn will be spent on health care. for those who rightly worry about deficit the amount our government spends on medicare and medicaid will be larger than everything else combined. the congressional budget office just did a study that showed that when you look at the ricing cost of indictlement, 90% of the is medicaid and medicare. 90% of it comes from the federal share of health care costs. so if we want to control our

deficit, the only way for us to do it is to control health care costs. those are on subactions, those are numbers. but many of you know that this translates in the pain and heartache in a very personal way for families all across america. i know because during the two years that i campaigned for president, every town hall meeting i had, people would raise horrible stories about their experiences in the medical system. and now that i'm president, i'm hearing those same stories. i get 10 letters a day out of i get 10 letters a day out of the 40,000 or my staff selects them for me to read. at least half of them relate to a story that has been denied coverage because of a pre- existing condition or somebody to find out that what they thought was going to be a $500 bill ending the $25,0