alliance are coming in in an incredible way to be able to back up the military surge? >> that's a good question. i wouldn't try to described with the word credible. because it absolutely is credible. do you have the capability, when you are training a development officer or a political officer, you're not necessarily thinking of them working their knowledge and achieving if he cans in a dusty come pound in kandahar. . .

>> in that community, what is the infrastructure like? what is the agricultural, economic value changed? where is it broken? there are things you can do in a few short months that can turn things around. locally. that might be a happy little town in an unhappy little district. their knees to the engagement at all levels. you have political reform,

activities at the national level that to not trickle down to make families happy but they are vitally important. you try to connect all of these dots. you try to prevent them from coming -- from becoming totally destroyed. i think they are credible. many civilians that arrived understand very quickly that that war needs to be done or stabilized and some of those more national nation to nation engagements can actually bear fruit. are you there as part of a counterinsurgency effort or trying to rebuild afghanistan? the answer is, yes, you are. >> let's try to do two last questions.

çó>> tip o'neill famously said," politics is all local politics." you are dealing with tribal politics. uçóhow could you deal with this without giving taliban the tribal rivalries? >> do you want to -- >> you talked about center of gravity andçó the afghan population.

it seems like there is a western democratic population. it seems like a race. how fast can we get our job done there to outpace the dissatisfaction that is growing. ? even as the search was announced, americans were tired of campaign there. it seems like the perception in the west is terribly amiss matched to what is going on on the ground. how do we do that? what kind of information operation can we mount to make sure we have support for the democracy. the second to police supporters not there, it m6 more difficult. >> i think we have somewhat filled in this regard.

-- failed in this regard. ññprotrude is being seen. we have to make(x sure the population is able to digest and debate using facts,. ñ#ñultimately,kñ/q the possiblee population recover from his pre smart. given the facts, given transparency and so on, they whatever their mind is, so be it. i don't think we should be in a mode where we are trying to, as a militaryyj, force, convince populations of whath!ñ we -- of

the ability of what we're doing. we need to make certain that we need to be part of a larger machine. qimy fear is that the populatios have not been wrong, necessarily, on the specifics of this mission what we need to make sure of, you and died on be careful and understand that during those periods of time like maybe we dealt with in 2006-2009, it was an economy of force stafford globally= wheree would -- where we knew we were under-resource. ì+ achieve so much until the situation changed. that honest dialogue with our populations occurred but was also interspersed with little success as. es.

we were generally saying it was successful and going in the right direction. i do not know if there was enough dramatic success or will permit, sustainable success that the population could really perceive it. when you are in a war of words, the other guy has words to and he can't discredit everything you said. it was not just a taliban but our own internal divisive voices that would describe the situation completely different simply because they got it wrong. it happens. the center of gravity is important which is a segue to your question because the population of afghanistan is wildly fracture. it is a constellation of

difference. you have tribes, businesses, official government, sub-tribes. it is just like here. but it is different. tribal groupings may have been replaced by other loyalty structures in their own countries but nonetheless they exist. they are very tight and the need to be involved. it is not nearly as fractious as you would describe. they are not a challenge between tribes and legitimate government. it does not matter itself -- manifest itself every day. tribes can be empowered and supported to do the things they're good at. there is a remarkable low-level conflict resolution system that exists in that culture. they are good at sorting out some things that would go to civil litigation in our society.

and they have satisfactory results, culturally acceptable. those are tribal issues. those are insular and dealt with by the family. vit is not challenging government. as a part of that. we also need to recognize that government as you and i see it is not necessary as they say it. we cannot use our lens selectively on this population. you have to recognize that it will create hole that works for them and we have to make sure that we provide the support to do that. we make lots of mistakes. we talk to the wrong people. we do make mistakes but we learn. when you were doing something that involves some of the parts

of all of your ambition together, you were willing to forgive a little bit. to is a very personal, close up to at the complex. -- type of conflict. and all parties have a right to be involved, including the tribes. >> bank you very much. -- thank you very much. we have a series of additional questions but we are short on time. we formed the nato forum and there was a passionate role of the defense and afghanistan at a time when americans were questioning the war. we are delighted to be able to continue using this formílg4 tt an allied military commander coming out of the field to be able to offer your insight and perspective at a time when

airlines is engaged in another serious offensive. thank you for your time, thank you for your insights: thank-you for your presentation. a pleasure to have you here. >> thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] p]>> up next on c-span, remarks from attorney-general are older and then we will hear from former vice president dick cheney and columnist george will. "washington journal" begins at 7:00 and involves president obama's trip to nevada. our coverage of the american conservative union cpac meeting

continues this morning. we will hear from house republican eric cantor and others. live coverage begins at 8:30 eastern on c-span 2. later in that day, president barack obama will hold a town hall meeting in las vegas. that will take place at green valley high school. 3wjrjr(kátp' 2. a series of accidents. it is like a pile up of cars in a snowstorm. >> how did the u.s. end up in vietnam? sunday, pulitzer prize winning offer ted morgan. q&a, sunday night on c-span. >> attorney general are colder spoke at a conference yesterday on the public defender system.

[applause] >> thank you. i would like to say it is good to see you but i cannot see you with all these bright lights. these bright lights. [laughter] i was in detroit yesterday, and we have substantially more snow here than in the midwest, and if you know anything about washington, d.c., 2 or 3 inches is something we can handle. we've got 2 or 3 feet, so it's ap amazing thing -- an amazing thing you were all able to get here, so i thank you for joining us for this very important conference. i want to thank you, laurie. it's an honor to join with you and my old friend, tree, in welcoming our participants. many of you have traveled mr. all across -- from all across the country, and i want to thank each and every one of you for your engagement and for your commitment to the principles that define who we

are and who we can be as a nation. for well over two centuries now, we as a people have been striving to build a more perfect union, an america that lives up to the vision of our founders. a country where the words of our constitution can finally reach the full measure of their intent. it is no less than this ongoing work, the fulfillment of our constitution, that brings us together here today. now, i'm here to discuss a responsibility that we as stewards of our nation's criminal justice system all share. a responsibility to insure that the fairness and integrity of that system is paramount. i would argue that our criminal justice system is one of the most distinctive aspects of our national character, and i would also argue it is one of the most praiseworthy. now, that said, we must face facts. and the facts prove that we have a very serious problem on our

hands. nearly half a century has passed since the supreme court's decision in gideon v. wane wright. the court followed with other decisions reckizing the -- recognizing the right to counsel in juvenile and misdemeanor cases. today despite the decades that have gone by, these cases have yet to be fully translated into reality. that is a fact. but you already know this. all of you have read the reports, and all of you know the data. and many of you have learned this truth in the hardest of ways, by experiencing it on the ground. you've seen how in too many of our counties and in too many of our communities some people accused of crimes, including juveniles, may never, may never have a lawyer either spirally or during -- entirely or during a critical stage of the proceedings against them. in fact, juveniles sometimes waive their right to counsel without ever speaking to an

attorney to help them understand what it is they are giving up. this is simply unacceptable. and our courts accept these waivers. meanwhile, recent reports evaluating state public defense systems are replete with examples of defendants who have languish withed in jail for weeks or even months before counsel was appointed. when lawyers are provided to the poor, too often they cannot represent their clients properly due to insufficient resources and inadequate oversight. that is without the building blocks of a well-functioning public defender system, the type of system set forth in the ten principles of the american bar association and the national juvenile defender center. now, as we all know, public defender programs are too many times underfunded, too often defenders carry huge caseloads that make it difficult, if not

impossible, for them to fulfill their legal and ethical responsibilities to their clients. lawyers under these caseloads can't interview their clients properly, can't file the appropriate motion, can't conduct fact investigations or spare the time needed to ask and apply for additional grant funding. and the problem is more about anything than just resources. in some parts of the country, the primary institutions for the delivery of defense to the poor -- i'm talking about basic public defender systems -- simply do not exist. now, i continue to believe that if our fellow citizens knew about the extent of this problem, they would be as troubled as you and i. public education about this issue is critical. for when equal justice is denied, we all lose. now, as a prosecutor and a former judge i know that the

fundamental integrity of our criminal justice system and our faith in it depends on effective representation on both sides. and i recognize that some may perceive the goals of those who represent our federal, state and local governments and the goals of those who represent the accused as forever at odds. i reject that premise. [applause] although they may stand on different side of an argument, different sides of a courtroom, the prosecution and the defense can and must share the same objective. not victory, but justice. otherwise we are left to wonder if justice is truly b being done and left to wonder if our faith in ourselves and in our systems is misplaced. problems in our criminal defense system aren't just morally untenable, they're also economically unsustainable.

every taxpayer should be seriously concerned about the systemic costs of inadequate defense for the poor. when the justice system fails to get it right the first time, we all pay, often for years for new filings, retrials and appeals. poor systems of defense do not make economic sense. so where do we go from here? i want to speak with you clearly and honestly about this. this in the last year, i have thought about it, i have studied and i have discussed the current crisis in our criminal defense system. what i've learned and what i know for sure is that there are no easy solutions. no single institution, not the federal government, not the department of justice, not a single state can solve the problem on it own. progress can only come from a sustained commitment to collaboration with diverse partners. now, i expect every person many this room to play a role in

advancing the cause of justice, that's everyone. and, yes, i say this with the knowledge that we have some unlikely partners among us. some might wonder what the united states attorney general is doing at a conference largely about the defense that poor people receive in state and in local courts. likewise, many of you -- the local officials, budget officers and prosecutors gathered here today -- have not traditionally been engaged in discussions about the right to counsel. but all of us should share these concerns. it must be the concern of every person who works on behalf of the public good and in the pursuit of justice. that's what this conference is all about, expanding and improving this work. learning from each other. recruiting new partners, and making sure that for our criminal defense community, government is viewed as an ally and not as an adversary. ..

we need partners at the federal, state, and local level to be involved by sharing information and working together, i believe we can build on the good work that has gone into developing model standards for our public defense systems. we must raise awareness of what we're up against. as americans understand how some of their fellow citizens experience the criminal justice system, they will be shocked. will be angry. feelings that would compel them to become advocates for change

and allies in our work. third, we must expand the role of the public defender. we must encourage defenders to seek solutions beyond our courtrooms and insure they are involved in shaping policies that will empower the communities that they serve. i am committed to making sure the public defenders are at the table when we meet with other stakeholders in the criminal justice system. i have charged the department leadership with colin on members -- with calling on members to participate in meetings. we will also involve the defenders in conferences, public review panels. it should not go without saying -- every state should have a public defender system. every state. [applause] sixth amendment right to counsel. it is as basic as that. last year, when i became attorney general, i took an oath

to support and to defend the constitution of the united states of america. i also made a promise, a promise to the citizens i serve and the colleagues i work alongside. a promise to guard the rights of all americans and make certain that in this country, the nancy pelosi distribution centers gent are not -- the indigent are not invisible. so let me assure you today this is not a passing issue for this department of justice. i have asked the entire department of justice in my office, in lloyd robinson's and in components as diverse as the office of legal policy and the criminal division to focus on indigent defense issues with a sense of urgency and a commitment to developing and implementing the solutions that we need. in the coming weeks, we will take concrete steps to make access to justice a permanent part of the work of the department of just tipples. -- justice, with a foe campus effort by our leadership office to ensure issues get the attention that they deserve of.

government must be a part of the solution, not simply by acting as a convener, but also serving as a collaborator. now, once again, we stand at the beginning of a new decade. we must seize this opportunity to return to the beliefs that guided our nation's founding, and to renew the strength of our justice system. i have every expectation that our criminal defense system can and will be a source of tremendous national pride. and i know that achieving this requires the best that we as a profession, and as a people have to offer. i pledge my own best efforts and today, i ask you for yours. thank you very much. [applause]

host: callerc-span3 c-span2>> mn prospect will talk about president barack obama's first year in office. the commerce department inspector general discusses a spending report on the 2010 census. later, lost vegas sun reporter will talk about president barack obama's trip to nevada and discuss senate majority leader harry reid and his reelection campaign in nevada. "washington journal" starts each morning at 7:00 a.m., eastern. >> your one-stop shop is at c- span.org/store.

you will find our series on presidential libraries and nearly every cspan program. you will find other cspan accessories. >> vice president dick cheney made a surprise appearance at the conservative cpac meeting yesterday after his daughter's speech. he spoke for about five minutes. knock off. [laughter] a welcome like that almost makes me want to run for office again. [applause] z$but i'm not going to do it. [laughter]

i believe very deeply in something date said earlier and that is that there comes a time when those of us of our generation need to move on and make certain that the younger generation has an opportunity to step up and take on the responsibilities that are so ñiimportant to the nation. i am enormously proud of my daughter. [applause] she said i could come with their but i had to be armed candy. [laugaiì(lc@&c+ in all sincerity, one of the highlights of my years in public office have been the opportunity to come before cpac. data's been kind enough to invite me time after time and i deeply enjoy a partly because this organization is so

important in terms of keeping alive the basic fundamental commitment to those principles that have been essential in our 200 year history as a nation. as i look to the future, i think the developments we have seen over the last several months are enormously encouraging. when we can achieve the kind of results we have achieved in places like virginia and new jersey and massachusetts -- [applause] the sky is the limit. 2010, i think will be a phenomenal year. [applause] i think barack obama is a one- term president. [applause] let me thank you for all of the

time and energy and effort you have committed to our common cause. you have been fantastic. there are some great years ahead of us. it is very very important that we succeed. i will do everything i can, most especially, i want to encourage that younger generation, all of you, and that is most of you -- [laughter] who are younger than i am, it is a remarkable time pay attention.

george will. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. [applause] >> from the cpacñi meeting, remarks from syndicated columnist george will. he spoke for 30 minutes. saturday, newt gingrich and quebec will address the group. [applause] will come to its senses and have me introduce the most conservative journalist in washington. for 30 years, a political and symbol -- ensemble

have been performing. [unintelligible] please be seated and take note of the nearest exit. in case of an emergency, please remain seated and away your federal bailout. when public policy has become a punch line, nation has a problem. this is going to be a very good year and what a difference a year does make. you saw just yesterday the issuing of the mount vernon statement, part of the ferment of conservative ideas that is under way. a great conservative once said people more often need to be reminded then instructed. the american people need to be

reminded of what we are conservatives and why we are getting an enormous assistobama. how to think about the challenges ahead of us. i am trying to tell a group as opinionated as this how to think about and present the real problems that we're facing now. i propose to be old as the first grader named susie who was in a class when the teacher said i want all of you to draw a picture. the teacher walked around and came to susie and said, what are you trying a picture of? she said i am drawing a picture of god. the teacher said, no one knows what god looks like. susie said, they will in a few minutes. [laughter]

in my few minutes i want to tell you how i think we can make your argument. the liberal conservative argument in our country is alive and well. it turns on the polar values of western thought and equality. today, conservatives stress freedom. they're willing to accept greater disparities of social of come and they are regarding the multiplication of entitlement with an mentality that is inimical to the attitudes essential for free citizens. liberals tend to stress equality. not equality of opportunity but about come. they tend to regard the multiplication of [unintelligible] as enhancing the public good. they are for spreading dependency. dependency on government is not

an unfortunate corollary of what they're advocating. it is their agenda. it is that to against which we might take our stand. the retreat of the state that began in may, 1979 with the election of margaret thatcher and accelerated with the inauguration of ronald reagan. the retreat of the state has been reversed to a point at which we are learning to the point erasure the distinction between the public and private sectors. in the process, we are refusing to learn from the past. we're beginning to replicate many of the state's the new deal. no one doubts that the new deal failed and its -- in its objective which was to put people back to work. we're replicating its

techniques. in september, 1933, with hugger stalking the land and unemployment at 20%, the new deal had a brainstorm. to demand and trigger a recovery in the economy. they ordered the [unintelligible] we spent $3 billion to move car purchases from september into august. all of which proves that mitch mcconnell [unintelligible] there is no education in the second kick of a meal. look how the world has changed. 16 months ago, new york city was the financial capital of the world. it is not the financial capital of the u.s., this town is. we have something like state capitalism in which capital credit, the lifeblood of the economy, is increasingly treated

as a public utility to be priced and allocated by political forces. this makes capital a slush fund and inevitably, it funds crony capitalism. much of this, we must face, began under a republican administration. with detroit, where we pioneered, it was a republican administration that subsidized failure. i do not know why the bush administration felt so strongly about this. they were haunted by the memories of the urban unrest and civil disorders that accompanied the bankruptcy of studebaker. today, we have an administration that can envision a world without the internal combustion engine but not a world without the chrysler corporation.

what is wrong with this picture? ronald reagan said "the rule in washington is, if it moves taxes,, regulated. subsidize it to get it moving again. that summarizes our policy. we have done with our passion to make more sectors of american society, more dependent on this town is too short circuit milton friedman's fundamental insight. we have a profit and loss system. the profit is to incentivize risk-taking. the loss side is to punish reckless risk. when you break that -- [applause] whedetroit is the largest and most lurid and garish example of the dependency agenda. let me go down the list. very soon, the two most

important decisions a family makes will be conducted with a government monopoly. from cradle to grave, aspirations of the welfare state, the marches on. one of the first things done in january 2009 is to expand schip. created by republicans and a small program. republicans thought it would stay small. it was for the working poor. now it has been expanded. families with incomes up to $125,000 a year are eligible for schip. there is no reason to expanded as much other than to raise a generation of young americans who consider getting their health care from government normal. . .

the baby boomers will join the ranks of social security and medicare rolls today. in this town, we have a school that a program that serves 1300 mostly poor, almost entirely minority students. it enables them to choose what a great many lawmakers in this town choose to do which is to send their children to private school. the democratic party and congress has worked tirelessly to extinguish this because they want the students to be dependent on the ramshackle plantation of public education and the city of washington. [applause] as clearly a first step

toward a single payer system. turn on your television at night. you are going to see competition all over your television screen between progressive automobile insurance, arguing with dai co automotive insurance, are -- arguing with state farm auto insurance. there is no reason we are not available -- not able to buy health insurance across state lines, other than to increase our dependence. that is so obvious that even a cave man can understand it. [laughter] dependencies explains the hostility in the current administration to help savings accounts. you become eligible for tax- deferred savings out of which you pay your regular expenses. the trouble is that emancipator people, because they take their own money and buy what they want. it has been well said, no one

wants is a rental car. you take care of what you own -- no one eyewashes a rental car. it is part of the dependency agenda to stigmatize and delegitimize large portions of the private sector, such as the pharmaceutical industry. if you confiscate all the profits of the american pharmaceutical industry, you would lower the pharmaceutical component of our health care bill from 10% all the way down to 8%. in the process, you would kill the industry's capacity for innovation. insurance companies are now in for their turn on the cross. the confiscated all the profits of health insurance industry in our country, you could pay two days of american health care. part of the dependency agenda is to encourage an entitlement

mentality, to encourage the entitlement mentality of which the trial bar prospers. it is the entitlement we are told we have that if anything bad happens to us, even as a result of our own imbecilic behavior, we are entitled to sue someone to be made whole. that is why america has a this place since of personal responsibility. america has all these weird labels on things that we buy. if you go to mcdonald's and buy a cup of hot coffee, it comes in a styrofoam cup with'hot'stamped on it. all because a woman is killed and burned herself, sued mcdonald's, and collected. -- a woman spilled it and burn herself.

you can buy a letter opener that says safety goggles recommended. you can buy at a clothing iron and that says do not iron clothes on body. you can buy a child's stroller that says "remove child before folding." [laughter] i tend to subscribe to the garth brooks theory of personal responsibility, and expressed in his song, "longneck bottle, let go of my hand." [laughter] you can see the dependence agenda in the tarp program, enacted by the toxic assets on the books of banks, not one of which has been bought, wall to car companies have been bought. you can see the dependency agenda in a disproportionate

share of the stimulus funds that have gone to state and local government to maintain the employment of unionized public employees, whose wages already are 34% higher and whose benefits are already 70% higher than those of people in the private sector. you can see the dependency agenda in the very reverence for targeted tax cuts, that is tax cuts that depend upon you you to do, to buy a hybrid car, to build a wind farm, whatever, as long as you use the money the way they want you to do it. this is tax policy itself that will become increasingly a way of@@@@@@@ @ @ @ na)

this will make people dependent on a government that they are not paying for. these graphs should terrify everything on this room. one line shows that the declining participation in the tax system, the top 1% of americans pay 40% of the income taxes for the topçó by%, a 60% . the bottom, 50% of american farmers pay 3% of the income-tax is. when this it ministration gets in place all of its tax preferences, 60% of the american people, a large majority, will pay either no income taxes or less than 5%. that is a majority that has zero incentive to restrain the growth of a government that are not paying for. that is a classic case of moral death

as a taxable event? in my team's heyday, the philadelphia phillies won the pennant and the world series. tug mcgraw was asked by journalists, what will you do with your winnings? he said i am going to spend 80% on wine and women, and i will probably waste the rest. [laughter] if you work hard in america and save your money and reach age 65, it is a free country. if you save it and try to give it to your children, the government will come in and take a bite out of it. what is wrong with that picture? another way that dependency is encouraged is by the encouragement of india as a

driver of social policy. we have been remarkably free of that in our country. that is why we are the only industrial nation that has never had a large, successful redistribution of socialist party. envy is gaining in our country, which is a little bit odd. did you ever think that envy is the only one of the seven deadly sins that does not give the center even momentary pleasure? [laughter] i know what you are doing. you are going down the list. it is essential to a dependency agenda that you expand the share of the gdp taken in by government. a four percentage point increase

has been accomplished by the obama administration in the first year, and more is coming in the name of a by u.s. attacks. that is a french word for huge government. larry summers says conservator'' do not like a value added tax and liberals do not like it because they think it is regressive. we will get about a tax when conservatives realize it is aggressive and liberals realize it is a money machine. in any case, we will have to be alert. the way to resist the dependency agenda in taxation is to subscribe to what economists call the monday-tuesday world. most americans should come home from work on monday evening and say that is it, i am done working for the government this week. the monday-tuesday rule, people

can understand. they can also understand the increasing try to make more and more sectors more and more dependent on the government. can someone explain to me why at a time of record for earnings we still have a farm program? a century ago, about 40% of the american work force was in agriculture. by 1970, it was 4%. today is under 2%. we are still feeding ourselves too well and exporting one-third of what we grow. when abraham lincoln made his one catastrophic blunder, creating the agriculture department's, there was one bureaucrat for every 227,000 farmers. today there is one for every 19 farms.

the story is told that a department bureaucrat was seen leaving in the halls of the building on independence avenue. a fellow bureaucrats came up and said what is wrong? he said, my former died. -- my farmer died. we've seen more and more local undertakings becoming dependent on the federal government. conservative administrations are culpable in this. under the last republican president, we passed a bill that further intruded the government in to run our schools. oblivious of the fact that the american family is the smallest school. the american family is the primary transmitter of values, and schools serve families, not the other way around. [applause]

the general problem is not what rahm emanuel said, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. the real problem is what they think, a crisis is a lovely thing to create. the crisis being created before our eyes is the crisis of the exploding deficit, which they hope will put us in a position to have to have a stampede toward an enlargement of the government's, perhaps justified by this or that commission. that is the object. çófinally, the greatest stampede of all they have in mind was the stampede that would be brought about by stimulating a synthetic crisis with regard to the climate, which would be driven by our ultimate dependency on supposedly unchallengeable clarity of scientists that would

justify ever more serious government supervision of the most minute aspects of our lives. i want a show of hands. how many of the honestly know that in 2014, we began outlaw and the incandescent light bulb? before you, that is why you are here. it was understood 100 it the years ago when it dittoed milk decided he could see over the horizon in the soft despotism could become -- the soft despotism would become more extensive and milder and would

degrade men without tormenting them. it is absolute detail, regular, are seen, and mild. it would resemble paternal power if it had for exotic to repairmen for manhood, but on the contrary, it seeks only to keep them fixed irrevocably in childhood. it willingly works for their happiness, but it wants to be the unique agent an arbiter of that happiness. it provides for their security, secures their needs, facilitates their pleasures, director industry, regulates their estates, divides their inheritance is. can it not take away from them entirely the trouble of thinking and the pain of living? he went on, "is that every day it renders the employment of free will less useful and more rare.

confines the action of the will in a smaller space and little by little, it still is a very use of free will from its citizens. it reduces each nation to be nothing more than a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd. ladies and gentlemen, the stakes could not be higher. that is why when we are told that it is tried -- time to transcend partisanship, it is actually time to say that partisanship is a good thing. [applause] we have to parties for a reason. we have different sensibilities, liberal and conservative. let's argue, and may the best one win. we are belabored with the idea that the american gridlock is a terrible problem. ladies and gentlemen, is an

american achievement. [applause] when the founding fathers went to philadelphia in the summer of 1787, they did not go to create any efficient government. the idea would have horrified them. they wanted us say government. they created a government full of blocking mechanisms. overrides, judicial review, and yet i can think of nothing that the american people have wanted intensely and attractively that they did not eventually get. we have more to fear from swift and from torpid government. [applause] we have a great case to make, because it was made by the giants on whose shoulders we stand. it was made by the founders.

our job is to persuade the vast american middle, which is not angry. it is frightened and confused and puzzled, but americans are not angry, and they do not respond well to angry people. they respond well to recourse to american principles. the reason martin luther king accomplished all that he did was not just that he said that racial segregation was wrong. he said it was incompatible with american tenets. what we have to now do is have similar fate in the american people, and why not. winston churchill loved our country as much as he left his american mother. he once said, the american people invariably do the right thing after they have exhausted all the alternatives. i think the american people still understand that a

benevolent government is not always been a factor. they understand that capitalism does not just make us better off, it makes us better. they understand that when jack kennedy said "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," with thing you can do is reserve a spacious portion of your life for which your country is not responsible. [applause] i think the american people still understand what milton friedman said when he said take any three letters from the alphabet, put them in any order you want, you will have an acronym designating a federal agency we could do without. i think the american people understand what robert frost meant when he said "i do not want to live in a homogenized society. i want the cream to rise."

ronald reagan said ago i do not want to go back to the past, i want to go back to the past way of facing a future." ladies and gentlemen, in this room packed full of potential, our government rests on the fact that opinion is shiftable sen. in this room are what we call a shovel ready group. so go out and shift some sand. thank you very much. c-span3 c-span[captioning perfoy national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> this weekend on c-span, first lady michelle obama on

preventing childhood obesity and secretary arne duncan on education policy. this is coverage of the winter meeting of the national governors meeting live throughout theñi weekend on c- span. >> "washington journal" next. the dali lama will be recognized this morning by the national endowment for democracy and received a democracy service medal from the library of congress. live coverage is at 10:30 eastern. we will join the cpac meeting. live coverage is on c-span. and coming up this hour, mark schmidt of american prospect willk