or high schools in general are still being measured by taking fact-based tests when they get to college to determine whether or not they need "remediation." we have a mismatch somewhere there. but my question is really to gallup. hope, engagements, and will be, traits we treasure in their children -- we have a film coming out in a month, "waiting for superman ," the trailer begins with american students ranking last in whenever,

>> he slammed into a wall. what are we going to do that, because there seems to be a sense that this is the feel good aspect of education, but when it comes to the hard facts and what do you know, that is where we are not meeting the needs. >> a quick comment. 92% of american students think they will graduate from high school, over 90% of students are very confident in themselves, but they are not necessarily helpful. that confidence comes from the belief that i can do anything and maybe the future will be better than the present. the hope comes from "i have the power to make it so." students have an abundance of confidence. they have an abundance of

optimism. but they don't have or the ways and the will to make sure they translate that into the outcomes. our students don't lack confidence and optimism, but what they lack are the ways that add up to hope. >> before we know it, [unintelligible] to find out what it is we do to inspire creativity, because for all the wonderful test course, they have yet to win a nobel prize. they are trying to figure out why. we partner with one of their top schools. we partner with an institute in singapore which is their top science and math school. we have been there, they have been here. it is the discriminator that they cannot figure out.

>> to your first point, i don't know if there is enough evidence to suggest that this is yet a trend, but i think if we talk to people in college admissions and also in post undergraduate -- graduate programs, i think there is a movement toward some of those standardized test that you are talking about. we moved the s.a.t. from the admissions decision equation. i know in the graduate programs and some of the more highly selective graduate programs, they are taking the g r e out of the program. people at the secondary level are thinking about this dissonance you are pointing out, they are thinking carefully about what it is students are expected to perform and what they have to do to be successful

once they have been admitted, and how that is reconciled by the factors in the ignition. it is a conversation we will continue to have. >> i think the important thing here again is to go underneath the label and look at the specific items, because that is where the story is. it is not surprising the confidence factor compared to china. this is the country that gives them t-shirts in order to tell them that have high esteem. based on where they know it, whether they had the skills and competency, but when you see the difference in a question like, do not believe i will graduate? sure. do i have a reason to believe of a graduate?

no, i don't know how to get good grades,, i don't know what i need to graduate. anytime we get to one of those questions -- our culture has sort of allowed us or encourage our children to believe they can do any thing, so we are sort of putting that adolescent invincibility on steroids, almost. the difference in the data is really striking. those are the conversations we need to have in the community. >> nor does the american public have confidence in the schools. there is an interesting and disturbing disconnect between what young people believe and what the adults in their lives believe. that is connected profoundly disturbing. >> i believe that waiting for superman and the agenda behind

that should be of great concern to anyone who advocates for public education. what i found is that the result of the most recent polls we are talking about, does the general public get its? i have confidence that are going to see through that and again improve what they have. >> we will take our last question. >> is a perfectly managed country. it is immaculate. but when you ask them about their own hope, it is cruelly low. that bill controlled and

ashamed -- they feel controlled and ashamed. there is probably a lesson in all that. with all the data about education, dropped out, they put so much pressure on grades, that probably at some point, you shut off creativity. one of the super show psychologists said that you were born a creative genius, and then it goes downhill from there. you might say they control the creativity so fast that they are shut off. hope, optimism, and all those things, it is a great lesson for america, i think. >> in closing, i would like to thank the american students for their opinions and comments.

[applause] [unintelligible] >> i think it is important that we all consider how these new metrics -- looking just beyond test scores. it is a very critical conversation. we have one more speaker. please be patient for 5-15 minutes. we have dr. jerry [unintelligible] who is currently superintendent montgomery public schools here in maryland. under his leadership, montgomery county public schools have become -- have a national reputation for high achievement. [applause] >> you have been setting a long time, and i am standing between

you and cocktails and appetizers. i want to ask you to questions. first, i want to ask you to stand up, because you have been sitting along time. when did you graduate from mascot -- i wanted to ask each other a question. when did you graduate from hous high-school, how many wanted to go to college, and how many actually did. what year did you graduate, what percentage that they were going, and how many do you think really did? [crowd murmurs]

>> all right, now sit down. you can sit down, that is good. i gave you a depresserest. somebody told me once -- are really do believe it u.s. grant was here. those chairs are hard. that he used it for more than an hour, you have about 75% of your body weight on about 3% of your gluteus maximize muscle. so i appreciate your ability to sit this long.

i am want to try to abbreviate. about a.j., i agree with the story. i have been a school superintendent for about 25 years. a disclaimer, i joined 42 years ago. some of the things i have learned, i have been falling not only the cartoons but a gallup poll for years. i have used the gallup way to interview people for years in screen teachers on personality. i use the strength under to do a lot of work with my senior staff over the years. if you have not read the new book on well-being in the international studies, there really do look at hope, but they also look at your financial

well-being, your career well- being. career is number one, that is your make or break. what gets you up in the morning and makes you happy to go to work? kids are no different. but i found in looking at kids, and i went through the system in 1999, it was a system that was really changing. i did not know much about washington, d.c when i came here. we are just right outside of washington. it had about 125,000 kids. it has about 145,000 now, so we have grown considerably. i wanted to know what to do, so i asked gassed and over at the college board and i brought in others. i looked at the gallup stuff and talk to one of the friends that you hear about who is the big demographer. here is what i learned. ask the kids.

so i put out a bunch of surveys for the kids and parents and community. i got 8000 back from teachers. i don't know how many dolphins i got back from the parents. i got thousands back from the kids. kids tell me they were bored. they told me there was race and sorting issues, and not older teachers really cared about them. i thought, wow, that is refreshing. i asked parents, and they said we did not start early enough. they wanted their kids to be prepared for the next step, collagen careers. i asked the teachers and they said they did not get enough reforms. we chased iraq that every time we turn around, and there was not enough energy -- we chased eight rabbit every time we turn

around. we set out to see if we could figure those things out. we really characterized our problem two ways, a teacher problem, half of them are walking out the door in five years. and a child problem -- two- thirds of them are not prepared to go to the next level. this was a good school system. two-thirds of them were not prepared to go to the next level. out of the kids who wanted to go to the next level, 90% wanted to go. 80 percent son went off and tried. we tried 11 years ago before no job left behind. we had a little bit of money. we try to solve those two problems. what did we do? we went back and started early, 3-year-old and 4-year-olds.

we've differentiated class size. we put 12 and 13 kids in classes where we had lots of poverty and lots of mobility. we really saturated 70,000 kids with a systemic approach, not related to tight, but where we really brought in things like critical thinking, problem- solving, and embedded them in the curriculum and put a great teacher in every classroom. we put in staff development built -- people and embedded them. we gave teachers time to not be isolated and talk to each other. we build a professional road system and weeded out 400 teachers that were incompetent. we get a better job with screening and on boarding. they would not work for lousy principals so we did training and it took four years to be a principle. we individualized instruction and put race on the table and said we are going to do

something about it. it is not just cultural confidence training. we are going to reengineer the expectations. 11 years later, we now have the highest graduation rate in the country of any large system, the second year in a row. we have the fourth highest graduation rate for african- american males. the latino male an african- american male take the advanced placement tests 25% at a greater participation rate than all the kids in the nation do. and they passed a greater participation rate than all the kids, male or female, of all races in the nation. that is the african-american male and the latino male. you can do marvelous things if

you really think about hope, well-being, getting them career ready, and giving them a supportive environment. if we will just sit back and think, the superman that we need is to fix the kids problem of engagement, and the teacher's problem of engagement. when we fixed our culture and fix their system, the kids, who actually became more diverse, we picked up 24,000 more kids in poverty. the kids did better. so the moral of the story, listen to the gallup poll. [laughter] people telling us that they want

their kids to go to college. secretary arne duncan came over. i asked him, he went to one of our schools that had two white kids. everyone else was latino. they were in the top 10% in the country in scoring. i said, just ask them if they want to go to college. everyone of them put up their hand. president obama came. i would not let any politicians come. i got into a lot of trouble because of that. i brought him in one morning. he slid then -- he slept in. we did not even tell the teachers. he asked the same question, and every job raise their hand. they want to go. it is up to build a culture that enables them to go, and we ought to ask one question. under what conditions can we make that happen? think about that.

let's have a drink. [applause] >> please leave your evaluations with our event step in the back. we hope to see you again in the future. join us for the reception and cocktails. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> it has been five years since hurricane katrina hit new orleans in the gulf coast. shepard smith will be among those discussing the coverage of that natural -- natural disaster.

our coverage is under way at 6:30 p.m. eastern here on c- span. this is a live picture where the coast guard is hosting hearings. you can watch this live all day today and tomorrow on our companion network, c-span to. we have dozens of congressional hearings but from washington d.c. and the gulf coast, archival documents, and link to other web pages. that is on c-span.org/oilspill. >> saturday, a look at the aftermath of hurricane katrina. a free-lance journalist barbara is a critical review of talk- show host glenn beck.

for complete listing of this weekend's programs and times, visit booktv.org. >> topics at today's state department briefing include u.s. blood really do pakistan, preparations for middle east peace talks, and the u.s. mission in iraq. a spokesman speaks with reporters for about 35 minutes. >> good afternoon. welcome to the state department. >> we are of the same mind. at the top on behalf of secretary clinton, we are pleased to announce the ambassador will serve as the part of a negotiating team being dispatched to sudan. they will complement the efforts of the u.s. embassy in khartoum and has our diplomatic

mission this list in the final missions of complementing the peace agreement. the ambassador will join a robust u.s. leadership team and his efforts will support those of major general scott, johnny carson, adn robert whitehead. that is all i have for you. >> are you aware of any former presidents on private humanitarian missions? >> hi will not deny the obvious. -- i will not deny. we have seen pictures from p'yongyang. president carter is -- carter is on a private humanitarian mission.

>> [inaudible] [unintelligible] >> he is on a private humanitarian mission. i will not get into details. >> did anyone ask for help getting there for permission? >> private trip, i will not talk about any details. >> that is not the trip itself. >> which is always prudent. >> [inaudible] >>, a private humanitarian mission to north korea. in is his agenda. i am not aware of any contacts with the state department.

>> obviously it is a mission to secure the release of the american, but we don't want to jeopardize the prospects by discussion in any details. >> [inaudible] >> no. i will not discuss details. this is a private trip. no. >> is he accompanied by any state department personnel?

>> i will not get into details. we might be able to talk more when the trip is over. >> [inaudible] >> i don't know that. >> [inaudible] >> i will not talk about the details of the trip. it is a private humanitarian mission to north korea. anything else would jeopardize his trip. >> [inaudible] >> absolutely. we have long called for his release on humanitarian grounds. we sent medical officials to p'yongyang and they conducted a visit. the swedish embassy visited him on august 19 at the request of the north korean government.

>> [unintelligible] now they are asking that president carter will come there and [unintelligible] [unintelligible] [unintelligible] i'm sure there will be some kind of deal with president carter. >> in is a legitimate question, but i will not get into any specifics of the trip. i will let the trip run its course. >> [unintelligible] >> we have stated repeatedly we

are looking for his release on humanitarian grounds. >> you have not had any contact with him before he left? >> not that i am aware of. >> you have been trying to secure his release, but had no contact with president carter before he left? >> i am not aware of any contact. >> [unintelligible] 4 $700,000. >> i am not aware of that. >> where are to take you to the state department from today with spokesman p.j. crowley.

these will soon be information officers that goes around the world and may be supporting you all in the upcoming months and years. who knows? if one of them is lucky enough, or unlucky enough, they might be standing here at some point in time. usaid administrator is on his way back to washington from pakistan. yesterday he announced $50 million of additional assistance to meet the immediate needs of pakistan as it deals with this horrible disaster. this $50 million latest block is money that will be redirected from other priorities,

including prepositioning of supplies and pakistan to be able to more affectively b.g.e. effectively assist the people of pakistan when the flood waters began to recede. in the meantime, we will be reevaluating our projects, some of which are literally under water. whereas additionally, agricultural and in economic infrastructure that has already been part of our plan will become ever more important in the coming days and weeks. this brings u.s. support for pakistan up to $200 million in a combination of relief and recovery efforts. we will be releasing our daily fact sheet of the disaster response, but we have delivered

today almost 2 million pounds of relief supplies to the people pakistan. you asked yesterday about ongoing dialogue between the united states and chille to help them deal with the miners trapped there. we recognize that chile has world-class expertise in mining issues, but there is a dialogue going on between their ministry of health and nasa, where we have a great deal of experience regarding medical, nutritional, and behavioral issues related to space travel we have done for decades and are providing that perspective to chile so it can developer program for helping to sustain these miners in the coming weeks and months before they can be rescued.

next week, assistant secretary bob blake will conduct a six month review of the annual bilateral consultations with the and will stop in moscow for regional discussions with his counterparts in the russian government. finally, the u.s. welcomes the ugandan constitutional court's reported decision in the case under the law on sedition to be unconstitutional. numerous journalists, activists, and politicians in uganda have been charged with sedition for criticizing the government. functioning democracies for our freedom of expression and an independent media will review this reported decision. it is a step in the right direction for uganda. >> just a couple of brief things. on chile, what does space travel have to do with trapped miners?

>> our understanding is that the miners are secured, but will be in this current situation, in a confined space, for some extended period of time. in our discussions with the government of chile, the ministry of health has come back and ask for consultations with nasa to see if our experience with extended space travel, particularly with respect to the international space station, can provide them perspective that helps them design a program to support these miners over the weeks or months that they will still be in a confined space before the rescue efforts can reach them. >> i am just a little confused. the astronauts are going to that space station chose to do that. these people did not choose to be trapped in a mine.

has there been a determination made that anything that nasa can offer them would be relevant? >> there is an ongoing dialogue between nasa and the chilean government. >> on the pakistan aid, the $50 million is coming from [unintelligible] so is not new, it was already going to pakistan. >> it was for longer-term development. it is being redirected to be the immediate needs >> this is where the numbers get all screwy. whether work it was going to go for emergency flooding are not, it seems like this money was already appropriated. >> that is true. glaxo is not really new money.

>> i did not say it was new money. >> you said it brings the total to $200 million. >> $200 million that we are directing to the current crisis in pakistan. >> taliban is threatening and warning of foreigners who are working for the relief effort that if we do not get out of pakistan, you will be killed. [unintelligible] >> we are concerned that extremist elements within pakistan, including akaka ttp, may well decide to attack foreigners who are helping the people of pakistan, or may choose at this time to attack government institutions in pakistan that are responding on behalf of the pakistani people. i think it is underscores the

vision that these extremists have. we are conscious of that threat and are working with the government of pakistan to deal with that threat. it is something we are watching very carefully. >> is there an increase in security measures? >> were looking at the potential implications. security is obviously an ongoing .oncern to us go we are conscious of this threat. it is a real threat. we are working with the government of pakistan, but obviously to the extent that this is something that extremists in pakistan are contemplating to demonstrate their disregard for the welfare of the people of pakistan. we are in possession of threat

information. we are talking to and working with the government of pakistan to do everything we can to make sure that our disaster response and there's can continue in light of this threat. >> is there an estimation that u.s. aid is particularly target ed? >> we have information of the potential targeting of foreign relief workers in pakistan as well as government ministries. for the most part, this is assistance that is already flowing to the people of pakistan. i cannot speak of the $50 million that dr. shaw spoke of yesterday, but for the most part, this is money that has already been committed and for which supplies and support is already blowing to the people of

pakistan. >> the same question i have been asking every day. i have been going around the pakistan the community in the area. they are saying that [unintelligible] why they are not giving is because they have to stop corruption and the relief funds should go directly to the people three people are still crying for food. >> dr. shaw spoke of this yesterday. we are actively supporting pakistan but we are making sure that providing that support, whether in the immediate term or the long term, that assistance is provided in a transparent manner, that there will be accountability, and we want to make sure that the assistance actually gets to the people who have the greatest need.

>> and afghanistan official today announced that have reached an understanding with pakistan [unintelligible] how do you give this development? >> i will take the question of whether -- we have been working to encourage greater trade investment across the region. there have been some energy deals that we have had conversations about. i will take the question is see if there is a specific project and if it is reasonable were wreaking comment. >> can you comment on the trip of the u.s. on voice to the west bank, and water they doing? are they in a trilateral talks? >> they are not.

then shapiro from the nsc, they are in the region today meeting with both palestinian and israeli officials and planning for next week's direct negotiations here in washington. >> they are doing the kind of preparatory work for the meetings next week pickup i will not talk about any particular. >> or their interim steps they could take a head of the talks? >> they are dealing with both the palestinians and israelis. it -- these are preparatory meetings in advance of the gathering at the white house on september 1 and here at the state department on september 2. these are preparatory discussions, so that the

negotiations get off to a fast start next week. >> what i would like to know is whether they are working on getting the israelis to come to the table with some sort of proposal before the talks begin. >> we are working with both parties to make sure that we have a successful first meeting. >> separately, right? >> yes. i am not aware that they have other -- i will come back. >> george mitchell remains here in the united states and he will be here in washington next week. he is not traveling overseas prior to the rival of the president and prime minister next week. >> senator mitchell's debbie is

in lebanon today, i guess. >> if he is, we'll put out some information. >> what is your reaction to [unintelligible] >> it is not for me to confirm the travels of kim jong il. i will defer to the north korean government. president carter is still in p'yongyang. >> a different topic on mexico. we are still waiting for the official position of the state department regarding the massacre of 72 migrants bound for the u.s.. the thing this type of the vet shows the growing power of the drug cartels -- this type of event? >> you have that ambassador pasquale already joining

president called ron and the foreign secretary in condemning this violence. the deaths of these migrants -- we will cooperate fully in any way that we can to support mexico as it investigates these heinous crimes. >> do you think this shows the ?rowing power of the cartel's >> i think it shows the level to which they will stoop to kidnap, terrorize, and ultimately kill these innocent civilians. but it does not change our perspective that they are dangerous. they are attempting to undermine the democratic institutions of mexico. that is why we pledged to continue our partnership with mexico and other countries in the region to defeat these cartels. >> d. think the mexican

government can do something else to guarantee the security of the migrants coming across from central and sell america towards the northern border? >> i will defer to the mexican government. we are mindful of the risks that anyone who engages in these kinds of migrations is taking, whether it is a threat from violence from these cartels are just the threat from the searing heat and the elements as they approach the u.s. border. that is one of the reasons we in the united states understand fully that part of the solution to this discovery into the immigration reform. meanwhile, will continue to work with countries in the region and mexico to protect not only the citizens in respective countries, but those who are moving across the other countries here in the region. have you received any request from the mexican government to

transport some of these [unintelligible] >> we have a strong relationship with mexico through our law enforcement authorities. we stand ready to help mexico if you require any assistance. i am not aware of any special requests at this point. >> three canadians have been arrested on terrorism charges. is there any connection to the u.s., and are we helping the canadiens in any respect? >> i am not aware of that. >> is looks like you guys really screwed things up by anticipating that the appeals court was going to regret the extradition request -- reject the extradition request on other charges. presumably you did this so it would not be released until --

now that the court ruled away he did not expect, they aren't saying they will not send it back until the second extradition request is dealt with. i understand that earlier this week it withdrew the extradition request, but that a hearing had already been scheduled on andy thais will not let him go until -- >> i will refer to the department of justice. the thai court has ruled on the extradition request that we did file, and we are looking forward to have him appear in a u.s. court. there is a process that we understand that follows a court ruling, and we look forward to seeing him in the courtroom hearing. i am not going to be tell logistics'. i know he remains in thailand at the moment, but we are looking

forward to the execution of a successful extradition request. >> did you miscalculate in dropping the second request? >> i am not going to talk about -- you are aware of one extradition request and i will leave it there. >> have you had any direct contact with the russians about this? >> i think the russian government has communicated with us regarding this case. >> can you tell us what they said? are they happy? >> i will leave it to the russian government to describe their mood. >> are you worried that the case could affect u.s.-russia relations? >> no. >> we have withdrawn our combat forces from iraq. >> can you comment on how america's relationship will be changing with iraq, and do you feel we may be losing some

political leverage as less u.s. forces are on the ground? >> we are in the midst of a transition in our relationship with iraq. over the past seven years, our relationship has been dominated by our significant military presence in the country. we now have reduced that presence below 50,000 military forces, who will be there for another 16 months helping to train iraqi security forces and to back up iraqi security forces as they continue to deal with the security challenge across iraq. in the meantime, we are stepping up activity on the civilian side. we will be constructing a relationship that more closely

resembles the relationship with other countries in the region. there is still a lot of work to do with iraq, helping them build its economy, helping iraq build its institutions of government, extending civil society and the rule of law. we will continue to encourage governmentm a new and maintain or sustain a local process. our relationship is broadening and deepening with this transition. we will continue to work with iraq as a partner. it is about helping iraq chart its own future, and that is something we are committed to help them do. >> expressed concern about iran. is there potential for iran to

gain greater influence with iraqi politicians as combat troops have withdrawn? >> we are worried about the influence of other countries inside iraq. if iraq is going to chart its own future, people that worry about the influence of iran and iraq miscalculate the different -- the determination of iraq's leaders to chart its own course. we are committed to help iraq, but we also want to have iraq build constructive relations with its neighbors. and play a more constructive role in the region and it has in the past. >> what is important is that the current spike of violence is not directed at the united states. it is directed at the iraqi government. yesterday's brutal attacks were directed at institutions of

government that are there to help secure the iraqi people. we are concerned about the spike in violence. it is something we actually anticipated, that these extremist elements would, as we remove forces, tried to step up their activity. they are doing that. of the same token, we have confidence that iraqi security forces are up to the task experience that have been relieved for more than a year. there are going to be good days and bad days in iraq for the foreseeable future. yesterday was a bad day. but we have complete confidence in iraq of the ability -- iraq's ability to defeat these extremist elements. [unintelligible]

>> there are discussions ongoing between iran and catherine ashton in the eu and between iran and the iaea. we are hopeful there can be constructed meetings in the coming weeks on both of those fronts. we stand ready to join other countries in discussions with iran and we hope that such a meeting can be set up very shortly, and likewise we look forward to discussions within the iaea about whether there is any arrangement that can be arrived at regarding the pteron research reactors. we are hopeful that both of those meetings in happen soon, and there are discussions are going to try to set up a

specific date for both of those meetings. [unintelligible] >> i don't know that one affects the other. it's in the discussion stage. i am not aware that we have arrived at a particular date for either one. >> has there been progress? >> i think we are hopeful that the meetings can be set up in the next few weeks. >> the last time you talked about this, you were saying exactly the same thing. >> i am not aware of specific progress. the negotiation of the arrangement of these meetings is still ongoing. [unintelligible] china wants to range preparatory talks for the sixth party talks.

>> we do have the un general assembly coming up. it will be an opportunity for the united states to engage directly with our partners in the six-party process, and we will see whether there might be an opportunity for further dialogue with north korea. again, as we have said many, many times, there are still actions we want to see from north korea that convince us that such a meeting would be fruitful. >> the south korean foreign minister [unintelligible] >> as we have said many times, we believe that north korea was responsible for the sinking of the ship. it has not taken responsibility for that provocative act.

one of the things we want to see going forward is an end to these kinds of provocative actions that increase tensions in the region. that will be one of the areas where we want to see some movement from north korea that indicates that it wishes to come back to the table. >> south korean decided to offer humanitarian aid to north korea. would you also be considering offering a similar humanitarian aid to north korea? >> we have said meet times that we have provided assistance to north korea in the past for the world food program. we stand ready to do that again. i am not aware that north korea has requested assistance of the international community, but certainly we are very much aware

that north korea, like china and other countries in the region, are facing severe situations because of the weather. >> a political question on pakistan. [laughter] you may have seen some reports saying that the pakistan community is not happy with their governments and they are calling for martial law. today from london was a message to the pakistanis saying that we call on pakistan that there should be martial law in pakistan in order to control all the problems going on there. have you heard anything like that? >> i have not, and pakistan has a civilian government.

we think it is the best form of government to take. >> on the nasa-chile thing, was it the u.s. government's idea or ?hile's >> i cannot say. we provided an offer of assistance to chile as a friend, and i believe they came back to us and said we would like to gain some perspective on nasa's experience with how to support people in extended travel in space, and were there any corollaries between now suppose the experience and what these miners are experiencing underground. >> are you aware if we have ever provided similar source of aid for people trapped?

>> as far as i know, this is almost an unprecedented situation. in terms of its mining expertise, chile is an parallel. go back in history, a chilean miners have come to the united states and taught us how to better conduct mining operations in this country. in this particular case, the chilean ministry of health is in dialogue with nasa just to see if there are ideas that our experts have that can help them build a program to sustain these men for what will be an extended time. >> my real question was about sudan. yesterday we got the announcement about the ambassador going on this new mission. why is this now? is it because there has not been an up progress made from the

special envoy? we may see some kind of reweighting of the carrot and the state. >> what it reflects is the march of the calendar. we are in august. we are mindful of the calendar and the upcoming referendum in january, so we are in this very intense time when much work has to be done. we have already expanded our diplomatic presence, but we are of mending -- augmenting that presence in sudan at this time to see if we cannot work through some of the remaining open areas that have to be resolved to create the right conditions for a successful referendum.

the ambassador will be going through and working on border issues, resource sharing arrangements between north and south. these are all laid out in the cta, but there has not been the kind of progress that we had hoped for. we think at this time putting more diplomatic boots on the ground can have a beneficial effect. >> the ambassador has been an advocate for more direct pressure on khartoum. >> at this stage, we still have lots to do. we have a limited amount of time to get that work done. we thought of men in our diplomatic presence in the country was the right thing to do. -- augmenting our diplomatic presence was the right thing to do.

>> what is your reaction to the widespread violence in mogadishu? >> it is something we are unfortunately seeing in recent days and weeks. we continue to look for ways in which we can support the transitional federal government. that is something that >> three more and we will wrap up. >> [unintelligible] >> it still has to work its way through the indian legislature. >> the united states has apparently not send a representative to the trade conference in danang and there has been disappointment

expressed by the secretary general that this reflects a lack of engagement by the united states. >> there is no lack of an engagement, as you know. the secretary has committed to increase our engagement and i think we will take a question better directed to ustr as to why we are not at this particular conference. >> any change to the ambassadorial appointments to venezuela? >> no change. >> this saturday, people will be calling for this stoning in iran. secretary clinton has expressed -- >> say this again. >> secretary clinton has spoken out on this claes -- on this

case in iran and we have yet to take a position on condemning stunning. >> that is not true. we have called it barbaric from this podium and we again say that stoning is a barbaric form of punishment >> will this come up with the iranian president when he is in town september -- in september? >> it has been five years since hurricane katrina hit new orleans and the gulf coast. in about a half hour from now, fox news' shepard smith will be discussing events from new orleans. our live coverage gets underway at 6:30 eastern here on c-span. to take us to the bottom of the hour and that live event, here is part of today of "washington journal." we look into the privacy of medical records.

me introduce you to our next guest this morning, marc rotenberg, he is the head of the electronic privacy formation center. most people are not familiar with the fact that there has been a big debate pulling out about records and privacy, rules pertaining to them. guest: the debate has to do with preached notification. in other words, medical information, sensitive information stored in electronic data bases. there is a risk intermission can be disclosed, stolen, or improperly accessed. the question is the obligation of hospitals, doctors, insurers, when that happens. the law passed by congress suggest that if you run into this problem, you need to tell

the people affected that there has been a breach. hhs put out a preliminary goal that did not go that far. they said maybe you only tell people if there is a significant risk of financial or reputation of harm. that was the position favored b the hospitals. the white house decided to pull back that rule, and i think that was because of consumer privacy groups. this is just not fair to people if there manacle information has been properly disclosed. -- if there medical information has been properly disclosed. host: there are a number of ways that people's information can be compromised. can you give us some examples? guest: it is pretty amazing. disk drives that were stolen, misplaced laptops. records that were thrown in a

dumpster in mississippi and someone got access to them i think what we are seeing is the privacy risks that have always existed with medical records, because it is sensitive information, have been magnified, because so much information can be stored in so many different places. you can put 100,000 records into a small thumb drive. host: the concern over the direction that hhs was going, was the concn over the significance? guest: yes, just prior to the decision to pull back this rule, congress members wrote to secretary sebelius. they said the rule you are proposing on notification does not reflect the intent that congress had when it passed this act. they wanted patients to be notified when there personal

information was compromised. i think that contributed to the decision by the agency to withdraw the rule. host: we are talking about privacy of medical records and the laws that govern them, whether or not you are being compromised. the numbers are on the screen. you can also join us on twitter and by e-mail. what is your role in this space? guest: we have been involved in civil liberties issues from the start. we look at a wide range of questions from privacy to civil liberties, privacy protection. we have been involved in this issue for several years. what we have said in testimony, in contrast, cments to various federal agencies, think people have the right to know if their personal information has been properly disclosed.

it is not fair to rely on the companies that make the mistake to decide whether or not they are going to let people know that in the state has occurred. it is the classic fox guarding the hen house. host: what does a day just have to do next from a procedural standpoint? guest: they have regulations in place no that requires hospitals to provide notice when 500 were more people are affected by an improper disclosure. they need to now issue a fin rule. we presume it will be stronger than the interim rule they withdrew, and that will be up in the next couple of months. it should place clear obligation on hospitals, insurers, to communicate when a break occurs. there are lots of people focused on this issue in washington.

business groups have always had an effective lobby, but for consumer organizations, privacy advocates, it has become clear this is a privacy issue. they need to be more active as well in this debate. host: as soon as jobless claims numbers came out, we said that we would bring them to you. new requests for an unlimited benefits fell sharply last week after rising the past three weeks. claims are higher than they would be in a healthier economy. new claims for jobless aid dropped by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 473,000. we will see how the market reacts to that news today. back to medical privacy, medical records, how they are affected by changes in technologynd by the rules governing them in washington. greenbrier, arkansas.

caller: thank you very much. i am a vietnam veteran that is going through the va. the problem i have always had, maybe you can explain it, what is the big deal of someone's medical record becoming public? could you go down a small list of problems that people can get into with their medical records coming publi, at least available for people -- if they are that nosy to see your medical records, what can they gain from that? guest: it is a good question an there are several answers, of

course. medical information can be used by employers in hiring, promotions, in improper ways. people can be stigmatized by their community if medical information is disclos. i think people have a general sens with personal medical information, it is just no one else's business. people should not have to fill the need toustify medical privacy. part of it is when a person goes to a doctor seeking gd medical advice, they want to be open and forthcoming, and doctors encourage that. if they have to think, what if someone sees the diagnosis, these notes that the doctor is taking, maybe i should not say these things? host: clarksville, tennessee.

walmart, democrat line -- lamar, democrat line. caller: i was wondering, as far as the private sector goes, why are people given more medical funding than others? i think the private sector is ruining it. people should be able to go to wal-mart, walgreen's and get their prescription without having to go through the hassle of the private sector, insurance. i was wondering why medical bills -- records should be private. guest: i am just trying to answer the question, why the information should be private?

i think similar to the first question, it raises a lot of the same concerns. you have basically the same problems associated with risk to the individual. it is one of the reasons there has been so much attention in this field, building better security safeguards. of course, you need to create systems th can process a lot of information, move it around quickly parts of the medical network. much of the information technology on privacy and security rightow takes place in the context of the medical records and claims processing. host: let me tick -- pick up on a theme about going to walmart and picking up a description. there are big bucks for pharmacies, small clinics, drug stores, some ordering online.

water clean, that the team to increase the challenge -- guest: absolutely. people have this 19th century view that there is a doctor's office, all your records are sitting there in the league and there are only accessed by the doctor or nurse. in fact, our health care system is far more complex. you have providers, insurers, adjusters, fraud detection, all these things taking place simultaneously. but even in our complex system, people agree there are people who should have access to those records and people who should not. so what medical privacy records to deplete dore, unless you have good reason to have access to them, you will not. caller: assuming i am had

diagnosed with carcinoma, a common form of cancer, i pay for the treatment, is there a process that an insurance company could find out that my was treated for that if i pay for the insurance with private funds? host: that is an interesting question. the other direction, keeping records private. guest: i have heard from some dealing with people paying in cash because they do not want to create a record. i cannot give you a definitive answer on your question because you are basically asking whether or not these techniques are foolproof. the problem is, increasingly, it is not just about -- the doctor that makes that determination about tests that could be

ordered, procedures that could create records, likely be associated with and then a final patient. it is an interesting strategy. host: the president has been a vocal component of a electronic records, funding to create the system. what does bill law say? guest: in a february 2009, the president signed the high- technology act, which appropriated $19 billion to move the united states to a more advanced medical records system, adopting electronic health records for most claims processing. there has been a push to modernize medical information systems, but at the same time, we are startingo see privacy and security risks. both are moving forward at the same time.

host: big databases increases the exposure. guest: the hope is that with better technology, we can provide better cost, better care. some of that is te but the privacy and security risks are also there. as hospitals incorporate these systems, they are facing a new challenge to protect those records. host: so there is a bit of chaos. and there. guest: maybe. i do not know if that is the way you plan for those things. host: next phone call. stan from michigan. caller: as far as the privacy act goes, a lot of hospitals will tell you, if they wish to use our medica information for any reason, you have no say.

i have a deteriorati disk problem in myack. when my hospital got my mri, my information was not even there. how does privacy cover bad one? guest: obviously, there has been some effort to integrate the systems, particularly if people are mobile, gto different providers. it is a complex system and it may be the case that not everything is there when it needs to be. as for patients contend, that is another big topic. there is growing sense, as you expressed, how does one get access to my information and do

they have the permission to do that? secretary sebelius said earlier this summer that there should be in greater focus on patient consent, give people more control who have -- has access. host: this is not directly related to the conversation but i wanted to talk about this health-care story. "the wall street journal" --

does this mix in with our debate over records and privacy? guest: i have not looked at it closely, but on ensure there is an impact state will play in helping to administer the provision of health care. the central question is what personal data is being collected and who will have access to it? as the system becomes more widespread, people will continue to try to answer that questi. host: we are talking about the april the hhs as a regulator over these rules, but is there any movement to identify these privacy rules? guest: the idea goes back to a california state law that said abruptly, not just for medical care providers, but any company th suffers a breh, would be

required to notify the customer that a breach occurred. people wondered what the benefit was, butt turned out, one day the company had disclosed records and identify a criminal ring -- it became obvious that it was a good idea to tell people when their information was at risk. one of the issues in washington is if we have a national standard, do we rely on state standard. host: in addition to a notification, to states like california have a second option of remediation? guest: i am not familiar with the various states methods of collecting information. at this point, the high-tech act and its provion to establish a base line, but states have the ability to establish stronger

safeguards for medal record information. host: so if you received notice that you have been compromised, what do you do? guest: in the financial context, if you learn your bank information has been improperly sclosed, consumers are to be advised to sign up forredit monitoring service so you are notified, have the opportunity to see if someone has been using your credit report in an improper way. it is less clear with medical formation, what people should do. if you go to the hhs website, for example, they will post the names of all companies that have been required to prode these notices. for the companies, it creates a real incentive to do it better job on the private front.

host: van nuys, california. good morning and welcome to the conversation. >> -- caller: i just wanted to make a comment for the benefit of someone who called in on the idea of what the big deal is that our records would be out there. i am a woman aocate of sorts, where medical issues are concerned. to me, the importance of congress pulling back on what was discussed earlier on our medical records, i wanted to let anyone listening no that there are groups and on their brew will take this intermission, -- out there that will take this information, and whether it is

any category, there are people who will take this information and publish it, like they did in the immigration situation. it was social-service intermission where women were in the system. host: thank you. an example of what could happen. guest: in some context, you might say there is a political risk to individuals who seek certain medical procedures. in that case, the importance of medical records privacy is particularly strong. host: in your -- a viewer

tweets this -- for example, some and not revealing that had an std. guest: of there is a larger debate in washington about what type of information health care providers feel comfortable disclosing. it is one of the reasons these privacy rules are so important. if they do not disclose the information, it means they will get less comprehensive care. host: nancy tweets -- guest: that is also a good question. a good system of electronic health records will provide the health care provider with a more detailed information, timely information, one hopes more accurate, for better diagnosis and treatment. that is clearly the goal, as well as some cost reduction, but

there are privacy risks. the privacy risk has become a big challenge. host: next question comes from michigan. dianne, republican line. caller: good morning, susan, c- span. un and a first-time caller. my question is in regards to privacy of medical records. where can individuals maintain eir own individual records, if anything had been given to the medical information bureau, law firms, medical practitioners? as consumers, where can we go to get our information without having something disclosed to us. this information is being used by insurance underwriters to

give you a policy. it is also used for employment. basically, trying to get information as to where one can go to know what is out there for the individual. guest: one of the goals of the privacy provision in high-tech was the ability to give patients the chance to access their records. it is something that the states have been legislating for. clearly, privacy is not only limiting broken to your information, but also yo ability to get access to your information. there are a number of ways to exercise this right. first, you can go to your provider and get access to your medical information. most will be required to provide that information to you.

there is information on the hhs weite on how to exercise your privacy rights under the high- tech act. under the medical bureau, they keep a central repository of records. that has been available to insurers. those records should be available to you as well. host: personasks on twitter -- guest: i completely agree with that person. that ian argument that we have made for some time. we understand your information needs to be used by others to provide the service, but to the point where it is being sold, particularly in the medical industry, where there is data mining of information taking ple to identify new consumers for new products, we think the

patient has a strong interest in limiting some of that activity. . guest: when we do testify in congress, the focus is always oo people can control their information. host: next call from atlanta.

page on the independent line. caller: this is an area i have a passion for. so much for that i would like to write a script to address this problem. i have used it in my focus study to help reduce the time of diagnosis of the managemt of my illness from a week today. that is how powerful it is. the problem with privacy is can be built by the same privacy as someone accessing your credit. it sounds simple, but we do have an electronic systems for notifation. the biggest problem i see in this is the hospital does have the accessibility to

>> we're going live now to the newseum for a discussion on hurricane katrina. has been five years since hurricane country back and the newseum opens a new exhibit tomorrow. this is live coverage on c-span. >> good evening and welcome. chairman andverby ceo of the newseum. most of you know the newseum and have been here many times. our object is to try to help you experience the first draft of history. we are about news, but we are about history and the first draft of history that is journalism. tonight, we are here to commemorate the five-year anniversary of katrina, the worst disaster, i believe, to hit this country in our lifetimes, but maybe in the history of the country.

it is such a dramatic of and. it was almost beyond belief, and our exhibit upstairs shows the drama, the danger and despair that company-as told through the eyes of reporters from newspapers and television stations. we're fortunate to have with us tonight three very distinguished journalists. before i introduce them, i want to take you back. i know that the memory of katrina is seared in your mind from five years ago, but let's set up with a clip.

>> just unbelievable. >> people are dying. >> as it was said there, just unbelievable. we are accustomed here at the newseum to having very good journalists come here. tonight, i would add the adjective brave. i'm not accustomed to using the word brave with journalists who do their jobs here in the united states. maybe abroad or in a war setting, but the journalists who

covered katrina were brave in a personal sense and in a larger sense of what they did in covering that tragedy. we have with us the editor of the "new orleans times picayune ." he has been editor since 1980 and is a hometown boy from new orleans. he knows that city like the back of his hands and under his peggyship at of the "* in" they won four pulitzer prizes. next to him is stan tiner, the editor of the "son harold" at biloxi and gulfport. i've known him for a long time. he was the editor at shreveport, mobile and oklahoma city. his city was completely devastated and you will hear how he reacted to that. and we have shepard smith. all of us remember your reporting from five years ago. he was the main man at fox news

and is the anchor of the signature news program each day. plus, he does "shepherd smith from a studio b." our good fortune, "studio b." was that the fed newseum -- was at a newseum museum today. before i asked your question, i would like to set this up with a video that we did with you. >> the key venture for us was to reporters and they both had bicycles at the newsroom that day. so they took their bicycles together and decided to explore the area to the north of the city near the lake. they looked down from the railroad bridge and what used to

be a quiet residential street is now a river that is rushing pass them under this bridge toward downtown new orleans. in that flash of a moment, they both realize they were doomed. the water has broken through the flood walls and the oceans are rushing into the city. >> five years later, it is chilling to me to hear you say we are doomed. how on earth do you begin to think about covering something when you say we are dimmed? how did you go about getting it done? >> one of the things that's most admirable about a journalist from new orleans and the gulf coast that covered this storm, is the way in which they were all personally affected by the

various stories that were covering and to these bicycle riders we are just hearing about, one of them had at the moment he is jotting things down in his notebook, he is realizing that his house is completely under water. he pauses for maybe a minute to absorber that fact and takes up his notebook again and continued writing because he is a journalist. it is a mission. i think all of these reporters realize that that mission came before everything. >> that is amazing. those bicycles are upstairs as part of the exhibit. when you realize that's what it took and they were the first to discover the levees have broken -- >> they were and they had the great advantage of being

hometown boys. they knew the city like the palm of their hands and they knew what they are looking at. they knew what it meant to see water coming from that direction, namely that the lake was about to inundate 80% of new orleans. with that kind of authority, they were able to write a story that made this clear to millions of people on the internet before anybody else could put the pieces together. that kind of combination of firsthand observation and deep knowledge of the community is what distinguishes newspapers. >> before you heard that news, did you think new orleans had dodged a bullet? >> that's a good question. even after i heard that news, i knew intellectually that we are doomed, but emotionally, you cannot grasp it and you think i'm going to wake up tomorrow

and everything will be routine again. it takes awhile for anybody to absorber that kind of -- for anybody to absorb that kind of drama. >> you had a harrowing experience as far as how long to stay and when to leave the offices. tell us about that. >> the storm hit monday morning , landfall at the mouth of the mississippi about 6:00 on august 29th. the winds did not begin to die down until about 2:00. it was very difficult to be outside and all. about 200 of us, including women and children who were relatives of our journalists were in this fortress-like building that is our newspaper, thinking that is where we would report about the storm.

we had generators. we had a computer power and the ability to write on the internet. the first thing that what was the presses. but in the end, that did not matter because there were no households to deliver to. we were, in a way, thinking this was going to be our two week at most fortress from which we report the storm. that night, after our reporters came in from having seen where the breeches had occurred, we started seeing the water rise in front of our building. we should have known what we were observing, but we thought how could the water rise? the storm is gone and the wind has died down. gradually, overnight, it rose at a rate of about 1 inch every seven minutes. by the time i woke up, it was clear that our reporters were

not going to be able to come and go. the prism across the street was being evacuated. there were about a dozen inmate escapes right in front of our building. we realized if we did not leave then in there, we would not have the ability to get through the water, so we loaded into these trucks that could for about 4 feet of water. >> there is a picture upstairs of your staff in the back of this truck. it is so dramatic. he never covered a lot of hurricanes and you figured you had this down pat about how to cover hurricanes. >> hurricanes, you never know how they're going to come out you peer -- how they're going to come at you. there may never be another katrina, but coming from a different direction, i don't think you can ever have a hurricane down pat. you always have to be flexible in reacting to whatever the

quirks of this particular disaster are. i don't think anybody in new orleans expected the federally built canal walls would collapse and that would be our demise. >> stand, the devastation in biloxi and along the mississippi gulf coast was unbelievable. we have a clip from our interview. let's go to that clip. >> it came out of a sense of outrage that will not getting help quick enough. we had to speak with a louder voice and in the first week, we had a headline that said "help us now." we did need help tomorrow, we need it right now.

for many of us, one way reflect on those days, one of the most righteous jobs we did was to deliver the paper. people would be their getting ice and water and we came up with the paper and people would leave the line looking for sustenance to get a newspaper and gas because they cannot believe the paper had gotten there. in the midst of all this, if you can get a newspaper, were probably going to be ok. >> was it difficult to move opinion to the front page? >> no. you are aware of any need to do it. journalists spend a lifetime absorbing generations of tradition and understanding about what our role was. you don't think you are going to be put in a moment like we found ourselves after katrina.

, as it became clear, the enormity of what we were dealing with, and as jim's newsroom dealt with it, we'll understood we had to speak for the people of south mississippi. that was an important role that we add and while we did not always know what was happening on the networks and other places, we quickly became somewhat media-savvy in understanding that if a little paper in biloxi and gulfport could say something with that kind of authority, that we had not done, that it was important that the people of america respond to what was going on there, i think they did in many ways. >> you think your headlines and editorials had impact? >> i do. our case was much different. what happened on the mississippi gulf coast was dramatically

different from what happened in new orleans. jim has described what occurred there dallas so devastating to the population -- what happened there that was so devastating to the population was a man-made failure of engineering. hurricane katrina, the savagery of this storm and the power of water to get our coast the way on that horrible moment -- of that horrible morning. many of you will understand that the storm surge in places like where jim's family lost three homes -- like the people in mississippi, they keep rebuilding and nature keeps knocking it down. but there was a storm surge of about 34 feet. on top of the storm surge was a wave action have again that high. so waves as high as 50 feet

battered much of the coast of mississippi and very little could stand against that. the only thing that would be a celebration would be elevation and there's just not that much elevation in our -- would be elevation. when you talk about the ability to know where you are going -- there are no street signs or landmarks in many cases to even see. so you had -- to try to grasp given your knowledge of the place where you were and what happened in that place because there would be literally block after block after block of nothing where homes and communities had stood before. as our people began to go back to their homes, it was very much like the situation jim described. about one-fourth of our newspaper lost their homes that morning. the journalist would go out and

discover where their homes had stood and come back. i think of one man who was a naval officer and a very strong human being came and sat in my office and wept as he told the story. he dried his tears and went back and did what the rest of the staff did. one of the things i think was so important to us in this days was we had something to do. we quickly came to grasp that it was important, what we had to do, to tell the story both to the population that survived and put a newspaper in the hands of the people truly crawling over piles of debris, to put it in the hands of somebody surveying what had been their home and telling to the world both on the

internet and through the paper we see through the eyes of other media of what was happening in those precincts. >> you called the delivery of those newspapers a righteous act. what do you mean by that? >> journalist mostly think of ourselves as someone gathers information and tells stories. it goes through a process we all know very well. but everybody at a newspaper company has their jobs delineated. somebody's in the business office, somebody is selling ads, somebody is making a press run and putting it on paper. after katrina, everybody did whatever was necessary to get done. every person literally became a delivery woman or delivery man. whenever we went on our rounds,

and we are trying to get a story or go to city hall or to the emergency center to get information, everybody had a stack of papers were filled the trunk of their car with papers. where you would see people gathered, you would put the paper in their hands. as you did that, the organic feeling of the importance of news, most of us got into the business thinking journalism major difference. there is a particular nature to those who choose to do it. you don't do it because you expect to get rich or anything like that, but there's a sense that journalism would make the world better place if there's something you can do that is important. in all truthfulness, and last 10 or 15 years, this sense has been lost a lot in our business as we have been drawn down by the hard facts of what has happened.

as we go through the transition from one way of telling stories to another, most people in this room and someone know that has impacted our business in a dreadful way. we have gotten, as editors and the journalists have had to deal with that as well. those who work in newsrooms, the fact we have lost some of this sense of what the true mission was. katrina brought that back in a very graphic way and allowed us to understand what we did was important and it gave us something to do. the fact is, most of the people who remained and who survived did not have anything to do. their jobs had been swept away by the storm surge. but for us, we had something to do that kept us busy. i see one of my colleagues here who is now living in virginia.

cat knows about as much as the heart and soul of our community as anyone. the business of telling the stories of people, not just then but over the five years has been an important role, i think. >> we were preparing behind the scenes video for our web site on this exhibit. carry christophersen, the director of our collections department talked about putting up a map that was in your newsroom. as you will see, if you haven't already seen it, it is a death map. i want to go to this clip and ask a question about that. >> one of the most resonant objects or people i met -- the newsroom map. it was a map nude -- that journalists' use to find things there are looking for and they began to track stories of people had died.

it is a newsroom tool, it is an artifact. at first, it was a daunting job. then, at one point, as i'm putting items into the bag and riding my notes, i realize that i've made a note about the red pens, john, and marjorie -- all the sudden i put four pins into a bag and i realize i put a whole family into a bag. >> how did you come up with the idea of a map and what affect it at in the coverage and understaffed? >> -- what affect did it have on your coverage and on your staff? >> if you look, you see the entirety of our coast was swept away. so, there was a real

understanding of where the most deadly part of the storm surge was as you placed -- you could find a great relationship between elevation and death in the coast. one of the things folks in south mississippi, as you indicated, we have endured a lot of storms over the years. camille was always thought to be the worst. the mayor of biloxi's said camille killed more people today than it did in 1969 because every believe if you survived camille that where your home was, you would be safe from anything that would come in the future. and many died thinking that. but the map gave us an understanding. there was a real correlation between where you live and who died. you will see the clusters of

those who died and i appreciate the respect thomas that was given their when she understood that those were people that we lost that day. >> newseum has tried to tell the story of katrina in three ways, the eyes of the editors and reporters in -- reporters and editors in new orleans, the eyes and editors in biloxi and gulfport and then the national media. nobody embodies that better than shepard smith. i remember just like yesterday your reporting from new orleans. let's get a glimpse of that in a clip. >> the government said it you go here and you will get help. you go in the superdome and you'll get help, and didn't. >> there is a motion in the story and you try not to be

emotionally yourselves. and normally in stories, i'm not one who goes there. but when you come to the very stark reality that you are the information stream between the people who are dying and the people who can do this saving, it takes on a new level of importance. >> over there, there is food and water, but you cannot go -- >> the government will not allow you to do it. >> i want to get some perspective here. >> that is all the perspective you need. >> the government is here to save those people and should have. it's not a republican thing or democratic thing, it's not right thing or laughing, it is about success and failure. hurricane petraeus is a story of great american failure. -- hurricane katrina is a story of great american failure. have we documented it better as individuals, the government that failed would have been forced to act and we did not succeed in the same way. that is a powerful thing.

>> rarely do you see that kind of emotion on television. five years later, how do you feel about that? >> it's tough to look at and tough to remember. i don't get like this. this was an unusual -- i'm a son of the region but it did not have as much to do with that as it did, you prepare yourself mentally before you go to cover something without thinking about. i'm going to a war, here's how it's going to be. i'm going to a hurricane, here is how it's going to be. you cannot anticipate the collapse of society around you. you don't think of fires and shots -- you just don't -- you're not ready for that. you are also not ready for the times when they say this is happening and you hear them say it, but you can see that it is not. it was very jarring. we would easily collect ourselves in the middle of the

night -- i don't have the perspective these men do. they were covering the entire city and entire region. i only had one little thing that could move. so we were covering along the superdome and they would come out of the water and sit there. some of them needed insulin. some of the needed formula. some of them needed drugs, some of them -- they needed what they needed. and there they were all together. and there was nothing we could do except tell people here they are. and they didn't come for a long time. it was very frustrating and frightening. frightening after a few days. >> in the beginning, you think help will be here quickly and it will all be ok? >> hurricane hugo was a story of when the entries. all of the pine trees snapped as far as you could see. your like toothpicks. once that trees out of the way, they're the help was. in andrew, it was a win the

story and no street signs, no markers and it was hard for authorities to get around, but they got there. with katrina, they told you they are on the way or they are right there, and they were not. the next day, they still were not. then you start reading help us now, save us now, that's how i felt about the thousands of people living on that road. where is the help? why isn't it here? i didn't understand it then. >> was the emotion spontaneous or did you say i've got to do something different here? >> what you do is suppress the motion in an effort to get the facts out. emotion will sometimes twist a fact if you let it. you have to deal with emotions later when you're covering tragedies. >> you said you didn't understand it then did you understand it now. what do you understand? >> i understand every level failed and every level lied to us.

>> when you said you understood -- wanted to get clear. >> that's what i thought. the parish said, the city said, the mayor said, the governor said, the president said, and i was looking and they were wrong. >> what has been the reaction of the public to the reporting you did in katrina? >> everybody sees things through his or her own experiences. sometimes through his or her own ideological prism. sometimes, when events and, those would like to quickly write history, would like to suggest you did something nefarious or what you said it cannot be proved or whatever. but, all you can really do is try very hard to report the

trees and then afterward, if they want to be angry with you for the way you reported, that's them and i don't really worry about it. there were a lot of things i could have done better in my tiny little part in that tiny little area, but i did the best and you how to do that time and that's all you can do. >> if i understood your comment correctly, i think you said the news media failed. do you mean that? >> people watching tv don't realize i couldn't see tv. i did not have a phone. i could not read a newspaper. i did not have any communication except the isp. all i knew is what i was hearing and seeing on the other end. in some ways, i wish we turned up the volume earlier. but initially, when literally bodies are floating down the streets and there are fires in the distance and gunshots are going off and drug addicts are looking for their fix and you

are in the middle of all, it's hard to get it to come together. maybe if we had made a little more noise earlier, i don't know. i wish we could have made more noise earlier and affected more change earlier. i feel like a lot of people died between the time these people needed help and the time i got there and that's unfortunate. >> is that the hardest story you have ever covered? >> 9/11 was hard because i lived there. but katrina was like the default capital. maybe didn'ts twho

know poverty before. these people do not have cars. they need buses. the buses did not come. we knew what was coming on some level, and it was hard in the that you knew it was coming. you knew they knew. it had been presented to congress, and they did not act. i am forever sad about it. >> jim, did you ever find out why they did not act sooner? >> is still a baffling and appalling to think that this storm happened on monday morning, and on friday morning, we and various other businesses had set up all kinds of convoys for getting supplies to the people, and on tuesday morning,

at secretary chertoff said he was not aware of any reports that levitt had been -- that levees had been reached. this is after having been seen by 50,000 viewers of our internet report. i do not understand it. >> we are going to have questions from the audience. come up to the microphone. in the meantime, how has this affected your staff? are they stronger? does the trauma still lives? how are they now? >> if i could say something to people here tonight and those who might view this, katrina has not gone away. katrina is a continuing story in

the lives of many people across our region in a very, very painful ways. it was kind of interesting. i was on the ground in mississippi for the longest time. i do not know, someone here mike remembered -- might remember, what it was like getting out of the place. i saw some of the headlines you had in the exhibit here. we had not seen the media. we were the same in the perspective as everybody else. the most asked question that i got within the first month was, "are you back to normal yet?" [laughter] we were not back to normal then, and in many ways, we're not back to normal now.

the five-year span has involved many important stories within the story. the insurance the woes of people who were knocked down continue for a great number of our population. it is very hard to rebuild, so of the population cannot be restored as a consequence of that. that has been tough. the national recession has hit us like it hit everybody else, just about the time you think you might be making some progress and that makes it difficult. and then this latest unfortunate thing is the oil spill into the gulf. those things together aggregate to have the end result of being very traumatic to a vast part of our population. i think that is one of the

stories that is ongoing. we have had to become expert on some aspects of the story. we did not have an insurance reporter before katrina. now two newspapers have two of the best in the country because they have had to learn how that works and to tell the story in a professional way. we have learned to do that. we thought five years out we would be at one place, and we are not there yet. >> it is not as raw as five years ago. you can see little clumps of people in the back to ruche -- baton rouge weeping or talking on to their sons very intensely.

-- their cell phones very intensely. a lot of these old, remembered fears are right at the surface. a lot of us, myself included, just a little token of this is that i would not dream of going on a weeklong vacation in the summer anymore, nor what my wife. we want to be closed by -- we want to be close by, because there is some warning that has come loose that never existed before. >> historically, we know a big hurricane will hit new orleans again. will it be different? >> if the exact trajectory of katrina happened again, i think

it is fair to say that we are better protected. the water from the lake would not rush up the canals because big floodgates have been lowered. i think there is some slightly better protection, but we still in this country do not have the congressional will muster to make this major american city protected from the strongest storms. we just cannot bring ourselves to do that. that leaves us all feeling queasy. >> stan mentioned the oil spill, and i would be derelict if i did not ask how you're doing with that. did you say, oh no, here we go again? >> i think there are a lot of

other ways we would have liked to have spent this summer. [laughter] again, we are a small newspaper. we had the fifth anniversary coming, and there are news people who know that you do not quit telling the story about crime, the schools, educational testing, health problems in the community, all of the news that you covered before. then you have the five-year anniversary coming, which for us was a great commitment of staff time to try to dig into and examined and tell where we think we are and where we think we are going to be in the future, looking five years forward from now. so when the oil spill came, that was one more layer of news reporting that we had to do. we had to try to get ourselves

up to speed and understanding what is the science of such a thing in the gulf. it has been a very big story. those of you who have paid attention know that it has been treated as a national story, but again, it is lapping up on our shores. it is affecting the fishermen and people of our communities. it is something we have had to understand. jim did a great job of explaining the way you feel about things in the summertime. when you combine, what is it the storm going to do? it has been projected that this will be a big summer for hurricanes. we have an oil rig that is spewing millions of gallons of oil into the gulf. combine that with this other chemical, what is that going to mean when it gets into the

richest areas where this nation's fisheries are spawned and located? what is that going to do to our people? it certainly has engaged us in a new topic. it is just one more thing that we have had to learn to do. >> hour outdoors writer -- our outdoors writer has written about the louisiana wetlands and the coast for decades. the way he puts it is that the oil spill is a temporary disaster on top of a permanent tragedy. the permanent tragedy, for louisiana at least, is the gradual banishing of our coastline -- a vanishing of our coastline in a way that destroys the wetlands, in a way that

destroys the buffer zone that used to protect new orleans from hurricanes. since 1956, we have lost 25% of the wetlands that used to protect new orleans from the hurricane's. one of the main reasons we have is that the oil industry, up with the connivance of louisiana politics, has dug canals all through the coastal louisiana and occasioned the destruction of the wetlands by bringing salt water into them. that is something that this nation has to do something about. >> let's go to the audience. >> you are coming right to my question. you have painted a rather pathetic picture of congress, the government, and louisiana government. what can people like us do to try to get them -- inspire them to get on the ball and do what

needs to be done when this next emergency comes our way? do you have any recommendations? it is kind of a hopeless picture that you have described? . >> that is so easy, i think even jim can answer that. [laughter] >> the picture, overall, in 2010, is of a nation that is tired of caring about katrina. katrina fatigue is a symptom almost. it is something i think we perhaps do not want to think about because it exposes a united states we do not want to be in.

we think of ourselves as a kennedy nation, a nation that sees our problems and addresses them. this flies in the face of that. politicians think that their own constituents do not even really care about it. that is not helpful. however one can make noise as an ordinary citizen. >> one element of that story that i want to make sure is hard -- is heard is that the people of america have done a lot to help us. our gratefulness for that can never properly be expressed. we have had 1 million volunteers, and gunmen, help us dig out, put their arms around a -- volunteers, come in, help us dig out, but their arms around

us, fed and clothed us. amidst all of the-that happened, there was an enormous amount of good -- amidst all the bad that happened, there was an enormous amount of good that happened. people of every religious and ethnic group put their shoulder into it. some people ask how to be better organized. i say, asked the homage people who do this over and over again with -- the amish people to do this over and over again with great competency. within the american people is something that we saw in new orleans a that was inspiring. we will never forget that, and we thank all of you who have come and done so much.

>> even today, you can see the writing groups of, usually young people, of all religions -- you can see the arriving troops of, usually, young people, of all religions. many of them stay and make a permanent home phere. >> well before katrina hit it was acknowledged that new orleans would not be able to withstand a direct hit from hurricane a serious magnitude. from in vantage point -- from my vantage point, most of what we have heard is a story of great poverty, sadness, and the failure of the government to respond after the fact. what about the failure to prepare?

that story -- how do you think the media did in handling that story before the event and after the event? >> of the thing that you have to understand about new orleans is that topographic way it is vulnerable. not because of c levels. sea levels, at which they talked about a lot, have very little to do that. we have the mississippi river on one side and lake pontchartrain on the other. the golf is lapping at our backyard. -- the gulf of mexico is lapping at our backyard. if a storm surge drives the water from the gulf of mexico into the lake, the city is automatically vulnerable to water pouring into a double -- into the bowl.

that is a big problem, but it is not an insurmountable problem. i think, regardless of the poverty or wealth of new orleans, the united states ought to have the ability -- and only federal government can do this -- to build the kind of infrastructure that would protect a great city. >> one terrible aspect of this story was race. is it any better now than it was during katrina, the whole issue of race relations and caring, concerned over the poverty- stricken situation there? >> i think in many ways at the storm and the aftermath of the

storm brought people together of different ethnic groups, black people and white people, who made common cause in rebuilding the city. you see examples of that all over, whether it be church groups or social gatherings. it also changed the demographic s of the city somewhat. it is still a majority african- american city, but it went roughly from 67% african- american to about 60%. it changed racial politics. it would have been hard to imagine 20 years ago that new orleans would have a white mayor, a white police chief, a white district attorney in the year 2010. and yet, that does not seem to have become a big issue.

what people want right now, black or white, is competence, energy, almost regardless of race. >> so some good has come out of katrina? >> i think some good has come out of katrina. >> what would be the one thing that you have lost that is irretrievable from the storm? what has been the most remarkable thing that you have recovered? >> two sides of the question. i think we have irretrievably lost a fair amount of our culture. a city cannot suffer the loss of 100,000 inhabitants and not have that just make it a slightly lesser version of

itself. i think, ironically, the thing we gained, is a deep, visceral feeling that all of the things we took for granted we cannot take for granted. when we got them back, ed they became so, so precious. as a new orleans resident, when things came back, you just celebrated them. celebrated them. >> this kind of hobby for americans to hate the press. it is part of their god-given freedom. do you think that the coverage of katrina helped people have a better regard for the press? >> i did not see the coverage of

katrina as it happened. [laughter] i have since seen it. i thought that we came -- we felt the gravity of the moment, realized how important it was to what we were doing, especially when the response was not happening. really, there were very few live within it, because of logistical reasons. some people got flooded out. thempeople's editors made leave. they said, you will take $5 million worth of equipment out of there instantly. we do not care about the people. we got a message to go to mississippi, realized it was going to flood, turned around and apologized later.

i think many people realized that this was a big deal. this is why we got into this business in the first place. it is a very heady thing when you realize that the government is getting information from you. the government does not have its act together enough to realize what is happening here. when that happened on tuesday, our jaws dropped. what are we doing wrong? why are they not watching? i thought we did a pretty good job as a group. i thought we did a good job with hurricane andrew. i thought we did a good job with katrina. i thought we did a good job with 9/11. when think we have seen with journalists overtime in this country is that it may become a money show at times, but when tragedy arises or when the need is greatest, journalists seem to rise to the occasion. i hope america is a better place for it. >> the local newspaper situation

was probably a little different. did you find that the citizens of your community are now more supportive of your newspapers than they were before katrina? >> five years ago, a lot has happened to take people off again since then. [laughter] there was a period, i think it lasted about three months or so, when we could do no wrong. honestly, i think that the reader's -- and i am sure you have had the same experience -- felt like they had gone through it the most dramatic lives -- dramatic moments of their lives together with the newspaper, and that created a bond. >> i think readers are real smart. they pay attention. it is like everything else in

life, how well did we perform today? they are constantly evaluating and reevaluating, but i think maybe the more important connection came in how close we got to them. there was something that will never be taken away. it is not to say that we were not involved in the community or did not know the community. we felt like we knew it. but there is a respect and admiration that we have for the people of our region that almost transcends anything that i have ever seen. i swear that i am not going to use the word. we have tried to use the word -- we have tried to keep the word "resilience" out of our five- year coverage. it has been overused. it is a good word that describes

people from our region very well, but what they came through and what they did is something i will never forget. the question was asked, what did we lose and what did we gain? we lost, in the case of the 65,000 homes and businesses that were wiped away, a person can write eloquently about the little things that meant so much to her, the things that make up our memories of life. all of that is gone. you can say it is still in your head and you can still tell your children and grandchildren. but what we gained is an understanding that we are pretty tough people. we can endure and survive something as tough as katrina. we can do just about anything. i think that is one of the

driving forces, the reason that i feel that the mississippi delta is going to recover well. it may take longer than we thought, but it is the human capital that is there. for those who have state, by gosh, they are tough people. they're going to make it. that theearlier said deb only access to the outside world you had was what came in from your ifb. i am curious, when something like this happens, what communication happens between networks or newspapers? you thought the communication failed, but if the idea is that the coverage was not as adequate as it could have been, what could have been done? what happened between different networks in order to more accurately portrayed the story to the people who were watching?

>> i remember a few times when collaborations' have happened. they happened after 9/11. there was a local collaboration in florida after the events there. there may have been some collaboration after katrina. it is not the normal thing. print people see us for what we are, and we wish we were print people. [laughter] sometimes, if you realize what the story is off the bat, you might be able to act in one way, but with this, even as the weather was rising, you really could not grasp it. it was not what we thought it was going to be. i remember explaining to someone that if he wanted to cover this past today, tuesday, we were

going to have to have water, food, shelter across the coast for months. certainly, two thousand miles away there was no way to wrap itself around it. we could barely collaborate ourselves. [laughter] >> we have a lot of volunteers that came to be a part of our newsroom, primarily colleagues. they were wonderful. they slept on the floor and eight spam and did all of the things that we did together. but there were other journalists, people i have known across the years, retired folks -- they saw something in this moment, that thing that they always wanted to do, and they were able to come and be a part of it. they said, you have done

something for us. he reminded me why i did it the first time and why it may still be worth doing. >> i am sure we all had the same experience which was having a lifeline for information. when the parish president walked up to the levees and they were collapsing, that is where we heard it. that voice giving people a way to vent and a place to go, i thought that they were spectacular. >> both of your papers won the pulitzer prize for distinguished public service. i do not believe there has ever been a time when they awarded two newspapers in one year. have you done all you could possibly hope to achieve now, and has a pulitzer prize changed

your life? >> i think that the story changes one's life. in this case, it has changed everybody in my newsroom who lived through it, but i think made them better journalist, better reporters and photographers, copyeditors, editors, graphic artists. it has been astonishing to see the energy that we felt in those early days never seem to fly. you would think that people would get exhausted and say, i am out of here. it stayed. i saw it again during the oil spill days. this week, when we are writing nonstops stories about the anniversary, it is still there. >> i think the pulitzer is

bigger than all of us. when we were kids, you know, you knew about it. the thought, there is a worthy goal to work for. it is in some ways like a hoosiers' game. there were people who tried to talk about the newspapers as it got close to the pulitzer time. we never talked about it. i did not want to jinx anything because there really was not something that you thought about, because that was not what you did it. it was almost like a hoosiers' game played out, and a big team is playing, and at the end of regulation is tied and somebody gives them both a medal. [laughter]

it felt good to me to be recognized, and for our newsroom to be recognized in the same way that the great times picayune and jim's leadership and all that they had done, and we were very aware of what they had done, but our little guys were working hard every day and doing everything they could do to tell their story. they really were two different stories, and when you put them together, they really represented katrina. we read somewhere that somebody had a pulitzer stolen. ours has been in the estate because we did not want to have something bad happen to it -- then in a safe because we did not want to have something bad happened to it. the editor at the clarion ledger won it for his exemplary

reporting about the educational problems in the state of mississippi. he tells a story that he used to carry his around in his pocket and pull it out and show it to people. [laughter] >> most people have never seen a pulitzer prize gold medal, so both of them are in this exhibit. it is here for the next year at the museum -- newseum. you have seen the best of what is in that exhibit tonight. thank you for being with us. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> the newseum opens is exhibit on hurricane katrina tomorrow. we will be talking about hurricane katrina, five years later. >> we now have a generation coming up who did not really have the arts very much as children. they did not have the arts in the public schools, certainly. families are 20-year-old.

i am very concerned about this group of people, because it is not clear that when they get to be 45-50, they will come to the arts. >> sunday night, a talk about the future of the arts in the united states. >> the c-span networks. we provide coverage of politics, public affairs, nonfiction books, and american history. it is all available to you on television, radio, online, and on social media. and we take c-span on the road with our digital us. we bring our resources to your community. washington your way, the c-span network, now available in more than 1 million homes. created by cable, provided as a public service. >> democratic national committee chairman tim kaine recently spoke at the dnc summer meeting. he talked about the obama

administration's accomplishments, and looked ahead to this year's midterm elections. this is 25 minutes. >> thank you for joining us today. on behalf of the college democrats of america, i want to say what an honor is to share the stage with all of these remarkable individuals. i malia up here because of the genuine investment that our -- i am only up here because of the genuine investments that this party makes. all college democrats are grateful for that. i am so proud to introduce one of my mentors. i was privileged to internet fort chairman came -- to in kaine.r tim

he has been a great advocate for youth involvement. under his leadership, young people have taken a more active role in our party than ever before. the recommendations brought forth by the change commission will ensure a stronger voice of youth for generations to come. chairman kaine recognizes that to the youth are not just the future of the party, but are ready to make an impact today. when i speak to college democrats across the country, it seems like a note conversation is more exciting than when i get to hear about their interactions with the chairman. from massachusetts to california, college democrats are constantly blown away by his commitment and compassion for young people. his ability to make them feel empowered goes to such a long way in our efforts to organize youth. governor, i am grateful the

banks diaz, each and every day, -- and that thanks to you, college democrats are given a voice in our country. [applause] >> big round of applause. isn't she great? when you hear an introduction like that, you always have the same thought. i want to be more like the person she is describing. i look forward to working with all college democrats. it is great to be here in st. louis with everyone. we have had a tremendous asset of speakers already, and more to come. the report from the chairman

of the rnc lasted one hour and 50 minutes. i am going to try to beat that. just kidding. let's begin with a wonderful thank you for st. louis. hasn't st. louis and the wonderful host for this event? [applause] this is a little bit of a homecoming for me. in the kansas city guy, but went to the university of missouri, spent a lot of time in st. louis growing up. my political hero was harry truman, who was a vibrant, active retired president. when i was a kid, you could go to the truman library and see harry truman and there often. school groups would do that all the time. that show me state brand of the democratic party, a strong democrats, an appellate democrats, who believe in education and care for our veterans,, that is a party we

want to have today. harry truman became vice president in 1944. it is so great to be here with all of you. how about a round of applause for our staff who worked so hard to put this on? [applause] the biggest thank you is to you for your hard work. let's just put this in context. the last time we were in the same place, it was a snowy event as some may recall. we were snowed in and having to eat club sandwiches for days at a time. that was six months ago. just since we were last together, without going too deeply into it, let me tell you what democrats have done under the leadership of the president and vice-president in congress.

we got health care pass. seven presidents have tried. that happened in the last six months. wall street reform, the biggest reform of the financial industry since the 1930's when we were trying to dig out of ponzi schemes and depressions. we have done that in the last six months. we of but the biggest package of student loans and student grants together in the history of the nation in the last six months. funding for loans, funding for historically black colleges, funding for community colleges did not increase the size of its federal spending by one penny because we went to banks that we were giving unnecessary money to do and we to get away from them, and we gave it to families, students and colleges like we should. we have confirmed the second woman on the supreme court in the last six months. we have seen an auto industry that was flat come back.

we have seen economic growth. when we were together in february, that was the first month of economic growth after 22 months in the private sector. every month since then we have seen growth in the private sector. we have seen the expansion of green jobs in rural america, urban america. earlier this week, we saw the last combat troops come out of action in iraq. the president promises. the president delivers. this is do we are. we are problem solvers. you will remember harry truman's favorite answer about democrats. they are everyday common people. they do the things that address common problems. republicans are for a special interest. if you want to compare the last six months, look at what the

other guys have done it in the last six months. they are fighting for a big help corporations that are against every day americans. fighting for wall street corporations. fighting for big oil. that sharp distinction between the party of the everyday, a common person and the party of the special interest is as true today as it was when harry truman lake that down. the vice president has talked about where we are, and it is important -- it is probably a good thing about the american public the we do not dwell on the past. democrats are that way too. we make an accomplishment and then we move onto the next one, because we always want to be making progress, but the description of the economic havoc that is affecting american life is palpable. this is where we were when democrats were charged to come

in and clean things up. americans have not had a decade like 2000-2010 and since the 1930's. family income, in real dollars, went down in the decade. gaps between rich and poor, minority and majority communities expanded. their policies put us there, but we came in to clean it up and get us moving forward. we are moving forward, as the president and vice president said. we are not where we want to be, but we are moving forward. we have a long way to go, but for god's sake, we have to keep climbing. the president started with the ambitious recovery act. i'd think -- i just want to share a word. it is estimated that this has saved or created three and half million jobs across america. just in missouri, 55,000 jobs in

more than 1400 small businesses. tax cuts for millions of families. funding investments in green energy research. just parted hundreds of roads and infrastructure projects. the president is committed to doing more with the vice president and our members of congress, because every day job creation, job saving, getting the american economy on track and growing in a sustainable long-term way is job number one. let me talk about some of these achievements now to compare with the other side, because we know what they have done. republicans said a note to the health care plan -- said no to the health care plan. this is now one of those mental issues. we will be doing resolutions on the anniversary of the health care reform bill, just as we talk about social security and the 19th amendment and the voting rights act. democrats have these issues on our mantelpiece. we saved social security. democratic president, democratic

congress. medicaid/medicare, a democratic president, a democratic congress. civil rights act, a democratic president, democratic congress. that was us. we just added one to the mantle, health reform. democratic president, democratic congress, that was us. but health reform is different than all the others in one particular that i think is really important for us to remember and feel proud about. every other one i mentioned, a civil rights, social security, medicaid, medicare, a democratic president, democratic congress, but at least a few, not many, but a least a few courageous republicans look at the long- term needs of the country and voted yes. health care is the only thing on the mantle of democrats where not a single republican would lift a finger to speak to the abuses being put on the american people by the insurance companies, to help keep people healthy. health reform was all democrats. we made this happen for the

american public. we should feel very, very proud of that. [applause] the other guys said no, but it was democrats who said yes. republicans said no to wall street reform. john boehner said other things caused wall street collapse. clean energy investment, they said no to stimulus. they said no to holding companies like bp accountable for pollution. our members of congress and u.s. democrat said yes. they said no, right now. we are trying to figure out a way to make sure that after a tax cuts already too small businesses, can we do something to dramatically increase loans to small businesses? the republicans are filibustering that. we are going to come back to it, and we think because of strong democrats we're going to get the u.s. over the republican

opposition. again and again and again, we are saying yes to progress, they are saying no. as the vice president said, this is not just about the rearview mirro andr. we're not just -- this is not just about the rear view window. we're not trying to relive it the past. what will happen if republicans take back the house? one, repeal wall street reform. two, repeal health care reform. that is the agenda. pete sessions, the head of the congressional campaign committee, made it even simpler. he said the agenda is to go back to doing the exact same agenda we were pursuing before president obama got into office. what was so great about a lost decade? people may not be happy with the way things are now, and we are

climbing again, thank goodness, but i could go into a room of 100,000 people and say, raise your hand if you want to go back into the last decade, and not a single hand would go up. that is what the other side is pursuing. they will roll back health- insurance reform and put people dealing with cancer treatments back at risk. they will take tax incentives away from small businesses. tell people pre-existing conditions can block again. appearance cannot -- parents cannot keep our young people and their health insurance policy. that is what they will do. before i ever got into politics, before i ever knew i would be in politics, i was a civil rights lawyer for 17 years. in richmond, va., i made my way battling for people who were discriminated against because of their race or disability. i think one of the greatest things this country has ever done is ben on the march where we did not start in a good place and we have lager to go, but we have been on a march for more and more equality and broader opportunities for people.

that is what we stand for as a nation and as democrats. [applause] but as we talk about what is at stake and what might be rolled back, let's just remember. republican officers and canada all -- candidate oliver this nation are pledging to roll -- candidates all over this nation are pledging to roll back these reforms. a 90% of them voted against the lowly ledbetter act to give equal pay for equal work, and if they get the majority, that is exactly what they will do. rand paul has advanced the proposition that was wrong for us to pass a the civil rights act guaranteeing people the freedom from being discriminated against in private businesses and private employment. these are the markey candidates that people are -- the mar

quee candidate being put up by the other party. we see republicans working to inflame people against minority religions in this country. the first amendment is first for a reason. this is a nation that has thrived and become a devout nation because we do not punish people and we do not prefer people based on how they were shut, and yet the republicans believe it is a wedge issue in the campaign that they can grab onto religious issues and push a harsh agenda because of the way they practice their faith. one thing i find astounding and frightening is that a number of republicans have stood up in recent weeks and, contrary to the founder of their party, said they favor hearings to discuss whether the 14th amendment to the constitution, the amendment that was fought in the blood of thousands of slaves and thousands of soldiers in the civil war, the was passed in the honor of the founder of the gop,

abraham lincoln, now they are standing up to say that they think the 14th amendment is to be reexamined because they do not like the fact that it extends equal protection to everybody who is in the united states whether they are a citizen or not. is there anything these guys will not propose? if you care about civil rights, and everyone in this room does, let's be very clear. the role? we're facing, whether their protections for women, minorities, lgbt americans, this party has a very different agenda that i would argue is not going backward by 10 or 20 years. when you're talking about going to an amendment of the constitution that was passed in 1865 and revising it or and doing it, i do not know about you, but i do not want to go back to those days. i want to go forward. i want to go forward. [applause] the midterms will be tough. and the terms will be tough. i have said before. on average ever since teddy

roosevelt was president, during midterm elections the party in power loses on average 28 seats. we are going to be running uphill. but as i say to democrats everywhere i go, democrats are tough. we campaigned to have. we govern tough. we win tough. we are not afraid of an uphill run. we are not afraid of having an honest comparison between the parties visions. that is what we're going to do is a message, and then we are going to go person to person in the field side of politics that canada's neighbor to neighbor to achieve victory. as the republicans -- that connects neighbor to neighbor to achieve victory. as republicans are putting up far-right candidates, here's what we're doing. a bigger chunk of our dollars are now going to build a people infrastructure in all 50 states,

investment and state parties, investment in community organizers and volunteers, more than ever before. voter protection efforts, outraged the communities that are reliable -- outreach to the communities that are reliable, to the people that might not vote as much as they do in presidential years. that is an effort that you are a part of oliver this country. that is going to lead us to surprise an awful lot of people in this november. we're going to win senate races, reelecting men and women who have helped to do the heavy lifting with the president, and also been a candidate in place. we are going to win house races. all of those house members to have not ducked the heavy boats, the tough votes, the challenges, we're going to bring them back. we're going to win the gubernatorial and state races

all over this country. i can read about senate races from the office, but some of the local races i will not get the flavor of until i am with you. i have been in 40 states now, and i am so excited to see the caliber of candidates better standing up, grab democrats, proud to be with you and win. i am happy to say that we are working together with state parties in coordinated campaigns. so many of the dnc staffers are now either running for campaigns or regional directors of campaigns all over the united states barret we. we believe in grassroots politics, and that is what we are going to do. this climate is tough, but we do not shrink from that as democrats. these other guys are the country

clubbers. tough is what we do. we're not afraid to make hard decisions to get the nation going again. it seems like the american public always reaches out to us after the other guys have run the thing into a debt. we have to come and with a tough economy, deficits, wars overseas, and things that seem to be spinning out of control. we roll up our sleeves, and make tough decisions, but the country first. i believe what the vice president said. you are receiving enthusiasm for republicans and dramatically shrinking. there is a preference for a democratic congress over republican congress for the first time. after the parent company to the "wall street journal" gave a $1 million to the republican party this week, you can hardly say that they are slanted toward the democrats. we are seeing that energy and excitement and connection with

the democratic party pick up, but we have tough work to do in the next 75 days. it is going to be a battle, and we're going to win it industry, like we did in 2008. -- when it into the street like we did in 2008. we are here right on the verge of some pretty impressive anniversaries, anniversaries of some of the items that we talked about, the voting rights act of 1965, again, purchased in blood, purchased in sweat and tears by people who never let the dream and go even though there was an amendment to the constitution that says that everyone was guaranteed the right to vote. that is right never became effective until the president 45 years ago stepped forward and said we are going to make it real. it is real because of democrats. we can feel very proud of that is to we are. president wilson and the

democratic congress but the 19th amendment through. purchased in blood, purchased in tears, centuries of exclusion, but what a remarkable difference it has made. we still have so far to go to make sure women are equally represented in public office. you know what i know. there will be a day when women are represented proportionally in our country, and most of that work between where we are now and that they will be done by democrats, because we're the ones most likely to nominate and elect women candidates. [applause] finally, the 75th anniversary of social security last saturday. a powerful anniversary. fdrll hear in a minute from was a grandson. grandson. republicans all over this country are going around raising the idea of privatizing social

security. as if the collapse of wall street was not enough to frighten them, now we need to talk about privatizing social security. google best if you want, if you have an extra minute or two. how many republicans running for congress this year are saying that social security is a ponzi scheme? all the over the country, republicans are using that phrase? i am not dumb enough to believe that they're all thinking of that on their on. pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes are phrases that got invented during the depression to describe the wild speculation that hoover administration policies have brought into the united states. social security was a guarantee and a bedrock the democrats put in place. but republicans are going around and calling it a pyramid scheme or a ponzi