republican party's efforts to win the african-american vote. and then later, kenneth walsh talks about his book, "air force one -- the history of the presidents and their planes." "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal" on this monday, june 18, 2012. president obama is in mexico for a meeting of the g-20 nations. meanwhile, presumed republican presidential candidate, mitt romney, continues with the visits to wisconsin. can any president succeed in today's political world?

one hopes that political success and due to partisanship and other factors. here are the numbers to call. the number to call for our republican line is 202-737-0002. the number to call for our democrat line is 202-737-0001. the number to call for our independent line is 202-628- 0205. you can also find us online on twitter. we can share that on the air. facebook, look for c-span and join the conversation. or you can e-mail us. can any president succeed? that is what he is asking.

host: what do you think? we're not necessarily talking about goals. look at the evolution of our politics and media. we name it -- we may never see a president again.

host: craig it is up first. a democratic call in new york city. good morning. caller: good morning. considering that mcconnell has said his whole goal was to make this a one-term president, regardless of if he had good ideas are bad ideas, he was not going to cooperate. apparently, if you get a different president and nationality, this is somewhat of an experiment for america if you have anyone other than a white male. and a lot of people are not used to taking commands from a black person. to have a commander in chief being a black is taking some people back a bit.

they're not used to hearing this from a black person were black people of had to hear orders all the time. host: to you think that is a problem president obama faces? caller: i think this is about killing the baby in the crib. this is got to be an end to what some people think is a bad experiment. host: cavan, an independent scholar from phoenix, arizona. turn down your tv. we're going to have to move on. turn down your tv, folks. a democratic collar in north carolina. good morning. you're on the program. caller: ok.

thank you. host: what do you have to share with us? and you have any comments to make? caller: people cannot be reelected because of their color. republicans are doing everything they can to keep a democrat out of office. and president obama being the first black president, it is making it hard for them -- for him. it should not be this way. he hadet's look at what to write and "the washington post."

host: don, in jacksonville, florida. an independent scholar. what do you think about any president's chances of succeeding in this political world? not protest president obama, but anyone else? caller: i honestly do not believe that anyone can for the simple fact that the political system is run on all labels.

we need to move toward a direction of humanity. we are all humans. bickering and arguing over labels is ridiculous. i think common sense is missing in a lot of this stuff. people either do not have brains or do not use them. host: what do you think that means for what happens next for the country? caller: i guess we all hope for the better movement of it. that is just the way it goes. host: here is a story in "the new york times." obama faces a reelection the test.

host: ohio, republican, good morning. caller: first of all, my comments are not against his religion. host: are you referring to his christianity? caller: no.

his nationality. his color, or whatever. any president can succeed despite his color. is is just his politics. there were a lot of people that i'm sure were swayed thinking he would beat real change. we are not honest in the united states anymore as far as calling our political party what they are. over in europe they will say this is a socialist party. that is what we need to define in the united states instead of getting back and downgrading the tea party or what ever. we need to find out and know what the democratic party stands for. we find out they are supposed to be whatever. lots of them, i believe, are socialists. we should out them for that.

host: you are referring to the president's political persuasion, not his nationality as an american? caller: yes. host: let's talk about connie who is a democrat from chicago. caller: i think she is wrong. i think that given president obama's race, which was so eloquently put forth in the first caller -- i agree with that caller. first when he came into office, he came in the midst of huge -- he tried to stem the financial hemorrhaging of our economic system. he managed to abate that process. he got us on a slow road to recovery.

but given his race, which is black, as we all know, he has been sabotaged at every turn by the republicans in the house of representatives. as well as mr. mcconnell who said that was his chief goal. not to worked doing the work of the people, but to stop this black man. but i find that most of the people in elected politicians, like your first caller said. they refuse to take orders from a black man. it just goes against their blood. and then to put a label on democrats to say that we are communists, that we are socialists is a foolish. it is absolutely foolish. that is part of the problem we

have and the political process. for all of this name-calling and instability is just wrong. again, getting back to your question. to have the hierarchy in the republican party on the night of the president's inauguration to try to stop him from being successful, had his race been white, had he been a better shade of white, then they would be so losing and applauding him. there would have his likeness on mount rushmore. they would salute him all over this country. host: let's get back to the question. we are talking about can any president succeed in this political world? he asks whether the political climate makes it too hard for anyone to get a lot done from

the oval office. here is what pete says on twitter. richard, republican. good morning. caller: yes. presidents can succeed if there will be honest and make tough calls. dear american public is ready for honesty. -- of the american public is ready for honesty. we all know there are things that are not going to happen. but i do think it is possible if maybe even a third-party candidate could succeed. if i could make two more quick statements. host: real quick. why do you think it third-party candidate could be more successful? caller: i think because people

recognize talking points. recognize pandering when they hear it. i think people hold their noses and vote. there emoting -- they are more voting against the other party rather than voting for the candidate. i think this year's republican nominee is a prime example of that. host: ok. your other point? caller: we have heard three callers mentioned president obama's race. there are things that seems like every day it is the constant drumbeat. i'll go ahead and say that everything is bush's fault and no one has to call in and say that. we hear so much about how people are opposed to president obama because of his race. the same argument could be used for voting against women. if we keep hearing this over and over, and eventually, people are going to start to turn against any minority candidate because

as though we're going to hear for four years. every time someone is a post, it is because of race. host: richard mentioned a third party and how he thought that would factor in. here is a story from "usa today" about ron paul. a congressman from texas who is not given up. he has given up on becoming president, but loyal supporters are promising to report both -- to support the libertarian- leaning republican this summer. host: his son has endorsed mitt romney.

we are talking about whether or not any republican -- rather not any president can succeed in this political world. , our next call is from washington. good morning periods caller: -- good morning. caller: my call is about to the's media. -- today's media. it is very difficult to have a two-term president. it depends on which the media you are on. people are either republican or democrat. the minority, the latino

minority. you see democrat and republican calling them because they are the only ones who can make a difference. [unintelligible] i think there is no longer freedom. host: all right. we will see what is said on our facebook page.

host: lakewood, washington state. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i watched "washington journal" almost every morning. i hope i do not offend anyone when i make this statement because it will probably sound controversial. it is not obama's color. for all of the black people are african americans, whenever you want to call it -- i consider myself an american negro. i am anti-obama because i do not like the way the politics trickle down. i do not like the way that the romney campaign is attacking the campaign and neither campaign is doing anything for the people. i go around and i talked to the local business owners.

i have noticed that all of the local businesses are predominantly owned by foreign nationals. in speaking to them, they told me they will not become american citizens because they get better benefits as foreign nationals. they do not pay as much taxes. they get better loans. for any president to succeed in america's political world, we will have to get a president who thinks about the american people, period. not the immigrants. we cannot help everyone else. that has been my 10-year study. host: we will be talking more about the immigration issues facing the country in our next segment at 7:45. for now, we're talking about

whether or not a president can succeed in today's political climate, regardless of who the president is. is the political climate one with success. how does that play out today. here is a comment on twitter. here is what is going on on the campaign trail. mitt romney is talking about the economy at three stops in ohio. the gop presidential hopeful blasted obama's policies but gave few details of his own. he took his economic message on the road to ohio on sunday.

host: nearly all of the states on mitt romney's bus tour have unemployment rates under the state average. in tennessee, james, the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for the call. what i want to say and what i feel is a problem is the senate. they have no african americans. they are allowed to put forth the policies of the hispanics. marco rubio is a one-termer who has a lot of power. they could a filibuster and a

stop -- they could filibuster and stop. nothing is different except you have a black man in there. we have white people -- in no racist. we know this. it has been documented. the steeper -- these people were meeting and steaming about how to bring this country down. -- scheming about how to bring this country down. if you do not support president obama, we blacks will not support you. thank you. host: our caller brought up the makeup of congress. here is a story. marco rubio is a fast rising. you can read the profile and

"usa today." -- in "usa today." our caller also mentioned african-americans in congress. allen west will be joining us to talk about conservatives trying to win over the african american vote. here is a piece in "the washington post" about what happens this week.

host: mass., an independent scholar, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. people of america, it is because of race. they have been very disrespectful to our president. host: can ask you -- we're talking about whether or not any president can succeed in this political world. caller: sure, a president can be reelected. it does not matter what the media says or what the pandit says. it is what you know as a person. you have a brain. you can see things. it is not so much what they say.

it is what is going on throughout the country. if you think, for one moment, that the american people want to take this country back 50 years worth of progress, i do not care what it might be. immigration or the banking industry, they're not cooperating with him. i am a little nervous. i am sorry. host: do you think the tables would turn if there was a republican in the white house? keeping the democrats would be acting that way? caller: it would be the same. it does not matter who is in that office. congress holds the purse. the house holds the purse strings. if they do not allow the president to go forward with his vision, then you cannot blame

them. everybody in the country understands it is bad for them. host: ok. here is what fred rights on twitter. our next caller is in delaware. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i have listened to all the comments and excuses for the president. it is a very difficult political climate. i realize that. especially in this economy. however, i will say that if i hired a mechanic to fix my car and he did not do a good job, it does not matter what race he is or what he has done. i will get another mechanic. i am not happy with the service. thus, the president has never

had experience. he loves the presidency. he loves air force one. he loves everything that goes with it. but he is not doing the job. host: do you think that we have a desire to see instant gratification? if there was a republican president in office t think he would feel the frustration? caller: they want is in gratification, but at the same time you see him playing golf and going to fund-raisers. he is not doing anything for the unemployed. he is fundraising. all he does is go around and tell everybody, i am the president of united states. he does nothing. host: we will take a look at the fund-raising comments later this morning and air force one, something raymond and just brought up. here is an e-mail from seattle.

host: what do you think about politics and have a factor into the success of the presidency? you are up next. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i do not think that any president can really, really succeed in this country. i do not trust either party. i think they all work together hand-in-hand. and then we have our immediate which is controlled by like a handful of people. we have the central bank of england controlling our economy and we have the federal reserve. those are the ones that are in control of everything. i do not think any president can succeed in anything that they do here.

our presidents are chosen. i do not care how much wheat vote -- our presidents are chosen for us. we have to except that fact. thank you. host: on twitter. you can tweet your comments. you can also e-mail us. let's take a look at what the president is up to this week. the summit allows obama and putin to revisit mutual dependency. their meeting on monday will be the first since mr. putin return to russia oppose the top job.

host: here is "the wall street journal" headline." you can see the spanish president of arriving in mexico yesterday for these meetings. the stakes are higher this time for the group of 20 nations as both the rich and other nations are slowing in unison. a handful of the year rose 0's 17 economies represented. rather, they hope the discussions will continue into the gatherings of european leaders in the next two weeks." south carolina, russell, democratic column. good morning. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call.

my view on the entire thing is that americans -- listening to the republicans, you never hear the word "patriotism" anymore. you don't even hear it in the democratic party. i have not heard it frequently until the world trade center disaster. if you look at what is going on in politics today with the citizens united decision and corporations are taking over the people's vote. there is nothing patriotic about that. you mentioned allen west is going to be your guest coming up. he actually said that 80% of the democratic party are communists. there is nothing patriotic about calling your competition communists. where i live that in south

carolina, a lot of people are not educated. they watch fox news and the lady that was on earlier talking about democrats are socialists. those people are not educated. they do not know what socialist is. they do none know what that word communist is. just the other day on fox -- i'm sorry, on your network, the guest called democrats dummies. saying i can always tell when a democrat is talking. there dummies. we're supposed to strive to make the country stronger, and people that can sit and say that president obama has not done a good job when he took over an economy that was losing 700,000 jobs a month, they obviously are being blinded either by their

conservative networks like fox and conservative talk shows, or they are so caught up in listening to other people that they do not see him for what he is really doing. host: let's take a look at other comments coming in. steve rights by e-mail, a democrat from kentucky -- host: the race is on not just for the presidency but also for the vice presidency. we see in "the new york times, a story how mitt romney is traveling on this bus tour. he is making some stops others causing folks -- he is making stops causing folks to ask questions.

"on and off the bus, tryouts for the number two ticket." someone else he is talking to is representative paul ryan of wisconsin. a favorite of many fiscal conservatives. he will welcome mitt romney today to his hometown with confidence.

at least two governors, chris christie of new jersey and bobby janette all of louisiana. and two senators, john finan of south dakota and marco rubio of florida. -- john thune of south dakota and marco rubio of florida. asking mitt romney about how he would work with congress, getting to the heart of the question we are asking today about being able to see across party lines. let's take a listen. >> i think that confines members of the democratic party, both in the house and the senate, who feel this is a critical time, that the nation as close to a precipitous and that we have to work together to find common solutions. you are seeing that. that happens more often than is given credit inside the house, inside the senate, but then the white house drops the ball. on obamacare, there were

republicans and democrats that put their proposals for. they were moved aside. the president had his view. it was that view or -- that is not the way to get the job done in a way the american people will support. >> you can watch c-span's sit- down interview with mitt romney on our web site, c-span.org. albany, new york, brian, an independent college, joining us now. hi. >> albany, georgia. host: albany, georgia. excuse me. caller: the press is being bought out by the rich and corporations today. once congress passed that big corporations could give as much

money to a presidential campaign as it wants to, the vote was taken out of the american people's hands. we have no where to stand nowadays. the president will only say -- if congress thinks the same way the president thinks. i am independent, so neither democrat or republican because i have lost my belief and my faith in both parties. but like i said, as long as the president is in office that congress likes, where we have a republican congress -- george bush was doing exactly what the rich and powerful wanted him to do, and he accomplished his goal. and the working poor and middle- class are even more in the poorhouse, to the point where

me, personally, i had to move in with my mother-in-law, when back in 2000 i was making $50,000, $60,000 a year. now i'm making less than $20,000. i am getting out of it because there is no money. anyway, that is what i'm saying. and i must tell you, ma'am, you look very nice in that dress today. you look very lovely. host: talking about presidential success given the political climate. here is a story from "usa today." female troops need better health care. it says, "the military is falling short in providing equal health care for women on the battlefield, even as public sector grows to allow them a broader role in combat."

"the health and uniform issues are areas that will be extending their role in combat or maintain the tyrol, need to be doing a better job," according to an army colonel physician. "they're trying to work out those issues." here is another story we are looking at today, this on the international front. "the greeks back a european bailout." "conservatives win a narrow electoral victory." greek voters narrowly endorsed pro-bailout forces in a momentous election, easing fears of an eminent rupture of the euro zone for the moment. the result, giving pro-austerity conservative and socialist parties enough votes to form a

fragile and awkward ruling coalition, will not erase the immense problems that face greece and the euro zone. pledged to continue cooperating with europe, and investors feared far more, a win by the anti-bailout leftist party or a confused model that left greece hobbling with political infighting. some other stories here. socialists win a solid majority, reports "the wall street journal." he needs to revise france's economy. islamists declared victory in a candidate in the egyptian elections. egyptians voted in an election sunday that will choose the next

president will but will probably not resolve deep-seated uncertainty. its candidate won the election based on individual counting centers. final results are not expected until later on this week. rodney king has died. he was well known for the riots that ensued after officers who allegedly beat him were freed after they were being charged. we have been seeing a lot of stories in the paper today, looking at rodney king, his legacy. he was found in his swimming pool. "in the 1992 l.a. riots, found dead." los angeles police officers -- he was found yesterday. the question this morning is whether or not any president can succeed in today political world. little rock, arkansas.

cornelius, a democratic column. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think he can be successful. i think obama can be successful. any president can be successful, but they have to put their agenda aside. they have to find common ground and get those things past, signed into law. you do have republican senators today, they're not going to give obama or any other democratic president in office today, they will not get very many victories. they will not give him anything that he can go out that he can campaign on. bill clinton was basically in the same situation, but he was in a worse situation because he had bob dole and the republicans to deal with in the senate. he had newt gingrich and republicans to deal with in the house.

bill clinton stopped fighting with those guys. he figured out things he had common ground with them, got that stuff passed and signed into law. what the republicans are doing to obama it does not have anything to do with race. any democrat in the white house today, their goal is, we cannot let this guy go out and campaign and say we did this and that for americans. so we have to stop him. can he be successful? yes, i think he can be successful, but he has to put his agenda aside, watch how he uses executive orders. he has to find things he agrees with republicans on and get them to sign into law. as long as you need 60 votes to do anything in the senate, there has to be something. the founders of this country

said you had to have 60 votes in the senate to get anything done. thank you. host: lee writes in on twitter, "of course anyone can succeed at any given time." good morning. caller: yes, i have been hearing about everybody is against the black president. i am not against him. host: sir, we're trying to focus this morning on whether or not any president can succeed in today political climate. a bit of a commentary page, it is asked whether or not it is possible. what do you think about that? caller: i think that the, like

barney frank said when president obama approved the health care thing, it should have been focusing on the job is more instead of health care. if people do not have jobs, the money will not be there to pay for health care. people get jobs, then they can have health care then. host: ok. we are talking about this question, whether any president can succeed in the political world. thanks for all your calls this morning. we will be talking about politics as well as what is going on in congress. next up, the administration's new policy on immigration. we will talk with deepak bhargava of the center for

community change, and then later on, alan west, republican of florida, a discussion on the african-american vote in 2012. we will be right back. >> we are in an incredibly important era with the future growth of the software industry and american companies, these companies that are successful, for which things like -- but only one element of what the u.s. does will take the path of what we're doing internationally. we will have to break down barriers where were they exist.

>> tonight, the software alliance ceo robert holleyman. ietrusza is our guest on "booktv." join us live with your calls coming emails, and tweets on sunday, july 1, on "booktv's in depth," on c-span2.

host: deepak bhargava it is the director for the center for community change. talk about the obama administration's move on an immigration policy that just came down on friday. what have you and your organization been calling for? guest: we have been working with other immigrant advocacy groups for years now to ask the administration to use his executive authority to prevent the deportation of eligible students, and also the parents and spouses of u.s. citizen children, people who contribute to the country, pose no threat to our society. it has been a long campaign. host: "obama to permit young migrants to remain in the u.s., no importation for those who came to the u.s. as children.

guest: in fairness to them, they tried to move a bill through congress, and the dream act bill was defeated in 2000 and got a handful of republican votes. it became increasingly clear to the administration that there was no prospect of a bipartisan legislative action this year, so they made the decision to go forward, that this was a humanitarian crisis, to protect this group of 1 million young people. host: deepak bhargava, outline for us the dream act and how it is different from what the white house has done. guest: the dream act would be a permanent fix, solution to the problem. these are people who came to the country as children who knows the united states as their home, who may not speak the language of the country they were born in. the dream act would allow them to go to college or into the

military to eventually adjust their status and become citizens. the president does not have the power to grant citizenship to these young people, so his move would give them temporary residence and a work permit for two years, which will remove the immediate fear of deportation, which is a huge deal for these young people, but it is not a permanent fix to the problem. host: outline what the obama administration policy does. it means select individuals would be immune from deportation. it affects 800,000 people that had come to the united states before the age of 16, number than 30. they must be in the u.s. for five continuous years. they must also be a graduate of high school or have a ged, had military service come at no criminal record. why are these details important when we are talking about young

people who are succeeding in school, jobs in the military? why is that part of it? guest: this is about trying to define a group or class of people for this relief, and so the criteria that the administration settled on really tracks the criteria in the dream act, the kind of larger solution we were talking about, the permanent fix to the problem. it tries to find a group of people who came to the country as children who are -- who are in school, in the military, on a track to contributing to society, and that we will not deport these people and we will give them a chance to earn income and participate fully. that is the significance of the group we have carved out. host: you are joining the conversation about the obama administration's nepolicy on immigration.

republicans call 202-737-0002. democrats, 202-737-0001. independence, call 202-628-0205. we're talking with deepak bhargava of the center for community change. a while ago you were meeting with the white house and reflecting on a contentious meeting that immigration advocates had to sit down with the president in the white house. you were part of this and were a leading voice. the stories as you lead off the meeting with a sharp critique of the president's leadership. do you think the meeting accomplished anything? guest: it was, i would say, a chilly meeting. it accomplished a great deal in the sense of i think the president became aware in that meeting perhaps for the first

time of the extent to which people who work for him in the department of homeland security were pursuing policies vastly at odds with what he publicly said should be enforcement priorities. the president paz's view, we are deported criminals and people who are serious threats to national security. we argued in that meeting that the department of common security is going after these students, supporting parents, mothers, fathers from kids. we asked the administration to lean in and push forward. it has been now essentially two years since that meeting, but i really think that played a key role of getting us on the radar screen. host: but here from daniel, a democratic caller, from huntington, west virginia. caller: i was going to say i

think they're making it entirely too hard for people to be deported. we have given the freedom to rehabilitate. there should be some type of program, but if people did not go through the rehabilitation process, then they should be deported. guest: being rebuilt it -- host: daniel, being rehabilitated for what? caller: for some people who are criminals, rehabilitating them. there is a problem with our infrastructure and we need to rebuild a lot of things so people can have a chance at doing something like that and also getting an education. guest: i agree with danielle that our country needs a more generous approach to immigration -- with daniel that our country needs a more generous approach to immigration.

we have welcomed immigrants to our shores. it is a key ingredient to the success of our country. that has really broken down over the last couple of decades, where there is no line for an immigrant who wants to be a citizen to get into. people are forced to live in the shadows. they cannot pay taxes because they are not legal. still legalizing the documentation in the united states would be good for those immigrants and make their lives a lot better. it would also be better for our country. host: let's hear from an illegal immigrant living in palisades park, new jersey. caller: good morning. i'm not illegal. i'm talking about my son. host: go ahead and turn down your tv, and we are listening to you. turn down the tv. ok, tell us about your son.

caller: hello? host: you said your son qualifies for this? caller: by son came here when he was four years old. i would like to know when this will be available for him to apply? as mr. obama declared friday. guest: that is an excellent question. they have not yet been worked out, the specifics of this program. the notion is that it is 60 days, uscis, the part of homeland security that processes naturalization applications for everybody, would have an application process and form up and ready, so that is two months from when the announcement happened. and young people would submit some kind of form and have their

applications looked at. so about two months between now and when this process will happen. host: a virginia teacher they graduate from high school in richmond. from guatemala, she came to this country when she was very young. she will be deported right after graduation. she had a very different experience after graduation than her peers had. but she was granted a reprieve just last week. she found out that she was to be deported through a letter in email and a knock at the door. how do individual cases like this get played out now? she has been granted a one-year career. -- a one-year reprieve. how common is that? guest: there have been campaigns for years to ensure that individuals who are subject to deportation are given what is called the third action.

typically when there is a press story like that or advocates rallied to a case, we usually cannot stop an individual from being deported sometimes. but there thousands -- we usually can stop an individual from being deported sometimes. but there are thousands who are deported and their lives are shattered. that young woman will be able to work legally. a deferred action will not necessarily allow her to work legally. host: what -- what about young people coming out and saying that they are illegal? guest: courageous young people for the past decade now have come out publicly to say that they are undocumented and

unafraid, who have challenged politicians. this has been an extraordinary campaign, led by young people for young people that has resulted in this accomplishment. without their voices, there is no question in my mind this policy would not have changed. host: if you are an illegal immigrant, you can call us. here is ed, an independent from delaware. good morning. are you with us? caller: hello? host: go right ahead. you are on the program. caller: i wanted to ask a quick question. where are you all -- host: let's move on rather than hear language like that. good morning. caller: once someone comes to this country and becomes a legal

citizen, they can turn around and bring their parents and grandparents to this country, and they are automatically legal citizens. what happens is, turn to six or eight. another thing, most of them did not want to assimilate. they want to keep traditions of the old country. take a country like france. so many muslims have migrated that they havece totally changed the country. it is no longer the french citizens to determine the law. they have changed that country to a muslim nation almost. that is exactly what can happen to this country. host: two things the calller brought up. one is changing the culture. the other is bringing over

family. >guest: i have to say i disagree strongly with the calller. my experience, the vast majority want to become integrated, full part of the society. in the wake of the story about the president's historic decision, there were very moving account of young people that want to be engineers, doctors, lawyers here yet it has been the history of this country that we have had waves of immigration and waves of fear that the country would somehow be worse off for. the truth is, we have always been much better for it. it has renewed us in given us the energy, a talent, people all around the world. >> on the question of bringing family members, there is a quite complicated process for people to sponsor relatives, and there is actually a waiting list in

the millions of people who aren't u.s. citizens that want to sponsor family members. one of the things that has been best about u.s. immigration policy in the past is we have stressed what is called a family unity, but the idea of the immigration policy is a priority that the member should be able to stay together. it is a part of the history, although not terribly well implemented right now, but people could read over close family members if they can sponsor them and pass the test. >> bill from missouri. caller: how're you doing? host: we are good. thank you. what is your comment or question? caller: president obama has taken a lot of flak from republicans, and even people

that are not republicans. you have to remember that george bush, yourn judge -- a young george and was in their eight years, and they just wasted money hand over foot. he was very lucky the academy was on an upswing when he was in but the bad part, obama inherited the down swing. >> what has been the political response to the president's change in policy? >> there has been extraordinary enthusiasm in the community, meaning the immigrant community, asian communities all across the country. tears inve been cheer celebration. we do not yet had extensive polling, but it is notable that

mitt romney, governor mitt romney yesterday on the sunday shows refused to take a position on whether he would extend the policy if he was elected president. one important thing to note here is that a new president can change the policy because of executive action. it is not a permanent policy. the question was asked, would you extend it or not? he refused to answer, which i think will be a major liability for him. >> here is the headline, "romney knocks immigration probe." >> it would be overtaken by virtue of my putting in place a long-time solution with legislature that creates a law that relates to individuals. they know what the setting will be.

that has benefits for the president, but on a permanent basis. >> just to make sure i understand, would you leave this in place while you work out a long-term situation? >> we will look at that we reach it, but my anticipation is i would come into office and say we need to get this done. what the president did, he should have worked on this years ago if he felt seriously. he saved these sorts of things until 4.5 months before the general election. >> why do you think he did that? >> i think it is pretty clear. if you really wanted to make a solution, then this is something he water taken up in the first 3.5 years. >> so he did it for politics? >> that is certainly a big part of the equation. onst: that is mitt romney

"face the nation." guest: i think he set him up for a world of trouble. he said he would veto it. as ated arizona's sb1070 model for the nation and now not willing to say whether he would extend policy has broad support among the public a and intense support among the key constituency. he will be speaking to latino elected officials in will have a very tough audience to do. >> here is the reaction by chuck grassley. he is a republican of iowa committee. the president's action is an affront to the process of representative government by circumventing congress, and he may not have the authority to execute. >> it is important to understand that over 100 legal scholars

wrote the president of the united states from the best schools and said there is a clear and established mechanism for you to grant relief for these young people, and there are precedents of the use of the authority by republican and democratic presidents for other groups of people, particular countries that were experiencing great the press. there is almost no legitimate debate about the use of the authority or possibility of using the authority. there may be legitimate disagreements about what the president should have done. >> executive director for the center of community change, a national nonprofit with the vision of developing the capacity of low-income people and changing the policies and institutions affecting their lives. caller: hil. . i want to comment on mitt romney's interview with cbs.

he said the president never did anything and out is doing something three months before the election. that is false. the republicans rejected it. the president did a lot of work securing the border. they generally pretend this never happened. especially in the defeat of the dream act. now he wants to [inaudible] this is a common solution. mr. romney said he will veto it. it is dishonest and shame that cbs they did not call them out. i wish you could talk more about his dishonesty. he was just being simply dishonest. i would like your comment. thank you. guest: the calller is exactly right. the president did push for a

vote on the dream act in december of 2010. it failed. it got 65 votes. all but five democrats voted for it. exactly three republicans voted for it. the president did do it. the interesting thing is immigration was once a bipartisan issue. i remember standing with senator from utah, and heutahatch is now an opponent of the dream act. there has been the seismic change in the tone and tenor of the debate inside the republican party on these issues, which has made it impossible to move forward with legislation and the progress of the election. the calller also points out that republicans had been criticizing for being soft on enforcement.

unfortunately from my perspective, we have had record levels of deportation from the obama administration over the last few years. well over 1 million people have been deported. lower levels of border crossings than any other time in modern history. the president said in order to do immigration reform, they need to see real enforcement. we've seen incredible levels of immigration enforcement, but they have still oppose immigration reform. >> here are th host: here are the numbers from "the associated press." republican and pennsylvania. caller: good morning. charity begins at home. our kids are coming out of high school and colleges in cannot find jobs, which means they would compete with dream act

kids if this goes through. it is not fair for people that have been waiting for years to come to this country. they say it would not be fair to the kids in mexico, because many of them cannot speak spanish. how much english did their parents know when they came to this country? furthermore, they learn to speak spanish in many cases before they went to the first grade. not only that, rick perry and others, they have been giving tax breaks to illegal aliens to begin with, and if there are getting a free education, perhaps they should go back to mexico and help to rebuild the country. as far as the people, bush is gone, time to stop beating a dead horse. >> de you speak spanish? -- host: do you speak spanish? jump in there.

guest: the biggest issue is these are our kids. these are young people that came to the country when there were two, three-years-old. the president said these kids play with our kids at school. they go to the same class as. they are on the same sports teams. these are our kids. they are american and every single way except for the papers. we have a constitutional decision by the supreme court that says it is mandatory to educate undocumented children. you cannot distinguish based on someone's legal status in providing a public education. we are educating these kids. it does not make any sense to educate them, to have them play with our kids, to go to our schools, and then to say we're going to make use subject to deportation.

wasting the education we of giving you and not giving you a chance to put bill your potential. i think it is crazy for the country and a moral obligation of our history of our nation. host: the calller expressed concerns of they would compete with american-born citizens for jobs in places in college. guest: there is a real question about whether we view the economy as a zero sum game. my own view is there is a long history of immigrants of entrepreneurs who contribute to creating jobs in the country. if you go to silicon valley or other parts of the country, they have substantial debris on immigrant labor in talent. small-business is, entrepreneurship, immigrants are helping to bring back vitality in those communities. by legalizing undocumented immigrants, we will generate

billions and billions of dollars in tax revenue as people are able to pay legally into the system that will help with the fiscal crisis to restore the fiscal health of the country. i think immigration reform is actually a winner for this country, both in terms of job creation and the effect of the fiscal conditions. the washington post" today -- a poultrybout processing plant and how hundreds of workers, many of whom were mexican immigrants, including some that were in the country illegally, but last fall, many finished overnight, rattling the large hispanic community and leaving the poultry business scrambling. it talks about how the economy has suffered. what do you make of that?

guest: alabama is a tragedy unfolding before our eyes. the only state in the country where the harsh immigration laws have not been blocked in the court. there is fear and chaos. the shocking thing about alabama is that it has done a profound damage to the economy of the state of alabama. the agricultural sector, construction sector costing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and employment. i think this goes to the heart of the immigration question in this country. we need immigrant labor, and all of us are able to eat fresh produce on our plate every day for dinner or lunch, and that is largely picked by immigrant labor, most of it and documented. if we want to have a thriving economy in this country, we need to welcome immigrants, stop the hypocrisy, give them a path to legal status of the could contribute to making this country all that it can be. host: betty francis from

charleston, salt carolina. democrats's line. -- betty joins us from charleston, south carolina. caller: i love c-span but would say they need to stop reading the newspaper and start taking more phone calls. i have lived here a little over three years ago from connecticut. i am a big supporter of the president and pray every day he gets reelected. i have nothing against this idea about the immigrants, but i would like to make a couple of quick points. like the previous woman but for i feel how i feel. i wanted to say quick points about how i feel.

this is just my opinion, and i heard the debates on the other side of the call. i have a grandson but just graduated and is looking for a job. when i said there are kids that live here, i will agree with that, but what i am talking about is an american citizen, born and naturalized here. i think that is the american%, a child, young adult or whoever so that we come first. there is no difference in qualifications. that is just my opinion. the other thing is it was not answered. what happens after the two years? if they stay here for two years, they might as well be allowed to apply for a green card.

it would not be just the children, because obviously you will not keep the children here in deports the parents. i do not think so. guest: betty asked a lot of good questions. on the jobs question, let me say this, i do not think policy will have a material negative impact on the prospect of any other young person. i think it will improve the economy for the reasons i said. it is also true we need a job strategy for the country to generate the kinds of opportunities for all young people that we need. that is a matter that this congress has blocked every serious proposal, whether it is infrastructure spending or teachers or firefighters are cops of the beat it said rep. we need a jobs policy, and i agree strongly that we have a crisis of millions of young people coming out of college with very little in the way of

prospects for the future. host: talk about prioritizing. our earlier calller talked of jobs being taken. you think there should be some sort of ranking or systematic way to a lot spaces and of what it's or school? guest: i think that is not the american tradition. we did not distinguish of place of their birth or national origin. we would not want a system that allows for discrimination. i think if you're not here -- not born here, our tradition has been completely welcoming of people around the world and to put everyone on the same footing as the work to get ahead of their lives. i do not support any kind of preferences of that kind. i sent the last issue the calller raised was about the issue of the parents -- i think the last issue the calller

raised was about the issue of the parents. we do place kids into foster care in this system because we have deported their parents. that is hugely expensive and crazy policy. i actually think we need a policy that says we will not deport people who have deep ties to this country, who have young kids in the country, and that may well be the next stage of this after the election, but the calller is incorrect. we do regularly the port parents. -- deport parents. host: monti on twitter says -- getting at the idea that then they take the highly-qualified

skills overseas. bill writes in to ask this. he says the dream act, what is not understood about the word you legal. it is to be fixed, that is the word of congress. what are the will of the people? should congress act, and should the white house leave it to congress to make these kinds of decisions? guest: we definitely need congressional action. i am hopeful after this election we will see action on not just a dream act, but comprehensive immigration reform passage that would put the 11 million undocumented people in this country, if they pass it and test, on a path to citizenship. i am hopeful that can happen. the reality is there has been no prospect of immigration reform legislation for some time. the question is, will we devote enforcement budget and resources to chase down valedictorians and

high school? or are we going to devote the same scarce dollars to go after the people who pose a serious threat to the country? what the president was saying on friday, which i thought was right, is those young people are an asset to the future of this country, and we should be deploying the scarce enforcement dollars to people who pose a threat to this country. >> let's hear one of the president's own talking about the administration's immigration policy. >> we have tried as hard as we can to pack the dream act and comprehensive immigration reform act. this gives law-enforcement officials to enforce law within discretion and allows young people who came here, many times early in their life, who want to serve in the military and work in the businesses and stay in the colleges to apply for work

authorization. we know we need a permanent fix. that is ultimately the only way to fix this. ho host: let's hear from stevens, republican calller. caller: i went through this myself. i am not an immigrant or anything like that. there is a bigger problem than you are even talking about. i lived in the house for about two weeks with some immigrants. basically what they told me is they get a six month visa. they come over here, and they work all the can and take their money and send it back to the country. in the place i was in, there was three apartments. one apartment had nine people living in it. the second apartment had eight people, and the first floor apartment had five. they were all related.

that was only one house. just a you know, i became friends with two of the guys. you know what happened to me? i had a beautiful job, and they went down for my job behind my back, and i was making $11 an hour, and plenty of overtime and doing great. they went down, and they got $7 an hour, and i got laid off. some i think is this, yes, deport them. you want to come to the country, go through the system. your went to work, everyone should have a fair shake. they should not come in here with a six-month visa and then send all of the money back. then when they are ready to go, they go from canada. already called immigration and

no one said nothing about nothing. thank you very much. i appreciate it. sorry forverryyery sorry what happened to the calller. we get out so few visas per year for agricultural workers. we need hundreds of thousands of them every year to pick vegetables and fruits that we eat every day for engineers in silicon valley. so what happens is the simple years recruit a broad, and have brought people over to this country for an extended amount of times as undocumented workers. i agree with you we should have and above board, transparent and fair immigration system in the country, but the past to do that has to involve taking the people who were here currently, who are

working hard, and in many cases making huge contributions to the country and giving them a chance to get right with the law and become americans. with respect to fute immigration system, i think we need an assessment of what the labor market needs, a word we have workers? have pieces that speak to that in terms of the future flow of immigration to this country. host: he started and led the center work on immigration reform. also in the creation of the fair immigration reform movement. as i mentioned, the chief executive now. he also served on various boards, including the discount foundation and national editorial board and advisory board for the open society institute. wichita, kansas. joe on the democrat line. caller: good morning. i have a two-part question.

i disagreed with the man from concert to sit -- from massachusetts. apparently he has personal feelings about what he is talking about. i can understand that. i am a vietnam veteran myself. this republican thing is killing our own ideas. a lot of people that get all sorts of agreements. they are owning all of the business. we cannot get nothing. we cannot get loans for homes or absolutely nothing. we do have a system in place for people, and they need to be limited. i hope this man understands what is actually going on. there are a lot of people tired of it. thank you very much. guest: thank you for your call. on the question of benefits, i know if there is a widespread view that immigrants get tons

of benefits from the federal government. it is factually not the case. they are eligible for no federal benefits of any kind. the pace social security dollars into the system, and they're ineligible for social security benefits on the back end. let me say this, there is a tremendous amount of pain in this country, economic pain. the people who cause the pain are not the immigrants were picking strawberries in the field or cleaning hotel rooms. they are not the people who cause the pain. the people who cause that are the locals on wall street that brought the economy to its knees. they anchor that i am detecting is really misdirected. that i andger detecting is really misdirected. these are part of the solution,

not the problem. host: another tweet for you -- not true they say, that they are eligible for all sorts of benefits. absolutely not the case. host: independent calller. hi. guest: my question is directed toward caller: my question is directed toward c-span. you need different boards or organizations he belongs to, and these have no meaning to us, but a person such as this is someone that i personally consider is trying to undermine everything the united states has ever stood for. he has been involved in quite a number of discredited organizations such as acorn. i know he will be back on in

just a minute to give an explanation, but he was educated at harvard, and he knows how to do that. host: he graduated from, so what lade from harvard. cspan, when you have people such as this that are communist or socialist people, you can let us know that before they start talking, before they give us explanations. host: let's turn to our guest. i did mention his qualifications and what he's done now. guest: the fact first thing i would tell you is we have something called the internet. you can google me and i'm very

positive things about me. come from an organization that says we have ordinary, working people. i was a community organizer, and i believe strongly in committee organizing in something that strengthens the democracy by making sure that everyone's voices heard. voice is heard. that is how we of one the critical victory for immigrant young people, so i am proud to be part of that tradition which is a very american tradition and democratic tradition. >> the web site is community change.org. thank you for joining us talking about the president's new policy

on young illegal immigrants. host: coming up next, we will talk to alan west, republican of florida. later on, kenneth walsh to talk about air force one and how your public dollars are spent on it. first, a news update from c-span radio. >> the russian president at the g-20 summit in mexico, the first meeting of the leaders since he returned to the presidency. the topics on the agenda include the situation in syria, and the european financial crisis. this after creeks elected a pro- bailout government. the conservative leader whose new democracy party came in first in yesterday's election is set to meet the main opposition leader to start the formal process of coalition building. he met with a great president earlier today and received the formal mandate to start the coalition-building talks.

his party is 21 seats shy of an absolute majority. following the election, the official news agency, a senior member at the ruling military council is saying that general will hand over power to the newly-elected president at the theof the month in whiwhat major general says will be a grand ceremony. no specific date given. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> we are in an incredibly- important era. we're in the software industry and the future of american industries. four things that matter, but only one element will lead to take account of what is happening internationally. it will break down barriers where they exist, but also the rise of innovation. >> tonight, president and ceo

of business software alliance. tonight on c-span2. host: congressman alan west represents florida's 22nd district. thank you for joining us. we have been hearing a lot about the white house and run the camp talking about latino voters in getting that voting bloc. but talk about african-american voters. what are the republicans doing to get them on board? >> today c-span will cover the conservative platform we have from 1:00-3:00. it is the second one we have had. today we will talk about urban economic issues and revitalization, because i think it is important. when you look at the numbers as far as unemployment, they talk about 8.2%. that is really 14.8%.

that is underemployment and discouraged workers that are not even looking any more. the wrong number for the black community is 14%. -- the raw number for the but community is 14 percent said. but the median family incomes down to 35,000. look at 32-33% of the black community is living below the poverty line. also come out of the 45% increase that we've seen with food stamp recipients. we have to talk about how we have pro-growth policies within the urban environment. small businesses to open back up. i know minority business and contractors are suffering. today is about the policies that have -- that can get the black community economically restored.

to go unemploymenhost: looking t unemployment rates by a different demographic groups. black americans over 16 years- old, that number significantly higher. guest: we cannot have true economic restoration if we do not have this. 3.8% of blacks are self- employed. that is the lowest between blacks and hispanics. look at the profits that come from black small businesses trailing. we have to talk about that access to capital. what are the incentives we can have to help them grow in the urban community? i have lived in atlanta, georgia. what we see now is a shadow of what existed back when i grew up. host: if you would like to talk with congressman wes, here are

the numbers to call -- what is mitt romney doing to connect to the african-american community? guest: one of the most important things is allowing people such as myself, the governor of therida to go out and be t voices. the mayor of sarasota's springs will be probably the first black republican member of congress coming here. she is looking very well in her election. i think we need the forces out here. this forum is a very important thing. we have support from the party with members and representatives from the ways and means community -- committee to be there. we will talk about solutions. ronald reagan's economic adviser will be part of the panel, because we will talk about the idea that he had with the late

great jeff kemp and how we can look at policies to get those established. one thing i would like to say to the black community is when you invest your money, you do not invest your capital in one investment fund or one stock. i think when we look at the political capital of the black community, we have to diversify that and make sure we are speaking across all philosophies and principles and all parties. >host: c-span will broadcast that from later on today. find out more at c-span.org or catch it live at c-span2 at 1:00 this afternoon. let's go to georgia, for scholar on the independent line. -- first caller on the independent line. caller: first of all, i think the president of the united states should have military

experience, just like you have. it is hard to be ahead of something if you do not have any experience in it. also, the other thing is have you thought about maybe being nominated for vice president? [laughter] guest: first of all, i want to shout out to dwayne. you are my homie. once upon a time, the country looked the men who had served in the united states military to continue their service outside of the uniform and to continue to serve on capitol hill, or as the president of the united states of america. i do not think we need to put that in the constitution as a requirement, but maybe something that people should look to in the future. as far as the president, you

have to talk to the presumptive nominee. i am not lobbying for that. a. just trying to be a good congressional representative. -- i am just trying to be a good congressional representative. host: our guest served in army for over 20 years. let's hear from the republican calller in michigan. caller: good morning. it is a real honor to see you on c-span. the last guest i had on you most of the time. -- had it on mute most of the time. guest: it is important to listen to everyone. host: i hear you. what ever. the comment i want to make this morning is that what i see

obama doing is transforming this country. he will not fix anything. i think that is why he is blaming bush to set the table to continue his reconstitution of this country. i am just out there doing my best to try to convince other individuals out there what we're facing this november. again, it is a real honor to speak with you and continue to speak for the voice of the american people out there. guest: think you very much. i read a great book by the president of hillsdale college. it is a great book to go back and read the interwoven relationship between the declaration of independence, federalist paper, and the united states constitution.

the american people have a choice to make. do they want to continue on to be a constitutional republican, and it really comes down to philosophies of principles of governance. limited government, individual sovereignty, individual responsibility and accountability. free market, and strong national defense as opposed to a belief in growing of a socialist welfare state that focuses on nationalizing production that believes in growing the entitlement state to have more people wedded to government and people out there creating their own new businesses and expanding the economy. also, this sense of the state where you can of social and economic justice. if america was all about fairness and fair share, i probably would have been suited up with the miami heat played basketball. unfortunately i am not able to dunk. i do not think we need to have a

government trying to engineer and design outcomes and results for the american people. >host: representative alan west. let's go to our floridians calller from fort myers. , on the independent line. -- tom on the independent line. caller: if you are successful in the next election bid, i would like you to challenge leadership of the house. we need a better leader, and i think that leader is you. host: why do you think that should happen? caller: because i think he is a good leader. is fitot think faintbohener to be in that position. host: what does congressman wes

bring to the table? caller: i think he has the ability to defeat the marxist and those that are in congress. guest: i call it as i see it. i think a leader has to stand upon truth and integrity. i think he is doing the best he can right now. he is in a very tough position. we have sent over 30 pieces of legislation that harry reid has not taken up. philosophically he has a huge amount to climb with president obama. i stood up here for 18 months, so in my entire 51 years of existence, i have only been in politics for 18 months. it is very humbling and honorable to think that of me, but i am a junior appear. i am learning things every day. but when it comes to the basic fundamentals of leadership, it

is a brokerage, confidence, commitment, a conviction, and character. that is what i want to continue to exemplify. the military teaches you you do not have to have a title to be a leader. host: let's look at the story from cnn.com. this looks at the governor rick scott, the republican of your state, and a bit of a contentious fight he is in with the obama administration. it says the department of justice filed a lawsuit that seeks to stop boaters from purging registration rolls. this clearly violated voter registration laws. the attorney general holder told the senate committee they will try to reason with the people of florida. the governor agreed earlier by removing non-u.s. citizens from a list of registered voters was a legal necessity. talk to us about what this means into is being affected by

it. some leaders in the progress of black community said it is targeting minorities. -- progressive black community said it is targeting minorities. guest: i found it interesting that the democrat convention is requiring people to have a picture id. that is a little bit ironic. what is happening in the state of florida is very simple. the federal government mandates the states. we found out about a month ago, we have 58,000 dead people on their roles in the state of florida we're trying to take care of. the irs can go down and make an issue about looking at the people that may have tax problems or auditing them. we do not shut down by arrests. they come back and present the forms that say i am good and up to date. the state of florida has been

trying to get the department of homeland security for over a year to work with us, to make sure we have integrity of the system, because i think that is what makes america america, the democratic process. i do not think we need you or anyone else looking at it. i have a problem with the department of justice going after sovereign states. host: how do you respond to those that say it is disenfranchisement? guest: i do not think it is. i think they need to get out and vote. four years ago we saw them both in numbers that have never been seen before. i think we should go in and look to make sure they are clean. i think they should ask the democrat party why are they requiring picture ids? or if you go to get on the aircraft, i think you have to show a picture id.

i do not think in the airline is trying to disenfranchise people. host: wiley, a democratic calller. caller: i have a comment and question. my first comment is you being a black man in the united states and watching how people are treating our president, does it make you mad? are you happy with it since you are conservative and believe in what conservatives believe it, or does it make you mad? >guest: it make me mad when they did the same thing to george bush. it makes me mad any time people challenge leaders not based on policy. i have policy disagreements with the president with the united states of america, and that is my contention. caller: if mitt romney becomes president and all the things he said he would cut for the middle

class, how you expect the middle class to make it? guest: , most important thing about all class is you have different income levels in the united states of america. my story is very simple. i was born in the inner city of atlanta, ga., and look at where i am today. i am a member of united states house of representatives. people in america based on their own individual can achieve whatever they want. the most important thing is to have a government that provide the right type of opportunities to be able to grow. i think that when we look of the tax policies, regulatory policies, and access to capital, that is one thing that is affecting the small business community. so i do not think we are trying to do anything against the middle class. we're trying to make sure americans can tradition when a level of income they can based

on their own dreams and desires and to make sure the free market economic system can continue to thrive, because that is what has hurt this country for 235 years. >>caller: good morning. the first thing i would like to say to you is to think you very much for your service to the country. both in the military, and in the u.s. congress. i am very happy you are there. the question i had is in connection with this illegal immigration nonsense, which is what i call it. we are loading up our country. one minute is telling -- 10 million, the next 12 million. the statement as advanced by obama out was that we have these people, illegal young people,

and i am sure some of them are very good, in the united states military. i personally believe if someone were to look at l.a., you will probably find more of them in the crips and bloods and that level of this society been you will find in the united states military. in plain words, have you experienced in your time in the military, many illegal aliens who are serving in the army? guest: i can tell you that i did not in my 22 years in the united states military and cmdr. i did not have that. i did not have ceremonies where we had to swear in people to be citizens of the united states of america. i cannot speak to that. the real concern i have is we have to put american citizens first and foremost. they are concerned about the

details of the verbal order that the president gave out. what are we going to do as far as the americans unemployed? what we do as far as the young people in the united states that are going back, and living with mothers and fathers because they do not have job opportunities? what happens as far as you are now able to get this work permit and go somewhere and work for a month or two or maybe longer and then you will side will not work and be given unemployment benefits? this is why we have the legislative process, so this can be brought up in the community and be debated and amended, and then it is brought to the perspective floors, because this is of representative government. it is a representative democracy. and one of the things we have to do, we have to get it under control, because we really do not know the status of the situation of the numbers we

call it legal immigration. we can also come up with pragmatic solutions and working with the community to make sure we do not decimate them and continue to have their crops harvested. >host: touching on immigration. this is something that has been brought up in the past couple of days on choosing not to deport. migrants to the country. lee asked, how you feel about the dream act? guest: i feel it is putting the cart before the horse. until you secure the borders and enforce the walls, you cannot put the carrot out there, because one of the unintended consequences is opening up the flood gates. can they reach back and bring in other relatives? those are the type of things that have to be fleshed out. right now it has to be a value- added on a case by case basis with the young people out there.

to make a blanket policy based upon five nebulous criteria points, that causes me a lot of concern. this is something that was not signed by an executive order. i think that goes with the fabric of this country. host: robert in california. independent calller. good morning. caller: my question is, how come up freak -- every african american who comes on is a democrat -- i was a democrat and on the 2008 vote, i was with hillary clinton. it seems like she got cheated out of it because of prejudice, and plus, german king -- i like herman king. he was a black man, but the democrats had to dig up all kinds of dirt on him, and so he did not make it.

i think most of it is prejudicial, and they did not want another black man going against another black man, which president obama is half white. he is not all black. host: who do you think is using prejudiced? i do not think i am quite following you. to do think is using prejudice? caller: i think herman cain should have stayed in there. democrats did not like him. because they did not want him in there running against another african american. i would have voted for him being an independent. guest: robert, thank you for your question. when you look at the history of the black committee politically, remember that the first black man sitting on capitol hill was from the republican party. the legacy that i carry on, the

last republican maneuver -- the last black republican member and 1986. when you saw the passage of the civil-rights legislation use of the big change in the black community going over to the democrat party, because a lot of people did not realize it was senate republicans that did give them the civil-rights legislation passed through the senate. of course, lyndon johnson's death. we have to ask ourselves, what is the legacy of the great society programs of lyndon johnson? we talked about that and look at the statistics, which are absolutely abysmal and very glaring at that our urban economic status or statistics are scary, and it is failing. we need to start looking at the different types of policies that we can institute.

they are being taken for granted actually. the consequence thereof is to have our republican party that says they will vote 96% one way. i want to see the black community players all across the political spectrum in the united states of america so the voices can be heard and the problems can be rectified. we cannot compete with the past. with 37 percent signed black teenage unemployment. california we have 20 percent black unemployment rate. we're in trouble, and we have to turn this around. agree that you herman cain was pushed out of the race because of racism? guest: i think there is fear to challenge an established voice. i think that is what he was a

victim of. there are a lot of things that are written about me, a lot of very nasty name calling. i was in the military. that does not really bother me. it is a reflection of how bad the system has become. you have a great segment where you talked about can a president be successful in the political and are met we are in? i think he can be. you talkelooked at how ronald reagan work for tip o'neill. it is all about principles, fundamental principles at work in this country. i think there is a little bit of racial banks down there below the surface. it is starting to blow up, because you are starting to see more black conservative voices standing up. that challenges a lot of people. host: here is the peace in tiec"

the washington post" today -- the tea party factor into this. a big help to contribute to the divisions in congress, or do you see a unifying it? guest: the tea party is nothing more than a conservative grassroots movement. it has nothing to do with party. i am happy to see americans are going back and reading the fundamental documents that established this country and are asking tough questions. it is the same when you are a commander in the military. you go into a tough situation and it is not about black, white, hispanics. it is about taking an organization and focusing it towards the accomplishment of the mission. when you come back to the calller who said we need more

who served in the military. think about how reappear did you have 75-80% of the members of congress, and even presidents that have served in the military. they understood what it meant to make tough decisions when people's lives were on the line. right now i think that number is down less than 12%. if you looked at members of congress that have served active duty careers, you can count on one hand, maybe six or seven of the most. host: representative allen west, thank you for answering questions. "the washington times" had a story recently about one of your ads. what are you facing?

tell us how much money you have on hand. $7.6 million by the end of march, triple the amount of anyone else running for the house anywhere. south floridians can expect more ads to hit the airwaves from the outspoken lawmaker in the months leading up to the november election. guest: redistricting came about. the district i currently represent was restricted -- redistricted to be left leaning. an opportunity came up with a new district with a 1% racial advantage. i won in 2010 in a contentious district. we won on principle.

that is what has drawn people to whom i am. they know what i stand for and what i will speak about. as far as the race. , i do not find myself intellectually challenged. i do have an individual who will run. he is a local sheriff. he has lived there for 53 years, but i think the american people do not want the old boy network anymore. that is what got us into the fiscal situation we're in now. host: that is the republican challenger. you are also facing a democratic challenger. patrick murphy has raised $1.8 million. guest: i have not seen him out. i am looking forward to seeing what he can do. i do not know what he stands for. there are three different liberal super pacs that have moved to south florida to combat

against me. one says their man can take down allen west. iraqi insurgents tried to do that. i used to wrestle in high school and people did not take me down easily. host: the next caller is from milwaukee. vi is a democrat. caller: you talk very well. you have the republican and florida and the agenda. -- you have a republican and floridian agenda. i have problems with the tea party in general, the new wave that came to congress in 2010. i see them as obstructionists. they do not work with the president. they have given him such a hard

time. there are different programs he wanted to set forth for the country. you have blocked him coming and going. you have stop it from being a better recovery for the economy. that has to change. guest: i came out speaking against grover norquist. you need to do more research about me. host: why did you choose to do that? guest: i took an oath in 1982 as a second lieutenant. when i was elected, that oath is now to the constituency of my district. it is not to special interest groups. i do not believe we need to have an increase of taxes for the situation.

if i see you about to head off of a cliff, do you want me to allow you to go off the cliff? do you want me to tell you that you are going to hurt yourself? the last four years, we have had $1 trillion plus deficits. when you look at the president's 2013 budget which wouldncrease taxes -- that is not how we're going to turn things around. that is not how we're going to get more small-business is growing and get more people able to determine their future. you talk about tea party

obstructionism. the president's budget failed in the house and senate. not a single person voted for president obama's 2013 budget. last year was pretty much the same for his 2012 budget. this is about the right type of tax policies and access to capital for businesses to grow. caller: it is an honor to talk to congressman west this morning. i am an 18-year-old black conservative from georgia. i have been interested in politics since i was 14. it is because of allen west that i am able to probably come out and say i am a black conservative. like allen, i am from a family of very religious democrats from

the state of georgia. i want to tell him to keep standing tall. you are inspiring people like me to say strong -- stay strong wind is unpopular to be a conservative when obama is president. keep staying strong. people are on your side. i read you have raised the most money of any member of congress except john boehner himself. people are behind you. you will play a big role in waking people up and letting people see conservative life and letting people see conservatives and democrats have to work together. that is about solutions and policy. you have to stand against leaders if you do not like their policies.

it is not about the president as a person. it is about policies. host: you said you are 18. are you going to be participating in the election ?ustome guest: i am starting caller: i am getting region and starting college in the fall. i hope to be a lawyer. during the summer, i want to work on capitol hill. guest: nicklaus, my family is from that area in south georgia. my older brother has a church in sylvester and also a restaurant. congratulations to you. thank you for your words. i want to convey a simple maxim

my mother taught to me. that is that a man must stand for something or he will fall for anything. i appreciate you standing up. i am serious. if you would like to have an internship on capitol hill, call my office. i would be honored to have you there. host: representative west is participating in the conservative forum. we will be broadcasting at this afternoon. you can find out more on our website at c-span.org. the next call is on the independent line. caller: you mentioned when you are in the military, you could not have your tanks. i served in the military. if it were not for scrounging hamas the u.s. marines would not have no vehicles. -- if you were not for scrounging, the u.s. marines would not have no vehicles. i am from florida.

on immigration, something has to be done. i watched them lay off american workers and put on temporary workers from mexico. i have served my country. these people have served their country. what do we tell these people with a company gets rid of their entire work force -- when a company gets rid of their entire of workforce and brings in people on visas? we've got to do something about this. that is what is wrong with the policies now. guest: he is right. it comes back to having the right tax policy so businesses can grow and provide compensation to american employees. i do not want to see american interests circuit to special interest groups -- second to special interest groups. with the right policies that

will help these companies grow, it will enable them to operate that which is right and not do anything wrong against the environment or people they're hiring. that is what we have to look at. when you look at this edict that came out, my concern is how that will affect the 23 million americans under-employe, unemployed, or discouraged. who will have the opportunity to get job opportunities? think about veterans. young people come back from iraq and afghanistan. their unemployment is double- digit. in st. lucie county, you have veterans living in the woods. that should not be the case in the united states of america.

host: the conservative platform event is looking at policies and innovations to help the entrepreneurial spirit in the african american community and economic development. he says tax breaks mean white people move in and muscle out existing black businesses. guest: how can we encourage the residents to start their own businesses? my church used to be king's supermarket. it is gone. it hired people locally. there was a sense of ownership in the community. we did not allow bad people knock off king's and take money away. now you see individuals of different ethnic groups opening

up businesses. they're not hiring from that committee. the avenue used to have doctors, lawyers, dentists. first citizens bank was one of the largest black-owned banks there. my mom worked on the top floor. those are the type of things we have to look if we do not corrected in the inner city, we are not going to correct it for the country. it has to be looking at the sum of all parts. host: the next call is from massachusetts. caller: i want to thank you for your service. i am disappointed. i heard you a few months ago called some members of the house of representatives communists. i wondered if you could identify a few of those. guest: is not about identifying communists. i am talking about philosophies.

progressive is directly related back to the term communists. that was a change in marketing if you want to call it that. what do you call individuals that would vote against this country have an unbalanced budget amendment yet would promote a constitutional amendment that would redistribute wealth? i think that is against our a foundational values and principles in this country. i would be happy to have a discussion about ideologies with you any day. there are a couple of videos of the giving an historical explanation of that. host: president clinton mocked that comment. guest: i think it is also a former president would give me that kind of credence. host: you were ousted from the naacp remark -- event over the

remark. guest: their loss. if people are so afraid of saying the truth in america because of the huffington post or bill clinton wants to make a joke, i do not care about ridicule. i have been through tough situations. if america does not have men and women of character willing to stand up and say things the american people need to hear, our country will continue down the road to perdition. i am happy the president would mention me. host: congressman allen west representing florida's 22nd district, thank you for being with us. the event will be broadcast later today, the conservative platform. you can catch them on c-span2 and our website. next, we will talk to ken walsh

about air force one, of "u.s. news and world report." we will be right back. >> the news agency is reporting to the russian navy ships are to set sail to syria to protect russian citizens and the naval base. this would mark the first time since the uprising in syria started that russia is sending extra troops. the situation in syria is one topic president obama and vladimir putin will address today at the g-20 summit in mexico. violence today in the mideast. israeli radio stations a militants have been treated israel along the border with egypt, setting off an explosive device and opening fire. an israeli citizen was killed. israeli military says it has carried out an air strike against suspected palestinian militants on the gaza strip killing two men as their riding a motorcycle. officials say the individuals

have not been identified. israeli military say they were wanted militants. it is not known if the air strike is in retaliation for the strike at the border with egypt. politico reports lanny davis and michael steele are opening a new firm together. it is a crisis management firm they say will be able to explore legal and lobbying strategy. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> next month, the award winning author and historian is our guest. his passion for presidents and baseball has resulted in a dozen books. we will be live with your calls

and tweets on july 1 on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: every monday morning we take a look at our "your money" segment, looking at how taxpayer money is spent. today we look at air force one. joining us to talk about air force one is ken walsh. he is also the author of of a " air force one, the history of presidents and their planes." what are we talking about? guest: it is the call sign for the play in the president is on. a lot of people think it means it is a specific plan. it is not. president bush was on the aircraft carrier.

he was on a navy jet. that became navy one. since the president flies mostly on air force jets, that is the name for it. it started when president eisenhower was on his own aircraft flying to florida. it was briefly confused with a commercial jet because the tail numbers were the same. the air force never wanted that to happen again. they decided whenever the president is aboard a plane, the call sign is air force one. nobody confuses it. host: tell us about the history of air force one. guest: it has become the most famous airplane in the world. it has a mystique about it. franklin roosevelt was the first president to fly back in 1943 when he was going to meet winston churchill and they were going to cause a block of to plan the enormity invasion --

going to casablanca to plan the normandy invasion. he decided he was going to fly by plane. there was a fear of there were too many not see -- too many nazi submarines. he flew. it was an interesting experience. he moved secretly by train to florida from washington. then he got on what they called a flying boat. it was an airplane that took off from the water along the coast of south america, a coast of africa. it took about 42 hours each way. today that flight would take about eight hours.

roosevelt enjoyed flying. he was not wild about it, but felt it was the transportation of the future. as an innovator, he stayed with it and flew a couple more times. roosevelt started it all. host: ken walsh is the chief white house correspondent at "u.s. news and world report." in your book, you say you started covering the white house in 1986 and have traveled on air force one within 200 tons, visited all 50 states, and 60 countries. how do journalists get on board? how are you part of the travelling road show? what is it like? guest: i have been on board even more terms. i have been on board about 300 times. transportation is rotated within the press corps. the wire services are always a board.

television networks rotate within their world with a camera person and sound person. there is a seat for a newspaper reporter, print reporter, radio, and so on. everybody gets a turn. that is the idea. there is a press cabin in the back of the plane. that is where the press ends up. we do not have tremendous success. we're in that gallery and cannot get out unless someone comes and gives us. i would not say it is uncomfortable because it can be very comfortable. you are in there for long periods of time. you hope to get a sense of the present time the scene. it is rare that happens, but it does happen sometimes. host: here are the numbers to call.

let's talk about the cost, how much it costs taxpayers, how much it costs one the president takes a trip. $179,000 an hour. that number comes to us from the congressional research service. guest: the 89th airlift wing operates the plane and takes care of it. they came up with that number. about $180,000 an hour. that is a lot of money. a lot of people get upset at any president because of the cost. that only reflects a small portion. that is just to run the plane. that is not including the cost of the pilots, the crew, transportation. it is very expensive. no matter who the president is or the party, the out party always criticizes the president for spending too much on air force one traveling around a

country. in april, president obama was asked about it during an interview. he said it is not his choice to fly on air force one. he would rather go more cheaply, but this is the security requirements of the modern age. wherever he goes, he has to use air force one. i think that is reasonable. americans do not begrudge the president protection even though it is a posh experience. it is when the president seems to overdo it that he gets into trouble. the out party always makes a case that the president is overdoing it. host: here is a story from "usa today." consider the cost of air force one. it costs of the air force nearly $180,000 per hour to operate. what happens when the president incorporates a campaign stop in to what is otherwise official business?

guest: big criticism and controversy no matter who the president is. when the president travels on official business, the taxpayers pay for the trip. when the president goes on a political trip, which is supposed to have been is that the president charges it to his campaign or the party. it gets more dicey than that. how do you allocate or parade -- prorate a trip where the president mixes business? they tried to put as much official travel in the billing as they can so the campaign does not have to pay for it when they go on political trips. president obama is doing the same thing. he is doing trips the white house say our official trips to explain policy. critics say he is making trips

and the political context. it is difficult to give a precise estimate and standard. every white house is saying, trust us, we will do it right. the critics do not agree. it is very hard to get that the 10 out of the white house. host: let's go to the phones and hear from rolf in denver. . let's go to the phones and hear from ralph in denver. caller: i am a 72-year old ex- democrat and now independent. i am concerned about president obama. how does he stacked up against other presidents? it seems he has wiped out the budget on this thing. i could be wrong. i watch this carefully. it is very expensive, as you

have indicated. unofficial guest: trips and vacation trips -- guest: on official trips and vacation trips, president obama is not among the high spenders. president bush, the son, would go to his ranch in texas. ghali. he was one of the most frequent travelers to a vacation spot of any president. he felt if you went to the grant, it would refresh him and he could do his job better. -- he felt if he went down to the ranch, it would refresh him and he could do his job better. president obama has gotten a lot of publicity for his vacations that have tended to be more glitzy. president bush went to the ranch. president obama has gone to worry. there is more attention repress

obama has gone to hawaii. there is more attention on that. president bush went to martha's vineyard more than president obama house. -- has, especially in the second term. president reagan did not particularly like to fight. he had a phobia about it early in his life that he got over. he never really liked to fly. he was a president that did not travel as much as others. bill clinton traveled all lot -- a lot. i think it was the record. we will have to see how obamas stacks up. he has done a lot of foreign travel and is not showing any sign of cutting down. i would say president obama is not in the top tier, but he gets a lot of criticism because his trips tend to draw more

attention. host: here is a look back in the past. extra costs add up quickly. guest: i remember the africa trip. that was one of the most expensive trips. president clinton went on the trip. everybody wanted to go. it was an exciting place. not only did a lot of people in the white house want to go, a lot of people in congress wanted to go. it cost an incredible amount of money. the other thing i would mention is it is not just air force one. i am not sure people realize what it takes to get a president around. that is why the costs are so

incredible. every step the president makes, the secret service wants to walk through it and protect the president, literally every step they can. when you see a motorcade or helicopter, that has to be documented. we do not have hidden cac hes of helicopters or cars. they have to be transported. they have giant cargo planes that precede the president and station these vehicles all over the world. the staff has to get there. there are hotel expenses and so on. you can imagine the logistical challenge to the president around, in addition to the cost. i have come to respect the president. the people the move the president around. it is a tremendous challenge. they do a tremendous job. it is extremely complicated. host: ken walsh is the author of

five books including one about air force one. we're talking about how your money is spent. the focus is on the president's travel through air force one. we have independent caller joining us from gainesville, virginia. go ahead. caller: ken, you said you do not think we realize it. what planet are you on? he said the american people do not realize how much it costs. we recognize how much it costs. it is appalling. stay home and give the money to the poor. host: his anger and name calling aside, why not stay home? guest: they will argue that the

present house to represent america around the world. he needs to get around the united states to different people. there is a public relations part, explaining his policies. a lot of critics will say he overdoes it. any president will get that criticism. what is the alternative? how much is too much? do we want the president to be stuck in the white house and not leave? do we want the president to get out among the people and around the world? there has to be in median. it does cause a lot of emotions and anger. i do think most americans do not understand how much it costs. some people who follow these things do. i am not sure most americans follow it, but they get upset when they know a trip may cost $40 million.

i think that is what triggers people to ask if the president is overdoing it. every president will argue they have to get out and explain their policies and meet people present -- personally to the extent they can. host: why not take a corporate jet? much cheaper and still safe. guest: not still safe. the interesting thing about air force one is how it is protected. the corporate jet is not nearly as protected as air force one. even the fuel in air force one is monitored to make something -- make sure something does not get in there. the fuel is monitored in the united states and around the world. the airplane is currently protected. the upkeep is unbelievable. it is not just the spit and polish, but the engines.

these planes have been online for a long time. they have to be maintained carefully. the corporate jets tend to be smaller. where do you put the secret service agents? i do not think people would begrudge the president security and protection on air force one. there are some interesting benchmarks. one of the most important benchmark was when president bush, the son, was on air force one during 911 -- 9/11. to me, is that was the most important day in the history of air force one. he was in florida giving a talk to an elementary school. he was told the first airplane hit the tower in new york. he was before the group. his chief of staff told him on camera that a second airplane

hit the second tower, america is under attack. from that moment on, it became a real crisis for our country. the question was, should president bush returned to washington immediately? he decided not to. he boarded air force one. the question was, could air force one provide safety and command and control in a crisis? it did pass the test. that is what everyone in military was hoping for. it provided a secure communication and safety. he made to the steps coming back to washington. a lot of people think that was a very important moment in air force one's history. it showed the aircraft could do the job in a crisis. host: this says it is capable of refueling in mid-air. it has unlimited range and can carry the president wherever he needs travel. the on board electronics are protected against

electromagnetic pulse. guest: there are two jets we think of as air force one. a primary and an alternate. when they were constructive, president reagan ordered the construction of the two planes. he never rode on them because it was delayed for what you just mentioned. constructing the skin on the plane to ward off electromagnetic pulses and the communications took a lot longer than thought. the plane was delayed for a number of months. it was president bush the father who to control over. by then, reagan was out of office. host: let's go to jim, an independent scholar -- caller. caller: president obama has been president for three years as opposed to eight years for the bushes and clinton.

he went to new york, the world trade center on taxpayer money. he had multiple fund raisers for his campaign. he combined that trip with an hour or so trip to the trade center so we would be paying for the trip as opposed to the millions of dollars he collected on his campaign. also, the trips his wife took separately, which i understand it is also part of taxpayer money. trips where they could have traveled together and did not, that was a waste of our money. do you agree? guest: these are good points. you put your finger on areas where presidents are most honorable. that is when they mix personal trips with official business or political trips with official business. it does get people angry and upset.

president obama went to new york on a date with mrs. obama. a lot of people like the idea that their clothes and went on a date together. a lot of people raised the question of whether the taxpayers should be paying for the trip to new york when the president goes to new york to take his wife to show. that is when you could argue it may be excessive and he should stay in washington. it will come up more this year. it has already been raised at the white house by the media and others of how much he is spending taxpayer money on political events. when he gives a speech with an argument on his policies, is he entitled to do that and have the taxpayers do that? is it something purely political that he should pay for with his campaign? i am not saying this just about obama. every president i have covered has done the same thing during

reelection campaign trying to mix personal and policy. it is something the other side always gets riled up about and the media focuses on. host: on twitter -- ken walsh, our last caller talked about the first lady. how does her travel fall under the mantle of air force one and do they traveled together? guest: they often travel together. people ask how it is different. presidents and first ladies often traveled together. on air force one, the president pays more attention to the first lady and may not be doing as much official business. we used to travel with president reagan. when nancy reagan was with him, he paid complete attention to her. they would be in the state room

and not come out very often. when he was by himself, he would be telling stories and me going. we would always get a sense of whether nancy reagan was aboard the plane. they chose a new face of the president is going to have. if it was broiled fish and vegetables and fruit, we knew nancy was there because she took close care of his diet. when it was meat loaf with mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate pie, we knew he was on the airplane by himself. when president and first lady's travel separately, the first lady is entitled to protection. that is the big complication. do we want to put the first lady on a commercial plane? some first ladies have done that.

president nixon did that a couple of times, flew commercial. it caused such a huge bust. people had to be bumped from the plane to get secret service agents on. it got to be a real hassle to put the air. -- it got to be a real hassle to the president on a private airplane. they did not want people to know it so it had to be a last-minute thing. that would cause problems with passengers getting bumped and so on. the obamas have been criticized when she has traveled separately adding to the cost. other first ladies have done that. it is nothing new. it raises a legitimate question about saving money. part of its it is security and protection. host: ken walsh, we're talking about your money being spent on air force one. ron a republican caller from

stillwater, florida. go ahead. caller: i remember my uncle who used to work for boeing in kansas telling me about working on air force one and the number of times they had to strip everything out of the plane and start from scratch because somebody decided to change what they were going to put in the plane. if i remember correctly, he said it took two years. it should have only taken six months to complete the work, because of all the changes. guest: i was trying to get into that before. that is the same kind of information i have. that is why it took so long to get the plane completed. there were two problems in the building of the planes. you mentioned the idea they kept changing their minds. they were constantly upgrading security and communications.

they would build it one way and then decide they have to upgrade it. they lay. all of these security precautions. -- they laird at -- layered all of the security precautions and countermeasures. there are counter measures designed to ward off heat seeking missiles that might be attracted to the engines. we know they are there. the question as to what extent they are there. we know that kind of protection is on the plane. that is another thing they were working on. that is why it took so long to have the plane constructed. a lot of people ask me about security and if there are fighter escorts that go with air force one. rarely does that happen, particularly in domestic travel. a number of reasons.

when air force one travels, they cut a swath in the sky around it and along its path so no other planes are near it. you can imagine how disruptive that is to commercial aircraft. if they put fighter jets along the plane, that widens the swath of protection and makes it even more disruptive. the feeling is if something went wrong, they could scramble jets. day of air bases on alert wherever the president. they have air bases on alert wherever the president is going. i remember seeing on 9/11, i have seen film on this. the jets came very close with air force one. president bush said he could look out the window and see the pilots in the cockpits of their planes. the planes would to their wings

in honor of the president. that was a very unusual day. they did have fighter escorts that they. all commercial flights had been grounded to protect the president and the country from terrorism and hijacking. in the construction of the plane, there were a lot of complications and changes. that is why it took so long. host: how do we cap the president? ken walsh started his career in denver with the associated press and became a correspondent for "the denver post" in washington. he has been with "u.s. news and world report" for many years. guest: i started covering the white house in 1986. five presidents now.

i am one of the fortunate people who got to do in his career what he wanted to do. i am still doing it. host: when you travel on air force one, there is, and circumstance. there are now beckons, menus with the logo -- there are napkins, many with the logo. does it make it difficult not to be overly impressed with the office? guest: a lot of people say when you interview the president in the oval office or have a meeting, people raise this notion of how they will argue their case but then they get in there and milk. it happens to reporters. on air force one, it is a different environment. there are some perks.

the aircraft never has to wait. the president always has priority. you mentioned the perks. when i first started covering it, there were more. they had packages of them -- they had packages of m & m candies, napkins, cups. when nixon was president, his chief of staff said they had to do something of their -- about air force one. he thought they should put in plastic cups and forks because reporters were stealing the good stuff. he said he did not want to lower the standards.

now we do not do that. i did not do that, but there were a lot of reporters that to the -- that ook the pads. there is not a lot to take now, frankly. host: the next caller is from maryland. caller: i am 40. the first president i really remember is ronald reagan. i do remember he used to have -- it was on tv once or twice a week. i did not realize he did not like to fly into a few minutes ago. that would explain why he was always on tv. he used to talk about policies he would want to put in or just to keep the american public informed. if the current president would do that, with that saving a lot

of money from him traveling? he was in baltimore, maryland, the week before last. he caused such a headache because of the security issues. it would have been easier to go on tv even if just in the local market. it would have been easy to go on tv and talk about what he wanted to talk about. it does not matter if you are a republican or democrat president. it would save so much money if they would save the important trips for air force one and talk about policies on tv. guest: those are interesting point. i am aware of the trip to baltimore and the various other trips president obama has made.

the caller mentioned president reagan. president reagan did not like to travel. he was a man in his 70's. he liked to be at the white house and at home. with the ever-present, they tend to want to get out and about more. when you say the president needs to do more television and not travel as much, a lot of presidents would quarrel with that. they want to have the personal contact. they do not want to be stuffy in the white house. getting on television, how do you do that? do you require the tv stations to give you time? you cannot do that. there is the first amendment after all. do you rely on them to cover the president in a speech that would interrupt regular programming? the stations would lose a lot of money. it is more complicated than it might seem.

when the president went to baltimore, with the stations have given him half an hour of time? what would you do with his rival, mitt romney? would you have to give him half an hour of time? especially in a campaign context, it gets more complicated. host: he tweets and agrees with the last caller. may in l.a. on the democrats' line. caller: why are the u.s. citizens so upset about the president using air force one going where he needs to go?

we are now in a global economy and world. we cannot just sit in america and not represent america. why is this so upsetting to them? guest: that is the other side of the equation from the callers. we live in a global world. the president is best able to carry his own message personally rather than through embassies. it's more attention and emphasis. other countries value it went our president goes summer. it shows he is interested in them personally and their country. the president has not been somewhere -- if the prison has not been summer, people get upset in the country -- if the president has not been somewhere important, people get

upset in the country. there is the issue of personal diplomacy, getting to know the other leaders personally. personal diplomacy can make a difference if the president has a relationship or partnerships with other people, it is best done in person rather than remotely. that is another reason the president feel they have to get around the world. host: the president is in mexico for the g-20. this will be their first time meeting since putin has retaken the office of the presidency. president obama will be meeting with other world leaders as well. guest: there were personal relationships between our presidents and other leaders that did matter. sometimes they do not. but the relationship between roosevelt and churchill mattered. it helped them get through world war ii and construct the post-

war world. there was report recently about president reagan and margaret thatcher being very important in dealing with the old soviet union. the relationship between president bush, president clinton, and tony blair is very important. the presidents would say the personal side can make a difference in the crisis were getting through a complicated set of policy decisions. host: ken walsh is the author of the book that came out in 2003. he recently offered a "family of freedom." that came up last year. let's go to ann arbor, barry is a democrat. caller: i saw a program on the history channel about air force

one and how it is maintained. the air force mechanics were very highly trained. air force one is a plum assignment. they spin the fast two years waxing the airplane. -- they spent the first tee of years waxing the airplane. it seems a total waste of talent to take a trained mechanic and make them want the airplane. the airplane does not need to be waxed. i am sure it looks shinier, but it is probably symbolic of a lot of other eyewash that goes on around it that is not necessary to have been functioning safely. are realize they have to hold things to a higher standard -- i realize they have to hold things to a higher standard because of the mission. i will let you comment on that

side of things. guest: i have seen that. it is interesting how the people who work on the plane are selected. i was told they work so closely together that they consult with all of the people who work on the plane to decide when a vacancy has to be filled if that person is the right person. when they are traveling, they're working 24 hours a day in close conditions. they take great pride in having a crew that can work together. there are a lot of demands on those folks. being on air force one is a crowning achievement of somebody's career in the air force whether it is the pilots or the baggage handlers. they feel a lot of pride in

working for the presidency. those folks are very professional air force people. i have come to respect them a great deal having dealt with them many times over the years. host: a tweet on the president getting out of d.c. and it being something they need to do more. keith? caller: i am calling to voice my opinion regarding when we put a president in office, i believe we should assume the responsibility of paying for air force one to be utilized. however when we put a president in office, we should also consider the integrity they will use in the judgment in using air force one to keep the cost down at a minimal. host: how should that be done? should congress over see that? should there be a committee? caller: i believe there has to be oversight.

we have had presidents that have abused it. i do not blame president bush for going home to his ranch in texas. i would not blame president obama going home to chicago. however, there has to be some oversight in the use of air force one. host: let's get a response from ken walsh. guest: there is oversight. the oversight committees look into this. they find it gets to be a matter of judgment, very subjective, on the president using the aircraft. when republicans are in the white house, the democrats jumped on it. when the opposite is true, the other party jumps on it. it happens all the time. in the political season, obama will take more criticism for using the plane. mitt romney, the republican

presumptive nominee, has criticized president obama for traveling around on air force one already. he said he is isolated in this fancy environment and should be out more with the public. even when the president gets out on air force one ostensibly to be in more contact with people, they get criticized for the fact that they are on the plane which is such an amazing and burn it. when presidents leave office, the almost always say one of the things they miss the most is air force one. every president i have covered have said that. it is a wonderful way to travel. they deeply appreciate it. they appreciate the attention and smoothness of the transportation. it is one of the perks of office president's really value. host: ken walsh has been our guest. his the chief white house corresen