fear of the japanese investing in america. they bought everything from the temple beach golf course to i think rockefeller center. we overcame that. this is something not to be feared. host: we are out of time the bank is so much for joining us this morning. they produce cc tv. jim laurie is from the operation in washington. that's all for "washington journal" this morning and tomorrow we will continue our series on foreigners operations in the u.s. with bbc america. you can catch the rest of our programs on this topic on our website, c-span.org. we will be back tomorrow morning

at 7:00 eastern time and thank you for joining us today. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> president obama plans to talk about his economic policies. he won both states four years ago. we will have coverage of the president's first campaign stop today at 11:40 eastern. we will also be live as he wraps up the trip in pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 eastern. all the campaign stops will be live on c-span.org. the 2012 teacher of the year

speaks today at the national education association. she teaches seventh grade in burbank, california. you can see your comments live at 11: 30 eastern on at c-span2. >> around 9:30, would add more of the ship to appear in the middle of the harbor. >> the former commanding officer of the uss cole on the events surrounding the al qaeda attack that left 17 dead and 37 injured. >> 11:18 in the morning, there was a thunderous explosion. feetould feel all hundre505 thrust entirely to the right. the ship was doing this on the three-dimensional twisting and flexing. lights went out, ceiling tiles popped out. everything on my desk lift up and slammed back down. i grabbed the side of my desk until the ship stopped moving

and i could stand up. >> more on sunday at a clock on c-span's "q&a." >> the life of a sailor includes scrubbing the deck in the morning, working on at the sales, climbing a loft, whenever the duties. by the end of the day, you are ready for rest, but you don't get a full eight hours of sleep. on board a ship like constitution, four hours on, four powers of. >> this weekend, the life of an enlisted man at during the war of 1812. >> the cattle nine tales was always carried by a petty officer in the bag. the thing they ever wanted to see was a petty officer getting ready for a flogging. it is a for as we still used outy -- "don't let the cat of the back. you don't want the cat o'nine

tails for flogging." >> also, our series on political contenders who ran for president at lost but changed history. sunday, al smith. >> new work, new jersey mayor cory booker was in california last month to give the commencement address at stanford university. mayor parker is a stanford graduate. he talked about his career, civil rights, courage, and a change. here is more about his background from the stanford university president. this event is 51 minutes. >> it now gives me great pleasure to introduce the commencement speaker, cory booker, the mayor of newark, negligent the energetic, ranked ark,he mayor of of new

new jersey. [applause] energetic, inspirational, ranked among the top 10 for the 2010 world mayor prize, a former rhodes scholar with clintonian charisma, fearless, determined, committed. that's how the press has described cory booker and he is all of that. but that leaves out the two most important things. cory is a two-degree stanford alumnus and a former member of the stanford cardinal football team that held the axe for four years. [applause] born in washington, d.c., he grew up in a predominately white suburb of new jersey. his parents were among the first black executives at i.b.m. they instilled a sense of honor, commitment to justice and opportunity and a strong

work ethic in their children. as an undergraduate at stanford he studied political science. interested in helping urban youth even then, he volunteered at a student-run crisis hotline reaching out to young people in east palo alto. after receiving his b.a. in 1991 he earned his second stanford degree, an m.a. in sociology. awarded a rhodes scholarship, he studied modern history at oxford where he received an honors degree in 1994. three years later he earned his j.d. from the yale law school. in his second year at yale he moved to newark. at the time it was one of the poorest, most violent cities in the nation, but it was also a city with a glorious history. booker has often described cities as, and i quote, the last frontier to make real the promise of america. and he believed that newark was just such a city.

in 1998 at the age of 29 he was elected to the newark city council where he focused on cleaning up neighborhoods. some of his methods were unorthodox. in one of the best-known examples he went on a hunger strike and camped out in the middle of a drug-ridden housing project, an act that prompted dozens of neighbors to join him because they were concerned about his safety. and it worked. the newark mayor, sharp james, who had opposed earlier reform efforts, agreed to increase police patrols in the area. in 2002 booker decided to take on city hall, literally. he ran for mayor against the four-term incumbent. after losing in a campaign later chronicled in "street fight," an academy award nominated documentary, he withdrew from the public eye but not from public service. he remained focused on transforming his city and four years later he ran for mayor

again. in 2006 cory booker was elected the 36th mayor of newark by a huge margin. currently serving in his second term he was worked with what -- has worked with what one reporter called epic determination to reduce crime and create an urban environment that nurtures families and the economy. he has understood that a city cannot flourish unless families feel safe. he tackled crime prevention in a typically booker way, hands on, against the advice of everyone, he patroled the streets at night with his security team. he partnered with newark businesses and raised millions of dollars to install more surveillance cameras. he hired a well-respected police chief who put more officers on the streets in evenings and weekends when crime was most rampant. within two years the murder rate dropped 36% and on april 1, 2010.

newark marked its first month in 44 years without a homicide. [applause] under his leadership the city has also added more affordable housing, increased the number of parks and green spaces, and attracted millions in private philanthropy. after booker expressed deep concern about low academic achievement, facebook founder mark zuckerberg committed $100 million to help him improve newark schools. despite a grueling schedule he remains one of the nation's most accessible mayors, responding to personal appeals, molding -- healed -- holding regular office hours and using social media to stay in touch. he has more than a million followers on twitter and a few years ago when a constituent tweeted him directly that she was concerned about her 65- year-old father shoveling his

driveway on new year's eve, cory responded, please don't worry about your datchtd i've do the salt, shovels, and great volunteers. and yes, the mayor shoveled his driveway. since his days as a big brother, cory has been concerned about at-risk youth. when a couple of teenagers in newark were arrested for spray painting the -- graffiti including the phrase "kill booker," he decided to mentor them, taking them out for meals, arranging tutoring, but also setting standards for dress, behavior, and language. two months ago on arriving home he saw smoke coming from the building next door. he heard a woman scream that her daughter was trapped upstairs. his security detail tried to keep him back, but he said, "this woman is going to die if we don't help her."

help he did, running into the building and suffering second degree burns and smoke inhalation but saving that woman. hours later he was back on line -- [applause] hours later he was back online tweeting reassurances to everyone concerned and praising his security officer for help. newark fire officials characterized cory's rescue as very heroic but very dangerous. indeed, he tomed oprah winfrey a few days later that he was terrified and thought at one moment that he might not make it, but that seems to me to characterize his leadership. he has the courage to do the right thing. even when it is scary. and that courage, that conviction, has helped improve the lives of people in his

community and beyond. he exemplifies the potential of every stanford graduate to make a profound difference in our world. please join me in warmly welcoming one of stanford's own, newark mayor cory booker. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. all right. thank you. last time i was on this field some guy from ucla tried to bury me right here. it is good to be back on top of the soil. i feel so lucky to be here. i really do. it is a feeling that stanford has given me for all the years i've been involved with this amazing university. i know there are some people here that felt like me after freshman orientation.

you got back to your dorm, you closed the door, and sat on your couch and said, "why did they let me into this place?" i began from that moment on when people got impressed that were not from the stanford community and said, "you went to stanford?" and i said, "yes." well they let me in because of my 4.0 and 1,600. and i said it was 4.0 yards per carry and 1,600 receiving yards my senior year in high school. [laughter] every step of my stanford career this university has given me immensely more than i have ever been able to give it. and i feel on this day when we celebrate the class of 2012 -- audience: 2012 >> that we -- is this going to go on my whole speech, guys? i will be very careful when i use that, then. i feel that this university and this moment for me just fills me again with a sense of gratitude. for me and this great class, today is not just a day of

celebration, but it is a day of appreciation. and, allow me, with the class, to just give my thanks. first, thanks to the trustees of this university. i had a chance to serve with them for five years. it is one of the most incredible assemblages of human beings on the planet and they pour their heart and their spirit into this university to protect its highest values and to ensure that it endures. thank you, board of trustees. [applause] i want to thank the faculty and staff. i have never, ever, in my life, seen folks that have not just mastered their discipline, not just mastered their academic endeavor, but showed to me and other students a level of love, caring, involvement and spirit that sustains me to this day. my connection to faculty members, here, at this

university, has not been severed just by leaving here. indeed, it is a faculty member every time i've gotten inaugurated as an elected official -- it was always my family there and even a stanford faculty member, jody maxmin, who joins me on that stage. please thank all of the faculty members, as well, for all that they've done. [applause] and i want to thank another group that i probably did not say thank you to enough -- a group that is often first forgotten. those are the people that really keep this university running. they are the secretaries and the assistants. they are the people that mow the lawns and water the grass. they are the people that clean toilets and bathrooms and windows. they are a part of the stanford community and their caring and concern has made this day possible, as well. please thank them. [applause]

and, finally, i want to thank the families. you are the ones that really made this day possible. each and every graduate has someone tied to them by blood and/or spirit who was there for them, who planted seeds in their spirit, who nurtured the ground on which they grew. you are responsible for them being here and, while they were here, you sent care packages, made phone calls, sent money. and that's, perhaps, what i want i want to talk about today. family, not the money part. all us politicians are focused on more than just that. the family. today is father's day and i thought i would focus, really, on two men in my life. i am one of those guys that knows in my heart that women in this globe -- philanthropists

are finding this out, so many people are seeing that -- if you support women, that you will help change neighborhoods, change cities, change countries. and from a man who is part of the african-american tradition, which is rich with matriarchal power and strength, please do not think that while focusing on men today that i do not understand that truth. but, today, for a very specific reason, i want to focus on two men in my life who were at my graduation. and i know they would like to be here today but, for reasons i will mention later, they could not make the trip. these two men are my dad and my grandfather. they taught me what it means to be a man. and they both are these outrageous spirits with the corniest jokes imaginable and they would show up to my graduation and both of them would be like a stereophonic bad joke-telling machine as they would weigh in to me.

my grandfather, this huge, big, man would sidle up to me and say, "you see, boy, the tassel is worth the hassle." [laughter] yes, granddad, yes. and then, of course, he would look through the program and say, "i see that you're not magna cum laude or summa cum laude. you're just thank ya, laude, i am outta here." [laughter] my father would not be undone. he, too, was at every one of my graduations and his jokes got more painful as the years went on. he and my mom would love to say -- they would look at me and they would whisper to another parent and they would take the line and say, "you know, behind every successful child, is an astonished parent. i really cannot believe this unbelievable." my father got tired of graduations after a while. he's a guy that went to college and then went to work and he saw me graduate from stanford once, graduate from stanford twice, then go to england and study and get another degree, then go

to law school. and, finally, he said at my last graduation, "boy, you got more degrees than the month of july and you ain't hot! get a job!" [laughter] i want to pick up on these two incredibly corny men and really get to their two specific lessons that they imparted to me on graduation. my dad would touch me almost like he was trying to feel my very spirit. he would look at me and he would say in ways that are eloquent, he would impart to me this truth, he would say to me, "boy, you need to understand that who you are now, you are the physical manifestation of a conspiracy of love. that people whose names you do not even know, who struggled for you, who fought for you, who sweat for you, who volunteered for you -- you are here because of them. do not forget that."

my father said those words on a graduation day and he knew that i would not forget that because this was his consistent theme to me all of my life. he wanted me to know where i came from. now, my father, in his own charismatic way, would always talk about his own journey being one that was a result of a conspiracy of love. and i listened to those stories year after year. by the time i was 40, i would start arguing with him because the scenes would get so much more dramatic with time and change. and i'd be like, "dad, i cannot believe this, you were born a poor boy." he goes, "poor? i wasn't poor, shut up, man." i said, "dad." he goes, "no, i wasn't poor, i was just p-o. i could not afford the other two letters. do not exaggerate my, my material well-being, son." i'd have to argue with him and try to convince him that he was not telling the full truth when the weather patterns began to shift over the years from, you

know, raining in the mountains of north carolina, then the thunder storms started, then the hail period began, where it went from hail the size of golf balls, then footballs, then soccer balls, then small cadillacs. this last year i argued with him because he tried to tell me, and i could not accept it, i had to be respectful of my dad, but i could not accept it -- "there's no way, dad, you were in the mountains of north carolina, you could not have had a tsunami in your childhood." but as much as my dad seemed to exaggerate aspects of his childhood over the years, the truth is he was born very poor. he was born to a single mother who could not take care of him. he then was raised by his grandparents, like many children in my community, but then his grandma could not take care of him. and then he was out in the community but it was that conspiracy of love -- people whose names i do not know in a

small, segregated, north carolina town -- that rallied around this boy, would not let him fail, got him to school, put a roof over his head, put food on the table, taught him discipline and respect, and he made his way. and then when it was time for him to graduate high school, he was not going to go to college. he thought his destiny was to go to work, get a job. but it was that conspiracy of love that would not let him turn his back on higher education. i could not believe it -- this last thanksgiving as my family was going around talking about what we were thankful for, here is my father that begins to cry because he could not remember all of those people in the town. he could not say their names, who put dollar bills in envelopes so that he could afford his first semester's tuition at north carolina central university and then get a job and stay in school. but they are a part of that

conspiracy of love. and then, in college, my mom and dad would not let me forget the truth of that time -- it was the early '60s. and i had this privilege last year being the commencement speaker for my mom's university, fisk university, on her 50th reunion. and she reminded me about what happened at her university. at the night before dinner, she took me around to table after table, stopping and saying, cory, this is the young lady that led our voter registration movement at a time that it was dangerous in the south to go out and register people to vote -- you all remember goodwin and chaney and schwerner. she would take me to another table and say, this is a young lady that led our boycott of a downtown store that would not serve african-americans. at every table, it was almost like she was talking to me again as boy, snapping her fingers and saying, "pay attention! this person marched for you. this person protested for you. this person sacrificed and

risked expulsion for you." the conspiracy continued. my parents would tell me about landing in washington, d.c. -- that's where they met, two college graduates, african- americans that confronted the reality that many companies would not hire blacks. but it was this conspiracy of love -- black folks and white folks and latinos, in washington, d.c. and elsewhere in america -- that were forming organizations that were challenging companies and working with them to hire blacks. my dad soon became one of the first blacks hired by an oil company, then one of the first black professionals hired by a department store. then, he and my mom became part of a wave of the first blacks hired from this small tech start-up you all out here in silicon valley may not have heard of called ibm. the conspiracy continued. when my parents got promotions after doing so well at ibm, they got moved to the new york city area. they were looking for towns to

move into and, immediately, found out that many of the nicest towns with the best schools would not show the homes to black families. and so my parents worked with this group of conspirators who formed something called "the fair housing council" and every time my parents would go look at a house and were told it was sold, they would send a white couple there to see if that was the truth. i was told that white couple's name was mr. and mrs. brown but they were not brown. my parents fell in love with a home. they were told it was sold. the browns were there next -- told it was still for sale. they put a bid on the house. on the day of the closing, my father went instead of the browns with a young lawyer whose name i do not know, walked into the real estate agent's office and said, "you are in violation of new jersey fair housing law." and before he could finish his piece, this young lawyer, bright and ready to confront injustice, the real estate agent stands up and punches the lawyer in the face.

he sics a dog on my dad. now, the size of the dog has changed over the years. [laughter] my father now insists it was spawn from hell, it was cujo. [laughter] my mom will whisper to me it was just toto, cory, it was really a small thing. and so, there i was, 1970, a baby growing up in this town. my father and my mother, my brother and me -- as my father referred to us "four raisins in a tub of vanilla ice cream." and in this amazing town, in this nurturing community, i grew strong and had my share of success -- high school all- american football player -- i was in the honor society, president of my class. but, if my parents saw me gettin' too big for my britches, if they saw me looki'' proud, my father would be right there. he would say to me, "boy, don't

you dare walk around this house like you hit a triple, when you were born on third base!" [laughter] he would say to me, "you need to understand something, you drink deeply from wells of freedom and liberty and opportunity that you did not dig. you eat lavishly from banquet tables prepared for you by your ancestors. you sit under the shade of trees that you did not plant or cultivate or care for. you have a choice in life, you can just sit back, getting fat, dumb, and happy, consuming all the blessings put before you, or it can metabolize inside of you, become fuel to get you into the fight, to make this democracy real, to make it true to its words that we can be a nation of liberty and justice for all."

and so, in answer to my father's -- [applause] call, when i had exhausted most of the degrees available to any bright student, i moved to newark, new jersey. and i tell you, it was not some great altruism. i was looking to be the man that my father raised me to be. i was in search of myself and i found a community of heroes that embraced me and brought me back full circle to family. when i first arrived in newark, i decided to answer that call from that great american philosopher, chris rock, who said "why is the most violent street in every city is named for the man that stood for non- violence?" newark had so many strong neighborhoods but i sought out

one that was in struggle and found it on martin luther king boulevard. it looked spectacularly troublesome to me. my eyes saw abandoned homes being used for drugs. my eyes saw violence. my eyes saw graffiti. but the first person i met, the tenant leader in high-rise projects that i would eventually move into, miss jones, she said to me, "tell me again what you see. describe what you see around you." and i described what i saw. and she looked at me and she said, "boy, if that's all you see, you can never help me." and i go, "what do you mean?" and she goes, "you need to understand something, that the world you see outside of you is a reflection of what you have inside of you. and, if you see only problems and darkness and despair, that's all there's ever gonna be. but, if you're one of those stubborn people who every time you open your eyes, you see hope, opportunity, possibility, love -- even the face of god -- then you can help me make a change."

and i remember, after she said that, looking at her, scratching my head, and thinking to myself -- ok, grasshopper, thus endeth the lesson. i worked with this woman, this tenant leader, and i would sit at her kitchen table and watch these other african-american women sit around that table in these projects being run by a slumlord and they would sit there and strategize about how to take care of the kids in the community, how to keep a family in their housing when they missed a rental payment. i stood there and i watched them thinking about how to support that community and i found it, i found conspirators. i found people coming together and they weren't just in those projects -- all over newark i saw more and more people who had a courage, who had a spirit, who had a love. and so, for my father's sake, i want to explain to you the three things that these conspirators all had in common.

one was they embraced discomfort. they did not seek comfort and convenience. they went to where the challenges were. here were people around me in newark doing extraordinary things outside of their comfort zones. like the man who was a retired state worker that got his stimulus check in the mail and, instead of just spending it on himself, he went out and got a lawn mower, marched into one of our troubled drug lots -- there was this big grassy, overgrown, field with trash and debris -- and he started cleaning it. he made it look like the white house lawn. never confronting a drug dealer but, eventually, they left. like the woman who came to me in my office hours, an 80-year- old woman, complaining to me about how dirty her street was. and the next day, i go out there and here's this 80-year- old woman outside of her comfort zone on that street, sweeping the entire block showing that, he who has a heart

to help, definitely does have a right to complain. it is about the guy i know who was driving to work in newark and didn't like the graffiti. and instead of just driving by it and accepting what was, like so many of us who just fall into a state of sedentary agitation when we're upset about what's going on but we do not get up and do something about it, he stopped at a store and began making a routine out of his commute to work where he would stop and take paint and paint over graffiti. in my city i see that conspirators know you do not go through life comfortable. democracy is not a spectator sport. it is a difficult, hard, challenging, full-contact, competitive, participatory endeavor. and this -- [applause]

-- this is critical, people who get comfortable of body get fat. people who get comfortable of mind and intellect get dull. people who get comfortable in their spirit, they miss what they were created for. they were created to magnify the glory of the world, not simply reduce in size and fail to reflect that spirit. i've come to learn in my life to embrace discomfort because it is a precondition to service. i've come to realize to embrace fear because, if you can move through fear, you find out that fear is a precondition to discovery. i've learned in my life to embrace frustration because, when you get really frustrated, that is a precondition to incredible breakthroughs. now, the second thing i've seen amongst conspirators is this idea of faithfulness.

mother teresa was once asked how she judged success. and she said, "god didn't call me to be successful, he called me to be faithful." i didn't need to read mother teresa, i just simply needed to look at people in my community in newark. miss virginia jones, that tenant leader, was once telling me a story when i was peppering her with questions about her life. i had lived with her now, in those buildings, for years, and i never knew that she had a son. she told me about one day somebody knocked on her door, she opened her door and there was this woman crying who could not speak. she dragged her down to the lobby and there, on the lobby floor, was her son, a veteran, who had come back to visit her. there he was on the lobby floor with three gunshots, bleeding that lobby floor red. she sat there and telling me the story that she fell to her knees, crying in her dead son's chest. and when she finished telling me the story, i looked at her and i said, "miss jones, i am sorry

but, why do you still live in these buildings where your son was murdered, walking through that lobby every day?" and she looked at me, almost like she was insulted by the question, but i knew that she and i were two people that paid market rent to live in this housing. she had choices of where to go, and she looks at me and she says, "why do i still live here?" and i said, "yes." she goes, "why do i live in apartment 5a still? and i said, "yes." she says, "why am i still the tenant president for over 40 years?" and i said, "that's electoral longevity, i want you to tell me about that, but, yes, why?" and she crossed her arms looking at me and she said, "because i am in charge of homeland security." here is a woman that remained faithful. and i want to tell you graduates of all the lessons of conspirators, this is the hardest one for me, personally. to stay faithful in a world that can be so cruel. to stay faithful in a world that justifiably emotes cynicism.

i have seen things in my life that have broken me in spirit, have ground me down to the floor. in 2004, in april, i was walking through one of the neighborhoods of my city and i heard gunshots going off. it sounded like cannon fire between the buildings. i raced towards where the gunshots were fired and i saw kids screaming and yelling. i saw one boy falling backwards off of some steps. i went to catch him and i caught him and i looked over his shoulder and i saw the white t- shirt he was wearing filling up with red blood. i laid him down and put my hand on his chest trying to stop the bleeding but the blood was coming everywhere. i screamed at someone to tell me his name and they did, and yelled at people to call the ambulance. and i start screaming his name. "do not leave us, do not leave us." foamy blood was pouring from his mouth. it was one of the most gruesome things as i sat there trying to stop the blood. but he kept bleeding, and he died right there in front of me.

the ambulance came and pushed me away, opened his chest and i saw the number of bullet holes in him and, i tell you, it was over, i was broken. i was done. i went back to my apartment and tried to scrub the blood of this boy off my hands but i felt my heart fill up with anger and blackness. all i could think is, what kind of world do we live in where everybody i know knows who jonbenet ramsey is or natalee holloway but few people i know can name the name of one black child killed in my city today? what is going on with this world? [applause] that we seem to value life so little that dozens of kids, of boys, of men, are murdered every week. i wanted to give up. i was done. and then i left my apartment and walked out to the courtyard and i saw the back of miss

jones's head. she turned around and she saw my expression. she said, "come give me a hug." and i hugged this woman and i wept in her arms. she held me and all she said is, "stay faithful, stay faithful, stay faithful." i am telling you right now, courage does not always roar. it is not when you stand up and beat your chest and you're ready for the big game, the big fight, the big speech. that is not real courage in my book anymore. it is not running into a burning building. real courage is that when life has beaten you down so low, when you are broken, when you have wounds that you wonder if they could ever heal. courage is when you've done something wrong and you feel the weight of shame on your chest so heavy that you can barely breathe. courage is when you're curled up in a ball on your bed sleepless

throughout the night and when the sun comes up, courage is not the roar, courage is that small voice in your mind that says, get up, get out of bed, put your feet on the floor, brush your teeth, wash your face, comb your hair -- god, if you have it -- [cheers and applause] -- put your hand on that door knob and go outside for another day of loving and stand with all of your might and look up into the heavens. and courage has you say in a defiant spirit, you can take everything from me, you could cut me deep, you could render me in shame, but you will never, ever, stop me from loving. from loving those who mock me, from loving those who hate me, from loving those who do not forgive me, from loving the cynics, from loving the darkness so much that i myself,

through my small acts of consistent, unyielding love, will bring on the light. [applause] and this brings me to the final point of conspirators that my dad and my community have shown me is that conspirators are the ones that show up. they just show up. and what do i mean by that? i mean that, we go through life all the time but we do not always show up. we may be there in body but we're not there in spirit. and we begin to erode the truth of who we are, we fail to live our authenticity. a great president, lincoln, said that "everyone is born an original but, sadly, most die copies" because they do not show up. i've learned that what you think about the world says less about the world than it does

about you. and when you show up in this world and have the courage to tell your truth in moments big but more importantly, in moments small, then you are the architect, not only of your own destiny but you're the architect of transformational change. showing up. forgive me, i've got just a, a bad story about that. but i was on my way to stanford as a freshman, coming back to "the farm." and here i got on a plane and it was packed with people but, somehow, god shined his grace upon me, because, as they closed the door to the plane, there was two seats open next to me. and i thought to myself, look at all these other people, it is such a shame that they have to deal with all of that cramped space but i have this whole seat. god obviously loves me more than them. well, just as i was sitting there so satisfied, the door to the plane opens and, all of us shot to attention because it sounded like someone, some

beast was coming in. some screams were happening. we could not understand what was going on outside the plane, and then we understood because the beast came onto the plane and it had three heads -- it was a woman and a little boy and a baby. [laughter] immediately everybody on that plane looked at them and then slowly turned their heads to me. and i could see everyone was thinking, you smug little man. and that woman and her two children came to stand before me and said, "i am sitting there." and i said, "are you sure?" [laughter] and they moved in and they sat down and, immediately, as a 19 year old man i had, suddenly, i had an evolved thought -- that i could accept this now as being the worst flight of my life or i can make it different. because, in life, you get one choice over and over again, that is, to accept conditions as they are or to take responsibility for changing them.

to yield to the circumstances around you or to show up and do something about them. i decided that i was going to make this the best flight of my life. i started telling this little boy jokes and he started laughing at my horrible jokes, like my grandfather would love, like, why did tigger and eeyore have their heads in the toilet? because they were looking for pooh. [laughter] like, why, what do you call your mother's sister who runs away and gets married? an antelope. [laughter] i am sorry, i am sorry, i had to try. by the time we landed, we were all having a ball. the woman who came on the plane embarrassed suddenly felt like she was lifted. we exchanged addresses as i was getting ready to come down here to the farm and we never kept in touch but, five years passed, 10 years passed, 15 years passed and i was running for mayor of newark. on my most discouraged day in

that campaign, i got a letter from this woman saying, "you do not remember me but i met you on a flight to stanford 15 years ago and i will never forget your kindness then." she said to me, "not only do i remember your kindness but we're actually here in newark, we own a factory here." her son became a great volunteer on my campaign. they got me involved with their company, and she ended up being something that all politicians love -- a campaign contributor. [laughter] show up! and now the second man, my grandfather, who was with my father in spirit. it is one simple thing that he would say to me at graduations. he would say to me, "boy, understand that you have a role in this world and that's to get along with others, to join your spirit with them." i tell you this is one that i struggle with. you see, conspirators need to

embody those things i mentioned before but they also need to join together. my grandfather, this amazing man, his life was all about the joining together of disparate elements of our society. he was born, also, to a single mother. but he was born in a difficult circumstance because he was born with red hair and much lighter skin than his siblings. it was obvious that he was born to a white man at a time that it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry. he grew up feeling that he had, inside of his spirit, so many different parts of his country. he ended up becoming a person that did everything he could to unite people. he was a union organizer bringing people together for justice. he was a democratic activist working within the party to support fdr. he was an entrepreneur, bringing people together for business endeavor. and he wanted his children and then his grandchildren to understand that what makes this

country great is how united it is. he used to load us onto an rv and drive us around the country to show us how great this nation is. he would tell us history of our country even if he didn't know it. we would ask him questions when we were driving through arizona. "grand-dad, why do they call this town yuma, arizona?" and he would say, "well, let me see, that's because when this town was founded, there was a gun fight and one guy shot the other and he grabbed his heart and said, 'you ma' and then died." [laughter] i talked to my grandfather all the time about this country. he tells me that, son, this country, we forget we talk always about the declaration of independence. but really, this nation was founded on a declaration of interdependence -- this recognition that we need each other. when i talk to my grandfather now, i anguish to him that we

are a nation that has become so polarized, where people are so quick to identify themselves as democrat or republican before they say, first and foremost, that i am an american. they're so focused on left and right that they forget that this nation must go forward. [applause] i anguish to my grand-dad when i talk to him now, how can we have come so far as a nation that the word compromise is a curse and the word patriotism is not used to unite us all but it is used to demean others and to esteem yourself? like i am the true patriot and because of you and what you believe, you're not. this is not the america that my grandfather believed in. he said we were formed to come together and make a more perfect union. and, to me, this is what i found in my work. that the change we make really comes about when we come together across party lines,

come together across religious lines and racial lines. when president hennessy introduced me he talked about a hunger strike. the great feeling that i got from that experience was how the city came together to deal with a problem and that's what we need in america today. my grandfather would love that every nation that makes up this nation, every heritage has this ideal of unity. it is like the old african saying that says if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together. it is like another saying that he loved, it said, when spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. it is like what golda meir said, that when jews come together, they're strong, but jews with other people, are invincible. it is like the islamic faith, that one of the pillars of islam is that word tawheed, which means we all share one god, one spirit, one soul. it is like this wonderful man in a jail cell in birmingham who wrote the truth of our

nation in 1963 when he said we were all caught in an "inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a common garment of destiny that injustice, anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere." and when i stand in a conspiracy in newark, i feel that connection to conspirators who understood this truth of coming together like those people who came together -- scientists and engineers that turned the moon from a dream into a destiny, like those conspirators on the underground railroad, black and white, who came together saying that we must overcome this slavery, like the conspirators who took us as a nation from child labor to public education, from sweatshops to workers' rights. they were all conspirators who came together to exult our highest ideals, to celebrate our common aspirations, to live the truth of our founding which is that this nation is nothing if it stands apart but everything if it stands

together. [applause] that, ultimately, we must live our hallmark -- those three words from a dead language -- e pluribus unum. and, so, graduates, i tell you today this from my heart. and it pains me to tell you that my grandfather and my father, who would have so wanted to be here today, to pillar you all with their corny jokes, to tell you that "the tassel's worth the hassle." the two men are not here today. my father is not here because he's at home in atlanta. i talked to him this morning. he is struggling with parkinson's, in the latter stages of that disease. oh, what 20 years have brought. from my father, the man that was running after me on football fields to, now, a man

who this terrible disease is stripping of his physical mobility, stripping him of his mental faculties. but, when i am with him, i see that this disease can take everything from him, it can make him not even recognize me when i sit before him, but i still see in this man his spirit, his kindness and his love. i see within him the manifestation physically of so many conspirators. my grandfather is not here today either. my grandfather also had his struggles with a terrible disease. cancer kept coming at him, again and again, and my grandfather, with his spirit and his humor, kept beating it back, time and time again. i will never forget, once i was visiting him as he was struggling with cancer, i said, "how you doing, granddad?" he says, "i am doing fine." i go, "why?" and he pulled out one of the pills he was taking by his doctor and he said in his best quote from one of his favorite films, he lifted it up to me

and said, "say, hello to my little friend." [laughter] the last time i talked to my grandfather his big body was now shriveled and weak from radiation, from the sickness, and the last thing he said to me before i left him was, "i love you, son. i love you, i love your children and i love your children's children." i left him confused. i am not married. i have no kids. i thought he was just delirious but as i struggled to make sense of his words, i got a cruel phone call that explained them to me. it was almost 10 years ago to the month that i got that cruel phone call. i was in the midst of a campaign for mayor, and i was on spruce street in newark, and it was a family member of mine that said, "your grandfather is dead." and i remember not doing what they told me to do -- call my grandmother, they said -- but i could not. i just pulled over to the side

of the road and i wept at the loss of my hero. and then, suddenly, in the midst of my tears, i remembered his final words. he said, "i love you and i love your children and i love your children's children." and it made sense to me. one of my friends who's an astrophysicist told me that the stars we see at night, millions and millions of light years away, some of them could be gone already but the light and the energy they gave off you can still see it today. well, that was my grandfather. he loved so much that his love will affect generations yet unborn. he loved so much that he may be gone for a decade from me but i still feel him today in every cool wind that breathes in my face, in every deep breath i take, his love is with me and i hope you feel it today. and thus, i say to you, on this graduation. i say to you, in the name of my father, cary alfred booker, i

say to you, in the name of my grandfather, limuary jordan, to join the conspiracy, to be a class of people that rejects cynicism, that is not joining the ranks of the denizens of divisiveness or the nattering nabobs of negativity but be lovers. join the conspiracy and love with all of your heart and all of your courage. let your love be defiant. let your love be rebellious. join the conspiracy and make change in your life because change will not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, it must be carried in on the backs of lovers. class of 2012, i say stand up and be lovers of life, be present, take the more difficult road, and love in a way that you can make true the words of children being said in newark almost every day that you can be responsible then making for this world and our nation true of the fact that we are one nation, under god, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all. god bless you, 2012. [applause] >> president barack obama hitting the road today for a two-state bus tour through ohio and western pennsylvania. the president plans to talk about the economy during his

tour. we will have live coverage of the first campaign stop today at ellicott 40 eastern. we will also be live as the president wrapped up the trip in pittsburgh tomorrow at 2:00 eastern all the campaign stops will be live on c-span.org. the 2012 teacher of the year speaks today at the national education association. she teaches seventh grade in burbank, california. you can see her comments live at 11:30 eastern on c-span2. >> this weekend, had to the state capital named in honor of thomas jefferson with booktv and american history to be in jefferson city, missouri. saturday, literary life with booktv on c-span2 bid former senator and mr. a first lady jean carnahan and family life inside the governor's mansion. a provisions list from ancient

mesopotamia to the university of missouri at's special collection. the stories behind an ancient babylonian clay tablets. >> at one time this was called the bloodiest anchor in america. >> walk through missouri state history at the state capitol and governor's mansion. this weekend, from jefferson city, saturday at noon and sunday at 5:00 eastern on a c- span2 and 3. >> in may, the space exploration technology company known as spacex send a spacecraft to the international space station. elon musk deliver the commencement address at the

california institute of technology in pasadena. he gives advice to the caltech class of 2012. [applause] >> all right guesi'd like to thk you for leaving "crazy person out of the description." [laughter] -- for leaving "crazy person" out of the description. [laughter] i thought perhaps to tell a story of how i came to be here, how some of these things happened, and maybe there are some lessons there, because i often find myself wondering, how did this happen? when i was young, i did not really know what i was going to do when i got older. people kept asking me.

but then i thought that the idea of inventing things would be really cool. the reason i thought that was because our red -- i read a quote from arthur c. clarke -- "significant the advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." the things we can do today you would be burned at the stake for. being able to fly, that is crazy. being able to see over long distances, being able to communicate, having effectively, with the internet, a group of mind of sorts, and having access to old world's information instantly from anywhere in years. this is the stuff that really would be magic, would be

in fact, i think it actually goes beyond that, because there are many things that we take for granted today that were not even imagined in times past. there were not even in the realm of magic. but at last it goes beyond that. so, if i can advance technology, then that is like magic and that would be really cool. i had sort of a slight existential crisis, because i was trying to figure out what does it all mean, what is the purpose of things? i came to the conclusion that if we can advance the knowledge of the world, if we can do things that expand the scope and scale of consciousness, then we are better able to ask the right questions and become more enlightened. that is really the only way forward. so, i studied physics and business, because i figured in order to do a lot of these things you need to know how the universe works and know how the economy works and you also need

to be able to bring a lot of people together to work with you to create some things, because it is very difficult to do things as individual efforts in significant technology. -- as individuals, if it is significant technology. so i originally came out to california to try to improve the energy density of electric vehicles, something to serve as an alternative to batteries. that was 1995. that is also when the internet started to happen. i thought, i can either pursue this technology where success may not be one of the possible outcomes, which is always tricky, or i can participate in the internet and be a part of

it. so i decided to drop out. we are past graduation, so i cannot be accused of recommending that to you. [laughter] so i did some internet stuff. [laughter] there have been a few things here and there, one of which was paypal. maybe it is helpful to say one of the things that was important in the creation of paypal. that was how it started, because initially my thought was to create financial services, one place where all your financial services needs would be seamlessly integrated and would work smoothly. then we would have a little feature which would be in your e-mail payments. whenever we will show the system to someone, we would show the hard part, which is the

agglomeration of financial services, which is difficult to put together, and nobody was interested. then we would show people e-mail payments, which was easy, and everybody was interested. [laughter] so it is important to take feedback from your environment. [laughter] you want to be as closely linked as possible. paymentsed on e-mail pati made that work. it is important to look for things like that and focus when you see them and correct your prior assumptions. going from paypal, i thought, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most

affect the future of humanity? it was not from the perspective of what is the best way to make money, which is ok,. it was really what do i think will most affect the future of humanity? the biggest terrestrial problem we've got is sustainable energy, both production and consumption of energy in a sustainable manner. that, we are in deep trouble. the other is to make life multi- planetary. that is the basis -- the latter is the basis for spacex. the former is the basis for tesla and solar city. when i started spacex, initially, i thought that there's no way one could possibly start a rocket company. i was not that crazy.

but then i thought, what is the way to increase nasa? nasa? that was my initial goal. i thought, if we could do a low- cost mission to mars, which would hydrate upon landing and you would have this great shot of green plants on a red background. [laughter] the puic tends to respond precedencts an superlatives. i thought that would get people really excited and increase nasa's budget . the out come from such a mission would probably be zero, so everything better than that would be on the upside. [laughter] i went to russia three times to

look at buying a refurbished icbm. [laughter] because that was the best deal. [laughter] it was very weird going there in late 2001/2002, going to the russians and setting out would like to buy two of your biggest rockets, but you can keep the nukes. that's a lot more. [laughter] that was 10 years ago, i guess. they thought i was crazy, but i did have money, so that was ok. [laughter] after making several trips to russia, i came to the conclusion -- my initial impression was wrong about -- my initial thought was that there's not enough world to explore

beyond earth and have a mars base and that kind of thing. i came to the conclusion that was wrong. there's plenty of world, particularly in the united states. if the u.s. is a nation of explorers. the people that came here from other parts of the world. the u.s. is really a distillation of the spirit of human exploration. if people think it's impossible, or it will completely break the federal budget, then they're not going to do it. after my third trip, i said what we need to do is try to solve the space transport problem and started spacex. this was against the advice of pretty much everyone i spoke to. one friend made me sit down and watched a bunch of videos of rockets blowing up. [laughter] he was not far wrong. it was tough going there in the

beginning, because i had never built anything physical. i had built model rockets as a child and that kind of thing, but never had a company that builds anything physical. i had to figure out how to do these things and bring together the right team of people. and so, we did all that and failed three times. it was tough going. th the thing about a rocket, the passing grade is 100%. [laughter] you don't get to actually test the rocket in the real environment it's going to be in. if you want to create a really complicated bit of software, and cannot run the software as an integrated whole and you cannot run it on the computer is intended to run on. but the first time you put it together to run on that computer, it must run with no

bugs. that is the essence of it. the first launch, i was picking up bits of rocket near the launch pad. we learned with each successive flights and were able to in 2008 in the fourth flight, to reach orbit. that was with the last bit of money that we had. thank goodness it happened. i think they say the fourth time is the charm. [laughter] so we got it to orbit, then began to scale that up to the falcon line, which is more thrust, 1 million pounds of thrust. we managed to get that to orbit and then develop the dragon spacecraft, which recently was

able to dock and return to earth from the space station. [applause] thanks. that was a white knuckle the event. -[laughter] i still cannot believe it actually happens. it was a big relief. there's a lot more that must happen to be on this in order for humanity to become a spacefaring civilization. it is vitally important. i hope that some of you will participate in that either at spacex or at other companies, because it is one of the most important things for the preservation and extension of consciousness. it is worth noting that the earth has been around 4 billion years.

civilization at least in terms of having right thing has been around 10,000 years. that is being generous. -- having writing. a tenuous existenc that civilization and consciousness have been on earth. i am fairly optimistic about the future of earth. i don't want people to get the wrong impression we are about to die. i think that things will most likely be o.k. for a long time on earth. if not for sure, but most likely. even if it is 99% likely, a 1% chance is still worth spending effort to make sure we have respect of the biosphere, planetary redundancy. so i think it's quite important that.

in order to do that, there's something needs to occur, which is to create a rapidly and karelicompletely reusable transt system of tomorrow. it's on the borderline of being possible. but that is the thing that we are going to try to achieve with spacex. and then on the test of front, the goal was to try to show what electric cars can do, because people had the wrong impression. we had to change people's perception of electric vehicles, because they used to think of it as a thing that was slow and ugly expand tableau range, like a golf cart. so that's why we created the la roadster. osterma

until you have the physical object, it does not really not sink in with people. that is something worth noting. if you are going to create a company, you should create a working prototype first period if everything lo. everything looks great on power point. if you have an actual physical model, that's much more impressive for people. so we made the roadster and now we're coming out with a four- door sedan. after we made that, people said we always knew that you could make a car like that. they said, if you could make a real car. so i said, fine. that's coming out soon. that is where things are and,

hopefully, there are some lessons to be drawn there. the overarching point out what to make is that you guys are the magicians of the 21st century. don't let anything hold you back. imagination is the limit. go out there and create some magic. thank you. [applause] >> president obama is on the road for a two-day campaign bus tour through northern ohio and western pennsylvania getting underway today. the president talking about the economy during his tour. we will have live coverage of the first campaign stop in ohio coming up in 25 minutes at 11:00 for the eastern. we will also be live as the president wraps up the door tomorrow in pittsburg. that will be live o'clock p.m.

eastern. all the campaign stops are covered live as well as a c- span.org. the 2012 teacher of the year speaks at the annual meeting of the national education association. if she teaches seventh grade in burbank, california. you can see her comments live on c-span 2. >> one of my favorites strikes to stop about was maybe half of the cows ate turkeys. when an animal is killed and the meat is sold to safeway, the drugs are in there. >> martha rosenberger looked behind the scenes of the food and drug industry and fines regulatory lapses and government complicity in a "junk food."

on c-span 2. >> tax reform should focus on the results that we want. it should create jobs. it can start innovation. it can expand opportunity. it can guarantee our competitiveness. it can put america back on top. >> you can talk about goals all you want, but we have put a stop signs, we have put up stoplights, and none of it ever changes congress' behavior. >> from the time i had lost control of the committee and went out for two pitchers of beer with my chief of staff and came back to say give us a tax bill at 25% rate top. i said what about 26%? >> you could make the advantages to homeowners much more progressive in the domenici-

rivlin tax reform. what we did was to convert the home mortgage deduction to a tax credit at a lower rate. exchanging the tax code, yesterday and today. current and former lawmakers of the bipartisan policy centerpiece of the battles won and lost. find it on line at the c-span video library. >> this morning, washington journal talked with former congressional budget office director douglas holtz-eakin about medicaid pose a potential cost to states and the federal government. if the also spoke about the impact of the supreme court decision on health care. we will show you as much of the conversation as we can until president obama begins his comments at about 11:40 eastern. >> joining us that is douglas holtz-eakin, former director of the congressional budget office and he also served as domestic policy adviser for the john

mccain's campaign in 2008. we appreciate your being here with us as always. guest: my pleasure. host: we will talk about "the affordable care act and in particular the medicaid aspect. i want to start with today's headlines. the washington post has it as the lead story -- do you feel it is a tax or penalty? guest: i think it's pretty simple. the supreme court called it a tax. it is collected by the irs a. all the political position is interesting, but it does not change the bottom line. host: what are your views about "the affordable care act? guest: i have been really troubled by it from its inception. in 2008 it was clear the american people wanted health care reform that provided quality care at lower cost and provided more affordable insurance options.

as the bill developed, there's a consensus across the in ideological spectrum that it does not really control costs. that is the driving problem in many sectors of our economy. so that is a disturbing piece for me. there are other aspects which have emerged that threaten private coverage and employers drop coverage or alter it so you don't get to keep what you had. the use of $500 billion in medicare funds to pay for the act when medicare itself each year has a gap between payroll taxes and premiums coming in and spending going out about $300 million. all this leads me to worry about a legacy of debt for the next generation. host: you are the director or president of american action forum. from your web site at, analysis finds the supreme court ruling on medicaid will add hundreds of billions to cost of affordable

can act. if you could give us a brief explanation of the medicaid aspect of this and why you think that's going to add so much. guest: prior to the supreme court ruling, the act said every state in 2014 had to expand its medicaid program to cover everyone up to 132% above the poverty line. anyone under the line would be in medicaid and the federal government would initially pay all the cost and as time went on it would pay 90%. the states would have to pick up a piece. when the supreme court ruled, it said that requirement was unconstitutional cores and of the states, using the federal purse. as a result, they cannot penalize the states for not doing it. that became optional. the concern i have is that medicaid is much cheaper than the new insurance subsidy in the "the affordable care act as. anyone above the poverty line will be eligible for the subsidy. instead of forcing them into medicaid, they will now have the

option to migrate over to the insurance exchanges and get federal subsidies at 100% of taxpayer cost. rather than using medicaid to save money, which was the original idea, it is going to be unavailable. why would a governor expand medicaid program when they can go get the coverage somewhere else? host: is that a decision by the supreme court that you disagree with? guest: no. i filed a brief supporting the notion that this was an unconstitutional portion. what the federal government was saying was if you have to expand your medicaid program. if you don't, we are taking all door medicaid funding away. it would have constituted a 34% tax increase and a cut in other spending. it was maybe a choice to say no, but not a real choice. i did not like that part of it. but an unexpected consequence in

the supreme court ruling was it is now more expensive. host: another front page story in yesterday's's washington post -- so, if jordan does not expand its medicaid program, how would that affect somebody along the party-line? they would have to go into the insurance pools? guest: they could go get the insurance exchanges if they are above the poverty line. if not, it's much more complicated, because some states cover all children up to the party line, all pregnant mothers. but not every state covers everybody under the poverty line. the first choice is to get a job and get insurance. there would have to be a decision made by governors on how they will deal with low- income populations. this is a second political aspect and my concern about the reform is intertwined into it

medicaid and medicare heavily. both of those programs need reform. governors have asked for a long time for more flexibility. frozen the possibility of reforming them. host: let's say the republicans take the congress -- and we will begin taking your calls in a moment and the numbers are on the screen -- and the white house, the act is overturned, what is the solution? is it a problem in need of a solution? that: there's no question americans wanted health care reform. that was across the spectrum. i worked with john mccain in 2008. in the republican primary every candid and had to have a health care reform plan. there was a desperate need for this. regardless of politics and policy, we have to go back to what americans wanted and

deserve, which was better health care reform. if that starts with fixing medicare and medicaid, because medicare is a very important they or of medical services. the way medicaid pays, fee-for- service, separate silos for hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, drugs, drives a lot of the medicine in the u.s. health care reform starts with making medicare sustainable for the next generation and having better practice in it. host: our guest is douglas all is douglas holtz-eakin. guest: i started the nonprofit think tank after 2008. i was unemployed. this is what i like to do. i like to analyze political policy. we look at what is going on in the policy world and talk about it every day. host: purely domestic policy? guest: we do education, health care, energy, environment, regulation, tax and budget, things i've done for a long time.

i would love to move into innovation and technology. it would be nice to do national security and international affairs, but we're not there yet money wise. host: you have any association with the mitt romney campaign? guest: i do not. host: daniel is on our independent line. caller: good morning. what i think this means for medicaid is children in poverty will have a better chance to get health care regardless of how much their parents make. what's going to happen is medicare is going to get cut. more money will be put into the kids and youth will have a better chance of sustaining health as they get older. pretty much we are going to have healthier people in the future and we are not going to have to rely on social security benefits, medicare for our people. we will build a cut our budget

over time and have a sustainable future. guest: that would be wonderful. i think we know that we have to cut our budget. we have big problems on the spending side, but we do have to provide access to quality health care for the next generation and high-quality education. host: next call from harrisburg, pennsylvania, rod on our republican line. caller: good morning. i would like to ask him to elaborate a little. this is such a great, wonderful health care at, then why did the president give over 1000 exemptions to this law? the line share of those exemptions are to people in unions who donate to the

democratic party. a lot of people don't know that. you can get that on the computer. and why all these existence are given out and a lot of people in the u.s. don't know that? this is such a great health care, then i want one, too. guest: it is an enormous piece of legislation. among the things that the congress did is to leave to the health and human services a lot of authority to fill in the details. we have seen some real problems arise. they've not really been able to finish on time. only 22 rules submitted over the finish line on schedule. a lot of waivers were granted in the process for medical plans that otherwise would not pass muster and the like. time will tell exactly what drove that process. there's very little debate but the regulatory process has been slow and quite burdensome. host: joseph ramirez tweets --

guest: it did not. if you look at the pace of actual health care spending per person -- under all the insurance systems and the federal payment systems is what does it cost to provide medical services to each person in the u.s. each year. the cbo did not see that changed much. it's certainly thought a layer of new payments on top of it. insurance subsidies. and a layer of additional collections. the pace of spending continues to grow. that is the concern. can we as a nation get a horse race between income per person and spending person to get a little closer? spending has been winning every year for decades by two percentage points to three

percentage points. host: a tweet -- guest: it's a good point. insurance pays the health care bill. it is the health care bill that has been rising so rapidly. a lot of people would not care if the bill went up if we felt we are getting our money's worth. but there is discontent with the quality of services, access to services, and the fact that we don't seem to live longer or been less disease ridden than other countries despite the fact that we spend more. host: next call from california, lester, independent mind. the morning. caller: good morning. a lot of people seemed to feel the supreme court said this was a tax. where does it say that in the ruling? it does not say that. it says under the taxing powers,

congress can enforce the mandate. tell me which paragraph or line or page where it states that the supreme court stated that it is a tax? guest: i don't have the decision in front of me. if it comes down to a paragraph, i would flunk the test. what the court did rule is that it was not a constitutional use of the commerce clause to compel people to buy insurance and thus compel them to enter into commerce. but instead was constitutional to tax people who did not buy insurance. this said it was the taxing power of the federal government. that would be with the irs collect a tax from people who do not have felt insurance and doubling that tax if they fail to send it in and suffer an additional burden. it's a pretty clear reading of the ruling but this is a tax. that part is gone. the important thing is regardless of what you think of

the supreme court ruling, we're now back to the important debate, which is how we meet what was the tested 2008 of quality health care reform at low cost and better insurance? that is a very legitimate debate and it has been quite a pitched debate and it will continue. from southcall is carolina, arthur on our republican line. caller: good morning. i want to comment about the health care. first, i would like to introduce myself as probably -- i am just high-school educated, but i want more political shows, namely c- span, house and senate sessions, than any other citizen in this country. i would bet on that. i used to be a bookmaker, too.

now, being as learned as i am for high school graduate and having watched all these shows, the health care bill, like the man just stated, it is a massive tax on the middle class, with most people are aware of that, they're just skipping down the road, oblivious. the other thing is they took $500 billion out of the health care pot to fund this law. and then the people making $120,000 or less are going to be taxed. other than that, i wanted to make another statement about doug elmendorf, head of the cbo , who speaks very intelligently like this man on monetary

matters, he said that the first 10 years of "the affordable care act" is going to put the country 1.9 trillion more dollars in debt, not save money. wait a minute. people don't realize we are talking trillion. guest: the structure of "the affordable care act" on paper was to spend about $1 trillion in the first 10 years and pay for it with $500 billion in cuts from other areas. some of these taxes on things like medical devices, which are likely to harm our competitiveness in a very important international industry, and some are taxes on insurance companies, which is $80 million in fees and insurance companies that will

feeds traded opinions. you'll see the sticker shock of higher premiums and that will come to bear on the middle class. if you are going to have an expansion of this size, you can not possibly do it without some people paying. host: now to another matter. i have been calling new douglas holtz-eakin. guest: that's correct. close.py if people get close. host: franklin, texas, richard on our independent line. caller: my comments will be brief. our system of health care in america is so great, then why do we spend twice as much as any other country? there's over 27 developed countries that have affordable health care. a few of them have just got involved claim that they used the american health care plan to

figure out what not to do. we do have an answer, but it is the holy grail. we cannot approach this in this way because you would not get elected. it is called a military industrial complex. you were in the cbo and you know what it really costs for our military. we cover our defense budget, we of the department of veterans administration, we have the energy department. most people don't realize the energy department has the responsibility for all of our nuclear weapons. we have the state department. then we have the department of homeland security. it is over $1 trillion, yet we fail to mention that we could easily cut that. we spend more now on our military. we have 747 bays says or rather military sites around the world.

do we need so many? i would like for you to address that question of why not touch the military? host: all right, richard. guest: this is the leading edge of what i think will be an increasingly public debates as we get to january of 2013. rescheduled to be across-the- board cuts of $55 billion in the pentagon budget, $45 billion in the non-defense spending at on education and other programs. and you will see an increasing need to figure out the wisdom of those cuts and should it be military or non-military? it's the start of a very important national conversation. anyone who looks at our budget understands that right now the federal debt is outstanding, larger than the size of the economy, close to $16 trillion. the introductory over the next 10 years is something we. cannot we there will need to be

changes -- the trajectory over the next 10 years is something we cannot tolerate. there needs to be changes. >> we are live in ohio, the first of the president posing 250 mile campaign bus tour. this is the museum in maumee. herrod nator assured brsure rod brown at the podium. >> epstein is the white house reporter covering the bus tour. what makes ohio and pennsylvania so important to the president's campaign? but certainly ohio is a key

swing state. republican in modern times has won the presidency without ohio. it is also ground zero for his pushing of -- boasting about the auto bailout that the president's administration. pushed early in his administration it detroit makes the cars, but more parts for the vehicles are made in ohio than anywhere else. so there's a lot of jobs on the line in this part of the state, in this part of the country for the president to be. boasting be >> there is news the u.s. will file an unfair trade complaint against china with the world trade organization. the president is supposed to talk about that today. how does that tie into his comments on the auto industry in? -- industry? >> the president is filing the complaint about vehicles like the ones made in a plant 9 miles from this event in toledo, but

it ties into his tough on china, the initiative romney has been talking about from the beginning of his campaign when he is in ohio. and has been an opportunity for the president to show he's doing something about china beyond tough talk, the way romney is. >> the president will wrap up his bus tour on friday and the june jobs numbers come out tomorrow. is there some risk of being campaigning if and when bad news could overshadow some of the comments the president might make? >> it is also an opportunity for him to change the subject. it's his first campaign events since the health care decision came out. he's not doing a victory lap on that. he's gone on to other things. he will be speaking in ohio in pittsburgh after that. and he will sign the student loan and transportation bill in

the afternoon. he is in a position to try to change the news cycle to be about something else, if there's bad news. >> is this two-day tour by the president a response to the romney bus tour of a couple weeks ago which covered similar territory? >> there are similar things. these types of stores tend to happen in the summer. that's between when the primaries end and when the general election race heats up. it -- certainly they are going for the same type of voters. the president is stopping in a handful of industrial white blue-collar suburbs, places that he needs to do well. >> how was the romney campaign responding to this obama bus tour? outside toledo, there's a

small airplane circling overhead with a romney 2012 banner flying behind it. they have also dispatched two of their top level surrogates, governor bobby jindal of louisiana and tim pawlenty, former minnesota governor. they are trying to get the romney campaign message out andre the president's arriv arrives. >> thanks for the update. >> anytime. >> and this is maumee, ohio. president obama making his first of all the bus tour. he has two other stops in ohio later today. he will be in sandusky at an ice cream social later today. and then to a town just outside cleveland for an event.

tomorrow he will be in pittsburgh for a speech at carnegie-mellon and 2:00 p.m. eastern and we will have that live. we will have the entire bus tour live online at c-span.org. the president should be speaking this shortly. >> together we are going to knock on doors. together we are going to make phone calls. together we per going to register voters. -- we are going to register voters. together we are going to win this election because of the neighborhood teams you build. we are going to win this election because of the conversations you'll have. we are going to win this election because together we stand with president obama. [cheers and applause] there are only 90 days before voting starts in ohio. i want you right now to take out your phones. let me see them. i want you to a text right now

62262 . -- text oh to 62262. in the next few days you'll get a call from a volunteer asking you to join us or canvas. there will ask you to register voters. we need you to say yes, up for that, to empower your neighbors, and most importantly to reelect president obama in november. [applause] thank you so much, everyone. we look forward to seeing you out in the field. [cheers and applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] won't you stand up ♪ >> this is a museum in ohio, president obama speaking shortly. district campaign appearance on the "betting on america" bus

tour. this is his third bus tour, but the first one this year. he has a lead over mr. romney in ohio according to a poll released last week. the poll showed mr. obama would beat mr. romney 47% to 38%. in pennsylvania, 45% to 39% it. we will have coverage of the bus tour over the next two days. tomorrow the president will wrap up his bus tour in pittsburgh speaking about the economy at carnegie-mellon. that will be at 2:00 p.m. eastern. we will have that live for you as well. >> ♪

playing] music song ♪ when your hope has turned to dust it's the sound of love around you you stand up you girls and boys ♪ >> reporters have bee treating is president's bus on site. the audience has heard from former governor ted strickland, senator brown, and from r.c. chapter -- marcie kaptor.

>> why would he be from ohio? they wanted to block the bottle rescued and they did. in may of 2011 senator robert portman's spokesman said the automobile bailout was not a good idea for ohio. what part of ohio does he come from? translation, he did not want president obama to succeed. he put partisanship against the interest of the country. sort of funny. these days the senator says that he supports the automobile rescue and that he always did. apparently, he was for it before he was against it. one of those guys. at least mitt romney was consistent. he said, "led detroit go bankrupt." and select ohio families go bankrupt. -- and let ohio families go bankrupt. we need some extra votes in the house of representatives. with us today in the front row

is the candidate that will be that-- is run here in the fifth congressional district. i'm privileged to run in the ninth district. her name is angela zimmon. angela, stand up. [cheers and applause] i want to thank angela for her patriotism. how many counties are in the district? 14 counties. she's got to run from here all the way over to the indiana line. she's got to be in sylvania and finley. 14 counties, think about that. wouldn't you rather have a live wire in the congress of the united states? [applause] we think about the challenges our nation faces and we know

that president obama stepped up to the plate. he saved the automotive industry certainly here in ohio but. for the but and he has won the fight. he has won the fight in order that over 33 million more americans will have access to affordable health insurance in this country. [cheers and applause] i was looking at a film of the other night. i started in politics when i was young. i remember delivering brochures with my family and my aunt will skip and our father and our mother -- uncle skip. uncle skip had an old movie camera and he got the film of president kennedy downtown at the courthouse.

i was looking at that. he was a world war ii veteran, injured, battle of the bulge, never talked about it. and he knew how important politics was. he wanted the future to be different than the past. so i know i was influenced by that kind of upbringing. i thought about john kennedy and his call for our country, to ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country. a very high idealistic call. his brother ted tried to take that health care battle almost 50 years. did not live to see it happen. president obama made it happen. made it happen. [cheers and applause] so the big fights take more than

one generation. we are a part of that strong fiber of america that carries us forward. that's why you are all here today despite the hot sun. when we think about -- i thought about president reagan, because when president reagan was running, he said "not a call to idealism, but are you better off than you were four years ago?" we went from a call to idealistic patriotism to a call for selfish individualism. we are not a part of that tradition. we are a part of a different tradition in our country. pray for president obama as he moves forward. press for vice president joe biden. prince for yourself. pray for our country. more than ever, this year we need leaders like senator brown,

who will follow me on the program shortly. imagine senator brown and senator mitch mcconnell in the same institution. how did that fellow from kentucky ever get elected? so we? senator brown. he is our strong voice. he really cares about us. i saw a very great governor of our state, governor ted strickland waiting in the wings. so i must depart at this time. i want you to know that the new ninth district, the president is traveling from maumee to parma. i will have a long cultural journey today. but i thank you for being here and exercising your full rights of citizenship. if america needs you now more than ever. god bless you. thank you so very much.

thank you. kaptor.esentativeka president obama is expected to speak to the crowd shortly. the understand the president's campaign bus is on site and the event should get under way shortly. the representative spoke as did former governor ted strickland and senator brown. the president should be speaking shortly. this is the first of a two-day tour, 250-mile tour. later he will speak in parma, just outside cleveland. we will have coverage throughout the day on c-span.org as well. the tour will wrap up tomorrow in pittsburgh with a speech at carnegie-mellon. we will have that live on c-span at 2:00 p.m. eastern. to get more details on what is ahead on the tour, we spoke with a reporter covering the campaign.

when house reporter from "politico" reid epstein. what makes ohio so important to the president's campaign? >> ohio is a key swing state. no republican in modern times has won the presidency without ohio. it is ground zero for the president's pushing at -- boasting about the auto bailout that his illustration pushed early in his term. detroit makes the cars but more parts for the vehicles are made in ohio than anywhere else. so there's a lot of jobs on the line in this part of the state, in this part of the country for the president to be boasting about. >> there is news today the u.s. will file an unfair trade complaint against china with the world trade organization.

the president is supposed to talk about that today. how does that tie into his comments on the auto industry? >> surely it is a coincidence -- coincidence that the president is filing that complaint at a plant. china is an issue mitt romney has been talking about from the beginning of his campaign. it is something money talks about when he is in ohio. if it is an opportunity for the president to show he's doing something about china beyond just talking tough away romney is. >> we take you live back to maumee where the president is being introduced. >> i was forced to file bankruptcy. i worry about what was next for my son and my grandson. but then president obama stood up for me. he bet on the american worker

and rescued america's auto industry. and it is paying off for our economy and our country. the plant opened its doors again and i got my job back and my pride that. that's the great american comeback story here in ohio. because of the president, we went from fear to faith in what we can do together. let's see, and that's what he's done day after day. he brought to our economy back from the brink, cutting taxes for the middle-class families and small businesses. he is holding wall street accountable so they cannot play by their own rules again. he is making health care more affordable so we can have insurance regardless of where you worked and where you live. [applause] he is fighting to keep teachers,

police, and firefighters on the job and to put our construction workers back to rebuilding our roads and highways. [applause] every step of the way, he is investing in our future. he is laying the foundation for our economy, built to last, where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded, everyone pays their fair share. those values remind me of four years ago when then senator obama stopped by my plant and japan's with all of us and took pictures. he was so down to earth. i remember thinking that he is someone who understands our struggles and our successes and believes in our successes. that's who you want as your president, someone who has are back so we can move our country forward together. [cheers and applause]

so, mr. president, on behalf of the workers and their families from across ohio, thank you. you bet on us. you had our backs and we have yours. [cheers and applause] so, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce the president of the united states, barack obama. [cheers and applause] [crowd shouting "four mroore years"] >> four more years.

four more years. ore years. [cheers] >> hello, ohio. [applause] >> hello. it is good to be back in if ohio. all right. everyone who has a share, feel free to sit down. go ahead and relax. i know it is a little warm out here, but this is what a summer is supposed to feel like. there are a couple of people i

would like to acknowledge. please give ida a round of applause. we are proud of their 10-proud -- we are proud of her. i am pleased to see the mayor of maumee, one of the best senators, senator sharon brown -- sherrod brown. marcy is here. [applause] >> and your former governor, and my campaign co-chair, ted strickland is in the house. i love you. it is great to see you. i hope everybody had a wonderful fourth of july.

we invited some people over for a barbecue. i had a chance to say thank you to our incredible men and women in uniform. [applause] >> we are so proud of them. then it was merely a's birthday. she is 14 years old. i know it happens too fast. do not remind me. she is going into high school. when she was small, i could say that all of these fireworks i arranged for her birthday. [laughter] >> she does not believe me anymore. [laughter] >> so, now, unless you have been hiding out in the woods somewhere, you are aware of the fact that it is campaign season.

get fired up. it is campaign season again. i understand it is not always tricky to watch. there has been more money -- pretty to watch. there has been more money flooding into the system than we have never seen before. more-eds. more cynicism. most of what you read about or hear about on the news has to do with who is up or down in the polls instead of what these issues is actually mean for you in for america, so it can be frustrating. i know it might be tempting to turn away from all of it, turn off the television, tivo everything you want to watch so you can skip the commercials, and i know it is easy to lose

interest and lose heart, and to be honest with you, some people are betting that you will lose interest, that you will somehow lose heart. here you are, in the heat. [applause] >> i am betting you are not going to lose interest. i'm betting you are not going to lose heart. i still believe in you. i am betting on new -- on you, and the country is betting on you, ohio, because you understand that even though politics might seem real small and petty right now, the choice in this election could not be more clear or bigger. the stakes could not be bigger. i know. i am with you. [applause]

>> what is going on in this election is bigger than a choice between two candidates or two parties. it is about two fundamentally different visions of where we go as a country. see, i believe in an america where no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, you can make it if you try. [applause] >> we have never been a country looking for handouts. we are a nation of strivers, risk-takers, entrepreneurs, workers, but what we ask for is that the hard work pays off. that responsibility is rewarded. the idea is if you take

responsibility for your live, put in the effort, do the responsible thing, you can find a job that pays a living wage, you can look at your family, by a home, retire with some dignity and respect, not go bankrupt when you get sick. [applause] >> that you have that court, middle-class security that built this country, and you can pass that on to your kids so they could do things you could not even imagine. that is the essence of america. i believe in the basic promise of america because i've lived it. that is my biography.

i had grandparents who served in -- whose service in world war two was rewarded with them having a chance to go to college and by their first home. i have a hard-working mom who raised me and my sister right, but also had some help so we could go to the best schools in the country even though we did not have a lot of money. i got involved in politics. i ran for president in 2008, and some of you join me in 2008 because -- [applause] >> because we believe in that basic bargain that built the largest middle class in history, the strongest economy in the world, and we felt the basic bargain was slipping away. hard work was not always rewarded. be in response will did not always give you a head. -- being response will did not

always get you ahead. -- responsible did not always get you ahead. we came together in that election, democrats, independents, and some republicans to restore the basic bargain that built this country. we knew it would not be easy. we knew it would take more than one year, one term, or even maybe when president, but what we did not realize is we were going to be had by the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, and that has been tough on a lot of folks, including people. ohio. robbed millions of people from the people here in ohio. -- people here in ohio. it robbed millions of people of their dream, but the crisis did

not change the fundamental character of america, this town, this state, where this part of the country. we still have people working hard, acting responsibly. it has not diminished our belief in the ideals we were fighting for in 2008. [applause] >> our mission right now is not just to recover from the economic crisis, although that is job one, our mission is to give back america, americans across the country what has been lost, that sense of security. our goal is not just to put people back to work tomorrow, but billed for a long haul any economy where hard work pays off, an economy where whether you are starting a business or punching the clock, where you have confidence that if you work hard, you will get ahead.

that is what america is about. [applause] >> that is what ohio is about. now, i have to tell you what is holding us back -- where is michelle? [laughter] >> you know, look, i know i am second fiddle, but, you know, i will have michele come back sometime. i'm just a warm-up act. michele says hi. >> thank you so much. i appreciate it. let me say this, what is holding us back from meeting these challenges -- >> four more years.

four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. >> what is holding us back from meeting our challenges is not a lack of ideas, a lack of solutions. what is holding us back as we have a still made in washington between brigitte stalemate in washington between these two -- stalemate in washington between these two visions and this election is about breaking that stalemate. the outcome of this election will determine our economic future for not just the next year or two years, but maybe the next decade or the next two. my opponent and his allies in congress believe prosperity comes from the top down, that if we eliminate most regulations and cut taxes for the wealthy by

trillions of dollars that somehow our whole economy will benefit, and all of you will benefit, and there will be more jobs and better security for everybody. that is their basic economic plan. now, i think they are wrong about their vision, and part of the reason i think they are wrong is because we tried it, remember, just a while back, and it did not work. we are still paying for trillions of dollars in tax cuts that were not paid for and did not leave -- lead to better jobs for better wages for the middle class. the lack of regulation on wall street, the kind of thing they are prescribing, is what allowed people to gain the system and caused the mess in the first place. i do not think mr. romney's planned to spend trillions of dollars more on tax cuts for folks that do not need them and are not even asking for them

are -- is the right way to grow our economy, especially since they want to pay for them by cutting education spending, job- creation programs, and raising middle-class taxes, and i certainly do not agree with his plan to keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. [applause] >> i do not think we are better off rolling back regulations on banks, insurance companies, oil companies -- regulations that are meant to protect workers, consumers, our families and our economy. we do not need more top-down economics. we tried it it does not work. -- tried it, it does not work. we need someone out there fighting for the middle class. [applause] >> when the american auto industry was on the brink of collapse, and more than 1

million jobs were on the line, governor romney said we should let detroit go bankrupt. i refused to turn my back on communities like this one. i was betting on the american worker, and i was betting on american industry, and three years later the american auto industry is coming roaring back. [applause] >> that chrysler plant up the road is bringing on another 1100 and police to make the cars that the world wants to -- employees to make the cars that the world wants to buy. rancor, based here in toledo, just set a new record. what is happening in the legal

can happen in cities like cleveland, -- toledo, can happen in cities like cleveland, pittsburgh, and that is why i am running, because i want to make sure it does. >> four more years. four more years. four more years. >> just like ida said, i want goods shipped around the world stamped with "made in america." [applause] >> i want to stop giving awards to companies shipping jobs overseas. i want to reward companies that keep jobs right here in ohio, right here in maumee. governor romney politico experience has been in owning -- governor romney's experience has

been devoting companies that were called pioneers of outsourcing. those are not my words. my experience has been saying the auto industry. as long as i am president, that is what i'm going to do every single day, thinking about creating jobs for your family and more security for your communities. [applause] >> that is why my administration brought trade cases against china at a faster pace than the previous said administration, and we won those cases. this morning, my administration took new action to hold china accountable for unfair trading practices that harm american automakers. [applause] >> let me tell you something, americans are not afraid to compete. we believe in competition. i believe in trade. i know this, americans and american workers build better

products than anybody else, so as long as we are competing on a fair playing field we will do just fine, but we are going to make sure competition is fair. that is part of what i believe. that is part of our vision for america, but that is not all it takes to rebuild its economy. i am running to make sure america once again leads the world in educating our kids and training our workers. our tuition tax credit has saved millions of families thousands of dollars each, and now i want to extend it. we won the fight in congress from stopping them from letting student loans doubled. [applause] >> now, we are working with colleges and universities to start bringing tuition costs down. [applause] >> i want our schools to hire and rewards -- reward the best teachers, especially in math and

science. i want to give to a million more americans the chance to go to community colleges and learn skills that local businesses are looking for right now. in the 21st century, a higher education is not a luxury. it is an economic necessity for every single one of our young people, and folks training to get the jobs for the future, and our veterans coming home -- we need to take care of all of them and give them opportunities to work their way into the middle class. [applause] >> god bless you, thank you for your service. god bless you. freedom is not free, and you fought for it. [applause] >> i am running to give more responsible homeowners the chance to refinance their mortgage and save $3,000 a year.

we have low interest rates right now, but a lot of folks are having trouble refinancing with their banks. we have said to congress, let's help them refinance. could you use an extra $3,000? [applause] >> that means you are spending at restaurants, buying something at the store. buying new clothes? is that what you said? you are putting money into circulation, and that is good for everyone, large business, small business. we've already given thousands of families the chance to do this. my opponent of the plan is to let the housing market hit bottom. that is not a plan. that is a problem. that is not a solution. i am running because i believe that in america nobody should go bankrupt because they get sick. i will work with anybody who wants to work with me to continue to improve our health

care system and our health-care laws, but the law that i passed is here to stay. [applause] >> and let me tell you something, maumee, it is going to make the best majority of americans more secure. we will not go back to the days when insurance companies could discriminate against people because they were sick, telling 6 million young people that were on their parents' insurance plan that suddenly they do not have health insurance, or allow medicare to be turned into a voucher system. now is not the time to spend four years fighting battles we fought two years ago. now is the time to move forward and make sure that every american has affordable health

insurance and that insurance companies are treating them fairly. that is what we fought for. that is what we are going to keep. we are moving forward. [applause] >> [chanting] four more years. four more years. four more years. >> maumee, i am running because after a decade of war, it is time to do some nation-building here at home. we ended the war in iraq. we are transitioning out of afghanistan. my plan is to take half of the money we have been spending on war and use it to put people back to work, rebuilding our roads, bridges, schools, getting construction workers out and about rebuilding america. that is how we build our future.

we cannot go backwards. we have to move forward. i am running to make sure we can afford all of this by paying down the debt in a balanced, responsible way. keep in mind, we had a surplus the last time there was a democratic president. they ran up the tab, put two wars on a credit card, tax cuts not paid for, and left us the tab. we will clean it up, not on the back of the middle class, but in a balanced, responsible way. i will cut spending like we all the -- like we have already had -- but we already have, but i will also ask the wealthiest americans led the biggest tax cuts in the last decade to do a

little more, and by the way, just as we know what they did did not work, we know what i -- what we did did work. with bill clinton as president, our economy created 23 million new jobs, and by the way, we made a bunch of millionaires as well. it is not like rich people were doing bad back in the 1990's. they were doing just fine, right? you know what? there are plenty of patriotic, successful americans to agree with us. they want to do the right thing because they wanted to what is best for this country on jobs, education, housing, health care, retirement, all of the pillars of a middle-class life. we cannot go backwards. we have to go forward. that is the choice facing us this november and the choice could not be more clear. i'm not here to tell you, ohio,

that is going be easy or quick. the changes we are trying to bring about -- we are dealing with problems that happened over the course of decades and they will not be changed overnight. sometimes people feel like "obama, you have done good things, but change has not happened fast enough." i understand that. i'm frustrated, too. what is required as long-term solutions, not slick promises or quick fixes. there are plenty of well-funded special interests in washington and their powerful lobbyists that want to keep things just where they are, but do not buy the line they are selling, as we are doing just fine.

that benefits their interest, but not yours. our parents and grandparents did not set their sights lower, settle for something less, and neither do we because we are americans. if we're going to be the country we know we can be, we need to do the hard work to build the future of this country for our kids, just like our parents and grandparents did for us, and let me tell you something. from now, until november, the other side will spend more money than we have never seen before and they will be raining advertisements on your head, and they will tell you that it is my fault and i cannot fix it because i think government is the answer to everything, i've not made money in the private sector, and i think everything is just fine. that is what the scary voices will tell you. that is what mitt romney will

say. that is the plan to win an election. it is not a plan to create jobs, to provide you with better security, to restore the middle class or the american dream, and that is the kind of plan that we need right now. we need a plan to build the middle class and restore the american dream. if you agree with me, if you believe our economy works best when everyone gets a fair shot and everyone is doing their fair share, and playing by the same set of rules, i am going to need you out there working. i need you to talk to friends and neighbors. do not just talked to democrats. talk to independents. talk to republicans. [applause] >> i want to work with anybody that believes we are in this together. i want to work with anybody who believes we have to invest in our future.

i want to work with anybody who thinks we have to give our kids a great education. i want to work with anybody who believes that we have to make sure that we are building things here in america. [applause] democrat first. i am an american first. [applause] >> i believe we rise or fall as one nation, one people. i believe what is stopping us is not our capacity to meet our challenges. what is stopping us is our politics, and that is something you have the power to solve. hit the doors. make some phone calls. register your friends. talk to those family members who sometimes do not move. remind them -- who sometimes do not vote. remind them where america's strength comes from.

it comes from our people. remind them how america came this far. it came because of our people. all of the money being spent on negative advertisements, they spend money in 2008. i was out-spent when i ran for the first time for the senate, but i have learned when the american people, when ordinary folks start to stand up for themselves, start making their voices heard, start coming together, start believing again, nothing can stop us. nothing can stop you. nothing can stop you, maumee. nothing can stop you, ohio. nothing can stop us, america. let's remind the world why it is we live in the greatest nation on earth. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [applause]

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪ ♪ been knocking on the door that holds the throne i've been looking for the map that leads me home we take care of our own we take care of on our own whatever this flag is flown --

wherever this flag is flown we take care of our own. from chicago, to new orleans from the shotgun shack to the superdome there is no one here in the funeral home we take care of on our own ♪ forever this flag is flown -- wherever this flag is flown we take care of on our own we take care of our own ♪

we are thought will -- we are the will to see ♪ where is the promise to sheeny -- from sea to shining sea wherever this flag is flown wherever this flag is flown wherever this flag is flown we take care of our own if we take care of on our own wherever this flag is flown we take care of our own

we take care of our own wherever this flag is flown we take care of our own ♪ ♪

there is a crowd it in here that fooled themselves they brought their house ♪ i will not surrender no, i will not surrender i will not surrender

♪ touresident obama's bus continues today through ohio. the next topple be a grant -- the next stop will be an ice cream social, and then later just outside of cleveland. you can see coverage of both events that c-span.org. friday there will be a stop in youngstown, followed by a speech at carnegie-mellon university in pittsburgh. we will have a -- live coverage

of the last speech. meanwhile, mitt romney is back in east hampton, new york, to continue his fourth of july, week-long break. you can see a number of mr. romney's campaign events on our video library at c-span.org. >> we have pulled in around 9:30. >> former commanding officer of the uss cole defense following the al-qaida attack. >> i was doing routine paperwork when there was a thunderous explosion. you could feel all 505 feet quickly and violently across to the right. it was as if we hanged in the

air. we came back in the water. the lights went out. everything lifted up about a foot. i grabbed the underside of my desk in embraced position until i could stand up. >> more, sunday at 8:00 p.m. on c-span's "q&a." >> barclays, the international banking and services company based in london was fined $455 million in penalties to settle allegations of manipulating interest rates. bob diamond, the chief executive resigned this week and was before members of the committee investigating the scandal. this is about three hours. >> thank you very much for coming in today, mr. diamond. this hearing is subject to

parliamentary privilege. we hope you are prompted to speak freely, and even more freely now that you have resigned. the hearing is about turmoil at one of britain's leading financial institutions. certainly, barclays has suffered bad publicity because you came first, but nonetheless this goes much wider than the libor settlement, even though that did seem to precipitate your resignation. before we go further, given that you have resigned, i would like to give you an opportunity to explain your reasons. >> thank you, chairman, and thank you, everyone, for being here. i love barclays. that is where it starts.

i love barclays because of the people. 16 years ago today on july 4, 1996, i began at barclays, and it has been 16 years of tremendous enjoyment, and that as the driven by the incredible, over 140,000 people around the world. as you said this week, the focus has been on barclays, and as you said, in many ways because they were first. i realize the world looks said barclays as a -- and a group of traders better reprehensible behavior, and that is being put on barclays in a way that is not representative of the firm that i loved so much in the way they deal with customers and clients

and deal with problems. clearly, there were mistakes. there was behavior that was reprehensible. as soon as this was recognized, barclays put all forces of there's into how do we handle it, and what do we do about it? barclays has spent three years with three of the most important regulatory agencies in the world, looking at millions of files, with all three agencies of plotting barclays for their cooperation, their analysis, -- of plotting barclays for their cooperation, there -- applauding barclays for their cooperation and their analysis. the attitude of barclays three years ago when this was recognized was let's identify the problem, take the actions necessary, learn our lessons, and if any customers or clients were hurt, let's make them good. i think that attitude is

recognized by the three regulatory agencies in what they wrote but it is not coming out in the court of public opinion over the last week, and fundamentally my decision to resign, it is my leadership, and questions about my leadership have been part of that. i think i can bridge barclays solve this is looked at in the true context of being about an industry and libor in addition to barclays and prevent the damage to the reputation that has happened. the best way to do that was to step down but to come here and answer the questions of the committee. i love barclays. history will judge barclays as an incredible institution because of its people. we need to get through this, and the best way for me to do that was to step down. >> why did you change your mind over the weekend?

what was the trigger? there were reports of pressure from regulators. >> let me explain why i changed my mind. it was not over the weekend. we worked on communication over the weekend to our colleagues internally, and we did that knowing we had the support of the board, the support of our shareholders who we had been working with since the announcement, and it was clear to me on monday that that support was not as strong and i needed to take a step to bridge the support. >> i just wanted to pin that down. did one or more of the senior regulators ring marcus? >> i do not know.

>> did he refer to any pressure? >> that is probably a question for markets. >> you're not want to tell me what he would have told you in that conversation? you would have had a conversation with your chairman about this and the sustainability of your continued growth as the executive? >> broadly speaking, it was just as i said, that the focus of intensity on my leadership -- it was better for me to step down. >> why are you so reluctant to tell us what might have transpired with the regulators over the weekend? we are going to have them before us. >> i'm trying to think about

having conversations with regulators. >> you did not, but marcus did, did he not? >> if he had conversations with regulators, that is a conversation for him to head with it. i did not discuss that with him. i just discussed my reasons. >> it is widely held that confidence has been lost and it is not just with your leadership at barclays. why do you think that is? >> i think there has been an unfortunate series of events in the last week around barclays being identified as the first bank in what was, you know, a report that clearly showed very, very bad behavior by groups of people, and how we dealt with that, chairman, i think was appropriate, and a sign of the

culture at barclays. that is not coming out. >> the answer you are giving me is that it was the first from this vantage point. >> yes. >> ok. but it is true that the essay was concerned about your appointment as chief executive and they saw assurance that there would be a change of culture at barclays. >> that is the first i have ever heard that there was questions about my appointment as chief executive. i went through interviews with key -- with the services. >> you know nothing of any written submission by the fsa to the board at that time setting out the need for an improvement in the corporate governance of barclays, an improvement in the

culture, and you need to look better at how you were assessing the risk appetite and the control framework? >> i know nothing about that at the time that i was appointed. >> correct? >> correct. you know nothing about the suggestion that we were asked to provide assurances? >> i did not remember specific comments, but i am sure there were conversations with regulators. my memory is more around would i be able to -- having been associated with the investment bank for a number of years, would i be able to disassociate myself. i would be able to leave the

running of the investment bank to rich and gerry. >> is it true that the fsa express their concerns in october? >> every year, they come to the board. >> what was said? >> the context of the discussion, the focus and the tone, it was something they were specifically happy with. in particular they talked to the board about chris and i, our relations with the regulators. >> wasn't more specific than that, mr. diamond? did they tell you that talks had broken down between -- broken

down between fsa and barclays? >> i do not recall that. >> did they not tell you they no longer had confidence in your management team? >> no, sir. >> this was not pointed out in a letter? >> there was a discussion that as it got down into the organization they felt there were some culture issues, that people sometimes pushed back, and some of the pushed back was not always at the top. there was an overall discussion on culture. >> this is the sort of thing they say every year? >> i did not mean it that way, sir. apologies. it is part of a review, so they will always have criticism, but they were specifically pleased with the tone at the top, referring to chris lucas and myself, and the colleagues of the executive committee.

>> is it true there were challenges from them on your stress test, your accounting practices, and subsequently we have the debt buyback scheme, the interest rate swap problems, and now libor. >> a i did not -- i do not mean to skip over anything. there was a conversation where there was a series of things that became an issue, and without going into the version of the transaction, because it was a transaction that was approved of -- by the fsa, but to be fair it was a transaction -- and i was not the chief executive at the time, so i am speculating a little bit, but it created more debate between the fsa barclays than anyone

anticipated. i remember it coming out in the context of "let's not have these situations." >> this will come out in the wash, what happened in september, 2010, and what happened in february of this year. can i turn to the decision during the crisis to lower libor returns? in your message to me last week, you said the decision to lower libor submissions was wrong. where was that decision taken? >> context. i discussed with you there will be times for context. i think our letter laid out of there are three times that are easiest to refer to. there was between 2005 and 2007, with some activity into 2008,

and early-2009, but primarily 2005-2007, which is about a group of traders in the influence the were putting down the rate-setting. there was a second time you are referring to during the credit crisis of 2007 and 2008, where there was pressure with the barclays group, and effective finish with the third, it was toward the end of 2008, october, 2008, where there were questions about the bank of england of the discussions with a senior person and pressure on rates. those are the three. i think you are dealing with the middle one. >> ok. from what we can tell, this decision was made in september, 2007? >> the decision to influence rates? >> yes aired to lower libor

submissions? >> >> it is reasonably fair. >> yes. >> this is all set out in paragraphs with the final latest report. i just want you to clarify that since the decision you are referring to in your letter is indeed the decision on the set of actions taken in paragraphs 11 and 114. >> i think there was a different set of decisions. >> i am talking about the second period in prices, specifically to lower libor, not the third. this does make clear that the

decision to lower libor was not taken as a result of the tucker conversation. >> that is correct. >> ok. let's turn to the tucker file, then. do you look at the -- do you take the file? how many have you taken in your conversations with regulators? >> most of those contacts were not me, and it is today -- and how many were in the new year? >> i think the conversation with me was in the fall. >> unno other conversations? -- you have no other

conversations? on page 7 of the documentary evidence, -- >> this the submission cent in yesterday. >> i would like to know how many of these contacts you use? >> i have fairly frequent contact with the regulator, but my contact would generally be with the bank of england, or people below the hector level because at this time john was the chief executive. >> is a frequent contact at how many were filed-noted, roughly? >> may be a few. >> a handful? less than a handful? >> yes. >> so effected file note is significant, is it not? >> today, i have regular more official meetings, but in terms of a phone call that would be

new. >> what did you make of the phrase [unintelligible] >> i put eight in, and that was the core the reason i dictated that note and communicated with john, right of way. -- right away. the concern we had was october, 29, 2008, and i do not have to remind the committee what october, 2008 was like. we had had a government intervention in the royal bank of scotland, and government interaction i should of been more -- interaction -- >> i am asking what you took to mean by the phrase rightful. >> by october, the fund raising

from the middle east was completed, said in the context of this market there was a worry. >> you have arrived at the answer. mr. tucker felt your library turns could be low -- libor returns could be low? >> relative to the other 15. >> could be relatively low? >> yes. >> why on page two do you say you do not believe you received an and structure -- an instruction? >> i do not believe it was an instruction to >> was a nod and a wink? >> there was a perception that our rates were high, and the

worry that i shared with john was that if members of the government were told our rates were high relative to other, and if they then took that to mean that we could not fund or were having trouble funding, and i have to be patient here, when we were funding, in fact, evidently in the worst market environment that i had ever been a part of in 30 years in banking. it was clear that a number of the firms that were posting had emergency loans, or had been nationalized, or were having trouble finding, yet we were posting the highest level. then, as i said to paul, we are finding that those levels, but we would question whether some of the other institutions can actually get funds at the levels they are posting. >> my question is about the implication that you took that

to mean. your libor returns did not always needs to be as high as we had recently. in other words, they could be lower. >> if you look at one more page, so i could make your point even more, page 22, which is the libor submissions of 16 banks, which was the question at a time. if you look at the top of the page, and a line that goes across, that is the barclays submission. here's the important point. in october, 2008, when barclays was funding adequately, probably as well as any international bank, and closely as well as any bank that submitted, and there were banks here posting levels lower than this even though they were nationalized, and 100% of

the days in october, 2008, we were the highest post in libor, or the next-to-highest. this is important to hear some of the comments that have been made that barclays was lowering submissions for their reputation or things like that. barclays was reporting levels. 15 firms, -- 14 or 15 firms one of the% of the days were -- 100% were reporting rates lower than that. >> we know that others are up to this. could you get to the point? >> if they were told that barclays was the highest of libor, they would say that they cannot fund, we need to nationalize them.

[unintelligible] >> we are desperate, we have equity being raised, or if rumors were on the market, maybe we could not complete the equity raising. i think the most important financing -- >> you do not think you receive instruction? you do not think it was a knot and a wink, even though it reads that way to anyone who looks at it. if you are monitoring libor daily and your returns -- were you monitoring libor daily and your returns? it was a key indicator. >> i was aware, but i was not the key person monitoring it. >> you were not the key person, but you were getting a daily report, and you admit that the day after you set that e-mail. >> that is a good point, and

this is one to take a second, if you look of the next page of november the day after the report went out, you will see that through all of november we were either the 14th, 15th or 16th, the highest, second highest or third highest, but this is a relative rating, where we posted relative to the other banks. what you are referring to is following our fund-raiser, which was positive news to the market, levels of libor went down across the market. it had nothing to do with barclays submission. that means we were still reporting at those levels. >> well, i got the point. i think you already knew that point. >> when someone says your libor >> when someone says your libor is