>> president obama getting a meal yesterday at a restaurant in ohio. but betting on an america bus to work operates -- finishing up today. the president is expected to speak today. folks are talking in the crowd. >> it is the july 4 weekend. dave is a teacher at carnegie mellon. what the u.s. expect to hear from the president today? >> i want to see him, and i have such respect for the government under his leadership. e>> i am from philadelphia.

the reason i came here today is the first time to see the president in person. >> you are from los angeles. >> i am here for the pre-college program at carnegie mellon. >> so this is a lesson in politics? >> yes, it is, and is cool to see him a hundred feet away. he is right in my front yard. it will be interesting. >> what do you expect to learn today? >> not only how particulate he is, because i have heard he is an amazing speaker, but how he gets people to vote for him and his different maneuvers and tactics. >> where are you from? >> i am here from los angeles, a stint in the pre-college -- a

student in the pre-college program in musical theater. i am excited about it. >> you have been here for a couple of hours. what do you want to hear from the president? >> i am not here to hear anything from him, but i want him to know that i support him, i support the health care reform, i support the things he is doing. >> why is western pennsylvania so key to this election? >> people say that obama does not need to come here, but there is a lot more diversity here in southwestern people. -- southwestern pennsylvania. he needs to be here for more years to finalize his vision. i lived in massachusetts when mitt romney was governor, so i know what that is all about.

he has the right values and compassion. he is realistic and intelligent and does not believe in fairy tales. things have to be rebuilt slowly and thoughtfully. he inherited a nightmare, and i am very proud of the job he has done. >> the president is running over his schedule. moore pieced -- your piece in the newspaper noted a different dynamic than six to eight months ago. >> two years ago the republicans dominated the elections. that was seen as a potential problem for the president. that you have three incumbent democratic senators in those states, and that is good news for obama. he was seen yesterday with senator brown, and maybe today with senator casey.

that could be a bit of a silver lining. >> the presidential seal is being placed on the podium, so that means we are a few minutes away. what is it like to travel with the president? and not unscheduled stops, but ofo the otr's to get a sense how he gets on with voters in the state. are set up ahead of time. the idea is to get him to interact with voters. today he had bacon and eggs in a diner, and then he stopped for cookies. that gives a different kind of a sense of the president, and also the press coverage is different. you have more intimate press coverage that is different from the big speech he gives. the campaign wanted to get him out and interact with every day

residents, to see that side of him, because his personal attributes are still attractive. >> mitt romney is on vacation this week. the lake -- the picture of him on the lake in new hampshire. >> that is an issue, and it from it was asked about that again, and he said he goes on to make the economy such that everybody can go on vacation. obama is making the point that i have my sleeves rolled up, and it has helped him in the states because unemployment is lower than the national percentage. obama is trying to say we are -- manufacturing is cutting back, i helped save the auto industry, and that is the point they are making on the campaign trail. >> if you look at where he is

traveling to you, northern ohio, pittsburg, allegheny county. what is the political issue here? >> whether he will go to southern ohio where he has had more trouble remains to be seen. it is a receptive audience, but he hopes this translates to this independents around the state. >> what is your day like? >> it is never ending, the 24- hour day. we have the intimate, and this body, but we are filing all the time. and with the jobs numbers this morning, we are feeding into that, but also writing about here, interviewed the folks, try to figure out how the voters feel. it is the best chance to be out on the trail.

>> you made the point that the crowd here was bigger than in ohio? >> this looks bigger than what we saw in ohio. obama said they wanted these crowds to be purposefully small. when they kick off their campaign in cleveland, they did they want him to interact. it has been more informal, and he has been interacting with the audience, and answering questions. he is talking about his upbringing, talking about his own mother. that is to make him seem a more personal, and it's so far -- you have seen a lot of that. >> we know mitt romney is going to be in london for the olympics, he will travel to israel, including a stop in poland.

the president will continue to these types of bus tours into november. this is the time for both campaigns. obama going after mitt romney and bain capital. >> it is likely that this summer at the job numbers will continue to be sluggish. we saw that happened last summer. obama will stay in the country, not going to russia for a conference in the fall. he wants to focus. it is interesting that romney it will take on the foreign-policy questions. obama says he made his point with foreign policy with the killing of bin laden. romney says i have to get my foot in there and a chance for him to look more presidential. obama will go to a lot of swing

states come also to raise money, which is the key thing and light of romney's huge contributions lately. the economy will always boil down to that, and at the end of august when the republicans have their convention, and early september when the democratics meeting in charlotte, that will be the stretch run. everybody will focus on that and to find each other for that stretch run. >> what are you taking away from this bus trip? >> we talked about the themes, but besides the big economic stories about what you are seeing on the strip the president is trying to come off as more as one of the ordinary folks, and relate to them. they are trying to make that as a contrast to romney, where the president's campaign says it is -- he is a wealthy businessman who was out of touch with the

regular people. obama is saying i have your pain, and that is his chance here. whether that can carry on remains to be seed. >> we will look for your byline, and thanks very much. we are on that campus of carnegie mellon university in pittsburgh. the president is now about 10 minutes away. >> in pittsburgh, the president should get under way shortly. we understand that bob casey will introduce the president this afternoon. we will be getting your reaction after the president's comments to date. we will get your comments after the president speaks, and if you are on twitter, you can use the hashtag #obamatour. we have covered several advanced today with mitt romney, talking

about the unemployment numbers with governors who are responding to his campaign. you will see that on the program schedule. this is the president's third blast tour of his -- third bus tour. we understand it is a few minutes away from president obama live at carnegie- mellon university, live on c- span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> this is the college of fine arts lawn at carnegie mellon university in pittsburgh. we expect the president to begin speaking shortly. he will be introduced by pennsylvania senator bob casey, who is campaigning on his own this year, against a republican challenger. "the washington post" says he is in a pretty comfortable lead. this will not be the last event of the day for the president. he returns to the white house

this afternoon to sign the transportation bill, including an extension of student loan interest rates at 3.4%. we will have coverage of that here on c-span this afternoon. >> hello, ever won. i want everyone to know one thing. i will be two minutes. but i have just 2 questions. the first question -- i know you are ready for this -- are you ready to win in 2012? [cheers] and the second question, even if you are not from pastor or southwestern pennsylvania, but and the most of your car -- but i know most of you are, how about those pirates? we meet here today in pittsburgh in a region that is

known for so many things, known for winners, but workers, and we are also known for history and a heritage of hard work and sacrifice. we know in this region generation after generation has had to struggle and face those struggles, but ultimately triumphed over those strikers, whether it was job loss or economic dislocation, whenever it was. the people of pittsburgh, the county, and all of southwestern pennsylvania at overcome so much because they know that the only way is for, the only way we should focus is on the future, and so the people here today know that in pittsburgh and allegheny county, the people of this region did not wait for the future, they invent the future and move forward. fore's only one candidate president who is gone to move us

into the future and move us forward, and that is barack obama. at me conclude with a thought about the man and a person. this is a person of integrity, of a remarkable commitment to public service, he is a person and a leader of strength and compassion. he is a husband, a father, a man of faith, president barack obama. [cheers] ♪

>> hello, pittsburgh. it is good to be back in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. a couple of people of what technology. first of all, when of my favorite people, one of our finest united states senators, given up for bob casey. -- get it up for bob casey. i think we have in the house as well your mayor, congressman mike dole is in the house. allegheny county executive

is here, and we want to thank others for that free programs. great job. great job. now, first of all, before we do anything else, before we do anything else -- love you!we >> i love you back. verys also be clear a important situation has arisen. the white sox and the pirates are in first place. so we may be in the world series together. >> go pirates! >> we love each other and can

root for each other until we get to the world series. then it's every man for himself. i know is hot, i know you guys have been waiting for a while, so i want to just say thank you to everybody for taking the time to be here. >> thank you! >> i hope everybody had a great fourth of july. we had some folks over for a barbecue in my backyard, at some fireworks. it was also malia's birthday on the fourth. is now 14 years old. i used to be able to convince her that all these fireworks work for her, but she no longer believes me, but she sends her love. michelle, sasha, and bo all say

hi. we have been on the bus tour for the last couple of days. i have been traveling through ohio. we just came from beaver, pennsylvania, and everywhere i go people have said, mr. president, you are getting too skinny, you need to eat. and so we have been eating a lot, and i have had a chance to talk to folks everywhere i go. and people are aware of the fact that we are now in full campaign swing. i know that sometimes modern campaigns are not pretty to watch because, basically so much of it involves millions of dollars on television, most of the ads are negative, at at a certain point people get discouraged, start feeling like

nobody in washington is listening to what is going on to ordinary folks all across the country. but i have got to tell you, despite the cynicism, despite negativicism and athe ysm, what i think about are m -- is my first race, when i was running for state senate, i could not afford television commercials. and michelle and i used to go door to door that we would print out at kinko's. we would what march and fourth

of july parades, and i did not have air force one back then. when i think about my first race, think about why i got into politics. the reason i got into politics is because this country has blessed so much, and i thought about my own family, how my grandfather fought in world war ii while my grandmother was working on an assembly line. but my grandfather came back, he was able to go to college on the gi bill. they were able to buy a home to the fha. then i thought about my single mom, because my dad left when i was very young, and how despite all the struggles, she was able to get a great education, because that is the kind of country this was, and she was able to pass on a great

education to me and my sister. then i think about michell' e's, and the fact that their parents did not come from a wealthy family. her dad worked at blue-collar jobs at the cemetery plant in chicago, and my mother in law stayed at home until the kids got older and she ended up becoming a secretary, and that is what she work that most of her life, a secretary in a bank. none of us came from privileged backgrounds, none of us had a lot of wealth or fema, but what we understood was was that in here, in america, no matter what you look like, the matter where you come from, no matter what church you were shot at, the

matter what region of the country, if you were willing to work hard, if you were willing to take responsibility for your life, you could make it if you try here in the united states of america. and that basic idea, that basic bargain that says here we all deserve a fair shot, and everybody should do their fair share and everybody should play by the same set of rules, the basic market that says if you're willing to work hard and take responsibility in your own life, that you can find a job that pays a living wage and you can buy a home and you will not go bankrupt if you get sick. maybe you can take a vacation with your family once in a

while, nothing fancy you can go out, visit some of our national parks. i remember my favorite vacation when i was a kid come up traveling with my mom and grandmother, sister, and we traveled the country on greyhound buses, or roche, and once in a while we would rent a car, stay at howard johnson's. did not matter how big a poll was pretty if it was a pool, i would just jump in. i was excited to go to the vending machine and get the ice bucket and get the ice. then the chance to retire with dignity and respect -- that dream of a strong middle class -- that is what america has always been about. [cheers]

that is what led me to get into public service. that is what led to my first campaign, making sure that access to that middle-class, that growing, driving heartbeat of america, that that was available for everybody. it was not just available for me formichelle, but it was available for every kid across this country. and that is what led me to run for president of the united states, and that is what led me to ask you for a second term as president of the united states, to fight for america's middle class, and everybody is trying to get into the middle class. >> four more years!

four more years! four more years! that idea has been getting battered a little bit over the last decade. part of the reason i ran in 2008, the reason you came together to work in that campaign is we had seen a decade in which those middle-class dreams were under assault, folks were working harder, but making less, the cost of everything from health care to college to groceries, to gas, kept on going up, but your salaries, your wages did not. we had put two wars on a credit card,

and it culminated in the worst financial crisis we had seen in a lifetime. so what we came together to do it 2008 was to start this process, to turn this country back towards those core values, to turn this country back to our best selves, our best ideals, and we knew we would not be able to do it overnight, because these problems were not created overnight. but we believed in this country and we believed in the american people. we understood that this has ever been a country of folks looking for handouts. but what they do what is this, a fighting chance.

for the last three years, when some folks said that detroit go bankrupt, we said we are betting on the american worker, we are betting on the american industry caldecott and now gm is back as number one and chrysler and ford back, and we have started to see manufacturing come back to our shores, more manufacturing jobs created than in any time since the 1990's. we saw people go back and get retrained for jobs, tens getting jobs for the future, advanced manufacturing, advanced technologies and new industries. we have seen small businesses who almost had to shutter their doors during the crisis, but sometimes the owners did not take the salary so their

workers remain employed, and they have been able to come back and are now starting to hire workers again. over 4.4 million jobs created over the last 2 1/2 years, over 500,000 manufacturing jobs. we have been fighting back, but what we all understand is that we have got so much more to do. to many of our friends and family members and neighbors are still out of work, too many folks are still seeing their home property dahlias underwater. so the question for all of you at this moment is, how will we determine our direction, not just for the next year or five years, but for the next decade,

the next two decades? because this election is not just about two candidates or two party spirit is about two fundamentally different visions of where we could take america, and the stakes could not be higher. add alternately, the way we are going to make this decision is you. there is a stalemate in washington right now because there are different visions on how we should move forward, and you have got to break that stalemate. let me briefly tell you what the choices are. you have got mr. romney and his allies in congress -- [boos] and their basic vision is one that says we are on to give $5 trillion of new tax cuts on top

of the bush tax cuts, most of them going to the wealthiest americans. they will not be paid for, or if they are paid for, they will be paid for by slashing education funding or making college loans more expensive or eliminating support for basic science and research, the kind of work that is being done here at carnegie mellon. or making medicare 8 voucher system. that is one part of their plan, and the second part of their plan is let's eliminate regulation, we just put in place to make sure that wall street does not act recklessly and we can prevent a bailout when the financial system goes out of whack, regulation is that protect our air or water, regulations that protect

consumers from being taken advantage of, that is it. that is their economic plan. do not take my word for it. go on their website, the republicans in congress voted for this plan, and you know what? it is a theory, an idea of how you might grow an economy if we for 10 just try tied it years before i took office. we tried it and it did not work. why would we want to go backwards to the same theory that it not work before? they are banking on the the should you do not remember what happened when they were in charge. the last time they were in charge of the white house and house surpluses became deficits, and how job growth was more sluggish than it has been

in 60 years. at how we ultimately ended up with the worst financial crisis since the great depression. pittsburgh, i want you to know, that i have a different theory. i have got a different idea. let me be honest, it is not a silver bullet, it is not going to change completely in the next day or week, but it moves us in a direction that is true to our tradition, by building not from the top down, but from the middle-class up. it is a vision that says we do not need to just bring auto making back. we can bring manufacturing back to america. we can invest and advanced manufacturing research like what is being done right here at

carnegie mellon, and we can change our tax code to make sure instead giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas, let's get those breaks to companies that are investing right here in pennsylvania, in pittsburgh, right here in the united states of america. that is my vision for the future. my vision is one that says we have got to invest in our young people said they get the best education in the world. i want to hire new teachers, especially in math and science. i want to keep on making college more affordable. we just provide the kind of press -- prevented congress from raising interest rates, and we need to bring tuition down and give americans the study to chant -- the chance to study at

colleges for the jobs in the 21st century, because a higher education is not an economic luxury, it is and economic necessity, and i committed to making sure that everybody gets that chance for the skills and the training they need to succeed. my vision says week ended the war in iraq as i promised and we are winding down the war in afghanistan. let's take half of that money we're saving in war and use it to pay down the deficits. that's t -- let's take that money and start building broadband lines, wireless networks and high-speed rail.

the basicest in science and research that help ed to send a man to the moon and create the internet. that is what makes america great. we are innovators and risk takers. i believe in an america in which we control our own energy future, where we are producing more oil in the last eight years, we're importing less, but we can do so much more. we have got to bat on not just an oil industry that has -- that is already profitable, but we have to bet on a clean energy industry that can create jobs and help our environment and free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. i have got a vision that believes that everybody, all

families who are responsible, be able to have the basic security of health care. [cheers] the supreme court has spoken. the law we passed is here to stay. if you have health insurance, the only thing that changes for you is you are more secure because accompanist -- companies cannot drop you when you are sick, they did not have a lifetime limit where they can drop you even though you are paying your premiums. we had millions of young people who can stay on their parents' plan right now because of that health care mall. we have got millions of seniors who are seeking cheaper prescription drugs, and if you did not have health insurance,

we will help you get health insurance. i believe it was the right thing to do. that is part of making shore or a middle class is to arrive in this country, that they do not have to fear when somebody in their family gets sick, that they are born to lose everything they have worked for all those years. i make no apologies for it, it was the right thing to do, and we're want to keep moving forward. that is why i am running for a second term as president of united states. >> obama! obama! >> we are not going to go back to a vision that somehow thinks when a few wealthy investors do well, then everybody does well. you know what -- we need to do

with our deficit, we need to deal with our debt, as part of america's character is the understanding that the government cannot solve every problem. we did not expect it to. some folks cannot be helped if they do not want to help themselves. not every government program works. we have already cut $1 trillion in spending that was not helping families succeed. we will do some more, but we are not just going to cut and balance the budget on the backs of middle-class families, asking them to pay more taxes, asking them to suddenly not get help when they are sending their kids to college. we can ask wealthy americans to do a little bit more. we need to have a tax code where secretaries are not paying a lower tax rate -- where

secretaries are paying a lower tax rate than their bosses, and there are a lot americans across the country who agree with me on this, because they understand the only reason they succeeded was somebody helped them. they gave them a hand up. this idea that we are all in it together, that we rise or fall as one people -- theory of mine about how to grow the economy, we have tried that, too. we tried it as recently as when bill clinton was president, and you know what? we created 23 million new jobs and we ended with a surplus instead of a deficit, and we created a whole lot of wealth and millionaires all along the way. because that formula that says we're in it together means that everybody can do well. the reason we built the hoover dam and the

golden gate bridge, the reason we sent a man to the moon or invested in the research that resulted in the internet, the reason we build an interstate highway system -- we did those things not for any individual to become rich, we did so all of us would have a platform for success, because we understood there are some things we do better together. i continue to believe that. i think most americans understand that. that is the reason i am running for a second term as president of the united states. >> four more years! >> now, over the next four months, you're want to see more money spent than you have ever seen before, more negative adds. these guys are riding $10 million checks.

you will hear the same thing over and over again, because they know their economic theory is not going to sell, all they have to argue is the economy is not moving as fast as it needs to, jobs are not growing as fast as they need to come and it is all obama's fault. that is their basic message. i guess this is a plan to win an election, but it is not a plan to create jobs. it is not a plan to grow our middle class. you know what? i might be worried about all this money being spent if it was not for my memories of previous campaigns. that first campaign i ran, the last campaign i ran in 2008, i have been outspent before. i have had a lot of money thrown at the before. what i have learned is that

when the american people decide on what is right, when all of you decide on what is true, when you remember the story of your family, just like the story of my family, all the struggles of our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents went through, some of them may be came over here as immigrants and started working in the minds or working in the mills -- not knowing always what to expect, but understanding there was something different about this country, looking out for one another, taking care of the community together, being responsible, adding those old- fashioned homespun values, believing that being middle- class was not a matter of your account, it was believing

that there was nothing more important than looking after family and being with your family and caring with your family. when americans come together and tap into that spirit that is invested in us, all that money does not matter. all those negative ads do not matter. you make change happen. you inspire each other. you inspire me. in 2008 i told you i am not a perfect man, and i would not be a perfect president. but i told you i would always tell you what i thought, and i would always tell you where i stood, and i told you i would wake up every single day

fighting as hard as i knew how for you, to make your lives a little bit better, to give you more of a fighting shot to succeed and live out your dreams. and i made that promise because i saw myself in new, in your grandparents i see my grandparents, in your children i see malia and sasha. i have kept that promise. have kept that promise every morning and every night, i have thought about how we build an america and how we build america's middle-class, and how we give everybody a fair shot, and how we make sure everybody is doing their fair share, and how we make sure everybody is fighting by the same rules. and if you still believe in me like i believe in you, i hope

you will stand with me in 2012, because if you do, we will finish what we have started in 2008, and this economy will be moving again and we will remind the world just why it is that the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. god bless you, and got less the united states of america. -- and god bless the united states of america. ♪

♪

>> the president working his way to the crowd at carnegie mellon university. the president heads back to washington. he spoke for nearly a half hour in the nearly 100-degree heat. we will get reaction. you see the numbers up on the screen. make sure you meet your television or radio when you call in. if you are on the line, hang

on. if you tweet this afternoon, we will try to read some of those as well. steve sculley is on the ground talking to folks on the ground. what are people talking about after the speech? >> the heat. a lot of people have been passing out because of the high temperatures. these are folks from western pennsylvania. morning and why you came out today? >> i am from western pennsylvania. i had to come out and see president obama. i had never seen one of the living presidents, and to me he is just so awesome, so intelligent. i mean, it to me, it is so wonderful to see someone with so on a just and intelligent, and he tells it like it is.

he is intelligent -- his intelligence blows me away. i love to listen to him speak and tell things the way they are. it makes you feel like when he is talking to you like he is talking to you one on when, like he is sitting on your living room and talking to you as a normal, average person. he does not talk to you liked your a person, like a representative. he talks to you like you are a normal human being, and i really respect that. >> how long have you been here today? >> four hours, and i would do it again in a heartbeat. >> i came out here to hear president obama speaker and he wants to put people back to work. that is what we need. >> was there something he struck by sea said to you that struck you, a line from his speech?

>> i like whole speech, and he can relate to the american people. >> what is your name? >> i am outside of pittsburgh. it was a great event. it is so refreshing. in politics you see so many shady candidate, and did see someone who is so honest and ups straight with you, he has my support 100%. >> we have to show you one thing, an ingenious way to stay cool, and that gentleman is right here. tell me how this works. >> solar cells, or no will power. >> does that work? >> it works well, though it is hot. >> was there something the president said that struck you? >> boy, it is hard, because

there were so many good parts to it. it struck me that he is really in tune with what the american people need, that he understands, he is one of us, that he has come from us. he was not born into wealth, born into power. he rose from the bottom. he is the enactment of the american dream. >> bill, we will check in with you in a couple of minutes. >> steve, thanks so much, stay cool, we will check back with you. we will check in with callers. chicago, democrats line. >> the president is awesome. i believe he is one of the best presidents who has ever resided at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. i have been paying attention. i do my own research, and what

he has accomplished, he has so much obstructionism going on on the right. people ctake time to go to whitehouse.gov, they can see the legislation that it has been passed. he only made $13,000 when he first started working. he drove a car with a hole in the bottom of it and in the soles of his shoes. he knows what it is like to be without, and he is the epitome of the american dream. he is here for all of us, not just a few elite. >> talking about some of lotus inflation -- about some of the legislation that has been pass ed. he returns to washington this afternoon to sign legislation. this is the transportation bill

that includes extension of national flood insurance, but also includes the one-year extension of >> eric in new york city. >> sure. >> i can't believe what i just saw. i actually voted for mr. obama the first time, and clinton. he acts like he has not been the president the last 3 1/2 years. i have never seen anyone pass the buck like him. i thought the buck stops here. there are less people working in america today than at any time world world war ii. it is not like he created jobs. he kills jobs. it is like david copperfield. it doesn't work when the people know the trick. he has to go out and talk about his family. we know he is a great family man. why can't he give us any ideas at work? i happen to know of several

bills in congress, overwhelmingly bipartisan out of the house that are still sitting there because of mr. obama himself and his buddy, mr. reed. i don't understand how he can go out there and flat-out lie like this. >> we will continue taking your reaction by phone. steve is talking to folks in the crowd to find out what they thought about the speech. >> we have some from ohio, connecticut and pennsylvania. >> we are all from purling. >> why did you come out and what did you take awhat from the speech? >> i think the president sounds strong. i came out in the 105-degree heat because i believe in the president's agenda. i think it is programs more important than the 2008 election. there is the chance we have to give a referendum on his first term. he was untested and untried in the first election. now we have a chance to say

yes, mr. president, we believe in what you are doing. we big league in what you did with health care and what you did with the auto industry. we are behind you all the way. >> how old are you? >> i just turned nine in june. >> happy birthday. was this your first campaign event? >> yes. >> what was it like? >> it was very interesting and fun. it was real exciting to see the president in person. i don't know. >> we talked in a blizzard to get signatures for his nomination petition in january. >> what is your name? >> bella. >> you are from this area? >> yes. i am a fourth grade teacher and and instead of sitting by a pool on my vacation, i am here in the heat because i think it is the right thing for our

country. >> is this your first time to see the president? >> i once saw the president on his last election, though this time i was way closer. last time i was as far as away from him as possible. >> what did you think? >> i think it was amazing. to see the president of the united states is awesome. to shake his hands is like one of the greatest opportunities i have ever had in my life. >> did you shake his hand today? >> yes, i did. >> did he talk to you? >> not exactly, but he said thank you when i said you are doing an awesome job as. . >> let me ask you about the speech. was there something the president said in rearcs? >> i'm sorry, i wasn't in line. >> how about you? >> i have been a life-long diem. my grandmother marched for

suffrage. president clinton gave us a surplus, and it disappeared. there is nothing that has trickled down to the middle-class in 30 years. >> why is this so critical to the obama and romney campaigns? >> i have been a life-long diem. i have been working polls since i was 9 years old. i am not sure exactly. it is frightening to me. >> i think it is the money. people are greedy, and they start on these commercials, and they believe all this stuff. they quit teaching social study in school. it takes an act of congress for a war. >> one more person. what did you think of the speech and what did you take

away? what is your name? >> i am zuban hill. it was very exhilarating. he was take you could about the middle-class like that is important. i believe in that. he is saying the money that we shouldn't pay attention to that. you have to dig to find the truth. that is a good thing, too. >> thank you all for being with us. >> i have a very important message. >> steve thank you for talking to the folks there at carnegie mellon university. we are going to keep our phone lines open and twitter feed as well to see what you are thinking. before we get to calls, a tweet from karen in reaction. the wheels on obama's bus go round and round while obama is not working and telling people not to read into the jobs report. jobs number remaining the same at 8.2% between may and june.

let's go independent line. this is john in lakeland, florida. >> how are you doing? >> doing fine. >> i think the president did an awesome job explaining his vision for america for the next four years. i think it would eliminate some of the problems that we go to term limits for both congresses. that would help america move forward. they have been in there too long. if we had term limits for represents and democrats, it would be much better. i think the economy would be much better. you can't do nothing with the unemployment. i think it is better considering all the obstacles he had to go through to try to get where we are today. that was my comment. >> detroit is next up. edward is on our diems line. >> thank you very much. i think that the president is

right on point. an important message he is sending out is the vision part. there are two different visions. i agree totally with where he wants to take the country. listening to him, it is just like he is speaking what is coming from my mouth. when i hear the other side say things, they say things that i can't even relate to, and i want people to really remember that from day one, the republican party, mr. romney's people, they vow to obstruct and try to block everything this president is trying to do. he is trying to do something for all americans. one key point i notice about this crowd, which is very important. this crowd looked american. all races, creed and color was in this crowd, and it was beautiful. >> edward, thanks for your comments. we are watching our twitter handle. we are using the hashtag

obamatour. we are using #sctop10 obamatour. one said i am glag barack obama is on tour. i hope he wings by -- >> robin is in lawrenceburg, tennessee. she is on our independent line. what do you think about the president's campaign efforts here? >> i think he has talked a lot about helping the middle-class, which is great. but what is he going to do about the people below poverty level? we are going to breeze this year on disability because it is election year, or are we still going to get there? he needs to think about the

poor and homeless as well as the middle-class. >> the president did mention the middle-class as well as the employment figures that came out this morning. he said the jobless rate in june was a kick in the gut for american families. we will show you that news conference later in our schedule. republican line next. raleigh, north carolina. >> thank you for allowing me to speak. i am a republican and i am very worried about obama because of what i saw on c-span just now. he knows how to electrify a crowd. he halls kennedy-esque -- has a kennedy-esque quality about him. we in north carolina consider ourselves a swing state. romney is a decent individual. obama knows how to do politics. my fear is, as a republican, that what this president is

going to do is make us all have that vision that he has, and he is going to create a powerful thrust for re-election. regardless of how many commercials or negative things the republicans put out, i will tell you this, this man is powerful is going to be a threat to any republican anywhere. >> you said north carolina was a swing state. >> yes. >> how do you think it is swinging this year? what is your sense? >> i think that basically romney has tapped into the discontent of the people of north carolina who haven't had enough work and enough business. but the thing of it is, is there are many people unemployed out here who are going to be going to the polls, teachers and public service workers. they are the ones that make this is a swing state. and with the message like today

and obama's vision in their behind, i fear north carolina will swing to the democrats. >> there was a lot of talk today with the unemployment number coming out at 8.2% for the month of june, 80,000 jobs created. the president choosing where the unemployment rate has been a bit lower at 7%. no president has won re-election with an unemployment rate over 8%. this is kansas. welcome to the program. >> thank you for taking my call. >> sure. >> i just heard my fellow from north carolina, and i am bothered he is concerned more about the political and

partisan politics -- i don't know him personally, but he sound more concerned about the pars sanship than the policy. i am confused about what republicans are thinking about when they call obama a liar in regards to the job creation numbers. we have gone from 10% unemployment in 2009 to 8.2%. that is a big deal considering what he has had to go through. you talk about this economic policy we tried with busch -- bush, but we started it with reagan, where you lower the taxes and cut spending, and everything was supposed to be fine. but it hasn't worked since reagan. , wants to take america back and go back to this place in la-la land where america is great and fun.

but there is jim c.e.o. and racism. they were talking about a time when taxes on the top 1% went as high as 90% to 95%. they want this picture, but they don't want to pay for it. it is not about do you watch fox or msnbc. we are talking about do you remember what was going on? have you head a history book. look at the numbers and stop watching fox. i think obama has done a good job considering. i am glad to hear him campaign on the health care bill and come out and say that no, we are not where we want to be and just be honest about the numbers. >> kansas, thank you for weighing in. we thank you for all the calls. we want to let you know the

conversation continues online. you can look the #sctop10 obamatour. obama will sign the transportation bill extension. and the extension of the student loan percentage at 3.4% for about one year. we will have that at 5:00 eastern here on c-span. speaking of tours, "politico" writes a story about mitt romney. he is mulling a foreign policy tour. jonathan martin joins us on the phone. what can you tell us about his traveling overseas? >> he is thinking about, and staff is actually deliberating this week plans for a foreign policy offensive that would start later this month before a speech at the v.f.w. convention

in reno. the stops would include london for the olympics and potentially to give a speech there on u.s. foreign policy and the u.s.-u.k. relationship, israel for a meeting with the israelis and the palestinians. and then back to the konta inept for a trip to poland and then to berlin, germany, to meet chancellor merkel. these are not 100% firm. they are being beal discussed, but they are reporting that that is the ongoing conversation inside the romney campaign. a foreign policy offensive that would really take him away for the first time from his singular message on the obama stewardship of the economy, but go to foreign policy and national security issues. >> how much of a risk is that

for him? 8.2% unemployment would seem like a strong weapon the economy. why would they shift? >> well, they wouldn't shift for good. this would be part of a summer strategy to try to cast him as not just a political figure, but someone above the daily nitty-greaty and that he could be a plausible commander in chief. they want to project images of romney meeting with benjamin netanyahu and angela merkel. there is going to be debate on the up side of this, given the economy is where it is right now. but the romney folks think that given the 2002 salt lake olympics, where he came in and

took over the olympics that were troubled, that they can connect that to his appearance at the london olympics, and then in a few more days meeting with leaders, having him as somebody seen applauseably as president of the united states. >> what are some of the key highlights of mitt romney's foreign policy views? >> that has been one of the critiques of romney, that he doesn't have defined foreign policy views. he is hawkish and talks tough when it comes to iran and russia. that is one of the reasons why he is can considering going to poland. he has not said exactly what he would do in afghanistan, where there are tens of thousands of u.s. troops. he has not said what he would do to ensure iran doesn't get nuclear weapons. >> is it too early yet, or do

you have any sense of how the bahamas will react to a romney foreign policy trip? >> they will cath refighting the cold war. when he spoke out hisier this year against russia, calling them our biggest geopolitical foe, they cast him as almost like an austin powers figure fighting the cold war all these years later. he has not offered detail on what he would do in afghanistan, for example. they will focus on keeping the country safe and the killing of osama bin laden. >> jonathan martin is a political reporter at "politico".com. >> thanks for having me. >> later this afternoon, the president will be signing the

extension of transportation programs and student loan interest rates. we will have that live for you on c-span. the romney campaign has dispatched tim plaunt and bobby jindal following the president somewhat. we talked about them today, talking about romney being the direction america needs. here is a look. >> thanks for coming out this morning. i will delighted to be here with one of the great governs of the nation, governor jindal from louisiana. web traveling over ohio and pennsylvania. [cheers and applause] >> we are trying to bring balance to barack obama's message as he travels across ohio and pennsylvania. he has a bus tour that you may have heard of. he has doned it the betting on

america tour. >> we should all bet on america, this tremendously blessed and beloved country, but we shouldn't double down on barack obama. his presidency is a losing hand for america. [applause] and he is coming across the great state of pennsylvania, and he is talking about what he can do for the middle-class. but don't be duped again. he made all these big promises last time in 2008 to the middle-class and to america mow broadly, and he has broken just about every one of them. let me go through a few examples with you. when he was running last time, he said that he wasn't going to raise taxes on anybody under $200,000 of income. remember that promise? among the other bironas pects of that, the united states supreme court just said his individual mandate or health

insurance is a tax on people of the middle-class and modest increase. he broke his promise didn't he. in the first couple of months of his presidency, he looked the people in the eye and said i will cut this budget in half during my first term. do you remember him saying that? the president broke his promise to america, didn't he? he didn't cut it in half. he has nearly tripled it. another thing he said is look, if you pass my stimulus bill, that junky, smelly, porked up stimulus bill, his administration predicted that unemployment would go and could go down to 5.6%. they passed the bill, and unemployment went up way beyond 6%. he broke his promise, didn't he? now are you ready for a better

president? [cheers and applause] >> barack obama has taken hope and change and turned it into bait and switch. he has rafaled back and forth on a lot of issues, but he said yesterday that when you are president of the united states, your words matter. well, here are his words on obama care. he first came out when he promised it and said it is not a tax. it is not a tax on people. and then he got in legal trouble before the supreme court and the court system, and he sent his lawyers into the court system, and they said yes, it is a tax. then the supreme court said it is indeed a tax. now the president and have people have said no, it is not a tax. is your head spinning yet? he shouldn't be going to places

he has been on this tour. he should go to the waffle house and they should have the barack obama special. we should have waffle man or waffle woman follow him in a waffle suit. he has changed his positiono many times -- [cheers and applause] this election just isn't about the failure of the barack obama presidency. it's also about the men and women of this great state, the men and women of bobby's state and all of america. i grew up in a meat packing town in the 1960's. it is home of some of america's lamarrest meat packing plants. my dad for a good chunk of his life was a truck driver. my mom was a home maker. my mom died when i was in 10th

grade. my dad got laid off not long after that. in the chapter of my home town when the big meat packing plants slow county, i saw the dislocation of the economy and what effect it has on hops and dads. i saw it at a young age up close and personal. when we talk about barack obama and talk about jobs, these aren't just statistics. they are not just 40 months of above 8% unemployment. they are not just 23 million people upemployed or underemployed or stopped looking for work. these are moms and dads whose hopes and dreams are tied up about whether they are going to have a job. they talk first about faith and family, and then they talk about homes and dreams for them. they talk about their hope to be able to get a house or pay

their mortgage. they talk about the ability to get their kids to college and pay for it. they take about the ability to be able to foffered health care and other things. all of that for most people require have a good job, and hopefully a good paying job. this is not about numbers, rhetoric or statistics, it is about whether we are providing the american dream and providing the american people for everyone, good paying jobs for pennsylvania and america. president obama had his chance. he got his policies enacted. the stimulus bill didn't work. the health care bill -- i think an impending disaster and drag on the economy. he has had other policies approved. it is not working. it is just not that his

presidency has failed. he is failing america. when he comes to pennsylvania today and he tries to make the case that it is working, and you look people in the used that are unemployed or underemployed. you don't have to talk to us. go to the people who are on the job or want a job. there are six million businesses in this country. 5.9 million of them have 500 employees or fewer. if you go talk to the folks who are in those businesses trying to start them or grow them, they all say it differently, but they all say the same thing. some say the taxes are too high, and the others say the regulations are too heavy and expensive. others talk about energy costs being too high and too much of a burden on their business. others say rising health care costs are hurting them.

they say they can't grow business because the burden from government is too heavy. they are pleading with barack obama and saying please, get the government off my back. [cheers and applause] and i don't know if he is not listening, or he doesn't care, or he doesn't understand. but we have had enough of his teleprompter speeches. we have had enough of him flap jaws. we have too many americans who are hurting, unemployed and

under employed. when moms and dad look at their young children like these young folks in the front rory if you try hard in school and play by the rules, there is going to be hope and opportunity for you. now this president has a country where half of the high school graduates, half of the college graduates are either unemployed or under employed. it makes moms and dads feel like the stuff they are telling their children aren't true. his hope and change word doesn't change things. his rhetoric and extensions of his words don't put gas in the tank of the car or the truck. we can live on his teleprompter speeches. [applause] so i hope when he comes here today, pennsylvania will look him in the eye and ask him

those questions. we should thank him for his service but tell the president you had your chance. it is not working. it's time for a new president. now mitt romney has got -- [applause] mitt romney has a tremendous vision for this country. it's a vision not based on a european style of more government everything. it is based on the american tradition of limited government. he has proposals to lower taxes for businesses and individuals. he has proposals to lighten the regulatory load and encourage business and jobs. he wants to depet back to market and consumer based health care, not government take-over of health care. he wants to get government spending under control. that is the kind of direction america needs. [applause]

>> and you he wants -- and he wants american energy. he wants to build the keystone pipeline. he wants to take full advantage of shale oil and shale gas. [applause] >> somebody who understands all that is our next speaker. i got a chance to know bobby jindal. owe is a fabulous man and leader. he has a state that was challenged in many ways. he is one of the smartest brightest voices of the conservative movement in our country. he is significantly younger than me, but he has already been to the moon and back and invented stuff -- no. seriously he is a tremendous leader, not just for louisiana, but for america, and it is a delight to have him with us this morning. i think you'll see in a minute

the energy, power and passion he brings to the debate and what can he do for his state and our country. welcome a great governor and a great friend, bobby engine call from louisiana. >> thank you all very much. thank you. thank you. thank y'all very much. let's give tim pawlenty another round of applauds. what a great job he did. >> before i even start, we are in this museum. we celebrated our country's birthday this week. july 4th is our country's birthday. i have young kids, i have a 10-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old boy. every christmas, we have a birthday cake for jesus. it is a birthday, you should have a birthday cake. [applause]

july the 4th is a birthday. you think about the fireworks and parades. it is a birthday for our country, the freest greatest country in the world. but in the museum, we should give a great round of [applause] for our men and women in uniform because they run towards danger and not away from it so we can live in this great country. [applause] you know, it is not politically correct to talk about american exceptionalism. it is not correct to say this is the greatest country in the history of the world. when he was campaigning, they asked him what did he think? when he was overseas they asked him what did he think about american exceptionalism? he said i am sure the british and the greeks think they are exceptional. this is the most important election in our lifetimes.

tim did a great job talking about all the broken promises the president has made to the american people. when you boil it down, it comes down to one essential question. what is our vision for the future of this country. you say we have two candidates, and they couldn't be more different. they are more different in iology and resume's than any two president the. president obama is like the occupy wall street mentality. he gave a speech in how. hope and change became divide and blame. it was everybody else's fault not his. it was about trying to pit one group against the other. you have heard the occupy wall street mentality. that is not the america i grew up in.

you are not entitled to your neighbor's property. you don't have a right to your neighbor's car or house. the reality in american is you are not promised equality of outcomes. that is not what makes america great. we don't one a bigger government dividing the wealthy and dividing a shrinking pie. we know our best days are ahead of us. we know this century belongs to america, not china. we are a young country at hard. [applause] we are a young country at heart. part of what makes us such a great country is that it doesn't matter what your last name is, doesn't matter the circumstances of your bird, zip code, race or gender. what is so brilliant about america is if you want to work hard and get a great education,

you can do better than your parents. every generation of americans has left more opportunity for our children than we inherited for our parents. we must not become the first generation that mortgages our children's and grandchildren's future. i bet everyone here has the exact same story. maybe it is you. maybe it is your parents, ra great grandparents. for me it was my dad. one of nine kid, first one that got past the if i have grade every one of us wants that for our children. tim did a great job talking about all the promises this president has broken. he actually made a promise i would like him to keep. four years ago he said if i can't turn this economy around in three years, i will be a one-term president.

it will be a one-term proposition. [cheers and applause] i want to ask you. i think every american voter should think about this. are we as country, voters, are we better off than we were four years ago before he was elected. of the united states? audience: no! >> absolutely not. you heard the jobs report today. 23 million, unemployed or under employed americans. median family income down. median family worth at a two-decade low under his leadership. we simply can't afford another four more years of president obama, yet he thinks the private sector is doing just fine. what is his response to this recession? he wants to borrow more money from the chinese to create more new entitlement programs when

we can't afford the government we have got today. he promised he would cut that deficit in half by the end of his first term, terrell-plus dollar deficits every year, $15 trillion of debt. my girl brought a button home from schooled other day. it said please don't tell the president what comes after a trillion. we can't afford to borrow from the chinese to pay for a government. look at this obama care program. we can't afford the programs we have, and he creates a new entitlement program. look at the broken promises there. promises like if you liked your doctor and health care plan, you could keep it. as many as 20 million could lose their plans. ended up cutting $500 billion from medicare. promised he wouldn't raise our taxes. raised taxes over $500 billion in obama care alone. the cost curve is going up. we are going to spend more

under this law than if it hadn't been passed. another seared of broken promises. i think what the supreme court did was awful. they have now given congress unprecedented taxing authority. this is going to be one of the largest tax increases on the middle-class. i don't care what you call it. we need to repeal this bad law. it need to come off the books. [cheers and applause] i don't know about you -- when i got to the doctor or when i go to the merge room or my child goes to the pediatrician, i doipt want a government bureaucrat telling that doctor how to treat them or me. i want them to make decisions without the government anywhere

near them. and the final point is on energy. my state has suffered through this administration's policies. you want to talk about exporting jobs to other countries. you saw what his moratorium does. four years ago he said he wanted to bankrupt anybody who wanted to open a new cole facility. 48% of pennsylvania's power comes from cole. he has declared -- wore on shale. look at what the haynesville shale has done to my economy. not only has it produced thousands of jobs in the speculation business, think about what that ask for our steel industry, plastics industry, fertilizer industries and manufacturing base. if we have reliable affordable energy, we can compete with anybody in the world. if he continues to declare wear on coal and shale place, jobs will go to other places.

he was elected to help the united states, not china, brazil are russia or any other country in the world. [applause] >> i want to close on this. the president can't run on his record. he can't run on his broken promises. you are going to hear him try to do everything he can by distracting us, going after what he did in high school, what he did as governor. i am glad we are not talking about what i did in high school. i am glad that is not on the table. [laughter] first of all, those attacks aren't true. you look at governor romney's report in massachusetts, the unemployment rate was below the national average. per-capita income growth was above the national argentina. i would compare those records

to any day of the week. but this election is about the future of our country. mitt romney unders we are not a great country. the founding fathers did not intend for our federal government to spend 24% or 25% of the economy. mitt romney understands the future of the country is not becoming more like europe. he understands what is great is growing the private sector, not the public sector. i want to remind you of this. this is indeed the most important election of our lifetimes. we like to say they are mortgaging our children's and grandchildren's future. it is worse than that. they are destroying our present. we can't afford four more years of lib rat president's. jamie carter never won anything before we elected him president of the united states. let's elect mitt romney president. [cheers and applause]

>> bobby jindal, tim pawlenty following the president's bus tour. the president's bus tour wrapped up just a short while ago at carnegie mellon university. the president will be headed back to washington shortly. later this afternoon, in about an hour and 15 minutes, the

president will be signing the transportation bill, including a two year extension of programs, and a five year extension of the national fluid insurance program. we will have that live for you at 4:55 eastern. tonight on use, it is book tv in primetime. our conversation with pulitzer prize winning and best selling novelist, anna quindlen. >> the former commanding officer of the u.s.s. cole on the events surrounding al qaeda's october 2000 attack that left 17 dead and 37 injured. >> i was turned back to my desk

so the government can now penalized for tax us, force us into buying something we do not want. that happened last week. on top of that, the sitting

united states attorney general is stonewalling and not releasing all these documents. that happened in just one week. on top of all that, we hear in colorado's saw 346 homes burned to the ground in colorado springs, a two hundred 47 of north. the president came yesterday. i beg him on the radio not to land. just flyover. he did land anyway. apparently he was not listening to me. he was using this as a campaign opportunity, as a photo op. he said on top of that, and i do not know if you caught this, he said they have been doing an outstanding job -- and truthfully, those fighting the fires have been doing an outstanding job, and they

deserve our applause right now, but on a federal level, an outstanding job while no less than five c-130 tankers retrofitted ready to fight the fires. they were not outstanding. they were out sitting on a tarmac. how many homes could we have saved if we had just acted? no, this is not an outstanding federal government. it is an overwhelming, impressive federal government, and we are seeing it. that is why we are here today, and thank you for the opportunity to be here. i want to introduce a gentleman who has the most conservative voting record. he just went through a primary competition that he survived successfully. his district, district 5, is where people continue to lose their belongings. we're losing forest, land. this man, i have had a chance to

talk to him. i do not know if you have heard him on the radio show a few times. he is going to talk not only about the fires, but he has the pleasure of introducing our keynote speaker. please welcome the congressman, doug. >> thank you, steve. just a few words about what is happening in washington and down in the district. i will do that briefly and then proceed with the great introduction i am so honored to be able to give you today of senator tom coburn. like he was saying, this has been an overwhelming week in many ways. back in washington, i voted with many others to hold eric holder in contempt of congress. we also have the discouraging decision on the so-called

patient protection and affordable care act. like someone said, under nancy pelosi, congress created this mess so congress is going to have to fix this mess. we are going to do that if we can take the senate in january. it will also help if we have the white house. then the bill will not get vetoed. but with a 51-vote margin we can repeal obamacare. and that will be our first order of business. that is what is going on, and then these fires. there are now 1300 firefighters from around the country working in colorado springs, help pass the county -- el paso county, the pike national forest. when the winds started up tuesday afternoon, a puppy on the lines of containment and came into -- it got beyond the

lines of containment and came into the neighborhoods. as steve said, a 346 homes were destroyed and we know of two people who have died. our hearts go out to the families of those who have suffered losses, both lives lost and property loss. i was talking to a gentleman last night, a great friend, who lost his house. a lifetime of memories went up in smoke. al things now -- how do you pick up the mail when you do not have a house? there's some anythings they are going to just have to start all over. please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. as steve also mentioned, i had a primary election tuesday night. i won its 61%-38% against an opponent who claim to be a conservative, but he was trying to remove the most conservative

in congress. i do not know what that was about. he spent $700,000-$800,000 of his own money, i think just trying to buy a seat in congress, but the people of chicago -- the people of colorado are not that easily swayed. i know that many of you today are from colorado. you cannot do that. i'm really happy that came out so well. but it has been an overwhelming week. so, that is the latest. john andrews is such a great guy. i served with him in the state senate back in the early 2000's. he was the senate president at the time and we work together on some good things. i was the chairman of the state affairs committee, the so-called killer committee to either pass bills or kill bills as the case

needed. we had a lot of fun times during that. anyway, it is now my real honor to introduce one of the real stalwarts in the u.s. senate. i am honored to be here. senator tom coburn is the person i am privileged to introduce now. he and his wife have a great history in oklahoma for all the accomplishments in their lives. one of the greatest would be their three children and six grandchildren. outside of that, he and his wife are both graduates of the university. he has a track record of a lot of wins in other areas. these winds would be found with his family, faith, business, u.s. senate, at u.s. house, and

as a medical doctor. he is a man of integrity. people know he is a man of his word. when he says he is going to do something, he does it. he was elected to determine the u.s. senate and was reelected. currently he is on the committee on finance. he is a leader in the fight to uphold the true meaning of marriage, the dignity of human life by protecting the unborn, second amendment rights and incorporating responsible fiscal policy. outside of standing up for these important values, he has a great business track record. when he was the manufacturing manager for a division of coburn

optical injuries -- industries, his company grew and he personally delivered 4000 babies. most of all, senator coburn is known as a true conservative. last year the national journal rank him as the most conservative senator. his opposition to excess spending and more debt is well known. his commitment to smaller government is well noun and his objections to those who propose government as the solution to any and all problems has earned him the title of doctor know -- no. he is a staunch conservative who wants to stand on principle while finding real solutions to the problems we face. i hope to hear proposals of how conservatives in congress and

we hear in the public can go forward as we go forward now into the next years. ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and privilege to present the senator and dr. tom coburn. >> thank you. have a seat. first of all, it is a pleasure to be with you. i think it is entirely unfair -- i am going to get rid of this so that somebody does not hit me with it. i think it is unfair to have to follow bill bennett, but i do have a lesson for him and it is a true story. he closed thinking about how we select supreme court nominees versus how the liberals do. i have the story for you that would relate to that. it is a story about his father

putting his daughter to bed. he gives her a drink of water, tucks iran, she says her prayers, and he goes back -- tucks her in, she says her prayers and he goes back to his room. she comes in and says daddy, i need a drink of water. he says, you just had one, go back to sleep. she comes in a few minutes later and says daddy, i need a drink of water. he says, we have had this discussion. if you come in again, i will have to discipline you, please go to sleep. she comes in and five minutes later and say daddy, when you come and to discipline me, please bring a cup of water. she was willing to sacrifice for what she believed in, even if it meant a spaking. that is one of the rare qualities america was built on

that we see too -- we do not see too often today. my forte is to go back and forth with you all for question so i'm going to allow most of the time to be about questions, but it is a sincere honor to be with you. conservatism is not just best, it is right. it is right for everything that ails us. it is a great solution in terms of how we combine what we know to be true by sacrificing some of ourselves as we interact with other people. it cannot be more important than in our elected leaders today and that is why i am an avid believer in term limits. it gives you the freedom to do what you know is right regardless of the political consequences. that is why you send us there. not to do what is good for us, but to do what is good for our country.

the problem in washington is not the washington cannot agree. the problem in washington is that they agree too well. otherwise we would not have a $ 4.1 trillion deficit this year. otherwise, we would not be borrowing $0.30 out of every dollar we spend from the chinese. the problem is that counter to what you hear in the national media in terms of us not being able to get along. going back to bill bennett -- and what a hero of mine he is, what a stalwart, what an intellectual giant. that he has been, and mentor for many of us in terms of not only understanding when our founders believe, but also giving us the courage to stand on it. we have great threats to our

existence today as a nation. and i would think in my opinion, greater than any threat we have ever faced, whether it has been our civil war or revolutionary war, world war ii, the depression. that thread comes to us -- threat comes to us because we have spent the last 30 years in this country spending money that we did not have on things we did not absolutely need and the bill is due. if you look fed generally accepted accounting principles -- at generally expected accounting principles, our government has liabilities in excess of $131 trillion. nobody can put their hands around what a trillion dollars is. it is not just my word you should take for it. as joint chiefs of staff,

chairman mullins said, the greatest threat to america is not china. it is not islamic radical fundamentalism. it is not russia. it is our debt. and the painful thing for me every week in washington is to know that and to know it is true, and yet not see the political class in our country address the very real problems in front of us. and there is a great lesson for it. i write about it in a book called "the debt bomb" that was just issued this april, where we see the natural tension for career politicians to put their career and what is in the bes interest of their career ahead of what is in the best interest for us nationally. sooner rather than later, there

will come a point in time when the confidence in our country by those who are loaning us money will erode. we will not be able to control that time, but one thing we know is that when it comes, it will come quickly. it is a scary thought. we see greece. we see europe. we saw this week spain and italy. you see problems of debt, and the leveraging, for which they have no answer. and then me see what happened this week in terms of the security of the united states, in terms of our own finances, and what you realize is we are the best looking horse in the glue factory. we are the only rosebud that is not starting to wilt.

the come for we are experiencing today is really based on the relative -- comfort we are experiencing today is really based on the relative comfort of how the world is viewed everywhere but here. europe's troubles will give us a reprieve but they will not solve our problems. that is why leadership is so important. let me step aside for a minute. all the republican candidates in the primary in new -- i knew. i knew them well from newt gingrich to ron paul to tim pawlenty to rick santorum. and as a conservative, i endorsed mitt romney. and as a physician, i want to tell you why. the problem in our country is not that we do not have solutions. the problem in our country is that we do not have leadership,

boal leadership that will -- bold leadership that will teach and talk to the american public as adults and a lead on those principles. if you look at mitt romney's life, at every juncture, at every intersection, at every challenge in his life in his professional career, he has demonstrated the qualities of leadership that i want for my children and grandchildren. and i would just have you contrast that with what we have today in the white house. the other thing i would have you think about in terms of the problems in front of us is the contrast of where we are, like a

college student that has five credit cards and is trying to get a sixth one to pay the interest on the other five. guess what? the credit card is that going to be available to us. solving the financial problems of our country, our debt and deficit, is paramount for as having a vibrant economy. and 9 do in many things -- and not doing anything is not an answer. not doing anything is a tax increase on everyone in this country. but more importantly, and i want you to see this the way i see it. i do town hall meetings that have anywhere from 800-1500 people all the way down to 50. when i ask seniors, are you willing to do hard things for your children and grandchildren

that would renew the american and growth and excitement and vibrancy, every time they tell me yes. but just a you will have a picture of what it means if we do not, i want you to think about every eight year-old and below in this country. shackled, both at the ankles and at the rest -- writsst for their entire lives. because what we are about to do in this country thanks to this president's leadership or lack thereof is to create an environment where there opportunity, their standard of living and their liberty will be so constrained that they will never taste what we have none. in terms of what is known as america. so i am dedicated in my time and

my life in washington for the next four years to make sure that doesn't happen to your grandchildren and does not happen to mine. we have no problems in front of us that are unsolvable. what we have is a problem with the career status quo that things about the next election and places its priority in their own political career ahead of what is in the best interest of this country. our founding fathers understood that. as a matter of fact, one of the things that is not talked about much but was written about a lot at the founding was called the term rotation. only one of our founders did not want to use term rotation, i e term limits, as part of our

founding documents. they did not think it was very important because back then, who in the world would want to spend their life in washington? today, you have to ask that question. who would want to spend their life in washington? no one should. no one should. so, where we see the problem as we saw this week with the supreme court is what our founders intended. the talk about a balance of power between branches, but the greatest balance of power they talked about was the balance of power of us holding the government accountable, all three branches, and that is why this election and what can happen with this election will be seen as either the beginning of a renewal of the american spirit or the acceptance that we

will go the way of every other republic. let it not be so. let it not be so. how do we fix it? it is not hard. we have to be honest with ourselves about where we are. we have made promises that will never be kept. in no way can they be kept. so, the adult conversation needs to be had. what are the problems and what are the possible solutions? the first thing is to get our country going again economically. and if any of you will recall the reagan years, you will recall the four and a half years than where we had actual, real gdp growth of 4.9%. two and a half times what we are seeing today, creating 10 million-50 million jobs a year.

why was that? that is because they reformed the tax code. they took the abnormal incentives out of the tax code and they replaced it with the incentives that capital will flow where capital will be rewarded. so broadening the base and lowering the rates will change what is lacking today, which is confidence and certainty. second thing, entitlement programs. you know, my staff just finished working at 59% of american households get over $2,500 a year from the federal government. let me repeat that. 59% of american households to over $2,500 a year from the federal government. are we passed the tipping point? i do not think we are. and the reason i do not think we are is because of the history of who we are.

america has done are things. -- hard things. america knows how to do hard things. hard things are going to be required of us to solve the debt and deficit problems in front of us. what is lacking is courageous moral leadership to send us in the direction that we need to go. the final thing we need to do is to quit sending $300 billion a year out of this country for energy. i had a debate with the very popular and renowned economist paul krugman who wants to have another $800 billion borrowed and another $800 billion stimulus. there are now $2.6 gillian

sitting on corporate balance sheets -- trillions sitting on corporate balance sheets because there is no confidence or certainty. the best way to have the money spent is to create confidence about the future through our tax code, our energy and our refinement of our entitlement programs. we can keep commitments to seniors, but we have to change how we do that, and that requires rigorous leadership. but it also requires honesty and in a political answer when the political questions -- an a political answer when the political questions are asked. when all of a sudden your 401k

for your ira or your son-in-law or your daughter graduating from college can i get a job -- cannot get a job and the value of that ira or 401k can purchase one-third of what it could before, that is a tax increase. that is what governments do by printing money like we're seeing in the federal reserve today. ultimately, the price of printing that money will come back with the decline in purchasing power of the money you have. it is the worst tax on everybody in this country and it is called inflation. and it will be with us. it will come screaming out of thin air and it will punish us like no other method of taxation. so we should resist that, and we should do what we need to do to solve the problems in front of our country. enclosed with this.

-- i will close with this. there are only two areas in our country where we do not let markets work. as americans, we have proven to the world that a free enterprise system, although not perfect, causes markets to allocate resources better than any other method. we spend $2.75 trillion a year on health care come and we know $850 billion of it is wasted. $1 in $3 does nothing to help anybody get well and does nothing to prevent anybody from getting sick. the answer is to reconnect payment with purchase in health care.

and the affordable care act goes just exactly the opposite of that. finally, the other area where we do not trust markets is education. we have spent $2.7 trillion on education since 1970 and there is no parameter of education in this country that is better. in fact, many are worse. if you want something to become more affordable, you can guarantee that if you ask the government to do it, it will become more expensive. that is what has happened with college education and education across the country. i will leave you with the thought that this country is on the brink of a new beginning. with our energy reserves, we are going to see a manufacturing renaissance in this country like most of us have never experienced. if we are allowed to utilize it. america has more energy than

china, saudi arabia, and canada combined, and yet we are the only country in the world where we as citizens own that energy and our government refuses to allow us to use it. that has to change. 2012 is important. to me, it is a seminal moment in our country. we always hear that elections are important, but we and have had the strongest move toward collectivism in this administration that has ever before been seen in this country. we can see the failure of the chief justice, and in my opinion, a failure to fully understand and comprehend the founders' intent of a limited government. so the balance of power, if

we are to change that, depends on us. it depends on you, we the people. and they count on us to control washington rather than washington to control us. .t is time we do it t it is time for us to move. it is time for us to sacrifice in many ways to make sure we accomplish the fact that there is a president romney, a large majority of conservative republican members of the senate and that the house is maintained by the republicans. if you want to save this kandahacountry. now, usually with my speeches, of prozac pills at the back when you exit. i am not depressed about this country. i'm worried.

i am anxious. but you can change it. and you do so by demanding the truth and doing the work to hold us accountable to the very standards, beliefs and morals that our founders initiated with the founding and birth of this country. i will take any questions that you might have. thank you very much. >> we will open it up. just like we did with bill bennett'. i will take the liberty to ask the first question and then we have microphones around here. you speak eloquently in your book about the immorality of debt. could you take 30 seconds and just talk about debt. you talk about moral leadership and the lack thereof. what about the morality of debt? >> the morality of corporate

debt as a nation is a form of thievery. think about it for a minute. when i went to the senate in 2004, the average individual debt on our national debt was under $30,000. it is at almost $60,000 per man, woman, child. second point, if you have an adolescent in your house all today, when they are my age, if we do not change things, they will of, not counting interest, in excess of $1 million per person. that is what they will be responsible for in terms of our accumulated debt and compound interest on it. there is a question to ask. i am doing a big study and disability rain now. is it moral -- a big study on

disability right now. is it moral to create dependency in individuals or is it a better option to nurture them to earn success and raise the lid so they can achieve their god-given abilities? and if you really look at what we have done with many of our " social welfare" programs, we have taken away opportunity, got to give to these individuals to excel in many ways as we undermine personal responsibility in this country. that is why a moral leadership, a character based leadership is so important for our country in the next few years. >> follow-up question, can you buy your book on a credit card? just kidding. that was a very poor joke. let's go to better questions and we have the microphone set up

here so go right ahead. >> thank you. my name is jerry from colorado. i would like to find out how to address progressives who believe that health care is our right. expand. let's if health care is a right, the right for me to have a home is the right. the right for me to own a watches the right. in other words, what you have to do is carry that on. what our founders said is a right is the right to pursue life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. there was no guarantee that you would have life. there was no guarantee that you have happiness. there was no guarantee the you have liberty. but what you were guaranteed was the right to pursue it.

there is no question most people in our country feel compassion for those that need their help. bill bennett referenced it. we are the most terrible group of citizens of any country in -- charitable group of citizens of any country anywhere in the world. we are the most charitable group privately, apart from what we do with our own age. the question is what comes next? that is not our founding principles. to help somebody means to love them, which means you give of yourself. there can be no compassion in a government program. because there is no sacrifice in a government program. >> let's go over here this time, please. >> senator, thank you so much for your moral leadership. i have a small business question. another monstrosity that came

out of the pre-2010 congress was the dog-franc bill. -- dodd-frank bill. that did not get as much negative publicity as obamacare, but it is still a big deal. can you please speak to what you would do in a romney administration to encourage either a repeal of that law or modification of that law? >> let me share with you first coburn through a bureaucracy. -- my role of bureaucracy. bureaucracies never do best for those in the country when they can do best for what serves them. dodd-frank wants to eliminate every error, every wrong moment

out of the financial system, and you cannot. milton friedman had an interaction with -- i am for getting his name, from chicago, the radio and tv host -- phil donahue. he asked him, comparing the free enterprise system to all the other systems, the free enterprise system is not perfect. but there is nothing that compares with it. and what liberals do to us is they say see? it did not work. but they never look at the 90% of it that does work. when we try to control everything with bureaucracy and legislation, we can control it and people will still cheap. -- cheat. people will still get around it. but we have cost opportunity that gets filtered and magnified in an exponential fashion throughout the economy.

so what needs to happen is there needs to be transparent regulation in every area that puts our nation at risk, but it needs to be based on common sense, not political drive. it needs to be based on things that actually work rather than things that are theoretical, and no. 3 as it needs to be able to be anticipated. what would the common man -- and what is the cost benefit? because what is happening now in our banking industry -- one of the reasons we are not growing is our small and medium-sized banks are so tied up in knots from both dodd-frank and fdic new rules that we are seeing at about 0.5% less each year in gdp because of it. i am on a bill to eliminate dodd-frank and start all over.

>> over here to the far right, how appropriate, far right. go ahead. >> dave murray from denver. in your book you talk about the careerism not only of our legislators but those who move on to the lobbying phase of washington. what incentive could there be to cause people to limit their time in office? >> that is a great question, but i would put forward a different question. who you sent matters. if you are sending somebody from the real world, as somebody who has hard knocks, failures, skinned knuckles, who has been up and down in life, who actually has an appreciation -- you realize 70% of the senate has never had a real job. they're wonderful people, well

intentioned, i love their personalities, but they lack real-world experience with which to apply critical decision making processes. how do you think we ended up with 47 job training programs, 82 teacher training programs, 45 programs to teach financial literacy to the rest of us, coming from washington, if you can imagine that. the point is, make them sign an affidavit and notarized it. but who you pick, if you pick from the bench -- is a natural tension. if in fact you limit your terms you can pretty much guarantee it is not going to be about you. if you do not, then what it really says is when it comes down to push versus shove, my political career and the trumping the best interests of the nation. how do you think we got $16

trillion in debt? remember when medicare started? 50% of the cost of part b was to be borne by medicare patients? how did that change? politicians went out and said we can lower that. they lowered it to 35%. they did not say, we're going to have a tax to pay for it. they used it as a method to get themselves reelected rather than do what is in the best interest of the country, and if you wanted to do that, you would create a funding stream to pay for it. all of us have mixed motives, but one of the best ways to clean those motives of is do not send a career politician to washington, number one, and number two, make them sign a term-limit pledge. the supreme court says we cannot have that without a constitutional convention and boating through an amendment, sign a pledge.

-- voting through an amendment, sign a pledge. i guarantee you run johnson does not know what we cannot do. he knows what is possible and he fights for it every day. >> we of time for one more question. which one of you has the best question? he raised his hand first. he beat you. this is a market question economy. he beat you. and look at this, this is the generosity that we talked about with bill bennett. he said give this gentleman the question. >> my name is marlon. i do not know very much about bonds of high finances, but i do know when you keep debt in the family, the family as a whole is better off. i am just wondering if we cannot find a way to sell u.s. savings bonds and pay off china with those bonds and other countries

and then have the debt in our family where we are paying interest to ourselves. would that not be better? >> it is better, and that is one of the reasons why japan, with twice the debt to gdp ratio as us, has not experience significant problems yet, but they will and the next five years because they of a democratic problem that is worse -- they have a demographic problem that is worse than ours in terms of the aging population. this is the first year that japan will be a net seller in the international market of their bonds. all of this is coming together at the same time. history does not allow debt crises to go away without default. we have a chance to save our country and not the fault -- the fault. -- default, not have another

great and terrible depression. we have a chance, but that requires us to think long term in a politically expedient way. i would encourage you all, if you're not getting much in the bank or your ira to buy bonds. it does help us. but when the confidence is lost in the americans' ability to repay what in four years will be 20 two dollars trillion -- $22 trillion, interest rates will skyrocket and bonds will crash. it is not if. it is when. we will have another debt downgrade within a year in this country unless you see a romney- republican leadership in washington. the other thing, you should be diligent and vigilant about is

if you put us in charge, hold our feet to the fire to do the right best thing for this country. crthank you. >> senator tom coburn, ladies and showman. john andrews, -- ladies and gentlemen. john andrews, hand the microphone back to you. >> in 20 minutes, we will take you live to the white house. president obama coming off his bus tour to sign the transportation bill, a five-year extension of flood insurance and a one-year extension of the student loan interest rates. we will have live coverage coming up at 4:55 p.m. eastern here on c-span. now we return to the western conservative summit to hear remarks from the american commitment president who talks about the recent supreme court

ruling, the current debt problem in the u.s., an ongoing issues with national security. we will bring that to you until the president gets under way. >> all it takes is one. 1% of the united states is an incorruptible servant and an unstoppable force by the name of tom coburn. senator, thank you for your message today. thank you for your book. thank you for the example you set in washington. may your tribe increase. speaking of increasing the coburn tribe, we are going to put a collar and a university to work on cloning tom coburn. -- call rod university to work and in tom coburn. how about that?

kevin miller's book, freedom nationally, virtue locally or socialism has been commended to you today. it is my honor to be published by the same publisher. the shameless plug. my book was called responsibility reborn, a citizen's guide to the next american century. i mention this in the hopes that you will add these books tier shelf as you shop here in our break. i also mention it because any of us who have written of book, we want to get our message into our title if at all possible in order to reach those who do not find the time to read the book. how about this book title from our next great summit speaker?

"democracy denied: how obama is ignoring new and bypassing to radicallyer mi transformed america." we have seen repeatedly of late, have we not? we saw it with his unilateral effort to enact amnesty as part of the dream act. to radically transform america and how to stop him. bill per been is the author. he is president of a group called american commitment the works on restoring in protecting america's core commitment to free markets, economic growth, constitutional liberties and individual freedom. his work history in washington reads like a who's who of

organizations on the front lines to protect our freedoms and restore our constitution. he has worked with americans for prosperity, the free enterprise fund, corporate growth and the cato institute. democracy will be denied, he warns us, unless we do our part and stop the train. fees will come -- please phil.me fil >> can we run the video? i have a video to show you before the speech. >> we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the united states of america. >> can democracy be denied? >> one book tears to tell the

truth. >> chicago-style shakedowns to get anything they want. >> america rejected a obama liberal agenda. >> republicans have won control of the house of representatives. >> until nancy pelosi is speaker again, i will work my way around congress. i will spend my entire adult life working on this. i am not a newcomer to this. >> his promises of transparency proved empty. >> these negotiations will be on c-span. >> the almost complete breakdown of the rule of law in this country. every aspect of the government. >> i would like to work my way around congress. >> we need to investigate this

administration, hold them accountable, block their regulatory power. >> the truth will be revealed. democracy denied. own id today and take action. >> well, john asked me to wake you up before my talk so i hope that helped a little bit. we are facing truly a lawless the fenestration, i think there is no other way to describe it. -- lawless administration, i think there is no other way to describe it. we sought immediately with the auto bailout. the unions will be made whole and if you do not take the deal we will destroy your life anyway we can. they took the deal and it set the tone, and since then i think we have seen and in ministration that has made clear that they will get their way without respect to what the american people want, as we saw with the

health care law, without respect to what the congress has done -- we saw many of their legislation now right rejected, capt. trade, car check. they are moving forward all the same. we see a president who when he does not like the law says i will not enforce it. i do not care. defense of marriage act? will not defended in court. immigration laws? we will do an amnesty by the fact door. -- back door. what we face right now is a breakdown of the rule of law. the law that is the most element basic of our system which is that if you want to change the rules, if you want to change the laws, you go through congress. that is the way it is supposed to work. in fact, the founders thought this was such a critically important principle, that after the preamble in the constitution

they said all legislative power is invested in the congress, the house and senate. it is not in the bazaars, epa bureaucrats, irs, fda, and all the other federal agencies you have never heard of but you have to deal with every day. but that is the situation we're in now in this country and this administration is using all that apparatus to the maximum extent possible. milton friedman famously said if you pick any three letters in the english alphabet it is a federal bureaucracy we would be better off without. i do not think that has ever been more true than right now at the present time. we can address some of the things that are in the video that i talked about in the book. cap and trade.

this is something the president said would make your electricity bill necessarily skyrocket, and if you wanted to build a coal plant, you could, but it would go bankrupt. it crashed and burned. nancy pelosi forced it through the house to 17-212 ki, nearly a party-line vote. -- 217-212, a nearly party-line vote. the senate would not even touch it. the 2010 election, it is easy to forget that the 2010 election was one of the biggest landslide elections in all of history. all demanding less government, less taxes, less spending, less intrusion in our lives. almost two dozen democrats lost their house seats almost

entirely because of cap and trade. one person literally shot a bullet through the bill in an ad called dead aim. it showed he liked guns and hated cap and trade. that got him elected to the u.s. senate from west virginia. literally the day after the election, the president was asked at a press conference what happens now with cap and trade and he said that was only one way of skinning the cat. that was a means to an end. i have other ways to reach the end. the end, of course, is the end of affordable energy. he said i have other means to the same end. then he went on about how the epa can do this under existing legislative authority and will just twist and rewrites 40 year- old environmental laws to make sure that they look like they

were about global warning -- global warming and electricity prices will skyrocket and they have. mercury in the air is that extraordinarily safe levels and 0.5% of the mercury in the air comes from coal-fired plants. the obama administration has said there are studies that pacific islanders who eat fish year round, if they are pregnant, the baby of a pregnant woman who eats 300 pounds of fish a year might lose a few iq points. it is the only time in history democrats seem to care about unborn babies so if this sort of a breakthrough in that regard.

but because of these pregnant fischer women, they're going to raise the price of electricity for everyone in the country. green has regulations will shut down coal plants in this country. that is conveniently scheduled to go into place just after the next election. it is not as the epa driving the price of electricity up. we have seen something very similar on petroleum. we have seen the price at the pump double under obama. does anyone remember what the price of gas was when obama came into power? $1.83 a gallon. does anybody miss that? obama said i am for offshore drilling.

president bush lifted the presidential ban on offshore drilling. nancy pelosi came and lifted a congressional ban on offshore drilling, and then three months after that the price of gasoline plummeted from $4 to $1.83. why? because markets were forward looking. they believed we were finally going to produce in these vast resources we have off the coast of the united states. obama kamen, got a very tragic but very can -- obama came, got a very tragic but very convenient excuse with the gulf oil spill, and imposed and the moratorium and the gulf of mexico. this was literally held in contempt of court in the fifth

circuit because the moratorium was illegal. it was based on the report doctored by white house staff authored by a former president of the socialist commission on a world sustainable society. she wrote a report that said we recommend against a moratorium. she changed to say we want a moratorium. deepwater rigs left the gulf permanently for places like brazil and egypt. i do not know if you notice this, because i almost missed it, but on thursday, the day the supreme court handed down when i think will go down as one of the most infamous decisions in history, the interior department quietly announced a new offshore drilling moratorium that no one in the public was even paying attention to because we were distracted with other things going on. that is his cap and trade

agenda. same thing with the union agenda. you remember the car check bell that allowed union organizers to come to your house and say you want to come to this -- you want to join this union and they could harass you and all sorts of ways. violence is allowed if it advances union purposes. almost all democrats support this. and they voted on in the previous congress, embarrassingly for them. the only republican support they had was arlen specter and he was not a republican for very long.

before they gave up on the part check, they had won last ditch in the -- before they give up on the check, they had one last ditch attempt to save the bill. they said what about having elections in such a short timetable that employers cannot make the case on why employee might not want to join the union and union organizers can use the time to their advantage? we can have them in the middle of the week, time it to maximum advantage. that failed also. now, illegally in my view, it is a lot of the landings to the national labor relations board that made it up by reinterpreting the 1935 national

labor relations act. made it up. made up with the gentlemen who rewrote the laws to favor unions without going to congress. he had written at length about this about how to gut protections for employers. he actually wrote the employer should be stripped of any legally recognizable rights without -- with respect to union organizers. obama nominated him. he was rejected. obama recess appointed him anyway. he installed the ambush election rule that has not taken effect and unions can ambush and surprise employers and force people to join unions without really understanding what is at stake and what is going on. similarly, we now have for the first time in history and fcc that asserts the power to regulate the internet.

you may have missed congress passing this legislation because it never did. all three of these things have something in common. cap and trade advancing, card check and the fcc regulating the internet, they all happened because democrats in the senate refused to do their job and stand up to abuses of power in this administration because we have had to vote in the u.s. senate on overturning all of these abuses, and almost every democrat has voted against ending a to this of ministration almost every single time. -- standing up to this administration almost every single time. they've allowed virtually unlimited powers to the president, and i would suggest that if a man rules by dictate as this man does, with executive orders such as his amnesty executive order, is there not a

word in the english language for a man who rules by dictate? i will not say it because it is not polite, but that is what is occurring in this country. and congress is standing by and allowing it to happen and they are being deliberately complex said -- deliberately complicitous. there is an elegance and powerful legislative solution to this fundamental structural problem. it has been advanced by rep geoff davis. it has been called the rain back -- the rain back executive

power through regulation and scrutiny act. think about this. this bill says that instead of bureaucrats and regulators being able to have their way with us and trying to get congress to muster the will to stand up to them, they would simply recommend to congress and congress would vote upper down. these regulations would only take effect of our elected representatives in congress voted to approve them. does that make sense? this idea did not come from an expert. it did not come from a washington think tank or a university or any of the high- minded elites. it came from a tea party activist in northern kentucky, a man named lloyd rodgers, a wounded navy veteran who worked for about 30 years for cincinnati bell and late in

life got involved in politics, a self-taught. he started reading the constitution and taking glasses in public speaking, and one day he handed his congressman a piece of paper with article one section one of the constitution and said congressman, how is it the epa can double or triple my water bill with this down water management consent degree -- which in northern kentucky cost $1 billion -- should there not be a vote on this? i elected you. should there not be a vote before a $1 billion in cost can be imposed on us? i know some of you may not have read all 57 points in mitt romney's economic plan, of but the act is in their -- plan, but

the act is in there and he has promised to sign it as president. unfortunately, when congress was actually doing stuff, when policy and we were in charge, they were doing the wrong thing, and they were vastly expanding the power of regulators and bureaucrats over our lives. the two pieces of legislation it passed are some of the worst examples in history of passing brought this legislation that leaves all the real power of the bureaucrats to figure out and take it over. dodd-frank calls for over 500 lawmakers. the thing is over 1000 pages long but it is less a lot than a grant of authority to bureaucrats to write 500 separate laws. all of these bureaucracies are going wild now, writing all these rules, and they're only incentive is not to get in

trouble as regulators, not to allow anything to go wrong. if they stop you from taking a risk, if they stop you from making a loan, there is no risk. the only thing is it a loan happens and it does not go well. that is one of the reasons why the housing recovery has been so terrible. every lender has a federal regulator sooner rather shoulder saying don't you dare unless you're sure this loan will never go bad. by the way, the woman obama put in charge of implementing the bill, he did his usual and run around congress with elizabeth warren, most famous now by running as a fake indian in massachusetts -- that is an entertaining race of their.

chris dodd said she could not run because she is too radical. by the way, how interesting is it for chris dodd and barney frank to be put in front -- put in charge of the financial system? barney frank said fannie mae was fine. and he is in charge of fixing the financial system. this is how washington works. it is kind of astonishing. it is like let's find the worst culprits and then put them in charge of fixing the problem. chris dodd now is the top lobbyist for the motion picture association of america. he was the one trying to destroy the internet in the name of hollywood recently. this bill is a vast granting of authority. he put elizabeth warren in charge because he could not get approved by the senate. she got all the structure in place. then he put someone else in charge. richard ward 3. he put him in charge by

ordray.ng -- richard cird he put him in charge by declaring the congress in recess. i have got to install and so the the so-called consumer financial protection bureau, the worst designed bureaucracy ed, can get on with regulating just about any financial transaction anywhere in the economy. and just to make sure they have the least amount of accountability possible, in the dodd-frank law they said it is not subject to oversight from congress and appropriations. instead, it is funded directly out of the federal reserve. print their own money. you have as much money is in need. you never have to come to congress for any funding. by the way, the same day he

declared the senate in recess when they believe themselves not to be, he put to jr. radicals in to make sure they could continue with this radical unionizing, including one of them who came directly from being counsel for the international union of engineers, pretty much the most corrupt union out there, pretty much the mom. he is now on the national labor board writing more pro-union rules. which brings us to the worst of everything that has happened under this president, because the rest is minor compared to this, the president's health care law. i think in our pain and anger at what the supreme court did and who john roberts revealed himself to be, it is easy to lose sight of all the reasons we hated this law in the first place and the american people

rejected it. the hundreds of new agencies that stand between the american people and their doctors and decide who lives and who dies. the costs that make health care more expensive and not less. and what it does to medicare, which i think is absolutely criminal. i would suggest that as a conservative, we should not hesitate to criticize what this bill does to medicare. people get anxious and say i'm for cutting spending. this has cuts in spending. i should be for this. you cannot fix a program by refusing to pay hospitals and doctors, and that is what obamacare does. it says we are not going to pay a reasonable rate of reimbursement.

it is not the fault of seniors that that happened. you have to fix it the right way with fundamental reforms that empowers individuals. this bill is not a finished legislation. this was a discussion draft. this has ambiguity. this is a joke that they put to this and the u.s. code.

this happened because of scott brown postelection. for the people of massachusetts for suggested this law. democrats said they had this draft the supposed to be finished and we got a final bill but we cannot do that now because of the people of massachusetts. let's contrive to go around them. this has no business being in the u.s. code sometimes.

this really meant something else entirely. if you don't comply with that, we will find some other way to ruin your life. the secretary, before she was governor of kansas, was the executive director of the trial lawyers association. even though the law does not say that you must cover pre-existing conditions immediately for children, you are required to do that.

in the health-care law, it clearly says that the exchange subsidies which are the new health-care subsidies, the exchange subsidies and the $3,000 per employee penalty only applies in states that have adopted a state-based exchange. this does not say anywhere in states where the federal apply. they made it up. they said that they will let the subsidies fall.

there's going to be a vote soon in the house and the senate's. there will be a vote this year before the election on overturning that rule. i think this will be another great marker to put down to find out where the senate democrats stand. do they believe that this should be allowed to write laws and tax whatever they like? i think that would be an extraordinarily frightening precedent. that is a vote to watch and put pressure on. we need a majority in the senate and we need a presidency. about 90% of this law can be repealed under budget reconciliation. it could be 50, plus the tiebreaker by the president. the outcome of the senate races look extraordinarily close.

the control of the senate hangs in the balance. we have to be active in the senate races, we have to be educating people. even if they have a republican candidate they don't like, they will vote to repeal obama care. the balance of the senate hangs on any single race. the message of the supreme court this week, which was deeply painful to me and i think to many of you. i was out in front and i was the idiot who saw the cnn twitter and said, we won, and actually we have lost. the take away is that there is no area of their lives that is now safe from politics. we no longer have meaningful constitutional protections for individual freedoms or limitations on the power of government.

that is frightening. it is tragic. but if everything is politics and politicians wheeled unlimited power, and checked by our constitution, then the solution is to work even harder and politics and make sure that the people who win and to have the unlimited power are our people who would choose not to use it or perhaps will choose to restore those checks that we have lost. it is more critical for that we get more engage to make sure that this election cycle is one that we win because this point that we're at in our history, one where we cannot count on any external checks on what happens in the democratic process that it makes it more critical than ever. fortunately, there are more of us than of them. i urge you to do everything you possibly can to win these races,

to ensure that we are in a position where we can stand up to this administration if god forbid it is reelected with a majority in the senate. i think it is possible, i think it is critical. we made to make these issues in the senate campaign. make every senate democrat who voted not to stand up to the epa who voted to less the fcc -- voted to let the fcc control this. let them explain this.

whatever happens, we can force legislators to take the job you're supposed to do, not just looking the other way. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> people are gathering for a bill signing that has been postponed. the president will be signing a transportation bill. he had a late departure from a

pennsylvania. this bill cost about $100 billion. we will be bringing you back here tonight, it is at 8:20 eastern time. the unemployment rate is at 8.2%. 80,000 jobs added in june. that is less than what analysts

were expecting. the former governor defended his own economic plan saying that he has laid out 59 specific ideas for growing the economy. here's what he had to say. >> we have seen the jobs report this morning and it is another kick in the gut for middle-class families. this is consistent with what i've heard and met with families and their homes. american families are struggling. there's a lot of misery in america today. these numbers understate what people are feeling and the amount of pain which is occurring in middle-class america. not only is the number unacceptably high and one that has been in place now for over 41 months, but in addition, if

you look at the broader analysis of people who are out of work or have dropped out of the work force, or that are underemployed and part-time jobs, new full- time work, it is almost 15% of the american public. then, there are those working in jobs wall beneath their skill level, working in multiple part- time jobs. kids that are coming out of college not being able to find work. veterans not able to do anything but stand in an unemployment line. these are very difficult times for the american people. there are other numbers that are troubling. the manufacturing report indicates that manufacturing is not growing either domestically or in our exports. that is a long-term trend that is very disturbing and troubling.

the heartland industries, where manufacturing occurs, are struggling by virtue of policies on the part of the present that have not worked. the highest corporate tax rates in the world to not create jobs. the high as regulatory burdens in our nation's history, those to not create jobs. trade policies that are not opening up new markets for american goods, those don't create jobs. failing to effectively crack down on china for cheating and stealing american jobs, that has not helped. the policies has not got america working again and the president will have to stand up and take responsibility for it. i know he has been planning on going across the country and celebrating what he calls for -- calls forward. this does not look like it to the millions of families struggling today in this great country. it does not have to be this way. the president does not have a

plan, has not proposed any new ideas to get the economy going, just the same old ideas of the past that have failed. i have a plan, my plan calls for action that will get america working again and create good jobs, both near term and long term. it includes finally taking advantage of our embassy resources, building the keystone pipeline, making sure we create energy jobs and to convince manufacturers that energy will be available and low-cost america. it means opening up new markets for american trade, particularly in latin america, where the opportunities are extraordinary. it means cracking down on china when they cheat. it means bringing our tax rates down, our marginal tax rates down and cutting out of the exemptions and deductions and loopholes that are unfair in many cases. in many cases, we will eliminate them said that we retain our revenue through the meaning of

the special deals but bring them down so there competitive and attractive for jobs to come back to america. it means having a government that sees its role as encouraging enterprise rather than crushing it with the burden of new and unnecessary regulation and without those that have been cleaned up in years and years. this is a time for america to choose whether they want more of the same.

i don't think i have seen any from the present that showed he has doing.

we want to make america attractive for growth. those the kinds of specifics of like to see coming from the president's. >> there is criticism from the right, what would you say to that? >> i have spoken about health care from the data we passed it in massachusetts. the right course is for the state to greet their own plans. the proof is that i was right. because obamacare is costing jobs in america. when three-quarters of small businesses say they are less likely to hire people because of obama care, they have put their

level agenda ahead of the interest of creating jobs.

in >> you have criticized obama for -- [inaudible] >> i am delighted to be able to take a vacation with my family. i think that all americans appreciate the memories they have with their children and grandchildren. i hope that more americans are able to take vacations. if i am president, i will work hard to make sure that you have good jobs. >> thank you, everyone. >> [unintelligible]

>> we have seen that his tax policies have not encourage growth in america. his tax policies have made it more difficult for the businesses to hire. they can make it for banks to make loans to get started. his policies have not worked. so, the evidence is in that again and again and again. remember, the president at the beginning of his term predicted

that if he was able to put in place a stimulus and his other policies, they would be able to keep unemployment below 8%. 41 months above 8% demands a lack of success. this has been a failed series of policies. millions and millions of families are struggling. we need to encourage the dreamers to come to america, to invest in america. we do that again, we will seek america working again. thanks very much.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the president is running late. he left it spurred a little bit behind schedule where we he was campaigning earlier.

we will have his speech from carnegie-mellon tonight at 8:20. we will bring you back here for the signing of the transportation bill which includes the delay of student loan rate increases as soon as the president arrives. while we wait for him, a little bit more on the economy and job growth verses wealth creation on today's "washington journal." >> i was interested that you began as a sports writer. were you a sports writer loving politics? >> my family defected from

communist hungary. i've always loved it, but i love sports as well. >> to use the sports analogy? >> i try not to. we were talking about jobs. yesterday we got new numbers from private sector reporting, and here is "the orange county register." private jobs grow across all sectors. today we are looking for private and public sector jobs and how the unemployment rate stands overall. candidates are talking about jobs, jobs, jobs. president obama on the campaign trail, the headlines. mitt romney made his campaign centerpiece as a job creator. when you think about how this country most effectively creates jobs, where do you come from on that? guest: not the government jobs, clearly from my ideological, i

think private sector jobs are more important in creating wealth and creating wealth is more important to creating jobs than just jobs for jobs sake because i do not think it is the way the economy can work. we have imbued our economy with a moral imperative where we have to create certain kinds of jobs that we want, whereas i think it is organic and we can never predict what jobs are going to be. i think we have done a little too much of that as well. particularly with great energy and things like that. host: when you look at the private sector numbers, they divide it into large -- >> you can find this discussion online at c-span.org. we take you now to the white house with the president has just arrived. [applause] >> i apologize for keeping you waiting. i hope that you did not have to

wait long. the bill i'm about to sign is a good reason. i would like to thank the members of congress who are here. we have a number in the front row, but i would like to recognize senator boxer and chah.essman mi i want to acknowledge the hard work that he did on this bill. [applause] now, we are doing this late on friday because i just got back from spending the last few days talking with folks in ohio, pennsylvania, about how our challenge as a country is not just to reclaim all of the jobs that were lost to the recession. it is also to reclaim the

economic security that some americans have lost over the past decade. i believe with every fiber of my being that a strong economy comes not from the top down but from a strong middle class. that means having a good job that pays a good wage, a home to call your own. health care, retirement savings that are there when you need them. a good education for your kids so that they can do better than you did. that is why four months, i have been calling on congress to pass several common-sense ideas that will have an immediate impact on the economic security of american families. i am pleased that they have acted and the bill and about to sign will accomplish two ideas that are very important for the american people. first of all, this bill will keep thousands of construction workers on the job rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. second, this bill will keep interest rates on federal student loans from doubling this year.

this would have hit nearly seven and a half million students with an average of a thousand dollars more on their loan payments. these steps will make a real difference in the lives of millions of americans, some of whom are standing with us here today. but make no mistake, we have a lot more to do. the construction industry, for example, was hit brutally hard when the housing bubble burst. it is not enough just to keep construction workers on the job doing projects that were already under way, -- we have members of organizations of mayors and governors who know how desperate the the need to do this work. i have been calling on congress to take the money we are not spending on war and use it for nation building here at home. there is work to be done building bridges, wireless

networks. there are construction workers ready to do it. the same thing is true for our students. the bill i am about to sign is vital for millions of students and their families. this is not just about keeping interest rates from dublin. i've asked congress to expand the financial aid offered to students. -- this is not just about keeping interest rates from doubling. we have partnerships between community colleges and employees. in today's economy, a higher education is the surest way to find a good job, earning a good salary, and making it into the middle class. this is not a luxury just for the privileged few, it is an economic necessity that every american family should be able to afford. this is an outstanding piece of business and i am very appreciative of the hard work that congress has done on it. my hope is that this bipartisan spirit spills over to the next

phase. that we can start putting more construction workers back to work, not just those on existing projects that are threatened to be layoffs, but also getting some new projects as well as making sure that, now that we have prevented a doubling of the student loan rates, we have to do more to reduce the debt burden our young people are experiencing. i want to thank all americans, the young and the young at heart, who took the time to write a letter or make a phone call or send a tweet open your voice would be heard on these issues. i promise you, your voices have been heard. i want to reaffirm our belief. you make this happen. i am pleased that congress that

this done. i am grateful to members of both parties who can together and put the interests of the american people first. my message to congress is what i have been saying for months. let's keep moving forward. let's keep finding ways to work together to build the economy and help put more folks back to work. there is no excuse for inaction when there are so many americans trying to get back on their feet. let me sign this bill. let's make sure we are keeping folks on the job and we are keeping students in school. thank you very much, everybody. [applause] >i have become an expert at doing this.

[applause]

thank you, everybody.

[applause] >> the ceremony for the transportation bill signing. it includes a delay in student loan rate increases. the president or arrived at the white house just a little while ago from pittsburgh, where he ended his two day bus tour through ohio and pennsylvania.

he was at carnegie mellon university in pittsburgh. he talked about fighting for every american and called on reporters -- supporters to stand with him in november. we will have the speech for you again tonight at 8:20 p.m. 2, a conversation with anna quindlen. on c-span.org -- cspan 3, resistance to slavery and the life of robert smalls. earlier today, a group called the new story leadership or the middle east held a talk on the

future of the middle east. the panel is made up on young -- made up of young people in palestine. this was held at johns hopkins university school of advanced international studies. it runs about two hours and 10 minutes. >> good morning, everybody. and welcome to this wonderful occasion this morning. our second conference. i know that you have battled through stormy weather and power outages and whatever. keep our fingers crossed that the lights stay on. we are in for a wonderful morning. i am paul costello. you can tell by my accent that i am not a local.

i hail from australia. i am be director of the news story leadership. -- the director of the new story leadership. i want to give special recognition to some our distinguished guests who include members of the diplomatic corps, the israeli embassy, the european union, the european parliament. we even have a representative from the embassy of china. we have some students here who are on an oxbridge program who are studying at oxford and the university of edinburgh. you all are very welcome. we have representatives of the state department here as well. it is important that we acknowledge them and appreciate them.

nsl is in partnership with a lot of key churches. the state department and ourselves seem to have a common purpose about investing in a rising generation of young people from the palestinian territory and israel. i want to tell you briefly about nsl and where it began and what it is about and how it has worked for the last three years. today, we are specially privileged to have some of the founders of nsl here to tell you their own story. as you can tell by the name, new story leadership is about stories. for the last 20 years, i have been the director of the center for american studies, which teaches people that stories are pro from the power fall in

inspiring -- profoundly powerful in inspiring change. stories shape identity and destiny. when you know that in have some that this to deal with that, you can work in situations of change and conflict. new story leadership is special because it is different. we say, if you can change the story, you can change the world. those who followed the middle east day-by-day in the press and the media know that stories feedback conflict daily. our job is to start a new story and to use the support of our american families, host families and internships to be the catalysts to broaden the

experience. maybe they can have an experience beyond what they a magic today. it is not for children. these are young professionals who are on the cusp of their careers. already, they are making a difference. we feel that our program is an adult program that treats young people as responsible citizens ready to shape a better world. we think of our program is special because it is a seven week summer that is only the beginning of a story. once they finish this program in september, they will join the alumni network. that is when the real work begins. you will hear more about that later in the presentation. i want to hand it over now briefly to our cosponsor, our

key partner in this work, who works with the u.s. department of state. members of the board met with andy and colin and some of the state department people two or three years ago to tell them about this group. andy is the secretary of u.s. engagement at the department of state. i would like andy to come up, if you would. [applause] >> good morning. i am the special advisor of his engagement in the office of public diplomacy and public affairs. i am incredibly excited on behalf of the state department to welcome you all and the rest of the class of 2012 to the third installment of new story leadership come to washington, d.c., and to your summer

programs on the hill and elsewhere in the city. i had a chance to meet a couple of the participants this morning and a few in the region this past december. it is an incredibly inspiring group. you will hear some of the stories after this and for the rest of the morning. we are happy to be a partner and a contributor to this great program. we are a partner in building coexistence capacity and furthering people to people engagement. we think the news story -- we thank the new leadership team for seeing the project through and for being projects -- partners with us at the state department. we know it is a difficult time in the region. inspiring leaders like the wall give us hope and inspiration that the future is going to be much brighter and prosperous. on behalf of the state department, i would like to

thank you all. we look forward to a great morning of your stories and what is to come. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, andy. send our appreciation to your colleagues in jerusalem. you are going to hear some wonderful speakers from the region. then you are going to hear some accents from ireland and south africa. let me explain the context for why these young people are on the panel engaged in this conversation. as the secretary of state meets with other world leaders to discuss syria, every conflict in the world, while it is local, has an influence on the global compensation. when we are working with the middle east and their path to peace, it is not a novel idea. you can go to northern ireland

in you can see people there who have that same struggle. and you can go to south africa and you can see people there who are on that same path. this program, a new story leadership, is not just an issue-based program around the middle east question. it connects young people across the globe. one of the reasons we have these panels from other parts of the world to be part of the compensation is bad -- that nsl is also their story. i have been the director putting stories to work in peace education. we had a chance to build an irish peace program called the washington ireland program. we have people here who are alumni of that program. a few years ago, we got together

and created a south african program. you will hear from alumni from the south african program. in 2009, alumni from the ivars program and the south african program came together with us with the inspiration to say, young people from the north of ireland and the south of ireland and people from the rainbow republic of south africa, they get the chance to be in south -- in washington to learn the american story and learn to tell their story. why not young people from the west bank and gaza and israel? in 2009, that team assembled and put together a plan, which you see the outcome of today. some of the original planners are here today, taking a chance to look back on the baby they created and to look forward and dream of even greater possibilities.

before i handed over to megan, i just want to say that your support here means so much to us and to the young people. you cannot create a new story unless you create a new audience. and you are that new audience. if you want to follow up on facebook, new story leadership /facebook. if you want to check the website, brilliantly designed by michael, newstoryleadership.org. the story is unfold ing. do not miss out. without any further ado, i would like to hand it over to mate again -- megan. [applause] >> thank you, paul.

i am on the management team of new story leadership. i will be facilitating the speakers on this panel this morning. i would like to call nitzan regev-sanders to the podium. [applause] >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. my name is nitzan regev-sanders. i am an israeli and i served 21 years in the israeli defense department. my father was an air navigator in the israeli air force. i was born and raised in israeli army bases. i was drafted into the israeli army the day i was born. the bases were always surrounded by guards. i was allowed to be independent

from a young age. the experience of growing up on army bases was also speckled with fear. fathers and friends around me died or were injured. i had a terrifying feeling that something horrible might happen to my own father. as a young girl, i remember looking out the window of our small house and every officer who used to pass by killed me with terror that he might take the right turn and go on the pathway leading to my house, not on the door, and give me some horrible news. that not never came. it did make me realize in an innocent, childlike way, that the only way i could save my dad would be by creating peace. i used to think to myself, if

only i had the chance to talk to people -- the palestinians and explain to them that we are actually good people. in the place i grew up, we used to hold weekly meetings of the u.s. movement. in one of the meetings, a guy who was 16 years old took duct tape and divided the room. she asked us to pick a side. she said, whoever believes that land is worth more than human life go to the right side of the room. whoever believes human life is worth more than land, go to the right side -- left side of the room. even though i was 8 years old, the answer was obvious. he met life is more important than land. as i turned around, i was stunned. i was the only one standing on the side of humanity. that was the first time in my

life where i took a stand. little did i know how defining that moment would come to be in my life. even though i was just a young girl, i was not ashamed of being the odd person out. i was proud of my choice. even as i grew older and became a teenager and me and my family moved out of the army bases and moved into a small suburb, the israeli defense forces continue to play an important part in my life, as it did for many other teenagers in israel. when you go to high school, i presume you are preoccupied with grades to get into the best college you can. in israel, most of the israelis are preoccupied with israeli defense forces examinations. most of us are not encouraged to take football or cheerleading as

their activity. we are encouraged to take combat capacity courses as part of our preparation for the army. in a way, we grow with the understanding that the army is our destiny and our goal. we are raised to be fighters like our fathers and grandfathers were. in fact, just before i came to washington, i had an interesting conversation with my grandfather in the back yard of my house. he was sharing stories from the formation of israel and the fight for israeli independence. he asked me, what is the point of you going to washington? what the point of doing a program like nsl. i paused for a second and i took a deep breath. i said, you fought in 1948 to create a secure space for your

children and grandchildren and the entire jewish population. i love israel just as much as you do. but the fight is not yet over. today, we need to fight to create a peaceful future for our children, our grandchildren and all human beings living in our region. my grandfather smiled at me. i think he understood. and now, i stand in front of you today a fighter, but a fighter from a different time. i am fighting because -- so that my children will not have to go into the army when they are 18. i am fighting now so that my children will be able to play on the same playground as palestinian children. i am fighting now to create a better, brighter, and integrated future for israeli and palestinian societies.

you might say i am is a dreamer. but i am not the only one. 18 years ago, when i was 18 years ago -- 18 years old, i know longer stand alone. there are friends i have gathered throughout my life, israelis and palestinians. it includes palestinians who are fighting for peace in israel. and it includes my palestinian hostess. we had been living together for the last three weeks. we have gone through a lot together, including three -- two trips to the emergency room and and a long power outage. what binds us most is our -- and a long power outage. what binds us most is our fight for change.

we will not quit until we ignite the spark of change. it also is standing in front of you today and i am in writing you, purging you to come and -- inviting you, urging you to join us on our side of the line for theltimate fight for peace. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, nitzan. now i would like to call yara owayyed to the podium. [applause] >> hi.

what will you do if i burn your hair, my classmate asked? he had a lighter in one hand and a lighter in the other. i nervously laughed and told him, you will not burn my hair. but a second later, my hair was on fire. ladies and gentlemen, my name is yara owayyed. i am 24 years old. i am a palestinian citizen of israel. during the armed conflict of 1948, we would not leave our home. we remained in the land that became israeli territory after the war. we were granted citizenship in 1966. my family comes from a small village in the north of israel that houses the jewish community that i was born and raised in.

beautiful jerusalem. until the six bank -- xith -- sixth grade, i enjoy it -- i attended a jewish school. as a young girl, i was fascinated watching bill clinton on tv standing in front of the white house speaking to the enormous crowds of people. reporters were so eager to capture a snapshot of this figure that radiated power. one day, when i was 9 years old, the same day that my hostess shows the side of humanity, i decided to play pretend. instead of having tea with my dolls and teddy bears, i turned the table into a podium. i remember myself standing in

the middle of the room talking and laughing and smiling, imagine that my dolls and teddy bears were the crowds that stood in front of the white house. my mother came home to find her beautiful living room as the with my toys and tables. she was furious. she asked me, what were you thinking? i wanted to be like that man in front of that house who was white. a mother told me i could not be president of the usa because i am not an american. little did i understand that the u.s.a. was not my country. in a later stage of life, i could become president of my land. i was unaware of the complications and the real meaning of being a palestinian inside the state of israel. a few months ago, while i was working at the ministry of justice in israel, i was engaged in a conversation with a co-worker.

my co-worker jokingly said, when you become attorney general one day, you can change things around the office. an official told her, not to put ideas in my head. i was a strong level headed woman with both feet on the ground. i could handle the fact that we would probably not have an arab attorney general. they are out life, i have struggled to overcome prejudice and discrimination based on nationality and religion. when i was 9 and what i was 17, i was faced with the cruel reality that being a palestinian in a jewish state meant being a second-class citizen. when i was 13, my house was appropriated by the state of israel to build a road. when i was 16, jewish classmate

burned my ear because i was palestinian. but the young woman in front of you is nothing like the fragile high school student i was. i have graduated from law and i was the first palestinian israeli to be a clerk in the high justice department in the state attorney's office. i have passed the bar exams. now i am is studying at the law library of congress and i am attending columbia law school for postgraduate studies. despite the obstacles i have encountered, or maybe because of them, i did not give up and i never will. i no longer want to be bound by my nationality. i no longer want to be treated as an inferior. i no longer want to feel like a stranger in my own land. president john kennedy became

the first irish catholic to head the nation. president barack obama became the first president -- first black president. how many men and women of ability have been denied the opportunity to contribute to the american nation because of the color of their skin? i am where i am today because of my determination. people tell me that i cannot and i work hard enough to tell them that i can. i am speaking at a real podium and not at my mother's table. today, i am speaking in front of you and not in front of my dolls and teddy bears. the slack asked not to be denied the opportunities i and so many others dream of -- i asked not to be denied the opportunities i and so many others dream of. we want to destroy the problems that unite -- focus on the

problems that unite us. we want to shake a better future for society as equal human beings -- shape a better society for equal -- as equal human beings. those cripples -- ripple will build a tide. the tourist needs to be passed. there is no doubt that both my people, israelis and palestinians alike, are strong, determined to make the sacrifice. let us sacrifice our burdens. let us use in this determination. -- use endless determination.

we will make a change, so let us begin. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, yara. i would now like to introduce rikus wessels to the stand. [applause] >> good day ladies and gentlemen. i feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to hear from our two speakers. i want to use this opportunity to relate my south african experience to the stories they told. first, i would like to introduce myself. my name is rikus wessels and i am a white african. i come from a farming family in

south africa. born in a small town that means peace and later attended high school in the beautiful south african town of bethlehem. it is a part of the management team of 2012, following in the footsteps of the african co- founder. . i am an alumnus of nsl. it is important for nsl students to get perspectives from other societies and other struggles. i was brought up in a traditional society. my family has been in south africa since the 18th century. i may be white, and i know that white boys cannot dance, but i

still feel the rhythm of the african drum. i may not speak with clicks, but i speak with the africans. in my voice. my personal story as a white african male does relate to yara's story. i also questioned my role in the land where i grew up. losing power led to some people losing their identity. my identity is not associated with power. it is one associated with heritage. it is one associated with the land i grew up in. i could move to australia and canada -- or canada, but i do not want to because i feel i belong in africa. i feel my fellow countrymen be long in africa. it is the irresponsibility of the south african citizens to build a nation -- the response

ability -- responsibility of south african citizens to build a nation. if we all had to go back to where we came from, we would all end up in the same place. we are all connected to time. we are shaped by change and then divided by conflict. after hearing nitzan and yara's story, i cannot, as a south african, envisioned the conflict in the middle east. it is not my place to give a solution. but i can give my opinion. the struggle is not over. the peaceful transition to the new south africa is a transition still in progress. grandfather'san's

pursuit for peace or his people is still in progress. in order for south africans to shape the rainbow nation, they need to follow a road paved with hope, acceptance, and the forgiveness. they need to reach a compromise with their fellow travelers. the road to peace in south africa and the road to peace in palestine and israel are completely different. although the conflicts differ, the main destinations seems to be the same. hope should play a role in building a road. and compromise should be used to determine the distance. people like yara and nutzan -- nitzan had already started the road to peace. they need to pick up a fellow

travelers along the way. where is our men della? -- our mandella? the journey for peace in the middle east has already begun. the time to join is now. one of the most important lessons one can learn from the south african struggle is that one needs to have a vision of peace and one needs to reach a compromise with your opponent in order to reach a place of peace. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, rikus. i would now like to call john callaghan to the podium. [applause]

>> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. my name is john callaghan. i am a recent graduate of trinity college in dublin. i was a member of the startup team of nsl in 2009. i wasn't like it here to speak with you today on two point. firstly, as someone who grew up against the background of violence in northern ireland, i was asked to consider what response or what inside our conflict could give to israeli and palestinian speakers that you see before you today. for nitzan to change her fight to a fight for peace.

i was asked to compare the nsl of 2012 to beat nfl we hoped for and magic in 2009. first things first. i feel like this is an important point. mine is a good news story. i feel like today there are far too few of them out there. it is a good news story not only because today, on the island of ireland, we have peace, but because the piece that has been secured there is a lasting peace e that has been secured there is a lasting peace. last week, martin mcguinness, a former member of the terrorist organization, the ira, welcome and shook hands with queen elizabeth ii on her recent this

it. each of them had plenty -- on her recent visit. each of them had plenty of reasons to avoid that gesture. as martin mcguinness which her safe passage and well wishes and she, dressed in her green down, white gloves, and gold brooch, smiled back at him. it was clear that between them, a feeling of goodwill was there. i do not think any of us are naive enough to think that what happened in northern ireland can be applied to palestine. each situation has its own intricate and fragile complexities.

each has to find their own route to peace through the kaleidoscope of road maps and peace plans, negotiations and handshakes. what one conflict can take from the other is a reason to hope. although that is possibly the least practical and maybe even most improbable lesson that someone could take from northern ireland, it also has the greatest potential to possibly change the future incrementally and fundamentally. ours was considered the most intractable conflict zone in the world. today, it is a beacon for peace. there was nothing special, magical, or inexplicable about how northern ireland got to where it is today. that peace was built and it is

still being built brick by brick on a foundation of hope and a willingness to work together. there is a well repeated phrase that is important to the core concept of nsl and its predecessors. it goes, never underestimate the transformational power of personal relationships. maybe the world will not pay as much attention to nitzan and yara as it did to martin mcguinness and queen elizabeth. but theirs is a story just as no authority, just as important, and just as " inspiring -- just as important, just as inspiring. we must take hope because that is truly a relationship that could change the world. in 2009, as we work toward

getting our fledgling program off of the ground, is this what i had imagined? well, no, because these speakers and this program and this audience of people who i hope a guest but we are all about is more than i hope for. and i still have a lot more hope. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, john. i would now like to initiate our first question and answer session of the morning. if you have a question, please raise your hand and someone with a microphone will come around to your seat. before you ask your question, please say your name and address your question to the chair person, which is me. so i guess we will begin now if anyone has a question.

>> my name is ira. i wanted to ask the panel list -- panelists what they envision in terms of a political solution? >> that is the question that is on everyone's mind. if we had the solution, we probably would have already gotten to it. we are here to try to reach some kind of understanding. i believe that only when we acknowledge and get the chance to know each other will we have an actual chance of making a solution.

to be honest, i do not believe that after a handshake, if it will happen, the conflict will be over. it will still continue. only after the two communities reach the understanding that we are both here to stay and we have to create a joint future -- only then will we be able to reach a solution. thank you. >> yara? >> as i said in my speech, it is a question of determination. when the two sides really want peace, we will create peace. our leaders have no kind of determination and no kind of desire to end this conflict. as i said before -- you have heard this metaphor. with a rotten salad, you take a bowl and put in all of the the

vegetables you can think of. after five years after 10 years and 15 years, we still have the same salad. accept this time we flipped it a bit over. the prime minister becomes the minister of defence. -- defense. what we really need is new leadership and a new voice to make a change. >> i am with americans for peace. we partner with the american task force for palestine in a program that dovetails with the new story leadership. we host the palestinian interns. both of the interns are here in the room.

they are proud to be a part of this program. my question is a follow-up to the one that was asked. yara, how to use see the impact of the future and the resolution of the israeli- palestinian conflict on the state of israel? how will it improve? will it improve the lives of the citizens in the state of israel? >> thank you. >> i would hope that when there is a solution and there is a new palestinian state, the state of israel will treat its citizens equally and i will not be looked upon as an inferior and i will be looked upon as an equal citizen in the state of israel. >> i have a question for nitzan.

mitchell. i wonder if you can give me some examples of what you can -- what you are doing in your fight for peace, concrete examples. and also, give us an assessment of how that fits into the general climate you see in israel. is it a growing movement? is it a diminishing movement? your assessment of where that fits in the landscape. >> thank you. personally, my serious fight started two years ago when i joined a program that brings young israelis and palestinians together in order to study and live together for three years. that was the first time i was actually able to meet palestinians on equal ground and be able to talk to them.

i live in london currently. i am also taking part in an organization called palestine place. it is an art gallery and i am and organizer for an organization that presents films about the region once every month. about the assessment, i would have to say that at the moment, i do have hope. i see people joining our struggle. but at the moment, i see a decline in the left wing approach of the israelis. i see an up rise in violence and racism. i see desegregation between the two communities going farther and farther apart at the moment. i believe there will be a new beginning. the new generation will be able

to put its boys -- voice out more and we will be able to convince people of the way we see things. >> i have a question for yara and nitzan. can you describe what is the most surprising thing you have learned about each other that will help you going forward? >> yara, would you like to go first? >> a few months ago, i got an e- mail from paul telling me how similar we were. i did not believe that. meeting nitzan on the first day, i realized something was there. spending three weeks chatting and talking until late hours, i realize how much we have in common and how much passion we have to make our country a

better place. there are some people out there who have the passion needed. our communities back home laxity enthusiasm to make change. finding this minority here is something that -- lacks the enthusiasm to make change. fighting this minority here is something that blew my mind. >> as you can see, she is quite small and cute and pretty. but she is such a small -- such a strong woman. on the first impression, you did not release the it. she is so -- really see it. she is so strong and so determined. we thought we should start a new party in israel that would bring about change. what is surprising is our determination and also the fact that i met someone that i can

feel like -- that i feel like i can cooperate with in the future. >> likewise. [laughter] [applause] >> hi. i come from the south african washington international program. my question is for yara and nitzan. the single most important moment that happens with apartheid was in 1976 when the youth of the country said enough was enough and they stood up to the system. i see something quite similar to that in palestine. what do you think you need to do to get the units on both sides to have that 1976 moment -- youth on both sides to have that

1976 moment? what are your views on that? >> as i referred to in my speech, at the moment, there are tens of thousands of young israelis that are calling for social justice. at the moment, they are not referring specifically to the palestinian-israeli conflict. it does give us more hope that the young generation is putting itself out there. hopefully, as we get to have our voices heard, we will have the opportunity to show ourselves as cooperating young adults. then more people are on the streets -- that are out there now. we just need to deliver the message and make them hear that message. we already have the group. we just have to adjust to the right goals.

>> personally, i would like to add that after i finished my studies at columbia law school, i will go back to the region to try to bring change from down to the top. maybe one day, who knows, maybe i can become president of my country. hopefully. >> thank you for your time. i am from palestine. just to follow up on your statement, nitzan, you said you are witnessing a surge in racism and violence. in palestine, it is similar. recently, i came across several articles that targeted programs of a similar nature. how do you guys experience that

at all -- if at all and how did you overcome it? >> this is something that has come about a lot in this -- in discussions lately. many people define it in different ways. if you define -- these organizations are perpetuating the conflict because they are built on it. i disagree with that statement. when i was living in israel, the conflict was normal for me. i was living my regular, normal life. usually, the conflict was far from sight and far from mind. once i joined these programs i am in, i cannot ignore it any more. i feel the urgency for a solution much more than i felt before i joined this program. that is what i think is the most

important thing here. we are bringing the conflict in default lines, even for people who've lived the conflict -- to the front lines, even for people who have led to the conflict. >> we have the option to the this it down and wait for someone to be our mandella or you do something. the fact that you have 10 people here today who want peace and change, that is much better than sitting down and waiting for someone to take the lead. [applause] >> i have a question about a gender gap. the leadership in palestine and israel is mail -- male and it is also older. the question is, is there a

gender gap in palestine and israel? how do you intend to proceed. >> thank you for the question. in israel and palestine, we lack women and that is something that is sorrow for -- sorrowful. today, we have a few really strong women in the group. a lot of us are going back home to lead our communities. i personally would love to be president. i just need the right -- to be one. i will be more involved in politics and create a party and run the country. join us. [laughter]

>> i am the treasurer of nsl. you can tell i really have my heart in this. my question is to all four of you. some people might ask, why washington, d.c.? none of your issues take place here. what do you get from being here as opposed to in your own country doing the same thing? >> we will start with john. >> one of the great things about these programs is that they don't take place at home. it take you to a place that is neutral, basically, which is the first step to open dialogue. also the fact that washington, d.c. is the powerhouse of world politics. it is where so many of the world leaders converge.

it is a great place to, and to experience some inspiring people. we all take a lot from that in just seeing how diplomacy works firsthand. that is the best reason to come to d.c. >> i have to agree with john on that. d.c. is the perfect international platform where we can go from our own country and come here to interact with leaders from all parts of the world. we can learn more about ourselves and the different peace organizations here. we have a chance to listen to other people's stories. it is an international platform for me and it makes it a worthwhile program to be in. >> i would like to add that being here in washington, d.c.

away from the concerns of the conflict is amazing. it allows us to expand our horizons and meet new people. everything is happening here. just being here and having the privilege of sitting here talking to you and meeting all of the international people in the seat deeply enhances our leadership skills. >> this means we can meet here because back home, is released from israel, and palestinians from the west bank and data cannot meet. it is impossible. we need to have an international place where we can all meet together. here we have a platform to talk to american policy makers, and no how america is involved in

our conflict. i think it is one of the most important things of the program, that we are able to speak our minds and let our voices be heard inside of american audiences. >> i am interning here in d.c. hear it this summer. my question is, for each of you, where to you see yourselves in 10 years? it would be nice if we know about you, and the second question is, we have a palestinian on the panel. have you reached out to the palestinians from the west bank and gaza, or is it only focus to the israeli palestinians? thank you. >> four of my friends are

palestinie. focus of the program are not only those who live in israel, but it focuses on the whole region. the diversity of people here is amazing. in 10 years, you know where i hoped to be. >> that is quite a difficult question, and i am not sure i want to be when i grow up. i believe i would want to make some kind of change, so i think i will follow up on the best direction i can do that. if opening a new ngo, children meeting together six months or so, or will it be to work with human rights organizations or with the u.n.? whenever i would feel that at the moment in order to promote peace in our region. >> i would like add that maybe i

would like to quickly to say that we have individuals from various areas, and we have five amazing israelis sitting in the audience, and i hope you will have a chance to chat with them later on. >> [unintelligible] >> in 10 years' time i will probably be an officer for a political party. other than that, i see myself working with enter cultural dialogue. it is an amazing experience to see how somebody's life can change when they meet somebody from a different part of the

world, and that is something i would love to be involved with. >> i personally would love to answer the irish diplomatic corporate i hope in 10 years' time i am still involved in a program like nsl that is no longer dealing with current violence, but as the harris program has moved forward, and to build a sustainable peace, and that for me will be a great place to be in 10 years' time. >> we will only take a few more questions, so -- >> hello. my name is -- i am mexican-iranian, and i am a citizen of the world. my question -- first of all, thank you so much for allowing

us to know your stories. it is new for me to hear your stories. you are such an inspirational group. how can someone like me -- i live in mexico -- i just came here for the summer -- how can i have an effect, how can i felt help, and how can people around the world help on this issue, because i've been following up for several years, and i feel truly impotent. i walked to congress, where the brunt to speak about peace, they ended up how they want to continue being divided, and it makes me feel really small sometimes, because politicians are very hard-minded sometimes. i want to know how can someone like me can help and contribute

to make a solution? thank you. >> if i can maybe at your question, and although i am not from the region, i would prefer to robert kennedy's speech. he was an american visiting south africa rak, and he knew some people who named their children kennedy or robert after he visited south africa. it is about raising awareness and knowing you are not small in this. by speaking up, you release a ripple that would touch another ripple, and in the end, helped to ignite the change. >> well, i will answer it in two parts. there is a very famous helen keller quotation that said keller quotation"the world is not pushed by the only by the purchase of the hearings, but by the tiny pushes of each and every one of the honest workers

." each and everyone of us, every time a person, when we push, we can to get a move the world. i would like to ask that maybe you would like to listen to diane's speech and see how as an international living in the region -- >> i would just add a small,. thank you so much. i thought he spoke very nicely. i see myself as a global citizen. another aspect in which he can take part in the solution is through social media. social media has so much power at the moment in helping resolve these kinds of conflicts. there is the nsl news story leadership facebook page which you can join. there are different facebook pages, a lot of different other organizations that have pages and which can engage in

conversations and care about conferences and the process. it is all out there. just go for it, and if you want, i will talk a bit more to you personally after this. write blogs, and they have fascinating things to say. >> i want to relate something interesting that happened a few weeks ago at the pentagon city mall. uighur talking to someone in the store, and they said they were from bethlehem. the lady staring at them and said, bethlehem, yeah, this somewhere in the middle east. palestinians, that is a religion, right? another suggestion would be not to be ignorant about the fact if you want to be involved in the

conflict or you want to help, just know the facts, get the facts straight, and raise awareness with others. that is the most important part as we said. >> this will be our last question. >> if folks want to help on this particular program, go to our website. folks in the television audience, it is www.new storyleadership.org. if you can help that is another way to get involved. sorry for the paid announcement. >> thank you, bob. >> now perhaps our final question. >> hi.

i would like to ask the panel, given that we are here in d.c., i would like to ask about the american role in the conflict. it seems to have been a -- role so far. i'm wondering if american policy makers will not become so neutral. thank you. >> yeah, if you would like to go first. >> saw help basinet i was with bill clinton, and that was for the simple reason the news, the united states is always there. it is very involved with the conflict when the american voters go to the polls and vote, they do not think that their vote will tremendously affect

our lives back home. as i said a few minutes ago, this lady that said palestinians is a religion, she will affect my future. i want the american people to be more educated and know that what they do here affects the lives of other people around the war, whether in palestine or syria, or afghanistan, people are affected by the people in the united states. >> we will now have a 20-minute break. there are food items and water bottles and sodas in the back. [applause] >> some news on capitol hill during this fourth of july week break. politico reports a michigan representative announced he is resigning after five terms. he failed to qualify for the

primary ballot after most of his petition signatures were found to be fraudulent. he represented michigan's 11th district. the president and his campaign bus tour through ohio and pennsylvania at carnegie mellon university in pittsburgh. talked about fighting for each america during his time in office, and he called on reporters the state -- citizen supporters to stand by him in november. on c-span3, american history tv with a look at resistance to slavery, starting at 8:00 p.m. with of life of robert smalls, who served south carolina in the u.s. house. at 10:00, details on how

fugitive slaves escape to canada, mexico, and the caribbean. >> tax reform should focus on the results that we want. it can create jobs. it can start -- part innovation. it can expand opportunity. it can guarantee our competitiveness. and put america back on top. >> you can talk about goals all you want. we have put up stop signs, we have put up stop lights, and none of it ever changes congress' behavior. >> from the time i had lost control of the committee and went out for a beer with my chief of staff, and we called for a bill of 25% rate, top, give us the mortgage interest deduction. >> you could make the advantages the home owners much more progressive.

what we did was to convert the home mortgage deduction to a tax credit at our lower rate. >> changing the tax code, yesterday and today. current and former lawmakers of the bipartisan policy center on the policies -- battles won and lost. >> we had pulled in around 9:30 that morning. we had more of the ship to appear in the harbor. >> the events surrounding the october, 2000, attack that left people dead. >> at 11:18 in the morning there was a thunderous explosion. you could feel all 800 tons of destroyer thrust up and to the right. it is likely seemed to hang for

a second in the air. the ship was doing this odd twisting. we came back down on the water, lights went out, and everything on my desk with it up about a foot, slammed back down. i grabbed the other side of my desk. >> kirk lippold sunday at 8:00 "q &a."an's > good morning, and i hope yu

are ignoring the program as much as i am, because i am not megan siritzky. my name is patrick, and i will be cheering this second panel. the first speaker is walid issa from palestine. walid? [applause] >> first come on i would like to thank everybody for being here. this is not part of my speech, but i feel the need to say it. the key, everybody, but i would like to thank jane and bob for their generosity and for their hospitality, and thank you for accepting me as a son in your

house. it has been wonderful, and thank you so much. i do not know what i can do to appreciate that. i want to thank my host brother for being patient with me when i am rushing thing, getting things ready. thank you. peace, shalom. my name is walid issa. i am a palestinian from bethlehem. i grew up with five sisters and three brothers. my family is very rich when it comes to care and compassion. even though we are not -- corrupt in the beautiful land of the occupied palestine. i grew up loving my identity, my history, and my culture. i can tell you i can hear the echo of my grandfather's stories about the glory of palestine. my grandfather planted a seed of

love for my country that has grown to be a strong tree in my heart. it was a sunny, beautiful spring day in palestine. on march 23, 2003, i was 16 years old. i was out with some friends at a coffee shop in the heart of the city of bethlehem. i can still remember the smell of the coffee mixed with the scent of spices in the air, you know? i was sitting next to the door when i saw a car. the car that i recognized, coming toward the coffee shop. i realized that was my school teacher's car. him and his daughter christina were in it. my teacher had taught me most of my the values as a little kid

growing up. naturally, without thinking, i ran outside to wave and greet him outside a coffee shop. all the sudden, a big white van swerved toward us from the other direction, trapping the in the middle. three scary looking men holding automatic guns jumped out of the van and a their weapons at my teacher's car. my heart was written. i ran back to the coffee shop in panic. i appeared out of the little window by the door. the three big scary man started showering my teacher's car with bullets. i try to focus in the car. but the bullets had smashed through the back window and slowly the faces in the car had

disappeared. i could not see christina's beautiful face anymore. all i could see was blood everywhere. in less than two minutes, this year man had left and the streets became silent. i ran out of the coffee shop to go and check on my teacher and his daughter. but as a 16-year-old, i could do nothing, i could do nothing but wipe the blood with my shirt. i cried, i screamed for help. finally, my dad came and got to be home. on that day, i stopped seeing bethlehem as a holy land. i stopped seeing palestine as a holy land. all i wanted to do was leave, run as far away as i could. i decided that when i grew up i will get myself the biggest ak- 47 in the world, big enough to

kill those men who killed my childhood. my family tried to help me transfer all these negative energies and eight that i had planted in my heart into something that would make me appreciate life again. through their efforts, i finished school and was accepted into a program called art for p eace. i would go to the u.s., spend the summer there, and come back to my ak-47 for revenge. nevertheless, it was a critical point in my life. i met jews from guatemala, native americans, and white americans. they were still connecting with people from different backgrounds, i learned to

appreciate culturists and value ethnicity. i understood how important it was to be open-minded and be educated to make a real difference. i did go back to palestine and i finished high school, but because of the limited resources of my family, i could not make it into college at home. i met a person who was so generous to help me get accepted into college in the united states, hosted the at her house, and accepted me as her son. i recently graduated from the university in minnesota. ever since i was a little kid, dream was to celebrate my success with my family. unfortunately, my parents did not get a visa to come to my graduation ceremony. my parents never got to see my school. my parents never got to meet my

friends. as a family-oriented person, i began wondering, is this really a success if i cannot share it with my family? what matters more to me, my identity or my security? my heart is torn. i do not want my life to be in the hands of scary man in a big white van appeared i did not want my kids to grow up in fear. i do not want my kids to miss the sun because there is a huge wall surrounding our house. i do not want a 17-year-old kid on a checkpoint near my home to control my freedom. i also did not want to be silent. by place is not in the corner. i need to go back, i need to share my happiness and my sadness with my family and my community. i meet palestine to be part of my daily life.

-- i need palestine to be part of my daily life. i proud of my identity, and i need my kids to know their culture and share my belief and my love for my heritage. it was the same -- it was this that made me realize that i had to do something, go back and make my homeland a safer place for my children, my nieces, and my family. i need to take a part in this and help to create new, better stories for the middle east. my friends, i am standing here today with these nine incredible people, because peace is not god bless get on our trip peace is people's give to each other. i am here today with a new story leadership because in the near future i will start a family in

the little town of bethlehem, and one day hopefully i will have a daughter. my daughter will grow up with happiness and love. my daughter will graduate from college. and i promise each one of you i will not miss her graduation. i will not -- i will be sitting with her mother in the first row, cheering for her, and cheering for her success. and i know, like his brother and his daughter will also be sharing her success. let us no longer be silent. let us no longer live in fear. let us no longer accept life that we have been dealing with. let us start creating our own lives, our own future. plato once said we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of

the dark. there is a tragedy of life, when men are afraid of the light. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, for sharing your dreams and your vision for a better future. our next speaker is by turning -- guy cherni. >> they come up patrick. thank all of you for coming. you have to excuse me for my accent. thank you for accepting the in your home. thank you all again.

my name is guy, and i am an israeli. i was born and raised in the most beautiful place in the world. jerusalem. both families escaped extermination in europe. i live a secular, everyday life on the one hand, but with tradition as a strong guideline on the other. for me, the most important part of that tradition is the jewish moral code, which was famously said a rise by the immortal sentence, "love the other as you love yourself." the importance of this code dates back to my childhood. like my parents before becoming i was growing up on the values of the zionist beliefs. democracy and equality to all. as well as adherence to the

jewish religion and the state of israel. the same about you that our country would establish -- was established on by our forefathers. my parents sent me to a unique school, a labor movement one. it was situated in a disadvantaged neighborhood. the main objective of this school was to integrate kids from this neighborhood, this disadvantaged neighborhood, when other kids from more privileged backgrounds that came to the school for the same purpose. it was that school that i guessed it was in that school that i first learned the importance of really getting to know other societies. only when you meet them, face- to-face, hear their stories, and understand them, only then you can gain trust to operate and try to build something together. unlike many other israelis, the

disadvantaged population from this neighborhood was not the only disadvantaged population i have encountered. as a young man in jerusalem, i met israeli arabs and palestinians on a daily basis where i worked. we always enjoyed good relationships and mutual respect. i always took that as a sign of fruitfula future. after the intifada, palestinians stopped going to work, a powerful sense of uncertainty permeated the air, followed by the sense of fear. the light of hope by a mountain of doubts and red. as we know, fruit cannot grow in

the dark. trust was lost. two years later i'm with one of the palestinians i used to work with. he was an undocumented worker in jerusalem. seeing his recognizable tattooed arm serving my dish pleasantly surprised me. we had a quiet chat about old times, old faces and old stories. we laughed a lot. he was the same person i knew and i was very, very fond of him. that unexpected meeting made me think. i thought about our current situation. and i decided that things can be different. i knew that there is still hope but i also knew there are no instant solutions. we like to rapid solutions so much though. instant food, executive summaries.

in this modern times, we have lost our ability for long-term thinking and our capacity to be patient. we have learned the hard way that we can't just put our leaders in a room, make them talk, sign agreements and hope 0 for a better future, rights and freedoms. this freedom is not free. we have to invest time in it. leaders talk down solutions are necessary. but they have to be in tandem with society bottom-up solution of building trust inside two communities in a direct way. and this process takes time and effort. i don't know yet what is the best way of doing that but i do know our leaders have big influence on our impression that dialogue is impossible and that's the reason i am here now.

i and the other people you have heard today are very different from each other. we come from different places and different background. we have different opinions about our conflict and how we should resolve it. what binds us together is our willingness to get to know each other. and believe that trust can be regained by this process. change demands the quality of youth, one great american stateman once said. we are the young generation and there comes a time that young people get tired, tired of stalemate. we, the young generation, respect our past but unlike some of our leaders, we don't want to live it. we, the young generation, want to live for the future. this is why we, the young generation, are eager to start

now. let us begin anew. gaining trust that we will build platform for future solutions. it's a long progress full of obstacles and it will not be finished in a seven-week program. nor can it be finished in three years. nor can it be finished in 64 years, as we all have learned. but let us begin. we are here to take this first step towards it. now is the time to take our bread and prayers and start climbing the shadowy mountain. we are here to take the first step towards this shadowy mountain towards the path for new trust. we are old and experienced enough to see obstacles and dangers of this road but we are still young enough to dream, to believe that change is possible and fear can be defeated.

thank you. [applause] >> thank you, guy. and now dan hali will be speaking about how n.s.l. came together. >> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> i have the daunting task of not only to speak last this morning but also to have to follow these two amazing interventions and the earlier speeches that you heard today. any name is diane halley. everyone calls me dee. i'm from the santa gardens.

i'm a washington program graduate and alum from 2001, which is the program paul spoke to you about earlier, which is actually my first time in washington, d.c. and in the u.s i under took my initial visit to the middle i'm also, as patrick said, a co-founder for new story leadership east while working as a human rights and their ability

to get on with life because they just had to.

at the same time i remember learning of the fear and anxiety that israelis live with every day as rockets are fired from gaza towards southern israel. this entire experience awakened in me a desire to find a way to continue to work in support of palestine and israel and young people in this important part of the world w regard to my washington ireland program experience over 10 years ago, i always felt a sense of indebtedness to the program, which john, who you met earlier this morning on the first panel, is also my fellow alum. so reconnecting with paul costello on facebook in 2009 presented me with an opportunity to give back by returning to d.c. to help him build a new

program called new story leadership for the middle east. i became part of a wonderful setup team comprising of john callahan, who you met this morning, olivier, who is a fellow alum, fadia, who is in the audience today, and a number of others who came afterwards. we came together as former alumni so as to afford the same opportunity we had to our peers in palestine and israel. the last three years working in ramallah as part of the humanitarian mission supporting the palestinian security and justice institutions. while in the region i continued to it stay involved in n.s.l. and i hosted paul, the director, why he came to jerusalem to

recruit for the program each spring. and each year we host a gathering of n.s.l. candidates and alums in my apartment in jerusalem, which is situated right next to the famous . where mca and king david hotel landmarks. and it's here where i have had the privilege of my home being the stage for n.s.l. there have been occasions when an israeli has met a palestine for the first time and vice versa. now looking to my personal experience of having lived in an observant israeli-jewish building in west jerusalem, and having worked in ramallah with many palestinian arab colleagues and counterparts. i have reflected upon the role of the international working in this important region. i have sometimes felt that my role has been to inform and

sensitize one side about the other. when my israeli friends heard that i traveled to ramallah every day, they sometimes believed me to be crazy that i would put myself in such a perilous situation. that is until i share with them what a vibrant and progressive city ramallah has become. as mary, our former n.s.l. team member would attest to, as she's from ramallah. when asked by my palestinian friends and colleagues, what is it like to live in west jerusalem, i tell them positive stories of my interactions with my israeli-jewish neighbors, my gym instructors, my doctor, my dentist. my role has entailed humanizing one side to the other through my exposure to both. but i would also like to admit that perhaps some members of the

international community took sides with regard to the conflict and have become somewhat polarized by living in the region. when you pass through checkpoints every day with ease because you are an international in a diplomatic vehicle and you see palestinians waiting and waiting to make the same transition in their own country, this is where some internationals can become galvanized to sympathize with one side more than the other. but the boy or girl at the checkpoint is but a teenager being conscripted monitor in such a way as we learned so poignantly. i feel strongly that the israeli-palestinian conflict is far too complex and the international community taking sides does not help. as the famous irish united

nations director once said to me, we must not allow the pendulum to swing too far to one side. several people have asked me in the past few weeks since finishing my position in the region whether i leave with my hope at all. there appears to be somewhat of an immediate assumption that everyone who departs the milled east does so to spirited and resigned. in fact, though, i tell them i'm optimistic for the future. admittedly my work did not involve the political situation between israel and palestine, which leaves many despondent after many years of valiant efforts. my work was specifically geared towards supporting the palestinian authority justice and security institutions as they advanced for fully fledged statehood.

i would say, as would a number of my colleagues, that i'm very hopeful given the capacity i have seen and considering some of the wonderful palestinian individuals i have worked with on various human rights initiative throughout the past three years. i'm now back supporting n.s.l. and seeing an amazing summer of stories unfold. connecting and living again with my host mother patricia bloomfield, who first put me up in d.c. in 2001 is of huge importance to me shen remains one of the truly inspiring women i have met so far in my life. on a final note, what can be the future of n.s.l.? we are now in the midst of our third summer in d.c. where 30 exceptional young individuals such as guy, walid, and others

who have spoken today will have passed through the program. what if we can bring ow israeli and palestinians in even greater numbers next year? and they continue to graduate into a ever-growing n.s.l. alumni network upon their return for they literally reinforce each other personally and professionally to the benefit of new leadership in their region. what if an irish alum, a south african, israeli and palestinian alum were to set up another such program for young people in another conflict-stricken zone in the world, pay it forward to their peers and show the same solidarity to others once shown to them. these are humble but i believe realizeable hopes for n.s.l.'s potential. so this is my final note to say once we finish this morning, if

you want to speak to us in any way about how can you partner with n.s.l. and you can support us and this incredibly surprising group of n.s.l. leaders for the future. please do come and talk to us. thank you for listening. >> we will now begin our second session of q & a. if you have a question, please raise your hand. one of our runnerless give you a mic. also, when you ask a question, just stand up and give us your name. >> my name is patty johnson. i was part of a group of people who have been involved in the israeli-palestinian conflict for a long time. in this group of perhaps 45

people, someone challenged us to come up with in 30 to 50 words what is the palestinian narrative? how many of us can really in an elevator give that elevator speech and be clear about the palestinian narrative? i have challenged other people and i have still not heard it. i would love to pull the challenge out there to all of these brilliant young people and i would love to hear it. thank you. >> very good question. i like it. they announced in bethlehem nativity church as part of the palestine heritage. if you look at the palestine back there's a label that says

it's made in palestine. if you google and look around, you will find more about palestine. i invite to you go and visit. it's very beautiful. if you go there, don't look at the stone. see the people and meet the culture and you will know better. thank you. >> of course, it's a question we can answer when i think maybe this is the main objective of this program is for the two people to meet on the safe ground and talk about those things because as i say in my speech, as i said, we come from different places and see things differently. we see exactly what's beautiful about this program is we can hear each other's stories, each other background and narratives and try to relate it to the palestines and also the palestines to the israelis.

>> my name is pat conover, and i was just wondering if both the tumult but hope of arab spring that has swept across mediterranean region has changed the way you feel about the work you're engaged in, hopes that you're carrying. >> you know, i'm very interested in the evolutions and arabs praying from egypt to syria. you know, the last -- i was talking to my dad the other day. 10 or 15 years ago, i'm sure you know, but 10 or 15 years ago

it's hard for you as an israeli to commun kuwait a palestinian. it's kind of impossible to see what he's doing from day to day of the but for me, every single day i go to facebook in the morning, i check jerusalem posts and i see the times of israel. these are newspapers in israel directed to israeli population, you know. and i go to facebook and other facebook pages and i see what they're up to every single day. the social media now connected people in a very strong way. i found nfl program through a facebook page. my friend founded a facebook group and mentioned something about n.s.l. and that's how i found the nine incredible people here. i feel the new generation with the way they can reach each other through different social

medias, they are now -- they can relate to each other and a palestinian who is a good artist can check an israeli's good artist. file social media and the strong youth, strong new generation, they all make a difference in palestine and israel, if they get to know each other and realize they're both humans and not look at each other as a tank driver or hamas son. thank you. >> just to add to that, i must agree with my friend that what fascinates me about not the offer, how it ends yet because don't know how it will end. it's still in process. i don't know if it's -- i'm not in a position to say. i just think the interesting question is how the arab spring

was possible and it is exactly what walid said. i heard this program as well by facebook and facebook page we had on our website was different platform of which me and walid could talk to each other and argue and not agree and disagree and then agree a little bit more or less. but it is the platform for some kind of change to start. platform that is like i said, the last question is being performed right here and now. this was the thing that was interesting about it. thank you for the question. >> i would just add that having worked with palestinians three years while the arab spring was unfolding, i think as we look to the country where the arab spring emanated from those

movements were mainly led by young people. and i think that underscores that young people could have the power to change regimes and overthrow autocratic dictatorships and that just underlines even more so the premise behind the leadership, the fact young people can create momentum and change. >> my name is gregory robertson. i'm a member of the board of new story leadership and along with paul and joyce and dee and elliot and perhaps others in the room have i been involved since the beginning of the program. i would just like to make a remark and invite the comments of the panel and in a certain sense, extension of something guy said and that is those of us who have been interested and concerned with this problem for a long time, some of us since before some of the panelists were born are sometimes paralyzed by not having or being able to man the answer.

the solution, especially when we hear it's the same leadership being recycled in the country. where there's increased polarization and racism in the country now. i think the young people on the new story are demonstrating, demonstrating not only to each other but also to us, all of us in the room and of us watching this event is the important thing not to have the answer but to engage in a conversation. but to be connected to the process and answer is to emerge out of that process. not just then, but everybody in the room and watching this event. go to the website, new story leadership.org and find out how you can enter the kfings, how you can support us financially to we can ton bring people like this to washington year after

year until as dee said, there's a critical mass of people that have graduated through this program that will announce the solution and the answer. >> thank you. i want to relate to that. i think as i said in my speech, there are no instant solutions. sometimes we try to get them, our leaders from foreign countries to be in the middle and then put together and try to make something quick and think it can be over. it can't. we learned, learned every year in every country something like this happened. need to build the trust. i think that's exactly this is what we here to do. we don't have answers. if we had them, we would not be here. and bringing as much to you can through a program like this will do the effort. but what we're going to do is take this and we're going to move it on in our societies

because because it can just be with people coming here. can you bring all of the visitors and all of the palestinians here. each of us had different perspective how it will part it over. i see the form of community development. this is how i think we should do it. and i think this program also allows us to do the first step towards passing it over. >> i would like to add, in the past stories, there were two stories, violence and illusion of peace. where people get on the table and action and pointing fingers at each other. and trying to prove their point. what amazes me about the new story leadership and why it

actually wanted to be part of this i looked at it as a movement, not a program . when you're bringing people from different sides and me and lee nor having lunch together or guy hiking or doing some activity together looking at each other on a perm level or humanity level. and when we're having lunch, we can actually talk about different issues and that way we can actually understand each other and not actually trying to prove our point. don't like the idea of dialogue as much as i like the idea of neighboring and through things we can do together. i think washington, d.c. is a perfect place where you can see inspiring people. go to the lincoln memorial, jefferson memorial and see how inspiring these people are. and having a discussion there that would inspire us to have a better understanding for each other and move on to talk about

different political issues. when it comes to normalization, when i normalize and do anything. i'm here because i want to have justice and through justice,ly have peace -- i will have peace. thank you so much. >> i am from the bushkill of government services at texas a&m university. i wanted to ask the panelists, how do you take the experience you guys have had sort of on neutral ground and extend that back to people for logistical reasons, not everybody can leave and come to a program like this and not everybody can participate in programs like this are already predisposed to dialogue. how do you take it back to the people who don't already have that perspective? i was wondering if walid can talk about it, because it seems like you came in with a spirit

of revenge and somehow lost that spirit of revenge. how did that snap zp that's a very good question. actual will, i'm studying economics in college. i believe there's a new generation in the middle east and palestine thatville genius ideas, beautiful mind, artists, engineers. a lot of things they can do. and a lot of genius, artists, engineers pro-w.h.o. are productive. i think the best way to change things is let them appreciate each other. and the program for start-ups, like maybe a website like kick-start and funding project where palestinians put their projects in a safe environment to the world and israelis put their projects to artists to the world and that way the palestinians and israelis can realize that humanity is on each side and they can reach out to

where a lot of people are supporting and helping them and that way help the palestines and israelis who are young like us start their project and same way humanity and reach the world. that is my project and what i hopely work on as an economist now, one other thing, we work in a different organization. i work in americans for peace now, which is an organization pro israel and working on an american task for palestine. she's an israeli and organization pro-palestine. we're actually working on a project which is create facebook page where we can connect the media and facebook and twitter and the different media, we can connect the group to the n.s.l. and american task for palestine

and americans for peace now. we can make it, create safe environment where people in the region can meet and talk about ideas and people who live in the u.s. and different colleges or about the region will go and get in touch with them. and some way create a little difference. maybe a small change will maybe create a bigger change in the future. thank you. >> i will just add to that, please, that i think as walid mentioned before one of the most powerful tools we have is social media. social media creates people getting together to create group, create community and community means cooperation and trust and this cooperation and trust to a lot of other things.

which creates the exact same things here which can be cooperation like have i experienced learning with different societies, it could be economical cooperation. and all of these things bring the bottom-up solutions, bring the society together and we have several people here who are willing and have a lot of ideas how to make this maybe social change, and hopefully succeeded with that. >> i just had a question to guy actually. a few years back i met several students from the i.d.c. in israel disciplinary center and we were just out at lunch and discussing stuff. one of the things that struck me the most for the vast majority of group the first palestine i have ever met and such an

institution politically oriented with the government program there, i was a little intrigued by the fact i was the first floin meet and one came up and told me they're a real problematic issue of efficacy in tel aviv and other cities in israel. following up on the previous question how to deliver the message back to israel, cha what kind of challenges do you come across in terms of countering the efficacy and triggering issue in social movement chains? like recent protests in israel rarely highlighted the issue of conflict. how do you find a balance with that kind of issue? thank you. >> thank you for the question. i think in the last panel we talked about the youth movement uprising these days. started last year and gaining force again now.

i think the youth in israel are charging for to lead this country. we want to change things. we want to change our leaders. and there is as i said in my speech, there is sense that get from our leaders sometimes the dialogue is impossible. we know it's a big challenge but i think our generation that is willing to take the first step and this generation doing it here like israeli and palestinians issues and doing it in the streets of tel aviv now with demonstrations of social justice. i think that there is an obstacle to transfer that message into more israelis but i think this is exactly like what

the last question was about, how we try to do it. absolutely youth are changing and they won't change and they are seeking it and going for it. i think we're going to see very new faces in the next almost to come. i hope can come here afterwards and say i told you so. but i really feel that i really believe that i work with a lot of young people in jerusalem, israelis that are very active about social rights and about social justice, people from university students and i believe that they will be there and they will make this change. >> i know the question was for guy but i have been living with

my host family and have i a host brother who is an israeli. since the first day he's been telling me about this genius project he's working on and very passionate about it. the idea is bringing palestinians from college students and israeli college students to study conflict resolution and negotiation at columbia or some university in the u.s. i think there's obstacle and problems in israel but the a compassion and love for the project working on, i think he will succeed in overcome any obstacle or problem. >> thank you. >> we will only be taking a couple more questions.

>> my name is susan. my question is kind of an ee morphous one. there have been in the past in my lifetime what i will call giants in both the muslim world and in the jewish world who have stepped up and created the opportunities for peace on some level and in some limited way. what do you see as having prevented in the last 15, 20 years the emergence of similar giants who are willing to take the risks for peace? >> thank you, susan. thank you for the question. i think that what has stopped this emerge was the

disappointment of future solutions not working and thinking we don't want to deal with it. we don't want to deal with this thinking politics. we don't want to be involved. we want to live our lives. i think as i answered the following question, there is something changing right now. you can feel it in israel everywhere. young people are getting much more involved and the impact is changing. as i say as i'm trying to predict but i think we're going to see the disease that there will be tchash will go into flowers in the next election and trying to move it forward. we have young people here that you met, 10 people in this program that are very activists and that are dealing with these

issues exactly even more even in their place of birth or where they are now. and making a difference is hard, really hard. and here, of course. you will see it soon, i hope. >> i just want to add one more thing. you asked the question and answered the question yourself. as guy hoping for new faces in the election, the giants, the art, huge giants that like the power they have and they are not interested to lose it. so they are willing to change positions but they want to keep the giant power and are not looking to change and take away power f we can change giants and

give hope for the young generations, there will be muslims, jews, christians creating a new different. >> i want to add wonderful things to your question. having worked in ramallah the last three years, i think the issue is accountability. and i think sometimes you have a level of corruption in leadership. and impunity and people stay in power. where i see hope is institutions like palestine anti-corruption commission, independence for human rights. palestine institutions and organizations creating a new sense, greater sense of accountability for leadership emanating from the palestine authority. i do speak on the side of the p.a. and i think both institutions will be very important in the coming years in terms of creating greater accountability for leadership in palestine.

>> does anyone have one last question? yes, ma'am. >> hi, i'm nicole kennedy. i have a little bit of a different question. the first panel spoke about issues in south africa are different than the issues in ireland are different than issues in israel and palestine. i was wondering if you could talk about from your experience in america what do you think are the most important lesson that's we as americans can learn from you? >> i have been living in the u.s. the last five years. have i my degree in economics. have i been living with a wonderful host family in minnesota. after i came, the first year came i was trying to go back to visit my family. my cousin was stick.

my american sister started crying, walid, don't go back. if you go back, stay at home. don't go to the streets. suicide bombers everywhere. they're going to kill you. come back. stay only short period. and i went 0 palestine, talking to my mom back home. if you go there, stay at the home. if you're not in school, just stay here. walk in the streets with five or seven guys together. you know. my mom back home, all she sees is american media or the american movies and it's all good gangsters on the streets and guns and killing and drugs everywhere. my mom she still still thinks i smoked drugs because i came to the u.s. and my sister, my american sister in minnesota when she watched mainstream media, she never see a palestine family in bethlehem making cookies or going to a picnic or actually going to a nativity.

she see suicide bombers everywhere, you know. and that's what the american medias want you to think and have a stereotype. biggest challenge is for americans to break the stereotypes and look at palestines or israelis or south africans to understand their stories before stereotyping. thank you. >> i will add a small, small thing. i think we have a lot to learn from you and we are enjoying it very much in this program by meeting people and experiencing and hearing stories. i think that what we bring to the table at least for this program is the real belief we can make a change and we need you to believe with us. so that's it.

>> all right. that was our last question. i want to thank you for coming and the site for hosting us. i am sure they've already thrown the new story leadership.org at you a half a dozen times. and right before i let you go, paul would like to say a few quick words. >> thank you very much, patrick. i hope as you leave and walk out the door this afternoon, that your heart is in a different place than maybe it was when you walked in. i hope, will you walk out with some hope? i will ask that again. will you walk out with some hope? [applause] i want you to please acknowledge the people on this panel and previous panel because it's the power of their spirit and their words and their heart and their

passion that's filled their hearts with that hope. can i ask you to recognize all of the panelists and speakers? as we did that, i should have asked to take the acclimation too because you saw presentations today but five hours of wore shopping last night so these speeches you heard this morning are the work of the whole team. would the rft of the -- rest of the team please stand up and acknowledge your work. [applause] i also want to recognize and you would have seen it, you have seen megan leading the first panel and patrick leading the second panel, we have an extraordinary staff this summer. it's the management team led by

some extraordinary alums of sister programs joined by local american leaders and irish and south african, some of these young people have been working from the beginning. one story wasn't told there's americans in the foundation of intercell, not just irish or south african. would all of the americans stand up to be recognized. [applause] lastly, we are very, very honored to have this story beamed through c-span and nbs network around the world so the chance of these stories being heard not just in this room, it just accelerates and accentuates the power of these stories to inspire not just washington but the world. we want to be grateful to c-span and networks who covered this

presentation today and last of all to say thank you to the school of conflict management, who have for the second time invited us to use their name and their facility. i want to particularly point out i'm the chairman emeritus of the alumni association of these three programs. so i can draw on almost 150 alums from ireland, south africa and now soon to be 30 alums from the middle east and as well as wonderful interns and student leader it's american university and georgetown university. these people are the people who made it possible. one is an alum -- two in this story are alums of cise. patty flannigan was on the irish program in 2007 and graduated in 2011. it's his connection that gets us sustained use. patty, thank you so, so much for

allowing us to use your goodwill and good credit at cise for this operation for this program this morning. lastly, i want to point out another graduate who's in the beginning story, is fodi still here? another graduate of the program. lastly, thank you for coming and thank you so much to cise for allowing this to happen. go to our website, www.newstoryleadership.org and if you want to continue this conversation or be a supporter of these young people, this is the new story we have to get with the program. i think dare we night. if these guy fail, we cannot afford to let them fail. if hope's been reborn in you, it's because it's been reborn in them but we have to reinforce this message. we believe in you. you inspire us. and we have a lot of work to do. you take the lead. [applause]

>> earlier today president obama's two-day bus campaign through ohio and pennsylvania ended with remarks on the campus of carnegie mellon university in pittsburgh. the president said he's fought for each american since entering office and he called on supporters to stand with him in november. you can watch the president's remarks tonight at 8:20 p.m. eastern here on c-span. and tonight on c-span 2, book tv in primetime. 8:00 eastern our conversation with pulitzer prize winner and best-selling novelist anna quind lin on c-span3, a look at

resistance to slavery. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, life of robert smalls, slave who escaped, fought for the union in the civil war and later served south carolina in the u.s. house of representatives. and at 10:00 p.m., vanderbilt university professor richard blackette discuss house slaves escaped to canada, mexico and the caribbean. >> the life of the sailor includes scrubbing the deck in the morning, working on the sails, climbing the loft, whatever duties assigned. gun drill practice. but by the end of the day you're ready for rest but you don't get a full eight hours sleep. on board a ship like constitution, four hours on, four hours off. >> this week on american tv, life of an enlisted man during the uss constitution during the war of 1812. >> sailor lived in fear of the possibility being whipped by a the cat anine tails that was always carried by a petty officer in a bag.

the thing the sailor never wanted see was a petty officer getting ready for a flogging. it's a phrase we still use today. don't let the cat out of the bag. you don't want to see the cat anine tails coming out for a flogging. >> sunday 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. also more from the contenders, our series of key political figures that ran for president and lost changed political history. sunday 1928 democratic presidential candidate former new york governor al smith. earlier today president obama welcomed construction workers and college students to the white house, where he signed the transportation and student loan bill. he said the legislation will keep thousands of construction workers on the job and prevent student loan rates from doubling. he also called on congress to continue a bipartisan spirit to address other economic issues. this is 10 minutes.

>> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. [applause] >> hello, everybody. thank you very much. thank you. everybody, please, have a seat. i apologize for keeping you waiting a little bit. i hope everybody is staying hydrated because it is hot. welcome to the white house. we wouldn't normally keep you this late on a friday afternoon unless we had a good reason. the bill that i'm about to sign is a pretty good reason. i want to very much thank the members of congress who are here. we've got a number in the front row but particular i want to recognize senator boxer and congressman mica, whose leadership make this bill a reality. and although barbara couldn't make it, we want to make sure everybody acknowledges the hard work john did on this bill.

[applause] now, we're doing this late on friday afternoon because i just got back from spending the past two days talking with folks in ohio and pennsylvania about how our challenge as a country isn't just to reclaim all of the jobs that were lost to the recession, although obviously that's job number one. it's also to reclaim the economic security that so many americans have lost over the past decade. i believe with every fiber of my being a strong economy comes not from the top down but from a strong middle class. that means having a good job that pays a good wage. home to call your home. health care and retirement savings that are there when you need them. good education for kids so they can do even better than you do. and that's why for months i have been calling on congress to past several common sense ideas that will have an immediate impact on

the economic security of american families. i'm pleased that they've acted and the bill i'm about to sign will accomplish two ideas that are very important for the american people. first of all this, bill will keep fiber and construction workers on the job rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. second, this bill will keep interest rates on federal student loans from doubling this year, which would have hit nearly 7.5 million students with an average of $1,000 more on their loan payments. these steps will make a real difference in the lives for millions of american. some of them are standing with us here today. but make no mistake, we have a lot more to do? the construction industry, for example, was hit brutally hard when the housing bubble burst. it's not enough just to keep construction workers on the job doing project that's were already under way.

we have mayor ville grossia and governor o'malley here as representatives of organizations of mayors and governors who know how desperate we need to do some of this work. for months i have been calling on congress to take half the money we're no longer spending on war and do it here with nation building at home. work to be done building roads and bridges and wireless networks. there are hundreds of thousands of construction workers that are ready to do it. same thing is true for our students. the bill bime to sign is vital for millions of students and families. but it's not enough just to keep interest rates from doubling. i asked congress to reform and expand financial aid offered to students and i have been asking them to help us give 2 million americans the opportunity to learn the skills businesses in their areas are looking for right now between partnerships between community colleges and employers. in today's economy, higher

education is the surest path to finding a good job and earning a good salary and making it into the middle class. so it can't be a luxury reserved for just a privileged view. it's an economic necessity that every american family should be able to afford. this is an outstanding piece of business and i'm very appreciative of the hard work that congress has done on it. my hope is that this bipartisan spirit spills over to the next phase that we can start putting more construction workers back to work. not just those on existing projects who were threatened to be laid off but also getting new projects done that are vitally important to communities all across the nation and that will improve our economy as well as making sure that now that we have prevented a doubling of student loan rates, we actually start doing more to reduce the debt burden that our young people are experiencing. i want to thank all the

americans, young or the young at heart, who took the time to sit down and write a letter or type out an e-mail or make a phone call or send a tweet hoping that your voice would be heard on these issues. i promise you, your voices have been heard. any of who you believed your voice could make a difference, i want to reaffirm your belief. you made this happen. so i'm very pleased that congress got this done. i'm grateful to members of both parties who came together and put the interests of the american people first and my message to congress is what i have been saying for months now. let's keep going, let's keep moving forward. let's keep finding ways to work together and grow the economy and help put more folks back to work? there's no excuse for inaction when so many americans are trying to get back on their feet. with that, let me sign this bill and lts make sure that we are keeping folks on the job and keeping our students in school.

all right? thank you very much, everybody. [applause]

>> all right all right, it's done! [applause] >> thank you, everybody.

[applause]