>> next, mitt romney talks about the latest job numbers. then, president obama about the economy. next, bobby jindal and tim pawlenty at a mitt romney meeting in pittsburgh. the labor department has announced that unemployment remained at 8.2% for the month of june, with u.s. employers adding just 80,000 new jobs.

mitt romney said the report showed the economic policies have not gotten america working again. the president is going to have to take responsibility for it. here are his comments. >> good morning. we have seen the jobs report this morning, and it is another kick in the gut to middle-class families. it is consistent with what i have heard as i have gone across the country and met with

families in their homes, in cafes and restaurants and in break rooms. american families are struggling. there is a lot of misery in america today. these numbers understate what people are feeling, and the amount of pain occurring in middle-class america. not only is the 8.2% number unacceptably high, and one that has been in place 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 in part-time jobs, needed full- time work, it is almost 15% of the american public. there are those working in jobs well beneath their skill level, or working in multiple part-time jobs, kids that are coming out of college, not able to find work, veterans not being able to do anything but stand in an unemployment line. these are difficult times for

the american people. there are other things that are troubling, the manufacturing reports of the last several weeks. manufacturing is not growing as we would have expected at this stage. that is a trend that is troubling. the president's policies have clearly not been successful in reigniting this economy, in putting people back to work, in opening manufacturing plants across the country. the heartland industries, where manufacturing occurs, are struggling by virtue of policies on the part of the president of have not worked. the highest corporate tax rates in the world do not create jobs. the highest regulatory burdens in our nation's history -- those do not create jobs. trade policies that do not open markets for goods, particularly in latin america, do not create jobs. failing to crack down on china

for cheating and stealing jobs has not helped. the president's policies have not gotten america working again. the president has to stand up and take responsibility for it. he has been celebrating what he calls "forward." it does not look like forward to the millions of families that are struggling today in this great country. it does not have to be this way. the president does not have a plan, has not proposed new ideas to get the economy going. just the same ideas of the past that have failed. i have a plan. my plan would get america working, and will create jobs, but the near-term and long-term. it involves finally taking advantage of our energy resources, making sure we create energy jobs and convince manufacturers that energy will be available and low-cost. he is opening new markets for

american trade, particularly in latin america. the means cracking down on china when they cheat, making sure they do not steal our jobs unfairly. it means bringing our marginal tax rates down, and cutting out the exemptions and loopholes that are unfair, in many cases. in other cases, we are going to limit deductions and exemptions, so we maintain our revenue, but bring our tax rates down, so that our competitive and attractive. 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 regulations that have not been cleaned up in years. finally, in means having a health care plan that focuses on bringing down the cost of health care for american families, not just adding new expenses and taxes. this is time for america to

choose whether they want more of the same. whether unemployment above 8%, month after month, is satisfactory or not. it does not have to be this way. america can do better. this kick in the gut has got to end. i am happy to take a couple of questions. >> what about campaign planned -- >> i put up 59 steps for how we get the economy going. i do not think i have seen any from the president that show what he is planning on doing. take a look at them. i think you will find them very specific. going through them one by one, taking advantage of energy resources, opening up drilling, taking advantage of oil, natural gas, coal, stopping these extraordinary regulations that are making those in the

manufacturing sector feel they cannot rely on american energy. opening new markets -- the president has not done that. in 3.5 years, no new trade agreements. cracking down seriously on china, going after them aggressively and saying, you cannot continue to steal our jobs. how you go across pennsylvania and ohio and not talk about manufacturing policies that make america more attractive for investment and growth? tax policies. i want to bring down the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25, and the individual marginal tax rate, 20% across the board. >> president obama said in an interview with a newspaper in ohio that you were effectively abandoning your principal in the form of the individual mandate you supported because of criticism from the right and rush limbaugh. what would you say to that?

>> i have spoken about health care from the day we passed it in massachusetts, and people said, should the supply of the federal level? i said the right course for the federal government is to allow states to create their own plans. the proof is that i was right, because obamacare is costing jobs in america. three-quarters of small businesses are less likely to hire people because of obamacare. you know the president has put his liberal agenda ahead of the interest of creating jobs. for may, the first job of the president has to be about creating good jobs for middle income americans. >> will there be deep spending cuts if you are elected? how do you reconcile and what you will do with the economy with getting jobs going again? >> changes to programs would save more and more money over

time, so we are able to get america to a balanced budget in eight to 10 years. not in the first year. by virtue of taking those cuts, and at the same time, taking the pro-growth steps, you are going to see the growth of the economy pick up about 4% or better. i see it getting better and better. >> it you have criticized president obama for taking vacations and often. you are taking a vacation right now, particularly at a grim economic time. >> i am delighted to be taking a vacation with my family. americans appreciate the memories they have with their children and grandchildren. i hope more americans are able to take vacations. as president, i will work hard to make sure we have good jobs

for all americans who want them. as part of a good job, its capacity to take a vacation now and then with their loved ones. >> [inaudible] you said there were a number of factors outside your control. why is that not the case for president obama? >> and the jobs figures, there are going to be factors that come and go that you cannot control. the things you can control, you want to give right. this is not a monthly statistic, or even a yearly statistic. we have looked up almost four years of policies that have not gotten america working again. his tax policies have not encouraged investment in america. obamacare has made it less likely for small businesses to hire. his financial regulatory burden made it less likely for small banks to make loans to businesses that need those loans to get started. his policies have not worked.

that is not just a short time. that is over four years. the american people have had a chance to see whether his policies will help america and help them, and help people looking for jobs, or whether those policies are counterproductive when they come to jobs. i think the evidence is in again and again. remember, the president, at the beginning of his term, predicted that if he was able to put in place his stimulus and his other policies, the would be able to keep unemployment below 8%. 41 months above 8% pretty much defines lack of success. it has been a failed series of policies. the prediction was unemployment would be at 5.6% now. instead, it is 8.2%. millions of families are struggling and suffering, because the policies of the president have not worked for them.

i represent a different course, a better path, one that has been demonstrated over our history to encourage job growth in our country. that is a simple strategy. keep the burdens down from government. encourage the dreamers to invest in america. we do that again, you will see america working again. thanks so much. >> good to be with you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [unintelligible] >> president obama responded to

the former governor's response by saying mr. romney's policies have failed before. they would undermine the economy and weaken the middle class. he spoke about the economy in a rally in ohio. here is a portion of his remarks. >> learned this morning that our businesses created 80,000 jobs last month. that means businesses have credit 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months, including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. [applause] that is a step in the right direction. that is a step in the right direction. but we cannot be satisfied, because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back to where we were back in 2007. i want to get back to a time when middle-class families and those working to get into the

middle class have some basic security. that is our goal. we have to grow the economy faster. we have to put even more people back to work. we have to tap into the basic character of this country, because our character has not changed, even though we have gone through some tough times. it has not changed what made us great. it has not changed why we came together in 2008. again, our mission is not just to get back to where we were before the crisis. we have to deal with what has happened over the last decade, manufacturing leaving our shores, in comes flat lining. all those things are what we have to struggle and fight for. that is the reason i am running for a second term as president of the united states. i want to move this country forward. [applause]

>> four more years. four more years. >> thank you. here is the thing. i told you this was a choice we have to make. what is holding us back right now is not that we do not have good answers for how we could grow the economy faster or put people back to work. the problem is we've got a stalemate in washington. we've got fundamentally different ideas about where we should take the country. [laughter] we are trying to put congress back to work. and this election is about how we break that still might. the good news is, it is in your power to break the stalemate. it is in the power of everybody who lives in ohio, everybody who lives in poland, everybody who lives across the midwest. all those folks out there,

whether you are punching the clock or starting a business -- you have a chance to move this country forward. but you have to make a choice about which direction we go in. my opponent and his allies in congress, and the special interests that support them -- they have a particular idea of how you grow an economy. it is actually a pretty simple idea. the basic idea is that if we spend trillions of dollars more on tax cuts, most of the benefits going to some of the wealthiest individuals in the country, so the average a millionaire gets a $250,000 tax break -- even if we have to gut education to do it, even if we have to cut job training programs to do it, even if we have to increase middle-class taxes to do it -- if we cut trillions of dollars in taxes

and we eliminate regulations, all kinds of regulations, the regulations we just put in place to make sure that wall street does not engage in reckless behavior that we have to bail out later, or regulation to prevent insurance companies from excluding people with pre- existing conditions from coverage, or regulation to protect consumers from being taken advantage of by credit card companies -- if we eliminate all those regulations and combine those with the tax cuts, wealthy investors and companies will do very well, and the benefits will spread to everybody else. that is the idea. i am not making this up. i am sure they would say it differently. they would describe it

differently. but that is the basic theory. you can go to mr. romney's website or look at the plan and the republicans in the house of republic -- the house of representatives voted on, and you'll see that is basically their plan. that is their vision. the basic idea is if everybody is on their own, doing what they do, everything is going to turn out just fine. now, it is a theory. [laughter] but i think it is wrong. i think it is wrong. [applause] i think it is wrong. and the reason i think it's wrong is we just tried it. we tried it in the decade before i took office. let us look at what happened. we saw us fighting two wars on a

credit card. the tax cuts turned a surplus into a deficit. and the lack of regulation resulted in what happened on wall street, and we ended up with the biggest crisis we have ever seen. it is not right. it is not a smart theory. if we had not tried it before, you might say, let's give them a shot. but we just tried it, and it did not work. if you look throughout our history, that kind of top down economics has never worked. we have to have somebody who is fighting for you, somebody who is thinking about how to grow the economy from the middle out, from the bottom up, not from the

top down. i have a different idea. i have a different theory. >> the president's bus tour in did in pittsburgh, on the campus of carnegie mellon university. president obama called on supporters to stand with him this november, so he can continue fighting to make their lives better. this is about 40 minutes. ♪ ♪ >> hello, everyone. i want everyone to know one thing. i am going to be two minutes. but i have just two questions. the first question -- and i know you are ready for this. are you ready to win in 2012?

the second question -- even if you are not from pittsburg or southwestern pennsylvania, but i know most of you are -- how about those pirates? we meet here today. we meet here in a region known for so many things. we are known for winners and good workers. we are also known for a history and a heritage of hard work and sacrifice. we know that in this region, we have had to overcome so much. the people here know that the only way is forward. the only way we should focus is

on the future. so many people here, today know that in pittsburgh and throughout the southwest, the people of this region do not wait for the future. they invent the future, and they move forward. there is only one candidate for president who is going to move us into the future and move us forward, and that is barack obama. let me conclude with a thought about the man and the 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, and 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 i want to acknowledge. first of all, one of my favorite people, one of our finest united states senators, give it up for bob casey. [applause] i think we have in the house as well your mayor, and congressman mike dole is in the

house. the allegheny county executive is here, and we want to thank others for the free programs. great job. great job. now, first of all, before we do anything else, before we do anything else -- >> we love you! >> i love you back. let's also be clear about a very important situation that 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, had some fireworks. it was also malia's birthday on the 4th. she 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, and 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 the cynicism and the negativism, what i think about 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 with fliers that we would print out at kinko's.

we would march in fourth of july parades, and i did not have air force one back then. when i think about my first race, i think about why i got into politics. the reason i got into politics is because this country is 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. when my grandfather came back, he was able to go to college on the g.i. bill. they were able to buy a home through 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 michelle, and the fact that their parents did not come from a wealthy family. her dad worked at blue-collar jobs at a 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 worked at most of her life, a secretary in a bank. none of us came from privileged

backgrounds, none of us had a lot of wealth, but what we understood was that in here, in america, no matter what you look like, the matter where you come from, no matter what church you went to, no matter what region of the country, if you were if you were willing to work hard, if you were willing to take responsibility for your life, you could make it if you tried. right here in the united states of america. [cheers and applause] that basic idea, that basic bargain, it says, here we all deserve a fair shot. everyone to do their fair share and play by the same set of rules. it is that basic bargain that

says if you are willing to work hard and take responsibility in your own life, you can find a job. you can save up and buy a home. you will not go bankrupt if you get sick. maybe you can take a vacation with their family once in a while. nothing fancy, but you can go out and visit some national parks. i remember my favorite vacation as a kid was traveling with my mother and my grandmother and my sister. we would travel around the country in greyhound buses and roberts. once in a wall we would run it -- and railroads. once in awhile we would rent a car. if there was a poll, i would jump in. i was excited to go to the vending machine and get the ice.

and the chance to retire with dignity and respect -- that dream of a strong middle class, that is what america has always been about. [cheers and applause] that is what led me to get into public service. that is what led to my first campaign. i want to to make sure that access to that middle class, that thriving, heartbeat of america was available to everyone. it was not just available to me and michelle, but available to every kid across this country. [applause] that is what led me to run for president of the united states.

[applause] that is what led me to ask you for a second term as president of the united states. i want to fight for america's middle class and everyone trying to get into the middle class. [cheers and applause] >> four more years! four more years! >> you know, that idea has been getting battered a bit over the last decade. part of the reason many of you came together to work on the 2008 campaign is that we have seen a decade in which the middle class dreams were under assault. folks were working harder, but making less.

the costs of everything from health care to college and to groceries and gas kept going up, but your salaries and wages wouldn't. we had but two work on a credit card. -- two wars on a credit card. all of that accumulated into the worst crisis we have seen in our lifetime. what we came together in 2008 to do was start this process, this painstaking, laborious process to turn this country back to those core values. we need to turn this country to our best selves and ideas. would not be able to do it overnight because the problems were not created

overnight. but we believe in this country. we believe in the american people. we understood that this has never been a country of folks looking for handouts. what they want is a fighting chance. for the last three years, when some folks said, let detroit go bankrupt, we said, no. we are betting on the american worker. we are betting on the american industry. now gm is back at number one. chrysler and ford are back. [applause] we started to see manufacturing come back to our shores. more of manufacturing jobs were created than at any time since the 1990's. we saw people go back and get

retrained for jobs. sometimes getting jobs for the future. new technologies and clean energy. we have seen small businesses who almost had to shut down their doors during the crisis. sometimes the owners did not make a salary because they wanted to keep their employees working. inch by inch, yard by yard, they have been able to come back. they are now starting to hire workers again. over 4.4 million jobs were created over the last two and a half years. over 500,000 manufacturing jobs. [applause] we have been fighting back. we have so much more to do. too many of our friends and family members and neighbors are out of work.

too many folks are still seeing their home the use of going under water. -- home values going under water. at this moment, how will we determine our direction not just for this year are the next five years, but for the next two decades? this election is not just about -- candidates or to the parties. -- two parties. it is about the vision of which we will take america in. the stakes could not be higher. ultimately, the way that we will make this decision is you. there is a summit in washington because there are two visions in how to move forward.

let me very briefly tell you what the choices are. you have mr. romney and his allies in congress. [boos] their basic mission is one that says we will give five trillion dollars of new tax cuts on top of the bush tax cuts, most of them going to the wealthiest of americans. they will not be paid for, and if they are paid for, it would be paid for by making college loans more expensive. or eliminating basic support for science. [boos] or making medicare a voucher system. that is one part of their plan. the second part is let's

eliminate regulation. regulation that we just put in place to make sure that wall street does not act recklessly and have another bailout. regulations that protect our air or water. regulations that protect consumers who might be taken advantage of. that is it. that is their economic plan. do not take my word for it. go on to their website. republicans in congress voted for this plan. it is a theory. it is an idea of how you can grow an economy if we had not tried it for 10 years before i took office. [applause] we tried it and it did not work. why what we want to go backwards

to the same theory that did not work before? they are banking on the notion that you do not remember what happened when they were in charge. the last time they were in charge of the white house and out surpluses became deficits. job growth was more sluggish than it had been in 50 years. we ultimately ended up with the worst financial crisis since the great depression. pittsburgh, i want to to know that i have a different theory. [cheers and applause] i have a different idea. it is not a silver bullet. it will not change things completely in the next day or week. it moves us in a direction that is true to our tradition. not my building from the top down, but from the middle class up.

[applause] it is a vision that says, we can bring manufacturing back to america. we can invest in advanced manufacturing research but what is being done right here at carnegie mellon university. we can change our tax code to make sure that instead of giving tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, let's get a company is investing right here in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. the is my bu vision for future. i vision is one that says that we have to invest in young people. [cheers and applause] i want to hire new teachers, especially in math and science.

i want to keep on making college more affordable. which is prevented congress from doubling student interest loan rates because of you. we have to do more to bring tuition down. we need to get 2 million more americans the chance to study at community colleges. they need to get the job training they need for the 21st century. a higher education is not an economic luxury. it is an economic necessity. i am committed to making sure that everyone gets that chance. do i need the skills to succeed. my vision says we ended the war in iraq, as i promised. we are winding down the war in afghanistan. [applause] let's take half of the money that we are sitting in work and use it to pay down the deficit.

let's take the other half and do some nation building at home. let's put americans back to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges and schools. let's build wireless networks and high-speed rails. science and in research that helped 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 where we control our own energy future. we are producing more oil than we have in the last 80 years. we can do so much more. we have to bet on not just an oil industry that is already profitable. we had to bet on clean energy

like solar and wind. they can help create jobs and help our environment. it can free us from depending on foreign oil. i have a vision believes that everyone, all families who are responsible, should be able to have the basic security of health care. [cheers and applause] the supreme court has spoken. the law we passed is here to stay. [applause] if you have health insurance, the only thing that changes for you is you are more secured. insurance companies cannot drop you if you get sick.

we have got millions of young people who are able to stay on their parents plan right now because of that health care law. [applause] we have millions of seniors who are seeing cheaper prescription drugs. if you do 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 sure a middle class is thriving in this country. they did not have to fear if someone in their family gets sick, he will not lose everything they have worked for in all those years. it is the right thing to do. we will keep moving forward. that is why i am running for a second term for president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> four more years!

four more years! >> we're not going to go back to a vision that somehow thinks when a few investors do well that everyone does well. we need to deal with our deficit. we need to deal with our debt. part of america's character is understanding that government cannot solve every problem. we do not expect it to. some folks cannot be helped if they do not want to help themselves. not every government program works. we have cut trillions of dollars in spending that was not helping families succeed. we will do some more. we will not just cut and balance the budget on the backs of middle class families and asking them to pay more taxes.

i think we can ask the wealthiest of americans to do a little bit more. we need to have a tax code or secretaries are not paying the same tax rate as their bosses. there are many success all americans to agree with me on this. the only reason he was succeeded was because somebody helped them. did not give them a hand out, but a hand up. this idea that we are all in together, we rise and fall as one people. we tried as recently as when bill clinton became president.

we created millions of jobs. we had a surplus. we created a lot of wealth and millionaires all along the way. that formula that says we are in it together means that everyone can do well. the reason we built the hoover dam are 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 built an interstate highway system, we did those things becauso that af us would have a platform for success. we understood that there are some things we do better together. i continue to believe that. most americans understand that. that is why i am running for a second term for president of the united states. c0 [applause]

for the next few months, you will see more money spent in you ever seen. these guys are riding $10 million tax. -- checks. if you're the same thing from them over and over again. their economic theory is not going to sell. all they have got to argue is that the economy is not moving as fast as it needs to. jobs are not growing as fast as they need to add it is all obama's fault. that is basically the only message. [boos] this is a plan to win and election, but it is not a plan to grow jobs for the middle class. i might be worried about all of this money being spent if it was

not for my memories of previous campaigns. that first campaign iran, the last campaign i ran in 2008, i have been out spent before. -- that first campaign i ran, the last campaign i ran in to this day, i have been outand before. when all of to decide on what is true, when you remember the story of your family is just what the story of my family, all of the struggles our parents and grandparents went through, some of them came over here as immigrants. they started working in the mills and the mines. they understood there was something different about this

country. they looked out for one another. they took care of the community together. the irresponsible and having those old fashioned values -- the responsible, old-fashioned the al. nothing was more important than looking out for your family and being with their family. when americans come together and tap into that spirit that is best in us, all of that money does not matter. all of those negative ads do not matter. you make change happen. you inspire each other. you inspire me. [cheers and applause]

in 2008, i told you that i am not a perfect man and that i would not be a perfect president. but i told you that i would always tell you what i thought. i would always tell you where i stood. i told you i would wake up every single day fighting as hard as i knew how for you. i wanted to make your lives a little bit better. i want to give you more of a fighting chance to succeed and live out your dreams. i made that promise because i saw myself in you. in your grandparents, i see my grandparents. in your children, i see my two daughters. i have kept that promise. i have kept that promise every

morning and every night. i thought about how we build america. i thought about how to give everyone a fair shot. i thought about how everyone can play by the same rules. if you still believe in me like i believe in you, i hope he will stand with me in 2012. top[applause] if you do, we will finish what we started in 2008. this economy will be moving again. we will remind the world why it is the united states of america that is the greatest country on the earth. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ ♪

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>> louisiana governor bobby

jindal and tim pawlenty are on a bus tour through ohio and pennsylvania. campaigning for mitt romney. the tour is scheduled to coincide with president obama's today swing into this state. this is about 25 minutes. >> we are trying to bring balance to barack obama's message as he travels across ohio and pennsylvania. he has a bus tour that he may have heard -- the betting on america tour. we should all get on america, this blessed and beloved country. but we should not double down on barack obama. his presidency has been a losing hand for america. [applause] he is coming across the great state of pennsylvania talking about what he can do for the middle-class. do not be duped.

he made these big promises in 2008 to the middle-class and america more broadly and he's broken just about everyone of them. let me go through a few examples with you. when he was running last time, he said he was not going to raise taxes on anybody under to let a thousand dollars. remember that? amongst the other broken aspects of that, the united states supreme court said his individual mandate on health insurance is a tax and it goes to the heart of the middle- class. he broke his promise, didn't he? then he became president of the united states and with in the first couple of months, he let the america -- he looked the american people in the eye and said i would cut the federal deficit in half during my first term. the president broke his promise to america, didn't he? he did not cut it in half. he has nearly tripled it.

another thing he said is if you pass my stimulus bill, that smelly stimulus bill, he said that unemployment could go down and would go down to 5.6%. they passed his stimulus bill and unemployment went way up, way beyond 5.6%. he broke his promise, didn't he? are you ready for a better president? barack obama has taken hold and change and turned it into bait and switch. he has gone back and forth on a lot of issues but he said just yesterday to a local media outlet in ohio that when you are president, you words matter. here is his words on obamacare -- he first came out when he proposed it and said it is not a tax.

then he got in legal trouble before the supreme court and said his lawyers into the court system once they found out they were in trouble on a legal argument and said, yes, it is a tax. they thought congress had more brought powers as it relates to taxation. then the supreme court said it is indeed a tax. now the president and his people have said, no, it is not a tax. is your head spinning yet? he should be going to places he has been -- he should go to the waffle house. he has bounced around more than anything you could imagine. we should have waffle man follow him in a waffle suit. he has changed his position so many times. [applause] this election is not just about

the failure of the barack obama presidency. it is also about the men and women of this great state. and all of america. i grew up in a meat-packing town in the 1960's. com -- these huge mammoth meat packing plants. my father was a truck driver for a good part of his life. my mother was a homemaker. my mother died when i was in 10th grade and my father got laid off not long after that. in that chapter when those plants cut down, i saw the face of unemployment and dislocation from the economy and the affect that has on mothers and fathers and peoples and families, neighborhoods and communities. i saw it at a young age, up close and real personal. so we talk about barack obama. we talk about jobs. these are not just statistics.

the are not just 40 months of above 8% unemployment. they are not just 23 million people unemployed or underemployed or who have stopped looking for work. these are moms and dads and people whose hopes and dreams are tied up on whether they will have access to a job. when you talk to them about what matters here in pennsylvania, they talk first about faith and family. then they talk about their hopes and dreams for them or their children and their family. they talk about their hope to be able to get a house to pay their market. they talked about the ability to get their kids to college and pay for it. the ability to afford health care and other things. all of that from most people requires that you have a job. hopefully a good paying job. this is not just about numbers. it is not all rhetoric. it is not about statistics. it is about whether we are providing the american dream and real hope and real opportunity to people to grow an economy and

the private sector and good paying jobs for pennsylvania and america. president obama has had his chance. he got his policies enacted. the stimulus bill. did not work. the health-care bill. i think an impending economic disaster and drag on the economy. the has had other policies approved in many ways. it is not working. it is not just 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 of the people in the eye who are unemployed, underemployed. you do not have to listen to barack obama or bobby jindal or tim pawlenty. top to the people who are on the job or want a job. -- talk to the people who are on the job or want a job. if you go talk to the folks in

those businesses who are trying to starve them or grow them, they say it differently but they all say the same thing -- some say the taxes are too high. others say the regulations are too expensive and too heavy and they become too difficult to deal with. others talk about energy costs being to lie and being a burden on their business. others talk about health care costs dragging down their businesses. they cannot grow their business because they say there -- a burden from government is too heavy. they are pleading with the president to listen. they are saying please get the government off my back. [applause]

i do not know. i do not know if he is not listening or if he does not care or does not understand what we have had enough of his speeches. we have had enough of him flapping his jaws. we have to many americans who are hurting and unemployed or underemployed. when moms and dads look at their children and say if you work hard, if you try hard in school and play by the rules, there will be hope for you. opportunity. now this president has a country where half of the high school graduates and college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed. it makes moms and dads feel like the stuff they are telling their children is not true. his teleprompter speeches do not pay the grocery bill.

his big rhetoric and expenses of his words did not pay or put gas in the car. we cannot live on his speeches. [applause] 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 is time for a new president. [applause] mitt romney has a tremendous vision for this country. it is a vision not based on the european style of more government everything. it is based on an american tradition of limited government.

he has a proposal to lower taxes for businesses and individuals, proposals to light in the regulatory role and modernize regulations. he wants to get back to market and consumer based health care. not government takeovers of health care. he was to get federal spending under control. that is the kind of direction american needs. [applause] he wants american energy. he wants to build the keystone pipeline. he was to take full advantage of shale oil and gas. [applause] somebody who understands all that is our next speaker. i had a chance to get to know bobby jindal when we were governors together. he is a fabulous man.

a fabulous leader. he has a state that was challenged in many ways under his leadership and it is moving in the right direction. he is one of the smartest voices of the conservative movement in our country. he is significantly younger than me but he has already been to the moon and back. he has invented stuff. seriously, he is tremendous not just for louisiana but america. it is a delight to have him with us this morning. i think you will see the energy and power and passion he brings to the debate and what he can do for his stake in our country. please help me welcome a great governor, a great friend -- bobby jindal from louisiana. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. thank ya'll very much. anotherve tim pawlenty

round of applause. thank you, tim. before i start, we are in this museum. we celebrated our country's birthday this week. i have young kids. a 10-year old girl, eight-year old boy. five-year old boy. every christmas, we have a birthday cake for jesus. if it is a birthday, you should have a birthday cake. [applause] the fourth is the birthday. if you think about the fireworks and the parade. a birthday for our country. the greatest country in the history of the world. i think we should give a great round of applause for the men and women in newark -- uniform who run towards danger, not away from it, so that we can live with that of this country. [applause]

it is not politically correct to talk about american x rationalism. it is not politically correct to say what i just said, that this is the greatest country in the history of the world. when president obama was campaigning, they asked him what he thought. when he was overseas, what did he think about american x rationalism? he said i am sure that british think are exceptional. america is an exceptional country. this is the most important election in our lifetimes. tim talked about the broken promises the president has made to the american people. this election comes down to one essential question -- what is our vision for the future? we have to get it and they could not be more different. they are more different in in theology, practical experience than any two candidates we have seen in many elections. president obama represents the

occupy wall street mentality. he gave a speech in ohio a few weeks ago. hope and change became divided and blame. it was everyone else's fault but his. it was all about dividing us. putting one group against the other. you have heard the occupy wall street mentality. it is about demonizing those that have been successful. and dividing us apart from each other. that is not the america i grew up in. you are not entitled to your neighbor's property. you do not have a right to your neighbor's car or house. in america, you are not promised equality of outcome. that is not what makes america great. we are not like europe. we do not want a bigger, mor expensive government and redistributing the wealth. we do not want a president to manage the decline of this country are best days are ahead of us. -- this county.

ry. our best days are ahead of us. [applause] part of what makes us such a great country is it does not matter what your last thing is or the circumstances of your birth or race or gender. none of that determines your outcomes as an adult. what is so brilliant about america is that if you want to work hard and get a great education, you can do better than your parents. every generation of americans develop more opportunity for our children that we inherited from our parents. we must not become the first generation that mortgages are children and grandchildren as feature that does not leave them opportunities to succeed. at that everyone here has the same story. your family at some point, maybe it is you or your parents - for

me, it was my father. one of nine kids. worked extremely card -- hard. everyone of us want that for our children. that is what is at stake at this election. tim talked about the promises this president has broken. he made a promise i would like him to keep. four years ago he said if we cannot turn this economy around in three years, i will be a one- term president. [applause] i want to ask -- i think every american voters should think about this. are we as a country and voters better off than we were four years ago because -- when he was elected president? i absolutely not. you saw the jobs report today. you heard the president say he would turn around the economy.

23 million underemployed or unemployed americans. median family income has gone down $4,000 under his leadership. down for $200 in the state of pennsylvania. we cannot afford four more years of president obama get 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 programs will be cannot afford the government we have today. he promised to cut the deficit in half. trillion dollar deficit every year since he had been president. $15 trillion of debt. my little girl got home a button from school the other day. it sets please do not tell the president what comes after chilean. look at this obamacare program. he creates a brand new

entitlement program. look at the broken promises there. promises that you can keep your doctor and health care. as many as 20 million americans could lose their health care plans provided by employers. he promised to protect medicare and cut over $500 billion from it. raised taxes over $500 billion on obamacare alone. over 2000 pages. we will spend more under this law than if it had not been passed. another series of broken promises. what the supreme court did was awful. i think they have given congress' unprecedented taxing authority. this will be one of the largest tax increases on the middle class. i do not care if you call it tax increase, penalty, or fine. we just need to repeal this. this is bad policy needs to come

off the books. -- this bad policy needs to come off the books. [applause] i do not know about you -- when i go to the doctor, i cannot want a government bureaucrat telling my doctor how to treat me or my child. i want my doctor to make those decisions without the government anywhere near them. [applause] the final point is on energy. my state has suffered through this administration's policies. you want to talk about exporting jobs? we have seen -- he has declared war four years ago. they wanted to open a new facility in this country. 48% of power in pennsylvania comes from coal.

he has declared war on oil and gas. look what the shale has done. lower national gas prices. think about what that does to our steel industry. our plastics industry and fertilizers. if we have reliable affordable energy, we can compete with anybody in the world but if he continues to declare war on kohl, we will see more jobs could to china and other countries. he was elected to create jobs here, not in any other country in the world. [applause] i want to close on this. the president cannot run on his record. he cannot run on his broken promises. he is going after what he did in high school, what he did as

governor. i'm glad we are not talking about what i did in high school right now. [laughter] those facts are not true. governor romney's record of massachusetts' unemployment was below the national average. they gained jobs when he left. the per-capita income growth and grew faster than the national average when he was governor. one of the top-10 turnaround states in the country. i would compare those records in the day of the week. this election is about the future of our country. mitt romney understands we are not a great -- the founding fathers did not intend for our federal government to spend this much of the economy. he understands the future of america as not becoming more like europe. what is right about this economy is going to private sector, not the public sector. this is the most important election of our lifetimes. it is important for you and me.

we are mortgaging our children's and grandchildren's future. they are destroying our present. we cannot afford another four years of president obama and the liberal -- the most liberal president since jimmy carter. but at him to the 23 million unemployed americans. let's elect mitt romney president. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

cox after returning from campaigning in ohio and pennsylvania, president obama welcomed students to the white house where he signed the transportation and to the loan bill. he said it will keep thousands of construction workers on the job and keep to the loan rates from bubbling. last week, congress approved a package that funds the transportation project through the next two years and freezes federally subsidized student loan rates at 3.4% for one more year. the ceremony is about 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 would not normally keep you this late on a friday afternoon unless we have a good reason the bill i am about to sign is a pretty good reason. i want to thank the members of congress who are here. in particular, congressman mica his leadership made this bill to reality. [applause] we are 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 is not just to reclaim the jobs that were lost to the recession. although obviously that is job number one. 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 in the eighth strong economy comes from a strong middle-class. that means having a good job that pays a good ways. and 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 even better than you did. that is why for 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. the bill i am about to sign will accomplish two ideas that are

very important for the american people. 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. 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 of millions of americans. some of whom are standing with us here today. 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 just about keeping construction workers on the job to a product that or already under way. we have got near villa rosa -- mayor villaraigosa here. they know how desperate it is to

do some of this work. i have been calling on congress to take half of the money we are no longer spending on more to do nation-building here at home. there is work to be done building broke -- roads and bridges and wireless networks. there are hundreds of thousands of construction workers ready to do it. the same thing is true for our students. this is vital for millions of students and their families but it is not enough just to keep interest rates from doubling. i asked congress to reform and expand the financial aid that is offered to students. i have been asking them to help us give to million americans the opportunity to learn the skills that businesses in their areas are looking for right now to partnerships between community colleges and employers. a 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 cannot be a luxury reserved just for a 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'm very appreciative of the hard work that congress has done on it. my hope is that this bipartisan spirit spills over into the next phase. so we can start putting more construction workers back to work. not as though the upper already on existing products who were threatened to be laid off but also getting new products done that are vitally important to communities across the nation and that will improve our economy. as well as making sure that now 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 of the americans -- the 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 tweetm, hoping that your voice would be heard on these issues.

i promise you, your voices have been heard. many of you who believe your voice had made a difference, i want to reaffirm your belize. you made this happen. i'm very pleased that congress got this done. i am 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 toward, let's keep finding ways to work together to grow the economy and to help put more folks back to work. there is no skews -- no excuse for innaction. with that, let me sign this bill and let's make sure that we are keeping folks on the job and keeping our students in school. thank you very much, everybody. [applause]

>> alright, it's done. [applause]

>> thank you, everybody. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [applause]

>> if form on the feature of the middle east. after that, republican presidential candidate mitt romney talking about the latest job numbers. and president obama on the economy at a rally in pittsburgh. tomorrow on washington journal, an economics correspondent discusses the latest job numbers. a personal finance magazine that kept near talks about the impact of the dodd-frank act on debit and credit cards. we discussed in washington lobbying. washington journal, live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> for anyone who knew about it, where star wars' was filled. it became on the radar as protests began getting plant.

i started taking the techniques i used in tunisia and improved upon them until my twitter followers became my newsroom. rather than being in a studio as anchors what would someone talking into an ear piece telling me that it pundit here or an eye witness there, i was sitting on a park bench with my phone, have been dozens of followers doing those roles for me so i could do coverage of these revolutions in fact check. >> you can see that discussion on how social media is changing the way the media covers the news tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. now it discussion about israel- palestinian relations and the future of the middle east. panelists who represent the use of israel and palestine shared

their views on the ongoing conflict -- the youth of israel and palestine shared their views on the ongoing conflict. it was a joint host the program at the johns hopkins university. just over two hours. >> good morning, everybody. welcome to this wonderful occasion this morning. our second conference. have battled through stormy weather and power outages so fingers crossed that the lights stay on and that we are in for a wonderful morning. my name is paul costello. you can tell by my accent that i am not a local. i hail from australia

originally. i am the proud director of a new story leadership and part of the team that helped to found it in 2009. i want to welcome all of you who are friends of the program and give special recognition to some of our distinguished guests that include members of the diplomatic corps, the palestinian delegation, members of the israeli embassy and members of the european union. i think we have a representative from the embassy of china. we had some students here who are on a program studying in oxford and the university of edinburgh. you are all very welcome. in a moment, i will ask andy to come up to welcome you all.

in partnership with a lot of key sponsors like some of the local churches, the state department and ourselves seem to have a common purpose about investing in a rising generation of young people and the palestinian territories 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 narrative studies which teaches people that stories are

profoundly powerful in inspiring change. stories have power. stories shape identity. and destiny. when you know that and have some methods to deal with that, you can work with situations of change and the conflict. we think new story leadership is special because it is different. the stories, we say if you can change the story, you can change the world. anyone who follows the middle east day-by-day will know that story is feedback conflict daley. -- that stories feed that conflict daley. -- daily. we use internships to be the catalyst to broaden the imagination of young people from the region to see that maybe

there is hope. maybe there is another feature that can be imagined the -- beyond what they have dared to imagine today. it is a special program because it is not for children. these are young professionals. these are young people who are on the cusp of their careers. they already. already they are making a difference. our program is an adult program and it treats young people as responsible to dozens ready to ship a better world. we think 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 an alumni network and 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 for the u.s. department of state and members of the board met with him and some of the state department people two or three years ago to tell us about this work. they have been as supportive ever since. andy is a special advisor for use -- youth development. i would like to invite him to come up and say keywords. [applause] >> good morning. i am the special adviser for youth engagement at the state department. i am incredibly excited on behalf of the state department to welcome you all and the rest of the class of 2012, the third installment of the new storage leadership program, to washington, d.c. and your summer

programs here on the hill and elsewhere. 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 inspiring group. he hears some of the stories after this and the rest of the morning. we are happy to be a partner and contributor to this great program. we are thrilled to be a partner in building coexistence, capacity and furthering people- to people engaged in it. aulthink -- we thank pua and tehe news story leadership team. we know it is a difficult time in the region but programs like these and speier leaders like you all and give us hope and inspiration that this feature will be much more brighter and prosperous. on behalf of the state department, i would like to

thank you all and we look forward to a great morning of your stories and what is to come. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. send out or appreciation to your colleagues in jerusalem in here in washington. you will hear some wonderful speakers from the region and then you will hear some accents from ireland and south africa. that explained the context for why these young people are also on the panel engaged in this conversation. even today as the secretary of state meets with other world leaders to discuss syria, every conflict in the world, while it is local, and packs and has an influence on the global conversation. when working with the middle east, it is not a novel idea but you can go to northern ireland

and you can see people there who have had that same struggle. you can go to south africa and see people there who are on that same path. this program is not just an issue based program around the middle east question but it connects young people across the globe. one of the reasons we have some of these panelists from other parts of the world is nsl is also their story. i have been the director of the center for narratives studies for 20 years, putting stories to work in peace education were 15 years ago, we had the chance to build an iris program called the washington-ireland program. you will hear from alum of that program. alums of the average program got

together and created a south african program. you will hear from alums of that program. in 2009, alums of the irish and south african program came together with us with the inspiration to say young people from the north of ireland and the south of ireland, young people from the rainbow republic of south africa, they get the chance to be in washington to work in internships and stay with host families and work together as a team and learned the american story and learn to tell their -- their story. one night dung people from the west bank and gaza and israel? fromhy not young people the west bank and got that and israel? some of those original pioneers are here today, taking a chance to look back on what they have created and to look forward and dream of leaving greater possibilities.

before i hand over to make and who will be our program director for the first panel, your support means so much to us and the young people. you cannot create a new story unless you create in new orleans -- a new audience. you are that new audience. if you follow us on facebook, on twitter, @newstoryleader, or if you want to check the web site, newstoryleadership.org. the story is unfolding. do not miss out. we want to thank c-span and nbc and others who are broadcasting this live this morning. i would like to handed over to meghan. [applause]

>> thank you. in morning, everyone. -- good morning, everyone. my name is meghan siritzky. i will be facilitating the speakers this morning. i would like we did -- i would now 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 have served 21 years in the israeli defense forces. as my father was an air navigator in the israeli air force, i was born and raised in the israeli army bases. as the bases were always surrounded by guards, i grew up with a sense of security. therefore i was allowed to be

very independent from a very young age. however, the experience of growing up in army bases was also speckled with fear. as fathers of friends around me died and 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 my small house and every officer that used to pass by filled 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 horrible news. luckily, that never came. however, it did make me realize that the only way that i could save my dad was by creating peace. i used to think to myself if

only i had the chance to explain that we are actually good people, than the conflict would be resolved. we used to hold weekly meetings of a youth movement. one of the meetings, one of our guys was about 16. he took tape and divided the room. she then asked us to pick a size. she said whoever believes that land is worth more than human life, go to the right side. whoever believes that human life is worth more than land, go to the left side. even though i was just eight, i did not hesitate. the answer was obvious. human life is more important than land but 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 my family moved out of the army bases and into a small suburb, the israeli defense forces continued to play an important part of my life as it did for many other teenagers in israel. when you go to high school, i presume that you are mostly preoccupied with grades to get into the best college. in israel, most of the israelis are preoccupied with israeli defense forces in order to get to the best unit. most of us are not encouraged to

take football or cheerleading as an after-school activity. combat courses were part of our preparation for the army. we grew with the understanding that the army is our destiny and our goal. we are raised to be fighters. like our fathers and grandfathers were. just before i came here to washington, i have a very interesting conversation with my grandfather. he was sharing stories from the formation of israel and the party took in the fight for israeli independence. then he asked me what is the point to be going to washington? what is the point of joining in a program like nsl? i thought for a second and i took a deep breath. i told him, you fought in 1948 to create a secure space for your future children,

grandchildren and the entire jewish population. i love is real and just as much as you do. but the fight is not yet over. today, we need to fight in order to create a feature -- peaceful future for our children, grandchildren and all human beings living in our region. my grandfather smiled at me. i think he understood. now i stand in front of you a fighter but a fighter from a different time. i am fighting now so that my children will not have to go to the army when they are 18. i am fighting now said that my children will be able to play on the same program -- same playground as my palestinian friends children without having to go through a checkpoint. i'm fighting for an integrated feature for israeli and palestinian society.

you may say i am a dreamer but i am not the only one. as opposed to 18 years ago when i was just eight-years old, i no longer stand alone. i have hope and i see an army of chains. it includes the friends i have gathered throughout my life, both israelis and palestinians. it includes the - those fighting for social justice in my new amazing nsl friends and that amazing woman right there, yara, my palestinian host system. we have been living together for the past three weeks and we have got a lot together. including two strips -- two trips to the emergent -- emergency room. but that is a different story. we are sisters in our fight. we will not surrender and we

will not yield until we ignite the spark of change. so i am standing in front of you today and i am asking you, inviting you, urging you to come and join us, take that long needed leap of faith. join us on our side of the line. in the ultimate fight for peace. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, nitzan. now i would like to call yara owayyed to the podium. [applause] >> hi.

what would you do if i burn your hair, my classmate asked? he had liked her in one hand and my hair in another. -- he had lighter in my hair and a second later, it was on fire. my name is yara owayyed. i am a palestinian citizen of israel. during this armed conflict in 1948, we palestinian is really is could not leave our homes. we remained in a land. after 16 years of being subjected to martial laws and administer detention, but were granted citizenship in 1966. my family is from a small village in the north of israel that now houses a jewish community but i was born and

raised in jerusalem. until the sixth grade, i attended the american jerusalem school to read at all, i wish transferred to a jewish high- school in jerusalem where i was the only palestinian in the class of 300 jewish kids. as a young girl, i was fascinated washington -- watching tv and bill clinton, speaking to enormous crowd of people. seeing reporters eager to capture a snapshot of this figure that radiated power mesmerized me. one day when i was about nine- years old, i decided to play pretend. instead of having tea with my dolls, i sat them down around the room, flipped the table, turned it into a podium and stood there. i stood in the middle of the

room, talking and rambling and laughing and smiling, imagining that my dolls were the crowd in front of the white house. that afternoon, my mother returned home to find her living room estop. she was furious. she asked me what were you thinking. i wanted to be like that man in front of that house that was white. my mom told me that i cannot be president of the united states because i am not an american. little did i understand that the united states was not my country but i saw that at a later stage, i did become president in the land i live in. the spot -- this thought buzzed in my head. i was unaware of the meaning of being an -- a palestinian in the state of israel. a few months ago, i was engaged in a conversation with a co- worker. my coworker jokingly said when

you become attorney general one day, you can change things around office. she was told not to put ideas into my head. that i can handle the fact that we will probably not have an arab attorney general. throughout life, i have struggled to overcome prejudice and discrimination based on nationality and religion. when i was 9 and later when i was older, my dreams came into the reality that a palestinian meant being a second-class citizen in an israeli state. when i was 13, the house i grew up in was appropriated by the state of israel. when i was 16, my jewish classmate -- burned my hair

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 with my bachelor's in law. i have studied for my master's in law at the hebrew university in jerusalem. i was the first palestinian as really serving in the district apartment at the state attorney's office. the past month, i have passed the is really bar exam. now i am interning at the law library of congress and this fall, i am attending columbia law school for postgraduate studies. despite the obstacles i have encountered or even perhaps 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 a stranger in my own land. president john kennedy became

the first irish catholic to head the american nation. president barack obama became the first black president but i asked, how many people, how many men and women of ability have been denied opportunity to contribute to the american nation does because of the color of their skin? i am where i am today because of my determination. i work hard enough to prove that i can. today i finally am speaking at a real podium and not at my mother ace's table. today i'm speaking in front of you and not in front of my dolls and teddy bears. i ask not to be denied the opportunities i and so many others dream of. i ask you to believe in the young generation of both of my countries, israel and palestine. we share determination for a better future. together we want to for we are

a family. together we want to shape a better future for our societies as equal human beings. together we will send tiny ripples of hope and as robert kennedy said, those ripples will build a current strong enough. the torch needs to be passed to the new generation of palestinian and israelis. there should be no doubt that both my people, israelis and palestinian alike, are strong, determined and prepared to sacrifice. but let us sacrifice not our children. let us sacrifice our historical resentments and burdens. let us use our endless determination to challge the distorted reality that could have crushed my dreams. let us create a new reality that offers opportunity to all human beings based solely on their competence and not on their ethnicity. we will make a change, so let

us begin. thank you. >> thank you, yara. i would now like to introduce rikus wessels to the stand. >> good day, ladies and gentlemen. i feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to hear from our two speakers, yara and nitzan. 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 the small town of a town meaning peace in africans and later attending high school in the beautiful south african town of bethlehem. i am part of the new story leadership management team for 2012, following in the footsteps of south africa's co-founder. i am an alumnus of the south african international washington program through which i got to know it. although i am not from the middle east, i believe that it is important for the students to get perspectives from other conflicts and other societies without having to compare the conflicts. i was brought up in a traditional afrikaan society. my family has been in south africa since the 18th century. i may be white and i know that white boys can't dance, but i still feel the rhythm of the

african drum. i may not speak with clicks but i speak with the african spirit within 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. before apartheid brought about a big african identity crisis, losing power led to some people losing their identity. my identity as an africanner is not associated with power. it is one associated with heritage. it is one associated with the land i grew up in. i could do as many do and move but i don't want to. because i feel that i belong in africa. i also feel that my fellow countrymen belong in africa. it is the responsibility of the south african citizens to build a nation where they can feel that they belong together.

many have been told they have to go back to europe. my thought on that was, if we all had to go back to where we came from, we'd all end up in the same place. we as humans are all connected through time. we are shaped by change and then divided by conflict. after hearing nitzan and yara's stories, i can't as a south african envision the conflict in the middle east. it is not my place to give instructions. but i think i can lend advice. the south african struggle is often used as a case study to which other conflicts in the world are compared to. the struggle is, however, not over. the peaceful transition to the new south africa is a transition that is still in progress. just like nitzan's grandfather's pursuit for peace

for his people is still in progress. t.s.a. road that south africans started to follow -- it is a road that south africans started to follow decades ago. in order for south africans to shape the rainbow nation, they need to follow a road paved with hope, acceptance and forgiveness. and 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. but although the conflicts differ, the mental destination 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 nitzan have already started their journey on the road towards peace. as leaders of the region, they need to pick up fellow travelers along the way. many people in conflict regions around the world have asked, where is our mandela?

i don't think that question should be asked. i don't think that there's time to wait for a mandela. the south african journey started long before mandela. there is no time to wait. the journey for peace in the middle east has already begun. and 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 live with hope. one needs to have a vision of peace and one needs to read a compromise with your -- reach a compromise with your opponent in order to reach a place of peace. thank you. >> thank you, rikus. i would now like to call john calhoun to the -- john callaghan to the podium.

>> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. >> good morning. >> thank you. my name is john callaghan. i am a recent graduate of trinity college in dublin. i am an alumnus of the washington ireland program, class of 2008. and i was a member of the start-up team of n.s.l. in 2009. i was invited here to speak with you today on two points. firstly, as someone who grew up against the background of violence in northern ireland, i was asked to consider what response and what insights our conflict zone could give to the israeli and palestinian speakers that you see here before you today. as they continue, for kniten to change her fight from a violent fight to a fight for peace, and for yara, as a member of the minority, to reach her full potential. i was also asked to compare the

two -- the n.s.l. of 2012, today's n.s.l., to the n.s.l. that we hoped for and imagined back in 2009. so, first things first, and i feel like this is an important point. mine is a good news story. and feel like today there are far too few of them, aren't there? it is a good news story not only because today, on the island of ireland, we have peace, but because the peace that has been secured there is a lasting peace. a peace in constant consolidation and a peace that we can believe in. for instance, just last week martin mcginnis, the deputy first minister of the assembly in northern ireland, and a former member of the terrorist organization, the i.r.a., welcomed and most notably shook hands with queen elizabeth ii on her recent visit to there.

now, each of them had plenty reason -- a litany of wrong decision to to avoid that gesture. however, as martin mcginnis wished her the gay lick farewell, meaning safe passage and well wishes, and as she dressed in her green gown, her white gloves and her gold broach, which are the symbolic colors of our island, smiled back at, it was clear that between -- back at him, it was clear a feeling of goodwill outweighed their troubled history. now, i don't think any of us are naive enough to think that what happened in northern ireland can be applied to the conflict in israel and palestine. each situation had its own set of intricate and fragile complexities and as such each needs to find their own root to

-- route to peace through the collide scope of peace plans, negotiations and handshakes. but what one conflict can take from the other is a reason to hope. although that is possibly the least practical, hardest taught and maybe even most improbable less that -- lesson that one could take from northern ireland, it is also -- it also has the greatest potential to palpabley change the future, intellectual crementally and -- incremently and fundamentally. ours was considered the most intractable zone in the world lt today it is a beacon for reconciliation. and the truth of the matter is that there was nothing special, nothing magical or inexplicable, nothing occult about how northern ireland got to where it is today. that peace was built and is still being built brick by

brick, handshake by handshake on a firm foundation of hope and a willingness to work together. there is a well repeated phrase that is so important to the core concept of n.s.l. and its predecessors. it goes, never underestimate the transformation power of personal relationships. now, maybe the world won't pay as much attention to nitzan and yara, as it did for the -- to martin mcguinness and queen elizabeth. but theirs is a story just as noteworthy. just as important and just as hope-inspiring as the other. and we who are fortunate enough to witness it must take note, take pride and take hope because that truly is a relationship that could change the world. so, in 2009, as we worked toward getting our fledgling

program off the ground, is this what i had imagined? well, no. because these speakers and this program and this audience of people who i hope get what we're all about, well, this is so much more than i could have hoped for and i still have a lot more hope. thank you very much. >> 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 mike will come and -- will come around to you're seat. before you ask your -- your seat. before ask you your question, please state your name and address your question to the chairperson which is me. so i guess we will begin now. if anyone has a question.

>> my name is ira weiss. i wanted to ask the panelists, nitzan and yara in particular, what they envision in terms of a political solution. >> nitzan, would you like to go first? >> well, i think that is the question that is on everyone's mind. and to be honest i think that if we had the solution, we'd probably already have granted it. but we are here to try and talk within us and try to reach some kind of understanding. i really believe that only when we acknowledge each other and only when we get the chance to actually know each other and i'm talking about both communities, we'll have an actual chance of making a solution. because to be honest, i don't

believe that after a handshake, if it will happen, a handshake of a policy agreement, the conflict will be over. it will still continue. only after the two communities will 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 actually reach a solution. thank you. >> yara? >> i'll add to that and say that as i said in my speech, it's all a question of determination. the two sides and the two people really want peace, we can achieve peace. and to add to that, i think one of the major problems that we don't have peace, is the fact that our leaders have no kind of determination or no kind of want to end this conflict. and as i said before and some of you may have heard this metaphor, you just take in a bowl, put a lot of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and all vegetables you can think of and

have the salad saled a as a government but after five years and after 10 years and after 15 years we still have the same salad except this time we flipped it a bit over. so the prime minister suddenly becomes the minister of defense, the minister of defense rotates and becomes the minister of interior affairs. what we really need is new leadership and then a new young voice out in the country to make a change. >> thank you. my name is olni. we partner with the american tats -- task force on palestine in a program that dovetails with the new story leadership. we host the palestinian intern and the -- [inaudible] so it's an israeli intern. and both of those interns are here in the room today. we're very proud to be a part

of this program. my question is a follow up to the one that was asked and is mainly directly -- mainly directed at yara. how do you see the impact of the future of the israeli-palestinian conflict on the status of palestinian citizens of israel? how would it improve do you think -- would it, the status of palestinian citizens of the state of israel? thank you. >> thank you. would you like to? >> i would hope that when there is a solution and when there is a new palestinian state, that the state of israel will treat its citizens equally. that we will not be looked upon as inferior but as an equal citizen in the state of israel. >> i have a question for nitzan. i wonder if you could give us

some -- oh, i'm penny mitchell, by the way. i was wondering if could you give us some examples of what you are actually doing in your fight for peace? concrete examples of activities, of organizations, and also give us a little bit of an assessment of how that fits in to the general climate that you see in israel is that a growing movement, is it a diminishing movement? is it a very big struggle, just kind of your assessment of where that fits in the landscape? >> all right. thank you. well, personally my fight for peace, i think my serious fight started about two years ago when i joined a program called the olive tree program. it's a program which brings young israelis and palestinians together to study and live together for three years. and that was the first time where i was actually able to meet palestinians on an equal ground and be able to talk to them and so on. in london -- i live in london

currently, i'm also taking part in a new organization called palestine place which is an art gallery and also a place of speaking. also a part of an organizer for the passing clouds club which makes -- which does presentations of films about the region once every month. and about the assessment, i will have to say that sadly at the moment i do have hope and i do see people joining our struggle, but sadly at the moment, i see a decline in the left wing approach of israelis. i do see an uprise of violence and racism and i do see some sort of -- and i do see the segregation between the two communities growing farther and farther apart at the moment. but i do believe that there will be a new beginning really soon. i do think that the new generation, once the new generation will be able to put its voice out more, then we'll

be able to convince more people in the way that we see things. >> i'm jane and i have a question for yara and nitzan. could you describe what is the most surprising thing you have learned about each other that you think will help you going forward? >> yara, would you like to go first? >> a few months ago i got this email from paul telling me that nitzan and i shared the same spark, how similar we are. i wasn't sure how much to believe that. but meeting nitzan, on the first day i realized that there is something there. spending three weeks together and spending every night chatting and talking until really late hours i realize and understand how much we share in common. how much passion we have to make our countries a better place. it took -- it surprised me in a

way that there are some people out there who have the passion needed because as nitzan just said, our communities back home lack -- the majority lacks the enthusiasm to make a change. and finding this minority here is something that really blew my mind. >> well, the thing that surprised me most about yara is a bit more personal. as you see her, she is very -- she's quite small and very cute and pretty. [laughter] but she is such a strong woman. and that is something that you -- maybe from a first impression you don't really see. but she's so strong and so determined. and as she was saying, we had a few very long conversations into the night and we were discussing the other day, maybe we should start a new party. a youth party in israel. that will actually bring about the change. so i think what surprise med is her determination but also the fact that i met someone that i feel like i can actually

corporate with in the future. >> likewise. [laughter] >> hi. my name is -- sorry. my name is -- [inaudible] i come from the south african washington international program. my question is for both yara and nitzan. the single most important moment that happened with the end of apartheid was in 1976 when the youth of the country decided enough was enough and they actually stood up against the system and what i see in the n.s.l. program is something quite similar to that. what do you think you need to do to get the youth from both sides to have that 1976 moment? is it starting a youth party, is it galvanizing the youth from both sides? i think youth from both sides is one of the main key components to solving the

conflict. what do you think about that? 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. now, at the moment they are not referring specifically to the palestinian-israeli conflict. however, it does show us and it does give us more hope that the young generation is putting itself out there and hopefully as we get to have our voices heard and we will have the opportunity to show ourself as friends and as cooperative young adults, then more people who are now out on the streets, they're out there now. we just need to deliver the message and make them hear that message. we are already gathered. we already have that group. now we just have to adjust to

the right goal. >> well, personally i would like to add that after i finished my studies at columbia law school, i hope to go back to the region and perhaps for the time being lead from the back. try to bring change from down to the top. and maybe one day, who knows? i can become president of my country. hopefully. >> thank you for your time. i'm from palestine. and just to follow up on your statement, nitzan. you did say that unfortunately you're witnessing a surge in racism and violence or these kinds of trends. and in palestine it's similar. in fact, weently i came across several articles that targeted specifically programs of similar nature. claiming them treasonous, normalizers and all these kinds of things. how do you guys experience that

if at all and how did you overcome it? thank you. >> all right. so normalization is something that is coming -- that's come about a lot in discussions laterly. i think that many different -- many people define it in different ways. however if you define normization -- normalization as the fact that these are basically per pet wailing the conflict because they are built on it then i have to say i disagree with that statement. when i was living in israel, the conflict was normal for me. i was living my regular, normal day to day life, usually i didn't watch the news and the conflict was far from sight and far from mind. once i joined these programs that i'm on, i cannot ignore it anymore. i mean, right now i feel the urgency for a solution much more than i felt before i joined these programs. and that's what i think is the most important thing here.

that we're actually bringing the conflict to the frontlines, even for people who do live their comfortable life and who are not thinking about the conflict every moment. >> well, you know, back home we have two options. it's either you sit down and wait for someone to be your mandela, as rikus said, or you do something. and the fact that we have 10 people here today that do not want to live in the normal conflict, that we want peace, we want change, that's much better than just sitting down and waiting for someone to take the lead. >> i have a question about a gender gap. the leadership in both palestine and israel is male. it's also older. and the question is, is there a gender gap there in palestine and israel, would change of leadership on a gender basis

change the dialogue and how do you intend to proceed? >> thank you for the question. well, i mean, in israel and in palestine, both lack women. and that is something that is very sorrowful. because if we had women in the leadership there, things may be of a different. and today we have a few really strong women in the group and i think a lot of us want to go back home and lead our communities. as i said, i personally would love to be president but i just need the right platform to be one. so i think when we go back home, i personally will try to be more involved in the politics and perhaps create a party with nitzan and run the country. join us. no, not join us. vote for us. [laughter]

>> hi. i'm joy and i'm the treasurer of n.s.l. so you can tell i really have my heart in this. and my question is really to all four of you. some people might ask, why washington, d.c.? none of your issues take place here. what do you each personally get out of being here as opposed to back in your own countries doing the same thing? >> so perhaps we'll start with john and move our way. >> well, i think one of the great things about these programs is that it doesn't take place at home. it takes you to somewhere that's neutral, basically. which is the first step in open dialogue. and then also the fact that washington, d.c., is basically the powerhouse of politics, world politics, and it's where so many of the world leaders converge. so it's a great place to come

and to experience and to rub shoulders with and some very inspiring people. i think we all take a lot from that, just seeing how diplomacy works. so i think that's the best reason to come to d.c. >> i have to agree with john on that. i feel that d.c. is a perfect international platform where we can go away from our own countries and come here to borrow from a tool kit developed by leaders from all parts of the world. having access to different organizations and different structures that can learn us more about ourselves, and also the different peace organizations here. here we have a chance to hear other people's stories and other people reflect upon our stories as well. so i have to say, it being an international platform for me, makes it very worth while program to be on. >> i would like to add that being here in washington, d.c., being here in washington, d.c., away