13,600 after 2014. the administration has not made a decision on it yet. i don't think they really need to make a decision yet. so they are pushing that off a little bit. the fear is that the afghans are getting very concerned about this. this lack of clarity about the future is causing them all to hedge a little bit. a result, this fear of abandonment is a real concern. on some part, the it ministration will have to come up with their plan for post- teen, 18 months away. i think there is still a debate about the numbers. 2014, 18- for post months away. i think there are still a debate debate about the numbers. aey also want a cow or -- counterterrorism force their able to go after al qaeda targets. >> a quick what about

guantánamo. the president campaigned five years ago closing guantánamo. it is still open. but the congressman was very clear that it is to be shut down. arts is very forceful on this issue, but there are a lot of republicans and some democrats who say we would don't want terrorists living in our prisons and keep autonomy open, that it is a perfectly acceptable prison and that they can be kept there. so it rains -- so it remains a standoff. >> think you so much for being with us. , walked into the little kiosk. i said i am bob ney here to report. he said, anyone of your campaign managers in ohio. i said, ok. i got down in there. the guard said, here, you have some hate mail. .t was from california

they gave me the mail. he gave me the most a missing part of the strip down. and then i got into the intake, walked into prison, down into the courtyard. the warden -- i want to use a language i do in the book, but the warden told the man who was blessed take me, get away from him. he can find his way. so i don't know where to go. prisoner said, where is your escort? i said, i don't know, some little guy in a suit yield some fellow in which. he took me in the back -- in a .uit yelled some fellow he took me in the back. he said, are you the congressman? >> i said i used to be. he said you are a republican. i said well, republicans put me

in here. he says i was the mayor bees cleveland. i'll get you some close. congressman bob ney tonight on c-span's q&a. president obama and comedian conan o brahman -- conan o'brien spoke at the washington hilton. we begin with some of the red carpet arrivals.

>> i will need everyone to be quiet because i have some secret video that was shot in the process to put together this dinner. you fight so hard to get tickets for this dinner and for better table placement. but i was stunned at how intense a god. i thought i had seen it all. until a certain congressman appeared tried to take over this dinner.

, we can't have you stop filing all of these tickets, deciding where everyone gets to sit. i really need you to release some of these tables. >> you know my motto. you scmy back and i won't irritate yours. i've seen your work. let's not kid ourselves. this is the part where you leave. >> what on earth happened, frank? >> is for the greater good, valerie. >> please don't tell me has anything to do with north korea, same-sex marriage -- i'm not done. >> all right. , gun control, the fiscal cliff, pipelines, education, social security and iraq, afghanistan -- >> valerie, it's not going to happen. >> if not me, who yet the >> he is the one who got fired from the tonight show, right? >> yes, and then he moved over to tbs.

>> is that a real network? >> no, but then neither is in bc. >> we're trying to -- neither nbc.n b .> we are trying >> we would like kim kardashian at our table. >> i refuse to wear pants until the president gives us more axes. ask do what i say and politico it's a profession. and, what is your home address? ?> why do you ask yucc\ >> to send you the tickets. >> nobody knows where he lives. >> there is no reason to be nervous. is valerie badmouthing me to the president yucc? is she out for revenge?

x ask again later. >> you want to talk about immigration, we can talk about immigration. we can talk about the budget. i will even talk to you about jay-z and beyoncé in cuba. but there are two things i don't talk about, covert operations and magical powers. >> youtube play basketball every tuesday. >> nerve ball. nerf ball. the rest of want - the world to know that. >> how about taylor swift at the rise in center? x -- at the verizon center? >> thank you, gentlemen. >> i have three sources at the west wing saying that valerie is on the warpath will stop >> i couldn't possibly comment.

>> is it true that you are hoarding tickets to the dinner? >> i have to go. >> how about this, you tweak it and i will re-tweet it. >> all right. >> done. i thought you wanted the immigration bill to pass. war wouldo, but that give me my ravens tickets. thanis is so much cooler the correspondents dinner. >> you can't run for mayor again, mike. that will put anthony wiener in a pickle and then he will tweaet that pickle. since when have term limits ever stopped you? and you should know, mike, ed drinks the gulps. >> is that frank on the phone? let me talk to him.

frank, it's charlie rose. tell me why you canceled last week. >> margaret thatcher died. i was in mourning. >> how about next week. >> i will be on the today show. >> we let these give bloomberg off my back? >> only if you give me your absolute unquestioning loyalty. .> that is a pretty big ask >> 42 seconds during the dinner to say what ever i want. >> take 45. >> washington and hollywood, some new faces, some old faces, some new faces on old faces. -- i do emphasize sympathize on it. jokest be hard to write u

about account already is one. y'all came here together to make this spoof. that is what real bipartisan .ooks like i may cheat to get what i want, but it least i get the job done. i hope you were taking notes. have a wonderful evening and i will see you at the bloomberg that if their party. that is, those of you who got an invite. and, mr. president, welcome to nerdcon. >> a shadow to kevin spacey who threw me out of his office or a bone know -- his office pro bono. good evening, mr. president, mrs. obama, my fellow board members, distinguished guests and the folks from msnbc, too.

welcome to the white house correspondents dinner. the president promises obama. we thank her for being here. after last year's dinner, tom brokaw had some blunt words about this dinner. he said some but will he -- he said symbolically that this is a those from separates the people they are supposed to serve. thefocus should be on what hilton is serving tonight, but who we are serving tomorrow. we should be serving the public and the next generation of journalists. and that is something i have thought a lot about since becoming president.

few people know what it's like to have this much power for just about a year. other than conan. [laughter] but we didn't just talk about change. came inking our name handy. our dinner has to be about scholarships, not swag. next year, it will be the hundredth year of the correspondence association. there is a lot of history. if you have any mementos out there, some photos of previous dinners, i want you to contact steve coleman, our wonderful vice president. [applause] you can go to our website. there is a place to submit some of those memories. but remember that he will be president next year.

so if you want tickets, start calling him already. [laughter] very quickly come i want to run through -- over the lecture, people said, what did you guys do yucc? i will run through for three prior days. one is axes. .- one is access i am able opportunity agitator. the romney campaign had agreed that did not open their fundraisers to the press. we kept pushing and they kept saying no. so one day come in late september, i got an e-mail from romney that said, starting tomorrow, cameras will be allowed into all of the governors fundraisers. i i said, i really made an impact. kristinissed later, came up to me in columbus ohio and said, did you hear about this hidden camera in a romney fundraiser? , she said.

it is a game changer. [laughter] and i realize that that is why they wanted to open the fundraiser. they wanted to be more transparent. officials in both parties want more access when more access is in their best interests. it is our duty to push for more access all the time. whether it is a democrat or republican car because it is in the public interest. [applause] it is also easier to get that information that way instead of having to bug senator mcconnell's office. [laughter] -- second thing we do earlier this year, several became new moms. they had trouble finding a place to pump breastmilk in the white house. the press room bathroom is pretty disgusting. this was not just a moral obligation it was a legal obligation. you might've heard of obamacare. [laughter] [applause]

that they provide a private space. but the problem was that the white house is not our employer. we are not only -- we are not on their payroll. at least some of us are not. [laughter] our employers cannot build a private room. we had to find existing report or workspace to take over. nobody wants to take that givece -- nobody wants to up their turf. thankfully, we found a private they agreed to let us do this. thank you.

[applause] as it turned out, we broke through a glass ceiling. only to find that this room had a glass door. [laughter] you can see right in. ass is the only time president that i decided we needed the white house to be less trans. [laughter] we needed to put up a curtain. then we couldn't have done it, mr. president without your press aide, who is about five days overdue with a baby. we are hoping to break the new cycle my jamie. so if you're out there, e-mail us. i don't think she had it, active interest. but she worked really hard on this and so did someone in the office of administration. stephen pearson. i was getting impatient because this was taking a long time. he said i just need a couple of more days. i said why is it taking this long dax -- this long echo we just need a curtain. and he said, because my wife is

selling the curtain for hearst -- is sewing the curtain herself. so thank you. she showed the curtain for what we now call the breast wing. [applause] we made history in another way. bill o'reilly, you should take note of this. this is the first time ever that someone at fox has helped do you implement obamacare. [laughter] and that brings me to the third and final point. what we do. we stand up for the next generation of journalists. the last time conan headlined this dinner in 1995, he gave out one scholarship -- as in scholarship for needy journalism students. now they have given out more than a dozen scholarships per year. he cannot thank you enough mrs. obama for being here to help us give out the scholarships. she will do that again in a minute. but it think it would be better

for me to talk before she doesn't before you know -- so you know exactly what she is doing and how awful that is. [applause] -- how thoughtful that is. [applause] we have set out to do even more thanks to michael shear. he is done a great job. [applause] about a week ago, we had an event with us coverage about watergate and how it changed the relationship between the white house and the press corps. it raised money for our scholarship fund. on this thursday, we held a town hall meeting with diversity in media. it was a discussion that was moderated by none other than a [indiscernible] for the first time, we are offering an internship program to match some of these scholars with members of the correspondence association, to

get them out of the classroom and into the workplace. we would not have been able to make it happen without my .olleagues at fox [applause] after being at walter reed meeting with wounded words, he came to our office and he and conan o'brien spent an hour talking with the students. that is all they did for an hour. they talked to the students. [applause] the students were a little freaked out, but it was cool. [laughter] scott wilson at "the washington post," a big supporter of the scholarship fund and the internship program. we appreciate all of these folks out here. leaders at the of the tv networks also stepped in without hesitation. as one really got me. i went to jeff zucker from a cnn, and he immediately -- i

said, would you offer and enter ship to one of our scholars and emilio he said, done. and i thought, -- and emea leahy said, done. and i thought, -- and immediately, he said, done. and i ought, this is the first time that anybody is glad to hear him say done. they have all been contribute to our scholarship funds. we thank you. this is the one that really got me. every year, we give the comedian at this dinner $10,000, which is a small change for a hollywood star. a lot of money for the students. for the first time, the comedian has refused to cash that check. instead, mr. o'brien candidate

activity and earmark it for the scholarship fund. [cheers and applause] close by saying i reported -- you decide if it's worthy of more support. there are cards on your tables. faster, we had them out there we did not have any sent in. -- last year, we had them out there we did not have any sent in. if you are in the position to give as much as conan did, that is wonderful. something less is wonderful, too. i want to end where i began. by talking about the vips in this room. because of what we have done with this fundraising, we will once again put about $125,000 or

public next year's scholars. but we also raised at least $150,000. so we doubled that. maybe more soon. [applause] so let's talk about the real celebrities in this room. the first group of vips or want to mention, members of the white house press corps, the reporters, producers, the camera men and women [applause] now you know why mrs. obama has come up. every year for the last few years and this year. we have asked several others to come up to the podium to speak about the second group of vips, the real celebrities that i want you to stand up for, and that is this year's scholars. [applause]

>> who knew that ed henry has jokes? kevin spacey, i love you. but the reason why we are here today -- is conan o'brien funny? yes. is the first lady abd? -- a beauty? yes. we are colleagues, but also competitors in this room. there are a lot of people waiting in the wings that want to take our jobs. [laughter] before the started, i went backstage to talk to them. i would li