kent walsh on his new book "celebrity in chief." about how celebrity culture has shaped presidential politics. this conversation cluster calls, tweets, and he-- and e-mails. ♪ >>(202) 748-8000 host: host: the ferguson report came out for the department of justice. hillary clinton's e-mails have been discussed. i sanctions and negotiations are going on. the supreme court and benjamin netanyahu address congress. some of the major reason events of the week. what is your view on those or other news? we want to hear from you this morning on "the washington journal."

748 1001 four republicans you can make a comment on our facebook page, twitter, or journal at the span.org. -- www.c-span.org "the washington times," contemplates the conservatives contemplate the coup. after a series of self-inflicted fumbles and political defeat during the first work of the congressional session --

host: a little bit from "the washington times" this morning. on the other side of the hill newspaper, mcconnell backs off the boat. mitch mcconnell postponed a vote on thursday that had been expected next week on legislation allowing congress to weigh in on any ironic nuclear deal -- iran nuclear deal.

instead, the senate will turn to the anti-human trafficking legislation while democrats decide whether or not they believe they and congress as a whole should be able to review" on any deal the president cuts with the leaders of iran. it comes less than one day after he announced that the senator would take a procedural vote next tuesday on the legislation. a couple more stories before we get to the phone calls. this is the lead editorial in "usa today." it is about hillary clinton's e-mails. clinton displays a troubling secrecy.

at times, she has been obsessed with secrecy that she show during the first task horse she led during bill clinton's first term in office. she has shown a habit of playing by her own rules and surrounding herself with some questionable judgment. her actions, with regard to the e-mails violated regulations and policies of the obama administration, directing public officials to use public -- government e-mail assistance. her zone for privacy is understandable given her political enemies and scandals. nevertheless, her behavior amounts to ignoring roles of that other have little problem obeying. "usa today" always puts opposing editorial on their lead editorial and today, it is by

lanny davis who has worked for hillary clinton over the years. attacks add up to a big nothing is the header. mr. davis writes -- regardless of whether it was located at home, more than 50,000 pages had are ready bit turnover. she asked the state department to review and release them. that is just a little bit from lanny davis's editorial in usa today. s get to your calls. major news stories of the week. start with an independent from outline, california. this is jim. caller: good morning.

thank you for c-span. i was just watching the senate hearings on whether the u.s. should farm the ukrainian army are not. for me, that has been a really serious issue and concern. i served in iraq and i do not feel the government was being very honest with us when they sent us over there. i really think that our media has done a good job of asking the government the hard questions or even taking a good look at the concerns of the russians might have. for years, i have been listening to our government complain about the iranians with their nuclear threat and i knows of people who live in the ukraine and they say that russia's biggest fear is that they do not want a nuclear missile pointed at moscow from there. these are issues that the media has not talked to.

another thing that nobody has really discussed -- host: we believe in there and move on to john in fort lauderdale, florida. caller: i am not a democrat per se, i just do not have anything for the republicans. what i wanted to say is, is this country allowed netanyahu to come over here and play footissie with the president and try to undermine him during the congress and the republicans just had it, i am sick and tired of this country asked -- country acting like the united states of israel. we are the united states of america and you cannot come over here and disrespect our president and tell him his plan is no good. since when did we let other foreign leaders come over here and do that? second, one more thing. loretta lynch is being held up the longest -- i mean the

longest -- she is being held up from being nominated to attorney general's office, why do you think that is question mark -- why do you think that is? come on, man. give me a break. host: what is your basis for saying those things? caller: is raise. if you look at how hateful they are to obama and now loretta lynch. they have nothing to hold this woman off. she is about the most qualified. host: do you think president obama has been treated worse than president bush or president clinton before him? caller: at the level, yes. here is why i say that. i am not saying that president clinton did not go through the rigor and he was a white presidents. yes, other parties do that, but

we can point out things where the were way over the line with obama. host: john in fort lauderdale field -- in fort lauderdale. this is steve. caller: thank you for having me on c-span. i would like to point out that because of all these small violations in society, like hillary ignoring the e-mail, it leads to a bigger problem later on. it is the same thing in ferguson and in small community groups where there are demonstrations and people do not like what they see. also, small violations are being continuously done. what happens is it leads to a bigger problem and i was just watching ferguson where this one lady was -- basically she says, oh, it is just a small ticket.

well, it leads to a bigger problem. hillary also, it is just an e-mail. it leads to a bigger problem and society is going to keep on finding more violations. i just wanted to point this out that this is all because of small violations in society. host: thank you, steve. 202 is the area code if you would like to dial in and comment on major events out of washington. (202) 748-8000 four democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. &obama has said that the country needs a strong privacy lawsuit they can protect personal information from advertisers. internet firms -- they will not get it from obama.

the bill administration recently offered will do little to help individuals while giving companies great leeway in determining how they collect and share personal data. autry in arkansas on the independent line. what is on your mind? caller: i just wanted to comment on hillary clinton and her e-mail stuff. i really don't mind about the

e-mail stuff. i mean, i hope she does run for president because in my opinion the one right now is the worst one we have ever had. when bill was in office, hillary was running the country just like here in arkansas. i don't care about her e-mail shit. host: this is set in north carolina, republican. hi seth. caller: i will tell you what. with the hillary clinton and her e-mails, i am a little surprised that she is in total control of what she is going to say or what she is going to release. one of the problems in government today is that the people who are elected are not

doing the justice to the american people. it bothers me. i was sick of the bipartisan aside and just get on with the business. that is all. host: what is that business in your view that you would like to see them get on with? caller: well, listen. we have one of the best countries in the world -- or the best country in the world. and i want to see us balance social problems with forwarding our country. host: we will leave it there. "new york times" talks about chief justice john roberts. he usually displays his supple intellect and nature of supreme court arguments. he makes points and punctures to

positions to lawyers who appear before him. but on wednesday --

a little bit from "the new york times"." maynard is on the democrats line. caller: hi, sir. this is maynard wilson. back in the days of reagan [indiscernible] on top of that, in my mind religion has helped us.

they were part of the people who had money and we christians -- i don't know if we are all christians, but i believe a christian nation should back them up and do what we can. host: maynard in williamsburg virginia. john, a republican. caller: i can't believe that we have some week leaders of the republican party. we need to clean house. i am a social conservative and we have to have some federal leadership. they have no spine and we are in a war with the democrats over the usefulness of this country. if they do not stand up to them, the democrat socialists will take over this country and run it like a dictatorship. host: what is an issue of concern to you john?

caller: number one is immigration and our military is being dismantled. social things are blowing out of the campaign and our taxes are going way. we are having problems. host: next up is mark in a town called novelty, ohio. where is novelty ohio? caller: northeast ohio. host: go ahead. caller: i was just calling about the innuendo about hillary's e-mails. that is exactly what that is. it is starting already. what isn't and innuendo and republicans alike to use the term that there was a measuring stick between obama and our past president bush. it is that iraq was started under george bush and dick

cheney by lies. everybody knows that and there has been no treason. they have not been held accountable. these are serious issues and until our can treat -- until our country goes back and corrects, we will never work right again. those are my comments -- ben ghazi, that happens in war, all of that stuff. host: thank you, sir. "washington post" reviewing the e-mail security protocols. the practices have led to a storm of criticism this week from government transparency advocates and republican lawmakers who say she has used the system to assert control over decisions were pumped -- regarding e-mails that will be released under federal and republic records. clinton took to twitter late wednesday to call him the state department to promptly release the records say, i want the public to see my e-mails.

on thursday, her successor secretary of state john kerry, promised that officials would review and publicly release the e-mails that have been provided by clinton. john kerry told reporters during a visit to saudi arabia that they would undertake this task as rapidly as possible. emery is calling in for mississippi. democrat. caller: well, i find it strange that republicans claim that benghazi was hillary and obama's fault. [indiscernible] host: we are going to cut that off because that connection was

really poor. in new york, a republican. caller: thank you. host: ed, we are listening. i think he hung up. let's try gladys in east orange, new jersey, independent line. caller: good morning. i have a number of things on my mind this morning. the first one is hillary's e-mails. she had a secure server in her home. it was only her server. therefore, edward snowden could not have get -- could not hack it. he needs a secure server as well as others in the government because if you are the only one using it, then no one is going to tell our secrets. they will not put our secrets all over and they will not take our secrets to russia because they do not have them. the need to get off hillary. she is going to be our next

president and she is the lady who was going to be on the money. there is a push for a woman on a bill, well, everyone on a bill has been a president. you want a woman on a bill? you want hillary clinton. second, i am really dismayed at the education in this country. the educational standards in this country has been so low for so many years. i mean hundreds of years. when you listen to some of the people that call into the program, you start to understand that it is not only of black problem, poor problem, it is a problem across the board. reasoning, the ability to understand, the ability to read, the department of justice put out a 102 page report on systematic racism here in the united states. they used ferguson and that there were -- as the mirror we

look into because it was what it was in front of us at the time. all across the united states there is targeting of hard-working american people. people whose ancestors built this country, probably the buildings that some of the people --[laughter] how should i put it? they are attacking black people. they built the railroads -- the steam engine, a black man. the streetlights, red, yellow, green and the way they work, a black man. that is why february is black history month. host: would you like to bring this to a conclusion? [laughter] caller: yes i would like to

mention benghazi because this seems to be a problem for hillary. this goes back to the lack of education in this country. the diplomats that go out to diplomatic posts understand what their job is. just like the reporters that go to war zones understand what their job is. host: gladys, conclusion? caller: i say when you go into a war zone, you are prepared to die. host: we will have to go to evolve in jackson, tennessee. -- to bob in jackson, tennessee. caller: i'd like to comment on the illegal immigrants in this country. it is really silly because they are saying over -- they are saying they secured the border what if you can get over and get in the country, you can get legal status and that means they are going to vote democrat.

it really don't make sense. people need to look up and realize what is going on. host: bob, do you think they should of held off on funding the department of homeland security over this issue? caller: i don't think they should hold off, but they are trying to get them legal status and that should be stopped. it is that simple. i think it was done for the simple reason -- they are going to be eligible to vote, you know that. i appreciate you taking my call. host: stone mountain, georgia, a democrat. latoya. caller: good morning. when i called in, the guy was asking me what did i have to say. i was talking about the respect that president obama gets from his peers congress, house of

representatives, and all those people. he said how does that have anything to do with it question mark i was like, they invited netanyahu to come and speak to congress without telling president obama. that was disrespectful. but the thing is, it is hard for me to imagine in 2015 that we have republicans turning back to vote. they will not go to salem. they were big and republicans that you need to be there. why you got to bake them? -- why you got to beg them? they are stealing the votes and they got rid of the main thing that has some statute to it and stop them from doing all the illegal things they were doing in the 60's -- 1960's. the separate court that, but i do not understand how in the

world could are black and brown people -- everybody you here say they are republican -- colin like they are not an american. immigrants built the country. they were here first. to put them like they do not even exist now like they are indians, you done wrote them off. i do not understand how you can be so hateful. even with george bush when he joined with iraq -- the republicans have done something treasonous. every bill that could help the united states -- are people for getting a job, unemployment -- they have this -- they have stood in the way of everything. host: latoya, in stone mountain.

she brought up a couple of things including selma. it is the 50th anniversary this weekend. c-span will be live from soma for the celebration and commemoration that is going on down there. that will be on our american history tv channel which is c-span three on the weekends, 48 hours of history beginning at 11:00 a.m. on c-span three. there will be a colin program. after that we will be live from soma with president obama, president george w. bush will also be down in selma. here is "the wall street journal" take on selma. struggle and hope -- they have struggled where demonstrators were being by troopers. it is one of the --

today in "the wall street journal" and we will talk about this with richard.

independent, what is on your mind. caller: they just want to keep themselves safe from missile sites and stuff. the funny part about it is we can go over to any country that we want to go and justify for doing it, but when russia is doing something, we say they are no good and they are out killing people and all this. we have killed enough people. we make hitler look like an altar boy. that is our problem. we cannot keep our nose out of people's business. we started this whole mess in the middle east, peter. it is a shame because we used to be the greatest country in the world and now we are the most w ar-hungry country in the world. i do not like to say, but it is getting that way. i thank you for listening and

you have a good day. host: richard, would you advocate like some are doing in congress, sending troops money and arms to the ukraine? richard turned up the volume on this tv, so we will have to move on. roy, republican. caller: i am not a republican nor democrat. i am an independent. host: if in the future you could call on that line, it would be helpful. caller: i'm sorry. i must've vote down the wrong number. anyway, i have worked with republican and democratic candidates volunteering my time, money, and resources for both parties. that is why i say independent-minded because i try to be fair with everybody that hey, this is the united states of america and we are supposed to be a strong leader in the world. we seem to be taking a backseat to all of this clinical

propaganda back and forth from both sides. -- political propaganda, back and forth from both sides. the world is fragile and cracking apart in front of us. everyday we have to turn on our tv and all we hear is bad, bad bad. when are we going to hear something good? we need a strong independent leader that surges to the front. as far as i am concerned, both parties have been fighting so long for the last 200 years or plus that it is time for change. if that change has to come in the foreseeable future, it is up to the american people to vote like an independent committee. host: so is the independent leader you like, roy? caller: i was trying to work with bernie sanders but he is a day late and a dollar short as far as i'm concerned. i keep getting a million e-mails and it is like, bernie, i am asking you to run for presidency

but you do not seem to be trying . i'm giving you inside information that i helped bill clinton with, george bush, and i tried to help these people over the last two presidencies. even barack obama has my work. host: what kind of inside information to provide? caller: i do work on new developing programs, services, and it that are very important to create job opportunities and careers for the average person in the united states of america. my major concern is that people need opportunities and they are not getting them. host: that is going. he mentioned bernie sanders and he is mentioned in this article in "the washington post." john weidner writes that new controversy swirling around hillary rodham clinton has made them more eager than ever for alternatives in 2016.

the undercurrent of anxiety about clinton possibilities has grown in recent days with potentially damaging news. foreign donations to the clinton foundation and the former secretary of state's use of private e-mail accounts to conduct official business. it has -- they have three pictures and article. former governor of maryland. former virginia senator and current senator of virginia bernie sanders. tony is calling in from pleasantville, new jersey. hi, tony. democrat. caller: good morning, peter and c-span viewers. i am going to piggyback on the immigration issue. the last time i checked, peter, everybody living in this country

came from somewhere else. i do not understand why these people are so upset about barack obama's executive action on immigration. for the life of me, i cannot figure out how someone else and they deserve the right to live in this country and anyone else does not. i do not care if it is france, or anywhere around the world, i think people should be able to go and live wherever they think they can have a better life or their family and their children. thank you for accepting my call this money. host: mcconnell to appear on cbs's face the nation program. this will be his first appearance on the sunday morning circuit. that will be on sunday. john is in duncanville, texas, republican line. john, please go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm calling about the hillary e-mail fiasco and how i have heard callers mention how it was -- how was she was doing this and doing that because it was

right. that still does not make it legal. she was breaking the rules. also, whoever she was conversing with through these e-mails should also be looked at. host: i appreciate your time. paul in orlando. another republican. caller: good morning, peter. thank you for taking my call and c-span. if the petersons are watching and listening, i hope the morning finds them up. host: i hope it does too. thank you for reminding me about them. caller: they took a shining to you peter. you are a handsome man. host: you are too kind. esther peterson sent me a painting at one time. it is in my office. caller: wow! that should make you feel good. hey, peter. for me, i have two news events this week.

one was the finding of what is going on in ferguson. you know i consider myself to be a white conservative republican and i find it troubling that in 2015 in the united states of america, some of our fellow citizens have to put up with stuff that was typical of the south back in the 50's. i am not quite sure how you move forward on it. i guess the people in ferguson should take a look at other cities like you're in orlando. we have great relations with the minority community with the police. second, and i will be short because a lot of other people have called in on it. the whole clinton e-mail thing. i am just a working stiff peter. when i am at work, i use my work e-mail. i find it -- well, i am left scratching my head that for four

years of secretary of state didn't anybody in the administration say, i keep getting e-mail from hillary's gmail account? and then i question, because i am sure why you are a young man you remember all the hijinks going on in the clinton administration in the 1990's, and i question clinton possibilities as far as why she -- and from what i understand by watching c-span and other news outlets -- they never even set up and h clinton at state.gov account for her. i'm a paralegal. i have a nasty cold. host: we will have to leave it there, paul. we will move on to irene in illinois. caller: hi.

i retired registered nurse and i wanted to talk about health care and the subsidy. i have just been appalled and really saddened about the number of people who called in who are against health care, especially the seniors who were on medicare, which is the government rat run, the best health care for subsidies. people come into the emergency room and have not had access to health care. they come with strokes, kidney failure, and all because they did not have a doctor who could manage their high blood pressure. or they had their limbs amputated because of uncontrolled diabetes. or four stage cancer because they could not have the colonoscopy done. the people are so angry over these subsidies that we

subsidize the oil companies with billions of dollars and the farmers who want to get a piece of land. we give them subsidies. we give billions of dollars for universal health care for their people. democrats need to invite netanyahu over to talk to the republicans on the need for universal health care. they have mandatory health care over there. and they have the fourth best health care in the country. we pay the highest amount for health care and the worst outcomes because people do not have health care and they come into emergency room's. we spend billions of dollars -- host: i read in illinois. president obama will be in south carolina today. he will be talking to students about creating opportunities in their communities. that will be live on c-span at 2:15 this afternoon.

president obama's council meeting. from florida carol, you are on "the washington journal." caller: i do want to say it is so nice to get to talk to you. i seldom ever call because it is hard to get in. i do tweet anyway i'll start. the woman who said something about joe scarborough this morning. yes, i watch msnbc oh and then i turned to c-span. and then i vacillate between cnn when i can and when i am home, even when i am working at home i can still listen to the tv between cnn and fox. host: what did he say this morning exactly? was he doing a riff on the republicans in selma?

caller: the others are liberals so they were not too happy, but he said that you have to admit hands up, don't shoot, was a lie. even holder, albeit he is -- he kind of looked over and talked about the police department of ferguson and i agree with that and joe agreed with that and they do have to change, but he says that even holder had to admit that the forensics and the witnesses who confirmed the forensics were that -- really he never had his hands up and he never said don't shoot. some of the people who said that initially, some of the witnesses said they did. one of them said she saw what happened, but she lied about it because she was afraid not to. she was afraid she would be

crucified or god knows what if she had told the truth that he did not have his hands up and he did not say don't shoot. then let me go to a couple of my ths that they bring up. always talking about obama being worse. peter, they must not have been listening when bush was president or when clinton was president because my, god. both of them were eviscerated. talk about hatred. so many agreed on hatred. the main things said about bush that they obviously blocked out or were not listening or did not care. and then about hillary, she got foreign money and she did not have anything but a personal account. that is not right. there was a statement -- not a statement, but fox had gotten somebody leaked it to them that she had told everybody in her department that they had to have a government e-mail, but she did

not abide by the rules herself. as far as her turning over a lot of e-mails, yeah but we do not know how many she had, how many were deleted with the private server. she and her aides were the one to turn them over, yeah. host: thank you, carol. what you do in boca raton? caller: i'm a white girl but for 15 years i worked at an all-black high school and i quit in 2013 -- i taught ap english primarily seniors sophomores because we had been on the system. i also taught junior english and grammar and all that stuff and tried to get the kids so they would pass.

i also taught advanced basement, but the kids got so bad, peter. the discipline just went down, down, down. you were compelled to pass the kids. you could not fail them because it looked bad for the principle and of course, he was under pressure. that is just the system in education now. my kids most of them, were on a sixth grade level of reading. they did not want to do any work and you cannot make them. they got to the point where you couldn't let them use their cell phone. you couldn't take the cell phones away from them, so i just -- i could not really follow as much in those days because i was just grading papers all the time and my kids would say miss, if you loved us, why didn't you give us just teh damn answers. we don't feel like he this.

we don't want to be doing this. you know, that was the way that was. it was very, very hard. i loved my students. they loved to me, but for the wrong reasons. ms., you've got a lot of swag. or they would comment on books and nice close and stuff like that. that is irrelevant. i said, i want you to learn. you got to. don't you understand? host: that was carol sharing a little bit of her personal story with us. and congressional news, candice miller is retiring from congress after the session. she is a republican from michigan. she is also chair of the house and the station committee. the only woman chair in the house currently. former congressman is being prevented from traveling to europe, citing -- the judge decided a potential flight risk. he was the staten island

congressman who got into some trouble with taxes, etc. ted cruz is set in june for a book release. his book is coming out in june. the name of the book is "a time for truth reigniting the miracle of america." kenny, new york city. caller: hi, how are you doing? host: what do you do in new york?i work as a stagehand caller:. -- caller: i work as a stagehand. host: are you currently working on the show? caller: i am an extra, a part-time stagehand. i don't work on the regular, but i work as needed. my comment is about ferguson. the attorney general -- i'm glad

the attorney general came out and -- let me say, systemic racism through the police officers all in this country, i mean, but what happened in ferguson was a disgrace. all the people around this nation were right in protesting what happened in ferguson, in my opinion. because racist police -- you have to read -- you have to weed the races police out of the system. there are so many who do not have respect for black people all across our nation, sir. this line of racism going on and police systems -- host: are you disappointed that justice is not pursuing the case against darren wilson? caller: well, i am disappointed

in that we as americans we are in this racism type of situation where i am 54 years old. i am 54 years old and i was hoping that in this time in my life racism won't be existent but we've got people in this society, especially in law enforcement, that disrespect black people. i'm going to tell you the problem is you have too many people, white people, patrolling black neighborhoods that don't have no respect for black people. you don't have respect for black people and you see the comments that law enforcement making, because they do not have no respect for black people. host: kenny, we will have to leave it there.

we are running heavy on time. very quickly, some tweets. the gop override of the keystone vida goes down in flames. the country wins in this story. gary says, imagine hillary in white house. people complain about cheney, others obama, and you have seen nothing. she is a nixon in drag, a disaster in waiting. lord, this is the beginning of the end for hillary clinton's campaign for the presidency. she is as paranoid as nixon. john says democrats should come out of the socialist closet and nominate bernie. those are some of the tweets that we have been getting this morning on different stories. coming up, david recker with the "washington examiner." we will be talking about hillary clinton's e-mails, donations to the clinton foundation, etc. and then ken walsh who has been on the program many times.

select -- "celebrity in chief" is his new book on the culture of stardom. we will be talking with mr. walsh after that. this is "the washington journal." ♪ >> here are some of our feature programs this weekend. on c-span two "book tv" saturday night on "afterwards" david morris on the history of posttraumatic stress disorder that affects over 20 million americans, including himself. sunday night at 8:00, former navy seal sniper scott taylor argues that the obama administration is hurting our national security. on american history tv on c-span

3, the commemoration of bloody sunday when they began a march from selma to montgomery alabama, and were met by violence by state and local police. saturday beginning at noon eastern, live from selma with phone calls. followed by commemorative ceremony with president obama and john lewis. sunday, our live coverage continues with the historic brown chapel church. the starting point for the selma montgomery marches. when the complete schedule at www.c-span.org and let us know what you think about the programs. e-mail us at comments at c-span.org or send us a tweet at c-span #comments. join the c-span conversation like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. the political landscape has changed with the 114th congress. not only are there 43 new republicans and 15 you democrats in the house and told new

republicans and one new democrat in the senate, there is also 108 women in congress, including the first african-american republican in the house and the first woman veteran in the senate. keep track of the members of congress using congressional chronicle on c-span.org. the congressional chronicle page has lots of useful information including voting results and statistics about each section of congress. new congress, best actress on c-span c-span two, and c-span radio. -- new congress, best access on c-span c-span2, and c-span radio. host: david drucker. you have been covering this town for about 10 years or so. how significant is the hillary clinton e-mail situation? guest: at this stage in the campaign it is significant.

i am surprised at the lives it has because you see so many of these stories and they come and go in the news cycle is so fast. it has really captured the imagination of political players and journalists in washington and new york and around the country. it will be interesting to see where it goes next. host: a lot of ink. a lot of editorials. he was today's "washington post." sunlight foundation. even the "new york times." guest: well they broke the story. you have to give them a lot of credit for the work they did. i think the key point about the clinton e-mail situation is not that she is a politician who didn't necessarily want everybody to have access to her e-mails, even though some people try to make this a story about politicians and whether or not they are willing to expose all of their e-mails to public

scrutiny. the issue is that she was a secretary of state. not only were their roles on how you handle me know but she was presumably trafficking in classified information and other information that probably a lot of american enemies want to get a hold of. or they tried very hard to get hold of. we do not yet know whether or not the information that she was dealing with was secure if it was outside of the state department e-mail. i think that for somebody who wants to become and her that is the real issue here. host: a lot of reports about kernel powell doing the same thing. guest: he shouldn't have. it would be nice to know is that private e-mail was secure. i talked to a lot of members of congress and sometimes converse with members of congress on private you know. here is the thing, first of all there is no rules for them. a lot of times when you discuss politics, you cannot use government resources to do with

her politics, so they have to go outside of any government e-mail chains. when i have having conversations with members of congress it is not about classified material. i am not talking about national security. i'm usually talking about whether some member of congress is going to get a bill through in the policy or a leadership plan to run the house at -- house or senate. hillary clinton most likely talking about much of the time and had to do with u.s. diplomatic strategy, national security strategy, and may have included information that was actually classified. whether it was her or any other secretary of state in the situation, i think the question is, how did you deal with that? if she can assure the public that she never put american secrets at risk in explaining exactly how she did that even

though she was using her own e-mail server, but that could diffuse a potential problem that doesn't necessarily go away as quickly as i would have thought. having said all of that, we are so far away from actual campaigning and an actual election that voters are now do not even know who their nominees are. you have an actual person running against another actual person and you start to make choices based on what is before you and whatnot -- and not what you imagine, that can clarify your decision-making as a voter. all of a sudden, it puts potential scandals and real scandals and perspective. as in, i really do not like with this person did, but there was no way i am voting for the other guy. the new cycle moves so fast and there are things we have not got into. it is possible that we said, hey, remember what we thought that was a big deal? host: how frequent is it is that you think government officials accuse private e-mails?

guest: i don't know that we really know the answer to this question. if you are talking about politics, imagine any member of congress or the administration might be involved in the political matter. something where you are not permitted to use government resources or it is questionable. as you can imagine, they use their gmail account or private e-mail. you can imagine of having text conversations via cell phone. anything so that you are not using -- and on their personal cell phone. i do not think the question here -- i don't think it is helpful maybe politically helpful to clinton's allies to ship this from an argument on how you dealt with classified and importing government information to one of just transparency. and there is an issue of transparency. the secretary of state, i do not think necessarily owes the

american people access to everything she said and anytime she happened to say it. it might not be helpful for our relationships with allies and our plans to make it tough for our enemies to expose all of clinton's e-mails to the world. what i think is important to know, did she secure information? was the state department aware? if so, who signed off and how did they make sure it was secure? if she was ever involved in political matters including helping president obama possibly election, why shouldn't she? then i would assume it would probably be done not on state department e-mail because you probably do not what use government resources and you probably are not supposed to for a political matter. there is no reason -- that would be the correct choice to make. i think we should clarify here. there is an issue of transparency and jeb bush has released a bunch of e-mails and trying to show he has nothing to hide. that is all well and good and

makes voters happy and it will get you more votes, then people should consider doing that. the issue here is her function as secretary of state and a very high-ranking cabinet position. and happening to be in line for the presidency. host: why we just learning about this in 2015 if this is a major issue? guest: that is a great question. i have had a lot of conversation with other politicians journalists about how this came to light now and why. there are options there. one of those options is that the clinton team you this was a potential problem and they wanted to get it out there and get it out there now. in my spirits with campaigns let's just say for the sake of argument that is what they did. it was a great decision because it was probably going to get out there anyway. a smart candidate will always sent themselves and find their own skeletons before anybody else does and then you try to

decide when to release it. i have seen numerous times in the campaign where you are in the off year, not election year, early in the off year and there are revelations that come out and it sounds like the biggest deal in the like the biggest deal in the world. a year later no one cares. for scandal to be potent, it is timing as well as what the scandal is. i am not saying that this will not last, because it does go to work competency. i would add something, whatever people say about the clintons the thing about the clintons is people look back at president bill clinton as someone who knew what he was doing. love him or hate him, he was competent and and effective commander in chief, negotiator. he was really sharp. if you go to the 2012 convention where he gave a great speech or president obama's reelection, there was key line that no one

could fix the economy in four years, quote "not even me." that was the key selling point. even if i was the president, the guy you know and love and think knows what he is doing, even i could not fix of this -- that was one of clinton's selling points, the sides being one of the first female nominees of a big party. the clintons know what they are doing. they can handle crises and problems. this kind of problem has the potential to chip away at their selling point, her selling point, as being extremely competent and ready for the job. host: at the same time, the columnist in the new york times wrote that the " clintons permanent address is on the fault line where defiance needs destruction."

guest: they have always been on that line. all the way back to the 1992 campaign -- it is all going to come crashing around them for one problem or another. -- they land on their feet in 1996 after the horrible defeat in 1994. the president is impeached. ends up more popular than ever. people are kind of tired of clinton and the party takes a serious turn and goes with barack obama in 2008. bill clinton, after obama is on the ropes, ends up as the number one most effective surrogate for president obama on the campaign trail in 2012. i never count them out until they are out. host: vivian tweets in "there is a big difference between if she

should have an was illegal for her to have her own server." guest: there are issues of legality and state department rules and why she appears to have been living by different rules than other people. there was a state department official that lost his job for using private e-mail. i think i would go back to where it was legal or not, broke rules or not, and we knew it broke through in his, but we are not sure if it was illegal. what kind of information was she dealing with over private e-mail and was it secure? that is the heart of everything especially because hillary clinton is not as an appealing politician as her husband, necessarily. the issue of competency and her ability to be a good president

because she is my and understands the government especially with experience as secretary of state can navigate foreign policy and national security challenges -- that is the heart of what makes her sellable. host: a week or so ago, the wall street journal broke stories about the clinton foundation and foreign contributions. is that more or less significant in your view? guest: it seemed significant at the time. i do not think it will go away. my only thought on that particular issue that makes it less potent politically for republicans is a lot of american voters look at their politicians and expect them to be a little underhanded. playing games with foreign donations, even the overt conflict of interest this residence, which means it could be a big problem, that

republicans can keep digging into -- i do not want to dismiss it -- that is something voters may say, a year from now between the republican acts and clinton, they may say, well, it is kind of a problem but they all do that, take money. i will go with the person i agree who was on the take versus other politicians i do not like as much who is probably also on the take, even if that is not what comes out because that is what people expect. host: let's take some calls. david drucker is our guest with the washington examiner. here's her publican caller. caller: good morning. the hdr 18, 19, or 21. those are the things you could look at. or anything on the rio, sierra club, or angie's list, or

anything to do with brazil. any of that, you need to look for, you will find it interesting, especially the 21. sierra club calls it agenda 21. hillary calls it hdr 18, 19, 20, 21. i think 19 covers gender separation. to divide woman from men -- host: i apologize, i am not familiar with what you're talking about. where are you getting this information? caller: and -- all of this comes at a rio. a treason jail. -- host: can you give us a source of we can checklists? caller: you can go in your video thing and look under -- let me say, let me find you something.

let's see. in rio, you will find where they had -- what is that group called the -- host: we will have to let you go. i do not think either of us are familiar with what you're talking about. let's moved to santa clara california democrats. hello. caller: i am kind of ignorant because i do not have a computer, so i do not know -- host: you really do not have a computer? do you feel not part of in certain ways without a computer? caller: sort of. it is something i have been putting off and have not gotten involved in yet. but her -- let's see.

i do not know what a server is, but if you are in government talking about government, to a person -- if you're on the computer and talking to a colleague who is also in government and you are talking about government topics, but they are also a friend of yours and you are combining into the conversation personal things, then based on what you said a view minutes ago, personal is personal and government is government. if it is combined in the same conversation, what do you do? back to an earlier caller, if she is -- has been doing this for four years, why would someone not have said anything if it is a big deal? i do not know if you can tell me -- host: any response for her? guest: those other things we are

trying to figure out. why did not anyone say anything when she was secretary of state. she was head of the department of than. when you are the boss, the only person left to question you is the president of the united states or chief of staff. these are a lot of the things we are trying to figure out. when you talk about servers, we are trying to figure out where it was then and where it is now, who ran it. there are a lot of things we do not now. you raised questions people are trying to find answers to. host: oklahoma, independent line. we are talking about hillary clinton's e-mails. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wondered if mr. drucker might inc. that hillary should be -- might think that hillary should be congratulated for securing her e-mail much more effectively than the government that edward

snowden was able to access and provide to the guardian. guest: that is an interesting angle. no one says that the government is necessarily the most competent, effective organization in the world. i do not think it explains until we have an explanation why the secretary of state would decide her personal server was more secure than a state department server. one thing to be aware of notwithstanding the fact that spies, from time to time get u.s. information and are able to use it against us the way mr. snowden did. the fact is, the president of the u.s., his team, the cia, the fbi, and so on down the line, they all rely on secure

government e-mail and other means of communication that have been deemed better than someone's computer in a basement. i think we have to assume that you tried to err on using something secure versus something that is not, unless people can supply why i am better off with gmail then government and cryptic communications. host: in an editorial this morning on usa today, laney davis responds to the anti- editorial that usa today wrote. he rose -- he wrote "fact: to those who argue that mrs. clinton's server at home was less secure than the one used i the state, i answer: really?" guest: that is a great argument, but even hillary clinton has not sat down with anybody and laid

out why laney davis's claim is the case. maybe if she says i did not trust the state department e-mail to be secure, here is why. of course it will open up another pandora's box of why did you not do anything to fix it for four years, no one is arguing the government cannot be penetrated. that does not mean you do not try. unless someone can tell us that actually the president has a gmail account, he figures -- with a server in the white house basement -- because that is more secure than an encrypted government communications, i do not know the argument will wash. host: this e-mail, your friends earlier, does the public have the right to every word to family and friends or private

discussions? guest: no. as a reporter, i always want information. that is how i make my living. anytime i can get information and review it, i enjoy that. but any public official does not go me or the public every last piece of their lives. they do not always communications about personal matters. i do not think it is good for the country, particularly as secretary of state to air your personal laundry that adversaries can use against us. to my mind, the issue is not whether hillary clinton releases all of her communication's. it would be interesting and prove she is transparent, but i do not think that is the issue. the issue is that when she was dealing with government agent -- government issues pertaining to an important job, was it security if we wanted it secure?

host: wednesday night, she sent a tweet "i want the public to see my e-mails." when will the public get a chance? guest: who knows? everybody claims they are for releasing e-mails. it does not answer the question. where these e-mail secure? if you release the e-mails -- the question is not why will hillary clinton not release her e-mails? the question was she was using a private e-mails account when a) she was not supposed to according to state department roles and b) was it secure? as a reporter and analyst, i like to stick to the issues i think matter and are relevance -- relevant. jeb bush, in some ways created

-- at this busy stage of the presidential can -- campaign -- here is my e-mails. who cares? you are governor of florida are -- florida. unless you are negotiating sensitive deals with the middle east or china or anyone else, it is not relevant to this particular question. it may tell us about your business and political dealings voters may look at that information and it may influence the vote and may be demanded new level of transparency in that regard for presidential candidates, but that is not the real question. the question is was the information secure and why did she break the rules? host: we hear 65,000 e-mails. is that a lot, all? guest: i have 40,000 e-mails i have not deleted between my two gmail accounts. that is not including those i

have not deleted out of my yahoo! account. this is over. -- this is over a period of how long? the question is, what is in the e-mails. and is there classified information. we know the benghazi select committee in the house wants e-mails because they want information pertaining to the september 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on our consulate in benghazi. if you have, out of 55,000 e-mails, 50,000 of those our requests from someone to help me move money from one account to the other, i will give you a nice stipend, and those sorts of funny things -- you have a bunch of spam, and other words, who cares. the key is what is in there and what is involved. volume does not mean anything. host: republican line carrier

caller: thank you for taking my call. during the watergate investigation, hillary clinton was 27. she was a lawyer on the house judiciary committee. her appointee for writing a specific brief was due to the council's point of view and that is not relevant. but her boss says that you cannot use that because of a previous preceding regarding douglas and his potential impeachment. hillary took the douglas file, went to an office, wrote of -- a brief that was fraudulent and she was fired for writing that by her boss, who had only fired three people in 17 years. my concern with hillary is her current and past behavior will

be the concentration of a presidency. should she be elected? i think the american people deserve a president who's behavior is not the focus of the news media -- host: can make all back to hillary clinton being fired? i do not think i have ever heard that story. guest: i am not some way with that story. host: wears this information coming from? i try to keep up on the news. caller: you can look that up. it may be in the national archives. her boss was seisman. host: you're saying she was fired for writing a fraudulent briefed during the watergate hearing? caller: that is correct. you can look that up. host: i am sure people are doing that right now.

any response for her? guest: i am not familiar with the story. i will say that in the 2008 campaign, or some point in the last decade, there is a tape saying that the bush white house had it bunch of secret e-mails and this is the kind of thing that is not acceptable. host: what is it about hillary clinton that gets people revved up? guest: in the 1990's, i thought it was clinton derangement syndrome. then we had george w. bush and low and below -- behold i saw pushed arrangement syndrome. now there is obama derangement syndrome. i thought there was something unique about them. what drove conservatives nuts was bill clinton was elected as a centrist democrat or in a government way, after the 1994 shellacking.

it drove conservatives crazy. they could not dislodge him. i think our politics, at a certain period of history where it is polarized, so whoever the leading candidate is, the other side will go crazy. i think that is true for democrats and republicans. if republicans are in the white house in 2016, i think i can tell you about whoever-it-is derangement syndrome. maybe walker derangement syndrome and so forth. host: mishkin, democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am calling about the e-mail account. i have a computer. i'm not to lay literate, but is there not a way that she could

not turn her computer over to the fbi and have them go through her computer and find anything and everything she has on their? -- on there? also why is this such a big story with isil, genocide in africa, people here starving to death, people who do not have jobs? we are making a big deal out of someone's e-mail? and why don't she have a secured government computer in her home. she was on the job 24/7. i do not understand this. thank you and have a good morning. guest: she has a lot of great questions. we do not have the answers. it is a big deal because she could be president. host: david drucker, are the

democrats standing behind her, defending her? guest: they are doing both. at the same time there is a lot of anxiety and frustration. i do not think this is what they want to deal with. assuming that hillary clinton will announce or take more overt steps to run, at that point, if she has a team that is better positioned to deal with this, it will make it easier. i think democrats are of two minds. many of them like hillary clinton and wants her to be president. it looks like she will be the nominee so they will support her in any event, but it does not mean they are enjoying this particular situation. host: richard calling from here in washington, d.c. hello. caller: good morning. i want to commend journalist drucker for noting that clinton

took credit for the welfare reform. that was after congress jammed it down his throat. he also took credit for the economy, which was through wall street. let's look at what his rear claim to fame is. he is the only elected hesitant ever to be impeached and office, convicted of contempt of court and fired while in office. i like him as a person, but who are we kidding. as for hillary, her work in the state department led to the so-called protecting libya, even though she, samantha power and rolando, in the past administration, susan rice, did not find the duty to protect and are for syria -- in darfur,

syria, and in the case of susan rice rwanda. now today, because of the duty to protect, secretary gates says there is no security threat from gaddafi, now we have isis. these are just examples of this serial shambles that this couple has brought. doesn't this indicate, that hillary, when this unravels like watergate, that she will probably withdraw her bid? guest: i do not see her deciding not to run for president. i think her record as secretary of state is not as stellar or pristine or protected from political attack as democrats might have hoped. i think there is a lot for republicans to pick through. whether it sticks, we do not

know. even though democrats take issue with the benghazi investigation, there is a chance there is a lot more for republicans to uncover, depending on whether the house committee can accomplish it. it is not an easy race for her by any stretch if she runs. it does not appear to be a democrat with real have to or political basis to support who is interested in running. maybe if elizabeth warren changes her mind. you should not discount clinton's permit ability. both clintons. hillary in particular. they are very deft and how they have navigated problems, putting together a very sharp campaign team. like i have said, it is a long way to the election. we are very far out. hostile --

host: the representative talking about the e-mail situation. you do not need a law agreed to understand how troubling this is , he said in a statement. there are a chain of custody issues, the preservation of material and document issues. and there is spoiler nation -- s poliation of evidence issues. one should also the concerned about the national security implications of former secretary clinton using exclusively personal e-mail accounts for the conducting of official u.s. foreign-policy. a couple of tweets. there are still a couple haters on the left because they want liz or bernie to run. and, if hillary clinton decides not to run, who would the democrats back? guest: that is a question.

the thing about 2008 that were taken for granted, hillary was the nominee. she was going to be the next president. obama runs and his polling was not great. what we can now look back and say, here was a politician with real talent. with a really good following. who is able to harness support that went beyond his following. right now, there is nobody in the democratic party that appears in a position to do that. bernie sanders could go after hillary clinton from the left, but he is not the same kind of post-partisan centrist figure that event senator barack obama was at this point in 2008 campaign. jim webb could run a hillary clinton as it populist, but i do

not see him harnessing the desire for a much more committed progressive that some democrats are looking for. who was really there? the only name that keeps coming up is elizabeth warren. she has made no indication she wants to run at a time when these campaigns get started earlier and earlier. it is still out there. if hillary did not run, someone will have to do it. but there is no one who can take our out now that has indicated they are interested in giving it a shot. host: orlando independent. good morning. caller: i am calling, what is the big deal? we have more important things than hillary. hillary and bill have been conniving since they have been in public office. so what is different? guest: this gets to why i am

skeptical about whether the donations the clinton foundation , the story with legs, a year from now, because that is what people think. what is the big? deal -- what is the big deal? but the e-mail issue goes to the core competency of the president. one of hillary's selling point is that she knows what she is doing. there are a lot of democrats who want the next nominee to be better at running the government and getting things done. if this kind of story goes to one of the last parts of hillary clinton. host: did the white house know? guest: we do not know. he will be interesting to find out if she ever got senior white house approval for her private e-mail account. host: baltimore, democrat.

hello. caller: a little. i wanted to know, if: powell did the same thing -- colin powell did the same thing, why do you not bring him to shore. i also want to know, everything this president said did, didn't scrutinized -- been sc rutinized, can you ask those questions? guest: i have no doubt that if powell ran for president, those e-mails would be scrutinized. the he is not running so that will not get a lot of play. as far as clinton and the president getting scrutiny, that is what happens if you run or our president. if you next president is a republican i expect they will get as much scrutiny as the current one. host: north carolina, the last

caller on this segment. republican. caller: thank you. mr. drucker, you do not have to carry the water for hillary. she broke a federal law. there is classified government information on her server. if she can break the law everybody can. that includes top-secret. if anybody follows the rules, it should be the leader. if she wants to aspire for the presidency of the united states, she needs to follow the rules and not just employ her own. thank you. guest: i think he makes a good point. i think the argument is going to be a very attractive argument to a lot of voters, especially republicans and conservatives but also democrats who are fed up with people in washington

seeming to play by one set of rules why everyone else has to play by another. that is why i think this issue is bigger than the fenton foundation issue, because of the information on the server and how it was handled. my argument is, even if something is a big deal that should matter, it does not mean it always matters to voters in the country who are not in washington, new york bubble. i think this story deserves the high level of scrutiny it is getting safely for the argument the gentleman made. host: a snowy friday in washington. no one is in town. cap's most of the government will not be operating at full speed today. what will you work on? guest: client continuing to focus on the presidential campaign, especially the republican primary, because there is one. [laughter]

i think the interesting thing about republicans is they are trying to redefine themselves for the 21st century without losing the conservative principles that they think are important to turning the country around and think built the party into what it is or could be. i should have a story today on marco rubio's tax plan. people debate about whether it is a good plan or whether it will help people, but if you look at what they intended to do on the political side and the language they use, they are trying to take the republican argument for lower taxes and make it relevant for people today and people's problems today, instead of recycling reagan's plan from the 1980's.

host: david drucker, washington examiner's correspondent. thank you. up next, the author of this book . here is the book. celebrity in chief: a history of presidents and the culture of stardom. ken walsh, long time senior correspondent. he has been on this program many times. we will talk about his newest book in a minute. ♪ >> the c-span cities tour takes book tv and american history tv on the road, traveling to u.s. cities to learn about their history and literary life. we visit galveston texas.

>> the rising tide, certainly drew them. they watched in amazement as both of these factors structures at that time, we had bathhouses over the gulf of mexico. we had piers. even a huge pavilion. as the storm increased in intensity, they had structures into matchsticks -- turn into matchsticks. the 1900 storm struck galveston saturday, september 8, 1900. the storm began toward noon it increased in dramatic intensity and finally tapered off towards midnight.

that evening. this hurricane was and still is the deadliest recorded natural event in history of the united states. >> watch all of our advance from galveston saturday at noon eastern on c-span two's book tv. and sunday at 2:00 on c-span. >> keep track of the republican-led congress and follow its new members through its first session. new congress best access, on c-span, c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: he is a familiar face for washington journal. ken walsh is the senior white house correspondent, longtime u.s. news and world report correspondent. his most recent book is celebrity in chief: a history of

presidents and the culture of stardom. here is the cover. you write that american presidents have always been famous, but it was only after the advent of the mass media and the vast increase in the power and reach of the presidency under fdr that the leader of the u.s. became a true superstar. what it fdr due to create that? guest: a number of things. i have written several books. fdr is the first modern president. he not only gained a lot of power and took a lot of power as the president and a modern sense, because we were fighting the depression and world war ii, but he also understood the importance of the mass media at the time as few other presidents have. radio and newspapers were the dominant media and franklin roosevelt understood that,

particularly the power of radio. millions of americans had radios in their homes. he understood he could enter their homes as their leader and that people wanted to be reassured. he had a sense of optimism and people became the mini his voice. something as a sick as that. his fireside chats which are now a part of history, soothing america, and letting america know what get through the depression and world war ii. he became an immediate superstar. that is part of the celebrity in chief notion. host: did people care what herbert hoover and alvin coolidge was doing? guest: they did not. that is how i defined celebrity in chief. the ability to bring americans in the world of the president and be interested in the president as a person. then using your celebrity to get interest in your agenda and policies.

herbert hoover tried a number of ways to connect with people, but the depression got so bad and people thought he was so out of touch that he could not get in touch. he had something called hoover ball where he was there a medicine ball around, thinking it would show him as a vigorous regular guy on the south lawn. it never caught on with the country. a lot of americans run off throwing a medicine ball around like the president was. he just did not get it as far as connecting with popular culture. franklin roosevelt did. host: chapter two, theodore roosevelt: the strenuous life. six president stand out as the biggest stars ever to occupy the white house in modern times. teddy roosevelt, fdr, jfk, ronald mildred -- ronald reagan, bill clinton, and barack obama. what did they have? host: charisma. the ability to connect with

american values -- not all of, it depended on the time and what people wanted. fdr was optimism. theater roosevelt, his distant cousin the idea of vigor and taking on powerful interests. there was also the sense -- an aura about them. they seem to understand that americans have got through it a series of phases and defining a president. today, the president needs to be an entertainer. needs to be part in the culture to keep people interested. our most effective presidents understand that. are released or unable to act on it or do not understand. the other presidents i talk about who are not celebrities in chief, they had some celebrity but did not capitalize on it well. jimmy carter. both bushes. nixon, lyndon b. johnson.

anybody familiar with history knows that they were presidents who were not celebrities in their own right as presidencies war on. several celebrities in chief had notoriety and built on it. it makes a big difference in shaping the perspectives of issues and the in -- and the president as an individual. host: teddy bears, baby ruth bars, and billy bear. guest: teddy roosevelt, this is an example of him as the forerunner of the modern celebrity residence. he captivated the imagination of the country. what you're referring to, there was a case where he was a rate name hunter. he like to hunt all over the world. he went out to hunt bear and one

of his guides brought him a baby bear to shoot. president roosevelt decided he won not do it so they released the bear. the teddy bear became a popular plush animal. it was different versions of how it came to fame. one version said a german manufacturer started producing teddy bears, others said american manufacturers did. but it became popular. we know about the teddy bear and that came from teddy roosevelt sparing the life of a young bear. also billy bear, the brother of president carter. he tried to attach his name to a commercial product which did not work. this is not unusual, commercial products being attached to presidents. when grover cleveland was presidents, he had -- his wife

was a woman much younger, and she was the first celebrity first lady. many people used her name, frank or frankie on products without her permission. in those days, the white house let it go. it does not happen anymore. but we have history of presidents being capitalized on by business. that is a case of it. guest: you write about grover and frances cleveland, a celebrity couple. the newspaper turned frankie into a celebrity. what was it about these people? guest: in that case, grover cleveland was much older than frankie, as she was called. the media jumped on that as an interesting moment. they were married when he was president. she was interesting to a lot of

people and to the country because she was educated charming, lovely. this was the recipe for following it closely. when they were married, they tried to go on their honeymoon in rural maryland. a huge cavalcade of reporters tracked them down. they woke up the morning after they were married and solve -- saw all these reporters on the grounds. president cleveland was upset and never forgave the media for spoiling their honeymoon. he set up a house in washington where they could live not and the white house, because their celebrity was so intense. host: ken walsh, you say the modern era began with fdr. how sophisticated have we gotten -- we being -- house of the skate have we gotten in promoting our presidents?

guest: extremely sophisticated. i started covering the white house in 1986, this is my fifth president. we thought ronald reagan mastered the media of his time, and he did. but in those days it was the three television networks. he was a former television and movie star himself. he understood how television worked and was able to dominate the dominant media of his time, television. since then, there have been so many changes and our media world -- in our media world. today, president obama mastech the social media, using the white house website sarah promote his agenda and himself. using television shows that other presidents disdained, like the late-night comedy shows, and shows that presidents did not even have the opportunity to go on it like "between two ferns,"

the zach galafinakas comedy show. president obama understands that different electorates draws different things from different media. presidents will have to do the same thing to carry their agenda from now on. host: 202 is the code if you want to talk to ken walsh. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 four public and's. (202) 748-8002 for independence. we will start taking those calls in a minute. did president bush have a celebrity to him? guest: every president does when they are first elected. a lush of fame and notoriety. president bush and have that. what happened is that he

disdained a lot of the communications tech weeks that modern presidents use as time went on. i do not think he was ever that confident on television. certainly his father did not feel that. president bush was a very engaging guy. very gregarious. a lot of people could want with him in person. but he could not do that more broadly. he also felt that many things president obama today will do, president bush did not do because he felt it was below the stature of the president to be on the late-night comedy shows for instance. i think he missed a lot of opportunities there. he also had the same problem his dad had and that he was not a good communicator and syntax. making mistakes using his words and so on.

he was gun shy about that -- he got gun shy because of that. he lost his celebrity as time went on. i the end of his residency with iraq war and the afghanistan war and the economy going sour, he was almost an anti-celebrity. a figure people were making jokes about, not that people were drawn in by. that is the fundamental difference. host: we will show you a picture of hesitant reagan. you can see it over there mr. walsh. how often do presidency use celebrities to enhance their image? guest: it happens often. receive president reagan and nancy reagan with michael jackson. i think people are saying in -- taken up short by this. michael jackson showed up in full regalia. presidents have tried to capitalize on other people's

fame for many years. teddy roosevelt was the pioneer of this. there are pictures available in his library and other places with huge numbers of hollywood stars. far more than any other president pushed together who would celebrate his birthday every year and celebrated his money for what became the march of dimes, the campaign to end polio, which president roosevelt had. jame s cagney, pat o'brian, one person after another to capitalize on that. president reagan did that. some presidents tried and did not succeed. there is a famous picture -- i am told it is one of the most sought pictures of any president -- richard nixon with elvis presley. nixon -- elvis presley was a fan of law enforcement. he wanted to get a law enforcement badge so he could help law enforcement track down

the bad guys, in his mind. he went to the white house, also showing up in regalia. nixon was a straightlaced guy. he looked at elvis who had a cape should open to his waist chains, and said something like "elvis, that is quite a good up you have on." elvis said "you have your audience and i have mine." there's a picture of them shaking hands awkwardly. nixon was unable to capitalize on the entertainment world. host: i have that picture and my office. let's take some calls. we are talking about the presidency in the 20th century and some history. ohio, independent line. caller: to your guest in past and present presidents, how many past presidents had a military background?

we know our last two democrats did not have a military background. do you agree that presidency is in the strength of the cabinets? i am not sure obama has a cap. he addresses every problem. guest: a number of points. residence have a history of military background -- presidents have a history of military background. they like to turn to those with a military ground, starting with washington. you have many military heroes who were elected because of that. ulysses grant. andrew jackson. eisenhower was the hero of world war ii. he led the invasion of normandy. president bush the father had been in the military. he was in world war ii. it goes on and on.

more recently, president obama had not been in the military. president bush the son was in the national guard, but not in the military in that sense. there is a long history of americans turning to military members for leaders in times of trouble. president obama does not have that background, but that is something americans prize. i think of the cabinet president obama is not the only president who has superseded his cabinet. a lot of presidents talk about government, and then when they get into office, the cabinet is not a dominant force, it is the white house staff. that is true for the obama administration. the cabinet carries out the decisions the white house staff makes. it is not an uncommon pattern in our presidency. host: has the significance of the cabinet in the last 50 years

, 60 years faded? guest: i think it has. let's look at harry truman's. you had people who were experts in foreign policy in particular, helping president truman. the kennedy cabinet was up there in terms of stellar individuals who were in the cabinet. you had stellar individuals over time. i would say president obama has had capable and consequential people in his cabinet. it is just that he is much more comfortable running the government through the white house staff. history will be written that that white house staff is one of the most powerful we have had. president obama taking credit for things, that is common. when i first started, president reagan -- reagan only had -- it

would take credit for anything positive that would happen in the economy. he would go to mom and pop implement operations in role maryland or something just to celebrate their hiring a few people to show the economy was getting better. this was something common. hesitant like to take credit for things even if there cabinet or white house was not responsible. host: daytona peach -- daytona beach. hello. caller: how are you doing? i have three comments. you made a comment a few minutes ago on george bush being -- in his first term. he had every reason to be fairly meek. he did not win his first term. i challenge anybody, go to wikipedia, look it up.

he lost the first election. more people voted for al gore than they did george bush. he did not win. host: what is your second point? caller: ronald reagan was an actor. he knew how to play. that was his profession. he knew how to play the american people. he got on the big screen and tells us everything we wanted to hear and make things look good with being -- number three, mr. jeb bush, you are kind of bring up talking about the e-mails and all, and being forthright with his e-mails, they need to be forthright with all of the votes in florida that went missing between him and catherine -- to

make sure his brother wanda the 2000 election. host: thomas in daytona beach florida. guest: we would take them in order. the caller referred to the 2000 election where the supreme court decided that in a 5-4 decision, awarding the state of florida to president bush. a couple catered fight over who had want florida, al gore versus george w. bush. the caller is right. george bush 1 -- al gore won 500,000 more popular votes than george bush. he democrats could not get past that no long time when the supreme court made his ruling because they felt al gore won the popular vote, which he had. but the supreme court is the arbiter in cases like this. that is what happened. as far as reagan, president reagan had been an actor.

he was in movies and television. he had a lot of skills that are valuable for presidents to have. he was once asked -- a reporter in consternation said a lot of people think you are a big movie actor, how are you qualified to be president? he said, i think it is difficult for me to imagine a president who was not an actor. because he feels those skills are important. that is the way reagan was. he had brilliant performances on television -- i am not saying that critically. it worked for him. the d-day anniversary speech when the space shuttle blew up, it is rather president's speeches are remembered. reagan's where. jeb bush, you talk about the e-mail situation, he did try to help his rather win florida.

i think when it looked like florida was going to al gore, jeb bush was upset because he was governor at the time and thought he let his brother down. the problem there is dynasty. our people ready for a third bush in the white house? that something jeb bush has to use in terms of using his own celebrity. host: ken walsh do any of the people in 2016 have that je ne sais quoi? guest: i have been thinking about that lot lately -- that a lot lately. hillary clinton is the most famous of anyone running for president -- she has not announced but we are already expecting her to run. in terms of the e-mails you talked about and the last segment, anything she does is channeled through our perceptions of her as a celebrity. she has a unique resume.

she was first lady. a senator from new york. secretary of state. people know her. she has astronomical name identification. people have ingrained perceptions of her. she will have to take her celebrity -- and she is -- and channel it through positive waves -- ways. she will have to go through scrutiny and negativity from people who do not like her. but she is so famous that people pay attention. it is up to her to channel that celebrity and positive ways. so far it has not worked out. she has not entered the race yet. as far as republicans, jeb bush -- hillary clinton has the dynasty situation with her husband, who was president. jeb bush wants to be the third bush.

he has his own dynasty question. he is not nearly the celebrities hillary clinton is, but people are drawn to him because they are interested in him with his unique resume in this dynastic family. host: what about any of the other republicans? guest: i don't see a lot of glamour or juice there, so far. a lot of coverage of scott walker the governor who has risen to the top of the polls. we do not know how long that is going to last. he would be almost an anti-celebrity. he is not a guy who goes for glamour. he is a tough guy governor. going against president obama this would be a whole different

change. i wouldn't guess that scott walker would do interviews with youtube hosts like president obama did. he would be much more of a traditional's communicator -- traditional communicator. he has to build his celebrity in positive ways. host: the next call for ken walsh. norman, oklahoma republican. caller: i wanted to ask him -- in my opinion, the news media and print media are the ones who make them into celebrities. i don't find obama the least bit glamorous or hillary

for bill clinton. i think those are the ones you mentioned. reagan and jfk they had wit and humor that went beyond the media. i don't think the media was fascinated with reagan, but they were with kennedy because of his hollywood connection and wit and humor. so i was just wondering -- host: thanks for calling in. a response from ken walsh? guest: reagan and kennedy are two people i talk about in the book as celebrities in chief. they are qualified in all the basic ways. our caller made reference to kennedy glamour, a lot of people interested in kennedy.

he played on the contrast to eisenhower, the old soldier. kennedy was a hero in world war ii. the commander of pt 109. he brought glamour to the white house and a lot of formal events. he had a beautiful wife good looks himself, lovely children and the white house played on that. they used the glamour of the kennedys to tailor his appeal into the idea that he was a new kind of president, a vigorous, energetic new leader. the torch was passed. the white house was very clever in many ways of using the media. television was emerging as the dominant media of the time. they put out wonderful photos of the kennedys, the wonderful

events they had at the white house. pictures of the children and family at the white house. the famous picture of john junior hiding under the president's desk while the president was working. there was an opening under the desk that the little boy could get into. they released that photo. the media was entranced by the kennedys. they were drawn into the celebrity world. kennedy was also fascinated. his father was a hollywood producer. he was always fascinated by that world. he was interested in the intersection of politics. that all came out during the kennedy administration. president reagan, the caller said the 80 did not seem as interested. i think the media was very interested. i covered reagan.

he understood the media of his time the three broadcast networks. this was before the 24-hour news cycle. he was able to come up with strategies to brilliantly manipulate the media in ways that made him look good. they came up with something called the line of the day. they would kill her events of the white house to go along with that line -- tailor events at the white house to go along with that line. it was impossible to ignore wonderful images and he was terrific at generating wonderful images. his media adviser was able to come up with wonderful venues and back drops and places for the president to speak. and the television networks founded irresistible. i think there is less of that today. but in those days, if you look

at some of his events, they were brilliantly staged and they understood television very well. reagan was very, very good at television. even though people criticized his acting in the movies he played in, as president, as people have said, he played the role of a lifetime. i'm not saying that critically. that worked for reagan. he understood television and understood that what the country wanted from the president as a celebrity, someone that was interesting and would bring back the optimism, which reagan did. host: george washington, abraham lincoln, where they celebrities in their day? guest: washington, absolutely. we did not have the mass media that we had today. it was a whole different world. george washington was probably the most famous person in the continental united states when he was elected president unanimously by the electoral college.

the country felt that nobody could lead this new country but george washington. he was a man of integrity. people widely recognized him as a man of integrity. he could hold the country together, which he managed to do. there are many examples of this. when he was elected, he made the trip from mount vernon, his home in virginia, up to the temporary capital in new york. it was all must like what we think of today as a rock star cavalcade -- it was almost like what we think of today as a rock star calvin calvinvalcade. when he arrived in new york, there was a tremendous series of archbarges waiting for him.

there were many images of washington distributed. they admired him, so much. he was our first celebrity president. washington certainly qualified as a guy who was a celebrity in his time. lincoln, a different situation. he was very controversial. we hear those words a lot today. he was elected largely by the north, completely by the north, because the south had seceded. he was very controversial. but what happened with lincoln, he understood the media and the idea of image in the media of his time, which were newspapers. he was running for president in 1860. he thought that he had such a roughhewn image.

he had a photographer take his photograph. usually he would take head shots of people in this relatively new situation called photography. but he realized that when he saw lincoln, he was not a good-looking man. he showed up wearing wrinkled clothes. his eyes were sunken, his wrinkles were obvious. so brady pulled the camera back. this picture was taken before a famous speech that he gave at the cooper union. it was an important part of his campaign. what the photographer did he had a full-length picture of lincoln so you couldn't see the close up of how he really looked his facial features at wrinkled clothes. he had him put his hand on a book to give him an airtight erudite image. it was used for many years after that as the president's

official photo. when he grew a beard, the photo was retouched. lincoln, when he died, is when his celebrity was triggered. he was becoming a figure of almost spiritual importance, particularly in the african-american community because of the end of slavery. he was becoming more popular because of the war being won. when he was assassinated, he was elevated to all most divine status in many ways -- to an almost divine status in many ways. there were pictures of him being welcome to heaven with angels and was washington -- and george washington. he had a whole new level of fame because of an awful reason, he

was assassinated. he is now seen as one of our greatest presidents. lincoln was a growing celebrity, especially after the war was being won. basically, he is entered this whole pantheon of spiritual leaders and political leaders over our history since then. host: richard houston, we are talking about u.s. presidents. caller: thank you. i'm really enjoying this program. i think you are making the presidency more human. i have kind of a concern. we have a president to in my opinion is a great entertainer. but my disappointed has been

that the policies never seem to come to fruition. everything kind of seems to end up a mess. what i would like to know is which presidents do you think have been great entertainers or celebrities but also the most effective administrators and policy makers? guest: a very good question. you mentioned president obama as an entertainer. this is a controversial but also real question presidents have to answer. we are celebrity driven culture and presidents have to acknowledge that. i think obama has. people are uncomfortable with this, especially more traditional thinking people. president obama's argument is that he has to go with the voters are.

they understand that people get their information from different places. it is not that people are just getting their information as that used to from people like me, white house correspondents, news conferences interviews with the mainstream media. basically, people go to the late-night talk shows. a lot of young people have gone to john stuart, the very famous comedian. he is become very popular with young people. president obama has communicated through that, through youtube, social media. this weekend, he is going to be participating in popular culture again by showing up at the comer moderation of the selma alabama 50th anniversary of what they called bloody sunday, a very bad outcome for civil rights demonstration 50 years

ago. president bush's son is going to be there as well. president obama he has to be something of an entertainer. this was very clear his first year of office. because of his rhetoric and ability to bring people into his rhetoric, he won the nobel peace prize only a few months after he was elected and he hadn't done anything yet. the white house even conceded this. he was surprised that he won. he won because of the promise of hope and change and that he would listen to countries around the world and have a more harmonious foreign policy. i will let the viewers judge how that turned out. the other part of the question presidents who have been most effective and have understood how to run the government. i think you have to put franklin roosevelt right up there in the top tier. the government was much smaller then, though he expanded the government in a great way.

he had a way of understanding not only how government should work but also what the country wanted from government. the reassurance that people needed in those very difficult times. he succeeded in that. there's a wonderful story about franklin roosevelt after he died . there was a to amend this outpouring of grief in the united states for franklin roosevelt -- there was a tremendous outpouring of grief in the united states for franklin roosevelt. the coffin was being brought to his home in new york and a man was weeping inconsolably. he was asked, did you know president roosevelt? he said, no, but he knew me. he had a tremendous amount of empathy and used his celebrity to convey to the country that he understood what people wanted and needed, and that he could deliver that did the government.

he was the -- deliver that through the government. he was the only president elected for terms. he combined celebrity and effectiveness in a very historic way. host: the president has become so central to our national identity that nearly everyone once to know -- wants to know how they act, their strengths and weaknesses, and their intentions. we tend to think of them as superhuman or extra normal. no wonder we are deeply interested in what they do and who they are. democrat art. caller: hello? my question is, we have all of these -- host: you know what, i can tell

if it is art or ari. we are going to put you on hold. someone is going to talk to you about putting the moyne done on your television. next call is alicia, in oregon. caller: this is a very interesting concept to look at a president -- i have a few comments. these are some of my views on the presidents. i have lived through a lot of presidents. i vaguely remember roosevelt. i remember eisenhower and from there on. i think reagan was a very excellent president and he was real, a real person, and it shows through. it was not all an act.

jfk, he did several good things, and i think can being murdered -- him being murdered, everyone will remember him. i think he was elected because he was young and all the rest of them had to been old -- has beend been old. i think when he was murdered, our respect for the president took a nosedive. host: three things on the table for ken walsh to respond to. guest: first of all it is striking that you mentioned elenor roosevelt. the first ladies have been very

important in this concept of celebrity. eleanor roosevelt was a celebrity first lady. she had her own constituency. she was devoted to civil rights women's rights, helping people in need during the depression. eleanor roosevelt because her husband had polio and could not get around the country very well, became what he called his eyes and ears. she was known for that. she was a celebrity, she did things that first ladies never did before. she went to the coal mines urban ghettos, the troops. she added to her husband celebrity and they were a celebrity couple. a lot of people remember eleanor as the sting from her husband because she -- distinct from her husband because she had her own image.

ronald reagan, a lot of people remember him very fondly. he was an actor, as a mentioned earlier. he was very much operating on the public stage. he was brilliant at strange -- stage craft. liberals felt he was taking the country in a conservative direction too quickly, slowing the growth of government, confronting the soviet union and so on. at the end, he was very popular because he was able to channel celebrity in positive ways and people just like tim. that is something that people tend to forget in evaluating presidents. likability. i remember democrats complaining they could not come up with

candidates or spokespeople who were as likable as president reagan and that really hurt them. president kennedy one quick point about that. his assassination deepened the cynicism in america in many ways about whether things would turn out right for us, whether we were justified in being confident about the future when this young president was struck down before he realize to his full potential. the real place for the country's cynicism deepened about the presidency was in vietnam, when the country felt like to buy president nixon and president johnson -- lied to by president nixon and president johnson. and second, the watergate scandal. those of the two things that i

think really undermined faith in the presidency. and we never really recovered from that. host: you have a chapter in your new book, first ladies, partners in celebrity. jackie kennedy has a mystic quality as a first lady but she spent half the time outside of the white house? guest: she did. she didn't like the political side of being first lady. her husband understood this and gave her an enormous amount of leeway. she made a huge splash wherever she went. she had such a glamour persona and such a sense of celebrity about her. she was very young substantially younger than her husband. she was fluent in french and very cultured and brought a lot of cultured events to the white

house. people were very entranced by this. she was a modern media person, basically. what was she doing? she had a tremendous impact on fashion. a lot of women copied to the pillbox hat. also, the other thing i might add, another case where the assassination intensified them myst mystique. a lot of people remember her at the funeral. she handle that with enormous grace. host: north carolina, you are on

with ken walsh. caller: the caller earlier said something about the only president ever impeached. according to my information andrew johnson was also impeached. they were both impeached by the house of representatives and acquitted by the senate. richard nixon would have been impeached had he not resigned. i would like to know if you knew why andrew johnson was impeached. host: your understandin -- guest: your understanding is just the same as mine. andrew johnson was not the kind of accommodater or brilliant politician lincoln was.

he had tremendous fights with congress, to girly the lincoln facti -- particularly the lincoln faction who wanted a tougher stance with the south. johnson was not very deft at this. he had problems with appointments and ran afoul of the senate. it was a rather technical issue of his appointments that caused the impeachment. underneath that was this tremendous stirring of animosity towards him because of his handling his ham-handed handling of reconstruction because he was allowing the south to do things with former slaves that lincoln would not have allowed, for all we know. people in the north felt that he

was letting the south off much to easily -- too easily. there was tremendous animosity towards johnson. that is why the impeachment occurred. clinton was impeached by the house. the way our system works, the house brings charges impeachment, and the senate decides what the punishment should be. in clinton's case, as in johnson's case, the senate decided not to remove him. that is the acquittal you mentioned. next and, the only president who resigned, saw the impeachment coming. and rather than going to that -- through that, resigned, because of the watergate scandal. i think you got that pretty much exactly right. host: can a president sell a

book if you announces he is reading it? guest: he can. i would welcome president obama to read my book and talk about it. host: it is a case where some presidents who have this mystique and celebrity, can just carry a book, from one meeting to another or up the stairs of air force one, and people will be interested in reading it. presidents can draw attention to television shows movies, other books, novels rather than nonfiction. presidents can drive sales and interest in different types of things and music, too. president obama has had different artists at the white house and it adds to the celebrity of the resident and the artists, too.

beyoncé is a big fan of president obama. president clinton had a lot of hollywood and entertainment figures of the white house, t oo. it worked as a synergy to add to the celebrity of these presidents. host: you write that jfk's staff exaggerated the extent of his reading in order to project the air of an intellectual. and clinton wanted people to know what he was reading. it was an effort to expand his a celebrity -- to expand his celebrity and impressed different constituencies that he was paying attention to their history. guest: kennedy exaggerating the amount he would read, he was not interested in classical music but his wife brought all of

these famous classical performers to the white house including public a famous cellist. he didn't even know when he had to applaud. he had to these scripted on that. president clinton was a tremendously interested guy in popular culture. you saw that day after day. host: dorothy missouri. please go ahead with the question or comment for ken walsh. caller: good morning. i am proud of barack obama for his stamina, his guts. he has the guts to stand up and he has been good with history in america. we don't know now how good he is, but we will know in the end

just how good he is. he has been a great example. michelle obama is a great example. and i thank them that i live to be 70 years old and see this happen. this is a wonderful subject on which we can thank you. i will buy your book. guest: i want to mention an example about president obama. he is a relatively young man compared to some of our other presidents. president reagan was much older. he is very unflappable. you rarely see a weakness in president obama in the sense of his ability to conduct his office through adversity. and not talking about policy, but him as an individual. the other thing you mentioned me about obama. role model side.

he understands that he is a role model and he uses his celebrity to pay attention to that. particularly young african-american men see him as an example of what they can achieve. he is devoted to that premise. i've talked to a lot of people and what a lot of people say about obama, both critics and fans democrats and republicans is that you could not ask for a better family role model than obama. he does appear to be devoted to his wife, michelle, and his children. even republicans will say, as far as family values, he can't do better than the obama family. and i think that is something a lot of people recognize. host: eric, lutherville maryland.

good morning. caller: good morning. my question for mr. walsh is during his lifetime, who does he think has been the most narcissistic president and why? thank you. guest: i have covered five presidents so i have that perspective. i think before then, kennedy was before my time. i think he was a very narcissistic president. president clinton was as well. i covered all eight years of his residency and he was a very self-indulgent person. i will let you decide -- i'm not an editorial writer. is an individual, clinton loved the intention --attention. -- attention. he they the saxophone and wore his sunglasses during his

campaign. it connected him very much to popular culture. people felt he was a cool guy and he loved that impression of himself, that he was with it and connected to popular culture. it was self-indulgent personality that he had. we saw that in the monica lewinsky scandal. it resulted in his impeachment and acquittal by the senate. i think that kennedy and clinton were pretty narcissistic. other presidents were narcissistic in other ways but terms of being self-indulgent, i think it was kennedy and clinton. host: last call for our guest ken walsh comes from guy in california. caller: good morning. i want to know how you think the crossover between the culture of entertainment and the culture of the presidency damages or trivializes he office and what the first steps the president

should take to minimize that damage. host: what do you think, first of all? caller: i think going on to youtube and speaking before the super bowl can bring a lot of attention to the office of the presidency, but i think internationally, it can make us seem sort of trivial. and i think it might not be the best way for president to approach their public relations. i would like to know what you think, overall. guest: i think president obama is testing the boundaries of exactly this question. it is in the context of celebrity in chief part. he enjoys being part of popular culture and he enjoys popular culture it self -- itself. you see that in many ways. i think he is testing the boundaries of how far president can go.

as is michelle, the first lady. her presenting an oscar from washington during the academy awards ceremony a couple of years ago, that is an example of how thoroughly they are into popular culture. i see that in many ways with president obama. the interviews he does, the events he talks about. i the idea of trivializing the president -- you have to realize we are in a different worlds now. there are many ways for presidents to can indicate. we have to be careful in concluding that a president is to realizing things when -- trivializing things when many constituencies, that is a positive thing for them. i feel that he is going out of his way to communicate with them where they are, and different types of media. i think we have to be careful to realize that the world has changed in recent years and

president obama may have a better understanding of that and a lot of people -- then a lot of people. i think the next president will have to use the same methods. they will maybe not be as adept at it. but they will have to realize that this is part of the presidency now. going to voters in all of our diversity as a country and appealing to them in cyberspace -- diverse ways. host: you have a chapter in here about presidents as trendsetters and trend spotters. the hat industry was not pleased with jfk's hatless moments. nick's and was not responsible for many fads but he started the trend of wearing a small

american flag on the lapel of his suit jacket. the last caller was talking about the super bowl. but you have something about a president calling in plays? guest: our interest in sports -- and was a big fan of football. people did realize the extent to which he was a fan of the all. he would actually devise plays for professional and college teams and send them in. i'm not aware that any of them worked very well. it was a famous play that he sent into the washington football team. it caused a 20 yard loss. but folks would use them. you get a play from the president, the coach would give it a try. but it did not work well. in fancied himself an expert on football but his plays did not work very well. host: we have been talking with

ken walsh, the author of "celebrity in chief: a history of the presidents and the culture of stardom. " mr. walsh, thank you as always for being on the washington journal. we have about 20 minutes left in this morning's program. we have talked about several issues. whatever public policy issue on your mind, there are the phone lines. 202-585-3880 for democrats, on our republican line. 202-585-3881 for republicans 202-585-3882 for independents . >> you would see what we used to call a combination or a

stickball set. washington was a large man. six foot, very robust terrific natural athlete. madison was a skinny little guy. >> this sunday, historian on james madison and the partnerships he made that aided in the success of our fledgling nation. >> the gift i write most about is his ability to form partnerships with the great people of his era. it also alludes to his gift of the country -- to the country of his talents and what he was able to do to create the first self-sustaining constitutional republic. >> sunday night on c-span's q and a. keep track of their public and let congress and follow its new members through its first session.

new congress, best access on c-span c-span2, c-span radio and c-span.org. washington journal continues. host: 202 is the area code. 202-585-3880 for democrats 202-585-3881 for republicans 202-585-3882 for independents. we have 20 minutes left. we're going to hear your use on some of the stories we are talking about today, including the hs funding, iran negotiations etc. we want to hear from you. this is the new york time's lead story, iran as unlikely ally. at a time when president obama is under political pressure over

negotiations a startling paradox has emerged. mr. obama is becoming increasingly dependent on iranian fighters as he tries to contain the islamic state militant group in iraq and syria without committing american ground troops. in the four-day since iranian troops joined 30,000 iraqi forces to try to rest saddam hussein's hometown from american control, american officials have said the united states is not coordinating with airan. h iran. that may be technically true but american war planners have been closely monitoring around parallel war against isis. this happened about an hour ago

the economy adds 295,000 as rate hits 5.5%. employers added a better-than-expected 295,000 in february. the unemployment rate edged down to 55%, the lowest level in nearly seven years. jesse, rosedale, maryland, democrat. what is on your mind this morning? caller: i'm trying to put two and two together. all make it short -- i will try to make it short. in ferguson, they came up with all this military equipment and stuff and i'm trying to figure out, did they get the money from fining people too much? did they all this money -- did

they get all this money? host: are you asking that question rhetorically? caller: well, no. host: went on to provide an answer for it, too -- why don't you provide an answer for it too. diane, little rock. caller: hi. there are several topics he spoke about this morning. i'm going to talk about iran right now. we have spent billions to take care of our problem with iran. i just want to agree with the

fact that we are considering another deal. as far as israel keeping one of their plants in place at this moment, i just think that we should watch theirre too. afghanistan is trying their best to work with us and from what i saw yesterday, we are continuing to send them food and equipment they need over there. we had servicemen died to get to where it is now. then on the -- host: white on to make this your last comment -- why don't you

make this your last comment? caller: you are talking with mr. walsh. i watched the veterans day memorial. and president obama had his hand held up to the flag. mrs. obama stood behind him with her hands folded and had an expression of hatred on her face for our flag. that is all i have to say. host: diane, republican, little rock, arkansas. the story this morning, house republicans coup against boehner after a series of political defeats. howard alabama, independent line. caller: thank you. i would like c-span to do a

series on love of country. because i think we are really lacking that now. there are a lot of people in both parties that love their party more than they love the country. there are a bunch of people who love obama than they love the country. there needs to be a big discussion on that. another thing, that guy who was going on about history he never mentioned harry truman. i'm 86 years old and he was my hero. i always felt that he saved my life by dropping those bombs on japan. host: where were you at the time? caller: i was a teenager, getting ready to go into the service. so he probably saved my life. i think we got a president that wants to win a war without killing anybody. i would appreciate if you all did something on love of country and ring that out.

-- bring that out. i think we are really lacking that all over the place. thank you for taking my call. host: joan is up next in fairfax, virginia, democrat. caller: my comment is, i don't understand why our politicians don't seem to have the political will to solve both our immigration and employment problems by simply in sourcing on employers both regulations and heavy fines for hiring undocumented workers. ? host: why is this an issue of concern to you? caller: i think we need to address our employment issue in a manner that is say or do who want to immigrate to this country -- that is fair to those

who want to immigrate to this country while not penalizing american workers. host: ed, roosevelt california, republican. where is roosevelt? caller: right outside of sacramento. a major air force base was here. i have served 426 and a half years -- for 26 and a half years. i spent six years in france, three years in tokyo, 12 years stateside. and i was in vanderburgh when watergate was put in jail. host: all right.

what is on your mind this morning and what did you want to share with us? caller: the difference between the and and obama and the democrats -- between nixon and obama and the democrats. why isn't someone in jail for what they have done? host: that is ed, in roosevelt, california. up next will be ted in florida. this is from the new york times. immigration fight should not stall vote to confirm lynch, democrats say. they argue her domination should not be held up because republicans are angry with president obama over executive action on immigration. despite objections from some conservatives, miss lynch seems headed toward confirmation without significant trouble.

but her defense of the presidents immigration actions have cost her some support. public and see her nomination as a way to register a protest securely with the failure of the attempt to funds dhs. ted, democrat, florida. caller: i just want to speak on immigration for a second. i just really believe that in the next 50 to 70 years, we are going to have about half a billion people in this country. so people who are so concerned about immigration should really not be, because this is the way it is going to be. it is the only way you're going to move up the gross national product from 17 trillion -- $17 trillion to $30 trillion.

that is what i believe. we are going to have a number of people coming over. we're going to have a number of indian type people from india coming over and chinese. that is what i believe. host: what do you do in florida? caller: i retired and have a little, small business. a consulting firm. host: from what are you retired? caller: banker. host: thank you. my head just had a senior moment. bob, north carolina. [laughter]

i need a vacation. we are listening. caller: my first comment, the e-mails that are creating such an uproar. i realize that it is a security situation. but i also think that if she had been able to subpoena those records, i wonder what violations of law they would find? i only have 22 and half years of service. the gentleman's question about nixon and obama. i will leave you with that. thank you. host: from the front page of the

washington post, the state department is reviewing clinton's use of e-mail. that is the updated story from today. axelrod blasts clinton e-mail response. lack of speed kills in this case. this was tabled loucks-- david axelrod -- this was david axelrod last night. ron is calling in from montana. on the democrats line. caller: thank you for having me. i was just calling and because mr. walsh talked earlier about some of the earlier presidents. i still have the tape called hacking democracy. there is a tape that came out about recount and american democracy and george bush should

have never been president. they hacked into the machines, they did all of this stuff and he got thousands or more of votes just because of what the republican party did. and then what did he do? he gets us into a war because he lied, him and cheney and the republicans. and how many people are dead? and how many people are handicapped? and how many people are unstable and what not? and yet they showed no remorse or regret and they turn right around and before he left office, --plus he did it for oil and money -- but before he leaves office, he sends thousands of troops to afghanistan. look at the trouble we had to -- there. this is not obama's fault. the republicaicans think

about the four people dead in benghazi. and whose fault is that? hillary clinton's? how many people are on health care?a lot of these people are republicans and yet they don't care because if this bill gets pasd sed, there are people who are going to possibly die from this. they are going to be, what do you call it, i can't remember what it is called, their lives are at stake. they don't care, they just want to get this bill third out because of the president and i don't understand. host: thank you, voicing some of your views -- from montana,

voicing some of his he views. >> this article is in a lot of papers this morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. good morning america. it is morning, it is time to wake up. this immigration stuff is a bunch of baloney. we are not a nation of immigrants. we are a nation of citizens. if you don't wake up you are going to lose your country. host: did you go to cpac? caller: my wife watched it on c-span. host: jack, republican line. caller: hello? host: jack, we are listening,

what would you like to share? caller: i would like to say thank you to c-span. i think i'm going to buy wallsh's book. what i called about is that when netanyahu stood in, my republican party stood up and applauded him when he practically slapped our president in the face. i don't understand that. i think it is about time that we started to do things together, democrats and republicans. i hope we never see that again. if we're going to have someone come to our congress, he ought to be at least respectful and let the president negotiate with iran and say something after the deal is made, not before the deal is made. host: that was jack, in bel air

ohio. we have one minute. caller: i'm so think will that i'm hearing people calling in who are more for peace than war. hope they stop spending our social security money on wars and stop turning the country into sodom and gomorrah. ipod the president for trying to keep the nation out of another senseless war. host: that is bobby in louisiana. thank you to everybody who participated today. every weekend, c-span2 and c-span3 turns into book tv and american history tv. this weekend is spring forward 47 hours of books and 47 hours of american history. you can find a schedule at book

tv.org and next weekend it is live from tucson. if you are in that area, come and join us. we will hand out book bags. see the next weekend in tucson. this weekend, american history tv in selma. things are being with us and enjoy the rest of your friday. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> today on c-span, the alliance for health reform will analyze

the informal care act, also known as obamacare. live at noon eastern time. tonight, more in the health care law. you can listen to the oral argument in the supreme court case, king versus burwell on whether or not subsidies can be provided through subsidies -- it could have effects on the future of the health care law. also today, live coverage of president obama as he visits been a good college in south carolina for -- benedict college in south carolina for town hall meeting. >> here are some of our featured programs for the weekend for a c-span networks.