please tweet us here. i that the twitter machine and i will ask questions. let's set the scene a little bit. we are going to be talking about the president plus historic week, trade and the agenda ahead. joe klein had a column this week that talked about obama path defining moment. he boarded those who fought to -- it was upheld by a conservative supreme court and his trade policies opposed by progresses, including hillary clinton, were passed by republican congress. how did you pull let off? michael: it was a good week across the board, for marriage equality, for the affordable care act, who for 40 million

americans got health care they did not have. it's the culmination of work in all of those areas. we worked very closely with congress for the last couple of years, consulting with them, getting their input, making sure we negotiated with them what we were trying to achieve and building support on both sides of the aisle. ultimately, we were completed -- we were please we had majorities in house and senate. our preference program helped support those things around the world. it was a very positive week across the board. one point that we made that joe klein made in his article is that this trade agreement has the strongest labor and environmental provisions of any

trade agreement and they will be fully enforceable. the transpacific harder ship will impose partnerships on state owned enterprises. on a level playing field and on a commercial asis. it will bring in rules from the physical economy, making sure there is a free and open internet and free flow of information across borders. in all those respects, this will be a 21st century trade agreement that reflects our interests and values as a country. mike: labor went out on a limb and lost. michael: we have worked with labor. they serve on our advisory committee. not just the labor chapter but the state owned chapter and we will continue working with them because we think a number of

issues they raise about the impact of mobilization on american jobs and wages are legitimate concerns. in our view, trade agreements are how you shape globalization. mike: when you had me to your office, trade has always been a partisan, you said. michael: you have a very good memory. my very first white house job, i was a white house the low in 1992. i was a democrat hired on the very end of the bush administration. when i arrived, my boss at the time, and economic policy maker in this town looked at me and let that my resume and said the

only thing we can trust you with is trade policy. that started me on my route of being a trade policy person. mike: the bipartisanship came in handy because democrats have been giving you headaches. what have you learned about this last chapter about working with this particular congress? michael: talk about the democratic numbers of congress who we share enormous sets of interest and common approaches whether it's on infrastructure or minimum wage or education. these are issues we will be working closely with, including the democratic leadership in both houses of congress. the main lesson i learned from

the past couple of years working on this is just how proactive we need to be addressing concerns. there is a lot of misinformation out there about trade. there are legitimate concerns amidst that misinformation and we need to recognize those concerns and make sure we get the facts out there about how we are addressing those concerns. that's what we will be doing in the next several months with tpp. mike: you have not been very successful addressing leader pelosi's concerns. michael: leader pelosi has been a terrific leader. at her request, we organized a number of in-depth sessions where we go chapter by her and spend an hour and a half or two hours on each chapter and present what we are negotiating. i think that was enormously

useful in terms of giving an opportunity for our opponents to express their point of view and be heard and give us real feedback which help us shape our negotiating position. but also for those who were undecided and wanted to learn more about tpp and what we are doing to get a better understanding of that as well. it has been in or mostly useful from the perspective of making absolutely clear what congress expects from us in terms of bringing back high standard agreements. weather is those who supported us or those who didn't, we have very important feedback on what it is members of congress expect us to bring back and that will help form the conversations as we go forward. mike: on fast-track authority what matters is what you do with

it. what is your most optimistic case for what you will be able to deliver? michael: we are in the final stages of negotiating the trans-this is -- transpacific partnership. by definition, those issues tend to be the most difficult. the first order of business is to complete those negotiations and bring that back for congressional approval. we are also negotiating the transatlantic partnership with the european union and we will continue to make progress toward completing that as well. we hope to do that over the course of this administration. we have negotiations going on in geneva with the wto. one on environmental goods and we expect to make good progress on those as well. that is a fairly full agenda.

mike: what is your timeline on tpp? michael: we are going to completed as soon as we possibly can. mike: you are hoping that will be when? michael: good follow-up question. we hope that is in the near-term. mike: before fall? michael: we are working to get it done in that time frame but the negotiations have to dictate the timetable. we hope to go to congress by the end of the year. one thing the trade promotion authority bill provides for is we have to give 90 day notification before the president signs the agreement and publish the agreement asked he days before the president signs it so it will be out there for everyone to analyze and

raise questions about. then there's the process in congress for it to be considered . it will be out there months and months before its voted on by congress. mike: what is the likelihood congress will pass it in 2015? michael: we hope congress will pass it as soon as possible. we will be working -- mike: what is the likelihood of it passing? michael: i think the likelihood is very high. it's going to be a very good agreement and it has benefited from the fact that we have had a promise benefit from congress and we have a good it -- we have a good idea of what congress wants. mike: you were the white house deputy national security advisor, member of the cabinet and member of the team. cnn waiting for their poll about

the president's weeks as many white house observers noticed that the week packed with victories for obama and the fast-track authority for trade deals and punctuated friday with the call to action on race relations, and open celebration marked a change intel for obama. what is the change in tone? michael: i think over the last several months, you've seen important things on a number of issues. whether it's the normalization of relations with cuba, whether it is these legislative achievements, whether it's the achievements at the supreme court, or the president's call for action on race issues at his speech calling for reflection on this important issue at this important time. there's very much a sense as the president said earlier, this is the fourth quarter of his

presidency and it is an important quarter. he's going to be doing everything he can for every day he is in the white house to achieve the object gives of the people who sent him to the white house. mike: there's a lot of conversation about the president teeing free. do you see that? michael: i think he has been working from the beginning of this administration to advance this agenda. you have seen a lot of that come to fruition over the last several months. i think you will be using the remaining time in office to serve the american people and advance middle-class economics and have maximum impact during his meeting time in office. mike: how does the president has trade agenda fit into his bigger economic agenda? michael: the president starts

from the premise that 90% of the world's consumers live outside the united dates and we operate in an open economy and we are taking importance from the rest of the world and we bring imports in from the rest of the world. our challenges to make sure we open other economies to our exports, whether it's manufacturing goods or other products or services that we are doing everything we can to open other markets and raise standards in these other countries so there's a more level playing field. that helps create good, well-paying jobs in the united states. those jobs pay up to 18% more on average than non-export related jobs in the same sector. it's a way of supporting more jobs and more well-paying jobs which addresses some of the wage and inequality issues we are concerned about. mike: you were talking about all the things you agree with, what

was the constructive role played by pro-trade democrats? michael: they played a very important role because they rolled up their sleeves and dug into the negotiations in great detail. they asked very challenging questions and they gave us very important he back and made it clear that while they were supporting tpa, they would be holding our feet to the fire making sure we brought act the best possible agreement that met the high standards we set out for that reflected our interest and values in order to attract their vote so it's an important set of interlocutors as we go forward. mike: they did not sell leader pelosi either. michael: the democratic party is not a monolithic caucus. there are many points of you.

we expect all those points of view and take input from all of it. mike: thank you for watching the live stream and tweety has. a couple of questions that have come in. michael: is this the twitter machine? mike: yes it is. one of the questions brings together your previous experience -- to what extent do you see trade as a domestic policy tool versus a foreign-policy tool? michael: in our view, trade agreements first and foremost must be justified and have their rationale on their economics in how they support jobs, growth and the strengthening of the middle class in the united states. that is our number one priority and that is why there is so much focus on making sure we open other markets and level the playing field. at the same time trade has

strategic implications. the transpacific readerships a key part of balancing our strategy. perhaps one of the most concrete manifestations of that strategy. our trading partners want us to be there to trade and have broader relationships as well. this is important because we are not the only party out there. there are multiple parties negotiating their own visions and it's important we not see that leadership to other countries. on the transatlantic trade investor -- trade investment partnership, that was negotiated by the need for growth strategies. europe has a series of challenges. what is going on on the periphery of europe with russia and ukraine has taken on broader strategic implications with regard to the security of europe

and how they do energy relations and the like. mike: one more twitter question -- what still remains in negotiations with japan? michael: we have some market assess -- access issues we are working with. the main issues are agriculture and autos. they traditionally had closed markets in both and we have an working to make sure we can open those markets in areas that are critical to exporters. we have made very good progress over the last year or year and half including the visit of the japanese prime minister earlier this year. but we still have some outstanding issues and we are still working through those with japan. mike: doug palmer who came to us from reuters has done a great job covering this. he is a couple of questions.

doug: good morning. nice to see you again. i wonder if you could lay out a little bit about what your travel schedule is going to be like in the next couple of weeks and months as you seek to wrap up the tpp agreement. would you expect to have meetings first with your japanese counterparts to resolve agriculture and automotive issues and from there, would you go to a ministerial meeting? there have been reports there could he a meeting toward the end of july. michael: we are now engaged in dialogue with each of our tpp partners. some of them waiting until tpa was over to engage with us on the final set of issues and that's the process we are pursuing now. some by phone, some coming here -- some sending teams out.

when we feel it's right, we will be calling a chief negotiators meeting to try to bring this all to a close. we will be having these conversations over the coming days to make sure we are on track. doug: it has been the conventional wisdom that the linchpin is getting the market access deal between the united states and japan. do you think once that falls into place the other pieces fall together quickly? michael: i think we made good progress with japan over the last year and half. i don't see that as an obstacle to progress at the moment. all the other countries recognize that even though we may not be finished, we have made good progress. there are other issues we are working on. canada market access remains very important.

and then rules issues, whether its intellectual property rights or investment related issues, we are working on that as well. doug: in terms of japan, there is a lot of interest in agriculture community over the terms of the final agreement. are there going to be tariff exceptions for japan or are some not going to see complete tariff elimination? michael: one important achievement of tpp is there will be no product area exceptions. all areas will be covered. whether it's japan or our other trading partners, to go through all of our priority areas of sensitivity and find the best way to achieve commercially meaningful market access. the preferred way is hair of

eliminations, but there are other ways to achieve that. quotas, improving the quantity and quality of access -- those are tools we are using to make sure our exporters have meaningful access to markets. doug: will australia get commercially meaningful access to the american sugar market above what it has now? michael: we are talking to all the parties. we will show great sensitivity to our market here and it won't undermine the sugar program. doug: just referring to the next round of negotiations coming next week, those negotiations seem to be moving rather slowly. what do you think the impact of the current situation in greece is having on those negotiations, if any and the idea that the united kingdom may opt out of

the european union. as that's having a negative impact on negotiations? michael: our focus is working with the commission on moving ahead with the out tending issues of negotiation. we have made good progress over the course of the last year and a half. every time we meet, we continue the progress with the new commission that came in november. we have a fresh start working with the commissioner to make sure we have a work program that can continue to deliver progress in these negotiations. doug: you are not concerned the european union is disintegrating as you are trying to negotiate with them? [laughter] michael: we are very focused as an administration that europe unified growing is important to us. from a trade perspective, we are

working through our issues and will continue to make progress. mike: thank you. asking the ultimate egg picture question there -- i wonder if you underestimated the strength of democratic opposition's -- democratic opposition? michael: trade issues have always been very tough and we have robust trade politics here since nafta, so for more than 20 years. trade agreements, trade bills have always passed congress largely with republican support and last week's votes were no different. a lot of developments over the last years, the financial crisis impacted globalization over the last 20 years. it has sensitized people a great deal to the concerns that have

been raised but it's underscored that we live in a global economy and we can't afford not to be engaged and let some real find the rules of the road that may lead to a race to the bottom. and we can not use trade agreements to shape negotiation. we can sit back and note the impact globalization had or we can be proactive raising standards around the world and strengthening labor standards and strengthening environmental protections, putting new disciplines on state owned enterprises. the president view is that's a better way of dealing with globalization. not just to express concern, but to be proactive about trying to address its impact. mike: as we say goodbye, your wife is the executive director of kids beat cancer which promotes cancer research.

your son, jacob, had a brain tumor when he was 10. what will he be doing when you are off the government payroll? michael: thank you for remembering that. the most important thing to do is bring attention to the fact that there has been very little development of new drugs for treating pediatric cancer. there's been a lot of movements in other areas of cancer and what nancy has been trying to do is make sure we create incentives for those new life-saving treatments to be shared with kids as well. mike: what do you imagine doing when you are out of office? michael: taking a nap. mike: you have children -- then is in a band. tell us about his band. michael: you have a remarkable memory. he's in a great band with three of his friends.

he's the lead guitarist and helps contribute to the writing of original songs. these are a bunch of 13-year-old writing about unrequited love and heartbreak. he really enjoys it and i give great credit to the boys -- they've been playing for five years together, everson's third grade. they remain dedicated to this. in third grade, their songs were not about unrequited love. he really enjoys it in a have a good time together. mike: you were once a drummer? michael: yes. my family has musical talent, i don't. that's why i played drums. mike: where are you going to watch fireworks? michael: probably down on them all. mike: thank you so much for coming in. [applause]

now we would like to welcome evan wilson. thank you for coming in. he came down from new york just for this. evan wilson is one of the originals. he has been working on gay marriage going back 12 years ago when he founded freedom to marry and is now president of it and on monday night, you went to a wedding and it was a gay wedding. evan: that's correct. mike: what were people saying about that decision? evan: people were joyous. all the guests came up and congratulated me. these were close friends of my husband in mind. they've in together 25 years. they wanted to have their wedding on the actual 25th anniversary. it was just beautiful. people were celebrating and happy and people were telling

stories about their friends and neighbors. it's part of this ocean of love and joy that i have been awash in ever since the supreme court ruled. mike: the president must tweet was the to that was heard around the world. was the most poignant tweet you saw? evan: my most favorite was the one with somebody saying now that you are done with your staff, could i hire them to work on our cause? evan: i said we are not in wine down yet, but you would be smart to snap up my team when we do close down. mike: when will you close down? evan: over the next few months. we are doing a smart wind down. the work of our movement is far from over and there's so much work ahead. literally on the day we won this 32 year piece of work for me

for decades for the movement, iran and op-ed in the new york times talking about how we held on this immense victory for the work ahead because we are far from done. mike: your op ed, the next fight for gay rights, you talk about federal protection from discrimination the work lace. people can still be evicted or humiliated at stores or restaurants because of sexual orientation or gender identity. let's the biggest risk that still remains for a gay person in america? evan: gay people and transgendered people are still fired and denied service. we are seeing the bowl and familiar cyclical civil rights efforts to undermine civil rights advance in the form of the so-called religious freedom laws aimed at carving out life as to discriminate on the part of business and employers. this something we have seen every civil rights cap your in

the united states and gay people and transgendered people still experience discrimination in these places that are public places -- employment, housing and so on. unlike with marriage when we began this campaign, the american people strongly support nondiscrimination protection. our country knows these are part of protecting peoples of the lefty to contribute to democracy. but the majority of americans don't realize we don't already have these reductions, so we need this robust conversation so people understand we need that federal civil rights law and local measures to not only give people protection but help is the snow what they rules and guidelines are so they can function well and keep doing forward. mike: those of you watching on my stream, a -- on live stream, please send us a tweet.

we will pick it right up -- how much concern do you have about the kimball international mentation and interpretation of the supreme court decision? evan: very little. mike: there have been a few holdouts. evan: it's a big country. there's little bit of acting out and foot dragging, but already just a few days later, most of that is waning as we would expect because people follow the law and the majority of the american people support the freedom to marry. they know that gays are not going to use up all the marriage licenses. it's going to be a good thing and the important thing is we have won the freedom to marry in the law throughout the land but the conversation which has helped to move hearts and minds and help them understand who they're gay neighbors and coworkers are has only just arrived in earnest in many parts of the country where we still need to give people that chance

to rise to fairness. it will continue to be an engine of transformation that will help lift any other parts of the country as well for the mike: how did you decide to wind it down? evan: i'm a big believer and the fact that you have to have clarity of goals to achieve an important change and you want to put that goal out quickly so that people can rally to it and do the work necessary in a big country like this. clarity of goals dictate strategy. you shape your strategy based on what your goal is and the strategy, how you are going to get there dictates the structure. how do you set up the resources and shape the organization? i don't think the best form of activism can look around and say what else can we do? it makes more sense for a critical mass

of colleagues and movement people to come together and say let's figure out what we need to get there. mike: what are you personally going to do? evan: i have no idea. i work hard and even though i was constantly asked the question, to not think about it. i've been working on this for 32 years and i need to figure out who am i when i'm not mr. marriage anymore and what should my next chapter be? how can i make a contribution? hopefully some job offers will come in but i didn't want to get caught up in that until we finished the job. hopefully i will hear from friends, colleagues and employers. mike: you were married in october of 2011 -- i guess 20 years and that fight. what made that marriage possible?

evan: winning the freedom to marry in new york was a huge victory in our journey because we won in new york. we also one not with the support of democrats, but with the support of republicans in the legislature. it shows that the freedom of marriage clause was on the move. we've seen immense gratifying personal and political victories in and celebrate the wedding to the man who has put up with me for 10 years in front of my family, friends and community, a beautiful wedding a few months later still resonates with me. i still feel the glow from that day. mike: an article said chief justice roberts and the three others certainly must have

realized they would be portrayed as villains in the film about the fight for marriage equality. was there ever a possibility justice roberts would be in the majority? mike: there's all -- evan: there's always the report ability. -- always that possibility. i published a haiku that said who knows, no one knows, who knows, no one knows. we are going to see. sure enough, we've seen chief justice roberts got it wrong. i think his opinion is way wrong. i was not surprised. i was telling people i would be surprised if he ruled with us and that was the truth. mike: what do you think the stories of the roberts court will be? evan: that remains to be seen. this is a court that has done huge rings in the last several years.

some of which they got right particularly on friday, and some of which they've gotten massively wrong. chief justice roberts is young and several of his colleagues are still young and there will be a lot coming out of it. there will be some real change and whoever is elected president next will help us write the story of what the roberts court looks like because we will see a lot of changes in the court. mike: someone said the next president could have for. evan: some of these justices of have in their long time and it's very important whose president for many reasons. one of the reasons is because the president does choose the justices and the justices of the supreme court, we can see the power the supreme court has rightly so in our system. it just important they get it right. mike: you were talking about the fact that now that a lot of social justice campaign want your secret sauce, they want to know how to win a campaign like

this in a divided environment. they all want to know how you did it. what can be learned that you can apply to this movements? evan: it is now being held up as a model for success, but for a while is more of a model. we had many losses and we certainly did not get everything right, but we have worked hard to capture the lessons we offer on our website. i do encourage people to go there and i've been sharing them with other colleagues. some of the lessons are the clarity of the goal, the clarity of the strategy, the clarity of the vehicles in the way you work to fulfill your strategy. we knew we needed to build a critical mass of support to create a climate for litigation to succeed.

it was central to the strategy but we knew it wasn't enough. we got it right and did a good job making it a nonpartisan campaign. we welcomed new voices and surprising voices, as mrs. labor, republicans and democrats. we worked hard to put an emphasis on the personal and help the american people push back there stereotypes and discomfort to engage in true stories, getting them to know who gave people are and why marriage matters to us. prior to friday and a supreme court ruling, we had 167 court rulings and in all of those rulings, my favorite was the one for the freedom to marry in utah. the judge says it's not the constitution that has changed. it is our knowledge of what it means to be lesbian and gay. that captures the strategy our

movement followed, which was to help people understand that the legal arguments. those were clear enough for a 26-year-old law student to write them in 1983. to understand how the command of the constitution applies to gay people, we had to work to make sure. it not only knowing someone that is the engine of change, it is conversation with someone that is the engine of change and we work hard to spark those conversations that have indeed allowed people to rise to fairness. mike: your number two freedom to marry campaign manager, there's a court on the frontier with bob woodward and the lessons learned on your website, his number three was focus on values and emotions. this was a course correction for you all earlier. one of your strategies was to focus on the laundry list of benefits. evan: prior to 2009, we built a

fragile majority. when i was doing the first case on the freedom to marry trial in the 1990's, we were at 27%. by 2009, we were at roughly 50%. the arguments, explanations and stories we were given -- giving people had moved people. but we also saw there was the next group of people who were not quite getting it. they wanted to be fair but didn't understand why do gay people want to get married? what reason -- what we realized was the emphasis on the true and real benefits of protections and legal abstractions were blocking them from connecting emotionally with the values of love, commitment and family. we shifted the emphasis to another equally true part of the case and that is how we went from roughly 50% in a 63%

because we picked up the next group of americans who connected with the heart. mike: your book reminds us that time magazine called you one of the 100 most powerful and influential people in the world. what took president obama so long to be for gay marriage? evan: the president was on a journey just like the rest of the american people were. mike: come on. evan: i think that's true. he answers to a lot of people and is even more powerful and influential. what i give him a norm is credit for was even before he supported freedom to marry his administration took important and courageous steps like renouncing the defense of the indefensible defense of marriage act and calling for heightened scrutiny -- hires scrutiny and came out in support of the freedom to marry not after his reelection, but before. he did not ran up -- you do not

run away from it, he ran with it and got elected for top probably his single legacy here was the way he asked lane is support for the freedom to marriage was a very powerful moment that gave people a real permission to think a new. he didn't talk as a lawyer or as the commander-in-chief, he talked as a dad and as some of you had values and was trying to share those values with his daughter. that resonated with the american people and we saw a real shift after the president came out in support. he has been a staunch champion ever since. mike: so until that, there had been one person on an american ticket who had been openly for gay marriage and who is that? evan: dick cheney. mike: why was president obama not ford in 2008 mark evan: i think he has kind of said that since then -- he thought it wasn't the politically safe

thing to do. that is an important lesson to social change advocates like me. our job is not to help politicians do what they want. our job is to help them do what we want and help them do the right things. the way we help them is not by going where they are but by going here so that they can rise . it's our job to create the space and pave the path way and help them get their. from day one, freedom to marry coming age with the administration, encourage them and help them. our argument was help us help you help us and sure enough, that's what happened in the president has been an important engine of this process. 0mike: the argument you had before the supreme court was for the boy scouts and for gay rights. justice roberts has called for

an and to the ban on gay scout leaders. how do you feel about that? evan: he has called for an and to the ban. it was vigorously defended against gay young people in the scouts. we welcome gay kids and gay artistic patient. until a scout turns 18 and has to be thrown out. secretary of gates has said it is untenable. the right answers not partial discrimination, the answer is no discrimination just like the 4-h club and the campfire boys and girls. i hope the boy scouts will get with where their members are and realize when you say you are there to provide important in good support, you should be providing it to all kids. mike: what institution in

america's most gay hostile? evan: generally speaking, there are parts of the religious infrastructure in this country that remain hostile and continue to send messages of exclusion and unwelcome and demonization and dehumanization. certainly not all religion, but the majority of american people who continue to identify have moved and have figured out a way to tune out some of what they are hearing from some of their hierarchy and go to their true values like the golden rule. that gives me tremendous hope because what we are seeing from hostile religious leaders is they realize they are losing their own flock and their own people because the people understand the true religious

values argue in favor of loving your neighbor as yourself and shedding stereotypes and prejudices about gay people and understanding us as the rounded human beings, many of us are religious. mike: we thank our live audiences for their question. what do you make of the gop backlash that the decision would create an affront to religious liberty? any meat on that down? evan: i stand with martin luther king and saying i hate the word backlash. backlash falsely conveys the idea that somehow those of us who favor justice did something wrong or went too far and now there is a reaction. what i used to say when i was campaigning for the freedom to marry across the country is their backlash began -- they're backlash began before we even

lashed. what there is is a struggle between two competing visions of what kind of country we should have and our vision is prevailing because a majority of the american people have embraced it. that said, what we saw over the last two days with a few isolated examples of posturing and maybe a little acting out. even those who were saying the most horrible things really hope that goes away because they know they are out of step only with the american people but in a case with the republican candidates, they are out of step with where a majority of republicans under age 50 are. mike: you are an authority on the supreme court, on gay marriage, and authority on social justice, you are authority on travel and broadway shows and diners. what is the best diner in america that's not in new york city? evan: one of the things i'm bad

at is remembering restaurants. that's why i'll is go to diners for top i love good stuff on 14th street in the west village. mike: what do you like about it? evan: they know my name. mike: what do you look for in a diner? evan: healthy greek salad and delicious chocolate egg cream. mike: what is one more diner you recommend? evan: the one near my office on 23rd street, the malibu diner. mike: maybe you will be in the diner business? evan: i'm looking out my options right now. mike: where are you going to watch fireworks? evan: probably from the roof deck of my building in what i hopefully one moment of calm in this extraordinary wonderful week. mike: we are about to hear from dr. russell moore.

i would love for you guys to have a quick conversation. would you like to ask him a question as he comes out? thank you for joining us. [applause] you are each going to ask each other questions. i will say the question to you i said asked age which is now that we have one this case and the country has signaled it's time to end the exclusion of gay people, would you join with me and my colleagues with a dialogue with your people so that together we can help people move forward and even if we disagree get to what is important and not be constantly divided? dr. moore: i do think we need to

be in dialogue with one another. i hope to do more but we have to do that coming to the table as who we are, without either of us putting our convictions into a blind trust. if we can have a good reasonable honest conversation and agreed to disagree, i think that's healthy for american democracy. mike: and you get a question. dr. moore: are you now in this new world that we have in terms of marriage going to be committed to understanding that religious institutions, muslim institutions who do not believe marriage can be defined in all the ways the court has defined it are you going to use the power of the state to courses and petitions not to be true to their own convictions? evan: one thing i would say is marriage is not defined by who is denied it.

nothing has changed in the definition of marriage. your marriage is the same with your wife as it was three days ago. my marriage is now respected by the law. you are entitled to think what everyone and i defend that, but the law should treatise equally which happily has moved toward doing. the other point i would make is you talk about religious institutions but the vast majority of people of faith within those institutions, in many of them have come to support the freedom to marry. 63% of catholics in the united states. dr. moore: not once you start looking into who actually goes to church. if you did pulling this way, you are not going to get accurate polling. evan: i think we would be that her off of each of us tended to our own soul and well-being and less time telling people they are bad at their religion, let alone that as americans.

but to get to where you are going with the question, i think the law should defend as the first amendment does the freedom of religion and freedom of -- freedom to preach. you are free to say and preach" forward whatever we believe, but what we are not free to do is use the government as a weapon to impose our beliefs on others. i believe our country in decade after decade has gotten that balance right. we have figured out how to support and guard religious freedom while supporting civil rights and nondiscrimination and the opportunity of every person to participate fully in society. that's a wonderful thing we have in our society and we should not be undermining it. mike: thank you so much for coming and congratulations. happy weekend. we had breakfast a couple of weeks ago here.

i was struck by the very practical approach that you take . that is why we invited you here. you are not talking pointy or seek to spend. you have been instructing pastors about what to say and what to do. this must have been a dark sunday for some of them. what did you tell them to say? dr. moore: we have been working for years in terms of equipping pastors to say this is not something simply relegated to coastal elites. there are many pastors and eventually pulls and others in this country who assume if they lived in a red state that this was somehow beyond them and that it could be dealt with with a presidential election or two. so what several of us have been saying for years is you have to be ready to be able to minister in a very changed context around

you. what that means for us is for a long time in american culture, evangelicals could assume most people aspire to what we mean when we say marriage and family. we can assume that end we did not have too articulated in spell it out. mike: a friend of mine said to me now the church is undeniably in the minority and there's something clarifying about that. dr. moore: absolutely. what happened was american christianity, especially protestant christianity in the bible belt was too comfortable with being american. as a christian i believe we can be americans best when we are not americans first. when we have a sense of understanding of who we are in terms of our distinctiveness. now, that time is here. there were a lot of american christians who idealized some golden age in the past, 1950's or the 1980's, which is not

really a christian vision of reality for top our vision of reality says everything fell apart not with the counterculture of the 1960's, but with the garden of the. we have a more clarifying understanding of who we are. mike: dr. moore is the president of the civil division of the southern baptist convention. you are sort of their ambassador to washington. you put out a one pager messaging points for allies and number four was the pro-life model can be a model for the way forward. dr. moore: if you were to go back into a time machine in 1973 and say to the national organization for women and other abortion-rights leaks, what with the pro-life movement look like,

most of them would probably say there would not be a pro-life movement in 2015. this has been over and decided by the supreme court. what has happened? every january, the march for life is filled with younger and younger people energized and engaged in the pro-life movement. the other part is the pro-life movement could not be an angry reactionary movement because what were we doing? trying to work not only politically but culturally to persuade women not to abort their children and persuade men not to pressure women and have administrative for women so to have that be persuasive is -- persuasive in the other direction. this is not going to be settled by a presidential election or congressional election. this is a generation long

argument that we have to make and we have to be the sort of people who understand why the people who disagree with us this agree with us. we cannot just get outraged at them. mike: you had a piece on the "washington post" website that said you should neither cave nor panic. why shouldn't the church and? when we talked, you are clear eyed about what the supreme court was up to and you said the choice was between bad and catastrophic. dr. moore: we got catastrophic but i keep falling back on that old grateful dead lyrics -- it's even worse than it appears, but it's all right. i mean the implications will be far-reaching. i think it will have implications many people are not even seeing right now. but as a christian, and have a

long-term view of history that is a hope full view of history and i think marriage is resilient. marriage is something god embedded in the natural order and it cannot simply be expanded away or redefine the way for top i think marriage will be back. mike: go on. dr. moore: think about the way justice kennedy is arguing in his majority opinion. this is a matter of individual autonomy individual midi. i think the chief justice is right -- how do you keep the balance on that in the way the court did or is this going to be what happened with griswold, where you unleash a previously unknown constitutional right that's going to have almost endless mutations? mike: what did you mean when you said do you believe marriage will be back? dr. moore: we not going to see a

booming expansion of marriage. if we can look at what has happened in europe, you see a decline in marriage culture and i think that has bad consequences, just as the divorce revolution did were children marriage, and i think there will be people who will be disappointed who will believe this is going to fix all their problems and say what is there other than this? we need to have a church that still has the light lit to say there is another way. mike: something you pointed out in your pieces that if you look over at the millennia, the church has thrived in the minority. dr. moore: yes. when a church sees itself as part of the moral majority, we stop emphasizing the things that are distinctively christian in

an attempt to become more normal . that's the reason so much christian political activism over the last generation hasn't been the logically defined at all. it has been in terms of values and original value -- traditional family values. we don't need mayberry in order to thrive. christianity didn't start in mayberry. it darted in a hostile greco-roman empire. this gives us the opportunity to reclaim the freakish and is of unity the new testament tells us is what causes christianity to thrive. i was talking to a lesbian activist a few years ago. we had a similar conversation. she said i want to find out what you people believe. so she's asking a series of questions. she says you have to know what you are saying about marriage and sexuality sound so strange to me.

she says if she knew someone who had been on more than two or three dates without having sex, she would assume there's some sort of psychological abuse in the past, not that this was someone with moral conviction. she says i don't know anyone in my peer group who believes the things you believe. i said i think i get that we believe a previously dead man will show up in the sky on a horse. that is pretty strange. and freakish from a natural mindset. it was strange and freakish in a.d. 40. we need to reclaim that and maintain our confidence. mike: let the mean when you say that charge should not cave? dr. moore: there are a lot of people who assume if we just apply some pressure here, cultural pressure, political pressure, then the catholic church is going to care, evangelicals mormons, they are going to say, forget what we

said before about marriage and sexuality. that is not going to happen. it can't happen. this isn't something that is incidental to what we believe. we believe marriage and sexuality are covenantal pictures of the union of christ in the church, and we believe that it has eternal consequences for the well-being and soul of the people who participate. we are not going to be able to get rid of those things without getting rid of the biblical text and without getting rid of jesus. mike: something you have stood for a long time and ministers you've worked with, had said is that christians in the church need to work on their own marriages. dr. moore: absolutely. one of the most controversial things i ever have to say anywhere, is nothing i say in washington. it is when i tell a couple who come to me for to get married, they want me to officiate. i won't let them write their own vows.

they become very heavy and upset. my response is this marriage is not about you. this wedding is not about you. you don't even know yet what to make vows about. you're not keeping in mind when it means to stay with one another through alzheimer's disease and be with another -- one another through the death of a child. he need the rest of the community, the church, the gathering of witnesses to do that for you. i think the church for a long time has adopted cultural understanding that sees marriage as being about romantic fulfillment principally. rather than seeing marriage in the bigger sense of what it is. mike: a twitter question for dr. moore. in the new yorker, why don't you think that parallel drawn by lgbt groups between interracial marriage bans and gay marriage bans in fact -- apt? dr. moore: first of all, i don't

think there is a gay marriage ban. he there is a state recognizing there is something distinctive about the union of a man and a woman that can ideally produce children. the state have an interest to guide this union. i don't think it is a band. with the interracial issue, the reason these are different, no one in these interracial hands -- bans, that came into place because of slavery and jim crow, no one is arguing these are not marriages. they were arguing we want to stop these marriages from happening. people who object to same-sex marriage are not saying we wish ill will, we are saying there is something unique about the union of a man and a woman that we can see through millennia of human history, that if we simply undo and expand to the point that it becomes irrelevant, we will last

-- have lost something. mike: you talk about christians engaging the culture. you talked about a tweet, it says due to the national airport singing in the voice of bob dylan. dr. moore: it was pretty bad. bless his heart is as saying. it could be a compliment. usually it's not. usually it means man, you're an , idiot. but it's a nice polite way to say you're an idiot. mike: dr. moore has a book coming out august 1. he is kind to give us a peek. it is called "onward, gauging the cold without losing the gospel". the cover is by johnny cash and a something unusual about this book. dr. moore: the blue is from an old johnny cash britt and then -- print, and on the inside, the

publisher did kind of posters with different quotes from the book. i think they did five or six of them. mike: five different covers. dr. moore: yes. this one says kindness does not avoid conflict kindness engages conflict but with the goal of reconciliation. mike: you've written about adoption. you have four children. dr. moore: five. mike: five children. tell us about adoption. dr. moore: we adopted our first two sons, benjamin and timothy, from a russian orphanage when they were a year old. they just turned 14, and it's kind of been a priority and concern for me because we have children all over the foster care system into united states of america and an orphanage and group homes around the world who need families. and we have families in the united states who have room for another stocking on the mantle this christmas. i'm really calling for people to really consider is god calling us to welcome children into their homes.

mike: your children are ages three to what is your number one 14. child raising tip? dr. moore: not to panic recognize children are going to just do good things sometimes and stupid does not mean disobedient, necessarily. learn to have a tranquility about that. and to spend time with him one on one. the best thing i can do, especially with multiple kids, to take each one of them with you, on a trip, where you are able to talk to them. and then you find out what is really going on in their lives. mike: you are a mississippi native, a descendent of confederate veterans. two days after the church shooting in charleston you wrote it's time to take down the confederate flag, it makes me wince. a symbol used to enslave the little brothers and sisters of jesus. why does it take so long? dr. moore: four south carolina to take down the flag?

i think because you have this argument for a long time that this isn't a matter of hate, a matter of heritage. and i think people are starting to recognize now as they are having genuine conversations across racial and ethnic categories, that heritage is part of the problem. you have a flag that is used for an army fighting to enslave people. and then beyond that show the flag that that is being used by terrorist groups and their state sponsors throughout the 20th century in order to terrorize african-american people come to burn crosses on front lawns. and i think it's time for us to recognize that. the interesting thing for me is when i wrote that piece i was expecting a lot of blowback from my fellow southerners and i received almost none. all of the hate mail i received came from yankees, you know, people in idaho and montana, people from alaska, things like that.

but almost none from southerners southerners, have none at all -- and none at all from south carolina. southerners black and white, we know what that flag means. i think it will take a while in mississippi. i think it is dead in south carolina. dr. moore: and where are you mike: where are you going to watch fireworks on july 4 >> dr. moore: probably, we are going to an army fireworks on child pashtuns on july the third because i could be on on july the fourth i will see the real fireworks from the plane spent i think you can make is possible. mike: thank you so much. >> thank you. [applause] >> and now jim messina. welcome out. they do so much for coming. appreciate it. [applause] mike: jim messina who has been there from the beginning was in chicago in '08, was the architect and manager of the 2012 -- [inaudible] [audio

reelection and was in the white house as deputy chief of staff. what did you think last week? jim: it was a culmination and amazing moment in history. we will look back at this and realized what an important cultural moment this was and how our politics changed, and president obama in many ways has helped start this political evolution that reagan did 30 years ago. you can see all of that move in politics. it has definitely changed in the past week. mike: to continue with your point about reagan, that is fascinating. jim: if you look at the moment in time we are in, politics have changed. 20 years ago, when i started working in politics, gay-rights was a huge issue. with both parties and the electorate. immigration was a wet issue in

the party. climate change was used to separate environmentalists from businesses. the same on trade, the same on a whole bunch of issues, guns, and all of those are now issues with democratic parties on the same sad -- side as the majority of americans. that has changed politics. mike: we have a pretty good sense of what the eight years look like. what did they look like compared to what you imagined eight years ago? jim: that is a great question. i remember coming into the white house and you could see the economy falling off the table, whether or not we would have a second great depression, in the end both president bush and president obama took huge steps to avoid that. and begin the recovery. i remember very early on we got day after day of the terrible economic news, and finally david axelrod leaned over and said hey, is it too late to ask for a recount? you know, it was a brutal time

. and i think if you were to look forward, and said, in seven years you can have all these things we would've taken that in , a heartbeat. mike: the biggest unfinished these of this is climate. we'll talk about that. what else did you think we should have done? jim: i think the preeminent issue of our time will be income inequality. the president talked about that the other day. secretary clinton talking about that every single day. mike: the likely democratic nominee >> jim: yes. 99%. i'm in politics, so i never assume. on climate

mike: on climate, what do you think can still be done and what are the lessons learned? jim: yesterday the united states and brazil announced a historic agreement. that is the kind of bilateral agreement that will continue to change the country. in november, december to the paris route of climate negotiations which is an absolutely crucial moment to get a worldwide climate accord that could be another mammoth step. the president has already taken several huge steps in car rules truck rules, clean power rules that will be finalized this summer. all of those things are major defining moments in the fight to combat climate change. but i think paris would be an absolutely crucial moment this fall. mike: you hear a lot about the president is free. obama is free now. you have seen the president in all places. we talk about obama is free. is that because he's figured it

out, or has experience, or his work is bearing fruit -- why is he suddenly hitting his stride now? jim: i think easily been more free than any other president. mike: but he hasn't acted? jim: that's not true. the first week of the white house we set out and that this knockdown drag-out fight intro about which issues to work on. people were pushing let's go education because it's an easy win. he stood up and said hey, every single one of you know health care is right thing to do but you are all afraid of it politically, because it was a very big problem for president clinton's first term and 10 presidents in a row have tried. some of you in this room did not even think i could win. what we're going to do it whatever we think is right and we will start with health care. figure it out. he stood up and walked out. and ron looked at all of us and said, i guess we are doing health care. mike: do you sense that the president is free now? jim: i think he knows exactly

what he wants to do with his remaining time to move the country forward. i think he feels focused on using every single moment of the next month until his successor comes in. i'm really proud of the work he has done. look at this week. you had a historic week with all these things and in the middle of it yes to launching a minimum wage increase for over 5 million americans. is wrapping up a bilateral deal with brazil. this is a guy who's going to work every single moment, and in his usual basketball and elegies, never stop shooting until the clock runs out. mike: what do you sense from what you hear and see, what do you sense about his mood or psyche? jim: he is a guy that does not get up or down that much. he obviously had a great week last week. he showed that a little bit at the press conference yesterday. but i've been with them in the toughest times and in the best of times, and he still is a pretty calm cool and collected guy.

i told you this before but five times rahm emanuel and i walked into the oval office and told him a health care bill was dead. five times. all five times the present look at us and said that's unacceptable. put everyone in the room and i will fix it again. this is a guy who could easily given up or make it smaller and he continued to swing for the fences. the way you do that, the way you take on those challenges is by just focusing on the job and that's what he's done. mike: attendees are all 2016, junkies already hungry for it, you are the world's authority on electoral strategy. do you think the states to watch our virginia and colorado. why more so than florida, while? -- ohio? jim: you have seen a change in the electoral college in the past 15 years. driven by demographic changes and driven by president obama. think about is whether democrats have now carried 240 electoral votes in the last five presidential elections. republicans have carried 191.

if you add to that new mexico and nevada, which are two states that the democrats have a huge chance on that puts it at 253. , they are at 191. look at the states most likely to tip us from 253 to 270 come -- colorado and virginia our states you would look at. i'm not saying he wouldn't look florida and ohio but in 2012 florida was always a would be great to have for us, but we dumped the kitchen sink in for ohio, virginia and colorado. demographically for democrats, virginia and colorado are coming to us because the demographic changes in ways ohio just doesn't. mike: what is your emerging electoral battleground? what will you be watching for 2020 and don't say texas. jim: arizona. arizona is coming very fast.

george bush tied both times in new mexico and barack obama one so it wasn't about -- a battleground state press. for the nevada is doing the same thing. estate carried the most. what is a statewide in the middle of those two ? it is arizona. the demographic the demographic changes 15 years ago change california and went to new mexico and then went to nevada are coming right to arizona. mike: you once had daydreams about georgia. jim: i still have dreams about georgia. i think george as another state like north carolina and that will come back on the map. mike: how is this election shaping up? would you rather be r or a d? jim:,, i would rather be d. we haven't even talked about the electoral college. we haven't talked about the exciting thing i call republican primary for president. [laughter]

every single day it's like they send me gifts of crazy stuff that they say. you think about the primaries ended argued that mitt romney probably lost the presidential race in the georgia debate when he came out so against immigration reform and came out and endorsed self deportation. made it really impossible to probably get to 270 electoral votes. if you are a young voter in this country or a swing voter you're watching republicans every single day campaign against issues you feel strongly about against climate change can --, against education reform against gay marriage can , against health care reform. those are going to really damage them. think about it when other way. ronald reagan, 30 years ago moved young voters to the republican side. and now senior voters are still leaning republican. that is what you are seeing with barack obama and young voters in the democratic party. republicans are making that worse. we currently lead registration in the battleground states with young voters by 35 points. if that stays true to the next 20 years it will change politics forever. mike: of the 14 republicans with

two more coming next month, who do you think is playing their cards the smartest? jim: i think rubio is off to a good start. and you have to look at governor bush and say he wasted the first three months. never think it is a good sign when you are on your second campaign manager before you have announced. but i think marco rubio has had a good start. we will see whether he can keep it going but i think he is doing ok. mike: the new york times did a front-page story the most , dangerous republican nominee for secretary clinton because of the contrast would be rubio. do you agree? jim: i think it's way too early. mike: oh, come on. jim: no, i think a years ago you would have said barack obama was having a terrible summer and was not going to be the democratic nominee. six months later he was. so it's way too girly. -- early.

they haven't had a debate yet so let's give them time to continue to say crazy stuff. mike: what is rubio doing right? jim: i think he is consolidating himself, trying to talk about bigger issues. i think he is out there not making mistakes which is always a big deal. but we will see. there's a lot of time. mike: what has governor bush done wrong? jim: i think, i can't you what the reason for his candidacy is. i think that is a dangerous place to be. i think he has continued to move around. he's o'is second campaign manager and he hasn't announced . mike: who is the smartest republican operative working today? jim: i think matt rhodes. he was romney's campaign manager. i battled him every day for 18 months here it he and i got to do stuff, the olympic bid together and i was really impressed. mike: who working directly in 16

would you fear going up against if you are in the game? jim: on the republican side or democrat? mike: republican. jim: i'm really glad that is not coming back. mike: but who is the next -- who is smart? jim: truthfully, i don't know them very well. mike: what demographic group will matter the most? jim: latinos. they will be the biggest group. president bush got 44% of the latino vote in 2000, 42 and 20 -- mitt romney just got 20%. 2004. if they can't move that number there's no electoral college that works for them. i continue to think women voters will be an absolutely crucial part of the democratic electorate but democrats have challenges. we have turnout issues and we are getting historically small amount of white voters something we've got to fix in 2016.

mike: i would think after 2012, the idea of targeting swing voters would be out of fashion. you still hear democrats talking about it now. you are down on swing voters ? jim: no, i'm not down on them. i believe the american electorate is the most polarizing our time. there is a historic small amount of swing voters. in the old days, you have to do two things. especially democrats. you have to turn your boat out and persuade them. there are a lot of articles in your paper about the choice between those two. i don't think it is a choice. you have to do both. you can't just focus on that. you have to talk to swing voters and turnout your base. mike: you are helping secretary clinton, spending a lot of time raising money, validating.

she's a tough herself and barack obama. jim: i don't agree with that. i think she is a really great leader who has an incredibly track record and has a vision for moving this country forward. and i think will do very, very well in the battleground states. i've said this to you in the past. the single most important thing in any presidential election is the definition of who can enter. i think if you look at the republican party right now, they do not have in any event ability, and have not laid out a plan to do that. what is the one thing that defines the republican party today, mike? is the opposition of barack obama. if you look every single day what they're saying, it is just about how they disagree with barack obama. you cannot win a presidential campaign in opposition to a person or an idea. mike: but is that working for them? do you think they are smart to be doing that now? jim: no, i don't. i think they have to figure out a plan for the future. you have seen five months of campaigns and you and i were

tested and you know cheat on -- cheap i if you want to pay me am. today i couldn't tell you three ideas they have laid out. i think that is a problem. mike: if we can get a microphone to louisa savage. we have a twitter question from someone. can you address questions about the authenticity of hillary's support of progressive causes? jim: i think hillary has had a lifetime of progressive causes. she was campaigning for universal access to health care 30 years ago. she spent her life advocating for the betterment of children around the world, and has made that a centerpiece of her life. as secretary of state, she did a bunch of things to move forward. the progressive issues in women, gay rights, minorities. i think her record is second to none. and i think going forward progressives can be extremely proud to support her as i am. mike: how worried is the clinton

camp about the success and excitement around senator sanders? jim: there will be ups and downs of every campaign. mike: but this is pretty big. jim: it's not. the day-to-day of campaigns is silly. i know you guys have to publish every 10 minutes, you love publishing. that's great, but nothing has changed. this week, hillary clinton is in the high 70's in the democratic primary nationally. she's going to be the democratic nominee and she's going to win the white house. mike: what it is senator sanders scratching? why is their excitement? jim: i think he has a great track record and he is ace -- a great speaker. i worked in the senate for a long time and i love watching him. but that doesn't mean i will vote for him. mike: he's not a real threat? jim: no. mike: as you look ahead, and the

general election, you are clearly part of secretary clinton's team. what do you worry about? jim: citizens united has changed politics forever. president bush spent $186 million to win. we had to spend $1.1 billion to stop the onslaught of negative ads. i think citizens united is going to probably allow the republicans drastically outspent -- outspend hillary in the election and i think that is a real challenge. i continued to want to make sure we focus on both -- swing voters and turning out our base. mike: one more thing about the 2016 environment, landscape, that would make me sound smart. jim: technology is going to continue to change everything in this. a majority of young voters communicate unsnapped had more than they do texting or e-mail. that evolution in how people

communicate, how people watch news, how people validate their political and consumer decision s is changing by the nanoseconds. it will be an amazingly different campaign than even 2012. mike: what you think about snack chat? jim: i think it's a great idea and a wonderful way for me to curse and not get in trouble. mike: how do you think it applies to campaigns? jim: i think people are figuring that out right now. i have spent a lot of time. i'm not going to tell the republicans. mike: your firm does quite a but -- international work. one of the things you do is helping corporations know how you use data analytics and 2012 for customer outreach but was the biggest thing that american business can learn from obama 2012? jim: that you can individually target consumers in a very smart way. one of our clients is allegedly -- legendary pictures.

their ceo has been a leader on taking some of those things and building an ability to rule out movies in unprecedented way and do much better than hollywood expect it does to do because they are using data and social media in a way no one else is. mike: something else you do is give advice to nonprofits about how to run themselves more efficiently. jim: one of our passions is helping the first five years find a nationally bill to create pre-k education. we spend a lot of time working on that. seeing that campaign run by an amazing hero, one of the litigants of the supreme court case, she's doing that and doing an unbelievable job. mike: you are university of montana grad. a different person in your in montana. you were headed there. jim: spent my wife and i will spend the entire month of august fishing. i hope to catch up a little bit and be in the most wonderful

place in the world. mike: what do you catch? jim: big trout. mike: what is your fishing chit -- tip? jim: tell them not to come to montana. yellowstone river in august. that you don't need tackle, in the end being very simple about trying to read the water is the most important thing. the commonest you will ever be is when you watch the water rushed upon your fly and there is a trout low it. mike: where are you going to watch iraq's -- fireworks? jim: wherever my wife tells me. [laughter] mike: excellent answer. at 1:00 p.m. today we hope you will join us for a live stream for political probe event about the health care part of this discussion the supreme court's decision on king v. burwell.

politico's editorial director louisa savage, will tell us a little bit about that quickly. louisa: thank you very much for your great conversations. twitter really loves you. thank you for this great event. we have another one coming up today at 1:00, it will be live stream. we are looking at the fallout of the king v. burwell decision come what it means for health care policy going forward and the politics of it, but the next potential battles around the affordable care act, obamacare will be , and that would be at the newse um at the eighth floor. it is a pro-health care event. #prohc. we will have policy experts and political thinkers from both the conservative and liberal side at that event. thank you very much. mike: thank you. think all of you for watching this event.

i want to thank our politico colleagues, john and bank of america for making these conversations possible and jim messina, thanks. thank you for making us smarter. happy fourth. [applause] >> presidential candidate and former candidate rick perry outlines his economic outlook. that is on c-span. tomorrow afternoon president obama speaks about the economy at the university of wisconsin on c-span at 2:20 eastern. >> here are just a few of our featured programs for the holiday weekend. i'm c-span, friday night at 8:00 eastern. radio personalities and executives at the annual talkers magazine conference in new york.

saturday night at eight, an interview with new york times chairman and publisher and executive editor on the future of the times. sunday night, members of the church committee, former vice president walter mondale and senator gary hart on groundbreaking efforts to reform the intelligence community. a c-span2, friday night at 10:00, arthur martin ford on how the increasing use of artificial intelligence can make a good jobs obsolete. afterwards, carol perkins on while the -- why the bill of rights was created and the debates it's bird. sunday join our three-hour conversation with a selling author peter schweizer, who has written over a dozen books. on american history tv on c-span3, friday evening at ex:

30, the 70th anniversary of the united nations. with keynote speakers jerry brown, has minority nancy pelosi and u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon. at 8:00, the revolutionary war and how individual personalities supply and timing often influence the outcome of major battles. sunday afternoon, on real america, a look back at a 1960's film featuring actor and performer joe brown about a nationwide search for old search and wagons -- circus wagons, and efforts to restore them in time for a july 4 parade in milwaukee. get the complete schedule at c-span.org. >> president obama announced today that the u.s. and cuba will do -- restore diplomatic ties and open embassies in each other's capitals. the two countries cut diplomatic ties in 1961. today's announcement was in the white house rose garden.

president obama: good morning, everybody. please have a seat. more than 54 years ago at the height of the cold war the united states closed its embassy in havana. today, i can announce the united states has agreed to formally reestablished diplomatic relations with the republic of cuba, and reopened and reopen embassies in our respective countries. this is a historic step forward in the efforts to normalize relations with the cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the americas. when the united states shattered the embassy in 1961 i don't think anyone expected it would be more than half a century before it reopened. after all, our nations are separated by only 90 miles and the deep bonds of family and friendship between our people, but there have been very real, profound differences between our governments. sometimes we allowed ourselves to be trapped by our way of doing things.

for the united states, that meant clinging to a policy that was not working. instead of supporting democracy and opportunity for cuban people, our opportunity to isolate cuban people has the opposite effect, isolating the united states from our neighbors in this hemisphere. the progress we mark today is another demonstration that we do not have to be imprisoned by the past. when something is not working we can and will change. last december, i announced the united states and cuba decided to take steps to normalize our relationship. as part of that effort, right -- president raul castro and i just discussed the reestablishment of embassies. later this summer, secretary kerry will travel to have been a formally to proudly raise the american flag over the embassy once more. this is not merely symbolic.

with this change we will be able to a substantially increased contact with the cuban people, we will have more personnel at the embassy and diplomats will have the ability to engage more broadly across the aisle. that will include the cuban government, civil society and ordinary cubans who are reaching for a better life. on issues of common interest like counterterrorism, this disaster response and development we will find new ways to cooperate with cuba. i have been clear we will also continue to have very serious differences. that will include americans and during support for universal values like freedom of speech and assembly and the ability to access information. we will not hesitate to speak out when we see actions that contradict the values. however, i strongly believe the best way for america to support our values is through engagement. that is why we already taken that to allow for greater travel, people to people and commercial ties between the united states and cuba, and we will continue to do so going

forward. since we have already seen december, enormous enthusiasm for this approach. leaders across the americas have expressed support for the change in policy. you heard that expressed by the president of brazil yesterday. public opinion surveys in both our country show broad support for the engagement. one cuban said i have prepared for this all my life. another said it is like a shot of off region. -- a shot of oxygen. a cuban teacher put it simply, we are neighbors, now we can be friends. here in the united states we've seen the same enthusiasm. there are americans who want to travel to cuba and american businesses who want to invest in cuba. american colleges and universities, who want to partner with cuba. above all, americans want to get to know their neighbors to the south. through that engagement, we can also help the cuban people improve their lives.

one look forward to reuniting him with an opening lines of communication. another put it bluntly, you cannot put the future cuba hostage to what happened in the past. that is what this is about, a choice between the future in the past. americans and cubans alike are ready to move forward. i believe it is time for congress to do the same. i have called on congress to take steps to lift the embargo that prevents americans from traveling or doing business in cuba. we have already seen members from both parties begin the work. why should washington stand in the way of our own people? there are those who want to turn back the clock and doubled down on a policy of isolation, but it is long past time for us to realize this approach does not work. it has not worked for 50 years. it shuts america out of cuba's future and only makes life worse for the cuban people. i would ask congress to listen to the cuban people, and american people, listen to the words of a proud cuban american, carlos gutierrez who came out

against the policy of the past , saying i wonder if the cubans who have had to stand in line for the basic necessities in the hot havana son, feel this approach is helpful to them? no one expects cuba to be transformed overnight. but i believe american engagement through the embassy businesses, and most of all -- our people, is the best way to advance interests and support for democracy and human rights. time to get america's to demonstrate the leadership in the world is our capacity to change. it is what inspires the world to reach for something better. a year ago i might have seen it -- seemed impossible that the united states would be raising our flag over and embassy in havana. this is what change looks like. in january 1961, the year i was born, when president eisenhower announced the termination of our

relations with cuba, he said it is my hope and my conviction in the not-too-distant future, it will be possible for the historic friendship between us to once again find the reflection in normal relations of every sort. it took a while, but i believe that time has come. a better future lies ahead. thank you very much. i want to thank some of my team who worked diligently to make this happen. they are here. they do not always gets acknowledged. we are really proud of them. good work. >> the world health organization

yesterday declared cuba is the first country to eliminate transmission of hiv and syphilis. in washington, cuba's health minister talked about the country's efforts to stop the spread of hiv and other sexually transmitted diseases. this is 15 minutes. -- 50 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the national press club. on this very very historic day. this is a milestone. the national press club, is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. today we host the first minister of the cuban government since 1959. it is probably been closer to 70

years if we include previous governments. our speaker today is the distinguished health minister dr. roberto morales, who arrives now. he will speak on cuba's progress on aids and cuba's contribution to the progress on aids and other sexually transmitted diseases. dr. morales, roberto morales is the health minister. he was born in cuba and holds two medical degrees. he previously served as the vice minister of health and has been a member of the cuban national assembly, a popular power since 2008. we will also have a powerpoint presentation. and the presentation is in

spanish but we will be translated. if you have any questions, please fill out the cards. has been here and the chair of the newsmakers committee, herb perone, will present the questions. we are following the same format we used at lunch, not the regular format we use with newsmakers. i have spoken too long and with that, we turn the program to dr. morales. [applause] >> thank you very much. buenos dias. translator: good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i wish to rank you the work of

cuba and the elimination of transmission of hiv and co-genital syphilis. mother to child. [speaking spanish] >> the triumph of the cuban revolution, the care of sexually transmitted infections was conducted primarily by dermatologists in dispensaries for the treatment of an arial -- of venereal diseases and leprosy. congenital syphilis was a major health problem than and each year, large number of cases were reported. >> speaking [speaking spanish]

>> in 1962 free care was established at all hospitals and case reporting was improved, however, health coverage was insufficient and mpaa illogical control -- epidemiological control actions were nonexistent. dr. morales: [speaking spanish] >> in 1972, the program was brought under review and

updated. a different approach was taken. higher priority to the finding of cases, research and epidemiological analysis all of , which was performed at community clinics under the view they had to be integrated into the community health care model. dr. morales: [speaking spanish] >> it is then, that the mother and child care program was established. the program that has been subjected to continued improvement, and constitutes the platform for the prevention of maternal and congenital syphilis. care at prenatal, delivery, and postpartum levels is conducted

by skilled health personnel, and 99.9% of births take place in health institutions. dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: every pregnant woman receives a minimum of 10 prenatal visits by the family doctor and attends consultations with specialists in gynecology and obstetrics. care extends to monitoring the health of the mother including conducting serological tests for syphilis and hiv, which also comprise of the sexual partners. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: annually, about 1.5 million tests for syphilis are performed of which over 300,000 are done to pregnant women surpassing the 95% coverage. since 1980, the annual rate of syphilis has remained below the elimination criteria set forth by the original strategy in 2010. in the past four years, the rate has been between zero and 0.04 percent for births. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: since the beginning of the 1980's by decision of the government, the operational group to fight aids was established. which designs, develops and end -- implement policies based on response to the hiv epidemic. this task force comprises social sectors emma organizations and institutions of civil society, ensuring an inter-sector approach to the response. it works at national provincial, and community levels and is advised by the technical committee on hiv aids. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: the program fort -- for production and control of hiv-aids was developed in 1986 based on known public health programs that have been previously applied in the country for the prevention and control of other diseases. in particular, existing experiences in the control of sexually transmitted diseases were used, and actions were implemented aimed at the early detection of cases. the research, notification,

educating the population, and making available prevention, care and treatment services to those affected. dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: this gives us accessibility and guarantee research and the training of human resources and the introduction of technology which have ensured access by the population to prevention diagnosis, care, and treatment. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: the educational component has featured among its core strategies, informational dissemination, raising awareness, communication counseling, the selling of condoms, and inter-sector and community approach. the actions implemented in growing participation by the population, people with hiv and other key groups have had a positive impact on indicators of behavioral change within the cuban population. dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: until december 2014,

there were 21,922 people diagnosed with hiv. 3652 have died and 18,270 were living with hiv. prevalence in the population 15-45 years of age is 0.25% dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: males are the most affected, representing 3/4 of those with the disease and men who have sex with other men make 72.8% of all diagnosed cases and 89% of diagnosed males. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: for the prevention of mother to child transmission of hiv, the program applied and adapted to each given moment and in line with the national contexts, the scientifically recommended actions. conducting hiv testing at the first prenatal visit, cesarean delivery in the suspension of breast-feeding were the only preventive measures being applied up to the late 1980's. the transmission rate than -- then exceeded 40%. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: performing quarterly hiv serology through pregnancy screening of sexual partners combined and try to -- retroviral therapy, measurement to monitor its effectiveness cesarean delivery, preventive treatment of the newborn and their clinical and laboratory follow-up make up the preventive strategy we apply. the rate of mother to child transmission of hiv has been at or below 2% during the last three years. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: the care and treatment of people living with hiv is integrated into the network of health care services. it is provided by the family doctor and nurse offices and also involves medical specialist s from the local clinic who have been trained in hiv-aids. with participation by the existing specialized services when individual needs arise including referral to secondary , and tertiary care institutions if necessary. dr. morales: [speaking spanish]

translator: in cooperation with the global fight to fight aids tuberculosis and malaria, it has been created to ensure access to special monitoring studies and today we have nine laboratories and five viral load laboratories. dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: cuba has made great

efforts to ensure access to free retroviral treatment to those requiring it. research, development and local production of drugs, access to care provided by the national health system, and technical cooperation received have made such results possible. today, 13,075 cubans receive dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: in response to the commitment made at the 50th directing council of the pan-american health council in 2010, cuba began its validation process for the elimination of mother to child transmission of hiv and congenital syphilis in november 20 2013, conveying it

in a formal request through the pan-american health organization. dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: once the country report was submitted, a process of exchange began between the national team and the original advisory validation committee. a validation visit was organized for the fourth and fifth of december, 2014. during this visit, regional experts assessed the reliability of the report, dated, and views and exchanged these with a local team in the validation visit validate this.

dr. morales: [speaking spanish] translator: the original validation committee was made up of experts in different areas and observers belonging to the world health organization and the pan-american health organization, unh, unicef, the international community of women living with hiv, sensors for the control of the unite