board of elementary and secondary education. she and thousands of other educators have committed their lives to improve and expand educational opportunities for students in new orleans. and for that, i am grateful. thank you. and a very special thanks to the principal. thank you very much for your leadership and for hosting us today. we are thrilled to be back here at warren easton charter high school. i am happy to be introducing someone who is traveling with us today, secret service agent tj mathews. [applause] tj is an alumna of warren easton high school. as a teacher and librarian, i care deeply about developing every student's love for reading and learning. this was important to me as first lady of texas and of the united states. in 2002, with the help of the ambassador, who is over here, i established the laura bush foundation for america's libraries to provide funds to update, expand, and diversify the print and book collections of america's libraries. in 2005, after hurricane katrina devastated the gulf coast, and many school libraries, we were having our final board meeting of the laura bush foundation.

we had raised all of the money we wanted to for our endowment. i told our board members, i can't quit thinking about those libraries across the gulf coast. one of our board members, also with us today, said why don't we keep raising money and whatever we raise now we will give way to the gulf coast schools? the lara bush foundation for america's libraries wanted to help. so at that meeting, one month after hurricane katrina, we founded the gulf coast school library recovery initiative, raising six point 4 million dollars to rebuild the library collections across the gulf coast. the gulf coast initiative has given grants to 124 school libraries, warren easton is one of them. warren easton is one of 46 new orleans schools that have received library grants. after the hurricane, warren easton was under five feet of water. the cafeteria and the gym were demolished. the second-floor library was

damaged from the third-floor floor roof leaks. the computer systems were ruined and over 9000 books were destroyed by water and mold. today we just have the roundtable upstairs and the library is filled with books, approximately 16,000. warren easton's is again a great place for the next generation of students to study, to learn, and to fall in love with reading. i'm happy the laura bush foundation could contribute to the recovery of so many gulf coast schools and i am thrilled that books are back on the shelves and in the hands of children. where they belong. thanks to each and everyone of you went to all of the volunteers across our country and to the citizens of new orleans. thank you for everything you have done to help rebuild the gulf coast. and a special thanks to the librarians who came from all over the country who donated their time and talent to help the gulf coast libraries rebuild and restore their collections. george and i are grateful to the work of so many of you and we are happy to see the big easy is thriving. thank you all. [applause]

and now i invite my husband, president bush, to the podium. [applause] pres. bush: thank you. as has been mentioned, in 2006, we came here to warren easton charter school after katrina hit. we are honored and pleased to be back. i can't think of a better place to come here in new orleans, except for some of the restaurants. [laughter]

the slogan that guided the school when we visited is true today. we believe in success. and because of that success, the schools like this have achieved, you have given all americans reasons to believe that new orleans is back. and better than ever. mr. mayor, thank you for your hospitality. you have been so gracious to us. we want to thank you. if enthusiasm and a good strategy counts, new orleans is in good hands. we thank you very much. [applause]

i bring greetings from one of the cochairman of the bush-katrina fund. 41. one of the great lines of all-time, who would have thought getting out of bed at age 91 would be more dangerous than jumping out of an airplane at 90? [laughter] i want to thank david garland, the president of the charter foundation board, all of the folks who have shown up. we had a roundtable discussion. many of our friends were there. people we work with. norman francis, for example. one of the great minds of new orleans. in spite of the devastation, we have many fond memories. i remember sitting on top of one of those big ships strategizing. i think you were drinking. i wasn't of course. [laughter] it is great to see you. we are honored you took time to

come. members of congress, members of the state house, superintendent white, on and on. thank you for coming. i really want to thank the leadership of the school. i must confess a principal is always a teacher. she tried to teach me with the band here. i know she did not say it, but she was thinking this boy needs a lot of work. we are thrilled with your hospitality. in a cruel twist, hurricane katrina brought despair to what should have been a season of hope, the start of a new school year.

students who had recently gone back to school had no school to go back to. many had nowhere to live. the floodwaters, as you know, claimed schools and homes alike. the ground we are on today was under water. all of us are old enough to remember the images of our fellow americans amid a sea of misery and ruined. we will remember the lives lost across the gulf coast. their memories are in our hearts and i hope you pray for their families. hurricane katrina is a story of loss beyond measure and of commitment and compassion. i hope you remember what i remember, 30,000 people saved in

the aftermath of the storm by u.s. military personnel, by law enforcement, and by citizens who volunteered. i hope you remember the thousands who came here on a volunteer basis to provide food for the hungry and find shelter for those who had no home to live in. there are people around the country who prayed for you. many of whom showed up so they can say they help to a fellow citizen who was hurting. one of the groups were the educators of new orleans. it would have been easy to walk away from the wreckage. the educators thought of the children who would be left

behind. you understood bringing new orleans back to life requires getting students back to school. even though some have lost everything, you let nothing stand in your way. today we celebrate the resurgence of new orleans schools. we honor the resilience of a great american city whose levees gave out, but whose people never gave up. out of these devastation, you vow to do more than just open the schools. you vow to challenge the status quo. long before the great flood, too many students drifted from grade to grade without ever learning the skills needed for success. parents lacked choices to intervene. principals and teachers lacked the authority to chart a more hopeful course. 60% of the students were failing.

it was the soft bigotry of low expectations. the decisions made in the dark hours after katrina sparked a decade of reform. rather than reopen the schools, reorganize charter schools that are independently operated and publicly accountable for high standards. more than nine in 10 students now call our charter school home. administrators have the freedom to slice through red tape and the freedom to innovate. parents have choices if dissatisfied. the results have been extraordinary. the reason we know is because we measure and any attempt to undermine accountability does a huge disservice to the students who go to the schools in new orleans. [applause] according to a new report, the percentage of students graduating on time has soared since katrina.

the percentage of students who scored better than the state average almost doubled. so has the percentage of students meeting basic standards. you've got to ask why. it just did not happen. a lot of it was structural and requires leadership. people who stared into the eye of the storm and refused to back down. we are here in new orleans to remind our country about what strong leadership means and are here to salute the leaders. i think of jenny here at warren easton. after katrina, jenny left new orleans. was forced to leave. she started a website called warren easton in exile. the site reunited students. when jenny returned, the first-place she went was not her house. it was the school.

as she puts it, i would rather see my own house burned down than the school. jenny would give anything for warren easton and today we give teachers like her our sincere thanks. [applause] amazing what happened in the city after the storm wiped out the school system. entrepreneurs decided to do something about the devastation and the failure. i have met a lot of them when i was president and subsequent to my presidency. one person took a leadership role in new schools for new orleans. he worked with others to launch dozens of schools and turn ideas into reality. as a theoretical exercise, it is important to look at new orleans and realize it is an exercise of implementing a plan that works. he was so encouraged by what he saw here, he is talking up the reforms to other cities. the storm that nearly destroyed new orleans. new orleans is the beacon for school reform. he represents the virtues bill clinton and i had in mind when we announce the new presidential leadership scholars program.

we are honored he was among the first class of scholars. achieving these results took librarians salvaging the collections. i know something about librarians. [laughter]

i married one. i'm really proud of the larger bush foundation. she has talked about the grants, citizens who supported the foundation who they did not stay very long and yet like many around the country, they care deeply about the future. i hope the students here -- and we are thrilled you're here and staying awake.

i hope you realize the compassion of others in helping you realize a good education. it turns out every good school, a school that is succeeding and we know it is succeeding because we measure against other standards, requires strong principles. no doubt lexi is a strong leader. [applause] i love what she says.

if you fail, we failed. the student is our product. we don't believe in putting out anything but the best. in order to succeed, in order to lead properly, you got to set high goals. high expectations. that is what the school has done. as you heard, the school has graduated 100% of its seniors for the past five years. [applause] you have earned our admiration

and gratitude along with our best wishes for a happy birthday tomorrow. [applause] stories like this and others, we see a determination to build better than before. it is a spirit much stronger than any storm. it is a spirit that has lifted communities laid low by terrorist attacks. it is a spirit that i saw in new orleans 10 years ago. it is evident today. we see the spirit in the population that has picked back up as family settled down. we see it in the terrorist -- tourists who are tron here by the hotel rooms and restaurants.

we see it in laura. we met her in 2006 when she was a senior. she is happy to be back at the school she loved. she was happy to be back at the school she loved at the time. she said i want to be a teacher. here she is as a member of this faculty teaching english. i probably needed her when i was

in high school. [laughter] when i asked how students have overcome adversity, she said we teach them to be resilient. >> one moment before the band comes up. i want to give -- we want to give president bush a token of our appreciation. ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪

♪ >> the role of women voters in next year passes elections, and republican efforts to defund planned parenthood. >> so thrilled and excited to be here. i want to thank c-span for covering this national book festival. a beautiful sunny day. i hope the camera shows behind

me how huge the crowds are. about that. one thing to remember about exceptional presidents is that they are the exception. [laughter] questioning you for coming today. this is a wonderful event. has gone outside today. this national book festival. classy young people are not the leaders. people are not the leaders. >> that was an article for the atlantic trying to show we have this red lieu map in when you actually went and interviewed people, the divide was not a chasm. it was a little divide. there were political scientists just in town. the idea that the country itself is as polarized as washington is just wrong.

>> passed onto the next generation. that is the way we learn. bylearned for the future trying to understand the past. all of us have a past. >> he talked about long, he really only focused on japan. >> this is a great question that .oes to the heart werealized there was no way could be short of an excited -- the telephone book is not a story. >> i think all the opportunities are open for women now. when i was in law school, i graduated in 1967, there were 13

women in my >> 500. today, it is 50-50. >> to -- the key to understanding what he did, he never liked to put profit above the public good. till -- dell with these parts alone the american people for generations and they needed to be handed on as places to awaken the spirit. career to help spread love. i helped spread the texas book festival and the national book festival. while i love reading, i never .hought i would write a book >> the goal was in some ways a sense of urgency to go to the people in our families to find them and get the stories before it is too late. i have had a father and a daughter in los angeles who both

came together and, after hearing the talk and hearing about the, the daughter says to the father, i am taking you to the coffee shop now and you will come in the story. >> i think when history looks , we ran plus million into health insurance, they'll be quite a change. martin luther king said, the moral arc of the universe then slowly but it bends toward justice. bending toward justice. there are things wrong with the health care bill. do you know what johnson would have said? he said it about that civil rights bill. the important thing is to pass it. it is easier than to go back and fix it. >> i believe the narrative of the story's tru calling is to bring back the dead. not onlyo do that with

the eisenhower's in the patents, but also the less familiar, like general teddy roosevelt -- roosevelt junior. quite i do not think i can afford 10 years on the peer, and there is no person to go back to easily. guys in thel my room at the same time we will write about leadership. it is really what i care about underneath it all. thank you. >> c-span is going to have questions. ♪ >> munden -- monday night, a conversation on fracking and renewable energy. we will hear from martin mills, a senior fellow at the manhattan institute. here is a preview. >> this is what is fascinating.

when the silken valley started pouring billions of dollars to find alternatives, the people that really have changed the game are the guys in silken valley, analytics, which will unlock the natural gas in the future. here is what will happen to her there will be three comp many things that take this over the next decade. first, we will get underlying improvements in existing technologies, at least equal to that that is already occurred. operational capabilities for pumps, all the stuff is guided better by an aggregate equivalent. that will happen again. it's not over. the second thing that will happen is we will layer in new stuff, advanced automation. the automated ones are for more economically innovative. we will add things like robotics and industrial drones.

that will get observed quickly. the third thing is, all of this will be optimized. in effect, what we will do is to rise the entire shale industry. see all of the conversation on oil and gas trailing monday on seas than at 6 p.m. eastern. >> speaking in nashville yesterday, donald trump said he was a conservative republican as angry with republicans because they go to washington and something happens. they become weak. donald trump's's remarks at the national federation of public in assemblies is just over an hour. ♪ >> donald j trump! woo! ♪ >> you're the best, around nothing's gonna ever keep you

down ♪ trump: i love nashville. i will tell you a story about nashville. it is a special place to me for a special reason. maybe more importantly, we have an incredible woman with us. she is 92 years old. we do not talk about age, but she is 92. she looks magnificent. she has become very famous. where are you? look at her. so beautiful. registered to vote for the first time in her life. she has not seen anybody that really did it to her, and for the first time in her life, she just registered to vote and she is going to vote for trump, i think. right? thank you, darling. i really appreciate it.

she is on television all over the world now. i have to be nervous even talking to her. thank you very much. i really appreciate it, honey. and everybody appreciates it. , growing, like leaps and bounds, silent majority out there, and we will take this country back and we are going to make this country so great again and so strong again. i have to tell you. sit down, folks, and joy. enough with the standing up here look at this group. what a group. the all-time record, they turned away thousands of people, i hear. these people have the best real estate, right? i just want to tell you. ago, is ago, many years hate to say 40 -- i will not say 40. but close to 40.

i came to nashville. the you ever hear of a company -- they were based in nashville, tennessee, and they owned the department store. and i was a young guy and i came from brooklyn and clean -- and queens and i went into manhattan and i did the hotel and some other things that were good. the thing i wanted more than anything was 5th avenue between 57th and 56th street, the tiffany location right next to tiffany. that is what i wanted. i wanted that piece of properly deaf property so badly. you are not supposed to want things that badly because god will get angry at me, right? but i wanted it so badly. it was based in tennessee. i came in and i came to nashville. i met with the heads of genesco, who were very great people, actually. they were having a lot of difficulties.

a lot of fighting and everything. i convinced them to sell me the land. and the building. i bought fifth avenue from 57 to 56th streets, surrounding, i bought the rights from tiffany, i bought -- built the trump tower, and it is one of the great billings of the world and great successes. to -- when i was here. it was incredible. leading in every poll, they sort of want you to when you are not leading in the polls like so many of these guys, they do not want you at all. we will talk about the polls in a second. but i have a lot of choices this morning and i could've also gone and played golf like the president does all the time, right? but i decided, let's do this. i really chose nashville because hey, the experience is not my biggest deal, but in terms of a

deal, it is so important, and it has been such a great -- from the day i build it, it was a home run. it all really took place because of nashville, tennessee. it is an honor to be with you folks, i can tell you. a real honor. [applause] so, coming over, i watch television, and you know they have all these cameras back there and they are alive and i guess we are live on cnn and so many different things. it is a difficult when euro's life. you have got to change up your speech. you cannot make the same speech over and over. some of the folks in the room know that. other candidates do not get covered live ever except for the debate. so you know, they had 24 million people on the debate are now they think when a new numbers come out, they will be even substantially higher than that. i would have said they would've had one million or two. had 24 million

people are now the second debate, on cnn, that was on fox, maybe i should ask for a lot of money and give the money for charity. all to charity. i said that to the writers of time magazine. they were nice enough to put me on the cover with a nice story. and i sort of thought i set it off the record but they put it in time magazine. so should i ask for charity? maybe a nice nashville charity and american cancer society, and aids research and there are so many good things. alzheimer's, so many big rings going on there. maybe i should ask for a lot of , so they will get say 2 million people they do not do great, especially, you know the expression -- flies. this is one of the biggest shows

in the history of cable television in terms of clinical. in the history of cable television. in all fairness, i should. [laughter] is, i think ie might ask for a lot of money to charity. what do know, i did say you think, should i do it or not? maybe not, i don't know. [applause] here's the thing, if i don't do cnn will make a lot of money. actually very nice, but they will make a lot of money and, you know, i think it is something to consider. we will all consider it. i saw that they were having the illegal immigrants come in, time to do with children, the

dreamers. the jays of children. i said, what about our children, why can't our children be the dreamers? no one ever talks about that. [applause] they never talk about that. whoalk about the dreamers, by the way are treated better than our vets. our vets are incredible. immigrants, in many cases, not cases cases, but in many -- and our veterans, our wounded warriors, these are the greatest people we have. aboutother thing nice being able to make speeches without having to hire some guy to write it and keep writing, and then say, good morning ladies and gentlemen, nashville's wonderful," you

i can talk about this morning, how people are waiting on line to get in. these are our veterans who got hurt. maybe they would not be -- we would not be here if it was not for them. that is's will. they had a story this morning on fox and cnn and a number of them, where the veterans are treated terribly. they show the desk where there are supposed to be people behind the desk. they show a desk and there is no one there. probably some of you saw it. the veterans are saying, where are these people, and they say what happened, and they say, this happens all the time. no one is even there. wednesday, they have the longest wait in the history, in the history of the veterans administration, for people wanting to see a doctor. if i go to a doctor, and i had to wait nine minutes, i am like,

i go crazy. it is true. remember the old days when the doctors used to come to your house? peter remembers that. you have a call on the doctor would carry a little bag like this take, and he would come over to your house, check you out, those do not exist anymore. we are in the age of obama care, where nothing exists. and replaceal obamacare. that, i can tell you. [applause] but, two lisa go wednesday, the agoest wait -- two weeks wednesday, the longest wait in the history. if you go to the doctor's office, men and women are a waiting for days, three days, one was five days. one was five or six days, finally got to see the doctor and a doctor excuse himself

because he was going on vacation. can you imagine waiting even a day or a half-day? these people are waiting for five days. the weights are the longest in history. that is the way we are treating the american people. we will change that. we have right now, and you see these phony statistics put out by politicians, basically, all talk and no action politicians. all fairness.in you know, i'm a republican and i am a conservative, but i'm just as anger with the republicans. when you go to washington, something happens. they become weak. they go to washington. "we are going to stop obamacare, we will do this and that." then they go in there and they go, oh, i made it, darling, i made it to a vote for you. i vote for you.

i vote for obamacare extensions. i will do whatever you want me to do, i'm in washington." it is amazing. isn't it amazing question mark don't you agree? it won't happen to me, i promise. and if it does, you're going to let me know about it. but it won't. i promise. they show those phony statistics where we are 5.4% unemployment. the real number, i saw a number that could be 42%, believe it or not. out of 93 million people the labor force. of the 93, many of these people want jobs. they quit looking. so if you're looking for a job and you cannot find it, and you stop for a while, after a while, it is not going to areen but they staff they employed. we have 93 million people out of

the labor force. it is hard to believe. we have 50 million people in poverty. china is taking our money. japan is taking our money. you just lost a big car plants to mexico in tennessee. frontpage, "wall street journal" -- i love this guy. guy.e this he's just holding this sign up. look at him. i know he's voting for. this is a movement. movement -- i don't want it to be about me. this is about common than, this is about doing the right thing.