ian swanson talks about how the white house has changed from the election of ronald reagan until today. and, an inside look at key moments of the obama presidency. ♪ host: good monday morning to you. it is president's day. we are talking about the supreme court and the epic battle about the seat left vacant over the death of justice antonin scalia over the weekend. ted cruzial candidates and marco rubio says the senate to block anyone the president nominates and present obama is making us pay in the next few thes from this could shape supreme court for decades to come to . we should hear your thoughts. republicans can start dialing .nd at (202) 748-8001

democrats condyle and at (202) 748-8000 -- can dial in at (202) 748-8000. an independents can dial in at (202) 748-8002. you can also comment on twitter wj.-span the white house proceed with plans to pick a successor to scalia within weeks. in "the washington post," obama, senate gop group for battle. the white house mulls scalia successor. the storya today," is "scalia -- the battle begins." even before the american flag outside the supreme court has been lowered to half staff in honor of justice antonin scalia,

the political battle over who would replace him and who gets to choose was broiling. while on ated death hunting trip in west texas could affect the ideological tilt of the nation's top court as it considers abortion rights, immigration law, and other landmark cases. the debate over his successor and fling the 2016 present will race and it is likely to become a divided vote contest to determine control of the senate in november. here are present obama's comments. [video clip] a plentiful so fulfill my constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time and the really plenty of time for me to do so and for the senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a time when vote. we vote.e these are responsibilities that i take seriously and should everyone coul they ar. they are bigger than any one party and are bigger than

democracy. it should continue to focus as the begin of justice that our founders envisioned. host: that was present obama speaking about the death -- president obama speaking about the death of antonin scalia and pledging to nominate someone to fill the empty seat. here are some of the nominees that president obama may consider according to "the new york times." a judgearland, on the united states district court of appeals in the district of columbia. jordan, united states court of appeals judge in the 11th circuit and jane l kelly, the united states court of appeals judge for the a , acuit, and paul j watford judge on the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit. these are a few of the people

that present obama may consider to fill the vacancy. statement put out from majority leader mitch mcconnell on the selection. he says, "the american people should have a voice in the selection of their next up in court justice. therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president." let's turn to the phone lines. caller this morning is larry from boston, massachusetts. what do you say? caller: this is larry pearson from boston, massachusetts. i think in all honesty that president obama should nominate himself. after all, he's a constitutional lawyer and i would love to see some tea party heads explode. mitch mcconnell, from the very beginning of president obama's presidency, has vowed to obstruct and to block everything that he tried to do for this country and i deeply resent it.

i feel that this is just another andple of his obfuscation his willingness to skirt the constitution. republicans and contenders for the presidency are such constitutionalists and judge scalia was a ist, so whynal don't they let the president nominate who he will and advise and consent as the constitution recommends? host: all right, joe from georgia, you're up next on the republican line. what do you think? caller: i been a c-span caller for 30 years. listen, i am a strong ted cruz supported. r. that there will

be a filibuster. i think it's very important that ted cruz be elected president because we need another conservative judge on the supreme court after scalia. will be, who i think the greatest president if elected, will appoint a strong judge scalialike and that will be good for the future of my children and grandchildren. in cruz will be elected and my opinion will be the best president for the history of the country for the hard-working american taxpayers. host: that is joe from georgia. here are senator ted cruz's comments, yesterday to discussing the possibility that obama might nominate someone to fill the supreme court vacancy. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> absolutely this should be a decision for the people. we have an election. i cannot wait to stand on that stage with hillary clinton and bernie sanders and say what vision of the supreme court you want?

if democrats want the nominee, they have to win the election. i don't think the american people want a court that will strip our religious liberty strip liberties. i don't think the american people want abortions on demand and i don't think the american people want a court that will write the second amendment out of the constitution. all those are 5-4 issues hanging on the ballot. >> the people elected president obama, didn't they? >> they did, but that was three years ago, and elections have consequences. people also give us a republican senate the last session because they were fed up with barack obama's lawlessness. it also has a profound impact on this primary. it underscores the stakes for the people south carolina. they're looking at the individuals on that stage and are asking, who can i trust? who do i know will defend the constitution and will defend the bill of rights? the pattern we have seen -- and you are veteran of these battles

for many years -- democrats understand the stakes and they fight tooth and nail for left-wing judicial activists. many republicans do not care about the court and do not invest political capital in it and it's why so many public and nominees have turned out to be disasters. host: we are getting your thoughts this morning on whether addot the senate should present obama's nominee to fill the supreme court seat or wait until a new president has been elected. david from maryland is our next caller. good morning to you. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. caller with the first and totally disagree with the second caller. i'm an independent. what really has me in this election cycle is what the first

caller mentioned and that is the total disrespect for the president of the united states. the senate has not done their andfor six or seven years they need to do their job according to the constitution. host: david, you're breaking up just a little bit. caller: the disrespect -- can you hear me? host: we can hear you now. caller: the disrespect they have shown to the office of the presidency is disgraceful. they are sending letters to iran and all this crowd come undermining the progress the american people need. the american people need them to do their job. they have not been doing their job for seven years and i hope the american people vote them out of office. said, i don't like abortion. i don't like gay marriage. i would prefer to see a more conservative judge or at least a judge like ted cruz said, a

church that is going to follow the constitution. -- a judge that is going to follow the constitution. gone toresident is nominate a judge that is going to follow the constitution, you need to put him in there, according to feel what his merits are and what his record has been. host: do you feel it is present obama's prerogative to take that person versus waiting until the next president is elected? saying it's are been 80 years, but judges don't die that often. the with these circumstances, it's the presence prerogative. if you nominate somebody, they should do their job. for them to say we are not going to consider it, this is what they have been doing the entire time they have been in office. they've been disrespecting the president like the first caller said. mitch mcconnell said we are going to make sure the president failed. if you're going to make sure the

president of united states fails, you're not doing your job for the american people because you're supposed we working for the america people with the president. host: david from maryland, we hear your thoughts this morning. our next caller comes from these pawtucket, -- east pot tal new york. i hope i got the town name right. caller: you got it right. it's an indian derivative. i've been a registered republican for a long time and i enjoyed these morning c-span. several points to make, and i think i'm going to tack onto one of them. you can't have things both ways. you did play ted cruz there. i was watching that, making his points as he has been making time aboutd for some not making an appointment.

you can't have it both ways. he also makes a major point about supporting the constitution and supporting it just as it is written. the constitution provides for the president to make a recommendation for these openings -- supreme court and otherwise and different appointments. you just can't have it both ways. i've been a republican for a while, but i'm disappointed. another new point i'm going to make is certain candidates and bothe that are elected have the ability to work across , such as john kasich and this is not working across party lines. this is working in opposition. i've been disappointed in the republican party. away withto do wit

the afford it will care act and the health care, but i do not see an alternate solution. these elections have become difficult for me. host: just to be clear on your position here -- do you think the president has a prerogative to nominate someone, but the senate has a prerogative to say no, we don't want that person? caller: that's what i'm saying. we don't want to follow the constitution as its written and provided and has a legitimate and fair hearing and bring it to a vote. these tactics of delay and deny our disappointing, i think. host: that is eric. laurel, caller is from maryland, calling on the democratic line. julian, what do you think? caller: i believe the president said have his nominee put up for a hearing and i believe that the

and the republicans should do their job. i've heard to great point so far today. say they stole enough judicial nominees since 2010. i believe they should do their jobs. if a vacancy opens up on the supreme court, they are supposed to have hearings and take a vote on the individual himself and say we are not going to do this. they have been saying that since 2010. people keep believing, oh, the president is not following the constitution. the president has been following the constitution. it is republicans' reinterpretation of what that actually meant. i think they should sit down, have a hearing, do their job, but on the nominee. nominee, and fill the vacancy. host: what is that vote is a no and they oppose the person that president obama has nominated? do they have an obligation to

pass and confirm whoever president obama nominates or are you saying to have an obligation to vote on it? caller: they have an obligation to hear the individual and understand who he is or what he is and if there is no problem or a political problem, they should vote him and succeed him on the sea. they have already had all these vote.es that were 90 in my problem is they are not going to vote no. someone is going to sit there and say i object, i want to filibuster, and the vote will not even come. if they do the committee work, the vote will never come to the floor because someone will say i will not vote for him and i want to filibuster. that means they will spend a whole year and a half having someone hide in the shadows and the nominee will never come to the floor because you need 60 votes to come to the floor. i think they will do their due process up until the summer break.

someone will finally say i object to this and all the sudden, for the rest of the summer and for the rest of the year, the nominee will sit and wait until the election. host: that is julian from laurel, maryland. ted cruz is not the only presidential candidate to talk about the possibility of a new person sitting on the supreme court and what that could mean politically. hillary also spoke about this recently. here she is talking about republicans plans to block president obama's nominee for the sea. [video clip] >> it is outrageous that senate and on the the campaign trail have already pledged to block any replacement that president obama nominates. [booing] i'm sure we will all have a lot more to say about this in the coming days, but let me just say one point. barack obama is president of the united states of america. [applause]

[cheering] that is a fact, my friends. that's whether you like it or not. the president has a responsibility to nominate any senate and the has a responsibility to vote. host: we are taking your phone calls on whether or not the senate should act on president obama's nominee for the supreme court or whether that should be a decision for the next president, whoever that may be. the next caller is on the independent line. jerry is calling in this morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: i'm good. caller: the way i look at this is that they could go ahead and go through the judiciary committee and expose probably presumptivethe nominee would be, whether it's a

man or a woman, whoever he decides to put up. on howsaid, expose them they would vote on certain things and then vote it down and say no. in 2007,umer said back it was like 18 months before george bush would've been out of office that the president bush at the time should not put anybody up for supreme court justice, unless, he said, for extraordinary circumstances. right now, this is not an extraordinary circumstance. i just kind of find it amazing ling overe are squal this. let them to wait and bury justice scalia. they are going to war over this.

scalia was a great man. just look back on how the democrats active, especially with ted kennedy. it was one of the most disgusting things i've ever seen in my life, but that's not surprising. anyway, thank you for your time and you have a good day. host: that is jerry from cookeville, tennessee on the independent line. here are a few more details about the life of justice scalia. the story reports that president reagan cap justice scalia in 1982 to be a judge on the federal court of appeals of the defeat -- d.c. circuit. he was confirm to the supreme court in 1986 on a 98-zero vote. he wrote 317 dissents. defending what he believed the constitution does not do -- grant the right to an abortion, established the right to marriage for same-sex

partners, and limited the right to free speech, occluding burning the a mac and flag. concept ofder the original is in that the constitution should be under the interpretation of the framers instead of expanding the needs of the modern world. he wrote historic successes, including writing the 2010 decision on the heller decision, which establish that the second amendment protects an individual's right to own and carry firearms. wrote the dissent that oppose the supreme court's same-sex marriage ruling. there's also this timeline of his life including his birth in trenton new jersey to an italian-american father and an italian-american mother. he was raised in queens. he was named to the supreme court by president reagan. in 2000, he sided with the majority in bush versus gore,

giving the white house to george w. bush. he wrote the majority opinion in the landmark decision that a friend gun rights. we are taking your calls on whether the senate should vote on president obama's nominee or weight. terry, what do you think should happen? caller: thank you for taking my call. -- young man from tennessee after hearing all the comments, i always get a coffee break to listen to you at mcdonald's here. he said a couple of things that i said to the young lady, the operator, and i want to tell the family of the chief justice that i'm very sorry. the great individual. that and maybe i will say it in the wrong words, like theg people

politicians in washington have not even buried the body yet and they are fighting over it. moreld wish they were the decency and let things calm down and let the family grief. about the the justice vote and i say don't do it. have had a socialist communist changing the whole country framework. it will be like europe and argentina or whatever. if they do want to go ahead and do it, i was going to bring up judge gore, and the way they treated him, and the young people do not go back to the history. these liberals have no decency anyway. host: what about the possibility that a democrat is elected president next year? what is the possibility that bernie sanders is elected president takes office in 2017? do you think the senate should

still wait? it is not a guarantee the camera that you want is going to be in the white house. caller: that's ok with me. if a democrat gets elected, then bring it up and go, but if they do want to go ahead and do it, then it ought to be a filibuster cannot elected until after the new administration comes up. democrat, i'm jewish. bernie sanders says he is jewish, but he's not affiliated or religious anyway. anyway.'t vote for him if a socialist or communist comes in as a president, he is has the right to do it. we will have a regular up or down vote on him. i say we need to wait no matter who comes in until the new

president, be it a liberal or conservative, independent, whatever it is, and then get back to the normal way. we have had too much stuff ramming down our throats with nothing but conservative democrats that have bound down to obama. we cannot trust them to do anything for the rest of the year. host: we will have to leave it there. our next caller is barney from north carolina. good morning to you. yes, i think they should go ahead and let obama appoint a supreme court judge. this is the most ridiculous congress and senate the united states has ever had. the supreme court judge that just died gave us a little bush. little bush gave us the worst economy the united states has

ever had and got us in more wars and more debt than we have ever witnessed. they talk about the constitution of the united states . let it be fulfilled. let him go ahead and appoint a spring court judge and get it over with. thank you. host: that is barney from marshall, north carolina. times" --york here's the headline. mitch mcconnell strategy to maintain the public in majority has been cleared, trying to prove his point he can govern, but by saying he will block is up in court nominee who is not even the name, mr. mcconnell is headed toward partisan warfare instead. the death of justice antonin scalia has energized the right flank that has long been suspicious of mr. mcconnell and forced him into a fight that is likely to derail his smooth functioning senate. the tactic could alienate moderate voters and imperil incumbent republicans in swing

states, but in the supercharge partisanship of a supreme court fight, he probably had no choice. by frame his decision as differing to voters in the haveation, he is said to minimized the political risk. marco rubio was on "face the nation, discussing the issue as well. here's his remarks. [video clip] this is a lifetime commitment and not a policy can reverse or undue. once you nominate a supreme court justice, they are there until they decide to leave. the senate should not go forward until there is a new president and i agree with that. >> would you have a moratorium? it's not just the spring court, but in the last eight months of the presidency, you stop doing up health as well and i would respect that practice. >> if you work president -- if you are president and had any nominee, would you have a litmus test?

conservative said we want to have justices who are really conservative. >> it is not about your views on issues. it is very simple. does the person you are nominating have a consistent and proven record of interpreting the constitution as initially met? ant? what do those words mean to that society of the time at which those words were written in the constitution? that is what i want out of a judge or justice. what was the meaning behind this legislation when it was passed by congress? if you do not like the meaning, then there is a process. the constitution provides a process to change the constitution. it is called article five and it gives you a process of changing the constitution. i'm looking at people who will look at the constitution and apply it as based as the original meeting of the words in that document. host: jim is on independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

that people too bad do not go to the constitution article and read what it says. rubiost heard marco trying to have it both ways, saying he wants the constitution and forced but not in this case. article two, section two clearly states -- and i'm not a legal scholar, but when they use the a matter ofit's not if you want to, it's a requirement cou. it just save the president shall appoint supreme court judges. it's on a matter of lycian. he's a constitutional scholar. he knows it's his requirement. it's with the advice and consent of the senate. that would in further that the senate is going to approve it unless there is a reason not to, but of course, they can vote no. a lot of those senators are not going to follow senator mcconnell over the cliff because

there are elections and they do not want to lose the senate. nominee is a reasonable person, a number of those republican senators are going to follow the constitution and not follow senator mcconnell over the cliff. i just think it's too bad that people don't go to the actual language. people are entitled to their opinions as it is often said, but not to their own facts. i thank you. from ohio.s jim next up from p aurea yet, illinois, brian is next. go ahead. caller: good morning and first, i want to say my thoughts and prayers go out to the scalia family. i was going to chime in on what another guy said. saidin 2007, chuck schumer we can wait 18 months because we

have a lame-duck president. we have a lame-duck president now and he should not be able to appoint one. if yo he does, you have a right to say no. hope they let the people and if a democrat wins, the people speak. been dodgingma has the constitution since he has been office, ripping it up and doing what he wants. and they should have the right to nominate at the next supreme court judge. also, i think, over time, we 13 total supreme court justices. if anything like this happens again, that right there would be no ties if you understand what i'm saying. next caller is tyrone from south carolina on the

democrats line. good morning to you. that men from ohio just called is right on point. these people keep saying the president of the constitution. i would like to see where he has been adopted he has not trying to do anything to the constitution. he is trying to do a job but the republicans won't let him. they did not want them there in the first place. the cost to you and give some away to listen the senate has the right to of or disprove this. the president is the weakest man theovernment because majority leader has power and house speaker has power in the president can only do some executive orders. all this disrespect for obama needs to stop.

they already said they would block everything the president wants to do . cruz said he would disapprove everybody. it's a disgrace to the american people. host: we hear your thoughts, next up is lee from florida, good morning. you are on the air. caller: thank you. i certainly do believe that president obama should make plans to appoint his recommendation to the senate about the next justice to serve.

i like the comments from the gentleman from oklahoma and the individual from ohio and maryland earlier that i agree with their comments to late. i would like to also say that the comment from senator cruz are completely ridiculous. i hope everybody knows that senator cruz went to law school, believe it was harvard but he called his professors communists. he has called the president of the united states a communist and senator cruz men onto the senate floor to a filibuster. he represented the people of the united states. rhyme talkingry about children's books. that is a waste of his salary. that's an embarrassment to this

country. another republican senator wrote a nasty letter to a foreign government, a potential enemy of this country, while the president and the people that care about our country are trying to reduce the threat of a nuclear weapon going in the hands of the iranian people. otten write ar c letter accusing our president be a liar did i believe that as a reason. that is the kind of people that need to be looked at closely. since day one, president obama has followed the constitution. he has done a real good job considering all of the hate that the republicans have against him. there would have been more accomplished for this country and the people in this country and saved a lot of american

soldiers from being injured and killed. host: we hear you. from stratford, connecticut, on the republican line, good morning. myler: thank you for taking call. i believe the senate should act in a me explain what i mean. over the course so it go, we had5-4 majority in the supreme court shelve the presidents clean power plan. , by that plan did was shoving the plan, it it was armed is almost unprecedented. i had to think there was an ungodly rage in the obama white house on this ruling came down. i think the senate should act on top-notch,hat

independent, professional lawn judgment types do a complete autopsy on the judge and do a scrubbing down of where he died to make 100% sure that there was no foul play. are news reports at the judge's family did not want an autopsy but i have not heard anyone in the judge's family say that. people the american deserve -- we have vladimir to committing assassinations and american people deserve to find out exactly have adjudged ride not from some county sheriff for some guy who is timeline husband but our best forensic scientists. the issue to bed so we can move forward with confidence that attack orust a heart just of those things. the ungodly rage on the part of the obama white house over the -- maybeer plan ruling that was a coincidence. let's hear now from

senator patrick leahy, a democrat from vermont and said some the senate judiciary committee and was asked to respond to mitch mcconnell's comments that he put down the gauntlet and not confirm anyone until after the election. [video clip] >> i think he's making a terrible mistake of ignoring the constitution and ignoring responsibilities. president obama's do the same thing that president reagan did at the end of this time. he nominated a supreme court justice. was in the last year's and reagan's term. the democrats controlled the senate. none of us in tends to my politics with something as important as a supreme court nomination. controlcratic voted97-0 in favor of ronald reagan's nominee in the last

year of presidency. when you elect a president, you have to assume there are vacancies and he will make the nomination. the shared dereliction of duty for senate not to have a hearing and not to have a vote -- >> i want to ask you about the thurmond rule which is an informal agreement that the party not in the white house blocks all judicial nominees during a presidential campaign season. you subscribe to that? why is a different now? >> there is no such thing. i tease the republicans about that. the last two years of george w. bush's term, democrats in control of the senate.

by this time, we had confirmed to the times as many judges of george bush than republicans have of president obama. they are playing politics the same way they did when they killed about 70 of president clinton's justices by their pocket veto it the fact of the matter is, a supreme court justice, let's have a vote, let's have a debate. has more recesses schedule and more holidays scheduled this year than i have ever seen in my time there. host: that was senator patrick leahy from vermont. we are taking your thoughts on act on the senate should president obama's nomination for the supreme court. here are more details about the passing of justice scalia did

turning to winter park, florida,

janet calling on the democratic line, what you think? the senatecourse should act on president obama's nominee. i would like to associate myself with remarks from the man in ohio. he may he shall and not or can up someone in this kind of situation. think if this mitt romney instead of president obama, there would be no question that they would want him to the point or nominate a justice and they would act on it. asy need president obama well as they would their own party member. do unto others as you would have them do unto you. i think mitch mcconnell's comments will haunt him and they want the senate candidates

throughout this election if they don't follow through and do their constitutional duty to have a hearing on whoever president obama nominates. mitch mcconnell said they wanted to make president obama a one and obstructt everything he does and nothing has changed from those very words. i hope the american people rise up and vote off the republicans and vote for a democrat in the coming elections. the republicans just are not capable of governing. this is another example of that. right, next up is roy on the independent line from

cambridge, massachusetts, good morning. morning, justice scalia was one of my favorite he had a great sense of humor and i miss him. i want to comment on the article that you just read on the alleged chaos in texas, the aftermath of his death and there was a u.s. marshall that made the determination on it not being a suspicious death of his job is not that, it's the job of medical examiners. local they should not be making the determination so there is a problem with the way was handled. with guard whether the president should make a nomination currently, it would have to be during a recess of the meant. him getblicans not let one of his ideas elected.

1960, in august, there was a resolution passed by the democratic-controlled senate saying that the president should not make recess of payments supreme court during these periods. there is a lack of consistency about this matter of the parties are on the opposite sides of this, thank you. dionna from as berry park, new jersey, good morning. because iam calling don't feel obama should make the decision about 10. appointing. being that this is a suspicious death, i believe that is one i feel that justice

scalia was a very great man. crazyis something very about the democrats. but nowo be a democrat i am a republican. what they are trying to do is not going to good for the country. a big republican judge appointed. host: let me ask you a question -- electeda democrat is president and takes office in 217 and up its someone to the -- and a points a justice. caller: i am voting for trump

because -- don't understand trump. everything -- do everybody will get what they need it he thinks outside the box. they don't understand. some people understand what he is trying to say and give to the people. grateful because he is not doing this for himself. he is doing this for the country, for the people. host: we will have to leave it there. david from new albany, mississippi, on the democratic line, you have the last word. i would say let the chips fall where they may. presidentdemocratic and if it were reversed, the

function of government should continue as it was set up to do. regardless of who is in power. it should stay the same. right, that concludes our segment and we will talk about this topic with her next guest. from the league of united latin american citizens and he will talk about the role that the latino vote will play in the nevada democratic -- in the nevada caucuses and beyond and the newwill talk about fail."too dumb to we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> c-span's "washington journal"

live every day with policy issues that impact you, join the conversation with members of congress, reporters, experts and other viewers. coming up tomorrow morning, three journalists from but ago discuss their approach to covering washington did . we will talk about the creation of but go in the national editor will discuss the stories of camp and reporter alex eisenstadt will answer crowd -- can't -- questions on how gop candidates plan to win. sure to watch "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning. join the conversation. tonight on the communicators, the longest-serving fdc commissioner talks about major

communications issues. by technology reporter john mckinnon. >> we should all the evolving and inclusive and attempting to cange the gap so people help themselves. this is about enabling individuals to help themselves, biting them with the technological means to get in touch with a doctor so they can. in the they have educational options were that might not have a certain language workforces in their schools. it'sed to bridge those gap not just the digital divide the opportunity divide. how do we use technology to close those gaps? >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. >> "washington journal"

continues -- host: we're joined bybrett the league of latin american citizens to talk about therole of latino voters in caucuses and beyond. thank you for joining us. tell us about your organization. what is your mission? latinothe league of the citizens is the largest in the united states. we have 130 2000 members and it overed in 19 29th there is 1000 council across the country and they get involved with helping their communities and focus on educational opportunities. work to help employment opportunities and we do a lot of the health space and focus on housing and technology. how are you focused

politically? are you involved with any of the campaigns? -- we we are a nonperson are a nonpartisan organization. when latinos engage in a democratic process, no matter who they vote for, the candidate star stoop attention to their issues and the solutions they have are reflected by the aspirations of the latino community. host: tell us about the latino community because it is not homogenize, it is diverse. 7 million latinos and most of them are mexican-american but there are quite a few other aptness cities. it weakens up to the second -- their choir quite a few other ethnicities.

the biggest immigration these days is from central america, not mexico. host: how many latinos are registered to vote of the 57 million? guest: the challenge we have is that there is fewer latinos were engaged in the democratic process because it's a young population and many of them are not quite citizens. in order to be able to vote, you have to be a citizen and the of age. because of that, there is far fewer latinos eligible to vote than we would like. we are trying to encourage as many as possible so there is two 2 million latinos who are eligible to vote at of that, 12 million are currently registered to vote. host: you can join our as well.ion as help g . these are the phone numbers.

you can also send us a message on their and a message on facebook. talking aboutt by thatover the weekend justice antonin scalia has passed away and the debate over whether the senate should take up anyone who president obama nominates. do you see this as being an mightthat latino voters want to weigh in on? do they have thoughts on who might be nominated? i think it'stely, important for the latino community to make sure the supreme court has therefore complement of judges. this uportant because in court has been the last resort for many minority countries across america to protect our rights. that's what the court was designed to do, to be a check on the government and make sure the

rights of minority populations were protected. when it first started, it was not looking at racial minorities but ethnic minorities and religious minorities which is something the founders had in mind. course of that for centuries we have had our nation, we have seen the court step in and check the government from infringing on the rights of minorities in most instances. there has been brown versus board of education and many other places where the court steps in and be the ultimate arbitrator. it's aptly critical we have a full-court and it is ready to rule on the day and we have some important cases coming up that impact civil rights. i think that is critical and we believe it's important to do this but not for some reasons. supposed to be listened. it supposed to be independent of the government. it supposed to be an independent judiciary looking at the constitution and the laws being passed and protecting the rights

of the minority populations against the majority. you mentioned some of the supreme court cases that could affect immigrants in this country and one of them is united states versus texas. here's a summary of the case -- do you have a concern about how the death of justice scalia might in fact the future of the executive order an immigration?

guest: we are concerned about the case but even with justi the corner,tting in i believe the court would rule in our favor of it presidents do have the authority to determine which immigrants to pursue in terms of setting priorities in life are spent. it's not just her with obama but dissidents all the way from reagan forward. this is not something that has been in doubt with the judicial history. -- justiceohn of scalia there, we expect to have the majority of those in court ruling in our favor. there,t that he is not it will bring you just one more vote in our favor. host: you say the organization is not a sin. latino voters have supported democratic candidates. what are some of the issues that you see as being most important

this electorate in this election? guest: latinos are looking for the same opportunities all americans are the they want great education, chance at a great job, they want to help the economy so incomes are rising and they want to see good health care. it's the same things that other americans have it the unique circumstances they face are the immigrant situation. not an emigrant yourself, you may have a relative who is. us is theocus for same bread-and-butter issues that all americans have to face. want to make sure we increase opportunity because this is a very aspirational community that wants to live the american dream. they are willing to work hard they are willing to pursue all the opportunities but it's been for the opportunities to be thee that when they look at different presidential

candidates and platforms, they are looking for a candidate that talks about opportunity and what they will do to make sure those opportunities are there in host: let's get our viewers to weigh in. on a republican, democrat, republican line and a special line for latino voters. marie is from minnesota on the democratic line. caller: hello? host: you're on the air. caller: thank you. i would like to ask you a very important question. stand ontly is your illegals coming to this country and they cross the border illegally. i am a mexican. i'm an american born mexican. my father and mother came from , and guest butre

come i ended up being an orphan. i want your stand exactly. why is it we have to have illegals take to dent over illegal immigrants? -- take accident over illegal - dent over illegal aliens? why is it we cannot come together as a nation with mexico improving the mexican economy. come on, please. . want my culture back i want to know how the mexican people in mexico. i could care less about how the united states has handled it. i want my culture back. all, what's of is toant to emphasize illegal immigration to the united states but we want to

ensure our legal immigration system works properly. that's an important concern. days, we allowed as many immigrants to come to the shores as possible. they would be citizens immediately. environment, there is drastic restrictions on the amount of legal immigrants allowed. if you are a mexican american today in you don't have a family relative or sponsor you, it's impossible to come to the united states legally. many americans don't understand that someone want to create a legal process to come here to meet the needs of our economy and make folks don't have to come in on documented. there are some -- there are only so many folks we can absorb the we have not come close to those limits. have fear of immigrants are studying these arbitrary limits that are so low that it does not help our economy and we end up in a situation where we are today

where we have 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. and payingrking hard taxes but they cannot receive the benefits. they should not have had to come illegally in the first place a let's fix our broken immigration system and make sure have a legal process. we have to make sure we have limits. we're not begun to the needs of the economy are the this is a big country with plenty of room. when you make sure -- we need to make sure that there is a and there do this must be a limit to the number of folks who can come here. when most people came to the country, there were no limits and now there are hard limits, more than there have ever been and is typical for folks to come here legally in the first place. if you want to follow the law,

you have to pay legal path for them to come here. there are desperate and have no other option. next as the republican line, go ahead with your question. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] i was raised in california with spanish mexicans and they were independent, strong families. they were not any problem to society. they came to work on the crop the men went back home and they were in control of the border and were in control of going in and out of the country. now, it seems there is no control and mexico lets them come from south america retro their country through our borders. leaders haveour

let it go and not taking care of the problem. marco rubio went out there and has tried. now is running for president and it looks like he's got the right plan and will fix the border and take care of the situation and then do with the people that are here. that makes common sense. liberals that just want to borders and that kind of thing, they are not thinking about the rest of the country. they are thinking about their philosophy and that kind of has got this young man more smarts than any of them that are running. we don't need donald trump. we need this young man. he's got his eye to the future. let him have a chance. andg people get behind him will get this cut straight and out.

liberal pay, it ate never going to be straightened out. you can i keep giving to: expect them to get a hold of their lives in the strong, independent people that work for all of us. right, how has the candidacy of marco rubio and ted cruz as well resonated with latino voters? it's encouraging to see latinos competing very well at the national stage. it's something we have talked or 40 years into the arms of the first latino president take office. we are closer to that day than we have ever been. there are some concerns especially with mr. cruz as far as the positions he has on immigration amongst the latino population.

they will not just focus on ethnicity. they will look at where the candidates stand on the issues and how can i make sure those issues line up with their interests. the candidates have to be more than just the latino can they've got to respond to the issues the community is concerned about. i would agree with the caller that donald trump is a negative force. regardless of where you stand on the issues, he is something that is of huge concern to the latino communities because he goes after them specifically. he has alcohol they hope into people very derogatory names, rapists, murderers, drug dealers and criminals. it's not just the people do that but he said the entire mexican american community is like that. that is a serious problem for anyone running for office. we see him as an incredible threat. there are a lot of good all potatoes.

i hope not just latinos to away from that type of rhetoric but the entire country realizes that for what it is. is donald trump or the anti-donald trump sentiment a galvanizing force among latinos in terms of getting the population to out and vote? guest: it absolutely is. latinos tend to vote democratic they don't necessarily do that because they want to be democratic but people like donald trump them away from the republican party. for someonevote like that when he calls your community the derogatory names. he lines up in a very negative way. as long as the republican party has people like that, they will be driving latino voters away and driving toward driving them toward the democratic candidates. the republican party has to get control of people like donald trump and make sure they are not

driving latinos away from the party. latino voters would move back toward the republican party because they are hard-working. republican issues of people to latino voters and they have a better shot of more latino voters. host: this chart from the research center shows that democratic affiliation among hispanics has leveled off in recent years from a high of 70% to now just about 60% in 2014. thewhile, affiliates of republican party, while lower than that, the affiliation is gaining ground from 20% in 2010 or so to 27% in 2014. affiliation with republican party is rising even as the

democratic party is leveling off in there is room for republicans to gain traction in that community. the independent line is next. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i have to agree with maria. i would like my culture back. i'm not latino. i would like to go into the gross store and government a shopping center and walked down the street and not hear spanish. we are in american english country could unfortunately, the latinos in particular refuse, absolutely 100% refuse to speak english. if you are italian, polish, whenever country, you proud to speak the english language. you might speak your foreign language in your home with your parents to keep culture but when

you walked out on the street, you spoke english. host: all right, your response? guest: this is a canard that's get after the latino community. they are learning english faster than any other immigrant ofulation in the history this country did it usually takes two generations bee. the other at the miss the generations. of englishtion rate has speeded up and we teach english classes at our technology centers across the country. we've got overflow capacity with people trying to get into classes and we cannot that them all. they have to wait six month to take a class in english. the community is trying to learn english of that has not been the issue. speak tortant to

languages. it's a global economy and we are dealing with countries all over the world and a second language in as that. it's important for all americans. we are dealing with europe and the far east and rush family's different nations that we have to be able to click a with them as well. is last thing you want to do encourage americans to be stupid and learn one language and not try to learn a second one. unfortunately, there are people advocating for that. i think it's a shame. the rest of the world understands this. they are all learning multiple languages. in the united states, we to -- we try to dumb ourselves down and i think that's a shame. up is the democratic line, washington, d.c. you are on the air. to doug fromon battle creek, michigan, on the republican line. hi, how are you doing,

great to be on your show. i have been in politics before i was able to vote. one of the first presidents of the hand of was richard milhouse next and. nixon. - that my dad was going to vote for him and i said i think my dad is a democrat. he gave me a sour look but i still like the guy. family, we have spent, indian, american indian, and we have filipino all mixed together so we were never raised in any sort of -- with any sort of racial views toward other people. to detroitoduced us

which was a melting pot. you have the jewish culture there you have to know a few .ebrew words to say shalom and the type of thing he grew up with and to us was to be sympathetic, understanding, and open-minded and what is going on around you. was that no one is right just because of their race. i consider myself a republican. i was told i am an eisenhower republican a long time ago. then i was told i was a moderate republican and then i've been told i was a liberal the i don't know where i stand. my understanding of the issues

varies greatly on each subject to i don't fit into anyone pretty but i still consider myself a republican because are the -- those are the most issues i feel strongly about. we've got a problem with puerto rico, thousands of people from they are coming here and that's u.s. territory. they are all u.s. citizens. they are not crossing the border illegally you our government used to take care of that. they were taken advantage of by wall street. now, you are losing their out of their check and it's going straight in the pit of wall street of these debts to the government -- that the government owes. something needs to be done there. let's grab one more caller.

that will be from san antonio, texas on the democratic line. the woman that called that said that will need to learn english. my mother was first-generation and i am second-generation and i would bet i speak better english than her and i would bet my mother does, too. , thising about the border myth about the forest border, -- is notous border, this true. more people are leaving the united states than coming here. that includes mexicans. i don't understand why this continues. nobody challenges this. i have cousins that live in lrio and they are among the safest cities in the u.s. and i continue to hear help order towns are dangerous.

they say this mexican immigrants flowing over illegally. this continues to be traded and nobody challenges it host: all right. guest: on the issue of puerto rico, it's a serious problem. is an example of me to come together as a country and do something about it. the puerto rico debt crisis cannot be solved by itself which is clear to everyone. the house has promised to hold hearings and do something about it but they have not done anything about it. the longer we wait, the worse it gets. is right that missions are being rated and other problems are happening and pandora leaving the country. it's often the folks who have the most opportunity in terms of .he highest level --y are leaving draco leaving the rico can it's him and to step in and solve the problem and i'm sure there could

be some austerity measures put in place or some type of control board for the island. the important thing is to do some thing about it and this should be a partisan issue -- a nonpartisan issue. on the issue of the mexican border having migration, it's not true good there is met zero migration. more people are leaving them coming. of where themple rhetoric does not match reality. orders and donald trump filmed a paper in india anywhere near the united states in order to show people streaming across the border. it was not even here where it's not happening. we have increased border enforcement. we have quadrupled the spending on border enforcement. we've got drones and all kinds of enforcement. that migration to the united states is less than zero. that story occur because we do not have orders.

elsemarco rubio and anyone says have to take control the borders, that's done, so let's talk about immigration. rico,going back to puerto you say you see an increase of reagan's living within the u.s.. do you expect that to have any impact on the elections? any impact on senate elections on the presidential race? absolutely, when you look at the greek and community, they are citizens and to register to vote. there is an effort to register voters in florida. that is a very growing the increase in latino voters can have a huge in florida and i think that something to watch the upcoming

election. from fitchburg, massachusetts, independent line, go ahead. i watch andy time immigration debate on c-span, it's all spanish people talking. nobody else is talking. they have the spanish chamber of commerce and we have this guy here. he says we should let people come in this country could use to let people come into the country when they are giving away land a man at doing that anymore. can puerto rico, people come from there and come into this country. they just need an id. they have 50 million in this country on work visas to they say there is no jobs or uneducated people in the system is corrupt. right on to give us your

background. i believe you've been at the league of united latin american citizens since 1988? guest: yes, i graduated from dartmouth and claim -- and came to work for them. i am not latino. people oftant for non-latino heritage to start caring about the issues that are impacting latino communities. the latino population is the fastest-growing in this country. tieduture as a nation is to the latino population's success. if we don't worry of doubt it has non-latinos, that's to our detriment. our future nation will be hobbled in the success we will have in the future being held back. it's important for all americans, to worry about the concerns of the latino community. if help this community do well and be successful in live that

american dream, our future as a nation is secure. try tontionally hold it back and take away benefits because they happen to be immigrants or latino, we are cutting off her nose to spite our face. that's the important lesson here. we all lose when you potentially hurt a significant population this country especially one that is as fast-growing as the latino population. we also exceeded we hope that population do well. let's increase opportunity for everyone and help those who have the most obstacles before them. please, don't intentionally roadblocks by sabotaging public schools were trying to say people cannot get legal visas there are here working hard anyway it will need to help the community rather than hold them back. host: next call is from the republican line from nebraska. all, you keepof

putting the number 11 million. that number is probably triple what has come across under this administration. you know that, everyone else does. least 30 got to be at million people here illegally. if only built on wall and i do support a wall, and implemented all the laws we have on the 40% over stays on honesty, ahich, in person here is on a visa that is educational, i was most certainly start penalizing the universities and find them you find the university foreign

overstay and you would not have that 40% of immigrants overstaying their educational visas. i spent the years and during core. i served with mexicans that were not legal. or maybe they were not american. that's a shame. the politicians could not get it right. that is not right. by them self, i would not kick out young kids brought here by their parents because of our politicians. or youyou got a felony have a time against you, you have to go. i appreciate c-span. all, he says he is a republican and you need to remember what republican stand for.

for us up to stand individual liberty and less government. yet, when we talk about immigrants, he wants more, he wants walls and immigration of enforcement and try to limit the ability of folks to have their personal freedom. i think that runs contrary to the republican message. their message should be that we and do maximize freedom things to limit that freedom when it makes sense to you our economy really needs workers. both come in, they contribute a lot of things. 40% of our food is by immigrant workers a lot of our housing is built by immigrant workers in or your go to daycare family does not want to take the state provides for you.

immigrant workers are the ones often they give you the things to really need we have recognize that they contribute to the economy entered the hard work. let's give them the same opportunity that is a magicians had before. reallywhat maximum print means. it's important to be consistent when you say you believe in freedom and applying that all people, not just like yourself. host: the latino population in the united states is typically young. there is an art -- a large number of millennials. youthrnout amongst latino is particularly low compared to other groups. another chart shows that among what -- among millennial's, 37.8% are those who say they have voted compared to more than white millennial's. why is this group not as

politically engaged as others. what are you doing to try to change that. there is active efforts to that use of latino voters by such as ids that are difficult to get for to make itd they try harder for groups like ours to register voters and getting different walls. you have to be trained in every county in texas in order to register voters there. in florida, you have to turn in the voter registration cards within 20 four hours. there are efforts to make it more difficult to vote but other reason is that often times, young latinos don't look at the american political system. they believe in response to their interests and relevant to them. if you have been following some of the debates, like the one in

south carolina, you can easily see how that would be the case where they tune that out of don't feel that a something they want to be part of. it's relevance as well. latinoed about rico that -- is a vision is 85-90%. when they come to the united states, it dropped down so the question is, why? three cano, you get politicians engaging the kinsey and the united states don't have --t many latino population officeholders. you have to be engaged. the more important it is to get involved if you want to change things. we are working in 28 different states across the country going torture door and doing mailing campaigns and getting phone calls.

shopping centers and community fairs and festivals registering voters because we think this is critical to explain to our community how important it is. we don't care who they vote for but we hope they are involved and engaged. host: we will try to get in a few more callers. carlos, in columbia, maryland, go ahead. caller: good evening. i am a latino and came here was 13 years old. my plans brought me here. citizen.a i have a work permit that was given to me. currently, i am a student at the i'mersity of maryland in working toward an associates degree in engineering. country has made it very

difficult for me to go to school. i have been in school since middle school. i just feel very offended by the way the law treats us and is not giving us the respect we deserve . this is not really our fault. can say is i'm sorry for being an immigrant, it's not my fault, i happen to be caught up in this situation it in makes it difficult for a family. host: thank you. andt: thanks for calling in i think it's important to understand that here's a person that despite the obstacles put in his way a still pursuing his education opportunities. he will be an engineer with need. it's the most in demand occupation in this country.

he is frustrated because all these obstacles are being in his way to hold them back. that is the real problem we have. urging carlos on and helping him in making sure he has the good education and gets a great job in tribute to our economy. if he succeeds in macro for benefit from the results. useead, we kind of mean-spiritedness and spiteful mess. racial or ethnic prejudice against people like .im to we should be working to try to help carlos. there are millions of them that are out there that need the kind of support we can provide and and securee enhance the future of our country if

hinchcliffe people like carl is our successful. host: thank you so much for joining us this morning. we will talk to matt lewis and discuss his new book. will be hereanson to talk about president obama's legacy. first, on c-span three today, we will look back these were the first televised congressional hearings on the vietnam war appear. >> what is the value in someone watching these 50-year-old hearings? >> we live history from the beginning forward to the end. we read history from the end back. we know how the vietnam war ended.

we remember the pictures of americans being evacuated in 1975. we know north vietnam took over south vietnam and united the nation. we know everyone we fought the war for, the opposite happened. we recognized the anon. we have an ambassador there could president clinton got huge crowds cheering him when he went to vietnam. it is a different country. recognize vietnam. it is part of their history. they've fought a war with china more recently than they fought a war with us. we hear the testimony given in 1976. none of those people knew how it was going to end. they are projecting the ending, what they hope it's going to be. they think the north vietnamese will just give up and decide it

is not worth the fight. the vietcong will disappear. that is his vision. george kennan is saying we have to get out of there in the most face-saving way possible. this is not a winnable war. general taylor is touching on the realities of the government and south vietnam. none of them know what we know. written by books diplomatic historians -- we do know the end. he had to confront many of these issues. had to rethink his policies and came to the conclusion that the war had been a mistake. back to that period and gives us a chance to

see the people involved as they tried to grapple with creating the policies and presidents who had to decide whether they could support aor or opposed that policy. our guest now is matt lewis, the author of two them to fail. b to fail. he is the cohost of the dmv show. he is also a cnn political commentator. thank you for joining us this money. this is the book "too dumb to -- thank you for joining us this morning. guest: somebody says something dumb or crazy or controversial in the republic and primary, they go up in the polls. that is what too dumb to fail is. it harkens to the too big to book appeared in both

cases, you have these perverse incentives. you had financial institutions who took risks that we the people ended up picking up the bill for. we have a similar phenomenon taking place in politics right now where you have politicians and pundits who do or say things that have perverse incentives. it helps them individually, they go up in the polls, they sell more books, to get more buzz. collectively, it hurts the republican party and conservative movement. speak.laying out as we right now, there is a big debate in washington over whether or not the senate should move forward and confirming and giving a hearing to whoever president obama nominates to fill the vacant supreme court seat. what do you think should happen? what do you think is going to happen? where this is a case

i am a be playing against -- my book is against the current conservative movement and a publican party. i think what we are engaged in now is incredibly important. conservative movement and republican party. tend to nominate justices who are more conservative. i don't think it is anything flippant about being careful about who the next justice is. this is a lifetime appointment. republicans have a legitimate case to make when they say we have a lame-duck president, it is a lifetime appointment and the senate does -- is part of this process. would it have been better had they feigned an interest in cooperation? would it have been or if they said we don't know who president

obama -- maybe he will nominate orrin hatch. we will have to wait and see. that might have been a better political move. the problem is the conservative base doesn't trust the republican leadership enough to give them enough rope to feign interest and cooperation and play the game. mitch mcconnell had to immediately come out and telegraph the fact that they were going to reflexively oppose any nominee. host: i want to read a little bit from your book now. here is a quote from "too dumb to fail." somewhere between reagan's 30 minute speech in 1964 and the most recent government shutdown, the conservative movement became no longer conservative or a movement. -- nor a movement.

guest: this is definitely true. one of the things i argue in my book, conservatism began as a serious and thoughtful philosophy. going back to aristotle. reagan, whom i greatly admire. i think america is better when conservatism is strong. conservatism is the best philosophy for human forcing. happinesse can have and prosperity with the conservative philosophy, but there is no doubt that in recent years, we've seen the dumbing down of conservatism. the timing of my book could not have been better. the week my book dropped, you had sarah palin endorsing donald trump, given that speech where she talked about rock 'n roll or send holy rollers and that sums up the whole point of the book. host: what does palinized mean?

was a goodh palin governor of alaska. she had an 88% approval rating. of the best speeches i've ever heard at the convention in minneapolis. somewhere along the way, she went rogue and became radicalized. some of it was a response to unfair media attacks that she experienced. sir palin has changed. she has become dumbed down and louder and more angry and less electoral. she is maybe a microcosm of what we've seen in the republican party. -- sarah palin has changed. down andecome dumbed louder and more angry and less intellectual. bobby jindal is a rhodes scholar. -- there's a lot of talent and smart republicans. coverageump dominated

and overshadowed them and because of the political move view, even smart republicans are forced to play dumb. host: 202-748-8001 for republicans. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. you can also send us a message on twitter. the first caller comes from piedmont, south carolina. kenny on the republican line. caller: i was trying to figure said- when reagan consensus doesn't matter, how can he be a conservative when that is your belief? republicans are fine with that. i don't understand how you can be a conservative and run in a

deficit. guest: i will have to google that one. ronald reagan -- nobody is perfect. ronald reagan had a democrat controlled house and senate. the congress holds the purse string. solely blameo president reagan for the spending then went up during his era when congress has a large role in appropriate expending. -- appropriating spending. he won the cold war. when you have a nexus sent a threat like the soviet union -- it is easy for us to sit here today and forget what it was like to have nuclear bombs pointed at us. there were drills for little kids to get under their desks. the guy won the cold war and restored optimism and they believe in america.

-- a belief in america. host: you mentioned in the excerpt we just showed them his 30 minute speech in 1964 as a defining moment for the conservative movement. take us back in history. guest: barry goldwater is running for president in 1964. some a prominent republican named holmes california -- they drafted ronald reagan to deliver a live speech advocating for barry goldwater. peoplef the goldwater really did not like this idea because they were afraid that reagan would overshadow goldwater. of course, he did. speech which is officially entitled a time for choosing really was important.

a very intellectual -- reagan gave a great speech. an incredible amount of substance. cited numerous statistics and facts. this was the speech that began -- even though goldwater was going to lose in a landslide lyndon johnson come of this begins ronald reagan's political career. he becomes a two-term governor incalifornia, runs in 1976 the 1980 becomes president. -- and then 1980 becomes president. if you juxtapose reagan the happensn 1964 with what today, donald trump, the thing s he says, it is a stark contrast. host: what is the crux of the problem that you discover in your book or that you analyzing your book? what turned the republican

party? guest: it is a complex thing that required an entire book. is,amentally what happens there is a stereotype now that republicans are a stupid party and democrats are the evil party. there is some truth to that. some of it has to do with -- whenever you have a political philosophy that is a small movement, it is easy to be intellectual and philosophical intellectualyour honesty. once you try to build a coalition large enough to win elections and to govern, all of a sudden you have to get 50% plus one of the vote and you start making compromises and you start trying to win elections. that is to sum it up. conservatism has to win elections. you have southerners and evangelicals joining the

election. there is baggage and ist trains thatal lis came with evangelicals joining the election. it is aided by an intellectual dumbing down of republican politicians. eisenhower who planned the d-day invasion, a brilliant military strategist played this bumbling conferences to avoid answering questions. ronald reagan who was in credibly smart and well read feign and every man attitude. reagan's press secretary wanted to release a list of books that reagan was devouring but he

would not let him. even george w. bush who was a lot smarter -- he wanted to be mis-underestimated. in order for people to appeal to they advance this negative stereotype about republicans being the stupid party. indiana up next on the independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you doing? i have a comment about the supreme court. i think we would be better off letting obama pick the supreme court now because if the next president is a democrat, they will take back the senate if the next president is a democrat. they will get who they want.

guest: this is a game of chess. if inght will be 2020 fact hillary clinton becomes the president, republicans might wish they had cut a deal with president obama going for a moderate liberal justice nominee. high, the are so country is so evenly divided and ,he court is so evenly divided this is a lifetime appointment. this could change -- if barack obama gets three, this will be his third nominee, he could change the face of the court and make it a liberal court for the generation. like they havel to play this -- this is a move

they have to play. it is unfortunate that we are having to confront this -- this is already a high-stakes election. there was already so much divisiveness and chaos in this race and the stakes were high as it was, this just ratcheted up to another level. we always a say it is the most important. whoever the next president is could get a couple of picks as well. maybe as many as three. that could change things for my grandkids. host: conrad from new jersey. democratic line. good morning to you. caller: hello. ller -- visitors started out by saying under conservatism, property goes down.

people end up doing better. ther fdr, you had the nra, works progress administration, a lot of people in dire poverty up finding work. contrast that with what happened when george w. bush came into office. he gave tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. after that, the stock market crashed. if it wasn't for barack obama's policies that really got this country back from the brink under his stimulus package, things would have gotten much worse. property goesat down under conservatism and goes up under liberal administrations does not hold water. the president has the constitutional right to name a nominee to the supreme court. whether that person is moderate or liberal. barack obama won both of his elections in a landslide. he should be able to choose people who reflect his ideological philosophy to the

spring court. -- to the spring court. when really him request -- william rehnquist died on the bench, george w. bush gave chief ip to john roberts. behalf of your liberals. we will win in november. guest: republicans in the senate have the right to block that nomination. --re may be consequences this will now be a big part of the 2016 presidential election. it is unclear who would is going to help. there may be some voters who hold that against republicans. the democrats will try to make it an issue. president bush got two

appointments. president obama has gotten two appointments. this is a lifetime appointment. republicans will make the argument that a lame-duck president with less than a year left to serve should not get this third pick. the voters will decide whether or not that is a good idea or bad idea. host: think we showed the chart in a previous segment. it takes less than a year to confirm a supreme court justice. it has never taken 300 days. the longest time it has taken was 119 days. there is still plenty of time for the president to be president and nominate someone and for the senate to confirm that person. host: it is not a matter of time or logistics.

the question is whether or not the president who has already had two picks who is on his way out should make a lifetime appointment that dramatically alters the course for a generation. that thens will argue spec an issue -- if hillary clinton wins, she makes that pic -- republicans meru the day that pick and republicans may rue the day they blocked obama. caller: the dumbing down of the republican party is not so. donald trump is exposing what corporate politicians, corporate lobbyists and corporate elite are doing to our government system. call ats to me is what i demonic creation because of gay

rights and everything that follows, taking away and maintenance of rights and doing aay with the constitution is living and breathing document instead of talking about how the founding fathers wanted to be constructed. donald trump is exposing what is going on. that is why most republicans fear him because he is awakening the republican party of the masses. black, white, latino, everyone is awakened to what government is under these establishment corporation al type of politici. donald trump is bringing them up to the knowledge that if we keep electing the same old career politicians over and over, the same corporate elite, the same corporate lobbyists, if we keep letting them in our government, we will not have a country. he's the only one talking about the border on the only one

talking about bringing trade back to america so we can flourish. he's the only one talking about building our infrastructure and our tax code and common core and getting rid of it. this man is a businessman first and entertainer second. to say that donald trump does not know what he is talking about is false. to say he is dumbing down america is false. we need to awaken to what is going on. just as he did during the debate saying george w. bush was responsible for 9/11 and the iraq war. 9/11 hav happened on his watch. the planes flew over radar systems that did not detect -- the iraq war was a farce. add one point.

this story in the national appeal donald trump's transcends demographic boundaries. new hampshire, trump one double-digit pluralities among , ruralingle age group residents, citydwellers and suburbanites and every income group. won.ump how do you explain this bro ad support for donald trump? guest: when i started writing the book, trump was not even running. five years ago, candidates like identityere playing politics. things i don't believe are conservative.

it's what got me thinking about this. sensed the populist movement out there. i did not think -- i did not predict donald trump. i did not think you would be the vessel for that. -- he would be the vessel for that. everything came to fruition with trump doing so well. in some ways, this is cyclical. whoe always had populists rise up when people are angry and frustrated and dissolution. whether it is andrew jackson or william jennings bryan or george wallace, pat buchanan, you can name it, we've seen the populist before. into a trump is tapping real fear and anger out there amongst a lot of mostly working-class white americans who feel the american dream is left -- has left them by.

to be able to graduate high school and make $15 an hour working in a factory. they are frustrated. is on the left and right. we are seeing a bit of it with bernie sanders. you can take it out on capitalism or blame it on globalism or blame immigration. you can blame automation. convergingactors are and america is changing and donald trump is tapping into this anger. . see him as exploiting it he is not a conservative. he is a populist. the fact that he is doing so well has to do with many factors. he is a great politician, great public relations, entertainment master. master of pr. has thatry frustration. this cultural and

technological trend. would donald trump have been able to do this before any 24/7even -- before hour news? i also think it has something to do with our rhetoric and cultural degradation. americans would have tolerated some of the things that i will trump has had about all sorts of people in things he has said -- the fact is an example of where our culture is. host: flemington, new jersey where david is calling on the democratic line. caller: thank you. i believe i'm hearing from some commentators that there is a certainty that several more justices will retire in the next few years based on age.

know if there is something the public does not -- ageout the health does not mean all heck of a lot. we have plenty of people living to be 90 and 100. guest: i don't have any inside information. justice scalia was 79. he looked like he was 55. he had tons of energy. just loved life. and he dies. that happens. there's been talk about ruth bader ginsburg retiring. some on the left have encouraged her to retire while barack obama can make the nomination. there is a west wing theory that says president obama should try to convince her to retire now, replace her with a young liberal

and replace scalia with an old conservative and cut a deal. season five of west wing. truth imitates fiction. if you look at the ages of some of the justices and do the math, it is likely the next president will get to work three nominees. ,ith nine people on the court that is a significant change. if you elect a republican, you get to work three lifetime appointments in one direction and if you elect a liberal -- the supreme court picks you could argue are the longest legacy any president leaves behind. host: littleton, colorado. tim is calling on the independent line. good morning to you. caller: i've seen you a couple times on c-span. i intend on buying your book and reading it.

i love to read. i have a question about the evolution of the party. guy on thea young board of directors for young republicans -- we supported reagan. the last time i voted republican was for george h.w. bush. i think he is a vastly underrated president. we will recognize that come only after he dies. partyan evolution of the that is almost a direct line from roger ailes to newt gingrich to the tea party. had the tea party been in place when the economy collapsed in 2008, we might not even have an auto industry because the idealists reject everything. that concerns me greatly. i don't see myself voting republican anytime in the near

future. with your knowledge, would you share your view of the evolution of the party? guest: thank you. go get that book. do not delay. it is a huge topic in the book of what has happened to the party. reagan -- a lot of the books that are critical -- that examine what is up with the republican party and the mistakes and problems are written by liberals. back toe to go eisenhower to find a republican they like. because i'm a conservative, i live have to go back to ronald reagan -- i only have to go back to ronald reagan. to me, reagan was the perfect marriage of somebody who was serious and thoughtful and

conservative and also had a populist appeal. and also had the cosmopolitan instrument side of him -- entertainment side of him that some people are looking for in donald trump. i'm not necessarily a subscriber to the great man theory of politics. important, leadership matters and it is fair to say that after reagan, there has been a vacuum on the right. newt gingrich is somebody who certainly had -- was brilliant, was not without his flaws, but oft might be the one moment where republicans and conservatives had the wind at their back intellectually. i'm somewhat optimistic.

talk about a time for choosing, we are at that time for choosing. if the republican party nominates donald trump come i think that is one direction they can go. that is the direction that doubles down on european-style white identity politics. on the other hand, there is another possibility -- you could have marco rubio and paul ryan. that is a much more optimistic solutions oriented conservatism that i think could have broad appeal to 21st century americans who don't know their conservatives yet. why haven't those candidates taken fire, caught fire the same way donald trump has? is the feeling that the candidates themselves are retail politicians or is it a problem with the republican electorate?

guest: both. marco rubio coming out of iowa was in third place and had a lot of momentum and could have gone into new hampshire and finished second and he could have gone to south carolina and maybe won. he had a horrible debate. be hard to overestimate the damage he did to himself and possibly cause himself -- cost and help nomination. host: sunday night, trump was getting booed. do you see that as the turning point? >> not in the business of counting donald trump out. it would be inappropriate to assume that the audience is representative of the electorate. there is a base problem. republican politicians should never be in the business of criticizing the voters or the base. i'm not a republican politician, so i will do it.

i think donald trump is tapping -- we haveitgeist seven years of barack obama's disastrous presidency. ourhave a perception that best days are behind us. negativityspirit of and frustration amongst many americans. specifically acute among working-class white americans who really believe their best days are behind them, the american dream that they grew up believing in his gone. when that is the case, it is hard to appeal to people's better angels. it is easier to sell donald that taps into the anger and promises to magically make america great again. then it is a more optimistic reagan message, which is the

best long-term for conservatives , could appeal to the most americans, but trump is taking the path of least resistance. host: joe from sun city center, fort appeared good morning to. -- florida. good morning to you. caller: reagan was feared around trump.ld, as was w bush was feared around the .orld let' i think paul ryan was a big mistake. i heard him speak three years ago. waitst said he could not

two-putt entitlements on the table and that is pretty dangerous for elderly folks. put entitlements on the table. that includes social security. i have a whole copy page of your quotes and stuff like that. i will let you respond. i will ramble. guest: this is a prime example of why donald trump is pandering to voters and telling them what they want to hear. rather than taking the courageous, bold chance of telling them what they need to hear. entitlements need to be reformed. -- someous conservative people on the right want to get rid of all entitlements and go back to pre-fdr. conservatives believe entitlements need to be reformed if for no other reason than to save them. some will go bankrupt if we don't reform them.

seenroposal i've ever about reforming social security would affect people 50 years and younger who might have to wait in a year or two before they collect their social security. in order to preserve it. it is very easy to demagogue scare monger this issue. that is why donald trump is taking a liberal populist argument. when people like paul ryan want to save social security so what is there when i'm ready for it. the path we are on now, it's not going to be there. the easier argument is donald trump's argument. host: john is calling on the democratic line from illinois. caller: hi. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i had a comment -- the title of your book, "too dumb to fail," ever since ronald reagan, the

people at the top and the people like ronald reagan helped create the situation you are bemoaning. 's.y supported rush limbaugh it is the tone you object to. the turned a blind eye to kinds of things rush limbaugh was doing and created the environment that exists now. i will give you one example. take a look online at the kinds of rhetoric come responses you get from the right, conservatives about bernie sanders's proposal to make public college tuition free. most of them are not arguments is it affordable, can it be paid for, doesn't make sense and are comparing it to communism and say that is radical.

k through 16 is not that different than k12. it is just as ridiculous as k12 is ridiculous. k12 is less than 100 years old. it was put in place at a time when we were not competing globally. to competea had against ohio. now, we are in a global economy where we have to compete against other countries, many of which have tuition paid for for those who can make the grade. all over europe and some places l in south america and asia. how do we expect to compete when everyone there who wants to become an engineer can do so and not come out of $150,000 in debt? how are people here supposed to be entrepreneurial if you cannot

get a loan? to start aget a loan business if you have a $700 a month payment. we are competing against that. how is he paying for it? look online and see what the conservative electorate says and they make it sound like it is some kind of communist proposal. guest: i will resist getting into the education argument and talk about what the caller said early on about rush limbaugh. that is more in keeping with my book. i listened to rush limbaugh around 1988 when he went national. my dad turned me onto his radio show. rush has done a lot of good. i would not be sitting here if it was not for rush limbaugh's show. they called him the majority maker. over time, rush has changed and there has been a dumbing down of

rush limbaugh's show. it is interesting because i'm theenough to remember mainstream media filter. you had three tv channels before the fairness doctrine was lifted. before cable news, you did not have fox news. , you did not have places like where i work. this proliferation of alternative media is good, more options, more alternatives. if it was not for the drudge weport come i don't know if would have known about the monica lewinsky scandal. i think there is also a downside. the republicans and conservatives better off today? it is a debatable question.

whohave people in the base literally come if they want to come all day long, could filter out any information that might challenge their worldview. you could watch fox news all day long and read nothing but the red state, listen to nothing but n coulter and you would have your views confirmed. you would never be challenged. that is the echo chamber issue. technological thing has been a double edged sword. republicans and democrats have more ways to get their views out but there are unintended consequences. my book harkens to the too big to fail perverse incentives problem.

take rush limbaugh. when he says something on chivalrous about sandra fluke, that helps him. he will get more ratings, more attention. fighting offnds up a war on women in narrative which is bogus. some of the conservative pundits , con taters and provocateurs -- commentators and provocateurs benefit from things that hurt conservatism. host: lewis from maryland. independent . go ahead. -- independent line. go ahead. just as the presidents who intended to be good old boys and cowboys and all that to project an image and run that way, the chaos we have now in the government is there are people elected to destroy the government. they don't like big government, so they make it dysfunctional. everything becomes negative.

beublicans could really thetive if they would have council on domestic relations instead of foreign relations. image.em a positive high-rise with and massive, well developed cities with all sorts of transportation systems. we want to go back to the old days. want toks view it as we go back to segregation and affirmative action. the other thing that hurts republicans is they say let them eat cake. people can no longer cake. office, wepan was in had a surplus, he was really upset when we had a surplus. to not use that surplus

redevelop the cities? host: we will have to leave it there. matt lewis, your final thought. guest: not only to republicans do not say let them eat cake, marie antoinette did not even say let them eat cake. it is an erroneous quote. ronald reagan's close aide and -- ifant and press guru you read his book, he talks about a story when reagan was running for governor and there was going to be a reporter who comes out to interview ronald reagan and he is writing around on a horse wearing english around boots -- riding on a horse wearing english riding boots and he sends him back to wear a cowboy hat.

."st: "too dumb to fail matt lewis, thank you for joining us. coming up next, we will be talking to ian swanson discussing president obama's legacy and his new book "inside obama's white house." stay tuned. ♪ >> wrote to the white house began in iowa with caucuses that date back to 1972 and then moved to new hampshire with the first in the nation primary which has a long and rich history and now,

we begin to test the candidates and their message. south carolina, the first of seven primaries and then the party caucuses in nevada. -- the first in the south primary. the field will narrow and then we move into early march. super tuesday, the start of winner take all primaries. the delegate count will be critical. we watch that delegate count continue for the candidates come we get a better sense of whose message is resonating and who is on the path to the nomination. [applause] >> every election cycle, we are reminded how important it is for citizens. >> a way to track the government as it happens. >> a good way for us to stay informed. >> there are a lot of c-span fans on the hill. my colleagues will say i saw you on c-span. people knowure that

what's going on inside the highway. host: our next guest is ian swanson, managing editor of the hill. he will talk about the new e-book, "inside obama's white house." tell us about this book. it is supposed to be looking at president obama's legacy and his term here as president. tell us what you guys uncovered. guest: we wanted to try to look at his entire seven years in the white house. springfield, illinois last week to mark the anniversary of his first campaign for the white house. tofelt that was a good time look at all the things or most of the things that obama had done. to find some stories or anecdotes that people had not heard before. we looked at the big things that

obama did and tried to judge whether there were successes or failures and get as many people as possible to talk about their thoughts of these events that are really recent important history from the passage of obamacare to obama's efforts to end the wars in iraq and afghanistan and the fights against isis, the battle over environmental regulation which started with legislation to try climate change and unfinished business, things president obama still wants to get done even as he is a lame-duck president. host: you mentioned in seven years in office. the eight-year looks like it well.be consequential as what you make of this battle over whether the senate should move forward on giving a hearing to anyone the president might nominate to fill the vacant court seat? story thatmazing

broke saturday. we had done a story about obama's unfinished business and the firstmediately piece of unfinished business obama wants to get done in 2016, which seemed like it would be a sleepy you're in washington. washington. you will have the biggest battle of obama's entire career in washington. obamacare was huge, but the fight over replacing justice scalia is one that is going to determine the direction of the court. if a liberal justice replaces scalia, it is likely to tilt the court toward liberals. it has not been since the 1970's. there's a lot of reason to think we will not see the senate confirm anyone to the court this year. republicans came out immediately condolences had about justice scalia, we had democrats and republicans

battling immediately and this tends partisan fight over whether or not the senate would even consider replacing him this year. for republicans, it is almost political suicide for them to president obama nominates. my prediction would be that we are not going to see an end result. that doesn't mean that president obama isn't going to try to fill his constitutional duty to appoint someone or nominate someone to the supreme court. you are likely to see that in the next couple of weeks. this will be a battle that will go on month after month after month. it will greatly influence the presidential race. host: how do you see it influencing the race? guest: it is too early to say. the stakes are really hyper both parties. for republicans and democrats, this is an issue where both parties will want to bring out

their bases on this issue. it almost immediately becomes the number one issue in the presidential race. that you areen able to appoint someone to a lifetime term in the supreme court where they could change the direction of the court. there's other justices that are .lderly the next president will have a chance to fill other vacancies. this is a real big one. it could change the overall balance and scalia has been such a dominating presence in the court for decades. the: tell us more about thread that ties together the e-book. you wanted to look for new stories, new facts, new details about obama's term here in the white house. is there any unifying theme around the book that you discovered? guest: the unifying theme is obama and all the things he has done or try to do in washington.

it is by no means everything. you could write volumes of books about obama. i suppose people will. we tried to pick the biggest things, the things we thought were the issues that people are going to be talking about for a number of decades. on thegest pieces are passage of health care. we talked about how that happened and we tried to ask people to remember stories about in excruciating battles congress. people might have forgotten about the drama that happened with that vote. one moment in particular, democrats had a 60 seat majority in the senate, they had a huge majority in the house and scott brown, a republican in massachusetts is elected to the senate to replace kennedy and it

immediately goes away and the white house has to figure out what are we going to do now? moment inamazing washington and we thought it was valuable to go back and talk to key players like nancy pelosi, valerie jarrett and other members of both parties who were there on the ground fighting this out. host: here is a clip of president obama from march in 2010. [video clip] it is easy to succumb to the sense of cynicism about what is possible in this country. today, we are affirming that essential truth. it truth every generation is called to rediscover for itself. we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations. we are not a nation that falls prey to doubt or mistrust. we don't fall prey to fear.

we are not a nation that does what is easy. that is not who we are. that is not how we got here. we are a nation that faces its challenges and excepts its response abilities. we are a nation that does what is necessary and right. we shape our own destiny. that is what we do, that is who we are. that is what makes us the united states of america. ashave now just enshrined, soon as i sign this bill, for principles that four principles that everybody should have when it comes to basic health care. it is an extraordinary achievement that has happened because of the advocates all across the country. thank you. you and godod bless bless the united states of america. [applause] that was president obama speaking in march of 2010 just

before he signed the affordable care act into law. in swanson is the managing editor of the hill. -- ian swanson. republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 you can send us a message on twitter as well. michelle from atlanta, georgia. she is on the democratic line. good morning to you. knowr: i want to let you that i want to have my time just like you give the republicans time to come up. . -- to come up here. you give republicans all the time to talk about president obama. they never wanted a black man in the oval office because they think this country belongs to them.

president obama's legacy is among blacks,wn latinos and every demographic as great because we know what their codewords are. they want to take their country back. they want to send negroes back into slavery. this one is not going because i got my ak-47's and my semi automatics. as for scalia, i'm glad he is dead. my grandmother prayed that he would die. they are not going to tarnish this black man. host: we hear your thoughts this morning. we cannot cut about president obama's legacy in the white house without mentioning that he is the nation's first black president. talk about how he approached race and how that has evolved. guest: we approached race and

business."finished obama would like to have done even more on racial issues and guns. these are issues that are still dominating the last year of his presidency. we have a series of mass shootings in the united states and obama has sought to get congress to take action on gun control. when congress did not move, he took executive action to make progress on gun control. separately, there has been a of unarmedhootings black man involving police. that is another issue that obama has spoken out very forcefully on. recount in our e-book come after the charleston shooting last summer were a young white man who wanted to

start a race war when into a church in charleston and shot a number of black parishioners. on thent obama was later aide told him in aian about how the relatives were offering forgiveness everyone on marine one, the at theter taking obama time, just sort of stopped and there was silence. obama said that is what i want to talk about when i go to charleston to deliver an address. that led to this memorable eulogy that obama gave for the charleston victims were i think he ended up saying "amazing grace." it was a moment that people at the white house remember and people on marine one remember it well.

it says something about the importance of those issues to obama, but i'm sure obama himself would say that he would like to have done more to both address racial harmony, i guess, and united states and do something on gun violence. president's a clip of obama speaking at reverend pinckney's funeral in charleston. [video clip] drew on aan act that long history of bombs and arson and shots fired at churches, not controlut as a means of , a way to terrorize and oppress. [applause] an act that he imagined would recrimination, violence, and suspicion, and act

that he presumed would deepen divisions that traced back to our nations original sin. oh, but god works in mysterious ways. [applause] god has different ideas. [applause] he didn't know he was being used by god to [applause] god. [applause] hatred, the alleged killer would not see the greatness surrounding reverend pinckney and that bible study of love thatght

shown as they open the church doors and invited a stranger to join in their prayer circle. the alleged killer could have never anticipated the way the families of the fallen would respond when they saw him in court and the missed of unspeakable grief with words of forgiveness. he couldn't imagine that. [applause] with ianare talking swanson, managing editor of "the hill." you mentioned that president as hedidn't do as much wanted to our could in terms of race relations, etc. was this a question of desire or was this a question of the environment he faced? guest: it depends on your point of view. there are some african-americans that are critical of how far obama went to try to address racial issues in the united states.

we quote tavis smiley, the commentator, and our e-book, who expresses frustrations that obama did not do more. obviously, a lot of supporters of president obama do think he was facing a lot of obstruction from congress to do anything on certain issues. i do think at the beginning of present obama's first term, people will remember a certain reluctance to get out in front of these issues. president obama was the first african-american president. he did not want to be seen however as a president for all people, no matter what your race or gender was f. het may be affected how did things at the beginning . he also focused on pretty big things at the time that he was trying to fix for a lot of people. we will also debate whether he actually fixed it or made it worse, but from the economy, which was in a complete freefall

in the early 2009, to the fight over health care reform, obama was really focused in his first couple of years on those issues. host: we will turn back to the phone lines now. rhode island, chad is calling on the independent line. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i love c-span. that -- i was really stunned when mitch mcconnell came out saturday and said that if the president had nominated anybody for the supreme court. it harkens back to early 2009 when the president was sworn in. mitch mcconnell said our number one priority is to deny him a second term. the guess just said, the country was in freefall, economic freefall, and that was not the republicans'priority.

their priority was to deny the democratic president anything and it has been that way for eight years. work tothis is going to the republicans's detriment because the majority of voters, like myself, are independent. i left one political party because i was totally fed up with it and i've got friends from the other side that left their political party because neither political party is independent. when the independents see that these republicans are just think thenists, i republicans run the risk of not only losing the white house but of losing the senate as well. want to thank you for your time and your tolerance. have a great day. guest: a couple of interesting points from the caller. he mentioned he is an independent calling on independent line and independence are going to be a key part of the election coming up.

you look at joh donald trump leading the republican race and bernie sanders, these candidates are appealing to a lot of independent voters. you throw in the scalia news on top of this election and it would be political suicide for a republican senator to vote and confirm president obama's nominee to the supreme court, particularly a nominee seen as being a liberal justice. i think that is very true. the caller identifies a real danger for the republican party going forward and that is a large group of voters going to think, hey wait a second, why t we confirming a supreme court justice and waiting an entire year to confront someone? republicans will argue that this is an appropriate thing to do and a decision like this should be left to the next president and this should give voters a chance to decide who it's going to be, but a lot of other people but just as good of an opinion

will say, hey, wait a second, present obama was elected in 2012 to four-year term. we are in completely uncharted waters here. i don't know off the top of my head is a supreme court justice has died in february of an election year. i don't know that justice would be want to tip the balance of the court. how people like that caller determine that question could end up determining who will be the next president of united states. host: next up is sandra in utah on the report inside. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i like to point out that during obama's first two years in office, he did not need the republicans to push anything through. he could've gotten a lot of stuff done there. he is the only president i can remember in modern history that has not been able to work with

congress because i don't remember any other time in history where there was a super majority of both the congress, the senate, and the presidency all being on the same side. somehow other presidents have found a way to work within that and work within the other side as opposed to rejecting everything on both sides. and i am sick and tired of being told that i am a racist because i don't agree with his policies. thank you for taking my call. you guys have a great presidents' day. host: that is sandra from utah. guest: thanks a lot. a couple of good points there. present obama did get quite a bit done in his first two years in office while he was working with both super majorities, things he probably could not have gotten done if he had not had the huge democratic majorities in the house and senate. the biggest things that come to mind, of course, is the health care law, a once in a generation

lifetime change c. i'm not saying whether it's good or bad, but it's a big thing. the nearly $1 trillion economic stimulus bill, which was never heard of, got very little republican support. i think three votes in the senate at the time from a pumpki republicans. finally, the dodd frank financial reform, which some people on the left did not think went far enough and a lot of people on the right thought it to hurt the economy. those three things were done in the first three years of obama's term in office. in writing our e-book, we look back at obama's efforts to try to win republican support for these measures. this is one of these debates that is really hard to solve. republicans feel pretty strongly that present obama came in and had the super majorities and felt he was not interested in working with them to get things done.

democrats and people in the white house argue that they spent hours, for example, with olivia snow, a former senator from maine, on a health care to get her supporting obamacare. she ended up voting against it on the senate floor. there was an enormous political pressure on republicans to vote against it and it was something that zeke manual, a health-care administrator and brother of rahm emanuel, he remembers it as one of his biggest disappointments. he was so frustrated that he cannot get olympia snowe on board. host: carol is on. go ahead. caller: i just want to say a couple of things and really one is a question. the republicans declared war on this president from day one and they have never relented.

when i heard him speak at the last state of the union, i was struck again by his eloquence and the beauty and the exceptionally decent man that president obama is, which i hope will be his legacy. i do have a question -- can the president make a recess appointment in place of justice scalia if again he is obstructed from doing his job? that's his responsibility to appoint a justice. appointmenta recess if they block him? host: we got it. guest: he can't. is some thing obama can do with administration officials but not the supreme court. i do speaking earlier that

not think the republican senator is going to confirm someone to votes in the senate to confirm a supreme court justice. there are 40 democrats and if you get all them, which i'm not sure is a certain thing, you need at least 14 the publicans to vote for whoever president obama emanates. and thes climate election hanging over us, i do not think it's went to happen and i believe that's probably the case. host: a central part of present obama's campaign in 2008 was built on this idea of hope and change and uniting america. this poll from the pew research finds that an overwhelming share of republicans say that obama's failures will outweigh his a couple's men's. outweigh hisng -- couples months. the interesting thing is that republicans say obama's a compass men's would be more significant. 88% to his failures would be more significant.

democrats are reversed. 19% say his failures will be larger. that divide, that split is larger than for clinton or for bush. increasingverseen polarization within the american political system, not a unification. how do you think history will rate that? guest: it won't rate it well. what we have seen is that each president in my lifetime, i feel, has been a more polarizing figure than the one before. prettyinton was a polarizing figure, particularly toward the end of his presidency. it was a popular president because the economy was doing well, but a lot of people do not like him because of the monica lewinsky affair and other things like that that tarnished his reputation. and then you have george w. bush , certainly a polarizing figure. liberals hated w over the war in iraq. obama might be more polarizing

than george w. bush. i think at some point, we have to ask -- is it the president or is it us? c-span is like a medium where republicans can call in and democrats can call and and in some ways it might be one of the last cases where you have people of different political perspective sort of talking to one another in a way at least for we do not have a lot of that in our society right now. aboutevious guest talked diversification of media, which is a good thing, but you can also just go to whatever media you want to get your point of view and it becomes a bit of an i could chamber. it becomes almost like sports where if you are the dallas cowboys or the washington football team, you hate each other. redskins fans do not like the cap was in the cap was fans do not like the redskins. it is becoming more like that in presence of politics. maybe the independents will really decide the outcome of the race. host: rachel's calling in from

texas on the independent line. go ahead, rachel. caller: hello? host: go ahead. you're on the air. caller: you know freedom of speech and we have freedom of the truth. why can't somebody with all the technology we have today -- hello? host: you are on the air, go ahead. caller: with all the technology we have today, why hasn't anyone made something where we can put on a tv and root out all the lies they tell us every day on tv? the american people deserves the truth about everything. they get on tv and they lie about everything. about obama not getting anything done, they said they was going to make him a one term have president. reagan when he was in office, in order to get a job, you had to pass a lie detector test. people remember it back

then. they went against that because they heard a lot of people getting jobs because they do not pass a lie detector test because if they ever stole anything in their lives, even when they were children, that one against them for years on their applications when they went to apply for jobs. that's not right. host: rachel from texas, we hear your point. person's truth is another persons lie and a lot of cases. you see more fact check: to newspapers, but it's awfully hard to do anything about opinions. opinions asple see either true false and it often depends on your perspective. i think it goes to the division in the country that we are talking about. the poll that you mentioned -- many ask yourself why is each president seen in such different ways by different people? it seems like it might be more us than the president. host: mike is on the republican

line from comanche, texas. good morning to you. caller: how are y'all today? host: we're good. caller: the first thing i wanted to talk about is the first lady that called in about justice scalia and that she was glad he died -- that was pretty crude right there. something you would normally hear from and democrats -- hear from a democrat. anyway, the main point i wanted to make -- the name of this book "obama's white house" --it's not obama's white house. he doesn't own it. maybe you should've named it something more like "obama's term in office or something like that." obama's white house -- he doesn't have anything to do with that. that's kind of like a bad way to represent something. i don't know how you'd say, but anyway that's all i had to

say. host: that is mike from texas. guest: the book is called "inside obama's white house." if we were around during the bush administration, we might've done "inside bushes white house." but that's what it is. host: donald is up next. caller: good morning, c-span. glad to be able to talk. down --it will be going president obama's legacy will go down as one of the best presidencies in the last 50 years. i think he has kept his promises asfar as gay-rights, as far health care come as far as bringing the country out of economic failure when he took , and trying to stop the wars in getting our troops out of afghanistan and iraq. he is kept most of his promises as a president.

i think he did not get a fair shake from the right. in and iacism came just think some people could not accept the fact that we had a black president. but overall, he serves all people, not just black people. he is helped the rich. he has helped the middle class. probably community is that been left out since he left office. he's a present for the people, or just for the black people himself. he has done a great job. and no scandals. , ahas a great family great family model. no major scandals -- no drug scandals like reagan, no

stealing money from the country like the bushes, no lying to congress to create a war like the bushes. he has done a great job. host: donald in florida, we hear you could guest. guest: one thing we tried not to do with our project is decide if obama is a great president or terrible president. that is something you leap to historians. images of presidents really change in the decades that followed. eisenhower might of an example of a president that people did not have extremely high esteem for immediately. as the decades past, people looked at the things he had done and start to ask whether maybe he was indeed one of the great presidents we had. is how time will judge obama. we are in the heat of a presence of a relish in -- president election right now, one we have never seen before. we are living and one of most polarizing times we have lived in.

it makes it really hard to give a really good value judgment on whether obama was a great president or a bad president . you can find people who are extremely passionate on both sides of that question. host: pamela from petersburg, virginia. what do you think? caller: i'm an independent and environmental engineer. caregiver of a parent, which only enables me to work part-time. neither of the parties has helped me deal with my reality . the president was able to bring his mother in law to the white house, but my life is not substantially change. the black community am i think, .s still suffering coul neither party has change that. i want to address the divided country and justice scalia.

i think obama's legacy is that he was an embodiment of a hope and a dream and a vision. my nephew, mylike cousin, and my children can truly envision a future where we can be when w what we want to be. that future is not here yet. we have been a divided country and we are always a divided country . it is blatant right now could it is very comfortable to be a racist right now. that areexperiences racist in mississippi that i not had growing up in this administration c. we are closer to where we would like to be, but we are not there yet. i think he has been extremely disrespected. i want present obama to appoint as a print court justice. no one i know is morning the passing of scalia, but that's the truth.

president has been extremely disrespected could i think he had a compliment, but the greatest of that would be a hope and vision for the future. from petersburg, virginia. iane talking to a unio swanson. what are some of the issues still on the table? guest: immigration reform is still one that the president would like to take some action on again. actions present obama's are still in the court at this point. congress is not going to take action on immigration. congress is not going to take action on climate change. so much of obama's unfinished business is executive actions and make it easier for some illegal immigrants or people who came to the united states illegally to stay in united states longer. there is a big fight going on over regulations on power plants that president obama sees as being very important to fighting climate change.

just last week, the supreme stay thated a prevented the administration for moving forward with those power plant regulations until after the court process. that was a pretty big blow to the administration. it was something announced by of supreme court the night the new hampshire primary. it was a bit of a news dump by the supreme court in some ways. it was a balloon big deal and that is something -- a really big deal and that is something that will be fought over after president obama leaves office. there will be unfinished business that he will not get to that supporters of his and lawyers and his administration will be fighting in the courts. host: the next caller is malcolm on the republican line. go ahead with your question or comment today. caller: good morning. that, i agree with the guy called and talked about the woman who called in from georgia. i've never heard republicans or most independents speak about a

dead person or wish more would die. that was very terrible of her. secondly, this is what i really wanted to say. talking about he should appoint somebody in the supreme court -- well, chuck schumer when george saidwas still president that when george bush had 18 months or so left in his term that george bush should not be allowed to appoint anybody to the supreme court until his term was over. now why all of a sudden are the democrats screaming and hollering? because they need to appoint somebody went obama -- when obama is still president. the hypocrisy on the democrats on the left is unbelievable to me. as far as obama's legacy, his plan from the get-go was to bring the united states down into the same reign as the rest of the third world countries because he did not like us being

a superpower. i think his legacy is going to be that he tried to destroy this country and he is trying his best to bankrate. -- bankrupt it. host: a number of colors have mentioned the comets of chuck schumer. can you talk about that a little bit? guest: the colored mentions hypocrisy of politicians on supreme court nominations or vacancies. i think both political parties can be charged to hypocrisy it comes to supreme court nominations. why are democrats clinton argued that present obama should nominate someone and the senate should consider? because obama is a democrat. the republicans were in the same situation, i think the arguments would be reversed. they notice the judiciary's ranking democrat pat leahy, when

he was had in the late 1980's, and justice kennedy was reagan,d by writing kennedy was finally confirmed in february of 1988, so an election year. he was not nominated by reagan until the end of 87 and that was because other justices had been delayed and delayed by the democratic senate at the time. so both parties play politics on this stuff. i'm not familiar with the specific schumer comments, but they would not surprise me. host: we have time for one last caller and that would be betty from virginia beach, virginia on the democratic line. betty, go ahead. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: we hear you loud and clear. caller: i'm going to make two quick points. i just moved to virginia beach, virginia in october from charleston. i'm originally from connecticut, but i was at that service that you showed in charleston with

the horrible shooting down there. and then sandy hook was my original home and my daughter was teaching in a different elementary school, thank god. my youngest grandson was in the high school. i want to say something real quick. when i heard the news about scalia -- and i am a democrat and i will give sympathy to his family whether i agree with him and present obama was very respectful with his comments that he made about justice scalia. that mitchheard mcconnell, who i despise, came out before -- 15 minutes after the news was out, he doesn't give respect to the judge by doing that, coming out saying don't even bother putting up a nominee because we are not going to vote on it. you know, that doesn't make any sense, but you can expect

anything better from a guy like mitch mcconnell. i'm sorry, but that's on my opinion. -- but that's my opinion. host: we have to leave it there. he had swanson, final thoughts? are onmy final thoughts antony scalia and covering this incredibly passionate fight over the next year on replacing him. it will go out an i go out in congress. ian swanson, thanko you for being here. tomorrow, we will have three oournalist from politic discussing the campaign 2016 and their publications impact on the media landscape. we will talk with john harris, the editor in chief, and kristin roberts, and we will also talk to alex, a political