get this. i'm a lifelong democrat. >> anybody want to address that? >> well, i -- i totally agree. it was what it was trying to say in a less articulate way about what our challenge is as a party going forward is giving hope to people who are experiencing not just feeling those things but experiencing those things -- we need to not just have a message but a set of policies for people who are struggling to stay in the middle class, who don't, who think it is impossible for their kids to be in the middle class. who find it, who think their aspiration to rise into the middle class is at a dead end. um, the one thing is that when you have the office for 8 years, you can't just say, you can't -- you know, act as if the 8 years didn't exist.

you have to be able to say something about your record, and if you are the person who held that office, you want desperately to do that. so, that, you know, i think president obama was always careful to say we have much further to go. when you save the economy from a real disaster, that is what we were facing in 2008, you would like a little credit for that. and so, it is not shocking that president obama took some. and he deserves some. but that led to a very kind of confused, schizophrenic message. >> we have time for one more. yeah, go ahead. >> if this election is about anything -- it's -- in that regard, perhaps gerrymandering covers some of that ground. what would it take to connect the dots of this pernicious,

they did to us, we're going to do it to them. in fact, most people think it started with governor gary in massachusetts. it was first done by patrick henry in the fifth district of virginia. anyway, i worked that campaign. [laughter] north carolina, ohio, pennsylvania and how -- in the statehouses. and what would it take, many experienced people say this is the secret sauce of modern politics. >> you mean the safe districts that never change? >> packing district and what it is doing to statehouses. >> has to be our last round of answers. >> this is another topic in which i have a lot of information and a strong opinion, which is that if what's happened in congress is most

members of congress can only lose in a primary. what happens is you wake up as an elected official and you say, oops, i have to stay close to my party's base. i believe if we had state supreme court round the country for each state drawn maps, instead of having 90 competitive districts, we would have 240. these men and women wake up and say, yikes, i could lose my district. i have worked with a lot of different members of congress. the members of congress and one of those swing states have a political antenna where every day they're going like this. the men and women i work with in safe seats are -- they've never had to do that. so, it is an unfair system that produces what this polarization, and we have very unfair seats.

this time it tipped republican. how do we know? you can look at the 24 -- two-party vote cast and republicans are getting a list about three points-five points more, and i don't cry for that because 30 or 40 years ago, democrats had seven points. you have to change the system, but why doesn't it happen? both parties agree on, i will take the current system because i have a better shot, and that doesn't change. this is the ultimate process fight and those are hard to mobilize. i worked on the california initiative to change the primary system because i believe that our country with state supreme court drawn districts was fair and more competitive seats, we would fundamentally change the rewards culture and a way that would produce a radically

different outcome. saying we have roughly only 90 competitive seats out of 435 unless you have a massive scandal. there are very world and are ry world and areas african-american areas. half the seats being competitive would radically change the american government in what the cooperation would be like across parties. you would have to produce a result to allow you to be reelected in a competitive seat. >> arizona is a place to look at on this. more of their seats are competitive than you might inc.. i would like to answer your question about the democratic establishment. my answer to that would be the clintons themselves, and it's

partly because she lost in 2008, and when she ran into thousand eight there was an assumption that she was going to be anointed. obviously she wasn't, she lost to barack obama. it has built up to the point where no democrat would really cross her, to any younger member of the party, you notice bernie sanders was the only one who really stepped up to run against hillary clinton. there was a reason for that. the clintons made sure that was the case. the second part of that is, the clintons are a product of their own environment and what they learned when they were making it into politics. the democratic party had become too little to govern the country. got electedou only

president as a democrat if you were from the south. bill clinton ran on globalization, passing now. this is how you win as a democrat and anyone who tries to do it another way doesn't understand that. -- they become a political institution and in many ways they are the democratic party. youngerl to learn that people are quicker to pick up on what is going on around them. the challenge for the democratic party, we've been talking about the republican civil war. because the clintons have had such a hold on the party, their bench is not there. who is going to step up from the democrats? who is going to run in 2020? bernie sanders could take another crack at it, but we are going to be four years down the line.

>> 2020i think is crucial. it occurred to me that the last time you had a president who is a moderate who faces a congress that is united but is more extreme was jimmy carter. and he comes from nowhere to win, completely unexpected. carter isthinking going to be the next president of the united states. i'm wondering if carter in his experience with the democratic withess is what we may see tall trump and the republican congress. i don't know. but if that is the case, then may is when the democrats find ronald reagan. [laughter] >> anyone else want to get in on the final round?

thank you so much for coming. [applause] thank you. trumpsident-elect donald visited washington, d.c. anderday at the white house on capitol hill. after their meeting in the oval office, president obama and president-elect trump talked to reporters. pres. obama: i just had the opportunity to have an excellent conversation with president-elect trump. it was wide ranging. we talked about some of the organizational issues in setting up the white house. we talked about foreign policy and domestic policy. as i said last night, my number one priority in the coming two

months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful. encouragedbeen very by the, i think, interest in president-elect trump's wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces. and i believe that it is important for all of us am a regardless of party and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together to deal with the many challenges that we face. in the meantime, a shell will get a chance to greet the incoming first lady -- michelle will get a chance to greet the incoming first lady. we had an excellent conversation

with her as well. we want to make sure they feel welcomed as they prepare to make this transition. most of all, i want to emphasize president-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed. because if you succeed, then the country succeeds. much,ump: thank you very president obama. this was a meeting that was going to last for 10 or 15 minutes and we were just going to get to know each other. we had never met each other. i have great respect. the meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half, and as far as i'm concerned, it could have gone on for a lot longer. of differenta lot situations. some wonderful and some difficulties. i very much look forward to

dealing with the president in the future, including counsel. he explained some of the difficulties, some of the highflying assets, and some of the really great things that have been achieved. mr. president, it was a great honor being with you and i look forward to being with you many, many more times. thank you. pres. obama: thank you, everybody. taking any be questions. thank you, guys. thank you. come on, guys. come on, guys, let's go. mr. trump: very good man. pres. obama: thank you. i appreciate you. after the president and president-elect met, press secretary josh earnest answered questions about what the two men

talked about at the white house daily briefing. let's look at part of that. >> [inaudible] >> i had an opportunity shortly before coming out here to visit with president obama about the meeting. there are many details of their discussion that they will keep between the two of them. a couple of things i can share, the president indicated during the pool spray the had an opportunity to discuss foreign policy and domestic issues. some of the foreign-policy issues came up in the context of the present upcoming trip overseas. the president described to the president-elect some of the issues he expects to come up

with some of our allies and partners and other world leaders he will meet on the trip. it was an opportunity to talk about some of those issues in advance of the president's trip and conversations he expects to have with world leaders on the trip. there was an opportunity for the leaders to talk about staffing and organizing the white house. that is complicated business. any white house is expected to be structured in a way to deal reasonltiple challenges multiple crises at the same time. the president-elect indicated a lot of interest in understanding the strategy of staffing and organizing the white house. obviously, that is something president obama has thought about extensively in his eight years of office. they spent a large portion of the meeting discussing the importance of properly staffing and organizing a white house operation. other than that, what the

president heard from the president-elect is a clear commitment to the kind of smooth transition that president obama has been vowing to preside over for a better part of the year. the president tends to make good on that promise in the 70 days ahead. the president-elect will not try to dismantle all of the work that you and your colleagues have done over the past eight years? do president obama make any pitch to trump, for instance, not to get rid of obamacare were other significant policies? >> i'm not going to get into the details of their meeting. president obama came away from the meeting with renewed confidence in the commitment of the president-elect to engage in an effective, smooth transition. that is what president obama believes, certainly the best.

we're committed to doing what is required on our part to make sure that happens in the president was pleased to hear a similar commitment expressed by the president-elect. >> do you know of the president got any reassurances from trump about whether he plans to pursue what he discussed during the campaign about trying to incarcerate hillary clinton? --i will let president-elect let him read out his end of the conversation, but as i mentioned yesterday, the president was found reassuring the kind of tone that the president-elect conveyed in his election that remarks. as i mentioned yesterday, these were remarks that the president-elect delivered not just to his supporters in the ballroom, but to the citizens of the country that were tuned in to this historic election, but also the people around the world . -- given the intensity

scrutiny of his remarks, it is notable that he chose that kind of tone. i think we saw a similar tone just in the oval office 30 minutes ago where he was indicating his commitment to working closely with the outgoing administration to ensure a smooth, effective transition. it does not mean they agree on all of the issues. they obviously have deep disagreements. is ahat they do agree on commitment to a smooth and effective transition. that is a good thing for the country. >> while president obama was meeting with president-elect donald trump, michelle obama was meeting with the incoming first lady melania trump. cbs news white house correspondent mark miller tweeted out this picture noting that press was not allowed in, but the white house posted its own photo. over on capitol hill, speaker paul ryan met with president-elect trump a republican social club.

afterwards, he invited mr. trump to the u.s. capitol to show him where he will be sworn in on inauguration day. some footage from craig kaplan. >> paul ryan's office shared a tour liveideo of the

on facebook. let's take a look.

>> after meeting with speaker ryan, president-elect trump crossed the capital to meet with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. we got them as they arrived at senator mcconnell's office.

>> mr. trump, what is your reaction? mr. trump: really, really beautiful. >> the meeting lasted about an hour and president-elect donald trump briefly spoke to reporters on his way out. vice president-elect pence left 30 minutes before.

>> [indiscernible] first priority, day one, what is it going to be? mr. trump: lots of great priorities. we have a lot. -- look very strongly at immigration, health care, and jobs. >> [indiscernible] trump: thank you, everybody. >> after walking mr. trump to his motorcade, majority leader mitch mcconnell gave his

thoughts on the meeting. >> we had a really good issues that wet obviously agree on [indiscernible] >> donald trump was visiting washington, d.c., yesterday, hillary and bill clinton took their dogs for a hike and chappaqua, new york. this photo shared by a supporter who ran into the former secretary of state on the hiking trail. .ongress returns next week on the agenda for the lame-duck session, legislation to extend government funding past december

9 deadline and working out differences between house and senate bills to provide aid to flint, michigan, after their drinking water was contaminated by lead. also, a bill to promote medical research and develop new cures, as well as funding for defense department programs. watch the house when members return november 14 on c-span. the senate on november 15 on c-span2. unfoldan, where history daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. it is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. coming up next, "washington journal" is live. we marked veterans day with live coverage of the ceremony at arlington national cemetery. coming up in about an hour, afghanistan veteran actually nicolas and iraq veteran join as

to talk about their military experiences and their transition back to civilian life. dr. journalist and author suzanne gordon will talk about issues facing veterans. ♪ host: good morning. it is "washington journal" on veterans day. on this day, a live in view of the vietnam veterans memorial in washington, d.c. alongside that statue, a wall with many, many names of vietnam veterans who are honored on that wall, 58,000 names at last cou nt. also on this veterans day, we are interested in hearing from veterans only. in our first hour. here is the question, we want to get you to give advice on what commander-in-chief president-elect donald trump should do