good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it's friday, november 25th, a special edition of "morning joe." a holiday edition. hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. with us onset this morning we have the executive editor at random house jon meacham. jon meacham. >> yes, ma'am. >> and visiting professor at nyu, former democratic congressman harold ford jr. >> good morning. >> and joining us from cnbc headquarters in new jersey -- >> yes. >> the cutest thing in the world. >> we've missed him. >> i missed you guys.

>> co-host of cnbc's "squawk box," andrew ross sorkin. >> i missed you guys, i really did. >> he's hard to book now that he hosts his own show. >> he's a diva. he's got -- you wouldn't believe his expense account over there. things he requires, room temperature water -- >> oh, my god. >> he's like madonna. >> whole green room set up with the green m&ms. >> i'm wondering how you're surviving on this schedule with twins. >> we can talk about that off air. but it's working out okay so far. >> i feel your pain. i feel your pain. we're going to talk about the overall economy moving forward. with all of the events last week the failure of the super committee and the response on the markets, the plunge that we saw. when we look at the big picture, andrew ross sorkin, i'll start with you and we can throw it around the table. do we talk about the concept of

a double dip now as a potential reality? and do we start hearing that word come up more? or is there hope for recovery? >> so the good news actually is -- i'm hopeful that we actually are in a bit of a recovery to the extent that we're seeing companies with increasing earnings. and so it does feel like things are getting slightly better and that the idea of another recession -- i don't want to say it's off the table completely, but it feels a lot better than we thought it was. the big cloud overhanging this is europe, whether that's going to impact us and the jobs story. even if we don't enter another recession, it stem cell feill f we're going to be in one. . the unemployment number is not going to change or come down as much as we want. >> andrew, on this black friday after thanksgiving here, we're talking a lot about consumer confidence. >> and they're out shopping all over again. >> they are out shopping, many people are out shopping, but some aren't. you look at the misery index

things like that, consumer confidence, those numbers are not great right now. what are the trends you guys look at on "squawk box" and cnbc. >> we look at the confidence numbers, and those don't reflect positively. oddly enough and it comes back -- i'll say it over and over again. the ceos you talk to over and over again, their companies are not falling off a cliff the way you'd expect them to. the question becomes, what are they doing with the earnings? and unfrortunately, they're not investing in new plants and equipment, what they're doing is hoarding the cash or buying back their stock or doing something that doesn't feel like it's necessarily helping the economy, but that's in large part a function of the fact that we still don't have the demand and that goes back to the confidence issue, it goes back to the issue of what's going on in washington and everything overhanging the whole conversation we keep having. >> well, and add to that the housing situation, which, what trends are you seeing now? any hope that housing will pick

up? is it picking up? >> it's picking up slightly, but that's an issue that sadly i think is going to be with us for some time to come. we have not figured out a way to fix that problem. and, unfortunately, until that problem is solved, the question is how you solve it and how much pain you're willing to take in the short-term to maybe get to a long-term fix. i don't think housing is going to improve any time soon. >> so jon meacham -- >> i hate to depress you on the day after thanksgiving. >> we're trying to give a realistic view of where we stand right now. and meacham, i know you have a question for andrew, can you give us historical perspective of where we stand right now in terms of our economy and other experiences? >> i think the best analogy is '79, '80, in which you have a fear of general national decline. now the difference is interest rates were through the roof. >> right. >> so the numbers are different, but unemployment was -- that was

a central issue. and unemployment and its discontents, everything that goes with that. there's the immediate problem and the confidence in the system, the political confidence, the cultural effect. it's one of the most corrosive crises you can have as a society. and remember, it was joblessness that drove the great depression. and i think that's a -- going to be the dominant issue, and it should be, not just for economic reasons, but because it's the right thing to focus on. and andrew, i wanted to ask you, in this -- there's a big think question for the weekend. at a time when a lot of folks are worried about national decline, are we rome? are we britain? what are you hearing about a pro-growth pro-growth agenda? what do you think policy decision makers and put together to actually grow the economy in a way that's going to have some

jobs here? >> well, that's the ultimate problem. and the ultimate conundrum is how do you grow? and if we grow, we get out of all of our problems. that's the ultimate way to solve this. the problem is that the business community -- the only argument you keep hearing from the business community is for us to grow, we need to get rid of regulation. that is what you keep hearing over and over again, we need to lower taxes, it becomes a washington story. on the other side, you hear people say the keynesian side says we need to spend, and yet we need to spend at a time we also feel we need to cut. it just feels that the spirit -- the spirit of innovation, the pirt of growth, the spirit that we have a chance to get out of this doesn't feel like it's there. i will say that the numbers don't necessarily bear that out that we are growing and it doesn't feel like we're coming back in a recession, at least again, at the moment. >> harold ford, hope you had a great thanksgiving yesterday.

>> and to you. >> thank you, brother. the idea of certainty, you do hear it from the business community. i hear it from colleagues, clients and others across the country. they believe there's certainty in regulations and taxes will produce the confidence you talk about, which will lead to hiring, employment numbers -- >> it's a chicken or egg issue. is it the confidence that's going to inspire the demand? is it the demand that's going to inspire the confidence? >> so many companies are performing at a much better rate, but they've learned to do so in a tighter environment. i'm encouraged by other things. and we've touched on it in the show. there's a lot of money on the balance sheets of companies. we've heard the estimates between $2 trillion and $2.5 trillion. there's a lot of money overseas, we hear could be as high as 1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, as well. we've got to figure out how to get that capital back as well as deploy other capital sitting on balance sheets. there's a big debate in

washington about how to do it. i happen to think that washington can brag a little more about things than they do. one of the things that differentiates us from europe is we recapitalized our banks. banks have paid back that money and made a profit. it was an unusual way to make a profit for the american people, but we made a profit. we saved our auto companies. now, it's not enough. and this president and this congress disappointed everybody in the last few days, they've got to turn that around. but i'm more encouraged today because there's some things if we get right from a policy standpoint, i think you could find a demand coming back. equally or conversely, if we don't do things the right way, the failure of the super committee suggests that government doesn't understand the full role and how it can impact us a positive way, we could go the other way. >> given what you said about the failures of the last couple of days, we saw two or three days

ago the super committee admitting defeat. capable or willing to handle the problem, the joblessness that jon meacham is talking about. >> they being this political system has proven a dysfunction. i think largely because of personnel. i think the system could be fixed in some ways, but how do we go about doing the budget? but we've had the system for a long time, and i think the personnel has influenced. president obama needs to show more leadership, republicans need to be willing to buck some of the forces in their own party. but the point i make is that they're capable of doing this. the reality is if they act, we have some good things happening. if they don't act, they act the wrong way, i think things could take a turn for the worse. >> we all act as if the government, if washington presses a couple of buttons and press the right buttons, we somehow get to the promise land and get there quickly. i'm not so sure that's the case. and my great worry is the issue you just raised, which is companies are learning to do more with less and ultimately what's that's going to mean for unemployment long-term and how

we change that around. a company's not going to go out and hire a new person until they actually have one extra order that they can't fulfill with the current crop of people. and the -- the old joke on wall street is a banker will only hand you an umbrella on a sunny day. and i think there's a real sense in the corporate community that it is still raining or it may rain again. and because of that, people are still holding on to those umbrellas. >> you would agree, andrew, to your point earlier, growth cures a lot of issues. many of the debt challenges in washington, it cures, i think, helps to begin to cure this unemployment challenge. my only point about getting some of this right, i think if the long-term debt plan was agreed to, reform the tax code in a fair way, maybe look at simpson/bowles as a nucleus, i think government would do their part. i think it would give barack obama a hand when he says recapitalize banks, austerity plans, we've made choices in america. we could lead by example in other ways.

>> we're in violent agreement on that. >> i wonder, harold, if we look at what got us here and try to figure out how, and this ultimately comes down to the president, that we need a mandate inspired from the top, we need a goal for this country. we don't only look at the unemployment numbers that we see out there. and the housing numbers that we see out there, but spending got us here, including two wars where we have tens of thousands of veterans coming home to nothing, adding to the people in line, which is such a disgrace on so many levels that i -- i find it almost unspeakable, but i also think it's a vital aspect of the overall problem, that this entire group of people in these wars that we're trying to wind down are coming home with nowhere to go. >> jon meacham could give us a better perspective, and i hope he does. but after the great war in the 20th century, the great war, the generation return home, we educated those people and made sure they had a chance to grow.

we may need something similar this go round as it relates to employment and education. jon, you'd be greater to give a scale of what we're talking about in world war ii and how it compares to now. >> it's a great exercise not in nostalgia, but in policy lessons. the building of the great american middle class after 1945 was the greatest economic achievement since the industrial revolution. and it was the gi bill, and it was investments in public schools, it was social security. >> highway system. >> it was the interstate highway system, it was the public/private money defense contracts that ultimately gave us the internet, things like that. it was a team effort both public and private. and the most important thing that happened was the dwight eisenhower, and joe's obsessed with this, as well. dwight eisenhower essentially ratified the new deal in a sense that he wasn't going to pull apart government and try to go

back to the 20s. he understood that it was here, he was a military man, which by the way is a government agency, and he managed to, you know, get to berlin pretty good operation there. and it was just -- it was everybody acknowledging that the other guy might have a point. and i think that the critical thing for the economy is for the partisanship -- it's never going to go away. but what needs to go away for 20 minutes, for either simpson/bowles vote or anything. lincoln was a segregationist, let's remember that, but i think that's the critical thing. it's the holiday season, we're all thinking big thoughts. but if we don't find lawmakers who have the courage to risk their jobs, then none of this is going to get fixed. >> yeah, go ahead. >> you mentioned that, mika. the only piece of the president's jobs act that passed

through congress right now is the one where we give tax credits for hiring veterans. if you're a business looking at somebody to hire coming back and as i say don't do it as a favor, don't do it because you feel guilty, don't give a handout. these guys are trained in ways that the rest of us are not in terms of leadership -- >> discipline. >> they're organized. and if you put them inside your company, it's only a good thing, don't you think, andrew? >> you are 100% -- 100% right, but again, it goes back to demand, goes back to how people actually feel out there, and we have to somehow do something about the spirit. one thing, though, i wanted to mention that i worry about and i think is sort of the next bleeding edge of where this is all going is going to be what happens to the payroll tax holidays and whether those things get extended. and i think that's going to have a huge impact on what 2012 ultimately looks like. >> we'll be looking at that in the days and weeks ahead.

andrew ross sorkin, happy holidays. very good to finally see you. >> great to see you. >> thank you for giving us your time. for dabeing with us. up next, politico tells us the story lines and dates to watch for as we head into the presidential season. plus, will it be lsu and alabama for a rematch in the bcs national championship league? we'll take a look at what's ahead in college football. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ child ] it's so cool! you can put a force field on him and be invisible! [ child 2 ] i call first player. no. i already called it. [ dad ] nobody's playing anything until after we get our homework done. thank you. hello? test drive's not over yet. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. [ louder ] hello? but we still need your signature. right now during sign then drive

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welcome back to "morning joe" on a friday morning. joining us now the chief white house correspondent for politico, mr. mike allen with a look at his world famous playbook. good morning. >> happy friday. >> happy friday. happy friday to you. hope you had a great thanksgiving, my man. >> yes, sir. >> we're going to start turning the corner. we're through thanksgiving now, it's time to look to the primary season.

iowa caucus is january 3rd. let's start handicapping some of these races. what should we be looking for in iowa in about a month now? >> that's right. a big story for iowa. will mitt romney put himself on the road to locking this thing down in january? if mitt romney who's favored in new hampshire and florida, if he could also in january win iowa or south carolina, if he can get three of those four, he's probably the nominee in january. if he doesn't, if he's not able to pull off either iowa or south carolina, that probably means a full other month because other candidates are not going to drop out. other candidates are going to say he's weak, they'll hang around to find out what happens. >> iowa was so interesting for mitt romney. he has to think about the expectations game. if he goes into iowa and says, yes, i'm playing in iowa, putting money, tv ads and people on the ground and doesn't do

well there, that could be very damaging to him. >> that's right. and he's doing all of those things. that's the risk. they're putting the money on the table without naming the bet. so they're saying we don't have to win, but they're certainly putting themselves in position to. every week that's gone by, romney has looked stronger. the fact -- the possibility that one single competitor is going to become an overwhelming alternative weakens. so they're going to put more and more chips in iowa, all the time saying to us, move along, nothing to see there. >> mike, curious about what you think the most plausible second choice is. if you go back 30 years or so, reagan had his bush, bush had his dole, bush ii had his mccain, mccain had his romney. who does romney have? who is the next plausible person you can see the republicans nominating in this year in which the incumbent is so vulnerable?

>> we've had flavors of the month, flavors of the week, that all works for mitt romney. the fact that you and i can't say for sure, there's been a surge for just about everyone, is there going to be a santorum surge? will huntsman get his surge or a wave? we can't tell. but all of that is good for mitt romney. he doesn't want to be out there himself, he doesn't want to be the only one taking hits in media and debates. so he loves the fact there are several people who keep hanging in there. in fact, he -- would be -- if he were out there by himself, he would be a lot weaker. he enjoys having this field as long as it will last. >> and the field overall, i would think except for huntsman and possibly gingrich makes him look good. is that fair to say? it's not a field that challenges him, and it only helps him, just the way he reflects off of them, mike. >> no, that's a great point and it's why mitt romney has loved

debates and fine with them going as long as they can. they think he benefits from the comparison to the competition. >> do you think perry's out of it. you didn't mention perry as one that might reemerge. there are some in the political world, in the commentating world that suggest that perry may have one more run at this. you sense that in politico? >> yeah, he's had his surge. he definitely could come back. i was mentioning the ones who -- because rick perry has so much money, he's in position if romney should stumble. but hep doesn't really control his own destiny. it would be very hard for him to come from behind, knock off romney. he has to wait by a critical error by mitt romney. and the history of these things is front runners do stumble. his money gives him staying power, but there's very few ways for him to ignite himself from here. >> conventional wisdom has been inside the beltway, that the proportional allegation of

delegates changes it, makes it a longer race, do you agree with that? >> it does make it a longer race on paper. and that also favors romney. because he has the organization in the most states. he has the most money. so he's prepared to do what barack obama did in 2008. and that is win a war of attrition. sure he'd like to lock it down january 31st with the florida primaries we talked about. but if it goes in through these other states, if we find ourselves talking about oklahoma and georgia and other states, he has operations in all those places in part because he's looking forward to a general. he knows that barack obama is going to have more organizers in some states than he's going to have in the whole country. they're trying to on the one hand focus on the primary, not take anything for granted. not look like they're assuming a win. but at the same time, putting themselves in position to be strong when they all of a sud n

sudden -- if they all of a sudden get the nomination are fighting that $1 billion machine. that little lag between the time someone locks up the nomination and the time they could really have a full pledged organization, that's where you're going to see the power of these outside groups we've talked about. american cross roads funded by carl rove among others, they plan to step in and while the nominee is getting its footing start battering barack obama in key states. >> meacham. >> mike, that leaves a quick last question. do -- what is the view from chicago? >> the view from chicago is that it's mitt romney. we can see them already trying to define him to get a head start on that war that's going to come as soon as he's official. so we already see both the president's top officials, white house and otherwise, and in the media -- the obama campaign out trying to portray mitt romney as a flip-flopper, as deceitful for

his most recent ad. as someone who is tied to banks is going to be big. one wall street person said to me, looking at the war that's coming, looking at how they know that the obama campaign is going to try to define mitt romney, anyone in the investment banking business and concerned about their image right now is wearing depends. >> in other words, the view from chicago's very, very good. >> very, very good. >> can i say next week mike allen will be known as something else, as well. the co-author of the e-book "the right fights back." >> conceived and edited by one jon meacham, there's a lot under the tree. >> and we'll have you on next week to talk about that. things getting serious now, few weeks to iowa now. mike allen, we appreciate it. coming up, one of america's greatest essayist, joan didion shares personal stories from her new memoir. and a look at some of the

biggest story lines in college football. huge weekend coming up here. things could all change in the next couple of days. will there be a rematch of the game of the century? keep it on "morning joe." this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. smal l bu sinesses are the smal lifeblood of our communities. on november 26th you can make a huge impact by shopping small

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hey, everyone, i'm alex witt. the holiday shopping season is officially underway. walmart, target, and best buy have opened their doors to black friday shoppers, and an estimated 152 million people are expected to shop this weekend. and chicago's mourning the loss of maggie daly. she died last night at the age of 68 nine years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. now back to "morning joe." showing our bias with the music coming in a little bit. big weekend ahead in college football, and it begins today. joining us now from washington, the host of comcast sports net washington post live. good to see you. >> good to be here. great weekend working this food

off with great college football. >> absolutely. it's incredible when you look at these bcs standings. three teams not only from the same conference, but from the same division of the same conference. lsu number one, alabama number two, arkansas number three. it's been a long time since we've seen anything like that. >> yeah, it's kind of historical. and for those of us like myself who really, really want a college playoff system, this almost feels like it because you get arkansas, lsu, and then alabama/auburn on saturday, those two games could have a big role in seeing how this turns out. i would expect alabama and lsu to win, that would set up a potential rematch. they have to go through their conference championship, georgia's waiting, arkansas/lsu game very intriguing. arkansas's dangerous. the quarterback, one of the best in the country, also one of the best games against the great special teams. one of the greatest returns you'll ever see against tennessee a couple of weeks ago.

a fun weekend of football and a lot of things working out to find out what happens in that championship game. >> obviously, harold, arkansas shouldn't have been in this position, vanderbilt should've beat them a few weeks ago. >> and georgia should've beat them, as well. the real commodores. i want to ask ivan. i think virginia, virginia tech's going to be a heck of a game, i'm picking virginia over virginia tech. but if arkansas beats lsu and beats alabama, the whole thing is up in the air all over again. >> your point about the playoff, you talk about a playoff, got a real playoff there. how do you think things shake out if that happens? >> well, a lot of people like myself want a playoff system, a real playoff system kind of hope for chaos, and we got some of it last week with oklahoma state being upset at iowa state, no one saw that coming. boise state a few weeks ago, had a chance to go undefeated, lost at home to tcu. we're all hoping for all of this

to get thrown into chaos and that way the bcs system people every year say how are you giving us the best team? you're letting computers determine the champion. just think of the nfl. if the nfl worked the way the bcs does, the atlanta falcons last year with the nfc's best record would have been in the super bowl, the green bay packers who had to win their last regular season game would not have been in the super bowl and yet they won it. that's what we wind up with here. >> right 689. good point. it seems to me the case shrinks every more each year, and yet we have it. for our viewers, can you lay out briefly why we don't have a playoff if the consensus seems to be, at least, that football fans want it? >> well, we're here in washington, d.c. and harold, and people in politics can tell you why, it's money, man. bcs schools -- the big bcs schools want to keep it. they don't want to share that money. the way the system sits right now, those main schools from those main conferences get the

bulk of the money. teams like boise state, there's a reason they don't want them in that championship game. we saw utah a few years ago. they were left out of the picture, they blasted alabama in the sugar bowl. there was a lot of us who believe like that which makes the ncaa tournament so great, anyone can win on a given day. with college football, they want to share that money, they don't want to share with the rest of us. >> why don't you keep the existing bowl structure? so you can keep your games and make those part of a tournament. that's what i don't understand. >> it's too logical, you see. they don't want to work out logic. what they'll tell you is they don't want the kids playing these extra games, right, the student athletes because they're student athletes. whereas in the nca tournament these guys are on the road for a month and a half. >> they're so concerned about the kids, aren't they? >> it doesn't make a lot of sense, there's no logical reason. it's only a matter of time before, i think, we get a true playoff. i will say this about this year, it's shaping up to feel like that, but we won't know.

>> meacham? >> i think we should reconvene the super committee. >> yeah. >> just get it done. >> they don't have anything else to do now and go to work on this. up or down vote? >> who wins the heisman? >> the quarterback from baylor, talented young man. to put this in perspective, last week in the win over oklahoma, he had over 500 yards of offense. the entire time at oklahoma, only one team has done that. this young man this year 33 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, run for over 500 yards. i know folks here in the beltway are worried about who the next president will be. washington redskins fans are worried about who the next quarterback will be. and a lot of them hoping it's going to be that guy, robert griffin iii. and trent richardson with a lot on the line this weekend at auburn -- >> if trent puts up 150 -- >> he could have a big one. last year, cam newton had the comeback for auburn to beat

alabama. that cemented his status. trent could help himself with the big performance this weekend. but i want -- right now i'm saying watch robert griffin iii. >> he's been doing it his whole career in waco. an incredibly great player. before we leave you, let's get your picks now. two teams after this weekend, we're going to see lsu today. who ends up in the game? who wins? >> you're going to see lsu play georgia. they're going to win that game and you're going to have alabama, lsu rematch. i hope a little bit more offense than we had the last time. two great defenses, i think those are the two best teams. >> who wins? basically a home game for lsu. >> i've got to go lsu. that defense as you say playing at home, it's a coin toss type of game. but their special teams, the way they cover kicks, cover punts, they don't make the mistakes to beat themselves. >> i like the pick. finally, i've got to ask one more thing. the game of the day tomorrow, obviously, do the commodores

beat wake forest, get to .500 and punch their ticket to the music city bowl? >> i love what james franklin is doing in auburn, he should've been the coach at maryland. doing a great job there. they should have tennessee beat. >> they should have georgia beat, tennessee beat. >> they're 8-3, but let's not dwell on that. >> they're going to class. they're doing well academically, as well. >> i love ivan. come back. >> we could do this all day. come back again. >> any time. >> ivan carter. up next, mika will explain exactly what we're looking at in this photograph. >> that's a horse in the house. >> that and other brzezinski holiday traditions next on "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. wow.

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joining us now for our special holiday edition of "morning joe." maggie murphy, thank you so much for coming on the show. >> thank you for having me. >> your issue this week is fantastic, and last week you had kind of a pre-thanksgiving issue worth bringing up because everyone's asking. >> we need your help on this one. >> can you put up the photograph? >> there's an animal in the house, mika. >> yes, this is our horse strawberry. >> this is strawberry, and your mother used to -- >> and the pretty girl in the middle, is that mika? all her life looked like this. >> that's 1986. >> my brother ian and my mom. >> walk us through this. what is this? >> that's probably thanksgiving. we also do that at christmas and when we have parties. but we'll have dinner and we'll talk about -- we'll talk around the table and debate issues and my mom will say, let's bring the horse in the house, and the horse will drink vodka and eat off a plate.

>> does the horse ever do the other things that horses do? >> no, i would ride her sometimes right into the front door. >> now, was this before or after -- >> before and after. before and after. we didn't bring the horse in the house for ping because it was such a calamity. the flue was closed, there was smoke in the house. >> someone dropped something. >> i dropped caviar in his crotch, but before that, my mom dropped champagne and got my dad in the eye -- >> it was like meet the parents. >> this is to say everyone else's thanksgiving table was a little less -- >> this was -- just to be clear, a regular thing. this wasn't a one hch time accident -- >> she thinks it's fun. >> you didn't leave the door open on accident and the horse came in, this was a regular thing. >> strawberry would come in the house, exactly, and drink alcohol. >> and you would put a santa hat

on -- >> often we would. it was always lying around. all right. that's my thanksgiving. >> that's tradition. >> that's family. >> and joe -- and joe talked about -- joe talked about his thanksgiving which had a wonderful tradition where he talked about where his dad would cite a poem that was longer t e but also they would hold hands and now that's what he's trying to do in his family around the dinner table, which i think is really lovely. it's not a horse in the house, but it's a beautiful tradition. >> it's a wonderful thing to do. i love it. >> it's a wonderful thing to do. >> that's a good issue. i think i've explained myself. >> no, more -- this is useful. >> yes. >> i feel i should -- >> don't you wish you had a horse -- are you going to get a horse next year for christmas? >> no, that's hard to fit in on 86th street. >> let's move forward, maggie, to the giving issue. >> absolutely. >> can you help is the question you ask on the front cover of

"parade" magazine, a magazine in millions of homes this sunday. >> yep, it is. >> and what is it you want people to think about when reading this? >> well, we have black friday, we have cyber monday, we have football saturday, i think we need giving sunday. and this is based on there's so many needs in america right now. we all know this. the needs are so immense that experts have said there's compassion fatigue. people don't know where to start to help. and so what we decided, this idea started with a "parade" newspaper, allentown, "the morning call," and they do this every year locally and we decided to take this idea nationally. so these are ten charities that all need some help. everything from a food bank in oregon where we have the highest level of food nourishment needs, 30% of the children in oregon are, you know, suffering from

food malnourishment. so we have that. we have an olympic team. what a great gift to start off the season. you can adopt an olympic team. you can also help replant some sacred lands in new mexico which were devastated by wildfires, and help build safe rooms in joplin, missouri, where if the tornado had struck midday, school, 3,000 children would have been in jeopardy. i think lots of different ways -- >> do you have organizations people doing mortgage payments people can give to? >> yes, we have mortgage payments. needy families, someone with an ill child we focus on, how they need help keeping their child alive. these are not big needs, you can give $10. if you don't have the cash, we suggest ways you can clean out your closet. old sneakers, stuffed animals of which my child has plenty, slightly used, you can pass those along. just small and big ways that i

think we can all do just a bit of contribution around this shopping season. >> people won't be offended if they're wearing a sweat shirt with it. >> no. >> no one will know where it is -- >> even the neediest families turn those away. >> i saw president clinton speak at an event recently and he said one of the struggles, people are fatigued by our logjam in washington. and he said do something locally and do something that changes your neighborhood right now. and that might make you feel better and it also allows you to go to your representatives and say i've done this, what have you done? and i think that's a very powerful message we can give each other. >> and areas here where people can give, the charities you've chosen. you talked at the top here how people are overwhelmed, they don't know how to start. how did you choose? >> we tried to look at areas. obviously we looked at joplin, missouri, natural disasters,

also looked at ones that didn't get as much press. there were the terrible floods back in the spring, we looked at two counties there that needed help rebuilding, looked for ones that are inspiring like the olympic team. who knew? and you could follow their course from now till july when they're in london. and we took solicitations from the 600 parade of papers, the oregonian helped us find our cover child. and it's about a community reaching out, tell us where the needs are. like we said, these needs don't end once the christmas season ends, but i think it's a start. >> it's a fantastic cover. again, "parade" magazine. thank you so much, maggie. >> thank you, guys. >> giving people guidance and something to think about over this holiday. certainly really important. also to think about our veterans who are serving and coming home. coming up next, joan didion, keep it here on "morning joe."

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welcome back to "morning joe." we recently had the chance to sit down with author joan didion to talk about her new memoir "blue nights." the book takes a look at some of her recent personal tragedies. here's our discussion with mike barnicle, and one of america's

celebrated essayists, joan didion. >> it's great to have you here. this is, of course, the second book that followed up "the year of magical thinking," which created a real sensation, sold over 1 million books and put you in a very odd position with people coming up to you at airports. and seeing you as a grief counselor. >> it was odd. every place i went, somebody was telling me about who they had lost. and actually i got kind of used to it. >> right. >> i mean, it became a kind of gratifying moment in the day. but it was odd at first. >> tell us, if you can, about "blue nights," and i'm not sure this is the best way to put the question, but who was this book for? >> this book is for my daughter who died three, four years ago. and that's who it is for in my mind.

who it is -- who the reader is for, i suppose is anyone who has a child. it's about having children and how we deal with that kind of unnatural state. how we -- how we fail and how we sometimes come out okay. >> sometimes our biggest failures would be with our daughter -- i have two daughters. >> daughters are the hardest. >> it's the hardest in the world. >> i was hard for my mother. >> i was terrible. >> she later told me -- my mother later told me if she had to do it over again, she would send me off to boarding school until i was 21. >> yeah. i think you and i have a lot in common. >> mika's parents still say, oh, she was the hardest one. >> the most difficult child. >> but you wrote in this book about what it means to be a parent. and it's a very horrifying thing.

you suddenly -- and i remember this. and i remember talking to my parents about this. i said i went as a child being scared of everything to being a father. and understanding fear for the first time, you write about it. you suddenly have a fear of everything for your children. >> everything. i mean, i can remember when she was a tiny baby, i was always afraid that she was going to find something under the sink, you know, draino. >> right. >> what was the toughest part, though? you've written about loss in this book and the earlier book. what for you in this book was the toughest thing to do? >> the toughest thing for me to do in this book was to talk about the adoption. because it had been something that we talked about only to her for so long. and it wasn't -- it was a known -- definitely it was a known fact, but it -- but it wasn't something that was part

of our daily discourse. >> and the title, "blue nights." >> the book came to me when the title came to me. "blue nights" are those nights at the -- in the summer when you walk across the park and everything turns blue in front of your eyes, you know. >> i'm reading a little bit about the book and it kind of falls into the descriptions about writing it being a process of therapy. but losing your husband and losing a child, is there therapy for that ultimately? >> there is no resolution for it. there's more of a resolution for losing your husband because it's a more -- it's something we all expect if we have a husband or wife that person is going to die -- one of you is going to die before the other.

>> but not your child. >> but not your child. your child's out of line. >> you and your husband were so close, you were partners, you depended on him for feedback on your writing, whether you were in los angeles or new york. what was it like moving forward without him and saying, okay, i don't have anybody, i don't have my partner to bounce these ideas off of. >> when i say that everybody understands that the other person is going to die, i didn't believe it. i didn't believe it for one minute. >> well, thank you so much for being with us. >> the book is "blue nights." joan didion, thank you for coming on the show. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ i don't need anyone else in my arms ♪ ♪ but you tonight [ male announcer ] this is your moment. this is zales, the diamond store.

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