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good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry. before we begin, protests in egypt continue to react to yesterday's sentence for hosni mubarak to spend the rest of his life in prison. george zimmerman is back in florida and is expected to return to jail within the next few hours a judge revoked his bond on friday saying zimmerman lied about his financial situation. we're going to bring you that live as soon as it happens. but, first, our top political story. it was this day, four years ago, june 3rd , 2008, that barack obama clinched the nomination. now the obama campaign has come out swinging.

they have been getting their jams on mitt romney and punched him on his record as governor asthma massachusetts. more on romney later because i want to do something dinner today. as fun as this boxing match is to watch, it's time for president obama to make the affirmative case for oh why we should re-elect him. and as he might say, let me be clear. this is not about rewarding the president for a completed job or because mitt romney is scary. i mean, maybe a little bit on that last part. but this is actually about convincing the nation to use the 2008 vision that was so successful because what he conveyed to the american people is that it was not about him. it was about us. voters gave back to democrats president bush's response to the sweeping disenchantment with the

warner rock, a true surge. it was as though the bush administration said, voters you just don't matter. it's no surprise that so many were ready to embrace the message of, yes, we can. and yes, you can to your government. president elect obama was honest that it wouldn't be easy. >> the road ahead will be long. our climb will be steep. we may not get there in one year or even in one term. but, america, i have never been more hopeful than i am tonight that we will get there. i promise you. we as a people will get there. >> he was honest but hopeful. somebody say that the vision of hope and change didn't last long because in 2010 the tea party invasion began. i may not agree with its agenda but it does show the help of participatory democracy. that was then. this is now.

president obama needs to go forward. for stimulus and a renewed sense of cooperation and, most importantly, running on his record. because there are actual accomplishments. first, there's the economy. yeah, you heard me. i said the economy. friday's jobs numbers were not awe-inspiring with unemployment ticking up to 8.2%. but, again, let's be clear. president obama didn't create this recession. he inherited. he was elected in part to fix it. there's good evidence that the american jobs act of 2011 halted the economic decline and has this on a pathway to recovery. the president has insisted while we're still in an economic downturn, the government must do what it can. maintaining low taxes for middle class families through subsidies. second, prepare yourself because

i'm about to go in. the very first bill that president obama signed into law was the lilly ledbetter pay act for women to get equal pay. then president obama signed the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, which was officially done away with in september 2011. for the first time, servicemen and women had a chance to serve freely. and then we all heard the president come out in favor of same-sex marriage. president obama has kept his promise and ended operation combat by august 30, 2010 and then there is this accomplishment. while death itself shouldn't be celebrated, the elimination of osama bin laden ended a ten-year man hunt for the person orchestrating the 9/11 attacks.

these three areas show that although president obama hasn't accomplished everything, he's made bold attempt at change and has actually accomplished quite a bit. his record is one that any incumbent should stand on. most importantly, he knows that the job is not does but is determined to finish it. he'll have to effectively communicate this case affirmatively, not defensively. at the table with me is political analyst karen finney and a former staffer on john kerry's presidential campaign and this former virginia governor doug wilder. >> good to be with you. >> you knew from the day that you took office that you would not run for re-election.

so does it actually make a difference when one is governoring towards re-election that i feel is a common theme what we can expect from president obama is different than the second because he's governing towards re-election? >> well, you're freed. pretty much freed of having to worry about being re-elected to that job. and there are some that served in that position and you're absolutely right. i was struck with the need to do all that i had to do and i think the obama administration to the contrary has to be realistic. and to understand and concern yourself with what goes on. i was very struck with what you said earlier in terms of saying that the affirmative record, to not be defensive about it and this was one of the things that i always tried to -- this is where i stood. this is where i stand.

this is what i inherited. but i didn't spend that much time talking about how bad it was other than to say, this is what it's going to be. i think one of the things that the president could do more definitively would be to say, this is as tough of a job as you'll ever have. >> this was the onion headline on the day after the election. the onion headline was something like, african-american gets worst job in the country because who wanted to be president in november 2008? black man given nation's worst job. >> i had learned a great deal in this job, doing what i've done for the past three years, i have learned more than i knew before i came, obviously. >> right. >> and i've learned how to improve on what i've already done. these are the things that i have done. >> it's funny because a couple weeks before the election we were looking at each other at the dnc like, if we don't lose

this thing, i don't know. i agree. i think the president has tried to do that and it's always a balance in a re-election because any time you're running for re-election, democrat or republican, you're on defense just by the virtue of the fact is that you have a challenger whose job it is to say, this guy shouldn't get re-elected and also the vice president does a good job of that. he has to be eye firm tif. he talked about the blueprint and frankly if you look back over the last three years, a lot of what he's talked about is our future, why we need to invest in education in the future, why we need to make investments in f n infrastructure. unfortunately, i think the president has had to spend more time than he probably should have to talking about what he inherited because so much of the

way the republicans cast what is going on doesn't acknowledge -- >> right. >> all right. it feels like part of the conversation is about bringing the middle and even conservatives or convincing them, but the other piece of it, we know that there's also sort of this group on the left whose anxiety with the president has to do with feeling like it didn't go far enough. rather that he's a social from the left, he gave up a big insurance give away in the health care reform. >> i think he can and part of the issue that applies to left and the rest of the country because it's an issue for human beings is we all have short memories. even those who care about politics or anything. and so the list is long of the accomplishments. you went through several. there are many more. people forget. during the 2008 campaign president obama ran on a $50

million stimulus and obama got into office and gave us not 100, not 200, but $700 billion stimulus. t.a.r.p. was controversial but this administration wound down aspects at a net gain, bailed out detroit auto with an $8.6 billion loan to chrysler that has been fully repaid. sold the stake of that to fiat at a net gain. so when you look at -- this is the stuff and you contrast that to romney saying, does he know how to build a balance sheet, does that mean that everyone has jobs? no. it's an argument for progressives and everyone else, we've done tremendously successful things on the homefront managing a crisis economy and they don't always lead with that. i actually think they might. >> yeah, absolutely. when we come back, i want to not

only talk about the economic record but also this question about whether or not he is doing the work of being a champion for equality. there's critique on both sides of that. later, we'll take you live to england. why? because it's the queen's jubilly. don't go away. she doesn't have to worry about re-election. with the capital one cash rewards card you get a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more cash -- well, except her. no! but, i'm about to change that. ♪ every little baby wants 50% more cash... ♪ phhht! fine, you try. [ strings breaking, wood splintering ] ha ha. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. ♪ what's in your wallet? ♪ what's in your...your... yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall.

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about the obama support for same-sex marriage, the president is out in front of the issue and it's possible people are taking his lead. on thursday, the defense of

marriage act and the president's record is clear. it shows a desire that every american is treated fully and as a u.s. citizen. we are back with karen finney and ari and doug wilder. okay. here's my question for you, karen, on this issue of social and civil equality. you sent me an e-mail link to the piece by fred harris saying that we are still waiting on our african-american president and this critique that the president has been insufficient on issues of racial equality. i'm thinking, wait a minute. we have the settlement on african-american farmers. we've got the fair sentencing act around reducing the crack and cocaine piece. we have real sort of accomplishments here. lilly ledbetter has an impact on african-american women who are more likely to be single family wage earns. >> health care reform.

>> health care reform. >> has the president does none on race? >> this is a controversial subject. where is the agenda for black america? and to me, you know what i see the president doing and i think i've said this to you before, one of the pieces that got the least amount of attention but i think was the most important was him talking about his own personal journey where he says, i've got to embrace it all. when you listen to what he talks about, that's how he talks about these issues of social equality. they see health care as a right for everyone. it talks about economic inequality and he's talking about everyone. i think in the language of the president he believes he's trying to help everyone with -- you know, we're going to lift all votes and perhaps not the, we need to do this sector, that sector, that sector with obvious exceptions. that's the balance that we have and as the first black president

is, how do you balance the expectations of a community at the same time know that you've got to be the president of everybody? i think you need to do more to communicate that. >> governor, you faced this question during your tenure as the first african-american governor since reconstruction and the question about whether or not you're sort of relatively deracialized bay of governing the state, whether it was doing enough. is it a communications issue? >> part of that. but more of the thing that i was also concerned about is while i left there you could see that imprint. you could see people who looked like me, who were a part of me in various positions that have never been there before. women, african-americans, minorities were put there. now, was it a lot of noise made about it? a lot of news made about it? no. because i was picking qualified

people. that's one of the things that could be done in terms of saying, yes, this is a piece yesterday on your show relative to what is going on with regard to the purging and people being put out. that justice department headed by eric holder is doing a tremendous job now making certain those things are not going to continue. and who was it directed to? minorities, african-americans, black, brown people. if that doesn't get corrected, we're going to lose several million votes. >> and there was a period at the justice department under bush where they were not going after affirmative action cases and they were told to not talk about that. >> what's wrong with him saying that, this is what we are doing. >> the justice department one is the one that we're talking about, where is the agenda, the legislation? and the justice department was threading that needle. the voting rights issue is you bring the voting rights act to this supreme court? i hear people saying, you need to be more aggressive.

trust me, you do not want it coming before this supreme court. >> i think a large degree is a question of emphasis and it's, who are we talking about when we talk about black america? are we talking about barack obama, oprah, jay-z. we are in an exciting area where we've had a lot of progress or trayvon martin and african-american men under the wage of 25 in new york city. there were more african-american males stopped under the stop and frisk policy. that means they bring in the tourists and the other bureaus. so in new york city it's a diverse, wonderful place to live. >> with a fairly diverse police force. >> with a lot of progress compared to others. and walking around new york is a fundamentally different

experience. when i compare that to what was said about trayvon martin, that it would look like his son, that was powerful and meaningful and what i would call a meaningful case. >> with you there has been sentencing. the fair sentencing act was which reduced the disparity between crack and powder cocaine and then even around stop and frisk feels more local to me. i wonder about the ways that we are hoping for the president to also be behaving as the mayor and as the governor. >> just one more thing, what i mean about emphasis, if you look at affirmative action policies, which has been a divisive issue but an important one, and legal minds while and we are doing

what we can, we'll see what happens and we're not going to when he became president, we're still at war, how is the president's foreign policy legacy part of his story when we return. [ male announcer ] this... is the at&t network. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions, to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪

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how it will affect the foreign policy administration. karen finney and robert because we finally need to let a republican speak and hip-hop dj smooth and the foreign policy piece is undoubtedly part of what the president has been touting. connect that to the case for obama. >> okay. well, a couple of things. number one, he said he was going to get osama bin laden and he did. not only is that in conjunction with the other successes that they've had with regard to al qaeda, which has done a lot to destabilize al qaeda, it was an important mental victory for this country and as you said,

maybe we should milestone like that. >> the president gave the president quite a poor grade and let's take a quick listen as to what president obama had to say. >> even despite the killing of osama bin laden? >> when i look at foreign policy and his decisions in foreign policy, i look at the fact that he was looking to have a force of american troops staying in iraq, securing what has been so hard to win there with the agreement and failed to achieve it. >> he can't even get a c-minus on osama bin laden. >> what he's doing is grading on iraq and afghanistan. that's not the entire picture.

when you look at foreign policy record, he's done a very good job with guantanamo, managing and with the benefit of hindsight, i would give the president a b minus or of a c plus. however, afghanistan is a big part of that and he's failed on that on a number of issues. >> the other thing is, the reason why we had an agreement in iraq and part of the reason that we pulled the troops out, the iraqis would not give the president what he wanted to protect our troops. he said, you know what, we're out. if i can't have a certain level of protection, that's not apologizing. that's saying, i'm going to look out for my guys and if we can't be confident in our abigs to secure our own people.

>> all the way through he said i'm going to listen to my generals and advisers. he's done that. more importantly, though, the biggest check in his armour, people were attacking saying him that he had absolutely no foreign policy experience. and even robert. >> how he handles this eu situation, with the whole austerity question. >> which is also a connection with the global economy. >> and i'm not sure most americans understand how literally tied to the hip we are from a financial standpoint. >> as he said, continuously, we as americans cannot do it alone. we cannot do it by ourself. >> and that comes across that he doesn't understand that american is special and unique when he's like, we're in a global economic web here.

>> right. i think it's funny because in a way it might be easier to critique him from the left than the right on the foreign policy. there isn't quite as much differ rengs asian and there's been strength and prag ma tichl that even though there may be a dash of cheney unsafe vor ree to me clearly preferable to et going the whole cheney. >> just a little dash of it, right? >> conservatives whisper about trk don't talk about it openly, they believe that the president doesn't believe in exceptionalism. and earlier about the apologizing, whether he believes in exceptionalism. >> it's odd to me. that's been his platform. part of the impulse that i feel

from president obama is the immigrant impulse about the sort of big -- this big story of america and i can remember in that race speech in fld fltd when he's talking about the experiences of his former past sto pastor, let me tell you my big story. >> in many ways, ronald reagan was simplistic and americans obviously got that. president obama overthinks it and in a good way. >> he says only -- >> he got it in a good way. >> obama also says, only many america is my story possible. that is as -- to me, that's as cut and dry and clear and simple a statement as you can make about this country on an economic level, if you consider his humble beginning from an economic standpoint, from a racial standpoint. there's so many lines from which you can view his life and say, that is a big american story and he says, this is why america is

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option, his approval rating would be 98% mack. >> i'm back with robert and karen finney and jay he feels like neh. isn't that bad for president obama is that a really scary opponent -- is there a way to make mitt romney more than -- >> i think in sincerity it might be his greatest asset. he could lull swing voters into a false sense of security i think when you're going between president obama and the fact that he's so wishy washy and the fact that he you this think it's

safe to vote for him. >> this does impart the question for small government sfoex. if you are a small govern ideolog, what is your affirmative case for becoming president of a government that you want to make as small as possible? >> remember, elections are all about choices. it's really about you. and they say, perhaps maybe my choice shd be the standard package. mitt romney is a not a charismatic guy. but maybe that is okay. >> we have president obama lagging at 41. it's not a likelihood of voting and clearly right now president

obama is more liked. >> yeah. i wanted to say, robert, i love you but i've got to call you out on something. part of what we are seeing is this, you were lulled by the rhetoric. part of that is about, to some degree, undermining his character and undermining president obama. again, i think we all had a lot of hope in 2008 and a lot of it was unrealistic. within that -- part of what they are trying to do is say, it's okay. you know, you were fooled that last time. it's okay if you don't want to vote for him again. and i don't want voters to be taken off track that taxes are lower. there's a real record when we come down to a debate. >> romney, however he is raised in the polls, he doesn't come off threatening.

he doesn't come off saying, i'm scared of him. just like you say, he might not be the premium but the real issue here is the anti--obama feeling is that going to be overcome by this playing vanilla-type approach. >> i wonder, if he can make an economic case and make the clarity, the scary part. he seems like a really nice person. maybe mad but reasonable. the question is, can he say here you'll get austerity and i'm going to provide you with a stimulus. this actually shows -- >> but what you have done is say exactly the election is going to be about money, the economy, and

jobs any president should be at 3.2%. >> that slide, sort of a massive slide that happened around gdp and the other thing is, when you look at that 8.2 unemployment, it's being driven by government, by political -- the public sector shedding jobs. private sectors making them and republican sectors are shedding jobs. >> the case that romney is making feels like, let's go back to things that we think -- most of us as democrats, have failed as trickled down and what i would say is the critique on obama is, the problem i have is there's no parallel fantasy universe. if we would have done these things we would have 4% unemployment. we are where we are. you have to judge based on here's where we started, here's where we are. here's what romney is proposing and what do we know, what data do we have to suggest that that

will work when it has in the past? >> we will stay -- we will undoubtedly, over the course of this campaign, have this conversation many times. as my last point, the president kept his very, very first campaign promise which was immediately after being electeded he said i'm getting the girls a dog. if the thought of mitt romney as president makes you nervous, how become some of the folks that he's considering as his vice president. that's actually there. we're going to take a pop quiz on vice presidential hopefuls when we come back. [ female announcer ] chair climbing isn't a professional sport,

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crazy, right ? well, with this droid razr by motorola on verizon 4g lte, you guys can stay in touch. ( grunts ) cool. you can video call on skype... send photos. yeah, okay. yeah, let's do it. get $100 off any motorola 4g lte smartphone, like the droid 4 now just $99.99. verizon. right now mitt romney has one decision to make what is considered the decision that the party's presumptive will make and that brings me to our current segment, pop quiz. okay. so today's topic, is, of course,

running mate of both yesterday and today and everyone at the table has a bell and i'm just going to give you a question and then you guys will ring it if you think you know the answer. mitt romney, this election is completely up to him. but it was not always true. used to be that when you ran for president it was the person who got the second most electoral college votes who became your vice president. that changed in 1812. the party got to pick the vice president. who was the first president who got to pick his own vice president and who did he pick? yes, governor. >> i yield. >> i was going to say woodrow wilson. >> good idea. it was fdr and it was in his third term in 1940 and his election was secretary of

agriculture henry a. wallace because his virs vp didn't want him to run for the third. he was like, peace out. and we are doing it. okay. second question, are you in it, joe? okay. which running mate had this classic zinger during a three-man vice presidential debate. he said, you know, i didn't have my hearing aid turned up. please ask me again. >> stockdale. >> yes. admiral james stockdale. >> why am i here? >> and you know, his middle name was bond. we might have had a vice president named james bond. that would have been something. okay. coming a little more to the current moment, which potential romney running mate recently suggested that unmanned prones should police his state? >> i can't believe it would be

the governor of virginia. >> you got it. yes, my friend. that's why i was looking at you. >> i got the hint. >> yes. mr. trans vaginal ultrasound is also mr. drone guy. thank you, virginia governor. >> okay. which potential romney pick learned to speak spanish from mexican cowboys while working on a ranch? and he was recently with prime minister netanyahu as a hint. >> yes? >> oh, now his name went right out of my head. >> give me the state. >> ohio? >> bob portman. >> that's right. senator bob portman. he also has a titanium

collarbone. all right. this man has a nickname he gave himself when he was 4 years old while watching the brady bunch. >> marco rubio? >> no. it's my governor. bobby jindal. yeah. so bobby -- yes. >> this was fun. i love you guys. okay. coming up, the battle for america's heartland is really a battle for america. what two things this constant recall election means for all of us. joe, did you enjoy that? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. yoo-hoo. hello.

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two in twu days, republican voters go back to the polls to

recall scott brown from governor. setting off a cascade of descent from opponents and making walker only the third governor in the nation to face a recall. here with us now from madison wisconsin is the exhibit be tif director of the center for media and democracy who has been tracking all of the outside influence in this race so far. so nice to see you, lisa. >> thanks so much, melissa. >> okay. so with two days to go until the recall, scott walker is leading. tell me how you're feeling on the ground about this. >> well, we've been covering this election and these issues since last winter and it looks as though the polls are neck-and-neck. what we're seeing is a huge battle on the ground to get the vote out. the last poll we saw was in dead heat. >> okay. so in this case, we've been talking a little bit about the president making an affirmative case for himself. and a recall is about scott walker but is there an affirmative case to be made for tom barrett or is it just about

taking scott walker out? >> well, i've seen a lot of statements on behalf of scott walker being made. i've seen a lot of statements being made on behalf of tom barrett and his record. he made a showing in the debate talking about what he would do as governor if he were to bring people to the table. scott walker said that he stood by his statement about the divide and concur approach that he took. and so it's not just about scott walker. i think in many ways it's about a lot more than what is happening. it's about outside influence and money. there was a party that resisted in having governors beholden to foreign powers and here in wisconsin the governor, through a loophole, as raised millions of dollars from out of state billionaires and that's an issue in wisconsin. a lot of people are talking about that. >> let's talk a little bit about that. i'm going to make the argument later that i think this is not a

bellwether. even if scott walker were to stay in office, that does not mean, for example, that president obama will lose in november. but i do think that clearly this issue of money and the impact of outside money in the election is going to tell us something about what we're likely to see for the rest of the summer and the fall. talk to me about the fact that scott walker has outspent tom barrett 12 to 1. >> certainly the governor who has received the most money from out of state interests ever in the state of wisconsin but that's not just the whole story. you also have money being spent by the millions by groups like americans for prosperity which is david coax funded group. he's the chair of that group. he's the billionaire that everyone has been talking about and his group is crossing the state with a bus tour that he claims has nothing to do with the election. just like their ads he claims

has nothing to do with the election. another major network has a reporter embedded in one of those buses and he says that they have 25 people showing up. every time there's a progressive here in town, we have wall wall-to-wall coverage. there is grassroots. the movement coming out for progressives has been huge since the beginning. >> again, as we were looking at the wisconsin numbers, boy, wisconsin, you guys vote. i mean, the turnout in wisconsin short of traditionally is well up over 65, well up over 70% in presidential elections, even in midterm elections. this feels like brothers and outside money versus the power of turnout and voting. in that sense it feels like maybe this is about what kind of democracy we're going to have going forward, even beyond the

union policies that are at stake. >> well, i think that's right. what you're going to see in this election and in the next five months is an enormous amount of outside influence. karl rove said he's going to spend a billion. that's more than there is outside of the country. and that's outside money. then you've got these big super pacs that are raising money by the millions and then americans for the u.s. chamber of commerce that are going to be involved, the republican association that has spent big in wisconsin so far. this is going to be the most expensive election so far and it's going to be a battle in many respects for whether this country is a real democracy or whether the corporate powers and ceos are going to use so much money that they get to choose who wins. >> thank you, lisa graves. thank you for letting us know what is happening.

>> thank you, melissa. what the convention for wisconsin means for the country. back after a break. [ female announcer ] chair climbing isn't a professional sport, but it takes real effort and pampers cruisers with 3-way fit. they adapt at the waist, legs, and bottom for up to 12 hours of protection. play freely in pampers cruisers. starts with arthritis pain and a choice.

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that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. welcome back, wisconsin's recall of scott walker, some have suggested that the state, which has voted for the democratic candidate since 1988 will become a predictor of this year's national fight. i'm here to tell you that that part of the conventional business come about this election is just wrong. wisconsin's recall may be a fight for labor but it's not a predictor for what is to come in our presidential election. if walker holds on to his seat this week, it will certainly be a republican talking point and provide a bit of short-lived

momentum but will not predict president obama's defeat in november. why? because local elections are different kinds of animals. and a multistep process for the campaign and opponent and participation in the way that our national elections are, even if it's happening in the local level. back with me is karen finney, ari, correspondent for "the nation" magazine and robert, former rick santorum communications director. in madison, wisconsin, the director of state and union. is this a reasonable way to conduct democracy? >> as you pointed out, only in the third time of the nation has

this happened and recalling is okay if there are, what i consider, legitimate reasons. disagreeing with someone, in my judgment, is not necessarily the reason that you would have a recall. but when you and your previous guest that was in wisconsin talk about the amount of money, look at the bill to control and to be in a position to eliminate some of this undue spending taking place. this is one of the things that i think the obama administration should be talking about. who is going to be appointing to sit on the supreme court. and if we have no idea what the importance is going to be. one thing it's going to mean

they are not going to be able to run for office if elected. >> there in wisconsin, at this moment, at two days out from the election tell me how the pro labor, pro barrett vote, how is it sneelg this is a multiple level process. first you have to get the signatures for the recall. then you have to determine who was going to run against your current governor and now you have folks back out to vote. that level of organization seems to be a high bar to get over. >> it's not a high bar. it's an energy level. when we spoke out about scott walker and what they did for wisconsin and and also now again, we don't have to call people and ask them to come out

and do canvassing. people are out there doing what they have to do there's a lot of volunteers and boots in wisconsin that counterbalances the money. we have 35,000 volunteers out there. yesterday we did 400,000 knocks. we're going to do two million by tuesday. i think the wisconsin citizens have embarked upon a new way of political action, if you will it's not labor alone, not nonprofits alone, not community groups alone. it's a broadbase coalition. it's a community coalition that's out there. it's working and there's activity going on. >> now, ari, marty says that it's not just the coalition. he's right about that. the boots on the ground and the

level of participation is in part because of a highly unionized place. can you have that without strong labor unions? >> and so traditionally, under the structure of this modern democratic party big money does exist on both sides. >> let's listen to what paul ryan has to say about this. >> this will send shock waves

throughout america it's a momentum maker or breaker. the stake is as high as they ever could be. it's on the ballot on tuesday. >> what he is saying, look, if we can do this in wisconsin, if we can bring the unions back in wisconsin, we can do this in oh ohio, in florida. this is a battle ground test for november. that's number one. number two, it's also a rhetorical talking point to say, governor walker did the right thing here. this is according to the republican party, by speaking up and standing up to the unions. i totally agree with the governor. this is all about policy and nothing really to do about politics. look, at the end of the day, when you look at state constitutions, the reasons why you have recalls is because the people get to decide, if they so choose, to impeach their

governor. this is a lot about anger on this, i agree i feel like elections matter. we are in 2010. >> that's correct. >> people feel like he broke faith. you're trying to break the back of labor and saying that it has something to do with job creation but really it will help those and it's not the outside money. it's that the outside money is getting more of a priority than the needs of the people. and you know what, we will hold you accountable and we are going

to find other ways to hold you accountable. >> is this about feeling that he broke faith? >> in a lot of ways, people vote for television commercials and not for candidates, yes, scott walker talking about all of these great things and the jobs he was going to develop and ran his debate on that basis. he gets elected and takes away bargaining rights you have to listen carefully and to the facts. what happened with scott walker and some of the other republican senators is exactly what is going on here. >> all right.

i. >> i think there's attention what is going on with what you're proposing, which are two different theories of democracy. there's a constant assault. we can't expect incumbents to get anything done if they are not only dealing with the campaigns and fundraising and campaigns put upon them just for carrying out their own ideologies. or whatever they are. the problem with the cruise control democracy, the problem with the idea that you just flip it on and let it ride for two or four years, no matter what happens and on the national scale people saw what went beyond that and how do you rein that in. if the recall is on the books

and it's within the rule of law, it's saying, are these extraordinary circumstances? the governor is saying, what are the extraordinary circumstances and do we have a legitimate debate about that? and the last thing i would say is there is something really unusual going on in the sense that we hear about the republicans being the party of the status quo. but what you have in wisconsin and as robert said there may be a template for the whole country is a radical restructuring and the democrats are there saying, we want to defend the deals that were made with public employees and the radical republicans that have a whole different vision. that may meet the test. >> speaking of the democrats being there to defend something, maybe they are not. we have more on wisconsin coming up because tuesday is do or die. what could the end of labor mean and is it really the end of labor? stay with us. so you brushed with colgate total and you didn't. let's compare. germ party! eww! now the colgate total mouth. nice!

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i can just hear it now. all of these people who poured money into wisconsin, if you don't show up and vote, they will say, see, we've got them now. we're going to break everyone government in america, we're going to stop worrying about the middle class. we don't give a rift. we've got it now. divide and concur works. you tell them no. >> that was former president bill clinton on fire for democratic challenger tom barrett and doing his part for the democratic cause in the recall election in wisconsin. how is the wisconsin recall election a proxy for this national political question? with me is karen finney, ari, robert, and in wisconsin still, marty.

were you guys hoping that president obama, the white house administration would show up and weigh in here? >> whatever help we can get is fine but i have to say that this fight here is a wisconsin fight. it's not barack obama's fight. it's not the national democratic party fight. this is wisconsin's fight. this is the heart and soul of wisconsin. we can't depend on somebody else or an entity from the outside. we have to do it ourselves. so to say that we are disappointed in that, this is our fight. we're going to do our own battle. >> marty, that is why i love people in the midwest. exactly that notion. maybe that's part of what is happening here. but it does -- i do just wonder in terms of pure self-interest, i'm surprised the democratic party is not on the ground there. >> look, i would have liked to see more engagement from -- a public engagement. when you saw debbie wasserman

schultz. there's a lot of important themes coming out of it. like marty said, it's not going to be just what the ads say but what they are going to do. no matter what, regardless of anything any of us says at this table, the day after, the gop is going to make this a story about barack obama. so to me just the pragmatist says, be prepared for that argument. let's make that case and have the counter argument for that case because they are going to, whether we like it or not. certainly as you said, recall, lots of different steps, lots of different dynamics. they are going to use that as a narrative for places in ohio and say, we can go after labor and win. whatever those narratives are, they are going to use it. >> this is a wisconsin story. this is a wisconsin battle.

is it possible that the reason we're talking about this is we have advertisement dedicated to 24 hours a day? >> it's drama. it's fight in-filled. there's so many different stories here. one local story is that this is a wisconsin story. they are very, very motivated. they are very, very intelligent when it comes to an electoral process. the drama and intrigue is very interesting. only three governors have been recalled. the last one was gray davis in southern california. the president, although a couple months ago, he was vocally talking about this, they have been very quiet about this. nobody has been talking about this from the white house. >> let's listen to jay carney.

he was asked about this and he was very quiet. >> next tuesday is the recall election in wisconsin. tom barrett, the democratic candidate and pthe president endorsed tom barrett? >> not that i'm aware of. i'll have to take the question do you know if the president endorses that view? >> there are issues unique to the spending that's happened in that particular matter that would suggest that she's right but i haven't discussed it with the president. >> have you ever seen anybody more comfortable?

>> in isle saturday night impression of nicholas cage. there's no other way to deliver lie. i think the white house is like that in an election campaign. their position was a shift and it was interesting and a strong and important time to do it. they yelled it, nonetheless and they have pointed out something very true there. i think in the long run it is a mistake. where do policies come from if certain tactics work and the stocks here. >> i'm going to give you the

last word since you're on the ground there in wisconsin. what is the national story we should take from whatever this outcome is on tuesday? >> i think the national story is that this is the middle class season that is government-backed from the right wing. and we will see hardworking and middle class workers and students across the state say, this isn't wisconsin. we're going to take our values back. we're going to take wisconsin back and move forward in the progressive way. >> thank you. all eyes will be on you. thanks. >> thank you. up next, we're going to take you to england because, you know, we're talking about the ruling class. let's go look at the ruling class. queen elizabeth diamond jubilee, an historic monarch for the jubilee. she doesn't have to run for re-election. tough for her to get recalled.

don't go away.

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this morning, across the pond, the main event. today is day two of the queen's jubilee which marks 60 years of the queen's reign. over 1,000 boats from around the globe are taking part in a massive floatilla. there are boats of all shapes and sizes. it's beautiful. the majesty, the images of it, back with this fun panel. so when talking about doing this segment, i was remembering as a little girl when you were elected as the first african-american governor -- >> you don't have to make it

sound -- >> i'm sorry. you were also very young, very young. and i was living in virginia, south much richmond at the time and my parents made sure that we watched the entire ceremony of your inauguration and there is something about the ceremonial in politics that helps tie us. even if it's not a real thing t. ties us to the experience of our country. >> one of the things that i remember, she came to richmond during the centennial and this was when i was mayor and i gave her the key to the city and the prince was standing right behind me and he said, whatever it is that you gave her, i said i gave her the key to the city. he said, my dear, you must give it back to him. she said why? because he may not be able to get back in. >> i love it. i love it. >> so robert, you apparently know the age of -- when we were talking before, the age of the

queen's mother, you corrected me. what is your interest in the british monarchy? >> i don't know. i read a lot about the queen and her family. it's always fascinating. to your point, there's something to be said about milestones, whether it's a wedding anniversary, a birth, a death, stop and think about this for a moment. this woman has met with every single united states president since harry truman. she has met every single first lady since eleanor roosevelt. she is the head of state, obviously, of not only great britain but 26 other countries in the commonwealth. there really is a working aspect to her job per se. she just doesn't sit there and wave. >> although she does wave well. >> yes, she does. >> thank you to robert trainer and ari. congratulations, queen. up next, much more serious. summer is around the corner, which is for a lot of people a

great thing. but in many of our nations, summer means a time when violence and murders spike. we're already getting an early indication that it's going to be a long summer of violence and many, including me, are scared for our kids. that's when we return. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. but will it last 'til the end. it will is it's new lashblast 24hr with anti smudge power. [ male announcer ] through dining

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now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. last night tragedy struck toronto. in seattle a.lone gunman killed five people before taking his life. these are the type of murders that make national news. but these are not the kinds of gun crimes that take american lives on a daily basis. in my city, people die every day. literally every day. the murder rate in new orleans is one of the highest in the country. and the city emerged from a

memorial day weekend with four shootings and three deaths in one day. including a 33-year-old woman, a 5-year-old girl who were shot and killed when shooting erupted outside on the 10-year-old's birthday party on tuesday. and in chicago, another city where i love, ten people were killed and dozens were wounded in shootings during the holiday weekend. these shootings aren't random. they are part of a pattern of crime that has gripped these cities. one of the surprising economic downturns is that most cities did not see a spike in violent crime at the same time. now, criminologists have linked to unemployment, housing displacement and other economic factors. they have been scratching their heads asking, where is the violence? well, both are about to launch programs by states and raising their hands to say, the violence is right here.

virginia governor doug wilder is back and joining us is national urban league president. also a former mayor of the city of new orleans. thank you, gentlemen. >> great to be with you. >> so both of you have been mayors. mark, you of new orleans and governor wilder, mayor of richmond. what is the fundamental issue when it comes to urban violence? not the random violence but the systematic violence? >> the fundamental issue, i believe, in thinking about how you fix it, how you do something about it, is to recognize that policing a loan will not do it. youth programs alone will not do it. restrictions on guns alone will not do it. drug interventions alone will not do it. there must be a coordinated comprehensive effort in order to confront it. the jobs situation, i don't care what anyone says, has

exacerbated the sense of alienation, the sense of people being locked out in urban communities satisfy a contributing factor in places like new orleans and chicago and many others. >> the feeling of being besieged is one that it goes so far beyond just these individuals, the idea of a little girl's birthday party becoming a space for shootings and murders happen. i live in the seventh ward and the idea that on our block, we have had shootings happened. my daughter spent summers in chicago with her dad. it has a gripping feeling of here. how do you move citizens to a feeling of having a sense of empowerment in the context of this? >> i agree with mark. in terms of no entity singly can handle that. what we did as mayor and had an excellent police chief was to make sure that we had sector policing. in other words, the people in the community knew every

policeman in that sector. the policeman knew that family. so not just in crime but for any occasion and a basic notion of community that links to the police that is not this outside force that is imposing something on you. >> and activities and a sense of trust that's built, not a sense of distance. >> that's correct. >> let's be real. part of what makes that possible is resources. >> money counts. >> we were looking at your 63%, assaults by 60%, armed robberies down to 39. i like you. i think you are a great leader. there seems to have inputs here

that made that possible. >> the clinton administration in a sense of community policing, we had an aggressively tripling of youth recreation department programs and dollars. we had a massive increase in summer youth employment. and you had -- and i think this is something that is missing. you had community leaders and elected officials who said, enough is enough who said we are going to say that this is a and we're not going to take solutions. we're going to try to move the ball. the economy was a lot better. >> right. >> since that time, the nation has invested in wars and it's invested in homeland security this issue has not been enough of a front burner issue. more people have died than overseas in tes in the last dec >> you know, as we come back, i want to figure out this question

because one of the things that i find exciting about an obama presidency, beyond the question of race or even being a democrat was the idea that he came from a city and maybe cities would be at the front of the agenda. i want to bring other voices in but i want to talk about how do we get our cities on a national agenda. it's a national year. coming up, why those budgets cuts can be quite dangerous and how it dramatically affects the crime rate. the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. thought they were dead. [ laughter ]

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that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. but why doesn't it last? well, plaque quickly starts to grow back. [ dr. rahmany ] introducing crest pro-health clinical rinse. it actually keeps your teeth 91% clean of plaque even at 2 months after a dental visit. new crest pro-health clinical rinse. it's true, that in tough times, cutting too much can lead to unintended consequences. new york city mayor michael bloomberg proposed a budget that would cut the afternoon sites to 261. this is going to save the city $19 million, a fraction of the $60 billion budget for the city but also leaves 26,000 children with nowhere to go and parents

who have to choose between work and child care and that's a potential recipe for disaster. joining me is karen finney and jay smooth. really, kids out in the summer without programs sounds like, let's please have a crime rate. >> it definitely sounds disturbing and it shows how skewed the prirts corities can . why crime hasn't gone up across the board in the past few years, there are no simple answers to why the trend is not popping up in certain areas we should take it as oon opportunity to challenge the assumption that putting a bigger and bigger percentage of our population the industrial complex and does not good for anybody and it's up to

one in seven black men is either in prison or parole and crime is increasing at a much steeper rate. >> it feels like there is an economic component to this, right? >> right. >> if your city feels like a dangerous city, if chicago or new orleans is a place that is crime-ridden, people won't put their kids in school and build businesses. is it in the interest of a national of the u.s. congress, of the presidential administration to pour some money into our cities? >> absolutely. the political conversation has to meet that. this is why jobs matters, the overall economy matters. the money is going to go away, which means it's going to mean more cuts in some of the state budgets and more kids on the street with nowhere to go and no programs. in the national picture when we're thinking about this and talking about this, i'm frankly surprised it hasn't come up on

the campaign trail as an issue because it's a big concern and not just in urban communities. >> you know, i want to hear candidates who run for office and talk about you are man america is not just new york and chicago, it's akron, tallahassee it's not just new orleans. it's communities. it's also the metropolitan areas and i think that my thinking is that it's investing and that investing is going to have a positive rate of return for the economy and society and i just think that candidates who run and i challenge them all, to talk about urban communities, metropolitan communities, and talk about cities. >> and it feels like we have best practices. obviously the head of the urban league, which is all of the

candidates talking about the urban areas, some places actually work. we can certainly a building of a prison complex getting parents involved works. >> the finest speech that i heard that barack obama made in the '08 campaign was in miami and he said that problems of the cities, of the metropolitan areas, rather, the cities can be the solutions and i'm going to commit and the kinds of things he promised and spoke of doing, i have been wanting to see more of that because you're absolutely right. if our cities are not held up -- >> you know, jay, part of what i hoped was that the trayvon martin killing would not just be

one off. this is an unusual case of a black man dying. young black men are dying every day. let's think carefully about the value of their lives and create policy because we're doing something about it. >> right. those source of things could bring more attention to this, necklace all of our cities. there's a tendency for a lot of us to take the election of president obama as a step closer to the dubious extensiinction o color blindness and it makes sure that hard times hit people harder. i would wish that a case like trayvon martin could shed more light on this. >> i want to make sure that the president in fact responded to a meeting i participated in with him last year where we said, mr. president, in your jobs bill, do some things that are going to be of benefit to urban communities

and he proposed a summer jobs component. it's been fil phil bust ter it lost in the do nothing congress that could, in fact, benefit the communities that we're talking about today. >> that's the most important point because the level of obstruction that the president has faced from the republican congress and even you say, you controlled both houses when you came in. again, the obstruction that we faced, the fill lee bust sister, it would have created pools of money for urban infrastructure, for cities to have this kinds of programs. >> melissa, you're absolutely correct. >> and look at the community colleges. >> and the important part about that is, yes, jobs matter but we're not just talking about

lives. we're talking about communities. we're talking about whole communities. >> people who have a rate of return, that yield benefits for the society. we've got to get the terminology and the understanding clear that we're talking about things that make sense for nations. that make sense for the economy. that this is not something that just, quote, is do goodism, although it's the right thing to do, it's something that a country arising from a recession in a globally competitive marketplace must do. >> mark, you just talked about the do nothing congress. i've got to tell you, there's quite an intense rumor going around new orleans. the rumor is that mark is going to run for the congressional district. >> i love my job. >> would you like to make news on mhp this morning? >> i'm with you. if you feel like -- we have about 90 more seconds in the

segment. if you feel like you want to make news, feel free. >> did you hear what i said? >> you're going to run against bobby jones? we're going to get bobby on the vp position. >> there you go. >> clinton used to make the point, when we waste these lives, what if that was the kid who was going to have the next breakthrough in technology. >> that's right. >> we don't know. if we waste the talent of our young people, black, brown, white, i don't care what color you are, some people say, you'r talking about spending at a time of deficits, this is what we're saying. we're saying, this should be the nation's priority. >> right. >> we're going to get more from investing in this than in investing in massive tax loopholes, continued military buildup at a time when wars are

throttling down. what this means is that these should be the priorities of the future. investing in young people so they are going to be the citizens and workers in the future. >> absolutely. and in just a moment, my footnote on one woman's final wish. first, it's a preview of "weekends wi ""weekends with alex witt". >> hello. one queen celebrating 60 years. one person is uniquely qualified on the topic. >> the race for president took on a tougher tone from both sides. in today's office politics, matt lauer tells me about his former today co-host and whether they really got along. and a developing story, george zimmerman is back in florida few day. we're monitoring what is next in the trayvon martin shooting case. >> thank you, alex. appreciate it. >> thanks. a woman's lifelong dream was to ride in the first-class car. what is behind that dream? my footnote is up next.

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on the night he was elected president, barack obama told the story of an 106-year-old woman. >> she was born a generation past slavery. a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky. when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons, because she was a woman, and because of the color of her skin. and tonight i think about all that she's seen throughout her century in america. the heartache and the hope. the struggle and the progress. the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that american creed, yes, we can. >> obama choose cooper's personal story as a lens to

reveal the arc of our nation's history. it's rare when the powerful men of america have sought to understand our collective journey through the eyes of a black woman. let me follow the president's lead and tell you the story of dorothy flood. she's 75 years old and fulfilled the dream through the nonprofit group, wish of a lifetime. it's a bit like the make a wish foundation, but for senior citizens instead of kids. dorothy flood's aspiration? to ride in the first-class dining car of the train. it's a modest request, but one that reveal as lot about our national story. mrs. flood remembers a childhood shut out of the first-class cars. she grew up in new jersey, but each summer she traveled to north carolina with her grandmother. and when the train reached the mason-dixon line in baltimore, dorothy and her grandmother, along with all the other black passengers were forced to get up and move into segregated train

cars. that nullification allowed the shadow of jim crow to descend, as historian blair kelly to describe, in her text, "ride to ride" black women bore the brubt of train segregation, they were allowed neither the comfort nor ladies. kelly explains that the majority of state and federal court cases were brought by black little litigants against the railroad. and the most famous was ida b. wells, she went on to become a fearless journalist and an anti-lynching advocate. her activism began in 1883 when a train conductor forcibly ejected her from the ladies car even though she paid the first-class fare. she held her seat, braced her legs and bit the conductor. when she was rejected, she sued the chesapeake, ohio and

southwestern railroads, she lost. black communities kept losing. in 1896, new orleansian plesy ferguson, handed down a 7-1 decision in that case, 116 years ago this week. the decision established separate but equal as the law of the land, for more than 50 years. it was that decision which barred 6-year-old dorothy flood from the first-class dining car. so when at 75 she boarded the elegant white linen dining car of the royal gorge route railroad this week, she closed more than a personal circle. she reminded us that the distance we've traveled in our nation, and how our ugly past is not distance, but still within living memory. reading her story, i, like when the president recounted ann cooper's story thought of my daughter. the president said this. 6. >> america, we have come so far

we have seen so much, but there's so much more to do. so tonight, let us ask ourselves, if our children should live to see the next century, if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as ann nixon cooper, what changes will they see? what progress will we have made? >> progress has begun. but the struggle continues. that's our show for today, thank you to governor doug wilder, karen phinney ran off to catch her own train, and jay smoot. i'll see you next week, saturday, 10:00 a.m. ♪ [ male announcer ] if paula ebert had her way, she would help her child. deoxyribonucleic acid. he knew that. [ male announcer ] with everything. go! goooo!

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