like making health care actually work, creating millions more jobs. he also needs a defensive team that enforces solid, honest progressive action by the government agencies and troubleshoots problems. he shouldn't have to read in the paper that some agency is screwing up, shouldn't have to learn what the justice department is up to. offense and defense, he needs a team that will deliver on both. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lied, republicans creating so-called scandals instead of jobs. republicans are on a mission to make a scandal out of anything. but at a factory in baltimore today, the president made it clear that he's not using controversy to play politics. instead, he's trying to try to fight for jobs in the middle class. >> i know it can seem

frustrating sometimes when it seems like washington's priorities aren't the same as your priorities. i know it often seems like folks down there are more concerned with their jobs than with yours. others may get distracted by chasing every fleeting issue that passes by but the middle class will always be my -- >> fixing the economy, getting people back to work, that's what americans want again and again we see that in the polls. but the gop, they abandon any interest in jobs. and really in getting anything done. they've got no real agenda so they hunt for scandals, despite the facts. >> this appears to be the latest example of a culture of coverups and political intimidation in this administration. it seems like the truth is hidden from the american people long enough to make it through an election. >> the president didn't have clean hands in this because, as i said yesterday on the floor of the senate, this organization of his, this administration has created a culture of

intimidation. >> people may be starting to use the "i" word before too long. >> meaning impeachment? >> yeah. >> i believe before it's all over this president will not fill out his full term. >> these questions are unbelievable. this is nazi germany. >> nazi germany? the real culture of coverup? in this shameful silence on jobs and the economy, the unemployment rate is the best in five years. and this week we learned that the deficit dropped by $200 billion. more than expected. it's at its lowest since 2008. look at that drop. but the gop deficit hawks apparently didn't care about that story. beaten at the ballot box, the republican party is unified around one thing. the hunt for scandal. that's so sad. and so is their once proud

party. joining me now is congressman joe crowley, democrat from new york and member of the ways and means committee. host of melissa harris-perry, thank you for coming on tonight. >> hi. >> is the congress more discussed and somehow link anything -- >> right. >> an accident on the street, an aunt gets crushed and it was really sad today, sitting in the committee we all were anticipating, working in the bipartisan way. what happened was outrageous. all of us are outraged about anything done improperly by the irs, by the justice department.

but i think you made the point that we've all been trying to show how you came into the hearing and hysteria. listen to all of this. >> the president has been very forthright and i would really ask the questions, get the facts, and then we can draw our own conclusions. >> i mean, the fact that they are trying to make this the president -- like the president in some way that the president was consulted about an investigation and he says oh, we're going to send out subpoenas? this is absurd on his face and i think you brought that home

today because they are talking about impeachment? i mean, are we serious? >> fact, mr. george, who was the inspector general for the treasury, who produced a report, who was a bush appointee himself, said there were no outside influences, this was all contained wholly within the irs. >> and this is a bush appointee? >> yes. he said it's not remotely linked to the white house and yet the chairman of the committee, my friend, said that it's all about the white house. it's all emanates somehow from the white house. they are desperate to find a smoke gun, reverend al. there simply isn't one. >> they don't even have smoke. melissa, when you look at the right-wing heritage found dags sent a letter to the republicans, to focus on sk scandals rather than focusing on laws, keep on digging for scandals, keep linking it where

it doesn't link. >> what is important here, we're not being an apologist for a scandal late in president. that's not what is happening here. there is very little scandal at all happening. the one scandal that might be going on is the question about the doj and the a.p. stories. but on the irs, as much as we are all expressing outrage, even the president is expressing outrage, as far as i can tell, at least with the information we have, it may not even be particularly political. like what we're being asked to believe is that somehow long-term bureaucrats are like so for president obama that they were purposely doing things against a key party, which may not be what it is. the second thing is, i think what we see here with the right is a strategy to keep pushing, pushing, pushing on the president and pushing on the administration, hoping to produce a scandal so there is no scandal yet and get them off sort of doing what they are doing, get them to say one thing that might be slightly not true and all of a sudden you can move

towards these other things. i think it's a strategy to generate the scandal. >> well, i think that you are right. i mean, clearly in terms of the irs let's not forget that there was a bush appointee and for someone to say that they would look the other way, when as you say a bush appointee said it was on the other side, let's deal with the real fact here. eight people went to jail under george bush. that's a scandal. i mean, we're talking about -- if you want to talk about scandals under the administration of his predecessor of the president's predecessor, eight people went to jail. that's scandal louse. >> schulman going after progressive church groups. >> absolutely. >> going after a myriad of

left-leaning groups. incidentally, reverend al, every one of the so-called tea party or conservative groups, they got what they wanted. it was a left-leaning group or progressive groups that were denied. >> the only one denied was a left-wing progressive group. so they were doing work for somebody, they certainly don't know what they are doing. >> look, it is clearly a midterm strategy to believe that the government is worthless, this is all sort of too painful to watch, no one cares and it doesn't make any difference. because if you don't believe it makes any difference, you don't show up and vote and what happens? republicans win. so you don't even have to make a counter argument. you just have to make people feel disgusted with the government. >> the other thing is, it's a distraction, congressman. because the fact of the matter is, we are making some gains in the economy. looking at the lowest jobless

rate since 2008, experiencing the fastest deficit reduction that we've seen since world war ii, that is not good for them going into the midterm. >> in fact, despite their involvement in all of this. >> that's right. >> the american people, our court is movi country is moving forward and prior congress', i agree with melissa, what this really is about is to show the rest of the american people that government is bad, that congress is evil, that there's something amiss in washington to the point we can't get anything done. they can't get anything done because they don't want to do anything. they want to blame the president. >> we are against government. so put us in charge of the government. congressman joe crowley and melissa harris-perry, thank you. be sure to catch melissa harris-perry on saturday and sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. ahead, the mama grizzly is

out of hibernation and making a new ridiculous attack on the president. what is sarah palin's problem with this picture. plus, friday ministry. we have a big surprise from the first lady to tell you all about. and then, there's this. >> show me the money. >> oh! yo! money! >> oscar winner cuban gooding jr. is here. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. everyone's retirement dream is different; how we get there is not. we're americans. we work. we plan.

ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. to help you retire your way, with confidence. ♪ that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. let's get to work. ameriprise financial. more within reach. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ club scene music ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. [ sigh of relief ] cheryl burke is cha-cha-ing in depend silhouette briefs for charity, to prove that with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits, and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try for yourself.

hey, folks. if you have a question you want to ask me, send me an e-mail, whether it's about politics, policy, or anything on your mind. all you have to do is ask. send your question to askrev@msnbc.com. i might answer it right on the show. it's up to you, friend or foe, i want to know. ask rev. ere. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs. to help meet that need, here at devry university, we're offering $4 million dollars in tech scholarships for qualified new students. learn more at devry.edu.

you've got to hand it to the republicans. they've managed to miss an actual scandal.

that's their 37th vote to repeal the president's health care law, trying to deny a law that would literally give health care to millions of americans is not just a waste of time, it's an outrage. but speaker john boehner says he may not be done yet. >> is this the only time that the house will vote on repealing? >> when we have further votes that we'll take, we'll let you know. >> the issue is obama care and we're going to keep the focus on obama care. >> keep the focus on obama care, the scandal here is that there is a real urgent health care crisis right now. 45,000 americans die every year because they don't have health insurance. nearly 50 million are uninsured and nearly seven million of those are children. but the republicans just don't care. they just want to play the lit cal game of repeal, repeal,

repeal that will go know where it's ugly politics and shows the tea party extremism governing today's republican party. joining me is e.j. dionne and bob shrum. thank you for your time this evening. >> glad to be with you. >> e.j., repeal, repeal, but for what reason? >> well, you know, reverend, i think we can all agree, republicans enjoy voting to repeal obama care. and if they did it a few times, you know, it unifies the base and most of them vote the same time but 45 times becomes a case of self-parody. this is a very different republican party from the past. in the past, all kinds of republicans, from john chaffey to bob dole to richard dixon recognize that having this many uninsured people is bad for the country and they were all

willing to acknowledge a government role in it and the other shame here is obama care can be improved. the social security act was amended many times to make the program better. but we can't even have a conversation about how to make obama care work better because all we're going to get are votes to repeal and it's just not the way the government should work. >> bob, it is the law. it is going to be implemented fully by next year, yet they keep going back over this when you -- i mean, michele bachmann is now linking the irs controversy to the health care law. watch this. >> could there potentially be political implications regarding health care, access to health care, denial of health care, will that happen based upon a person's political beliefs? or their religiously held beliefs? >> and it's not just her. ted cruz, rand paul, they won't

stop trying to take away health care from the american people that need it. >> look, she's the real face of the republican party right now and e.j. is right. all of that diversity is gone. all of that sense of reality is gone. i would argue that the self-parody is the republican reality. john boehner said this issue is settled. now he's holding his votes. why? he's got a fractured republican party, torn between the tea party types, the establishment, and it's aminous towards barack obama, fear of hillary clinton. they are going to keep holding these votes. they don't want to legislate, want to repeal health care, they are not, in my view, going to pass much of anything this year. if i were there, i would look ahead and say we are maneuvering our way internally through our own party difficulties and we

could pay a big price for this, just as republicans obsessed with impeachment. >> e.j., when you lead the beltway, i understand the politics back and forward and the pundits looking at the political players. but people are hurting. i mean, people are actually hurting. people are sick, some dying because of this and i gave the numbers. when you look at the fact that the political gain is breaking a lot of confidence and misinformation, let me give you an example. "the washington post" reports last month the kaiser family foundation polled americans on whether the affordable care act is still law. 12% of americans, one in eight people, think that the congress repealed the affordable care act. another 23% aren't sure or refuse to answer the question.

so this political game, e.j., is having some impact because if people think it's been repealed or they are not sure, they will not do what they need to do to become part of it as it goes into full implementation and that is absolutely a shame. >> well, i think this puts just a bigger burden on the administration to make sure this rollout works. my understanding is that when those democrats, nancy pelosi and other democrats had dinner with the president, house democrats raised this issue and they were worried early on if the administration was really putting enough energy behind the campaign. they are going to need not only to implement it but to talk about how they are implementing it and how they will engage. they came out of that meeting much more satisfied that the administration really knows what a large job it has to do because this is one of barack obama's historic achievements and it

will only be successful if they do a good job of implementing it and remind people that there are going to be glitches but there are a lot of benefits here for a lot of people who need help and they are going to have to stay at it all year long no matter how many times the republicans try to repeal it. >> you know, bob, when you look at the fact that they always talk about spending and waste, the gop has wasted 80 hours. 80 hours on this repeal knowing good well they were not going to get it repealed by the senate. $55 million in taxpayer money. that's what they've spent on this political gain that they keep playing on the president's affordable health care act. >> well, sure. because, look, they are not there at this point, as e.j. says, to make the health care bill better. they are not there at this point to probably actually pass immigration reform. i fear that's going to bog down in the bitterness and anger. you know, the house is where

these good ideas go to die. they are there, i think, to survive. in boehner's case as speaker. that means he has to cater to his tea party caucus. if they are spend $55 million of taxpayer money on these repeal votes, he's going to pay it. i think the administration understands how important it is that they do a good job and the kaiser foundation family poll also says that people like all of the individual elements of obama care, it's just that republicans have managed to pin a label on it that makes a lot of people -- and by the way, a shrinking number, uncertain about it. they are catering to their ideological base. when that number goes into effect, they are in trouble. >> e.j. dionne and bob shrum, thank you for your time and have a great weekend. >> you, too. >> and this program reminder, we'll have a special edition of "politicsnation" on july 3rd in new orleans. there are many ways you can get

involved. you can go to our website at on.msnbc.com/urgentcarepn. there you can donate to the cause, get information on volunteering or sign up for an appointment. you can also go to the national association of free clinic site at nafcclinics.org. these clinics save lives. please get involved. [ dylan ] this is one way to keep your underwear clean.

this is another! ta-daa! try charmin ultra strong. it cleans so well and you can use up to four times less than the leading value brand. and it's four times stronger. charmin ultra strong.

[ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ]

we have news tonight on how republicans doctored benghazi e-mails in order to smear the obama administration. cbs news reports that last week republican sources claimed a white house official wrote, "we must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the state department and we don't want to undermine the fbi investigation. but the actual e-mail is very different. in reality, the official wrote, "we need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly theed the investigation". the actual e-mail made no

reference. and check out the new cover of the conservative "national review" magazine. it shows hillary clinton literally fizzing while americans die. this is the same kind of vicious attack that the republicans launched against our ambassador to the u.n., susan rice. mrs. rice was on track to be mrs. clinton's successor, until the gop scandal machine drags her name through the mud. did the right wing forget how they smeared these dedicated servants? nice try, but we'll get you and we'll get you over and over again until we hear an apology. like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking...

oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. peoi go to angie's listt for to gauge whether or not need a little kick? ooh! the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact that i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. join today and find out why over 1 million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. watergate hearings. >> the scene as to the sense of

drama as this is likely to become the most serious investigation that has ever made, the investigation of the american political system and the presidency itself. >> that was 40 years ago today. the start of the watergate hearings. we've heard a lot about watergate lately and tonight we have a big announcement. republicans think they found the new watergate. >> i am going to go ahead and ask folks, why don't we get a couple of marines, they are going to look good next to us just because i want -- i've got to change suits but i don't know about our prime minister. there we go. that's good. you guys i'm sorry about. >> the president didn't want another world leader to get drenched. seems courteous to me but fox news doesn't buy it. >> check out the picture of the marines holding the umbrella for

president obama and the met for being, hey, they've got him covered. wouldn't it be nice if they had him covered. >> they were protecting him. maybe in this case he should have been protecting them. >> exactly. >> exactly, newt. any tiny, little excuse to attack the president. the picture made the cover of rupert murdoch's "new york post" and sarah palin tweeted, mr. president, when it rains it pours but most americans hold their own umbrellas. she think this is is a scandal, too. well, miss half governor, i hate to rain on your parade but lots of politicians don't hold their own umbrellas, including a certain half governor from alaska. president reagan had someone else hold his umbrella and so did president bush. look. it's john travolta, apparently president bush went to hollywood for help because when he tried to hold the umbrella all on his

own, it didn't work out so well. 40 years ago watergate was a real crisis but today the right wing takes anything this president does and make it is into a scandal. joining me now are joe madison and lauren ashburn. thank you both for your time. >> hi, thank you, reverend sharpton. >> joe, doesn't this show how desperate the right wing is to try to do anything to make the president look bad? >> it is. they ought to open up a few history books and read what watergate was really about. >> right. >> it also shows what you were talking about earlier in the program. you have mothers who don't know if their children are going to be going to head start and early childhood education. you've got people unemployed who don't know if they will be able to have food stamps to feed their children.

we've got tremendous unemployment. we've got graduates that the administration, the first lady will be speaking to that will be looking for jobs. and the leadership of the republican -- wait a minute. someone who was nominated for vice president of the united states tweets about an umbrella? >> well, i mean, when you look at the fact -- lauren, it is crazy as i've been saying and joe just repeated, but all the seriousness is going on. they use the most petty, trivial thing. i mean, it's almost humorous how petty they have become. i mean, look at this moment got a ton of attention from the right. is president obama in 2009. watch this. this gives you an example. >> i'm going to have just your basic cheddar cheeseburger,

medium well, mustard, you like have a spicy mustard or something like that. dijon mustard. >> sounds like burger and look at the right wing, they went crazy. look at this. >> plain old ketchup, it didn't quite cut it for the president. >> what kind of man orders a cheeseburger without ketchup but dijon mustard. >> john kerry can get away with that stuff. he makes it sound like a regular thing to do. >> i hope you enjoy that fancy burger, mr. president. >> we're talking about a burger. i cannot believe it. a burger becomes a sensational to them. >> people are really, really petty. i do have to say, though, it was

quite a photo of president obama that was splashed across all of the newspapers and i think that if i were an editor, i probably would have ran the photo, too. as far as all of the carping is concerned, it's just sad that we have come to this in our society and that sarah palin, of all people, who has been beat up on the media, who probably couldn't get anyone in this town to stop for her if it was pouring and she was waving her hands, for her to beat up on some one, as she has had happen to her, it seems odd that she would choose it that way. and i also think that this really hurts mainstream republicans, to have people like sarah palin and like other loud mouths talking about things that are insignificant, like umbrellas and cheeseburgers, instead of focusing on things that are real issues, like benghazi and the irs. >> you know, joe, i saw you laughing as i did.

you can't keep a straight face with these people. but this week on bill o'reilly, a fox contributor talked about the extent of the right wing's hatred for the president. listen to this. >> there were people on the right who, if barack obama came up with a cure for cancer, wouldn't give him credit for that. and by the way, i mean that literally. >> and i don't usually agree with him. but he's right. this is -- this is way beyond politics. this is real hatred. they are really -- some of them have lost their political minds. >> well, you've said what he said over and over again. you are absolutely right. think about it. you vote 37 times, you get the same result every time you vote. that is the classic definition of insanity. i mean, it really is.

but this is political insanity. but i will say this. you know, when i remember when we were in grant park and we said, my god, the dream has come true and for millions of americans, black and white, that was true. but for these folk, their dream was a nightmare. and this is a living nightmare. they cannot handle it and i think someone on msnbc said it. they simply cannot handle the thought of someone who looks like us named barack obama is now not only the most powerful man in the united states politically but the world and they just can't come to grips with it so they end up talking about what kind of mustard he puts on a hamburger or whether a real man has ketchup on a

hamburger. legislate, legislate, legislate. >> lauren, it's everything, his vacations, playing golf, ncaa brackets, some of the right made it a scandal when flies landed in his face -- i mean, when a fly landed in his face, they named him lord of the fly. it's incredible. you can only expose it but i think joy is right, they are having a nightmare and the only way to help people with nightmares is to wake them up. >> it was like bill clinton. it happened with bill clinton before he gave people ammunition, people called him slick willy and criticized his run to mcdonald's and happened before anything really big does happen. >> joe madison, lauren ashburn, both of you have a great weekend. thank you for your time tonight. >> you, too. what do you do -- what do

you think about umbrella great? if you have a question about that or anything on your mind? ask me. it's time to ask rev. send me an e-mail to askrev@nbcuni.com. friend or foe, i want to know. copd makes it hard to breathe... but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can help make this a great block party. ♪ [ male announcer ] advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition

or high blood pressure before taking advair. ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. [ male announcer ] advair diskus fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder. get your first prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. how we get there is not. we're americans. we work. we plan. ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. to help you retire your way, with confidence. ♪ that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. let's get to work. ameriprise financial. more within reach. it was four days before the

president obama's second inauguration. it was also the day first lady michelle obama nearly stole the show. it was the day we found out about the bangs. for her 49th birthday, she tweeted this picture, revealing her new look, and it instantly was anything that anyone was talking about. it was fodder for washington. it was fodder for the talk shows. the first lady joked about what inspired her to make the change. >> this is my mid-life crisis, the bangs. i couldn't get a sports car, they won't let me bungee jump, so instead i cut my bangs. >> you went for the bangs. you're the boss of your face. >> i can do this. it's all mine. >> but today, big news. the first lady stepped on stage and her bangs were gone. the news, once again, has everyone talking. i say it's another great look for the first lady. [ male announcer ] progress isn't about where you've been.

♪ it's about where you're going. the new ram 1500. best-in-class 25 mpg. ♪ north american truck of the year. ♪ the truck of texas. better residual value than ford and chevy. it's the fastest-growing truck brand in america. guts. glory.

it's hard to believe it's been over 25 years since cuba gooding jr. made his first aid appearan appearance on the big screen. there is he in the 1988 "coming to america." three years later he starred as a young man trying to survive the mean streets of south central l.a. in "boyz in the hood" but it was his performance in the rod tidwell in the 1996 jerry mcguire that made him linked to for little words -- >> show me the money. >> show me the money. >> yo.

so me the money! jerry, doesn't that make you feel good to say that? say it with me one time, jerry. >> show you the money. >> i want you to say is like you believe it, brother. i've got bob on the other line. >> show you the money! >> not show you. show me the money. >> show me the money. >> show me the money. >> yes. louder. >> show me the money! >> yes, brother, but you've got to yell it. i need to feel you, jerry. >> cuba felt the love. he won the academy award for best-supporting actor for that performance and went on to give critically acclaimed performances in many film since then, including last year's red tails, which told the story of muscogee airmen in world war ii. but now he's beside vanessa

williams in "the trip to bountiful," an elderly woman who tries to run away from her son and daughter-in-law, back to the homeland where she grew up to recapture her youth. it's a pleasure to welcome cuba gooding jr. to "politicsnation." let me start with politics. >> good to be here. >> you go way back with president obama and the campaign. you helped campaign as far back as 2007. >> that's correct. >> i want to show you this picture. it's you, president obama and i'm in it. and this is some journey. how do you think he's done? >> i think he's done an incredible job. you've got to think about all of the problems that he had to face when he first started and he's making his way through a lot of tough decisions and tough situations.

yeah, i think he's doing phenomenal. >> what would you like to see done before he leaves office? >> he will wiwell, you know, co tackle the situation that we're in, the fiscal things that we have coming up in terms of our deficit and all of that stuff. the broad stroke stuff, if we could continue to bring some of that stuff down, that would be great, get people back to work as much as possible. >> that night when we were at a dinner in washington and he was talking to us, you guys were teasing about you playing him with a movie. >> you were sleek about getting him over here. you said, come with me. we're going to get you in this and say hi to the president. that was wonderful. >> do you really -- would you like to play barack obama in a movie? >> i would -- any great african-american man i'd play in a movie. it doesn't matter who it was. if it was a phenomenal director like lee daniels or something like that that said, this is the role you're going to play, i

would get into the character. >> what frame of mind would an actor have to put himself in to play barack obama? >> well, there's a sense of confidence and gravitas that you have to capture, an tag nation and just the coolness about your demeanor, i think. >> cool? >> yeah. >> well, if you get the part, i want to play john boehner. >> now, you're getting ready -- the movie that you just did was "the butler"? >> yes, sir. >> now, here we are, you, oprah winfrey, lee daniels. this is the 50th anniversary for the march on washington. >> that's right. >> we have a black president and you played a butler? >> i did, through eight different presidents. so you'll see a little bit of everything from lbj all the way up to obama's inauguration.

>> is that right? >> yes, sir. you'll actually see some before that. it's based on the life exploits of eugene gains, a butler in the white house played by forest wit car from the time he was in the cotton fields seeing his father executed by the plantation owner in front of him, all the way up until when he was in the white house, lenny kravitz plays another butler, oprah winfrey plays the wife of forest whitaker's character vanessa -- >> robin williams plays the president, allen ripen plays the president and nixon is played by john cusack. there's a lot of amazing performances in this movie. and david plays the son of the

butler, who eventually becomes a black panther. >> a son becomes the black panther. this is going to be great. >> yes. >> now, you are on broadway. this is the first live play you've done since high school? >> that's right. >> you've never done a broadway play? >> that's right. >> you were on the stage with sicily titan, i went to see it and it was absolutely amazing. >> thank you, sir. >> how do you feel -- it's amazing. the story is grounded, it's fantastic. >> it's a dream come true. it really, really is a dream come true. we do eight shows a week and they say the hardest part of the two-day shows and those are the days that i look forward to because we get to create from the late morning all the way into the evening. two shows back to back. the first show is you're getting the creative juices flowing and the second show, you're just in it. and the iconic sicily titan, to watch her perform the energy that she has that propels the

two-plus hour plus play, she's on stage the entire time, to hear her singing these hymms and as funny is she is, i didn't know she'd be that funny. the author is a trip to bountiful, bountiful being the city that my character and mama watts are from. that is the house that she's trying to get back to the entire play. there's a lot of themes of home and what home means you to and family means to you that he seems particular a mother and son expressing their love not just for each other but for the existence that they feel that god has created for them. >> what made you decide to do it? >> sicily tyson and broadway. my wife and i have three kids two, boys, soon off to college and one little girl that is seven and sarah and i know that how over indulgent it is to be away from the family on stage

for this -- this is a seven or eight-month commitment for me since the play got extended to september. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> she knew it would be hard for me to be in the lives of the kids as i have always been but knew it was time and i said to her, this has been a life stream and now i finally get to realize it. i love her and my family for allowing me this indulgence. and i started on stage in high school, like you say, doing shakespeare festivals and what not. to be back in this creative place is something special for me. >> one last question i've got to ask, do people still come up to and say, show me the money? >> every day. no. show me the money. and you just did. >> i had to do it. cuba gooding, thank you. >> thank you. love you. >> all right. >> today, president obama, that's next. frsz ♪

♪ fly me to the moon ♪ let me play among the stars

♪ and let me see what spring is like ♪ ♪ on jupiter and mars ♪ in other words [ male announcer ] the classic is back. ♪ i love [ male announcer ] the all-new chevrolet impala. chevrolet. find new roads. ♪ you [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ]

available out there. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs. to help meet that need, here at devry university, we're offering $4 million dollars in tech scholarships for qualified new students. learn more at devry.edu. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle.

. hello, everyone. >> you are our special guest. >> how are you doing? >> hello, mr. president. >> good to see you guys. how is everyone doing today? >> good. >> that was president obama today arriving at an elementary school in baltimore. he stopped by a pre-k class to check in on an early childhood education program to see young kids in the head start in school. later they went to a community center and community activist just like he used to be, working to change lives to take responsibility for the president gave his very personal response. >> one of the biggest challenges that i grew up without a father so i always felt that as great

of a heroic job as moms do, particularly for boys and men. that's a hard situation. and for your sons to be able to see you taking this path, that's just going to make all of the difference in the world. >> after a week of scandal and accusations and all kinds of reckless and squirrelish charges, we see what america should really be about. it's really about turning people's lives around. it's really about giving children a future. it's really about making the country work. when you can see a young man growing up in a single parent home become the president of the united states, that's what makes the country work. that's what will make us great. not taking petty shots of each

other. not trying to play games on a partisan side and not have concern for the american people that's what makes the country work and that's what makes it work. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now death in taxes. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. call me a charlie rangel fan. today i watched him at the hearings on the irs mess. i heard him say everything i believe. it's this. if you have a problem in a