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tv   NOW With Alex Wagner  MSNBC  May 28, 2013 9:00am-10:01am PDT

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reconstruction efforts since superstorm sandy devastated the shore seven months ago. this is a look at asbury park, where the president will speak in the next hour. the president is accompanied today by governor chris christie and will also meet with victims of the storm. today's images will likely recall president obama's visit to the region in the wake of the disaster last year. when he spent time consoling families who had just lost everything. the president played a similar role on sunday in moore, oklahoma. >> our fellow americans are praying with you, thinking about you and they want to help. and so i'm just a messenger here today. letting everybody here know that you are not alone. that you've got folks behind you. >> as he's grown accustomed to playing the role of consoler in chief, it's clear that president obama has internalized certain lessons from his predecessor, understanding the importance of setting foot on broken ground, rather than surveying damage by air. while president obama was on the ground at the shore two days
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after sandy hit, the two-week period between hurricane katrina's deadly landfall and president bush's first visit was enough time to cripple his legacy. a moment the 43rd called one of the worst of his presidency. after visiting new orleans, bush would go on to take responsibility for the botched response later that week. >> four years after the frightening experience of september 11th, americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. when the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, i as president am responsible for the problem. and for the solution. >> the current administration has taken great steps to avoid a katrina moment, not just optically, but through agency action. most notably fema has won praise from both sides even in the heat of a presidential election. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern. and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. we're coordinating with fema.
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i want to thank you, administrator fugate for being here and for the input he's had into helping make our operation even better. >> on sunday, oklahoma's republican governor worried openly about possible red tape and praised the president and his administration for their swift action. >> i'm hoping the response by the federal government will be quick enough. so far we have had great response. fema administrator fugate was here immediately after the storm. secretary napolitano came here immediately and so we appreciate that. >> it is not an understatement to say that fema has come a long way since 2005. despite what president bush might have thought about then-director michael brown -- >> brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. >> the embattled director resigned 14 days after katrina. during katrina, convoys of walmart trucks carrying badly needed water were turned away by
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fema from new orleans. $100 million worth of ice went astray as far as maine. fema officials couldn't talk to one another and didn't know what was needed or where. in sandy's aftermath, wood reports, this time the early white house action activated fema's national response coordination center in waek and fema's liaison teams. fema's emergency communications teams deployed out ahead of the storm, setting up 85 fema radio networks and satellite links. fema stockpiled emergency supplies and used military aircraft and trucks to haul food, fuel and water. coordinating with walmart, target, u.p.s. and others to avoid duplication with commercial traffic. seven months after sandy, just in time for memorial day, the jersey shore opened with more than 80% of its businesses back up and running. there are still thousands of homes in need of repair. but already, the responses to sandy and katrina appear to be a tail of two storms. joining me today, distinguished
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senior fellow at dimos, bob herbert. editor at "the nation," katrina vanden huevel. ron fournier and staff writer for the "new yorker," john cassidy. and on the jersey shore, nbc news white house correspondent, peter alexander. peter, thanks for joining us. if you could give us a sense of what it looks like down there. 80% of businesses are up and running. residentially, we know there's more work to be done. could you give us your assessment? >> to give you a sense now it looks like a rainy day here along the jersey shore. as one person said to me a short time ago, they said we can deal with this we survived sandy. as the beaches are now reopened for this summer, 22 of the 23 boardwalks along the shore here are reopened. the real hope for the people who live in this community, i spoke to the mayor of asbury park, a short time ago to send a postcard to america saying we're back open for business. tourism in this state is nearly a $40 billion industry.
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asbury park is not as badly hit as some other communities here, seaside heights of course, manoloking badly hit. but already some reconstruction is taking place here. they admit it will be many more years before it's certainly complete. >> peter, anecdotally, what is the response of to fema and efforts from fema? we know that christie, in the aftermath of sandy was full of positive words. do residents feel the same way? do business owners feel the same way? >> i think the word association with fema is a lot more positive than it was post katrina. particularly when you focus on emergency response. the immediate emergency response, the people here with very satisfied by that. there's obviously been a lot of red tape and challenges in the time since one of the more complicated topics is the issue of the flood plain maps, fema sort of oversees that process. to update the flood plain mapping. and until they finish that, as challenging for a lot of people
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who are considering moving into other homes or rebuilding to know exactly what it will cost them. what their insurance premiums will look like. the mapping system has changed. such that it could affect some people with premiums that are up to 30,000. obviously that's just exorbitant for a family that had been living here for years without that impact. that's the frustration. on the flip side. most people have been satisfied with the federal government and their governor, which makes the political odd couple of chris christie and president obama, sort of the sequel today. that much more compelling. >> it's like "the hangover ii" a buddy film that just keeps getting more installments. i want to open it up to our panel in new york. katrina, we talk about the president's legacy. i think that the sort of overhauling of an agency like this, to be able to respond squistly and effectively to people in need is as much part of what president obama envisioned for his presidency as anything else. john earnest, the white house
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deputy press secretary seemed to echo that, he said the fema response represents competent government that represents the needs of the people. the renaissance of the agency embodies what the president ran on. >> it's what he ran on and partly why he won. we're fixed on the images of the governor and the president touring the ravaged shores of new jersey. but in that image was also in the background, you could hear mitt romney calling for the dismantling or the privatization of fema. and i think president obama when he visits today, when he was in oklahoma, he comes not just as the consoler in chief, but as someone who comes with what you said -- with a philosophy, that government has a very key role to play. and it's so interesting to hear the governor of oklahoma, the ideology melts away when crises happen. and i think that was -- you know, it's always surprising to me that people who hate government are put in charge of government. in that context, i think the president bush and in many ways
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people may disagree, it was less the debacle of iraq than the hyperincompetence and the cruelty of what happened in hurricane katrina. that marked the beginning of the fall of his presidency. >> you know, ron, i also think as we sort of extrapolate the meaning of fema and the overall and disaster response. we'll talk about christie and obama and the optics there for christie. but you know, this president has been maligned as many things. but i do, i think most of us have the sense that if there were willing republicans, that would work on, work on legislation with him, if there was a chris christie in congress, we would be in a much better place. because the president does actually want to reach across the aisle and when he is ever given the opportunity, you see progress being made. i mean you see him work with republican governors in a fairly substantive fashion on issues like this. >> i don't know about in politics if you're given opportunities, you have to seize those opportunities. you have to make those opportunities. and the president certainly has
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around these kind of disasters. he's taken advantage of the fact that this kind of disaster gives us a chance as a leader, as a president to really give a tangible. very public display of your leadership abilities. and your ability to be able to connect with people. and speem for the whole of the country. for a man who has a reputation for being aloof, that certainly isn't the case, you don't see that when he's speaking as did he there in oklahoma for all of the country. >> i think there's something to be said about the bully pulpit and being a leader and being a consoler. i also think this crisis, this opportunity was not just of president obama sort of seizing the moment. it was also chris christie saying you know what, i don't care that it's four days before the election. the president is here, we have a job to do, new jersey wants to see me work. >> you can't expect the folks in congress to act exactly like christie. christie is running in a state that president obama won by 18 percentage points, 42% of christie's vote right now are boem voters. you've got to govern with the congress you've got. he's got to find a way to be
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able to reach out to folks who don't want to be reached out to. it's unfortunately it's his burden. >> bob, i want to talk a little about the fema response and how far the agency has come. paul krugman wrote in november last year immediately in the aftermath of sandy. the difference is summed up in two images, one is the nightmare at the new orleans convention center, where thousands were stranded for days amid inconceivable squalor, an outrage watched live on tv, but to which top officials seemed oblivious. the other is the scene in flooded hoboken with the national guard moving in a day after the storm struck to deliver water and rescue stranded residents. 50,000 last year there were 50,000 decaying buildings in new orleans. >> the katrina debacle was bizarre. we're actually pretty good as a society in terms of responding to emergencies. both governments and as
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individuals. and volunteer organizations. you know, what happened with katrina is a good example of what happens when you demonize government. when you say that the government is in some sense the enemy of the people. and then your entire, if that takes hold, your entire society falls apart. because you don't have any glue holding that society together. and that's what we witnessed in new orleans. after katrina. >> john, there's a lot of, i mean there was a lot of argument over the fundamental role of government in the last election. and folks said here's the proof point thaw need about the importance of government and government intervention. you look at the top costliest storms in america, katrina weighing in at $105.8 billion. sandy at $50 billion. i don't think you would have a hard time convincing most of the residents that felt the brunt of those storms that the federal
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government has a role to play. >> yeah, i think it goes back to americans' attitude to government in the abstract the americans don't like the government. but when they encounter it, they love it. and when they really need it, then they expect it to be there. that was bush's problem in new orleans. it was always going to be very, new orleans is a big city. let's be fair to fema then you know. the new jersey shore is a spit of land. new orleans is an enormous city. it was always going to be a big problem. but bush's problem is he flew by it on air force one. he should have got off and said, look, this is a nightmare, but i'm here leading. from a day one it was a disastrous response from him. >> but it's not just the beach. it's not just the beach. you had the rockaways, you had staten island and the city. >> i agree they've done a good job. >> i think the obama administration has, if you're in the white house, you've always got the picture of bush in the back of your mind. whatever you do is -- >> there is resentment in new orleans in fundamental ways. because i think katrina was treated as a hurricane, a storm
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of race and class. and there's a feeling that you shouldn't pit hurricanes against each other. but that the financial center of the universe is getting the aid it needs more quickly and less republicans hold it up. >> major media markets being affected. >> another problem with bush was not simply that they didn't respond and that he flew over and seemed disinterested. he and then you can go with the republicans all the way back to ronald reagan. they actually undermined these agencies of government. they put incompetent people in charge. so that the agencies weren't capable of responding properly when the emergency arose. >> well that's exactly right. i will add one more thing to it. i think the biggest fault that affected the view in iraq as well is a lack of credibility. when things were going to held in katrina, in new orleans, the administration pretending everything was going fine. that was what "way to go, brownie." >> heck of a job. it showed you couldn't trust his word. can we trust him on iraq as
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well? it's the lack of credibility. that's a lesson for the current white house, you can't lose the lack of credibility at a time of controversy. >> katrina -- moore, oklahoma is a separate case, because tornados are not directly linked to climate change, but certainly this does engender a conversation about climate change and where the president has been on energy reform. the epa missed its legal deadline in april to write a rule on greenhouse gas emissions from future powerplants. the epa told republican lawmakers they have not started working on regulation on carbon emissions from existing power plants. dan weiss from the center for american progress says environmentists need too recognize that meeting promises will take time and hastily-written regulation could backfire during court challenges. he says you need to slow-walk this. >> i would make the counter case. i think that hurricane sandy put climate change on the agenda in a urgent, dramatic way. of course there's disappointment
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with the president, he's moving in certain ways. but i think it's worth remembering, since we're talking about governor christie. and his bipartisanship. that governor christie may not talk climate denial policies, but he's walking them. he's pulled new jersey out of a regional greenhouse gas initiative. which republicans mayors and others are part of. nine mid-atlantic northeastern states. he's sought environmental waivers, leading groups which supported him the last time around. i think we have to understand that extreme weather that we're witnessing, and i wouldn't discount the tornado, needs to be addressed with the urgency. we passed a milestone about a couple of weeks ago, this 400 ppm of carbon dioxide in the air. >> parts per million. this is you know, this is something of enormous gravity. that bypasses the daily news cycle as we confront other
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scandals. this is a great scandal. >> carbon levels not seen since i believe the pleictocene era. >> what are we expecting in terms of the ongoing. i can't believe i'm using this word -- bromance -- preen governor christie and the president? are we going to see as much sort of warm embrace in front of the cameras as we did last time? >> i think probably yes. i think it obviously was a positive for both of them then. i guess you could say president and candidate obama in the waning days of the presidential election. for chris christie as well. they get a chance -- i mean this is a mutually beneficial situation. they get to showcase bipsh bipartisanship. and focus on the economy and doing their job, which is what both of these men want to be focusing on. chris christie has a scandal at rutgers university on the one hand. the president has a series of controversies that he's trying to juggle back in washington,
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d.c. as he tries to turn the page. any time they look like they are out to help the people of their state or are their country, i think they recognize that serves them well. for governor christie, 2016 still a ways away. he's got an election in his own state. that's his focus as well right now just on the people of new jersey. >> people just like seeing those guys get along. there's the basic fact about dogs and cats when they hold hands. it's a charming thing for america. peter alexander, thanks for the update. after the break, the obama administration fights a battle with the press over its relationship with the press. but is the bipartisan media shield anything more than a band-aid? we'll discuss the future of the whistleblower and the attorney general next on "now." [ woman ] we're taking downy to the streets.
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a circuit court judge has denied the defense's motion to delay the start of george zimmerman's murder trial. zimmerman faces charges related to the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin in february of last year. in the last hour, we heard from trayvon martin's family, zimmerman's attorney mark o'mara spoke to reporters moments ago. >> the public opinion was swayed by a false presentation of this case, way from the beginning. the defense had nothing to do with that. and actually the state didn't have much to do with it. but the martin family through their handler presented a picture of who trayvon was and who george was, that is wholly
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inaccurate. >> the trial will start on june 10th. coming up, will a new shield law for journalists help quiet the white house press mess? we'll be back after the break. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter... because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet. there was this and this. she got a parking ticket... ♪ and she forgot to pay her credit card bill on time. good thing she's got the citi simplicity card. it doesn't charge late fees or a penalty rate. ever. as in never ever.
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>> that was senator chuck schumer on sunday flrks deucing legislation designed to protect journalists. the bill, which the white house reportedly asked shumer to reintroduce, is part of an ongoing effort by the administration to cool tempers in the aftermath in a series of leak investigations. reports over the past month detail a justice department investigation into a fox news reporter's personal emails, labelling him a possible co-conspirator. and the secret seizure of phone records at the a.p. has provided a glimpse into the obama administration's unexpected policing of the fourth estate. in recent weeks, the media has responded with a wp of its own -- headlines. slate has dubbed this obama's war on journalists. "the nation" announced the president was initiating an assault on the press. the obama administration's crackdown on leaks may be the harshest in 90 years, but the president insists he's a supporter of a free and independent press and supports the media shield law.
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the law is a step in the right direction it would establish new federal rules to protect journalists and require prosecutors to exhaust other methods before subpoenaing a reporter. it is not exactly a game-changer. the last time the bill was on the hill in 2009, it included an exception for national security, meaning this law, the one that senator schumer is reintroducing to protect journalists from government overreach probably would not have protected the a.p. or fox's james rosen. the chicago tribune editorial board concludes a federal press shield law is long overdue, but obama's endorsement is no reason to celebrate. it doesn't undo the damage and it wouldn't protect journalists the next time an administration gets the urge to overreach. bob, let's talk a little bit about the media shield law. it has this exception for national security. which is to me, echoes of imminent threats in terms of our counterterrorism and national security strategy. which is to say very much open to interpretation and will this
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satisfy members of the media who feel like they are under attack or being scrutinized unfairly? >> it's not going to satisfy anyone in the media. in fact i have not even given this press shield law much thought. the idea that obama is trying to have it both ways. he in fact is waging a war on the free press in the united states, which is crucial to our form of government. he's doing that on the one hand. on the other hand, he can use a terrific term, like media shield law, to suggest that, hey, you know, i want to uphold the freedom of the press. it's a bizarre conflation of what's going on in this situation. >> ron, this is not the first time we've seen the media shield law being bandied about. in 2009 the white house tried to water it down. at the time chuck schumer called the white house's opposition, their opposition was to the
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fundamental essence of the bill and it was an unexpected and significant setback. specter, arlen specter called the white house proposed changes totally unacceptable and they would gut meaningful judicial review. the point of this is, three, four years ago when the prous was presented with a strong bill, they pushed back. >> given their outrageous behavior in the a.p. case and the fox news case, and given their pitiful responses since then, there's no reason to think that the media shield law is going to be anything other than a figure leaf. they have no credibility on this issue. >> so what, katrina, what does the president need to do, honestly? he has appointed eric holder to sort of have a roundtable with members of the media and report back to him in the middle of next month. i'm not sure that eric holder is necessarily the right person for that job.
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but in your mind, to reestablish ties or a better relationship with the press, to really prove that he does support the first amendment -- >> this is part of a pattern in my view, it's also a pattern in terms of the record on civil liberties of this administration, it is conflated with this ongoing quote war on terror which the president last week in the classic, disconnect perhaps between rhetoric and performance, said he wanted to start rolling back. he spoke eloquently of the value of a free press and the danger of a chill. i think the president would need to do more than just hold a rondetable. i think he would have to bring in his top people on this issue and begin to dismandel what is essentially the national security apparatus that is a legacy of post 9/11. you have an apparatus which is in place. he did get the batten from president george bush. but that is not an apology for deepening and expanding with prosecutial zeal, the investigation of leaks. and invoking the espionage act.
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which is for spying, not news-gathering, six times. so i think you need to say we will not use that i think you want to find a way to deal with bradley manning, whose trial comes up in june outside of the parameters of this trial. so i think it is essentially trying to really make real, that speech he gave last week, not just the words, but how do you dismantle a post mchb mi9/11 mi >> can you do that? we say we want to go back to a time before 9/11, both in terms of the national security apparatus and also in terms of the american imagination that seems virtually impossible in a day and age when you have the boston marathon bombing and you have what's going on in north africa and the aqap. >> obama can tell the justice department we're not going after the press. you can go after leaks, but it stops, you can't get secrete subpoenas for wiretaps or for emails or the try the search warrant in the fox case. one of the great mysteries here
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is whether this was a deliberate policy or whether it was just a series of sort of incompetent on the part of the administration. it doesn't come out well either way for obama, either he looks like he's very a liberal president or a sort of hypocrite. or else he looks like he hasn't got his hand on the wheel again and he was letting the justice department prosecutors do what prosecutors do, which is push it as far as they can. >> there was a piece in the "daily beast." the reporter talks about eric holder, from sources apparently close to the attorney general. but he says for holder, the gravity of the situation didn't fully sink in until monday morning, when he read the post's front-page story, sitting at his kitchen table. sources close to the a.g. said he's been particularly stung by the leak controversy in large part because his departments and his own actions are at odds with the image of himself as a prag pragmatic lawyer with a well-honed sense of balance. not unlike the president that he serves. could it be that eric holder
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didn't think about the ramifications of this? >> that's what the sources so close to him that they were in his kitchen say. is that -- >> apparently having breakfast with him. >> how is that possibly reassuring that the attorney general had no idea what the political and constitutional implications of this policy would be? i don't think there's anybody here at the table talking about dismantling our security system. we have do make sure that we don't get hit again or we mitigate it as much as possible. we can protect ourselves. and also protect our freedoms. we can go after leaks, and sometimes even go after reporters' sources and enter reporters' documents without impinging the first amendment. you know how i know that? i heard the president talk it about it in 2008 and i heard him talk about it last week. you now it's time for him to live up to the rhetoric. >> he should just stop the tenor of intimidation and bullying. if you wants to go after leaks inside your own administration, go for it. but stop this idea of throwing people in jail, throwing around
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criminal charges. using the espionage act. and all of this overreach. it really has -- it really does have a feeling of -- >> especially as we speak to the world. >> especially in this moment of the democrats saying republicans are overreaching on so many other things. for the administration to be caught doing this. i think really undermines the -- we're ina an era -- >> the republicans to be honest have been baying toor more investigative attacks. put that aside. if the president is going to stand up and talk about freedom of press around the world, you know we better have our own house in order. and it's not looking too good right now. i mean there's david shipler. who was "the new york times" correspondent in moscow, in the '70s, says there are journalists who are having to use skill sets that they honed covering dissidents in the '70s in moscow. that's not the country we are supposed to be. and the president did speak about transparency of the highest order.
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and, anyway. >> one of the other pieces of this is what to do with eric holder. because there is some, there are some people that have, darrell issa among them who say he should be taken out. he's a bad attorney general. he hasn't served the president well. he's no longer someone that should be in public service. that said, there is no way that any future attorney general pick would not face insane questioning from republicans over the fast and furious stuff, over the irs, over benghazi. >> we've been focusing on obama. but the republicans have also tried to have it every which way on these issues. as well. and can you take eric holder out of the picture. but you know, in just reinsert some other attorney general. i don't think the issue itself goes away at all. this is something that the president is responsible for. >> i think you could say one thing very simply. which would be a big step forward. say they're not going to use the argument in court that it's illegal to receive classified information. that's what they've done in the
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rosen case. they've said the journalist is breaking the law by getting information from his sources. they're saying out the other side of their mouth, we're not going to prosecute journalists and the president keeps saying well you know i support journalists doing their jobs. but he could just say, in my administration, we're not going to make that argument in court. going for a subpoena. saying that journalists are breaking the law. >> this isn't about this president, it's the next one and the one after that. the precedents he's setting now are chilling. >> chilling is the word of the month. after the break as new york city prepares for life after bloomberg. two names that seem to come up the most are quinn and weiner, but another democrat could make a play for city hall by taking on an issue that doomed the other party last november. we'll ask bill deblass yoe about his plans, coming up next. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit.
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zzzquil™. the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil®. as the national debate over immigration reform kicks into high gear, the debate is also heating up in the nation's largest city. in an op-ed this month. one of new york city's leading democratic candidates for mayor, public advocate bill deblasio called on the state to give drivers' licenses to undocumented workers. a similar effort pushed by then-governor elliott spitzer failed in 2007 and became a thorny issue in the democratic primary. >> i want to add, i did not say that it should be done. but i certainly recognize why governor spitzer is trying to do it and we have failed. we have failed. >> no, no, no, you said yes, you thought it made sense to do it. >> do you support his plan? >> you know, tim this is where everybody plays gotcha. >> senator obama, why are you
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nodding your head? >> well i was confused on senator clinton's answer. i can't tell whether she was for it or against it i do think that is important. >> are you for it or against it? >> i think it is the right idea. >> yes? in his op-ed, deblasio argues that it would edeuce the risk of accidents, drive down insurance costs. in addition he has called for new york city to provide its undocumented immigrants with an i.d. card. writing that creating a municipal counterpart accessible to undocumented residents would bring hundreds of thousands of people currently living in the shadows into mainstream society. the proposal comets as recent study by the center for migration studies, estimates that new york state is home to 750,000 of the nation's 11.7 million undocumented immigrants. behind only california, texas and florida. deblasio is currently engaged in a competitive democratic
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primary. joining the panel now is public advocate for new york city and democratic mayoral candidate, bill deblasio. immigration reform is something i love to talk about. i thought the stat was interesting. people think of the immigration debate as largely centering around states like texas, arizona, california. new york city, 750,000 of 11.7 million. this is an issue for the state. tell us why you think such reform is necessary in a place where i think a lot of people think, a place that a lot of people think of as a great city for immigrants. and a city that is particularly friendly-team grants, immigrant-owned businesses and undocumented workers to a certain degree. >> it's a great city for immigrants. it's the ultimate city for immigrants. it's not so friendly to undocumented workers. >> i'm thrilled that the debate has finally evolved in
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washington. i'm thrilled that it looks at some point we'll get comprehensive immigration reform. but states and cities skr to take matters in their own hands in reality. and build a pathway and show what it looks like to move along the national dynamic. nowhere more than in new york. if someone doesn't have an i.d. or don't have a driver's license. life is unliveable for them and their family. we're encouraging them towards further illegality. drive a car without a license. don't be part of the system. don't get a legal lease. you know don't get a bank account. what it means is we're marginalizing people further. who in fact are our neighbors and co-workers. new york historically has been an extraordinary leader for social causes for progressive change in this country. but on this issue, we've actually lagged behind a bit and it's time to catch up. >> i guess would you take issue in t "the nation," the liablous publication. it's written thanks to an impressive history of grassroots
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organizations accepted feature of new york city political life. since the mayorty of ed koch, barring government and social services agencies from releasing immigration information to the federal government. that is, that does protect those without papers to a certain degree, given the fact that the federal government, under the obama administration has been very much clamping down on deportations and punishing people here who are here without papers. >> you're right and what new york city has done for decades is commendable, is important, we have to continue it, but that's not the same thing as fully integrating people into society. that's the point. we're in a world so much more deeply integrated. we're in country that's finally embracing immigration reform. why don't we create it on the ground. the state of colorado is about to authorize driver's licenses for undocumented folks. three other states have done that before. why is new york behind? second, if we want to not wait
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on a dysfunctional federal debate. you're an expert on the intricacies on washington. >> i don't think i'm an expert on anything. >> state and localities need to lead the way. one of the things we find over and over again is you create the reality and it acclimates people to fact that this can work. new york city is a perfect position to create that. cities like san francisco and new haven, connecticut have had the local i.d., it's worked well. it's helped drive down crime in new haven, connecticut. because more and more people engage the police because they were part of the system of working with government. so a lot of good effects here. >> i think, ron, the argument for immigration reform seems fairly water-tight to me. that's just me. and we talk about immigration reform happening at the national level. certainly it seems like it's moving in that direction and yet this weekend you had bob menendez saying we don't have 60 votes for immigration reform. you have this open letter from numbers usa which is a right wing group condemning immigration reform. and it was signed by 150
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conservatives, including tea partiers, but also david frumm. bill crystal yesterday saying rubio should walk away from immigration reform and wait until there's a republican president. >> the republican party has every moral imperative to get this done and. >> we've talked about the kabuki theater. >> one way for comprehensive immigration reform to look like it has strong republican support is to make it seem like democrats are on the defense, right? so to some degree saying we don't know if we have the votes is part of that strategy. or it could just be the honest truth. which is they don't know if it's going to pass the senate. with the margins that it needs to to get through the house. >> but i think the same dynamic we've seen in other major
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changes in this society. starting local and going up through the federal system is crucial here. we don't know the answer to that question. i fear in fact that majority may be illusive right now. it makes no sense. but i fear it. because we've seen it happen on gun control for example. which should have been as airtight as anything after newtown. ergo, the localities and states creating the reality. we've seen it in marriage equality, create the equality, show, create the reality, show it works, create the momentum on the ground. it's more tangible and powerful than the theory of debate in washington. we have lots of precedent from previous decades, that's the only way change happens 0en a sustained basis. >> i want to ask bill, how do you differ on this issue, the immigrant i.d. card, driver's license from your opponents? >> i put it front and center and bluntly, they haven't. i think the point is i understand that on the ground, particularly in the outer boroughs, i'm a brooklynite, i think this is the reality of
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most new yorkers live in the outer boroughs. working-class folks, who are struggling, this is a big part of the reality. needing to solve this problem and bring people into the mainstream this is the front part of the thee mattics of our campaign. >> >> anthony weiner, one of the bed rock pieces of his campaign, i will make new york city a middle class city. strengthening them in new york city. you talked about the middle class. vis-a-vis this immigration i.d. card and the realities of being in the middle class who is going to be the better champion for the middle class? are you scared at all of anthony weiner's entrance into the mayor's race. >> i'm not worried about any other candidate. a tale of two cities, a new york city that's increasingly unaffordable and impossible for middle class people to work and live in. that takes a serious change from the bloomberg years, i presented a series of ideas, including taxy the wealthiest new yorkers, so we can have full-day prek.
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i haven't heard other candidates put forward those proposals. >> maybe because they're waiting for mayor bloomberg's endorsement. it's not about what people have done in the past. it's who's leading debate about the changes we have to make in new york city, i've done that. >> public advocate bill de blasio here stumping. thank you. coming up, a federal judge delivers a blow to self-described america's toughest sheriff, joe arpaio. ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is.
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america's toughest sheriff, joe arpaio was dealt a stinging rebuke last week when a federal judge ruled that the maricopa county sheriff's department had engaged in racial profiling against latinos and violated their constitutional rights by singling them out based on race. bob, it's not often you get a judge appointed by george w. bush agreeing with the aclu on -- >> this just goes to tell you how egregious this stuff was that this guy was doing. my initial reaction to the ruling was -- what took so long to rein this fellow in. >> there's something in the arizona water supply. unfortunately we have to leave it there, thank you to bob, katrina, ron and john. i'll see you back here tomorrow when i'm joined by andrew ross sorkin, joy reid, richard haas and the men behind dodd-frank. you can follow us on twitter "now"withalex.
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right now on "andrea mitchell reports" -- the political odd couple. governor chris christie hosting president obama at the jersey shore. to get a firsthand look at the pace of recovery from superstorm sandy. we'll hear the president's reactions live this hour from asbury park. you can see they're ready for him there. and speaking of political odd couples -- how did hillary clinton and andrew cuomo, potential 2016 rivals end up in lock-step on memorial day? that's quite a parade. secret mission, senator john mccain slips into syria to meet with rebel leaders. how will that complicate secretary of state john kerry's globe-trotting to try to find a diplomatic solution to the expanding civil war? doling it out -- former senate majority leader and republican presidential candidate. bob dole offers some harsh advice for his own party. >> they ought to put a sign on the national committee