house speaker john boehner is running hot and cold on immigration reform. just days after saying there was no question two pass the house and senate, he issued this threat. >> immigration reform is a very difficult issue. but i don't intend to bring an immigration bill to the floor that violates what i and what my members of my party, what our principles are. >> earlier today, i sat down with former president clinton at cgi america here in chicago and asked him if he thinks legislation can get through congress. >> i mean i think that john boehner wants to do immigration reform and the first time will only probably be able to get a bill through the house that those of us who support immigration reform won't like

very much. but you got to get some kind of a bill through the house, some sort of bill to the senate, then it will go to conference. that's the important bill. and then we'll just see if it passes. but i think in the end, the speaker's big decision will be what it always is -- will he allow a bill to be brought to the floor of the house that does not have the support of a majority of his own caucus but clearly would get a big bipartisan majority in the house. every time he's done that something good's happened. when he did that we passed the violence against women act. i think he understands that it's an important issue for america, it is an important issue for the republican party if they want to be competitive with all the young immigrants in our country. but, look. there are two big issues that every american should know, even if you don't know an immigrant who's working hard and paying taxes and needs some path to

citizenship. one is, in spite of all these problems we've been talking about with unemployment, the unemployment rate for college graduates is about 3.5%. unemployment rates for high school graduates among young people, 11%. so you want to give these young people a path to citizenship and a path to education. two is, the median age of a country has a huge impact on its potential to grow and generate wealth. we are younger than europe. we are younger than japan. within 15 or 20 years we're going to be younger than china if they don't change the way china immigration policy and immigration, sort of taboo. we need this immigration reform. it is not just do we need to let all these young people come here to study the stem courses stay, i think we do.

>> right. highly skilled workers. >> it's not just that. they are the lifeblood of our country. every ethnic and racial and religious group, everyone in every country in the world, as their wealth goes up, they delay the age of marriage and the families get smaller. that's happening in america to basically european-americans who are barely at replacement rate population. you have to have immigrants. in a global economy where -- to have a country that can assimilate without violence -- boston marathon thing was shocking to us because it was the exception. the times square car bomb was shocking to us because it was the exception. by and large we've done pretty well integrating people from all over the world. we need this immigration reform. it is the right thing to do morally for the people involved that are here working. but it's an imperative thing for the american economy. >> i feel leak everything you just said is widely shared by people who think about

immigration, who think about where this country needs to go. but the thing that seems to be holding us back is, to some degree, the electoral system we've created where you have congress people from very red districts who need to cater to a base and they feel like they can't move forward on common sense bipartisan legislation. >> to be fair to them, a lot of them also represent people who are from small towns and rural areas which haven't been part of the refer and feel economically insecure and feel threatened by this. and they also may not know that for the last two years there's been no net immigration from mexico. the idea that people are pouring across the rio grande river is not true because mexico has grown faster than brazil in the last two years and has grown up. that is, they've got 140 new universities in the last ten years. they graduated 110,000-plus engineers last year alone in mexico. this country's less than one-third of our population --

or about one-third. 110,000 engineers. it is a different country than what a lot of people in the heartland of america think. and this is what we've been trying to do. we're trying to build up our neighbors so that we'll have, you know, a bunch of prosperity to share with people. so i know they think that -- i still think we'll get the votes to pass it. i think the election had a lot to do with that. i really do believe that, you know, when -- even after the republicans tried to make it so hard for african-americans and hispanics, latinos from all parts of latin america to vote in florida, and they were sitting there -- or standing there in line, five and six hours, not on election day, in the advance voting. i remember turning on -- i was looking at an msnbc program one night, i swear, and there was a clip of the people in florida waiting to vote. and the clip was -- you guys were saying how awful it was

that they'd cut down on advance voting. what i saw, i looked in the eyes of those people in the film and i said, if they have to stay there until tomorrow morning they're going to vote. that's when i realized that our side would win florida. looking in the eyes of the people who were forced to undergo the humiliation of standing in line five hours to do advance voting. so i think if you try to make it hard for people to vote, do you make it harder for them to vote and they vote anyway and they beat you, then it just is not a winning political strategy to alienate all these hispanic voters. and a lot of them are very old-fashioned. moderate republicans could get them to vote for them. they believe in family. they raise their kids. they have phenomenal work ethic. when i was president, one of the things that we worried about was that the hispanic work ethic was such that it was contributing to higher high school drop-out

rates among young latinos who in fact had quit to support their families. >> you sound bullish on immigration reform. i want to talk to you quickly about -- >> i actually think we got about a 55% chance to pass. >> so bullish -- >> i'm slightly bullish. >> do you think bipartisanship is dead? governor christie is going to speak at cgi america. he plays a boardwalk game with president obama and it is a national issue. they go and tour the state of new jersey after devastating storms. he's hand-in-glove with the president on recovery efforts and the republican party is furious. what is going to happen to chris christie when he comes -- and again, is pledging to work with the efforts -- work in hand with former democratic president? >> well, it's interesting. i think in the culture of the northeast, if you're a republican and want to get elect and re-elected, bipartisanship is imperative.

in sort of the way we've separated out our cultures, in the deep south and some of the intermountain west, if you want to do that, you get creamed. i mean i saw that this republican woman who was a third-generation i think owner of a general store that sold guns and had 100% nra record was the chairman of the committee in the tennessee legislature that referred a bill to committee, she basically killed the bill for the session that the nra wanted that said you could carry your loaded concealed weapon anywhere and leave it in any parking lot. any parking lot at all. and they ran pictures of her and her district with president obama and beat her by 16 points in the primary. in other words, they're basically trying to get everybody to check their brain at the door, bob english got beat in south carolina because he said he realized he didn't have to hate the president to disagree with him. and that global warming was real.

boy, those were non-starters. he gets beat more than 2-1 in the primary. so there are cultures in which this is happening. but in the end, this constant conflict, this ideological war, is wildly ineffective at getting anything done. it won't work in the modern world. so i think that where bipathship is possible, you just have to keep working on it. congress cannot function. part of this, to be fair, it reapportionme reapportionment. but a part of it is, look at the media. why are you successful? finally people think we've got an answer to fox. why are all these things being broken up in niche networks? we're sorting ourselves out by what we believe. i tell everybody now it is america's last remaining

bigotry. we're less racist, sexist, homophobic than we used to be. we just don't want to be around anybody that disagrees with us. >> that's true. how do you reverse that trend? >> you have to create a culture of cooperation around a specific objective. then you have to just keep pushing it. it is very interesting. i was in arlington cemetery the other day for the 50th anniversary of the assassination of medgar evers. i was a boy when it happened. i trer like it was yesterday. i got to thinking about how we think it is so terrible today. in 1963 when medgar evers get assassinated. two months later martin luther king gives the greatest speech of my lifetime. we are going to celebrate that on august the 28th. november president kennedy gets killed. you then have five years of horrible riots in the streets and all these unimaginable things culminated by martin

luther king and robert kennedy's assassination. it makes us look like a cakewalk. but the difference was, the people then were more divided than our political issue. the political leadership continued to hold together, whether you agree or not, through the 1960s in support for the vietnam war. and we passed the civil rights act, a voting rights act, and open housing act, anti-poverty legislation. all of it had bipartisan support. we were working -- there was a political system that was trying to hold the country together even as we were dividing underneath. now the country is somewhat divided but if you look at the support, say, for universal background checks, 80%, 90%. the political system is more divided than the people. and that's -- that's a bad thing. and we've got to turn that

around. coming up -- more of my discussion with president clinton, including his thoughts on rebuilding america's cities just ahead. but first, as president obama faces a growing chorus of criticism over government surveillance, his administration moves to take action in syria. we'll discuss the president's tough position and his road ahead with one of the people who knows him best, former senior advisor david axelrod when he joins me next, next on "now," live from chicago. we've been bringing people together. today, we'd like people to come together on something that concerns all of us. obesity. and as the nation's leading beverage company, we can play an important role. that includes continually providing more options. giving people easy ways to help make informed choices. and offering portion controlled versions of our most popular drinks. it also means working with our industry

to voluntarily change what's offered in schools. but beating obesity will take continued action by all of us, based on one simple common sense fact... all calories count. and if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you'll gain weight. that goes for coca-cola, and everything else with calories. finding a solution will take all of us. but at coca-cola, we know when people come together, good things happen. to learn more, visit coke.com/comingtogether

president obama's decision yesterday to intervene military in syria comes at a key moment in his presidency. his administration is facing

sharp criticism over revelations an disclosures regarding his counterterrorism and national security strategies. addressing recent leaks about the nsa's surveillance program, democratic senator mark begich told politico -- i'm not sure people are confident that the administration has this under control. seems there is something new every day -- the irs, this. that's giving people lack of confidence in government. since his remarks on the nsa leaks a week ago the president has left members of the intelligence community to address the crisis while he remains silent. >> the information out there about us listening to american phone calls is incorrect. this is a meta data program. these programs are to help us stop terrorist attacks. this is not a program where we are out free wheeling it. it is a well overseen and a very focused program. >> but the controversies and questions do not seem to be holding the white house back from pursuing an aggressive

second term agenda. immigration reform continues to be debated in the senate and news reports indicate president obama's next big domestic priority -- energy reform -- will be rolled out in july. joining me now, former senior advisor to president obama and an msnbc senior political analyst, david axelrod. he is also the director of the university of chicago institute of politics. david, thank you for hosting us in your hometown. >> you know, it is like this 365 days a year. >> it's like the mediterranean out there. >> it is a great city. >> it is a great city. >> you also get a different perspective when you live in chicago than when you live in washington, d.c. >> as i'm sure the president has told us many times. david, let us talk about what is happening in washington, from your vantage point here in chicago. did the white house wait too long to get involved in syria? let me just remind everybody out there -- we are talking about 90,000 people who have been killed in a 27-month long conflict. millions of refugees spilling over into neighboring countries. is now drawing in many different

middle eastern actors and there is a question about what can actually even feesbasibly be do. >> everybody has to recognize the factors that a president has to consider in this regard. number one, when you arm rebels, who are you arming? what is the likely outcome? does that promote security or does it promote more turmoil? does it promote terrorism? does it empower al qaeda. these are the kind of factors that you have to think about. secondly, what can you do that would be effective. thirdly, how much of a commitment would it require. all of these things are what the president has been i'm sure studying very, very intently throughout this crisis. he's been deliberate in his actions and now he's taken another step. i'm not -- and because none of us know exactly what the full measure of that is, i'm

reluctant to draw any conclusions about the timing of it or what will happen now. >> do you think as someone who knows the man, personally, professional, that this is something he wrestled with? the president was an advocate on darfur before he was president. he knows lessons of the clinton administration on rwanda. he is someone who has proposed that he cares a lot about human rights and human dignity and this appears to be a case of mass atrocities, possibly jen ra genocide depending on the depth of that. >> all of these matters keep the president up at night. don't know anybody who spends more time thinking through these issues. there's been some talk this week about, well, are the polls influencing him because people don't want to be involved in foreign conflicts. i don't think any of that is what's on his mind. what's on his mind is what can be effective. obviously he intervened in libya. there were people who didn't want him to do that. but there was a path there that

made sense and he felt that there was a secure vision of where we could go in terms of stopping the advance there of the government forces. here it's a more complicated situation. i guess my view is shaped from having sat 20 feet from the oval office. understanding all of these questions have many nuances and he's one who considers all the implications of these things before he acts. >> it's complicated i feel like could be a tag line for much of the obama presidency. i want to get to the nsa surveillance and leaks about the nsa surveillance. this would seem to be something where president obama came into office, saying he was going to be one of the most transparent administrations in american history. he has said after these leaks he welcomes the debate. yet we haven't heard that much from this president. before the leaks and really after the leaks. do you think he actually welcomes this debate?

>> no, i think he does. i think it is a debate he's had himself. look, during the campaign -- and i was with him most of the time -- he never said that he didn't think that we should have robust intelligence. we live in a dangerous world. the night before we -- he took office we were wrestling with a potential terrorist threat on washington, d.c. even before he took office he was grappling with this. and i was there during the zazi episode and many others but having this intelligence has i think demonstrably saved lives. but he also said that we need to build in safeguards. i have absolute faith in this president, but what about future presidents? you want a system where every branch of government is involved. that's why they've had very intensive briefings of congress. that's why they have the fisa court and warrants. >> i think there are a lot of people -- i have two questions. one is, do you think the president is actually having a debate with the american people? do you think that prior to these

leaks he was having the debate that the american people wanted have regarding these programs? >> i think he's forced reforms that reflect his desire to strike the right balance and, you know, not every issue is debated. the congress certainly knew and had the ability to open up this legislation. they had the authority to. >> so many members of congress have come out. we've had this on this program saying we weren't fully briefed. >> i watched a guest on your show and said he wasn't briefed on the p.r.i.s.m. program and it turned out he was doing another fine program on msnbc at the time that the administration was briefing senators on that program. i think there's been -- my sense is that there's been extensive briefing, much more so than ever existed before. can there be adjustments?

people should propose answers. but i don't think a viable answer is that we abandon intensive intelligence collection because that is what has prevented another large-scale attack like 9/11. >> do you think edward snowden is a patriot or an enemy of the state. >> i'll leave it to others to characterize him. i've raised this before. i don't know exactly why -- there were critics of the programs in congress. he had the ability to walk across the street to congress and share his concerns with them. there is an inspector general in the nsa. he could have shared his concerns with him. i find his behavior a bit erratic in this whole episode. that's not to say that there isn't a valid discuss to have here, there is a valid discussion to have here. but i certainly wouldn't afford hero status to mr. snowden.

he took an oath. he violated that oath. he left the country after violating that oath because he didn't want to be prosecuted for violating that oath. i don't know. that doesn't seem like heroic behavior to me. >> do you think in the end the president is going to be willing to make concessions in terms of the fisa court, perhaps not invoking state secrets privileges? >> listen. we live in a democracy and we cherish that democracy and we've gone through these kinds of debates in our history before. and people have constructive suggestions to make. i'm sure that he will receive them. he, probably as much as anyone who sat in that office, has a real appreciation for the place that civil liberties plays in our society. but he also has the experience of being the commander in chief. every morning begins with intelligence briefings and he knows more than anyone on this planet exactly the kind of threats that we face. so balancing those interests is

very, very difficult. and if people have a way to refine that, that doesn't compromise our ability to stop large-scale attacks, i would think he'd be receptive to that. >> david axelrod, i have like a thousand more questions for you. unfortunately, you are saved by the fog horn or whatever that was. >> i cued that fog horn. >> that was brilliant. i do run this town! good luck to the blackhawks. >> yes, tha >> thank you. >> we're all excited for you. big night in chicago. former white house senior advisor david axelrod. coming up next -- she is a first daughter, journalist and activist. she's also a voice for women around the globe. chelsea clinton joins me live next on "now." is like hammering.

riding against the wind. uphill. every day. we make money on saddles and tubes. but not on bikes. my margins are thinner than these tires. anything that gives me some breathing room makes a difference. membership helps make the most of your cashflow. i'm nelson gutierrez of strictly bicycles and my money works as hard as i do.

this is what membership is. this is what membership does. then goes home...ly goes big... a mother sees the light... a son explores new worlds... and a father finds himself... face to face with himself... only smoother... epic shaves... epic picture... and epic fun... your destination for man of steel... walmart.

every day we're working to and to keep our commitments. and we've made a big commitment to america. bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u.s. than any other place in the world. in fact, we've invested over $55 billion here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger.

it is such a pleasure to be here in chicago participating as a private citizen, as a co-host of cgi, and as a representative of what we are officially renaming the bill, hillary and chelsea clinton foundation. i'm also a very proud mother because chelsea's role is expanding and this is truly a labor of love for our entire family. we are so excited and thrilled to have this be a full partnership among the three of us. >> sly and the family stone may have written the song, but for the clintons, it truly is a family affair. as they work together to address the world's most pressing

concerns. the family's youngest public service ambassador, chelsea clinton, has taken up issues of youth empowerment, education, public health and most notably gender equity, an issue that remains as important as ever, even in america which ranks a disappointing 78th in the world when it comes to women in government and where women still earn an estimated 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. joining me now, is chelsea clinton of the clinton global initiative. chelsea, welcome to the program. >> thank you, alex. there thanks for coming on. and congratulations on having an incredible -- cgi i feel like is going to take over the world. at one point it will be renamed cgi earth because of the extent to which you guys are involved in so many places around the world and doing really important work, i might add. >> well, thank you. i think there is so much vibrancy this year. i think one of the reasons is

not only because it is a beautiful day here in chicago, but also because people now are coming together, not only to make new commitments but talking about the work that they already have done together across the private sector and public sector. there's nothing that's more invigorating than real fro progress. i know you saw some of that in baltimore. >> baltimore was incredible. and actually really emotional. we'll be playing the interview where i spoke to your dad, president clinton, about that project in particular. but one of the issues that cgi i think has been so powerful on and your advocacy has been so meaningful, the issue of women and gender equity. we talked a lot last week about a pew study that came out showing that 4 in 10 households with children under 18 now have a female breadwinner. on some level that was great news. it is great that women are economically empowered on that level. but then you sort of dig deeper into the statistics and two-thirds of those households have single women at the head of them.

if you have a single mother, as the head of your household, she is making $23,000 a year. which is not a lot of money. married heads of household, women who are part after married couple, making $80,000. to say that life is difficult for single mothers in this country is a vast understatement. my question to you, is what do we do to make life better for single women? >> i read that same study and i think that finding the right answer to that question not only can ensure that life is better for those single mothers but that also life is better for those children is a real exise t existential question. one of my mom's real areas of focus will be around early childhood education. kids who grow up in the single mother households, many of those women, as was also true in the pew study, are working two jobs to even make that $22,000 a

year. we wi will spend significantly less time to spend with their patients than when i was able to spend with my parents. when i walked into kindergarten i had heard more than 33 million words spoken. whether a single mother's kid walks into kindergarten, particularly the single mom who is working two jobs, those kids will have heard less than 6 million words. it is really just a huge call to action because those neuro networks can never be really kind of caught up. that's not kid's fault and it is not the mom's fault. because single mothers are the hardest working part of our country so we need to figure out ways to make it easier for them to really earn a living wage for their family to spend more time with their kids and that their kids get the opportunities that every child deserves. >> in your mom's speech yesterday, she also said when women participate in the economy, everyone benefits. there is truly a ripple effect. it is not just good for to us have gender equity. it is actually beneficial to the gdp.

>> so when women's position in the labor force increased from 37% in 1970 to 48% in 2009, we added more than $2.5 trillion to our gdp just from women's increased participation. this is not, as my mom frequency says, just the right thing to do. it is the smart thing to do. >> when we talk about women's participation and women's involvement in the world, i must bring up the fact that your mother graced us all -- everyone is thrilled that she is now on twitter. she has -- in my humble opinion, one of the best twitter bios on the twitter sphere. were you involved in the writing of that twitter bioand did you counsel her? sometimes people get on twitter and they just think they need to crunch words together, take the vowels out and that's how you write a 140-character message. no, there is sort after modus operandi on sweater. have you been advising her at all, given your status as i think one of the world's 140 best tweeters.

>> oh, gosh. well i deserve no credit at all on her biography. that was completely her own doing. >> really? >> but we have definitely talked about her tweets. she either just has sent or will soon send her third. >> you heard it here first! >> she still treats them all with this kind of great -- so much thought goes into them. and i think that's so sweet as her daughter because everything that she's ever done in her life has been so kind of deliberate and intentional and full of so much energy and effort. but i hope she can also relax a little bit and kind of enjoy the cadence of twitter, just responding to things. >> #realtalk. >> exactly. she'll get there. >> in an interview today, were you talking about women needing more public role models. this is i think the fifth anniversary of your mother's shattering the glass ceiling speech. do you think we need -- i'm not naming names -- do you think we need a woman in the white house -- do you think america needs to sort of achieve that milestone being the leader in the globe that we are today?

>> i think that we need women role models everywhere. i think that it's really hard to imagine yourself as something that you don't see. i think it is great that you have your own show. there are going to be more little girls who think that they can grow up one day and have their own show on television because of you. like i think that we need more movies made about women who are rock star scientists and more television shows made about women who are explorers and not just men who are traipsing off into the jungles. and absolutely, we need women who are at the head of a boardroom, like at the head of the white house, at the head of kind of major scientific enterprises so that little girls everywhere can then think, you know what? i can do that, i want to do that, i will do that. >> before we go, chelsea, speaking of traipsing off into the global voyager, you just came back from burma which is a place that i hold dear to my heart. how was that trip for you?

>> it was really inspiring. there clearly is such a sense of we now can write our own future. and we at the clinton foundation want to do whatever we can to help the burmese people write the future that they want for themselves and their children. and so we're going to work with them on areas of public health an we're going to encourage some of our cgi members to make commitments that can really help hopefully kind of ricochet forward some progress in health and development more broadly and education. it is certainly a place that's really close to our family's heart, too, i mean given my mom's relationship with aung san suu kyi, it is very much a family commitment that we are making to burma. >> i would like to suggest that you take an extra large rolly bag that i can stuff myself into. if you are looking to adopt older people, i would like to volunteer. if not, we'll just wait for cgi earth and i will continue to be a global citizen following your moves. thank you so much, chelsea clinton. cgi. congrats on all the work.

coming up, more from my conversation with chelsea's father, president bill clinton, his thoughts on poverty, education and urban re revitalizati revitalization. that's next on "now." [ male announcer ] you know what happens when we take away the late fees and penalty rate? no one misses them. the citi simplicity card is the only card that never has late fees, a penalty rate, or an annual fee. ever. go to citi.com/simplicity to apply.

man: the charcoal went out already? ... forget it. vo: there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford original charcoal.

kingsford. slow down and grill. 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. president bill clinton takes on charm city. we'll bring you more of my interview with the former president as we discuss the decline and rebirth of the american metropolis. that's next. we make meeting times, lunch times and conference times. but what we'd rather be making are tee times.

tee times are the official start of what we love to do. the time for shots we'd rather forget, and the ones we'll talk about forever. in michigan long days, relaxing weather and more than 800 pristine courses make for the perfect tee time. because being able to play all day is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] for dad's first job as dad. nissan tests hundreds of child seats to give you a better fit and a safer trip. snug kids, only from nissan. ♪

the clinton global initiative america is here in chicago for its annual meeting to discuss new innovative solutions to some of the country's most urgent problems. one of cgi's areas of focus this year is the decline of american

cities, including parts of baltimore that have been left on life support. i sat down with former president clinton earlier today and spoke with him about the challenges facing once great cities and what the future holds. >> the first great decline of baltimore i saw when i went there in the 1960s. and then jim rouse, a great urban developer, and city leaders and state leaders rebuilt the harbor area and modernized that. and then they began to expand out. baltimore now has some interesting home-grown companies, including under armor and laureate universities which have schools in 38 countries. and i think what you have to do is you build these -- you get these anchor economic engines and then you build on the

amenities of cities. you make it possible for people to bring businesses downtown and residential areas back downtown. i think a lot of the areas which are isolated and in trouble are just remnants of the housing collapse and the fact that baltimore was an interesting city. it had a lot of neighborhoods that were almost suburbs, if you will, in terms of stand-alone houses and yards. and there may or may not be an economy that will support that. but i feel the mayor now i think is doing a good job trying to close down and clean up profrts th properties that can't be rescued, rescue those that can, make sure people living in the cities are being hired in the cities. i feel pretty good about baltimore. >> you see some of the action that's happening but the reality is one-third of the population has left. that's not just the story of baltimore. that's the story you look at what's happening to chicago. detroit. exactly.

i wonder to what degree you think that this problem of sort of cities in decline or this excess in housing which is to say abandoned, foreclosed homes. whether that can be solved by forces from the outside. i know vacanted to value works really with the community but some folks in chicago, for example, grassroots activists who are taking back abandoned homes and installing homeless families in them and they are working completely outside of the mainstream. is that a solution? does it need to be some sort of combination? >> i think it can be, actually. they ought to be mainstream in the sense that there needs to be a process to legalize them to institutionalize where they live to make it possible. but i actually think some of these activists are making the best available use of the space and it is probably the least expensive way to provide decent housing for the homeless. but you do have to put some people to working with going in and making sure these places are safe and habitable. but i think it could be a part

of it. i think that the real problem is are you going to have an economic engine. when i was president and we had these empowerment zones and really gave a lot of incentives to people to invest there. it's hard to believe now, we got the unemployment rate in detroit down to 4%. it had almost nothing to do with the automobile industry except people who were doing some r & d an people doing some minor parts. but then this last collapse really hurt detroit and it took out a lot of the capital that was being invested and building them a new economy. so they have to begin again. but by and large, the cities in the united states, and interestingly enough, around the world, are more likely to be prosperous and to provide -- to create jobs than in small towns in rural areas. one of the things i keep trying

to do is make sure that smaller towns and cities are a part of our strategy because we don't want to ever get to the point that you see in india, for example. india has pretty robust growth every year. almost 100% of it applies to the 35% of the people in their prosperity urban centers. you just have to look at what the economic prospects are and how you can use the things that still have value that aren't being utilized. like empty houses. like empty property. and then figure out a way to put them to some productive purpose as quickly as possible. after the break, inner city violence is rapidly making chicago ground zero for the national debate over gun safety. but six months after sandy hook, are we any closer to reform? we'll discuss when mayors against illegal guns director mark lay joins us next. come on, sulley, it's the last play of the game!

whoa, wait for me! oh no! my mom just cleaned this place! calm down, squishy, this'll be easy to clean. [ female announcer ] swiffer wetjet pads have the scrubbing power of mr. clean magic eraser. they trap and lock away even monstrous messes to make tough cleaning a breeze. now that's clean. wow. scottie! we won! uh-huh, uh-huh. mom?!! [ female announcer ] swiffer gives cleaning a monstrous new meaning. monsters university, in theaters, in 3d.

yesterday president obama and vice president biden met privately with the families affected by the sandy hook school shooting. today on the six-month anniversary of the tragedy, family members were back in newtown holding a moment of silence to commemorate the 26 victims of the shooting. joining me now, director of mayors against illegal guns, mark glaze. mark, thank you so much for joining us. it's six months since newtown. there have been 5,000 gun deaths in america since that tragedy. and yet we don't seem to be any closer on gun reform. i will quote to you jeff flake who voted no on gun safety measures saying yesterday, i don't think they're going to come back on it. they've got a long way to go on reform, and frankly, i just don't see people who voted against it moving their position. what do you have to say to that. >> i just think he's wrong about

that. this is the rare issue in american politics where the public is perfectly clear about what it wants and it is perfectly clear that what it wants actually works. states that close the private sale loophole that just require a simple couple-minute background check for gun sales, fewer suicide, fewer armed assaults, fewer police officers killed in the line of duty. i don't think people like jeff flake who's now the least popular senator in the united states after his vote. >> a fair point. a fair point. >> mark, let's talk about some of the efforts made by new york city mayor michael bloomberg who is urging major donors not to contribute to the campaigns of four democratic senators who are facing tough re-election fights who have not voted in favor of gun safety reform. that would be max baucus, heidi hidecamp, mark pryor and mark begich. is that a good strategy in your mind? >> sure. mayor bloomberg is the is not the only one.

ken layered, aird and a lot of people are saying, this is an issue we care about. senators from red states like arkansas are getting the bulk of money used to fuel their campaigns by going to places like los angeles and new york, then they got to care what we think. we think they need to get with the 90% of the public that want to keep their kids safe. if they can't do that, they shouldn't come here to raise money. >> mark, before we let you go, i found it fairly hypocritical that many of the conservatives who were adamantly circling sort of the wagons to protect the second amendment that did not want any form of background checks are totally okay with what a lot of people see as very intrusive nsa surveillance. i mean i think we have this whole debate in american society right now about what constitutes government overreach. has the direction of that conversation -- has the direction of that conversation surprised you? >> not really. i mean the second amendment has always had a special meaning for a lot of people.

my dad was a gun dealer in the mountains of colorado. i sold hunting licenses and fishing licenses with him as a kid. there is a culture that surrounds guns. but, the kind of hidden truth of this is that the nra's washington leadership, which is almost single-handedly responsible for stopping any kind of progress, knows that 74% of its own members actually think everybody should get a background collection. so if we could just get past the nra's reputation and money and actually take this to ordinary nra members and the american public, we would make progress, everybody could have their gun and we would save a lot of lives. >> mark glaze, we are not letting this issue go on this program. continue to fight. thank you so much for your time. mark glaze for mayors against illegal guns. that is all for now here in chicago. joy reed, my friend and colleague, will be in for me on monday in new york city at noon eastern. and tune in all week next week when i host the last word at 10:00 p.m. right here on msnbc.

until then, find us at facebook.com/nowwithalex. andrea mitchell reports with kristin welker is up next. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover, and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i've been with bp for 24 years. i was part of the team that helped deliver on our commitments to the gulf - and i can tell you, safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge safety equipment and technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all our drilling activity, twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. safety is a vital part of bp's commitment to america - and to the nearly 250,000 people who work with us here. we invest more in the u.s. than anywhere else in the world. over fifty-five billion dollars here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor.

our commitment has never been stronger. where we've switched their fruits and veggies with produce from walmart. it's a fresh-over. that's great. tastes like you just picked them. so far, it's about the best strawberry i've had this year. walmart works directly with growers to get you the best-quality produce they've ever had. all this produce is from walmart. oh, my gosh. i'm shocked. [ laughs ] i know where i'm going to be shopping for strawberries now. find fresh berries and all your quality produce backed by our money back guarantee. walmart. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief

for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions, or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history.

and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," crossing the line. the white house stepping up its game in syria after declaring president assad has used chemical weapons against his own people. but is the added firepower too little, too late? former president bill clinton, who criticized president obama's policy earlier this week, praised the move on "morning joe." >> the white house has made it clear that they intend to do more, they're exploring their options and right now they don't want to talk about the details and i don't blame them, because the less they talk about the details, the more likely their increased assistance it likely to be effective. and as i said, they want to see what our other allies are willing to do. so i think on balance, this should be seen as a