morning joe starts right now. james catches, puts up a three. won't go. back out to allen. his three-pointer. tie game with three seconds remaining! >> an absolutely amazing ending to an absolutely amazing game. good morning. it's wednesday, june the 19th. with us on set, former communication director for president george w. bush, nicole wallace, and the host of cnbc's "mad money," jim cramer. good morning, guys. i told you. what did i tell you when they all go down to miami and got fireworks and coming? what did i say?

i said these kids, just give these kids time to breathe. so much confidence. >> you've been defending lebron james for years now. >> nonstop. >> you're a hater. you're a lebron hater, and he showed you. >> what did i tell you? i said give these kids just a little room to breathe. >> so full disclosure, i fell asleep after the third quarter, and they were down by ten points. the game was totally getting away from them, and then i wake up this morning -- >> boom! >> click on espn.com, and there i see they've come back in overtime lead by lebron james. he had a triple double last night. lost the head band at some point. >> how do you not have doc in the game with defense? i don't understand it. nicole wallace, in fact, you are a huge miami heat fan because you and sarah palin first bonded watching heat games back in like '99. >> that's right. >> but you're a huge heat fan.

what a game. >> this was an incredible game. i wish i had fallen asleep at the end of the third quarter because it was getting pretty good. i took half an ambien to try to sleep through it. nothing worse than ambien interrupted sleep trying to watch overtime. kept one eye open. >> a lot going on today. we're going to be taking the president live at 6:30 eastern time. he's going to be holding a news conference with german chancellor merkel. also, a really controversial decision in the health world that could be seen as an incredible breakthrough in the fight against obesity. we'll have that in a moment. first, we have terrible news to report in the media industry and especially the future of news and journalism but also a friend of the show, willie? >> michael hastings, 33 years old, the great writer for "rolling stone" and "buzz feed"

among others lately, was killed late monday night, tuesday morning in a car accident in hollywood, california. he was best known most recently for the piece he wrote in "rolling stone" 2010 that essentially took down general stanley mcchrystal when they were in europe together. >> incredible reporting. >> he had general mcchrystal talking about president obama, vice president biden, essentially mocking them, and it cost general mcchrystal his job. he'd been here many times, michael hastings, for his hard charging a reporter and as prickly a reporter as he could be, he was a very charming, likable guy. we always liked having him on here. he was an independent minded journalist. >> fearless. >> we could use more like him. he had truly no fear of anyone in power. he went after anybody he thought needed going after, and we're sad to report that he died at the age of 33. >> so incredibly young. >> he also -- julian assange, he

tracked him down, had an interview with him. and a memorable interview with philippe raines, hillary clinton's spokesperson. moms, dads, cover your ears. after benghazi, hastings had a line of questioning that aingered grange, asking him why do you decide to ask questions you already know the answers to? so talk about a guy saying that to the secretary of state's spokesperson, a guy who was hard charging and fearless. >> he will be terribly missed. i couldn't believe it when i heard this late last night. his work represents so much of who he was as a human being, even the book he wrote, which i think is one of the reasons he

came on the show, and the work that he's done. we'll be missing him and keeping in mind as we work to keep the right conversation on this show. let's move on to our other top story of the day. a controversial decision being hailed by some health experts as a breakthrough in the fight against obesity. the american medical association will recognize obesity as a disease, potentially opening the door to a wide range of medical treatments. the announcement from the country's largest group of physicians carries heavy clout with doctors and policy makers. it's still unclear as to what extent insurers will cover treatments. about one-third of adults in the u.s. are classified as obese, classified as roughly 35 or more pounds over a healthy weight. >> so there was a time, jim cramer, when conservatives would talk about, hey, keep big brother out of my refrigerator. i'm hearing more and more from

conservatives, more and more like me, that are obsesses, talk about obsessing about the federal debt. you look at our long-term health care problems, medicare and medicaid swallows up every cent, every cent in our budget 20 years from now. what? about a third of those charges from obesity-related diseases. >> this is a way for 70 million people to be able to, i think, get more health care insurance, which we know is really going to be everybody's responsibility in a couple months. fortunately, there are some pills that have just been approved that lower weight. >> really? >> yeah. >> can i eat whatever i want? that's what i need. >> that's the question. is it right? the pills have been shown definitely, definitively to lower weight, so these are companies that, i think, are going to capitalize off of it. we're all going to pay. it's going to be a protected class. that's what starts happening, remember? >> cramer, if we all pay, as you

say, this will cost more money because it will lead to treatments that will lead to doctors actually having to recognize the symptoms of obesity, which apparently is still a controversy. i don't know how you don't recognize that when someone comes into your office as having other problems and other obesity related diseases, but you don't treat the obesity itself. >> this is about the diabetes epidemic. >> it's about joint problems, diabetes, heart disease, and some would argue it's about cancer. >> all of those things are wrapped up. it reminds me back, my dad was always overweight. and my mom would be so angry. he would go to the doctor, and she would say to me, this is the time because george is really fat. this is the time he's going to come back from the doctor, and the doctor is going to tell him to lose weight. >> that's right. >> doctor never would. doctor was always afraid to. and my dad passed away, unfortunately, prematurely, just like i was telling you on father's day, my dad should still be alive today.

>> absolutely. there's no excuse. >> but he had heart attacks. this leads to heart disease. it leads to diabetes. my family knows about. it leads to cancer. it leads to so many things. whatever costs we pay on the front end, they're going to be more offset on the back end by this because of the billions and billions of dollars we all spend as taxpayers. you can say, hey, let's keep big brother out of medicine, but guess what? you're paying for medicaid. you're paying for medicare. >> they're going to come at your soda companies. they're going to come after cereal companies. they're going to come after anybody who puts snacks out there in any elementary school. this is a coke and pepsi cola issue. this is a general mills issue. it's a kellogg's issue. >> it's a food industry issue as well. >> they have not to date, let's say, been cooperative. they've been combative.

>> the soda issue is in the news as well. before we get there, i'll just say, absolutely, to what you just said in terms of costs and especially the personal experience of your father, i also think this news will help break the stigma that obesity is somehow a discipline issue, which is what i was working on in the research for the book. how it's treated, how it should be treated, how people should not be left alone to deal with this problem. so you've got that. and then on top of this news, we have 14 mayors who are appealing to the foot stamp issue, and they want soda to not be able to be purchased via food stamps. we've got a lot of different policies i think will come forward, especially in light of this news. >> we've got to get people exercising too. we really do. kids in school. it's one thing to tell kids you can't have coke in school. i'll tell you, i was raised on captain crunch. i was raised on coke. but i also ran the entire time, and i was skinny as a rail my

entire life. they've got to get moving. a lot to talk about. let's keep moving. we've got the president in europe. of course, he's going to be speaking, very excited, about the speaking of obesity, he's going to be speaking today at the brandenburg gate. it was 50 years ago, willie, this week, that john f. kennedy stood at that gate and said not only to berlin but the entire world -- remember what he said -- i am a jelly doughnut? >> oh, stop. >> he didn't say it correctly. >> the pronunciation was a little off. >> and then, of course, reagan came, went to the brandenburg gate 20 years ago, and said, mr. gorbachev, tear down this jelly doughnut. >> all right. >> today the president is going to be back at the brandenburg gate. >> president obama in germany this morning, where he's expected to outline a plan to reduce the american nuclear arsenal -- >> can we just show pictures of kennedy all the time? because he's just so cool

looking. we're going to read the story and just look at kennedy. go ahead. >> on the condition that russia follows suit, the president is expected to propose cutting the number of warheads by as much as a third. a treaty signed in 2010 sought to reduce the number of nuclear weapons each nation has to -- the new outline takes a number well below that over several years. as joe mentioned, president obama's speech day at brandenburg gate falls 50 years to the week of president kennedy's ich bin ein berliner address at the same spot. according to "the wall street journal," president obama discussed the nuclear plan with president putin. the summit ended with little headway on syria or a trade pact as the resolution did not call for the removal of president bashar al assad, a decision that is drawing the ire of syrian

rebels. >> jim cramer, g-8, how are we doing? how are the countries in the west doing? >> we're the only ones that have it together. china is very upset, paper tiger -- >> can i say one thing? what did i say about the heat? what did i say about this austerity thing in europe? it's not going to work. >> they have no growth. latin america has no growth. asia is slowing down. china without a doubt may be the worst of all the worldwide economies in terms of -- because they need europe to be able to take their stuff. watch for china -- i don't know who's really running that country, but i can tell you this, their deceleration in economics is just incredible. it's not bringing us down. >> china may go down below 7%, 6% growth this err year. we are right now the tallest building in elmira, new york. >> it's the shung kamao bank.

>> how do you know about elmira, new york? >> i come to play. >> you do come to play. we may be the tallest building in elmira, new york, but people keep buying the dollar. what are you going to do? go to europe? go to china? they're all train wrecks wait to go happen. >> you can't feed china. that's a big issue. 700,000 recespiratory deaths la year. let's go to john meacham. speaking of smoking, he smokes way too much. john, you look at europe, the g-8, they were all lecturing president obama three years ago. sarkozy, where is he now? who knows? he's probably staying at your place in the south of france. >> oh, no, unh-unh. >> but united states is in this strange position of just sort of

crawling along, but we're doing better than all our partners in the g-8. >> for some reason god loves drunks, little children, and the united states of america. >> john meacham, you come to play just like cramer. it was actually the founder of germany, bismarck, who says there is a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the united states of america. >> i think we have to be kind to the french as much as possible. >> okay. >> i think that's an important shift. i think there is a certain confidence we should take -- not overconfidence and not obviously, a kind of lassitude about our problems we've been talking about -- medicaid alone we've just talked about. talk to any governor in the country, and 33%, 34%, 35% of their budgets are controlled by this. so there's a lot of money that

needs to go to more productive purposes so we can grow, and a pro growth agenda is going to be a winning economic and political formula. but there's reason to hope. whether you're quoting the french or the germans. >> or the chinese. >> so despite when some republicans would say, nicole wallace, when you look at things in the grand perspective, isn't president obama running the strongest economy? and especially given the research that we've seen over the past few weeks, where even economic pessimists are seeing signs of hope here. things are moving. >> look, i think the republicans would be well served to continue to cheer the economy on. i think we had a debate in the presidential election whether it would serve one party's interests for the economy to do worse. i think the republicans should be among those cheering for greater economic recovery. i think the republicans should be doing more. that's where our focus should be. when you get back to the lessons

learned, the soul searching republicans did after the election, it was the revelation that focusing obsessively on the debt and not on growing the economy and supporting and helping small businesses flourish was a political loser. it turns out that's where the country's attention is, how do we add jobs? >> snarling didn't help either. who would guess that snarling turned off swing votes? >> we had no idea. good thing we studied that because now we know. >> if we only had an example of somebody who was a sunny optimist, you know, willie, if somebody in republican history that's a sunny optimist, almost like an actor, that we could have followed his lead. >> that maybe also stood in front of the brandenburg gate, someone like that. >> if there were only an example of someone like that we could have followed in 2012 and 2008. >> no, not him. >> not that one. >> there's another one that bobs his head. >> so, cramer, let me ask you, is the american economy actually doing well, or is the american

economy doing well relative to how terrible everyone else is doing? is there are a lot of people without jobs or wages are stagnant, and they go, wait a minute, the economy is doing well? >> it's of course the latter. the job growth is anemic, personal income is not rising. our country is doing better than the other guys, in part, because bernanke has tried very hard to keep rates down, good wealth effect, housing going up. we're not creating jobs. this is a false sense of prosperity, if you're one of the millions of people that's been able to find a job. >> so our economy is supposedly doing better than everyone else's economy, but germany far outpacing us on job growth. even great britain outpacing us on job growth. australia outpacing us on job growth. so we see these numbers. of course, since all economic data is intended to confuse university of alabama graduates like myself, i've just said, but

we only have to count to number one every year. roll tide. so we hear on one hand we're doing better than everybody else, but then you dig in and you see, just like you said, even great britain is outpacing us on job growth. germany is crushing us. all those people saying, oh, austerity is bad. really? angela merkel has a hell of a record. it's hard to tell exactly, why aren't the jobs coming back here? >> i think the jobs aren't coming back here in part because small business is just horrendous in this country. we are not starting -- that's who hires. joe, we know small business hires. and the creation is bad, and i think the health care act is going to be very difficult for a small business person to be able to say, you know, i want to get in. why not wait? so our small business and commercial real estate nowhere. there's no cranes in this. you fly over this great country, you won't see any cranes. you go to other countries, you'll see more cranes. that's where the jobs are, infrastructure and building

commercial real estate, not building homes. coming up on "morning joe," former adviser to president bush, dan senor will be here. >> we're going to have a discussion over syria here. >> that will go terribly. >> as many, including john mccain, are saying, this is not about syria. it's a regional war. you have king abdullah in jordan and others saying, if this continues, i won't last six months. >> former presidential adviser to president obama, melody barnes. also michael haney with the new issue of "gq" magazine. and then we're going back in intoariinto arianna huffington's bag with ali wentworth. first, bill karins with the weather. have you ever seen this at

denver international airport? this was outside the terminal window. this was a tornado in between the runways at the airport. they had to evacuate quickly. thankfully, it didn't do any damage. it stayed over the runways and rural areas. a 100-mile-per-hour wind gust was reported with that tornado. it was a pretty serious situation that actually ended pretty well. let me show you the radar image from this. all the major airports in this country have a radar to help with the planes coming in and out. this was the actual picture of the tornado. this was the radar, and the tornado would have been located right in the center of that, right there. these are the runways. this is one runway, and that's the other one just to the east. pretty fascinating event there in denver. we like it, and it's interesting because no one got hurt. yesterday's rainfall in the east, we had a lot of it. we got drenched over maryland and delaware. up to two inches of rain fell. today is your reward day, lower humidity values, temperatures are down, sunshine this afternoon. should be a great day from d.c. to boston, up through the great

lakes. chicago looks fantastic again today. much of the country looksed good. we are going to start getting a little warmer out there. 93 in dallas. 92 in denver. a lot better weather today for just about everyone compared to yesterday. that includes new york city. enjoy a great late spring day. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. i'm the next american success story. working for a company where over seventy-five percent of store management started as hourly associates. there's opportunity here. i can use walmart's education benefits to get a degree, maybe work in it, or be an engineer, helping walmart conserve energy. even today, when our store does well, i earn quarterly bonuses. when people look at me, i hope they see someone working their way up. vo: opportunity, that's the real walmart.

it's 24 past the hour. time to take a look at the morning papers. "usa today," a new study shows that 1 in 9 of the bridges in the u.s. are unsafe. on average, bridges that are considered structurally deficient are over 65 years old, it's estimated that it would cost well over $76 billion to repair these bridges. 260 million americans drive across brings every day that go

into this category. >> mika, very important for you, foot doctors are warning that high heeled shoes are dap jenge for females. x-rays taken show the balls of her feet are at a 90 degree angle to all other bones in her foot. doctors recommend women avoid wearing heels higher than two inches. >> is it bad that i can't wear flats anymore? >> why can't you wear flats? >> i've worn heels for so many years. >> does it hurt to you wear flats? >> oh, yeah, that's all happening to me. let's go to the "toronto star." the jeopardy game show host alex trebek is considering a bid for office, specifically mayor of toronto. okay. last night on a national geographic gala where he was honored, trebek was asked whether he'd make a run, and he replied, "i have no idea. i don't make plans too far in advance, but i've always been interested in poll tick, and it's a possibility." the current mayor of toronto,

rob ford, is dealing with allegations he was caught smoking crack. and a fund-raising event in new york city for senator mark begich has been cancelled. it's been cancelled because of michael bloomberg's push to punish democrats who voted against the background checks bill. the event which was scheduled to be hosted by the city's finance leaders was called off a few days after mayor bloomberg sent a letter to donors, and that letter was because he voted against a background check that 90% of americans supported and that most people in alaska actually supported. >> that's what happens apparently now with bloomberg against these guys. >> let's go over to willie right now for the political playbook. >> the executive editor down there is mr. jim van de hyde. you have a piece titled the

gop's clueless caucus. >> the republicans have been wrestling with this since the election. how do you keep congress from saying these bombastic things that become a huge distraction for the party. you have a republican congressman in georgia who saided to akin was partially right when he says, quote, unquote, rape in those cases where women's bodies can shut down and abort the fetus. and up in alaska, you have don young referring to hispanics as wetbacks. these things become controversies, distractions for the party, and the party leadership is wrestling with how do we silence these guys? how do we keep them from saying things that become distractions for a party that's trying to modernize itself, trying through immigration reform and other things, to reach out to voters who have not been with them in the past? >> i guess it's john boehner's job theoretically to rein them in, and it hasn't happened the

last few years. these guys are outliers, but they've become the face of the republican party. whose job is it to pull them back? >> it would be speaker boehner's. the problem with republicans, they don't have a strong national leader. speaker boehner, yes, he has the power. he's not a strong speaker, so he can't take action against a lot of these members. even if he did, they don't care what leadership says. they care what happens back home. and a lot of constituents like when they say incendiary things. i think republican leaders are debating how do we get more people out there on tv communicating for the republican party that are not just white men and not people saying incendiary things. >> nicole wallace, i think it's fair to point out too that i think that unwith of the frustrations that republicans have is those of you in the media are obsessed with these members, who i think even you can admit, none of them are, as you said, leaders in the

republican party. none of them are important chairman of important committees making legislation. if you go back to the substance, we're talking about immigration, i think even democrats would admit there's no one in the country, no elected official in the country more important to that effort than marco rubio. plenty of republicans leading on important difficult issues, but you guys remain focused on their gaffes and ridiculous statements. >> i think that would be a fair critique. i don't think in the modern media culture there's that much you can do from keeping the media at large from covering these folks. you've got folks like steve king, who has real power over conservatives. michele bachmann, sarah palin, who you worked for. a the lot of them are power houses in the republican party who become the biggest distraction for the party. you guys had to deal with this in the bush white house. trying to navigate a huge party with two very different factions inside of it and do it in a way that presents a face to the

electorate that can actually be elected both in their districts and nationally. >> joe, thanks very much. i'm looking at this "washington post" story about high heels. what are you wearing today? >> these are my flats. >> those actually don't go as high -- >> yeah, i would consider these flats. >> can you really not wear flats anymore? >> i can't wear flats. >> you've ruined your -- >> i've ruined my feet. according to the latest news, i'm in for a lot of pain. >> these are my flats. >> and they stink. okay. thank you very much. >> is $29.99 on amazon.com. >> that's fantastic. you might want to consider getting a few other pairs and switching them out. >> no, i'm good. >> president obama will hold a news conference with german chancellor angela merkel. we'll bring it to you live when it happens.

[ ship horn blows ] no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... not so much. but that's okay -- you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ 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. ♪ small businesses get up earlier and stay later. and to help all that hard work pay off, membership brings out millions of us on small business saturday and every day to make shopping small huge.

this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

i love these kids. what did i say? through the peaks and the valleys. >> up and down?

good times and bead, for better or worse. >> as of eight minutes ago. >> hasn't been that long. he's a lebron hater. >> game six in miami. looked like it was all over for the heat, hosting san antonio. let's go to the third quarter. spurs looked like they were going to run away with this. tony parker basket. tim duncan for the putback. duncan had 30 points, only 5 in the second half. at one point the spurs led by 13. in the fourth quarter, lebron leads the comeback. clean block on duncan. then on the other end powers into the basket. over dunk. and that ties the game at 82. game tied with a minute to play. tony parker spin move. spurs eventually go up five points with 20 seconds to play. >> you're kidding. >> you had to figure the finals were over. with their season on the line, though, lebron, desperation three, misses. on the second chance, gets it to go. >> what a shot! >> that cuts it to two with 20 seconds left.

spurs hit a free throw. on the next possession, tim duncan on the bench, the heat have a chance, down three. >> james catches, puts up a three. won't go. rebound bosh. back out to allen. his three-pointer in! tie game with five seconds remaining. >> one of the best two or three shooters in the history of the nba, ray allen, a miraculous three, sends the game to overtime. in ot, a defensive battle. spurs down one with a final chance, but manu ginobili can't get through the miami defense. miami wins an absolutely thrilling game six. 103-100 was the final. we have a game seven coming up tomorrow night in miami. after the game, lebron. >> leave everything on the floor. if we're going to go down tonight, we're going to go down with me leaving every little bit of energy that i have on the floor. >> game seven thursday in miami at 9:00 p.m. that's got to feel like a gut punch to the spurs. >> what are you thinking?

>> if it was anybody else, i would say miami is going to roll them because of this game. the spurs are tough. this is their last stand. a bunch of old guys, their last chance at a title. this is going to be a great game. >> when tim duncan plays all the minutes as opposed to sitting on the bench, and popovich has a lot up his sleeve. he's a tough guy. hates the media. >> you got to hand it to lebron. that was a pivot point in his career. they lost 2 out of 3 finals. he disappeared. >> you're exactly right. that guy that disappeared a couple of years ago against dallas, alligator arms, don't pass to me, he went after it and shot it. >> if he comes up big in game seven, the myth of lebron grows. >> what does a game like that look like when you're doped up on ambien. do you remember? >> long, very long. >> a lot of daytime emmys on that. >> i asked my wife last night who she was rooting for? she said whichever team means

the season is over tonight. i said spurs. she goes, go spurs. >> god, i love her. police reportedly spent hours questioning new england patriots tight end aaron hernandez and searching his home. the search apparently tied to the discovery of a body at an industrial park a mile away from his house. his agent declining comment on the investigation. "sports illustrated" citing unnamed sources reports hernandez is not believed to be a suspect. a rental car taken out in his name is part of the investigation. a lot of loose ends to that story. >> hernandez a disappointment to me in fantasy this year, but that's okay. >> in a related story. >> i think it's important to inject fantasy into that reality stor story. >> i guess we buried the lead, jim. i'm sorry. >> it's all about his fantasy league. >> i didn't win the super bowl. mets ace matt harvey pitched

six hitless innings. struck out a career 13. held them off 4-3. in the night cap, mets zach wheeler making his major league debut. atlanta's upton brothers chasing a flyball to left center and collide. b.j. holds onto the ball. when they get up, he gives his little brother justin a shove. come on, man. future of the new york pitching rotation looked really good. on display last night. wheeler, six scoreless innings, struck out seven. mets beat the braves 6-1 to sweep the day/night game. >> what about the mets, their pitching? >> they have two great front line pitchers. they need more help obviously. they're not going to do it this year. they don't have any hitting. >> red sox double, they looked great. red sox looked fabulous. >> and the yankees, you know, the yankees are going to be there at the end, but they keep getting injured. >> mark teixeira back on the dl. inflammation in his wrist. the wrist has been a problem.

and kevin youkilis, the new yankee, out for ten months because of surgery on his back. adds to the list of would be starters on the dl. brian cashman expects to have a-rod back this season. a lot of people doubt that. there's no projected rehab for his return. >> they're not going to try to get rid of a-rod? >> they can't get rid of him, but they can politely suggest he retire or get a doctor to say that he can't play anymore because of his injuries, and they're insured, jim cramer. >> so smart. >> they're insured on that deal. >> what about the roids? >> isn't that a problem? >> he hasn't tested positive. these are still accusations and scribbling in notebooks in florida. >> trying to bring down all the iconic athletes in this country. we need some heroes. >> nothing iconic about that. >> is obesity a disease? the american medical association says so as we've been talking

about. dr. nancy snyderman going to join us for today's doctor's orders. before that, mika's must read opinion pages is next.

hey. they're coming. yeah. british. later. sorry. ok...four words... scarecrow in the wind... a baboon... monkey? hot stew saturday!? ronny: hey jimmy, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? jimmy: happier than paul revere with a cell phone. ronny: why not? anncr: get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love. for 25 years, i tthan probablycare moreanyone else.and we've had this farm for 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas.

that's how we make our living and that's how we can pass the land and water back to future generations. people should make up their own mind what's best for them. all i can say is it has worked well for us. president obama is going to be holding a joint press conference with german chancellor angela merkel. the expected topics are going to be the economy and syria. it's also likely the germans will make a point of bringing up

the nsa spying issues. apparently, the germans are very, very keyed in on this and leery about it. we're going to be hearing that momentarily and will take that press conference live. >> john meacham, as we look at this shot and look at the brandenburg gate and think back to kennedy in 1963 delivering a message to the world. ronald reagan, i believe it was in 1987, doing the same. we look at this presidency, and it seems to be a second term right now unmoored. the president has lost on background checks, obviously, troubles with benghazi, the irs. what does the president need to do as we look at angela merkel getting ready to begin this conference? >> i think candidate obama, remember, went on that remarkable tour in the summer of '08, got accused of being something like paris hilton for being more of a celebrity than a substantive person. what obama has failed to do at

home is control the conversation politically. if he can do anything to reassert a kind of american centr centrality over politics, i think he'll have done something important. second term presidents love dealing with foreign affairs because they don't have to deal with subcommittee chairmen anymore. that's something that president obama is findsing just as president clinton found. >> can you talk about the five years that have passed from the time this president went over as a candidate, a triumphant speech, remarkable speech, and five years later he's there and facing the same second term doldrums that it seems every other president in modern american history has faced. >> exactly. he went over at a time in '08

when when everyone you spoke to off the record, in politics or anything, would decry the george w. bush administration would say how terrible the role of america in the world was. and obama was this great candidate. i think the phrase was hope and change. >> i think it was. >> or was it hopy and changy. nicole can tell us. i think it was an exciting moment, a time when we could shift from eight years of war and conflict and such stress. the politics of the first eight years, nine years of the 21st century were as comply ticated any in our history. two wars gone on longer than any in our history. kids born when george h.w. bush

and jim baker were trying to unify germany is now lived with war more than any other war in this lifetime except the revolutionary one. >> i remember being in denver, and i was sitting next to mike murphy. we were looking at the president's speech, within candidate obama's speech, and says, houston, we have a problem. i said, oh, my god, this guy is going to be difficult to beat. here we are five years later, you have to have mixed feelings. obviously, you're against the president's policies and don't support him politically, but seeing a man that you cared about deeply, george w. bush, fa face, feeling gravity's pull of the second term, you have to be somewhat sympathetic that somebody could have fallen from hope and change to struggling with congress and the realities. so many many people thought he

could transcend. >> the joke is not on president obama. i actually believe, when it comes to the drone policy, when it comes to the nsa program, that's about the reality of sitting in the oval office and really understanding for the first time in obama's life the threats facing this country. the joke is on the millions of people who thought he was going to be different. and the political tragedy in this -- and you see those numbers among young people -- is that when it came to our anti-terror policy, not only was he no different, he actually augmented every single one of the programs that he railed against in 2007 and 2008. he has done nothing different on guantanamo. he's accelerated the drone program. he's accelerated the domestic surveillance -- all because, when he stood in the oval office for the first time and understood for the first time in his career, the dire threats facing this country. i don't begrudge any president who has this revelation after getting the job, but it certainly makes fools out of all of the people who thought he was going to be different. >> one of the people we can put

on the list is bill ayres, who the president was roundly condemned for having as a political ally in 2008, bill ayres coming out now and saying this president should be tried for war crimes because of his drone policy. i'm kind of with nicole too. there were things to be hopeful about regarding president obama in 2008. i certainly didn't support him, but obviously there was a great symbolism to his victory, even if you didn't vote for him. i had a lot of republicans after his iowa speech going, oh, my gosh, this is remarkable. now bill ayres even saying he should be tried for war crimes. >> the man he was supposedly palling around with. remarkable. >> it's no different today although i'm particularly impressed with the warmth of the weather here in berlin. and i'm also very grateful for chancellor merkel's invitation, 50 years after the visit of president kennedy. the chancellor and i are just

back from the g-8 summit, just one of the latest meetings that we've had together. during my time in the white house, i've had the privilege of working with angela on a whole host of issues. last time she was at the white house, i had the privilege of presenting her with the medal of freedom, our highest civilian honor that a president can bestow, and that speaks to the close ne closeness of our relationship, the strength of our alliance. i know that here in germany sometimes there's been talk that the transatlantic alliance is fading in importance, that the united states has turned its attention more towards asia and the pacific, and in both conversations with chancellor merkel and earlier with your president, i remind ed them tha,

from our perspective, the relationship with europe remains the cornerstone of our freedom and our security, that europe is our partner in almost everything that we do, and that although the nature of the challenges we face have changed, the strength of our relationships, the enduring bonds based on common values and common ideals very much remains. we began today talking about economic issues, following up on discussions we'd had at the g-8 summit. overall, germany is our largest trading partner in the eu, so we've got a profound stake in each other's success. we agree that there's more work to do. not only do we have to grow, but we also have to reform our economy structurally. when you look within europe,

obviously, different countries are at different stages in that reform or restructuring process. we're going through our own need to reform, for example, our health care system, which is much more expensive than most of the developed world and largely accounts for our deficits and our debt. the good news is, though, that we have gone through the worst recession in years, and we are poised to come back stronger when we take advantage of these opportunities. one of the opportunities we spoke to as the trade and transatlantic partnership or ttip. the u.s. is already the largest in the world economically. 13 million americans and europeans have jobs that are directly supported by mutual trade and investment, and the chancellor and i share the conviction that, if we are successful in these negotiations, we can grow

economies on both sides of the atlantic, create jobs, improve efficiency, improve productivity, and our competitiveness around the world. by doing so, we're also raising standards for free trade around the world that will not just benefit us but benefit everyone. when it comes to our security, the united states and germany are more than just nato allies. more american personnel are stationed in germany than any other country outside the u.s. we are extraordinarily grateful for the hospitality of the german people. one of the last times i was in germany, i had a chance to visit our facility where everyone who's injured in the battlefield comes through, and to see the dedication but also the hospitality the germans are providing for our young men and women when they've been grievously injured, i think, is a strong symbol of how much this

means to us. our men and women have been serving side by side in afghanistan. germany is the third largest troop contributing nation there. we're both grateful for the sacrifices that our servicemen and women and their families have made in this common effort. and because of those efforts, afghanistan now has the opportunity to secure itself and determine its own destiny. we welcome president karzai's announcement yesterday that afghan forces will soon take the lead for security across the country, which is an important milestone, one that we established in our nato summit. even as we wind down the war responsibly and nato's combat mission in afghanistan comes to an end, we're going to have to continue to invest in the shared capabilities and interoperablity painstakingly built by the sacrifices of our troops. and i appreciate germany's

interests in making sure that, even after our troops are no longer involved in combat operations, then we can continue to see progress in afghanistan. and many of you noted that yesterday there was an announcement about the taliban opening an office for purpose of negotiations in qatar. i said yesterday this is going to be a difficult process. the parties there have been fighting for a very long time, even before 9/11. and we don't expect that it will be easy, but we do think ultimately we're going to need to see afghans talking to afghans about how they can move forward and end the cycle of violence there so that they can start actually building their country. we also discussed the other challenges in the region, including syria. we are united to see a negotiated political settlement to that conflict. we want to see a syria that's

unified, democratic, and at peace. right now we need to see an end to the bloodshed. we need to make sure chemical weapons are not used on the ground. i thought we saw some progress at the g-8 in reaffirming the need for a transitional governing process and a u.n. investigation of the potential use of chemical weapons there. i thanked the chancellor for germany's unwavering support in the search for peace between israelis and palestinians. and i briefed her on my secretary of state john kerry's efforts to find common ground there. and finally, i want to thank chancellor merkel's not only generous invitation, but also the humbling privilege that i'll have to address the people of berlin from the eastern side of the brandenburg gate. the other side of the wall that once stood there, the wall that president reagan insisted be

torn down. a quarter century since then has been one of extraordinary progress. we can witness this in the incredible vibrancy and prosperity of berlin. one of the things i'll address today is the fact that, given the extraordinary blessings that we enjoy as americans and as germans, we have an obligation to make sure that walls around the world are torn down, and we can only accomplish that together. so i'm grateful for our alliance. i'm grateful for our friendship. i'm looking forward to an opportunity to answer some questions. am i starting off? >> i wanted to follow up on your comments about the taliban talks. when you announced those talks yesterday, you praised afghan president hamid karzai as being courageous for being willing to

take that step. yet today karzai says he's suspending talks with the u.s. in response to the taliban negotiations. how is it possible for you and president karzai to be on such different pages about this key decision? is karzai saying different things to you privately than he is publicly today? is chancellor merkel, you mentioned that p.r.i.s.m. came up today in your discussions with president obama. are you more assured about the program following those discussions, and did president obama give you assurances those programs don't violate german privacy rights? thank you. >> we had extensive conversations with president karzai both before and after the taliban opened the office in doha. as i think has been reported, there were some concerns about the manner in which the taliban opened it, some of the language they had used. we had anticipated that at the

outset there were going to be some areas of friction, to put it mildly, in getting this thing off the ground. that's not surprising. as i said, they've been fighting for a very long time. there's enormous mistrust not only of the taliban and the afghan government have been fighting for a long time, they're fighting as we speak. we're in the middle of a war, and afghans are still being killed, and by the way, members of the international forces there are still being killed, and that's not abating as we speak. but what we also believe is that, alongside the process in which we are training, equipping an afghan government that can be responsible for its own security, even as we go through

some, frankly, difficult negotiations -- >> it is the top of the hour. you're watching "morning joe," live coverage of the president obama in berlin, germany, where he is holding a joint news conference with german chancellor merkel. we're going to be monitoring this news conference. syria is sure to come up as well as the economy is going to be addressed, the global economy. so we'll be watching that news conference. dip back in if necessary and bring you all the details. john meacham is still with us from washington. here with us now this hour, former director of white house domestic policy council and ceo of melody barnes solutions, melody barnes. also with us, former foreign policy adviser to the bush administration and former adviser to the romney campaign, dan seymour back at the table. i'll tell you that, first question is a tough one. you have the president announcing we're going to have

peace talks with the taliban. a couple of hours later, the taliban attacks and kills four americans. then you have the president of afghanistan saying they're suspending talks with the u.s. obviously, afghanistan still a mess. the nsa, we're talking about the situation there. also, the top of the news, obesity is in play here, where it's now -- what do i understand? it is now being determined -- >> it's being labeled. >> is labeled a disease. >> a disease. >> huge implications. >> by the american medical association. there are massive implications to this because now it can be treated. doctors will treat it, will have to identify it. it will change the entire conversation about obesity, in my opinion, in a way that this country needs desperately. it's being seen as a very controversial decision, hailed by some experts as a breakthrough in the fight against obesity, but others are concerned it doesn't add up to the definition of disease.

the american medical association will recognize obesity as a disease, potentially opening the door to a wide range of medical treatments. the announcement from the country's largest group of physicians carries heavy clout with doctors and policy makers. it's still unclear to what extent insurers will cover treatments. those debates are yet to come. about one-third of adults in the united states are classified as roughly 35 or more pounds over a healthy weight as classified as obese, and that doesn't include, obviously, the growing and alarming number of children who are struggling with obesity. >> it's unbelievable. you wrote your book, a lot of people were jumping you for talking about it being a disease, talking about addiction, everything that they were pushing back on six months, a year ago, now obviously the studies are coming out showing there is an addiction quality to this, and also that many people think it's a disease. the financial implications, you consider medicare, medicaid consumes all of our federal

budget, 20 years from now, it's pretty remarkable. >> i think the financial implications are intertwined with the social implications because everyone still has this stigma, even if their minds if they know not what to say, about obesity. this will change the conversation. we are so long overdue with how people who are struggling with this disease should be cared for and understood and supported in our society. >> willie, let's now move on to the president overseas, the president obviously in berlin. we're talking about five years ago, the fanfare that he received. he goes there this morning. he's got the second term blues, like reagan had, like clinton had, like so many others have. you have this accumulation of problems, and just because of the size of the office and the responsibilities of the job just weighs on him. how do you think he did? >> as we've been talking about

this morning, it's the difference between campaigning and governing. when he went there in the summer of 2008, he wasn't responsible for many of the things the american government was carrying out. he had to be stunned when he saw that crowd. they had the victory column there that prompted the mccain campaign to compare him to a celebrity like paris hilton. now he's overseeing a war in afghanistan. he's overseeing the nsa program has been exposed and that germans appear to be very concerned about, as you heard from the first question he was asked was about p.r.i.s.m. directed to angela merkel. >> germans are a little sketchy about government checking up on them. >> you can understand. >> you certainly can. >> he's not candidate obama anymore, he's president obama. we shouldn't be surprised there aren't 200,000 people in the streets for him. >> melody, were you there in 2008? >> i wasn't over there. actually, i was in berlin a few

weeks ago, which is interesting. >> providing solutions all over the globe. >> every poll significanciticpo president always feels feels gravity's pull. there's so many people in the obama campaign, they get reelected, and you think yes -- everybody thinks this. they get reelected to the presidency, everything we did the first four years, vindicated, and then hell breaks loose. this happens to every president. >> right. the second term is always challenging. you went through the list, republican, democrat, it's always challenging, but when you add on p top of that the fact we've got an economy that's recovering, albeit slowly but recovering, and then you've got the challenges around the world, you can understand why all of a sudden people are out of the fantasy and dealing with the stark reality of what's going

on. >> are they? is you'll have to look at the reception later today, but you say that europe is receiving this president as a failure, but you look at the foreign policy level what he has been done, what the previous administration was not able to do in terms of getting osama bin laden, plus don't we have the strongest economy coming out of this very difficult time from a global perspective? is >> two things. one, i think on the counterterrorist, anti-terrorist techniques, in some cases the president has maintained from president bush and in some cases expanded, some of the european leaders are uneasy with it. i feel the president will be telling his european counterparts a version of what president bush said in the election season of 2008, when he was asked are you concerned about getting obama elected and what it would mean for our security architecture? and he said some version of, you know what, when he gets elected, once they start seeing what i see every morning in the oval office, everything is going to be fine because they're going to be doing a lot of the same things i'll be doing. i feel president obama has to be

telling that to his apprehensive european counterparts, once you see what i see, you would understand what i'm doing. it's hard to overstate these historical analogies. some thought we overreached in the bush administration in the middle east, and president obama was going to repair relationships with europe and the world by under reaching, by effectively leading from behind. what's interesting about syria compared to, say, iraq, is the european leaders are ahead of the president. you look at that g-8 meeting, and i was struck by it. you look leader after leader, a majority of those leaders are asking president obama to do more on syria. they're asking for american engagement in syria. >> there's a real concern now that this syrian civil war is bleeding out over the borders. we're going to have a regional war. >> correct. >> you've got king abdullah out of jordan saying he's not going to lost another six months.

we're talking sunni versus shia. we're talking iran and saudi arabia being pulled in. we're talking about jordan. if we sit back and do nothing, which seems like the safe thing to do after 11 years of war, if we sit back and do nothing, we may wake up six months from now with 150,000 syrians dead and a regional civil war. a regional sectarian war. >> s >> so you mentioned jordan. the fourth largest city in jordan today is a syrian refugee camp. 180,000 syrian refugees just over the jordan border. that's the fourth largest city in jordan. king abdullah recently told senator mccain, i don't know if i can last another six months. you've got allies in jordan, in israel, in iraq, in turkey -- every one of those allies will be threatened by spillover. so it's very easy to say do nothing because there are huge risks to engaginengaging.

>> exactly. >> but the risks to doing nothing, we're about to start staring at them in terms of this thing bleeding through the region. >> but we aren't doing nothing. that's the reality. granted, it's been slow -- >> what are we doing? >> we all know. there's been, first, the humanitarian aid that's been provided. recently, june 13th, there was the shift that was made to additional aid both to forces, the military forces on the ground, as well as the humanitarian forces. has it been slow? absolutely. i think the president's been clear and laid out in his interview most recently all of the challenges associated with getting involved and the fact that he sits in the sit room -- as you said, you're the president. you sit there and get the information and have to understand what's going on. at the same time, the united states is postured very differently than many of the other european allies that we have because we are coming out of the ten years of war in iraq and afghanistan. the numbers you saw yesterday show how unpopular the idea is

of getting involved for the american people, and he's balancing and juggling all of those things at the same time. >> a lot of people are critical what's not being done. someone needs to explain what getting in actually does and what it stops and what it contains because i haven't heard that from anybody. >> it's interesting, we talk about the past 11 years of war, americans being war weary. dan, you and i have certainly had a lot of debates about afghanistan. i thought we should have gotten out of there three, four years ago. in this case, though -- and i'm curious, john meacham, what you think about this -- there's the old saying that generals are always fighting the last war. i'm afraid, in this case, it's not just the generals, it's the senators, it's the congressmen, it's the president, it's the american people that are looking back at an afghanistan war that was unwinnable. >> they're avoiding the last war. >> and saying, well, if we do nothing, if we sit back and do

very little, then we won't face the same challenges we faced after march of 2003 when we went into iraq. of course, that's how great tragedies occur, and when you look at what the russians are doing, when you look at what the iranians are doing, when you look at what hezbollah is doing doing in syria, it's not like there's a void there where we sit back and let the syrians do it themselves. we can't kid ourselves into saying that is the safest choice. >> is i was struck by what dr. brzezinski said the other morning where the first word out of his mouth was the policy is baffling. i think that term applies to the whole question. one of the things that has struck me about the way the administration has approached this over the past x number of

months is really how little explanation of the options has been. the bully pulpit is there. it's hard to add up the number of attention the previous presidents have because of the fragmentation and the media. we know that. but democracies work best when people are informed most. the president -- he did this with charlie rose. the president takes this tone, and anyone who has been back inside knows this. when you sit where i sit, as melody pointed out, when you sit where i sit, you realize, mr. former president, which was the implication when clinton was criticizing obama, you understand that maybe things aren't as simple as they look from a nonprofit question and answer stage. that is absolutely true.

attendant with that responsibility is the responsibility to explain what options are, what options are not on the table, and i think that's a critical part of leadership that this president, who clearly is so articulate in so many ways as consistently not done. i don't think he did it with health care. i don't think he's done it, frankly, with afghanistan and the way we've continued there, and this is the latest example where i don't think there has been the kind of public education that a great president needs in order to lead us in complicated times. >> dan, the easiest thing in the world to do is to say we need to do something, do something. nobody wants to see 100,000 civilians die, and that number could go up. back to mika's point, we should be specific about what that means. when we talk about do something, does that mean a no-fly zone, do you want american troops in there? there is a huge umbrella of do something, what do we suggest? is >> let me say a few things. first of all, john makes an interesting point about being explainer in chief.

to give the president the benefit of the doubt, his administration did have a theory of how to deal with syria for the first couple years of the crisis. they believe they can work with russia and totally isolate syria. that has failed. three security council resolutions later, they've been vetoed by the russians, countless hours watered down. you just saw the body language with president putin at the g-8 summit. putin has made it clear that that's unworkable. they have a completely different view of the world. putin wants syria that has assad or at least assad's regime, the remnants of the regime intact. the president's policy going back to 2011 -- >> it's unbelievable. >> assad and his regime must go. the president could say, we tried. we tried to isolate assad and had a strategy working with the russians, and that has not worked. i think people would welcome that sort of recognition that the strategy has not worked and we need to try things differently. i think a humanitarian zone, a

no-fly zone, there are three segments within the opposition. there are the secularists, the moderate islamists, and the real extremists, the celaphists. the secularists and the moderates, by and large, they're people we can work with. it's going to be complicated. it's going to be messy. the administration has done some of the vetting because the nonlethal aid they have provided has been given to military leaders in the opposition that have been vetted. so if you could create humanitarian corridors by the jordanian border and by the turkish border in the north and perhaps from those areas take out the syrian air fields, you could provide some life and energy to the moderate forces within the opposition. >> although a lot of the damage is being inflicted on the ground by assad, which would not be helped by a no-fly zone. >> you could seriously weaken his military capabilities and at least strengthen the hand of the opposition. again, as this point, we're almost two years in since the

president said assad must go. as joe said, at the rate we're going, in a few months, we're going to be over 100,000 dead. i don't want to sugar coat this scenario. this ain't going to be easy. but what we've seen is it gets harder and harder the longer we wait, and doing nothing is the regional mess that joe cites. >> you heard a lot. you heard john talking about this president needs to do a better job explaining. you heard what dan said. what's your response? >> one, i hear what john is sayi saying, and the job of being explainer in chief is a very, very critical one, and i hear what dan is saying, but it is tough. how we bring the american people along in a critical situation where they already are feeling pounded on at home and trying to move out of this recovery, i think is critical. because if we move forward, and one day it's a no-fly zone and the next day there's a requirement for more and the next and the next, which is one of the things that's of concern to general dempsey and the president, and we don't have the american people with us, we are

in a whole lot of mess. >> a whole lot of mess. >> exactly. it's morning tv. and that's a challenge. >> dan senor, thank you very much for coming in. john meacham, thank you as well. melody, we'll see you back later this hour on other issues. up next, a big move by the american medical association recognizing obesity as a disease. the major implications of this decision with doctors nancy snyderman, emily senay, and zeke emmanuel. also, why the same kind of economic protests we're seeing in brazil right now could spill into places like paris this summer. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

we're here at the famous tapia bros. produce stand where we 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 of produce they've ever had. all this produce... is from walmart. oh my god. i'm shocked. (laughing) i know where i'm going to be shopping for strawberries now. get 2 full pounds of strawberries, just $2.98. backed by our 100% money back guarantee. walmart

joining us, medical editor for cnbc new for cbs news, dr. nancy snyderman. and vice president of global initiatives at the university of pennsylvania, dr. zeke emanuel. all the doctors are in. nancy, this is important on a lot of levels. joe talks about the finances of it. >> is which are huge. >> i think about the social implications. >> which are huge. the american medical association yesterday, not unanimously, but by consensus, suggests that obesity be now labeled a disease. >> what does that mean? is >> it has implications for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and reimbursement. >> get specific on the treatment, the diagnosis. >> it means, instead of waiting until someone has diabetes, heart disease, high blood

pressure, cancer, if someone is obese, a bmi is determined, that you can start to framnkly be reimbursed for office visits for prevention of disease, and it puts obesity in a different category. instead of saying i am obese, you can say i have obesity. obesity is a disease state. zeke? >> i think the most important thing is probably going to be a change in the psychology of physicians and the idea that they need to engage in obesity. they need to engage in counseling, and they need to begin working with patients, whether it's medical treatment, surgical treatment for the people who need it, or mainly working with them to change their lifestyle. i think it really sends a message mostly to the profession really that this is something we have to take on and we're responsible for just like the rest of society, whether it's food manufacturers or the public policy officials. >> so, emily, someone comes into

your office with joint pain and possible need for a knee or a hip replacement and the person happens to be morbidly obese, do you just deal with the knee, or does it change this first visit, this first conversation with this patient? >> i think it depends where you are in your training and sort of where you are geographically. i know we do at my institution, and whether or not we acknowledge we're treating obesity, we already are because we're treating the side effects and the long-term corroborative diseases. but anyone who sees a patient who's morbidly obese, especially if they're going to undergo some type of surgical procedure, needs to discuss that. i think many of the physicians are, particularly younger ones, but this is going to force it to become more of a bedrock discussion, something you talk about on the very first visit and going forward. it's going to get on the list of problems to be solved.

i think in many cases it already i is. it's not the medical profession doesn't recognize this. >> doctors are lousy at engaging the conversation. it's hard to do. >> it depends where you are. i know we do it, and we have accepted this as a disease. >> know that obviously you were a big player in the obama administration on the domestic policy while health care was being debated. i just saw this graphic we put up that surpriseded even me, 2 out of 3 americans are obese. as you guys were sorting through health care reform and trying to curb the costs, what did you find out about how much this costs taxpayers? >> absolutely. the focus in the white house for us was around childhood obesity, we recognize that, if we started to tackle that, we could start to get into the bloodstream of an entire family because the costs are significant. worked very, very closely with zeke on this issue. if we don't tackle it at the beginning, what we find is children under 2, half of them

that are overweight, end up being obese, and that leads to type ii diabetes, a disease they never diagnosed in children before, and that leads to problems the doctors were talking about later on. >> and we don't have a system to take care of the problem. therein lies the problem. >> zeke, you're trying to define the president's health care plan and help people understand it. how is this new news going to affect the way insurance companies have to respond, and can you already hear the complaints they don't want to cover -- that this is going to be a big issue because they don't want to cover these high costs. >> let me make two points. first, when we were doing health care reform, in the affordable care act, we had menu labeling for calories, we had a prevention fund to try to impact obesity, and the first lady was working on her let's move initiative which was targeting obesity. health care reform is something as far back as 2009 thought about and saw them synergyizing

and saw them working hand in hand. as far as the payments, it's been pointed out, insurance companies are already paying for a lot of the side effects of obesity. they're also paying for some of the treatments, like surgical treatments and the drugs. i think what this is going to do is to make this just much more mainstream and much more uniform, and, yes, it may be, in fact, that they will groan. hopefully, it may motivate them to get into the prevention game and begin working at schools and other places where they can have an impact. >> and if it becomes a way to measure outcome in physician practices, that also will push physicians to become more involved. there are already metrics that doctors are going to get reimbursed by showing that they can improve their population health by doing certain things for other diseases. put obesity in there, and you've pushed the system along. >> so, mika, you were talking last hour about the mayors that are coming together, signing

letters. it seems to me, if we're paying taxes on the local, state, or national level to get food into schools, then certainly governments ought to be able to control what kids eat in those schools. >> this is controversial because what the mayors are trying to do -- >> i'm trying to say this from a conservative standpoint where a lot of conservatives that keep big brother out of the refrigerator, but why should we as taxpayers -- >> i agree. >> pay to let crap be -- >> served, poisoned. >> if private schools want to serve shishkabobs to kids, they can. but why can't we control what public schools give the kids? >> 14 mayors are writing a letter to get food stamp coverage not include soda. basically saying, we would like to help you buy food if you can't afford it, but you cannot

buy poison for your children. >> for food stamps, if you buy from your local farmer, you get two times the amount of the face value of your food stamp. >> there you go. >> well, in the efforts to also put, make sure there are kitchens in schools so you can actually cook healthy food, that we've got fresh fruits and vegetables in communities so people can actually access it now because we can pay now or pay later. >> zeke, does this move help with policy development? >> i certainly think it helps with policy development. we have really, i think, moved very rapidly in the area of obesity. there are still, obviously, lots of areas we need to think about, which include advertising to kids, as it was said, the size of drinks, the size of food, how to get healthy food to pregnant women and to young kids, and i would side with joe. let's remember what was said. when young kids become obese, it

carries through life. you can't be paternalistic to young kids because you have to raise them. i think focusing on young kids and making sure they eat healthy, whether it's through the food stamp programs, school lunch programs, educating their parents is critical. that's not being paternalistic. that's just being prudent for future generations. >> emily and nancy, i think for both of you, just as important in terms of social implications in terms of how we view obesity in our society. we try to talk about it here on the show, and all of a sudden, what are you talking about? >> it helps stigma, for sure. >> we talked about how complicated it is. you have genes, rewiring of the brain, if you believe a lot of this food is addicting. you have the self-restraint. you have to learn to push yourself away from the table. we need smaller plates, bigger foods. it is a complicated illness. >> as it changes the profession, hopefully, it will change public

opinion. >> doctors nancy snyderman, emily senay, and zeke emanuel, thank you so much. we'll see you soon. >> >> coming up, michael haney makes us turn at least ten pages before we see boobs and everything else. and he has some really good stories on the pages of "gq." >> i actually read it for the stories. >> is sure you do. hey, look! a shooting star! make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. test drive! [ male announcer ] but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a jetta.

that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today. on any new volkswagen. i save time, money,st, and i avoid frustration. you'll find reviews on home repair to healthcare, written by people just like you. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪

good thing she's got the citi simplicity card. it doesn't charge late fees or a penalty rate, ever. because she's got other things to stress about. ♪ go to citi.com/simplicity to apply. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money

and financial information. here's your temporary card. welcome back. how was london? [ female announcer ] when people talk, great things happen.

more violence in brazil as more than 50,000 protesters flood sao paulo on a sixth day of demonstrations. upset about political corruption, low wages, a lack of social services, and a bus fare hike, protesters set fire to a police booth and a tv truck. 250,000 people protested across the country, many peacefully, but others doing heavy damage. brazilian police have been criticized for their handling. >> and this is a country that next year is hosting the world cup, and then after that it's hosting the olympics two years later.

unbelievable. >> with that in mind, take a look at the enduring images here. we have a woman being pepper sprayed at point blank range by police in riot gear. >> unbelievable. that's on the front page of "the new york times." this is an emerging nation. they're having problems. we hear, also, this may spread to other cities this summer. we're going to be talking -- neil ferguson is going to be talking about that later. also, news out of boston. new details in the case against reputed mobster whitey bulger. former hit man john martorano described a killing spree he allegedly carried out describing as being up to our necks in murder. martoran, the star witness in the case, spent his second day on the stand implicating bulger in several killings. while describing the murder, he described himself as a nice guy who was just trying to help his friends and family. martorano is the first of three former bulger associates who

have agreed to testify. >> that death count goes up every day. this guy is going to be put away for a very long time. up next, deputy editor of "gq" michael haney joins the table. >> can't wait for that. >> you may not look inside that magazine. your children's health can affect their gpa. yes, exercise and education go hand in hand. so make sure your kids are active 60 minutes every day. you'll help them feel good and even perform better in school. the more you know. what'the truth is, americans are already seeing the benefits.

she's seeing more seniors for free wellness visits. he received a $150 rebate from his health insurance company. and next year, she can expand her small business, thanks to tax credits that cover up to half of her workers' health insurance. better coverage and lower costs. that's what obamacare means for them. get all the facts at: barackobama.com/healthcare woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days.

everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment. i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help.

okay. let's see. >> and we wonder why we have problems. >> is he's not obese. >> seriously? is >> is this an obesity issue? >> yes. >> i'm actually reading about

boston because i care about america, and you're reading that page. welcome back to "morning joe." let's bring in michael hainey. >> that's a great rule. >> this is the story nothing is as good as skinny feels. you have a the lot of good things in this issue. first on page 24, have you beach proofed your abs? tell me about this. >> it's summer. you go to the beach. you see a lot of those guys. >> here we go. >> let me catch up. >> is you did not write that in the article. you did not put that in your magazine. >> it's a public service. we're making this country cleaner and safer for you to go to the beach. >> what do you recommend, wax or shaving? >> oh, i'm going to be sick. >> so you're out in the

hamptons, and somebody says let's do shots. "gq "gq" asks the all important question, can grown men do shots? the answer is yes. >> i'm sure in connecticut you're going to be lining them up, but it's about doing it as an adult. >> is how do you do shots as an adult? >> we have recipes in there. it's not just about doing tequila shots and eating the worm. >> that is you on page 4 after a fashion upgrade. >> that is your outfit on the before side. >> can i just say on the no socks front, if it's okay, i was 12 years ahead on that. >> you've been wearing those shoes for 12 years. >> i came to new york and people were mocking me. >> this is about how to upgrade your look. >> you're saying i look like the slob from before. >> so talk about this summer upgrade really quickly.

>> a lot of guys think casual friday is schlumpy friday. mika is blowing up over here. >> i'm sorry. somebody just texted, but it's probably about this. >> is it's how to look good whether you're going to get away on the boat or the train. >> it's okay to look like a schlub. >> i'm glad they're hammering you today. >> keep interviewing. keep going. go ahead. >> are you leaving? >> he wants to model. eeg he's doing the runway. >> keep going. >> i want to say, when you look at summer outfits, you want to not look like a before. >> you say i look like the before. >> the pieces are similar to today's ensemble. the pieces in the before are similar to the pieces today. >> the shoes are cool. i can't even turn around. i don't know what's going on over there. i'm afraid to look.

>> that is page 26. mika, is it exactly joe's outfit? the before picture are the exact three pieces. >> i feel like joe has been doing shots already. >> do you have a belt on? >> no, i don't wear belts. >> he's even worse than the before. >> from that to this. this person, i want to know why in every picture he's in, he's going like this, look. >> he's pouting. >> is that's drake. >> why is drake obsessed with looking like this? >> i think he's a handsome man. >> does he think that's sexy? >> you could ask him. >> in every picture he's going like this. >> why don't you ask about drake? >> he's smiling on the cover. handsome man. >> why do you have drake on the cover? >> he's one of the most successful musicians out there. he's 25 years old and released a new album. 25 years old and made $25 million. fantastic guy. >> nicole wallace, other than me looking like a slob, this caught nicole's eye, the worst rappers of all time. there are just so many.

how do you narrow it down here? is >> that's a scientific survey. i think insane clown posse qualified on there. >> is you have madonna. >> there's a lot of people who aspire to be rappers but they just can't. >> prince a surprising number 12. >> it's a scientific survey. >> i like this one. the two guys in black eyed peas who aren't will i. am. number eight, anyone from england ever. number six puff daddy. i don't understand why vanilla ice isn't number one. >> he's underrated. >> number one, insane clown posse. there we go. what is this, the audacity of b.r.o.? >> the audacity of brother, barack obama's older brother in kenya and recently ran for office and was not elected. >> mika is not looking at this story. she's just now getting the

asfro. >> the brother of barack obama, and they were best men at each other's wedding. >> what did you find out? >> like every sibling, you've got your rivalries, and he's the guy that believes he's the ri rightful heir to the obama administration. >> do they talk to each other? >> once a year. >> that's a lot for some brothers. >> as mika continues to look at your asfro -- not yours. >> can he say that on tv? >> he's been saying it for five minutes. >> before we leave, how to throw a killer party. i need to know this. >> we've got a barbecue guide, what to grill, how to slip 'n slide, set up fireworks. >> the new issue of "gq" is available. mika is still obsessed. michael hainey, thank you so much. coming up next, from the new lifetime show "devious maids."

>> is actress ana ortiz joins us. we'll ask her about working with soap legend susan lucci and executive producer eva longoria. [ female announcer ] are you sensitive to dairy?

then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love. where over seventy-five percent of store management started as i'm the next american success story. working for a company hourly associates. there's opportunity here. i can use

walmart's education benefits to get a degree, maybe work in it, or be an engineer, helping walmart conserve energy. even today, when our store does well, i earn quarterly bonuses. when people look at me, i hope they see someone working their way up. vo: opportunity, that's the real walmart.

so the job requires cooking, cleaning, taking our clothes to the cleaners. >> doing what neither to be done. >> exactly. >> and we are hoping to find someone to live in. >> as it happens, that's the situation that i'm looking for. >> terrific. do you have any questions for me, mrs. stafford? >> i don't have an accent. >> should i? >> i have never met a maid who didn't have an accent. >> i was born here in l.a. >> you sound like you went to college. >> thank you. >> oh, wow. wow. wow. how many levels of inappropriate? okay. that clip was from lifetime's new series "devious maids." anna ortiz is here with us.

i loved "ugly betty." >> we had so much fun. that was an experience of a lifetime. >> and wonderful message of the show. i just found out that you're a "morning joe" watcher on the west coast? >> we are completely obsessed, but we have to dvr, because it's on 3:00. >> i know, we're working on it. we get people like you watching in real time. that's fantastic. "devious maids" give us the concept. i have a couple questions. >> "devious maids" is a mark cherry show who did "desperate hose wiv-- housewives" so we geo explore the lives of these housemaids and their lives. what we're up against and what we're dealing with. >> are the maids devious? >> they are. i'm definitely, because i'm

basically not a maid. i'm undercover as a maid, i'm trying to right my wrong. >> a bit like revenge. >> exactly. it's really fun. my character develops these deep relationships with the other women, but i'm lying to them the whole thyme. so it's fun. >> the clip is talking about the stupidity of, you guess the stigma of social classes. that are five latina leads as leads. are you getting any controversial feedback? >> definitely. i understand it. when i first read the script i was like, really? are we all going to be called maria? but i read the script, and i really enjoyed it. i talked to mark cherry about his vision and the other actresses that were circling the part. i welcome the controversy. the more we're talking about

diversity on television and the more we're talking about, you know, different people and different colors being represented, it's great. so hopefully people will watch the show and form their own opinion. >> through humor, there was some kind of subtle sick humor in that scene. >> totally. >> in humor, you can actually send a message. >> we are the real moral compass of the show. we don't get walked over, we're sort of running it, so it's a wonderful perspective. >> what's it like working with is many women actresses? >> awesome. >> i know they often get cast -- you run the show, on a network largely run by women. >> it's wonderful, couldn't be better. there was so much drama i think with mark's other show. people were like, women, you guys will be cat fighting all the time, but these are women i've known and been auditioning against for ten years. we are all so excited to be together on one project.

i think we feel sort of a responsibility to it, because this is the first time it's been done. we don't want it to see, you put latin people in a show, it doesn't work. >> as interesting as the maids is the employers. one is played by susan lucci. tell us about the casualty we'll see. >> they are amazing, so funny action and they're definitely can be a bit wicked as well. i think susan is going to be such a surprise. everybody knows her as such a dramatic actress, and she's knock-down- drag-out funny. she's hysterically funny. >> whether it's the stereotypes or even sexual tension action which i'm sure is involved in the program, how close to the edge do you go? did you go over theening and then you guys had to rewrite? how did you push it, now you went too far?

>> i think we can actually go further. we are pushing the envelope, definitely trying to go there, but the sexy stuff is still -- >> she's looking for words. >> it's sexy, but it's not -- we haven't gone over the edge yet. we're not showing anybody's tush -- yet. >> they did in "gq" so i think can -- no. it looks great. i can't wait to watch it. this sunday, 10:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., and you can watch it on mylifetime.com thanks for watching "morning joe." next lebron james and the heat. >> go spurs! ahead on "morning joe."

i want to make things more secure. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t have the security you need to get you there. call us. we can show you how at&t solutions can help you do what you do... even better. ♪ can help you do what you do... your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions,

your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. so wof the house?hink it's got a great kitchen, but did you see the school rating? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! ...but what about when my parents visit? ok. i just love this one... and it's next to a park i love it i love it too. here's our new house... daddy! you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen. zillow

always go the extra mile. to treat my low testosterone, i did my research. my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping;

and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. ask your doctor about the only underarm low t treatment, axiron. james catches, puts up a three, rebound bosh, back out to allen, his three-pointer.

tied game with five sects remaining. good morning, it's 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast as you take a live look at new york city. we have nicolle wallace. she's a heat fan. >> she and sarah palin would sit and talk about the heat nonstop. >> eat popcorn. >> comb each other's hair. >> awesome. >> jim cramer, and in washington john meacham. >> what did i tell you? they go to miami, get the fireworks, what did i say? they kids, just give these kids time to breathe. >> you've been defending lebron james for years. >> you're a lebron hater. >> what did i tell you? give these kids just a little

room to breathe. >> so i -- full disclosure, i fell asleep after the third quarter. they were down by ten points. and then i wam up this morning, click on espn.com and see they came back in overtime, let bely bron james. he had a triple-double last night. lost a headband at some point. they came back -- >> how do you not have duncan in the defense? >> was he not in it? >> he wasn't in it. come on, i don't understand it. a controversial decision being held by some health experts as a breakthrough in the fight against obesity. the american medical association will recognize obesity as a disease, potential opening the door to a wide range of medical treatments. the announcement from the country's largest group of physicians carries heavy clout with doctors and policymakers. it's still unclear to what extent insurers will cover

treatments. about one third of adults in the u.s. -- one third of adults in the u.s. are classified as obese, classified as roughly 35 or more pounds over a healthy weight. >> so there was a time, jim cramer, when conservatives would talk about keep big brother out of my refrigerator. i'm hearing more and more from conservatives, more and more like me obsessing -- talk about obsessing -- about the federal debt. you look at our long-term health care program. medicare and medicaid swallows of every cent in our budget 20 years from now, and what, about a third of those charges from obesity-related diseases? >> this is a way for 70 million people to be able to get more health care insurance, which we know is really going to be everybody's responsibility in a couple months. fortunately there are some pills that have just been approved that lower weight. that's something -- >> really. can i eat whatever i want?

that's what i need. >> the question is, is it right? the pills have been shown definitively to lower weight, so i think the companies will capitalize off of them, but yes, we're all going to pay. i guess it will be a protected class form that's what starts happening, remember. >> but cramer, if we all pay, as it will lead to treatments, leading to doctors actually having to recognize thinks symptoms of obesity, which apparently is still a controversy, i don't know how you don't recognize that when someone culls in with other problems and other related diseases, but you don't treat the obesity itself. >> this is about the diabetes -- >> it's about joint problems, about diabetes, and heart disease, and some would argue it's about cancer. >> it reminds me, my dad, who was always overweight. my mom would be so angry. he would go to the doctor, and she would say, this is the time, because george is really fat.

this is the time he's going to come back from the doctor and the doctor's going to tell him to lose weight. >> exactly. >> the doctor never would. the doctor was always afraid to. my dad passed away, unfortunately prematurely, you know, just like i was telling you on father's day. my dad should still be alive today. >> absolutely. >> he should still be alive today. >> no excuse. >> but he had heart attacks. this leads to heart disease, this leads to diabetes, which my family knows about. it leads to cancer. it leads to so many things. whatever costs we pay on the front end, they're going to be more than offset on the back end by this because of all the billions and bill yonts of dollars we all spend as taxpayers. you can say, hey, let's keep big brother out of medicine, but guess what? you're paying for medicaid and medicare. >> they're going to come after soda companies, cereal

companies, after anybody who puts snacks out there in any elementary school. so this is going to be -- this is a coke and pepsi-cola issue, a general mills and kellogg's issue. >> a food industry issue. >> they have not to date been cooperative, let's say. they've been combative. >> before we get there, i'll just say absolutely to what you just said in terms of cost and especially the personal experience of your father. i also think this news will help break the stigma that on beesity is somehow a discipline issue, which is what i was working on in the research for the book, how it's treated, how it should be treated, how people should not be left alone to deal with this problem. so you've got that, and then on top of this news, 14 mayors who are appealing to the food stamp issue, and they want soda to not be able to be purchased via food stamping, so we have a lot of

different molds that i think will come forward. >> we've got to get people exercising, too. >> yeah. >> kids in school. it's one thing to tell kids you can't have coke in school. i tell you what, i was raised on captain crunch, i was raised on coke, but i also ran a little time and skinny as a rail all the my entire life. but a lot to talk about. let's keeping moving. we have the president? europe, of course. he's going to be speaking today -- i'm excited about this speaking of obesity. he's going to be speaking at the bra brandenberg gate. 50iers that john kennedy said to the entire world -- remember what he said -- i am a jelly doughnut. >> oh, stop. >> he didn't say it correctly. remember that? >> the pronunciation was a little off. >> and then of course reagan went to the brandenburg gate and

said, mr. gorbachev, tear down this jelly doughnut. >> president obama in germany this morning, where he's expected to outline a plan to reduce the american nuclear arsenal. >> can we just show pictures of kennedy all the time? he's so cool-looking we're going to read the story -- go ahead. >> on the condition that russia follow suit. the president is expected to propose cutting the number of warheads by as much as a third. a treaty signed in 2010 sought to reduce the number of nuclear weapons each nation has to -- the new outline takes a number well below that over several years, as joe mentioned, president obama's speech today falls 50 years to the week of president kennedy's eichbein berliner. he discussed the plan with president putin on the sidelines of the g-8 summit.

the summit ended with little headway on syria or trade packet, the eu did not call to the removal of president assad, a president that's drawing the ire of syrian rebels. >> jim cramer, g-8, how are we doing? >> we're the only one that has it together. europe is just horrendous s by the way, chinese, paper tiger -- >> can i say one thing quickly here? just like i said about the heat, right? what did i say about in austerity thing? it wasn't going to work. boom. >> they have no growth. latin america has no growth, asia is slowing down, china without a doubt may be the worst of all the worldwide economies, because they need europe to be able to take their stuff. watch for china -- i don't know who's really running that country, but i can tell you this, their deceleration in the economics is just incredible.

>> china may go down below 7%, 6% growth this year. we are right now the tallest building in elmyra, new york. how do you know about my hometown? >> because i come to play. >> we may only be the tallest building in elmyra, new york? but you know what we're the tallest building. we have so many problems, but people buying the dollar. why? what are you going to do? go to europe? go to china? they're all train wrecks. >> that's a big issue. 700,000 respiratory deaths last year. let's go to john meacham, speaking of smoking, he smokes way too much. john, we do find ourselves in a country beset with all of these problems, yet you look across the world, you look at the g-8,

who they were lectures barack obama three years ago. sarkozy, where is he now? he's probably. he's probably staying at your place in the south of france. >> oh, no. >> the united states is in the strange position of just sort of crawling along, but we're doing better than all of our partners in the g-8. >> remember what charles de gaulle said, for some reasons god loves drunks, little children and the united states of america. >> john, if i could correct you, it was actually the founder of germany bismarck, who said there's a special providence for fools, drunk ards, and the united states of america. >> i think we have to be kind to the french as much as possible. i think that's an important shift. but i think there is a certain confidence we should take in not overconfident, and not of a

lasitude. talk to any governor in the country, and 33, 35, 40% of their budgets are consumed by this. so there's a lot of money that needs to go into more productive purposes so we can grow. a pro-growth agenda will be a winning political and economic formula. but i think there's -- you know, there's reason to hope. whether you're from -- whether you're quoting the french or the germans. >> so despite what some republicans would say, nicole, when you look at things in the grand perspective, isn't president obama running the strongest economy in -- and especially given the research we have seen over the past few weeks, economic pessimists are seeing signs of hope here. things are moving. >> i think the republicans would be well served to cheer the economy on. i think we had a debate in the presidential election about

whether it served one party's political aspirations for the economies to do worse, i think the republicans have learned those lessons, certainly among those cheering for greater -- but reps would argue we could be doing more. i think when you get back to the lessons learned, so that the soul searches the republicans did, there was this revelation that focusing obsessively on the debt and not on growing the economy and supporting and helping small businesses flourish was a political loser. it turns out, you know, that's whether the country's attention is. >> snarling -- who would have guessed snarler turned off swing voters. >> who knew? i think we would have studied that. now we know. >> if we had an example of a sunny optimist, you know, willie? a sunny optimist, almost like an actor, that we could have followed his lead. >> that also maybe stood in

front of the brandenburg gate? >> if there was only an example we could have followed in 2012, 2008. >> no, not him. >> no, another one action a republican. >> so, cramer, let me ask you, is the american economy actually doing well? or is the american economy doing well relative to how terrible everyone else is doing. there's a lot of people with jobs who would -- >> it's entirely the latter. this is all a relative issue. the economic growth is afiliipic, the job crazy is not so great. the personal income is not rising. our country is doing better than the other guys in part because bernanke has tried heart to keep rates down. housing is going up, but no, we're not creating the jobs. this is a false sense of prosperity if you're one of the millions who hasn't found a job. >> our economy is supposedly doing better than everybody else, but germany far outpacing us on job growth.

>> germany is amazing. >> even great britain outpacing us on job growth, australia outpacing us on job growth. we see these numbers, because, of course, all economic data is intended to confuse university of alabama graduates like myself. i just said, we only have two? >> count number one -- >> we hear on one hand that we're doing better than everybody else, but you dig in and you see, just like you said, even great britain is outpaymentsing us on job growth over the past four years. germany is crushing us. all those people saying all certificate is bad. really? angela merkel has a hell of a record. it's hard to tell. why aren't the jobs coming back here? >> i think in part because small business is just horrendous in this country. that's who hires. joe, we know small business hires. the creation is bad, and i think the health care act is going to be very difficult for a small business person to be able to

say i want to get in, why not wait? so are small businesses and commercial realty? nowhere. if you fly over this great country, you won't see any cranes. you go to other countries there's no cranes. that's where the jobs are. infrastructure and building commercial real state. still ahead on "morning joe" first it was katy couric, then suzy -- >> this is starting to make me uncomfortable. >> i did a women's conference, and we got in bed. what do girls do when they're together? we get in bed. we did interviews in bed. this time actress ellie wentworth and i turn ariana huffington's bed into an interview space. >> i don't like this at all. >> we talk about men, battle of the sexes. >> rhyme uncomfortable. let's get past that. economist kneel furling son is here with his we could see

paris burn this summer, but first bill has a check on the forecast. >> we have to work on your pjs there. let's talk about what happened yesterday in arizona. a wildfire burned very quickly and out of control in a hurry. this one is called the doshi fire, in press coal national forest, about an hour, two hours north of the fine area. they had massive air support, and it is hot and it is dry in that area. it was windy yesterday and will continue today, so firefighters out there have their hands full. also yesterday, an interesting and scary scene for a short period of time at the denver international airport. this tornado was located right over two of the easternmost runways. this is the view from the tarmac. can you imagine liking up and see this in the sky? thankfully it didn't do any damage. it stayed over the runways. it did manage a wind sensor that stopped working when it hit 97

miles per hour. here's what it looked like. this is the airport right in here. that's the terminal. these are the runways, one there and there. the tornado was right in the middle of the two runways. crazy scene. across the country it's a rather quiet today. the heavy rain on the east coast is gone. all the along the gulf coast back down to tallahassee, on the other hand and tampa. the northern plains, you look gorgeous today. enjoy it. you have some nasty weather heading your way tomorrow. finally we continue to bake in scholars -- get that, baked alask alaska? it will stop tomorrow. we leave you with a nice shot here, playing in berlin. do they do that? berlin, just in the streets like that? i'm going to have to visit. 2:18 in the afternoon. i am an american success story.

i'm a teacher. i'm a firefighter. i'm a carpenter. i'm an accountant. a mechanical engineer. and i shop at walmart. truth is, over sixty percent of america shops at walmart every month. i find what i need, at a great price. and the money i save goes to important things. braces for my daughter. a little something for my son's college fund. when people look at me, i hope they see someone building a better life. vo: living better: that's the real walmart.

man: how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your family's future? we'll help you get there.

:22 past the hour. he's need federal son out with the real book "the great degeneration. >> if there's only one book you

want to real in the summer, uplifting upbeat, this is the one. >> nicolle wallace and melody barnes are back at the table. bleaking apart. >> i was slightly weary. so i asked the question that you tacked with jim cramer, why are not being created. >> why are jobs not being created? >> small businesses are deeply discouraged by a massive regulation, i know this, because i tried setting up a business. i think professors should be made to set up businesses. real world experience. it's hard to set up a business.

>> which by the way, is unbelievable. nobody would believe that growing up, because we think europe is over-regulated. our economy, the president right now is around the leaders of the g-8. from now it look like our economy is different. a stunning record last week job growth is higher in great britain. much, much higher than in australia why in. >> two reasons i think. one i mentioned which is the regulation nation problem. from 63 federal agencies, to say nothing of the state regulation. the other thing is the rule of law problem. once you get past the regulation, you can be hit by the tort law system. sill was amazed -- >> i want to hear about this. what got in your way? what was so impossible about it?

that people don't usually think about? >> one of the interesting things about taking any initiative and setting up any business, even a small business the regulatory costs are higher, about 36% higher per employees if you're employs fewer than 20 people. there are a whole bunch of statutes you have to comply with. i was puzzled to find my -- putting up a big notice in the kitchen of health and safety rules that we had to comply with. the second thing that threw me is the way lawyers got in on the act. this was just to make sure that we were compliant. there is a compliance sill culture, which is fed by the ever-more complex regulation. it covers pages, hundreds of pages. >> this makes a difference whether people start business. it also depends state by state. i remember we moved down to florida.

every week when he was doing taxes or doing whatever, he had a small business, i would here him, i don't have to pay taxes on this? i don't have to pay taxes on that? and then, of course, i'm stupid enough to go the other way, because the studio was planted in the middle of new york -- blown away. i don't know how anybody like has a small business in the northeast, because the regulations, the taxes are extraordinary. it's just like california. it's extraordinary. >> so massachusetts was a laboratory for this experiment with mandatory health insurance. that was a big headache. just coming -- >> you're talking about romney care? >> we can fess up about this. he was completely in the weak position on that, because they ran that experiment in massachusetts. we are trying to set up an insurance scheme for a bunch of employees, a couple actually weren't in massachusetts. we were tearing our hair out trying to comply.

it took weeks and weeks, hours of time. the thought then crosses your mind, should i hire somebody new? oh, no way, we'll have to go through all that again. one of the reasons we're not seeing job creation is small businesses are not growing. people are deterred from expanding. even if you're compliant with all the regulation, there's always this nightmare of suddenly being on the wrong end of litigation. that's a much bigger risk here than any other english-speaking economies. >> no doubt about it. nicole, the real problem, you always hear from small business owners when you're running for government. it's state government, local government. and when the economy contracts, your margin is so small -- if everybody's coming in and buying your products, you know what? i'll just hire somebody to deal with the taxes and the lawyers, but when it's a mom and pop operation, the margins are small. suddenly you go you can't afford

another person. >> it really is a manifesto for a successful run. the person, democrat or republicans that figures out how to run -- that goes trait to the heart. and it used to be squarely the demand of republicans, but even republicans in washington have lost faith, have lost touch with the realities. >> if you look at the growth of regulation, and there have been about 80,000 new regulations since 1993. it's really only one presidency where the tide went in the other direction, when the federal register, which is just bursting full of regulations actually went smaller. that was ronald reagan. every other president since then has seen regulation growth. the worst regulator, the presidency was actually richard nixon, so it's not a partisan issue. with the exception of ronald reagan, democrats and republicans alike have presided over the growth of the

regulation nation. the same argument that the great degeneration makes, we have become what was warned, we don't have a civil society, we have a regulatory state and the rest of us are being are sheep. the first thing is we have to get mad and then solve the problems. we have to stop arguing, if we did more quantitative easing -- we've got to stop this art, realize the real obstacle is institutional, but the good news is, if we do, we can fick it. reagan showed that. >> we need a growth strategy, we need this, we need that. >> this is the -- this is the growth strategy. it is -- i'm just talking about did not the conception in here, everybody in washington, d.c., when you talk to republicans or democrats, they say we have the solution, we have the answers. i would love for one president

atcandidate, how will you grow jobs? the answer -- well, we sure as hell aren't going to do it from washington. we're going to truth you to grow -- we're going to regulate the big banks, make sure your food is safe, we're going to have a safe and secure society, but we're going to get the hell out of the way of small business owners. >> but i think that's an important point you make. i say this as a small business owner, actually two, that we have to get away from the wild binges, because there's a reason we don't talk about acid rain anymore. there's a reason you can plug your toaster in and expect it won't blow up, you'll just get toast, and we want to keep the financial services industry on the rails. that's why we do have some of these rules. so we have to get away from none to all to everything, and find a common-sense course in the middle. we also shouldn't pretend that our health care system prior to the affordable care act was an act or model of also some wonderful.

>> exactly. great point. >> but if you're talking about jobs, melody, i've got to say i've heard from one small business to another in pensacola, in the northeast, saying i don't know what's going to happen in 2014. when these rules kick in, some of my best employees, they can't work over 30 hours. >> and those are decisions as a small business owner. i'm not saying this from a theo theory cal standpoint. >> i'm not offers for a barn fire of regulation, but i think we have to strike a balance here, so that the small businesses are not regulated more than too big to fail, or where we have a situation, where only the big institutions can figure it out. you know, it's the little guy that creates the jobs, and this is an important point. what we have now is a chronny

capitalist -- this is the latinization of america, except that, as i have to show in the bock, many latin-american countries are improving. >> this is what makes me so angry, nicole, and everyone talks about raising taxes, and they go, you know what? we need a fairer tax system, because warren buffett is paying less than his secretary and this is going to fix it no, the rich, they've got the"ants. >> the rich take their money offshore. >> the rich take their money offshore, the banks take their money offshore. when you talk about raising taxes for, you know -- because we want a more just society, just understand those that you want to get after, they're not paying the taxes, you're pounding the small business owner, and what are they going to do? they're not going to hire 1, 2, 3 or 4 people in your community. aggregate that tamil ontimes over and this makes the point,

why are we not creating jobs? >> that's why when a politician that comes along, who can articulate in a way that people understand that washington is the problem and that it's not a partisan issue, it's about putting people back to work about getting the government out of their jobs, out of their storefronts, by reducing the requirements, be reducing the taxes -- i think that's a political path that everybody would respond to. >> the younger generation are getting screwed by our fiscal system, but what's more, they're getting screwed by our educational system. if you're born in the wlong zip code your chances of -- in fact social mobility is now lower in the united states than in england. i thought england was the class system. >> i know there are some people watching, saying they're sounding like a bunch of republicans, no, this is a democratic message. i know so many democratic

business owners that would vote -- bill clinton, that would vote for a candidate running for president that grasps this, independents, republicans -- >> this is a bipartisan book. >> but to melody's point, it's much more complicated in terms of finding a solution. and unless you think all americans shouldn't have access to health care, it's going to cost. >> it is" is this -- do you create a head care reform system that stifles job growth, and if you do. >> if you don't have a job, you don't have health care. >> if you do it in a way that stifles growth, then at the end of the day, you're actually hurting those people even more, and -- >> my prediction is there needs to be reform. this one will have so many problems, ten years from now we'll be talking about health care form. the book is -- you can read

an excerpt on our website. >> we're taking this to the beach. >> how institutions decay and economies die. >> you say it with a lift. >> economies lift. >> a lift in your voice. up next ali wentworth and i climb into ariana huffington's bed, where we discuss everything. >> i do think sleep is the most integrate part of our lives, as much as eating kale smoothies. >> it's like sex for men. >> what? >> sleep. >> not my man. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7,

you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. from capital one... boris earns unlimited rewards for his small business. can i get the smith contract, please? thank you. that's three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put 'em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris' small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase every day. great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. read back the chicken's testimony, please. "buk, buk, bukka!" [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. told you i'd get half. what's in your wallet? i'm going to dream about that steak. i'm going to dream about that tiramisu. what a night, huh? but, um, can the test drive be over now? head back to the dealership? oh, yeah. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. [ wife ] sorry.

[ male announcer ] but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today. on any new volkswagen. what'the truth is, americans are already seeing the benefits. she's seeing more seniors for free wellness visits. he received a $150 rebate from his health insurance company. and next year, she can expand her small business, thanks to tax credits that cover up to half of her workers' health insurance. better coverage and lower costs. that's what obamacare means for them. get all the facts at: barackobama.com/healthcare

i promise this is the last one. >> i'm still trying to figure out what she was saying about george stephanopoulos and -- >> this is more from the women's conference. the purpose of the conference is very serious. brian just showed up. >> you're laughing and you didn't even start talking about it. >> smart, intelligent women in bed together. >> the point of the conference was to discuss the third metric of success, a way to redefine --

>> why did you have to do it in bed? >> and to sleep well. >> allie started it. >> did she like bring pajamas? >> no. no. >> do you get enough sleep? >> you know what? here's my secret. i used to never get enough sleep. i was always sleep deprived, and then george my husband got "good morning america" so we have to go to bed, so the whole apartment. dogs, guinea pigs, everybody is asleep at 8:30 and i sleep at 6:30 and i couldn't be happier. >> you look more rested. >> well, i also had my eyes done. dr. hermand, 86th and park, miracle worker. >> could you write that down? morning shift. >> i think sleep is the most

integrate part of my life as much as eating kale smoothies. >> it's like sex for men. >> what? >> sleep. >> not my man. i don't know who you're sleeping with. sex is sex for my man. >> well, that's what i meant. sleep for women is like sex for men. >> oh, right. oh, i would take sleep over sex any day of the week. >> i really would. >> i put on my flannel pajamas, and that's really a message saying, i want to sleep. >> yeah. >> but i also think when i'm well rested, i do better work, i don't make mistakes, i them i'm a better wife, mom, a better person across the board. >> sleep deprivation leads to insanity. >> is that what it is? >> yes. >> that's. is george needy? >> yes. show me a man that's not needy. he's my third child. he's the guy that calls me in the middle of the day and says i had steak for lunch, so can we

have fish for dinner? i go, okay, let me get my reel and bucket and get you dinner. yes, i think he's needy. the needs of the men are different, women men, you have to play a whole game. >> really? this is another thing where the tables are turned with men. everyone thinks that men compartmentalize. they don't -- they're too stupid -- they forget. >> they forget. we compartmentalize. >> and multitask. george can't multitask. if i ask him a question while driving, he'll run a red light. what's? what's your exercise regime? >> you know what? i sort of went over the top for that for a while, running nine miles a day. >> it's all-consuming. >> exhausting. >> you have this very female like i'm not pretty enough. why do you have that? were you obese? >> more on the other end of the spectrum. i just wrote a book about it.

i'll get you one. >> i know you did. >> where did it come from? wanting to please people, and living up to this thing that was imposed upon us where we're supposed to been perfect and we're supposed to make it look real easy. >> yeah. >> is that fair? >> that's fair. that's fair. >> i'm done with that. >> what is the one thing that you say to your daughters, the one important message you give to your daughters. >> i love you. >> yeah. i say that all the time, too. >> i learned a lot writing this book about food, i'm serious, that they're beautiful, and that i shouldn't try to impose all the issues i've had growing up with health and body image on them action and just let them be. >> it's funny you say that, because when you have daughters, you're -- i'm very sensitive about issues about being pretty or too thin, because they're going to be bombarded. >> completely. >> i even get mad at george like if he says you look cute in that

skirt. >> huh-uh, no, george. this has been great. you know what? you're really cool. >> you're cool too. >> it's great to have been in bed with you. >> i know, if i had aic nickel every time i heard that. >> what was your last name again? >> i'll leave my number on the bedside table. >> we're done. >> wow. the guy -- what just happened, brian? >> i think she would exchange sleep for sex any day of the week. >> there you go. i mean, george, you've just been outed as a guy that runs red lights. >> can't multitask. >> why? what? that was funny. >> that was the least of his concerns. >> right there. just let her sleep. >> what was that doctor's name again? >> just let her sleep. >> also the reel and the bucket? >> she's hilarious. >> that's fascinating stuff. >> all right. >> it's good for men to actually hear. >> something about two women getting in bed together, you talk. >> i learn -- >> you talk about it all.

>> roll back the curtain. >> i think we should start a series. >> i think you should. >> is sleep more important than -- >> no. >> no? >> i just have my fourth anniversary. no. >> nicole, how important is sleep to you? >> she's blushing. >> it's important but -- you know. >> we're going home to our husbands. >>. coming up, will ferrell and company released a new trailer for "saanchorman 2." and brian sullivan is next. keep it right here on "morning joe."

twenty-five thousand mornings, give or take, is all we humans get. we spend them on treadmills. we spend them in traffic. and if we get lucky, really lucky, it dawns on us to go spend them in a world where a simple sunrise can still be magic. twenty-five thousand mornings. make sure some of them are pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. it's been that way since the day you met.

but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial.

the ones getting involved and staying engaged. they're not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is "how did i end up here?" i started schwab for those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives.

we're starting a 24-hour news channel, and we want you. >> i'm going to do the thing that god put ron burgundy on this earth to do -- have salon quality hair and read the news. >> this feels right. >> your hair looks like popcorn. >> i like the part of your face covered with skin. ♪ don't stop believin' ♪ hold on he's a prince. >> he's not that great. >> what did he say? >> he said you're not that great. >> which one of you convicts with the longest record can pass me the mashed potatoes. >> am i right? say what? oh, my god that's going to be great. >> i want to go to the premiere.

>> i can't believe it's not until christmas. >> russell brand telling mika that she was off lating has 2.6 million hits already on youtube. >> that's right. 2.6 million, 24 hours. people love it or hate it, but they're watching it. >> let's see her face again. 2.6 million. yeah, russell brand. i'll bet you know who he is now. let's go to brian sullivan, business before the bell. >> you're ovulating mika? >> first 500 thousands of those views were me. i found -- i just watched it over and over again to see russell kick his feet up, mika turn red -- it was priceless. >> it is fed day, by the way, i must say, so we are waiting for the fed decision on rates. no interest rate hike expected.

if bernanke could ask directly will you or is there a scenario in which you will raise interest rates this year, that could move the markets dramatically. the decision come down 2:00 p.m. eastern time, which also is the exact time of my fine program. please tune in. >> things are lining up. this is frightening. >> russell brand for president. >> i like the way they both love the fact that i was uncomfortable. really? are you guys angry? >> i admitted during that segment i was happy, because mika scares me and it was fun to watch. >> somebody was scaring mika. >> right. i just thought -- there's your bottle right there, by the way. >> okay. all right. brian sullivan, thank you so much. we'll be right back. the secret is out. hydration is in. [ female announcer ] only aveeno daily moisturizing lotion has an active naturals oat formula that creates a moisture reserve so skin can replenish itself. aveeno® naturally beautiful results.

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. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t have the security you need to get you there. call us. we can show you how at&t solutions can help you do what you do... even better. ♪

caeverybody has differentdo... ideas, goals, appetite for risk. you can't say 'one size fits all'. it doesn't. that's crazy. we're all totally different. ishares core. etf building blocks for your personalized portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

up next, live pictures from berlin, where in just a few minutes president obama will deliver an address at the brandenburg gate. chuck todd is there with the coverage. up next, what if anything did we learn today? those thunderstorms from yesterday that plagued the mid-atlantic with the horrible airport delays are gone. but we'll watch thunderstorms from dallas to new orleans into

areas like orlando, jacksonville, tallahassee. nothing like yesterday. in the west still windy, and a big showery in the wet and northwest. have a great day. you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock? oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actually use, you never miss the fun. beard growing contest and go! ♪ i win! what's in your wallet?

i win! your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. always go the extra mile. to treat my low testosterone, i did my research. my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied

as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. ask your doctor about the only underarm low t treatment, axiron. where over seventy-five percent of store management started as i'm the next american success story. working for a company hourly associates. there's opportunity here. i can use walmart's education benefits to get a degree, maybe work in it, or be an engineer, helping walmart conserve energy. even today, when our store does well, i earn quarterly bonuses. when people look at me, i hope they see someone working their way

up. vo: opportunity, that's the real walmart. i didn't know that. welcome back to "morning joe." brian, we learned so much. >> yes. >> seriously there are about 4300 operation of nuclear weapons on this planet still. >> where did you get that -- >> if you watch way too early, want to sound smarter around the water cooler. >> we're talking about russell brand and ovulation, and you're talking about -- >> as soon as i get off hire, i'm going to watch mika school russell brand. >> or him school me. >> obesity is a disease, hopefully it will change public opinion. no one laughs when someone says they have heart disease. i hope no one laughs when -- >> i lenders that george's wife

has something to tell him. >> oh, she tells him. >> i think she told america, in bed with you. if it's way too early, it's "morning joe." here's chuck in germany at the brandenburg gate, maybe? >> breakfast in bed? have a good day, everybody. wrap it up. >> see you tomorrow. live pictures here. the brandenburg gate in berlin, the east side, where president obama is set to speak in a few minutes now about his goal of decreasing nuclear weapons from the world. it's a special hour here on this wednesday, june 19th edition of "the daily rundown." we're going to bring you the president's full speech live. by the way, this marks just one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the famous jfk berliner speech. >> all free men, wherever they may live, are citizens