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 are

berlin and therefore as a free man, i take pride in the words -- -- five years ago it was 200,000 berliners to packed the square to. >> the walls between all allies cannot stand. the walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, christians and muslims and jews, cannot stand. these now are the walls we must tear down. people of berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. this is our time.

others obama skrapd plans to speak at the brandenburg gate after a spokesman for the german government suggested chancellor angela merkel found the idea presumptuous at the time for a presidential candidate. she didn't want to look like she was taking sides. he does finally give the speech, and it's moments from now. he'll speak to invited guests by the german government on what would have been the eastern side of the wall. no president, reagan or jfk, could have given a speech on this side of the wall at the time. of course, this is a square that the white house believes sim plizs the transformation of this city. in today's speech we'll hear the president echo some cold war speeches from the past, talking about jfk's speech and also the famous tear down this wall speech by ronald reagan some 26 years ago, a call for one third reduction of the u.s. arsenal

and the russian nuclear arsenals. they just did that a couple years ago, had some reductions in u.s. nuclear weapons as part of the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty. he wants to go further. russia has to agree to the starts, and this week we -- saul white house cautioned not to expect a sequel to the president's 2009 speech in prague when he called for a world without nuclear weapons. so as we await the president, here's the way of the schedule of events. you want to bring in peter alexandre. we're going to hear from the mayor of berlin and then from chancellor eric somal. we'll talk about the press conference that happened a couple hours ago, and then this 20 to 25-minute speech by the president. again it was the german government who wanted to downside the amount of people who could have come out here. the white house, of course, all too eager to agree to that, because they knew any open-crowd

event would have inevitable comparison to the 2008 speech, and that's the last thing they wanted to deal on that front. the focus they want to be on the content of this speech. >> we're going to join us in a second. we want to invite into this conversation a special gaggle that we have with us here for the whole hour. 200,000 people there five years ago. this time around about 6,000 invited guests. our invited guests today, crist matthews, susan page, and another member of our white house team, kristin welker. we heard from the president five years ago, so striking to see the aging process that takes pre-president into five years into the presidency. he said this is our moment, this is our time. what is the significance of this time, this moment, as he makes the remarks. >> i'll wait to hear what he has to sake but clearly the relationship between the east and west is troubled, and everything is about the united states and what we're you will to. our relationship with israel,

you know, you have to understand that the soviets, when they were the soft yen action have had a long allied relationship with syria. here we are trying to many tole that government, and we're surprised the guy has a frown on the face? let's how talk about how we're going to bring down your alliance, and we're chatting about it as if we're having a college dorm room conversation about it. of course he's upsit. i'm amazed they're open to the conversation. it's their ray lie. if they were trying to topple one of our long-standing alliances, we would be upset. >> the president would want, as he made the remarks about 4 1/2 years ago, he wanted in many ways his time as president to be about this issue. instead right now on the very day he's given this historic speech, we're also seeing headlines as the u.s. prepares to sit done with the tal dan

that karzai says i'm out of these talks and i'm furious with the u.s. >> we do see him finally returning to an issue that defined the early days of his presidency, and what he talked about during his campaign. especially the tactical nuclear weapons that pose so much dangers in terms of terrorists possibly get ahold of them. it's less ambitious what he's going to outline in the speech, than five years ago, and it deals with the reality of the difficulty he would get getting a treaty through the senate. >> as we look at more live pictures on our screen, we'll go back to check very briefly. i know we're waiting for the president to speak just moments from now, but he alongside angela merkel actually had a chance to speak about some of the other news headlines that both of dealing with at this moment as well. >> reporter: he did, but i want to follow up on susan's point here. it really is -- this is the

realism part of the obama foreign policy and what he's announcing today on what he wants to nuclear weapons. it's not as ambitious as the prague speech, but guess what? the realistic nature of the senate, how it was to get new s.t.a.r.t. treaty through, so that's why this peach will not talk about a world without nuclear weapons. it will talk keeping a tactical advantage, which the president doesn't want to give up. now, as for that joint press conference, as for the news, it was probably as interesting some of the questions particularly from the german side and particularly from angela merkel on the nsa surveillance controversy here. the president was having to defend himself. he got a couple tough questions from the german press, one that reminded him of the nobel peace prize that he won and asked him why is gitmo open or why does he conduct a drone program? remember, they had to deal with surveillance in east germany,

lots of surveillance with the nazi government, so this isn't a hypothetical for germans. this is something they are very sensitive too, and merkel political has to be tough on the president in public, even though she's being cooperative behind the scenes. here is the president defending himself. >> we know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information, not just in the united states, but in some cases threats here in germany. so lives have been saved f and the encroachment on privacy has been strictly limited by a court-approved process. >> reporter: and so he was defending himself. he really didn't offer any new defense that he's done with the american people, but again very sensitive to merkel's politics here. a couple historic things that the president will mention in

his speech that peter and chris in particular, i know you're going to be interested in. in the audience will be gale halvorsen, 92 years old, an original candy bomber, by the way, and the president will be paying homage not just to justification, but also to ronald reagan. remember, he's on the eastern side of the gate. this is some place that neither reagan or kennedy could have given a speech on this side, given that this was east berlin at the time. so peter, before we lose our satellite window, i'll throw it back to you, see you at the bottom of the hour or after the speech. >> thank you very much. we'll see you a short time from now. as chuck just noted, he'll be facing east. give us a sense of the backdrop of this obviously as we heard in the questions earlier today. when he came there five years ago, the president was celebrated by the weekly as a superstar. this time he's in the shadow of jfk by many people, with his

inability to shut down guantanamo bay, with the drone strikes, as well as the surveillance issue. how does the rest of the world particularly europe look at president obama right now? >> he's been met with more skepticism. it is a very different welcome if you speak to the reporters who are there covering this visit. so i think that that's certainly going to be the backdrop of this speech. i'm going told by white house officials, you talk about the symbolism he is going to draw on that and focus on that i think to a large extent, to try to bring that crowd back to him, as we saw back in 200. he'll talk about the symbolism. he will also spend time about the fact that the iraq war has ended, we're at a very different point than in 2008 in terms of our foreign policy, and of course afghanistan gets a bit

murkier. >> i've been to this is location, so tell us the significance of this. >> you know, back in 1989 when the wall was about to open up, i was there for the "san francisco examiner" i was opening around on the east side of the brandenburg gate, and these were all the disabsolute, and i wandered around in the rain and went around with my limited deutsche, and asks, "what is freedom?" a young guy in his late 20s said the dramatic changes in my lifetime, they floor me sometimes, from where we were in the cold war face, to the ultimate and to find ourselves sore the arguing about surveillance. certainly surveillance is an issue with the east germans, but nothing like the anger at our first iraq war. i was in bond. everywhere you went that said

"no blood for oil" that was a feverish issue with them. these are journalist questions and i think important to talk about. but i don't think we'll see huge rallies against the nsa. i think the left and democratic party will be concerned and the libertarian right, but the great american middle, and all the polls i've looked at, that this does make sense. the minute we get hit the next time, all the questioning, including the press, what did you do to stop it? you didn't use that technology? you let them go right through making all the e-mails, all the phone calls? you never even checked? see what happens then. whose heads get lopped off then. >> still pockets of obama-mania still, one of the signs we noted said, yes, we scan. so they are taking some note. our gaggle is sticking with us. we'll be right back, as we wait for the president's speech live

from the brandenburg gate in berlin, you are watching msnbc "the daily rundown." first a look at today's politics planner. the speech should be coming up momentarily from now. and this evening the president will have dinner with chancellor merkel, before returning to the without. we're right back. ♪ ♪

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developing now on msnbc, you're looking at live pictures from the brandenburg gate, this time facing east, where we can see in berlin, germany, the remarks have already begun as part of today's program. we will hear from president obama speaking shortly. lead-up is the berlin mayor,

then angela merkel waving to the audience as he hears the translation among a mix of flags, both german and american. this is historic for a variety of reasons, perhaps because of past days that took place at this location. but this time at the other side of is the wall. i want to play a sound bite from june of 1987, where president ronald reagan made this remark. >> general secretary gorbachev. if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the soviet union and eastern europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. mr. gorbachev, open this gate. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. joined again by our gaggle

back here in washington, d.c., crist matthews, susan page, kristin welker. susan, in the break we were talking about the historic part of this moment. having traveled to the railing -- what does this moment mean? >> i was covering the white house for "newsday," and he spoke of his desire, the end of communism, uniting the germany. none of us thought that would happen. we weren't sure that president reagan actually thought this was a possibility, yet look at what has happened. we do get caught up in the headlines of this morning, but we shouldn't lose sight there are these moments in history action and when you cover the white house, kristin, as you know, you really have the 3ri68 of seeing them up close. >> this white house, there was some sort of cold war moments where he visited it feels like a couple days ago. the body language couldn't have been more awkward as they sat

side by side, of course, as we spoke, talking about what to do with bashar al asass. how does the white house view the framing of their fight with russia over what to do with syria? they're stuck. >> a great question, going into the g-8 summit, i think there had been some level of hope that the president could twist vladimir putin's arm, get him to stop backing the regime and join those who are calling him to step down. you could see that in the body language, and in terms of what actually came out of the g-8 summit, which really was nothing very concrete in terms of what assad -- or what putin will do, rather, in terms of joining other allying to get assad to step down. i think the white house is very much in the same place initially. they've said they're going to provide small arms ammunition. the question is what happens next?

they've said it's just not enough. >> and not exactly clear what it does to convince assad by saying you use chemical weapons, we'll give your opponents small arms. here was the president being asked about this during a news conference alongside angela americale. he was asked specifically about syria, he said any questions about whether the u.s. is ready to go to war in syria and the belief system that the u.s. has that intention, that that's been exaggerated. take a listen. >> some of the stories that have been out there publicly i think have gotten a little over-cranked in terms of the idea that somehow the united states is preparing to go all in and participate in another war. what we want to do is end a war. the only way it's going to end is if in fact we have the kind of transition that i described. chris matthews, one of the articles today referred to the

brutal sobering up of the europeans. they viewed him assen the all powerful, but now there's a more realistic impression. >> i think they thought of him as a man of the left, and we all know he's more of a hybrid. i think the problem the president has is explaining how he cross-walks, giving small arms to the syrian rebels, whichever rebels we pick out and how that leads to a negotiated settlement. i don't see how it leads to anything more than more rifles being shot. it reminds me of lebanon back when we were talking about lebanon, when reagan put the troops in there, the marines in there. how did putting the marines in there lead to some kind of settlement. you have to explain that. i don't think there's a connection. i don't see how arming the rebels leads to a peaceful transition. >> did they wait too long? >> if they're going to take sides. how did we get involved in a war between shia and sunni again.

we take more responsibility for these wars that they want to fight. where did we get the notion when the shia fight the sunni, it's our guilt that's in play here? by the way hemingway said to ava gardner don't confuse action with motion. it doesn't mean you're improving the situation. got to go with hemingway. >> the president is up next. we're going to take a quick break. when we come back, we expect to hear from the president of the united states live from the brandenburg gate. you're watching msnbc. everybody has different investment objectives, 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.

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developing now, live on msnbc, you're watching live pictures from berlin, where angela merkel is speaking and about to introduce the president, as you will hear him from brandenburg gate, just 50 years mineius one week since the

jfk -- i'll get that wrong here as well, as we look, chris, at the podium, i want to get a sense of the relationship as best you understand it, given that those two have been the stalwar stalwarts. a lot of the other faces have changed. >> when you're thinking the hillary clinton, she must look at they pictures and to see another woman leader, really the central power in europe, steady, and reliable. there's been no unevenness to this person, to her chancellorship and you think about what she's done to germany. i know we talk about american domestic economics. my wife and i were in berlin just a few months ago, and when you see what sheaf done in east germany, the rivers are crossed by beautifully structured civil engineering. these bridges are spectacular. the train system that takes you

to the cathedral, to potsdam, a spectacular system. you know, they show you the old thing about the germans, they work hard and they're organized, one of their great positive traits. i wonder if we could learn some things from them in terms of putting together a modern economy. >> susan? >> you can only imagine what a relief it is to talk to angela merkel after talking to the leader of russia in a difficult public forum, the leader of china, private, difficult conversations with the leader of afghanistan. i mean, merkel is an ally, someone he can rely on, someone he has built a relationship with, someone that at least a public appearances he has a better relationship now than at the beginning. >> cry, you've been talking to the white house today as wes. optical optically, they insist wild viewed as presumptuous, then senator obama's -- this time

they said they were there at the invitation of the german leader. what does the white house tell you about the significance and the way they view it of this moment? >> they view this as an incredibly symbolic moment. this symbol of german reunification, so i think you will hear him touch on that. there will be university students in this audience. this has been a big theme for the obama administration. we saw there in israel when he spoke to university students. this will be a speech about the future, the role of citizenship moving forward. i expect him to make that point, that there are more walls that need to be torn down and really citizens worldwide have that responsibility. so i think that that is some of the symbolism we'll hear today. >> the white house's primary insistence was we just want to make sure we have a bunch of young people in the crowd. obviously that's the generation that's been so supportive of him

here. chris, some of your final thoughts before we hearing from the president? >> berlin -- when i was growing up, that's where world war iii was going to start, the tripwire, and where we would have had to fought, it would have been the red army summing at our 15,000 troops, so even in the cuban missile crisis, it was always the key city in the world. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states from berlin. >> hello, berlin. well, thank you chancellor merkel for your leadership, your friendship, and the example of your life. from a child of the east to the leader of a free and united germany. as i've said, angela and i don't exactly look like previous

german and american leaders, but the fact that we can stand here today along the fault line where a city was divided speaks to an eternal truth -- no wall can stand against the yearning of justice, the yearnings for freedom, the yearnings for peace that burns in the human heart. mayor, distinguished guests, and especially the people of berlin and germany, thank you for this extraordinarily warm welcome. in fact, it's so warm and i feel so good that i'm actually going to take off my jacket. anyone else who wants to, feel free to.

we can be a little more informal among friends. as your chancellor mentioned five years ago i had the privilege to address this city as senator. today i'm proud to return as president of the united states. i bring with me the enduring friendship of the american people, as well as my wife michelle and malia and sasha. you may notice that they're not here. the last thing they want to do is to listen to another speech from me. so they're out experiencing the beauty and the history of berlin.

this history speaks to us today. here, for thousands of years, the people of this land have journeyed from tribe to principality to nation state, through reformation and enlightenment, renown as a land of poets and thinkers. among them emanuel kandt, who taught us freedom is the unoriginated birthrite of man, and it belongs to him by force of his humanity. here for two centuries this gate stood tall as the world around it convulsed through the rise and fall of empires, through revolutions and republics, art, music and science that reflected the height of human endeavor,

but also war and carnage that exposed the depths of man's cruelty to men. it was here that berliners carved out an island of democracy against the greatest of odds. as has already been mentioned, they were supported by an airlift of hope, and we are so honored to be joined by colonel halvorsen, 92 years old, the original candy bomber. we could not be prouder of him. i hope i look that good, by the way, when i'm 92. during that time a marshall plan succeeded america, and a alliance protected our people.

those to the east drew strength from the knowledge that freedom was possible here in berlin. that the waves of crackdowns and suppressions might therefore someday be overcome. today, 60 years after they rose up against oppression, we remember the east german heroes of june 17th, when the wall finally came down. it was their dreams that were fulfilled. their strength and their passion, their enduring example remind us that for all the power of militaries, for all the authority of governments, it is citizens who choose whether to be defined by a wall or whether to tear it down. we're now surrounded by the

symbols of a germany reborn, a rebuilt and illustrate glistening glass dome, an american embassy back at its historic home, and this square itself, once a desolate no-man's-land is now open to all. so while i am not the first american president to come to this gate, i'm proud to stand on its eastern side to pay tribute to the past. for throughout all this history, the fate of this city came down to a simple question -- will we live free or in chains? under governments that uphold our universal rights or regiming that suppress them this in open

societies that respect the sanctity of the individual and our free will, or in closed societies that suffocate the soul? as free peoples, we stated our convictions long ago. as americans, we believe that all men are created equal with the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. as germans, you declared in your basic law that the dignity of man is inviolatable. around the world t. nations have pledged themselves to a universal declaration of human rights, which recognizes the inherent dignity and rights of all members of our human family. this is what was at stake here in berlin all those years.

and because courageous crowds climbed atop that wall, because corrupt dictatorships gave way to new democracies, because millions across this continent down breathe the fresh air of freedom, we can say here in berlin, here in europe, our values won, openness won, tolerance won and freedom won, here in berlin. and yet more than two decades after that triumph we must acknowledge that there can at times be a complacency among our western democracies. today people often come together in places like this to remember history, not to make it. after all, we face no concrete walls, no barbed wire.

there are no tanks poised across the border. there are no visits to fallout shelters. so sometimes there can be a sense that the great challenges have somehow passed. that brings with it a temptation to turn inward, to think of our own pursuits and not the sweep of history. to believe that we've settled history's accounts, that we can simply enjoy the fruits won by our forebears, but i've come here to berlin today to say that complacency is not the character of great nations. today's threats are not as stark as they were half a century ago, but the struggle for freedom and security and human dignity, that struggle goes on. and i have come here to this city of hope, because the tests

of our time demand the same fighting spirit that defined berlin a half century ago. chancellor merkel mentioned that we mark the anniversary of john f. kennedy's stirring defense of freedom embodied in the great mime of this city, his pledge of solidarity ich bin berliner echos through the ages, but that's not all that he said that day. let's remember is the challenge that he issued to the crowd before him. let me ask you, he said to his berliners, let me ask you to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today. and beyond the freedom of moorely this city. look, he said, to the day of

peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind. president kennedy was taken from us less than six months after he spoke those words, and like so many who died in those decades of division, he did not live to see berlin united and free. instead, he lives forever as a young man in our memory. but his words are timeless because they call upon us to care more about things than just our own self-comfort. about our own city, about our own country. they demand that we embrace the common endeavor of all humanity. and if we lift our eyes, as president kennedy called us to do, then we'll recognize that our work is not yet done, for we

are gnome citizens of america or jenny, we are also citizens of the world and our fates and fortunes are linked like never before. we as long as nuclear weapons exist, we are not truly safe. we make strike blows against terrorist networks, but if we ignore the instability and intolerance that fuels extremism, our own freedom will eventually be in danger. we may enjoy a standard of living that is the envy of the world, but so long as hundreds of millions endure the agony of an empty stomach or the anguish of unemployment, woulder n -- w not truly prosperous. i say all this here in the heart

of europe, because our shared past shows that none of these challenges can be met unless we see ourselves as part of something bigger than our own experience. our alliance is the foundation of global security. our trade and our commerce is the engine of our global economy. our values call upon us to care about the lives of people we will never meet. when europe and america lead with our hopes instead of our fears, we do things that no other nations can do. no other nations will do. so we have to lift up our eyes today and consider a day of peace with justice that our generation wants for this world. i'd suggest that peace with justice begins with the example we set here at home. for we know from our own history that intolerance breeds

injustice, whether it's based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. you know, we are stronger when all our people, no matter who they are or what they look like, are granted opportunity. when our wives and our daughters have the same opportunities as our husbands and our sons. when we respect the faiths practiced in our churches and synagogues, our mosques and our temples, we are more secure. when we welcome the immigrant with his talents or her dreams, were renewed. when we stand up for our gale a -- gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, we defend our own liberty as well. we are more free when all people

can pursue their own happiness. and as long as walls exist in our hearts to separate us from those who don't look like us or think like us or worship as we do, then we're going to have to work harder together to bring those walls of division down. peace with justice means free int enterprise releases the talents that reside in each of us. in other model, direct economic growth from the top down or solely rely on resources extracted from the earth, but we believe it comes from our most precious resource, our people form the that's why we choose to invest in education, science and research.

and now, as we emerge from recession, we must not avert or eyes from the insult of widening inequality or the pain of youth who are unemployed. we have to build new ladders of opportunities within our own societies, even as we pursue new trade and investment that fuels growth across the atlantic, america will stand with europe as you strengthen your union. we want to work with us to make sure that every person can enjoy the dignity that comes from work, whether they live in chicago or cleveland or belfast or berlin, in athens or madrid, everybody deserves opportunity. we have to have economies that are working for all people, not just those at the very top. peace with justice means

extending a hand for those who reach for freedom, wherever they live. different peoples and cultures will following their own path, but we must reject the lie that those who -- don't yearn for freedom, that they don't somehow yearn for dignity and rule of law, just like we do. we cannot dictate the pace of change in places like the arab world, but we must reject the excuse that we can do nothing to support it. we cannot shrink from our role of advancing the values that we believe in, whether it's supporting afghans as they take responsibility for their future, or working for an israeli/palestinian peace. or engaging as we've done in burma, to help create space for brave people to emerge from decades of dictatorship.

in this century these are the citizens who long to join the free world. they are who you were. they deserve our support, for they too in their own way are citizens of berlin. we have to help them, every day. peace with justice means pursuing the security of a world without nuclear weapons, so as president i've strengthened our efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons because of the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty, we're on track to cut warheads to their lowest levels since the 1950s. but we have more work to do so

today i'm announcing additional steps forward. after a comprehensive review, i have determined that we can ensure the security of america and our allies and maintain a strong and credibility strategic deterrent while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one third. i intend to seek negotiated cuts with russia to move beyond cold war nuclear postures. at the same time we'll work with our nato allies to speak bold reductions in europe, and we can forge a new international framework for peaceful nuclear power, reject the nuclear weaponization that north korea and iran may be seeking. america will host a summit in 2016 to continue our efforts to

secure nuclear materials around the world, and we will world to built support in the united states to and call on all nations to begin negotiations on a treaty that ends of production of materials for nuclear weapons. these are steps we can take to create a world of peace with justice. peace with justice means refusing to condemn our children to a harsher, less hospitable planet. the effort to sloe climate change requires bold action, and on this germany and europe have led. in the united states we have recently doubled our renewable energy from clean sources lie wind and solar power. we're doubling fuel efficiency on our cars, or dangerous carbon emissions have come down, but we know we have to do more.

and we will do more. with a dplobl middle class consuming more energy every day, this middle-class consuming more energy every day, this must now be an effort of all nations not just some. for the grim alternative affects all nations. more severe storms. more famine and floods. new waves of refugees. coastlines that vanish. oceans that rise. this is the future we must avert. this is the global threat of our time. and for the sake of future generations, our generation must move toward a global compact to confront a changing climate before it is too late. that is our job. that is our task. we have to get to work.

peace with justice means meeting our moral obligations. and we have a moral obligation and a profound interest in helping lift the impoverished corners of the world. by promoting growth so we spare a child born today a lifetime of extreme poverty. by investing in agriculture so we aren't just sending food but also teaching farmers to grow food. by strengthening public health so we're not just sending medicine but training doctors and nurses who will help end the outrage of children dying from preventable diseases. making sure that we do everything we can to realize the promise, an achievable promise, of the first aids-free generation. that is something that is possible if we feel a sufficient sense of urgency. our efforts have to be about

more than just charity. they're about new models of empowering people to build institutions, to abandon the rot of corruption, to create ties of trade not just aid, both with the west and among the nations that are seeking to rise and increase their capacity. because when they succeed, we will be more successful as well. our fates are linked. we cannot ignore those who are yearning not only for freedom but also prosperity. and finally, let's remember that peace with justice depends on our ability to sustain both the security of our societies and the openness that defines them. now, threats to freedom don't merely come from the outside. they can emerge from within. from our own fears. from the disengagement of our

citizens. for over a decade america's been at war. yet much has now changed over the five years since i last spoke here in berlin. the iraq war is now over. the afghan war is coming to an end. osama bin laden is no more. our efforts against al qaeda are evolving. and given these changes last month i spoke about america's efforts against terrorism. i drew inspiration from one of our founding fathers james madison, who wrote, no nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. james madison is right. which is why even as we remain vigilant about the threat of terrorism, we must move beyond the mindset of perpetual war. and in america that means

redoubling our efforts to close the prison at guantanamo. it means -- it means tightly controlling our use of new technologies like drones. it means balancing the pursuit of security with the protection of privacy. and i'm confident that that balance can be struck. i'm confident of that. and i'm confident that working with germany we can keep each other safe while at the same time maintaining those essential values for which we fought for. our current programs are bound by the rule of law and they're focused to the threat of security not the communications of ordinary persons. they help confront real dangers

and they keep people safe here in the united states and here in europe. but we must accept the challenge that all of us in democratic governments face, to listen to the voices who disagree with us, to have an open debate about how we use our powers and how we must restrain them and to always remember that government exists to serve the power of the individual and not the other way around. that's what makes us who we are and that's what makes us different from those on the other side of a wall. that is how we'll stay true to our better history while reaching for the day of peace and justice that is to come. these are the beliefs that guide us. the values that inspire us. the principles that bind us together as free peoples who

still believe the words of dr. martin luther king jr. that in justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. and we should ask should anyone ask if our generation has the courage to meet these tests. if anybody asks if president kennedy's words ring true today, let them come to berlin, for here they will find a people who emerged from the ruins of war to reap the blessings of peace. from the pain of division to the joy of reunification. and here they will recall how people trapped behind a wall braved bullets and jumped barbed wire and dashed across minefields and dug through tunnels and leapt through buildings and across the spray to claim their most basic right of freedom.

the wall belongs to history. but we have history to make as well. and the heroes that came before us now call to us to live up to those highest ideals, to care for the young people who can't find a job in our own countries and the girls who aren't allowed to go to girls overseas. to be vigilant in safeguarding our own freedoms but also to extend a hand to those who are reaching for freedom abroad. this is the lesson of the ages. this is the spirit of berlin. and the greatest tribute that we can pay to those who came before us is by carrying on their work to pursue peace and justice not only in our countries but for all mankind. god bless you.

god bless the peoples of germany and god bless the united states of america. thank you very much. >> you've been watching that live speech from president obama at brandenburg gate without his jacket on, this stifling hot day in the 90s there. there was a cheer from the crowd, he said i can be a little more informal among friends. joined by the gaggle right now. it might be tear down the glass wall. what is the remarks? >> the late afternoon sun in berlin i think ruined his use of the teleprompters and his usual dramatic windup was ruined. the headline will be balance on surveillance and privacy. i think no matter what he said about reduction, of course, the wire stories will have to go with the nuclear reduction proposal. but the political response to reality and today's news is balance. i think he's trying to make that case to an audience which he knew would be skeptical.

>> you called it the encyclopedia of speeches. >> he covered everything from aids and gitmo to drones and nuclear weapons. i do ink this the call for -- negotiated reduction with russia in nuclear weapons is the news lead but i'm surprised he didn't spend more time talking about it. if you launch an effort, you need to focus on it. >> complacency is not the character of great nations. >> a call to action for the young folks in audience. you heard him mention rights for gays and lesbians which i think surprised some of us. i think some of his themes directed squarely to the younger audience that he knows supports him, so really a broad swath of topics that he covered today, guantanamo, drones, and as you pointed out the nsa which a lot of people there in germany very skeptical about. >> a smorgasbord we called it. we appreciate you watching "the

daily rundown" and we'll hand it off to jansing and company with chris. >> we've just finished watching the president's speech at the brandenburg gate in berlin. big news out of the speech, the president has promised to cut back america's nuclear weapons if russia will do the same. he said in 2016 america will host a nuclear conference to build support to ratify a new coalition. >> and i intend to seek negotiated cuts with russia to move beyond cold war nuclear postures. these are steps we can take to create a world of peace with justice. >> well, besides that news, the president's speech you heard it just called a smorgasbord, also largely symbolic, he said there may be no more physical walls but there are still big challenges. he talked about income equality, lgbt rights and issues of freedom and security and earlier today for the first time on the world stage the president