50 years after dr. martin luther king told hundreds of thousands he had a dream. the first black president will remember king's live and legacy standing in almost the very same spot at the lincoln memorial as we look at that live right now. president obama will be joined by former presidents clinton and carter and celebrity rights and leaders as well. 50 years after one of the greatest speeches in political history, the president is expected to touch on the very same themes of justice and equality and opportunity. he will praise how far we have come but acknowledge how far we have left to go. perhaps he'll take a page from

dr. king's book and transform words we have heard so many times into something unforgettable. "my country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee i sing. land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." >> let freedom ring. the theme for today's event as the president prepares for this speech, he'll also be juggling everything else that is going on around the world. topping that list is syria. it appears the u.s. is moving closer to a military strike on syria. this morning, british prime minister david cameron said britain will offer a resolution at the u.n. security council condemning the chem wall weapons attack and vice president joe biden using some of the strongest language yet at an event yesterday. >> there's no doubt who is

responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in syria. the syrian regime. the president believes and i believe that those who use chemical weapons against defenseless men, women, and children should and must be held accountable. >> nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in turkey near the border of syria. are they talking about a military strike there? >> reporter: they certainly are and turkey would be a willing participant in this. turkey said it's willing to pay any price to see bashar al assad go. the question now is what is the role of the u.n. and the u.n. investigators? today in damascudamascus, the t from the u.n. left their hotel after a 24-hour delay.

they went to the suburbs outside of damascus and continued their work. the united nations says that these investigations should continue and that a full process should be allowed to run its course before any military action is taken. that is not the kind of language and not the intentions we seal to be seeing from the united states, which is already meeting with france and turkey and making a slew of phone calls around the world in preparations for military actions coming perhaps in the next couple of days, perhaps even tonight. we don't know but we just know that it could be quite soon. >> richard engel live for us in turkey at 5:00 in the afternoon. i want to bring in general mccaffrey. we know destroyers are in the place and hearing that throughout the week. that could -- they have the capability of sending cruise missiles into syria. what is the impact of this

particular kind of strike? >> we are about to find out, you know? the tomahawk missiles from a range is accurate and about a thousand-pound warhead. it's hard to imagine they will have any substantial impact on the assad regime which is fighting for its survival or the guards with him or the hezbollah regime. it could worsen the situation. >> you've pawed about b-2 bombence and how effective they might be compared to these cruise missiles. why might they be better or different? >> the tomahawks, those four destroyers probably got not more than much around 300 tomahawk missiles. the b-2 flying nonstop out of the united states carry some 80,000 pounds of munitions.

that would be a bigger hammer. the bottom line is if you don't write down your political and military objectives and then elect to use military power to achieve them, arguably you're just symbolically taking action. it would require the u.s. air force and navy probably a couple of months. >> a couple of months? >> i think a couple of months to wipe out the syrian air force, go after artillery and rocket units that fire these munitions and knock out the command and control, get his tanks. that's how these people are being murdered. a hundred thousand dead and 350 killed by this chemical strike. >> jay carney said yesterday this is not about regime change. to the point you were bringing up just now, general. the "wall street journal" editorial board writes the translation here we are not coming for you, bash ash, arbast

worry. what do you think about the release of the information of when these attacks might begin? thursday is what the leak was, as well as how long they will be doing that. what is your perception? >> it's astonishing. to the extent we tell them publicly don't worry, we are not after you nor are we changing the course of the war nor go after your chemical weapons. we will will not have congressional authorization or united nations or nato authorization. the weapons inspectors have not finished their job and the arab league has refused to support military action. >> why might that leak be a good thing to do here? is it a problem? >> well, i think they are trying to respond to some congressional republican critics. senator mccain and lindsey graham and bob corker and others, who are arguing for robust military action. i don't think military action is

really involved or warranted. if we did, though, i'd argue take decisive action and that is not what we are about to do. i think this is muddled political thinking. >> general mccaffrey, thank you for your help on this. i want to bring in politico's rachel dated and hot line executive editor josh hour. i want to play what senator mccain said on "morning joe" and get your response. >> but isn't it contradictory that two years ago, he said he must go? and now he is saying this isn't aimed at regime change? if it isn't aimed at regime change, what is it aimed at? we can send them a diplomatic note if we just don't agree was with what they are doing. >> senator mccain mentioning the diplomatic note instead of the military action that is discussed so far. if we do carry a military strike in syria, what are the objectives and how more clear do

they need to be made here? john mccain is arguing they aren't clear and need to be more decisive. from a political standpoint in the congress, john mccain represents a minority of even his own party how they view the operation, whether we should even have a military action against syria and you have, unlike the bush presidency and unlike what we saw with republican party over a decade ago, you're seeing a republican party that is much more cautious and that is much less eager to support intervention in the middle east and you're seeing red war veterans, new york congressman chris gibson who is in a tough political district is outspoken against any intervention in syria. you're seeing john mccain and lindsey graham and the candidate in arkansas who are much more -- more -- argument for more active role but you see a much more prominent and vocal -- >> you're saying -- >> yeah, a division with both

parties. john mccain, his view was majority of the republican party ten years ago. it's not so much at this point in time. >> rachel, your colleague jake sherman at politico talking about lawmaker approval or disapproval writing that 33 lawmakers have written a letter to president obama writing for congress to come back in session if he wants to use military force in syria. what is your thought here? has he done enough outreach to members of congress on this very topic? >> i think that, you know, members of congress are always going to say that he needs to do more to engage them when it comes to intervention in other countries. right now, that group of 33 lawmakers, mostly republicans, but also some democrats, normally allies of obama on a number of things are coming out and saying, you know, the constitution says that congress has the ability to declare war, it has that authority. but then again, the president is, you know, the leader of the military. he is the one who makes that call and he's ultimately going to be the one who decides should he wait and get their approval,

call them back? that could take weeks and no guarantee he would get their approval at this point in time or is he going to act quickly and send the message that the use of chemical weapons is not acceptable. >> we see that test to build coalitions domestically. the white house releasing a long list of world leaders the president has called on. we mending the u.n. security council resolution today. what sort of national coalition does the president need to build? >> he is building a strong allies from the western europe and not so much in the security council. they realize russia and china aren't likely to support the fls intervention. you've seen joe biden come out and make the case for intervention earlier this week. . you saw john kerry do the same earlier this week. we haven't seen president obama make the case. the bully pulpit plays a very powerful role and the fact that we haven't seen president obama

creates this muddle and creates this congressional divide that we have been talking about. >> good point there. rachel, bottom line, are we going to see some kind of prime time address as the president gets out there to sell this message to the american people to try to clarify what he is going to do and try to justify? >> i would absolutely think so. obama pretty much has a track record of doing something like that when he makes a big move or has made a big move. what i think is really particularly interesting is this sort of time crunch we are seeing right now. obama, next week, is going to be in st. petersburg, russia, for the g-20 summit. if he were to act he probably would want to do it before then. once he is in russia it's sort of tying his hands. if he authorizes something from russia a huge slight to putin and further cripple the relationship between u.s. and russia which is not particularly good right now. but, on the other hand, you have the u.n. secretary ban ki-moon who is saying we need to wait to

see what u.n. investigators actually find and right now, they are collecting those samples and they are going to be sending them across the world to analyze these pieces of soil, these things to see if chemical weapons were actually used and, you know, that could actually take days and weeks. so it's sort of like who does he follow right now? he is really in an interesting spot and is going to be angrying someone no matter what. >> the attack is said not to be made until the inspectors were to leave syria. rachel and josh, thank you both for being here today and helping us out with that. a busy day ahead. on msnbc this hour and throughout the day on the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. up next, randy winegarden joins us and later reverend al sharpton will join me live. a special presentation of martin

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we're about 45 minutes away from the start of today's 50th anniversary ceremony from martin luther king's "i have a dream" speech. this as the president will be speaking at that very location you see there. the lincoln memorial. more than 200 speakers will address the crowd gathered at the national mall. a little overcast today. randy winegarden will speaking at that event right now and joins us now. randy, thanks for being with us. >> great to be here. thank you. >> what do you think dr. king would think of our education system now 50 years later?

>> well, dr. king -- number one, it's great to be speaking today at the mall, at the lincoln and it was great to be speaking on saturday. but dr. king, as well as the other march organizers understood the intersection between economic equality and security. lull what they understood as dr. king said at an award that my union gave him over 50 years ago, that education, public education is the highway to economic equality. so what we need to do today is we need to reclaim the promise of public education. not only as it was yesterday, not as it is today. but in order to make sure that every single child, not simply dreams their dreams, but achieves their dreams. that is what our union is trying to do and that is what we are going to talk about today. we have gone so far. our country now believes in equality. but we need to be a country that actually acts on that belief and

that is the challenge of the next 50 years. >> randy, equality and desegregation go together. last week, the justice department asked court to prevent from handling out school vouchers and they say the voucher program impedes the deseg gregation desegregation. >> vouchers have the highest level of disapproval ever. at the end of the day we can't have winners or losers in our schools. everybody has to be a winner. we need a public education system that creates great neighborhood schools that can individualize the needs of attention to all students. that's why when you look at these kind of voucher schemes and charter schemes, even when

they are at their best, there are winners and losers and the evidence are showing they are not doing much better than any public schools and frankly some of the vouchers are doing much worse and discriminatory and not teaching the kids what we need to teach them. >> this year, some of the biggest changes in a decade we have seen in school systems. 40 states and d.c. agreeing to link students to test scores and 14 states expanding charter schools with some expanding the use of taxpayer money for private schools. you know, dr. king skipped two grades here. will it create more dr. king's? are they able to jump through the system as did he? >> this is a mix and match here, richard. number one, the common core, if it was done correctly, not as it's done right now which is so testing stated, if it's done correctly it's important because

all kids have to be prepared about problem solving and critical thinking. what we also must do is we have to actually invest in schools and make sure that there's music and that there is art. the other things that are on that list what parents and teachers are saying stop focusing on testing! let's focus on teaching and bringing the joy of teaching back! let's focus on bringing the joy of learning back! so what is happening look at philadelphia. this is a big, big test case. philadelphia has created a manufactured crisis. governor corbett has cut schools all throughout that country -- i'm sorry. all through that state. in philly schools are opening four days from now without guidance counselors and class sizes exploding. we need to stop that and actually go back to having a real public school system that helps all children in an

accountable way and what our union in philly has done because they know what is happening with kids is that they have said, look, we will step you like we have stepped up before. our union in philly has given over $60 million the last several years to keep that system afloat! now we are doing it more, but we need corbett and nutter and others to help here! >> good luck in your speech there on the mall. appreciate your team. >> thank you, thank you. two women arrive today for the ceremony honoring the march on washington. 50 years, carolyn and judy attend the march separately. carolyn from d.c. and working in new york and judith was working elsewhere. they reflected on that very day recently. >> i remember that there weren't clumps of white and clumps of

black and clumps of men and clumps of women. everyone was walking together. >> people had pretty summer frocks. i don't think anybody had a pair of blue jeans on. it was like going to church. the march certainly gave me hope that we can do better and struggle, as we do, we have to be open and hopeful and try to learn from each other. >> i realize that i have to put my body out there. i can't just sort of sit in the house and watch, you know, tv and say ain't it awful? or write checks. building animatronics

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i have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. i have a dream today. celebrating 506 years -- 50 years of dr. martin luther king speech. ron mott is live at the mall. looks like the rain is touch and go right now? >> reporter: it's touch and go right now. unfortunately today is the day for umbrellas and a lot of these folks obviously have them but they have some of the best spots here on the mall today to do this 50th anniversary of the mlk "i have a dream" speech. addressed the crowd here from the lincoln memorial. one of the interesting things in today's event is the dream speech itself. the original writer, one of the speech writers who helped dr.

king put that speech together said that was not in the speech in the original draft of the speech, but that the great gospel singer jackson shouted at dr. king while he was speaking saying tell people about the dream, martin, he nods and ad-libbed the rest of that speech and the rest of that speech is history as the moment at the end there the last two or three minutes that people remember most about that speech. a historic day that day and another one day. we are not expecting as many people on the mall here 50 years. 225,000 people but today expecting tens of thousands or could get up to a hundred thousand. who knows. >> thank you, ron mott. joined by reverend al sharpton host of "politics nation." he is also there and watching the entire event with us on msnbc. rev, the last living speaker from 1963 congressman john lewis you know well says president obama's presence as the first african-american president will be a speech unto itself.

how can the president the day to a higher level today? >> well, i think that congressman lewis is right. the president being president is evident that we have come a long w way, but him being president, he is not a civil rights leader. he can lay out policies that will bring us even further, because we have not really realized all of dr. king's dream. and one of the things i've said to the president, we met with him two days ago after the big march here saturday, is that he is the new kennedy because of dr. king. a lot of the media is trying to make him the new king. he's a result of king. he's the president kennedy of today, the president johnson of today. he as president can say what we are doing about voting rights and unemployment and what we doing with the criminal justice system. i think that is what dr. king

and others fought for in the generation ahead of us. >> rev, you have spoken as you're eluding there with the president many, many times. you were part of the group of faith leaders that met with the president on monday. what might today mean to the president from what you know of him personally? >> i think that it puts a sense of obligation to him -- on him that he is manifesting the dreams and wishes of many and that history is calling him to take a real stand that could would show that the sacrifices and pain was for nothing, and that he must continue this struggle, a struggle for the country, a struggle for the world. and he has to walk to that podium today different than anybody has because he comes from an african-american background that no other president had, but he is president. when he walks away, he will not do as we will do going to

advocacy. he will have to deal with syria when he goes back to the white house and deal with the economy and other issues. it puts a burden on his shoulders but i think he can bear that burden. >> martin luther king iii wrote in an op-ed today saying although significant progress made in some areas but too many have inadequate opportunities to escape -- 50 years on now here, what would his dad think about racial equality in our country? >> i think he would say as martin iii raised in his op-ed that we have problems and that a lot of progress has been made, but let's not have a premature celebration, which is why martin

iii and i led the march on saturday and which is why we going to address that today. i'm on the list of speakers. i think in our moments, we going to tell people, this is a great day, a glorious day, but let's not act as though everything has been achieved. then we do a disservice to dr. king. >> it's going to be a historic day there on the mall as you're sitting there in the middle of it. we talk about dr. king and what you've done and your civil rights work. what has he meant to you over the decades of work that you've done? >> you know, no one could describe the impact dr. king had to me and others. i'm around the same age of his son. i was too young to be at the original march, but all i heard growing up from my mother who was born and raised in alabama and had me in new york and raised me in new york, was how dr. king broke the color line and entered apartheid in the south and how we all should grow and make him proud of us.

i was honored to get to know mrs. king very well until her passing. through her son, i got very close with her. she would always tell us that we should try to not only fight for change, but be the change and get rid of a lot of the kind of anger and recklessness we had because we thought things were unfair. he became the model and sometimes the unreachable molged for us to try to not only continue to fight for change, but to personify it and we all fell short, but he was always the goal we were trying to seek to achieve. >> no doubt you will hear his voice today on the 50th anniversary. reverend al sharpton, thank you so much for your perspective today. of course, the reverend will be a part of msnbc's programming throughout the day. we will have more on the 50th anniversary of the dream speech in today's let freedom ring ceremony tonight on "politics nation" with al sharpton at 6:00 p.m. eastern. checking the news feed.

today could be day that hasan learns whether he will face the death penalty. when given the chance to beg for mercy at the sentencing hearing, hasan chose not to, simply saying "the defense rests. sca is an online group that supports assad. the times set up an alternative site during that disruption. get this. scientists have figured out how to control your mind through the internet. we are not kidding. the internet. university of washington scientists look at them there built a program that allow them to send brain signals through the internet to control other persons hand movement. they have the little hats on there. they tested it while playing a video game. interesting. nervous investors and drivers are keeping an eye on

the volatile situation in syria. cnbc mandy drury is here with what is "moving your money." you have been watching the numbers. stocks taking a big tumble yesterday and bad for our 401(k) and you're watching oil. it went up and bad for drivers when they get to the gas station. >> you're right. the worries of the potentially military strike are pushing oil prices up but how much will that push up and keep up gas prices does remain to be seen. obviously, any price escalation has been mitigated and to become more independent in the u.s. and therefore it's roofed its reliance on imported crew from the middle east so that is a good thing. it would be really hard to keep prices higher on fear of loan as well. you would need to see some real supply disruption to oil and remember syria is not a major oil producer. it's not each on a major oil route. naturally concerns any strike could lead over to spill overand

ten -- spillover and tension in the region. >> shifting gears. new report here. interesting. finds moms and dads having a hard time getting their recent college grads out of the house. >> please leave. more adults a more kids are living with their parents. between 25 and 34 are now living with their parents. sorry. were living with their parents last year. that is up slightly from 13.4% in 2011. the trend really began before the recession and, obviously, accelerated during the downturn and kind of a hangover suggesting there are lingering effects of the recession. you know what? americans are finding it hard to land jobs in that younger age bracket. obviously, it takes a lot of money to set up your own home and i know you've been talking about this as well, richard. many are settled with a lot of student debt so, therefore, you stay with mom and dad, save up a little bit of money and pay off some debt, you can see it sort of -- it's a vicious cycle.

>> cooking is good and price is right so why not do it? mandy, thank you so much. no shortage of songs inspired by martin luther king, jr. "usa today" came up with a list that span the last 50 years and all types of music. here are a few of you. "say it loud i'm black and proud" by james brown. then stevie wonder and paul simon. a link to the complete list at jansing.msnbc.com. ♪

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here are the speaks coming

up today for the "i have a dream" anniversary the only surviving speaker from the 1963 march is speaking congressman joaquin castro and jamie foxx. the u.s. should consider a boycott of the olympics in russia in protest for the country's same-sex marriage ban. the battle over gay rights could be the next civil rights movement and they are announcing it will extend benefits to other same-sex couples. some are tying the knot after two county judges recently ruled same-sex marriage is legal. the push in new mexico started last week when a county clerk decided to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses before the judges declared it legal. that county clerk is lynn ellens. thank you for being here. why did you decide to issue these licenses on your own?

>> there was some lawsuits that were started many, many months ago. they have been languaishing in the county district courts and then they tried to skip up to the state supreme court and see if it would take initial jurisdictions. state supreme court refused. however, at that time, the supreme court asked the attorney general to file a brief on the issue and the attorney general said you can't take jurisdiction element for various reasons. but, at the same time, the attorney general addressed the substance of the matter and said that in his opinion, the marriage laws were unconstitutional because they were in violation of the state's equal protection amendment. at that point, i decided that if they are going to be all the way back to the district court, we are going to get motion and we are going to get discovery. it's going to go on forever.

>> how long -- >> i looked at the equal rights provision and i decided that i had the constitutional authority to issue these licenses, notwithstanding -- >> how long did you think you'd have to wait if you waited for might be due process in what -- looking at? >> i'm sorry? could you say that again? it was hard to hear you. >> how long do you think it would have taken, had you let the process go through? >> oh, i think -- i think it would have taken six, ailment months or another year to wind its way through the process. i have very good information that based upon what has been going on lately, we are going to be able to get the cases that are pending in the district courts up to supreme court next week. >> lynn, as you probably know, there are three counties now recognizing same-sex marriage and at least three more planned to do the same.

do you think you move may have started a movement in your state and in other places around the country? >> i'm sorry. you're breaking up. it's been difficult for me to follow you. >> do you think what you're doing has started a movement? >> oh, okay. yes, i do. i've been compared to the pebble that got thrown into the water and the ripples went out. >> got it. lynn, thank you so much for your time. >> three -- >> lynn ellen, thank you for your time and perspective today. msnbc is commemorating the 50th anniversary of king's "i have a dream" speech by asking you to #us. here are just a few of what we have received. wit writes having a daily honest dialogue about race. that is one definite way of

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we are just minutes away from the start of the special ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of martin luther king's iconic "i have a dream" speech. in a radio interview with tom joyner president obama was asked what dr. king would say about obama care. take a listen. >> he'd like that. well, because i think he understood that health care health security is not a privilege. it's something that in a country as wealthy as ours, everybody should have access to. >> the comments are part of a broader push by the administration to tie the

implementation of the affordable care act by "i have a dream" speech by dr. king. i'm joined by the president of the national baptist convention. you heard what the president said there as he met with you and other black clergy on monday. do you agree with what he said about what dr. king would think abo about what dr. king would i think about obama care? >> absolutely. i think in the 21st century to provide a quality of life and extend preventive health care for all american citizens is necessary. >> when we look back 50 years and the ability for african-americans to vote, it certainly is much worse than it is now. in 2012, for the first time, black voter turnout surpassed whites and 67% of eligible black voters cast ballots compared to 64% of nonhispanic whites and they outvoted percentage wise

whites. how far have we come in getting out the black vote today? >> we have done tremendous in that area of voter registration ongoing educational emphasis. we just come out of major convention that i had progressive national convention where we made voting a top priority with ongoing registrations, so we have gone perhaps 100% forward on that and have continued to do that as we go forward to get out to vote, particularly when laws are being passed to suppress the voting. >> doctor, today's ceremony over 200 speakers. should today be a call to action? >> it is a day of call to action. dr. king was a person of action and it's a day of celebration but it is a day we are looking

forward to action as we build coalitions, to press congress to pass better laws to protect the rights of all citizens. >> dr. carroll baltimore, thank you for your time today. that wraps up this hour of jansing and co. thomas roberts is up next. the celebration is beginning. >> history in the making as we watch together. our agenda next hour. three presidents and a nation prepare to honor the life, legacy of dr. martin luther king jr. on the steps of the lincoln memorial. the let freedom ring ceremony about to get under way and we are covering all of today's key speakers leading up to this address by president barack obama and highly anticipated. we are live with chris matthews and many more. history in the making and we get to spend it together.

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>> i have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. i have a dream today. 50 years ago tool civil rights leader martin luther king, jr. revealed hi shadow in the lincoln memorial and today an american president who personifies that dream will stand in his shadow, mlk the icon who called for the end of the racial divide. >> to continue the long march of those who came before us. the march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring

and procedure prosperous america. >> a president who rarely remarks on race at the time when challenges have shaken equality in this country. voting rights. marriage equality. immigration reform and lingering problems of racial profiling after the death of an unarmed black florida teen. >> when trayvon martin was first shot, i said that this could have been my son. another way of saying that is that trayvon martin could have been me. >> for now, on this day, a moment to look back at where we were and where we are, and celebrate where we're going. >> free at last! free at last! thank god almighty, we are free at last! i have a dream! >> hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. we are going to be writing you live coverage throughout all of today's special events commemorating the 50th

anniversary of the march on washington. helping to kick off our special coverage, chris matthews, host of msnbc "hardball" is live in washington, d.c. at the lincoln memorial and where all of today's event will take place. chris, good morning. let's set the scene for everybody. as we understand the program for today, we have three presidents, a host and current and former future civil rights and leaders and politicians taking the stage. truly a diverse program but we all look back 50 years ago to those vivid images that still inspire today. >> thomas, this is going to be a hot day. it's not that hot. it's sweltering today but not as bad as it could get in washington. it's drizzling and may clear up. i expect there is heated rhetoric today. this country is divideded right now, heavily and sharply divided between the one reject an african-american president and rejected him from the day he was elected and the day they heard