i'm joanne reid in for alex wagner. poisoning the well. in a new memoir, president obama's former secretary issues a scathing critique in the administration in which he served. robert gates found the white house national security staff too controlling when it came to the country's two wars, but he also questioned president obama's commitment to the mission in afghanistan, saying the commander in chief was "skeptical if not not outright convinced it would fail." recounting a pivotal white house meeting. as i said there, i thought the president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand hamid karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. for him, it's all about getting out.

but gates' qualms apparently didn't extend to the policies themselves. regarding president obama's pivotal choices in the war, gates writes, "i believe obama was right on each of these decisions." gates has a much tougher criticism of the man second in line to the presidency, vice president joe biden, writing, "i think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the last four decades." but he saves his harshest critique for congress. in a "wall street journal" op-ed, gates called the legislative branch uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities, micromanagerial, hypocriticahyp thin skinned and prone to put re-election before country. there's something everyone can agree on. joining me now, benjamin wallace wells, kathleen parker, josh barrow, and david corn. all right, folks.

our assessment of this this memoir. we were talking a little bit before the show. it's a little schizophrenic. it's sort of a love-hate relationship with his job. and a love/hate relationship with the administration. >> he was right-on with congress. we all would stipulate that we haven't read the book yet. that all said, i don't know anybody -- first of all, everyone has a problem with karzai. so that's not shocking. in fact, nothing so far to me is really very surprising. the fact that president obama would be skeptical about military leadership and about the war in general, he came in as the not a war president guy. his object was to end both wars as soon as possible. so that doesn't surprise me at all. and he sort of is skeptical by nature toward all things and everyone's leadership except his own. so that's sort of the way he approaches all issues. and i think you would want a president to be skeptical toward any escalation of war, whether he supported that surge. it obviously was the thing

recommended and the thing done. so i'm not sure what gates is trying to say. >> gates also says that presidents tend to be too quick to use military power. so the skepticism seems to be something he kind of -- >> kind of likes it. doesn't want to give president obama full credit for that. i think there's a lot of crotch -- crotchettiness in this whole book. he conflates things. these errors that he feels have happened. he doesn't like the fact that the national security staff isn't overly deferential to him. and the fact that bush launched an invasion in iraq that he doesn't like is kind of bad, too. it's like wait a second, where's the real wrong here? he also acknowledges that both mcchrystal and petraeus did things to earn the wrath of the white house. there's reason why the national security staff would be skeptical and dubious. >> the main reason too is that

there's civilian controlled military. that's something that probably most of the military chafes under. the idea that somebody that is on the military side -- but is there something unprecedented and sort of weird for you guys about a guy writing this about the current commander in chief? >> i mean, i don't think it's unprecedented at all for people in washington, once today leave their jobs, to try to put their version of the story to get ahead of everybody else. i was really struck by how similar the way gates describes the president's second-guessing himself over afghanistan was what we saw over syria this year, where the president decided to launch an attack on syria and then he had that walk in the rose garden and changed his mind and decided to go to congress and set forth a path that led us away from making a strike on syria. second-guessing yourself is a mixed bag. you want to have clear strategies and implement them and not change course midstream, but on the other hand, if your first strategy is wrong, it's good to be able to second-guess yourself and say this is a mistake, we should cut our

losses. >> i do think the secretary of defense is a special case. we're always reluctant to criticize a sitting president when you still have men and women on the ground. i know if this happened under george w. bush's watch, republicans would be very upset. >> to your point, he compares him because bush had no second thoughts on the war. but i think most americans sort of agree with having second thoughts. >> the weird thing and the unprecedented thing about this whole episode is that it's a criticism of a sitting president. it has very little substantive element to it. it's almost entirely a personality critique. and i think that's the part that's weird and that we haven't seen before. you see paul o'neill, you see administration officials coming out in the midst of their former bosses' terms and saying there's something here that we disagree with, we think the country should be on a different path. but this doesn't look like that. this looks kind of catty.

looks personality-driven. >> there's something honorable in resigning or speak out on a policy matter that you care deeply about. in european nations, cabinet members often resign and speak out against the government they served when there's a difference on policy. >> right. >> but we haven't seen -- >> gates specifically said he never raised these concerns directly with the president. >> yeah. >> one of the interesting characterlogical things that came out in the wall street is his comparison of bush to obama. he says these guys are both aloof leaders. they were both were resistant to being part of the social world of washington, but also part of the social world of other world leaders, other presidents. so they cut themselves off from networks that were important to them and they isolated themselves unnecessarily. that's a really i think interesting characterilogical insight and it rings true to me. >> speaking of the insights,

there was another -- besides joe biden. it's hillary clinton. hillary clinton was some of the harshest excerpts about her. one in particular was this notion that hillary clinton told the president that her opposition to the 2007 surge in iraq had been political because she was facing him in the iowa primary and that the president vaguely conceded that it had been political. does that hurt hillary clinton? >> i think so. her support of the war in the beginning and her persistence in defending her position i thought were actually -- at least her not backing down under pressure was an honorable position. she ultimately did back down. but not for the right reasons. that was political. i was surprised to hear her say that was a political calculation and nobody wants to hear that from a presidential candidate. >> can i defend joe biden? >> please do. >> the harshest statement really was about joe biden. gates said he's been wrong in every major foreign policy decision in the last four decades. listen, joe biden helped get past the new stark arms control

deal, which gates supported and lobbied for as well. joe biden tried to limit bush's authority to invade iraq. a war that gates himself says was misguided. so there are two great examples in which he is kind of doing what gates would want him to do. so there has to be more to this story. this strikes me where it's personal and catty and not really a substantive debate. >> i suspect that biden has been one of the skeptics within the administration, so i'm sure that there was a turf war between gates and biden over that. so i suspect that's what we're seeing. it's funny, because one of the key themes in the bush administration was turf wars between the vice president and other international security officials over policy. and the bush administration for the first six years, at least the vice president seemed to win a lot more of those. it seems like gates ultimately got his way on most of things he wanted his way. >> but did he really sort of -- he didn't like the supervision, and i think he looks back to the point. but you have to have the

supervision. you kcan't get away from it. >> it's difficult to try to gain out. like what an appropriate gates approved sort of moral posture towards military should be for president, like gates complains about the stubbornness of the pentagon bureaucracy. that's something we've seen across two terms. if you're obama and you come in and you have a waratah you're given, or even if you're bush and you have a war that maybe you grow to have some ambiguous feelings about it, if you back away and if you say, you know what? i'm not 100% all-in on this war, then in gate's kind of moral logic, you are sort of abandoning the troops. you're sending them out to die. you don't 100% agree with. my god, is it hard to be president. >> the people on the ground are listening and watching to every move and every word that comes out of the commander in chief's mouth. if it's not all positive behind

your leadership on the ground, then it's harmful. if i could -- >> very quickly. >> i've heard two men called catty. >> score one for the ladies. after the break, consecutive republican senators vote in favor of advancing legislation to expand on unemployment insurance. but how many members of gop have real economic solutions for fighting poverty. we'll discuss that next. is this the bacon and cheese diet?

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punctuated by yesterday's senate vote in which only six republicans crossed the aisle to join all the senate democrats to advance a bill to extend long-term unemployment assistance. the democratic strategy is causing heartburn inside the gop ranks. where there is little consensus within the party about a shared poverty agenda. some believe the gop needs to do a u-turn and focus on makers versus takers. others are not so sure. >> what is unemployment insurance? it is paying people not to work. and that -- let's change the term. let's get rid of unemployment insurance. and let's call it paying people not to work. >> it would appear that at least 37 republicans agree with rush. mitch mcconnell with the following offer. >> i'd like to propose that we

be allowed -- my side be allowed to offer and amendment to pay for these benefits by lifting the burden of obama care's individual mandate for one year. >> over in the house, rank and file republicans, many of whom have a problem holding in their callous disregard, received a memo, reminding that that for every american out of work, it's a personal crisis for them and their family. of course, as speaker john boehner told the press this morning, sympathy for the plight of the unemployed doesn't necessarily mean throwing them a lifeline. >> so we're all concerned about those who have had a difficult time trying to find a job. i made clear that we would consider extending emergency unemployment benefits. if it was paid for and if there were provisions that we could agree to that would get our economy moving again and put the american people back to work. >> three potential 2016 contenders, paul ryan, marco rubio and rand paul are all flocking to the tv cameras,

never find two of them voted against yesterday's extension. as the new republic notes, it's hard to help a little guy when you hate the safety net. or as josh barrow writes, the problem with the republican anti-poverty agenda is that it doesn't exist. so, josh barrow, you've written about this. they feel that they need to talk about the social safety net and poverty in broad terms. but there actually is not a fundamental ideological commitment to fighting poverty, at least from within the federal government. >> right. republicans, they don't like poverty. they would like people to have jobs and incomes and good livings. but republicans really only have one economic idea, which is you cut taxes and cut spending and reduce regulation and this is supposed to spur the economy and lower unemployment and create jobs. the problem is it's not clear that this is true over the long run. lower taxes and things like that are supposed to reduce the long-run rate of gdp growth.

but what that really doesn't do is address business cycles. situations we're in right now where we have elevated rates of unemployment, weak demand and a persistently weak labor market. so with their one economic message not doing anything to address that, the only thing that's left is how do they express concern without actually changing any of their policy ideas so that they'll be willing to do something. >> and kathleen, you write that the other issue, at least from the excerpt that i'm reading from what you wrote, that perhaps republicans don't believe that americans care as deeply about inequality as maybe they're saying. you write that roughly 99.9% of americans actually like income inequality, because we value merit, talent and hard work. what, after all, is the opposite of income quality. >> well, that is a little out of context. we talk about all sorts of political terminology. it is geared to sort of stir

emotions rather than deal with the real problems. when i say that americans prefer inequality, it's meaning that they don't really want income equality. i actually disagree with republicans on almost all of these pieces. i think we should continue the food stamps. i think we should extend unemployment benefits. and i make the assumption that if you support people when they're in dire straits, they're never going to find a job. most of these people are not unemployed because they want to be. it's too bad about iraq. compassionate conservativism is a very good idea. >> the interesting thing about that was within the republican party, compassionate conservatism is derided, it's made fun of. the team party is a response to that. referencing jack kemp in the intro here.

but the republican party used to have -- not many, but used to have guys, some women, who cared about policy issues that would address some of these manners. things that democrats and liberals liked. but they say how could we do something proactively. trying to get some privatization and ownership for poor people. i didn't agree with it, but it was heartfelt. it wasn't just about reading a memo from the rnc. that is completely wrong. >> i wonder how much of that is anti-obama? bush came after kemp and george w. bush ran on compassionate conservatism after the kemp era. how much did this contempt for the idea of fighting poverty is just anti-obamaism? >> it's pretty recent. if you look at the poll numbers for what republican voters will say about the correctness of extending benefits like those

we're talking about, they're much more libertarian, much more unwilling to extend those kind of benefits. there's something interesting in the rhetoric of all these clips that we see over the last few years. there's a fundamental difference in how democrats and republicans talk about the people who are affected by the current recession. even when you see figures like john casich. it's always about what we can do for the poor. if you look at figures like elizabeth warren and bill deblasio, there's an extension of who's suffering. i think that's been pretty compelling c compelling. >> and a sense that people at the lower end of the spectrum are part of the economy. to your point, republicans discovered poverty, but for years, mcgillis writes republican voters have been hearing those leaders ridicule

welfare queens, who knows the new rhetoric from conservatives might just be helpful in re-adjusting attitudes but more likely rank and file republicans will tune them out if they won't take it seriously. one more little piece of data. pew actually studied, to your point as well, people's attitudes toward the safety net. in 2007, 58% of republicans actually believe it's the responsibility of government to take care of people who can't take care of themselves. by 2012, it drops to 40%. so i do wonder if the anti-obama piece of it is an overarching part of the attitude. >> you go back and look at the speech that paul ryan is one of the so called anti-poverty crusaders of the medicare party. the speech that he gave at the republican convention, it was perhaps the most libertarian speech where he talked about how people would be condemned to a dark, dismal life of government control. and really was talking about getting government out of people's lives completely.

so i think the rise of the tea party, people like ryan talking that way, listening to rush limbaugh and reacting to obama, who shows more affinity to us, is all combined to make that precipitous drop. i think it's really quite stellar. >> i would like to remind people that the tea party is a rant against paying my dead beat neighbor's mortgage. coming up next, new information links a top aid to chris christie and the controversy of traffic gridlock and possible political retribution against the new jersey mayor. the detail next. the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets.

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september and suggest they were ordered as political retribution. fort lee saw four days of gridlock because of the closures. the e-mails originally released come from the political accounts of christie's deputy chief of staff, bridget anne kelly and david wildstein. kelly wrote time for some traffic problems in fort lee. he reported a moment later, got it. he said his staff had no involvement in the lane closures. we have not heard back as yet. so, david corn, is this a problem because it reinforces the image of chris christie, or is this a real problem that as it inches closer and closer -- >> well, first off, i see that he just put out a statement saying that the problem was the highway is jammed with broken heroes in a last-chance power

drive. he had a press conference scheduled this morning and cancelled it. i think this is a very beg problem for him. he already said his staff was not involved in this. he's made jokes about this. and what does this show? this shows people who are really mean, who are bullies, bullying a guy -- a democrat who wouldn't endorse them, and they're laughing at the fact in these e-mails that school kids are stuck in buses and can't get home and can't get to school. and so it really reflects what is his biggest vulnerability. arrogance and bullying. and if he was clear in this, he'd have no reason not to come out today and say these guys are gone, i'm going to have my own investigation, there's no way i'm going to stand for this. he has to worry that maybe he knew or should have known. there's a lot to still come out here and it's a criminal investigation. which is going to cause problems. >> we should make a point that

these were personal e-mails. these were not people if their government e-mails. they weren't from or two chris christie. but i do want to read, to your point, jonathan wrote today that the e-mails display an almost comical -- they will probably destroy christie's chances in 2016. it reveals a political culture around christie. it's sort of more about the culture that chris christie cultivated within the governor's office. >> and the character. whenever you see a christie event, there is such a theater around himself. here comes this truth-teller. he doesn't care. he's getting these little guys out of the way. usually at a press conference, he picks on the mayor of new jersey who's getting in the way of some problem and just goes after him. what he see here is not just a kind of venality, it's a pettiness. chris christie's whole schtick

has been that politicians in new jersey, the democrats, republicans, mostly democrats are focused on defending the little towns. i'm the guy who has the people's interests in mind who's going to come in and push that all away. and what we see here is him engaging in -- well, his staff engaging in these very petty -- i mean, we're talking about lane closures. it's very petty. >> it's interesting that that whole theater, up until now, it has been to christie's benefit. now finally turning up to bite him in the -- you know. after the break, there are many signs that the social safety net has been a success. but with millions still living below the line and the income gap widening, there's plenty of work still to be done and we'll discuss when congresswoman maxine waters joins us next on "now." [ dennis ] it's always the same dilemma -- who gets the allstate safe driving bonus check. rock beats scissors! [ chuckles ] wife beats rock.

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50 years ago today, during his first state of the union dress in 1964, president lyndon johnson declared a war in poverty on america, paving the way for the social safety net programs like medicaid, medicare, head start and food stamps. >> it will not be a short or easy struggle.

no single weapon or strategy will suffice. but we shall not rest until that war is won. [ applause ] the richest nation on earth can afford to win it. >> half a century later, with 46 million americans still living in poverty, including 16 million children, it's clear we have not won the war on poverty. but some real progress has been made. according to researchers at columbia university, the unofficial overall poverty rate has dropped from 26% to 16% in 2012. among children, the poverty rate fell from 29% to 19%. and for the elderly, it dropped from 47% to 15%. in 2012, the social safety net kept 41 million people out of poverty, including nine million children. but the success of the safety net in america has occurred

alongside a rise in income inequality and the decline in wages, forces that have made poverty in america far from vanquished and in some ways almost mainstream. when johnson delivered his speech 50 years ago, he said our objective as a nation was total victory, and with over half of american adults experiencing at least one year in or near poverty, and the recent great recession pushing many americans to the brink, victory is something we can hardly declare. joining us now is democratic congresswoman maxine waters. congresswoman, thanks for being here. i think it's really great to have you in particular, because you do come from a big urban district. there's a very different character to urban poverty. can you talk about how government spending impacts poverty and want in a district like yours? >> well, absolutely. and when we take a look at what lyndon johnson was saying when

he launched this war on poverty, he specifically talked about urban areas and rural areas. don't forget, he came from a very poor rural area. he was from a home that had no food. that had little clothing. that didn't have proper heat, what have you. so he was thinking about poverty for all americans, not just inner cities, but rural areas and specifically mentioned appalachia. so when he launched this war on poverty, as i look at it now, it was a great vision that he carried out started by president kennedy. but he knew that this was the right thing to do. he knew what poverty was all about. and he was determined to make a connection with all of the naysayer who thought that he was not liberal enough. so it was a remarkable address that i just listened to it one more time, because he really did attack poverty in this address, and all of the programs that

came out of that. as a matter of fact, i was in the head start program. i started as an assistant teacher in head start. and went back to school, god my degree, and went on to run for office. and a lot of us came out of that war on poverty in one way or the other. so now, yes, the war on poverty reduced poverty in america. still, it's too high. right now, those people who make about 23,492 are at the poverty line. and we have a problem with minimum wage. women are still behind, making only about 76% of what men make. and we've got to create more real jobs. more jobs that pay a decent wage. we've got work to do. but we can be thankful. just think where we would be if that war on poverty had not been launched. >> and congresswoman, why do you suppose that some of your red state colleagues, who come from these rural district where is poverty is also deep and in some cases widespread, think so differently about the

government's responsibility to those citizens, than somebody like yourself? >> well, you know, i think what we have not done is we have not done a good job of helping people in some of our very rural areas understand the connection of public policy and their economic well-being. sometimes we allow -- most of the times we allow the discussion to be around burning the flag or abortion, other kinds of issues. and i think we need to do a better job to help people understand that they can have a better quality of life. if they had representation that dealt with their economic needs. whether we're talking about health care clinics that are not in rural areas where people still don't have the transportation systems that they need, we have failed to connect their needs with the public policy and to point out to them who is acting in their best interest in congress and these legislative bodies and who is not. >> and just bringing it to the

panel, i wonder if one of these disconnects is that it's easier to sell policies that has to do with work and poverty itself. there are three justifications people use for social spending programs, because it's their right as citizens, because of their basic need for survival. generally programs that are seen as being rights given to all citizens or that are related to work are more widely embraced. they enjoy more funding and are enjoyed without being ststigma. when it's not specifically tied to work? >> i think there's that. i think the striking thing about those poverty stats changes from 1967 to present, literally 100% of the reduction on poverty is due to increases on spending. if kw so the success of the war on

poverty has been basically giving people money. where we have not succeeded is changing the economy to lift people out of poverty without government intervention. i think that's where conservatives object. i think they see the democratic anti-poverty program as basically being a program of take money from some people and giving it to other people without requiring them to work more. i think that's a mistake in approach. but i think we could broaden out this conversation is to talk about how can we make changes to the economy so that wages rise faster so that the rewards to work are greater and so that non-government action does more to lift people out of poverty. i think there are a lot of policy areas that can do that, including intellectual property law and various other things. i think it's true that the idea of fighting poverty is about giving people money does reduce the size of the political coalition, but it's also limited us in the benefits that we've given people. >> i think also because there isn't really a coherent debate about what you could do to grow the economy. conservatives are not really interested -- at least

republicans in washington don't really want to discuss it. thank you so much to congresswoman maxine waters of california. appreciate you being here. >> you're certainly welcome. coming up, new york is expected to become the latest state to announce newly relaxed marijuana laws. not everyone is likely to profit. we'll discuss the high times ahead when the marijuana editor from "the denver post" joins us just ahead. welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise?

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it's been one week since colorado became the first state to officially legalize marijuana for recreational use. contrary to skeptics' fears, everything is going fine in the rocky mountain state. in fact, it's going kind of great. at the few dozen stores that are open for business, thousands of customers have already arrived lining up around the block in some cases with demand so high that some shops have actually run out of product. within the first few days, the

new industry reportedly generated over $5 million. colorado may be the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, but it's unlikely to be the last. in 20 states and localities now allow some legal use of marijuana. today, new york governor andrew cuomo is expected to announce a policy that will loosen restrictions on the use of medical marijuana. joining us now is the marijuana editor for "the denver post." ricardo, how is it going in colorado so far with the newly recognized recreational weed? >> you know, things are expectedly calm out here. certainly calming down. no more million-dollar sales days. no more lines around the block. there certainly are lines depending on the time of day that you're going into one of these recreational pot shops. but i've had many friends,

colleagues and family report back to me that they walk up and they walk right in and it's significantly easier and faster than it was a week ago. >> people are laughing because you said things are calm. assuming everyone also has a bag of cheetos. the marijuana industry could gross $578 million in annual revenue. this is looking to be a really cash crop for the state of colorado. but are there any sort of issues and hiccups in terms of these businesses being able to do banking. is there an issue with cash sales and whether credit cards may be introduced? >> certainly, because banking is federally regulated and because pot is still illegal via the federal government, banking is still a major issue. it's the next hurdle that this industry is facing locally. we had a great piece today. you can read it on denverpost.com. we had heard that some of these recreational pot shops were

taking credit cards. in order to take a credit card, that means you're banking. we did some research. a piece ran today. my colleague did a great job with it. basically, he found out that some of these dispensaries are using credit cards, and yes, they admitted to them they are banking. they are using banks. they have long-stand relationships with banks. he also talked with visa and some of credit card processing companies about why they're doing business with these businesses, and they're basically saying it's legal in colorado. it's a little bit sketchy on a federal level, but it looks like people are making things happen now on a larger level than they were with medical marijuana. >> that issue too plays into the next question i want to ask, in terms of now you're asking credit card transactions being tied to marijuana sales. is there a danger that we will see a gentrification of the use of marijuana? clearly there already is. if you're rich, it's tantamount to being legal because it's very

unlikely if you're rich, white, or affluent that you'll be arrested. nowgentrification of the sale of legal weed. if you're poor, you're still going to end up in jail if you're not selling it through this legal means. >> yeah, you need a license and you need to be part of the establishment. but there are people who do bootleg sales of liquor and cigarettes outside of the legal channels. i'm sure people will do that. i'm just wondering if ricardo in thinking about what's going to happen to his state has come up with any notions about any sort of big changes that might come about in just the way people in denver and colorado operate, feel, drive, or whatever -- legal recreational use -- >> let's let ricardo answer that question. do you sense there will be big

change, other than people being a lot more mellow? >> certainly one of the things we're seeing right now is tourism. the state and the city -- touristic agencies are officially mum on the subject. they don't have an opinion at the moment. but we are seeing a major influx of out of state tourists. some of these pot shops are reporting that a third or a half of their customers in the first couple of days were with out of state driver's licenses and one of the interesting things that happens later on is that you have mountain towns now with ski resorts and lots of tourists and some of those mountain towns are charging out of state people double for the price of recreational weed than they are in-state. >> and that brings me back to the point i was just making. goldie taylor talked about -- even that, a ski resort, we have sort of high end version of this happening in colorado. but goldie writes that the

government game cannot survive if the street peddler and his bargain basement prices are allowed to flourish. that almost certainly means more arrests of largely black, browning and disproportionately poor population. the result may further tip the scales in further of a privileged class that's already safe from criminalization. >> yeah, maybe. i think that what's happening here really, though, is we're just starting to kind of morally dial down all of our rhetoric and the whole war on drugs. states where weed is fully legal. cops don't want to spend their time chasing this stuff. and basically full legalization in colorado and washington. the level of problems that we're hearing about are really pretty petty stuff. problems with what's going to happen with the debit cards. and so as we move towards -- i think the real importance of colorado and washington is not just legalizing this stuff, it's sending a message to everybody that look, this regime has just got to end. if you look at what -- at the

political spending in washington and colorado, in washington, i think there were $17,000 put into the campaign to prevent this change. i mean, basically no money at all. so the crazy thing about this whole story to me is that we kept up a legal regime that nobody really supported, nobody was willing to defend that had real damages so far past the point where people really cared about it. i think that's what we're seeing. >> but there is still some part of the culture that is resisting this idea that we are going to the decriminalization of marijuana. there is some resistance to it. is this sort of the last front in the culture war that now is lost? >> i never thought i'd see this day. my generation, you know, this was like something that was just so remote, we didn't even imagine it. i think what's more concerning to people rather than the debit card situation is what sort of signal are you sending to children, to young people who

haven't yet turned on. i've actually long supported decriminalizing marijuana. so i'm onboard with the concept. but there are certainly repercussions that we haven't probably seen just yet. when you see tourists flooding, you see people lined up for blocks to buy their weed, you're not exactly passing on the message that this is something one should not do. >> i'm wondering if that is something that the government should be in the business of doing. alcohol is fully legal. and far more deadly. and it is something that is not only not discouraged, but it's completely advertised, even at sports venues and romanticized, right? >> this is something we struggle with both alcohol and tobacco regulation. want themming to legal because black markets are damaging, and partly because adults should be able to do what they want. you also want to discourage people from doing thing ts that are harmful to themselves and others. we should probably have more messaging about the danger of drunk driving and of alcohol abuse. tougher penalties for dui.

i think we're striking a good balance on it on cigarettes right now, where we've really created a social stigma around cigarettes that is improving public health. so for marijuana, which is better for you, we need to find that balance. but i think the balance involves it being legal. >> i think overall, the decriminalization, i think we've got to -- without having law enforcement overly focusing, particularly on young people, i think is actually the thing. marijuana editor for "the denver post," thanks for being here. >> thank you. we also want to thank our panel. ben, kathleen, josh, and david. that is all for now. i will see you become here tomorrow at noon eastern. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote.

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mitchell reports," robert gates slams the obama administration on several fronts, claiming the president didn't believe in his own afghan war strategy. and blasting vice president joe biden. he says for being wrong on nearly every foreign policy issue for the last four decades. >> i was surprised when i saw the stories yesterday because i always thought they had a good working relationship. a bridge too far? new e-mails link one of governor chris christie's top aides to possibly playing politics with the traffic flow on one of the nation's busiest bridges. thawing out. the polar vortex is retreating for parts of the country, but there is no relief in upstate new york, where lake ontario is blanketed with two more feet of snow. >> i've never delivered in a storm