Skip to main content

tv   Meet the Press  MSNBC  April 13, 2014 11:00pm-12:01am PDT

11:00 pm
good sunday morning. we're talking about the politics of health care. is the resignation of kathleen sebelius a sign of siuccess for failure for the president's health care law. we'll have an exclusive interview. and with republican president candidates in hamp this weekend making it clear they'll continue the health care fight. we'll discuss what promises to be a pivotal issue in november's midterm. plus, boston strong. one year later. ahead of the anniversary of the boston marathon bombings, i went to the city for a special discussion on how boston is recovering from tragedy with a unique round table and an audience of first responders. >> i take the events of that day very personal. this was an attack on my city,
11:01 pm
and i'll never forget it. from nbc news in washington, the world's longest running television program, this is "meet the press" with david gregory. >> first, political round table is here to discuss a pretty big week in health care politics. mike murphy, republican stra strategist, donna edwards, paul give go and kara swisher co-executive ed kor of re/code. she's been on the forefront of coverage of major news and developments in the digital world at a variety of organizations including "the washington post" and "the wall street journal." that's a lot of information. >> it is. >> about kara swisher. >> that's enough. i'm going to leave now. >> you're the wildcard. you are the person who will shake things up. >> david brooks isn't here. >> we're relying on you. let's get to health care. we'll hear from kathleen sebelius in a few minutes. her first interview since resigning her post.
11:02 pm
mike murphy i turn from you. but first ezra klein writing this, obamacare has won, and that's why secretary of health and human services kathleen sebelius can resign. the evidence has piled up in recent weeks that the strategy worked. obamaca obamacare's first year despite a horrific start was a success. more than 7 million people looked to have signed up for health insurance through the exchanges. millions more have changed up through medicaid. millions beyond that have signed up for insurance through their employers. so the argument being, hey, good time to step down. >> well, it's a time honored thing in the midst of a disaster to declare victory and try to move on. we'll see. it will be litigated in the midterm elections. the country will cast a judgment on it on election day. we'll see if we still have a democratic senate. the fact is it's not really at this point a republican/democrat thing anymore. it's an idea versus actuarial science. i think she's going to get confirmed and i think she now has the toughest job in the federal government.
11:03 pm
>> there's a lot we still don't know. that's a reality. you can't anticipate all the consequences of obamacare even though you have some evidence that people are signing up, people who didn't have insurance now have insurance. those are positive signs. you don't know the rest. >> well, we have other evidence, too. we have 170-some million people who aren't being denied because they've pre-existing conditions. 3 million young people who are now on their parents' health care plan. there are a lot of benefits. we're closing the doughnut hole the republicans want to reopen in their budget, and the american people are saying overwhelmingly now don't repeal. let's fix it if there are problems, but we want this system to work. >> "the wall street journal" had its voice heard this week. paul gigot and the editorial was, it was nice to think that kathleen sebelius's reg nis nation is a case of accountability. the departure of the secretary of health and human services who presided over obamacare's rollout debacle is best understood as one more attempt to dodge political responsibility. why. why do you say that?
11:04 pm
>> because it's a deck clearing exercise. she's a lightning rod. would have been a lightning rod going into the elections. get her out of there and you waited until kind of you had at least the plausible signup numbers to be able to quote, but now let's move her out. she wasn't going to help in the election. they hope to get this confirmation of her successor done early. i think the danger for the democrats is the republicans will use this as an opportunity to reopen the debate and try to find some of the facts that we don't know yet about how many people have paid their premiums, how many people lost insurance. what about the next wave and the premium increases that are coming? >> carol, a lot of people, friends and foes alike, wanted her gone for a while. >> it was a success in spite of its debacle. i don't know how else to put it. people use, for example, the way it was rolled out from a digital perspective was just -- it's complete disaster. tinder is doing 12 million matches a day and they can't get this thing working. i think had it gone smoothly from a digital perspective, it might have been a slightly different story, but everyone is able to focusdisaster of
11:05 pm
it. everyone uses these digital services all day long and they work perfectly. >> and to that point what's so important about getting -- making this work through younger people signing up -- >> that's how they're going to do it. >> they're not going to say i'll try back later. >> all your health services will be through your phones. some diagnosis, there's all kinds of things you can put in the phones where you can put blood samples. this is the way it's going to be, it's a digital delivery. >> paul made a good point. there's a huge difference between clicking yes and paying and really enrolling. >> and we don't know the numbers yet. >> they think it could be as wide as 20%. >> main thing republicans continue to want to do the bad news story of health care. the fact is -- i agree there was a problem with the rollout, but the fact is that millions of people have signed up, millions more people have benefits. this is going to get better over time. young people actually support the health care law more overwhelmingly than almost any other category of americans. it can't all be a bad news
11:06 pm
story. and it was -- kathleen sebelius' reg s resignation, she was one of the longest serving secretaries and it was time. >> let's hear from secretary sebelius. she spoke with andrea mitchell about her resignation, the future of health care. we'll hear from her and talk on the other side of it. >> in retrospect was it too complicated, too much to take on to create this enormous program, roll it out the way you did. should you have delayed the rollout and tried to get it right the first time. >> i think there's no question, and i have said this many times, that the launch of the website was terribly flawed and terribly difficult. the good news was that we said it would be fixed in eight weeks. it was fixed in eight weeks, and we announced last week that 7.5 million people, most of them coming through the site, had enrolled. we're running the sites in 34
11:07 pm
states through one situation, the hub, which all states connect to have worked flawlessly from the beginning. could we have used more time and testing? you bet. and i have said that from the start, but the site actually worked, and the great thing is there's a market behind the site that works even better. people have competitive choices and real information for the first time ever in this insurance market. >> one of the things that has been written is that there was so much attention being paid as to whether the insurance companies would offer enough choices that not enough was paid to just the website, the technical side of it. do you think that's possibly what went on? >> well, i think there are two things, andrea. there's certainly the policy team and setting this process up, trying to make sure we had competitive markets in every state around the country. and as you remember, you know, we didn't really know until about six months out how much states would actually run their own sites. who would be on their own.
11:08 pm
so this was kind of the moving target. so, yes, it took a lot of time on the policy side, on the market side, and there was a team in place with other people, outside experts coming in, kicking the tires, regular reports, regular dashboards on the tech side, but clearly the estimate that it was ready to go october 1st was just flat out wrong. >> did the white house oversell it? >> i don't think they did. i think what we said from the outset was, you know, this was fixing a very broken market where individuals really were on their own. if you were healthy and wealthy, you could get coverage. if you weren't, you were pretty much on your own if you didn't work for the right company. so that was fixed. we have millions of people, not only in the private marketplace, but millions more in expanded medicaid, which is going on around the country with republicans and democratic governors, and then there are a
11:09 pm
lot of underlying pieces which really to me are very exciting which go to beginning to fix the underlying health system that affects us all, whether or not you have insurance coverage with your employer or whether one of these newly insured folks. >> along the way, what was your low point? >> well, i would say that the eight weeks where the site was not functioning well for the vast majority of people was a pretty dismal time, and i was, frankly, hoping and watching and measuring the benchmarks but having failed once at the front of october, the first of december became a critical juncture of either it was going to meet the expectations the second time around -- i knew we didn't have a third time around, so that was a pretty scary date, and watching a lot of people come in and be able to be enrolled in december was very
11:10 pm
gratifying. >> you know, the white house has been publicly very supportive, but then there's all the sort of back sniping. this is washington, after all. people are asking, were you pushed or did you jump? >> well, actually i made a decision at the election that i couldn't leave along with a lot of my colleagues who left at the end of the first term. that did not seem to be even a topic to consider since there was still one more chapter in this affordable care act that needed to roll out and that had been one of my responsibilities as the secretary of health and human services. so staying on made good sense to me. i also thought that at the end of open enrollment was a logical time to leave. there is never a good time. there's going to be another open enrollment. there are changes down the road, but the president and i began to talk, you know, after the first of the year, and i went back to him in early march and said, you
11:11 pm
know, i'm really optimistic we're going to meet the targets, the enroll suspect going well, the site is working well. i think once we finish this first chapter, you really should begin to look for the next secretary who can be here through the end of your term, and th rally wasn't a commitment i was willing to make, and he knew that. >> did he try to talk you out of it? >> well, i made it pretty clear that really wasn't an option to stay on. i thought it was fair to either commit until january of 2017 or leave with enough time that he would get a strong, competent leader. >> all right. so the pure political question is the resignation a sign of obamacare's success or failure? republicans were quick to pounce on that this week up in new hampshire. ted cruz, scott brown talking about it. ted cruz speaking to kelly o'donnell. watch. >> kathleen sebelius' resignation is the latest indication of what a disaster obamacare is.
11:12 pm
obamacare is the most disastrous, the most damaging piece of legislation in modern times, and i believe she resigned because senate democrats are scared. >> you know, if you go along and you learn more and more and more about obamacare, it forces us to make a choice. live free or logon. right? live free or logon. and guess what? guess what? in new hampshire, guess what we choose, we choose freedom. >> this is why people love politics. how long did you take it come up with that line. this is the political question, right? this is not about actuarial science. it's who is going to win the fight over whether obamacare is a good thing or bad thing. government run amok or helping people. >> actuarial will play into that because it affects what the premiums will be. wellpoint said we're going to ask for double digit premium increases in 2015. >> but the government could try to intervene on that and
11:13 pm
subsidize that which i know you love at the "wall street journal." >> price controls. we love that. government controlled, yeah. >> the political issue wnt the website. the political issue is what they did to the individual marketplace. how many people lost their insurance. what are the prices you're going to pay. what limits do you have on your doctor and so on. and that's where the republicans are really going to try to fight in november. if they're smart, they'll mesh their critique with an agenda to fix those problems. >> will anybody listen to an agenda to fix them? >> there's going to be a tremendous demand. right now, this is not a complicated one. the perception of it which in politics is reality is complete failure. more than half the people disapprove. now, you can argue it's going to get better through the experience. that could change the numbers in time. or the actuarial science argument, it's going to drive the cost up and make it worse and we'll late gate it on election day. >> there's another big issue coming up for the fall and it's a filt over voting and voting rights and access to voting. we're marking the 50th anniversary of the passage of
11:14 pm
the civil rights act under president johnson and at the lbj library the president and first lady were there. the former president speaking as well. the president, congressman edwards, was strong on this point on efforts to restrict voting. here is what he said. >> vote is not a democratic issue or a republican issue. it's an issue of citizenship. whats mak it's what makes our democracy strong. but it's a fact this recent effort to restrict the vote has not been led by both parties. it's been led by the republican party. >> pretty tough charge, backed up "washington post" in the last 15 months at least nine states have enacted laws, voting changes, making it harder to cast ballots despite very little evidence of voter fraud out there. >> very little evidence. almost no evidence of voter fraud, and i think these states have reacted to a political agenda that's about taking away people's right to vote, access to the polls.
11:15 pm
i think it's backed up by a supreme court that's done great damage to the voting rights act. republicans still holding onto a bill that they won't bring to the floor that actually could restore those protections, and i think the president is dead on on this one and we're not going to go into november with people not understanding the restrictions that are being placed on their right to vote. >> kara, as you look out, you look at politics around the country at the grassroots level. it could be about marriage equality. it could be about just pure access to voting. this is not looking at 50 years ago. it's looking by your ability to vote today. how powerful is the issue? >> you know, it will be interesting because i think one of the groups in this election that's very important is, again, young people, young women especially, and how they get access to information and how they vote and all kinds of things around politics. i think what's interesting is how you reach those voters and how you empower them to do different things. i think more about how voting is going to be in 10 years, in 15 years. the voting rights act, no matter how you slice it, is one of the
11:16 pm
greatest pieces of legislation in our history. the question is how are we going to change voting. we're talking about bitcoin or currency. all these things will change drastically. it will be interesting around vote somethiing is how voters b empowered using the phones and digital means because -- >> vote something a very interesting question. it's now done in some small -- >> we're going to do it, period. >> it's going to come in time and it will increase turnout. also in primaries. which more the -- >> but what if this were a conversation about how we expand voting and voting protection but what's going on in the country right now is about how to take those rights away. >> you do expand it because you give access to people in a different way. think about swipe left, swipe right. it could be an interesting thing. >> if voter i.d. were about voter disenfranchisement why was african-american turnout greater in 2012? it has had zero affect on turnout.
11:17 pm
>> because people were angry and decided to exercise their right to vote. >> that's the point. this is about voter mobilization. this is about playing to the identity politics of democrats who fear -- >> but isn't the opposite true as well? if that's true, isn't the opposite true, that if you're in a state where you want to discourage that same demographic from coming out, you try to raise the bar to what it takes to actually be able to vote? >> it could be, and it may be the motivation of some republicans. there is no evidence that it does that at all, and i think you want to make sure that the franchise is protected by making sure it is actually -- >> can i ask -- provocative idea coming out this week, andy young, civil rights leader, former ambassador to the united nations, had an idea of issuing social security cards with your picture on it. former president bill clinton thought it was a good idea. the president is taking it under advisement. is it a good idea? >> that will be the debate. you get your groceries delivered. amazon is going to bring drones some day and i think they will
11:18 pm
actually, but the idea is how do you then create a voting environment that's easier for people to use, the way they use other services. that will be really interesting is how you identify yourself in a digital sense and then get to vote and get to do all kinds of civic things and bring them together in an easy way. everyone is going to have these smartphones no matter their economic situation. >> i think it's a plot by life lock. if you're going to flash your social security everywhere, it's miracle-gro for identity theft. >> i want to hit one more point. a lot of talk about jeb bush and his comments this week about illegal immigrants actually committing a crime that is an act of love. a lot of focus on whether he is -- a, does he really want to do this, and, two, will he be eaten alive by the primary process. >> it's way too early figure out if he's running or not. it's a speculation machine in d.c. we're two years out of a campaign. he's -- >> it's called our lifeblood. >> a machine.
11:19 pm
the wider question -- i have proud of him regardless if he runs. i believe leadership has been replaced by marketing. we microtarget, micropander. that's focus group and figure out how to win this. we're tired of politicians who think it's right, make an argument, and then you figure it out. he's not a typical weather vane dand of guy. i think it's what the country is looking for. >> round table will be back. we'll hear from them later on. coming up next though, ahead of the one-year anniversary of the bombings that shook boston, a powerful discussion from the city with a special round table and an audience of first responders. >> all of us felt that this is an attack on us personally, an attack on our city, on a very special day. and for someone of that stature representing a team that is as loved in this city as the red
11:20 pm
sox are, to say this you think you take off all your make-up before bed. but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover.
11:21 pm
if it doesn't work fast... you're on to the next thing. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week.
11:22 pm
neutrogena®.
11:23 pm
the equal pay debate has become another sticking nount washington. what is behind the fight on both sides. it was just one of the topics discussed on "meet the press" express posted online as part of "meet the press" 24/7 to bring the conversation to you. you can find it on our website at meetthepressnbc.com. >> "meet the press" is brought to you by -- i procrastinated on...
11:24 pm
buying a car because i knew... it would be a scary process. truecar made it very easy... for me to negotiate, because i didn't really need to do any negotiating at all. save time, save money, and never overpay. visit truecar.com
11:25 pm
[ female announcer ] olay presents the new regenerist luminous collection. with skin energizing complex. renews surface cells to even skin tone. and reduce the appearance of dark spots. ♪ now see bright pearlescent healthy looking skin, in just two weeks. when your skin is luminous, so are you. new regenerist luminous. from olay. your best beautiful. xfinity watchathon week was the biggest week in television history. from olay. but just when you thought it was over... what now? with xfinity on demand you can always watch the latest episodes of tv's hottest shows. good news. like hannibal... chicago fire.... ...and bates motel. the day after they air. xfinity on demand. all the latest episodes. all included with your service. it's like hi-fiving your eyeballs. xfinity...the future of awesome.
11:26 pm
and we're back. boston strong. it is a phrase that sums up the strength and resilience of a city touched by tragedy. one year ago tuesday, two bombs exploded close to the finish line of the boston marathon killing three, injuring hundreds more. to get an understanding of how the city has changed, how its
11:27 pm
healed, i went to boston for a you a nek discussion with a special round table and an audience of first responders, some of whom were on the scene of the bombing on that horrible day. we are here in boston with boston harbor and the skyline of the city behind me to understand the impact of the attack on the city from people directly affected. joe andruzzi a patriots defensive lineman who was at the finish line, carried some of the injured from the scene. ed markey, democratic senator from the state of massachusetts. our good friend doris kearns goodwin is a long time bostonian, a resident here, and, of course, presidential historian. and ed davis is with us. he was the boston police commissioner at the time of the bombing. i'm also joined by an audience today that includes some terrific folks, first responders who did heroic work at the scene of the attacks as well as john tlumacki, a photographer who captured one of the most famous images of the day. thank you all for being here,
11:28 pm
thank you for your work, for your service that day and on all the days you provide your service, and we're going to talk about understanding one year later. before we do that though, i want to bring in our harry smith whos had this report on how boston is still trying to come to terms with the events of a year ago. >> reporter: you can tell a lot by the looks on people's faces. the wounds are not healed, not yet. at the boston public library, there's an exhibit of mementos from the miakeshift memorials that appeared after the marathon bombing last year. >> it's sad. of it brings back a lot of memories, a lot of, you know, fear, anxiety. >> the mood is respectful, even sacred. >> it takes a little while to absorb it, and i think you want to stand here with respect. >> reporter: up boston street at the forum restaurant, site of the second explosion, manager chris loper says the memories are still fresh. >> as you look up this street,
11:29 pm
that's where all the ambulances were coming from that day, so that's the one thing that sets you off a little bit, when the next time you see an ambulance and loud noises coming down that street, you certainly have flashbacks. >> reporter: the city was violated and on a day the locals regard with no small amount of pride. >> it hurt us. it hurt patriots day. >> reporter: the boston marathon is run on patriots day a civic holiday here that people say is the best day of the year in boston. if you're not at the marathon, then you're at the red sox game that starts at 11:00 in the morning. it's a party. it's spring, and it's a holiday unique to boston because of what happened here april 19th, 1775. it begins at the old north church, one if by land, two if by sea. paul revere's ride to warn the militias in lexington and concord that the british were on their way. a battle immortalized in
11:30 pm
emerson's poem. by the bridge that arched the flood, their flag to april's breeze unfurled, here once the embattled farmer stood and fired the shot heard round the world. it was the beginning of the revolutionary war that re-enactors perform every year with duty to history. here more than a year before the declaration of independence was signed, men were willing to sacrifice everything for an idea, an ideal that would become the united states. as emerson said, a spirit that made those heroes dare to die and leave their children free. we free children are obliged to better remember those days. the marathon attack wasn't just meant for boston. it was aimed at all of us, at who we are, and how we live. so when the race is run this year and the game is played, let's not forget what happened last spring, nor what happened here in 1775.
11:31 pm
for "meet the press," harry smith. >> harry, thank you so much. doris kearns goodwin, we talk about patriots day and we're about to have it again and experience this event again one year later. for all the talk of resilience, there are a lot of wounds that don't heal, especially when you have to go back and relive them. >> yeah. there's something, i'm sure, people are going to feel with the flashbacks, as was said, and yet i think going back to remember what it was like then and what it's like now, it's a really important thing. you have to learn from history, and there was resilience that took place during this period of time. the hardest thing i think about that day was they struck us at what is so special a holiday in boston. other holidays, mergemorial day july 4th, we run around and get scattered. everybody goes to that sacred place. whether you go to the red sox game. we go to the minute men and then to the red sox game. it's a special moment to have
11:32 pm
that violated and yet somehow we came together as a city in part because of all these people who are here in the end. >> right. senator? >> doris is right. patriots day celebrates our liberty, our freedom. it is what the terrorists hate about us. it is the sense that everyone is equal. it is a sense that every religion is equal in the treatment which we give to it, and so this was a special place, a special day, and they knew that. it's the equivalent of for us kind of our most sacred day and there's a million people who come together on that day to watch the marathon. it is our common day of celebration, and they knew what they were doing. they knew exactly the impact that it would have upon us. and, in fact, they evoked just the opposite response. they had people standing up and responding and sacrificing and the resilience is ultimately what people are going to remember about that day. >> and among those responders, the guy sitting to your right, this little fellow here, joe
11:33 pm
andruzzi, formerly with the patriots. joe andruzzi, thank you for being here. it's great to meet you. i have this photograph which i'll hold up and we'll show our viewers at home, but i wanted to hold it up and show it to you. you caring somebody who had been injured from the scene. tell me what's happening here. >> we were at forum restaurant, my wife and i. we run the joe andruzzi foundation. we had our watch party at the forum, and we were at the finish line at that moment and were making our way back to forum after helping some people on boylston street to turn around. now making it back, and my wife, jen, pointing out now i know the daughter is in the picture were trying to carry the mom on their back snp. >> did you hear the explosion? >> yes. i was right at the finish line near the first explosion and found out an hour later the
11:34 pm
second one was at forum. my wife pointed out three girls trying to carry a woman on their back. i ran over and said let me help you. i picked her up and walked her down the block to an ambulance and tried to calm then down waiting for somebody to come over and help them out, and turned around and made my way back to forum. >> joe tlumacki is here with us, today, "boston globe" photographer. and, joe, i think everybody has seen this image that you took in the immediate aftermath. you'd gone there as part of the pool, you know, as you had done in years past to capture people coming across the finish line. you're looking as any good photographer does, you're looking through the lens. tell me what you saw. >> well, you know, first of all, it's an -- >> i called you joe. excuse me, john. sorry. >> it's an honor to be a photographer at the finish line, you know, and it's probably my fifth year in that location right at the finish line, and i was standing there, and some of
11:35 pm
the better photos made during the marathon are ordinary people, not the elite runners. they're people who are struggling to get across the finish line, some fall, some are dressed in costumes. and that picture was taken probably seconds when first bomb went off 45 feet from me at the sidewalk. i instinctively just ran forward. i saw that runner, bill, fall to the ground, and i had the camera to my face. i felt the jolt from the explosion, and i just kept running, and the three police officers, one of them with her gun drawn, were running towards the officer -- i mean towards the runner. i think it was this confusion we had from talking to them also that we didn't know at first whether it was a cannon salute, a manhole cover exploded, but in that brief second, i think that photo shows the response that boston had. i mean, these police officers reacted without flinching to that moment. >> what else did you see? how horrible was it?
11:36 pm
the immediate scene had to be surreal to you. >> it was very difficult. it was like the saddest day of my life to have to go to the fence after that photo was taken to see what i saw. it was horrific. people were smoldering. you know, it was just a heap of people who were severely injured, and the thing that amazed me about it when the smoke cleared is that everybody was being helped, whether it was the ems, boston police, or firefighters were already there. and i just couldn't believe that response was that instantaneous. >> ed davis, when you look at john's photograph, you see the images, the face of your officers at the time and what do you think about a year later as you look at that photograph? >> well, i think that john has captured the essence of what it is to be a police officer. you can see in their eyes and in their actions that they are jumping into the fray, that they
11:37 pm
are about to respond to something that nobody expected, and it really is a moving picture that's become iconic for police everywhere. but, you know, you look in this audience and you see the firefighters and the emts, in 18 minutes that scene was cleared, all the victims were removed from the scene, and no one that was transported died. so whether it was the police or the other first responders who are represented here, it really is a remarkable tribute to the work they do. >> mike bossy, your superintendent for boston ems, talk about how this experience changed the city. >> like many others, i was born and raised here. i started going to the marathon as a small kid with my dad. it was a big event for him, and then to go later in life as a college student and party, and then go as a professional in my capacity and to be there that
11:38 pm
day was -- it was an honor to be able to serve the city like that. >> at a time of such need. >> absolutely. i take the events of that day very personal. this was an attack on my city, and i'll never forget it. >> is it hard to think about it one year later, to go through it again? >> i think we're all ready. i think we need to be there this year to return to some form of normal normalcy, and i think we'll do okay. >> it's interesting, doris, former u.s. poet laureate robert pinsky wrote last year, boston will endure, the marathon will endure, we will celebrate again as we remember, but to some distint degree yet to be known the security of the normal will be for many of us diminished. you can't experience this without some sense that you're more vulnerable than you were
11:39 pm
before. >> this is true. it's happening now, too. i'm sure everybody that goes this year will have a different feeling about being there, looking around. they can't carry bags like they did before. there's going to be double the police. all of which is a symbol of what happened last year, but they're coming, and there are going to be more spectators and it's going to happen again. >> we haven't talked about something crucially important to recovery. are there any red sox fans here in our group? tell me your name and talk about the importance of the red sox as a team what they did to help this city heal. >> my name is ken scarna, and i think we take a look at patriots day and from the very beginning, 11:00 in the morning, until the end of the race, it's just all about boston. crowds, it's a big family thing, and we take our responsibility very seriously, and i think when we had that insult to our city and someone like david ortiz gets up there and says for everyone to hear, this is our -- >> blank city. >> yeah, it resonates with all
11:40 pm
of us because all of us felt that way, all of us felt this is an attack on us personally, an attack on our city, on a very special day, and for someone of that stature representing a team that is as loved in this city as boston, as the red sox are, to say this is our city and we're taking it back was very important. i think it was very pivotal in the healing. >> i do believe sports is part of the healing process, and i have three brothers that are new york city firemen and they were down there during 9/11. one was running out of tower one when it was falling behind him, and it does become part of that healing process because when they came up, they came up and they honored. they were invited up for what they represented, not about the name on their back or they weren't there for me. they represented everyone that perished that day and all the first responders that were still out there and truly bringing the community together because we all are part of a community, and to be out there and for those
11:41 pm
three, four hours, whether it's baseball, basketball, football, whatever it is, it kind of gets your mind off of it a little bit and it's a healing process because time does heal wounds. >> as you look back a year later, what lessons did you take away from the immediate response, the manhunt, ultimately the apprehension of these two figures? >> well, the importance of preparation. they could not have picked a worse city to do this in for their goals. we had prepared for it. we had planned. and we were able to improvise on that plan as well. so there were a lot of heroes out there that day from the police, the fire, but also from the community. >> the decision to effectively shut the city down as you were zeroing in on these suspects had to be stressful, not just because of the issue at hand, but how long could you have kept that going. >> we briefed the governor and the mayor, gave them our best opinion, told them exactly what was happening at the time, and a lot of things that have happened
11:42 pm
have not played out publicly, but there was a real possibility that a cell had gone active, that it was a wider conspiracy. so the governor's focus was on saving lives and i think he made the right decision. >> senator, your look back at that. were mistakes made? were there lessons to be learned from the days that followed? >> i think there are, and, you know, we were prepared. we were boston strong because we were boston ready. the city was ready, and the commissioner had a lot to do with that, the people who are here. it was a lot of cooperation at the local level, and then we needed the bravery of people to respond on that day and they did, and the resilience of people afterwards, but right now we're looking back out at the city of boston, but we're here at logan airport, and this is where mohamed atta and the other nine hijacked the two planes on 9/11. this is where it began. and there were 150 people on those planes from boston, and
11:43 pm
the lessons of 9/11 were remembered here, and they were implemented and the equipment was put in place and the training was put in place and the coordination was put in place, and we saw that from the police, the fire, from the emergency medical technicians, the medical community, and from individual citizens like joe. >> but do we have some follow-up, to stick with you, we have heard from mike mccaul, house hopeland security chairman, who said this past week we found that several flags and warnings were missed. this is particularly about tamerlan tsarnaev who is here, becomes radicalized at some point, and then travels overseas back to russia and then comes back. >> this is the report which was issued yesterday, the unclassified report from the four inspectors general of the intelligence agencies, and it is clear that there were red flags that should have been raised, that tsarnaev was, in fact,
11:44 pm
oriented towards jihadism, that there were other clues that were out there that should have been followed up, that the information was not shared as widely and as readily as it should have been amongst the intelligence agencies right down to the local level where perhaps the local police, the local officials could have acted upon it. so we have to make sure this -- another report like this that is issued. >> as we think about the tsarnaev brothers and the one brother who now faces trial, i want to get a few thoughts sue schiller? >> i think the points the panelists have made are excellent. the fluid interagency sharing of information is critical for all agencies to have what they need to do their specific jobs expertly. what i personally find very encouraging is something that
11:45 pm
j.c. cooper -- j.c.ramo said, which is we are a free and open society and that is something we want, something we want to keep, and with that comes the understanding that people are going to try and do us harm. we can't stop that. what we need to do is immunize ourselves so that when our system sees it, we can react appropriately and engage effectively. >> i think for me, i think much as deputy schiller mentioned, we are used to the fact that in the post-9/11 era, that terrorism, homegrown or otherwise, is a fact of our lives. but what outrages me the most is the apologists for folks who perpetrate this. we have a free society. it comes with its baggage, with its price, and i'm willing to accept that and defend our rights, our liberties. what i take exception to is people who reap the benefit of our liberties and then will make
11:46 pm
excuses for individuals who are trying to take those liberties away from us. okay? i'm sorry if there was something in his childhood that made him turn to jihadism and he took his brother along for the ride. i'm sorry for that. however, let's keep in mind people lost their lives. he damaged our city. there are people whose lives have been irreparably damaged, countless levels, and we need to stop apologizing for his behavior and have him take -- make him take responsibility for his actions and we have to take responsibility for making ourselves stronger against that. >> i mean, i guess what i'd like to understand and ask to use another writer is hemingway said everyone is broken by life, but afterwards many are stronger in the broken places. this city was broken for a while. new york was broken. oklahoma city was broken. our country has been broken by wars, and yet we have emerged stronger from each one of these.
11:47 pm
>> john tlumacki, again, reflecting on your image that you took, that's the kind of image that stands the test of time, marking a moment in history. what's it going to represent to you and do you think to people who see it in years to come. >> i think it's going to be the reminder of what happened in that terrible marathon. hopefully this year i'll be able to replace that image with something more joyful. survivors crossing the finish line with their family. i'm going to be there, i'm going to be standing on the finish line doing my job, and i want to replace that image. i don't want people to keep coming back and thinking that's the way it was. i want people to come and look -- go online, look at the "boston globe" and say what a beautiful picture. >> well said. we're going to leave it there. thank you very much. thank all of you for being here and thank you all on the panel as well. >> thank you. >> boston strong for sure. we're coming back here.
11:48 pm
i'll be joined by our special guest, documentary maker ken burns has come around to discuss how one of the most powerful speeches in american history, president lincoln's gettysburg speeches in american history, president lincoln's gettysburg address still inspires really? so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month?ory, president lincoln's gettysburg address still inspires yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close! new at&t mobile share value plans our best value plans ever for business.
11:49 pm
 [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending.
11:50 pm
only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. xfinity watchathon week was the biggest week in television history. but just when you thought it was over... what now? with xfinity on demand you can always watch the latest episodes of tv's hottest shows. good news. like hannibal... chicago fire.... ...and bates motel. the day after they air.
11:51 pm
xfinity on demand. all the latest episodes. all included with your service. it's like hi-fiving your eyeballs. xfinity...the future of awesome. time now for cnbc's executive edge week ahead brought to you by comcast business, built for business. >> i'm andrew with your week ahead. we have a short week with good friday coming up, but earnings season kicking off into high gear. big names will be out, citigroup, coca-cola and ibm. google glass goes on sale on tuesday to the public for first time. the price tag, $1,500. also on tuesday if you haven't filed your taxes, midnight is the deadline. that's your cnbc executive edge. get the latest business you think you take off all your make-up before bed. but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup
11:52 pm
with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. it would be a scary process... can your makeup remover do that? truecar made it very easy... for me to negotiate, because i didn't really need to do any negotiating at all. save time, save money, and never overpay. visit truecar.com
11:53 pm
[ female announcer ] neutrogena® pore refining cleanser. alpha-hydroxy and exfoliating beads work to clean and tighten pores so they can look half their size. pores...shrink 'em down to size! [ female announcer ] pore refining cleanser. neutrogena®.
11:54 pm
here now, some of this week's images to remember. ♪ this week's images to remember, and a look at the amazing cherry blossoms in
11:55 pm
washington. kara, wasn't that a beautiful picture? >> that was a beautiful picture. >> do you know who took that? i did. on my iphone. >> i'm glad you figured that out finally. >> just to impress you. tuesday marks 149th anniversary of president lincoln's assassination at the ford theater here in washington. ken burns has come. he's made a new documentary of the impact of the gettysburg address. always great to have you here. >> thanks. >> this was -- you live up near a school where the gettysburg address was playing a buying role. >> it's called the greenwood school in putney, vermont. i was asked ten years ago to be a judge. the boys there, only boys, 50 of them, have dyslexia, adha, a alphabet soup of learning differences, they're asked to memorize and then publicly recite in front of a few hundred people lincoln's gettysburg address. we embedded ourselves for three
11:56 pm
months a year or so ago and watched them learn it. the trials and trib bations, the fights, the disagreements, the helping each other and it begins to remind you that in this republic of ours words matter and they endure. this is in my opinion the greatest speech ever made in the american english language by a president who is doubling down on the declaration. he was creating a declaration 2.0. first one said all men are created equal, but the guy who wrote that owned 100 human buildings. four score and seven years later he's coming back to the site of the greatest battle and saying we believe we can the birth of a new freedom. we listen to not new speeches from politicians, we listen to something that has nothing to do with 9/11, we listen to the gettysburg address. these kids take on something we don't do in our school anymore which is memorization and putting it on their hard drive
11:57 pm
permanently and you can see them escape the gravity of their disabilities, their differences and get to this new place. >> it's so striking. we were talking about this, that for someone with some learning difficulties, this is how an old speech can live anew because the brilliance was its brevity to use it to overcome some difficulty. >> and you know, i had the really great privilege of reading and reciting the gettysburg address with three sets of high school students in my district, and i was inspired when i heard ken burns take this challenge on. we uploaded it onto the website. the young people really enjoyed it, the teachers taught to it and it's been a great lesson. >> i feel sorry for edward everett who is supposed to be the star, went for two hours -- >> a little bit short of two hours but he wrote the president graciously jaferdsward and said i wish i could flatter myself to think i came as close to the central meat of the thing in two hours as did you in two minutes
11:58 pm
but it's a very difficult two minutes. he places the word here throughout it all the time. dedicated here that we're here dedicated, those who died here. it's tough for any of us to internalize. as we watched these boys do it, we said if they can do it all of us ought to be able to do if and if you go to learn the address.org you will see all the living presidents reciting it, david gregory, and many people in our media culture, bill o'reilly and also rachel maddow. nancy pelosi and marco rubio. lincoln is a great place to start to have a civil discourse. >> you have to remember the context. >> this was four months after a battle that was the most blood soaked military experience the country had had. >> ever, yeah. and it's still the greatest battle ever fought on american style. 56,000 casualties, 185,000 soldiers involved. he comes to the now quiet battlefield to add a few appropriate remarks after edward everett's speech and nails it home and this is the operating system that still is our
11:59 pm
operating system. >> what's interesting is how short it was but think about it in today's age of sound bites. people would have taken off heres if it didn't fit on twitter. >> the real anxiety i have is what if somebody gave a gettysburg address today, maybe c span might have it. certainly we wouldn't be able to pick it up in the speed and rapidity in our news cycles -- >> maybe he understood before any of us the digital age. >> but nobody -- >> too wordy. >> i have a feeling that lincoln would be able to cut through. >> yeah. >> and i think his brevity -- >> but you don't think somebody -- >> even on twitter. >> you don't think would say the president came to gettysburg to distract attention from his disastrous military campaign out west. >> i will leave it there. it's called the address and airs tuesday 9:00 p.m. on pbs. thank you for coming around. that is all for our discussion. thanks for the round table. we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."
12:00 am
> coming up -- [ bleep ] >> behind the lens and in extreme danger. at war. at work. >> just getting the pictures was all that was going through my head. >> at play. lives on the line. unforgettable images. >> somebody was trying to kill the president. >> bullets. [ bleep ] >> down! >> didn't know whether to stay down or get up and run. >> buried alive.