the year of action or at least the year of a busy schedule. it's april 16th and this is "now." congress may be on a two-week break but there has been no rest for the white house and the man who lives there. in fact, if the last week is any indication of what the president's year of action will be like, his calendar is going to be really quite busy in 2014. after signing two executive actions on pay equity in washington last tuesday and consoling the nation with the loss of three soldiers at ft. hood the following day, the president before heading back to the white house where on friday

the focus was on the 7.5 million affordable care act enrollees and the transition in the leadership for health and human services. and then on call for the voting national action network. and with the situation with the ukraine escalating, the president got back on the line with vladimir putin for a, quote, frank and direct communication for activities. and yesterday, he kem rated boston marathon bombings. and the president is about to announce two new executive actions on job training initiatives. joining me now is "time" editor-at-large and political editor mark halperin and

huffington post, and katty kay. >> the president is running late. so we're going to tap dance for as long as we need to, mark. executive action, this is promised to be the year of action but it could just be the year of executive actions. peter baker had a fairly moderate expectation of what it was. wrote day in and day out the president with the grand asp asp priorations finds himself signing orders and memos that barely move the needle. >> do you think he does that. ? >> eye jobs, education, early childhood development, he's done a lot of big things but of the remaining big things, those are the ones. along with the implementation of obamacare, i just don't think he can do those other things without congress on board. how he gets that done, given the

midterms, i think is a challenge. i think really they're doing the best they can because of their dynamics with washington and the republicans in the house. but i don't think he's achieving much. and i don't think he's on track to achieve much. >> katty, it was notable amit all of this the white house issued a statement on immigration urging to take action. there is some sliver of sunlight that occasionally passes through the doorway in washington. and suggests that perhaps republicans can be convinced that they must take action. and can take action, before the midterms. do you see any optimism there? >> you know, we've been -- of all the issues that the president might have been able to do. the big issues he might have been able to address, that we've been talking about for the last few months, immigration is always the one that rears its head again. because all of the numbers suggest this is in the republican party's interest. and because there are so many republicans who realize that

it's in their party's interest, they keep revisiting this. every time we think there is hope that this could get done, then those hopes get squashed again. you talk about a year of action. it's so interesting. the conversation, the things that mark was just saying. the things that you outline just now, alex, we could have had this conversation the morning after the state of the union address. we knew when the president said it was going to be a year of action whatever congress did, he was going to do it alone because that was the only way he could get things done. we knew it was go to be hard. if not impossible for him to do big things. and all of that has proven true. the only thing, really, that's changed is the website for obamacare turned out better than many of us expected that it would. and he got more enrollees than we thought he would. >> sam, i do want to follow on that point about the aca. there is increasingly good news about the enrollments here. not just the 7.5 million number. but the new republic has a chart

that we can show everyone at home, based on data from gallup that shows the unemployed rate is falling three times faster in states that embraced obamacare. and insurers are considering expanding their take in the obamacare exchanges. south dakota, idaho, michigan. they're expected to have more companies on their exchanges. this is all really good news for america in the long term. and you could argue, what the president is doing in this year of action, is actually setting the table for the democratic agenda over the next two, hofou six years. >> i would say that the likely thing that president obama would have to do in the next years in office is essentially prevent the dismantling of the affordable care act. he will show he won't delay the

mandate. he's made unilateral changes to the employer mandate. and managing the affordable care and the funding of affordable care. and it will ensure the law's fab break in the affordable care act. you're going to have millions and millions of enrollees that it the prospect of appealing the law will become untenable. i will add one more thing with what the president can do in the next two years, it has nothing do with the legislative branch. it has to do with the judicial branch. when they said they could make appointments to district courts much more quickly, the president basically cemented that part of his legacy in a much more faster manner. there's more people who want to appoint more judges and confirm them more quickly. but he reek niced that a lot of the legislative agenda is going to be determined in the courts and he moved quickly to adjust of the second-term agenda. >> and, sam, that's where all

the action is happening, in the judicial branch. the question, and to that end, the president has minced no words about needinging to increase democratic turnout ahead of the 2014 midterms. and the senate is the thing that hangs in the balance. the senate, of course, could block supreme court nominations if it opens up before the end of this presidency. i'm sure that's something that the president is acutely aware of. >> absolutely i think that's why there's a mad rush at this juncture to confirm as many people before the elections because the risk blocking everything else. >> mark. the other thing that's happening on all these stops across the country are fund-raisers. and we did numbers crunching -- we didn't do the number crunching, we asked mark muller to do that. the president has been 373 fund-raisers. that's from the first term to

now. he's done 52 in the second term alone. at this point, george w. bush had done 200. to say that the president, if he has a utility, a very concrete utility for democrats right now, making cash would be seem to be very, very top on the list of priorities. and it's something that the president seems to actually have no problem doing. >> well, he's happy to raise money and he's happy to do targeted coalitions to the senate, they need to do -- hispanic -- >> you just said that so fast. >> it's on auto dial. it would not just be bad for losing control of the senate. but the symbolism of to the failure to hold the law of the land. but the third thing he can do is a national message. sometimes, the gnash press

dismisses him. in pittsburgh, he'll get a lot of attention. but naturally, the president has to define what is the balance of his presidency about. and the word that he seized on in terms of being a fighter, particularly for the middle dallas but fighter, you watch these events. he's professorial, he's philosophical. he's funny. i think the thing that's missing from the success of a politician is the notion that he's fighting for something. that should be put back in there. >> i would take issue with that only so far as on friday at the national action network he was talking about voter suppression laws. that is a priority i think for democrats on whole. he was fired up, animated and indignant about what republicans are trying to do. >> i totally agree with you. i say that he's never like that in any event. the question in my mind, to talk about the group of voters, what is he fighting for?

what can he do to change your life? he believes in a lot of stuff. he believes in immigration reform. a lot of people feel passionate about that. day in and day out, from now until november, to me, is he fighting to change voting rights laws? >> well -- that's a very good question. i think he's encouraging minority voters to go vote in the 2014 midterms. katty, i don't know, i feel like the democratic platform, though, maybe this is because in comparison to the republican platform which is basically nowhere in terms of policy, is as defined as i can recall it being in quite a few years. i mean, you have the president doing the pay equity issue. we have been talking about the minimum wage issue. i mean, even to some degree, he'll float out tax reform. and earned income tax credits and extending that to childless workers. i think that there are -- as i said before, i think he's set the table in a way for democrats. a message of economic fairness

that is pretty explicit. >> the things you must jenninmed there, alex are all to do with wages and jobs and family income. picking up with mark just said, with the president, the one thing that they say really motivates him and he really gets an nimated about and wants to fight for is the fate of working americans. middle class americans. a couple work two jobs each, with young kids that they want to try to put through college. that's my understanding, speaking with people in the same room with him, this is what this president wants to fight for. and to some extent, you know, his presidency, over the last six months or so has been taken up with issues that have distracted him from the jobs message. and the white house wants to be able to do what it is doing today. going out to communities in

places like pittsburgh, and showing that this president is fighting for jobs and to get the economy trickling down so that ordinary american families are feeling it. the more they can do that. the less they can concentrate on issues that he gets derailed by the disastrous websites, the affordable care act. ukraine, another example, the happier this white house is. >> speaking of ukraine, mark. the thing that we don't talk about, and the unknown -- the known unknown, the known unknown is president obama who is starting to speak at a pennsylvania community college about new investments in federal job training programs. let us take a listen to what the president has to say. >> -- are being used here to train folks in megatronics. now, i have to say, before i came here, i didn't know there was such a thing as megatronics. sounds like something that godzilla would be fighting. turns out it has to do with engineering. how stuff works.

and we saw first hand everything that you're doing to train more workers for new jobs and better jobs. jobs companies need to keep going. and what we want to do is we want to replicate your model across the country. you're doing something right that is making a difference in people's lives. and we want to spread the word. so that's why we're here today. in allegheny county. because i'm taking some new action to expand this kind of job-driven training to all 50 states. and joe talked a little bit about why we have to do this. because in today's economy, it's never been more important to make sure that our folks are trained for the jobs that are there. and for the jobs of the future. now, we spent the past 5 1/2

years fighting back from the worst economic crisis if our lifetimes. the good news is, our economy's growing again. our business is creating jobs. we created nearly 9 million jobs over the past four years. we've cut our deficits by more than half. our manufacturing sector that used to be losing jobs, just hemorrhaging jobs is now adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. first time since the 1990s. high school dropout rates are going down. college attendance rates and graduation rates are going up. our troops are coming home. [ cheers and applause ] we're seeing an energy boom all across the country. and more than 7.5 million people have been able to sign up for health care, many for the very first time through the affordable care act.

7.5 million people, by the way, is about the number that it would take to fill up hines field 115 times. so, so there are a lot of good trends that are taking place. and a lot of it has to do with the great work that our outstanding vice president is doing. it has to do with the great work that folks like mike and bob and rich are doing. and your outstanding mayor in pittsburgh. and all he's doing to help transport the economy there. but here's the challenge, and a lot of folks here know it. a lot of people don't feel that progress in their own lives yet. so, the stock market's doing great. corporate profits are soaring. folks at the very, very top are doing better than ever. but too many americans, if they're lucky enough to have a

job are working harder and harder, just to get by. much less to get ahead. for too many middle class americans, it feels as if the same trends that have been going on for decades are continuing. all right. you're working hard, but wages flatline. incomes flatline, cost of everything else going up. so we've got to reverse those trends. we've got to make sure that we have an economy that's not just growing from the top down because it doesn't really grow when it's just from the top down. we've got to have an economy where it grows from the middle class up. and from the bottom up. and edge has a chance. that's the idea of america. if you work hard, you can get ahead. that's the promise of the heart of this country. if you're responsible, you're willing to put in some sweat, you can get ahead. you may not be fabulously

wealthy, but you can support a family. you can buy a home. make sure your kids are doing good. go to college. have something left over for retirement. have health care you can count on. maybe take a vacation once in a while. just the basics, and knowing that you're part of a community that is growing for everybody, not just some. >> that was president obama speaking at the community college of allegheny county in pennsylvania. announces new investments in federal job training programs. vice president joe biden hit the road with the president and spoke alongside him. wearing -- i don't think he was wearing the ray-ban sunglasses but he had his cool joe persona. >> and short sleeves. >> nobody does short sleeves like joe biden. >> we were starting to talk about this presidency and putting it in context. that speech is a speech we've heard in various forms a lot in

the last few months. one of the areas that the president has not been nearly as explicit about. or on is the subject of foreign policy and sort of the obama doctrine if such a thing can even exist anymore. indeed, as we talk about what this president's legacy is, it is worth noting that in march, in "time," a publication, it was the first month without u.s. fatalities in iraq or afghanistan in 11 years. president has a lot on his plate in terms of ukraine, in terms of syria, in terms of iran. but on that promise he made to the american public how many years ago, he has in some ways delivered. we are winding down the wars. what happens after he leaves is anybody's guess but that promise has been fulfilled. >> the president knew that when he made that promise. i think the american people knew that. there are tradeoffs to reducing the foot track around the world,

obviously, iraq and afghanistan. and there's tradeoffs having not doing more in syria. there's tradeoffs to not doing more now to try to deter russia, at least, beyond economic sanctions. and jay carney talked today about more sanctions has about in the air for last few days. i think traditional, presidents are often easier to turn to foreign policy in their second term. because it's easier to act in a unilateral way. that requires a more peaceful world. unfortunately, most of the things out there, the tradeoff going to hurt the u.s. economy obviously with russia is going to be economic impact on russia but also on europe and the united states, if he goes forward. just to pick up real quick about points about his engagement with politician. he's not trying to former a super pac or use an existing super pac to raise money. ask anyone in congress, do you think the president has his heart and soul in trying get the

house back to the democrats or keep the senate? they'd all say no. they may be wrong. that's the consensus view. right now, foreign policy, as hard as it is, president has got more allies, in some ways overseas -- >> with his own party. >> with elites. with his own party, he's got an approval rating of over 40%. he just needs to find a way to get him to 50%. maybe even above 50%. not impossible but he's got to find issues that r s thas that just in polls. >> this president in particular seems to be very reluctant to act unilaterally, actually, in terms of foreign policy. in fact, if people offer criticisms of his foreign policy it is that he does not act more unilaterally and is not more decisive. given where we are with russia

which i think is light years away from where this president thought he would be with vladimir putin or the russian government in his second term. if you were the president or advising him, of the three issues of which the russians are key players, obviously, uk, syria or iran, which do you think is more important for his presidency? >> i think iran in the long run is probably the most important thing for his presidency. i take mark's point about the european economy and needing to get exports to europe. if there's big action there could be retaliation and that could help sink any prospect of european recovery and exports to europe. but iran is the thorny issue that's dogged this president right throughout his presidency. and if we lose russia, we will lose russia on iran as well and that could be a big problem. >> mark halperin and katty kay, thank you for hanging with me. after the break, the

new york city police department announces it will disband its muslim unit. ozzie pabarar weighs in. this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines"

carsthey're why we innovate. they're who we protect. they're why we make life less complicated. it's about people.

we are volvo of sweden. last week, "the new york times" reported on a highly anticipated draft memo regarding racial profiling practices at the u.s. department of justice. will there be changes? not a lot. well, the new rules would expand the definition of profiling to include emergency, gender and sexual orientation, they would also allow the fbi to continue many of the controversial strategies opposed by the civil rights community. strategies including the mapping of ethnic population. ethnic populations. and then using that data to recruit informants and open investigations. if the d.o.j. isn't exactly making huge strides, at least one police department, in the

biggest city in the country, is leaving those tactics behind. yesterday, the new york city police department announced that it has closed a once secret unit that for more than a decade dispatched undercover agents to spy on muslim neighborhoods throughout the city. according to 2011 investigative reporting big the ap, reporting that incidentally went ton win a pulitzer prize, the department coordinated with the cia and used informants known as morph crawlers to monitor the sermons. it follows where muslims ate, prayed and shopped based on solely on their religion and ethnicity. according to the program in court that program, the mosque followers, the program, every generated a single lead but you'd never know that listening to congressman peter king. >> reality is, the trick is going to come from the muslim

community. 99% of whatever you want to use, muslims are good americans. the fact is the threat comes from the muslim community and good detective work knows who is in that community. >> in case peter king is is not paying attention, muslim communities the same community that the nypd has been spying on helped prevent 2 out of 5 al qaeda plots in 2011. the most significant threats to city's state in the last decade he was a muslim street vendor names ali wahasi. joins please for capital reporter, ozzy pabarar.

for people listening to the likes of peter king, it's surprising that we would be dismantling this program. given generally where we are, in terms of muslim communities and suspicions that americans quote/unquote, harbor about them. >> right. in new york city, there's been only one mayor, one police commissioner and one chairman of the safety committee since 1992, when new york was forced to take a leading role in how local law enforcement deals with terrorism. after mayor bloomberg, ray kelly, you have a new administration that very early on said we're going to have a clean break from the bloomberg administration. and that was led by bill deblass

yo de blasio. he spoke to ray kelly. he believed what the nypd was doing was legal. by october, after the democratic primary, he said new information has come out and he was concerned about it and felt the nypd was overstepping their bounds. >> so de blasio may have changed his position. nonetheless, the policy, the investigative units, as it were, has been shut down. that is effectively putting one's money where one's mouth is. it also has prompted a larger description of where how efficient the programs are. given the fbi is keeping a larger version of that in practice, the fact that new york city is abandoning this practice, people say, well, how good was it in catching terrorists. and statistics on the nypd's record on thwarting terrorist plots. they say they have helped thwart 14 plots since fledge.

and only 2 of 3 plots and one of which the nypd did not help stop. four are caseses who credibility or seriousness were later questioned. four were cases in which an idea for a plot was abandoned and not actually pursued. if you ask anybody in new york city, there's an impression they've done a stellar job at keeping the city safe. but you point out in your article in the daily beast, you quote michael powell as noting new york city is progressive as long as everything is functioning. i think the reverse is true, too. if it's not functioning then we tend to abandon that. >> and michael powell, a very different discussion but the same discussion a plies. in new york city, as long as things are going well, bille de blasio got that lesson with the snowstorms. he got elected on that idea, but if the streets aren't plowed, you could have a lot of trouble.

soap when it comes to public safety, no other city deals with that as regularly as new york city does. it was here that they saw what happened on september 11th. it's here that they get repeatedly bombarded with the threat whatever happens around the country there's some remnant of that sentiment in new york city. nypd made an effort to map new york city and their communities to take a temperature of what was happening on the street and what goldman at the ap reporting out in their books and the stories even having that penetration, it wasn't producing the kind of results or the trip wires that would alert the federal authorities to the exact kind of warning they're supposed to. >> then there's the sort of parallel effect which is chilling relations between the muslim community and law enforcement. and i wonder from your assessment, how deleterious are these policies? how much work is there to be done in terms of building bridges to the muslim community in new york city?

>> there seems to be a lot. having bill bratton -- >> as police collision mmission. >> as police commissioner. remember, in 2007, he tried to have a muslim mapping program. but when he nationed opposition to that, he withdrew the plan in 16 days. he had a meeting with advocates. he told them we will not do anything to the community. we will only do things with the community. that was 2007. you bring him back to new york city. some people remember him from days of broken windows with rudy giuliani. now, the muslim advocates who are complaining about the mapping program under ray kelly, a lot of them are also very skeptical about the broken windows theory. the enforcement of quality of life crimes that disproportionately affect hispanics, and when it comes to surveillan

surveillance, this dismantling of the unit seems to be exactly what they wanted. there's questions about what happened to those doubts are they still pursuing nonspecified lead it's and things of that nature. there's still some cautious optimism. >> as a new york city resident, i'm glad we've put an end to something literally called 9 muslim mapping operation. that in itself -- azi, thank you. >> thank you. after the break, some republicans aren't exactly standing with rand when it comes to foreign policy or other stuff. is rand paul reagan enough to be the gop's man. new york magazine's john tate joins me now.

hey kevin...still eating chalk for hearburn? yea. try alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief!

all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. he said it would be a disaster, to the extent, a civil war without no exit strategy. he goes on and on for five minutes. and that's why the first push didn't go into baghdad.

dick cheney makes hundreds of millions of dollars as a ceo, next thing you know he comes back and says it's a good idea to go into iraq. >> dick cheney's conspiracy theory. kentucky's rand paul on the cusp of announcing his 2016 bid. on the cusp of a 2016 rand paul presidential bid. if republicans with rand paul was ramping up with that video, the war has begun. what can be considered the opening salvo came monday on "the wall street journal's" editorial pages blasting paul's blasting the moon, the cheney/iraq triangulation lashed out. rand paul, persona non grata. and while paul has previously drawn derision from everything

from plagiarism to his former aides confederate presidenter elections, and from paul opposing irans getting nukes at any cost. >> they said is containment will never, ever be our policy. we woke up and pakistan had nuclear weapons. if that was our policy with pakistan, we would be at war with pakistan. we woke up one day and china had nuclear weapons. we woke up one day and russia had them. but people who say, by golly, we will never stand for that, they will vote for war. >> with those comments at a local pizza place in new hampshire, the. william's jennifer reuben let flight with the ultimate results, quote, it definitively de-reaganizes him.

jonathan, is it all over for him? >> you've lost your reagan and you can never get it back. >> exactly. really, ouch of these containment, noncontainment comments hurt rand paul, in the long run with his own party? >> well, those are two very different comments you cite. the first comment is completely bonkers in my opinion. >> you're talking about the dick cheney conspiracy? >> halliburton conspiracy. what he didn't say that dick cheney divested himself of hala butter dan. that's just not the reason why he became so strange crazy dr. strangeglove in office. he kind of freaked out after 9/11. he was a conservative guy to begin with, but halliburton wasn't it. the second set of comments i actually think he said something that made a lot of sense, of course, making sense is also

controversial when you're running for republican nomination. >> let's talk about the halliburton/cheney/iraq triangulation. you've written about this. you point out in 2009, alex jones asked rand paul how similar his policies were to his father's, and he said, i'd say we'd be very, very similar. fast forward to the present day, rand paul has an op-ed in "the washington post" where he at one point says real foreign policy is made in the middle with nuance in the gray area of diplomacy. that is not something that i think you would hear rand paul ever say? >> no, no, he doesn't talk about the middle very often, does he? >> no. >> you know, the thing that's really so terrible about that line, not only that he's going -- alex jones, but alex jones is completely bonkers, but that he was telling alex jones his whole plan.

he's mrabasically saying i agre with my father but more moderate. he's laying out the subterfuge before he engages in it. >> and one asks to what degree is the fact that a lot of this right wing, rubenesque, outcry, de-reaganization, the flux and confusion that's happening on that area, and specifically is not uncommon for a party out of power. but i would argue that the republicans are out of sync with so many issues that you would think foreign policy would be one issue where they would agree? >> well, i think it's harder for them to couple together on foreign policy than domestic policy. because the domestic policies have been reinforced by being out of power. it made them more of what they were before. more anti-government, more

anti-taxes. a government that they can hate. but on foreign policy, their strongest impulse, there are different strands but the strongest impulses this very harshish neopolitical strain. but when there's a democrat in office, the hawkishness would say let's support the president. let's let the president use his power. but a lot of republicans that puts their hatred for obama against their ideological impulse to want to have obama use those powers. i think that's the confusion and the trap that paul is in and trying to navigate. >> you know, jonathan, one thing that's surprised me with all of this, vitriol that has been directed at rand paul who has yet not announced his campaign. you have even rich lowery in the national review talking about ram's criticism in the u.s. isn't engaging enough on syria,

he calls him a dewy-eyed fool, effectively. this is the one that a lot of people think could build a really important and powerful coalition, leading at least into a general election. the notion that they're throwing the arrows before he's even announced i think say testament to how fractious and undisciplined the right is at this point. >> well, he hasn't announced. but announcing is kind of a formality of the whole process. he's building a national network. he's really surprised a lot of people with his ability to get fund-raising. get organization, and getting off the ground in a fast way. it's really freaking people out in the way they don't like his foreign policy views. >> jonathan, the emphasis is on the phrase "freaking out." because that is what they're doing. jonathan chait from new york magazine, thank you. coming up, its name is synonymous with abuse, scandal and malfeasance. and now the government says it's

closing the notorious abu ghraib prison because of security concerns. but first, courtney reagan has the cnbc wrap. >> stocks ended up climbing for a third consecutive day. the dow gaining 162 points. the s&p 500 adding 119. and the nasdaq tagging on 52 points. that's it for cnbc. we're first in business worldwide. [ male announcer] surprise -- you're having triplets. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees.

♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. sfuel reward card is really what makes it like two deals in one. salesperson #2: actually, getting a great car with 42 highway miles per gallon makes it like two deals in one. salesperson #1: point is there's never been a better time to buy a jetta tdi clean diesel. avo: during the first ever volkswagen tdi clean diesel event, get a great deal on a jetta tdi. it gets 42 highway miles per gallon. and get a $1,000 fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. volkswagen has the most tdi clean diesel models of any brand.

hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card and 0.9% apr for 60 months on tdi models.

it is a symbol of disgrace, of death and of torture. it was where some of the worst atrocities in saddam hussein regime were committed and where one of the most shameful periods in u.s. history unraveled in

front of international eyes. today, that place, iraq's abu ghraib prison is closed. for now, at least. yesterday, the government announced it had closed it because of security concerns because of insurgents who have taken over fallujah and other parts of al anbar province. underscoring how danger house the prison has become. today alone, 18 people, include two soldiers were killed in separate attacks on anbar when mortar shells landed on holes in fallujah and suicide bombs rattled ramadi. closing abu ghraib is a good thing but it's what's happening outside the walls of abu ghraib that should concern us the most. coming up, whether they're leading in or opting, women have a lot on the stake of feminism. i will talk to katty kay.

and the new book "the confidence code." it's that's next. it elicits pride... incites envy... ♪ ...and unleashes wrath. ♪ temptation comes in many heart-pounding forms. but only one letter. "f". the performance marque from lexus.

little things, anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. insures support. a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like... ...sooner than you think. ...you die from alzheimer's disease. ...we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call, or donation adds up to something big. alzheimer's association. the brains behind saving yours.

♪ i know a thing ra ♪ ♪ and i got the tools ♪ to do it my way ♪ i got a lock on equities ♪ that's why i'm type e ♪ ♪ that's why i'm tyyyyype eeeee, ♪ ♪ i can do it all from my mobile phone ♪ ♪ that's why i'm tyyyyype eeeee, ♪ ♪ if i need some help i'm not alone ♪ ♪ we're all tyyyyype eeeee, ♪ ♪ we've got a place that we call home ♪ ♪ we're all type e ♪

last week, the debate about women that this country focused on equal pay, discrimination and closing the pay gap. this week, another catch is graping the headlines, "the confident gap" in the new book, katty kay and claire shipman. citing feels that women reported feels of self-doubt at more than twiegs the rate of men and that women don't feel ready for promotions, shipman and kay urged women to stop and embrace this "c" word. it's not that we don't have the ability to succeed. it's that we don't believe we can't succeed. and that stops us from even trying. women are so keen at getting everything right, we're terrified at getting something wrong but if we don't take risks

we'll never reach the next level. joining me now is katty kay and abc news contributor claire shipman, co-authors of "the confidence code." claire and katty, it defies logic, i'm sure you're tired of being asked this question that either of you lack confidence. given how articulate and intelligent you are. i want specific examples for all women out there listening saying no way do these women suffer from lack of confident, katty. you start. >> okay. i'll jump in. the other day i did something that women do very typically, i was on "morning joe" in the morning. i asked the dumb question to the governor of iowa. it was 6:00 the morning. 6:00 the next evening, 6:00 the next evening, i was still beating myself up about that one question. i've done two or three hour of asking pretty good questions.

it had been a great show. and what was the one thing i remembered? the one thing i got wrong. i think that's a very common trait for a lot of women that we carry criticism and we carry negative thoughts and the tiniest of slights with us, and it is stopping us from taking the risks that we need to do to build up our confidence. >> claire, i'll let you take the microphone before i follow up on katty's confidence antidote. go ahead. >> there's many things. but the fact when i started covering the white house many years ago first for cnn and then nbc news. it was a beat that could be terrifying. for women, we think we have to know everything every time. we're perfectionists and i think the stress of that, understanding every conflict around the world. wanting to be ready for whatever was asked of me. my stress level was, i think,

higher than what most men covering the white house were feeling. i overprepared to a level that i don't think was necessary. and i think that it -- it just doesn't make you feel great inside. it's exhausting. >> you know, let me follow up on this, katty, i'll start with you. isn't there something actually kind of good, though, about that instinct? it's not that we want people being totally irresponsible with the facts and not intellectually rigorous. how do you find a middle ground? i covered the white house very briefly, not to the extent that claire did. there's something good about brushing up on what you know, right? to the point that you want to be aggressive and know the details, some of the details are important, right? >> we're not asking women to be more aggressive. we know all of these stats. you know them, alex we get more degrees than men.

we get more ph.d.s than men. in europe, they did this big study of men and women. they had to do kind of a rubik's cube. the men scored better than women. they found that the reason the women hadn't done as well because they haven't answered half the questions. he said you have to answer all the questions. when they answered all the questions, the women did just as well as the men. and that's what we're trying to get at, we have plenty of ability. that's not our problem. our problem is we are holding ourselves back. and what we say in the book is that it's not that we want women to be more aggressive. the most confident women we know, people like christine lagarde are warm and friendly. they don't try to be like the guys. because that doesn't work for us. so we are to find a way to be careful that is authentic for us. >> claire, we talk about feminism, and feminism, as it

was discussed in the '60s and '70s was more political. it was more driven by policy. in this current iteration, i'd like to get your opinion on this, i feel it's more anecdotal. not so much how women in general are faring but more about me. how i can control my behaviors make myself better for my loved ones and my family and do better at my job. do you find that at all concerning? >> well, i think that it's actually wonderful if feminism -- there's a broader definition of it. and that you can move around in it a little bit. it doesn't always have to be about somebody else's definition of success. do i think the world would be a better place if more women were at the top of corporations and governments and enterprises? absolutely. i'm a firm believer that we need diversity. and that it help decision may going not for diversity sake

because it's the right thing to do, i think it would make a real difference. but at the same time, we're not just talking about climbing the corporate ladder and breaking through the glass ceiling. i think the conversation we're trying to have about confidence is much broader than that. and it's about generating something for us, that would give us more of a sense of peace and energy. and a willingness to take the sort of risks that make life more interesting, frankly. >> katty, what instills confidence? i mean, on a certain level, just having you guys say it, sometimes doesn't feel like we're on the top of our game. that sharing of experience, which i absolutely can understand myself is good. but i wonder if that actually creates confidence. or whether it just makes people feel better about having confidence. what do you think women need to do to actually be more confident? >> during the course of this, we got fascinated where confidence

comes from. is it genetic? are we born with it? can we grow it? and part of the process for us was coming up with a definition of what confidence is. we talked to a ton of psychologists and neurologists about this. and they said confidence is the stuff that turns thoughts into action. and i think for women what this means is spending less time in our heads. worrying about the perceived slights or the criticisms or the things that we've done wrong. and more time taking action. you get confidence from doing things. from going outside your comfort zone. from taking risks. from being prepared to fail. and that's how you build confidence. not by saying i'm great, i'm perfect, i'm wonderful as i am or saying that to your kids. it's about building achievements. and when you hit a hurdle, being prepared to carry on. you might not always succeed. but it's that process of taking action that leads us to confidence. and that so important for women. thinking less, i think, and acting more. >> experience and action and

also reading this book. katty kay and claire shipman. the book of course it "the confidence code." thank you, ladies, for joining me. >> thank you, alex. that is all for now, i'll see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. "the ed show" is coming up next. good evening, americans, welcome to "the ed show" live from detroit lakes, minnesota, i'm ready to go! let's get to work! ♪ >> this is a welfare cowboy. >> all against a guy and his cows. >> wow, something's spooking the cattle. >> they actually used to let the cows roam free. >> leave us alone here in nevada. >> we can't have american people that violate the law and just walk away from it. >> get your army out of nevada. get your army away from my ranks. >> these people are waiting for the big