it's probably the most highly anticipated political book of the we're. hillary clinton's hard choices. the cover title and first excerpt were recently released. clinton herself has swroeked just another light summer read, but you can bet there will be a mad dash to buy the hundreds of house of copies that will be available on june 10th. hot cakes, which is -- some believe the clinton machine is undertaking a massive sort of spring cleaning, and this is part of it. the a.p. calls it an airing of her political pasts before she sets the course about her much speculated about future. the benghazi and monica lewinsky's tell-all are clearly outside of the clinton's control, but the timing for herbert now versus after she announces she runs. now, will the partisan political circus surrounding ben fwauzy ever end? who knows? the "new york times" is upshot,

which also poised josh barrow for some reason, and says obama fatigue. 65% of americans want the next president to offer something different than the obama administration does. the potential differences between the obamas and hillary were central to snl's opening this weekend. >> look, i am mother of the we're. >> and i have not yet decided if i will run for mother of the year. >> barack and i are really proud of giving the gift of health care to eight million americans. >> which is funny because i tried to give them that gift 16 years ago, so it's more like a regift. >> but we actually delivered it. mothers today are doing more than ever before. >> some can even be president. i don't know. who knows? >> of course.

it didn't happen in 2008, but maybe in 2016. the point is hillary and i know how hard it is to be working mothers. >> absolutely. you know, i just know a little bit more. i mean, for years i was flying all over the world dealing with some of the worst humanitarian crisis. you know, but i suppose it's also tough to make a chubby kid eat an apple. >> you know, ukraine has been in the news a lot lately. i'm sure you would be on top of it if you didn't quit your job. >> okay. well, i'm surprised you had time to read the news between guest starring on nashville and doing push-ups on ellen, but i guess that's what first ladies do now. i don't know. >> okay. all right. this is good. this is fun. >> yeah, this is fun. >> indeed fun. let's start with our man perry bacon, our go-to for all things politics and comedy. perry, part of what we are

talking about there is the relationship going forward between the obamas and the clintons and we all know obama's approval rating right now is low, so for hillary to get elected she's going to have to distance herself from obama somewhat, but, of course, not too much. ask al gore how that work out. >> exactly. i mean, the story of these last seven years -- or six years has been about how clinton and obama were rivals during the campaign and bill clinton made some comments about obama he wouldn't like. in the administration obama and hillary became pretty close. he actually asked her to stay on as secretary of state after her four years were over. the two families are very close politically, and in terms of looking at her issue views, this is a good thing and a bad thing for her. hillary and barack obama have very, very similar views on pretty much every issue, which is good for hillary for the democratic primary if there is one, i guess, and then bad for her in a general election. >> what does she do specifically on the economy when we've had this six-year roer going on six years now that basically everybody agrees has been too

weak? how does she make a case that she's going to do something different from the president without seeming to be sort of running against the president? >> my suspicion is you'll hear a lot about the 1990s. less specifically about what she'll do because her economic plan will be similar to what we're doing now because her advisors will be similar to barack obama's. that said, she will talk a lot about in the 1990s with her husband, he will be standing there, they'll talk a lot about job growth at that time. i think that will be the key is to look forward. a campaign about how bill clinton fixed the economy, and, therefore, hillary can too, and probably a lot about what the republicans will do badly on the economy, and that will be a big part of the message as well. again, the challenge will be obama fatigue is already there in the polls now and how much will we have by 2016? >> you know, the very fact that you have some people suggesting there is a strategic spring cleaning going on for hillary clinton so that everything can be aired out that might come back to haunt her if and when she decides to run. that in itself is one of the biggest challenges i see for her

because it feeds into this narrative that the clinton machine and are calculate and are l run over anything or anything and get in the way of their political success, and the lewinsky piece last week i think is another reminder for many people of how calus the clintons are capable of being in order to cover up their tracks fwrsh you get to the end of her piece, lewinsky talks about how bitter she is that she's still about how she was treated. there was a campaign against her. in many ways it reminds me of scandal. anyone who watches that show, this is very much a scene out of "scandal." yet, this is real life. i have some real doubts that we're going to be talking about monica lewinsky in 2016. i don't think hillary clinton had much to do with the benghazi investigation starting or the monica piece being written, but they do help her kind of clear the decks. i think this book she's coming out with, which i warn viewers i'm sure this book will be very, very boring, but it will actually -- i promise you that. it will actually address benghazi, and my guess is after she -- this book comes out, she'll talk about her role in

benghazi and then from then on if you ask her about it she'll say on page 157 of my book, i said this. i don't think monica is going to be a big issue, and it wasn't a big issue in 2008. wronk it will be in 2016. i think this notion you made about her being too calculating, i think that is -- that was a big issue in 2008 in the campaign, and i'll be curious if that comes up again. the clintons are too political i think that's an issue that they struggle with last time, and obama was viewed as more authentic at that point. >> i think the lewinsky thing is already sxsd done. it didn't affect them for nearly 20 years. it's not going to affect them now. >> yeah. i agree with you, though, perry. i think people have forgotten some of the negative things that they saw in hillary clinton in the 2008 campaign, but you were talking about the 1990s and that hillary may run on this message of let's return to the sort of economic prosperity that we saw in the 1990s. another headline from over the weekend, joe biden speaking at a

closed-door event in south carolina. got in a little jab at the clintons. he gave what was described as an elizabeth warren style populous speech. sounds like something i can get down with. he threw a little barb at them saying that the undermining of middle class financial stability really started in the late 1990s and the latter years of the clinton administration. so that was interesting. i could see, you know, her opponent sort of taking that approach and tying the crumbling of the middle class back to the 1990s and the end of the clintons. >> there's an opening for someone to run a kind of populous campaign against her. i'm not sure how well they would do, but ewe hearing joe biden talk about a big push for elizabeth warren to run for this reason as well. if you look at this last year and a half, i think there's a four-year presidential campaign. the day barack won re-election, a four-year campaign started for president in both parties. chris christie was doing really well in his, and then it sort of fell apart.

i would argue hillary clinton is doing a good job of sounding populous muff and sounding left muff and sounding centrist enough to where joe biden is kind of bitter about the fact that he is being passed over as a candidate. you see elizabeth warren doesn't want to run. if hillary was doing badly, people would be jumping. a lot of people want to be president. they're not eager to run right now because she's done really well in what's called this invisible primary period the last year and a half. she hasn't made any mistakes so far. we have a lot of time left, but she's done really well so far and kind of freezing out any of the democrats that want to run. >> you talk about that invisibility primary. indeed, hillary has succeeded in raising a ton of money without actually being in the race. i think that's one of the things that scares off folks who in other political climates would be chomping at the bit to get in. you mentioned something that i want to touch on. if there is room to knock hillary off, it's perhaps because we have this progressive left that is feeling perhaps unloved or ub heard.

they thought that obama would be the progressive hero that they've been dreaming of, and he hasn't quite lived up to that. perhaps they see hillary further to the center versus obama, and they see folks who are making these populous noises and falling in love with them and wondering can we get a real progressive this time? >> i think that's one of the challenges for hillary is that hillary and obama are pretty similar on economic issues and so on. warren is a little bit different. there is this hunger to hear more populous rhetoric, and hillary clinton has done fundraisers and events at gold man saks. warren has an aggressive the banks are killing us. it's very aggressive 1% message that hillary clinton has not used to far. that said, remember barack obama won in 2008 because he had a lot of liberals that liked him because of the war. he also had a block of voters, african-americans, who were 90% for him. elizabeth warren right now has one of hose things, but not the second. i think that's why she's not looking to run right now.

you really do have to think about if hillary has a lot of liberals, a lot of democrats, her poll numbers are really strong right now, because a lot of buzz is out in the populous about her not being left enough. there's not really a lot of evidence among core democratic voters. i mean, she's ahead by -- i think there was a poll in the post that showed her at 73% and biden at 12%. those are really strong numbers. >> well, we'll see what happens when the actual running begins. perry, nice to have you. up next, gaming out the republican field with our old buddy nate cohen is back, and why both the gop and the dems will be championing a famous tim russert refrain come 2016. wonder what that is. the cycle will roll on. it's monday, may 12th. surance... ...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪

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the jockeying for position among the democrats has become as well. as my colleague nate cohen points out, florida, florida accident florida may once again play a pivotal role in both who the gop selects and how they do in 2016. now, president obama narrowly defeated mitt romney in the sunshine state in 2012, but growing diversity is good news for democrats. these are traditionally republican leaning cubans? is another bush the answer for republicans in florida? joining us now is nate cohen. in your piece out this week what i'm really interested in is the way you talk about two floridas. you have this area that's

increasingly hispanic. the hispanics are increasingly democratic, and then you have white voters who are getting more republican. how is that going to play out, and what role does jeb play for republicans in managing that? >> yeah. today i think those two floridas have canceled out the nonwhite share of the electorate increase, and the president lost significant ground against florida's white voters, even since 2004 when john kerry didn't have a sterling performance in the state he lost by five points. if obama is no longer the presidential candidate for the democrats, and you replace it with someone like hillary clinton who is a really good fet for an eclectic mix for white, jewish voters, new york ex-pats, older voters more generally, and then suddenly it becomes hard to imagine how the republicans are going to do even better yet again among non-white -- among white voters in florida, which is what they'll need to do to compensate for demographic change. i've missed you, buddy. how are you been? >> i get pretty lonely during the odd numbered years without you. i don't know if that's good or bad. >> the even numbered years back

we'll have you on a lot. i want to say what's it like working with josh, but i have to ask you about rand paul. he is a far right guy, a too party guy, a libertarian. he is making all these sort of moves towards the moderate center trying to get republicans to stop offended peek around voter id, trying to push for a change in mandatory minimums in the war on drugs. being a really loud critic of the drone policy. what is he actually doing, and what chance does he have to take this nomination? >> i think the simplest lens to understand him through is the big generational problem that the republicans are facing. ever year another wave of young voters enter the electorate. they are replacing older voters who are more conservative. although some may be reseptive to a conservative message, they disagree with the republican party on a lot of issues, and that cohort of the young voters is also extremely diverse. the 18-year-olds entering the electorate are 55% white or so. i think rand paul sees himself as someone who can begin to

untangle those problems. some of the areas where he can moderate are also areas where he can appeal to non-white voters. i have to say if he is facing hillary rodham clinton healthing, hillary is the type of candidate who can lock in the existing democratic advantage and reduce the opportunities for him to shake things up. in a state like florida, i think -- he is not going to make big inroads among older white voters in florida against someone like hill wrish i think that's a state that would jump up from being on the back burner to everyone looking at it and being like how are the republicans going to overcome this problem there? rand paul seems like the candidate that sets them in that position. >> yeah. nate, i know you have been covering other states than florida, so let's talk about the new nbc news meris poll. it shows something very interesting happening right now. we have pretty deep dissatisfaction with the president at the national level, but when you look at the individual state races, democrats actually have a real chance to upset gop candidates who should win running away in primaries set for this month.

so, for example, in kentucky we've got senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. he is in a lot of trouble with challenger allison lundgren -- she's in a virtual tie. the tea party is on its heels, and democrat challenger michelle nunn is running competitive, no matter who the gop puts up. the race that i have been fascinated by is in arkansas. we've got incumbent democrat senator mark pryor. he has opened up a huge lead over republican tom cotton, despite the fact that president obama's popularity in the state is just 34%, and i should point out that, you know, the lead that pryor has there, that's among all registered voters. not likely voters. that can make a big difference. especially in a midterm election year. we've seen some other polling that has shown pryor up, and it seems like his message that tom cotton is too extreme for arkansas, that he is an outliar, more conservative than other republicans in the state and especially tying him to this republican study committee

budget that would voucherize medicare and lift the eligibility age to 70, that message that he is too extreme seems to be working in arkansas. >> arkansas doesn't surprise me all that much. i mean, democrats have a long history of outperforming the president's party in the south. 77% of democratic incumbents have been re-elected in southern states since 2000 despite all of the lows that the pear has faced there. you know, mark pryor is a candidate that was so strong that a republican didn't even run against him in 2008. this is a guy that has a long political heritage in the state. his father was a senator. if you look at the history of democrats out performing the president in the south, his personal strength there i'm not blown away that he has a better hold in it than, you know, say someone like kay hagen, who is new to town and has a real turnout problem with young and non-white voters. >> i feel like that is very interesting to me that you say that candidates in the south out perform the president because that flips on its head. some of the narrative we've heard in this election about north carolina, about louisiana,

about arkansas and georgia, places where democrats are supposed to be in a lot of trouble. >> i think they are in a lot of trouble. in part, because the standing of the president is a lot worse nowadays than it was 515 years ago. even in 2012 candidates like ben nelson or claire mchaskell were winning in culturally southern states or at least the southern stretches of those states. bill nelson did way better in the florida panhandle than the president, and that's not too dissimilar from louisiana. kay hagen doesn't have the sort of built in support that has been cultivated over decades of representing her state in the same way that someone like pryor has and for good measure she's more fend on the the new coalition of democrats that doesn't show up in midterms. >> you know, there's been a lot of talk about how the national narrative, people's views about obama care and the president, how that would may a huge role in these midterm races, but we're actually seeing what's most important to voters is the individual candidate and frs read highlights that in their piece this morning. that is especially present in a

state like georgia. we were just there. when you look at the open senate seat, for example, it's an example of the tea party versus the gop establishment, and we're seeing the more conservative candidates in a poll that krystal just mentioned, and they're struggling to gain the support that many people thought they would. chuck todd had jim galway on from the atlantic journal constitution. here's what he said about it. >> it's the tea party just not as strong in georgia as it is in other republican -- other states in the republican primary? >> well, it's a difficult question. number one, i don't think you have in paul brown or phil gingery the cares it hattic figure you have in a ted cruz or rand paul. you put paul brown in front of a crowd, and he does all right, but he is not going to fire people up. >> how much of this is the tea party actually dying and how much is it that they can't put up ted cruz-like candidates that are able to fire up the base?

i mean, should we be putting dirt on the grave yet of the tea party? >> i don't think i would go rite quite that far. look, the candidates that are running in georgia even that are establishment-friendly candidates are awfully conservative. there's no rick luger here or something, and so it's not surprising to me that they're struggling to break through. it's also a divided field. there are a lot of conservatives in this race, and in the absence of a clear opportunity, i'm want sure why we would expect them to jump ahead. that said, even if the republicans nominate an establishment-friendly candidate, they're still nominating a political number of is, and it's not sure how they manage to underperform the party there as well. >> interesting stuff, nate. nice to have you back. >> great to be back. >> and here is a bit of washington news that i think everybody can get on board with. today the washington monument is once again open for visitors. the first public tour in 32 months took place just this afternoon. the national landmark had been closed while workers repaired the damage from that 2011 earthquake that rattled the east coast. this morning nbc's own al roker helped ring in a new chapter in

the monument's 138 year history. >> it is a thrill to be here this morning on this historic day as we reopen the washington monument. ♪ from every mountain side ♪ let freedom ring ♪ a beautiful sight on a beautiful day in the nation's capital, and up next more headlines making news today in the news cycle. ups is a global company, but most of our employees

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we're not showing you that part of the footable because it appears to have been obtained during a hostage situation. boko haram, the group responsible, says it will keep the girls as slaves oofr sell them until the government frees its detained fighters. >> april showers bring mayflowers, but out west you get snow too. three feet of snow fell overnight in colorado's rocky mountains and more than two feet fell in my home state of eastern utah. the same system sparked tornadoes, powerful thunderstorms, and hail in the midwest. more extreme weather is forecast there today. we will keep an eye on that as well. oscar pistorius has been diagnosed with anxiety disorder by a forensic psychiatrist testifying for the defense. the psychiatrist cited his absent father, a hoer who was so fearful she slept with a gun under her pillow, and the trauma of his double amputation as an infant. the psychiatrist also said the disorder could have influenced pistorius's actions the night he shot his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. pistorius claims it was an accident, and the trial

continues in south africa. we now turn to the latest in the donald sterling saga. the l.a. clippers owner and his wife both went on a media tour of sorts giving separate exclusive interviews for his part donald denied that he was a racist and explained the tyrade in this way. >> i'm a good member who made a mistake, and i'm apologizing, and i'm asking for forgiveness. am i entitled to one mistake after 35 years? i mean, i love my league. i love my partner. am i entitled one mistake? it's a terrible mistake. i'll never do it again. >> and in a separate interview with barbara walters, clippers co-owner and wife shelly sterling said she would fight to keep the team for herself. >> there are reports that the nba wants to oust you completely as a team owner. you'll fight that decision? >> i will fight that decision. >> what does the team mean to you? >> it means a lot. i've been with the team for 33 years through the good times and

the bad times, and it's my passion, and i love it. >> the nba wasted no time pointing out to mrs. sterling that the chances of that happening are slim to none. "under the nba constitution, if a controlling owner's interest is terminated by a three-quarter vote, all other team owners' interests are automatically terminated as well. it doesn't matter whether the owners are related as is the case here." "these are the rules to which all nba owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team." the clippers play in oklahoma city tomorrow night for game five of the semifinals. the series is tied 2-2. there's so much to talk about here. i don't know. >> we should just move along. >> yeah, sure. why not? >> one of the things i've been thinking about with donald sterling and also with cliven bundy and also in a way with and also with paul ryan. that's not to say that these individuals are equivalent or saying ekwiflent things or have

equivalent things in their hearts, but they're are they're all saying i'm not racist, even when they've made really outrageous situations. they're saying i'm not racist. i don't have a rays bone in my body. i think people -- they probably genuinely feel that way too because they're saying i'm not walking around all day hating every black person i see. i don't hold all this hate in my heart. i think people don't realize that racism doesn't have to come from a place of uniform hatred. it's not this sort of cartoonish klan thing typically. it comes from a bias. it comes from prejudice. donald sterling from his comments, it's pretty clear, you know, that there is a racist bone in his body. >> the problem is not his bones. it's in his mind. the i'm not racist or am i racist question is complicated these days because folks don't walk around being sort of hateful and destructive to every black or brown person all day long.

that's not really the test. this person donald sterling, did not make a mistake. it didn't, like -- it's not like a word slipped out by accident or he missed the light turning red and ran through the intersection and crashed into somebody else. no. he at length and in great detail outlined his white supremacist world view, and when he seems to see these players as his property and this plantation mentality that you are drowning in. yeah, you're racist. >> i think he is a distraction when talking about race in america because the kind of racism of donald sterling, it's different from a lot of what i think is the main problems we have with race in america. particularly, you know, racism is generally about biases and prejudices and those can be overcome. you have a lot of people that might have some reservations about black people, but, oh, magic johnson, he is cool. i know who that is. you see don sterling. >> i have a black friend. i'm okay. >> don sterling saying don't hang out with magic johnson, is he black. other people would say i give magic johnson a pass, so he is

more racist. >> letting him off the hook because he is out there. >> race is something people do. it's not something they are. just because you don't do it in this circumstance doesn't mean that there are other circumstances in which you need to worry about your own attitudes. i think there's also something really interesting here about pro sports and with the sterlings really trying to hold to the clippers, even though that seems to be in nobody's interest. most sports teams seem to be run basically as toys of rich people. >> right. >> which can lead them to want to hold on even when that's not in the interest of the team or the fans or the players. also, it can mean that they run them in a way that doesn't make any sense. it's not like aside from racism the sterlings have been any good at running an nba franchise. the clippers have been terrible for the most part for decades. i think if you had sports franchises run more like normal businesses, maybe run by publicly traded companies, you get better outcomes for everyone. >> that's a really interesting take, and i would like to see what would happen if we actually did something like that. you had shelly stern, who is now saying i'm going to keep ownership of this team, and i think directly to your point, ultimately it's about her, and

her well being when she's not, i don't think, looking at the bigger picture of what is in the best interest of the players. what is in the best interest of the advertising? what is in the best interest of the clippers community? really this is about herself and it reminds me, i wish that she could see the bigger picture because she would get off her high horse, and i think it would step away from it, but any connection to the sterling family, i think, it's a bad thing moving forward. it reminds me in a lot of ways, krystal of politics, and how we see politicians and elected officials who say and do stupid things. rod ford is a perfect example of that. they don't recognize that it's in the best interest of the people they serve to actually just step away from it. they say i'm not stepping down. i'm going to keep serving. this is what i'm supposed to do. >> it looks like from the rules shelly sterling, if donald sterling is out, will also be out. up next, the first ever marijuana business conference is said to take place in denver. how do you hire, fire, market, and sell now that pot is out in the sun? ceo stan wagner joins us next. will you help us find a new house for you and your brother?

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sflu get the money, you get the power. you get the power. you get the woman. >> the drug business is getting that respect. recreational weed is legal in colorado and washington, but legalization -- with legalization comes questions. especially about how to cash in. what's the right way to market your gonga? how to package your blueberry curb? how do you explain to abby what that means? that's one of the hottest jobs of the new legal weed economy and they've got to be licensed and trustworthy and weed-wise enough to advise people of what strain is best for them. the question of how to find a good bud tender and many other questions like that will be addressed at the colorado cannabis summit starting on may 22nd in denver.

it's the first b-2-b weed summit. the commissioner is stan wagner. is he with us now. how do you hire a good bud tender? >> how do you hire a good bud tender? >> what is it? >> and what is it? well, imagine a bartender. that same thing -- same concept is around a budtender. what you need to do, there are several elements for hiring. one, you need to qualify them. two, you need to on board them, meaning helping them to understand the culture of your company. three, they need to understand the new model of the customer that is buying cannabis. >> new things every day. >> like a bartender or somalia for weed. >> take your pick. >> i take somalia for weed. that's my pick. talk to us about the role that women play in the recreational weed business. they're actually a leading force, aren't they?

>> well, that's actually really interesting. we have a testing and safety panel that's an all woman panel. it's how can you operate your cannabis industry, and how you package your product in terms of what you're representing. they are lab directors. they're also directors of some of the largest facilities here in colorado. >> i'm interested in one of those labelling issues. i guess you're going to be talking about edibles and how to indicate portion sizes on those. this is linings like marijuana brownies and gummies. some of us learned the hard way in college that figuring out portion sizing for this can be difficult. how do you get people not -- >> college? over the weekend. whatever. >> before the show. how do you make sure people don't eat too many cookies? >> i'm actually interested in your college stories.

so what we need to do in terms of packaging, we're working with a panel in colorado's legislature and as i mentioned, our safety and testing panel, they are leaders in the industry that are dealing with this literally day by day and coming up with smart solutions. >> the goal is, one, to keep this out of the the hands of those under age 21 and, two, for consumers to make smart, educated choices. >> sure. stan, another issue that you have been working with the colorado state legislature on is issues around banking because the federal level selling and buying marijuana is still illegal. a lot of banks aren't willing to allow marijuana businesses even to have a bank account, to do basic sort of financing, lending transactions. you've been working with the colorado legislature on those issues. how do you resolve some of the problems there?

>> well, you know, it's not in my world to resolve it, but we will be talking about that in the summit, and you're certainly right. you know, with this being an all cash industry, there's a big bull's-eye on individuals and companies. we need to get rid of that. through some of our discussions, whether it's at the summit and also beyond they're working towards some kind of solution, whether it's a chartered bank, a state chartered bank and others to help to josh will be in denver soon. up next, a kid comes to you and says he doesn't want to go to college. what do you do and spanking is not an option. we're going to talk to him next.

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it is high school graduation time. if you are a parent, you may be asking your graduate what they want to do with their lives. odds are, they don't have an answer for you. scary, right? perhaps even scary esh, what if they don't see college as the next step? you don't want them living in your basement forever. what do you all do now? well, ryan porter is a successful college drop-out who says there is more than one way to find a great career, and it doesn't necessarily mean you have to go to college right away. his new book is "make your own lunch, how to live an ethically epic life through work, travel, wonder, and maybe college."

very interesting book. i have to say so many folks as they get older wish that they had taken that year before college just to live, just to experience life. the reality is many people aren't ready to go to college right out of high school. we see this practice happening in other countries like the u.k. and australia where people take a year off to work and to volunteer and just to experience life a little bit. we're seeing that more in the united states. what are the pros and what are the cons to doing this? >> sure. i want to get something out of the gate right now. i'm not anti-college. i think college is fantastic for some people. i think it's a waste of time for other people. what people should be doing, anybody under the age of 25, their goal in life should be become as employable as possible. >> sure. >> for some people that means go to college. for other people that means learn a language or travel or start a business or build something. just do something that's allowing to you put something on that resume so when you put it on that desk, it's going to stand out in the crowd. >> how do you figure out which are which? which are the people who will

become most employable by going immediately to college, and which should go to japan and learn a foreign language, for example? >> yeah. i think people tend to have a little bit of an idea. if they're getting to the end of high school and they're, like, i have no idea my next steps are, college isn't going to be the answer. right? take some time. >> isn't that pretty much everyone? >> no, i don't think so. i think that people they end high school and they have somewhat of an idea, some people do. swud somewhat of an idea of the general area that they want to go into. maybe they've had an experience with a person or a class or part-time job or something that's opened a door that's allowed them to say, hey, i want nothing to do with this thing. i want to do this. or, hey, i want to continue doing this. >> figure out what you love, figure out what you hate, figure out how to get more of the stuff that you love and less of the stuff that you hate. >> why is the right decision point in your life to do this before college? i mean, i look at the statistics and see people with bachelors degrees make 80% more than than people with just a high school

degree. that's twice the gap than 30 years ago. meanwhile, college has gotten more expensive. people are leaving on average of $29,000 in debt. given it's something so expensive and yet so essential, is it really the right time for people to say why don't i take $15,000 like you suggest in your book and spend the year traveling around the book using money that i would have spent on college? >> that's the perfect time. let's look at this. over 46% of people in the united states in college don't have a degree after six years. right? we're not talking about doctors and lawyers. we're talking about the average person. they're already wasting two years of tuition figuring that out. why not take a year, go and experience something, sift out the stuff that doesn't matter and figure out what your next steps are. >> why is that travel necessarily? you if can go to the work force. a lot of what the president talks about is better training programs, getting people who aren't going to find college useful in their career to get training. you know, that makes a lot of sense to people in germany. does a lot of that. other countries that have lower

college completion rates. it's not clear how applicable that is? >> it's a little bit of both. have you ever had an opportunity to travel where where you had no idea the language, the people the menus, subway person. that's true, right? those situations have shaken things up, and you start to realize the things that don't matter. where your strengths are. when you come back, all of that stuff that's left over, that's been sifted out, all the stuff that's left over is the stuff that matters, right? you can go -- travel is not the only way, right? travel is a way for people to experience the world and figure out where they fit in in the world. it's learning a language and do the stuff that's making you more employable and more interesting than the other people in the pile of resumes.

even to make that trip to europe, south america, whatever. but you want to take the gap year. should you spend it working at a burger king? >> what happens is a lot of people get into that first entry level position and they leave and then another entry level position somewhere else. so if you're start being something and you like it, stick with it. but if you're not going to do that, try doing things like volunteering. people like to hire from within. if you're experienced with the company, you know what's up, they will probably be more likely to bring you on board full-time when it comes time to hire somebody than they would to look outside. >> but your parents would have to be subsidizing that year. >> or you can be splitting

volunteering or working part-time. none of this is get your parents to fund this while you sit on their coach and play xbox. but you could work any part-time job for three or four months and have enough money to take some time off to figure some stuff out. or while you're doing that part-time job, you could be starting your business on the side. you could be learning a language on the side, you could be volunteering, building something. like i said, getting experience that makes you more employable than the other people in the pile. >> but making that decision when you graduate high school, i'm not going to go to college, that's half the battle. the other battle is your parents who will say what on earth are you doing with your life. you're not as likely to make the income that you would if you go to college. so what is the parent's role in this conversation? >> i think actually the responsibility kind of falls on the young person. if you're just going to sit down with your parents and start the conversation i don't want to be like you guys or don't waste money, that conversation doesn't go anywhere. but what these people should be doing, they should be looking for the bright spots of people who are going something similar to the thing they want to do. they want to start a rock band,

parents are like that will never work, but if they can find a path to show their parents, here is my support system, here is somebody who has done it in the past and here is my plan on doing this, it would be so much easier with your support and i would love that, but i'm going to do it anyway with or without your support. those conversations happen all the time. >> very interesting stuff, ryan. thank you so much. as many of you know, we took our open trip down to georgia on friday broadcasting live from msnbc's growing hope booth at the sweet auburn festival in atlanta. and on saturday, we took part in two meet and greets where we got to meet some of our amazing fans and spend time with them. we loved meeting all of you and hope to see every again very soon. you can find a complete photo album of our time down in atlanta on our facebook page, facebook.com/the cycle msnbc. and up next, a game changing day in the nfl and for men. how michael revolutionizing more than the

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maichael sam is now an nfl player and that could have an impact on all men in america. don't expect him to be an activist. his responsibility is to play football. but he can't help but be an actity vis because he's taking gayness into a masculine arena and his place should force many of us to consider what gayness

means. part of it is that it's not masculine at all. those people are will have to stretch their definition beyond thinking ghaness ayness is akin femininity. as if gay men are men who have lost their mass could you lipity and straight men's masculinity is constantly then at risk of being lost and gay modes of behavior is the enemy and any slip of the tongue is to be feared. think of how the f word is used among boys and young adults for police and bully that narrows the possibilities of straightness and puts straight men into a virtual gender straight jacket. dance too exuberantly and you're gay. voice too high, you're gay. any hint of softness in the wrist or the heart, and your man card is gone. but if gayness is broad, if it runs from the ballet to the nfl, then straightness could have

less to fear and could be liberated from that straight jacket. but there is still much work to be done. despite rapid movement toward gay acceptance, there remains tremendous homophobia in america even among gay men who feel deep pain. >> i've been uncomfortable with the way that i sounded for years. >> if i could sound more mass could you lip, i definitely would. >> i don't think i sound like a woman. think i sound like a very small man. you know like this high. >> i'm used to hearing my voice now. when i would first hear it, i quite frankly would be appalled. >> what is wrong with sounding like you are who you are? sounding like a gay man. having a gay voice. >> that and he from an as yet p finished film called do i sound gay. but the strug well hgle with ho a man lands on every map except

for don draper largely because he's fictional, but when gayness looks like this -- ♪ >> -- and also like this -- ♪ >> remember me with tears of joy or tears of sorrow. judge me for what do on the field. >> then gayness becomes less of a weapon for straight men to use to keep each other in that straight jacket. when michael sam can be gay and hyper masculine as he goes by symbolically killing quarterbacks, then it becomes clear that straightness has no monopoly on masculinity and that gay men can be as manly as any of us. that is it for the cycle. "now" with alex wagner starts now. questions that have already been answered a few times. it is monday, may 12th, and this

is thousand oi"now". >> benghazi. >> clinton. >> benghazi committee -- >> looking like a republican strategy to attack hillary clinton's record. house speaker john boehner tweeting a photo of his appointees already at work. >> they're auditioning to be the anti-hillary. >> hillary opted against a 2016 run. >> benghazi. >> i don't think she'll get scared off. her decisions won't be determined by the republican base. >> if they look like they're being bullies, they won't be too equip themselves with women voters. >> benghazi. >> clinton. >> they are obsessed. >> it will be a long campaign. 2 1/2 years of this. >> this is a z lookloser issue e repuan