three generations of greatness on one show. that's the cycle. >> from the birth of our existence, america has had a faith in the future. a belief that where we're going is better than where we've been. we are americans and our destiny is never written for us. it is written by us, and we are ready to lead once more. >> class of 2010. dismissed. >> in just a few days president obama heads back to the u.s. military academy at west point to deliver the commencement address as commander in chief. it's a tradition as old as the hat toss itself. this year the president's speech is billed as another major foreign policy address. the 1,000 cadets fwrad waiting

may 28th could be called on to help carry out the president's agenda on the world stage one day. we are reminded of another great foreign policy speech. one by dwight eisenhower given more than half a century ago. >> in the confines of government we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought by the military industrial flex plex. the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. we must never let the week of this combination endanger our leb either or democratic processes. >> that speech warned how the misplacement of military influence could destroy the very principles it was designed to protect. speeches have often changed the direction of our nation. think of j.f.k. telling americans ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your

country. or of reagan declaring mr. gorbachev tear down this wall, or bush after 9/11 proclaiming the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. can anything hes have the same influence as ike still has? foreign policy is still an area where the president could have a massive impact. he is still a great orator. can he come up with a speech that has that same sovr lasting impact on foreign policy? >> i don't think we're going to see it as west point, but the fact is the stage of his presidency, the combination of being the commander in chief and having the ability to use the bully pulpit helps him. it frames issues in a different way. it takes discussion in a different way. i think if he uses the speech to talk about his foreign policy more broadly, to talk about the limitations that we have in the country now, it's a little bit

different and significantly more powerful than the more defensive tone that he had when he did this at a press conference during his asian trip. >> norm, it seems the white house has been awfully edition combobulated. the president is at one point talking about raising the minimum wage, and then it's infrastructure, and then it will be foreign policy. it leaves many people wondering what message he is trying to send at this point in his presidency? what does he want this part of his presidency to be known for? part of what's going on is we are hitting one of the critical points of the 2014 election cycle, and the president can use his ability with the bully pull lit which is greater than congressional leaders by and large to try to frame some of the issues that might at least get the democratic base a little bit more excited. and give the candidates a little bit of traction. that's why i think you see the minimum wage emerging as an

issue, and it wouldn't surprise me if at some point the president takes up what harry reid haz has been talking about, which is the corrosive impact of money and maybe even mention the koch brothers. infrastructure is, in part, to gode congress which will not and has not acted in something where there's an overwhelming consensus that there's a driving need, and it would improve the economy. but you have i think a big point here. there are limits to what you can do that are only a certain number of times when a president can grab the nation's attention and kind of shake it by the lapels and we don't have a lot of things going on around there that enable him to do that, and it can look scatter shot instead of phobinged. >> i think there's sort of an expectation in second terms that domestic policy agendas will stall out, and that's what presidents pivot to foreign policy. if you look back at the clinton administration, you had actually quite a product i second term on domestic policy. we got the children's health insurance program. we got a deal to balance the budget for the first time in 40

years. clinton was working with a congress that impeached him. it's not like you need a friendly same-party congress to do that. . what happened is almost all of those accomplishments occurred with the momentum in the first year after he won his second term. it deteriorated after that, and the drive to impeach him impeded further progress. we could have gotten social security deal otherwise, josh. even then we are beginning to see the signs of the tribalism we have now. it's just escalated so dramatically that you can imagine still, although i think the chances are slim but they're not zero that we could get an immigration deal. when have you dave camp, the kwfsh chairman of the weighs and means committee in the house republican come up with a tax reform plan that could gain traction, could replicate what we saw in 1986 with reagan and the speaker of the house refers to it as blah, blah, blah. it doesn't give you confidence

we're going to move very fast. >> so true. norm, one of the things that i think a lot of people and certainly myself find depressing is not only are we looking at the last years of the obama presidency as being likely pretty unproductive, but it's hard to see how things are going to change under the next administration, whoever that is in office. we had this hope that after president obama was re-elected in his famous words, the fever would break. well, it hasn't. what is there that can give us hope that things are going to change and we are going to find a way to move forward as a country because we have critical problems that at some point we're going to have to address. >> well, the good news is it's not as bad as it could be. >> okay. >> the bad news is it's going to get worse. >> oh, great. >> now i'm more depressed. >> i don't have a lot of optimism you can have a bigger

impact on the world, and the thing about hillary clinton is she could transform the lives of hundreds of millions of women around the world, and that's got to be a motivator. as we head towards the final two plus years of the obama administration, which could get very ugly if we have fully republican congress facing off against the democratic president, and then into a campaign that where we've already seen karl rove sending out some of the shots and there will be others. that is going to be uglier than usual. they've been pretty ugly in the past. find soming way to unite the country behind promising policies just doesn't look to be on the horizon right now. it's going to take a wild longer. >> you wrote a legendary book wrote "it's worse hand it looks. it's not as bad as it can be. their title was better, but kra wr stal refers to -- many terms

of graping with dark money. you testified recently before congress about this issue of dark money. let's listen to a little bit of what you had to say. >> i also want to thank senator roberts for putting up the text of the first amendment, which i read and reread as i have done so many times, and i'm still looking for the word money. if noen is defined as speech, then the rights of citizens as equals in this process to participate simply gets blown away. >> what would you like to see done to make the system more equitable? >> it may take a different supreme court. the decision that is have been made, not just citizens united, but in some ways the more sdast russ mchutchin decision leave us in very difficult territory. there will be, of course, a debate on and a vote on a constitutional amendment in the senate that would negate many of these decisions. at least leave it open for congress to act in a different

way. that's not fwog happen in the foreseeable future. we have to see changes in the administrative process. the irs has to be allowed to issue regulation that is reflect what the law says about these monday profit groups, the 501c4, sow can get disclosure. a big push to get the disclose act, which came within one vote of passage just a couple of years ago would help, and then maybe a bill that would bring us close to the parallel of the new york city system, where you empower small donors by giving very generous matching funds to candidates who raise a certain amount many those would be very helpful. what mchutchin has done is to unleash even more with direct contributions through parties to candidates. they can even though they're not supposed to designate pretty

much going to the candidates. imagine ten people getting into a room and saying here's $75 million. here's the one thing we want. we're going to see more happening in the legislative arena that will reflect that 75 million much more than grassroots support. that's a disaster for the nation and for our democracy. >> have we learned anything since the financial cries? tim geithner says yes, but he would say that. we'll have a senior advisor who was there. the cycle will roll on for friday, may 16th. customizable charts, powerful screening tools, and guaranteed one-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price -- just $7.95. in fact, fidelity gives you lower trade commissions than schwab, td ameritrade, and e-trade. i'm monica santiago of fidelity investments, and low fees and commissions are another reason

serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. reckless seeding. a backyard invasion. enter homeowner, and ortho weed b gon max. kills weeds without harming innocent lawns. guaranteed. ortho weed b gon max. get order. get ortho®. wbecame your business.. passion... at&t can help simplify how you manage it. so you can focus on what you love most. when everyone and everything works together, business just sings.

female narrator: it's posturepedic versus beautyrest it's posturepedic versus beautyrest with up to $400 off. serta icomfort and tempur-pedic go head-to-head with three years' interest-free financing. mattress price wars are on now at sleep train. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

dog: get four years get four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection, even a queen size sealy gel memory foam mattress for just $497. the memorial day sale is ending soon.

they had one last chance, the federal reserve bank in new york. tim geithner was in charge. >> geithner is a larry summers protege from treasury and worked his way during sommers' years at treasury. he is 47 years old. he looks like he is about 32. universally liked and respected. he is extremely smart and aware. very discreet, controlled. he sits in manhattan, but he works for the federal reserve system. >> that night bear stearns fate would be in tim geithner's hands. >> that was about tim geithner just five years ago with the fate of the world economy hanging in the balance. we were on the verge of the worst financial crisis since the great depression.

the giants of industry were ready to collapse. forever closures were going through the roof and the stock market was plunging. yet, after hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer fund bailouts and record profits on wall street, everyday americans are still struggling to recover from its aftermath. in a new book stress tests reflections on a financial crisis geithner defends his decisions during that crisis as head of the new york if recall reserve and head of the treasury then and gives a behind the scenes detailed account of how the country avoided the second great depression. at one point describing the whole affair, we did save the economy, but we lost the country doing it. let's bring in someone now perfectly suited to dissect the accuracy of the accounts. a senior fellow at the aspen institute and was a senior advisor for the tarp bail joit outprogram. thank you for joining us. the. >> book is really fascinating. i haven't gotten through it. a couple of things seen clear. one is that geithner seemed to

view the financial crisis almost as an act of god. something that just happened. >> there are tools how to bail out big banks. banks today reason larger than they were before the crisis. do you agree with him in that assessment? is too big to fail something inevitable that we should prepare ourselves better for to deal with in the future? >> i actually disagree with him on that point, and i would say there are a number of people within the administration who were there at the time that i think would disagree as well. the challenge is -- he is trying to be realistic to say we're never going to proechbt every football financial crisis, but there's a difference in saying how do we present preecht a crisis and a failure of an institution. i think it's really important for our financial system to have institutions be able to fail. the only way you'll have a robust system is if there's the opportunity for failure and regrowth and people learn from

those mistakes. >> one of the big things that folks criticize the whole program for and geithner for is that they didn't do enough to help the folks whuts homes were under water, whose mortgages were under water. tim addresses this in a way that i might call rather lame. he says i wish you had the power to do it, but i wish we had expanded our housing programs earlier to relieve more pain for homeowners, but he says later we did not believe that a much larger program focused directly on housing could have a material impact on the broader economy. give me a break. i'm not an economic expert like you. come on. really, like we've long believed that housing was the backbone of the economy, and you didn't want to go back after you took care of the banks and take care of the folks? >> so i agree with you. i think the treasury programs were by almost every measure ineffective in dealing with the housing crisis. what kind of hurts me and i feel like tim gets a bad rap in saying. i don't even think he artillery

clated well in the book. he really does care, and i think there was a lot of concern. there are a lot of staff hours going to try to deal with this crisis. now, it's not to say good intejss should be awared, right? if the outcome is bad, you still have bad outcomes. it's a tricky issue. there were decisions made early on to say we're not going to work on principle redux. it's too hard. there are not enough money and too many ill incentives and then once they got to the point where they realize that probably is what we needed do nine months ago, the housing crisis had spiralled out of control from then on that point and the tlar figures were going to a point where you almost couldn't do it again. i don't disagree with you that i think that housing problems were not handled as well as they could have been, but i also feel like tim deserves more credit for caring at least than -- >> he has a good friend in you. >> no, i think that's -- another big problem was communication or lack thereof.

how much of what happened is because of geithner's lack of communication, and on the other end, the lack of nabbeding from the american people, but most importantly, the pole tigs in washington. >> i think -- i actually think the communications issue was a bigger deal than it's being made out to be here. i read that sentence, and that was heartbreaking for me because that's exactly how we felt like. we did lose the country. working on tarp specifically, i mean, we used to joke in the tarp office that we were going to be the uniters of the country because nobody liked tarp. bipart ran visceral.

>> there was a decision made feyly early on that we're not going to try. it's such a lost cause, it's become a four-letter word, huh ha, ha, literally tarp that we're be not going to try. once we started getting good news, we got the money back with intr, and, hey, we're doing ipo of gm and all these other things, that there was no nar tiff to explain why there was actually gnkz coming out of a program that they had just abandoned on a communications front. >> there's a chart in the book that showed how jobs have done in the six years since the crash. we're just getting to the point where we have the same number of jobs that we had then. all crisises are already terrible. the other countries have had similar crisis, and it's taken them six years to recover all the jobs they lost. this makes me think are we giving geithner and the whole bush and obama economic teams too much of a bad rap here? they were playing such a difficult hand that maybe they were playing better than par? >> i think if you -- it's important to look at the

outcomes of how do we handle this crisis? what grade would you give them? i think there's the first responder element and then there's the kind of, you know, repair and recovery element. i think on the first responder element, we did really well. you forget one of the things that comes out in the book is how much uncertainty there was. you know, the consequences. other financial crisises you wind up losing, like, 10% in gdp. people are talking about estimating in the beginning that this bailout could cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion. that's not even an economic lost opportunity. that's just actual dollars out the door. the fact we made money on this, you know, to the tune of about $20 billion and counting now, i think there is a really good story to tell on that first part. again, you know, in the -- okay. what have we done about it and have we protected ourselves for the next time? maybe not so strong.

>> the clean-up after the fact, dodd frank being strong enough, and those are pieces where criticism is -- susan objection, great to have you. thank you so much. >> up neck wildfires, floods, snow, and maybe some barbecues. n may. the latest on that extreme weather across the country. that's next. didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids,

like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions, or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease...

if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ let's close the gap between people and care. that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance

is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. breaking news right now out of southern california. mother nature is delivering some relief to those areas in san diego county battling devastating and highly unusual wildfires. it's so nerl the season. crews building containment lines will help them make progress. in the meantime, we've seen some incredible images, including this fire-nado. i've learned that's a thing. the aftermath of the fire is acre upon acre of scorched earth. right now there are ten fires burning throughout the region. it's an area stretching althe way from north to los angeles down to the mexican border. the l.a. times skaulz this the

may gray and costs are startling. we're spending $3 billion fighting these blazes annually now, which is more than triple the cost back in the 199 0z. nbc news.com has more on that. of course, the cost of people who have lost everything is priceless. >> it's heartbreaking for us to walk up on a structure and know that it's going to be difficult if not impossible to defend. >> we fwot this house brand new, and we had a plan on living our lives here. >> nbc's jennifer bjorkland is on the frontlines north of san diego with the latest. >> josh, we just had a strike team come through to put out hot spots. we are near san marco, and pretty much escondido area. i want to show you one thing the firefighters showed me. you see the leaves on the oak trees are all pointed in the same direction. they tell us they point toward the fire. that's where the fire came from. it creates such a vortex and

such a -- like its own pull that the leaves all turn towards the fire and then dry in that position. as they came through here and put out hot spots and got their axes and shovels and moved through. you can still see smoke risesing from the embers of these homes that were lost last night when the fear came through. they have already been through the day. they'll be through again and again until every last ember is stamped out because here is the problem. when you have an area this large that's burned and areas around it that vbt burned that are parched by california drought and low humidity which was in the low teens today and it was in the single digits last week, you have the same conditions that caused this in the first place. any spark that's under any of these stumps that gets overturned and flies away and you can have the exact same

thing. they're being very careful to move here. digging containment lines and then moving toward the center of the burn areas to put everything out. only 10% of this fire has a containment line around it. there are canyons and fingers of fire moving throughout this area. there are bees that are now without hives to go home to as well that are coming and looking for a new place to roost. like my ear. that's a situation here. it's hot. although we've gotten relief, and we are expecting cooler ocean brooiz breezes to come through, and really help firefighters turn this thing around. back to you. >> thanks, jennifer. be careful of those bees. how is this for a turn? parts of the midwest saw snow on this may 16th. i mean, it's almost barbecue season. >> what? >> chicago picked up a trace of the white stuff. they're supposed to be around 70 griz this tomb of year. tomorrow's high? 50 degrees.

that's being optimistic. all around the great lakes snow today, including a couple of inches here in michigan. fortunately, no real traffic problems. just frustration for people hoping warmer temperatures would be here by now. there's no snow here in the east. just a whole lot of the rain. it's damp and dreary right now in new york city. some parts of the tri-state area will pick up three inches in just a few hours. this is what it looked like earlier today in norfolk, virginia. in short it was no picnic for drivers or for people walking. in pennsylvania the ground simply gave way in some areas. soaked by flooding rains with downed trees littering the ground. w nbc's rafael is here in the cycle storm center with more on what we're dealing with right now. >> hey sl, josh. the worst is still yet to come. we saw pictures of rain across the northeast and now dealing with a messy situation. river flooding in upstate new york. flash flood warnings for portions of that area as well as philadelphia. if you have travel plans along the i-95 corridor on this busy friday evening, it is going to be very messy. flash flood watch in effect for

new york city, and we've seen about a quarter of an inch of rain so far in central park. look what's waiting off to the south. you see the yellows and oranges moving up the jersey shore. that's the heavy rain. that's the flooding potential. just in time as folks are heading home from work. you got weekend plans. folks will be traveling. always a bezy time. unfortunately, the timing couldn't be worse there. we've been dealing with airport delays because of the rain all day. we're talking about delays that run four hours at newark airport. not much better la guardia, and, unfortunately, with the heavy rain moving in, these delays could only get worse over the next few hours. future tracker shows the heavy rain pushes towards the east throughout the evening hours. steady showers across long island. moving towards new england. boston, you're fwog see heavy rain by tomorrow morning, but look what happens here. saturday 8:00 a.m., a drying trend good news to work in. just what we need for the weekend. we've been through a rough patch here across much of the country. a beautiful rebound there. it's going to dry out very

nicely. maybe florida is the place to be. in new york city, we are promising a beautiful weekend to make up once the flooding rains have departed. they should be gone by the time you're waking up tomorrow morning. all of this will be a distant memory by then. back to you. >> thanks. up next, growing up russert. cycle show friend luke russert takes off his political reporter hat just for today and joins us to bach about lessons from his dad, the great tim russert. much more "cycle" ahead.

ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. start building your confident retirement today. when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy.

but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

you need a bunch of those to clean this mess. then i'll use a bunch of them. then how is that a bargain? [ sighs ] no, that's too many -- it's not gonna fit! whoa! cascade kitchen and math counselor. here's a solution. one pac of cascade complete cleans tough food better than six pacs of the bargain brand combined. so you can tackle tough messes the first time. that is more like it. how are you with taxes? [ laughs ] [ counselor ] and for even more cleaning power, try cascade platinum. ten years ago our late colleague tim russert wrote a personal memoir about his father that topped the "new york times" best seller list. it's called big russ and me, father and son, lessons of life. he was praised as the -- a guide to fatherhood done right. now for the anniversary edition tim's son luke, who we might know holds from time to time --

in it he writes i'm forever thankful that my father wrote big russ and me not just because it's a wonderful book, but for the more selfish reason it has given me my father's playbook as i've embarked on my own life, and luke russert joins us now. it really is a beautifully written prefas. i feel like everyone can take something away from this book. you've talked before about the long hours that your dad worked when you were growing up that at times you didn't fully understand where he was constantly working. now you're in this unique position where -- how has that changed the way you now look back on those years? >> it's funny. about after six years at nbc news, i have no idea how my father did it all and fit in so much time for his family? days often start at 6:00 a.m. he would do the "today" show and

run the d.c. bureau and often do nightly news as well as prepare for "meet the press" and dooet deal with a plethora of phone calls and deal way ton of pole tigs and operatives, but he still had time to go over vocabulary lessons with me at night and help me study, and one thing that i write about in the book is that that gift of time that he gave, that gift of checking in, making sure that i was okay, taking a real interest in my life, not just putting it on his calendar, oh, i should call luke now, but i want to call luke now, i want to know how he is feeling, how he is thinking, it made although difference in the world. he was extremely busy, extremely important man, but that time resonated. i understand not every father can do that. he was afforded a job which he was able to sneak away on occasion for just a few minutes, but i think every father no matter how rich they are or what type of degree they have, what type of line of work they do, there's always that time for at least a text these days or a call just to make sure that you're checking in and you care about your kid. >> yeah. >> luke, i loved watching your

dad on television. he was a man. he had this every man vibe, and, yet, he was as prepared and precise as the best trial lawyer out there. let's look a little bit at the great russert. sfroo based on what you know now, that saddam did not have the weapons of mass destruction described, would you still have gone into iraq? >> you voted to shores war. the resolution you voted for, robert byrd said was a blank check for george bub. ted kennedy said it was a vote for war. james carville said anyone who says that vote wasn't a vote for war is bunk. >> so you knew in 2007 this guy if problem. i have to keep him out of the spotlight involve mying campaign. why didn't you say then, you know, reverend, we're going on different paths? >> help me understand where that tv persona and the way he decided to do television, where did that come from is this is that partly, you know, your grandfather's influence?

does it come from buffalos, somewhere else? where is it that come from? >> it's a few things. interestingly enough, my father never set out to be a tv permit. >> he always joked don't have jaws. i have jaw lines. he always went to law school. he combined the knowledge that learned from that because he knew how pole tigs were fwog spin things, and he went after them with a presidential sort of sense of mind. something you often see a ri melbourne do the cycle's air. he also, though, had this idea that if his grand -- if it father, my grandfather, didn't understand what he was talking about, it wasn't get to the gist of the question, then the interview was worthless because america was tuning out and pole tigs were spinning. he combined those three parts of his life and put them into every interview. the other thing, though, is that nobody would ever outresearch my father. he was a notorious researcher. he spent many hours going through just stocks and stocks of documents, and he would not let anybody out-research him or

beat him at that craft. i think that's what really made him so good. >> luke, meet the press was formative for me. i used to watch a lot as a kid because i was a huge nerd, and i remember exactly what you described. his tremendous researching and how that allowed him to press politicians when the numbers they were throwing out didn't add up. we actually dug into the archives and we found this clip from 1992 with him asking ross perot about a deficit reduction plan he didn't seem to understand. >> 10% of research for aids, for breast cancer, for alzheimer's. they would eliminate all mass transit funding. this is what they call waste, fraud, and abuse. >> this is an interesting game we're playing today. would have been nice if you told me you want to talk about this, and would i have had all my facts with me, but you didn't, right is this. >> you had said that part of your deficit rye deduction is $180 billion. >> yes. may i finish? >> may i finish? it's a simple question. >> you've already finished. finish again.

it's your program. you can do anything you want to with it. >> how do you think your dad would have reacted to the politics of recent years where politician advisory had so many opportunities to make unrealistic promises about the budget and everything else? >> look that the clip right there. we still hear about us as political reporters waste, fraud, and abuse. it's being brought up all the time as something to balance deficit. often when you look at waste, fraud, and abuse there's no specificity there. one of the things my taer did with the research was to get at what exactly are you cutting? where does it come from? how would it affect people? that's why i think if he was around today, he really would have a field day with some of these broad outline that is are thrown out there or things like the ryan budget, thing like president obama's budget, things that a lot of people sort of now focus on in the twitter age for a few 140 characters, oh, this is going to be cut and that's going to be cut, and it kind of washes away. he would have gone through that line by line, line by line and

really shown where it would affect people and really press them on that. i think it's something that we don't do as much now just because it's supper a culture of speed and this culture of moving on to the next thing and no one really sits back and does the adequate research and i think it's a sad thing for all of us. >> well, and he would be very proud of you and the tough questions that you are always throwing out there. politicians in a tough spot frequently. you know, luke, we shared some of our favorite moments from your father. what are your favorite memories from your dad and your granddad? >> you know, mine sort of don't focus on my father as the journalist. it's more of the sort of times i shared with him. i loved going to ballgames with my father. i loved going to ballgames also with my grandfather. that was a real bond we shared. one of my favorite memories was in 2004. i had never seen my father rattled meeting anybody. he had interviewed popes and

presidents and had many interesting conversations with a variety of people. he had met bruce springsteen before, but in 2004 he actually got a personal odd wrens with bruce springsteen and twot of them talked for 15 or 20 minutes. i was lucky enough to be there, and wrus to see the way he reacted. sort of his idol, his hero in life was a big "meet the press" fan. i've never seen him happier for something dealing with his journalism career, and i will always take that away as a wonderful moment. >> now springsteen has become your hero. >> that's right. >> your dad or your grandpa would be very veshgs proud. >> thanks. appreciate it. >> see you here next week. >> that's right. five days of russert. get excited. >> see you soon. it is legends day on the cycle. up next baseball all-star world clamp and the first black manager in new york city ball. the one and only willy randolph is right here in the guest spot. that's next.

we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is.

grossemisconduct... ortho crime files. ...disturbing the pantry. a house, under siege. homeowner calls in the big guns. say helto home defense max. with the one-touch continuous-spray wand. kills bugs inside... ...and prevents new ones for up to a year. guaranteed. nothing to see here people. ortho home defense max. get order. get ortho®. cut! [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" de>>who's got twond rhooves and just got ae.

claim status update from geico? this guy, that's who. sfx: bing. and i just got a...oh no, that's mom. sorry. claim status updates. just a tap away on the geico app. nowchoose one option fromith red lothe wood-fire grill,trios! one signature shrimp dish, and a pasta. all on one plate. three delicious choices. all for $15.99 for a limited time only! come sea food differently today! >> new comtooing the plate two-time world champion, a man who spent 13 seasons with the new york yankees and four managing the new york mets.

number 30 willy randolph. >> good intro. >> bob shepherd you're not, okay? >> that's okay. >> close, though. >> you can stay as long as you like. >> good to see you guys. >> you know everything about the wraenkee way. what is the yankee way, and does it really make a difference to guys whether you put on those pinstripes? >> it does. it means a lot. guys that come over from other teams, they talk about it. going into the old stadium. the old stadium had all the ghosts in the rafters, but there's a certain vibe to it, and you feel like you're part of a tradition, part of a legacy and a part of winning. for me the definition of the yankee way is just tradition, winning, legacy, championships. 27 world championships. that's unheard of. >> it is too much for some guys, though, right? >> some guys can't haj haj the pressure. not everyone can play in new york. guys come from different small markets, and then the pressure mounts or the expectations raise

and they don't know how to handle it as much. yeah, you know, we try to do a little homework behind the scenes and do due diligence, but until are you in that fishbowl, it's hard to tell. >> what was it like having a career so closely associated with the yankees both as a player and a coach and then go across town and manage the mets. >> yeah. i grew up a met fan, so i was comfortable with that, and i also lay many my last season with the mets. the environment is there. i grew up in brownsville, brooklyn, and i feel comfortable with it, and i 13 years for this opportunity. i wasn't going to be choice where i. when i got the opportunity to happen, living a dream in front of your family and friends, being right there in your backyard, it's like a dream come true. it's why i wanted to write the book and be able to share the memories with the fans. >> you were also a trailblazer. you were the first african-american manager in new york. >> yes. dlo did you feel like you were judged or treated or under a different microscope than other people because of that? >> i think the criteria was different ban back then.

guys are getting jobs without any experience at all. when i was going through the process you have to manage, go to triple-a, get some experience. i paid my dues as player and a coach so, when i got the opportunity, i was really prepared for it, and i proved that by being successful. the criteria is different now. they always talk about steve kur getting an opportunity, and he has never even coached before. it's alt different game right now, but i'm hoping to stay close and stay ready so when the opportunity comes, i'll be ready. >> talk to us about steinbrenner. there are mixed emotions about him, and you have to say he was larger than life. what's it like to play under him and coach under him? >> he was a tough boss. that's why they called him the boss. you know what, guys, i miss him. i love him. he believed in willy randolph and gave me an opportunity. listen, i mean, bostons are tough. you're boston tough. you understand that going in. he wants to hold you accountsable. he pays you well and demands perfection and winning. as a player, you don't mind that

because you know where you stand and you know if you don't get the job done, is he going to trade you. >> i think friedman would like that analogy. >> oh, absolutely. coming up and watching baseball, there were a lot of black players, not just you, willie, rickey henderson . it was common. now, the number of blackball players diminished significantly. what's going on there? >> we need more time for this discussion. it's something i'm passionate about and bothers me. i don't know is it social economical or more expensive for young kids to afford gloves and bats? a lot of teams are travel teams. you have to have money to go to these places and get recognized. they want to get to the pot of gold quick. baseball is a long battle. tough be patient. they want to get the quick fix. it's quick. the attention span is not there.

basketball, football, you can get there quicker, you know. baseball, kids don't want to pay their dues. i wish we had more time to talk about the subject. there's a lot of reasons for this. the main thing is get them playing again. we are losing a generation. >> pine tar is not the answer. >> only if you can conceal it the right way. >> that helps. >> you talk about 27 championships for the yankees. it's an unparallel dominance in baseball. can it be continued? what do you see as the yankee's franchise? >> they are going to feel competitive. they are going to be in the forefront. once in awhile, lean years. they are going through a weird transition. jeter is the last guy left. the system has to give fruit now. they have to give the player that is are going to be ready to play in new york. the yankees are about excellence. you might have a down year or two. it's difficult to win. it's hard to win the rings here. they are still on the right

track. the east is tough. a lot of teams are bunched together. a lot of parody in baseball. the yankees will be in the mix. the competition is different now. >> you were close to jeter for many years. what makes him great? >> what can you say about this kid? he has it. that it factor. when you walk into the clubhouse, you can feel his presence. his parents did a great job raising him. from day one, you knew he belonged. he had a confidence, a swagger. i knew he would be one of the best players of all time and one of the greatest yankees of all time. a first year hall of famer. that's phenomenal. i got the opportunity to work with the team for spring training. had him for a rookie and 20 years later. stay held think, derek. guys, do it for the captain. get it done. >> be happy to make the playoffs

right now. willie, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> great to see you. up next, something that they could have used. an ivy league school tells students to wake up to their privilege. that's next. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. but they don't yet know we're a family. we're right where you need us.

at the next job, next adventure or at the next exit helping you explore super destinations and do everything under the sun. 12 brands. more hotels than anyone else in the world. so wherever you want to be, whatever you want to do, chances are we're already there. save up to 25% and earn bonus points when you book at wyndhamrewards.com. save up to 25% and earn bonus points i use my citi thankyou card to get two times the points at the coffee shop. which will help me get to miami...and they'll be stuck at the cube farm.

the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn two times the points on dining out with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards.

years ago when i was at graduate school for creative writing, a class for fiction of 20th century. great class, but didn't study a single black writer. no tony morrison. by excludeing them, it felt like the school was saying the black literary tradition was lesser and we were lesser.

when i spoke to the professor about it, he seemed shocked by my observation. he asked me to give him a list to those he should include and made no promise. they wrote about a similar experience in creative writing saying i was a person of color in a workshop whose reality did not include my fundmental experiences of a person of color that did not include me. it became a spiritual pain that led some other good writers to drop out. that painful exclusion from the group's core theory is common to students of color in higher education. you would expect the intellectual climate to lead to a different climate. they pushed back against that exclusion and did so in a powerful way that led to change. students of color there said they had a number of disturbing classroom incident that is exposed how to school has not

helped students see the identity between privilege. they banned together to create hks speaks out. a first year from california, the group created a tumbler where painful stories could be shared and engaged how curriculum could change and have discussions around power. they had a privilege walk. it's a way of making privilege visible, participants go shoulder-to-shoulder in a line and a facilitator asks questions to have you go forward or back. if you are a white male, take a step back. if you have inherited money, step forward. in a single parent home, step back. if your parents took you to museums, step forward. more than 50 books in your childhood home, step forward. if you went to summer camp, step

forward. if you feel good about how your culture is portrayed in the media, step forward. if you can drive a care without someone attributing it to your gender, step forward. you can see how this exercise can become emotional and raise awareness and how success is more than an individual's ability. some of us have a greater chance because of identity and others consta constantly saying you are worth less, even if you are in the ivy league. that privilege walk led to the kennedy school agreeing to require privilege awareness training during orientation this fall. it's a powerful step many schools should take. privilege tends to be invisible and that makes it hard to dismantle the problem. that does it for "the cycle."

"now" with alex wagner starts now. who wants to be a republican ring master? one guess. itis friday, may 16th. this is "now." >> benghazi, benghazi, benghazi. >> benghazi. >> benghazi is going to be the thing they talk about. >> the house committee moving forward, a group of republican senators are asking -- >> the senate to investigate bengha benghazi. >> nor lynn say graham saying the push is because of statements. >> this is five days after the attack. got the wrong date here. >> they talked about the inaccuracy. >> wrong date. >> most americans think this administration scandals are a big deal. >> benghazi, 52% say it's serious. >> benghazi. >> the reason secretary clinton is not on television is because she had -- what does that say about benghazi and about her