it was a political rise from the ages, from senate candidate -- >> there is not a liberal america and conservative america. there is a united states of america. >> to presidential candidate. >> yes, we can. >> to a two-term president. >> and every day i have learned from you. you made me a better president and you made me a better man. >> and now, comes the obama presidential memoir. a look back at what happened and a road map for the work that lies ahead. >> i want you to remember what this country can be. you can't just imagine a better future. you can't just wish for it. you got to fight for it. >> and after a divisive four years why he sees a better tomorrow. >> if i remain hopeful, it's because i've learned to place my faith in my fellow citizens. >> tonight, a promised land, a conversation with barack obama

from the lincoln theater in washington, d.c. here now is jonathan capehart. >> good evening and welcome. we are in the heart of what was once known as black broadway here in washington, a place where during segregation black culture thrived on this stage where none ert than duke ellington, pearl bailee and ela fitzgerald. this was also a place president franklin roosevelt would gather friends and family for birthday celebrations. tonight, we're here for a different moment of presidential history. for the hour, i'm pleased to welcome president barack obama whose much anticipated new memoir, a promised land, is available to readers. presidential memoirs always take us inside the critical moments in the white house. tonight we want to take the lessons learned by president obama and apply them to all the work that still needs to happen to protect and defend democracy in the united states.

we're also joined on stage tonight by members of my brothers keeper, the foundation he started more than six years ago to help young men of color fulfill their potential as they strive to live out the american dream. i'm looking forward to the conversation president obama and i will be having with these men in just a few minutes. but we meet just two weeks after a historic presidential victory. president-elect joe biden received the most voting ever for president. 79 million votes and counting but some in the republican party, led by president trump, are refusing to accept his win, and in some cases trying to overturn the will of the people. and then there is some victory of senator kamala harris as vice president, the first woman, the first black american and the first indian-american elected to the post. there is hope in these results,

but they also reveal the urgent work ahead. and i am honored to say welcome, mr. president. >> thanks for having he. >> how are mrs. obama, malia, and sasha. i understand you have been under one roof, your daughters are remote learning. how's that working out? >> it's working out great for michelle and me because we get to see them every night for dinner. and you know, we love spending time with them. now, whether they feel the same way is debatable. but they have been wonderful. like i think a lot of families who are lucky enough to be together and not suffer from some of the stresses that a lot of people are suffering from, losing jobs or having to figure out daycare issues and so forth. you know, the first couple months, we had game nights and we do all kinds of stuff. you know, i think everybody's feeling a little worn down and

cooped up and getting cabin fever. but we know that we're blessed not to have some of the strains and stresses that some folks have including our health care workers and the girls have responded magnificently. so it's been nice to have them home. >> let's talk about some news of the day, mr. president. president trump and his allies in the states are doing everything they can it seems to overturn the will of the people. last night, wayne county filed affidavits to reverse their votes to certify their votes in michigan, the most populous county. and i've heard the word coup used to describe these types of efforts. is that hyperbolic or is our democracy under a realistic threat here? >> look, joe biden will be the next president of the united states. kamala harris will be the next

vice president. i have been troubled like every american, democrat, and republican, independent, should be troubled when you start having attempts to block, negate, overturn the peoples' vote when there's no actual evidence anything illegal or fraudulent taking place. they are just bold assertions. they have been repeatedly rejected by the courts and i'm less surprised by donald trump doing this. he has shown only a flimsy relationship to the truth. i'm more troubled that you're seeing a lot of republican officials go along with it. not because they actually believe it but because they feel intimidated by it and the degree to which you have seen some news

outlets that cater to the right and the conservative viewpoint some how try to prop up these bogus claims. >> well, given your experience with some of those capitol hill republican, are you surprised they are going along with this effort? >> look, at each juncture, you're a limit more disappointed that basic fairness and norms and habits that republicans and democrats traditionally observe aren't being observed. so you take the example of certifying a vote. this is a routine process. democratic officials certify when republicans win. it's not as if this election was any closer than the election that originally brought donald trump to office. and he won some votes in places

where you had democratic officials who had to certify that donald trump had won. but the basis of our democracy is that there is a fair, impartial referee process. >> right. >> because otherwise elections don't mean anything. and look, at the end of the day i don't think any of this will be successful. i think you have enough republicans with integrity including officials in places like georgia that have said we're just going to count and call it the way we see it. and that's what they're supposed to do. that's what we should expect any public official to do. there are things that transcend partisanship. when you take an oath of office, you take an oath to uphold the constitution and the rules and laws that govern our democracy. and that transcends whatever

party you belong to, who you would prefer winning or losing. you know, i didn't enjoy having to call donald trump and congratulate him for having won the night of his election four years ago, but i did it because that's part of my job. and the same way that george bush called me and invited me and facilitated my transition. you know, that's part of the continuity of our democracy that allows us to have arguments, have differences but at the end of the day still be confident that this is a government of, by and for the people. >> well, let's talk about the next president of the united states, president-elect joe biden. in 2016 you reportedly pressured then vice president joe biden not to run for president. in 2019 you reportedly told your former governor who was thinking of making a go of it, you don't have to do this joe, you really

don't. today vice president joe biden is president-elect joe biden. are you surprised, proud or both? >> i'm proud, i'm thrilled. and those reportedlies were not accurate. >> so that didn't happen? >> that didn't happen. my view has always been that joe biden has the character, the experience, the connection to the american people that would allow him potentially to be successful. i think in 2016, he had gone through for the second time the worst tragedy any of us can go through, which is losing a child, to a debilitating disease and that happened right before he had to make a decision about running. and he made his own decision. and i was a friend and sounding board and counselor to him during that process. but he made the ultimate decision, and the same is true this time out.

my assessment was that he had a good chance because he had an open democratic field. i think during the primaries, you know, there were some bumps early on. he came into his own during the general election, ran a magnificent campaign and deserved to win. i think his choice of kamala harris as a partner is going to benefit all of us because not only is she obviously breaking a glass ceiling, but she is just a really capable, smart, tough and insightful elected official who's going to put the american people first. >> and on the subject of vice president elect harris, you've known her for years. what has been your advice to her as another person of color about how to contend with the new level of scrutiny and conspiracy theories and other negative things that she's going to have to deal with on this stage?

>> yeah, look, i mean she's going through a twofer, right? i think one thing we've learned over the last several years is that the challenges that women face as women are profound just as race is a profound issue in our society. and women of color, you know, have to deal with both. the good news is that kamala's accustomed to it. she's been a first before. she's been on the national stage. and my advice to her is actually really similar to my advice to joe which is surround yourself with great people, stay open to ideas wherever they come from. reach out to the other side, but, you know, understand that you may not always get the cooperation you want but you keep on trying. just to make sure that you can -- when you go to bed at

night be confident you're doing everything you can to try to unify the country. and then follow your instincts and follow your values. and then if they do that, i think they're going to be fine. they're going to do great. >> let me ask you this one question about something that jumped out at me at the book. an interesting revelation in our book. you're recalling writing to your inauguration with president bush in the limousine and you take this turn and you see the protesters with their signs, indict bush and war criminal. you write in the book i felt quietly angry in his behalf. to protest a president in his final hour seemed graceless and unnecessary. more generally i was divided about they said about the churching across the country and the weakening of whatever boundaries of decorum had once regulated politics.

and i couldn't help but wondering will you be angry on president trump's behalf at those who show up to protest him, and what would those demonstrations say about where we are as a country right now? >> well, look, i think that 2008 is very different than 2020. the way trump's behaving in transition is very different than the way george bush behaved on his final months of when he was in office. and because we're in the middle of a pandemic we don't know what inauguration is going to look like. but i think joe biden is right to say that we should all make an effort to do our best to lower the temperature and listen to the other side. but i think when you have a current president who -- whose

entire style is to fan division, that's hard while he's on the stage. in some ways, you know, i think it will be useful for us to just get back to the normal arguments between democrats and republicans and not the existential ones, to talk about policy more and talk about sort of the warfare between parties less. but that's going to require all of us to cooperate including the media, which is a hard thing to do because let's face it over the last four years the news of the clash, the divisions between progressives and the right, between democrats and republicans has, you know, been continually amped up in ways that we've gotten almost numb to. and it would be good if we could

dial it down a little bit. >> mr. president, we've got a lot to talk about. coming up, the obama initiatives still changing the lives of young black men across the country. we'll talk to some of those impacted by my brother's keeper. stay with us. much more ahead. ead. research shows people remember commercials with nostalgia. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back.

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that's what my brother's keeper is all about.

helping more and more young people stay on track. providing the support to think broadly about their future. building on what works, when it works in those critical life changes moments and all the time recognizing that my neighbor's child is my child. that each of us has an obligation to give every child the same chance this country gave so many of us. >> president obama launched my brother's keeper in an effort to bridge the persistent opportunity gaps for young men of color. more than six years later, it's still going strong, proving to be a lasting legacy of the obama administration. and joining me now is people who participated in president obama's seminal program. jerron hawkins and a howard university undergrad so that

makes him a double bison i'm told, christian r. johnson, a member of the class of 2024 at howard university, and dr. edwin, head of the yonkers public school in new york. welcome, all. christian, i want to start with you, and ask, what does my brother's keeper mean to you? >> it simply means just having that brotherhood, the family aspect really my high school was a part of your initiative and we were all brothers in that community. like, the teachers in my school were my play aunts and my play uncles. and my brother's keeper is creative village out of my village of my home. i love that. >> jerron, you have the same

experience? >> absolutely. and just what christian said. my neighbor's child is my child. your brother is my brother. your sister is my sister. and you know, just looking after one another, what i have, you have. and just sharing the resources. you don't have -- mentorship doesn't have to be lateral. kit be horizontal. >> and has it affected the student body in yonkers? what has it meant to the students there? >> thank you. my brother's keeper is a movement. it's an opportunity to truly affect the live experiences of the students that have been left behind. and i have often said that's on behalf of the students that have been left behind in america. president obama has set the conditions for us to create the initiatives on behalf of the young people to support them, to scare for them and to give them a place our society. >> president obama, have they met the expectations you set out for my brother's keeper?

>> they've exceeded them. these two young guys when i met them they weren't all fancy and looking sharp. but they're an example of the incredible talent that's out there mch you know, in this first volume of a promised land, i don't right about trayvon martin that comes later in the presidency. that will be in volume two. but he had continually seen not just the tragedy of young black men being impacted by racial bias in the criminal justice system or trayvon martin, a vigilante who decided that trayvon was suspicious but what

it unveiled was the degree to which attitudes towards black boys, hispanic boy, boys of color, boys on native american reservations, the fear of them, the stereotyping, the dismissal of them, the pipelining of them not in the college, but so often in the prison was having an adverse effect and we had to go beyond government to deal with it. so what we did, marshall partnerships in a place like yonkers with school districts and businesses and community organizations and groups, trying to find mentorship programs, violence intervention programs, some cases, reentry programs for those who have gone through the criminal justice system. processes to encourage young people to set their sights higher, and you have, as the

superintendent said, a movement where it's fallen short just the need always exceeds the number of programs that we have there's still hundreds of thousands of young boys and men that would benefit from a mentor, who would benefit from the kind of helping hand that i think all of us need somewhere along the way for us to rise and i'm an example of that. as somebody who grew up in a relatively tranquil place, hawaii, but still had all kinds of issues when i was young. >> and i want to get into this. because if i remember correctly, all of us on this stage, with the exception of christian, we grew up with single moms. and one of your favorite words in a promise land, i notice, is

foolishness. so i'm wondering if any of your moms put up with any foolishness from y'all growing up. because here's what president obama writes about his teen years. as for the world beyond my family, well, what they would see for most of my teenage years was not a budding leader but a rather lackadaisical student, a basketball player with limited talent and no interning at the local congressman's office. through high school my friends and i didn't discuss much beyond sports, girls, music and plans for getting loaded. president obama, i really want to know what did getting loaded look like exactly? and seriously what moved you to be a little more forthcoming, a little more blunt about your misspent youth? >> well, look, actually my first book going into more detail -- i was a president then, but it's the truth. and part of the reason is and

i've talked about this in conversations i've had with jerron and christian and others as part of my brother's keeper one of the goals of my book in tracing my path early onto end up being in the presidency is, you know, we don't start off -- at least a lot of us don't start off thinking about the world around us. we kind of take for granted what cards are dealt to us. and for a lot of black and brown girls and boys, you know, oftentimes those cars are a little bit stacked against us. and part of what i wanted to show is that the issue is not where you start. it's what you overcome and where you end up.

and i was lucky not only because i was living in a place where despite my bad attitude sometimes, it wasn't dangerous, the way it can be if you're growing up in d.c. or philly or chicago or l.a. but also what i wanted to portray is the process where you had adults who saw potential in me even if i didn't see it in myself and were willing to question what i was doing. and get me thinking about how i could tie my wagon -- hitch my wagon to something better than myself, and it's true that process of mentoring, questioning, believing in that a lot of young people start to say, okay, maybe there is something in me that i can contribute, and maybe i should take on more responsibility and change in ways that are not always easy but are possible, and i wanted young people who may be right now looking at the

world and seeing pandemic and george floyd's killing, and so much that seems out of whack, and maybe are feeling discouraged. i want them to see in themselves the possibility that they can bring about change. they can be agents of making things better in the same way that i did in fits and starts, it took me a long time to learn what i was capable of. but that is part of the process. >> i know jerron and christian, you know president obama. you know his story. but i'm just wondering if it surprised you to read in the book he didn't get his act together until the tenth grade.

i mean, we look -- >> problem later than that. i started thinking about getting my act together in the tenth grade. >> but i mean, a lot of people, you look at president obama and he is on top of the world. to know and realize that he didn't pull it together -- start thinking about pulling it together until tenth grade. did that demystify the man for you? >> it absolutely did. you know, mr. president, you're mr. president. a lot of people are like, that's the president. but being part of your white house mentorship program you met us where we were. and a lot of people talk at young people. i'm a firm believer that the people that have the most power to solve the problem and absolutely to your point, had demystified it, and humanized him. like, i want to listen to him. and i see that you have a lot of wisdom you can conifer to us. >> and christian, it demystifies the president but did it make his accomplishments seem attainable for you? >> it definitely did.

i mean just to hear he didn't get his act together until maybe after the tenth grade it definitely helped me out because coming into ninth grade i wasn't as perfect as i thought i was. i was a know-it-all and all this other stuff. and just getting my act together over the course of the four years that i was there really did help me. so knowing he didn't get his act together until his high school years really did help. >> and with the students there in yonkers, do you see in the student body in yonkers little barack obamas, kids who aren't quite there yet but could be if they have the right motivation? >> thank you. and i see them from kinder all the way to grade 12, many president obama i see in yonkers. and what the president is speaking about we have given language to in yonkers.

the mayor, we lead the mbk movement, and the idea is to create real social capital for these young people. let's not write them off in the tenth grade if they're not on the right path. let's instead align them to individuals, to businesses, to friends that are willing to provide the needed social capital for them to be successful. >> i have one more question before we have to take this break. the president has written and talked about his struggles with racial identity. and you write through the people you worked with in chicago you say i resolve the lingering questions of my racial identity. for it turned out there's no single way to be black. just trying to be a good man was enough. i know we don't have a lot of time so i'm going to go to this to you, jerron. have you come to this sort of journey? >> i absolutely have, and being

a certain year law student it's never been more affirmed in my life. graduating law school, post graduation i'm still a black man. i made it through howard university and it's like we don't care, you're still black. and now i'm in law school, it's like i don't know you're in law school, you're a black man and i feel that. and it's not like i can cut the skin off my body. it's something i have to live with for the rest of my life. >> and we're going to get into more of this conversation about identity when we come back. coming up, one of the most controversial moments of president obama's first term and what it tells us about race in america then and now. my conversation with our 44th president tones after this break. t tones after this break. (senior) helping seniors. (boy) helping kids. (dad) helping families. (women) helping pets. (vo) these are the lives subaru retailers have impacted in our communities, through our support of over fourteen hundred hometown charities.

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number two, that the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> president obama's reaction to the 2009er arrest of harvard professor henry louis gates in his own home sparked a heated national debate on race and policing. the president eventually invited the arresting officer and professor gates to the white house for the now famous beer summit. and the president writes about the lingering lessons from that incident in his memoir. mr. president, here's what you write. it seemed to tap into some of the deepest undercurrents of our nation's psyche touching on the rawest of nerves perhaps because it remiemded all of us black and white alike that the basis of our nation's social order had never been simply about our consent. because of this black families for generations have had the talk with their children, how to

behave in public especially with law enforcement. mr. president, since your mom and your grandparents were both white. i'm curious when did you have the talk? >> look, the truth is, again, growing up in hawaii you did not have that day to day set of tensions. but what i saw -- and i've written about this in my first book -- you start noticing that when you're crossing the street suddenly door locks go down or folks clutching their purses a little tighter when you get on the elevator. that kind of experience tells you that you're being seen differently. and i don't think anybody, any african-american male hasn't gone through that at some point. but, you know, the episode with skip gates revealed just how

sensitive we are with even talking about these issues. one of the reasons i was encouraged this year during a year where obviously there was a lot of discouraging stuff was the reaction to the george floyd killing and the fact that unlike some of these previous incidents involving the black community and the hispanic community and the police, this was one where you saw outrage, concern, distress and activism across the board including in a large section of the white community and in towns where there are barely any black people. but they understood, okay, you know what this is an ongoing

problem and we have to do something about it. >> we talked before this. you had the talk with your father, and it was so intense tell everyone what you haven't done since you had the talk with your father. >> i still haven't gotten my license. i refuse to drive as of right now. it's frightening for me. so i just never went out to do it. >> but frightening, i mean your father putting the fear of god into you, but was he -- how specific? how real did the talk get? >> i mean you can tell he was scared for me, and that's a different type of fear that just gets into you, just hearing your father, the man that's the strong guy in the house, just hearing him and hearing his fear for your life is -- it shakes

you. >> jerron, you -- both of you, jerron and christian and doctor, you all participated in the black lives demonstrations, and jerron you participated in los angeles. the protest itself was fine. what happened after you left? >> so just a little bit of back story because i don't want to paint the picture me and my friends were completely in the right. but one of my friends to protect her privacy she put a piece of black tape over her license plate. immediately following the protest we get pulled over by three squad cars and they're calling for back up and about four squad cars and there's black children sitting on sidewalk, you know, with six squad cars, 12 police officers. and what really concerned me there was a crowd gaerg in the street, about 30 people. to make a long story short after

all the police officers ended up leaving the people were running up to us saying, hey, we just had a rally today we don't need anymore hashtags. and that struck me to my core. i was 5 seconds away from possibly being another hashtag. >> how are the students in yonkers deal with this, doctor? >> this is what my brother's keeper is all about. during the demonstration many of my demonstrations led the demonstration in the city of yonkers. and every elected official and the superintendent were part of this demonstration because we wanted to show our young people that we were in this together. and i think this is what the president tries to do with his book, actually what he does with his book, which is telling us all that my brother's keeper is an opportunity to ensure that our young people realize that they do have a place in our society whether to demonstration or getting an education.

>> you know, president obama, the other thing about the skip gates incident was it highlighted what black people, especially for black professionals have to go through in terms of navigating their way through this sort of dual existence that we're in. >> the key is not to overhype or be ultra sensitive about every single miscommunication that's taken place between the races. the key is to be, "a," open, to listen, to rieg that aecognize have bias. and by the way it's not unique to white folks. black folks make assumptions, too, about others. and we have to always guard against that. you know, one of the great things about being president, you know, i'd travel and go to these very rural communities, and there are no black people

involved, and when i was running for the u.s. senate driving down in southern illinois, and, you know, these were stereo typically white conservative rural communities. i'm walking in, black civil rights lawyer from chicago named barack obama and you'd go into a store, you'd go to a county fair and people couldn't have been nicer. and people are asking you about your family, and you could find things in common if you're not making assumptions. so it goes both ways, right? and i think one of the dangers in our current climate is making a lot of assumptions about people just based on the surface and not taking the time to listen to peoples stories. but at the end of the day, though, when it comes to the criminal justice system all the understanding in the world is not going to solve the problem if when a police officer does

something wrong he's not held accountable. it's not going to solve the problem if you have a situation where the police union rules have set things up such that the -- you know, if it's a controversy the benefit of the doubt is always going to go to the police officer even when there's film showing something happened. you know, so we're still going to have to change laws, change rules. and oftentimes when you setup smart rules and smart laws and you enforce them, then behavior changes as well. >> we're going to keep this conversation going. coming up, much more with president obama and members of my brother's keeper. still your best friend.

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hope. you write if i remain hopeful it's because i've learned to place my faith in my fellow citizens especially those of the next generation whose conviction in the equal worth of all people seems to come as second nature and who insists on making real those principles that their parents and teachers told them were true but perhaps never fully believed themselves. and jerron and christian, christian i'll start with you, the president is putting a lot on your shoulders. this a long-term proposition. you ready for it? >> yeah, i mean just focusing on my friends in school and always helping them and always having their back i think is more important. and just keeping faith in my people, my family, keeping faith in my friends. >> and jerron do you think -- well, one, i know you're ready for the long-term proposition,

but what about your friends who might not be on the journey with you? what do you say to them? >> you know, for one it's never too late to start a journey. even though you may not be on a journey now you can always join me whenever you want to. and also be being i guess a repository of information i have a duty to share that information. so whatever i'm getting in is up to me as my brother's keeper to make sure that my brother is well. >> you know, there was something said when we talked earlier about the fact that was terrific -- i think it was you doctor, what was beautiful about my brother's keeper one of the students told you is that so many programs are geared towards the gifted students, the hyper smart students. and my brother's keeper was geared to everyone. talk a little bit about that and also about, like, the leadership demands of my brother's keeper. >> so jonathan, here's what we know. young men of color are more

likely to be suspended in school, less likely to graduate, okay? it is that type of data that we have to change. we need to address the needs of every young men, every student in our schools. andpresident's program, the former president's program has served as the umbrella, the vehicle to change mind set because ultimately if we want to change america, we have to change the mind set of individuals and ensure that everyone knows that these young men are important, that they count, that they have a place in our society and that ultimately we have to ensure they're in charge. >> you have been superintendent of the yonkers schools for six years. >> give or take. >> give or take. so have you noticed a change in the student body in those young men of color in yonkers post my brother's keeper? >> well, absolutely. when i became superintendent, the graduation rate was about

76%. the graduation rate in yonkers public schools is close to 90% now. you know why that's happening? because our young men are graduating on time. let's move them into a place of success and let's do it together. >> so we have been through a lot. particularly in 2020. economic calamity, the pandemic. but humans always find -- they always find hope in the heart ache. are the students in yonkers hopeful? >> i firmly believe they are. our students understand that a promise land is possible. and it's only about the adult realizing that we need to set the conditions for them to be successful. if we do that, then guaranteed success will occur. >> christian, what gives you hope? >> what gives me hope? wow. i would honestly say just my

family and my mother most of all. and just knowing that i want to create a better place for my little sister so that she can live without having to worry about like politics, and she can live without just the fear of making mistakes and not being -- being forgiven for these mistakes that she's making. >> what gives you hope? >> from a spiritual lens, i definitely am a man of faith, so god first and foremost. i can echo christian's sentiment, my mom. she got pregnant with me when she was 17. she could have aborted me. but she took the shelter situation. my younger brother is serving with dc national guard and i'm a second-year law student. i had her pray and i was like

thank you because 22 years ago i could not be here. you could have made a different decision. >> i saw on your instagram feed your mom is very, very proud, very, very proud of you and you were very, very proud of her. it is very, very clear. mr. president, i want to end with you. and i'm going put this question a little differently to you. we are at the virtual thanksgiving table. turkey's carved. the yams are hot. the tin can cranberry still has it's shape. and you are asked to give the blessing. you are asked to say grace. what do you say? >> well, that's not a tough question because that's exactly actually what i have had to say every year including -- because we used to have our family to the white house for thanksgiving.

and with all michelle's brothers and cousins and uncles, it was always a pretty big crowd. i would say grace. and i'd express thanks not just obviously for the food and the shelter and all the blessings that we have received, but i'd give thanks for my children and all the children that were part of that who are now growing up and have become amazing young people like jeron and christian. you know, when i say that i have faith in the coming generation, it's not because they don't make mistakes. it's not because they're perfect. i really like what christian talked about when he was talking about his younger sister. and then part of the reason in my book i try to be honest about the mistakes i made is we all make mistakes.

the question is do we set up a society in which young people, through those mistakes, can grow, can learn, can have faith and confidence that the adults around them care about them? and, you know, when we do that, our children will succeed. and i have said this before. this upcoming generation, it's smarter. it is more sophisticated. it is more open to differences and has absorbed, you know, the food and the culture and the music of each other in ways that are uniquely american. america is exceptional not because of, you know, our military or our economy. more than anything, it is

exceptional because we have people from all these different walks of life that have gone through all these different experiences. and if we can come together as one, if we can get passed some of these vestiges of our history, then that gives hope not just to future generations in america but to the world. and i have seen that in the younger generation. and the question is now do we have a politics that looks backwards and tries to, you know, tamp down this blossoming of amazing, you know, but different young people or do we look forward and give them an opportunity to crave the kind of america i think we can have? and i'm banking on the future. and i'm banking on young men like this. and that's what will deliver us to the promised land that i write about in the book. >> president obama, thank you so

much for your time. >> it's been great. and thank you for having these great young people with us. >> right. and also thank you to jeron, christian and dr. asado. and also thanks to our hosts here at d.c.'s lincoln theater. i'm jonathan. good night. >> that was great. we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... doug? [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has easy-to-use tools and some of the lowest prices. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. don't get mad. research shows people remember so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual!

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♪ in december 2019, while most of the world was celebrating the holidays, in the industrial city