worse. >> absolutely, absolutely. he indicated that unemployment could be in the double digits through 2011. which is yet another sign that although we may see those green chutes that everybody is talking about, we may not actually feel it in our own homes. >> let's take a listen what he said to say, wall street versus main street. >> the job loss remain high and the unemployment rate continued steep rise. job insecurity together with declines and home values and tight credit is likely to limit gains in consumer spending. >> boy, that's fancy speak for things are going to be bad for a lot of folks for a long time to come. >> absolutely which is why people need to focus inward and not pay too much attention to these headlines likely to say things are looking okay and better. because if you don't have that emergency cushion i always talk about, if you don't have the money in the bank, you really can't get out there and start spending. >> ouch. personal finance more important than ever. david axelrod wasn't kidding

when he said the president was going to be, quote, very visible on health care. in fact, the second day in a row the president will speak live on health care and you can see it live in an hour from now. then he'll meet with conservative house democrats to try and push them to get on board with the bill. the president is defending his aggressive tactics telling our own cbs's meredith vieira that if you don't set a deadline in washington, absolutely nothing happens. >> the default in washington is inaction and inertia and a reason why we haven't had health care reform in 50 years. the deadline is not being set by me. the tlooin is being set by the american people. >> nbc savannah guthrie joins me live from the white house. savannah, any republicans out there seeming to say something more positive, seeming to suggest that they do want to be helpful to the president not only in passing transformative health care legislation but, in fact, doing it soon? >> well, there's a group of

republicans who are meeting behind closed doors as part of the senate finance committee and those are the republicans that are where the action is in terms of getting a bipartisan health care deal and they are working on it. a group of about seven republicans and democrats who have been trying to hammer out a deal out of the senate finance committee and everybody is waiting for that. yesterday, the chairman of that committee, democrat max baucus, said of about 10 or 12 items on their lift they have to work through, they've got agreement in principle on four of them. however, it sounds like those four have to do more with policy, less to do how to pay for it and the real problems, the real fight, the real disagreement, the hard work is how to pay for it. so, you know, the pressure is really on the senate finance committee. in the next couple of days they have to come out with this deal if there is any hope at all to meet the president's deadline of something passed by the house and the senate before the august recess. >> savannah, a couple of weeks

ago a professor of political science told me that maybe what the president needed to do was to push congress not to take the august recess, to say that you're the people's public servant, you should continue to work until we get this done. now, i hear there is talk about that on capitol hill. how serious is take talk that the president may publicly push members of congress to abandon august recess if they don't produce a bill by then? >> well, we really haven't heard him say that. i think it's the talk you hear, but we've never really heard the president come out yet and say i think you should stay in. i think they are prepared here for the possibility that this isn't going to happen on his timetable and that they'll get the august recess and then they'll come back and they'll have both houses of congress come up with their bills and get right to conference committee. so i don't think we're seeing a huge push from the white house yet, but there is the possibility that he could say, you know, it's a matter of a few days. if he thinks they're so close that staying a couple of extra days would make the difference, then maybe you'd see the white

house take that position. >> savannah guthrie, thank you so much. >> sure. speaker nancy pelosi is floating idea that the limit tax increases to couples that make only a million dollars a year. my next guest came up with the millionaire's tax a year ago and he is in fact, one of the real life inspiration for the mayor on the hit tv show "the wire." joining me live is maryland governor democrat governor o'malley. good to see you. >> good to see you. i would take issue with whether or not i'm the inspiration for the wire. >> well said. you ran the city of baltimore for eight years, i believe it was. >> that's right. >> with much greater success than "the wire" demonstrates. >> 40% reduction in violent crime, thanks to the people of baltimore. >> not a bad, in fact, the people elected you over an incumbent just a couple of years ago in 2006. >> right. >> government. >> governor, in order to expand health care a year or so ago, you passed something called a

millionaire's tax and now we hear speaker pelosi and others on capitol hill talking about expanding health care via tax. how difficult was that for you to get through? any thoughts for members of congress on how they might expand health care right now given that we're in a critical period? >> sure. it was all very difficult for us. i mean, we had to restore responsibility, fiscal responsibility to our state. we did it sooner than other states like california and some others. and that is what has enabled us to maintain a triple a bond rating in maryland. part of that restoration of fiscal responsibility involved a progressive income tax rate that where, indeed, we asked people to make more than a million dollars to pay a little more in their income tax. we now have been able to cover 70,000 more people with health care than we were able to before, including many more children in maryland. all of it was difficult. all of it was unpopular. and none of it was easy. but i do believe that fiscal

responsibility is essential. we cannot make progress on health care or anything else unless we're fiscally spon and have the dollars to pay for it. >> governor, i'm joined by my guest co-host who has a question for you. >> governor, as you look at the landscape what do you think the actual chances this millionaire's tax will get through both houses of congress seem to be? >> well, i think that president obama is absolutely right in calling upon congress to address what has been 50 years of inaction on health care. i mean, you look at every family's budget. the average family, according to one report, pays about 29,000 a year that comes out of their paycheck and out of their family budget for health care. that's -- that's -- that's madness. we should be able to do what other advanced countries have done and figure out a better and more predictable way that we can all afford health care. so the actual fix to that is

something that president obama, with his collaborative style of leadership, has asked members of congress to join with him in figuring out that part of that is a millionaire's tax then maybe that's a part of it, but the goal should be more affordable health care for all. >> governor that is the part that seems to be missing at this point. republicans and democrats alike really seem to agree on the fact that we need to reward higher quality health care at a lower cost. that's not what we're talking about. we're simply talking about raising taxes. >> governor -- >> i don't know about that. >> governor, is part of that on the part of democrats, frankly, the hesitation, at least on the senate side, is it a fear that, once again, democrats will be labeled with a tax and spend monday a customer and if so a way to break through that? how did you break through in maryland to persuade different people to back the millionaire's tax? >> it wasn't easy. we continued to do exactly what president obama has urged all us

to continue to do which is let's focus on the goal. let's focus on what an economic drain this current system of health care is on every business person and every family in our country and let's fix health care. sadly, i think too many congressional republicans are focused on breaking president obama, rather than on fixing health care. so the way we were able to do it in maryland is continuing to stay focused on needs of maryland families. the needs of families to be able to take their kid to the doctor, if, in fact, somebody falls ill. and that is what president obama, i think, is trying very hard to have all of us focus on. this isn't going to be easy but we have to focus on the goal. goal is more affordable and better health care. jean, i took some issue with you. think some of the versions proposed in the house version are things over the long term do stabilize health care costs and reduce that costs. look at the cost of uncompensated care in our hospitals.

very rarely do we see that mentioned in the forefront but that is one of the places where we can see savings over the long term than what the house is proposing. there is the senate and the house. president obama has told us clearly as a leader should, what the goal is. now he needs people of goodwill in both parties to work together to fix the problem, rather than trying to break his politics. >> we have 30 more seconds. you have had more good fortune in terms of closing your budget gap versus, say, california. two or three thoughts as you look at the california crisis, 26 billion dollar budget gap that even the governor there said, in part, they closed it through accounting trickery, basically? >> well, the fiscal responsibilities at the center of all progress that we hope to be able to make and some states like california have, you know, 25% deficit 25% of their budget

in maryland. we're working very hard to close a 5% gap. most states are facing some sort of gap because of this recession that president obama is trying to pull us out of. so i think what all states need to do is be honest with the people we serve. we need to make cuts of things that are nonessential, but we also have to have the courage to say, look. sometimes we do need to reform our tax code and sometimes ask people to pay a little more in order to that we might be able to give our kids a better, safer, more sustainable and prosperous world and that is what it's all about. >> governor, thank you for joining us and i hope next time you're in new york you'll stop by the studio. >> i look forward to it. thank you, mr. watson. >> thank you. what other key issues are falling on the wayside? we put that question to one of the senior democrats in the house of representatives ahead. a harvard professor is arrested for disorderly conduct but he claims there is much more to the story. allegations of racial profiling

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. president obama is all-out media blitz as he tries to sell his health care plan to congress and the american people. in an interview today with "today" host meredith vieira the president is concerned about the health care bills making their way through congress. >> any one of those bills, would you sign them based on what you see? >> right now, they are not where they need to be. i promise i just met with the congressional budget office today and i know what they are saying. what they are saying is the cost savings that are in those bills right now, some of them may actually work but they're not enough to offset the additional cost of bringing in 46 million

new people. >> joining us now is democratic congressman from south carolina, james dli burn clyburn. good to see you again. >> thank you for having me. good to see you. >> my pleasure. what is on the agenda besides health care? seems that's all we've been talking about recently, but certainly as the president has always said, you got to be able to do more than one thing at a time. is congress seriously considering any other significant initiatives or is health care literally dominating all the way through? >> no, no. absolutely. we have three other appropriation bills we're working on. we hope to get the transportation done this week and labor -- as in next week, we hope to do defense. so we do have those three appropriations bills. and, also, on tomorrow, we plan to do a statutory pay go bill. we need to do that, even before we can do health kair. so we are working on more than one front. in fact, working on more than

two. so if you look at the appropriations committee doing its work, you look at the rest of us trying to get the statutory pay go done and energy commerce, still working on health care. so we are on different parallel tracks as we speak. >> congressman clyburn, i'm joined this morning by jean chatzky. we were talking earlier about the possibility that a millionaire's tax could be imposed, whether or not there would be additional senate support of such a tax. >> right. at this point it looks like the senate is not at all in favor of that idea and for that reason, nancy pelosi has tailored back the bill, which was originally scheduled to take place as soon as people were making 225,000 a year. so it's already changed shape. i'm wondering what your opinions are on where that stands right now, what is the likelihood that we're going to see is go through? also, we were talking about the possibility that you would work through the august roo cess in

order to make some of these things actually happen. >> well, the august recess is something that will never stand in the way of getting the people's work done. we've been there before. i have absolutely no problems with us working through the august recess if that's what it takes. now, i do believe that this millionaire's tax that nancy pelosi has talked about over the last couple of days is a place where a lot of us are. however, a lot of us feel that we must continue to work on the savings. you had the little flip there from the president earlier. the fact that the congressional budget office is saying that we cannot score enough of these savings to make a difference. we believe that just because they can't score it, doesn't mean we ought not do it. so we ought to do it, irrespective of the scoring. and if there is to be a millionaire's tax, there ought to be some kind of trigger down the road that would trigger that

tax rather than have it built in up front. so we think we can get to where we need to be. but here is the important thing. the house needs to pass a bill. and that bill may not be the same bill that the senate will pass. that's why we have conferences. let the house do what it can do. let the senate do what it can do. then let's get to the conference and the white house can then get engaged and maybe we can get the kind of bill that the american people can live with. but we cannot keep putting this off, waiting to check the -- take the first step when we are sure of what step the senate will take. let's do what we can do. >> congressman clyburn, later in the show i have an exclusive conversation with one senior republican who says he may be ready to deal with president obama on major health care reform, but i want to leave that the moment and talk to you about the situation at harvard with professor henry louis gates, skip gates who was arrested in his own home, it seems to be,

could be a case of racial profiling. any thoughts on that? i know certainly some people were not only shocked, but dismayed that here in the obama era, still these sorts of situations continue to happen. >> well, carlos, you know as well as i do, that this is something that is always front and center with us. just because we've elected a african-american president does not mean that there is no need for us to be vigilant in this all-important era. can i remember the moment i got on the congress, i was going up on the elevator in the office building across the street fa the statehouse when the door of the elevator opened, a non-african-american person refused to get on the elevator with me and i had just been elected to the united states congress. these kinds of profiling do, in fact, take ps and i regret that that has happened to professor

gates. but i think he is well aware, because i'm familiar with his work, that this is something that can happen to any one of us at any given time. we are a long way from putting this issue behind us. >> sad, but true. a little bit of good news, though. apparently all charges against the professor gates have been dropped. we just got a hot note on that just now. thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. coming up, family of american soldier held captive by the taliban makes a plea for privacy while the u.s. forces vow they will spare no effort for his safe return. we bring you what we like to call the rest of the story on health care. five surprising facts straight ahead. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick

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bergdahl who was captured by the taliban in afghanistan and expressing his fear he would never hug his family again. president obama spoke about the situation this morning. >> i have not spoken to his family at this point simply because we want to make sure that before we do, we have something to tell them. and i think that we're, at this point, evaluating what our options are, but it is a reminder of what these young men and women are doing on behalf of our safety and our security and i'm thankful to them each and every day. >> nbc's george lewis is live in the private's hometown of hailey, idaho. the family says the outpouring of public support has been overwhelming, but it sounds as though they are saving for the safety of our son, we rather you keep quiet about it. is that the way to understand it? >> well, that was the was earlier on, before bowe bergdahl

has identified as the soldier captured in afghanistan. the silence ended once that video of bergdahl appeared and he was identified as the one in captivity. yeah, this is a close-knit town. a lot of people had been keeping in touch with bowe bergdahl via e-mail. after the report about a captured soldier came out and the fact that the e-mails stopped coming, people put two and two together and figured out that maybe bowe was that soldier. but they kept quiet about it out of deference to the family. the family says that the outpouring of public support has been overwhelming. this morning we saw a young mother with three small children and a bunch of american flags and they were planting them in the ground and putting them in flower pots all around town and people have been doing that sort of town, put up yellow ribbons on trees and signs saying "bring bowe back." people here are, obviously, very much behind the bergdahl family and they are trying to show

their support as best they can. >> george lewis, thank you so much and, boy, we hope the best for him. a republican leader says he is concrete legislative alternatives to fix health care and spur employment. has president barack obama found a potential gop ally? we'll talk with the man who could be his partner. we have an exclusive conversation straight ahead. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs. if we don't act, health care costs will rise 70%. and he'll have to cut benefits for his employees. but we can act. the president and congress have a plan to lower your costs and stop denials for pre-existing conditions. it's time to act.

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perhaps a night at the theater with extra special seats additional hotel night, our treat your world in perfect harmony: priceless look for world on your mastercard to get rewards and offers that matter to you. welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. quick fast forward through the top four headlines. president obama threatening to make the first veto of his administration if congress to spend $2 billion on f-22 fighter jets. senate set to vote today on whether the expenditure will remain in the final 680 billion defense spending bill. group of oregon high school

students quarantined in china because two of them tested positive for swine flu. the 64 students and chaperones allowed to finish their class trip if no one else becomes sick. detectives investigating 19 doctors in connection with the death of michael jackson. criminal charges could be filed after toxicology reports are lee released within the next two weeks. republicans criticizing the president's handling of health care by the bill moving through congress what they are calling, quote, a failed economic stimulus bill. joining us is republican congressman from arizona, john shadik. you've been one of the few republicans to say that you got concrete alternatives, concrete legislation in order to reform the broken health care system. can you walk us through your thoughts and let us know whether or not you're prepared to meet one-on-one with president obama and help him get through what he is trying to get through? >> absolutely. i'd be happy to meet with him at any point in time.

the biggest concern about health care in america is that the costs are going up too quickly. the democrats' proposal says we're going to control that by giving a top down very heavy old-time washington, centered, bureaucratic dictate and provisions you tell people they must do this and that and punish them and fine them if they don't. our bill goes the opposite direction. it says, look. let's empower individual people to buy their own health care, not their employer buy it for them. empower them to buy it themselves and help those who can't afford to buy it themselves and giving them money and they can buy the plan of their choice and force the insurance companies to compete. i've supported health care reform since i got here. what i want to do is empower patients from the bottom up to tell the insurance companies sell me a plan i like, a plan that meets my family's needs or i'll go buy one from somebody else and it's not my employer's

decision, it's my decision. >> i want to play for you right now what your republican national committee chairman michael steele had to say this morning on msnbc pr. or, better yet, i'll read to you what he said he is conducting a reckless experiment with the economy. do you agree with chairman steele that what president obama is trying to do is dangerous and reckless? >> those are pretty strong words. i do believe that the stimulus bill was a failed process and it has not done what the president told us it would do. he told us it would stop the loss of jobs and hold unemployment down. he said we would not get to anything close to the 9.5% unemployment rate we have now. i do think that what he is doing to health care will, in fact, destroy health care and all of the good things in it that we have right now. most americans don't realize that the cancer survival rates

for all cancers, for breast cancer and for prostate cancer are dramatically better in the united states than in canada, which is the system he wants to create, or england, or in all of europe. why would we want to switch from a system that needs to be fixed but is at least saving people longer with cancer to a system that isn't doing that? let's fix what is broken. let's fix the oulve control costs but not throw the baby out with the bath water. >> congressman, i'm joined by jean chatsey who has a question. >> absolutely. your plan seems to propose that the insurance companies compete with each other without a government option in the mix. what is your objection to that -- to that option on the table for the public plan? >> one word -- politicians. if you pretend that a public plan will force competition amongst the private insurance plans, the politicians will ultimately just cheat and subsidize the private plan but more importantly, let's look at it realistically. if that theory is right, if, in

order to get competition we have to have a public plan we would have to have a public plan for homeowners insurance and have a public plan for life insurance and we'd have to have a public plan for suit makers because, otherwise, there wouldn't be competition. why don't we have competition right now? >> why do we need -- >> no, let me make this point. we have no impegs because you and i can't buy health insurance. only our employer can buy health insurance under the tax code in america right now. that means you and i don't get to make a choice. >> in fact, i employ myself and so i do buy health insurance. >> you're lucky but i can't. >> not necessarily. congressman, many people these days who have discovered that there is, in fact, a market for individual health care and they can leave their employers plan and buy it on their own and it's a cheaper option for them. >> but they have to pay for it with after-tax dollars. why should your employer be able to pay for it with before-tax dollars but you have to pay for it with after-tax dollars?

that is totally unfair. >> congressman john shadegg of arizona, thank you for joining us. >> you bet. >> the battle over health care continues to heat up on capitol hill. what is the rest of the story? what does reform mean for you and me? joining us now is vijay, a global correspondent for the economy. >> great to be with you. >> as you heard the conversation that jean and i were having with congressman shadegg and having other conversations earlier today. a lot of confusion about what this health care reform will mean. and you say there's kind of a rest of the story. you say sometimes we understand the first word of the sentence but not, if you will, the second. for example, one of the things you say is forcing employers to pay for health insurance a bad idea? >> it sounds like it would be good for workers. 64 million uninsured. in fact, most economists that look at this say this employer mandate would actually end up being a tax on the lowest earning workers.

>> how does that work? >> here is why. at the low end of the spectrum, particularly unskilled workers, retail sector, for example, intense competition. most of these companies don't offer health insurance. it would end up being a tax and mean the companies would be less competitive and they would higher fewer of the workers with the least skills. in other words the people who most need jobs would find a place on their employers which employers always pass along these costs. >> what if president obama pushes back on you and says that is true under the current cost structure but if you were to lower the cost as we want to do, as jean is saying, if you were to insert and perhaps one way to lower the cost is to insert a public option and that might help lower the cost, then, in fact, these companies could provide more insurance for their employees, even these retail. >> if you wanted one glimpse no how and why this politics works, walmart came out in favor of an employer mandate and just shocked the industry. here is why. target and other competitors have lower costs for covering their employees. some don't offer any coverage,

so walmart which offers some sort of bare bones coverage seize as an advantage and want to burden their rival with the cost. it's like inside baseball. the better way to get there is lower costs and some of the other reforms that we're talking about. actually, forcing employers to offer insurance, they're just going to take it out of wages or not hire employees. >> or for benefits. we've seen a number of companies eliminate the 401(k) match. that's the sort of thing i think will continue as this happens. >> another thing you say president obama's pledge that you'll be able to keep your plan under his reform, you say that's misleading, it's only half the story. what is the rest of the story? >> i asked senator daschle who was supposed to be the health czar under president obama about this. he said, yes, you can keep your plan if you like it, but you might have to pay more. and that is the other half of the sentence. here is the reason why. this is a very dynamic situation. it's possible that your employer is going to drop your coverage anyway.

that is -- but, in fact, if you just burden more and more requirements on employers but you don't change the fundamental incentives driving up cost, at some point they drop your coverage or say you can get it but you have to pay more. all of these ideas expanding coverage are great but you're not actually doing anything to cut the underlying costs of health care. >> that's exactly right. and you're not focusing on the quality issue. i mean, your work has really shown that we spend much more than most other nations on health care, yet, we're not getting the results. how do we fix that problem? >> i think it really gets down to incentives. mayo clinic is probably one of the best hospitals in the world, people come from all over the world, they have doctors on salaries. they don't have extra payments just for giving you more scans or more treatments. and, yet -- >> flat fee. >> flat fee. where the rest of the system, we know this, that there is always a little extra incentive to give you an extra scan, especially if the physicians own the hospital

or the kimt equipment. we have a fundamental incentive problem. >> we have to run but you want to offer your last couple of thoughts in the final 30 seconds? >> you bet. insurance sector is where the heart of the problem is and republican argument gets it partly right. insurance companies all they do is cherry-pick and lemon drop. we need maryland reform. other countries holland have private health care and private insurance get it right. you don't need a government plan to do this. but we need fundamental insurance reform. >> you're saying public option is not the magic pill. >> genuine competition, private sector, driven, innovation. the things america does best. if we get the incentives right, doctors want to do the right thing. >> vijay, enjoyed having you and hope you'll come back. >> i'd be delighted. >> for more on the health care debate, check out our website. carloswatson.msnbc.com. countdown is on for sarah palin's exit as alaska governor but now edgics charges just announced today and that is straight ahead.

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. now alaska governor sarah palin will officially step aside in five days. in the meantime, she has faced a 19th ethics complaint. this time for allegedly being slow to disclose gifts she got as governor. norah o'donnell is msnbc chief washington correspondent. what do you got on this? yet another ethics complaint? >> her 19th ethics complaint and governor palin is not happy about it so she is tweeting about it saying this is a serial plainer and she had several tweets last night. she says read nor frivolous and thissics allegations today. i mean, as you know, governor

palin cited these ethics complainants which has cost her $500,000. that resignation five days from now she only is left to be governor. she wasn't in office for that long. she still has 17 months as part of our four-year term but she is stepping down on sunday and do it at this big fairbanks picnic where thousands of people will be there and transfer power and she will give a talk and we will hear more about why she is stepping down and what she plans to do in the future. she has had a very interesting week this past week traveling all around the state and we do know something about her political future. she is going to california is her first political trip august 8th at the reagan library. >> very interesting. also the place you go to fund-raise whether democrat or republican. >> she is speaking to republican women there in simi valley at the reagan presidential library and it's closed to the press. >> you know what?

that will actually be a canary in the coal mine if the republican candidate in california uses sarah palin next year when she or he is running for office. i think that will be a big telltale sign whether republicans believe sarah palin is an asset. good to have you. thanks so much. >> thanks. coming up, the arrest of a prominent african-american scholar raises new questions about racial profiling at harvard and some say this is no isolated incident. the latest details straight ahad he head. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. for importan. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. the first complete women's multivitamin in a drink mix. with more calcium and vitamin d... to support bone and breast health... while helping you hydrate. one a day women's 2o. refreshingly healthy. dddddddddddddddd

welcome back to "msnbc live." i'm carlos watson. sources close to the investigation say all charges against a prominent african-american scholar from harvard will in fact be dropped. henry lewis gates is accusing police of racism after he was arrested after trying to get into his locked home. joining us is toure, an msnbc contributor, and dr. nancy snyderman, host of "dr. nancy,"

nbc's chief medical editor. >> he wasn't arrested trying to get into his home, he was inside his home, and then came out. >> the officers said come out, and he refused. the officer continued to say, hey, we need to make sure this is your home. the officer says in the police report, i realized that it was his home, but i did not understand why he was so upskpet angry a set and angry and yelling me. well, perhaps it was because you were in his home. >> and he provided his harvard i.d. and his license and other evidence that made it clear, as you said, that he was in the home. >> and this started from a woman calling the police saying she thought there was a break-in. should have been cleared up right there on the spot. and it wasn't. and i think one of the things that happens in white america, somebody goes, well, it was a well-meaning call, it was a black man trying to jimmy a door. the assumption is, boom, boom, boom. and then you have to step back

and say that this is not an isolated incident. there are these stories and anecdotes and become chilling experiences. >> i know you just spoke to president obama a couple days ago and there's been some critique so far that president obama's kind of shied away from talking about race. he obviously gave the important speech in philadelphia and was at the ncaap convention. >> and cairo. >> oh, interesting. but some people say there's a little more conversation to be had. is that too much? >> you know how i feel. you can never talk too much about race. he said, oh, it's not about race. that's stu it's always about race. we have to get over the wigginess over, oh, you're black, i'm white, we have to talk about it. >> it's so rare to hear white people say that too. black people are usually saying, it's all about race. white people are saying, let's move it to the side, let's not talk about it, because talking about it perpetuates.

no, we have to talk about it to draw it down. >> it's because it's so uncomfortable. >> do you think that's true, generationally, too. do you think the hesitation is true among younger whites that there is among middle-aged younger whites? >> now you're asking me to speak for white people. i'm not going to do that. >> i'll speak for white kids. i think my kids look at race somewhat differently, but the problem is, my kids grew up in san francisco where whites were a minority. so they look at skin color somewhat differently, but then once you assume certain roles in society, i still maintain that race creeps into the workplace, creeps into family -- >> of course it does. >> it is there. >> just because we have president obama doesn't mean that racism is over. and people are kind of moving toward that idea. some people are thinking that, absolutely, not. what happens on the ground hasn't changed. >> so one of our colleagues this morning said that it was an isolated incident. you say what to that? >> well, no. this is part of, like you said, cumulative -- this is part of being a black man in america. the thing here is that the most

famous, rich, educated harvard professor can have this happen to him in his home, it can happen to any of us. it can happen in your home, my home, anybody. >> in science, we sort of tend to say, well win need to see the study. we forget that anecdotes are people's own stories. they may not tilt data one way or another, but anecdotes matter. anecdotes are our individual stories and the fabric of america. >> you guys, thank you for that. i'm going to wrap up with the daily "c" note, my big thought. so while health care or even the henry lewis gates story has been the focus of a lot of discussion, the reality is that a lot of americans are also still gravely worried about the economy. in fact, millions of us spend late nights and long days consumed about fumal worries, whether that's securing a job, keeping a job, paying for the mortgage or rent, or finding a way out of debt. while a second stimulus may not be in the cards at the moment, another major part of the economy is worth taking a peak at in the days to come. that's the federal reserve, america's central bank.

it's not the sexiest topic in the world, but they are the folks that stir the economic drink, if you will. and i think that my guest cohost yesterday, eliot spitzer, put it well in his recent article, saying there are at least four big questions we should ask in the coming weeks and months about the federal reserve. number one, who gets to sit on those regional board of governors? are they looking out for the health of the economy or helping spur things like the wall street meltdown? and number two, what are the benchmarks? with when do we know we have a healthy economy? just when the dow soars, or when unemployment is over 13%? and what terms should the government place on the billions of dollars they have lent to struggling bank? and who should lead it? should ben bernanke get reappointed or replaced next year? and even if the federal reserve is not the sexiest issue in the world, we have to talk about it p

. now turning over to "dr. nancy". >> you mentioned obama. obviously, president obama is coming up in a few minutes. he's going to continue to take his message on health care to the public with remarks from the white house. we'll have that live. and also, two other things you should know about. home glucose monitors. whether they work. we'll talk about that and a little important thing whether it's smart for your doctor to say he or she is sorry when mistakes are. nst coming up on noon on the east coast and the doctor is in. b two medium cappuccinos,

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coming up today on "dr. nancy," president obama taking health care to the people. in just 15 minutes, he'll be speaking from the white house and he is fighting off republican efforts to kill reform. >> this isn't about who's up and who's down. this is about solving an enormous problem for the american people. >> coming up, we'll have the

president's remarks live and i'll talk to linda douglas. she's on the front line and she is representing president obama's health care reform message. also, if you have diabetes and you rely on those at-home tests to help you monitor your blood sugar, we have a story you're absolutely going to want to hear. and could two little words save doctors big money on malpractice? one hospital's experiment with the simple phrase, "i'm sorry." . hi, everybody. i'm dr. nancy snyderman. we're just minutes away from president obama's lates effort to convince america that health care reform is on track. he's been taking his pitch repeatedly now to the public during the last few days and he has a prime-time news conference schedule for tomorrow night. in an interview with meredith vieira, he hinted that the plan may tax some people more than others. >> ultimately, what we're going to have is a package which will

probably include some additional revenue from well-to-do people, including me and you, who can afford to pay a little bit more so that working families, people who are going to their job every single day, can have a little more security on their -- >> so that means yes, mr. president? >> it means that that is one option among many, but what levels that's going to be at, where it's pegged at, you know, all those details are still being worked out. >> joining me now is chief white house correspondent, chuck todd from the north lawn. chuck, the president has been pretty careful so far to be the big-picture kind of guy and it seems increasingly like he's being pulled into the my nuch ya of the details. >> later today he's meeting with house details to try to figure out