it is true. plus, we are waiting for president obama to announce rahm emanuel's departure and his replacement. we will bring all of this to you live. we begin this hour with a deadly storm that is wreaking havoc up the eastern seaboard. north carolina was slammed by drenching rains, the remnants of tropical storm nicole. some cities saw more rain in hours than they normally get in months. jacksonville took on 12 inches in just six hours. the weather is blamed for at least two car accidents that claimed five lives and in virginia, flooded roads snarled traffic and left drivers stranded. flash flood watches and warnings were issued in many parts of the state and nicole dumped 13 inches in parts of maryland. thursday was the rainiest day, if you can believe this, in more than four years. the system is now drenching the northeast. we got team coverage for you, the weather channel eric fisher is in times square, but, first, brownbrook, new jersey, where mara is standing by. i see the rain coming down. what is the latest there?

>> yeah, good morning, tamron. it is coming down quite heavily. it has been doing so all morning. the good news is that this is a really fast-moving storm. so, it's really heavy off the coast right now and the ri-state area getting hammered and it is expected to move through quickly. central new jersey has already seen two to four inches of rain and some places are expected to see up to five inches of rain and just to put that in a little bit of perspective you mention areas seeing more rain in a couple more hours than they have seen in monthsp the entire state of new jersey got two and a half inches of rain over the entire month of august. now we're seeing two to four inches over the course of a day. now, flooding is always a concern, especially where we are here. i just want to show you how close we are to the we'reten river. it is just about 100 feet away, just over those trees there and that is a river that floods. it has flooded before and where we're standing is actually partially built on a flood plain and so nat is a concern. however, the good news is right now it doesn't look like we'll

see any flooding from that river and it's about five feet below flood stage and hopefully they can avoid any flooding and, however, the tri-state area is under a flood watch. we are seeing some power outages in new jersey. 4,000 customers by last count relatively mild in the large scheme of things, but we are seeing some power outages and some travel delays, which is to be expected in tri-state area airports. jfk is expecting wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour today, so not really a surprise that we are seeing delays at those airports. laguardia experiencing delays of about three hours and jfk delays of about an hour. >> mara live for us in new jersey, thanks, mara. heavy rain created tough conditions earlier this morning in new york city. turn the city streets into mini rivers. the weather channel's eric fisher is in times square. >> here in new york city, it was a rough morning. not the type of day you want to

go for a stroll in central park. worst of the weather rolled through between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m., the city that never sleeps and folks are out on the streets and they got caught in some nasty rain squalls that moved through. the streets here filled up with water when the rain was coming down so hard they had to close down the one, two and three trains for a little while earlier this morning because of rain that got into the 79th street station and the other side effect here besides the broken umbrellas we have been seeing all morning, the air travel definitely affected by this storm system. delays at laguardia up to three hours and jfk over an hour, as well. all this moving off to the east. worst of the rain is over with here in new york city, but as you heads over towards southeastern connecticut, boston, providence, that's where you'll see some delays. strong wind gustsed and cause power outages and urban flooding a big threat, too. the poor draining area that tends to dry out and that's what we're going to be seeing. one more thing to note, this is

not the same storm that we followed even last night where it was a tropical feel here in new york city, now it is a cold feel. it feels very much like october. temperatures back in the 50s and that's where it should stay as we head through the afternoon. tamron, back to you. if you are among the millions to stay dry on the east coast today, upload your pictures at firstperson@msnbc.com. > we are expecting that rahm emanuel is resigning and he's also expected to emanuel replacement and peter rouse, known as the fixer. joining me is chuck todd, nbc news political director and chief white house correspondent, as well as mark whittaker and msnbc bureau chief and msnbc contributor. chuck, i'll start off with you. what do we expect to hear from rahm emanuel? >> i think it will be a fairly triumphant exit speech.

look, seeing this east room event and watching cabinet secretaries walk in. if you doubted rahm emanuel's influence and power inside this administration before today, when you see cabinet secretaries being brought in as the audience for his departure and, of course, also the entrance of pete rouse, it really sort of underscores the power that rahm emanuel had inside this administration that really he was more chief than he was staff. that this was a guy that, you know, was as in charge of the cabinet as he was somebody who just simply interacted with cabinet secretary. so, i just think truly the picture in this setting today sort of really underscores the power with which this chief of staff has and it's very similar, frankly too, the first chief of staff that president reagan had in jim baker and a model for rahm emanuel. we would bring up jim baker a lot and others would bring up jim baker a lot and that is the person he would model himself after and as far as legislative

accomplishments, he would walk away. no way he didn't come in here and get the job done. >> pete rouse who would replace on an interim basis and let me play what rahm emanuel has to say on his way out the door and back to chicago. >> rahm emanuel such a big personality with strong, i suspected that he's been really out of the mold as far as white house chief of staffs are considered. could he find someone who could help carve a more conciliatory path and a better working relationship with both democrats and republicans. so, i think the first and most important thing would be somebody who would first set a new tone inside the white house more in keeping with the tone that the president promised in 2008. >> so, what do you make of those comments from rove, mark? >> well, tamron, i thought a reporter from "the new york times" had a good line if romah emanuel loomed large, pete rouse

loomed. a long-time chief of staff to senator daschle before barack obama and really knows the inside game. but, look, if rahm emanuel was the right chief of staff for the first two years or year and a half of the obama administration when they had control of congress and they could do big legislative things and he was the person who drove that through, it may be that pete rouse is the right person for what is likely to be a very different atmosphere in washington after the midterm elections when they very possibly may be dealing with the republican-controlled congress. they're not going to be able to do the big things legislative and they will get somebody who can work across the aisle as pete rouse did when he was the chief of staff for the minority leader in the senate. >> jim warren, a legend in chicago. let me ask you this. what kind of gamble is it for

ra rahm emanuel to leave the white house and head to chicago. he is just one of many at this point. >> it's significant. at the same time, i do think that the political reality is it was time for him to go. the fact is the democrats may lose a fair amount of control in the fall elections. and it was just time to go and, though chuck does mention the impressive turnout there, the assemblage which will pay honor to him. i do know some folks in that room and they're happy to see him go. they're happy to see the end of his more combative style. the reality is, everybody was stunned that perhaps america is richard m. daly decided to leave. this is the time for him to come back. he never really run anything. as important as he is in the white house, he is still ultimately a staffer. the notion of coming back and running the third biggest city. 33 million employees and a host of problems was too difficult for him to pass up, especially since the field is so chaotic

that he instantly as a result of his name recognition becomes one of the two or three leading candidates. >> chuck, let me bring you back in and talk about the white house shakeup. fewer than two years some of the big names that are gone. rahm emanuel, peter orszag, christina rover and larry summers. what does this mean for the president? or is this usual? would you see people of this stature heading out the door two years into. >> you do see this in the first two years. i think what's a little bit different is that we're seeing a lot of this take place a little bit before the midterm and outside events. you know, jim brought up the retirement of mayor daly that sped up the process with rahm emanuel. rahm was going to leave next year. he was going to leave probably some time in late spring was the last, they were going to do an entire reorganization to prepare there the re-election of the campaign. but i would not describe this as a shake up. this is the classic turnover because look at who's replacing who and we didn't even mention,

look, david axelrod has already announced that he is going to leave and we will start working on the campaign and david mruf, one of the architect of the 2008 campaign is going to be the campaign operative on the inside and he is going to come into the west wing. everybody is sort of a deputy chief of staff with pete rouse replacing the chief of staff. you talked about christina romer, he was replaced by a deputy in the economic team and this certainly is turnover, not a shake up. i want to underscore what mark said earlier. it is setting a different tone and this tone is sort of getting the team more focused on messaging and the campaign going forward because this is going to be political battles. there aren't going to be policy battles. at this point he needs, the president needs people around him that he's comfortable with him going into political battle and i think this is what you're seeing today with pete rouse.

>> what are insiders saying the president's reaction has been to all of this. he has political battles ahead of him that are significant. you have people even wondering if he could be a second term president when you compare that to the excitement and the celebration as the president referred to just in wisconsin the other day that no longer exists and the that enthusiasm gap. >> i think what we have seen from the very beginning of barack obama's run for president in 2008 and as president is that as some of his closest advisors tend to say, he's a fourth quarter player. sometimes he seems a little bit late to get into the game, but then when he does, he does it with a lot of energy and he likes to stand at the three-point line and drain the three-pointers. they are in the final minutes. i think what you're seeing right now just in the last week with that rally in wisconsin, i think some of the other political events you're going to be seeing in coming weeks is getting into this campaign. now, it is probably too late for him to avoid, i think, significant losses for the democrats in these midterms but

it is a reminder that he is a very effective politician when he wants to be. i think that right now the enthu enthusiasm gap, the enthusiasm is on the republican side and the tea party midterms, but, look, if the republicans take control of the house, they're going to have ownership of washington, too. and you may see, as you saw after the losses that the democrats sustained in '94 after the first few years of bill clinton the pendulum swings a little bit and more focus on what the republicans are doing and barack obama may be able to capitalize on that if he runs for re-election in 2012. >> chuck, let me ask you real quick because the room is settling down but i can't help but to notice in my monitor, treasury secretary timothy geithner working the room and moving around and there have

been republicans that said that the president needs to shake up his entire economic team and we know larry summers is leaving. might we see another person drop out of the ranks as a president has to focus on the economy and assure people that this is slow, but it's moving. >> you know, it's interesting the way conventional wisdom could shift in washington. i would argue that three months into his tenure the first person that people would have been predicted that would have been pushed out would have been treasury secretary tim geithner got off to a slow start and not great on television and had trouble at congressional hearings and didn't do a good job selling these things. what's interesting over the last year he has gotten his sea legs to the point that people in the white house are very happy with them and they're comfortable seeing larry go out the door and i think tim geithner will be there for a while now. as far as peope people coming i person to keep an eye on is a woman by the name of ann fudge, somebody who is on a bunch of corporate boards, big friends with a lot of democratic

business leaders and she is probably somebody who could replace larry summers. that's how the president likes to bring in new blood. you bring it in on the outer circle you and you work your way into the inner circle. >> jim, we just got the two-minute warning. i'll ask you about this. the president is somehow weak and that this is an extraordinary event. put it in perfective here. chuck and i talked about you see this kind of change two years into most presidencies. >> yeah, chuck's absolutely correct. i do think that we in the media often become too obsessed particularly in washington where i was for eight years with the staffers and the consultants and these sorts of changes. they're absolutely typical and in this case i think what mark and chuck have said before about probably a needed change and sort of temperment and at the

same time, president obama's losing something and chuck mentioned at the 2012 elections, he is looking a strategist whose work in helping the democrats regain congress in 2006 as head of the democratic national campaign committee should not be forgotten. >> mark, there was a great debate over whether or not rahm emmanuel would leave before the midterms. to jim's point, that race in chicago, he needed to jump in and do so immediately. do you believe that there is any concern about the timeline here and especially, again, going back to that enthusiasm gap the president has referred to all this week in trying to rally the base. >> tamron, if there is one absolute indication that rahm emanuel did not expect this timing, is that he sublet his house in chicago. just weeks before mayor daly announced surprisingly that he wasn't going to run. rahm emanuel i think was expecting to be in the white house, as chuck said, probably at least until the spring.

this was as much a surprise as anything. but, look, if the lesson of barack obama's election was you have to seize the day sometimes and the moment as a politician, i think he realized that this is his other dream job, to be the mayor of chicago. this may have been a once in a generation opportunity and he couldn't pass it up. >> mark brings opgreat point. i think it was the columnist in chicago who said that rahm emanuel leased out his house and now the tenant refuses to leave the house. >> he has a couple places to live. but, look, the amazing thing today is he's walking an interesting line and jim can speak better. look, i'm told the website is going live today, right. because you have an opportunity to raise money. this is in many ways everybody is going to cover this as a two-prong event. the white house gets a new chief of staff and rahm emanuel starts his campaign for chicago and anybody that wants to give money go to blah, blah, blah but he also has to not step on two

tough elections that democrats are dealing with in the state of illinois on november 2nd and the campaign team that is already in place for rahm's campaign is aware of this issue and it will be fascinating to watch rahm this weekend because he wants to have a little bit of a higher profile in chicago, but not too much where he overshadows the senate candidate or, of course, governor jim. >> i'll ask you for insight into rahm's chances of winning this race. in the last few years that city is hurting. the housing market has just been a bust there and unemployment and many, many other issues when you compare to what it was like five years ago in that beautiful town. does rahm emanuel really have a good shot at winning, especially when you factor in the issue of race already being discussed regarding who should be the next mayor of chicago. >> absolutely. i think i can sum it up in one

word, money. conventional wisdom now among some of the smartest people that rahm ranks second and the county sheriff a white named tom dart. i think that conventional wisdom is wrong and the combination of his focus and his celebrity and of the fact that he is probably going to come back and portray himself as a more humble, more conciliatory rahm emanuel. put that together with a ton of money. this guy made $16 million in one year after he left the clinton administration and has a prestigious rolladex. perspective candidates who just will never be able to come up with those sort of resources. >> so, mark, i was just given

this note that rahm emanuel received a standing ovation at his last senior staff meeting this morning and some 30 plus that gathered in the roosevelt room for the big send off. people are going to applaud you when you're leaving and share great stories, but i was intrigued by the anoninous sources out of the white house who really express that they were happy earlier in the week that rahm emanuel was leaving. well, you hear some of that, but i think the fact is that a lot of people were in the trenches with him over the last two years. understand that he could be a very demanding boss, perhaps will breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief in terms of not being pushed quite that hard, but the fact is, i think they do give him credit for having gotten a lot of this, what i think will be seen ultimately as historic legislation, whether

you like it or not, over the finish line. rahm emanuel and the president himself has said this. without rahm emanuel, some of these things would have never happened. >> austin goolsby had a carp flown in for rahm's last meeting and, obviously, this is funny because rahm emanuel sent the fish to a pollster he was upset with. i hope we get a picture of the moment but payback is, you know what. >> exactly. he screamed this isdied fish and as robert gibbs shared with some other reporters, as well. it was. this is, of course, how they say good-bye in chicago. but we shall see. it's going to be interesting to see if pete rouse even uses the f-bomb once a day, yet alone the amount of times that rahm is notoriously known for. >> chuck, i think we're going to

go to a quick break as we wait for president obama to make an official rahm emanuel is leaving and name the interim replacement for rahm emanuel. we'll be right back after a quick break. [ male announcer ] prilosec otc traveled to fairbanks, alaska. home of one of the coldest, longest nights on the planet. and asked frequent heartburn sufferers, like carl, to put prilosec otc's 24 hour heartburn protection to the test for two weeks. the results? i can concentrate on everything i'm doing, not even think about it anymore. since i've been taking it, i've been heartburn free, which is a big relief for me. [ male announcer ] take your 14-day challenge. ♪ prilosec otc.

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welcome to the least suspenseful announcement of all time. as almost all of you have reported, my chief of staff, rahm emanuel, has informed me that he will be leaving his post today to explore other opportunities. this is a bittersweet day here at the white house. on the one hand, we are all very excited for rahm as he takes on a new challenge for what chhe is extraordinarily well qualified. but we're also losing a comparable leader of our staff and one who we are going to miss very much. when i first started assembling this administration, i knew we were about to face some of the most difficult years this country has seen in generations. the challenges were big and the margin for error was small.

two wars, an economy on the brinks of collapse and a set of tough choices about issues that we had put off for decades. choices about health care and energy and education. how to rebuild a middle class that had been struggling for far too long. and i knew that i needed somebody at my side who i could count on day and night to get the job done. to meet the bill, as well, as rahm emanuel. and that's why i told him that he had no choice in the matter. he was not allowed to say no. it wasn't just rahm's broad array of experiences in congress and in the white house and in politics and in business. it was also the fact that he just brings an unmatched level of energy and enthusiasm and commitment to every single thing

that he does. this was a great sacrifice for ramm, amy and the family to move out here. rahm gave up one of the most powerful positions on capitol hill to do this and in the last 20 months, rahm has exceeded all of my expectations. it is fair to say that we could not have accomplished what we've accomplished without rahm's leadership from preventing a second depression to passing historic health care and financial reform legislation to restoring america's leadership in the world. for nearly two years, i've begun my work day with rahm and i have ended my work day with rahm. much to amy's chagrin, i have intruded on his life at almost any hour of the day, any day of the week with just enormous challenges.

his advice has always been candid. his opinions have always been insightful and his commitment to his job has always been heartfelt born of a passionate desire to move this country forward and lift up the lives of the middle class and people who are struggling to get there. he has been a great friend of mine. and will continue to be a great friend of mine. he has been a selfless public servant. he has been an outstanding chief of staff. i will miss him dearly, as will members of my staff and cabinet with whom he has worked so closely and so well. now, i don't think anybody would disagree that rahm is one of a kind. i am very fortunate to be able to hand the baton to my wise, skillful and long-time counselor pete rouse. pete, who has more than 30 years of experience in public service

will serve as interim chief of staff as we enter the next phase of our administration. many of you remember pete as the top aide to then senate majority leader tom daschle. pete was efectiontally known as the 101st senator. from the moment i became a u.s. senator, he has been one of my closest and most essential advisors. he was my chief of staff in the senate. he helped orchestrate and advise my presidential campaign and he has served as one of my senior advisors here at the white house. and in that role he has taken on a series of management and legislative challenges with his customary clarity and common purpose. there is a saying around the white house, let's let pete fix it. and he does. pete' known as a skillful problem solving and the good news for him is that we have

plenty of problems to solve. so, i am extraordinarily grateful to him that he has agreed to serve as our interim chief of staff and i look forward very much to working with him in this new role. obviously, these two gentlemen have slightly different styles. i mentioned, for example, this is a couple of years ago. i pointed out that when he was a kid had lost part of his fipger in an accident and it was his middle finger so it rendered him mute for a while. pete has never seen a microphone or a tv camera that he likes. and yet there is something in common here. as president of the united states, you get both the credit

and the blame for what happens around here and the blame is usually deserved or at least i happily accept it because that comes with the territory. but the credit really goes to the men and women who work in this building. it goes to people like rahm and pete and the hundreds of others who are here today. who sometimes get some attention and sometimes don't. but these are folks who give up incredibly lucrative opportunities, sacrifice enormously and their families sacrifice enormously. they come here every day to do the best possible job on behalf of the american people and oftentimes they don't get the thanks that they deserve.

so as your president and as a fellow american, i want to take this moment to say to all the staff, all the cabinet members how proud i am of you and how grateful i am of you and how particularly proud and grateful i am to my outgoing chief of staff, rahm emanuel. >> thank you. slightly different reception than i got at my bar mitzvah, but i appreciate it. thank you, mr. president, for those generous words. but, more importantly, thanks for your warm friendship, your

confidence and the opportunity to serve you and our country in such consequential times. needless to say, this is a bittersweet day for me, too. on the one hand, i'm excited to be heading home to chicago. which as you know very well, mr. president, is the greatest city in the greatest country in the world. i'm energized by the prospect of new challenges and eager to see what i can do to make our hometown even greater. these are unprecedented and great times in chicago. mr. president, the chicago bears are 3-0. >> unbelievable. >> i'm also sad to leave you, the vice president, my terrific colleagues here at the white house, the cabinet and so many friends on both sides of pennsylvania avenue with whom i worked with chief of staff and as a member of congress. it's been a profound privilege

to work for and with you, mr. president. i watched you confront some of the toughest challenges of our time and you've done it with unfailing grace, intelligence andcourage. you had the tough, you had the guts to make the tough calls that stopped the freefall that saved our country from a second great depression. you have taken on some of the most powerful interests in this town to stand up for the american people. and you've been willing to challenge the worn out ideas and the steal thinking that often stands in the way of progress. mr. president, i thought i was tough. but as someone who saw first hand how close our nation came to the brink and what you had to do to put america back on track, i want to thank you for being the toughest leader any country could ask for in the toughest times any president has ever faced.

and even on the hardest days, you never lost focus on why we're here. not just to score political points, but to solve problem. not just to win the next election, but to make a difference for the next generation. i have served you, mr. president, as a member of your staff. but i also observed you as a friend. i have seen what few are privileged to see. the father whose heart breaks when he writes a letter to parents whose son or daughter has been lost on the field of honor. the man of quiet, committed faith who always appeals to the better angels of our nature. and the proud product of the

american dream who sees in the reams of economic statistics the child who struggles and the single parent with limited income but unlimited potential. you have lived that american dream, mr. president, as have i. my father and my grandfather came to this country for opportunity. they came here for a better life for their children. my mother marched with martin luther king because she believed that none of us is truly free until all of us are. both my parents raised me to give something back to the country and the community that has given us so much. and i want to thank you for the opportunity to repay in a small

portion of the blessings this country has given my family. i give you my word that even as i leave the white house, i will never leave that spirit of service behind. now, because my temperament is sometimes a bit different than yours, mr. president, i want to thank my colleagues for your patience the last two years that you have shown. i am sure you've learned some words that you never heard before and an assortment of combination of words. but we learned together is what a group of tireless, commitmented people can achieve together. and as difficult as it is to

leave, i do so with the great comfort of knowing that pete rouse will be there to lead the operation forward. from the moment i arrived and the moment he arrived, pete has been a good friend with great judgment. he commands the respent of evct everyone in this building and brings decades of experience to this assignment. finally, i want to thank my wife, amy, and our three remarkable children, zach, lana and lai without whose love and suppo support. mr. president, thank you and thank you, all, i look forward to seeing you in chicago.

want to quickly bring in mark whittaker as rahm emanuel embraces his wife and children. he got choked up talking about his father and grandfather and how they came to this country for opportunity. what do you think of his departing remarks there? >> we talk about the no drama obama administration and there are is not always a lot of emotion. i think that was one of the more emotional moments we have seen. we often cover politics as a sport but for people who are working in the white house it is often war and these are men who went to battle together and it's almost like, you know, at the end of a war, they're going home or at least he's going home to chicago. my other thought about it is that there was a lot of talk about his temperament, rouse's temperament and the president's temperament and in a way he was a very good compliment to a very

even keel president. someone who could get passionate and push people and it will be interesting to see if pete rouse who will serve that role now of pushing as the president, as is his nature stands back and, you know, is more of the calming influence. >> you need that balance sometimes. jim, quickly, let me get your thoughts. >> well, i thought most interesting to me was the theme of toughness as he praised the president for a sign that many folks might not necessarily associate with him. it's something that rahm emanuel is going to need to win this race. he is going to have to be very disciplined, very tough. but the question is, what happens if he wins? can he govern? he's going to have to be a little bit more inclusive and a little more intolerant of critics than he has been in the past. he's got the intellect and the discipline and there's no tougher job in this country right now than big city mayor and he's got the skill set to pull it off. >> knowing the current mayor

daley i think his temperament might be closer to rahm emanuel than many think. thank you, both. we will be right back with more news right here on msnbc. ge what's up ? ugh. my feet are killin' me. you should get some custom fit orthotics. dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic center. it recommends the custom fit orthotic that's best for your feet. and footcare scientists are behind it. you'll get immediate comfort... ... and, you could save a couple hundred bucks. for locations see drscholls.com

welcome back, a new shocking admission and an apology from the u.s. government from a secret study where people were intentionally infected with diseases. from 1946 to '48 public researchers infected nearly 700 guatemalans with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge or permission and about one-third of those people who were infected never got adequate treatment. secretary of state hillary clinton and health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius issued an apology for this experiment. bob bazell, nbc chief science and health correspondent is here to help us understand more of exactly what happened. bob, instantly, people started making comparisons to the now infamous experiment that

happened in alabama. why are we learning about this now? >> it was hidden away, interestingly, tamron, some people involved in that experiment were involved in this. people were intentionally infected. they were prisoners and people in mental institutions, highly vulnerable populations and prostitutes that were told to geout and spread the infection and it's true that most of them were treated with penicillin, but some were not treated and francis collins, dr. francis collins head of the national institute of health just called a telebriefing and he called this one of the worst chapters in the history of medicine and very few people would disagree with that. setting up commissions to make sure that this kind of thing could even possibly happen again and this is something that was carried out at a time when the u.s. gump was trying to figure out about sexually transmitted diseases and had the cooperation of some people in the guatemalan government at that time. there's also some talk of whether there will be repfor th

families of these people. again, these people were injected with material that came from the united states and all parts of their bodies, including into their spines and when you read the details of this, it's just sickening. >> i just want to quickly read part of the apology today that was released, in part, although these events occurred more than 64 years ago we're outraged that such research could have occurred under the guise of public health. we deeply regret that it happened and we apologize to all for the unbelievable who were affected by this. more than half of americans blame parents for the sad state of our country's education system. coming up, the role of parents in a child's education. coming up on msnbc. ently delici. 60 calories. it's finally me o'clock. time for jell-o. try new chocolate mint sensation.

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now to emication nation. our week-long look at america's schools and how we can help our children succeed. everyone including president

obama says parental involvement is key here and joining me now is executive director of excellent education for everyone and education reform group based in newark, new jersey, the hot city when it comes to education these days. >> it's hot there a lot of reasons. >> that $100 million from mr. zuckerberg does not hurt at all. good to see you. >> thank you so much for having me. >> i can't tell you how many people e-mailed and said, what about the parents? got to get parents involved. teachers can't do it all. the policy can't be the complete solution. what do you say? >> i think that the up front on this is like, look, when you're a child and you're born into the world, there's three things you can't control. where you're born, what color you are and who your parents are, right? so, some people do have this sort of inherent advantage there. you got two college educated parents or whatever -- >> or two concerned parents. >> you got it. but with that in mind, right, we can't build a system that's meant to deal with kids from parental situations that were

dominant in the '50s that are not now. we have to have a school system that works independently of whether or not you have great parents. >> so, that goes back to the argument that some teachers say they feel that they have to be all things. parents, nurse, counselor, all things. >> it's unfair. i want to be clear about this. why i'm teaching such a difficult job and why it has emerge under to the most important job in america and why everyone can't do it. but we can control what goes on in schools. that's where our policies are and where our money is and it really puts an unfortunate burden on those people there, but you have to live with it. that's the job. >> you hear about a lot of parents who start to be activist parents and they are heard loud and clear by teachers and their children seem to have great results. do parents have to then extend their tentacles to other kids who don't have that support? you talk a lot about african-american kids and a lot of them come from single-parent homes. does the church need to step in?

when we say parent it can't be this 1950 image but an extension of a parent. >> it's parentcommunity, it's two different facets of that. one, active parent really helps other parents just by virtue of their being there, right? >> right. >> you look to a leader and a leader leads and other people take lessons from that and certainly that translates to the interesting communities and one of the things that freaks me out, we go out to places and talk to people about what's going on in schools in newark, and people are shocked, and ministers are you right, is it serious? can it be this bad? dude, you're a pillar of the community, you have to know this. you call yourself involved or whatever. it takes a village to raise a child and optimally it should, but at the same time we have to meet our leaders and in particular our parents where they are. you know, our schools are saying they want you to come in. a lot of time they get you there, sorry, we didn't really mean that. and until we get that going and,

you know, in a two-way instead of one-way. >> always great to have you on. >> thank you so much. >> it's awesome. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> if you want to learn more visit educationnation.com. replant a forest? maybe you want to rebuild homes for those in need? or, maybe you want to help improve our schools? whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference. no, that's the name of the new oreo cookie. what's the name of the new oreo cookie? [ eli ] heads or tails. tails. tails. heads. heads. tails. heads.

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welcome back. today organizers are putting the finishing touches on a massive rally that will bring thousands of progressives and liberal activists together at the lincoln memorial tomorrow, union leaders and civil rights leaders and prominent religious leaders are expected to turn out for the one nation mark. marc morial is president of the national urban league and the former mayor of my favorite city, new orleans. what are you expecting tomorrow? >> a big crowd, a strong crowd to demonstrate unity in support of jobs, justice, and education. this is a positive effort. it's an effort to give people a chance to demonstrate their

energy and their support. and to continue to fight for the kind of change we need in this nation. >> why now? >> i think now because this has been in the works for quite a long time, but because i'm mindful of the fact that the nation seems to be going on a path of division. and what we want to do is bring people together, so what you're going to see is multi -- a multiethnic crowd. you're going to see a crowd of many, many backgrounds and from different regions in the country unified around jobs, justice -- which is really about fairness in this nation -- and about educating our kids, which, of course, nbc is know cussing on right now. >> right. how much of this has to do with the midterm elections coming up and as the president says there's an enthusiasm gap between liberals and progress e progressives? >> i hope it generates a lot more enthusiasm about voting. voting needs to be a habit. it shouldn't be a some-time thing. and we need to remind people that change comes when we participate in democracy. we don't have the luxury to stand on the side and watch. >> all right.

well, we will be watching to see what it said. greatly appreciate it. and our ed schultz will be there as well. >> and people can follow it on iam's inpower.com where we'll have a live stream. if you can't be there, you can be there. >> in spirit. and msnbc will have a special coverage tomorrow from noon until 3:00 p.m. eastern time. thank you for joining me this hour, that does it for me. i'm tamron hall. i will see you at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. contessa brewer picks up the coverage at the top of the hour. q (vet) i love working with animals,

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