tonight in our t. t. minus six months left in president obama's first term his list of campaign promises remains of woefully incomplete will grade the president on his performance and let the games begin the olympic torch is making its way to the stadium in london to officially kick off the event coming up we'll ask the author of the book dream team if this will be an epic battle between the east and the west and if china will rise to the task plus get ready for a food fight of epic proportions is being fried up and served on a silver platter by gay rights groups and now cities like boston and chicago are telling the food chain to stay away the details ahead. it's thursday july twenty sixth eight pm here in washington d.c.

i'm liz wahl and you're watching r.t. all campaign season is in full swing and president obama now has six months to fulfill his election promises and he made a lot of them let's take a look at some of the big ones and now he's scored on his report card first one there by malia and sasha a dog done we give him in a credit card bill of rights accomplished that also given a there remove troops from iraq he gets an a minus he announced the end to the war but military contractors are still there the reform the health care system we gave him a grade of c. he tried but didn't get all the bells and whistles in that he promised get unemployment below four percent we gave him a d. it's more like double that right now civilize the economy we gave him an eye for an incomplete for obvious reasons get ten percent of electricity from renewable resources by two thousand and twelve we gave him an ass that isn't even close to

being a reality in the whole cylinder debacle didn't help his grade they're close guantanamo bay we gave him a failing grade not only is it still open but as we've reported the government is investing millions into the secret prison to keep it up and running a verse bush's tax cuts and other failing grade there well and this divisive political climate obama's opponents are quick to pounce on him for promises unfulfilled much of it is highlighted in the book the amateur which takes an in-depth behind the scenes look at president obama and his administration is soared to the top of the new york times bestseller list and is also generating quite a bit of controversy i was joined by the author of the book at work and clyde i asked him what great he would give president obama take a listen. i think i give him a deal isn't that i think i'm being generous with the d. why do you say that a lot of people would be less generous than i would give them an ask and flunking out of three. jobs all right you have this new buck it's called the avatar

referring to president obama why given that title i call him an amateur. because you know i did two hundred interviews for this book i interviewed people both in and out of the administration i interviewed people who covered the president in the white house the white house press corps republicans and democrats in congress and to a person they all said the same thing that this president is temperamentally unsuited for the job he loves to be out in front of large groups ten twenty thirty thousand people when it comes to dealing with congress and dealing with six of the day to day basis he is clueless he doesn't have the executive skills to do the job and that's why i call him the amateur now ok i hear what you're saying but a lot of people point to the climate right now i mean we have one of the most divisive congress says i mean arguably that is being dubbed one of the most

divisive congresses a in u.s. history and president obama is placing the because not shy to place the blame on congress so what do you think about that that don't they plan to the bigger picture here. i don't buy into this. mainstream media myth that it's the congress who which has been obstructionist i think for instance of lyndon johnson in one thousand nine hundred sixty four he had a senate that was controlled by southern racist democratic chairman committee chairman and despite that he was able to get the first major civil rights act passed through congress and how did he do it he did it because he was skilled in the use of political. challenge he had the challenge he understood the weak points of the strong points of these people and how to get

them to come along and do what he wants to do president obama doesn't have those talents all right edward i want to play this clap from presidential candidate mitt romney we asked him the same question what grade he would gather president obama here at his her spots. president obama in your view done anything well. sure yes i appreciate for just the decision he made to go after osama bin laden and to make sure he was it was executed what grade would you give president obama i want to ask the question about that across the board across the board even despite the killing of osama bin laden rove when i look at what's happening in the middle east the arab spring has become the year of winter so that's hardly a success and of course domestically it's hard to call what now thirty to forty months of unemployment above eight percent a success when even he said by now it would be right there in the six percent range

and by now it is not it's over eight. so there he is giving president obama failing grade give him a little bit more credit than you did but you know what president obama is going to tell it are you know he killed osama bin ladin that was a promise that he made he fulfilled that. so what do you think i mean doesn't he have some victories in there that he can kind of tout. well i wish i could point to some lives but i can't i mean i agree with mitt romney that if you look at the middle east we have iran moving into iraq where we spent ten years lost thousands of lives and trillions of dollars and we've just left iraq to the not so tender mercies of iran syria is going down the tubes the iran is getting closer and closer to a nuclear weapon the middle east is a mess and where we're not in the middle east using america's influence and power

the way we should but that is true also in eastern europe where we removed our anti-ballistic missiles in the far east where china is wrists urgent they're in foreign affairs certainly this administration has been leading from behind if leading as it were at all domestically i think the recession speaks for itself eight point two percent unemployment millions and millions of people either out of work or can't find a job or of just dropped out it's a really a very sad story and a story that. the president has very hard time trying to support when he's running for reelection so rather than run on his record he's running by running down the other candidate but what about the fact that. capture you know he did careless out of enlightened something that the previous

administration had vowed to do and wasn't able to accomplish. that not a victory i think that's that you cannot get there but definitely a victory and we have to give him credit for that and i do. this. campaign to get osama bin laden was started under george w. bush and continued under president obama and. i think any president in his shoes given the information that he had from the cia about the whereabouts of osama bin laden you know bought a bad stand would have done what he did but that doesn't take away from the fact that it was a successful raid and we did kill the most wanted man in the world and so yes that's a positive but this one ties it of out of hundreds of negatives and what about his promise i he ended the war in iraq well he ended the war in iraq by.

not doing what any see a president would have done which is to keep some of our troops there after we drew in order to maintain a presence and make sure that iran was not going to move in and become the leading foreign influence on iraq which it has since become so i don't think that was a success at all now your bucket of right is coming out at a very convenient time i mean it's kind of being crunch time six months lasted until six months left and the president saying i mean what kind of feedback are you getting i am from gail payne. i'm assuming it's making them pretty happy right that the book has been number one on the new york times bestseller list for six weeks straight which i guess speaks for how successful it's been i am very gratified that so many people have found the book both informational and entertaining. obviously

the democrats don't like the book as i expected they wouldn't but independents are buying this book the amateur republicans are buying it it's been s. the speak at many places i think it's important that this book is important because it does for iraq obama what the mainstream me he never did which was is to vet him so early and carefully and explain why he's been so ineffective as president i would say it's no doubt that this book is successful you know top an era times best bestseller arrest but there is a lot of controversy surrounding about many critics say that being details right now lot of them just simply aren't true what do you say to them. well first of all they do say that and then they don't point to anything that they can prove is untrue as you know i had a three hour tape recorded interview with the reverend jeremiah wright. this former

minister which i release to the press and no internet no nobody in the history media has picked it up the criticism of the book has been against me personally not about the facts in the book because the facts are in country bird of all i spoke to obama's position for twenty years i've spoken to his colleagues at the university of chicago law school i spoke to people in it is that ministration nobody has come forward and said you misquoted me i didn't say that the book is so . that was ever a client a new york times bestselling author of the olympics soon to kick off in london traditionally the olympic games are a platform where the world superpowers compete for the gold decades ago it was the u.s. versus the soviet union but today the u.s. is up against another world power that has proven to be a force to be reckoned with china showed up the u.s.

and the rest of the world when they dominated the medal count in the last games back in beijing and this time around it looks like they're gearing up once again to prove they are a superpower to stay but will that be the case earlier i was joined by jack mccallum author of dream team i asked him if china's superpower prowess is here to stay take a lesson. you know no question about it it came suddenly and when it came as was the case with most about china it came with a force and i think really here they're there even talking more about obviously great britain has a strong team they're hosting the game they're even sort of talking more about hey let's try to beat australia and let's try to beat the united states and i think there's a you know there is kind of a concession that china could win it i think the united states could give them a run for their money though overall well looks like a way of the it'll definitely at least be neck and neck you know as was the u.s.

versus the soviet union now how it appears that the rivalry is between the u.s. and china is that what it appears to be a probably but i don't think there's just something about the sporting culture that doesn't you know allow that as much we had such a long historical build up to the relationship with the soviet union and it was sort of so represented to paradigms you know east versus west and communism versus capitalism and all this kind of thing i just don't it doesn't feel the same with china because we're still trying to figure out culturally and historically exactly what we need to each other you know so it's almost like you know we united states wants to be china they want to have the most medals but it's not it doesn't feel like that kahn a mano a mano thing that it was with the soviet union for so many years i guess we'll see how it plays out it seems like maybe the tented

a as there may be it's building but you know it back oftentimes the olympics often serve as a platform for countries to show off their their pride and nationalism so when countries take the gold it's really more than just about the sport that were there their great. sure i mean everybody you know from the beginning when the modern game started in eighty ninety six i mean supposedly politics was going to be out of it. it never in fact was i mean as far back as those first modern games in eighty ninety six there were you know skullduggery and cheating and everything else in the name of getting your nation to be first so i don't think the way we do it now is probably any worse than they did it you know we're doing it one hundred years ago it's just that there's kind of so much more coverage about it but it's always you know you're going to see the opening ceremonies tomorrow night i mean there's going to be every some political leaders who are not allowed to come in and others

are going to be in the box with david cameron so of course it's a political battles much as well as it is anything else and i do want to talk a little bit about your book there the jury and tam you know it takes a close look at this legendary basketball team back in one thousand nine hundred terror they were the pride and glory are there but sense than i mean they had just hasn't really been the same i mean having really seen this all from the inside how does it feel for you to kind of see this gradual i guess the client. well i think those of us who covered the team in ninety two were and were close to it and those that were around the team and the team itself you sort of know that this was a singular phenomenon you kind of knew that you know there was this perfect storm of that was the first time it happened europe was kind of ready to accept the new game these guys with the biggest stars in sport not just basketball it couldn't

those factors couldn't be replicated again and i think the united states fan the average fan doesn't understand how hard it how much more difficult it is for these guys in two thousand and twelve to win the medal i mean if they don't beat spain for the gold medal they're going to be considered a massive disappointment however the team that they're playing in spain this time they're made up of five n.b.a. players i mean they may not be as good as our team kobe bryant you know bron james kevin durant's but there are a much much much better team than the one the dream team played twenty years ago and i'm saying that having just you know rich written a book on the dream team has said sharing the u.s. will ever have a dream team and then the false sense of that word again. no i just don't think that it can happen that way in fact what's going on there is a movement now in the united states to kind of change the paradigm

a little bit that after this olympics that we're going to go back to spending you know sort of an under twenty three team and we're going to try to create a world cup basketball sort of like soccer so the olympics would no longer be kind of the pinnacle of our international basketball representation that hasn't been fully worked out yet but i think in a way people are looking at two thousand and twelve as the real kind of and of this professional basketball era that started with the dream team in ninety two the end of an era you know jeff we are living in this more globalized world than we're now seeing this increase in foreign players we did a story not too long ago about a lot of our limpy and many of them were not born and raised here but kind of took them on as our own because of their their land back their athletic capabilities i

mean is that surprising to you to see that trend well it started back know it because i've been looking at it for so long i mean i think people don't don't understand how long for example our colleges have been populated the top division one colleges particularly in running events things like that you know we have given we have always been one i mean i suppose the anti immigration person would say isn't this terrible the patriot in life opinion would say we've always been a country of immigrants that's what we've done we've given opportunity to people and inevitably in sports when least like anything else when we start to give opportunities to people from outside of our borders people who might be more hungry to get to the top in. never to believe that's going to squeeze out some of you know the natives certainly that's been happening for a long time in running sports around here

a lot of our olympic runners are probably people that came to college from other nations are basketball players by and large the ones on that team are american born that's still a sport that at the top level we dominate but in a lot of other sports it's been happening for a long time and you know i for one really don't don't see any problem with it very interesting and timely what the game is just about to kick off jack thank you so much for coming on the show that was jack mccallum author of the experience am. well another campaign promise president obama made ending the wars abroad but it looks like the focus is now shifting away from the war on terror and toward the war on drugs and that war is expanding from latin america to africa africa is apparently the new hub for drug cartels the new york times reports the american counter-narcotics assistance for west africa totaled about fifty million dollars over the past two years and according to the state department that's destined to increase and now the u.s.

has reportedly started training an elite group of counter narcotics police in ghana and all this is happening as gone as going through a transition of power a similar unit also planned in kenya the team will reportedly use a training model that's similar to the programs used in central america and mexico and another one of these elite training forces is planned in nigeria it's hoped the officers can combat the latin america drug cartels that are allegedly using africa to smuggle cocaine and to europe now all of this is happening as critics argue that the war on drugs is a downright failure they say the war is costly and largely ineffective and is just an excuse for the u.s. to expand its military influence throughout the world that to be fair the counter drug program has seen some recent success they made huge steps in adding the flow of narcotics passing through honduras but the commando style. agents participated in at least three deadly operations this alongside

a squad of hundred police officers it has been hotly contested by the media now the reason for the urgency relates right back to the war on terror al qaeda and similar groups are largely funded by the legal drug trade in small impoverished nations are especially susceptible to their influence so in the end the war on terror remains just with a different name. well the fast food joint chick fil a facing huge backlash this after the c.e.o. . professed his anti gay marriage views now mayor rahm emanuel says these views aren't consistent with the views of the city of chicago similar backlash in boston now government leaders want them to block the fast food joint from expanding in the cities but wait a minute is this a decision government leaders should make earlier i was joined by mike riggs associate editor for reason dot com i asked them if government officials should be able to block businesses just because of their political views. i absolutely not

the licensing boards and zoning boards in chicago and boston and let's be clear that's what rahm emanuel and then mary you know in boston they're talking about using the zoning restrictions to get to play out those do not exist to test to to and to do political atmos test for business owners they are there they're used quite frequently i mean this is just a very public example of how those boards are abused but they're supposed to be there for state. zoning boards are supposed to exist licensing boards are supposed to exist to make sure that restaurants serve healthy food or or that their kitchens are dirty and ragged fast and that you know buildings are safe they do not exist to make sure that business owners political views that are copacetic with the use of giving away that official i mean it's it's sort of crazy if we were to look back to you know jim crow time in the south. this same thing was going on reverse you

know african-americans were being discriminated against gays are going that would discriminate against the south and nobody thought that's a bad example supposed to work we're supposed to be moving away from that and i while i do find that. you know dan cathy i don't agree with him but i think there's another way to to sort of for consumers to show their feelings and that's to vote with their their wallets and their checkbooks and pocketbooks and it's not shop at chick fil a place you don't agree with what they're saying it's not keep people from doing so it sounds like losing the government is over and stopping their boundaries. absolutely one hundred percent and i mean just to be clear i think that your crass regulator why they do this a lot it is very if you look at yields in which people have to have a state or e full license to do business there are

a lot of great people being punished for being antagonistic towards government officials for having used or sort of in this case i mean it's sort of great if the anti gay is now considered outside the mainstream but there are just a lot of examples the government overstepping their bounds you know if you complain about the way you know somebody has a licensing board a job they can punish you they can find you can make it more difficult to they can reject or so yeah this is the this is a really clear cut really highly publicized case of government overstepping its bounds but zoning and licensure are used all the time punish people so you know this isn't really exceptional it's just exceptional public and chick fil a i mean i've never and there myself but my producer did need to buy apparently it's so delicious that they just left it at the. empty bag o.

never tried it but apparently some people say it's really delicious but as far as we know chick fil a they haven't discriminated in terms of their at their hiring practices are serving their customers. right. the only boerma discrimination that i've seen reported on is that they don't offer. benefits for employees who are in committed relationships with people of the same sex so you know there's obviously room for chick fil a row on that and i definitely think again. consumers have a problem with donating money donating money to places like the family research council which i highly doubt i don't like their research council and if you have a problem with them not getting benefits that you need to employ. there's another way to express that using this sort of strong arm them and line and that is again don't shop at chick fil a oh and i was even thinking today i was going like you know we we've got

a lot of time thinking about how do we punish people who use it and i will and i've got to wondering tonight you know is there another way i mean could you instead of having a boycott to play could you have some sort of. group of gay people wearing shirts saying you should wear something i don't know by their lunch their bass or something i mean a show of chick fil a you know you are alienating people who enjoy your food you know in their own ways websites trying to punish that with the state because that works both ways the state as you know for a long time punish days want to step in americans. of my no party and it is. always the right goes wrong not to the crease freedom of the mike they think that the of the mayor that you know the response from an chicago are facing political pressure to make these decisions you think their decisions are politically motivated. a little bit of a cynic so i actually think that neither rahm emanuel or man boss i don't think

either one of them have any intention of following through with. chick fil a out. me a lot of big city mayors well sort of push back against chains entering their cities and sort of the luck and wal-mart and but i think more than anything this is sort of a rallying the troops thing you know i mean one of the ways to sort of to get people amped up with one election culture war issues work really well class war issues worked really well so i just wouldn't be surprised if this was a way of sort of rallying the troops in addition to that some people are calling this an attack on free speech would you go as far as a college bat. absolutely whether or not you re with the citizens united ruling. or campaign its last issue expenditures that are affected by. the strength of the matter is the money that the kennedy family which all should spend

on political issues. that legal. rules that account speech there regardless of whether or not i. agree with the law. or exercising political speech is a personal. right we're going to have to leave it out there thanks so much for coming on the show that was my greg's associate editor for reason. that's going to do it for the news for tonight but stick around the big picture is coming up at the top of the hour host tom hartman have a great lineup for you four years ago conservative party leader david cameron announced a coming age of austerity and what we've seen in the days and years following were massive spending cuts public sector layoffs and cuts to social services this resulted in massive riots in london and this idea of harsh cuts is varied but mirrored by none other than u.s. republicans tonight we'll show you what a mitt romney economy will look like and ask

a senior economic policy adviser at the a.f.l.-cio to weigh in that's coming up at nine pm. that's going to do it for now if you're about to leave the house don't forget to take us with you we stream all of our shows live on our t.v. on air or you can catch our interviews later just head to our you tube channel at youtube dot com slash artsy america and for the most up to date information on the stories we covered today and a few things we didn't quite have time to get to you can check out our web site r t v dot com slash u.s. air where producers are busy updating that throughout the day to find out what i'm doing when i am not reporting the news you can follow me on twitter liz wall we'll be right back here tomorrow with more news and in-depth interviews so keep it tuned right here for now have a great night.