>> hello. i am llewellyn king, host of "white house chronicle," coming right up. first, some thought of my own. i have taken the trouble for years to tell people about the virtue of a good idea as opposed to a new invention. we have reached a point in society where the inventions are so plentiful, so many of them, particularly in telephony, that

we need billions of dollars to take the next step in anything. i am here to explain to you that sometimes, all you need is to get a better idea. i present, for example, this a small radio. it has this peace that goes like that. for years, you needed double radios on your head so you looked like someone from mars. and then the genius at sony. it is comfortable. it goes with many things. take this cup. people have been drinking out of them for thousands of years. they have been driving for

years. goblet's for wine? no. who would have thought the great characters of europe -- it took convenience stores to make a funny plastic thing that you put on the window of your car and it tips into the most sensitive part of your body. detroit and the other auto centers of the world, japan, for example, realized this little indentation, you put the cup in there and you are away with cars. now, if you buy a car or anything else, there are cup holders. finally, the masterpiece of human invention -- the wheel. this is a wheel on luggage.

wheels have been around thousands of years, and it took us thousands of years to realize that if we put wings on everything, we could put it around. so be careful. you do not always need millions of dollars to invent things to see how you can apply to what you have. the radio, the cup, the wheel on luggage. there are many other such things. if you get it right, you might make a lot of money, as well. i do not know what people have invented, but they have invented the art of absorbing conversation. i can vouch for that. >> "white house chronicle" is produced in collaboration with whut, our university television. and now, national syndicated columnist llewellyn king and co-

host linda gasparello. >> hello, again, and thank you so much for coming along. the inventors i promised you are here. linda gasparello, co-host of the program, michelle jamrisko, joe mathieu, posting this program -- coasting on sirius xm satellite radio. joe and i have a conversation on fridays sometimes. i also am happy to welcome wamara mwine of the "national examiner is out but she writes on many subjects -- of the "washington examiner." she writes on many topics.

and i'm glad we have backe michelle jamrisko. linda gasparello, your president has been in your homeland generations back. there is some awkwardness with the libertarian prime minister. or libertine. [laughter] he is accused of and on slavery affection for younger women -- on slavery -- unsavory affection for younger women. >> this group is usually lackluster. unless they happen to be hosted by the one silvio berlusconi, the richest man in italy and i think the best lover as well. [applause] i think i am too old for him.

but the fact is, his private life has been hijacked in an amusing way. but in a way that is really bothering italians. ok, they elected him. but there is a point where they say, "enough's." >> they got rid of him, then they were bored, so that brought him back. >> hugh hefner or casanova as your prime minister. scandal after scandal. they are very workmanlike, but without the flamboyant that can

be brought to them by somebody like berlusconi. >> and become better known for the protest around them. but are you saying that an international agreement to maintain earth's temperature is not progress? what are you suggesting, linda? >> for columnists -- so unachievable and unlikely. other things the president did in russia, joe? >> apparently he did well. i do not think people works up at 2:00 in the morning east coast time to watch it live. i do not think a lot of news is generated. the president himself complained the past week between network interviews about the fact that everyone wanted him to talk about michael and sarah, and here he is eliminating nuclear weaponry by a third. we all knew how those people

were doing without hearing their names. but it is difficult to make news when you're talking about nuclear disarmament. i decided not to talk about michael. in satellite radio, we are about niche. i think we were the only channel for four hours during the memorial service talking about something other than him, and i think we have all had it with that love affair. >> it is just a resetting, as the white house likes to say. relations with russia -- they needed to be reset. we need to work with them on many important things coming up. on iran, first and foremost. and the supply of our troops in afghanistan, you'll need russian cooperation on that and this trip was quite successful in that respect, and what amazed me

was that the obama charm, his ability to speak so superbly -- many do not make that much of an impression in russia. >> but also, you are working with translators. anyone who has spoken to translators knows that you have very smooth avowals. i find specifically, it is devastating. >> it worked perfectly well in cairo. perfectly well. >> different languages translate differently. they are trying to find the idiom.

one coming trips to africa, and we went to you gotta. i am getting you are african countries -- he went to uganda. i'm getting my countries could use. what they think you could achieve, and how will you be received? >> so much on the plate right now in terms of domestic issues. the greatest hope is to focus on growth versus just trying to slow money to actually grow institutions within these countries to work on medical systems, education.

>> what is really needed is a strong, independent institution for the politicians come. >> you have term limits, african leaders in place for four years or more and they leave the country and have an account on switzerland and are drawing money that should have been spent at home. so there present efforts are insignificant at that time. >> tell us, how is uganda doing? >> the corruption has been there for many of those leaders. it is a lot more stable.

but there is urgency there. >> it points out the difficulties of africa. >> he went back to the commercial bank and opened up 117 printers and provided loans. but there were a bunch of government people for loans and they were trying to get money to buy cars. so when my dad started reducing those loans, they decided not to do them at all. it was after you, because they want -- they feel entitled to a piece of the natural resources.

housing and education. >> it is not confined. i once knew a very wealthy family. there was a tremendous amount of social work with women, but with premier li rich people. and i asked somebody, how did they become so rich. and he looked at me and said i was really stupid. he was the finance minister, wasn't he? very little about that kind of corruption in japan. >> i would not say there was one. >> i am not the best judge of

the street level, but they do have a certain dignified manner about politics sometimes. so if you are comparing a japan to africa, there's a difference in how they deal with finances, but they are going pre-world one right now and their economic situation is there. >> you get the japanese questions. how your colleagues feel about your career? >> it is a big question. we have talked about it before -- have often gone to a point where they are not even as concerned as they are here. there are threats every day of north korea. it is kind of the threat. they do continue to report on

every new development. but here is another threat. when does it end? so it is an ongoing situation where they are tempered by the lack of development, either from the international side, as much as the administration would say they made progress. it is hard to say that any of these things make a distinction, that any of them have done anything in any degree against north korea. >> i will reintroduce our panel. linda gasparello of this program, "white house chronicle ." myself, llewellyn king. joe mathieu, host of potus on sirius xm satellite radio. and joe mathieu -- michelle jamrisko of kyodo new news.

the president will be back next week. he has problems with all of his big-ticket programs he has. health care does not seem to be going anywhere, and health care in the senate. >> what was agreed in the house does not necessarily spell over to the senate. there's been more talk since the president has been brought about folks and the white house wishing he were home right now. you have gone on the presence, and understand the value internationally. these are sensitive times here states side as we get ready for the confirmation hearings for sotomayor, who are set to get under way. the health care situation you bring up, we're still trying to

figure out how to pay for it, and it looks like it will result in the combination of higher taxes somewhere or cuts to medicare or medicaid. the president will be a busy guy when he comes back. >> there was also the announcement with kathleen sibelius. there were multiple announcements about where to meet, a reminder. it almost seems like they were trying to make more interest in this. >> the white house strategy has been to make side deals. what has happened is that they have made these announcements, and we do not have to be abiding by these.

it is at a point now where if the president is going to. they need to get rahm emanuel and there. they say this is what we want, this is what we're going to do, and you had better fly into line. >> they just got it, and it could be time to go nuclear and stopped attending this will be a bipartisan love fest. >> obama is a great communicator, but is he a great united? [inaudible] >> do you think he would go for

what they wanted? this is a strange strategy. we want reform. >> it will take a long time. i have stayed away with a lot of predictions on stimulus because the white house says 25% of these resources right now, individual states to cut big medicaid bills. they're losing their homes, they have an unemployment issues. all of these things are weighing heavily on the state's to create a situation where health care to back seat and we should be reaching out to make new jobs. when you are not progressing,

your regressing. what happens is the white house has got another stimulus, and what they have to do is get all this money to the state. they've got to get resources out there. >> i have been talking to republicans, and they are appalled with the idea of another stimulus. democrats are appalled. >> no tangible progress, and i'm not sure the white house wants to go that way. you look at new polls, and a lot of it has to do with the money being spent. >> people are worried about

deficit. the jobs will be created, and all the other things in the presidential back just go by the wayside. >> he was talking about the deficit, but i thought he was talking about politics. but we know one of the things the deficits are handled is inflation. it is a terrible way to do it, because there are income and asset questions, but we never seek inflation. if you get it, other people look at it because it deals with long-term debt and a cruel way. it deals with everyone in a cruel way. what would be the good news? >> first of all, republicans

have to come up with a plan. they can not just criticized democrats. i spoke to someone at a while ago and he said that we should do this. well, put your point together, make a text file, and put it on your web site. in terms of health care, they have to spread this out. this will take a lot more time to achieve these goals, and it will take some time, clearly. >> what do you think of the obama style? it has captivated much of the world and the media. it has been quite captivating. >> you mean communication? >> just a way of living. families, the lovey-dub dinners,

the swing set. this is out of a painting somewhere. >> you have people out of the gate be enamored with that lifestyle, especially seeing someone go out in the town, going to date night and that sort of thing. but it comes with it when people realize how much money is being spent. the family is awful different thing. you talk about comparing exposure of obama with something like sarah palin -- these are two people who have placed emphasis and found a way to get it through the credit, versus palin's's complaining about having too much exposure. so i think there are positives

and negatives. >> i think in russia, he had date night with his wife -- there are only so many hours that leaders can meet, and i think those international meetings ought to be left to a lot of the businesses instead of family travel. >> it cannot be a good thing to have an image of his daughters playing up in europe when a lot of families at home are thinking about their kids. >> i want to ask you, what is it in our national psyche that we need to grieve, from other entertainment figures. princess diana had entertainment. what is this desire to grieve? >> maybe because we're not

allowed to day-to-day life? i was happy about the number of people listening to the radio who wanted to tell a story that attached to him some way. it means more to me that it does to you, and let me tell you why. this period of grieving is a cathartic experience, getting people to cry because they are not allowed to in daily life. it is cathartic for people to do it. >> i am older. i have been grieving for days. >> we're out of time. linda gasparello, take