>>, a host of "white house chronicle," which is coming right up. but first, we have all been shocked and shattered by the terrible black bile spewing out of the earth into the gulf of mexico. and it will not step there -- stop there. even when it is capped, the damage will go on. after the destruction of business and the destruction of

sea life, there is also the destruction of our national confidence, the destruction of the ability to resolutely go forward with big projects. big developments. people are going to be scared because they will not trust the experts anymore. in the 1960's, one of the things that happened in that turbulent decade was the violence of vietnam and there was the women's movement and the movement against racial segregation. if will be hard to get public

policy to go along with adventurist projects. we will not -- adventurist project. we will not have that. we have lost our faith. in the 1960's it was common to say some decisions are too important to be left to the experts. i have four wonderful experts on the panel today to discuss the politics of the united states. we will be right back. >> white house chronicle is produced in collaboration with whut, howard university television. and now, our host, llewellyn king, and co-host, linda

gasparello. >> hello again and thank you so much for coming along. i'm joined today by bob franken, syndicated columnist and by margaret bryant, an expert -- margaret ryan, an expert from queens guys tv. -- from clean skies tv. we have had a bit of a problem on the korean peninsula. >> you have not heard much about that in the media. >> what they have done is the north koreans have sunk a south

korean ship with a torpedo, or it is believed that is what happened. what are we going to do about this? >> you say there is a problem on the korean peninsula. i have not heard any reports in the media about it. north koreans have -- and >> north koreans have sunk a south korean ship. that is an act of war. >> this seems to have exposed a big weakness the united states has with its client state of south korea, and i feel it is fair to call them a client state

ever since the korean war. that is, it is such a formidable war machine, if we were to do anything to antagonize the north koreans -- they are crazy enough -- and they can just turn to the south and do damage. and there are thousands of u.s. troops there. >> i think that what we are going to do is try to get china on board to deal with north korea. the reason is that china plays the south korean side and the north korean side. and we can say, look, you trade a lot with south korea and south korea is our partner.

and they can come in and exert the pressures that were the only china has with north korea -- have really only china has with north korea. we want china to do a lot in the world. i mean, look at our situation with iran. we really need to run on our side with the sanctions over iran. -- we need to china on our side with the sanctions over iran. it looks as if we will have to make concessions to have that. >> you mentioned iran and getting china on board with that. some have conjectured that getting china to play the game on iran is at the cost of getting them on board with north

korean sanctions. we can only play that capital so much. china is very concerned with the bottom line of security and order. that has always been the game that china exports will tell you -- experts will tell you is the bottom line with china. they are investing in a somewhat stable regime, but not at a cost to china. >> do you believe that north koreans have an operational weapon? there is some confusion about the test. >> there is real question about that among the experts about whether they have been able to develop something that is operational.

but if i was in north korea, i would do the same thing. i would say, yes, i am. >> i wish you were in north korea. [laughter] >> one of the things that is undermined here is that -- and i'm thinking of japan now with all of its nervousness and traditional hostility between japan and korea. the china has its own interests that are not parallel to korea, etc. here in the united states, we do not really have much of an understanding about that. and getting back to the original point about the media not even paying attention to it, there is not really this concern about asia until it becomes something that literally threatens the world and its existence. >> i have a feeling about that, asia in general and china in particular. it is actually 19th century power, doing all the things that

happen in the 19th century, the scramble for africa that locked up all of the materials in the continent of africa. there are only 53 and they may find it a lot more difficult than they think. it is not a slam dunk. but their claim to essentially the whole south china sea and in these ziarat countries and those country-c-wrapped -- and in those sea-wrapped countries. china may come out of it and lead to serious destruction. >> do not think that china -- i think they are correct in what they're doing, but they are not

being any smarter than the europeans were about it. i spoke to someone from peru not too long ago and he said china is just as bad at exploiting things. >> they separate the markets with cheap goods, which affects industry, particularly anything having to do with clothing and textiles. they are not popular with the people. they're popular with the rulers because they see no evil. but they will find on a much smaller scale what the troops did. the troops started going back

and they have no medicine to deal with things. china will have lots of consequences to of being and in an imperial power. >> and remember, china was a victim in imperial power in the 19th century. and still, that is what advises their policies these days. the best defense is a good offense. >> this is an interesting situation of companies -- of countries whose history is truncated, but still alive. this is very true in ireland, for example. with what happened to their last week, more or less. -- what happened tothere last week, more less.

they stumbled upon our swords and 3000 people were killed. can you imagine killing 3000 people with swords? that is hard work. >> and japan is watching things develop right now. they have their own domestic issues, right now. there is a lot of internal stress that is often overlooked and there looked at as more stable than, say, the irani and a situation -- iranian situation. but the sunken ship that north korea is responsible for, south koreans are furious with them right now.

they relate to express their sympathies for the south koreans who were killed -- they were late to express their sympathies for the south koreans who were killed. their body language is saying everything about what they want to kind of placate the situation. >> for the benefit of our listeners on sirius xm radio, this program airs every saturday. i would like to identify myself and the panel. i am llewellyn king and i am joined by of the let -- linda gasparello -, bob franken, and michelle jamrisko of kyodo news.

this election, it was a bit of a tea party wash. " i think that what we saw were -- >> i think that what we saw were voters reacting. when you have someone like arlen specter who goes from republican to democrat after 30 years, you can be a bit cynical about that. then you have mcconnell who has handpick his choice down in kentucky. voters said, we do not want that. we want to choose our own. it was really anti- political cynicism.

>> are you saying that the democrats are not as we as people have been saying? >> i think it is not all that bad. i think what the president has to do over this long summer time that is coming is explained why the bill -- the health care bill. >> a never knew you were such a starry eyed idealist -- i never knew you were such a starry eyed idealist saying that this was a victory over cynicism. i mean, arlen specter could have, if he wanted to, been a little bit more subtle about his reasons for switching parties, instead of giving sound bites.

in the case of kentucky, i think mitch mcconnell is not a step we what we would call a people person he is a very powerful senator as the minority leader, of course, but what is the first thing he does? after he has road mccall's knows in the bluegrass of kentucky -- after he has read it mcconnell's -- rubbed mcconnell's nose in the bluegrass of kentucky, he steps in it. >> in each case, the democratic candidate was an unattractive candidate for a particular reason. you look at virginia where we have the democrat against bob mcdonnell's face in the camera,

who is a very likable. and the other was very quiet and shy and never caught on with the voters. and the one in new jersey just entered a lot of people. -- angered a lot of people. people are not going to vote for a candidate that they find an attractive just because they are with a particular party. -- they find unattractive just because they are with a particular party. >> [unintelligible] particularly the new report out that shows a tough talk with the military. he told general mcchrystal that he was out of line and almost

fired him. this was not a love-fest. >> so the story goes. >> but it seems critical at -- credible at this point. he wants to do everything in four years because he is very uncertain about another term. what you think? >> that whole four years thing is something that makes for a lot of games around d.c. if he is going to accept being able to do what he can just in four years, or is he confidently thinking about what can i build 4 1/8-year term -- what can i

build for an eight-year term. >> what you do is what they say you do because they have not been fully implemented. when i started covering the congress, the legislative history that was very important was very long and the bills were very small. >> we should -- people should know how little tyke is on those pages. they have -- how little type is on those pages. they have a way of printing them. it all speaks to the complexity

and the number of other laws that have to be amended every time you venture into one of these areas. the financial regulatory reform enables the commodities trading organization and there are huge numbers of other organizations affected around this. >> bankers are not calling meetings to say, i've got a great idea for ways to thwart the economy. they do not have to. in terms of health care, there are many, including yours truly, who think that what we have is an empty shell of health care reform compared to what really needs to be done. of course, they can have their

own meetings how they can support the senate. -- a sort of the senate. -- thwart the senate. >> [unintelligible] [laughter] >> does everyone agree that political cynicism is a redundancy? [laughter] >> i do not think that obama himself is cynical. i think he is somewhat detached and has his own allusions of where he wants to go. >> is that a compliment or an insult? >> [unintelligible] >> i think the sudden discovery that obama candytuft is somewhat misleading because all together -- obama can be tough is somewhat misleading because there is record going back to

his student days, but he is a guy that likes to bring people together. if there are too many people to please and you have to compromise, then he has not been mr. tough guy. but i think when you reach out to multiple people, you have to do it with strength. >> the democrats played the game in a couple of boys and a couple of times it snatched -- in a couple of ways and a couple of times it snatched them from the jaws of defeat. suddenly they realize with this reform that people are really mad and they have to step back. >> i would like to get back to the oil spill, which i started with. would anyone like to say anything?

>> that is certainly a mess. until they get stopped it is going to affect everybody. the chances are, especially as much as it gets into the atlantic -- >> last week's i was on a whittier program and the post said, why doesn't the government -- last week i was on a radio program and the post said, why doesn't the government do something? -- of the host said, why doesn't the government do something? [unintelligible] >> if anyone can fix it -- i mean, the problem is, the rig that exploded, just before it did it had gone down further than any other before it.

it had gone down 5,000 feet. this was record-setting. they got arrogant and they said, we can go do this again. all of the things that have been brought up and things that might have gone wrong, how advanced is that? they did not have of to date engineering. they did not actually know what the machine looks like because they had not bothered to pay the engineers to bring the machinery of today. -- up to date. the mistakes they made -- >> i think there were so many technicalities in this. we cover this regularly. from a white house standpoint you see a lot of questions

coming from the political side of things, you know, constantly the question of, are you satisfied with bp's cooperation on this issue and how they are running things. and you constantly hear that they are overseen the operation and that we are footing the bill and they are overseeing it. >> i would just like to say we tend to fall in love with certain companies. toyota comes to mind. bp was the oil company we had the most faith in. and during the exxon oil prices, bp -- and i wrote about it -- was attacking exxon for the way they handled the spill. high points and low point. linda gasparello. >> mind is on the freedom of the

press act, which will put the full force of the government behind what we do. >> i suppose i would say rand paul is a low point. and the high point was watching him get tripped over his own words. >> youtube mind. frankly, -- you took mine. frankly, i have the same reaction. >> it also says to me that politics is a learned skill and amateurs tend to trip and do badly. it is time they go back to their original calling. [laughter]

what is this, cynicism week? [laughter] >> i usually do highpoint, but i will do a low point. just with the images and pictures starting to come out about this bill along the coastline, i'm sure we will see a lot of what has been happening. >> it is one of the most ghastly things. it is a huge hit by nature -- on nature by man. we talk about things that hypothetically could happen and it has happened. that is our program for today. we're so glad you joined us. please come back and see us and check in with us at whitehouschronicle.com send an e-mail and you will get a cynical reply from my colleagues.

until next time, cheers. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> white house chronicle is produced in partnership with whut, howard university television. >> this has been white house chronicle featuring llewellyn king, linda gasparello, and guests. this program may be seen on pbs stations and cable access channels. to view it online, visit us