conversation about this. they like this better. whatever. whenever works. i think the president has done a wonderful job in the wake of the ruling on how this helps people, making it an issue of fairness, and again the american dream.

we know the democrats got off on the wrong foot. they were flatfooted in the summer of 2009. they really led opponents do this. i think they're getting a chance in a very sober and serious and important way to tell americans what this bill for it -- will do for them, what it is already doing for them. this may not go as well as we hoped in 2008, but i will leave the another word that joe biden uses. this is a very, very big deal. this gives president obama the chance to go back to his base. i felt a different type of excitement and activism in the last week, where people are singing, wow, you know what? he has not done everything, but he has gotten a lot done. >> appreciate your self-

censorship. >> yes, i was raised that way. >> thank you for that. this is not rocket science. i suspect this would also be raised higher the idea of the supreme court appointments. you have to take into account their age. with bared ginsberg. -- ruth ginsberg. this particular matter is, as it always does, particularly now for supreme court appointees. >> absolutely. i do not want to get carried away. i think chief justice roberts did the right thing, but he is a conservative.

we saw it in citizens united. and i think we have had a number of us. quite honestly, we are frightened last week at the possibility of this ruling, not just because it strikes down the health-care law, which would of been a disaster in a lot of ways, but it really has been this incredible presidents of support of a pattern of the court of overreaching. talk about judicial activision -- activism, which they did not like in the 1960's and 1970's. i am not a lawyer, but i am an american. that was a terrible decision. you have the cases where the court as kind of gone beyond what was even asked of it. they could have said in citizens united, that documentary, that is protected speech. they did not have to strike down all law. i think that the court is going to be for people and our not

certain that the president has done all that they hoped, i think we're going to get to october or november, and people are going to have to really look at what would happen if we give republicans another shot of appointees, because they have taken the court to be right, and we was seen rulings that we do not like already. it will not be the democracy we want if we have more conservative justices. tavis: for the sake of the argument, let me flip this. you conceded that this would likely or possibly galvanize the base for mr. romney, but you also suggested might rally and excite the obama gate -- obama base. you are in san francisco, said you know progressive issues quite well. it is easy on the surface because it protected what did get through, but this law is so

far apart from what the president campaigned on, what he said he was going to do. it is nowhere near single payer. it is nowhere near universal coverage, so i am wondering where they might be emboldened to push the president to go further, quite frankly to get back to doing what he said he was going to do or whether the excitement or enthusiasm in the victory of what did get through -- >> i do not think he is going to get off of the crook. i think you're going to see this as been a divisive question among progressives. we want to have a more progressive president, barack obama, we have to give them a more progressive congress, but i also think, and i have said all along that people on the left knee to continue to push this present -- people on the left need to continue to push this president to make good on the

promises. on the other hand, by not standing up for either single payer or public option, by not fighting harder and defending his worldview, talking about what is going to get to get us there, whether we go back to this, really to defend the role of government in creating prosperity and the role of government to building the middle class that we did have in the 1960's and 1970's, the government did do a lot right. you have democrats like president obama and bill clinton, who i admire, who ran away from that. they saw the democrats got blamed for all of that chaos in the 1960's, and they did not want a part of it, and they lost the story of the way the democratic party created the middle class from fdr to harry truman to lyndon b. johnson. we need to get the president talking like that again. i think he needs to talk about that to win the election. but i think we have to continue to push on the issues of a

single payer. i am terrified about what is going to happen with this uploaded medicaid -- the suppose it medicate. as good as this ruling was, it was not perfect, and a lot of people may be stuck in some of those red states, where you have got them say they are not going to implement it, you know, not going to take the federal money. this is a tough country. but progressives do not accomplish anything when they are not pushing. >> i am glad you were on that subject of medicaid. what really does happen. for all of the talk about health care, the supreme court rejected this medicaid expansion. it does leave this up for those most vulnerable. it leaves them out in the cold. >> you know, it makes it impossible to expand coverage. people who have coverage are going to keep it, but it is not

very good. there are certain republicans talking about why they do not want to expand medicaid because it is not good enough. as though they care. this is not going to be the solution. there are going to be a lot of people remaining in the shatters, and this will be patchwork that it is. you may die in one state and live in another, and that is just wrong, but that is where we are. >> these questions are going to and fro between now and then. we will get a chance to ta to joan again from salon.com.

>> thank you. tavis: next, a look back and a conversation from 2006 with nora ephron. stay with us. so many people both known and unknown have been paying tribute to the life and legacy of nora ephron, the woman behind so many notable films, plays, and essays. she joined us for a conversation on a popular topic, aging. she made it interesting, funny, and poignant. i ask turn the reason for writing the latest bestseller "i feel bad about my neck." aside from being funny, what made you want to put this on paper >> you did to a point where you start reading about the age you are, and do they not

have necks? why are they saying that you have reached this fabulous age where you can travel. you take a nice walk, and your hips certification. that is the truth. you really have time to be in shape. you get in shape after the age of 50. you are in the hospital. you are. everybody i know who goes out and plays of a softball, they break their leg. about two years ago, somebody sent me a videotape of the movie "chicago, and i confused it with an exercise video, and i thought for a brief period of time that i was hurt. i was prancing around with these not very heavy weights, and yet they were light as air.

i threw out both shoulders. it was not the fault of the navy. you get to a point where all these things are supposed to make you better sort of break you. swimming. swimmers you're instantly. ear instantly. not just about looking older, feeling older and everything but about some of the other things that go through your head simultaneously, because as the truth is, we are all happy to be here. we would all rather be older than be dead. i am really happy to be here and right here, although i should be having my nails done. tavis: i can see them coming out and doing it while you sit here. >> that is another thing you end up doing when you did older.

you spend so much time sort of trying desperately to keep from just looking a little older. you are just constantly putting stuff on your face, having to remove things from yourself and opening up copies of "vogue" send you can find a way to throw away any money you have managed to save to do something that feels like electroshock. >> some other thoughts. -- tavis: another thought. my grandmother used to tell me that. she did not like to be called old. some of these other thoughts. there has to be something that you like about this process. >> of getting older?

well, i do not know. tavis: you have got to be -- they always say you are wiser. if they say and it -- said you could give back some i.q. points, there are a lot of hypotheticals that come along. if you had to do over, what would you do? who is offering this? someone is actually giving you the ability to do it over? and you still want to live in the same apartment? >> and if they said it was

played by morgan freeman or something. if you could give away, give back, rather, a few i.q. points, you would do this? >> are you kidding? yes. would not you? tavis: i do not have that much to give. there are some things i would like to do over again the big time. tavis: give me one? one thing you would do over. >> there are things i would not have said. i mean, there are, you know, oh, my god. of note. there are so many things. so many things. as long as i get to be married to the same guy and living in the same place and my kids. tavis: you cannot have it that

way the. >> who made up the rules to this? it does not make sense. tavis: i am thinking, if you gave back those i.q. points, you may not have been smart enough to merit the same guy. all right. >> just a few. i mean, it is so interesting. we think we know the rules to this game, this total hypothetical game. if you had it to do over. it is not out there. tavis: it is not an option. this is not rooted in any reality. let me move on here. you did not have a choice, did you? being the daughter of two screenwriters, this was -- >> they wanted their kids to be writers. there is no question about that.

they were screenwriters and had four daughters. my mother always said to us "everything is copy." it was a great lesson. it told you what everything you were going through could be a story. tavis: you have got some great stuff in here. i only have a few minutes left. the piece that you write about, i do not think angst would be the best word. there was some anger. >> yes, i was and still am. speaking of another game we like to play, which is how did we get here, how did we get into this war that is not working and all of the rest of it, you can blame a lot of people about the

election, whenever 6, 5, however years. you can blame out gore or ralph nader or george bush, but i blame bill. i just do. i think he squandered his presidency the night that woman delivered that pizza to him. we would not be where we are. there would be a lot of people that are not. he broke my heart. i believe that he was the guy. i thought we have finally got a president. and then it turned out we did not. it broke my heart. tavis: we were talking about the other president. the handsome guy.

there is a wonderful essay about being an intern. >> i was an intern in the kennedy white house. it was a disappointing experience. i do not know how to put it. tavis: is that because he did or did not hit on you? >> he did not hit on me. and he hit on virtually everyone he ever met. i am starting to feel more and more hurt about this, and a couple of years ago when yet another intern surfaced who had had a fling with him, i thought, well, this is ridiculous. tavis: there is one time at that kennedy was speaking to you, and you could not hear him because of the helicopter. maybe he was speaking to you then. >> i wish he had been. there is no telling. >> there was a helicopter making

this terrible, a huge amount of noise, and i said, "what?" and that was all a thing between me and jack. are you coming along. i thought i heard him say are you coming along. was very sweet of him to ask. but it was not the same. he was something. he was very handsome. fors: a woman who's worked sure will live on for generations. that is our show tonight. i will see you next time. good night from los angeles, thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley

at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with -- >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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