well the assault on civil liberties under the obama white house has been worse than under the bush white house whether that's the radical interpretation of the two thousand and one authorization to use military force act as giving the president the right to assassinate american citizens whether it is the pfizer amendment act which records are actively makes legal but under our constitution has traditionally been illegal warrantless wiretapping monitoring and eavesdropping of tens of millions of americans whether it is the use of the espionage act six times we just saw a cia official get indicted thirty months in prison the espionage for whistleblowers and that's not out the espionage act written one hundred seventeen was designed it's kind of foreign secrets act or whether that's the section ten twenty one of the national defense authorization act and i sued the president over this section and one in the southern district court of new york it's now on appeal it was appealed by the obama administration and it's before the appellate court the second circuit appellate court new york where o

looting of the us treasury on the part of wall street firms has continued unabated under the obama white house. all of these major structural issues there is no difference between george bush and barack obama on some issues like civil liberties obama's worst. i mean his entering his fourth term especially with the point someone like brennan and the systematic erosion of our civil liberties the anti war movement also completely died the bush policies continued the blind party loyalty cause the death of the liberal class. you know what happened was in two thousand and four the leaders of the antiwar movement and i think in a very misguided decision decided to call a moratorium on demonstrations to elect john kerry who during the campaign if you remember out bush you know i would have never withdrawn from fallujah i mean it was and i think that this is part of the left failure that's not our job to take. to stand fast around moral imperative. and and challenge will centers of our democratic and republican. and so yes i think the antiwar movement itself there's a great deal of culpability for it's

obama was far more political than she let on and there was a lot of constant infighting in the obama white house likely in the early days. rachel swarns history, although the attention of some president obama being the first black president, because his white ancestors came from elsewhere, there were no slaves and his family. michelle obama had both slaves and white ancestors, that great american complexity and how we reduce race to black black-and-white but it really isn't. >> host: and facts to quickly mention david maraniss' barack obama story, booktv travel to kenya with mr. maraniss and we did a lot of taping over there so you can see all of that in a special david maraniss at our web site, booktv.org. simply use the search function in the upper left-hand corner, type in his name and he can watch the footage. it was quite a trip to kenya to see that background. yes, sir? >> guest: one of the great parts of his reporting was he deconstructed obama's early memoir, faith of our fathers? dreams of our father, excuse me. i think it got john mccain in there. dreams of our father. i had the father

we take a drive north of the white house along 14th street to an area populated by hispanic migrants. immigration is another key issue for obama's second term. >> the obama white house will introduce a major piece of reform legislation on immigration. the problem is that it almost that's deal with what is sometimed called amnesty, legalizing people who are already in this country illegally. that is highly controversial, not just for republicans. >> there is much to do for president obama. and the countdown is on. he has just four more years in was to seal his legacy. >> just about 700,000 people turned out to ring in obama's new term, way down compared to the 1.8 million to turn out four years ago. >> clearly the excitement does not compare to the first term. what about here in europe. we asked people and politicians what they hoped to see from obama part 2. >> it is great he was reelected. he had four years and he has four more. it is a big opportunity. i think obama can now push the things that he wants to. things that are important to him. >> the u.s. is important to the global economy, so it is crucial that it manages to ove

we take a drive north of the white house along 14th street to an area populated by hispanic migrants. immigration is another key issue for obama's second term. >> the obama white house will introduce a major piece of reform legislation on immigration. the problem is that it almost that's deal with what is sometimed called amnesty, legalizing people who are already in this country illegally. that is highly controversial, not just for republicans. >> there is much to do for president obama. and the countdown is on. he has just four more years in was to seal his legacy. >> just about 700,000 people turned out to ring in obama's new term, way down compared to the 1.8 million to turn out four years ago. >> clearly the excitement does not compare to the first term. what about here in europe. we asked people and politicians what they hoped to see from obama part 2. >> it is great he was reelected. he had four years and he has four more. it is a big opportunity. i think obama can now push the things that he wants to. things that are important to him. >> the u.s. is important to the global economy, so it is crucial that it manages to ove

joining us now is a man who is the closest i can get to the white house or to the obama campaign apparatus without actually being allowed to talk to somebody from the white house or the campaign apparatus. bill burton is the former white house deputy press secretary and co-founder of priorities usa political action committee. he is managing director at global strategy group, which sounds both leviathan and tear fight. bill burton. >> that's what i was going for. >> executive and vice president managing director of global strategy group. >> you said bright but uncertain future when i was on a while ago. now it's certain. >> fair enough. i won't ask. >> i assume i'll know before it kills me. >> i have to say, 4:30 on a friday is actually a really good time to get a member of congress. they're probably not doing anything. >> they're probably not at work. >> you catch them right before happy hour. you get right through. you get right through. >> no. is this just -- is the obama for america organizing apparatus that existed in 2008 that got fold booed the dnc essentially went on autopilot and w

another high-ranking woman in the obama white house is bowing out. deputy chief of staff is reportedly leaving the white house at the end of this month adding to the number of senior-level openings that president obama must now fill, but with the first four major appointments all were complete and all four going to white men does the president have a diversity problem? certainly want optics don't look good. lynn sweet of the washington bureau chief for "the chicago sun-times." lynn, i'll start with you. is there truly a diversity problem or is it just the perception of it? >> well, you've got to let him have more appointments. i think there is a potential right now. yeah. and the obama administration should have seen this coming. they could have somehow and still can send out signals of what they intend to do with these higher decisions and the departure of nancy ann diparlo means there have got to be more women in the pipeline that the obama administration will appoint. i don't see how they can't be doing it because women were the backbone of the ob

. >> that is a legitimate criticism you are hearing over and over from the obama white house and other governments around the world. there is this concern that this might be working for bolivia, but when you look at it from a global standpoint, bolivia is not living up to obligations that it has pledged to work with other countries regarding security issues and violence. >> there is an alice in wonderland quality to the u.s. criticisms. because there is a global cocaine market, bolivia, even with the help of its neighbors, like brazil, it is not going to stop cocaine trafficking on its own. columbia has not stopped it and peru is not doing it. the question is, how can you manage in a way that does not cause -- colombia has not stopped it and peru is not doing it. bolivia has really good innovation. that does not mean they do not have enormous challenges. bolivia is a transit company for cocaine from peru to big markets in argentina and new york. it is more complicated than just production and consumer countries. it is more complicated than bolivia's doing a good job or not. -- bolivian

now, four more years in the white house will bring some milestones for the obamas as parents. ne, but two teenagers in the white house and soon malia will be old enough to drive, apply to colleges and, yes, even date. anderson. >> thanks so much. fascinating look at how much they have grown just over the last four years. with us now is someone who has worked closely with michelle obama, former press secretary, you saw her in that piece. katie mccormack, thank you for being with us. >> nice to be here. >> often we forget that they are a family and trying to spend family time together. how is the famipresident able t that? >> they do live above the store. he is able to walk to work. when the girls get home from school, they are able to go visit him. that is sort of sacred space between the oval office and their home. you forget the white house is an office, a home, a museum, it's all happening at once but people are respectful of their family space. it used to be he traveled so much and when he was in springfield for the senate, so, now that they're in one place i think it's a pa

"as budget director and chief of staff in the obama white house, mr. lew has been the president's most partisan and implaquable negotiator. he no doubt reflects mr. obama, but no one should think he'll emerge at his own in the treasury." >> i think you want pick garrett ginslerin. if you wanted to make big changes in jobs and investment, it would have been a more -- >> the first fight, though, is taking on congress, and that's -- >> that's a point of making. >> and one of the reasons they don't like him, so many republicans, that in 2011 we had the budget fight then. jack lew really snookerred them, and structuring them in a way that were protective to all of the president's priorities. if that's what we're going -- we seem to be in a place where getting washington to function at a very basic level is the end game. people have to be judged not just on where they fit on rainbow but what they're like as public servants, and jack lew is a tremendously talented public servant. he has always protected the vulnerable. going back to his days for tip o'nei o'n

the obama white house was concerned in the beginning, that this superstar, part of team clinton, was going to over-shadow the president and the white house. they were very controlling sometimes in how they methods foreign policy, but secretary clinton never stepped on anybody's toes. she always left it to the president to take the lead on things. so i think that was a sign that she was a team player. i find, charlie, more people from both parties today saying that they thought she did a good job, and that she showed that she has real depth. then you would have found four years ago. >> rose: clearly it enhanced her reputation. >> i think so. >> rose: when you look forward to the service of john kerry, assuming what most people believe the obvious confirmation because he's of the senate himself, will he be a different secretary of state? >> would expect, charlie, that you'll see a little bit more of the back-channel negotiating style that we associate with a kissinger or jim bake frer senator kerry. he thinks that we need a period of quiet can diplomacy to explore options, to see if th

white house with vice president biden. that's a big deal, diane. we have never seen the nra at the white house, the obama white house. >> and how soon could we see something actually take place? >> reporter: well, they are saying that they will have recommendations from the vice president within three or four weeks, maybe even earlier. and, diane, they may act, well before congress gets around. the president can act by executive order on some things, including what you heard mark kelly talking about, the issue of background checks and streamlining those background checks. not going as far as he wants to go, but improving the process. >> all right, jon karl in new york, and thank you so much for bringing us up to date. >>> and now, we turn to aurora, colorado, and that other american town marked by a mass shooting, that time, in a movie theater. today, we learned the stunning story behind these pictures we saw at the time. law enforcement entering the booby trapped apartment of the alleged gunman, james holmes. fbi agents have testified today that holmes had homemade napalm inside his apartment. remote-co

if i had appointed white men to those positions, and you know that's true. >> reporter: the obama white house says it has many women in sub cabinet posts and hasn't finished naming its second-term team. still, some women say team obama could still use some of those binders full of women. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >>> there's news out of the world of sports. we learned today former nfl star linebacker, junior seau, who committed suicide at the age of 43 last may had the same brain condition diagnosed in at least two former nfl players who also took their own lives. seau's family asked that his brain tissue be analyzed after his death. test results from the national institutes of health show he had a brain disease called cte, caused by repeated blows to the head. symptoms can include memory loss, aggression and depression. >>> now to a life or death struggle that has captured attention around the world. 11 whales trapped under the ice, running out of breathing room. and just as a rescue mission was ramping up, something unexpected took place. it's all happening way up in remote nor

what does this mean for the obama white house in the second term? ugh the ringer a few times. not like dick morris type of changes. what does this mane for the obama white house? >> these are all people that the president trusts. they have been with him for a while. denis mcdonough is a key national security adviser, dan pfeiffer has been with the president since the campaign. jen palmieri is a very well-respected communications strategist around here. i think, really, it's an opportunity, again, that the president made clear in his inauguration speech, he really wants washington to act more. and i think he's got the people around him to help make that a reality. but they're trusted folks, they're talented, and i don't think -- i think he's going to be well served by them. >> david, i want to get into these fiscal triple threat that we have here, which kelly can speak to quite a lot. the first seems to have been avoided with the debt limit, which is now delayed until may. >> avoided for the time. >> for the time. up next we have the sequester followe

livid, unhappy, grumpy about that and i think we'll spend the next two years focused on the obama white house and the fight on spending. >> reporter: norquist says it is one, two, three. the sequester, the budget and then the debt ceiling, all ground that plays to the gop. >> the president says he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling. this is money that congress has already spent. pay your bills. is the gop really willing to shoot america's credit rating in the head to extract some spending cuts? >> well, you have to ask the president is he willing to damage our credit rating to keep spending money that he doesn't have? >> reporter: it is a fight that has been going on since before reagan's presidency. >> the obama tax hike. >> reporter: and norquist plans to keep fighting. bruce leshan, 9 news now. >>> homicides here in washington d.c. down 58% from just five years ago. that's a big headline from a news conference held today by mayor vince gray and police chief cathy lanier and matt jablow joins us now from mpd headquarters. lanier is saying they're not satisfied yet. >> reporter: last t

about that, i think we'll send the next two years focused on, you know, the obama white house in theht on spending. >> so you think that you're going to win the next route? >> yeah on spending. >> reporter: it is one, two, three. the budget and then the debt ceiling. all grounds that play to the gop. >> when the president says that he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling that this is money that congress has already spent. pay your bills. is the gop really willing to shoot america's credit rating in the end? >> well is he willing to damage our credit rating to keep spending money that he doesn't have? >> it is a fight that has been going on since the presidency. and they plan to keep fighting. >> one democrat wrote in the newspaper today that when they voted to raise taxes, it rendered their anti-tax pledge. >>> new tonight at 11:00, a maryland woman vacationing in jamaica has died. she was 34-year-old vanessa brown riding in a car that slammed into a minibus. no one on the bus seriously hurt as the crash is under investigation. >>> the high school student is in critical condition

. >> chris: you talked earlier about presidential leadership and you worked in the obama white house. president has to deal with the debt ceiling and wants to pass major immigration reform and wants to do something about climate change. has he told you, they told you, how much political capital he is willing to spend on what will be a very tough fight? >> you know, i think that the president has demonstrated tremendous leadership on this issue. i think the country rallied around him. and, his leadership after newtown because he really was a voice for those parents who lost they child... >> chris: he told you... >> and i see from his actions, we hear from the white house, and, we hear from the vice president, that they are going to lay down political capital on this issue. and i think the one thing i would say to this, people like larry and others who say we can't do anything about these issues, is that where there is confirmed background checks or dealing with high capacity magazines which was an issue in newtown, we can take action and to say we should do nothing, doesn't say anythin

south carolina republican congressman jeff duncan released a statement sharply challenging the obama white house. the founding fathers never envisioned executive orders being used to restrict our constitutional rights. we live in a republic, not a dictatorship. the president has called for reinstating a ban on assault weapons, and limiting high-capacity magazines. polls show the nation is evenly divided on the issue of new gun laws. at the state capitol in denver, colorado today, gun rights supporters rallied outside, while lawmakers debated on assault weapons bans inside. and in new york, governor andrew cuomo proposed a stricter assault weapons ban during his state of the state address. >> no one hunts with an assault rifle! no one needs ten bullets to kill a deer! and too many innocent people have died already! >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie featured on the cover of "time" this week told matt lauer this morning, a broader approach is needed. >> why do we have such a stigma about mental illness treatment, why aren't we dealing with substance abuse treatment. >> reporter: the p

first, new treasury secretary jack lew -- a veteran of the clinton and obama white houses - who will succeed timothy geithner. >> jack has my complete trust. i know i'm not alone in that. in the words of one former senator, "having lew on your team is the equivalent as a coach of having the luxury of putting somebody at almost any position and knowing he will do well." gwen: so what does lew's appointment tell the senators who must confirm him about what comes next in our epic budget fights? david? >> i think it tells us that the president anticipates that this year will be a year dealing with taxes and spending and deficits. it will be the fifth year in which we have a trillion dollar deficit and jack lew has been budget director in two administrations. unlike timothy geithner, he has very little experience in finance. that was geithner's strong point. he has very little experience in international. that was geithner's background. this is a guy who knows budget and knows congress. it sort of marks a punctuation point in the financial rescue. geithner was part of the rescue at the ne

a first for the obama white house. the vice president meets today with the nra to discuss gun safety. >>> trapped in ice. a race against time to save a pod of killer whales. their only access to air is a small hole there in the ice sheet. experts, now, rushing to the scene. >>> and oscar's arrival. dreams will be made and broken this morning, as the academy award nominations are announced. >>> good thursday morning. i'm sunny hostin. >> and i'm rob nelson. experts in every state are scrambling to deal with a flood of flu patients. >> one city has declared a state of emergency. abc's tahman bradley has the very latest. >> reporter: doctors are calling it onef the fiercest outbreaks in a decade. this flu strain that started in october, instead of january, has spread to 41 states, hitting at least 2,200 people. >> i'm declaring a public health emergency in the city of boston. >> reporter: boston mass general is seeing unprecedented levels of patients. many of whom have to wait 24 hours to be admitted. in pennsylvania, one

obama's first term in the white house. second-term agenda since december. and she may pick up a new cause, valerie jarrett, a top adviser to the president, is a longtime friend to the first couple. >> she's going to take on issues that she cares passionate will by. she wants to make sure her heart is in it and she can give it the energy it deserves. >> reporter: but the first lady's top priority is her family. >> at the end of the day, my most important title is still mom in chief. my daughters are still the heart of my heart and the center of my world. >> reporter: living in the most famous house in the world, the obamas have tried to stay grounded. >> i always tell my friends that i still recognize them. they haven't become some other crazy kids. >> reporter: they have some help from the first lady's mother, marian robinson, who lives on the third floor of the white house, and they keep a daily routine. mrs. obama is up early, sometimes 4:30 a.m., letting bo out and hitting the gym before her daughters wake up. the presi

>> i think the imperial attitude is coming out of the obama white house, and you just saw this it iselated to guns and issues there and we are going to continue to see this president overreach and do things that he wasn't able to do this idea of executive orders that seem extraordinary. he said he spoke of the lava lamp. and this is a president that i think has gone way beyond that. the number of regulations have come out what are called significant regulations, which have an impact of over $100 million. those are the things hurting our economy making it harder for hard-working taxpayers. john: to be paired up president obama's taxpayers, president obama is not the first to do this. >> if you go back to the founding fathers, if men were angels, we would need lots. about is why we have a checks and balances system of government and the president doesn't believe that that applies to him even when i go back to our first president, george washington said political parties are likely in the course of time to become potent engines in which cunning and ambitious and principled -- unprincipl

>> i think the imperial attitude is coming out of the obama white house, and you just saw this it iselated to guns and issues there and we are going to continue to see this president overreach and do things that he wasn't able to do this idea of executive orders that seem extraordinary. he said he spoke of the lava lamp. and this is a president that i think has gone way beyond that. the number of regulations have come out what are called significant regulations, which have an impact of over $100 million. those are the things hurting our economy making it harder for hard-working taxpayers. john: to be paired up president obama's taxpayers, president obama is not the first to do this. >> if you go back to the founding fathers, if men were angels, we would need lots. about is why we have a checks and balances system of government and the president doesn't believe that that applies to him even when i go back to our first president, george washington said political parties are likely in the course of time to become potent engines in which cunning and ambitious and principled -- unprincipl

dealing with every terrorist plot-- real, imagined, large and small-- for w four years at the obama white house. 25 year veteran from the c.i.a., up from the ranks, substantial experience, good relations ons, the hill, probably a slightlyce easier time than senator hagel. a >> pelley: thank you very much. we wanted to let you know that while in vietnam chuck hagel fought alongside his younger brother tom. this is a picture of them together. one day their armored personnel carrier hit a land mine and chuck hagel was burned, his eardrums were ruptured but still he carried his brother through enemy fire to safety. our pentagon correspondent david martin has a remarkable a interview tonight with general stanley mcchrystal, the man who led the war in afghanistan. mcchrystal was forced to resign that job in 2010 because of a magazine interview in which members of his staff were critical of the obama administration mcchrystal once led the hunt for terrorists in iraq and he told david martin about his decision to call in anisio air strike that killed the head of al qaeda in iraq, abu musab al-zarqawi.

a first for the obama white house.ce. a race against time to save a pod of killer whales. their only access to air is a small hole there in the ice sheet. experts, now, rushing to the scene. >>> and oscar's arrival. dreams will be made and broken this morning, as the academy award nominations are announced. >>> good thursday morning. i'm sunny hostin.

it will have the full force of the obama white house behind it and it's coming as soon as tuesday. the right wing knows what they're heading into. they know they have a fight on their hands, which is why we're now hearing this kind of garbage. >> to preserve and keep this great republican republic, we may have to shed blood every couple hundred years. we may have to shed blood every couple hundred years to preserve our basic freedoms. >> wow. shed blood to stop gun safety. i don't think so. we're not going to let the forces of violence and extremism get in the way of this debate. not this time. >> i'm telling you, if that happens, it's going to spark a civil war and i'll be glad to fire the first shot. i am not letting this country be ruled by a dictator. if it goes one inch further, i'm going to start killing people. >> i mean, this is vile. this is ugly stuff. they are in full freakout mode. we're serious, people, wanting real change. the tricks, the threats, it's all behind us now. people from newtown, connecticut to chicago, illinois are standing up and saying no more. this tim

understated issues in the last few years and this was an issue that propelled president obama into the white house and allowed him to beat hillary clinton and beat john mccain in the 2008 general election and it's important to note that four years ago as president obama was taking the oath of office, there were 140,000 troops in iraq, now that number is just 200. so a pretty significant change in that country and certainly one of the issues that maybe we're not talking about as much as we should be. >> all right. mark murray, nbc new senior political editor. thank you, sir. >> thanks, craig. >> a potential breakthrough is being treated with skepticism. house republicans on friday announced a plan to extend the debt ceiling deadline until mid-april. >> we will extend the debt limit until the timeline when you have a budget and a road map so you stop digging yourself in the hole. part of not having the budget is what's gotten us into this problem in the first place. >> of course, at stake here is the credibility of the u.s. economy and the united states can befall to the national debt and it does no

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