and here is bruce reed, the executive director of the commission on cochaired by ernst and and i wrote idaho. i don't know how he got into that. i'm not going to go any further i see you looking over there, one of my citizens at harvard. ..

bruce reed was the chair the de at the time. i was fortunate enough to get the job. i worked on a whole slew of issues for the first lady. we worked on health care -- >> for how long? >> it was about a year and half. i started there in november 1997. and in the summer of 99, i was getting married. my husband and i were going to move to new york. about three weeks before i got married, i went to hillary and said i am moving to new york. there was a lot of talk at that point about her running for senate. but i did not know anything definitive. i said, i would like to help you from my job. i will go to work for a law firm. and hillary turned to me -- i still remember this -- the bottom floor of the white house, the mention of the white house, and i was walking back from an event with her. i told her that and she turned to me and said, i want you to work for me. i am thinking about doing this thing. you should work on it. and i was getting married a few weeks later. i did not expect it at all and it turned everything on its head. but it was fascinating. so i did that. an

new jersey native bruce springsteen sanity hi new patriotic anthem to americans coming together. ♪ ♪ >> let's turn to joy ann reedhe grio. first of all, jennifer hudson. fabulous. it was perfect. >> yeah, you know, there have been some people who criticized the performance because she didn't do the whole key change, the sort of big piece the song. i thought it was understated. i thought it was emotional. you could actually see her emoex, and you could see in her face she was really struggling to complete the performance. i thought it was beautiful because it was so simple. >> it was on short notice, obviously, how did they handle all of that behind the scenes, the selection, all of that. >> it was difficult because shaka khan was supposed to perform and she couldn't. i think people were still in shock. jennifer hudson stepped up to the plate. people waited the whole telecast of that tribute. it took a long time. it took almost too long. by the time she stepped up there, the weight of the world was on this young woman. i thought she did a good job. >> this is an unusual situation. i can't remember someone of star