carol smith, as i talked about, is the superintendent of the portland public schools. and then we have a fantastic turnaround school here in d.c., luke moore high school, which is an alternative high school with a charismatic and hard-driving principal. we have rose smith, the business and tech teacher there, and d diekwon buehrle, a senior there. if i could ask rose and diekwon to come out, please. i want to start with the real star of the show, high school senior, diekwon buehrle. i could not have done this in high school. you're way ahead of me. you've been at this school for four years. you're a senior now. i would love to hear about what the school is like in the first couple years before the turn around and what the environment and culture is like now. >> well, the first couple of years, me there, so young. when i came, i was 14 years old. everybody else was older. so my first year there, i was young. so a lot of stuff was new to me. like a couple of dudes was in there -- not dudes, but kids. >> a couple of dudes, that's okay. >> yeah. so, they was, you know, lik

. >> my name is carol smith and i am the co-director and founder of the luggage store gallery in the tenderloin in a pocket space two blocks west of boeddekker. i've spent over 25 years involved in the tenderloin. i believe it was the vision of father boeddekker, and with this plan, to underscore the comments that have been made previous that it reflects the vision of a neighborhood comments were the most adverse community of people in san francisco in the most desolate -- most densely occupied area of san francisco can meet and share recreational activities. i want to introduce keith career. the park opened with this man as the first director of that facility and we ask you to fully support this plan. i think it fairly reflects the overall sentiment garnished through this process. was very thorough and fair and a thank you. >> i am robert glass. i have been working in the tenderloin national forest as an artist in residence the for an ecological engineer firm. i'm a landscape architect and i am here to support this project. the reuse of the rain water is something our firm is intere

also to carol smith and rose smith. our next speaker is a national treasure and part of his job is to worry about the state of our national treasure called gene the machine by some for his work ethic. he has been an extraordinary public servant across administrations. first as director of the national economic council under president clinton and then as council to timothy geithner and now as assistant to the president and national economic council for president obama. he is a good midwesterner from minnesota, a great tennis player and a yale lawyer. given the theme, education and the economy he is a perfect speaker for the occasion. to close out this session with key note remarks please welcome from the white house, gene spurling. >>> well, thank you very much. john got most of that right. it is true i went to college in minnesota but i'm actually from ann arbor, michigan. that's my home. i am a huge michigan fan and i am still in my third day of mourning over the tragic loss to the university of ohio. nonetheless, i wi

carol's metaphor on the prize. you didn't hear any boards about his competitors it was directly targeted at president obama and trying to project an air opt minimum and moving forward. >> ben smithno doubt that he's gone back to the mitt romney he was at the start this primary race when he refused to talk about his competitors, he just talked about obama all the time. he's now able to do that again. they've come through the social issue squall as i suppose the romney camp see it. let me paint you a picture. i was talking to john brave ebr and gingrich camp about a potential linkup, to form a conservative proper candidate. and to my surprise, they began to be very flirtatious about this idea. i said, of course, you could bring in all the big conservative big guns, the sarah palins and so on, is this feasible or has the horse bolted? >> the horse has bolted. you saw paul ryan, maybe the key conservative big gun on stage tonight the. i think these are the pipe dreams with these guys that are increasingly minor candidates. they don't together have enough to beat romney. it's not -- even if they teamed up now, it's not -- they're increasingly fighting over the same scraps. >> dana la

carol's analogy and metaphor on the prize. you didn't hear any competitors. no ron paul. it was targeted at president obama and trying to project an air of optimism and moving forward. >> ben smithhere is no doubt he has gone back to the mitt romney and he is now able to do that again and come through with social issues and i suspect the romney can't see it. let me paint a picture. i was talking to john there and also in the gingrich camp about a potential linker. between the two camps to form a conservative and to my surprise, they began to be flirtatious about the idea. you could bring in all the conservative big guns and the sarah palins and stuff. he is feasible or has it. >> the horse is balded. you saw paul ryan and the key conservative on stage there with mitt romney in wisconsin. these are the pipe dreams of these guys who are minor candidates. they don't together have enough to beat romney. even if they teamed up now, they are increasingly fighting over the scraps. how is he going to turn around the perception of himself in tough economic times. he is out of touch with the average american. >> i think he needs to do a better job at fighting back against the media. if th