s, dave levinthal is our guest. "washington journal," live every morning at 7:00 a.m. astern here on c-span. >> president obama held an end of the year press conference with reporters on friday. he addressed the healthcare law, negotiations about iran's nuclear program, and his chosen delegates to the sochi olympics. here's a quick preview. >> what was the message you were trying to send with not only your decision not to attend the sochi games, but also with the people you named to the delegation to represent the united states at those games? >> first of all, i haven't attended olympics in the past, nd i suspect that, you know, me attending an olympics, particularly the time when you've got all the other stuff that people is talking about, will be tough, although i would love to do t. i'll be going to a lot of olympic games post-presidency. i think the delegation speaks for itself. you got outstanding americans, outstanding athletes, people who will represent us xtraordinarily well. you know, the fact that we've got folks like billie jean king or brian boitano, who th

dave levinthal with the center for >> thank you mr. president. what was the message you are trying to send by not attending the sochi games? all, i suspect that me attending the olympics when we have other things that people have been talking about -- i will go to a lot of olympic games post-presidency. ♪ good:

dave levinthal with the center for >> thank you mr. president. what was the message you are trying to send by not attending the sochi games? all, i suspect that me attending the olympics when we have other things that people have been talking about -- i will go to a lot of olympic games post-presidency. ♪ good morning. that question at the president's news conference. the obama's are spending christmas in hawaii. we will begin on the issue of the u.s. allegation to the sochi olympic games and get your comments. it is sunday morning, december 22. welcome to "washington journal." our phone lines are open. the numbers are on your screen. host: this is the question. using the olympics to address social issues. you can also send us a tweet. here is how we posted it on our twitter page should the president use the olympics to address social issues? here is the story on the sunday morning from usa today. the headline is that the president has made a decision by naming a veil of the delegation and sent a message to russia. they are delivering a strong me

host: our guest is david levinthal of the center for public integrity. daveur first caller. caller: i wanted to agree with you about the influence of the citizens united decision, which was an accumulation of a bunch of different supreme court decisions since the early 1900's. it has put undue amount of corporate money into the election system, and also, the politicians really -- in order to get elected, they have to spend so much of their time raising campaign contributions. and when they do, their influence has got to be towards where they got the money in the first place. i think that has an effect on who they actually represent when they do get into office. guest: the caller raises a very key point here. you're looking over the u.s. capitol in the studio here, and dotted all across the areas right around the capital are restaurants and bars and lobbying offices and whatnot, where almost every day, particularly when congress is in session, they have 5, 10 fund raisers every single location. there in this building all the time too. what is going on here? if