. >> and for complete synergy the film is based in part on doris kearns goodwin's book "team of rivals" and doris writes in the latest issue of "time" how lincoln was able to connect with every day americansshe writes "the white house then was so much more open than it is today. people wanting government jobs would line up by the hundreds outside lincoln's office, each with a story to tell, a reason his family needed a clerkship or a job in a post office in order to survive. lincoln's secretary told him he didn't have time for these ordinary people. you are wrong, he responded. that's pretty good. >> willie, you say that every day. >> one of my credos. >> i want to ask you about the political courage it took for abraham lincoln to take on this fight. it seems sitting in 2012 like an obvious thing to say, to free our foal people from that bondage. >> what was difficult is he did not run on the abolitionist ticket. he would not have been elected had he run as an abolitionist. he had an urge from his very young years that slavery was an atrocity. but from the beginning when the war first

or all-star panel of presidential historians, john chee mooe cham, doris kearns goodwin, and evan thomasare back with their picks for a new mt. rushmore. >> let's start with doris because she's actually been there. it's pretty awe inspiring. >> it really is. i saw these pictures and i thought what is this, you see it, carved into the mountain, huge faces. amazing. i was thinking it had to be presidents past these guys' times, but fdr absolutely, truman absolutely, ronald reagan pretty much absolutely, and then half of lbj's face. >> what? >> well you just have a half of his face because he's brilliant domestically, troubled on foreign policy. but he had a good side image so i think you could have half of him. >> can you do that? >> they can do do anything they want. >> she's the one -- >> half a face. >> so we've already talked about fdr. we've talked about truman. let's talk about reagan, a guy who when many people on the left thought he stumbled into office as an accident of history, few could expect this guy to be as transformative as he was. i would guess most historians 100 years fr

but doris kearns goodwin, how does the president set priorities in a second term?he's got a pretty long list there and a pretty difficult environment in which to operate. >> the most important thing a president has to do knowing he has limited capital is to decide where do i put my ambitions and where do i hold back. i think the fact that he did not mention gun control makes him understand that unless he can argue public sentiment to overcome the enormous special interest, that's going to be a much harder one. immigration right at the top. and that's the one where he can mobilize that base. it's the base that elected him. if he were to get immigration, he starts on a successful platform, and then maybe move to the other ones. >> there is incentive for republicans to cooperate on immigration. >> the sad thing for fiscal cliff is we'll be stuck in trench warfare for another couple of years. make sure you do it with a bush type comprehensive package. then you break the trench warfare. you get some from column a and column b, and then maybe you can do the things you wa

but doris kearns goodwin, how does the president set priorities in a second term?got a pretty long list there and a pretty difficult environment in which to operate. >> the most important thing a president has to do knowing he has limited capital is to decide where do i put my ambitions and where do i hold back. fdr once said, i'm like a cat. i know when to bounce and when to pull back. so i think the fact that he did not mention gun control makes him understand that unless he can argue public sentiment to overcome the enormous special interest, that's going to be a much harder one. immigration right at the top. and that's the one where he can mobilize that base. it's the base that elected him. it's going to make it harder for republicans. if he were to get immigration through, he starts on a successful platform, and then maybe move to the other ones on entitlement. >> there is incentive for republicans to cooperate on immigration. >> the sad thing for fiscal cliff is we'll be stuck in trench warfare for another couple of years. make sure you do it with a bush repu

presidential historian doris kearns goodwin. executive editor at random house, jon meacham, david brooks of the "new york times" and our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd, all coming up next. vision expanding to a 5-inch 1080p hd display and camera. touch acquiring nfc. hearing evolving with beats audio. wireless charging activated. introducing droid dna by htc. it's not an upgrade to your phone. it's an upgrade to yourself. is bigger than we think ... sometimelike the flu.fer from with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so don't wait. call your doctor right away. tamiflu is prescription medicine for treating the flu in adults and children one year and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing. have serious health conditions, o

graphic depictions of depraved sadomasochistic sex. [ laughter ] once again, my apologies to doris kearns goodwinlaughter ] as for papa bear, i have so crushed my hero, i look forward to his next book "killing a fifth of bourbon in a puddle of my own tears" by bill o'reilly but my book is not the only thing that has captured the imagination of america. the country is gripped by the prospect that i will be appointed to replace jim demint in the us senate by south carolina governor nikki haley. [cheers and applause] and i am raking in the -- it's electric! and i am raking in the endorsements. for instance, when asked about my appointment with destiny senator john mccain recently said quote, "he would be a very valued member in that he seems to know everything about us, so he wouldn't have any trouble fitting in." [ laughter ] yes, i'd fit right into the senate. i love any job that has recess. [ laughter ] [cheers and applause] in fact, mccain and i are already engaging in some friendly joshing. >> john mccain, was asked what he would teach colbert if he landed the job. mccain jokingly answered quot

we have director steven spielberg here and historian doris kearns goodwin.ng to join us in a moment. >> stay with us. ♪ really? yep, and their network is super fast. so fast that i reacted to how fast it was but you missed it. i'll show you in slow-mo. woooooooaaah. powww! we'll take it. honey, let's go! what? ok! [ male announcer ] get the season's hottest smartphones, like the samsung galaxy s3. and get t-mobile's unlimited 4g data on their nationwide 4g network. from america's gift headquarters. walmart. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.

presidential historian doris kearns goodwin, executive editor at random house, jon meacham. david brook of "the new york times." and our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd. all coming up next. se correspondent, chuck todd, all there is no mass-produced human. so we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. a collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the support your body needs - each of your bodies. our sleep professionals will help you find your sleep number setting. exclusively at a sleep number store. comfort individualized. save 50% on the final closeout of our silver limited edition bed plus special financing through new years day. >>> coming up, reaction from my roundtable. you heard the president lay out his big agenda items for his second term. immigration, the economy, energy, middle class tax cuts not to mention gun control. can he realistically get any of them done given washington's track record of dysfunction? the roundtable is here to break it all do

and presidential historian and author of the lincoln biography "team of rivals" doris kearns goodwin. take away, the president is setting the tone here, putting them on notice that yes, taxes are going to gun, and he's going to drive a hard bargainon a lot of different issues rather than try to bring them into the fold. he doesn't feel like compromise is going to work. >> let's just say that what is happening at the congress right now is pathetic. we are asking not to bankrupt our children. i think most of the blame still has to go to the republicans. they have had a brain freeze since the election. they have no strategy. they don't know what they want, and they haven't decided what they want. but if i had to fault president obama, i would say sometimes he has governed like a visitor from a morally superior civilization. he comes in here, and he will not -- he'll talk with boehner. he won't talk with the other republicans. he hasn't built their trust. boehner actually made a pretty serious concession, $800 billion in tax revenues. probably willing to go up on rates. but the trust wasn

but doris kearns goodwin, how does the president set priorities in a second term?a pretty long list there and a pretty difficult environment in which to operate. >> the most important thing a president has to do knowing he has limited capital is to decide where do i put my ambitions and where do i hold back. i think the fact that he did not mention gun control makes him understand that unless he can argue public sentiment to overcome the enormous special interest, that's going to be a much harder one. immigration right at the top. and that's the one where he can mobilize that base. it's the base that elected him. if he were to get immigration, he starts on a successful platform, and then maybe move to the other ones. >> there is incentive for republicans to cooperate on immigration. >> the sad thing for fiscal cliff is we'll be stuck in trench warfare for another couple of years. make sure you do it with a bush type comprehensive package. then you break the trench warfare. you get some from column a and column b, and then maybe you can do the things you want to do.

. >>> coming up in our next hour, a pulitzer-prize winning historian, doris kearns goodwin joins us toabout one of the most-discussed movies of the year, "lincoln." and up next, the best of the year's must-read opinion pages. you're watching "morning joe." [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. [ buzzing ] bye dad. drive safe. k. love you. [ chirping, buzzing continues ] [ horn honks ] [ buzzing continues ] [ male announcer ] the sprint drive first app. blocks and replies to texts while you drive. we can live without the &. visit sprint.com/drive. customer erin swenson wbought so, i'm happy. today. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she ca

. >> yes, and doris kearns goodwin who is one of the historians there said, i don't think that's a goodidea mr. president to call it the new foundation, your administration. he said well why not? she said that sounds like a woman's girdle to me. >> go to great lengths to talk about one of the historians at that table but then you went to dinner somewhere outside of new york are outside of the city, so you wouldn't be recognized. >> all these historians were sworn to secrecy. they were not supposed to report on what went on at this meeting. i am a very experienced reporter and i finally got one of them to agree to talk to me on the condition of anonymity. he or she, not going to say which it was, agreed to tell me what went on at this meeting as long as i didn't identify that person. and so, i disguised the person by not using his or her name but i can tell you that i ran this version of what i would -- the person and i was told that is exactly what happened. >> we have been talking on booktv with edward klein, whose most recent book is "the amateur," barack obama in the white house publ