this is a 15 round fight this is round one. >> rose: doris kearns goodwin, what did you think. >> there's been a vacuum of leadership both sides of the hill in these last months and people have felt it. i think what the president did tonight was to reassert himself into that leader ship role and to take charge perhaps of that debate that you're just mentioning. he seems to have fun tonight which we haven't seen him do for a while. he spoke not only with confidence but the cadence of his voice went up and down. he smiled a few times. he made those little spontaneous gestures. and he was at the center of attention. that's what happens at the state of the union which is the best thing in the world for any president, everybody's there watching him. like teddy roosevelt wanted to be the bribe at the wedding and courtrooms at the funeral and baby at the baptism. i think he filled that role more than he has other times and i think it means at least with that leadership exercise back. people were complaining where is the leader that he may have a greater chance to shape what happens at least reto

doris kearns goodwin. john dickerson. al hunt of bloomberg news. also joining me from the set mark halperin and john heilemann. david brooks will join us later. i am pleased to have all of you here. an assessment of what the president calls the final quarter of his presidency. al hunt, reaction to the state of the union? >> charlie, this was a guy 11 weeks ago who suffered a disastrous electoral defeat. and yet tonight, i think he gave one of the best speeches of his presidency. i think he was confident, he did not give a laundry list of 28 different programs. he struck a good balance between a populist rhetoric and also stressed values. i think he did it remarkably -- it was remarkably effective. >> even if his intent is to get things done. >> at of the there is much he will get done career that is always the case in this cycle. bill clinton, george w. bush andrew jackson -- i will defer to john on that. this is not a cycle where you get much done. >> the point is to reassert the debate. >> the debate will take place over the next two years. i thi

first, doris kearns goodwin, a pulitzer prize winning author, a former member of the lbj white house staff and one of the first members of the white house fellows program created by president johnson. joe califano who served as domestic affairs adviser -- better known as domestic affairs czar from 1965 to 1969. ambassador andrew young, one of dr. kings very closest aides the first african-american united states congressman elected from the deep south since reconstruction. appointed by president carter as united states ambassador to the united nations. and, mayor of my city of atlanta from 1982 to 1990. taylor branch, pulitzer prize winning author best known for his writings on civil rights. his book, parting the waters won the pulitzer in 1989. our moderator is todd purdum contributing editor at vanity fair, senior editor at politico. he recently published a book, an idea whose time has come. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome todd purdum, doris kearns goodwin, andrew young joe califano and taylor branch. [applause] >> thank you very much, tom, mark and the entire staff. it is wond

thanks to doris kearns goodwin's, team of rivals a bestseller, and steven spielberg's movie lincoln, based on the book, william henry seward has been rescued from obscurity. he was lincoln's secretary of state and we fully expected when the president himself in 1860 committees is survived by his family some in upstate new york. but the image i like best is not of the south but of the man himself. here he is looking a bit disheveled, this photograph by matthew brady going to support them at this time the words come from historian henry adams to he said of seward that had a deep and those shaggy eyebrows, and orderly hair and clothes. adams concluded, mr. seward looked like a wise macaw. two enough, don't you think? i like the old aphorism about john keller's political clout as a wit of the day when calvin took snuff south carolina sneezed. when i look at this i think i can believe it. and by the way given the determination on the face i could almost hear him during his words, slavery is a good dish is good a positive good. his old plantation home survived but it's called fort hill. af

host: let me add one other voice from historian doris kearns goodwin who worked in the johnson whitese and wrote a best-selling book about lyndon john johnson and the american dream. here is what she had to say at the same event last april in austin texas. [video clip. >> i only knew him from 1967 until he died. there was no question the time i spent with him in the white house and on the ranch. he was proudest of civil rights of anything he had ever done. and he knew that it would stand the test of time. and my sense is that once he became president, he had the power, and he had always wanted to do more than he could do. just as was said he was stuck. it was right to represent the state of texas. he is a texas senator a texas congressman. but once -- i don't think it was just john kennedy's desk although that gave him an opening. i don't think it was just the movement although that's huge. i think what you said mr. mr. ambassador and what you pointed out in this tension between martin luther king and lbj is the tension from the movement from the outside pushing in at the government