e.j. dionne is here. he's a senior fellow with the brookings institution in california, a columnist for "the washington post," and professor at georgetown university. kevin eckstrom is the religion news service, and kim lawton is the managing editor of this program. welcome to you all. let's begin with that terrible terrible situation in the middle east with isis and whether it can be brought under control or defeated. who wants to predict anything there? >> it's one of the big questions the international community is going to have to continue struggling with in this year is how to stop isis. and for the u.s., unfortunately, that means i think some very difficult political debates about increasing the military operations there. and it's interesting that in the past we've had some more debates about moral implications of u.s. actions and i don't think we have as much this time around. but certainly there isn't a lot of support for more boots on the ground in that part of the world. and so i think the quest

e.j. dionne and jason johnson, thank you for being here. >> good to be with you. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> leading up to the state of the union, what's your take on his strategy here? >> i think it's clearly a good strategy when you look at what's happening in the polls. i think before the election he was really constrained partly because of where so many of the vulnerable democratic seats were. and i think democrats let that fact constrain them too much. most of the key races were in very conservative states where the president was unpopular. so they held back particularly, for example, on the immigration executive order. now he's looking forward to "a," his retirement and history, and "b," to an election in 2016 that the democrats thing they can win because it's a nationwide election. and he's picking issues that are popular with people. the idea of providing sick leave to every american is a popular position. the idea of having everybody be able to go two years at community college

congresswoman eleanor holmes norton and e.j. dionne thank you both for being here and enjoy the game on sunday. >> go patriots. thank you. >> coming up mitt's out, now what? new signs today that the gop's 2016 primary could get really, really nasty. also a surprising move by the judge in the aaron hernandez murder trial. >>> and suge knight arrested for murder is in tonight's justice file. >>> also we've got the calorie count on your super bowl menu. an inspiring message you'll see during the big game. and a major dilemma for seahawks star richard sherman. what does he do if his baby boy is being born on sunday? reverend al's super bowl party is ahead. push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come. they're still after me. get to the terminal across town. a

under the rug opinion joining me now is washington post columnist of the brookings institution e.j. dionneee. professor ogletree let me start with you. what's your assessment of john lewis' contention that this is being swept under the rug. >> well you know, congressman lewis is very correct. what's happening now is none of us expected it and i grew up as a kid with the naacp in merced. i became a life member a few years ago. it has made a big difference and the naacp is a multi-racial group and to see that they're getting bombed and attack the way it is to me, it calls for an extensive investigation and the people should be brought to justice and prosecuted for what they've done. >> e.j. we have no specific conclusions whether or not this was -- the naacp was the target but if it is i wonder we have a huge news story in france about a foreign terrorist attack and a potentially very big story of a terrorist attack or hate crime if it ends up being linked to the naacp and we in the media have an easier time talking about the foreign terror attack rather than an incident of racial violence h

and then e.j. dionne, lest t the laughter covered up your intro, e.j., senior fellow, governance studies. and we are joined, just to note, lots of people in the audience but just to note two people welcome to ambassador kim beasley who is also the former leader of the labour party and tanya -- [inaudible] who is currently the deputy leader of the labour party and also the shadow foreign minister. so many welcomes to all of you. it's my pleasure to introduce this session the life of an australian prime minister -- first female -- [laughter] prime minister. i'm now going to be haunted by that, julia. [laughter] a conversation by julia gillard on "my story." if you haven't seen her book it's wonderful, i highly recommend are it and you will also get those recommendations from my colleagues. yes, indeed. and i know copies are available afterwards. and julia, you'll be sticking around for a little bit won't you? oh good. for anybody who wants to talk get a book signed, etc. so i'm not going to dive into the su

this morning is e.j. dionnerst began reporting on governor cuomo with his failed run for new york city mayor in 1977 and here in studio terry ballway now director of the duquesne university center for history, politics and policy. e.j., let me start with you. the simple question the plane was idling. the field was wide open. the polls showed if mario cuomo got in that race he leaves bill clinton in the dust. he leaves jerry brown in the dust. the nomination looks like it's his. did we ever find out? >> there's been a mystery at the heart of that decision ever since he made it. there's all kinds of speculation, you know, some folks say there was something back there he didn't want to come out. i personally don't believe that's the case. i always thought that there was a piece of mario cuomo -- and he's somebody i had -- i got -- i confessed -- confessed in a column coming out on monday. i had an affection for him pretty much from the moment i started covering him back in 1977, but i always think there was a piece

it's led by politico editor susan glasser, washington post columnist e.j. dionne and it runs 90 minutes. >> thank you all for braving the arctic blast to join us this afternoon for this event which has been months in the preparation on what americans think about the fight against isis. for those of you whom i don't know, my name is tamara wittis i direct the center for middle east policy here at the brookings institution and one of the things we do in the center for middle east policy is we host our project on u.s. relations with the islamic world and that project is the organizer of today's event. the united states finds itself now just four months into what we are calling the anti-isis struggle. one in which our leaders acknowledge will probably take years to play out. and along with the attention of the horrific violence that this movement has wreaked on syrians, iraqis and others questions of momentum seem to dominate a lot of the media coverage around this new campaign. has the united states and the coalition halted the isis advance? is the military retaking