many will argue that president george h. w. bush took a hard line on settlements when his administration froze billion in loan guarantees as pressure to stop settlements less well known is the administration did finally reverse that decision and the loan guarantee went through and settlement construction continued. even during the period when the palestinians were most seriously engaged in a land for peace process the construction supplements if anything at a more accelerated rate it was to that point*. between 1993 and 2000 the number settlers increase by 52% to win for about 247,375,000 this is a rapid escalation israelis and palestinians were most engage. but that was not the low point*. the low point* came when george w. bush wrote a letter to aerial chevron and gave recognition of some of the israeli settlements and to go parts of israel and wrote in light of new realities on the ground including already existing major israeli population centers it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations would be full

overall, their views were much closer to the views of margaret thatcher than helmut kohl and george h. w. bush. their theories predicted that massive change is almost always associated with war. this was pregnant with the possibility of war. that is what motivated the argument that was just referenced, mainly the bipolar the vision of europe has maintained peace. if you want peace, prop up the soviet union. i did not recall from the policy maker that people in government actually paid that advice much heat and i doubt that people wish they had. scholars were behind the curve and dramatically over estimating the risks involved. i think for reasons that are connected to this comment of style that i am talking about. --, it is styl cognitive bstylem talking about. i recall a lot of historians and not at all shy about applying their knowledge to contemporary their knowledge to contemporary politics.

this was most prevalent in 1991 when george h. w. bush did everything he could to hold the soviet union together. including going to key of on the first of august of that year to warn the ukrainians against nationalism. a speech that became known as the chicken kiev speech. it was an extraordinary commitment of u.s. prestige and diplomacy at a time when it was just unrivaled in the world, to a cause that was totally hopeless. in which we actually had no interest. he does within the month, ukraine was independent. the same error was made with very tragic consequences in yugoslavia, where james baker went on the 21st of june, 1991, toward the leaders of the six republics of the been yugoslavia, that if they broke up the country that those who broke away could expect no sympathy from the u.s. but at that point in time, the people of slovenia and croatia had already voted overwhelmingly for independence. the leaders were, their whole being was about independence. the date was set for the 25th, four days later, and of course they went ahead. a

party has carried the white house for three terms since then, with one exception, which was when george h. w. bush bush 41, defeated ronald reagan. it is difficult to push the party either direction, giving them the same party, the white house or three terms in a row. history was against senator mccain in this election cycle. the second thing was the party in power is held accountable for economic factors. we had the market collapse in october which was truly frightening. i was in the white house at that time. there was a concern weaver looking at the prospect of a genuine meltdown in the -- we were looking at the prospect of a genuine meltdown in the financial and housing markets. ben bernanke and hank paulson said to the president, looking at the prospect of an economy worse than the great depression, it took people to their core. it reinforced a change, and republican party suffered from that. let us also give credit to where credit is too. president obama was a phenomenal candidate, literally and figuratively. it was an historical run for the presidency. he blazed a lot of trails in terms of t

this is not what we thought we hired you to do but then the pendulum swung back under george h. w. bush that was extremely pragmatic with a tremendous sense of what needed to be done in the world to put together a coalition the likes of which we had never seen before in the history of the world to take on a specific enemy at a specific time and place and the neocons were all for that except he did not go all the way to baghdad and george hw bush felt he could not principally because it would have fallen apart so the new kinds went back into the habitual posture which was the greatest -- greatest criticize hours of foreign policy the world has ever seen. we do a terrific job of selling you the alternative throughout the bill clinton years. steadfast all through that time if you want to find an alternative way to look at the world and what ought to be done the neocons were there to provide it and only during george w. bush for the even able to come to the floor to utilize their power through guys who were not necessarily neocons bush and cheney and rumsfeld who were not in the neocon camp

george w. bush and george h. w. sh to have a 9/11 and the fall of the berlin wall and a pattern that was not easy to identify. -- that was easy. we are searching for a pattern rather than reacting. that only the frame of the discussion today. i would take note that the lack of gender balance because i am sensitive to this issue. i would point out that the issue as a better performance than the random acceptances of our invitations. these two women could not make it even by telephone but their essays are in the magazine. some of you will note them quite well. immediately to my right, the henry a. kissinger senior fellow and a bed -- and a board member of the new american foundation. he is a distinguished fellow at yale. that is a big title. he writes regularly for "the new york times," "the l.a. times," and others. his most recent book is "god and gold." "american foreign policy and how it changed the world" receive the prize in 2002 and "god and gold" to him that last year or the year before. john is the albert milba

washington did so in 1991, when president george h. w. bush signed the agent orange act into law.ince justice seemingly done, the issue of the agent orange as largely disappeared from the news. but in reality the problem of agent orange never really went away. in fact it is now morphing into a new set of problems for our nation's leaders. it turns out that dioxin, a long acting toxin is continuing to damaged lives in vietnam that only for those exposed to it during the war but for their children and their grandchildren. the government estimates as many as 400,000 vietnamese have died early from ailments related to the exposure to dioxin and half a million children have birth defects because of exposure to the chemicals leaching into the soil and water. until recently the effects of agent orange or not something the vietnamese government talk much about after normalizing relations with the united states in 1995. hen knoy's overwhelming goal was to win favorable trade deals with the united states and admission to globaled bodies like the world trade organization bringing up unpleasa

washington did so in 1991, when president george h. w. bush signed the agent orange act into law. and in the year since justice seemingly done, the issue of the agent orange as largely disappeared from the news. but in reality the problem of agent orange never really went away. in fact it is now morphing into a new set of problems for our nation's leaders. it turns out that dioxin, a long acting toxin is continuing to damaged lives in vietnam that only for those exposed to it during the war but for their children and their grandchildren. the government estimates as many as 400,000 vietnamese have died early from ailments related to the exposure to dioxin and half a million children have birth defects because of exposure to the chemicals leaching into the soil and water. until recently the effects of agent orange or not something the vietnamese government talk much about after normalizing relations with the united states in 1995. hen knoy's overwhelming goal was to win favorable trade deals with the united states and admission to globaled bodies like the world trade organization, b

george w. bush and asked if he would take part in an effort similar to the good idea that he had around what has happened in haiti. obviously the administrations of george h the obama administration have worked and we have seen a lot of resources go to haiti and the haitian people. t(we obviously have a vested interestç in the government and the people there. he asked them to come together in an effortq similar to the one to was done for the tsunami. we will have more details on that in the coming days. again, our focus right now is on ensuring that what resources and capabilities we have are gotten to the region and gotten to haiti as quickly as possible to affect that window of time for search and rescue. >> can you tell us if they have at least initially agreed to go >> i'm sorry. both of them have agreed to take part in this. i did not have details past that at this point but in the very, very near future we will as we focus and for the time being on the search and rescue. ç>>ç on banks and bonuses, the president sounded particularly angry today. çwhat made him catch up with te street and the outrage of the people? >> i would remind you that littl

you wrote to george h. w. bush would be at the white house today? guest: he shall upon the i asked what he was coming. apparently, it is just a courtesy call there is nothing particular on the agenda. former president bush probably is just in town for an appearance. the libyan town for the alfalfa club dinner tonight. he is coming but -- the alfalfa club dinner is to night. george w. bush was intel, a couple of weeks ago with former president clinton when mr. obama asked and to work together in order to reduce private sector contributions in order to help the haitian people in responding to the horrific earthquake. host: you also write to the white house has released a visitor's list? guest: the sardis a few months ago. as part of president obamas efforts -- they started this a few months ago. it is part of president obama's efforts to be more transparent. there was a loss to the few years ago when the government activist group, crew, sued the white house defendant who was coming in to give advice to vice president-elect and the president on various

party has carried the white house for three terms since then, with one exception, which was when george h. w. bush, bush 41, defeated ronald reagan. it is difficult to push the party either direction, giving them the same party, the white house or three terms in a row. history was against senator mccain in this election cycle. the second thing was the party in power is held accountable for economic factors. we had the market collapse in october which was truly frightening. i was in the white house at that time. there was a concern weaver looking at the prospect of a genuine meltdown in the -- we were looking at the prospect of a genuine meltdown in the financial and housing markets. ben bernanke and hank paulson said to the president, looking at the prospect of an economy worse than the great depression, it took people to their core. it reinforced a change, and republican party suffered from that. let us also give credit to where credit is too. president obama was a phenomenal candidate, literally and figuratively. it was an historical run for the presidency. he blazed a lot of trails in terms of

you know bill clinton was that personality who broke in on george h. w. bush back in '92 with quote kuwait's the economy, stupid." so we will see is it possible for someone to say -- to make the argument that republicans have been making in such a galvanizing way that the american electorate turns away from the historic presidency of president obama. >> another question. that we will get to one or two of the phone calls. >> my name is jessica and i durham bart kawlija at sigell massachusetts, and my question i have for you is how do you feel that the current political discussion on expanding health care for minorities and do you think this is an important discussion and national discussion to have? >> when you say expanding health care for minorities you're talking as part of the health care reform bill or something different? >> c2 >> guest: it's part of expanding health care -- musette for minorities. obviously it does not apply to people who were here illegally to illegal immigrants. it would apply to all americans and their for minority, majority, everybod

washington did so in 1991 when president george h. w. bush signed the agent orange act into law. and in the years since, just as seemingly done, the issue of agent orange is largely disappeared from the news. but in reality, probably agent orange never really went away. in fact, it is now morphing into a new set of problems for our nations leaders. it turns out that dioxin, a long acting toxin, is continuing to damage lives in vietnam. not only for those exposed to it during war, but for their children and their grandchildren. the government of estimates that as many as 400,000 vietnamese died early from ailments related to the exposure of dioxin and that half a million children have birth effects because of exposure of the chemicals reaching into the soil and water. until recently the effects of agent orange were not something the vietnamese government talked much about. after normalizing relations with the united states in 1995, hanoi and hanoi's overwhelming goal was to win favorable trade deals with the united states and admission to global bodies like the world trade organiz

attack oseptember 11th -- 001 because not only h thataused all sorts of obvious changes inmerican society but look at ththe kind of even that led to. george w. bush declared a war on terrism, lead us to a war in afghanistan, aq, used very harsh measures against rrorism. in 2004 i ink andy would agree with thi george bush s re-elected largely by ople who may have been concerned abt his other polici, but were worried abt terrorism. 2080 tery unlikely that barack oma would have been nominated by the demrats if he we not so against the r in iraq, able to benefit fr an anti-war sentent. so if 2 2001, if those attacks d not happened, oudecade would have been veryifferent. >> andy, why not the econo, this is pocketok, close to people's heart and we had incredible crash at the en of the decade. >> yes, the onomy t wasn't only 9/11, 9/11 was the defining moment. but this w a decade that stard out bad, and then went to ally worse in the 19 -- in 1999 64% said t country s -- the national economy was inood shape. by 2001 into was dowto 36%. in 2009 it's down to 11%. we had a decade where e american public did not ge income gains, real income gainfor much of

h. w. bush -- no, no, let's go straight to george w. bush.eets of paper. one for each year. that is kind of a problem, so i want you to use your imagination. the years can never be too big. but the interesting thing about his face is that over time, i abbreviated him so fast i could turn him out in about six seconds. let me show you very quickly where you go with him. strong flared nostrils. etc parentheses. horizontal line, horizontal lines, then we have a few lines going like this. his chin is nw. then he has the really strong brow like this. then, you have the years. abbreviate them a little bit. one on this side like this. another patent -- parenthesis like this. hair there, little hair there, what you think? george w. bush. what do you think? not bad. great. all right, let's get on to president barack obama. interesting case watching him over the course of time. because he had a very young, taught -- taut face when he ran for office, and now the combination of gravity and gravitas have worked its toll on the face, as it does. in taxes of