i grew up -- >> you can't hear a song by woody guthrie or pete seeger to be brought in with the defensenseless and taking a stand for a community. that's a very engaging and powerful moving. tavis: what is it like? let me preface this by saying, aye said many times on this program that ier. ly regard dr. king as the greatest american we produced. that's my own assessment. do you agree? we in agreement? >> yes. >> yes. but let go of my hand. >> i want the genius to rub off. tavis: i regard him as the greatest american to be produced. what is it like when ozzie davis, the late, great ozzie davis introduces you at the march on washington and you perform these two songs. what is it like? >> like being welcomed to the thanksgiving table by your pop. we sound like part of the family. >> i will answer it in slightly different terminology. >> i guess you would. >> that's what made peter paul and mary strong. we each had a different take on it. when we came together, it became something we could express. to me, mary was standing there with me during the speech. she took my hand and said, peter,

>> savannah guthrie in mumbai. we'll be checking in with you along the way. one place the president will not be going on this trip is india's high tech and job-rich capital bangalore. it's the place often blamed for the outsourcing that's killed so many american jobs. our own ian williams shows us what the president will not be seeing during this particular trip. >> reporter: this is the city that gives president obama sleepless nights. >> let me know if you need any help. >> reporter: bangalore, india. >> does this make sense? >> reporter: servicing america. 24-7, with everything from online shooters to personal assistants. >> you have an appointment today at 3:30. >> reporter: india's outsourcing and i.t. capital is booming. a $60 billion industry, employing 4 million people across india. 60% of its work for the u.s. >> people feel we are taking jobs away from the u.s. i think it's unimaginable. in the u.s., the cost would be 10 or 12 times more than what we're providing. >> reporter: bangalore has moved well beyond the outsourcing of back office or call ce

nbc news white house correspondent savannah guthrie is traveling with the president in new delhi. good morning. >> good morning, lynn. the president is on his third day here in india, something the white house likes to point out, the single longest foreign stop of the obama presidency. they're really trying to emphasize the u.s. ties with india. this is a country of more than $1 billion people. one of the big trading partners but the u.s. says this could be an even bigger trading partner, really having india open up its markets to more american goods, which the president said would directly translate to more jobs in america. as i said, they're really trying to emphasize the partnership between these two countries. here's what the president said a little bit earlier today. >> as president, i had the opportunity to appear with many of my foreign counterparts at press conferences such as this. but i cannot remember an occasion where we agreed to so many new agreements as we have during my visit. >> reporter: later today, the president will address a joint session of the indian parlia

>> savannah guthrie at the white house tonight. savannah, thanks. >>> the art world is reeling tonight after a french newspaper revealed 271 previously unknown works of pablo picasso have been discovered. an electrician who had worked at picasso's house back in the 1970s had stored the paintings in his garage. he said they were gifts for the work he performed. picasso's heirs, however, disputing that. the paintings cover 32 years of picasso's life. >>> it's one of the top brands of imported bottled water in this country and around the world, but fiji water is pulling out of fiji, the south pacific island nation that is the source of their product. the company said it's closing its plant after the government said it would impose steep new taxes on the water company. >>> we're back in a moment with a look at how this nation today remembered a very funny man. >>> well, let's see if spiderman can rescue himself from this one. there was a meltdown on broadway last night for the most expensive broadway show ever produced. "spiderman the

our white house correspondent savannah guthrie with us from the white house tonight with more on this. savannah, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president has put his credibility on the world stage on the line with this, but the man you mentioned, senator john kyle, told nbc today there is no chance this treaty gets passed this year. the president surrounded himself with national security heavyweights, past and present, to turn up the heat on the senate to pass start. >> there is no higher national security priority for the lame duck session of congress. the stakes for american national security are clear, and they are high. >> reporter: the stakes for the president are high, coming off massive midterm election losses, up again a political clock when the new, more republican senate comes in january, the treaty will only get harder to pass. >> signing the treaty between the united states of america and the russian federation. >> reporter: signed last spring in prague, the agreement calls for russia and the u.s. to reduce stockpiles of nuclear we pops and sets up an

brian. >> savannah guthrie on the white house north lawn tonight. thanks. >>> when our broadcast continues here in a moment, some call it a promising way to produce clean energy here at home. but is it doing way more harm than good? >>> and later, man's best friend making a difference and the people helping to make it happen. later, man's best friend making a difference and the people making it happen. jpmorgan chase set up new offices to work one-on-one with homeowners. since 2009, we've helped over 200,000 americans keep their homes. and we're reaching out to small businesses too, increasing our lending commitment this year to $10 billion and giving binesses the opportunity to ask for a secondeview if they feel their loan should have be approved. this is ho recoveries happen. everyone doing their part. this is the way forward. [ but alevcan last 12 hours. tylenol 8 hour lasts 8 hours. and aleve was proven to work beer on pain than tylenol 8 hour. so why am i still thinking about this? how are you? good, how are you? [ male announcer ] aleve. pren

we start off here with our white house correspondent savannah guthrie. savannah, we are used to seeing our presidents out there campaigning till the last minute. we didn't see that today. >> the president spent the last day of the campaign out of public sight. he spent the weekend campaigning. took some radio interviews today and tonight will call activists. out on the trail today, michelle obama, the one they used to call "the closer." making a last push, the first lady in nevada campaigning for senate majority leader harry reid, hanging onto his seat by a thread. >> we're not just here because of an election. we're not just here because we support harry, and we do -- [ applause ] we are here today to renew that promise. >> west virginia, how is everybody! >> reporter: on the eve of a potentially history making election, candidates from coast to coast called in high profile reinforcements. former bill clinton hitting four states today alone. >> please help him. thank you and god bless you all. >> reporter: president obama made his closing pitch yesterda

savannah, i knew a samantha guthrie, that's the backstory. >> it's true. let me be your advocate here. it was 3:25 in the morning. >> and we'd been -- that was our 90 hour ninth hour on the air. it's hard, when you know someone with a one-off name. >> i know. well, you do know a samantha guthrie, and i answer to it. so, it's good. i had to tease you, but thank you, brian. >> this is where i get to say your recent write-up in "elle" magazine where you look cute as a bug, the quote in there from me is how i actually feel about my friend, samantha, and everyone should read that write up, it's the true you. >> all right, that's a big wrap. brian williams, thank you so much. a great hourlong "dateline" special tonight "the man who will be king" tonight 9:00 eastern on nbc. and following the interview, stay tuned for a special broadcast "harmony prince charles environmental documentary" and you can see brian every weeknight on "nbc nightly news." we will be right back. let's support the small business owners getting our economy booming with the first ever small

i'm savannah guthrie, chuck todd is off. big travel week. big controversy over the new airport security measures and all this heat might cause the tsa to change those measures. tom costello has the latest. >> good day to you from reagan national airport. is tsa is under tremendous pressure not only from some on capitol hill, but the growing public anger over these patdowns. . the tsa says only a small fraction of the public would be selected for one of these patdowns, yet so many complaints of people complaining that they have quite literally had artificial bladders on the outside of them they're wearing because of a medical condition have been smashed and urine has fallen on them. and women with breast pros thesis and people with artificial knees having to prove that and then the patdown in some very personal places on the body. all of that has got the tsa reeling from tremendous public backlash. this morning on "today," matt lauer asked the tsa chief about this. >> are you now actively rethinking this policy? >> yes, matt, we constantly ev

>> savannah guthrie, thankyou. the president is facing plenty of problems as well as a divided washington when he returns home. can he deliver on his domestic agenda? chuck todd is the nbc news political director. chuck, good mornin >> good morning. >> and we just heard there savannah detail, the president headed out to asia with high hopes, hoping to boost the economy here at home, and a lot of people have used the word disappointing. to sum up the president's trip. is that a fair characterization? >> well, look, the most tangible thing that the white house believes they thought they were going to get out of this trip, republicans in congress, and democrats in congress, they thought he would get from ts trip is a trade deal with south korea. going to be a big deal. this is a deal that has been, the first time it was negotiated, president bush was sittinin the oval office. not president obama. he wanted to renegotiate this thing. they thought they would have it done, be able to bring it home, and get it approved by

. >> joining us no, savannah guthrie. hang with me just a second.you were with the president on that trip and he's leaving for the natoç summit in portugal le tonight and will have a meeting with medvedev. their concern is what is our relationship with russia if he is not able too deliver? >> reporter: not just a today issue and the start treaty, although it is significant, it is not just thissish why but the ability to cooperate on a whole host of issues such as iran. the president says if he can't deliver what does that do internally for medvedev's politics with putin. the stakes are extremely high both as a practical matter and in terms of foreign policy and also politically for this white house. there's significant frustration. senator kyl has blocked this. i did talk to one senior u.s. officials who said they do believe that kyl's objections are substantive, not accusing him of being politically motivated but others are, including the new york times today, in a scathing editorial. no question as david mentioned, they are up against this politi

guthrie, big sky -- was published by mcgraw-hill between 1962 and 1977. these books were written by noted historians and cover the major trails that helped settle the far reaches of america. the mainstream of america, 20 volumes edited by louis gannette, was published by doubleday between 1953 and 1966. described by the publisher as the story of america in narrative form. this brilliant new series of books brings to vivid life america from the period of its discovery to the present day. authors and historians such as irving stone and carter contributed to this impressive series. the american procession series, nine volumes edited by henry elsberg was published by hastings house between 1953 and 1964. the publisher described it as a new literary series which will center around periods of our history and cultural growth which have not yet been fully explored. of special note in this series is a signed limited edition of 185 copies of the beaver men which was issued in a beautiful binding and slip case. this edition includes two pages of the original typed m

good morning, it's thursday, november 18, 2010, i'm savannah guthrie. i feel like i haven't sat here in weeks. >> this is savannah guthrie, my partner at the white house. you haven't seen her in a while. >> in washington, d.c., it is a fine town. a lot has happened -- >> since we went on the long overseas trip. >> long trip we'll say. i'm chuck todd. also this morning, will taxpayers get their money back? the gm stock offering today will give us a good preview? plus "the daily run down" interview with a potential 2012 candidate, texas governor rick perry. let's get to the rundown. at the top is that verdict in for the man charge washington, d.c. those embassy bombings, ahmed ghailani convicted of one count, acquitted of 279 others. is this the death for the obama administration's plans to try terror suspects in federal court? pete williams is nbc's justice correspondent. pete, what was on trial here? the obama administration's ability to bring these folks to justice in a federal court system or the fact that all of the evidence collected during the bush

. >> follow us any time on twitter@chuck todd,@savannah guthrie. ♪ trouble, trouble trouble, trouble ♪ trouble been doggin' my soul ♪ since the day i was born ♪ worry ♪ oh, worry, worry worry, worry ♪ [ announcer ] when it comes to things you care about, leave nothing to chance. travelers. take the scary out of life. >>> have you still be feeding pumpkins to your squirrels in your front yard? that's what i'm doing. holiday season arrive at 30 rock. the rockefeller christmas tree arrived this morning in the plaza. special escort al roker of course. a giant 74 -foot tall, 12-ton norway spruce was donated by a new york city firefighter who is among the hundreds of first responders who rushed to ground zero on 9/11. this year's official tree-lighting ceremony takes place on november 30th on your nbc station. see, we are going to wait until after thanksgiving to light the tr tree. just because it arrives before doesn't mean starbucks should already be handing us our holiday cups but they are. >>> sometime next week you'll see savannah guthrie back in the studios. >>> coming up "kris jansi

savannah guthrie is traveling with the president and she joins us from japan. good morning. >> reporter: alex, good morning. this is the longest the president has been away since he's been in office. he's looking at improving things at home. the president took his one-man sales expedition to japan where he told a group of ceos, america is open for business. >> in this region, america sees an opportunity to increase our exports to the world. for america, this is a jobs strategy. >> the president is wrapping up his four country mission to try to pry open asian markets to more american exports. the president has prom promised to double exports in the next five years which he says will lead to more jobs at home. while the u.s. has been battered by unemployment and lackluster growth, emerging economies have been booming, largely pocketed by the american consumer. by at the g-20 summit in seoul, the president said americans buying more goods from overseas than they sell must come to an end. >> countries must take steps to boost domestic demand. i've said going forwar

savannah guthrie is traveling with the president. savannah? >> the president has wrapped up his first full day in seoul, south korea. but a setback here. the u.s. and south korea had been hoping to reach a deal on that free trade agreement but it didn't come through. both sides sending their negotiators back to the talks hoping to get some kind of deal in the coming weeks. it wouldn't be month, it would be weeks. the other issue here, the president met with chinese president, once again, pressing him not to keep the value of china's currency artificially low which hurts u.s. businesses by keeping china's goods so cheap. this is savannah guthrie. >> thanks so much for that update. >>> shock, outrage, anger, just some of the violent reactions this morning to the draft of a proposal to cut the federal deficit by nearly 4 trillion. the president's bipartisan commission laid out a sweeping plan. it's not pretty. here are the headlines. raising the age for social security from 67 to 69. eliminating one of the tax system and deductions for big mortga

>> savannah guthrie, thank you for that. back in washington, economic issues take center stage as congress returns to this lame duck session, which begins this week. earlier i spoke with msnbc political analyst richard wolffe about how it has followed president obama overseas. >> this is extremely tough. all of these challenges are hard whenever he gets knocked down and his party and his white house are still trying to figure out what the new politics means. and we've seen stumbles this week over tax cuts, where do they draw the line op compromise? can they even talk about compromise when they don't know what the other side is really going to do? they have a certain vagueness to their position which is inevitable until those negotiations happen. we in the media are asking questions, are not going to put up with the vagueness. when they say they're ready to negotiate and we say what does that mean, they get all fuzzy about it. which is not surprising, but very unsatisfying for them, for us. and it puts the cards in the hands

savannah guthrie is traveling with the president. she joins us from mumbai. good morning. >> reporter: lester, good morning. the president starts here in india. will be overseas for more than a week. a trip long planned that aides say is all about the economy at home. the president and first lady touched down in mumbai in india for three days, the longest single foreign visit of his presidency. first up, the taj palace hotel, one site of the coordinated attacks that terrorized this city two years ago this month. today, the president and first lady, who are staying at the hotel, paid their respects. >> to those who have asked whether this is intended to send a message, my answer is simply absolutely. the taj has been the symbol of the strength and the resilience of the indian people. >> reporter: the president will visit four countries on this nine-day trip, two stops in india, indonesia, where he lived briefly as a boy, then economic summits in south korea and japan. after a battering in the midterm elections where unemployment was a key issue, the white hous

this is savannah guthrie in jakarta, now back to you. >>> president george w. bush writes about some of the most controversial decisions of his presidency in his new memoir "decision points." first, the former president sat down with an exclusive interview with "today's" matt lauer. >> let's talk about waterboarding. >> okay. >> we believe america is going to be attacked again. all kinds of intelligence coming in. and one of the high-valued al qaeda operatives was khalid shaikh mohammed, chief operating officer that order the attack on 9/11. they say he has got information. i said, find out what he knows. so i said to our team are the techniques legal? a legal team said yes, they are. i said use them. >> why is waterboarding legal in your opinion? >> because the legal team said it was legal. did not fall within the anti-torture act. i'm not a lawyer. you got to trust the judgment of people around you and i do. >> you stay is legal and the lawyers told me. >> yeah. >> critics say that you got the justice department to give you the legal guidance and the legal me

lucky for me, one of the voices i heard come out of a stair owe was woody guthrie.rote about people trying to achieve and try to be something that this country could say that you could be. ♪ how does it feel ♪ how does it feel >> i'm a bob dylan fan. "like a rolling stone" is probably the biggest trick i've ever seen, because it was seven or eight minutes long, when most songs were, you know, 2 1/2 minutes. i was like a sophomore in high school. you could pull your car over. that's back when things were in mono, you know, little speaker coming out, like 1965, '66. i would pull my car over, just stop on the side of the road so i could listen. finally, i got the $3.95 together and bought it. ♪ angelina ♪ the bells of the crowd >> beautiful songs. but you know, her rendition of "farewellening lina" that dylan wrote might be my favorite song that she ever did. as a 15-year-old boy, 16-year-old boy sitting in seymour, indiana, and that album comes out, she was so beautiful. i kind of felt funny even holding it. she was so beautiful, i couldn't stand it. ♪ when you're wal

we were watching so closely during that press conference savannah guthrie who traveled from new york back down to washington, had a front row seat at that news conference. savannah, you could almost watch the president form his reaction before your very eyes. >> it was fascinating to be in the room. we saw this evolution. at first, we saw the president we recognized, somebody who is a master of the policy details. as time wore on, he became increasingly introspective, talking about his relationship with america and how it's evolving. talking about his sense at times of being isolated here in the white house and feeling he's lost some connection to americans. but he stuck to his policy guns saying he did feel he made the right choices in a series of crises, but signaled a new willingness to negotiate and compromise. brian? >> and david gregory traveled back to washington in the wee small hours of the morning. david, you have the interesting job this sunday on "meet the press" of getting your arms around the meaning of all this. how do you think the city is different today than it was

metal led by mr gorst at the top of the standings after the muscovite side beat city rivals taste guthrie two on thursday the fact has a lady tells you. it's very different first half of the regular season for this moscow sides will do no more fighting for the top spot in the league to score struggling to me the playoffs and on paper at least the blue whites look toward for a very soon these died and they started to prove their highly position whop way for the first period and thank you we're going to get that look for you now after eleven minutes of wait their first choice goalkeeper michael garnett was having a birthday and was arrested but he was pleased to see. he still made the nice call credit of doubling dinars lead in the twenty eight minutes in the blue and wide seem to have put the match beyond doubt for me this later on when the nice topic a made a tree nailed break in for the opposition's the fans that's a scar weren't finished and reply just one minute later was a nice effort from dishes lawful learned the army man went all out in a tag indifferent period and card to get to o

brings us to our studio and our panel here and we'll start with our white house correspondent savannah guthrie. what a difference two years makes. a state that barack obama carried now, 45% of those casting a vote today with self-identifying with the tea party. if you're in the west wing of the white house tonight, looking at the results we've seen so far, what are you happy about? what are your minor victories as we go on through election day? >> they're very much hoping to hold on to some of the important state houses like the ohio governor's race where the president has been out there multiple times. during his term as president i think he's been to ohio 12 times, showing you how important it is. that's a silver like. you mentioned the tea party support up in the 40s in some of these key states. that's why you'll never hear any of the officials at the white house bad-mouthing the tea party or trying to portray it as somehow extreme. they know, people that identify themselves as tea partiers or supporting the tea party movement right now that's where a lot of independent voters are all impor

she just got it. >> co-host of "the daily rundown" savannah guthrie. i'm sorry for joe.hat may show that david axelrod, even named in this, the administration softening its position on the bush tax cuts. what do you know about that and take it away? >> 14, 15, 16, 17 -- >> i think so, mika and joe. i think david axelrod is saying what a lot of advisors -- i'm like who is counting in my ear. joe, of course, it was you. he's hinted at what robert gibbs also said, there has to be compromise. they know this is where it's going. it may be action 'em rod went a little further, maybe they'll be extended for a couple years. there's no question there's going to be compromise and the president himself has said so. i think it's pretty clear where we're headed with this. it's just that there are various ways you can compromise. when the tax cuts kick in, whether it's a millionaire's tax or $500,000, i think that's what it is. you've thrown me off completely by counting in my ear. mission accomplished. >> let's talk about israel a second and i've anticipated the delay. anyway, let's

right away you run into woody guthrie. we--i asked david to research it, and david came back with, there is no other work written on this subject, and that was irresistible to us. you know, we feel very strongly about it. we knew we had an advantage if we went to speak to the people who do it, you know? i don't have to walk in cold. i'm not, you know--it's like, "how did you boys meet?" i know, you know, who i'm talking to, and generally, we're at least acquaintances if not close friends, and we're talking about events that we did together or that we've done, you know, separately, but the same event, you know, at different times. and it gave us a window into these people that other people didn't have. we asked them, "what really matters to you? "what are you willing to put yourself on the line for? "what are you willing to put your rep and your honor "on the line for?" (bender) "and why?" (crosby) "and why?" (bender) you should see their eyes light up when you ask that question. it draws something out of them equivalent to

i'm savannah guthrie reporting from new york. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow.a very good evening. >>> it is a rainy, chilly holiday weekend across the bay area. good evening, i'm garvin thomas. we're in the midst of a cold

savannah guthrie will be here with you tomorrow night.pe to see you right back here on monday evening. in the meantime, please have a great holiday weekend. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> they waited, some of them, all night, and then they shopped. black friday's in full swing tonight as bargain hunters scour the bay area for some holiday deals. good evening to you. i'm chris sanchez. prices were slashed and stores were packed with shoppers for the official start of the holiday shopping season today. but the

savannah guthrie? >> a quick follow-up. david axel rod's comments that your position is to temporarily extend the bush tax cuts. is that the wrong interpretation? >> that is the wrong interpretation because i haven't had a conversation with republican and democratic leaders. here is the right interpretation -- i want to make sure taxes don't go up for middle class families starting on january 1st. that's my number one pry rt yo. for those families and for our economy. i also believe it will be fiscally irresponsible to permanently extend the high income tax cuts. that would be a mistake. particularly when we've got our republican friends saying their number one priority is making sure we deal with our debt and deficit. so there may be a whole host of ways to compromise around the issues. i am not going to negotiate here in seoul on those issues, but i have made very clear what my priorities are. >> that was actually my quick follow-up. it leads me to my real question which is, speaking of fiscal responsibility, given the fa

white house correspondent and cohost of "the daily rundown," savannah guthrie.ite house there is on volcano watch, which could cut the trip short? >> reporter: we are. can you believe it? this indonesia trip has been canceled twice before. he made it, he's mere and no to anner did we land and learn it might be cut short because of the volcano. it's not close to here but because of the volcanic ash, there's a window air force one can depart and may be less than 24 hours and some things may be off the schedule, and the speech he will be giving to indonesia to about 6,000 people and should happen no matter what. he was also supposed to visit southeast asia's largest mosque. it's questionable whether he can make that visit. right now, the schedule is intact. >> it's willie. good to see you there. as you said, the president is scheduled to visit a mosque, the most populous majority on the planet. what does he hope to accomplish? an outreach to the muslim world? >> reporter: there are a couple of goals here, one, the one you mentioned. they want to highlight indonesia

savannah guthrie, live at the white house. thank you very much.9:00 eastern time on msnbc. >>> and weighing in on the breaking news out of the korean peninsula, live from washington, next on "morning joe." >> ( creatreature inhalihaling ) >> (>> ( branches hes breaking ) >>>> ( horse hse hoofs beatieat) >> ( horseorse nickeringring ) >> ( trainrain whistle ble blow) >>>> ( engine ine revving )g )er of progresgr take adv advantage of of exced valueslu when i was 16, i was hired as a cashier at the walmart in marinette, wisconsin. that first job launched my career. since i've been with the company, i've been promoted ten times over the span of 11 years. today, i'm a divisional learning and development manager. we can actually help people develop in their own careers. my job allows me to make a difference in the lives of almost 100,000 associates in the northeast. if you think about it, that's almost 8 times the size of my hometown. my name is nick and i work at walmart. ♪ my name is nick and i work at walmart. ♪ crossing borders with ease ♪ ♪ cleari

this is savannah guthrie. now back to you. >> china and germany have the world's largest surplus economies. the u.s. officials are trying to convince both countries to foster more. many observersay that will be a tough sell, especially to china. >>> news4 at 4:00 is just geing started. yesterday we told you that d.c. didn't far soell on the most beautiful people list. but our region is at the top of a brand new list. i'll tell you about that. >> we can take this one. also ahead, a major construction project in d.c. is about to get started. a new convention center hotel. >>> a huge jfk fan hit the jackpot when he got a gift from a friend. >>> plus, a cheating scandal at a use where hundred of students are caught r-handed. ♪ ♪ [ d ] yeah! [ cheers and applause ] [ male announcer ] achievement gets points for living life. earn pnc points for your credit and debit card purchases. ♪ find out more at pnc.com/getpoints. pnc. for the achiever in uall. >>> it has been years in the making but finally the ground is broke

i'm savannah guthrie. chuck todd is off. conservative readers rejoice, sarah palin kicks off her book tour. what banks are doing to make money off their customers. we'll get to that. first, breaking news on the korean peninsula. president obama was awakened by his national security adviser t with the news the north attacked the south. two koreans reported dead. this is where it happened an island near the disputed maritime border with the north. this picture shows buildings in flames after being hit by north korean artillery. jim miklaszewski is live at the pentagon. i know you've done a lot of reporting talking to officials. what did they tell you? >> reporter: here in washington and in south korea are calling this act by north korea provocative and, quite frankly, alarming. this was a regularly scheduled exercise by the south korean military there on that island to the west of the korean peninsula. they started firing the artillery after informing the north koreans in advance of the time and date. shortly after north korea

. >> he's a former fbi counterterrorism agent -- i saw him this morning on savannah guthrie.ant council for the privacy center, she's suing the department of homeland security to suspend the program. what i loved about this this morning is how clear you were. if i went to national airport, you tell me what you face if you travel this visit a relative this weekend. >> if you travel this weekend and i've traveled a lot over the past two weeks, and have not been suggest to a pat down. if you trigger a sensor, you'll be asked to go to secondary. secondary may include advanced imaging technology and you'll go through that protocal. if you opt out of advanced imaging technology, you'll be suggest to a patdown as has been discussed for the last week or so. >> in washington, it's somewhat different and i go about 200 times a year through reagan international airport. most of the time, you get the regular metal detector, but you might find yourself in a line that goes through the new image scanner. is that the way you see it? >> yeah. >> what do you think we should be doing to check p

savannah guthrie is traveling with the president. >> reporter: the president has wrapped up his time here in seoul. the g-20 summit is over. the president held his concluding news conference today and got a lot of questions about the bush tax cuts, specifically whether he has already decided how to compromise. your senior adviser david axelrod comments that your compromise is to temporarily extend the bush tax cuts. is that the wrong interpretation? >> that is the wrong interpretation because i haven't had a conversation with republican and democratic leaders. here is the right interpretation, i want to make sure that taxes don't go up for middle class families starting on january 1st. that is my number one priority, for those families and for our economy. i believe it would be fiscally irresponsible to permanently extend the high-income tax cuts. >> reporter: in a big setback the president leaves without a free trade agreement with south korea. world leaders did agree to do something about trade imbalances but put off specifics to another day. the president was asked whether he feel

savannah guthrie has been traveling with the president and has more on his jakarta stop. >> reporter: hey, chuck, good morning. the trip to jakarta had to be short because of the volcano erupti erupting. they were concerned that air force one might run into clouds of volcanic ash so the president left early. now they're headed to seoul for the g-20 summit. he gave a speech where the president gave a speech holding up this country thriving in the muslim world. >> people worked with hope as indonesians embraced the peaceful transfer of power. there will be no turning back from democracy. >> reporter: the president spent some of his childhood in indonesia, from the ages of 6 to 10. this was no sentimental journey. there was no time to visit any of his old sights. >> we lived in a small house. we had a mango tree out front. and i learned to live indonesia while flying kites and running along the paddy fields and catching dragonflies and buying from the street vendors. >> reporter: the president even did a bit of his toast at the state dinner in indonesian. he is in seoul, south korea for

savannah guthrie is live in washington. let's talk about the president's trip.ce president. this is a very important focus and they codo think they have a request n good news story. >> they think they have two good stories. here's an example where the federal sbintervention is payin dividends. upwards of 3500 jobs saved in kokomo alone, so they say they feel like this is just one example of how the auto restructuring has worked. and the other is that this town has gotten about i think $400 billion in recovery act funds and they really credit the mayor with using those funds to maximum effect to revitalize parts of this community. this town, the peak of the recession, had over 20% unemployment. it's now down to 12% which needless to say is not ideal, but they say this is obviously an example of progress. and then the other point i make about this whole trip, andrea, and you'll see some pictures coming into the newsroom pretty soon here, is the president's also talked about how he wants to reconnect with the american people. and how he felt he lost some of that co

nbc's savannah guthrie has more from seoul. >> reporter: the president had his first full day in seoulnd asked to weigh in on a po tent issue at home, the debt commission report. the president kind of dodged the issue of whether he supports the various recommendations by this presidential commission in its early report. he took a shot at those who are already criticizing some of its recommendations. >> before anybody starts shooting down proposals, i think we need to listen. we need to gather up all the facts. i set up this commission prec e precisely because i'm prepared to make some tough decisions. i can't make them alone. i'm going to need congress to work with me. >> reporter: on another issue, there was already a setback. there had been hope there would be some kind of deal on the korean free trade agreement. it didn't happen. the two parties decided to wait a few weeks and have the negotiators go back to the drawing board. the same issues are the sticking points, the issues of whether or not u.s. automobiles will be let into the korean market. to the extent the u.s. wants. and a

. >> and you saw our savannah guthrie there who asked the questions after the signals were sent by david axelrod. tamron, it comes to this. the democratic side of the aisle is going to be more liberal. the republican side of the aisle will be more conservative. the president wants to reach out to the middle, but is there a middle to reach out to, tamron? >> and breaking news out of washington. less than an hour ago the u.s. supreme court refused to stop enforcement of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. a federal appeals court is currently considering the ban on gays in the military. the obama administration urged the high court not to get involved until the appeals court makes its ruling. and news today that michael steele has his first official challenger if he seeks re-election next month as a republican national committee chairman. and there could be a long list of others, but that first challenger is former michigan republican party chairman saul who ran against steele last time around. he lost, but he thinks he can make the case this time. thanks for joining me. so i want

nbc's savannah guthrie is joining us live traveling with the president. good day to you.latest? >> reporter: well, good morning to you, alex. it is evening here in japan and the president wrapped up a full day of meetings with the apec countries. this is the longest trip of the presidency. this trip came after the big midterm loss, but the president has been making a pitch that everything he's doing overseas is about improving things at home. the president took his one-man sales expedition to its final stop in japan where he told a group of ceos america is open for business. >> this region the united states sees a huge opportunity to increase the exports in some of the fastest growing markets in the world. for america this is a job strategy. >> reporter: the president is in japan today for one last summit of asian economic powerhouses wrapping up his four-country mission to try to pry open asian markets to more american exports. the president promised to double exports in five years, which he says will lead directly to more jobs at home. while the u.s. has been battered b