we're joined by james peterson, he's director of africana studies at lehigh university and the host ofa podcast dedicated to race and politics. rael nelson james oversees diversity work for the bridgespan group. it's a anyone profit philanthropic advisory firm. and sherrilyn ifill, president of the naacp legal defense fund. we welcome all three of you. james peterson, how do you look at on his presidency overall? >> folks from my parents' generation couldn't imagine being a black president of the united states, so we have to honor that piece of it, but for progressive folks, the substance of the policies sometimes isn't there. i think as we transition into the next administration, we're going to be kind of queued up to be very, very nostalgic about president obama, but we have to understand there were lots of challenge, not just based on obstructionism, but based on the centrist politics that have dominated democratic party politics for the past couple decades that president obama represented. >> woodruff: sherrilyn ifill, what about that? >> i think we'll need more time to assess the

. >> jouming me james peterson and former bush/cheney adviser robert chainham. robert, let's start with you. we heard the president on the front steps of mar-a-lago speaking with reporters talking about the russian interference in the u.s. election saying he has other information people don't know about, et cetera. why wait to share it here if you're donald trump? >> happy new year. perhaps he has something new that obviously we're not privy to. as to why he hasn't released it yet, i don't know the answer to that. this president-elect loves theater, loves drama. the only thing have i to give you is examples all throughout the campaign where he talked about the birther certificate and said he would make an announcement at trump hotel in washington d.c. he knows marketing, knows theater and knows how to keep people in suspense. >> to press you on that a bit, you're saying word like theater, drama, marketing. those are word appropriate when we're talking about national security and does he have to put that aside to deal with serious issues? >> he's got millions of

james peterson is the director of africana studies at lehigh university and also msnbc contributor.rattin, executive chairman of tedeo risk and senior national security analyst, for the purpose of this conversation policition xher of new york, boston and los angeles as well. dr. peterson i'll start with you. this is how the mayor's office responded "we agree the federal government has a strong role to play in public safety by funding summer jobs and prevention programming for at-risk youth, by holding the crim mals who break our gun laws by accountable for their licrimes" coming from mayor rahm emmanuel's office. is that the solution right there in a nutshell? >> i don't think that's the complete solution, craig. this is a really complicated problem. i think one piece of mayor rahm emmanuel's statement is true, we have to address some of the structural issues and that has to do with an eroding infrastructure around education and jobs for you people. if you want to think long-term how address the tough problems in chicago that's certainly one pathway for it. however, that can be done

peterson institute. how is the american economy doing? how will the labor economy due under president trump? a conversation with jamesloomberg radio today. we continued on next and the united states, this is bloomberg. ♪ tom: good morning, everyone. tom keene and new york, guy johnson in washington with the prime minister's visit today. we will have coverage across all of our platforms today. o'halloran,haryn one of our lead academics on in actually steeped working with governments about what to do. you and i get on the surveillance gulfstream and fly down to mexico city, what is your advice for the president of mexico, the government of mexico as they adapt and adjust to mr. trump's discourse? sharyn: you have to start understanding that any of the actions he is taking will require a piece of legislation from congress. you start building a coalition of interest through the legislature, start working through lobbyists, start building out all of the mexican corporations, and there are many that employ workers in the united states. tom: help me look smart at the dinner table tonight. professor, is the constituencies of