take a cautionary tale of jimmy carter. fact, inflation was probably at the core of carter's troubles, but those other misfortunes contributed, too. you have to factor in the meltdown of three mile island, soviet tanks in afghanistan, and skylab. in other words, an era of chaos and a belief that the president had too little control over larger forces in the universe. this explains the appeal of ronald reagan, whose cinematic percent suggested that he would of lassoed the satellite and hurled it back into space." guest: it emphasizes how chance plays a role. no one would claim that three mile island was jimmy carter's fault, but the president is not -- the presidency is not fair. you are responsible for what happens on your watch. the clock is ticking on obama. he avoided katrina-scale blame so far. if we are in august or september, the and this oil well is not kept in these pictures are not changed, the blame will go to obama, fair or not tfair. host: it is not really one crisis, as much as a succession of crises. this may

that was jimmy carter's message. it also fits pretty losely to barack obama's message who has said, that elick trissity costs will necessarily skyrocket under his plan of cap and trade. so what are we doing? we vn have an administration and the on for tunists in the senate and house that are looking at the oil slick over the gulf coast, which is an environmental tragedy, and seeking to capitalize on that environmental tragedy by pushing cap and trade legislation which will cripple american industry. for example, and i don't think, mr. speaker, that i can give the data on this, but i would just suggest that those that are interested should take a look at the american kiln sfwristri and understand that where we have kilns, it might be a dryer, you heat up asphalt and crank it through a barrel with heat in it and brings it through the other side kind of likeea cement truck cylinder, comes out the other side hot mixed asphalt. takes a lot of heat to do that, there's a lot of co-2 emissions. . it takes a lot of energy tha

if we fall back to the statement made by jimmy carter back in 1976 in iowa as he campaigned for president of the united states, impressed me -- i didn't support him, i want that to be clear, but he impressed, that people who work should live better than those who don't. i don't think he lived by that but it impressed me, the logic of clarity that shoold be delivered on this floor. of course the people that woirk should live better than those that don't. he had problems following through on that. he was a piker. by today's standards, anybody who doesn't live up to an average standard of living can go to the public welfare rolls and have their rent and heat subsidized and other programs that they can have access to. we have become a welfare state. that works good. that is clearly what is going on with the obama administration, establishing and expanding the depend si class in america because they understand that people who are dependent want to make sure they go vote for the people whh require them to be dependent before they will send more benefits their way. independent people say i want

that led to the election of jimmy carter. that example is what the american people, especially caucasian people in america, need to wake up and find out what they need to do to get a government-back -- they government back -- host: you need to connect the dots, because i am not sure i follow your analogy -- caller: people are in bankruptcy and they have no jobs, and now -- host: 08 jet -- go ahead. caller: well, i disagree with that. it is frustrating. thank you. how do you deal with his frustration? guest: you deal with bank failures. the fdic is on track to take over more than 100 banks this year because of the lingering economic problems. many are real estate-related and it will take a while before that worked through the system, and there can be general health beyond the beltway. host: of the were saying that bankruptcy is almost synonymous with unpayable costs. how are we dealing with this issue? guest: it is part of the overall debt burden that individuals are facing. many hope that the health care bill will make health

you might want to have a beer with ronald reagan rather than jimmy carter. you would rather have a beer with george bush or senator kerry. that personality factor in the political world is overlooked because we are motivated by issues. with the scott brown campaign and how we used on-line video is to make a personal connection, is possible for all types of voters. that is something that cannot be overlooked, flexibility is a huge. >> i will ask you the same question. we will take q &a from the audience and a couple of seconds. something we have not talked about tonight and that is an important thing. it is hard to like some of these people if democrats are successful in talking about their record and successful in talking about health care, not just as a record of achievement but what it means -- young voters are no different than the rest of thh american. american they still don't understand the nuts and bolts. there are young parents to have 22-year-old coming home from college who do not have a job and need to stay on their parents' health care plan. they

jimmy carter was consumed the by the iran hostage crisis. the clinton people with the scan dals, they couldn't get anything else done. i think they have done a right thing is get serious people involved but still have most people going about the regular job of the presidency which is the right way to handle it internally. >> woodruff: and mark, you said last week that you thought the president needed to show more feeling. i don't remember the word that you used but you you said he needs to -- >> i was going to say, today or yesterday i guess he told in an interview he said on cnn that he doesn't think he should do that. >> well, i think part of the job description of the president is not simply could pander in chief, it's comforter in chief. it really is. ronald reagan did after the challenger crisis, really wound up the nation, at a terrible time. and president clinton going out and welcoming back the caskets from the embassy assassinations and murders. i mean those are important acts for a president. and i really think that that's part of

that goes back to jimmy carter and the iran hostage crisis, november of 1979. carter said, as you well remember, i'm not going to leave the white house until this crisis is solved. i'm just going to spend 28 hours a day working on it. the result was that his administration was chained to every twist and turn. >> woodruff: he was held hostage to what happened. >> he sure was. i think this is a minority view in america right now, but i think it may not have been a bad idea for him to say, barack obama a month-and-a-half ago, it may take a very long time to plug this leak. it's going to be very frustrating. if i look as if i'm spending 24 hours a day trying to stop this and it doesn't happen, people will think i'm in effective. >> woodruff: kathleen hall-jamieson, how much does it matter whether the president is seen to be devoting a lot time to this problem? >> it matters more to the media than it does to the public or the solving the actual problem. when the president said the other day in an interview with matt lauer that he wasn't holding academic seminars he

caller: it is very much like jimmy carter said, a state of apartheid. a gross use of our military and other funding. theyre the largest recipient of foreign aid from the.s., $3 billion a year. host: but it is a democracy. the people elect their leaders. caller: it is notemocracy if u don't have equal rights and travel and free speech and it just representation. host: what would you call that? caller: an apartheid state. there is a clear distinction where the guidelines or the lines set out have fostered a frenzy. unfortunately like a child that has been spoiled, it has just taken more and more. but the problem was not the establishment of israel, the problem was jewish people, like all other people, should have gotten their respect. and that the conclusion of world war ii, the germans, belgians, the french, the english, the u.s., all should have said, jews can live anywhere and instead we set up like a reservation. we put a false model out there that usurps clie did -- usurped land. host: you are going back to the history and clearly there is lot dely r

jimmy carter is one. but in order to have diplomats on the ground engaged with authorities in gaza, we need to have a different political situation in gaza. >> if diplomats wanted to gaza, what is preventing them from doing it? >> we will engage with any political group that is willing to meet our basic red lines for playing a constructive role in the region. those red lines are clear. hamas has made clear they have no intention at the present time of agreeing to those. as a result, we do not have political relationship with hamas. yes? >> you said yesterday -- does that mean you expect a statement ? >> just to clarify to be sure that you didn't mishear me, the south korean government has sent a letter to the president of the security council. we do expect the matter to come up within the council in the next couple of weeks. we would expect to have you know, per the south korean request an appropriate response from the u.n. security council, but what that specific response is, well -- will be part of the

president obama turns into a transformative the leader, or a disappointing leader like bill clinton or jimmy carterly partly about how you response to t crisis our country faces. it is mostly about what we do. let me pick up the first point about what we have achieved. i confessed to feeling somewhat puzzled about how much we have collectively accomplish in the progressive movement and how badly many of us feel about it. if you think back, what is the policy scorecard during the last 18 months? we have achieved legislation to cover 4 million additional kids with health insurance, including 400,000 legal immigrants. the economic recovery package, bill is in sufficient -- bill insufficient and lot large enough. achieve health care reform that extends coverage to more than a 4 million people and provides basic protections against insurance company abuses. this has been a progressive dream for over a century, and we finally have won it. it also represents a major step against inequality in our country, and will make a huge difference in the lives of the poorest people in the country. we seem to be pois

jimmy carter had the same kind of response from israel. what most people may not understand is americans to see and feel what the palestinians are going through, the kind of regime going on in israel and they are tired of seeing the kind of imbalance that is causing -- costing them american lives and other forms, i.e., iraq or afghanistan. i think there should be some object to the looking at the policy. i think there should be some discussion and hopefully we don't have to see unfortunately this say -- feel unfortunately the same where the jews were feeling when they were in germany in 1939. host: you bring up a good point. sometimes it is hard for us to have these discussions. we tried to present all views wherever and whenever possible, but what the guests we choose of the topics we jews and the articles we choose, what becomes a challenge for any of us hosting this program is to keep that discussion in the bounds of civil discussion so it does not enter into the area of anti- semitism, racism, and those areas where people are criticizi

caller: first my comment if we let jimmy carter continue his program with retphubls we would be farther ahead than when ronald reagan took over. my question is, is the oil that comes out of the united states deep water, who is it sold to, the united states or the international market? guest: if i understood the question, who buys the oil that is imported into the united stat states. different companies. those are all private company transactions. the government doesn't buy oil and distribute it among companies. host: what about the oil that comes out of the gulf? this is a b.p. well. is that exclusively b.p.'s oil or do they sell it? guest: the oil is shared among the partners according to their working interests. and until recently some oil produced in the federal offshore went to the government under the royalty in kind program of the interior department. now secretary salazar has terminated that program, so the government gets its share of the production in dollars rather than barrels. but the companies themselves own the oil. now, they can sell it or take it to one of the refineries

be a huge political incentive to inflate the currency, maybe inflation rates like we had under jimmy carter 10, 12, 14%. matt welch with -- totally destabilize the economy. at some point you have to pay the piper. there is no such thing as a free lunch. we may be bar when the putting of the day of reckoning. host: is he correct when he says the borrowing is for 20 or 30 years from now. it is not for immediate use. guest: it is true the government is issuing bonds -- actually, peter, when the government is doing is borrowing, it issues bonds at anywhere from one year up to 30 years. actually what has happened in recent years -- this has started obama -- we are actually issuing more short-term wrote it -- notes because short-term interest rates are low. the average maturity of the average bond out there and i believe is only three or four years. every three or four years you have to turn over the debt. if the interest rate -- the cost of servicing this debt will rise. just to give you a sense of how badly this debt can be paired -- can be pared by congressional budget office and 01 b, if we s

jimmy carter is another. if i'm not mistaken but in order to have diplomats on the ground engage with authoritys in gaza, we need to have a different political situation there. >> well, as we've made clear. we will engage with any, you know political group that is willing to meet our basic you know, red lines for playing a constructive role in the region. those lines are clear and hamas made clear they have no intention at the present time to agree to those and as a result, we do not have political relationship with with hamas. >> you expect - north korea [inaudible] you expect - you know, just to clarify to be sure that you didn't mishear me. we, the south korean government has sent a letter to the president of the security council. we do expect the material er to come up within the council in the next couple of weeks. we would expect to have you know per the south korean request an appropriate response from the un security council but what that specific response is, we'll or will be part of upcoming debate.

later, he is going to have to pay the piper and face up to the fact that he is going to be in the jimmy carter hall of fame. host: jay was calling from new orleans. a couple of headlines about the gulf oil spill. "wall street journal" frontpage. also in the papers from "the new york times" national page. bp is pursuing alaska drilling that some say is risky. calls also, from "the new york times" today, impact on the gulf war fish. endangered status for bluefin tuna in the oil disaster. finally, bp claimants offered rate to pack -- fast payout. that was in "the financial times" this morning. back to your phone calls. alcott, maryland. eddie on the independent line. caller: thank you for having me. it had to be done. i wish to the troops did not have to go through what they had to go through. it was unnecessary. what the last caller touched on -- mcchrystal, he is a smart guy. he knew what he was doing, talking to that reporter for "rolling stone." host: do you agree with her theory? caller: not really, that he committed suicide, but i do think that maybe he was tired. i have a regular job. i fi

i think jimmy carter was there. but i do remember that bob byrd was there.when i came to the senate, i thought i can't wait to see or hear him play that fiddle again. i heard that after his grandson died in an automobile accident, he said i will never touch it again in memory of my grandson. that's the kind of family commitment he made as well. he would sing and would occasionally have a christmas party downstairs and a few of us would be lucky enough to get invited, and he would sing, but he was a man who had gone through some life experiences and family experiences which were very meaningful to him. i remember another day when i was on the floor of the senate here and there was a debate about the future of the national endowment for the arts, and senator ashcroft of missouri wanted to eliminate the national endowment for the arts and take away all its money. i stood up to debate him. i wasn't -- i was brand-new here, wasn't smart enough to know when to sit down and shut up. i started debating him and saying i think that's wrong and the arts are important a

they encase it in class and the only reason we don't do that is because of jimmy carter era policies that were put in way before most of you all were born and in my view the bottom line is i know darned well with the french can do it, so can americans american so we have to allow that that her approach and we also ought to allow for the safe production of oil and gas on our land and off our coasts as well. what you see out of washington though is all counterproductive when it comes to energy. this cap-and-trade scheme is just absurd. phony manipulative market that the government would create, and then you saw last week a vote in the senate on epa, where the draconian co2 regulations that would increase the cost of electricity in our country, the cost of food, the cost of fuel, throw people out of work whether they are manufacturing jobs, coal related jobs. the bottom line, if you think of what people do in sports teams, you care about having an advantage and never wanting to do something that is going to harm your own feasibility to compete. whether it is the co2 regulations by epa a

president obama turns into a transformative the leader, or a disappointing leader like bill clinton or jimmy carterartly about how you response to the crisis our country faces. it is mostly about what we do. let me pick up the first point about what we have achieved. i confessed to feeling somewhat puzzled about how much we have collectively accomplish in the progressive movement and how badly many of us feel about it. if you think back, what is the policy scorecard during the last 18 months? we have achieved legislation to cover million additional kids with health insurance, including 400,000 legal immigrants. the economic recovery package, bill is in sufficient -- bill insufficient and lot large enough. we achieve health care reform that extends coverage to more than a 4 million people and proves basic protections against insurance company abuses. this has been a progressive dream for over a century, and we finally have won it. it also represents a major step against inequality in our country, and will make a huge difference in the lives of the poorest people in the country. we seem to be poised

president obama turns into a transformative the leader, or a disappointing leader like bill clinton or jimmy carter is only partly about how you response to the crisis our country faces. it is mostly about what we do. let me pick up the first point about what we have achieved. i confessed to feeling somewhat puzzled about how much we have collectively accomplish in the progressive movement and how badly many of us feel about it. if you think back, what is the policy scorecard during the last 18 months? we have achieved legislation to cover 4 million additional kids with health insurance, including 400,000 legal immigrants. the economic recovery package, bill is in sufficient -- bill insufficient and lot large enough. we achieve health care reform that extends coverage to more than a 4 million people and provides basic protections against insurance company abuses. this has been a progressive dream for over a century, and we finally have won it. it also represents a major step against inequality in our country, and will make a huge difference in the lives of the poorest people in the country. we seem