lyndon johnson didn't do that. the lyndon johnson still had tremendous clout in the south. jack kennedy had weaknesses, both because of the catholic issue and because of the civil rights issue and because the south was trending back for the first time really to the republican party. the south had broken loose on the 1952 and 56 elections when eisenhower took a bunch of states. and they couldn't fight even more under jack kennedy. so you have to play nice with lyndon johnson if he were jack kennedy. but does he? he makes the joe biden choice. he takes the safe choice initially. somebody who maybe can't hurt you, but someone that's not going to help you. he asks to offer the vice presidency and private to a senator from missouri named stuart simonton. simon didn't accept, but the courts made public jack kennedy will start rolling and says no, i really showed us the courtesy offer this to lyndon. he's not going to take it. [laughter] key senate majority leader. he lives for power. he's not going to be vice president. this is -- you know, john bamberger who was from texas and w

lyndon johnson still has tremendous clout in the south. jack kennedy had weaknesses both because of the catholic issue and civil-rights issue and because the south was trending back for the first time to the republican party , apple let loose when eisenhower it could slide even more under jack kennedy. you had to play nice if you were jack kennedy. but it does see? he makes them joe biden choice and takes the safe choice initially. somebody who may be can't hurt you but it will not hurt days help you. he will offer the vice presidency and private to a senator from missouri. the but before it is made public jack kennedy's wheels start rolling. he really a out of courtesy should offer this to linda in. we will not take it. he is senate majority leader and has immense power. he lives for power. he will not be vice president. rose about vice president said a vice president isn't worth of bucket of spent. johnson knew that and saw what the realities were. when jack kennedy trundled down the stairs to lyndon johnson's sweeten the middle of the n

presidents from lyndon johnson to george w. bush. fer their perks -- they offer their perspectives on working from the white house. this was sponsored by the lyndon b. johnson library and museum. >> good evening. i am mark updegrove, the director of the lbj library. on behalf of my friend don carleton, i want to welcome you to behind the lens -- white house photography from lbj to obama. he will be on stage later this evening to moderate a panel of discussion with our speakers. this will be the debut of an alliance we have struck up. in the spring, we will team up for some events and programming and a temporary exhibit around the life and legacy of walter cronkite. we hope you will come back for that. [applause] we hope you'll come back for that and some of the other wonderful things going on here. back in 1860, abraham lincoln chalked up his white house victory to two good things. the speech that he made at cooper union -- the famous "house divided" speech. since that time, the photography of our presidents as become no less powerf

president lyndon johnson's administration and castro renewed his harassment of the base personnel by shutting off the portable water supply. president johnson and defense secretary robert mcnamara retaliated by firing most of the cuban workers who lived in cuba but committed to guantanamo. when castro realized he was going to lose considerable foreign-exchange as a result of his action he offered to turn the water back on and off for that johnson quickly rejected. what i would like to do is read too short sections from this book to give you some flavor what i have written about. starting at the beginning and then go pretty close to the end. guantanamo bay lies at the southeastern tip of cuba facing the caribbean that encompasses a large naval base that occupies an area of approximately 45 square miles of land and water. the day itself is shaped and about 12 miles long in the northeast southwest direction and 6 miles across at its greatest length. ships enter and exit the day between the the point through a one and a quarter mile wide channel with a 42-foot dredged depth. because of it

roosevelt and want to do it, and so johnson gets into see him and before he could say anything roosevelt says to him, lyndon have you ever seen a russian women make it? [laughter] johnson is mystified and he starts telling him about harry hopkins had just been to russia and johnson, what he told them about the russians etc. at etc. before you knew it roosevelt's eight came in and said time is up mr. congressman samples johnson of a room. reagan was no fool that way. he was a very astute politician who had learned some of his lessons from a master like franklin roosevelt. anyway there is a couple of associations that came to mind from your talk. >> i will tell one other story. it is true, reagan grew up as a democrat. he became fiercely anti-communist in the late 40's and the screen actors guild. he became generally conservative in the 1950's, particularly on economic issues but remains a democrat until 1960. there is a wonderful story. he is a democrat, but he likes eisenhower. nixon is running for president in 1960 and reagan, then an actor, not a politician goes to nixon and says i am ready to endorse you

i thought lyndon johnson would come over the white house. he said joe, call him up, gardner agoly and tell him i don't want any projection. we don't need any projections. obama has to live with these projections now. and they're devastating in terms of scaring the hell out of the people and the moderate members in congress. >> rose: mark halperin, tell me what people inside the obama administration and from the president to rahm emmanuel, the chief of staff and david axelrod, the political advisor, what are they saying about the way they have handled this and what they have to do now? >> well, there is a lot of frustration. they think the republicans are just being recalcitrant and aren't paying a political price, that the press is not holding them accountable. they are frustrated also with the fact that if it hadn't been for the loss of the massachusetts senate race they probably would have passed this. and so that was not, they believe, their primary responsibility to watch over that race. and there is general concern that a lot of bad thi

çguest:ç lyndon johnson was a phenom, almost and a leg of his own.considering he came in in 1981, seen as a conservativeç ideologue and famously made a lot of of overtures to democrats, including liberals like tip o'neill and ted kennedy and was able toç getç some important bipartisan legislation through. bill clinton use all evans and able to work wit jongress, only after the gingrichç revolution in 1994 he was a bit t(of a wounded animal dueç to e impeachment proceedings, thatç is when hisç triangulation approach took holdç when he started working on welfare Ãoreform and balanced budget and other issues effectively with the opposition. çyou have to get away from -- t is very hard, though, for a president who has an ideological bent to moveç into a center zoe because of their base will always think they are abandoning principle for political expediency. host: we have calls waitingç fç t(çyou, douglas brinkley. ryan, queens, new york. çcaller:ç good morning. çççpresident washingtonç i e çwasçç -- he was notç electe was appointed

i see obama as lyndon johnson on steroids. okay? >> okay. >> bill: lyndon johnson on steroids.et the great society back. use the e.p.a. to control what goes in and out of the environment. and to give the government more power. i see that. i don't disagree with you on that. >> you had private property and you had private businesses in germany under the social democratic party, in great britain under the labor party, in france under the socialist in italy under the socialist. it's a mixed economy. but if you are asking the question does he think the overwhelming dominance should be government, and does he think government is smarter than the rest of us, the answer is yes. >> bill: all right. newt gingrich, everyone. always enjoy talking to you mr. speaker, thank you. we have a brand new bill o'reilly.com poll question. do you favor federal oversight on health insurance pricing? do you favor that oversight? yes or no? next on the run down, mary katharine and juan will respond to rush limbaugh and newt gingrich on the socialism issue. later, bernie goldberg has been investigating l

the brown desegregation court decision all the way to the signing of the voting rights act by lyndon johnson. and in between, what we are told both as students and as a nation in terms of popular imagination is that there's all kinds of cities and marches and demonstrations that occur. but they are really done by these famous iconic people. basically it is rosa parks who just was so tired that she refused to get up from the bus in montgomery, alabama, and sparked the bus boycott. and basically a young preacher who, even the president referred to, during the election as this young preacher from george which is dr. martin luther king junior, who sort of leads the masses from racial oppression. so this notion that rosa sat and martin could do this stuff and jesse could run and then barack could fly, all these things. they sound good but they really, they really simplify a much more complicated history. and that complicated history really involves so many african-americans, women and men, who proactively dismantle racial segregation, including rosa parks. rosa parks was an activist that she didn

çguest:ç lyndon johnson was a phenom, almost and a leg of his own.agan did a good job considering he came in in 1981, seen as a conservativeç ideologue and famously made a lot of of overtures to democrats, including liberals like tip o'neill and ted kennedy and was able toç getç some important bipartisan legislation through. bill clinton use all evans and able to work wit jongress, only after the gingrichç revolution in 1994 he was a bit t(of a wounded animal dueç to e impeachment proceedings, thatç is when hisç triangulation approach took holdç when he started working on welfare Ãoreform and balanced budget and other issues effectively with the opposition. çyou have to get away from -- t is very hard, though, for a president who has an ideological bent to moveç into a center zoe because of their base will always think they are abandoning principle for political expediency. host: we have calls waitingç fç t(çyou, douglas brinkley. ryan, queens, new york. çcaller:ç good morning. çççpresident washingtonç i e çwasçç -- he was notç

and lyndon johnson, sort of like scarlett o'hara in gone with the wind, while lyndon doesn't promiseever to go hungry again, he promises never to be the idealistic fool his father had been, who played a promising political career into working on that road crew. hamlin did not comment even to succeed, and he was going to succeed not only in the most nefarious of ways politically, but also that he would be a president who knew how clever and nefarious he was. he works himself up onto additional aid. the congressman of the united states senate in 194018 selected in the u.s. senate by 87 votes. those 87 votes are highly fraudulent. they know it has landslide lyndon for the rest of his life, even after he has achieved a very great landslide of itself in 1964. but he then become senate majority leader and makes into a position of great responsibility and power, unpce

lyndon johnson was busted, because republicans were far -- lyndon johnson was frustrated, because republicansng him with funding and everything, and yet publicly they were criticizing him. there is always the tension between the political arguments and sometimes the back room deal. host: what was the political calculation that lyndon johnson made about the vietnam war? guest: it was a costly one. he was terrified that republicans were going to undercut democrats' on national security. he was born in the 1950's in a garment of republicans saying that democrats lost china, -- 1950's environment of republicans saying that democrats lost time and had not fought real well. he was going to show that he was tough. many advisers, including a hawkish democrat, said that this is not worth of the war. it is too dangerous. is not strategically important. in the end, she did not withdraw, he accelerated the war -- he did not withdraw, he accelerated the war. in large part, he was terrified that republicans led barry goldwater and ronald reagan would say that any sign of weakness which show that democrats

that is what lyndon johnson said. >> the one of the reasons they went ahead they expected not just that but the mafia working on the secret plots. >> guest: they can do that without the invasion. that is another example. president kennedy said when the cuban missiles were put in cuba, there is no conceivable defensive justification for the missiles being there. they obviously are offensive to us to attack us. there was a very conceivable defensive reason. castro knows they were there they were combining their crops and harvested he thought one was coming and he had to protect himself nerve may not in his interest to make himself a target for nuclear war but he went along with it because he thought there was an attack coming. so kennedy said there was no conceivable reason fidel new that and khrushchev knew that but we did not know that. >> host: what if they put short range that would not reach atlanta or washington? wouldn't be well protected? >> khrushchev did want to threaten us because they were threatening him. >> host: he knew how far behind you was in the missile arms race. >> gu

lyndon johnson call dirkson the republican leader 40 years ago every afternoon at 5:00.i said in my little remarks harry truman living in the blair house where we were today had the senate foreign relations chairman down once a week to meet with general marshal to write the marshal plan. when you want a bipartisan effort you form a private relationship and put it together and the president hasn't figured that out yet with the senate. >> greta: are you saying he's inexperienced? >> i don't know what it is. i thought he doesn't want to do it or doesn't know how. i think he's a very able person. he showed today he knows a lot about health care. i don't think he knows how to create a bipartisan piece of legislation in the senate. we do it all the time. ted kennedy did it all the time. >> greta: what about harry reid, even getting testy with you? >> it o'he did seemed like we was a little irritated. get with you! >> because i said what he dent like to hear their bill cuts medicare by half a trillion dollars and spends it on a new tram. their bill raises taxes half trillion do

i think the president has acted kind of like lyndon johnson the last few months, trying to arm twist,sage the vote to get to 60 votes. but you need a little leavening of ronald reagan or bill clinton or abe lincoln to talk to the country about why this is important. we're asking members to take some tough votes for a lot of them. and yet the president seems to have been reluctant until relatively recently to really sock it in on some of these things. i put this way. if he had gone around the country talking about how important the public option was in various states, those senators might have given him the 60 votes. it's a chicken and egg think. you can't just say we don't have them. you won't get them unless you push them. if the president speaks like he did today for the next weeks, i think we'll get to the 60 votes on the things we want to get. >> we've been hearing rumblings from the house leadership they may take up one specific part of health reform. it's the insurance company's antitrust exemption. what do you make of that? >> for months and months republicans have said why don

lyndon johnson, for heaven's sakes. >> thank you, pat -- >> and johnson went to the wall for black people rights and said at the time that he was giving the south away and he knew it. >> he would have never called those people names because he came from them. >> well, i come from some of them, too. i'm a working class irish catholic. i just don't like the demonization of the president. >> you're demonizing these people. you are demonizing millions and millions of people. tea party people. >> i'm not. i'm demonizing the ones that are -- >> i've got to go, guys. this is an important american argument. pat, thank you. and joan. actually, both my friends. >>> the national tea party convention. certainly a commercial operation that's going to be in nashville this weekend. wait until you hear what's on the agenda this weekend. wait until you catch some of the seminar titles. investors are demanding more for their money. good. this time, i'm watching fees like a hawk. i hate hidden fees. why should i have to pay for something that i shouldn't have to pay for? td ameritrade's pricing is clear and

and of course that is what lyndon johnson said during the vietnam war. if you know what i know -- but you can't of course. >> host: at the bay of pigs the recent scholarship also suggested one of the reasons they went ahead with it is they also expected if not an uprising a successful assassination of castro street and the mafia working on the secret plots as well. a combination -- biskupic could do that without the invasion though. they treated it over and over. >> host: hundreds of times. >> guest: that's another example. president kennedy said there is no -- wind the cubin missiles were put in cuba, there is no conceivable defensive justification for the missiles being there so they obviously are offensive. they are there just to attack us. well, there was a very conceivable defensive reason. fidel castro knew they were plotting his assassination and sele touching his crops and minding his harbors and so he thought there was an invasion coming. and he had to protect himself the we he knew how. after all it was informally in his interest to make himsel

and of course that is what lyndon johnson said during the vietnam war: if you know what i know, but you can't of course. host collected the of pigs the recent scholarships' adjusted one of the reasons they went ahead with it is the expected if not an uprising, successful assassination of castro. the had the mafia working on the secret plots. it was a combination. >> guest: they could do that without the investigation the. they tried over and over. that is another example. president kennedy said linda cubin missiles -- when the russian missiles were put in cuba, there is no conceivable defensive justification for the missiles begin their. so they obviously are offensive just to attack us. well, there is a very conceivable defensive reason. fidel castro they were plotting his assassination and sabotaging the crops and mining the harbors, said he thought there was an invasion coming. and he had to protect himself the only way he knew how. after all it wasn't normal in his interest to make himself a target for the nuclear war on that island, but he went along with khrushchev because he knew

>> the president has acted like lyndon johnson trying to arm twist and massage the vote to get to 60avening of ronald reagan, bill clinton or abe lincoln to talk to the country about why this is important. yet the president seems to have been reluctant until recently to really sock it in on some of these things. if he would have gone around the country talking about how important the public option was in these various states, those senators might have given him the 60 votes. it's a chicken and egg thing. you just can't say we don't have the 60 votes. you won't get them if you don't push it. if the president speaks the way he did today for the next couple of weeks in the states where we have wavering senators, we'll get the 60 votes we need to get. >> we've been hearing rumblings from the house leadership that they'll take up the insurance company's antitrust exemption. what do you make of that? >> for months republicans have been saying why don't you let insurance companies compete over state line. if you do that, they should be govern earned like any other interstate commerce. there

many folks like to compare senator reid to lyndon johnson.ne. %qtimes are really different. senators have much more independence and autonomy. they are not as beholden to the party as they were back in that 1950 is. host: what about the comment about senator reed losing clout? guest: i think that is an argument that senator re-'s team is definitely making. if you talk to elected officials in nevada, they know that if they need to talk to the federal government that they have an open door with senator reid who has a lot of clout to get stuff done. host: harry reid should know that putting the public option back in the health bill will boost popularity whether it passes or not. democrats would work to increase the majority, that is from twitter. caller: i want to talk about yucca mountain and the nuclear waste depository i have said we cannot have nuclear power until we get rid of every read. what is the status of yucca mountain development and what is his position on that? guest: there has been some really big news out of yucca mountain this y

lyndon johnson was busted, because republicans were far -- lyndon johnson was frustrated, because republicansrting him with funding and everything, and yet publicly they were criticizing him. there is always the tension between the political arguments and sometimes the back room deal. host: what was the political calculation that lyndon johnson made about the vietnam war? guest: it was a costly one. he was terrified that republicans were going to undercut democrats' on national security. he was born in the 1950's in a garment of republicans saying that democrats lost china, -- 1950's environment of republicans saying that democrats lost time and had not fought real well. he was going to show that he was tough. many advisers, including a hawkish democrat, said that this is not worth of the war. it is too dangerous. is not strategically important. in the end, she did not withdraw, he accelerated the war -- he did not withdraw, he accelerated the war. in large part, he was terrified that republicans led barry goldwater and ronald reagan would say that any sign of weakness which show that democra

i'm sure robert caro has essentially been sucked into the lyndon johnson whirlpool and will be at leastnother few years before he gets out. and the result of this was that when those students would ask me what i can read on franklin roosevelt, i didn't have an answer. there was no one-volume biography of franklin roosevelt that i could point to that i thought was quite satisfactory. and the other thing was -- and this get to the -- i'll admit the imodesty in me that i could writÔ÷ a better biography of franklin roosevelt than was on the market. it's not that i was trying to fill a hole that no one had tried to fill. it's just that i thought -- i happen to believe that if a story is good, it's worth retelling. if you can tell it better than other people have told it, then give it a try. i will leave it to critics. i will leave it to you to decide whether i have succeeded. but that's why -- that's sort of one reason why i took on this project. now, another reason was that as scott suggested i have -- some years ago i decided that i was going to write a history of the united states in seve

bush was the biggest spending president since lyndon baines johnson. he also expanded entitlement benefits. first one to do so in a major way since lyndon baines johnson. and president obama has obvious a significantly increased discretionary spending, based upon the two appropriations bills that he signed. and there is a great debate about the size and role of government, but returning to spending, there is some very simple principles. habitually spending more money than you make is irresponsible. a responsibly spending somebody else's money is unethical. and if you are a fiduciary, a fiduciary breach. and thirdly come in responsibly spending someone else's money when the person whose money you're spending are too young to vote and not born yet is immoral. and all three of these things are going on right now. we need to recognize that not all deficits are equal. it depends upon their size, their nature, and whether or not they are likely to be recovering in nature. for example, in fairness to president obama, he inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit. due t

. >> it's very just freighting to me the party of john kennedy and lyndon johnson has twice now killed an effort to return to the moon. it just means as soon as the democrats get in, the first thing they do over at nasa is kill the bush administration moon program. >> reporter: jane, the larger picture, it appears the russians will now take the lead in heavy lift into orbit, the chinese are coming on strong with their space program. low orbit work is moving to the private sector. the challenge for nasa is to find a way to go relevant and stay in the game at this point. jane: brian wilson in d.c. for us, thanks. jon: when you talk about war strategy, you generally think they should be shrouded in secrecy, right? think again. the u.s. military and our allies are giving away one set of plans apparently to let the taliban know we are coming. the announcement is the exact date of the first big battle of the surge, the exact target, i should say, the town of marjah in helmand province. senior afghan officials went as far as holding a news conference to discuss a pending strike. is this good

and i think that's why lyndon johnson in the '60s passed the civil rights bills in the republican leader's office because he understood that having a bipartisan bill not only would pass it but it would help the country accept it. senator pat monihan has said before he died that he couldn't remember a big piece of social legislation that passed that wasn't bipartisan. and after world war ii in this very house and in the room back over here, president truman and general marshall would meet once a week with senator arthur vanderberg, the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and write the marshall plan. general marshall said that sometimes van was my right hand and sometimes he was his right hand. we know how to do that. john baener and george miller did that on no child left behind. mike ense and ted kennedy wrote 35 bills together. you mentioned that in your opening remarks. you and i and many other senators work together on the america competes act. we can do that on health care as well. but to do that, we'll have to renounce jamming it through in a partisan way. if

bush was the biggest spending president since lyndon baines johnson.e also expanded entitlement belt. first one to do so in a major way since president baines johnson and president obama as significantly increased discretionary spending based on the two appropriation bills that he signed. there's a great debate about the size and role of government. but returning to spending, there's some very simple principles. habitually spending more money than you make is irresponsible. irresponsiblebly spending somebody else's money is on ethical and if you're a phew furebry, a few deutschery breach. and irresponsible spending someone else's money when the person's who's money you're spending are too long to vote and not born yet is immoral and all three of these things are going on now. it depends on whether or not they are going to be recurring in nature. for example, in fairness to president obama, he inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit. due to recession. declare unfinanced wars and a variety of other actions. and it's understandable to have large deficits when y

and i think that's why lyndon johnson, the '60s, passed the civil rights bill. of because he understood that by having a bipartisan bill, not only would pass it, but it would help the country accept it. senator pat manahan has said before he died that he couldn't remember a big piece of social legislation that passed that wasn't bipartisan. and after world war ii in this very house and in the room back over here, president truman and jenmar shall would meet once a week with senator vander berg, the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, and write the marshal plan. and general marshal said that sometimes van was my right hand, and sometimes he was his right hand. and we know how -- john boehner and george miller did that on no child left behind. mike enzi and ted kennedy wrote 35 bills together. you mentioned that in your opening remarks. you and i and many other others worked together on the american competes act. we know how to do that, we can do that on health care, as well. but to do that, we'll have to renounce jamming it through in a

talk as lyndon johnson used to say, come, let us reason together.oing to disagree, but let's be agreeable to the extent that we can disagree. let me hear the better parts of what you've got to say. i might even agree with some of it. and you need to hear the better parts of what i've got to same. you might agree with some of that. rather than to continue to take totally different opposite sides and views, sit down and talk. that's what the american people want. host: back to the phones. akron, ohio, mike on our line for independence. you're on with former virginia governor douglas wilder. caller: yes, not only am i an independent, i like to consider myself a true patriotic. i do not vote for obama. i do not vote for clinton or bush. my record is a perfect 0-10. but i -- guest: [laughter] caller: but i never ever hope nerd president to fail. sometimes i predictsed failure and sometimes i was right, sometimes i was wrong. but as a patriot would never hope for any democrat to fail. why has obama and his spokes people allow certain people in the republi

the difference now, the president is not in the back room with his sleeves rolled playing lyndon johnson, ronald reagan, bill clinton, which we is what we've needed all along. >> it's convoluted. we've gotten farther than any other president as you mentioned has gotten health care reform. and we know what happens if we don't do anything. individual insurance market in california, the insurer that covers that market is sending out letters to those individuals right now, they're opening that mail and find ought that their health insurance next year will cost almost 40% more. that's what's going to happen all over this country, if we don't bring good ideas to the president's meeting today. and instead of fighting back and forth, and just reading our talking points, if we focus on getting something done for the american people, that's what they want to watch today. i think that's what we hope comes out of it. the product will be based on people's willingness to come sit at the table and discuss those good ideas. >> i know you got to go. but some are some democrats who believe today's meeting

and i think that's why lyndon johnson, the '60s, passed the civil rights bill.of because he understood that by having a bipartisan bill, not only would pass it, but it would help the country accept it. senator pat manahan has said before he died that he couldn't remember a big piece of social legislation that passed that wasn't bipartisan. and after world war ii in this very house and in the room back over here, president truman and jenmar shall would meet once a week with senator vander berg, the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, and write the marshal plan. and general marshal said that sometimes van was my right hand, and sometimes he was his right hand. and we know how -- john boehner and george miller did that on no child left behind. mike enzi and ted kennedy wrote 35 bills together. you mentioned that in your opening remarks. you and i and many other others worked together on the american competes act. we know how to do that, we can do that on health care, as well. but to do that, we'll have to renounce jamming it through in a

then in 1964, with the enormous majority elected in the lyndon johnson landslide, we had the opportunity the public support was there as well. that predated the propaganda that became so popular in the election. the government could not be trusted. people had their concerns about government, but they knew things would not happen unless the government were able to accomplish it. at that moment, could we have had a national health insurance adopted? probably not. the american medical association was strongly against this bill. the republicans were strongly against it, although we have a liberal and progressive republicans in those days. we have a very few now, so we had some bipartisan support for medicare legislation. it is not just the numbers of one party or the other in our -- in power. if we had fewer conservative democrats and more liberal republicans, we would probably have an easier time to get progress of legislation through. it would isolate those in the republican party who are just no. they would be an aberration of republicans who could validate some of the ideas of medicare a

that this is not the reality of the internal debt is more significant than it may have been when lyndon johnsont started doing this. >> the work that i have done emphasizes gross federal debt. ultimately we feel that it is ultimately the federal government, whether the debt is held by other branches of new government or by the public that we care about. i would say about gross, even using gross federal debt that it doesn't take into account all these important liabilities, hidden debts, that are associated with our social security system and all other implicit guarantees even outside our social security system such as simon johnson mentioned, fannie mae and freddie mac. >> but your gross debt as you figured does include the internal debt that the treasury owes to medicare and social security? >> partially. partially. >> but not totally? >> not totally. >> i think that when one looks at the dead issue -- debt issue, we're going to be looking at very different measures of debt. there's -- i would start out with gross debt but i wouldn't end with gross debt. i think to take into account medium ter

the brown desegregation court decision all the way to the signing of the voting rights act by lyndon johnson and in between what we are told both as students and a nation in terms of popular imagination is there's all kinds of settings and marches and demonstrations that occurred but are done by the famous iconic people basically is rosa parks so tired she refused to give up from the bus in montgomery alabama and sparked the boycott and basically a young preacher who even the president referred to during the the election as a young preacher from georgia which is dr. martin luther king, jr. who sort of leads the masses of african-americans from racial oppression so this notion that rows of sat and martin could do this stuff and jesse could run and barack obama could fly, they sound good but they simplify and much more complicated history and that complicated history involves so many african-americans, women and men who proactively dismantled racial segregation including rosa parks. she was an activist. she didn't just refused to give up her seat by accident. there was a concerted strategic ef

it's the same as lyndon johnson in the great society. ars old, i told people don't vote for johnson because your kids are going to be paying for this. your fica isçó going to go from $174 a year to overpayingÑi fic taxes $90,000. are you crazy? and this is the situation tat we're in now. anyway, as far as the health care bill is concerned, it's wrangling and nobody trusts the government period, republicans or democrats. it's a pathetic situation. it just makes me sick in california as a state that is completely in disarray. believe me. you couldn't find -- here that is meaningful if you wanted to. the unemployment department here in california is absolutely the worst. host: we thank you for your call. gives me a bit of segue because on our newsmakers program, we talk with the democrat from california, george miller. he's the chairman of education and labor committee. a wide range of topics took place during this interview. among them was the discussion of ther the representative sion of charles rangel should stay in the house ways and mea

the ground desegregation court decision on the way to the signing of the voting rights act by lyndon johnson. in between, what we're told, both as students and as a nation in terms of popular imagination is that there's all kinds of sedans and marches and demonstrations that occurred, but they're really done by the famous iconic people. basically it's rosa parks, who just was so tired that she refused to get up from the bus in montgomery, alabama inspect the bus boycott. and basically a young preacher, who even the president referred to during the election as this young preacher from georgia, which is dr. mark luther king junior, who sort of leads the masses of african americans from racial oppression. so this notion that rosa sat and martin could do this staff and jesse could run and then block could fly. all these things, they sound good, but they really simplify a much more complicated history. and that complicated history really involved so many african-americans, women and men, who proactively dismantled racial segregation, including rosa parks. rosa parks was an activist. she didn't ju

reality of the internal debt is more significant that may have been when the nita johnson -- when lyndon johnsong it. would you comment on whether it is significant? >> i certainly think it is significant in a major way. the work that i have done emphasizes gross federal debt. ultimately, we feel that it is ultimately the federal government, whether the debt is held by other branches of government or by the public, that we care about -- i would say about gross federal debt, that it is not take into account all these important liabilities, hidden debt, that are associated with our social security system and allÑi other implicit guarantees even outside our social security system, such as simon johnson mentioned, fannie mae and freddie mac'. >> your gross debt includes the internal debt to that the treasury owes to medicare and social security? >> partially. >> not totally? >> not totally. partially. >> for us, worrying about the health of the american economy, you think we should consider the gross debt more than just the public debt? >> i think that when one looks at the debt issue, we are going

in fiscal year 1969 under lyndon johnson we had a budget surplus of $3.2 billion. those fortunate to remain employed, the recession was to depressed wages and benefits and growing at 1.5%, the lowest level since 1982. as a result, families suffers. in 2009, corporate income revenue declined $166 billion from its 2007 level, and individual income revenues fell 20% or $230 billion. madam speaker, in addition to the tremendous toll this recession took on the american public, rising unemployment and wages added almost $400 billion to our debt. in fact, total federal revenues, which historically have represented roughly 20% of our gross domestic product declined to 14.8% in 2009. although the recession did not create budget deficits it exacerbated this enormously. in the face of this we took decisive action. the congress reinstituted pay-as-you-go, a piece of legislation. in 1990 congress enacted that statutory pay-go rule and required spending increases and revenue decreases to be offset so as not to increase the deficit. pay-go was one of the critical tools used to co

then in 1964, with the enormous majority elected in the lyndon johnson landslide, we had the opportunity. that predated the propaganda that became so popular in the election. the government could not be trusted. people had their concerns about government, but they knew things would not happen unless the government were able to accomplish it. at that moment, could we have had a national health insurance adopted? probably not. the american medical association was strongly against this bill. the republicans were strongly against it, although we have a liberal and progressive republicans in those days. we have a very few now, so we had some bipartisan support for medicare legislation. it is not just the numbers of one party or the other in our -- in power. if we had fewer conservative democrats and more liberal republicans, we would probably have an easier time to get progress of legislation through. it would isolate those in the republican party who are just no. they would be an aberration of republicans who could validate some of the ideas of medicare and other issues on the agenda, but i

i've written a couple of books on vietnam and we saw this problem in vietnam where lyndon johnson did not go out and spend much time trying to explain the war to the people and try to get them motivated to stay there for the long haul and they ultimately came back to haunt because i think a lot of people didn't fully a understand why we were there. they didn't see the need for sacrifice, so hopefully we will see more comments coming out from the white house and explaining our commitment and rallying people around the cause. >> host: louisianan, teddy, independent life and. >> caller: you haven't got eight years and you haven't got it right. so what are you doing there? okay what are you doing there? 9/11, okay, 9/11. what are you going to find out? what are you going to do when you find out seven of the hijackers or alleged hijackers of 9/11 were interviewed on bbc tv after 9/11. what are you going to do when i sought testimony on c-span that the christmas day bomber was allowed by our government intelligence agencies to get on that plan? the question remains did they know he had a bo

and i think that's why lyndon johnson, the '60s, passed the civil rights bill. because he understood that by having a bipartisan bill, not only would pass it, but it would help the country accept it. senator pat manahan has said before he died that he couldn't remember a big piece of social legislation that passed that wasn't bipartisan. and after world war ii in this very house and in the room back over here, president truman and jenmar shall would meet once a week with senator vander berg, the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, and write the marshal plan. and general marshal said that sometimes van was my right hand, and sometimes he was his right hand. and we know how -- john boehner and george miller did that on no child left behind. mike enzi and ted kennedy wrote 35 bills together. you mentioned that in your opening remarks. you and i and many other others worked together on the american competes act. we know how to do that, we can do that on health care, as well. but to do that, we'll have to renounce jamming it through in a pa

it is more significant than it may have been when lyndon johnson for started doing it.ould you comment on that? do you think this is the vacant? -- significant? >> i think it is significant in a major way. the work that i have done, gross federal debt ultimately we feel that it is ultimately the federal government what did the debt is held by other branches of the government or by the public. i would say even using gross federal debt does not take into account all these important liabilities. >> your gross debt does include the internal debt that the treasury opposed medicare and social security tax cut partially for us who are worrying about the health of the american economy t think we should consider the gross debt >> i think that when one looks at the debt issue, we are going to be the thing and very different measures of debt. i would start out with a gross debt. i would that into it gross debt. you take into account medium- term debt since -- dead sustainability. it just so happens that gross debt is something that we can measure more readily and more transparent

the ground desegregation court decision on the way to the signing of the voting rights act by lyndon johnson. in between, what we're told, both as students and as a nation in terms of popular imagination is that there's all kinds of sedans and marches and demonstrations that occurred, but they're really done by the famous iconic people. basically it's rosa parks, who just was so tired that she refused to get up from the bus in montgomery, alabama inspect the bus boycott. and basically a young preacher, who even the president referred to during the election as this young preacher from georgia, which is dr. mark luther king junior, who sort of leads the masses of african americans from racial oppression. so this notion that rosa sat and martin could do this staff and jesse could run and then block could fly. all these things, they sound good, but they really simplify a much more complicated history. and that complicated history really involved so many african-americans, women and men, who proactively dismantled racial segregation, including rosa parks. rosa parks was an activist. she didn't ju

no president since lyndon b. johnson has ever cut in spending.is increase ever debt every year. host: let me stop you there and have david respond. guest: one of the interesting things to me and i think your caller is right is that people outside of washington saying, what are you people in congress and the white house doing about this problem that we see? most of you are in the nile trying to find some way to kick the can down the road said that you do not have to deal with it. >it is very difficult. some people argue that conservatives should stop talking about fiscal responsibility and limited government because it is easier to sell politics in which you provide things with more and more goodies to people that if you want to be successful to people who do this. we have a change in public attitude. for the first time in decades, when you ask the public with their primary concern is, spending is trumping even employment and the other economic questions. people are concerned about the direction the country is taking. there is a sense that america

prior to his appointment by president obama, he served with distinction as being of the lyndon b. johnsonchool of public affairs at the university of texas, austin. from which he is currently on leave. prior to his leadership in austin, he was vice president and director of foreign policy studies at the brookings institution. during president clinton's administration, mr. steinberg served in numerous, important and vital positions, among them deputy national security advisor, chief of staff of the united states, state department, directory of policy planning, deputy assistant secretary for a now says in the bureau of intelligence of research. he has held positions at the rand corporation and the international institute for strategic studies in london. he's also served as the late senator ted kennedy's principal aide on the senate armed services committee. he is the author of numerous books and articles on foreign policy and national security. a native of boston, massachusetts, he attended harvard college and yale law school. he and his wife, have two children. following his remarks, chris