mr. gorbachev and shevardnadze? the reason i brought him up, i wanted to ask either one of you, right in the middle of all this, the coup and everything, he committed suicide. >> guest: yes. c-span: did you ever get any insight as to why? >> guest: i think--and i describe in the book a discussion we had at a lunch where he said he's--he's lost his anchors, he's at--he's at sea. he doesn't know what to believe anymore. he was raised as a patriotic soviet citizen, went into the military convinced he was fighting for the future, not only of the soviet union, but the world. now, all of a sudden, he's been told everything that he believed in is a lie. he said, 'my children hate me.' and i--it was--it was the outpouring of a tortured soul. when the coup came, he gave some support to the coup plotters. and i think this was, for him, the last straw. he--because he had turned against his president, whom he believed in, in support of the coup plotters, who really represented what he traditionally had been taught to believe. a

so the real problem i think is that even if the politicians if obama came to the conclusion as mr gorbachev did will his military allow him to do that or will try and undermine and say he's being a wimp or coward or allowing the enemy to win the big thing about the soviet experience and this is one of the lessons which is haunting the current position is that the soviet military they were introduced enough to see that yes indeed the war was unwinnable they didn't oppose the go to church decision to withdraw in fact is supported it and applauded it and we have no evidence from the secret politburo meetings that in all the archives have come out since the soviet union collapsed we have the defense minister sergei sokolov saying so this war is unwinnable we have marshall said you're our career who is the chief of the journal staff in one thousand nine hundred six national eighty six saying there is not one single kilometer of afghan soil that has not had the boot of a soviet soldier on it and yet every time we leave the enemy comes back in and we can't occupy the every inch of the country so w

mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> reporter: who who was lauded as the great communicator.ce president obama uses, saying a phrase in a foreign language. this was at a dinner before a hispanic group. >> their platform apparently is. [ speaking in foreign language ] is that a bumper sticker you want on your car? >> reporter: last year he peppered his remarks in indonesia. >> [ speaking in foreign language ]. >> president bush often threw in spanish when he spoke to the voters. >> because of the good heartedness. >> president kennedy's visit to germany in 1963 is remembered for this iconic phrase. >> speaking in foreign language ]. >> you could see metaphorically, i speak your language. from that flows, we're on the same wave length, i understand what you're going through. i'm one of you in a way. >> reporter: with the president's campaign coming up, and you could argue it's already upon us, he'll be speaking with a lot of different groups whose votes he's courting. dr. tannon says you have to be careful because sometimes it can backfire. there's a fine line between mimicry a