he was at the national press club in washington for one hour. >> good afternoon and welcome to the national press club. i am president of the national press club. we are the world's leading professional organization for journalists and we are committed to our professions future for our programming and by foster in a free press worldwide. for more information, please visit our website at www.press.org. for all of our members worldwide, i would like to welcome our special speaker today and all those attending the event which includes guests of our speakers as well as working journalists. would like to welcome cspan and public radio. you can follow the conversation on twitter with the hashtag ncpluch. we will have audience questions as much as possible and would like to introduce our guest. we begin with keith epstein. scott sporey , rick dunham, donna linewand, timothy allman, and michelle smith, assistant to the chairman with the federal reserve. charbonneau, bob cardin, thank you. dave skidmore, allyson fitzgerald, she is with bloomberg. she is vice chair of the npc speaker committee. beckn

the federal reserve chairman discusses the economic outlook at the national press club. standard & poor's cut ireland's credit rating by one notch to "a minus" today. that's four levels above non- investment grade. it gives ireland the same rating as portugal, turkey and cyprus. s&p says a further downgrade is possible as the irish government struggles to contain bank bailout costs. the downgrade comes as ireland prepares for elections in which the cost of bailing out banks is a major issue. >> tom: h.p. will give a refund

speaking to an audience of reporters at the national press club in washington, d.c., mr. bernanke talked about the national debt and said the federal budget is on a, quote, unsustainable path. this is an hour. >> i cover business of the economics dues for the associated press and i president of the national press club. we are the world's leading professional organization for journalists and we are committed to the provisions future through our programming and by fostering a free press worldwide. for more information about the national press club please visit our web site at would back press.org, you can also find information about how to donate to our library. for all of our members worldwide, i would like to welcome our special speaker today and all of those attending the event include guest of the speakers as well as working journalists. i would also like to welcome the c-span and public radio audiences, and you can follow the conversation on the twittered with the hash tag npslunch. i will last as the questions as time permits and i would now like to introduce the head

speaking to an audience of reporters of the national press club from washington, d.c. mr. bernanke talked about the national debt and said the federal budget is on a, quote, unsustainable path. this is an hour. >> i cover business in the economic views for the associated press and i and the president of the national press club, we are the world's leading professional organization forr journalists and committed to the future programming in the free press worldwide.rl for more information about thebe national press club please visit our web site at www.press.org tebeau you can also findg, you c information about how to donateu to our library. library. for all of our members worldwide, i would like to welcome our special speaker today and all of those attending the event include guest of the speakers as well as working journalists. i would also like to welcome the c-span and public radio audiences, and you can follow the conversation on the twittered with the hash tag npslunch. i will last as the questions as time permits and i would now like to introduce the head table guests

none in the national press club. one of the failings of our reporting on the iraq war is we are really good at imbedding. we are really good at writing detailed accounts of major military acts such as the assault on fallujah. we have been really bad telling the whole story which is that our military forces are going back and forth and back and forth all the time. and the stress that puts in them of living in two world and what happens when they are back here and there and how do you live in this new reality i don't think we talked about much. but it is something they live. i will start with one of the good ones. sergeant strickland had his hand main goals was flown to walter reed. he was patched up. he healed in time to deploy with the unit again in 2006 where he was blown up again in baghdad. and medivaced again. he was medically retired. he is doing quite well. married, out of the army. not everyone else was so lucky. the mac obviously -- you can imagine have a lot of shame and guilt, not being able to save everyon

press meeting, never mind. [laughter] as you may know the club was established in 1919 as the women's national press club at the time female reporters were not allowed to become members of the national press club or the gridiron club. the national press club was still wished to make sure women had an equal place in the newsroom and from the front row with the right to veto briefing room. i know i speak for chuck, wendell, jeff and jam when i say bravo, levy's, bravo peery [applause] you have come a long way, baby. [laughter] so this dinner is not to only welcome the new congressmen and their hard-working staff but also to salute the journalists who work hard to try to get the story right day after day after day. there are a few of us left. on the serious note we reword the david lynch regional reporting award to a journalist who represents the high standards that david n. bodies throughout his career and from his corner cubicle in the gallery before his untimely death in 1999. the david lynch memorial is given annually to a washington-based reporter it recognizes excellence and coverage of congress from a regio

press meeting, never mind. [laughter] as you may know the club was established in 1919 as the women's national press club at the time female reporters were not allowed to become members of the national press club or the gridiron club. the national press club was still wished to make sure women had an equal place in the newsroom and from the front row with the right to veto briefing room. i know i speak for chuck, wendell, jeff and jam when i say bravo, levy's, bravo peery [applause] you have come a long way, baby. [laughter] so this dinner is not to only welcome the new congressmen and their hard-working staff but also to salute the journalists who work hard to try to get the story right day after day after day. there are a few of us left. on the serious note we reword the david lynch regional reporting award to a journalist who represents the high standards that david n. bodies throughout his career and from his corner cubicle in the gallery before his untimely death in 1999. the david lynch memorial is given annually to a washington-based reporter it recognizes excellence and coverage of congress from a regio

tv.org. >> we're here at the national press club's book and author not talking with veteran newsman jack fuller about his new book, "what is happenening to news." tell us what is happening to news. >> what's happening to news is that the audience is changing fundamentally, and it's much as anything else we shaping the way we are getting our news feed. >> in what way? >> well, there are obvious ways. the attention span is short. but there are deeper deeper ways, too, not the least of which is that the information environment we live in today actually because of the way our brains are designed, built, causes us to be much more drawn to emotional presentations of information than they were in quieter times. and that really manifested itself in the way people are trying to communicate with us, with a lot more intensity and often anger and passion and so forged -- so forth in 15 years ago or 20 years ago. anyone would have thought was appropriate. >> what are some of the examples of this phenomenon that you have in the book? >> well, the commentators on cable news, for example, just one examp

wow, the national recovery month press conference here at the national press club- exciting, exciting opportunity. i'm very familiar with the press. believe it or not, i received a little press a few times in my active addiction. you laugh, but it's true. but i think the important thing is, now i am getting press as a result of my recovery, about sharing my recovery story with others. this annual event is so important because in addition to alerting americans about the dangers and trends of drug abuse, we must also educate them about the reality of recovery. having people like me who've been through the trials of addiction and found recovery, telling our stories, it's an important part of broadening social understanding and building broad public support for our cause. this is the 21st annual observance of national alcohol and drug addiction recovery month, and faces and voices of recovery is honored to be able to share this day and this lunch with you. we're really grateful, as a matter of fact, that you've taken the time to be with us, and as you'll hear throughout the program, the t

the federal reserve chairman discusses the economic outlook at the national press club. standard & poor's cut ireland's credit rating by one notch to "a minus" today. that's four levels above non- investment grade. it gives ireland the same rating as portugal, turkey and cyprus. s&p says a further downgrade is possible as the irish government struggles to contain bank bailout costs. the downgrade comes as ireland prepares for elections in which the cost of bailing out banks is a major issue. >> tom: h.p. will give a refund to customers who bought personal computers that use a flawed intel chip. the world's largest p.c. maker thinks only a small fraction of its computers were affected by the design flaw announced earlier this week by intel. number two p.c. maker dell says four of its computers were affected, under its xps, vostro and alienware brands. dell will work with customers >> tom: when you're at work, do you see more women than men? you're not alone. in the "money file" tonight, manisha thakor has a lesson in shifting workplace dynamics. she's co-author of "on my

. >> reporter: in a rare appearance before journalists at the national press club, the federal reserve chairman defended his government bond- buying program known as quantitative easing. bernanke said the unorthodox policy is working to boost the economy, even though unemployment and inflation both remain too low for comfort. the fed chairman also pushed back against critics who say the central bank is partly responsible for record-setting food prices around the world. those critics say the fed's low interest rate, easy money policies are weakening the dollar, which exports inflation. but bernanke said fast growth in emerging markets is causing prices to rise, and if those countries don't like that, they can adjust their economic policies and exchange rates. he dismissed any suggestions the fed is at all responsible for the economic stress contributing to the unrest roiling the middle east. >> food in egypt is priced in egyptian pounds, not in dollars. if the dollar is weaker, the egyptian pound is stronger. so clearly, what is happening is not a dollar effect. what's happening is a gr

should we be going to places like the national press club?" your colleagues in europe hold regular post conference -- press coverage is. what is your approach to holding regular press conferences, as opposed to the piecemeal approach? >> let me say first that i think transparency is very important because we live in a democracy. the public's needs to know what we're doing and why we're doing it. our policies were better if markets anticipate and understand the actions we're taking and what is likely to cause changes. the federal reserve has come to an enormous difference. you may not be aware that, in 1994, the fed did not even announce when it changed the federal funds rate target. now, we have an after-meeting state and with the votes. it is unlikely any central bank -- it is unlike any other central bank. we release full transcript with a five-year lag. we have extensive mechanism. we're at transparent central bank and we have made a lot of progress on that front. on press conferences -- it has been a difficult decision. on the one hand, rea

. >> we're at the national press club talking with charles ogletree about his book "the presumption of guilt." what made you decide to write about this incident? is. >> a lot of people emailed me, sent faxes and calls after his arrest saying this happened to my grandmother, my uncle, my niece, my brother, and it was an amazing reaction. and it created news because it was professor gates, not jamal who lives in the community. and it became even more of an issue because my dear former student and our president, barack obama, came to his defense, and that created a national issue that led to the beer summit. it was a natural thing to do, and i wanted people to say if professor gates can get arrested in situations like this when he gives two forms of id in his house and his only crime is arguing with the police officer in his house, then what happens to those who don't have a lawyer, who don't have power? and the this book explores that case, but it mothers -- explores the broader issue of racial profiling. >> did you learn anything that surprised you while you were researching the book? >

. ♪ >> from the national press club in washington, d.c. >> hello, and welcome to the national press clubnd another he kalb report. all the news that is fit to print behind "the new york times." i am thankful every day. one that i get up every morning, to the bureau the a live in a free country, and three the -- two, that i live in a free country, and leave the newspapers are delivered every day. for me, the newspaper is a morning near a cold. -- morning miracle. imagine stories from all over the world, a morning near called essential to the functioning of an open and free society to achieve. a morning miracle essential to the functioning of an open and free society. "the new york times" is one of the best in the world. we are delighted to welcome our guests to the national press cologne. -- national press club. has been a reporter since 1970. he has been bureau chief for the soviet union and south africa. he won a pulitzer prize for his coverage of the soviet union and has also been a columnist and managing director. gene has been with the paper since 1990, although he did take seven yea

we are also looking ahead to ben bernanke speaking at the national press club this afternoon. the dow inched up one point. 12,041 is where we ended. the nasdaq composite fell to 2749. retailers also report january sales. they are expected to shed light on the impact of all the snow that fell last month. it was actually the snowiest january in six years. not for you but for the rest of the country. bargain hunting shoppers may have stayed away from stores because fewer items were actually on sale. and among the stores analysts expect sales to rise 2.4%. >>> do you need a big screen tv for the super bowl? the consumer electronics association says for the first time since '05 since lcd and hd-tvs hit the market sales are dropping. that's because 70% of u.s. households already have one. retailers have to clear out the old stuff to bring out the new models. that could mean major markdowns this week. scott, we are already seeing some sales at best buy and sears and all sorts of places. >> all right, nicole lapin, thank you very much. brent cannon is joining us, did you hear that? sa

in a rare appearance before reporters at the national press club, mr. bernanke gave a more upbeat assessment of the economy than he has in recent months, but he also said that the economy is still in a deep hole, and that it will take several years for employment to return to normalized levels. the markets smashing through some major milestones this week. on tuesday, the dow finishing above 12,000. the s&p 500 above 1300, for the first time in two years. the markets were flat midweek. the markets were up, though, again on friday. more strong earnings news. exxon mobil blew away expectations. said it would restore dividend censorship since the oil spill disaster. mastercard surpassed. gm rose 23% compared to last january. that was better than expected. toyota up 17%. ford was up 13%, but still below expectations. chrysler rose 22%. >>> the world is watching the uprising in egypt, but aside from the politics there is of course an economic impact of what is going on there. just what could it mean for your portfolio? joining me now is richard bernstein, ceo

. >> from the national press club in washington, d.c., this is the cal report with marvin kalb. >> welcome to the national press club and the kalb report. our subject tonight, all the news that's fit to print, behind the scenes at the new york times. i don't know about you, but i am grateful for three things every day. one, that i get up in the morning. two, that i live in a free country. and, three, that copies of two newspapers are dropped off in front of my house every day, seven days a week. more reliable, i found, than the united states postal service. for me the newspaper is a morning miracle. imagine stories from all over the world, all over the country, science, sports, medicine, economics, finance, truly a morning miracle essential to the functioning of an open and free society. one of my morning newspapers is "the new york times." arguably the most respected newspaper in the united states and certainly one of the best in the world. we are delighted to welcome executive editor bill keller and washington bureau chief to the national press club and to the kalb report. bill keller ha

bodek italy national press club audience that the u.s. economy should grow at a rapid pace this year but it will take several years before unemployment falls to normal levels. budget committee is chaired by wisconsin republican member paul ryan who this past tuesday told cnbc he is concerned that their policies have been nation on track for higher inflation. mr. bernanke on your screen, the only one testifying today. this is live coverage on c-span2. we expected to get underway in just a moment. >> now we can see you at least. before we begin to want to welcome representative rob will from georgia to the house budget committee. with a number of caucus and congresses -- confidence coming in. mr. woodall will be officially on board this afternoon with the adoption of the house resolute and. i ask unanimous consent that representative woodall participate in this morning's board hearing. he as our new member. without objection, it shall be done. thank you, therefore, to talk about the state of our economy. the u.s. economy continued to suffer

. >> we're here at the national press club talking with paul greenberg about his new book, "four fish." can you tell us why are these four fish the future of the last wild food? >> well, when you look at what we eat from the land, we've pretty much chosen four mammals, cows, pigs, sheep and devotes. when you -- goats. we've chosen four birds, turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese. and right now we're on the vrnlg of choosing domesticated forms of fish. the choices we make, which fish we choose to domesticate and which we choose to leave wild will have huge ramifications for the future of the ocean. >> how so? >> well, if you look, for example, salmon, a very popular farm fish, salmon require as much as 3-6 pounds of wild fish to grow a single pound of salmon, so if we're going to take all these little fish, grind them up, feed them to salmon, we're going to end up depleting the ocean, and there are other fish out will that don't require those kinds of huge, you know, deductions from the ocean. tilapia, for example. it's a vegetarian fish and a very sustainable fish. you know, it's those

should we be going to places like the national press club?" your colleagues in europe hold regular post conference -- press coverage is. what is your approach to holding regular press conferences, as opposed to the piecemeal approach? >> let me say first that i think transparency is very important because we live in a democracy. the public's needs to know what we're doing and why we're doing it. our policies were better if markets anticipate and understand the actions we're taking and what is likely to cause changes. the federal reserve has come to an enormous difference. you may not be aware that, in 1994, the fed did not even announce when it changed the federal funds rate target. now, we have an after-meeting state and with the votes. it is unlikely any central bank -- it is unlike any other central bank. we release full transcript with a five-year lag. we have extensive mechanism. central transparent bank and we have made a lot of progress on that front. on press conferences -- it has been a difficult decision. on the one hand, real time tr

the former arkansas governor mike huckabee will be at the national press club to talk about his new book. that is live at noon eastern. live coverage of the palestine center event it we mentioned a moment ago. at 4: 30 p.m. eastern, will join nasa tv for the launch of the space shuttle discovery which is the last launch for the space shuttle. in about 45 minutes, we'll talk with two matters about their cities. our guests are anthony fobbs, the mayor of charlotte, n.c., .nd mick hornet we will talk with the affordable housing center to discuss foreclosures and housing market. we will focus on how states are dealing with prison costs and ex-convict rehabilitation with mike thompson from the council of state governments

mike huckabee is at the national press club promoting "a simple government: twelve things we really need from washington." a conversation about that book is just about to get started live here, on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> can everybody hear me? good. it is great to see this great crowd here. wonderful. mike huckabee is here today. it is a part of his book tour to promote his newest book, "a simple government: twelve things we really need from washington (and a trillion that we don't!) ." is an honor and pleasure to introduce a man who burst on the national stage in to those and it when he won our republican caucuses and finished third behind and john mccain and mitt romney in the nomination for president. he burst on page 6 of "the washington post." the question on many minds now is whether he will pursue the republican nomination in 2012. maybe he will tell us today. governor mike huckabee was born in 1955 in hope, ark., nine years after bill clinton was born there. his father was a firefi

. ♪ >> from the national press club of washington, d.c., this is the kalb report with marvin kalb. pplause] >> hello and welcome. welcome to the national press club and to another edition of the kalb report. i am marvin kalb and the subject tonight, all of the news fit to print behind the scenes at "the new york times." i don't know about you, but i am grateful for three things every day. one, that i get up in the morning; number two, that i live in a free country; and three, that copies of two newspapers are dropped in front of my house every day seven days a week. more reliable i found in the united states postal service. for me, the newspaper is a morning miracle. imagine stories from all over the world all over the country, science board's, medicine, economics, finance truly morning medical essentials of the functioning of an open and free society. one of my morning newspapers is the new york times. arguably the most respected newspaper in the united states, and certainly one of the best in the world. we are delighted to welcome the executive editor bill keller and washington bu

at last week at the national press club you indicated the failure to raise the debt ceiling would be quote catastrophic for our economy and financial system. i assume you have the same opinion to take? >> yes, sir. >> you also indicated at the national press club that it would be a mistake for in your view, for the congress to use the debt ceiling as a quote bargaining chip with respect to decisions on spending and tax, that we should address those as part of our normal discussion but not hold the debt ceiling hostage to that. i assume you still have that view to take? >> to be clear it's very important to address these issues, but the risks of not raising the debt ceiling is that interest would not be paid on outstanding government debt. and if the tranny defaulted it would have extraordinarily bad consequences for our financial system and it would mean that we would face higher interest rates indefinitely because creditors wouldn't trust us to make our interest payments. >> i mean, it would be reckless from an economic and financial perspective to allow, to essentially -- default o

. >> we're here at the national press club talking to swanson about his new book bloody crimes. what inspired you to pursue this angle? >> when i finished manhunt i started to realize the hunt for john wilkes booth was one-third of a great trilogy of stories of unfolded at the end of the sum or the other was the final journey of abraham lincoln and jefferson davis after they fell from power became a greater martyr and he wrote after the fall then during the height of the presidency so that interested me. these final journey is of lincoln and davis are just as important as of lewis and clark lowered to the move because it created myths about what america is. i don't think the civil war is over i thought about doing one book about bowling 10 funeral train and the davis escape but i was visiting willie lincoln's tomb and abraham lincoln would visit that spot alone often when i walked the path to realized one of the sons of jefferson davis was buried next to a path and abraham lincoln had to walk past the a grave of the sun of jefferson davis to walk to the tomb of his own dead son

. >>> we are of the national press club talking with charles ogletree about his book the presumption of guilt. can you tell me what made you decide to write about the incident with henry louis gates? >> a lot of people e-mail me, texts and faxes sitting this happened to my grandmother, my niece, my uncle, cousin, brother, and was an amazing reaction, and because it was professor dates, not jamal into was an issue because my former student and our president, barack obama, came to his defense and that created a national issue. but since i write a lot about issues of race and justice it was a natural thing to do, and i wanted people to say professor bates can get a vested in such regions like this when it gives to forms of ied in his own house and the only crime is arguing the police officer in his house what happens to those who don't have a lawyer and have power and the six blowers that case and the broad issue that profiling has happened through the nation's history. >> did you learn anything this surprise you when you were researching the book? >> the first is interesting. everyone

." >> at the national press club, a former arkansas governor and 2008 republican presidential candidate mike huckabee said that he believes a republican will be president -- will beat president obama in 2012. he said he is seriously considering a second bid for the presidency. the governor was in washington, d.c. to kickoff a tour for his new book. the next stops are in the state's scheduled to hold the first presidential caucus in 2012, iowa. this is 50 minutes. >> can everybody hear me? good. it is great to see this great crowd here. wonderful. mike huckabee is here today. it is a part of his book tour to promote his newest book, "a simple government: twelve things we really need from washington (and a trillion that we don't!)." is an honor and pleasure to introduce a man who burst on the national stage in to those and it when he won our republican caucuses and finished third behind and john mccain and mitt romney in the nomination for president. he burst on page 6 of "the washington post." the question on many minds now is whether he will pursue the republican nomination in 2012. may

former arkansas governor might cut the be will be at the national press club to talk about his new book -- mike, the be -- huckabbe will be at the national press club to talk about his new book. we look at how political unrest is affecting relations among the arab states. at 430 eastern, we will join nasa television for the launch of space shuttle discovery, the last scheduled a mission. the discovery has traveled nearly 400 million miles already. we will have live coverage throughout the weekend. >> it is washington today on c- span radio. every weekday we will take you to capitol hill and anywhere in this is happening. we will also tell what experts and journalists as he put the events. you can listen in the washington and baltimore area. he can launch a nationwide on channel 132. it is like a c-span podcast. >> president obama says the bloodshed in libya is unacceptable. he spoke for a few minutes wednesday afternoon. >> secretary clinton and i concluded a meeting that focused on the situation in libya. my national security team has been working around the clock to monitor the situat

. >> we are here at the national press club talking with jules witcover about his new book, joe biden. can you tell us what things you discovered about the vice president that weren't previously known? >> well there is a lot that is known about joe biden because he is the joe biden that you see is the joe biden who is there. he is a very open person and everybody knows. he is often accused of talking too much and is being gazprom because he talks too much but that is the man, that is the way he is. one of the things that is not known is that beyond those servers impressions of him, he is extremely intelligent man, extremely well read, and a very good politician. i think the ridicule that he has faced over his career has been very unfortunate because it doesn't really reflect the substance of the man. >> did he provide you access to do the book? did you actually have access to mr. biden directly to do the book? >> i had a three and a half hour interview with him but i also had great access to other members of his family. i interviewed 120 people here in washington and the

then the commentator at national press club made a very interesting point. he said they may not be knowledgeable, but maybe they are wise, but a third of the u.s. population is foreign-born and their children. what do you mean by immigrant? at least half of those who arrived in the last decade are unauthorized. there's a number of unauthorized migrants exceed legal migration for a good part of the last decade. how much more do we need to educate in what way? i think from my presentation what i'd like the public to understand is that there's a tradeoff between numbers and quality and setting incentive structures is a very difficult thing. possibly, and there may be a few here who agree with me, congress should be less involved in doing things but have a model like canada or australia where there's bureaucratic control with congressional oversight so you get the incentive structures correct. >> okay. [inaudible] >> james sang. we have a system that mixes h1-be, and eb. would any of the panel is want to talk about how they fit together and whether there's an op

. >> we are here at the national press club talking with christy miller about her new book, ellen and. what inspired you to write about president wilson's wife's. >> have been writing about women in politics for the last 25 years and these women were very instrumental in the success of the wilson administration, each in a completely different way. alan wilson's childhood sweetheart had gotten into the white house. she died in office. after his stroke, edith wilson stayed in the white house, said they were very powerful women in their own date. >> tell me what to two women have most common personality wise clerics >> they had very little in common except they were both devoted to woodrow wilson in which he needed and wanted. >> was there anything surprising that she found in your research for writing? >> well, he had a girlfriend, too. theodore roosevelt nibley said what is that the man with the romeo looked like a druggist apprentice? >> to be of a girlfriend with each wife were just doing one? could not just stirring one. the first wife really believed it could harm him politically s

. >> we are at the national press club on authors and booked night talking to the authors of the kennedy detail. gerald lane was a former secret service agent on mr. kennedy's detail. tell us what that was like. >> talk about what it was like to be a secret service agent. >> it was pre technology in those days. we had very few agents. we did not have radios. we operated by hand signal. we carried 3/5 photos that we were looking for. if we tied our eyes. it was an altogether different world. >> what about president kennedy's detail? >> quite a man. lisa, started with president eisenhower. and operated like clockwork. when president kennedy came along the world lit up. >> and write about the experience beyond all this time? >> there are very few of us. it was time to share our story because history today is slanted towards the agenda, hand in these 47 years, not on solid piece of evidence of the

and ben bernanke speaks at the national press club. in about 45 minutes, a look at the egyptian military with

. >> we're here at the national press club talking with maureen beasley about her new book, "eleanor roosevelt: transformative first lady." can you tell me what aspects of her life you concentrated on? >> yes. well, this book concentrates on the way eleanor roosevelt wrote the script for first ladies. now, every first lady since eleanor has either followed the script or hasn't followed the script, but at least they've had to read the script. they've had to know about it. there are lots of books on eleanor roosevelt, but what this book does is tell what she did in the white house to make the job of first lady more than just that of a hostess or somebody who was interested, perhaps, in a cause or two. she really made the first ladyship a potent part of the american presidency. >> so was the script that she wrote giving the first lady a role to play in policy? >> >> the script show what happened a first lady could do. the script showed that the first lady could make the job of the president's wife of into one in which she could promote the administration, she could show the public that

. >> we're at the national press club's book and author night talking to eugene robinson about his new book, "integration." can you tell me about the book? >> four just seemed to be the way it worked out. it's clear there was, you know, one group was the mainstream, the middle class black measuring. one group was the abandoned, non-middle class black america. and then the other groups were, you know, i did think that the existence of a small but very powerful elite was something new. and so i call that the transcend cant group. and then i needed a category to deal with, with other groups that didn't fit the other categories like immigrants, for example, from the caribbean and africa and also biracial americans. and i thought that they would kind of fit into an umbrella group i called the emergents. so that's how i got to four. >> i notice that you put new immigrants and biracial people together, and you were comfortable with that, grouping them under the same umbrella? >> well, i was mostly comfortable with that. it was not precise, and it didn't make for as clean a category as the oth

. >> we are here at the national press club talking about his new book. can you tell us what things you discovered about the vice president that were not previously known? >> well, almost everything that is known is known. joe biden was there. he is a very open person, as everybody knows. he is often accused of talking too much. .. i had a three and a half-hour interview with him but i also had great access to other members of his family. interviewed 120 people here in washington in the senate and the state of delaware and also in syracuse we went to law school and scranton where he was born when he was a young boy. one of the amazing thing about it was it was heart -- wasn't hard to find anybody to say anything negative about joe biden because he is an outgoing and personable guy and as i have found out extremely on this. when he had the one episode in his career where he was accused of plagiarism and 1988, presidential campaign, it was deep -- he was deeply wounded by that because it went to his sense of integrity. he is a person who often says when he

. >> we're here at the national press club talking to lincoln historian james swanson about his new book "bloody crimes." can you tell us what inspired you to pursue this angle? >> well, two things, when i finished "manhunt" i started to realize that the hunt for john wilkes booth was one-third of a great trilogy of the great stories and the final journeys were abraham lincoln and jefferson davis after they fell from power and became a greater martyr and a greater hero during his fall than during the height of his power and presidency and that interested me because these final journeys of abraham lincoln and davis are as important as other great american journeys the journey of the lewis and clark and the journey to the moon and i don't think the civil war is over. we still discuss issues that lincoln and davis discussed about. and i thought about doing one book about each of these stories. one book about the lincoln funeral train and the pageant and the other about the davis escape and one day i was visiting willy lincoln's tomb in oak hill cemetery in georgetown and lincoln would often

and so as president of the women's national press club i was one of the leaders of that movement, and i also was one of the targets. that is not a pleasant thing, but we did when. i was the first white house correspondent when women were admitted to the dinner, and i was at the head table. >> it was a bitter battle, and she took a lot of flak, but, you know, at all of 5 feet tall she was not going to have anything of it. you know, all of that, much more impressive to know this was a moment he made such a big difference and change and the culture in washington. >> i did not understand that i was a trailblazer. i knew that i was going places that may be no woman had before, but i thought of it as just getting the story. >> body is going to be remembered and discovered again by generations of journalists for what she did for women in journalism in this town, and that is the legacy that will last forever. >> it is a total picture that having worked these many years in journalism. it is just one i would not change for anything. [inaudible conversations] [applauding] [applauding] >> preside

. >> you also indicated at the national press club it would be a mistake for the congress to use the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip with respect to decisions on spending and tax. that we should address those as part of our normal discussion but not hold the debt ceiling hostage to that. i assume you still have that view today. >> it is very important to address these issues, but the risk of not raising the debt ceiling is interest would not be paid on outstanding government debt. if the u.s. defaulted, it would have bad consequences for our financial system and would mean we would face higher interest rates in definitely because creditors would not trust us to make our interest payments. >> it would be reckless from an economic perspective to allow -- to default on our debts and question the creditworthiness of the u.s., is that correct? >> we do not want to default on our debts. >> have you looked at some of the legislative proposals introduced in the senate and house that would try to delay those payments? have you seen secretary timothy geithner's comments? >> we have just begu

we're at the national press club talking with andrew young about the new book "walk in my shoes. can you tell me how you came up with the idea for doing this book? >> he came to interview me when i was a year and he was in second grade and we started a friendship. i was impressed with him as a second grader and he's been through dartmouth and london school of economics and now he is a banker with jpmorgan, and we are 50 years apart. so it is an intergenerational dialogue. we don't agree on anything and we say things and do things to promote each other intellectually is it makes for a lively kind of salty ideas. >> what are some of the debates that you have? >> guest: we have debates on most things. one of the biggest debate is on the economy and why that unemployment right now how we should go about solving that. civil rights, he was a big leader in the civil rights movement and said that the jobs and economics was part and parcel of the civil rights movement. we argue about should we take the agreement approach to this worthy hour keynesian approach to solving this. we also argu

from the national press club in washington, this is an hour and a half. >> policymakers, law professors and law students it promotes the vitality of our constitution and its fundamental values, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice, democracy, and the rule of law. acs has worked to draw attention to the federal judicial vacancy crisis. the senate confirmed only 62 of president barack obama's judicial nominees in the past two years. compared to 100 for george w. bush and 128 for bill clinton during the first two years of their presidencies. we have 875 federal judgeships and we now have 101 vacancies. that's an extraordinarily high number. 49 of those vacancies are described as judicial emergencies. most recently the tragic deaths of john roll brought attention to this crisis. he was at the safeway in tucson to talk with gabbie giffords about this very issue. about judicial vacancies in arizona. and his death has resulted in arizona now being added to the list of judicial emergencies. this vacancy crisis is obviously not a partisan issue. it's an issue abou

former governor from arkansas will answer reporters questions at the "national press club". >> again awaiting interior secretary ken sal lar this morning at the center for american progress. a couple other programing items we have coming up for you on the c-span networks. at 1:00 eastern c-span will be live with a discussion on political unrest in the middle east that is hosted by the palestine center. again that start as the 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. and the space shuttle discovery will make its final launch today. coverage starts at 4:30 eastern. that will be live again on c-span. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everybody. i'm john podesta. i'm the president of center for american progress. i want to thank you all for joining us. it is a true pleasure for me to welcome and to introduce a good friend of mine, secretary ken salazar and historian doug brinkley. special thanks really to both of you for being here to pa

. >> from the national press club washington, d.c., this is "the kalb report" with marvin kalb. pplause] hello and welcome. welcome to the national press club, into another edition of "the kalb report." i'm marvin kalb and our subject tonight, all the news that's fit to print, behind the scenes at the "new york times." i do know about you but i'm grateful to three things every day. one, that i get up in the morning. too, that i live in a free country. and three, that copies of two newspapers are dropped off in front of my house every day, seven days a week. more reliable, i found that the united states post office. for me the newspaper is a morning miracle. imagined stories from all over the world all over the country, science, sports, medicine, economics, finance, truly a morning miracle essential to the functioning of an open and free society. one of my morning newspapers is the "new york times." arguably the most respected newspaper in the united states, and certainly one of the best in the world. we are delighted to welcome executive editor bill keller and washington bureau c