host: president obama yesterday. as we said, he will be meeting with general mcchrystal this morning. in afghanistan, the president of the country says general mcchrystal is the best commander of the war, and says he hopes he keeps his job despite the pagazine profile. in "the new york times" this morning, they're talking about potential successors for general mcchrystal. they are thought to include general rodriguez, commander of the nato headquarters in kabul. another possibility is general demsey, who has extensive experience. another potential successor is general james mattis. some have suggested that general david petraeus could take over the afghanistan mission himself. "the new york times" in other publications talking about potential successors to general mcchrystal. in that meeting today with his national security team, president obama will have hillary clinton, joe biden, tim geithner, rahm emanuel, and the list goes on of those who will be meeting with the president about afghanistan and pakistan. we want

obama as strategist. he was at the forefront of all strategic decisions and helped crack the campaign. to my left, i have robert willington. he was a political strategist for the scott brown campaign in massachusetts. he was executive director of the massachusetts republican party where he expanded the gop. i want to thank you both for being here. let me start with a softball question. what have you all found is the key or silver bullet to engaging young voters? >> we have to listen to young voters. the candidates to understand the needs and wishes and desires of young of voters3 . young voters are paying more attention to the nuts and bolts details of these campaigns than most of the other voters. you cannot bs them. that is a critical thing. politicians?kc, especially bely politicians, tend to be full of political rhetoric that they live and breed here in washington, d.c. if they use that rhetoric and continued to espouse what the talk is here in d.c., they will perform pretty poorly against a challeng

host: obama is not god? there is a word for that -- guest: obama is not god? there is a word for that. blasphemy. he has chosen not to fix the gulf coast to teach us a lesson. host: do you think that that is what the public expects? guest: no president has ever been worshipped by his staff and supporters to the extent of this president. ttat will hurt him in. as a separate and more general matter, people expect too much from their goverrment. i do not say this as a libertarian, although i am, i am saying that as a practical+ matter and an observation of reality. there are many things the government cannot do. some thinns are just beyonddits power. beyond human power. people have a kind of childlike faith in the government to accomplish really everything. that is sweet and great but it is also was placed. host: rick, independent color. caller: i had a quick question with obama and the administration as being these seeming environmentalists. with a six month moratorium on deep water drilling, i was curious about a point that i had heard, that there was a $2 bill

caller: president obama or the admiral and giving them your ideas. and would you consider being theiaison for bp? guest: i will help in any way i can and right now i'm helping by trying to give some analysis by what i'm seeing and hearing on the ground as well a to give ideas. i'm not much about looking back and parsing blame. at this point i think people looking for solutions, and every good idea needs to be considered and enacted upon, and meet with the governors and give them what they need to protect e shoreline. but we need the military mobilized and get them to provide the command and control and the spotlight overhead systems so we can see where that oil is so we can go out and get it. but i will help in any w way i >> tomorrow, another chance to see thursday's hearing with the pc o tony hebert. he was questioned by the house subcommittee on oversight and investigations. that is at 10:45 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> in his weekly online address this week, president obama criticizes congressional republicans for blocking legislation on a variety

president obama has nominated us, the u.s. central command general, david petraeus, to replace general stanley mccrystal as the top commander in afghanistan. let's take a look at the president's remarks earlier today. then we'll talk with michael. watch. >> but war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general or a president. as difficult as it is to lose general mcchrystal, i believe that it is the right decision for our national security. the conduct represented in the re cently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. >> larry: all right, michael hastings, the obvious first question is, how did you get this? how did you get access? how did you get this whole thing done? >> when my editors and i at "rolling stone" came up with the idea to do a profile of general mcchrystal, i simply just e-mailed general mcchrystal's press staff, said we wanted to do a profile, and said if you could give us anytime to hang out with the general that would be great. i was expe

obama. >> good morning, everyone. we are joined this morning with thad allen, our national incident commander dealing with the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. he is also here for a meeting with cabinet agencies that are dealing with this crisis as well, that begins in a little less than an hour. let me turn it over to him to walk through the stages of our response. we will both take your questions. >> thanks, robert. good morning. first, a quick operational update. in the last 24 hours, the protection of the discover enterprise over the well head produced 11,000 barrels of oil. they continue to increase over -- over the last three days of operation we have gone from 6000 11,000, trying to close the venting valves and moved to a greater capacity. bp anticipates moving and other craft in the can handle production and the combination of the two combined will have a production capability of 20,000 barrels a day. we're looking to increase production, as i said, so we can slowly close the events

obama didn't seem very engaged. at the white house today, the president's spokesman was asked about the president's reaction. >> i gave him the article last night. and he was angry. >> how so? >> angry. you would know it if you saw it. >> lehrer: in response to a question about mcchrystal's future, press secretary robert gibbs said.... >> i would say all options are on the table. >> lehrer: he said the president and mcchrystal will likely meet one on one. >> general mcchrystal is a ... has ... has fought bravely on behalf of this country for a long time. but there has clearly been an enormous mistake in judgment to which he's going to have to answer. i think the magnitude and the graveness of the mistake here are profound. >> lehrer: the magazine article recounts an open disagreement the two men had last year over troop levels in afghanistan. at the time mcchrystal said without 40,000 more troops the u.s. was headed for mission failure. and then at a speech in london the general said the u.s. would not just focus on

obama entered the office under obama entered the office under really rough circumstances, an economyhat was collapsing, jobs that were going at over 700,000 per month, two wars unfunded. this bp oil spill unlike katrina there was no advanced warning. and this is unprecedented in the manner that a leak that far beneath the surface, approximately a mile, has never occurred. and bp went ahead and has drilled this, these type of wells without having any type of emergency plan or fail safe just for profit. and obama is starting to look worse er day, but he's not a fizzsist. you know, coming up with a solution for this is bp's responsibility and it's crystal clear to me they have no idea. host: and yet of course the federal government is charged with regulating them, making sure they have action plans. guest: although these permits were issued under the prior administration. so is it fair to blame obama for not reviewing permits that were issued? were issued? and tazz caller said, this has never happened before. point of correction, there were approved disaster treatment or disaster respon

i did not vote for obama. i think the people should back him so he can try to get this country straightened out. he is not the one who put us into the war. it was george bush that put us afghanistan. now he gets the blame. host: thhnk you. guest: the good thing is that his pension promises is an obligation of the federal government. the united states treasury and all taxpayers collectively, and no one has suggested that pensions be taken away from military personnel. my father is a military veteran as well. he gets a pension from the federal government. no one suggests there is a risk to this pension promises. the good news is americans are living longer. host: because we are living longer, we are draining the system. guest: that is correct. you can take that to the absurd extreme. it is a good news, bad news scenario. someone rushes in to say they found a cure for cancer. wonderful. that also means that the life spans are going to go up fairly significantly and that will have a negative economic impact on any

host: do you think candidate obama, noo-president obama, the hopes to hide? guest: there is a question whether he is responsible for the or whether or not people did it to themselves. i talked a little bit in the piece about the hope that was there in november 2008, when he won and took the stage in grant park. without analyzing it scientifically, there is some combination there of thing that turned ut to be pretty hard to deliver on. i do not think, however, that americans were fully ready to embrace liberalism. host: you also write that worth remembering are three crucial points. more americans were willing to identify themselves as liberals. votes on issues like civil rights. all of those things were known by liberals and progressives guest: they were, but the last one has proven to be a more dramatic difference then i think obama anticipated. one can call this naive, i suppose, but i think he genuinely thought he could do something to break the partisan logjam in this town and be a different kind of president and bill clinton wants. i think he was genuine

the president alleges that president obama new nothing about any of these conversations. why would the white house unless a high-profile surrogate like former president bill clinton on multiple occasions without the knowledge of president obama for month-long negotiations about a low profile on page position -- unpaid position to a congressman who could not accept the job anyway? this is only part of a long tradition. andrew romanov was charging the democratic incumbent for a nomination. he was offered one of three jobs if he would drop out of the primary. the white house first denied the allegations when they came from anonymous administration whistle-blowers, but once the actual e-mail was released by runoff -- by romanov, the story changed. the jobs were offered, but nothing inappropriate happened. after all the stonewalling, what is the latest defense? it was just business as usual. enough is enough. if from emmanuel

that is what obama is. we have our own responsibility as citizens, as people ho can affect the future, and as critical as i aa of the obama administration's policies in many areas, i am at least as critical or perhaps more so many people who know better, who have muted their voices. we have to organize. we have to do what was done in earlier years by people who pushed and pulled and demanddd and created a political atmosphere where we could get and forced the white house to move. host: do you think we should give him the time line and leeway he proposed? bush or mccain that he is president. in terms of a time llne, this could go on forever. time.s gone on for a very long%- that was the rationale during the vietnam war. we have gone over the cliff. to get more chances to compound the world felony. host: you compared the president's visit to lyndon johnson's 1966 visit to south vietnam. guest: it was chilling for me to go back in the archives and read about lyndon johnson and howl of be the soldiers were to h

here comes obama. he is cool, calm, obviously intellectual.hen you have these 24-hour news cycles constantly attacking this man from the right, from the left, from the middle, america wants things done immediately. anyone that knows anything about water pressure, the sea, oil and whenever, they realize that this thing has the potential to be with us not for just three months, but one year or more. in his speaking to us from the oval office he is talking to the adults out there in america. he is not talking to the tea parties and these crazy right wing that jobs out there attacking his birth certificate and everythinn. he is trying to reach the adults. thank god america is overwhelmed with adults. host: we will leave it there and go to wayne in north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning, greta. the caller from maryland has got it all wrong. what president obama is doing is trying to further his agenda. bp, yes, they should be responsible, but government should not seize their assets. corporate control of the country, it could bankrupt t

caller: mike, obama speech. like most people, i was pretty disappointed. -- my comment is on obama's speech. every dollar the government gets, they taking from other industries. therefore, it is an insufficient way to create anything new. the one thing he could do, which of course he is not doing, which to be some sort of cap on the amount the trial lawyers will get. if you had $100,000 loss but ppl agrees to pay, your lawyer will get 35,000 or more. the court system will get another 5000. you end up getting 60,000 out of your $100,000 loss. congress can pass a cap on disasters that says that trial lawyers cannot get more than 20 percent of the first telthousand $10,000 dollars. and that is where they could help us. host: president obama meeting with tony hayward today. he will ask bp to set up a fund immediately to help pay at claims. newspapers are reporting this morning on whether the president has the authority to make bp set this up. caller: good morning. and first of all, when obama stopped the drilling i

obama. i think that he is just dealing with the strains of government in a time of crisis. host: the financial regulations bill, there is word that the white house wants to get it done before upcoming g-20 meanings -- meetings. what is the timeline that the white house is looking at? the spokeswoman said that the president was looking forward to discussing the financial overhaul. is that at all practical? guest: democrats really want to get this done. they have got the votes and they feel that this is the one big thing, speaking of big things on the president's agenda, they can campaign on that they think will " pay off. host: you say that ththing to watch tomorrow in arkansas is if she loses that runoff there in arkansas that the derivatives to the financial regulation bill goes out. host: i -- guest: that is a real good chance, i think. yes. host: independent caller. florida, good morning. caller: technoly as far as drilling down, we would like to propose thatsomeone really rethk geotherma

but president obama's tough talk about b.p. in his televised address last night earned him plaudits from some leading democrats, including senator dick durbin of illinois. >> this president has been very firm and resolute that british petroleum, this oil company, is going to be held responsible for the damage that's been done. it will be at their expense and not at the expense of american taxpayers that we will help the businesses that are affected and do everything within our power to restore the devastation which has occur to the environment. >> woodruff: on the other hand, senate republican leader mirb mcconnell criticized the president for citing the spill in a renewed appeal for energy and climate legislation >> fact that the white house wants to use this crisis as an excuse to push more of its legislate agenda on the american people with the same kind of arguments it used to push health care is really nothing short of startling. >> woodruff: along the gulf coast, reaction to last night's address was decidedly mixed, inclu

obama at 730 that evening. hours earlier, the white house had and sells gotten wind of the article and a young press aide distributed copies to all of the top officials and mr. obama's national security circle. the press secretary walked a copy of it to the president and the private quarters. after scanning the first few paragraphs -- a sarcastic, profanity lace description of general mcchrystal's discuss that having to dine with a french minister to brief him about the war -- mr. obama had read enough, he ordered his aides to convene immediately to the oval office. the lead on this story is, by the time he woke up on wednesday morning, president obama had made up his mind. we know that decision was to replace general mcchrystal was general david petreaus. we would like to know what you think. hudgins bill, alabama. this is victor. you are on the air. victor, you are on the air. caller: thank you. host: go ahead, please. caller: good morning, susan. how were you? host: fine, thank you. caller: i am so glad that

obama.o stop taking the president's temperature. we have to stop being critics and analysts and being actors woons more. means taking the battle of ideas to the right and taking on conservatives in both parties and reminding them of the temper of this activist base. those standing in the way must understand there are no free passes. tomorrow in arkansas we'll see a primary challenge to blanch lincoln. waver whatever happens -- whatever happens. this is a challenge that progressives like you and i and others have launched. and the messages have been sent and received. woe must expand this capacity to hold legislators accountable and to recruit and support progressive champions. history doesn't repeat itself mark twain once wrote but sometimes it rhymes. and flstg -- there's one lesson that can be drawn from history. that's progressive movements must organize independently of democratic administrations to effect change. [applause] martin luther king jr. supported johnson and worked closely wit

president obama cannot do nothing. either he is not showing emotion or using the teleprompter to much. and i didn't know what he could do to satisfy c-span and the other side of the media. i wish that c-span would have been done george bush when he was marching us into iraq. if they had questioned everything that he said maybe we would not have had 4000 some odd troops killed and 1 million iraqis. i think it is sad. he is doing the best he can. this country was in a shambles before he got elected. you all should give him a break. host: i respectfully disagree. i think that this network has covered every president and given both sides a balanced amount of time to be both critical and supportive of the past administrations and current administrations. a little bit more about the bp gulf oil spill from "the new york times" this morning. "$36 million have already been paid under the oil pollution act passed in the wake of the exxon valdez disaster. more than 26,000 claims have been submitted. capping some varieties of dama

president obama fires the top s. commandener afghanistan today after general stanley mcchrystal made disparaging remarks about administration officials. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, general david petraeus, and mcchrystal's boss will replace him. we weigh the effect on u.s. strategy in afghanistan and the political consequences at home. >> ifill: then from the gulf coast, betty ann bowser reports on the new health worry s arising from the continuing oil spill. >> woodruff: we update the political drama in south carolina after two conservative republicans , one indian american the other african american, post primary wins. >> ifill: and jeffrey brown tells the story of nashville rising, after last month's record floods stunned the city, its citizens and music industry. >> it was really, really bad, and a lot of -- a lot of great musicians, famous and non-famous working every day musicians work out of here, and it was devastating. the instrument loss here. i've literally seen 1,000-plus g

two of the suspects were asked to learn about president obama's 2009 trip to russia. trying to outline their views and most important mr. obama's goals but the f.b.i. was watching and listening. this weekend undercover f.b.i. agents posing as russian operatives met with two of the defendants in new york and washington. today the son of one of the arrested couples called the charges against his parents preposterous. word of the arrest came just days after russian president medvedev and president obama met in washington and shared a cheese burger and pledged to reset relations between the two countries. at the state department today officials said that effort would continue despite the spy case. >> they're moving towards a more trusting relationship. we're beyond the cold war. i think our relations absolutely demonstrate that. but as i say, i don't think anyone was hugely shocked to know that some vestages of old attempts to use intelligence are still there. >> brown: russian prime minister vladimir putin brought up the arrest today in a meeting with former president bi

and under president obama we've already recovered $5 trillion of that household wealth. and when people have their wealth restored, when they have resources again, they start spending money. that's why those retail sale numbers are going up. because when you have your wealth restored you gain more confidence in your ability to make some spending decisions that you might not have made and ultimately these -- we are going in the right direction. i mean, every chart that we put up -- i have to laugh at some of our friends on the other side of the aisle who -- i mean, just -- you know, the expression, your glass is half full, your glass is half empty and that's sort of the determining factor of whether someone is an optimist or pessimist. i don't even think it's half. i think befor slip it to you, mr. nk some exciting and interesti polnumbers came outhis week cause hours d't want peop to have it ke it from us. m a democrat. i'm pportive of my party's agenda, our lead agenda and ming the country in aew rectn, so ry to talk about thirdarty validators o the huse fl poll was rel

obama is just the tenor of two deals. it is the same policy. he may enunciated better but it is the same thing. they are ready here. we do not have to fight them over there. the times square bomber, he was an account. >> larry: something else big will happen. are you saying you cannot be terrorism? >> they are here and are incited to violence. >> larry: how do you feet terrorism? >> you do not defeated. it is not a war, robbery does not and, you contain it and fight it as best it can. >> larry: no victory day. >> went to listen to what the terrorists who have tried to attack us say, they are mad that we are in afghanistan, that we are in iraq. it is american foreign policy. to make an analogy to the oil which is the only thing i can think of these days, the terrorist genie is out of the bottle. the oil is gushing and now the problem is how we stop it from getting to the shore. hataway stop the terrace from launching their attacks because they are trying to. luckily they are idiots. >> larry: luckily. they cannot all be its. we will talk about t

obama came out for that, okay? okay, both parties don't fight gun control, don't fight for gun control. could i name a number of issues. and afghanistan, both parties believe that terrorism has a solution from our military. we don't have a party that stands up for the other point of view. >> larry: which is? >> i think at this point they would be saying to themselves, are we creating more terrorists than we are killing, than we just had the times square bomber -- what's his name? i call him fashizzle. the guy who locked himself out of his car bomb. i mean, al qaeda is not exactly playing the a-team here. remember the christmas day bomber, couldn't blow up his pants. this guy couldn't make gasoline explode. you know, let's spend, you know, a trillion dollars and two-thirds of our military fighting these people. i don't understand that view of it. i think john kerry said it well in the 2004 election when he ran on this idea that terrorism is best fought with law enforcement, with the spy agencies. that's how you figh

and i think the fact that you see these kind of pictures this morning of obama in the morning of obama in the pictures is a good thing. and when you see him tomorrow with the president of china and india and brazil i think are friends even though brazil beat out the u.s. for the side of the olympics, i think that this kind of personal friendship and personal interaction and sense of confidence and trust that is built up in these summits is actually a real plus for the united states. and i think what obama and the secretary are both trying to convey to leaders is we are not keen on being the super power in the world. but we are still interested in maintaining american involve dwrmt and -- involvement and leadership as an effort goes forward in working out a sense of direction for the world in terms of the global economy, in terms of global energy problems, in terms of global climate change, in terms of global poverty and development, in terms of global health, in terms of the oceans and all the other global problems that we have that we certainly cannot deal with by ourselves. so thank

the russia broke out about the obama socialist machine -- as they rushed a book out about the obama socialistachine. if obama succeeds, america will cease to be a free enterprise nation. this nonsense and hysteria is needed by the right to distract from the bankruptcy of their own ideas. bp in the gulf, the big banks on wall street, we have seen the terrible toll can -- tolls of conservative. in the case of the mineral management services, literally in bed with the companies they were supposed to police. conservatives had their way and they got it wrong. americans are paying the price. the "drill, baby, drill" crown was to continue with the same policies. there is no chance of that. we've will have to fight. -- we will have to fight. they can succeed only if we step aside. the question is not what they do but what we do. we need to revive an independent movement, the energy and activism that forged the reform. this means we need to stop waiting for obama. we need to stop taking the president park's a temperature. we need to stop being critics did analysts and start being an actress once more.

president obama began a two-day trip to the gulf, his fourth since the oil leak began nearly eight weeks ago. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the newshour tonight, b.p. unveiled a new plan to capture more oil from its blown-out well. we look at the federal government's authority to compel the company to pay damages. >> woodruff: plus, we get some perspective on what the president can and should do about the disaster from michael beschloss, kathleen hall jamieson, and jonathon capehart. >> suarez: then two stories about minerals. margaret warner looks at the discovery of huge untapped deposits in afghanistan. >> woodruff: and kira kay reports on the hunt for the rare earth metals that are key to green technologies. >> the first step in the supply chain for the green world is the mine. people who have knee-jerk reaction, mining is evil, mining is bad, mining is is dirty, then forget green. your world will be black. >> suarez: and jeffrey brown takes us to a one-man show about the life and legacy of supreme court justice thurgood marshall. >> there was a time in this country in, you know,

that's what obama's asking for. unfortunately, as you say, a number of the european countries are plunging into the same mistake that hoover and the united states economy did during the great depression. they are confronted with this resession. rev knews are falling for the for the government so deficits are naturally rising. their answer is to step back, cut back on government spendture which means businesses have fewer customers, more people will be unemployed. and the cycle will continue. host: in the latest edition of the national journal it says jitters over the austerity plan. announcing their plans to account their bunl etc and quote the economist who says german austerity will worsen the crisis in the euro area. >> well, he has had this view that government needs to come in and fill this hole that ross had described. and that's, you know, that's an important question to discuss, and with respect to the germans. well, dr. crugman and the obama administration taking a look at europe. it seems they haven't been

for this, the obama administration gets the main blame. from the beginning it has insisted on excessive leeway to implement new sanctions. it doesn't want to be forced into dramatic actton. so, yes, we do provide the tools with this bill, they're in there. but there's little guarantee that those tools will be used. for example, the house bill aimed to target iran's energy sector. yet with this conference report, a foreign oil company could avoid even the investigation required to sanction it for at least one year. the many companies from china and elsewhere rapidly building iran's energy facilities today will be surely exempted from these sanctions. this reports aggressive financial sanctions that likely aim at iran's revolutionary guard corps. while while important, they too can be waived. the so called mandatory financial sanctions aren't even mandatory. this report does require a barrage of reports, certifications and other executive branch paper, meanwhile in the real world, iran marches on. i.d. be less critical -- i'd be less critica

tomorrow night, president obama will address the nation from the oval office. he will talk about steps the government is taking to deal with the gulf oil spill after his trip toothe region. we will have live coverage of that 8:00 p.m. speech and of our website and also on cspan radio. thursday, britain-based bp ceo tony heyward is scheduled to testify about the handling by bp of the oil spill. >> the second one is to continue to press the frontiers of the industry to give access to new supplies to the world. that is drilling wells to 10 kilometers in the gulf of mexico. it is beginning to export under the ice in the arctic. >> bp c o tony heyward on the oil spill. c what other government officials have said about the oil spill with more than 100 hearings, and briefings and other programs archived at the cspan video library. it is washington your way. this past thursday, a cspan -pcrew got a tour of an incident command post in louisiana. it oversees all the gulf oil spill response efforts. for the next 35 minutes, we will hear from top-ranking coast guard and bp

obama himself that dmitri, we can have a great relationship. we don't want to go back to the cold war. by the way i'm no pushover. you're doing things illegally in my country. he's basically putting moscow on notice that they can't continue this type of activity. i'm quite surprised by it because i know that i've heard anecdotal incidences of f.b.i. trying to push into the white house, trying to get this thing brought to the attention of the president and trying to get some type of level of action to stop this level of activity that has surpassed cold war levels. >> brown: surpassed. >> surpassed. russian spying activity in the united states is now greater than it was during the cold war. >> brown: mark, if a lot of this was known, are there any signs in this particular case that the effort had any successes or impact? >> well, they do say that they managed to get in touch with this fund-raiser. again how much they managed to produce out of him, whether they got him to do anything for them, it's not clear to me at this point. they did apparentl

barack obama was going to take office.was going to change the world and we would just go home and sit on the couch% [laughter] he was going to be in charge of changing our financial system, the feeding special interests in washington, ending on necessary wars, congratulations, it has worked out great. [laughter] i am just kidding because we realize that surprising as it is to hear about, electing barack obama which many of you thought worked -- was hard to do, amazing though it was and continues to become a was the easy part. the hard work remains to be done. if we have learned one thing of the last year-and-a-half, we have learned that democracy is not a spectator sport. the other think we have learned is that bipartisanship is not the way to fundamental change. [applause] so far, bipartisanship has brought us a long string of catastrophe. it has brought us the freedom from the burden of an affordable public option which is fantastic, isn't it? it has also brought us an ongoing war in afghanistan which is depleting our tr

the obama administration understands that, i think. the question of how you did for those kinds of states, how you deter -- how you deter as tens of states, at proliferation, and you still have to have eight nuclear option. -- a nuclear option. and you have to find ways of deterring non-state actors that are part of prolifeeation to terrorist groups. zarate, thank you for being on "washington journal." journal." we will turn into u.s.-mexico relations. we will be right back. >> c-span is now available in over 100 million homes, bringing you a direct link to public affairs, politics, history, and nonfiction books, all as a public service created by america's cable companies. >> this is a change in personnel, but not change in policy. general petraeus fully participated in our review last fall, and he both supported and helped design the strategy the we have in place. >> learned more about the president's choice to head u.s. forces in afghanistan could general david petraeus has been on c-span more than 40 times. watch appearances at hea

obama to reopen drilling. new rules on shallow water exploration. obama administration, facing rising in anger over the drilling moratorium -- that is "the wall street journal" story. as for the leak itself and the cleanup, here is what the president had to say yesterday at the white house. the the here's what we know. even if -- >> here is what we know, even if we are successful in containing some or much of this oil we will not get the problem completely resolved until we have the relief well completed, and that will take a couple more months. we also know there is already a lot of oil that has been released and there will be more oil released no matter how successful the containment effort is. that is why it is so important for us to continue to put every effort that we have -- booms, skimmers, vessels, hiring local folks and local fishermen's, equipping them with the skimmers, getting every asset that we have out there to make sure we minimize the amount of oil that is actually coming to shore. host: with that there is this story, off-lead in "t

anything to get the blame on to obama. i am sure we would not have a $20 billion trust fund if obama was not in office. if bush was, it would try to be covered up and under the carpet. host: here is another tweet. if was referring to the congressional hearings. our next call comes from the gulf coast. mobile, alabama, debbie on the republican line. please go ahead. caller: i would love for everyone to quit talking about the money, who is going to get the money. we need to get that leak stopped. i spent my vacation over there last week and we enjoyed it. i know everyone is blaming bp, and it is their problem, but there is this just like the rest of them. -- they are a business just like the rest of them. host: debbie, what did you think about representative joe barton's comments? caller: which one are you talking about? host: where he said -- he called it a $20 billion shake down and then later apologized to bp. caller: i'm not sure our would take that. -- how i would take that. i do not know why he would say that and then

>> the obama administration has a huge problem on its hands.has to be tougher, much more clear and downright punitive with bp to win public support. it is okay, not okay. it will be acceptable from vote tires support democrats if democrats appear to be having an articulate clear plan for fixing the problem. if they appear to be in the back pockets of corporations don't impose regulation or have a clear sign in terms of how they will develop technology to fix the problem. democrats will have a major loss. no matter how much this is an issue of republicans, democrats, public/private, the obama administration is the only group of people on the line in november. >> they would lose louisiana, mississippi, alabama anyway. do you think it really affects a lot of votes in new york or oregon? >> i think when you look at hearings like today and see the type of public performance and posturing from representatives around the nation even people who aren't affected voters care about the issues. voters want to know where their representatives stand on this.

i present to you the honorable barack obama, president.. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you, everybody. please be seated. hello, giants. it is good -- it is good to be here and congratulate you, the class of 2010. [applause] i am honored to be part of this special occasion, and i love you back. [laughter] [applause] let me acknowledge your salutatory efforts. -- your salutatory governor, jennifer granholm. superintendent wright, thank you for your inspiring words. your mayor, who i understand is a proud kalamazoo graduate himself. thanks to principal washington for that, not just a warm introduction, but his enthusiasm and his energy and his leadership and his nai singing voice. -- nice singing voice. [laughter] thank you to all the trustees and alumni and parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, everyone who has been a part of this extraordinary place. and i want to recognize our students speakers, cindy, who embodies the best of our traditions in this country. our ride four years ago and graduates as the valedictorian. t

under president obama, the u.s.has killed or captured hundreds of terrorist leaders, including much of the top leadership of al qaeda and the taliban. disrupting their ability to plot an attack on our country. the attempted christmas day bombing and the attempted bombing of times where reminded us all that our enemy is still intend to do as grave harm. those plots were foiled not by chance but by the vigilance of law enforcement and intelligence, first responders, and importantly, ordinary citizens. but even a foiled plot is a lesson in our own abilities and the ways in which terrorists attempt to exploit them. that is what president obama demanded that our intelligence community closely study and applied the lessons of those plots. president obama also demonstrated that he learned the lessons the bush administration's conduct in afghanistan, where frankly, years of neglect allowed for the taliban's resurgence. president obama listened closely to opposing views on the way forward in afghanistan. for the first time i

they say we will cut back from what obama has proposed. democrats are trying to make sure -- telling voters that we have heard you. they are emphasizing the fiscal comm upon under way to recommendations after%- elections. probably on taxes and spending.t so the nation can get control of its debt. there are many doubts about whether that will get the votes from the commission and congress. host: here are the phone numbers. we are talking about congressional politics. let's go to hawaii and william. caller: good morning. ii is 2:00 a.m. here in hawaii. aloha. guest: i will be there on vacation in two weeks. caller: i live under the volcano. [laughter] guest: i will not be there. calller: in this budget debate i have never heard a word yet aboout the cost of the military budget. we have noww177 permanent bases in 84 countries world, including brand new, permanent baases the country of colombia. if they're going to deal with the overruns of the budget, when are theyygoing to deal with this bloated, wasteful, black hole is the military budget?%

. >> present obama is going to give a speech about the bp oil spill. what would you expect the federal government to do about the situation? >> i'm giving you my opinion. there really is nothing that they can do. i have been here now for a few days. bhatt a boat down here to put it to work. bp is doing everything for these people -- they have got a better than they have added a long time. it should not be put in that kind of a light. i don't know what else the government could do. they have got all these people working, they got hundreds of boats down here, how many thousands of people. i have watched this go on in person for the last couple of days. boats are taking off every mooth -- every morning. i don't know what else could be done except bringing the national guard in if they thought we needed to do that. i just don't think there's anything that can be done by them that is not already being done, personally. i don't -- they stayed sitting on the sidelines, but it's something he don't know nothing about. nobodyyin the white house does except maybe

obama had a clue. the silliness of her answer -- we were going to give money to the red cross for the gulf. we put our checkbook back in the door. that turns me off. my question to the young man sitting there, is this now going to be a wake-up call to the self to started diversifying the industry? guest:+ one of the things that has been a very complicated nature of the gulf spill is the idea of the offshore moratorium law while the administration conducts a detailed safety review to determine what has happened and prevent it from happening. while the gulf coast states depend a lot on fishing and tourism and things like that, oil and gas drilling is a big part of their system. in the energy legislation that is coming up, dealing with the safety issues said that things -- that production can be up again is going to be a very big issue. it is not a partisan issue. you have democrats and republicans from the gulf states who would like to see as much drilling return to normal as quickly as possible. host: n

this is not a bush policy or an obama policy. it has been a consistent policy that we do not talk to terrorist groups or organizations. when i was in iraq we talked to anyone who would ttlk to us and we did not worry about labels. the influence we were ae to bring was a big help in winding down the insgency. i would like to see us be more creative n just in iraq but in lebanon and elsewhere in the rld. host: so you're ok with talking with the taliban. guest: i am ok with it. it does not mean confering recognition or anything else anymore than it meant talkkng with insurgent elements in barairaq. host: there is a story about rhee integrating some former detainees as the hdline risky experience that they consider redeemae. do you think it is a good idea? guest: we have to be adaptable in these battles situations. again, the individuals who are coordinating the effort in afghanissan, general mcchrystal, has been at this a long, long time with greatuccess i afghanistan and iraq. general petraeus has been with me f a year and a half i

president obama has called a disaster. every elected official is blowing each other outf the way to call it a disaster. even the ceo of bp, and he can take his foot out of his mouth is calling it a disaster. but there's another word i want to talk about -- is the word spill. i have been rankled by that word because that's with a 3-year-old does with his milk. a spill is what haens when a cargo truck hits an icy patch and rolls over. this was not a spill. this was a calculated gamble that bp took with the help of our government for the last several decades. [applause] it was a calculated gamble the american people lost. it was no accident. this was a betrayaof our democracy made possible by decades of a relentless lobbying, a revolving door between case street and our government, and a willingness -- between k street and our government and at bp and other corporations like it to y fines for admitted legal violations. in the case of bp, both environmental and safety laws. do you know why they're willing to pay this finds? be

. >> woodruff: then, an update on the situation in the gulf of mexico as president obama made his third visit to the region. plus, spencer michels looks at how the oil spill is affecting louisiana's lucrative drilling industry. >> there are thousands of oil production platforms like this in the gulf of mexico. now, there is fear that there won't be any more drilling, and that will affect the economy of the region. >> brown: we get the weekly analysis of mark shields and david brooks. >> woodruff: and paul solman talks to harvard economist ben friedman about the college graduates who still flock to wall street, three years into the financial crisis. >> it's all the more troubling when i think that, after they leave us, so many of them go into activities that are not economically productive for the country, for society, even just narrowly, for the economy. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation f