at first, the obama administration was very timid. it took a full ten days before the administration came out and actually condemned the violence and the human rights abuses, and those condemnations and those references to the human rights situation in iran were very few and far in between. the iranian opposition in the sense of the green movement, i had the opportunity to interview several folks from the inner circumstance of, they were at mist pleased to see the u.s. did not take a strong position, and certainly not in favor of the greens. that is not what they wanted. but as time passed and they felt that obama was being too quiet on the human rights front, a lot of fears started to emerge thinking that perhaps obama is so keen on getting a nuclear deal that he would actually be willing to sacrifice the rights and the democratic aspirations of the iranian people in the process. it never really got to that point though because of all of these difficulties. there was also an argument in the u.s. government that perhaps precisely becau

obama. administration sees fit you just might get a response. now there's a lot of focus these days on the ever increasing amounts that are spent on political campaigns the millions that are poured into television ads by candidates or super super pacs and while t.v. ads reach anyone in the area they might be sitting at home watching on their couch there is an entire world of micro targeting specific voters campaigns are going to send out e-mail blasts and while your husband your wife your sister brother whoever be each get an e-mail you might be asking for your money in different ways i got an e-mail from the obama administration pointing out the g.o.p. is war on women's health targeting planned parenthood and the like but how do you know that i care about topics like that television program where my opinions on a daily basis aside the email address that would give it away so let's talk about this fairly new and increasingly integrated world of voter targeting both democrats and republicans are trying to use to their advantage before the two tho

of all filed lawsuits about new or exorbitant fees of the obama administration likes to point out any transparency successes that they might have so of course there's the release of white house visitor records but he classification of the bush era torture memos but remember just a month after the bush era memos were released the obama administration shocked everybody by refusing to release photos of the abuse of detainees at the hands of u.s. soldiers and when a solid lot of was killed they refused to release those photos as well both times public safety was cited as the reason so it seems like the obama administration might have a different idea of what transparency actually means than the rest of us and actually this exchange between justice department lawyer anthony yang and justice antonin scalia seems to demonstrate that you don't support transparency at all when it comes to foreign requests. let me give you one. exception. we do not embrace crucible. so the obama administration doesn't believe that exceptions for four years should be narrowly construed maybe that explains would

the obama administration new it is difficult before the election. already it took several months with the policy review then should the u.s. and gauge before the election or after? at the end the winning argument u.s. did not want to do anything to affect the elections especially seeing cannot win the election and why is verbal especially a the proximity in washington. but what is critical the obama administration said by june 13, there would be political clarity. some would have one and they could quickly get on with diplomatic initiatives. they did not expect the of their clarity. they had the election the people viewed as fraudulent, a human-rights abuses, those that the unprecedented level. iran had become paralyzed much critical time was about to be lost again. this was critical because not only the civil-rights abuses you could see on the tv screen but critical because it has a dilemma. how does it deal with it? it took a full 10 days before the administration condemned human rights abuses. those references were few and far in between. i had t

the obama administration. well, we're going to give you a real break down here, the good, the bad of the obama administration, should web celebrating it. >> plus, there's this clown. what a ridiculous how many being. that one is easier, all bad. we'll explain. and then, doubling down on their attack. >> their offering the vote on the girl scout cookie model of selling. you buy them not because of the cookies, but to help the girl scouts. >> more ridiculous from fox news on that. they'll fight back against us. we've got the guy who made the movie who killed the electric car. we're going to fight back! it's go time. >> so we've heard a lot from the republicans throughout all these primary months. now, the obama administration wants to present their side of the story. they've decided they're going to do a new documentary and they've released the trailer for it. it is put together by the guy who did the truth documentary for al gore, which was an excellent movie, i hear. no, we loved it. so tom hanks is the voice-

the obama administration is the first administration to use congressionally mandated sanctions on iran in a robust way. and you deserve considerable praise for that. i know that the president and you and numerous officials at state, treasury, defense have put in literally thousands of hours trying to persuade foreign officials and foreign businessmen to respect our sanctions and to help isolate iran. in that regard, i think it would be helpful to put to rest concerns of some observers that the administration has resigned to iran's becoming a nuclear tl threshold state. three months ago the israeli deputy minister issued a joint statement that spoke of preventing iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability, end of quote. and a pentagon publication last month also said that u.s. seeks to "prevent iran's development of a nuclear weapons capability." so when senator graham yesterday asked whether the administration seeks to deny iran the ability to become a nuclear threshold state, you responded by saying that it is the position of the administration to prevent them, meaning the iran

the obama administration is the first administration to use congre congressionally mandated, and you deserve considerable praise for that. i know that the and you and numerous officials president at state, at treasury have put in thousands of hours trying to persuade foreign officials and foreign businessmen to respect our sanctions and to isolate iran. all for the purpose of implementing a policy intended to lead iran to abandon their weapons program. i think it would be helpful to put to rest concerns administration is resigned to iran becoming a nuclear threshold state. i think it's very important to reassure us on that point. based on my understanding of the administration's policy, i think you should be able to do that. three months ago, on december 1, secretary of state burns and israeli deputy foreign minister issued a statement and i quote preventing iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. and a pentagon publication last month says that iran seeks to, quote, prevent iran's if you can leer weapons capability, closed quote. so when senator graham yesterday asked wheth

given what we've seen during the last few years during the obama administration and what's occurring in cuba in terms of the wave of repression against human rights activists and dissidents. given the deaths of several hunger strikers, given the recent persecution against the ladies in white, peaceful activists in cuba that have been calling for democratic reform, given the stern rebuff that former secretary richardson received in cuba to his recent overtures or negotiations, can you tell us just in the last few years of the obama administration that the helms burton law has been suspended, how has that expedited a transition to democracy in cuba. >> congressman, we take a backseat of no one in our condemnation of the denial of human rights that is a continuing feature of the castro regime. the particular instances that you mentioned are ones of great concern to us. we do think increasing people to people contact, supporting civil society in cuba, enhancing the free flow of information, promoting the capacity for more independence economically and politically from the cuban authoriti

it was the obama administration-- reference the obama administration and our children and i'm prettyn't say it exactly-- >> tell me what you think. >> here is the issue, i mean, pornography, obscenity, i did a lot of research today. there are a lot of laws, there's codes and chapters and what not, but the problem is we can't get to a definition of what obscenity is. and you're not supposed to engage in the business of transferring obscene matter. not supposed to obscene mail. >> appealing to a purient interest according to the supreme court and that's what they have discussed in cases-- >> and noi it when i see it. let me give you a quote exactly. quote, seems the obama administration is-- seems to favor pornographers over children and families. that's outrageous, disgraceful and disgusting and the good news rick santorum has singlehandedly introduced family values, and over that and we'll-- >> and rick santorum then has ended up doing poorly in the races and polls after this. i do think in a lot of ways, americans are probably looking at the-- at each other and watching this and say

take a listen. >> this was a train wreck for the obama administration.t's going to be struck down. i'm telling you, all of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong. >> a train wreck. why does he say that? we're going to ask him. we're going to took to toobin outside the supreme court live in a couple of minutes. also, we're watching these fires raging through colorado just west of the denver. and cnn now learned a second person has died from the flames. in fact, it is so bad, see the smoke, look at this, it's so bad that 450 firefighters are now helping with this rescue effort. the fire has not been contained. and in less than one hour, the parents of florida teen trayvon martin will be in washington to attend a round table on racial profiling. also some members of congress, the been spe they have been speaking out about the case on the house floor. but the story, as you know, is ever changing. george zimmerman's friend and former cnn anchor, his name is joe oliver, he paints a very different pict

the policy called into one senior obama administration official had become a gamble on a single rule of the gun. he either had to work right away or not to go for a bomb or needed a quick result because he had only one year in his own mind to prove his critics in washington the plan was seeking to yield something by the time he got to the table was already october ten months of his presidency has passed and he needed a quick victory he didn't get it and as a result four weeks later the obama administration essentially abandoned diplomacy and entered the sanction track so you're saying he caved to external pressures that someone very important factor of course there's other people inside the obama white house who were probably very loyal to the president but i don't think it is fair to wonder how committed they were to his vision of diplomacy since there's no track record of them prior to that having supported but and he hired some some of those individuals and put him in a very high places and i think when push comes to shove it becomes important what the viewpoints of these advisers

actually passed on this case pretty much tell you why and the obama administration pledged to be the most transparent ever for politicos josh gerstein going forth. the same. people calling what you said for free and fair elections. and we're still reporting from the summer as you can hear behind me loud explosions. gave. a. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lack of sleep you think you understand it and then a glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture . last november we first told you about twenty seven year old jose pimentel a dominican native who was arrested by the n.y.p.d. on charges of criminal possession of a weapon and a first degree felony three media who loves a good terrorism block on wrong story jumped all over it as soon as the newsroom the man accused of making pipe bombs in his new york city apartment is in custody this morning on several terrorism related charges authorities in new york believe they stopped an alleged terrorist

this is all part of what the obama administration is trying to do.ate the freedom of americans. the president even called ms. fluke before a tv appearance. >> you were in our green room getting ready to come on and the white house tells us we can reveal that you just got off the phone with president obama. >> yes, i did. >> the stakes have been raised pretty high but what did he say to you? >>, you know, he encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of american women. >> bill: but what about the concerns of americans in general? now, forced to buy health insurance who don't want to pay extra for sandra fluke's social decisions. ms. fluke is unconcerned. >> i think this is about women's health. that's what it's always been about for me and that's what it's about for the many many americans who are emailing me constantly telling me how important it is. >> bill: no matter what i say sandra fluke and those who spater her are not going to listen. sex is a potential health crisis. what goes on in everybody's bedroom.

it's a hard business and one of the challenges for the obama administration is for those regimes that have not had revolutions, the monarchies which as elliott spoke out, have legitimacy and are trying in their own way to reform. one of the challenges for the obama administration is to help those regimes actually do a democratic transition before there is a revolution not after. but i offer the vignette about mubarak, it's very hard. and final post script, in the last meeting that president bush had with king abdullah of saudi, and where he talked again, once again about reform and applauded king abdullah's reform, on the way out to the van when abdullah left, he said mr. president i understand what you're saying but i'm afraid. i'm afraid. man in his 80s, maybe 90s, trying to reform but such a long way to go. so it's very hard but one of the things i think the obama administration has an opportunity to do is to try to get these regimes that have some legitimacy to lead their people to a democratic future without having to go through the disruption of revolutionary change. >> can i --

. >> the obama administration is defending the provision and says the mandate is essential. fighting back against the 26 states against the lawsuit, the white house is promising the law will be upheld. >> by the end of this decade, we will be glad the republicans challenged obamacare. >> both sides are aware of the election-year effect this supreme court decision could have. >>no cameras are allowed inside the courtroom. audio recordings will be made available each day after 2:00. arguments are set to begin first thing tomorrow morning and her expected to go until wednesday. no decision is expected until later in the summer. >> to talk more about this ongoing health-care debate, abbie phillips joins us. this is an historic moment. this case is unprecedented in so many ways. >> this is an historic health care law. you will hear that a lot from the obama administration. many of the challenges are unprecedented. they're going to the supreme court whether to ask if it is constitutional for the federal government to do things that this law mandates. the supreme court recognizing

politicians all the world through the revolving door but it becomes an issue when it threatens the obama administration's basic credibility especially during election season as you know the president repeatedly boasted during the last campaign that his administration would limit its sense of k.-street just take a look at candidate obama's campaign rhetoric in two thousand and eight. they would like but my point is they were. the american people. indeed when president obama first took on. office he issued an executive order that sorts of business to buttress limits on to lobbyist influence and order known as the pledge but double the time that former executive officials are allowed to lobby their old colleagues for one year or two and of her bids former obama administration officials from lobbying their former agencies for the entirety of his administration and its roll call pointed out the rules don't really do much to stop former administration officials from lobbying congress well the pledge is impressive public interest advocates has been derided and completely knocked the insiders one lobbyist when a

every day it's sunshine week so politicos josh gerstein is going to join us to break down the obama administration's distal record on transparency and the internet has proven to be a tool that can be used for good and for evil so we're going to speak to an author that looks at the power dynamics between governments corporations and the public to figure out how we can keep the internet free so we have all that work tonight including a dose of happy hour but first take a look at the mainstream media has decided to me it's. no surprise here the day after more primaries and the mainstream media is just but sad itself but how much there is to discuss about the results. rick santorum it's a double win in the deep south he wins the alabama and mississippi primaries a true for tuesday sweep deep in the american south a rick santorum celebrating twin victories of the super you know the bama so why did santorum come out and talk he over perform he did really well with conservative voters and there are a lot of them and in mississippi alabama white evangelical voters very christian voters flocking to him inste

actually passed on this case for going to tell you why and the obama administration pledged to be the most transparent ever hard athletico josh gerstein going for them . the official g.o.p. cation giuliani for one called touch from the. video. on she's smiling old come. on omissions for you now in the palm of your. question on the call. last november we first told you about twenty seven year old jose pimentel a dominican native who was arrested by the n.y.p.d. on charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree and the mainstream media who loves a good terrorism gone wrong story jumped all over it as soon as it hit the news room the man accused of making pipe bombs in his new york city apartment is in custody this morning on several terrorism related charges authorities in new york believe based off an alleged terrorist before perhaps hours before he could execute his plans twenty seven year old jose pimentel allegedly wanted to bomb the police and u.s. troops returning from the war we want to show you a video of the resulting damage you can see him until he had been abl

how bad have the three days of hearing been for the obama administration and healthcare reform? >> what do we want? >> healthcare! >> reporter: cnn legal analyst jeffrey tubin says it has been a train wreck. >> the individual mandate looks doomed to me and the whole law is in some trouble. >> reporter: and the lead lawyer for healthcare's opponents seems in a jovial mood. >> i feel pretty good that it's over. that's for sure. i'm glad i don't have to do this tomorrow morning. >> reporter: not that paul clement did not take any tough questions. even conservative justice antonin scalia asked him if the whole law had to fall if some part of it fell. >> you're telling us that the whole statute would fall because the cornhusker kickback is bad. that can't be right. >> reporter: but, of course, the debate is not about a cornhusker break for nebraska residents designed to win the vote of their skeptical senator. it is about the requirement that nearly every american prove she has health insurance or face a penalty and on that scalia took a very different position. >> my approach would

he claims the obama administration is limbing the freedom guaranteed to citizens by the u.s. constitution. >> we can't give it away because we go to the heart of whether -- >> reporter: last month president obama announced a federal policy that requires employer health insurance plans to offer free coverage of contraceptive services for women. >> when it comes to women preventive care should include coverage of contraceptive services such as birth control. that free preventive karin clouds access to free contraceptive care. >> reporter: if and when the administration's policy comes into effect in august 2013, all women will have access to contraceptive services free of charge. clinics specializing in women's health such as planned parenthood welcome his move. they say it will benefit all women and especially those who couldn't otherwise afford to pay. >> we think that's a major step forward for women. president obama and his administration has been very, very supportive of women's health care and access to affordable health care services. >> reporter: the announcement drew an

so we probably have just recently seen the obama administration suspend the helms-burton law as it has been done twice a year every year since 1996. the reason for suspension of the law is two fold. it serves u.s. interest and it speeds up a democracy in cuba. given what we have seen over the last few years at what that has been occurring in cuba, given the deaths of several hunger striker s, given the recent persecution against the ladies in white, peaceful activists in cuba that have been calling for democratic reform, given the stern rebuff that former secretary richardson received in cuba to his recent overtures or negotiations, can you at the us just in the last few years of the obama administration that the law has been suspended, how has that sped up a transition to democracy in cuba? >> we take a back seat to known in our condemning the denial of human rights that is a continuing feature of the castro regime and the particular instances that you mentioned are ones of great concern to us. we do think that increasing people to people contact, supporting civil is society in cuba a

then later on during obama administration statements issued but never secretary of state going to the podium and doing so in person. i think that was deliberate because the administration is in a phase in which it wants to deescalate, wanted to ratchet things up to get maximum leverage for a negotiation but it did not want things to spill over into an open conflict. there again the tactical differences between israel and united states are playing quite a decisive role in this. one last point on this, to give you an impression of how tense these tabt cal differences have become. two weeks ago nbc reports three american u.s. administration officials confirmed or gave their assessment israel is behind assassinations and doing so in collaboration with iranian terrorist organization on the u.s. terrorist list. this was quite explosive. it's pointing a finger at an ally. then you have trips by dempsey back and forth and saw comments yesterday from israel saying this open conversation about these differences is ultimately serving the interest of iranian government. now, what are solutions to

it will certainly be a very important day for the obama administration and their desire to keep this entire law intact. as we found out yesterday, this could all come down to one justice's decision. in the high court yesterday, all eyes were on justice anthony kennedy, who is seen as holding the key vote. justice kennedy seemed skeptical of the obama administration oppose the case. >> are locked in the law of torts has been if you don'tyou don't have the duty to arrest someone did that person is in danger. >> strong protests carried on outside. if the supreme court upholds the man dopemandate, this paves the way for the government to be a will tell you to do everything. >> i am a woman with a pre- existing condition, so this means a lot to me personally. >> lawyers for the obama administration argued that the mandate is the only way to finance something everyone needs at some point in their life. but attorneys for the 26 states that filed the suit argued congress cannot force anyone to buy something. this will be the last day that the justices hear arguments by miticide. they are exp

♪ n a war with the obama administration.ccuse the koch brothers of jacking up prices at the pump. and on friday the koch brothers sent a letter to campaign manager jim mussina and this is what it said, quote: important matters like maintaining oil subsidies and busting unions for example. yesterday, jim mussina responded with some fighting words of his own, and he wrote: now, for more on the spat between the white house and the coach brothers we turn to washington post reporter aaron blake who has been covering this back and forth. aaron welcome back to "the war room." >> good to be here. >> all right. so the obama administration must have known that sending out an email like that was going to engender a response. what were they thinking? were they thinking that picking a fight with the koch brothers would be a win? >> the interesting thing here is this has been going on for a long time. i think that the koch brothers put something out today that said the obama campaign and president obama has mentioned them something like a

where it just doesn't go far enough that's the problem we welcome the fact that the obama administration is out there trying to provide some justification for its targeted killing policy but really the american people don't know who is being killed in their name and i think that's the big problem and what does it really need to be a and b. combatant or a militant or someone the united states government believes it can target for lethal force and i think it's especially concerning that a lot of these targeted killings are happening away from the so called hot battlefield in afghanistan in yemen or even then somalia which i think further calls into question what the government believes is its legal reasoning and i think that that's a concern that gets heightened in the case of constitutional considerations when you're talking about an american citizen in the murky war on terror i guess every day every place could potentially turn into a battlefield unfortunately h.r. three forty seven i don't know how familiar with that spell it but it's the so-called trespassing logic essentially criminal

. >> rick santorum weighed in on the question saying the obama administration has made a critical error in its approach to the war. >> the position of this administration does something you simply can't do if you want to win a war particularly against a gorilla insurgent force, that's give them hope they can survive. that's what the president has done when he came into office and put a time line for us to leave afghanistan. if this is the game plan, if the game plan is we're leaving irrespective of whether we're going to succeed or not, then why are we still there? let's either commit to winning or let's get out. >> mitt romney was also critical of the president but stopped short of offering his own plan for afghanistan. >> before a take a stand on a particular course of action i want to get the input from the people there. i think it's plain to see that the conditions there are not going very well. and the -- i lay part of the blame for that on the lack of leadership on the part of our president. >> the pace and timing of the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan will be a central topic whe

i think it's it's going to related i mean ultimately the obama administration needs to take responsibility for signing these legislative proposals into law or advancing certain theories regarding executive power and how it can be wielded in a war on terror but certainly congress has has the brunt of the blame to take for some of these proposals and really pushing forward various measures that would for example codified indefinite detention or keep one ton of open so there's plenty of blame to go around but i think it's disappointing that the president and his administration hasn't been more forceful in leading in protecting civil liberties consistent with national security interests and how serious of a threat is this i mean it's easy to sort of say oh well these are just good friends just to build a sound scary but i'm sure it's not all that bad i mean it should american citizens be concerned about their civil liberties in light of legislation like absolutely for example the n.d.a. that you mentioned codified the authority of the military to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects without

or working for the obama administration and if we want to see if this obama administration is serious about going after these derivatives companies and global was run by one of their chief donors john corps i look at you thinking right if you don't question should shouldn't we regulate now everybody is like we did from one nine hundred thirty five vision certainly to the up and we had no do. riveted based crash so we shouldn't regulate them we should we should believe in the free market we should understand that you have people making bad debts they lose money and we shouldn't bail him out of the exit we'll be able to be the bigger question here is this business about this greg smith guy say oh the culture of the company changed the twelve years i was there i don't know about you but anybody who's worked anywhere for twelve years says the culture change the culture change now it's the company didn't change he did he's committed career suicide by writing this piece and reminds me of the old mark twain thing you know when i when i was eighteen i thought my dad was an idiot but by the ti

then ron kirk talks about the obama administration's efforts to increase exports. and later a house hearing on the 2013 budget request for the securities and exchange commission. >> now the senate foreign relations committee looks at the president's 2013 budget request for the u.s. agency for international development. it falls under the state department's $51.6 billion budget request and would have an increase of 1.6%. this is an hour and a half. i had the opportunity to serve with donald payne in the house of representatives, and he was always a champion for our involvement in the continent of africa and around the globe for the right reasons. he will be sorely missed in the congress of the united states. i want to compliment usaid for naming a fellowship under his name. i think it is a fitting tribute to work he has done throughout his career. we offer our deepest condolences to his family. today's hearing we have the usaid administrator to provide with us to provide testimony on the fiscal year 2013 budget request. i believe our international developmen

so the obama administration must have known that sending out an email like that was going to engenderere they thinking? were they thinking that picking a fight with the koch brothers would be a win? >> the interesting thing here is this has been going on for a long time. i think that the koch brothers put something out today that said the obama campaign and president obama has mentioned them something like a dozen times in 2010 alone. what is different here i think is that the two sides have chose to engage. you know it's a series of letters being thrown back and forth, but it is a kind of engagement arguing over the merits of their various arguments. and that has upped the anti-as far as this battle goes. >> in politics it's always good to have an enemy, right? so if you pick the right enemy it is always good for a fight. and people like the ability of a candidate to have a backbone. and the koch brothers respond, and i'm reading now, the obama administration always seeks a villain to explain away the disastrous failure of their economic policies. i'm not sure they are the victim but

very much questions of the obama administration's relationship with china and obama's administration focusing on the asia pacific and feeling the slight chill winds from the british perspective of what that meant for us. so, you know, it's certainly all changed. it just -- just as americans don't understand perhaps how we brits feel, trying to explain the vagaries of american politics to britons is never easy either. >> what about the currency issues and concerns by the u.s. that china continues to devalue its currency, hurting trade by american companies over there? >> well, you know, the currency is moving in the right direction. obviously chinese aren't going to move their currency any faster. a bit of election politics about it. the trade with china is going, both sides probably filing more than they have done in the recent past. but end of the day, from a chinese perspective, and i'll say this from a chinese perspective, what the chinese are doing is exactly what the brits did and what the americans did when they were industrializing, building their economy. that kind of capital

obviously the obama administration reversed course. got a lot of republicans especially in the house that are pressing for reversal of that decision. it's in the courts right now. so we'll see that sorts out. >> yucca mountain is outside the jurisdiction of the nnsa. >> yeah, it is. nnsa is not into the disposal of commercial nuclear waste or anything like that. it's really -- the agency i cover is really about how do we maintain the stockpile that we have? there's eight sites around the country that are tasked with that. and then it's kind of the other mission of, you know, securing nuclear material around the world, making sure that it's safe, you know. that's been a big agenda of the obama administration as well. a lot of funding goes overseas to make sure things are safe overseas. >> you mentioned a lot of this is classified so you're report on a topic that's challenging for a reporter to delve into. have you gone out to the sites, have you seen the teams in action? >> yeah, i have been to five of the eight sites so far. i have bee