sort of like cuban cigars, there's one upside to a electing this obama guy, i am not happy about electing obama, i think it is a socialist, what is the upside? trade with cuba, i can get my cigar is back. i love cuban cigars, then i find out that the fda has taken over tobacco, like cutting me off at the pass, i will get these cuban cigars that they won't have any nicotine in them. if i wanted to roll up a big wad of plant and smoke it, i have grass clippings, i have recycling bin, i have stuff left over from the tomato garden that i could roll up and smoke but i was glad to see in the newspaper that they're going to ban banana flavored cigarettes. now that i have heard of it, now i want one. i am glad we got that out of the way. there was a menace to america, banana flavored cigarettes. anybody else? anybody who would like their book signed, i will be right here and i will be glad to do it, thank you all very much for coming. [applause] >> p. j. o'rourke is the author of 9 previous books including eat the rich, all the trouble in the world and republican party reptile. he has been a free

and this is obama talking to this guy, patrick despard. obama said i think i'm a better speech writer than my speech writers. i know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors and i'll tell you right now i think i'm a better political director than my political director. well, that's a high level of self-confidence. and so when you look at what the obama administration has done, they've taken on issue after issue. and each individual issue, they've done it incredibly intelligently. i was in afghanistan a few weeks ago and what struck me was that the issue that the people on the ground and afghanistan, the policy they wanted, was the policy obama adopted. a very aggressive policy where we're going to be remaking towns, village by village, creating cops and courts, the things afghanistan needs. he's just taken over general motors and the -- two therds of the american auto industry -- two thirds of the american auto industry. created an $800 billion stimulus package and remake the nrk sector and in the process of rema

think that just from, like saying things like you know that these people are allies like barack obama. the guy is purely for banking interest and lobbying interests. he is not our ally. he didn't stand up and speak against the defensive marriage act after the department of justice called us in the lgbt community peedo fillaction. and things of that nature. and i'm tired of that. and i don't think that guy is an ally of ours. host: who in the political realm do you feel speaks for you and your community? caller: both dennis cuse niche and ron paul. but they never have a huge voice. but also, in a third party, mckinny and the green party. and michael bat anywheric of the libertarian party. guest: that's a recipe for disenfranchise. sintsdza mckinny right after 9/11 was peddling conconspiracyy theories accusing our own government of being behind the nine letch attacks. and those two candidates that he mentioned were like in last place. given the 98% or so of reelection rate of incumbents in the senate, for example, to completely run off both major parties is a recipe for just selft erashor politi

in the job interview, this is him talking to this guy. obamaays, i think i am a better speech writer than my speech writers. i know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. i will tell you right now, i think i am a better political director than my political director. that is a high level of self- confidence. when you look at what the obama administration has done, they have taken on issue after issue, and each individual issue, they have done it intelligently. i was in afghanistan a few weeks ago. what struck me was that at issue that the people on the ground and afghanistan, the policy they wanted was the policy obama adopted, and very aggressive policy. he has just taken over general motors. he has created an $800 billion stimulus package. he is in the process of remaking the health-care sector, the housing sector, taking over the bank's, very impressive educational reforms. one thing after another, he is doing it all. i am a guy who leans on the cautious side of life. i am a temperamental conservative. i grew up

why is this recession so much different to where this guy obama has to act so quickly to control so much of what we do? guest: i would make two points. the first is why is this recession different. it is fair to say that it is. it is nothing like the last two recessions. they were very mild. they stretched out for some time, but they were relatively mild recessions. we are looking at an unemployment rate that is on the path to double digit levels. by some measures the declines in output we seek combined with unemployment could make this the worst downturn since the great depression. they feel they must act because it is the much more serious recession. on the question of the mad dash, there are two points. i would look at this as a relay race because the mad dash was actually begun by the bush administration who set in place for instance the rest use of bear stearns, aig. it was the bush administration and hank paulson who went to congress and ask for tarp money. it is fair to say that the obama administration has taken that baton and continued to run at full speed. the administration ha

obama. both these guys have told us they are going to be looking out for our money over here. but we got mr. tarp czar is doing that. a stimulus exhibit -- accountability czar. accountable to who? what does that mean? but i'll tell you, there's no doubt about it now, this is true. the american people are sure worried about how this money's being spent and where it's going. and is there any waste, fraud, and abuse involved in it as it comes out? because when you start throwing around billions and billions and billions of dollars until you reach trillions of dollars, it doesn't take a rocket scientist back home to figure out that much money is just a target for somebody to abuse the system. so maybe that's a good thing. nonproliferation czar. i assume that's nuclear proliferation. that's what you always hear connected to the proliferation word. but the question is, -- terrorism czar. you know, when 9/11 happened and the -- this is before i came to congress, when 9/11 happened the members of congress here in their combined wisdom in a very bipartisan effort, which everybody's won

guy like me. get real. this is easy. host: will the spending policies of the obama policy to help a guy like this in kansas? guest: yes, the health care policies will. to make it possible for those who need health care coverage to get it. that is essentially the long term plan. john is right when he says that things have to be paid for. costs do not disappear. you will not get health care for free. on the other hand, there are many savings to be had. we keep talking -- i have been talking about getting the most effective treatments and being efficient. there is a huge amount of administrative waste. some keep government investments can begin to rectify that. there are problems because doctors do not have access to the comprehensive medical history of those they're treating which ends up with costly problems. the caller -- it is people like the caller who would be helped by this president's proposals. host: next up on our line for independents, from indiana. guestcaller: mr. john lott keeps talking about capitalism and free enterprise and we look at what it did " to our financial system and how was corrupted

and you could say the same thing about barack obama in 2008 and i talk about how in the world today guy who was arguably the most liberal member of the united states sent become seen as the same choice in 2008? because barack obama temperamentally seemed like a safe choice, seemed like is a free choice and a john mccain who some people asked is he too old, is this guy who says on the day that lehman brothers collapses in the market is going on a free fall that the fundamentals of the economy are sound? whether they were or not. >> host: seemed to mark a serious and the cayman? >> guest: i think also only because john mccain was forest, i think he will use by his republican base to take positions he really did not believe. jill, baby, drill -- not john mccain and. really the first green republican and in the past 25 years in the seventh to step forum and to make some great steps for it on the green issue. now but barack obama seemed like this and when i say that there are a lot of my conservative friends said how can you say that. i am not looking to an ideological lens. this is about te

believe in change and some don't and what is interesting is the reaction inside of the obama bus was testosterone filled, a guy surrounded by other competitive guys and a lot of them were rauf tashi melted down, it was and it muskie moment in new hampshire and his reaction was different, his reaction was i think based on his own difficult period in the year before, and he said listen, you guys don't know how tough this is a think there was a certain amount of empathy. he wanted to win but i think he understood the kind of pressure that would lead you to an emotional moment on the campaign trail. >> host: we are talking with richard wolffe. clay is joining from augusta georgia. >> caller: good morning and thanks to c-span. it's sad to me when i hear people criticize president obama. some people think he's supposed to be moses or something and take his stake and part of the sea. he adopted basically something george bush left for eight years. he left it in a big mess so they ought to give him a break. they really should give him a break. these people like rush limbaugh and i can't think of the naim on fox news t

present and obama gave his speech -- when president obama davis beat, it had a profound effect on the city of boston. you had the idea that this guy would be president. my son predicted this in 2008. he got it right. >> the obama speech was memorable. we wanted to afterward and were dazzled by this man. ronald reagan pa's last speech to the republican party was very dramatic -- ronald reagan's last speech to the republican party was very dramatic. he gather delegates to speak. >> i will segue to our next clip close-up started at the end of the carter presidency but we have and as a former president. let's take a look at that clip. >> i was just wondering -- people from all over the world have different cultures and value systems. i was interested in knowing if there is something that you found that everybody connects on because they are human. when you are dealing with somebody, is there something you can always relate with them about? >> yes, regardless of one's race or creed or political philosophy or religion, there are things that blind people together. i have always referred to the mothers in the middle east area. the israeli

guys exist. i have not called in a while. obama seems to be doing a great job considering the way he came into office. it would be great if congress could mandate a show like years with 24/7 questions and answers that was totally accurate. host: who would you want to see? who could answer some of your questions? caller: i can -- you can only do so much. i enjoy your program. it covers so many areas. anyways, i just wanted to say thank you. host: we have some tweets coming in. this is one about someone who lost their jobs recently but has never been on unemployment. another one asks if the unemployed numbers include the recent college and high-school graduates entering the workforce. the next telephone call is from philadelphia. go ahead, marsha. caller: i think the unemployment rate is cyclical. i do not understand how people can complain when you have had the same job for 30 or 40 years. it is just a matter of retraining. you have to reeducate yourself. we have to learn new things. we have to continue to try to reach out for globa

guy. that's my comment. host: someone who sent us a tweet is wondering did the obama middle east visit have a certain impactin the vote. we'll go to the line with a call from louisiana. caller: i think we are more concerned with what is going on in america. i think americans are more concerned with immigration and crime within our cities. americans are focused on our american issues. thank you. host: we'll continue to talk about the ire rainian issue but we've in some other stories including this one discussing three saudis transferred from guantanamo. host: let's go back to the phone. on the republican line from virginia . go ahead. caller: i heard a lady call in. she said, if we spoke to them level headedly, it would be smoother. i disagree with that. i think it is a religious issue. it has to do with our support of israel. i'm a christian but as a practical matter, i don't think we'll ever be able to get along with any muslim country as long as we support israel. host: this is out of the houston chronicle. here next up on the democrat line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm enjoying this discussion. wh

guys. >> if you missed any of this joint press conference with president obama and lee, go to our website, c-span.org. from the white house rose garden to the white house briefing room, press secretary robert gibbs will answer reporters questions. live coverage expected to begin shortly. you're watching c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] you're watching c-span2 waiting for live coverage of the white house briefing. >> this press briefing expected to begin shortly. the senate is expected back at 2:15 eastern for more work on a bill that promotes u.s. tourism. that legislation would create a nonprofit corporation to attract foreign tourists while providing information about entry requirements. that's expected to start again, the senate back in again at 2:15 eastern here on c-span2. >> doesn't smell like somebody just cut the grass? [inaudible] >> president lee talked about these measures of policies that he and president obama had agreed to talk to the other members of the five party talks about new measures and policies on north korea. can you elaborate on what he

fox as me to be there correspondent to respond to the appointments that obama was making to energy and environment, so i was the guy sitting there and the president came up and announce them and as you know chu was elected as head. chu's portfolio is beyond belief. he is professor stanford university in high energy physics. use thought only professor, he is chairman of the physics at stanford where i got my ph.d.. not only that, he is go to nobel prize in physics. this guy as credentials to the end of the earth. he introduced chu and then chu was followed by carol browner. as you may know she was the impression person for clinton, and then was followed by think it was lisa jackson, one of the-- governor schwartzenegger's people in this. ewind theroux the resumes and it was beautiful. he announced his policies that this a demonstration is going to go along with science and when he hesitated with that word science, there was an application no one had heard of it but that he was going to go along with science and then said that we wanted to have energy independence. we were worried about the environment, the research

guy, why just take away 90% of his bonus? why don't you take away 100% of his bonus? that stupid piece of of legislation, thankfully president obama didn't think much of it, neither did the senate, but the legislation over here still would have left that guy at a.i.g. with $640,000. madam speaker, in my district in northeast ohio it takes -- it would take 16 years for somebody making 40,000 a year to make $640,000. so again rather than correcting the mistake, they came up with, it wasn't even a fig leaf, it was a fig tree to pretend they were really mad about the bonuses they authorized with their vote. so we have been coming myself and other members, mr. mccotter from michigan, have been coming to the floor and i grew up playing a game called clue. very wonderful came to play around the kitchen table with your kids. hasbro i think is the manufacturer of it. so with apologies to hasbro, we came up with clue, because we -- if you played clue, madam speaker, i don't know if you're a clue player or not, the way it works is you start with a murder has been committed. in this case there wasn't a murder. it was pretty bad, but it wasn't

guys heard about this? corrine coal? yeah, somebody said evin barack obama. saying this stuff about clean coal. [laughter] even he makes mistakes? [laughter] wait until next week for that. we've got to deal with that don't we? because there is no such thing as clean coal. clean coal represents a tremendous breakthrough in the marketing of coal. [laughter] wait just doesn't -- personal breakthrough in the burning of coal. you know, that's the problem with clean coal. i actually told the campaign if we are going to stick with the screen coal stuff i have another suggestion. we could fix every energy problem with kleine coal, or we could have unicorns pull our cars. [laughter] or we could light our homes with the light from little little fe. equally fictitious and falls it just doesn't poll else will. but there is no clean coal. they said, you know, actually i investigate this stuff and not just online. [laughter] people come up to me all the time i found something on line. i say no, no, please. it always has something to do with 9/11. it may be right that just don't tell me you got it on line. so

i may, in relation to the last topic, so far as president obama not releasing photos, i was in the marine corps, the president is the head guy, the head of the military, he has a responsibility to the troops, and in terms of the cost, one american soldier's life, don't release the photos. there is a responsibility, as i understand about coming clean, make us feel good and all this, but it will cost one american soldier his life, don't release the photos. the problem in the middle east is the israeli/palestinian question. once we take care of that, you cannot deny the right to exist. we have to have a solution. somehow the palestinian woman, the mother of a family can send her family out and not hassled at all in going about their lives, where she can feed her family. >> host: first, the release of photos, to block that, then we will come to the question. >> guest: thanks for your service in the marine corps. there was an allegation that guards at guantanamo, it took 2 we to go through all the data to determine that there was no record of that happening, there were records of detainee's trying to stop the toilet system but in

guys. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> president obama hosted a reception in honor of lgbt pride month. his remarks last about 20 minutes. [cheering and applause] [cheering and applause] [cheering and applause] >> hello, everybody. good to see you. [applause] >> you moved to slow. >> it is great to see everybody here today. i have a lot of friends in the room but there are some people i want to especially acknowledge. first of all, someone who helped ensure that we are in the white house. please give steve a big round of applause. where is he? he is around here somewhere. [applause] the new chair of the export/import bank, fred. where is fred? good to see you, fred. our director of the institute of education sciences, john easton. [applause] a couple of special friends, the bishop gene robinson. [applause] ambassador michael guest is here. ambassador jim hornel is here. oregon secretary of state kate brown is here. [applause] all of you are here. welcome to your wife house. -- welcome to your white house. [cheers and applause] somebody as

guys running the country. what their considerations now when figuring out whether to approach the obama home -- the obama administration, maybe not now but when the session opens in the fall, with some sort of offer to talk to the united states? of course, i think we ought to respond. >>, and was there in march and i came away with the feeling that the clerics, the regime had never felt so powerful, that it had so many trump cards in dealing with the united states. just across the board. it felt almost cocky. we are expecting in there were an overture from the united states -- and the last couple of days obama did make his message -- that any deal, any serious negotiation would have to include a lot more than the u.s. has offered so far. the u.s. would have to come bearing gifts, including a compromise on uranium enrichment. in the aftermath of what has happened, over the past three weeks, the regime is not going to be a self confident about getting a deal or appearing strong. its own image around the world has weekend. -- weakend. i would not be surprised if there is continuing uncertainty in iran. for ahmadinejad to

guy was a state senator. african-american, his name is barack hussein obama, and when he walked into the oval office on that first day after the inaugural address and i don't know if you agree with this but it certainly was my sense from watching people in the country, there was no cog cognitive dissonance. no sense at all that this person doesn't belong there, and that in and of itself is a pretty amazing achievement. >> yeah. it is rather amazing to think how far we've come in just the last few months. >> yeah. >> and how everybody was certain what was going to happen in the election and then what happened happened. we were talking a little bit this morning about the changes in the way that people see things, and bill mcintyre who's heavily on the republican side had much the same observation that you just did about that. let me ask you about obama. you've met him, and you've talked to him and interviewed him. how do you compare him -- i know it's not been the same kind of close relationship, but how do you compare him with the way that bill clinton acted as president? [laughter] >> well, as you know we have a

as far as the economy and things going on in general, i believe obama has some good things going on right now. he is not too bad looking guy -- every time i lookeat him by and proud to be an american and and latino and i feel he brings quite a lot of hope. host: how you view the first five months of the of ministration? guest: from economic perspective, and kind of worried. a huge stimulus package that is not focused enough to get the economy moving. huge increase in the debt. his proposal is to increase the debt further. i'm worried about the intervention into the automobile industry, which is quite extensive and possibly even more intervention in other sectors. i know the intentions are certainly good, but i am concerned about what this is going to do with the economy. host: what piece of advice would you give the president and economic advisers? guest: start working on plans to reduce the deficit. no reason to have over $1 trillion deficit 3, 4, 5, 10 years from now. a credible plan to get rid of the deficit. number two, i worry about the tax increases that coming down the road that could hurt the economy. i would avoid

guys. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> earlier today, president obama made remarks on the energy bill scheduled for debate tomorrow in the house. it would cap greenhouse gas emissions emission credits. this is about five minutes. >> >> good afternoon. right now, the house of representatives is moving towards a vote of historic proportions on a piece of legislation that will open the door to a new, clean energy economy. for more than three decades, we have talked about our dependence on foreign oil. we have seen that dependence grow. we have seen our reliance on fossil fuels jeopardize our national security. we have seen its pollute the air we breathe and in danger of our planet. most of all, we have seen that other countries realize a critical truth -- the nation that leads -- now is the time for the united states of america to realize this as well. now is the time for us to lead. the energy bill before the house will finally create a set of incentives that will sparked a transformation of our economy. everything from wind, solar, to safe, nuclear energ

he gotten i mean peached for carter bombing cambodia and these guys, how can we write the story if no one's going to go to jail and obama's we don't want to divide the country or anything but what about these people sitting there every day? you turn on the television and you know something's wrong. >> one of the things is this kind of inquiry is a punitive process and one thing we know about this t punitive process in south africa or the way it's being conducted is it's a healing process. it's not about assigning blame. it's about getting the story straight and having everybody agree on what the narrative is how we got here and how we fix it. it's not about punishing people. the extremists interpret it that way because -- but it's not true. >> no. no. >> you can take this out of the realm of had and froid and take this out of the realm of anger and bring it into the realm of civic repair but there's a deep pattern in post war american history and that's that every two-term american president has violated the constitution in an escalatingly way, -- and reagan and bush did it and the next one may and someone has to have the

>> well, i think obama, we have a peace in our last -- we had a piece in our last issue by a guy who writes real numbers about real politics and he's a real number cruncher and he says in terms of income and education, if you look at bush's coalition, he picked up kind of the middle income groups and steadily went upward. you know, fliping the line, is that a technical term ok? if you look at obama's coalition, it's a shallow u-shapet. it's higher in the lower educated groups and dips a little in the middle and then goes up among high-income, higher-educated folks. and that's probably inhanchtely unstable coalition because how is he going to pay for all the government programs to support the people at the lower end? well, it's eesketly it's going to be taxes and quite stiff taxes on people on the upper end, and we actually have to comblefment those taxes. i think we may see the suburbs populated by better-educated professionals swinging back in a republican direction. >> hmm. >> well, i think there's a lot of truth to that. there's also -- you have to think about these groups, each p

if hillary or obama wants to cut off aid that would send a direct message. number two, he is talking to the guy from colombia, because nothing is going to change. he talked about has block, a loss -- has a lot, hamas, and ahmadinejad and this is right below what's -- hezbollah. what about foreign country raping? you don't tell like it is. guest: i am not sure what his point is. he obviously does not like what the united states foreign policy is. but i am not clear on his particular spirit host: a comet saying -- host: this is a comment -- explain costa rica's unique government. guest: coaster rica should be a model for the rest of central america and foreign policy in the region -- coaster rate cut should be a model. that is why i pointed to militarization of central america. the emphasis of narcotics interdiction, that those two policies have cost central america great wit. we have one or real statesmen in central america, and that is the president of costa rica. i think in the rest of central america, we have a new president of el salvador that shows great promise. but in guatemala, the 40% o

obama now. why all of the sudden, once the president comes out with an energy bill, did you guys finally do it now when you fought tooth and nail with every type of thing to change our energy plan? especially the last eight years. guest: that is not correct, either. if you look at the met -- american energy act, it is very similar to the bill we filed last year. you can go back to the 110 congress last year and you confined a bill similar to this one that we filed and debated before president obama was in office. what you said there was not accurate. we have been talking about having a comprehensive national energy policy for a long time, but unfortunately some here fight that. but as we are debating the tax that president obama is trying to pass, we are coming back and say, we've got an alternative and it is similar to the one we filed last year but it actually opens of the natural resources of the country so we can ensure energy independence and reduce our dependence on middle eastern oil. host: thank you for being here. we will be back with an economic adviser to vice president joe biden. >> ev

obama has got to quit pandering to these countries. thinking that he can sit down and talk to a terrorist like this guy from iran. this will not work.ost: did secretary clinton's comments sound like pandering to you? caller: yes, for the most part. like i say, i am a democrat. we have not been attacked since 2001. we're getting soft with these countries and it will come back -- one morning we will wake up and there will be in our backyard. people used to fear us. the problem is that people do not respect us and the no longer fear the united states. host: north korea convicted two u.s. journalists, both working for current tv in north korea. the associated press report this morning from "the washington post" looks further into this. this piece writes that many analysts believe there's a good chance that the two women will be free. they're being used as bargaining chips in its standoff with the south korea and the united states which are pushing for u.n. sanctions to punish the north for its latest nuclear test. by sentencing them to prison north korea has paved the way for political pardon and a diplomatic solution says a professor o

guy worked for cdc, alan aleda plays in it. but going on to other things. everybody's talking about obama doing this and doing that but we're rushing into everything. and they want the government to pay for everything. and nobody seems to realize that the government is your money. you know. you're going to pay for it eventually. and i jist don't understand why the american public doesn't understand that government is spending your money. host: more about the story of the supreme court nominee quiting an all-women's club. says the club bills itself as a women's answer to the 130-year-old all male bo heemion club in california to which chief justice earl warren belong ds before he joined the court and long before the federal judiciary adopted a code of conduct. president obama made reference to supreme court nominee sonya sode mire last night at the radio and television correspondents dinner here in washington, d.c. he threw out a few jokes. one of them was at the expense of his supreme court nominee. this is what he had to say. >> the challenges we face are many, and i will be honest i don

guys in south pakistan. >> thank you. >> thanks. [applause] thank you. >> tomorrow on "washington journal," michael ettlinger and john lott discuss the obama administration's spending policies. then it nathan guttman looks at u.s.-israeli relations. and we also have the latest on the iranian election. washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. this week on c-span's "newsmakers," jon kyl talks about what is on the senate's agenda. >> there's a lot of reading involved here, and i was reading some very troubling things last night about her views toward international law, in effect saying that you could interpret united states's constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe. public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that is really her point of view, that is very troubling. i could not vote for a judge who believed that. she has said it on several occasions. i'm going to have to ask her, what you mean by that? people talk about a filibuster, understand that republicans could not filibuster this nomination on our own. there are not enough of us. and by the way, none of us are talki

obama a b-. it could be better, but he has the taxd dogs. they're just attacking him with everything he tries to do. these guys are not worried about getting the country back on the line. they are worried about getting back in power more than anything else. new gingrich gave a disgusting speech, just attacking this president. i have never heard him even call president obama president obama. host: in the marketplace section this morning from "the wall street journal" a story retain to 2004 concerning digitally- produced books. this is addressed by the justice department. the escalation of its books search inquiry is the latest in a series of antitrust probes of google's business launched by the department and the federal trade commission. in response, the will appears to be stepping up efforts to press its case with lawmakers and regulators. the company's chief legal officer travels to washington today to defend the book search deal in meetings. there is a box looking at the various departments of the evil that the government is checking out. one is the book search, the other is hiring practices. the board over

obama goes to cairo, egypt, and appears to that's... that's all i've got time to think about right now. >> rafer, you guys are well-known for bounceing back from a very tough loss. are you just as effective at not getting too happy from a big victory? >> we've shown both. we've shown we can bounce back. we've shown we don't get too up. we don't get too down about the basketball game, win, lose or draw. but it's going to be crucial that we puts yesterday behind us and prepare for what's to come, game four. it's going to get tougher for us. we assume they want to extend their lead in the series to 3-1. we want the catch back up 2-2. and it's going to be... it's not just physical. it's going to be a mental challenge out there tomorrow. >> michael? >> you were with stan his first year as a coach in miami. can you just talk about what it he was like then and if he's any different from now that you're with him a second time around? >> well, then it was his first as a head coach. it happened rather quickly for him. pat stepped down right before first game, and he was thrust into the position. i think now he has a clear understanding of the diffe

probably 40 seconds and there was senator obama standing virtually right in front of me and at that time it wasn't 250 photographers, it was only seven or nine guys, so fortunately, that's one of the things that i -- that you do, in taking pictures, is not only do you learn to forecuss, take shots, -- focus, take shots, but also you learn when you're shooting presidential candidates to walk backwards really well, but you have to be able to walk backwards while you're changing lenses, going this way and at the same time without stepping in front of another photographer, who will swat you on the back of your bald spot if you do. many of my images are these fixed locations, which i would call in my book, i call amer icons, an one of the reasons i was really drawn to the iconic america, or amer icons, was that when you really think about it, when the united states started in the 1770's and 1780's, there was no jefferson memorial. there was no world war ii memorial. there was no u.s. capitol. there were none of these iconic elements and our founders had the vision that basically, if you're going to create a new concept, basically i and this concept is

obama is going it will be 81%. that is a lot worse. and he ran on the idea that bush was outrageously spending. this guy has taken it to new efforts. we have to hammer it home, talk about what burden he is placing on our children. will we ever get out of this disaster, that he is exercising. you have to keep hitting it. we know what we have done is gone, but it is not as bad as an hour and we have to turn it around. with time they will come around. >> you are talking about conservatism and all of that. i am pro-life and against roe v. wade but if we're supposed to be small government, how can the government be doing stuff on the issue of life for education because both things are in the constitution. we are supposed to be the party of small government when it comes to abortion, education, it is closer to the people. i obviously believe life begins at conception or somewhere near there, we should be protecting that but should it be done for a better standpoint? >> on education 9 in complete agreement with you, that is a strictly local issue and the states, the next level, the federal government should not be involved and that is som

obama white house is my favorite new show. there is something really compelling about the main character. a wonderful narrative'. in fact, the show has been such a hit that all of you guys now want to comment tape one in my house. abc is planning one called "dancing with the czars." [laughter] nick at nite has a new take on an old classic, leave it to a uighers. -- "leave it to uighers." i thought that was pretty good. these shows all be competing directly with governor schwarzenegger's new reality series, i'm a celebrity, get me out of here. [laughter] that's how i feel tonight. it's nothing personal. but this dinner conflicts with my day and night. -- date night. i was posted well with michelle for thai food in bangkok. [laughter] but i have been doing a lot of traveling. i just returned from a trip abroad, as you know. in egypt, we toured the pyramids. by now, i'm sure all of you have seen the pictures of rahm on a camel. i was a little nervous about the whole situation. i said at the time, there is a wild animal known to buy tickets that, and who knows what a camel might do. [laughter] -- bite, kick, and spit. who knows what a camel might do? [laughter] no matter wh

now working in the obama administration and on iran and the:op there is that the institute for near east policy is. he used to work with me so i am interested in what these two guys have to say about the arab-israeli conflict. that is another book i will go through. another book is entitled of the inheritance. having read him four years in "the new york times" and know what a terrific record your he is and he is now put together an important book on what the president of the united states has basically inherited. he has been on my show, he is smart and i think this will be an important book for our will learn something. the one piece of fiction i 12 to read this summer, i want to read others but definitely the new book a mad desire to dance because he is such a terrific writer brac oe you rights is so important for our was moved by what he said when he spoke openly about having lost his foundation with so much money in the bernie madoff uproar and fiasco. he was so smart and has lost millions but this is the book obviously that continues what he has been writing about the holocaust for our want to get through this book if i can this summer. of those of the five b

guys who have run big complicated companies, done it well, done it effectively. and i think they give you a good sense of how the obama administration intends to treat this matter. >> thank you, senator kohl before turning to senator hutchison, one comment about that i think all of us frustration -- i mean, on the one hand we're telling you we don't want the government to run these businesses and we wish you would step in and make chrysler and gm do this. we've all done that. but i think none of us has really heard -- and i know the dealer -- a lot of the dealers think this. i know a lot of the public think this and i know a lot of senator congressmen and women. we've never heard the economic argument made by chrysler or gm to close those dealers unilaterally the way they have. understanding they pick off those who might be the weakest in terms of profits and sales but as senator kohl have said they've been around 20, 30, 40 years. i have some in ohio who have been around 75 years and it's tragic because the dealers do so much for the communities and all that. i just wish that the two major companies would explain bet

the boards of these companies, two guys who have run large complicated companies, done it well, done it effectively and i think they give you a good sense of how the obama administration intends to treat this matter. >> thank you, senator. i have one comment about that. i think all of us are frustrated. on the one hand, we tell you we don't want the government running these businesses. on the other hand, we tell you we wish you would step in and make gm and chrysler do this, this and this. i understand we all do that. i've done that. but i think none of us has really heard, i know the dealer, lot of the dealers think this, i know a lot of the public thinks this, i know a lot of senators and congressmen and women think this, we have never really heard the economic argument made by chrysler or gm to close these dealerships unilaterally the way they have. understanding they pick off in many cases those that might be the weakest in terms of profits in sales although as senator kohl said, many of them are making money. many have been around 20, 30, 40 years. i have some in ohio have been around 75 years that are closed and it's tragic because the dealers do

obama white house is my favorite new show. there's just something really compelling about the main character. wonderful narrative. in fact, the show has been such a hit that all of you guys now want to come and tape one in my house. abc is planning a series called "dancing with the zars." tlc has something called "jon and kate and peter orszag." knick at night has one called "leave it to weegers". given the fiscal crisis in california, the shows will be competing with governor schwarzenegger's new reality series, "i'm a celebrity" "get me out of here." >> that's how i feel tonight. it's nothing personal, but this dinner conflicts with my date night. i was supposed to going out with michelle for thai food in bangkok. [laughter] >> but i have been doing a lot of traveling, i just returned from a trip from in egypt and we had the opportunity to tour the pyramids and you have seen the pictures of rahm on a camel. i was nervous about the whole situation. i said, there's a wild animal, known to bite, kick and spit, and who knows what the camel might do. [laughter] >> but i have to say as i traveled to all of these countries, i saw firsthand how much people have in common with

obama bus was very competitive. a lot of them thought that she had melted down. his reaction was different. his reaction was, based on his own difficulties of the year before, he said you guysnot know how hard this is. there was a certain amount of empathy. but, he wanted to win, but he understood the kind of pressures that would lead you to an emotional moment on the campaign trail. host: we are speaking with author richard wolffe. next caller, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. people criticize president obama because they think he is supposed to be moses or something. this man inherited something that george bush left behind, at eight years of a big, big mess. people like rush limbaugh, fox news, they really irritate me. barack obama cannot do anything. they will say something critical about him no matter what. he is going to be a great president, don't you think? but guest: is too early to say. whether he is or could be a great president, something that he decided at the early stages when bringing about when to run , as a mixture of the top levels, that is why he thought ronald reagan was a great president, even though he opposed all those policies. it was a ti

guy who thinks global warming is caused by cow manure. go ahead, on the democrats' line. caller: no, i do not believe there's a media love affair with barack obamai'm not surprised that because a republican wrote that article -- i would like to make a comment, and i don't want to sound rude to anyone, make a comment on an african-americans -- the person from pennsylvania who talk about the distance with you live close to african-americans are far away, i think there was a racist comment. getting back to the question, i think the media is having difficulty talking about anything. it is like they're trying to find something that is newsworthy. if obama makes a mistake i am sure the will start talking about it. nonstop host: thanks for calling. here is one of tweet. it's as the present obama once walked into window at the white house and if there was no coverage by me. bush tried to open a locked door 1000 times. host: eric on the republican line from virginia. caller: every time that i turn on msnbc it is like watching the three monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil -- all you have to do is turn it on a prime-time. host: how about just one example? c

guys have to say about the arab-israeli policy. so that's another book i'm going to be going through. another book is by david sanger called the inheritance the world obamaonfronts and the challenges to american power. having read him for years in the "new york times," i know what a terrific reporter he is. and he's now put together what's really an important book on what the president of the united states has basically inherited. he's been on my show. he's smart. and i think this is going to be an important book. i'll read something reading this book. the one piece of fiction that i want to read this summer, i hope to read some others but i definitely want to read elie wiesel, a mad desire to dance because he's such a terrific writer and what he writes is so important. i was really moved by what he said a few weeks ago when he spoke openly about having lost his foundation so much money in the bernard madoff uproar fiasco. he was so smart and he's lost millions, but this is a book, obviously, that continues but he's been writing so many years about the holocaust so i want to get through this book, if i can, this summer. those are the five summers i plan

obama on the energy bill that's scheduled in the house tomorrow. the bill would cap greenhouse gas emissions and establish a market for emissions credit. this is five minutes. >> hey, guys. good afternoon. right now the house of representatives is moving towards a vote of historic proportions on a piece of legislation that will open the door to a new clean energy economy. for more than three decades we talked about our dependence on foreign oil. and for more than three decades, we've seen that dependence grow. we've seen our reliance on fossil fuels jeopardize our national security. we've seen it poe lute the air we the air we breathe and endanger our planet. most of all we've seen that other countries realize a critical truth: the nation that lead in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy. now's the time for the united states of america to realize this as well. now is the time for -- the time for us to lead. the energy bill before the house will finally create a set of incentives that will spark a clean energy transformation of our economy. it will spur the development of low carbon sources of energy, everyt

guys. that's the role of the civilian response corps among other structures that are in state and elsewhere. the civilian response corps is probably going to change under the obama administration and given the discussion that's happened since the nothing else and also during the campaign i think we'll see more money going into foreign assistance generally and certainly an increase inattention to raising greater civilian capacity. but i hate to tell you there's no santa claus. it's not going to happen soon enough to make a difference for you. it takes time to build these kind of capabilities. the military is going to have to keep doing them for most of the foreseeable future. and actually, although it may not necessarily be the core mission of the military to do these kind of nation-building tasks i think we all recognize if it doesn't get done by the military in a lot of cases it's not going to be done so it's about the military being in the capacity and the other agencies bringing the knowledge, putting those two together and generating a result. not that the military doesn't have knowledge but, you know, there is a lot of expertise in the civilian agency gover

obama administration on iran among other subjects and david m makovsky. i go way back with david, he used to work with me, so i'm really interested in what these two guys have to say about the arab/israeli conflict since both of them have either worked or covered it so, so long. another book is by david sanger of the new york times entitled the inheritance, the world obama confronts and the challenges to american power. having read him for years in "the new york times," i know what a terrific reporter he is, and he's put together what's really an important book on what the president of the united states has basically inherited. he's been on my show, he's smart, and i think this is going to be an important book, i'll learn something reading this book. and finally, the one, the one fiction, piece of fiction that i want to read this summer -- i hope to read some others, but i definitely want to read elie e wiesel's a mad desire to dance. i was really moved by what he said a few weeks ago when he spoke openly about having lost his foundation, so much money in the bernard madoff uproar, my fiasco. he was so smart, and he's lost millions, but this is a book, obvi

guy to back in the primaries. we're a long way from being over. the relationship obviously extended. carolline kennedy played a critical role. she grew very close to senior figures in the obama circle including david axel rod. and of course ted kennedy now, i think there's a determination really to get health care done and to have his name on it in part because of that emotional link. but they all want to see universal health care or something approaching it. but the personal element doing it for ted kennedy is very important. hoich but the phone calls were somewhat frosty. guest: they were. and those conversations were not just between the two. conversations going back and forth, jacques was the first establish -- jauk was the first to -- john kerry was the first. but the kennedies decided there had always been tension between the kenddi's and the clintons, really. there was sort of a rival claim to being the spiritual leaders of the party, and that rupttur was very real and painful, at least from the clinton side. i think it was difficult for the kenddi's too. >> did the selection of joe biden surprise you? >> i will admit to being surprised. knowing that they had tensions