your thoughts about race to the top, the obama program. we had a debate that night with jeffrey and davis. it was about whether or not education in this country ought to be a race or is a right. your thoughts about the obama answer to the problem. the president gave a big speech yesterday about education. what about the administration answer to the problem, race to the top? >> you are absolutely right that education is a right, a high- quality education. it has to be the right of every child in this country. it should not be a question as to whether some kids get it and some kids don't. i do think what the obama administration is trying to do was the right idea, meaning instead of continuing to funnel out federal dollars without a lot of accountability, which obviously has proven not to be particularly effective, to say we are going to use the carrot approach. we are going to put dollars up there to say if states can change their regulations, their laws, their policies, to ensure we can have more competition, to ensure we are rewarding hig

obama yesterday. did you say anything to him about some of these international programs? ell, bill and i have spoken with president obama before several times about the international programs and he has a huge commitment to them. he's kept up the president's emergency plan for aids relief that was started under the bush administration because he believes in that. he's kept up the president's malaria initiative. he's invested in maternal and child programs. those are all parts of his international budget. so we've spoken with him about that and the importance of that before. yesterday was really focused on education because both the state budgets here under tremendous pressure to cut education funding in our schools which is imperative. you've got to fund our u.s. schools if you want to create jobs. and so that's what yesterday was focused on, really, with him. >> couric: but what's your sense of his commitment to the kinds of things you're talking about snowed >> huge commitment, huge commitment. he completely gets it, he completely believes in these maternal and child pro

also the house has voted to eliminate president obama's main foreclosure program. the bill is expected to get through the senate. it was launched to encourage banks to modify mortgages. the treasury department has no power to compel banks to do so. >> after about two years of improvement airlines have had more and more problems, last year making sure your checked luggage arrives to the place you do. a new report shows 29.4 million bags did not arrive on time or about 12 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. that's up 6 period from 2009. if i visit you guys in san francisco i don't think i need a bag. i just need, you know, to buy a t-shirt or something. i'm so jealous. >> yes. in northern california -- >> christina's weather reports. i just miss that weather. >> supposed to do 90 degrees later this week. >> i don't want to hear it. sorry. >> bring your t-shirt. we'll see you soon. fly virgin. it's great. christina loren has a look at your fantastic forecast. >> good morning. i can tell you nicole lapin has always been that beautiful and that good. she is darned tal

on capitol hill the house voted to end an obama administration program designed to prevent foreclosures but the program failed in a lot of cases. democrats say although the program was less successful it did help 600,000 homeowners modify their payments. >>> tomorrow the california high speed rail authority will hold a very special meeting. that will talk about how to spend a possible $2 billion windfall of federal funding. florida's governor turned down that funding he says high speed rail is a bad investment. they are hoping to get some of florida's money hoping it can be diverted to the project here for that bullet train idea from san francisco to san diego. >>> all right we understand there is second san francisco fire this morning we have been covering fires. sal has more details. >>> we have a live picture from the fire scene. this is on brandon street. breaking news here. as you can see this is right here. and my suspicion was correct. right there at the corner is the bar they call mars and right next to it is a complete building. that is oscar's photo lab there. i think the fire

. >>> on capitol hill the house voted to end an obama administration program designed to prevent foreclosures but it failed in many cases. republicans say the home affordable modification program is a federal program that just doesn't work. even though the program was less successful than they anticipated it did help 6,000 homeowners modify their mortgage payments. >>> tomorrow the california high rail authority will hold a meeting. they will discuss how to spend a possible $2 billion windfall. the florida government turned down the money. the california high speed rail authority hopes that some of florida's money can be sent to the project here. for a bullet train project from san diego to san francisco. >>> right now it's 5:17. we want to check in with sal castaneda. what are you keeping an eye on? >> traffic is doing pretty well around the bay. we are starting in the east bay and looking at lafayette westbound. it looks pretty good driving through the tunnel and on the other side in oakland. if you are driving on interstate 880 any time soon it looks good in both directions here. this is r

among americans but so far you're not seeing any lawmakers calling for a halt for president obama's nuclear programin 1979 had a crippling effect on the u.s. nuclear power program. since then not a single new plant has been ordered in the united states. that changed last year. president obama announced his administration would put more than $8 billion in federal loan guarantees toward america's first nuclear power plant in 30 years. >> to meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worse consequence of climate change we'll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. >> reporter: in the wake of the disaster in japan, president obama and nuclear experts have expressed confidence. they say u.s. power plants are safe. that may not be enough to ease public concerns. new polling last week showed a sharp decline in the support of americans wants to build new plants. so far that fear has not spread to capitol hill. lawmakers are certainly raising concerns but nuclear energy still has bipartisan support. >> i'm not persuaded that nuclear power should be deleted from the list of options we look at. >> i

program. now the gentleman from alabama said yesteay that it was obama that made him do it. rather implausibly he argued that he was compelled to fllow this recommendation of the obama administration to send $150 billion -- $150 million a year to brazilian cotton farmers for four years because the president told him to do it. well, that's a very selective invocation of the president. i must say no more persuasive than flip wilson having innoked the devil as having made him -- invoked the devil as having him made him do it. $150illion -- the argument by the way was that weave to send $150 million to the cotton farmers because otherwise we would be in trouble with the world trade organization. but we could have saved that $150 million to the brazilians by not sending $150 million to american cotton farmers. that would include american cotton farmers who get more than $250,000 a year.

i think they have a very good program. obama would have had a very good program if he had followed what roosevelt would have done. i heard the other day, one of the top senate there is against education on this program. he did not care anything about education. i remember lyndon johnson started the war on poverty, one of the greatest educational programs we have had. i listen to them. every once in awhile i hear some of his stuff that is wrong because i remembered. host: rea hederman, is the heritage foundation against jobs? guest: absolutely not. we looked at what is the best way to create jobs in the economy. if you look at our website, we lay out a pro-jobs strategy. when need to have a strong, vibrant economy. it would apply to all americans. take a look where we are today, compared to 30 years ago, in how many people have computers and personal entertainment devices. this is a country doing very well. we need to focus on how to continue to improve things not just for ourselves but our children and grandchildren. host: john

our federal staff is now working in washington with the obama administration to create similar programs at the federal level. as far as transactions go, structures negotiate and complete land transactions that create parks and playgrounds in natural areas. our first urban transaction was here in san francisco, actually. in 1976. in addition to that, we have played a role in the acquisition or facilitation of dl sol park, alioto park, michelangelo part, the parcels of the visitation valley greenway, and the gardens. mostly early, from the 1970's to the 1990's on most of this. and for part design and development, which has become an apartment, which transfer newly acquired sides in existing city parks into thriving parks and playgrounds. we played an extensive -- employed extensive community outreach and purchase of the tory design process and manage design through construction to insure that the projects are built. we worked very closely with the department, with phil's staff. we appreciate your contributions to the project. because we not just want to create parks that are going to last

obama can get new spending programs and the republicans have a hard time rolling them back things that are already low. it is as if you had two sumo wrestlers evenly matched spending two years inside that circle unable to push the other guy out of the circle. it will not be dramatic television for the next two years. at the state level, however, there are 22 states where the republicans have the governorship and both houses of the legislature and 11 states where the democrats have the governorship and both houses of the legislature. in 11 states, and this will continue for 12 years, with redistricting, the 22 republican-controlled state will tend to become more republican with a stronger redistricting. the others will become more democratic. 12 years from now, you have states like illinois which has already raised the income tax as soon as they got in, conn., another democratic state, raise the income tax, california is trying to raise the income tax. that is 8 2/3 requirement to raise taxes. in the 22 republican controlled states from wisconsin to ohio to michigan to texas to florida,

slowly cut process down and try to prevent what they consider and what president obama considers would be damage to programs that he thinks are essential to what he calls winning the future. gwen: on a day like today when we see good numbers on unemployment for the first time in a long time, 8.9%, 9%, which still sounds like a lot but not as bad as it could have been, does that change the backdrop, background noise, background music for this debate? >> i think it does. it's kind of interesting and it's a little nuisance. first of all, the public doesn't feel very good even though the numbers indicate progress in the economy. we saw in our poll more pessimists in the economy. still have only 30% of the people who think the country is on the right track. not very fund of congress. president obama's at 48%. but the better the economy does, the less people feel urgency is about taking a weed whacker to various government programs. part of the mentality behind the cuts was we're in a crisis, we have to do something, let's cut spending. which is popular in polls but when you get to the specifics, we had an nbc/"t

just go to nbr on pbs.org and hear donovan's response to critics of the obama administration's home mortgage modification program. a little later in the program, we'll look at the surprising comeback of adjustable rate mortgages. >> suzanne: some damage control tonight from berkshire hathaway c.e.o. war en buffet. he took the unusual step of writing a news release on the resignation of david sokol, chairman of the subsidiaries. he was the matchmaker for berkshire's purchase this month of a company, turned out sokol bought a chunk of the stock back in january. buffet made it clear he didn't think the purchase was illegal, but he has expected sokol's decision to resign to spend more time -- he was seen as a possible successor to buffet. >> tom: >> tom: the buying interest continues with the major stock indices extending their gains. let's take a look at tonight's "market focus." with just one more day left in the first quarter, we figured we would start with the s&p 500 so far this year-- up more than 5.5%. while the s&p 500 has yet to break out to new post-recession highs, check out this exchange- traded fund tha

obama, but i suspect we can't pretend the contradictions of the situation will exist can do is choose. ayers, the reader must see the struggle not by the tourist what wyatt program obama, and all and all of an intellectual journey i imagine for myself complete with last point and strict itinerary. ayers, narrative raptors strive for signature but must be aware of the struggle for the honesty. obama, i was engaged in a imperial struggle. someone -- by the way, this is the only postmodern bouck obama route. it shows up and nothing else he ever wrote except dreams from my father. there's not a word in any of the articles otherwise. also at that point in the postmodern fling as well the grooves in which they had fallen and even the stitch together nature of their lives these are distinctive freezes, and the other thing i'm reading in the fugitive days is that after they dropped out of college and the freshman year at the university of michigan, he took a job and traveled the ocean and was a job that scared him. he admits it and he still has dreams about it, nightmares. he hoped to become a great writer like joseph conrad but it didn't work out. what he did is the la

here was candidate obama on this program interviewed by tim russert, back in 2006.to this. >> and what would in your mind, define a great president? >> obviously most of the time it seems that the president has maybe 10% of his agenda set by himself and 90% of it set by circumstances. >> we're living firmly in the 90%. and leadership tests of how he'll be defined very much by these tests. >> and to follow up on what helene said, both secretary gates at the pentagon and admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs, gave president obama an escape hatch when it came to libya. two weeks ago, secretary gates warned that to launch any kind of air strikes impose a no-fly zone, had unintended consequences of a second and third order. david, we haven't even seen the first order consequences yet. that probably lie ahead. >> general hayden, what are your concerns and your thoughts right now as you're watching this unfold? >> i think what the folks that i serve with in the armed forces in the intelligence community are wondering is how do i know when i'm done? what con

it was a george bush program, continued by barack obama. if he had not continued those problems, we would still be in the toilet today. >> the auto industry is stronger than it ever has. >> yes, it is. [everyone talking at once] >> i know that! >> general motors now has a nice fat share of the market in china. and it has recovered and millions of jobs [everyone talking at once] >> making their cause in mexico and china. >> they're making them here. >> selling in china. they're selling them in china. >> and we got our money back! with interest. >> huge trade deficit in autos and trucks, of over $100 billion a year, because we send our factories abroad with our cars. >> bailouts -- [everyone talking at once] >> the answer is obama has to worry about >>> issue two, joint >>> we're also deepening our cooperation against the drug cartels that threaten both our peoples in. in cause, mexico has a full partner with the united states. >> i would like to thank president obama for the clarity with which he speaks and the effects that that the consumpt

four republican bills to kill funding for federal mortgage help, including president obama's affordable modification program. >>> bay area transportation officials are looking to keep services for caltrain. they are looking to keep it operating until 2012. until the election that year when tax measure bs to support caltrain could be placed on the ballot. options include increasing fares and diverting funds from construction projects. facing a $30 million budget deficit caltrain wants to reduce services nearly by half on the weekends. >>> it could get more expensive to park your car in a peninsula city. redwood city may double meter rates and extend the hours past 6:00 in the evening. that will help to close a $1 million deficit in parking funds. but local merchants say a fee hike and then computerized meters would drive more business away. officials say redwood city already has the lowest rates of any nearby city. they can go up a little bit to still compete. >> i love supporting small business. it is really important. >>> do we have to take an umbrella when we go out shopping today? we'll check the forecas

program. where president obama not once and. decisive and mistaken position remarkable. progress is always important and nobody would know about it in terms of the world economy plus the colonel gadhafi regime stays in power. all surprised if they actually had crohn's who may now season of completely. stationer and by the same about you know i really thought that we could see you know economic war as well as perhaps a continuance of. meanwhile unrest is spreading further in the arab world and black reign at least six people have been killed as riot police launched a renewed assault on anti government supporters protesting for political reforms and equal rights for the majority shiites the reigning king declared a three month state of emergency to deal with protests which of the country for over a month later today cross talk us to debate the prospects of a more democratic middle east and the role of the international community that could potentially play. people are free to pick whatever form of government they want muslims or islam is can have that kind of government an

in craftsmanship, scholarship and leadership to >> reporter: the obama administration has discussed the need to expand apprentice programs like this one across the country. but so far, many companies have been unwilling to invest in training. apprentice graduates like andrew balarabe say employers might want to start. >> i think it should, should be contagious. other companies need to realize, hey, let's have these old guys that are getting ready to retire, let's train the young guys. >> reporter: balarabe used to be a mechanic, but didn't see a career in it. now he's an accomplished welder finishing his associate's degree. >> i see myself staying with this company for a very long time. i have a bright future. >> reporter: northrop grumman doesn't require workers to stick around after training. instead, the company says it creates competitive opportunities that entice them to stay. apprentice grad jerome hashagen says that philosophy works. >> it builds loyalty to a company where you're not just job shopping all the time, looking for another company that pays a few dollars more an hour. it just becomes part of you. >> re

here is obama care, a program i'm advocating is called you care. >> what is your view of mitt romney's health care plan he signed into law in massachusetts? >> he had the right to do that. i don't believe president obama's bill is constitutional. i don't believe the federal government has the right to tell individuals with a can or can't buy, anymore than i can force you to buy that suit. i believe that's wrong. the states, on the other hand, under the constitution have the right to do it. he had the right to do it. it was not the right thing to do. individual mandates and a prescriptive, top down from the state, as to how the state is going to run the program is not working well. people joining the ranks of the insured are not doing it through private sector insurance. as you saw, governor patrick tried to freeze any kind of premium increases. they're driving up costs and they will say to the insurance companies you can charge any more even though costs are going up. this is as heavy prescriptive idea that people can work this out and government has to do it. is not the right approach

program. mr. obama's three-day, five -- three-nation five-day visit, that is, includes stops in chile and el salvador. >>> a state of emergency has been declared in yemen after police stormed a camp filled with pro-democracy demonstrators this morning. on friday, thousands of people took to the streets in the capital demanding a new government. at least 42 people were killed when police opened fire on the protesters. >>> in the southern port city of aden police shot and wounded at least six anti-government protesters during a demonstration there. >>> egypt is taking its first big step toward democracy. voters are casting ballots on a package of consequence tulgsal changes sponsored by the ruling military. it is the first major test of egypt's transition from a dictatorship to a democracy. since the ouster of president hosni mubarak last month. >>> former secretary of state warren christopher has died. according to a family statement, he died from complications of kidney and bladder cancer. christopher ser

program. and this is from the obama administration, this is their budget that was just filed. here's what the american people need to know. what does this program do? it offers a loan of $50,000, up to $50,000 to pay all arrearages to homeowners on their first mortgage. $50,000. and then to pay up to 24 consecutive months of mortgage payments. 24 months of their mortgage payments. now, both the gentleman from texas and the gentleman from massachusetts kept talking about the large financial institutions . that's who is owed the money. and in fact we are not getting this money from the large financial institutions, just the contrary, we are paying them. because they are the ones that hold this mortgage. so when the taxpayers write a $50,000 check under this program to pay a rearages on the mortgage, who do you think it goes to? it goes to bank of america, it goes to morgan chase, it goes to citigroup. and it's shocking that the gentleman from massachusetts would actually say that this money is coming from the very institutions that are going to receive this money. this billion do

program u.s. president barack obama has reportedly signed secret orders allowing the cia to carry out covert missions inside libya teams overseers are thought to have been gathering intelligence for military air strikes and setting up links with rebels one of our libyan foreign minister has arrived in britain saying he's no longer willing to work on the regime of colonel gadhafi. as the latest from that his capital. burble fighters have now been pushed back to the city of ruslan north we are hearing that this is strategically important oil to the city it's the only in the hands of gadhafi is made and now there are numerous reasons being bandied about as to why the rebels are being forced to retreat and retreat so quickly part of that is because gadhafi forces are simply base so organized they better trained and they have basic leadership and this is posing some real dilemmas to the international community in terms of what it should be next when it's becoming increasingly clear that these airstrikes are not that successful while the government here in tripoli is insisting as it has done since these co

. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> president obama issued a declare ration that this is read across america day all across the country. [cheers and applause] all right, president obama. [applause] there we go. we're grateful he did that and especially grateful that mrs. obama and secretary duncan are here. let's hear it for our special rairds. [cheers and applause] >> it sounds like you are pretty excited; right? what about? [laughter] thank you. we're also excited about reading; right? in our house we read all the time. do you know that? the president is a reader. we call him the fact supplier because he knows facts both everything. you guys want to be facts people? you have to read, and we're going to do that. we're going to read something fun. secretary duncan and i were big dr. suess fans. >> we both have two children at home who are a little bit older than most of you guys, but if we had a nickel for every book reread, we'd be rich. these are great, great books. the more you read for fun at home, turn the tvs off at night, and just read and if yo

obama's stimulus plan. everybody wonders where the stimulus program money went, and one thing if it was fun this program. working with the oldest anti- party organization in new england, which ted kennedy was a champion of. we created a series of workshops for the whole year based around a human-rights platform. not looking at these folks who need to be saved but as folks who can engage in a dynamic process to think critically about the situation they are in, understand the situation they are in so they can make informed choices and the other folks on to the information they are getting. we took malcolms idea. we got the united nations convention of the rights of a child. we constructed some of the basic elements. over the years, we created human rights report cards where the young folks in me this organization, who were just coming home, one month they did a report card with a graded the public schools. the next month, they greeted the police in their community. the next month, they greeted the health care services in their community. all of these things -- there's an international convention that says

burghers here to offer his take help work attorney and creator of the website obama crimes dot org philip roth of the program my pleasure how are you i'm fine i'd like to get it at the core of your beliefs of what you what you have or ordered or think you have obama was born in kenya absolutely he was going on this four thousand nine hundred sixty one he has to turn on grandmother sirrah obama has stated and we have it on our website obama crimes that count if she was in the hospital when he was born all this one thousand nine hundred sixty want ok mom has put forth the biggest hoax against united states of america in our history he's a fraud he's a phony he's an imposter and it's a disgrace how congress hasn't looked into it and also how the national media has not and he's a citizen you write of indonesia absolutely he was adopted or acknowledged in indonesia and his name became barry soetoro if he hasn't legally changed his name since that time then his name is barry soetoro you can use an alias but not for doing purposes and that's what he's doing so is name isn't even barack obama and now i really believ

program. and this is from the obama administration, this is their budget that was just filed. here's what the american people need to know. what does this program do? it offers a loan of $50,000, up to $50,000 to pay all arrearages to homeowners on their first mortgage. $50,000. and then to pay up to 24 consecutive months of mortgage payments. 24 months of their mortgage payments. now, both the gentleman from texas and the gentleman from massachusetts kept talking about the large financial institutions . that's who is owed the money. and in fact we areot getting this money from the large financial institutions, just the contrary, we are paying them. cause they are the ones that hold this mortgage. so wn the taxpayers write a $50,000 check under this program to pay a rearages on the mortgage, who do you think it goes to? it goes to bank of america, it goes to morgan chase, it goes to citigroup. and it's shocking tt the gentleman from massachusetts would actually say that this money is coming from the very institutions that are going to receive this money. this bilon dollars is n

program isn't working. no, it's democrats. and who did president obama -- has he applauded to temporarily run the consumer financial protection bureau? well, it's elizabeth warren. we all know the answer to that. what does elizabeth warren say about this program? let me quote what she said. just the facts, not spencer bachus, not patrick mchenry, not judy biggert. no. elizabeth warren. who works out of the white house, who's in charge of consumer protection. because here's what she said, december 14, because treasury's authority to restructure hamp ended on october 3, 2000, the program's prospects are unlikely to improve substantially in the future. in other words, they're not going to -- they're not going to improve this program. so let's end by saying this, we say shut it down, you say mend. let's mend this program. why? let's not pretend. we're not talking about mending, we're talking about pretending. the treasury according to elizabeth warren doesn't even have the ability to do that. the administration itself, not someone here, but your administrati