- >> rose: don't worry about the president or paul vocar. just tell me whether ben bernanke made mistakes. >> i was about to say i applaud the same principle to bernanke, and that's as far as i go. >> rose: what kind of historian are you, and what kind of, we depend on you to bring your experience so we can understand the great issue of our time and you refuse to criticize -- >> no, it's not necessarily criticism, i may be complimenting him. >> rose: why is not necessary for us to understand the kind of mistakes from the past. isn't that what we're supposed to do, learn from history. >> wait for my next book. >> rose: come on. so let me just talk about where we are today. when you look at the most recent crises, can you give me your assessment of what happened in terms of the debt ceiling and in terms of using that as a weapon which warren buffett calls a weapon of has destruction. >> i think something very fundamental has happened in recent years. going back to fundamentals. i discussed this actually in the back as well. >> rose: right. >>