dysfunctional so how exactly does one rebuild the dream and get everybody on the same page well joining me from our studio in new york is former white house special adviser then jones he's also author of the new book rebuild the dream. and i want to thank you so much for joining us tonight and where should we start how about we start with the economy i with these new jobs figures that are coming out for the month of march well the last couple of months are actually looking pretty good for the president now we're seeing that this economy is on very very shaky ground specifically the recovery is on very shaky ground and so how exactly do you would go about trying to rebuild the dream if people can't even get to what's probably one of the first steps which is finding a job because people are still giving up and they're not looking for jobs anymore they're stepping out of the market. well sure i mean and before you get a job you often try to get educated and education has also become a big barrier now because of the incredible student loan crisis that we're in we now have one trillion dollars of student debts in the country tuition dead in the country that's more than

life to activism and building grassroots movements in jones joins me now from our los angeles studio he's the author of the new book rebuild the dream and jones welcome back. glad to put be back and glad to be talking to you about the fact the book is now a bestseller and part of the reason is because what you're talking about we people know that we're getting screwed we that we know that our democracy can take away from us the middle class the american dream but we don't know what to do about it and i wrote the book you know having been a grassroots outsider who got a chance to spend six months as a white house insider before becoming an outsider again i got a three hundred sixty degree view of where we're misfiring as progressives and the big takeaway is you know l.b.j. did not lead the civil rights movement we got to quit waiting for the president to lead the people's movement you need a good head of state like l.b.j. but you also have to have a movement in the streets to have to move that president on we've we've got a president who we need to reelect and make sure that he's not replaced by the tea party but we get it takes to s

the show. i'm joined by van jones. president of rebuild the dream. good to have you with us tonight. i find this -- this really should be breaking news, m.i.t. romney is with president obama on student loans. what do you make of this move? >> this is a big deal. you had every kid in america that's said to graduate from high school staring down the barrel of 6.8% interest rates on the most important student loans, stafford loans, and nobody doing anything about it. young people started screaming about it. the young people from rebuild the dream and other groups. the president listened and said this has got to stop. banks are getting their money for next to nothing. why should kids go from 3.4 to 6.8%. an extra $10,000 out of their pockets. $20 billion out of the pockets of the next eight million kids. it's wrong. he stands up. and then here comes -- surprise, surprise, another big flip-flop, mr. marvelous, mr. mitt romney saying, oh, the ryan budget is marvelous, even though it destroys the pell grand, flip-flops in a heartbeat and chases president obama toward the young people saying

. >> i fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans. >> van jones of rebuild the dream on the progressive movement to end the war on the poor. >>> another big brand dumpbs alec and now they may have a problem with the i.r.s. robert greenwald is here to explain. bill o' reilly joins the scare. tonight former labor secret robert reich is here to respond. >>> artest drives. fired up. >> the player formally known as ron artest is in big trouble over this assault. should he be tossed from the league forever. >> i got real emotional. real excited. it was unfortunate that james had to get hit with unintentional elbow. >>> good to have you with us tonight. the next big political battle between mitt romney and president obama is under way. the focus is on young voters. this weekend president obama picked a fight with republicans who want to let student loan interest president obama is facing an enthusiasm gap among young people. romney needs to convince young people that he is the guy for them and he's ons their side. republicans know it. mitch daniels said you have to campaign

in "rebuild the dream," van jones has plenty of critiques of the white house but also believes the people who catapulted the senator to the oval office just stopped showing up. he writes too many of us treated obama's inauguration as some kind of finish line when we should have seen it as just the starting line. too many of us sat down at the very moment when we should have stood up. van, the book here, "rebuild the dream," do you think -- we talk about hope and change and you said earlier in the show this is about fear, not so much hope this go around. do you think seven months is enough time to rebuild the energy, whether that's a fearful energy or hopeful energy that president obama did in 2008? >> we'll see. i mean, the reason i wrote this book, you know, i think most of the people i know are what i call the post hope democrats. you know, democrats progressives. people like this president. they want him to be re-elected. they don't want a tea party president. they're not in love with him the way they were. part of that is because they know that just re-electing this president is not e

stronger than ever senior fellow at the scepter for american progress and has a book called rebuild the dream. van jonesng. hi, van. >> good to hear your voice, and it's good to have a new book out. and ialso working with a new organization, also called real build rebuild the dream. >> rebuild the dream. we will have you tell us all about it. we have been talking a lot, van, and you talked yesterday on "meet the pre "meet the press" about the trayvon martin case. >> sure. >> with all of the new information coming out the latest that the experts have listened to the 9-1-1 tapes say there no, sir way that voice crying for help is george zimmerman, it clearly is trayvon martin, why are the police dragging their heels in this case? >> it's a mystery to everybody. i think that, you know, for myself as an african-american, it hits close to home. i feel like i am going to have to go broke crytrying to keep my two kids in tuxedos so they can go down the street to buy a candy bar. it's the craze iest thing in the world. the only thing you generally have going for you if your child is murdered is that the police

rebuild the dream author van jones. check out the book. thanks for getting up.ry. joining us tomorrow sunday morning at 8:00 when i have neither barack obama or mitt romney on the program, but i will share my thoughts on the launch of the races against each other this week. you can get info on the guests on facebook at up with chris. thanks for getting upt "up." >>> who is the your business entrepreneur of the week? like many small business owners carlos constantino of the constantino florists is struggling with the cost of gas. he has figured out a way to streamline the deliveries and bought a fuel efficient van all while streamlining business with customers. for more watch "your business" saturday mornings. ♪ you are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪ ♪ you make me happy when skies are gray ♪ [ female announcer ] you know exactly what it takes to make them feel better. ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] that's why you choose children's tylenol. the same brand your mom trusted for you when you were young. ♪ how much i love you [ humming ] [ female announcer

the results are back. we'll talk about it straight ahead. >>> also van jones has a new book it's called "rebuild the dream.tell us how he felt the obama hope bubble burst. we'll discuss that straight ahead as well. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. ♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do in neckarsulm, a great roar was heard and things changed. children adjusted dreams. victories became habitual. thumbs grew new calluses. hollywood hopped on the bandwagon. air traveled in style. and for the first time ever, journalists ran out of adjectives. and so concludes chapter 1 of the legendary audi r8. ♪ >>> a couple quick headlines to tell you about. cleanup efforts now under way in north texas after violent tornadoes flattened homes and sent giant 30,000-pound big rigs flying through the air. as many as 13 tornadoes ripped through the dallas-ft. worth area. hundreds of flights were canceled at dfw airport, a major hub. amazingly, no reports of deaths or serious injuries there. the mayor of dal

. >> and speaking of invention and improvement, i interviewed van jones about his new book "rebuild the dream asked him what is the best piece of advice you ever received. >> you know i break the rules. >> go for it. >> my father told me when i was going off to yale for law school, he was from the south but he never saw it. he was emotional about it. he told me, he said, you listen. when you get there you're going to see there are two kinds of smart people. they make simple things and make them sound complicated so they can enrich themselves and there are people who take very complicated and make them sound simple to empower other people. i want you to be that kind of smart kid when you come home. that totally framed my approach to the legal education. i wanted to be able to explain ideas to ordinary people but the other advice i got from my proffers. he said any choice you make, make it a choice that offers more choices. in life when you're the first born, you've about got nothing to do but die. >> life narrows choices. >> my college professor told me life narrows your choices. if you have t

the question. let's bring van jones back, a special adviser in the obama administration, author of "rebuild the dreamill cain joins us as well. gentleman, good to have you into the conversation. there are two separate issues here. one, as christine said, is the issue of loan forgiveness. the other is keeping interest rates on federal subsidized student loans low, into next year, at a price tag of $6 billion. van, bottom line, can we afford either of these proposals? the democrats say we should take money from big oil subsidies. the republicans say it should come from a special health care fund. what do you think? >> well, first of all, i think it's good that the young people themselves started this conversation, saying, gee's what's going to be happening to with us, they're going to be doubling the interest rate. every kid about to graduate from high school is staring down the barrel of a 6.8% interest on stafford loans. they started yelling and screaming, the president listened. romney followed the president's leadership. now both parties are trying to figure out how to solve the problem. that is a

joining me today, msnbc contributor ari melber of the nation is, van jones for green jobs and author of "rebuild the dream

the progressive agenda and the biggest contrasts that are emerging in this upcoming election is van jones. he was president obama's dream jobs v vzar. he is the author of "rebuild the dream" coming to us from new york. van, welcome inside the war room and congratulations on your book. it sounds like it's going to be great on amazon. you were just saying? >> yeah, we decided we wanted to put a book out. you know i am probably the only grass grassroots outsider who became a white house insider and then became an outsider again. i have a 360 view on both the successes and failures inside and outside of government for progressives. we put it in a book and said we are not going to go with a corporate publisher. we went with nations books and put it out with an organization like moveon.org. it is at the top of the list. we are glad because now is the time, as you said for us to see this narrative. these guys come out with this horrible anti-american budget. and they call themselves patriots. you can't be a patriot and you can't be a conservative. conservatives are about conserving things. these people are about smashing down every american institution that makes us g

just how crazy things are getting between the president and the courts are van jones, president and co-founder and author of "rebuild the dreamrd wolffe, msnbc political analyst, awe number of of the book "revival clrn the struggle for revival inside the obama white house." van, your teleprompter introduction was a little bit weird. so you are the president and co-founder of rebuild the dream? >> yes, i am. >> which is also the title of your book. that's what threw me. all right, good. we're finished with the book promo. >> very good. >> so a homework assignment, high school stuff, three pages, single typed, thursday at noontime. what? >> look, this is -- it's ridiculous. first of all, if there is a threat to the dignity of the courts, it's not coming from the president. it's coming from stupid stunts like this. and the worst part about it is, the president's exactly right. this is another example of conservatives just making up stuff to be mad about. the conservatives have been the ones saying we don't like judicial activism. the president says we don't like judicial activism. they go oh, my god, he's trying to overthrow the

the individual in a very fundamental way. >>> i'm joined by george will, former white house adviser van jones, author of a new book called "rebuild the dreams." ann coulter. and our supreme court expert terry moran >>> let's begin with the supreme court. george will, the cw last week from the supreme court watchers, the court was prepared to uphold this, that barrage of tough questions i think surprised a lot of people, how do you think it came out attend of the day? >> within five minutes on day two, it was clear that the justices, at least five of them, had decided that the narrative advance by the critics of obama care was valid. this raises fundamental questions whether there is a limiting principal on what the federal government can do the congress can do whatever it wants and the federal government has better police powers. it was clear early on that five justices think that's a serious question. which takes us back to nancy pelo pelosi. during the debate over this, she was once asked, are there constitutional? she said, are you serious? she lived in san francisco and the democratic party. the idea of limited government is foreign to

i want to bring in van jones, author of the new book "rebuild the dream" and krystal ball. you've come out on top. >> so far so good. >> and the first former obama official to write a book and i'm excited to be able to talk about it, and a lot of what we talk about is about the economy and this whole question about how we get americans working again. >> let's get right to it and look at the numbers. as you look at the unemployment rate, say january 2009, the president came in taking office with the 7.8% and it peaked to 10%, october of 2009 and then we have where we are today at 8.2%. is this a quick enough turnaround dropdown for the president or do they wish november wassing for thor in the distance? >> they're going to want for things to keep getting better and this is like reagan and when he was going for re-election and the numbers were bad, but they were getting better. this is good news for the democrats, bad news for the republicans. the numbers are getting better. however, i do want to point out that on the discouragement question our older workers and our younger

the incumbent harks a record. van jones was a special adviser to president obama focused on green jobs and innovation. van is the author of "rebuild the dream" mitt romney reached back into the clinton years and stressed it's still all about the economy. van, what does president obama have to do to point to successes in the economy in the face of those criticisms and the kind we're here from mort zuckerman, a democrat. >> well first of all, it's interesting to me, we all are frustrated with the economy. the reality is when you talk about the stimulus package, a third of the stimulus package was tax cuts. conservatives say they are for tax cuts. a third of the stimulus was tax cuts. 95% got tax cuts under the stimulus. another third he was saving cops, teachers, firefighters from being thrown on the of work in the hundreds of thousands across america. if your kid went to kindergarten a teacher was standing there to welcome them in those years, thank president obama. >> let me interrupt you for a second. van, let me interrupt you for a second. like mort, you're making good points. the president seems to struggle getting that message out there

>> van jones, author of the new book "rebuild the dream." >> i thought about you often, van, as i wasou. and i was just wondering, what's it like working in the white house? >> best six months of my life. >> come on. it was not. >> followed by the worst two weeks. how is that? fair enough? no. it's amazing. one of the things about it, you think you love the country -- and you served in government. you think you love the country. you work in the white house, and you hold it in your arms every day. you know, and nobody stays there forever. you stay there for six minutes, six years, me six months, the fact that we trust this entire experiment to ordinary people every day, all day long. >> it's amazing stuff. >> unbelievable thing. and every hour is like a day. you're learning something, deciding something. so for me, when i left, you know, under fire, smeared, whatever, i still thought i had a responsibility to try to explain what i was seeing. and that's what this book is about. i saw -- i was a grass roots outsider. became a white house insider. and then i became a gross roots outsider

the first indian family in a small town. former obama administration adviser van jones examines the current state of the u.s. economy and presents his ideas on recovery in "rebuild the dreamin "trickle down tyranny: crushing obama's dream of the socialist states of america," michael savage, host of the syndicated radio program the savage nation argues against the leadership of the current administration. victor cha at the national security council offers insight into the dictator-led government of north korea in "the impossible state: north korea past and future." in "before the lights go out," award-winning science editor maggie

the times i've had guests then i'm like oh, my god that's van jones. >> you were expecting van johnson. >> stephanie: because you have a new book out called "rebuild the dreamew book. >> i was a grassroots outsider for about 15 years working in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the country. richland california, san francisco. and was really focused on getting kids out of jail and into jobs. especially green jobs and then i wound up being a white house insider for about six months and then an outsider again. i've had a 360 degree view of the progressive movement, especially during the obama era where the white house got it wrong, where the grassroots missed opportunities. i thought it was important especially as we're with going into this new election season to try to share my experience. a lot of people who have my background in activism never get into that white house environment. get behind the curtain and see how things actually work. a lot of people are behind that curtain, have no idea how grassroots politics and movements work and i thought i could put a book out there that would help both sides. so we can get more done in the next term than we go