gene sperling is standing by live. this hour he will respond. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." ♪ [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] ow, ow! [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense? s. >>> let's get to job jack caffe. he has "the cafferty file." >> as president obama heads out, he has his work cut out. a new gallup poll shows americans of broadly dissatisfied with the state of the union on many issues. in in cases that satisfaction has dropped off a cliff over the last four years, the most toxic, the econom

sperling, it's good to have you here again.ou for your time. >> thanks for having us. >> republicans are obviously upset with the fact that these were recess appointments and clearly felt that it was worth it to do this. what can be done with having richard cordray in in position that couldn't be done without the recess appointment. >> >> that's obviously a great president. the president wasn't trying to pick a fight. he was trying to pick the law of the land which created, as you said, a new independent consumer watchdog which is there to protect millions of working families to the type of abuse that many have suffered from credit cards, payday loans, you know, school loans, and on and on. but to your particular question, until either as an actual director in place, you could not supervise the nonbank. when you think of the types of abuse that so many people suffered, unethical abuse of subprime lending, loans that exploded on them, 40, 50% of those came from nonbanks. still to this day, until this appointment took place, we c

so gene sperling sent a message. he said in an mcconnell said he was going to filibuster unless we agreed rate than two of their budgets that they'd run on. so it turns out he couldn't raise the debt ceiling and i was wrong. it didn't hurt too bad. and that is one way we get less ideological politics is people find errors they make. >> been a bit out of washington, one of the things that you do frequently in the book is cite examples of sort of where you think this appropriate partnership and shared possibility between government and private sector is working at the state level. if you can talk a bit about your theory is that enough to share examples particularly from your time as governor of arkansas sort of what worked then and then also what is continue to work and not work subsequently in arkansas. >> well, first i think we americans are used to people at the state and local level hustling business, trying to save businesses and expand businesses, locate businesses and it is largely a bipartisan activity undertak

gene sperling actually sent me an e-mail that says you work for me. a scrupulously honest person. said we tried. we didn't make a big deal out of it because the main subject was the bush era tax cuts will be extended. but this shows you i am trying to force myself to say once a day either i don't know or i was wrong. because i think it would be therapeutic if everyone in washington did that. and so i want to be as good as that. here is something i was wrong about. since raising the debt ceiling simply ratified a decision congress has already made to spend money and since the budget is the only thing the senate votes on that is not subject to a filibuster, i thought raising the debt ceiling vote was not subject to a filibuster and i was wrong. so gene sperling send me a message, senator mcconnell said the was going to filibuster unless we agreed to alter the budget. i said right on. she couldn't raise the debt ceiling. and i was wrong. that is one way we get ideological politics. people find errors they make and fess up. >> moving out of washington. one of the things you do frequen

and gene sperling actually sent me an e-mail, who worked for me and is a scrupulously honest person, said, oh, we tried. you know, we didn't make a big deal out of it because the main subject was with were the bush era tax cuts going to be extended, but this shows you -- i'm trying to force myself to say once a day either i don't know or i was wrong. [laughter] because i think it would be therapeutic if everybody in washington did that. [laughter] and so i want to be as good as them. so here's something i was wrong about. since raising the debt ceiling simply ratified the decision congress has already made to spend money and since the budget is the only thing that the senate votes on that is not subject to a filibuster, i thought that raise the tet -- debt ceiling vote was not subject to a filibuster, and i was wrong. gene sperling sent me a message and said senator mcconnell said he was going to filibuster unless we agreed right then to all their budgets they'd run on. so turns out he couldn't raise the debt ceiling, and i was wrong. see, it didn't hurt too bad. [laughter] and that'

gene sperling talks a little bit about selectu.s.a.. five or six months ago the president directed us in the congress to develop a selectu.s.a.. this really is the key thing so lots of businesses, and i talked with lots of businesses, talked with many of you in the room, one of the frustrations that distances have felt is working really as cleanly as possible, as efficiently as possible across not just one part of the u.s. federal structure that across all of it, the local levels, cities, counties, states and what we are doing in selectu.s.a. is seeking to bring together the information about working with all these levels of government making it as readily available as possible. the largest of the companies have done lots of this and may find that not as directly helpful as smaller companies but in the manufacturing chain, smaller companies are the suppliers and the supply chain and they only get better and advanced manufacturing is the way things are going. what we want to do is to make this as clean as possible so we will talk to you

gene sperling talked a little bit about select u.s.a. about five or six months ago the president directed us in the commerce department to develop select u.s.a. this really is a key thing. so lots of businesses, and i talked with lots of businesses, i've talked with many of you in the room. one of the frustrations that businesses have felt is working really as clean as possible as efficient as possible across, not just one part of the u.s. federal structure, but across all of them. so local levels, cities, counties, states. and what we are doing at select usa is seeking to bring together the information about working with all these levels of government, making it as readily availed as possible. the largest of the country said done this may find that not as directly helpful a smaller companies but in the manufacturing chain, the smaller companies are the suppliers in the supply chain, and they only get better in advanced manufacturing is the way things are going. and what want to do is just make this as clean as possible. so we'll talk to

gene sperling talked a little bit about select usa.e or six months ago, the president directed us in the commerce department to develop select usa. this really is a key thing. watch how businesses -- i talked a lot to businesses -- have talked to many of you in the room. one of the frustrations that businesses have felt ais working as quickly and efficiently as possible across not just one part of the u.s. federal structure, but across all of them. local levels, cities, counties, states. what we are doing in select usa is seeking to bring together the information about working with all these levels of government, make it is readily available as possible. you may find it not as directly helpful as smaller companies, but in the manufacturing chain, the smaller companies are suppliers in the supply chain, and they get better and advanced manufacturing is the way things are going guwhat we want to do is just make this as clean as possible. we will talk to you a lot about select usa, a commerce department-based initiative. that is something

i saw on twitter last week you talked to the president and gene sperling, what was your message?e is, we want to stand with the president and the white house to call on the captains of our democracy, the congress, to get back on the ship. they have abandoned ship. the costa concordia captain abandoned ship, and that's what they've done when it comes to the economy. and the fact of the matter is, they are spending too much time with vitriol and finger pointing and not enough time doing their job, reaching across the aisle, coming together with bipartisan initiatives to create jobs. we put a common sense jobs agenda that said pass the transportation bill, extend the payroll tax cut, do what we need to do to put people back to work, invest in our ports, airports, roads again. they can't keep on saying that the only thing they are going to do is cut, cut, cut, and not make the investments that we need to put our teachers and our firefighters and our police officers back to work. >> were you happy with what you heard from the president or is there something in what he told you about t

great popular historians like david hackett fischer, barry strauss in the library, for instance john sperling. it's about narrative, it's about telling a story because that is what makes him popular but in the hands of a master like david stewart it's much more. it's about telling us what's important about our history. it's about human character and what it has to do with the story, and usually told with some sympathy for the human character as difficult, as odd are the odd as they may be, as aaron burr was end with the right amount of color, the kind of color that we all see in the most interesting characters in our daily lives. i should say not quite as colorful as perhaps aaron burr but i think it's gore vidal as historical fiction. [laughter] and, then every great historian has a unique talent and david stewart with his training as a lawyer, brings to history what i think of as a forensic attitude toward the evidence, and this can be distinguished from an argumentative attitude that many academic historians take. it's a genuine concern with where the evidence leads us and when motives are

and in december, the president named both gene sperling and me as cochairs of his white house office of manufacturing policy. but that is the policy focus. strengthening american manufacturing, especially advanced manufacturing where we should enjoy a comparative advantage i will say is an issue that is close to my heart. with more than 25 years now in the business community, putting 16 years, for example, serving on the board of a wayne. i watched a broad decline in u.s. manufacturing and the erosion of the middle class jobs that came with it. i'm committed to working to stop that declined on past administration success, like the ones happening right now that her economic development administration within the commerce department, which in the last two years alone has invested in 68 competitive job creating projects nationwide to support advanced manufacturing. the promising news is we are starting to see a rebound in the fact your tiered manufacturing employment increased by 225,000 in 2011. 225,000 jobs. that is the fastest year-over-year growth since 1997. so i'll conclude with th

and in december the president named both gene sperling and me as co-chairs of his white house office of manufacturing policy. so that's the policy focus. strengthening american manufacturing, especially advanced manufacturing, where we should enjoy a comparative advantage, i will say, is an issue that is close to my heart. with more than 25 years now in the business community including 6 years, for example -- 16 years, for example, serving on the board at boeing, i watched a broad decline in u.s. manufacturing and the erosion of the middle class jobs that came with that. i'm committed to working to stop that decline building on past administrations' successes like the ones happening right now at our economic development administration within the commerce department which in the last two years alones has invested in 68 competitive, job-creating projects nationwide to support advanced manufacturing. the promising news is that we're starting to see a rebound in the sector. manufacturing employment increased by 225,000 in 2011. 225,000 jobs. that's the fastest year-over-year growth since

in december, the president named gene sperling and myself as the cochairs of his white house office of manufacturing policy. strengthening american manufacturing where we should enjoy a comparative advantage, i will say, is an issue that is close to my heart. with more than 25 years in the business community, including 16 serving on the board at boeing, i watched a broad decline in u.s. manufacturing and the erosion of the u.s. middle class jobs that came with that. i am committed to working to stop the decline based on past successes, like the ones happening right now, and our economic development administration, which i am the last two years alone has invested in 68 competitive, job- creating projects nationwide to support of advanced manufacturing. and the promising uses the we are starting to see manufacturing advance by 225,000, the fastest year-over- year growth since 1997. so, i will conclude with this, the administration does not believe all that the government has the answers, all the answers, but they do believe that their role to play in creating the conditions that make inv

gene sperling went out when the irs found 30% in the welfare to work, he went out and shamed taxpayersor when we know that the business people are altering their income tax? -- are all cheating on their income tax? they are hand in glove, 75% of hillary clinton is invested in obama, and it is going to carry out that way and if we do not stopper by 2018 we will be a socialist country. guest: our senator demint is fond of saying, this is our last chance to beat obama. if we think he has been left in the last few years, he will ruin our country in a second term. there is no doubt in my mind and we cannot go back to the freedoms that we enjoy. host: larry on the independent line. caller: good morning. i am a true conservative. ultra-conservative, i am sorry does not go through three wives. leave his wives when they get sick. that is not a sign of moral character or leadership we can depend on. host: do you want to add anything else? guest: i was just waiting on the question. caller: the question is why is it the news media wants to apologize to newt gingrich for him getting asked a tough q

gene sperling went out when the irs found 30% in the welfare to work, he went out and shamed taxpayers, saying why are you picking on the poor when we know that the business people are altering their income tax? they are hand in glove, 75% of hillary clinton is invested in obama, and it is going to carry out that way and if we do not stopper by 2018 we will be a socialist country. guest: our senator demint is fond of saying, this is our last chance to beat obama. if we think he has been left in the last few years, he will ruin our country in a second term. there is no doubt in my mind and we cannot go back to the freedoms that we enjoy. host: larry on the independent line. go-ahead, good morning. caller: good morning. yes. i am ultraconservative. ultraconservatives. i am sorry, -- a true conservative. i am sorry, a true conservative does not leave his wife when they get sick. that is not a sign of good leadership that we can depend on. can you hear me? guest: yes, sir, i was waiting on a question. caller: the question is -- why is it that the news media almost wants to apologize to new

if we were going to meet with a member that was generally something that larry summers or gene sperling do, and i would go along to brief them. but a lot of the work as people probably know the staff level to really develop the details. so, that was something of the things i didn't expect to i didn't expect the working for congress, but i did spend a good bit of my time particularly the specter initiative that had to go s. con. res. and working with them and then also there is working with other people who are going to be talking so if someone has concerns, if they are a tv broadcaster you have to listen to them because if you don't then they took to congress and congress says what about these concerns and you better have a good answer to it. >> somebody asked from here it looks like policy makers and legislators are making decisions on issues they don't really understand. did you find this to be true or not? >> i wouldn't say i agree with it. i think there is generally a reasonable humility and caution about the technology policy. it is very hard because it's moving quickly and its com

in december the president and put gene sperling and me as co-chairs of his white house office of manufacturing policies of this the policy post.