also joining me, thomas frank, author "what's the matter with kansas" and the upcoming book "pity the billionaire." gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight. mr. frank, what was president obama doing today? what was the overall message in your opinion and what you heard? >> it sounds to me like he was trying to make the populist turn the same way teddy roosevelt did in 1910. you know, it's about time. i am really, really, really happy to see him going down this road finally. but that's why people go to osawatomie. >> how did he tie it with the frustration and motivation of the 99% with this populist tone today? >> he went a long way in doing it. he put his presidency in the context of american history. and that's very important not just for, you know, history folks like you and me, but for the american public to see that this is part of a continuum of a philosophy of government that says, we owe each other something. we don't rise and fall alone in this country. we do it together. and the republicans have had a very different view. not always, not in teddy roosevelt's day. he was,

thomas franks spoke, what's the matter with kansas?nomic interest. so, is there going to be a shift now? >> yes, no -- i mean, you know, there's a shift happening in this country. you know, we have been a country where people vote based on their aspiration, not on their situation. the situation is so thick right now, folks are starting to question that. see, maybe -- maybe my kids would be better off if i voted based on my situation. you know, as we were talking about on one of the breaks, we have just got to reckon with the fact that we're going to pay for this one way or the other. we can pay for this in welfare support, foster care, putting folks in prison, or we can pay for this and create jobs, holding families together and giving kids a positive role model to actually look up to who's there working every day. that's the only choice right now. >> but i want to respond to something you said about the -- what i thought was so interesting about obama's take on inequality -- i like the speech a great amount. it's stuff we talk about o

>>> joining me from washington is thomas frank of harper's magazine. you for asking. you wrote, what's the matter with kansas? we spoke about some of the wedge issues. what do you think are the wedge issues for this next cycle? >> well, it's going to be completely different. the traditional culture war issues has taken a back seat to economic issues. this was especially noticeable with the tea party movement where they were explicitly not talking about culture war issues so they could concentrate on economic ones. you see the same thing with occupy wall street. and so your sort of traditional wedge issues are giving way to economic issues this time around. >> how surprised are you that democrats are not getting more traction for their proposals to have the rich pay more taxes? >> well, you know what, you are talking about the payroll tax cut or highly technical issues. these are things that everybody agrees on in principle and when it comes right down to it, to talk about the very small increases or rewriting the tax code in some marginal way, that's n

and then when i went to work for the disney studio can i was men forred byiolie johnson and frank thomasd these great disney animators, the nine olmen. they were right at the end of their careers when they were retiring. and i realized that they at the time loong back, they were handing the torch off to us. they wanted to keep this art form, that they had developed with walt disney going to the next generation. and they looked at us, as the leaders. and i didn't think about that until looking back, you ow, when i was older. >> do you have some sense in your own brain in the same way that steve could constantly look at something and think not what it was today but what it can can be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow? and if you do, what is that? what is animation in 20 years? >> one of the things that i have always, you know, and steve and i have always loved is the new technology t is so inspiring to us, and keep pushing it. but what we never forget is the fundamental basics of what a movie is. and that is the story and the characters, and so when you look ahead to where it is going, it

thomas. claire m. thompson, everett m. thompson, frank t. thompson, carl todacheene, frank todacheenie, curtis toledo, frank toledo, preston toledo, willie toledo, joseph h.towne, zain towne, chester h. tso. paul b. tso. paul edward tso. samuel tso. alfred tsosie urk collins d. tsosie ush samuel tsosie, sr. john upshaw, william upshaw, joe vandever, olver wagoner, robert walley, franky