our guest the thomas friedman talking about his news book, "that used to be us. i'll give you a little hint. i won't give away how it ends but it involves selling the moon. first more big news in america's war on terror. >> one of america's most wanteded terrorists is dead. anwar al awlaki was born american. >> this was a c.i.a.-led operation. >> president obama signed an executive capture or kill order. >> two predator drones took out al awlaki. >> jon: yes, we... wait! who? that's one... who is is this guy? >> a 40-year-old was known as the bin laden of the internet. for his use of you-tube to recruit want a be terrorists. in fact, last year you-tube removed several clips of awlaki. >> jon: that's okay. they did remove awlaki's clips but not because of terrorism. what happens what happened was awlaki tried to post videos of our show on you-tube. you know, i'm sorry but you don't (beep) with via come because they will rain hell fire down on you. they are... oh, so there's got to be a sillyier way to boil down awlaki's evil. >> he was kind of like the facebook fr

thomas friedman, thank you very much. >> thank you, jon.

please welcome back to the program thomas friedman. ( cheers and applause ) "that used to be us."tle. you sense a mid-life crisis. you sense people of girth sitting on a stoop watching young people dance. >> jon, it does... it's a forward looking book with a backward looking title for a reason. the argument of the book is we actually have a formula for success. it goes back to hamilton and lincoln. it was basics basically built on educating our people up to and beyond whatever the technology was, having the best infrastructure, having the best immigration policy that attracted energetic and intelligent immigrants, having the best rules for capital investing and preventing recklessness and having the most government-funded research. as you look at our history that's what actually got us here that formula for success. the main argument is is we've gotten away from that formula. >> jon: do you think though that we also at that time had a frontier. which increases opportunity. we had not necessarily colonies but we had a different relationship with natural resources. than we have now.

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. >>> we're going to be right back with thomas friedman right after this. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles, enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief to the site of pain. it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. >>> i hope this will motivate china to stop devalving the yuan on its own. i also know it will send a strong message to the chinese that americans will no longer ignore their blatant unfair trade practices. >> if only those trade practices weren't advocated and paid for by domestic american ceos who benefit from their investment in china. that will be the ultimate reconciliation. and another emphasis, i might add, to get the money out. that's senate majority leader harry reid, by the way, he's speaking this afternoon ahead of a pivotal vote on the china currency. the aim on that particular bill, whether it passes or not, so to engage whether, in fact, we can cease china's ability going back to 1994 to sell everything that we would sell, in theory, for 50 cents less.

. >>> thomas friedman is the "new york times columnist and the co-aut r of "that used be s" good to have you on the program. >> good to be here. thank you. >> you described yourself as a frustrated optimist. what did the united statessed to be that we aren't anymorore? >> thehe book has a backward looking title but is really a forward-looking book because we believe america had a formula for susuccess that we've gotten away from. that was built on five piars. educate our people up to and beyond what the cucurrent levelf technology is, whether it's the cotton gin or the laptop computer. second, have the best infrastructure, roads, telecom. we track the most energetic and talented risk takers. have the best rules on emphasis and have the best govevernment funded research to push out the best technology. that was our formula for success, and what argued at the beginning of the end of the cold war, we got away from that formula. our real challenge, and i think our real opportunity,, is to ge back to who we were that used to be us. >> everybody is having this discussion right now. it really i

thomas friedman and michael mandel bombs book is second to. the book details of america can rediscover its values and. third is the $88 champion, the story of the rise of a racehorse and snowman in this show jumping circuit. unbroken, the story of an olympic runners survival and world war two by laura ellen brand followed by not for a children's book, go bf to sleep. simon garfield recounts the history of spots in his book just my type which is sixth. an actress jane lenses tell-all book happy accidents 1/7. former vice president dick cheney's memoir his eighth ballot by in the garden of beast . recently discussed their books on book tv and you can once the program on line. finishing up the list is arguably the collection of essays from author christopher hichens. for more best sellers cut to l.a. times dot com. >> and now program from our archives. historians of brought water talks about the life and public career a founding father george

thomas friedman, that used to be yes. seventh. and eric greece is book, a. the moral life of henry l. axes ninth. tells the story of a woman who sells our culture than 1951 and have since spin years and numerous medical studies. and tom rathman wraps up the list. a guide to finding annualizing personal talent. for more best sellers go to "usa today" that. >> i think that probably everybody in this room that is wearing a uniform and even the people that are in a year because of the warrior ethos among wage or another. you think back to when he joined the press made the decision that probably had something to do with that. either you were -- you felt like you really have the warrior ethos, high-school athlete or a competitive person and you were looking for a venue where you could use it in the senate want to join the most of the unit conjoint or maybe you fell that there was the absence of that new life. it might have been addressed or wondering, am i going the right way, heading for jail armor heading for some kind of a life that is not, you know, going to b

really think our nation is in danger because we are coming up with some-optimal solutions, asked thomas friedmanays. guest: i agree with you. there are some changes that should be made to the filibuster rule. i do believe there is a reasonable amount of time that people ought to have debate in the senate, but once that time has elapsed -- and that was part of the harkin proposal -- you need to have a majority vote to get things through the united states senate. he elections matter, elections cow when you have a majority. we ought to change the rules so that the majority can work its will. host: congressman schakowsky represents illinois. alfred. are you there? go-ahead with your question for the congressman. caller: thank you. good morning. i just want to ask you -- first of all, the philosophy of people like yourself and the president, has failed. why is it that you continue to try to extract money from productive people in our country? the money that you have spent and wasted is humongous, creating a gigantic debt. yet, your position is let's continue to tax the successful people. guest: first

as thomas friedman said back in 2003, he was writing a column saying he went to iran after the invasion of iraq. and he was actually cornered by angry iranians, not that we invaded iraq, but that we had not invaded iran. he said we want to be free. >> i think there's two big political questions. could a better deal have been negotiated? the administration chose not to have high-level negotiations, that is maybe the area where they're most open to criticism. but the other is, yes, there are american forces elsewhere in the region, but there is some argument to be made that having 3,000, 5,000, 10,000 troops in iraq on the ground symbolically and substantively allows us to react better. not only to deter influence, but to react. lindsey graham's main criticism, all the sacrifice we made in the country could be undone if the country comes apart now. >> but that's the same argument in afghanistan. with all due respect to lindsay and for you for quoting him, we can stay in afghanistan for another decade. and it would all come apart a decade from now. the same with iraq. >> but they're not eq

because i really think our nation's in danger because we're coming up with suboptimal solutions, as thomas friedman says. guest: well, there were actually efforts, i agree with you, to change the filibuster rules. there were a couple of very minor tweaks that haven't really been able to get this clog out of the way, this huge barrier of this legislation getting passed. i do believe there is a reasonable amount of time that people ought to have debate in the senate, but once that time has elapsed, and that was part of the harkin proposal, then i think you have to be able to have a majority vote to get things through the united states senate. elections matter. elections count when you have a majority. i think that those rules -- you know, we ought to change the rules so that the majority can work its will. host: congresswoman schakowsky represents the ninth district of chicago, evanston area. republican in new jersey. alfred, are you there? caller: yes. host: go ahead with your question or comment for the congresswoman. caller: thank you. host: we're listening alfred. caller: yes, good morning. i jus

really think that our nation's in danger because we're coming up with suboptimum solutions as thomas friedman says. >> guest: well, there actually were efforts -- i agree with you -- to change the filibuster rules. there's a couple minor tweaks that have not really been able to get this clog out of the way this huge barrier out of the way of getting legislation passed. i do believe that there's a reasonable amount of time that people ought to be able to have debate in the senate, but once that time has elapsed, and that was part of the harkin proposal, and i think you have to be able to have a majority vote to get things through the united states senate. elections matter. elections count when you have a majority. i think that those rules, you know, that we argument to change the rules so the majority can work its will. >> host: congresswoman schakowsky represents the 1 1*9 district area. alfred, from new jersey, are you there? >> caller: yes. >> host: okay. go ahead. we're listening. >> caller: yes, good morning. i just want to ask you, let's agree first of all that the philosophy of yourself

milton friedman has been our guestth and he wrote the introduction of this 50th anniversary edition of f.a. hyack's book, "the road to@@ >> next on booktv, christopher phillips hussein to direct to thomas urgently said that the u.s. constitution be revised on a behcet's travels across the country and speaks to several groups of americans about reframing the constitution. this is about an hour and a teen minute. [applause] >> thank you so much. it's a pleasure to be back in boston. the last time is here for a book event was in 2004, when my book six questions of socrates, came out. i started in 1996 at a philosophical group, hoping to revive a forward inquiry that have been made famous by the greek philosopher and with this idea that the vibrant democracies that citizens willingly consider a wide range of objections of alternatives to their own way of saying things. and socrates cafÉ is meant to be a face for friends and foes, intimate strangers alike to gather together and explore thoughtfully in reasonably timely as extensional problems, an explanation that makes people feel bound together more. that was "socrates cafe" and this is "constitution cafe," can have a follow-on in a very i