truman says great. you be the president.ill be the secretary. >> they were joking, but that language, reagan uses it with carter. there are souvenirs. at one point, kennedy sends eisenhower a box of golf balls with the presidential seal and says i cannot use these because of my back and you are the only one that legitimately can. >> when reagan leaves office here are some rules you are going to need to follow. you're going to have to say no most of the time. they will try to drag you into financial deals. you have to ignore this. people will try to take advantage of you. we will talk about this as it goes on. we will have to consult. there is a kind of real process. even now, the chiefs of staffs to the presidents talk quite a bit in e-mail quite a bit. >> i want to ask about the eisenhower/jfk beginning. i saw these letters between richard nixon and ronald reagan before 1968. they came out in the west. >> no one ever looks at the start. no one's looked at these letters in real time next to each other. certainly not the poli

now truman is involved. and truman wants to know -- because we are fighting a war in the pacific theater -- we talked about island hopping the other day. where there were less and less islands to hop. we were getting closer and closer and closer to the japanese home islands and the action, the fighting, the combat as bad as it ever was in the first place, is getting increasingly worse. and we have the introduction of things like kamikazes. but we believe that the campaign in japan will be the costliest military campaign in history. we were afraid of that reality but we are preparing for that reality. we have a planning commission working on invading japan by the summer of 1945, and by the middle of 1945, truman gets word that that bomb may be ready. in fact in july 1945 he gets a phone call that says essentially the gadget has worked. the bomb that they were going to test was called the gadget. the detonation, the whole project, was called project trinity. the trinity explosion of the gadget or this nuclear

harry truman is saying in the truman doctrine, we must contain. these important documents.the long telegram. winston churchill saying there is an iron curtain. all this time while the united states has nuclear weapons and the soviet union does not. and yet the weapons are not used again. good. but we know -- clearly we have discussed -- obviously, they will not stay this way. our greatest fear is when the soviets will get the bomb. but one thing the soviets do is work that much harder to get the bomb, not simply in their own science, their own technology, there are military, but they start to use espionage. and the cold war becomes a war that relies there he heavily on spying, on espionage, and our manhattan project gets penetrated even greater, even further. part of whatomes the soviets used to put their bomb together. the soviets now need the bomb. we have it. they need it. of 1949, we enter into a nuclear world where the two sides, the two primary belligerents in this new cold .ar have nuclear weapons the soviets detonate an atomic bomb in august of 1949 and now it's on.

the truman committee still exists, by the way. after the war was over, the senate made it the permanent sub committee on investigations. and it's still carrying on investigations. it's been doing that famously for the last half century. after truman left the committee, the committee continued looking into the war contracting and the most famous hearings actually were in the early -- late 1940s when howard hughes testified. one of the issues brought up was during the war hoougz was dealing with a lot of government contracts, and whenever air force personnel would come see him about the planes he was building. he would say general, you're just a superb manager. when this war is over, you have a job with hughes aircraft. of course, that made them more sympathetic towards making sure he got the contracts. the movie "aviator" is about a lot of his testimony in this, before what was known at that point as the truman committee, even though truman wasn't the chair of it. >> senator, may i ask a question? >> if you just wait until i issue

he sat down with truman and told truman about the atom bomb.e said this is something we've got to address, and you should know about it right now. truman had to start on a quick learning curve. statistics show that had the level of combat we experienced with japan, in oak an hour, we had 60 or 70 ships sunk by the cassie -- kamakazi the casualties would've been close to a million allied forces casualties. the japanese probably would have suffered twice that number of casualties as a consequence of our predominant airpower and naval power that we were going to bring to bear in that battle. it was going to be a terrific battle. weight= those facts as you think about it. . >> bring up the death of roosevelt. that is one of the key points of history where people remember if they were alive. do you recall that day? >> i remember. it was still cold in great lakes for training in may. >> you recall? >> it is hazy. it is not nearly as clear as the day kennedy was killed. we knew about it. but i don't recall a lot. >> all right. did the war influence bo

i can't top the harry truman story. i want to thank you marvin for joining us this evening. you have been a great friend to the national press club for many years. the american legion post has been a part of the national press club for 95 years, actually as of this month, this is a 95th anniversary. partners of local many in the vietnam war commemoration, which is a program authorized by congress and organized by the department of defense. key to multiyear program the 50th anniversary of the war. as a partner of the post, conducting several programs each year to focus on the legacy of the war that to the lives of over 58,000 americans. this is the first of those programs. vice commander of our post, tom young, for all the work he has done in setting up's tonight event. the commemoration recognizes the nearly 3 million men and women who served in vietnam. some nine million served during that. , 3 million in country, including our president of the national press club and we are delighted to also have him as a member of our post. the discussion of the impact of the war on post-

truman, even woodrow wilson. i work for the woodrow wilson center for scholars. but even wilson, a great transformer and legislative resident, the architect of american entry for all -- and yet falls low over idealism and tried to negotiate a peace with a league of nations. so accomplishment significant, presided over a time politically, and yet the asterix associated with the president's is too large, put them in the undeniably great category. host: all this week, we are focusing on the leading authors and publications out this year. we are kicking off this week with aaron david miller and his book on the end of greatness. our phone lines are we will get your calls in just a minute. the three undeniably great presidents straddled the american story. washington, the proverbial father of his country, lincoln, who kept it whole, and roosevelt, who won his greatest war. guest: the conclusion is annoyingly negative and somewhat depressing, but my contention is undeniable graces is driven by crisis. without crisis, the nation encumbering character that is, artfully an

truman signed the bills into law.icaid covered the heal care costs of millions of low-income people. we asked henry aaron if that met our sponsibilities to tseho couldn't afford medicacare is wouldt be a problem if all states providedenefits as generous ashose in say the upper third or upper half of the distribution. sometates provide meager medicaid benefits-- fewer than 10 days a year ofospitalization severe limits on the number of doctor's visits one can receive-- so that even moderate illnesses may t be fully protected under the medicaid program. in addition, the population that may be served by the medicaid program in many states is quite narrowly defined. so notwithstandi e fact thamedicaid is the federal health program for the poor millions of poor americans are not cored by any benefits at all they don't have government protection or private insurance because they're unemployed or because they work in jobs that don't provide suchoverage. about 15% to 20% of the american population at the present time has littl

truman and eisenhower, very little movement from the bottom up or from the top down. you ask the historical community and they come out with a judgment of more or less along the lines, at the aspiration of greatness in a president centered culture, we have a presidential addiction. that would be ok if the addiction could be satisfied. i am arguing that the supply of truly great presidents has always exceeded the demand and now more than ever in our country's history we have a paucity of presidents you may detach the word great to. the number of military officers a couple years ago, i asked them, all combat that's roughly my age who was the last political leader in their lifetimes that they would attach the word great to? i gave ten minutes to answer the question, they couldn't identify one and they asked me, who do you think? it was a very easy answer, great political figure, i said martin luther king. one of them in exasperated fashion shot back but he died, he was assassinated, he was murdered in 1968. that is exactly the point. king with all his imperfections, no l

as truman. as the korean war dragged on a concerned. the invasion of the south,, but two years later there was no end in sight. it was a lot like the war in vietnam. reagan to his war hero. reagan campaign on his behalf. he worked for the eisenhower designated successor, but always as a concerned democrat. a decade after his original connection with eisenhower he reregistered as a republican because his party had left him. interestingly enough as a result of that relationship he became a reagan mentor. at the end of 64 eisenhower began to pay attention. it stood in stark contrast. at years and reagan was seeking out, seeking to rebuild the republican party. they stayed in touch, exchanged letters, phone phone calls, and personal visits. they stayed in touch you make last visit. the concept of piece through strength was probably born during those conversations. we know of these because of the records that are at the eisenhower library. reagan had a hero but also of note. the archvillain in reagan's life was robert kennedy, his supreme ne

truman library museum and independence. here at the library, we just love to do programs commemorating anniversaries. and such as the case tonight, 40 years ago. well technically, 39 years and 363 days ago. but work with me on this -- gerald ford became the first and to date the only unelected president of the united states. an outcome that would have been beyond conception just two years earlier when richard nixon was cruising to his landslide victory over george mcgovern. to tell us more about that in the administration that ensued we've brought back for the third time dr. john robert green. but you can call him bob. who among many claims to fame ranks as the first historian to perform a serious scholarly study on the administration. the first edition of his book was published some 19 years ago by the university press of kansas, it's still in print, i'm happy to report on its fourth printing. of course being a pioneer has its disadvantages. the report that in the early days he was often asked if his interest in the ford p

truman against a dewey. grew up in a traditionally republican family and i was very interested in politics. i was still in high school. i wanted to stay up to hear how it came out and i was too tired. the next morning, i went -- my father was in the bathroom and i said, dad, who won? he said "truman" like it was the end of the world. 25-30 years later, i went home, i was sitting there with him after dinner. he launched into this whole tirade about how the country was going to hell. i had heard that all my life. [laughter] then he paused and he said, to bad old harry is it still in the white house. [laughter] oh, i've got a story about our next character onstage. when the panama city became a big event in washington, i was called by president carter to come down and advise him on what the policy ought to be. my book on panama had just been published. i was turned over to a very nice, young aide's assistant. she has subsequently become a good friend. we were setting at this tiny tiny little office, and it was

when harry truman became vice president after fdr was killed, he wasn't even aware that there was an atomic bomb on development about being ready to be used. so i think after that experience, presidents largely kept their vice presidents better informed of what was going on in their administrations. but it wasn't for another 30 years, until jimmy carter, the process i just told you about, to vet a vice president to make sure he was qualified to be president, that it happened. and since then that model, called the mondale model, has been followed by most presidential nominees and most residential presidents in taking their vice presidents. >> thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. >> military historian and one recounts the u.s. 15th air force of military exports during world war ii in europe, specifically begins attacks against not the initial facilities. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. -- specifically nazi and daschle facilities. >> good afternoon, everybody. i am barbara peters. it's sunday october 12, and i'm delighted to welcome act barrett tillman who is written o

one term acts never had a chance to make greatness like accidental presidents like truman and johnsonwho would quite to become consequential. >> where you are in the sequence, and who proceeds you and follows you is extremely important. two of these greatest president, lincoln and fdr, were preceded by two of our worst. herbert hoover could not anticipate let alone cope with the crises. roosevelt one of the most underestimated men to hold the office. the consequential president primarily for his foreign-policy decisions. >> we will go back to what you mentioned earlier. c.all begins with the letter crisis, capacity to succeed once the crisis occurs, and character. president can actually do great things in office. without him, there probably would have not been a peace treaty. was jimmy carter considered a great president? we never had a one term or who was great. no. have to align to create that kind of greatness. when i say great, i am talking about great. great i bet 15 times a day. "he is a great tennis player." we empty the word literally of any significance in any meaning. more t

and the cia, of course, is an agency whose creation president truman oversaw. but the cia has dominated american intelligence history to the point where you would hear people who should know better say nothing important happened in american intelligence prior to the cia or at least its immediate pretty seser of the world war ii era. this is actually drivel, of course. in fact, many of the main components of american insolvents and many of these practices as it was manifested during world war ii, the cold war and even today, have their roots in world war i. so, that's what i want to talk about today. of course, intelligence involves many different forms of collecting information. world war ii saw initial flourishing of a number of them. feel free to ask me about any of them in the question and answer period. aerial photography which]vi evd into things like the u-2 spy plane and spy satellites. also of signals intelligence. the interception of enemy messages and breaking of codes and extraction of the information found therein. you've been reading about the nsa

a young carl levin, i know, admired president harry truman, especially truman the senator who drove crisscross the country stopping in cities where defense contractors were committing fraud and waste at the expense of america's wartime economy. truman himself would be very proud to see senator levin leading the permanent subcommittee on investigations. a former civil rights attorney, senator levin has relished the chance to crisscross -- to cross-examination those he suspects of dishonesty towards taxpayers and the american people. it's not literally a trial by fire, but that committee room has definitely become a sweat lodge for unscrupulous executives. and anyone who's tried to get rich by getting one over on average americans. they sweat because they know that senator levin has done his homework. and, boy, has he done his homework. he digs so deep, he knows more about what they're going to say than they do. david used a slingshot to bring down goliath but carl levin can topple a tycoon with nothing but a binder full of subpoena documents. and we've all seen him do it. in 2007 he shined a li

truman.g world war ii i was a colonel, chief of staff of the 84th infantry division and chief of staff to alexander r.boling commander general of the 84th division. the intelligence which we received was of the very best. the individuals clear down to the squad level were indoctrinated, instructed exactly what their jobs were to be. there is no question that that waiver had very much confidence that we would be able to carry out this mission. i know also that the regiments, the battalions, companies and platoons and squads had that same feeling accomplished. >> the 84th division would be supported by the british on the left and the american's 2nd armored and 102nd infantry on the right. facing them were several brigadier divisions and a number of crack panzer units. the precisely five minutes to 7:00 on november 18th an artillery barrage signaled the attack had commenced. >> it was about three miles away from where we were. and it so happened that our regiment was leading the attack and happe

and her political affect, she was on a first-name basis with everybody from harry truman through lbj,ouse, campaigned for him, but her own autobiography has hundreds of listings of where she was and what she sang and why she sang it. and she's just the best known. there's a whole bunch of other people who did that much and more. never financially did more. mahalia was the lone black artist who could afford to do that at that time. the ward sister stos to a degree, but very few others could. but they were there. they were marching on the front lines. they were providing the music and the mass meetings. they were doing what they could. they were doing benefit concerts. that's never been really chronicled the way i they it deserved to be. so when a we started "nothing but love in god's water," we went to the place where the movement happened and tried to track down not just the gospel singers but the pastors, the deejays, the people who were on the front lines, the members of the mass choirs and said what did you sing, why did you sing it and where did you sing it? what were you getting

and that is not the case we were picking on poor little harry truman. it was a case we were sticking up for the constitution. i invite the democrats to look at the court cases -- the lawsuit that 17 states have now joined in saying that the president has violated article 2, section approximate 3, the part of the constitution -- section 3, the part of the constitution that talks about executing laws which this president seems it is a pick and choose operation run out of his political office. i also invite the democrats to go to central america and talk to so many of the immigrants that i have. i have been to honduras. i've been to el salvador. i've been to guatemala. i've talked to people. one of the earlier speakers said they come here because we changed the law, you're out of your mind. go talk to the folks in central america. they got the word that it's easier to come here under those circumstances. can i have 30 seconds. mr. goodlatte: i yield 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. kingston: they need to

harry truman also represents some other aspects of the legacy of the war. on november 1, 1918, he was on n, and he wrotedu a letter to his cousin telling her he saw a little poppy coming up through the rocks and he thought the flower had a nerve on trying to grow on a site in a terrible battle. but it looks so pretty in a place that he had to pick it and send it to her. he sent want to bet as well. there you see some the poignancy of the war. on november 11, while he was waiting for the armistice to take affect, he whicha letter to beth in he expresses feelings of the enemy. "it is a shame we cannot go in and detonate germany and cut off a few of the kids' hands and feet and scalp a few of the old men. i guess it will be better to make them work for france and belgium for 50 years." here is the man most associated droppingpublic mind on the bomb on japan in 1945. when he does that, in a public statement he releases, he says, this is revenge for pearl harbor. i think the question is, was he made calais by the first world war or was that always part of his ch

this was hosted by the kansas city public library and the truman library institute. >> good evening. welcome. i'm the director of public affairs. i want to thank you for joining us in the latest generation of our held to the chief presidential lecture series co-presented by our partners at the chamber and -- truman library institute. atmany of you know, here the library we left do programs commemorating anniversaries. and such is the case tonight. 40 years ago -- well, 356nically, 39 years and days ago -- work with me on this -- gerald ford begin the first and to date the only unelected president of the united states, an outcome that would have been beyond conception just two years earlier when richard nixon was cruising to his landslide victory over george mcgovern. to tell us more about that and the administration that ensued, we brought back for the third time

president to step foot on cuba was harry truman, it appears from looking back at records, back in 1948 went to guantanamo. going back to calvin coolidge going to havana before that. so it is historic and have the blessing of the pope, i gather, from his involvement in this as well. >> that is irony. the involvement of harry truman and guantanamo. >>> and up next, shocking video of the horrific act of 312 school children that died while taking an exam. and jeanne moos with unusual robberie robberies. this one caught on tape. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪ and mama loves you. what if one push up couldcoli cprevent heart disease?cancer? one. wishful thinking, right? but there is one step you can take to help prevent another serious disease- pneumococcal pneumonia. one dose of the prevnar 13 ® vaccine can help protect you ... from pneumococcal pneumonia, an illness that can cause coughing, chest pain,

harry truman also represents some other aspects of the legacy of the war. on november 1, 1918, he was on patr patrol. and he wrote a letter to his cousin telling her he found a poppy coming up through the rocks. and he thought the flower had a nerve trying to grow on a site of a terrible battle. it looked so pretty in the place that he had to pick it and send it to her. there were two of them. he sent one to bess as well. there you see, obviously, some of the point yapsy of the war. while he was waiting for the armistice to take place, he wrote a letter to bess in which he expressed his feelings of the enemy. it's a shame we can't go in and detonate germany and cut off a few of the kids' hands and feet and scalp a few old men. i guess it will be better to make them work for france and belgium for 50 years. of course, here is the man most associated in public meant with dropping the bomb on japan. when he does that in the public statement that he releases about the use of the bomb, he says this is revenge for pearl harbor. so i think, again, the question is

i want to thank before i begin the kauffman foundation, i want to thank the harry s truman library in the jude, my runs there. i want to thank the kansas city public library. i am from cazenovia college. i usually begin these talks by making fun of the snow record that we have. it's the snowiest place in the country, or so i'm told, but then i was watching your weather this past winter, and i was getting some bulletins about how bad the snow was. no longer have to feel sorry for me. apparently i have to feel sorry for you. you didn't think i was going to start with them, did you? on august 8, 1974, the day before richard nixon resigned as president of the united states, after he had made his decision after he had spoken to the american people, he went out and as wasse garden, usually the case in those days, hisas followed closely by secretary of state and director of national security, henry kissinger. and was, by all accounts, and bleed drained of all energy. physically and emotionally propping him up, as nixon was going to go back to to relax before the next day's trip back to calif

judge truman morrison serves on the superior court of the district of columbia. for years he has advocated for bail reform. >> two-thirds of the jail population in the united states of america tonight are people awaiting trial. people who our law presumes to be innocent because they have not yet had their trial. those people have not been put there because they have been found by any process to be too dangerous or too unlikely to come back. they're almost all there simply because they don't have the money to purchase their freedom. >> we wanted to speak to inmates who find themselves in that position...but baltimore's jail refused to allow us inside. we were granted access to the second largest jail in maryland: the prince george's county detention center. >> every year, thirty thousand people pass through this facility. the ones who remain inside tend to be like samuel kayira - out of touch with family, with a history of misdemeanors. samuel was arrested for stealing from a wine store. his bail was set at two thousand dollars. >> hey, how's it going? i'm sebasti

harry truman also represents some other aspects of the legacy of the war. on november 1, 1918, he was on patr patrol. and he wrote a letter to his cousin telling her he found a poppy coming up through the rocks. and he thought the flower had a nerve trying to grow on a site of a terrible battle. it looked so pretty in the place that he had to pick it and send it to her. there were two of them. he sent one to bess as well. there you see, obviously, some of the point yapsy of the war. while he was waiting for the armistice to take place, he wrote a letter to bess in which he expressed his feelings of the enemy. it's a shame we can't go in and detonate germany and cut off a few of the kids' hands and feet and scalp a few old men. i guess it will be better to make them work for france and belgium for 50 years. of course, here is the man most associated in public meant with dropping the bomb on japan. when he does that in the public statement that he releases about the use of the bomb, he says this is revenge for pearl harbor. so i think, again, the question is

it's the largest majority since harry truman was president.first time in 1232 years that her seat will be held by a republican. >>> and criticizing the new book about his father. >> i think it's typical psychobabble of somebody who has no clue what he's talking about. >> the reviewer said he was in competition with his father. in his book, he says there's no need to compete. >>> during an interview on abc's this week, new york mayor bill de blasio talked about the tension following the decisions in the cases. >> we have to have an honest conversation about a history of racism. an honest conversation about the problem that's caused parents to feel their children may be in danger in their dynamics with police when in fact police are there to protect them. >> officials in north korea are calling the massive cyber attack on sony pictures a righteous deed. they deny any involvement in the hack, but said supporters might be behind it. >>> house speaker john boehner has inspired the name of a racehor racehorse. twitter jokesters said he's weeper of t

it is the house's largest republican majority since harry truman was president.his also marks the first time in 132 years that landrieu's seat will be held by a republican. >>> six prisoners who were being held at guantanamo bay have been transferred to uruguay. a resettlement deal was announced on sunday. there are a total of 136 prisoners in guantanamo, which is the lowest number since the prison opened in 2002. >>> sunday marked the 73rd anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. about 100 pearl harbor and world war 2 survivors attended a ceremony. the attack on december 7th, 1941, killed about 2400 sailors, marines and soldiers. >>> in australia, christmas festivities are in full swing. even if it is summer down under. more than 2500 people dressed up as santa and they ran through the streets of sydney on sunday and they did this all to raise money for a children's charity. over in london, meanwhile, hundreds participated in the annual great christmas pudding race. costume contestants balanced trays of traditional christmas pudding as they navigated an obstac

he needs to take a leap from harry truman. this president has to get that message.ust imagine if it were bill clinton. we are back. we are number one. obama needs to capture some of that. >> even bill clinton was frustrated that by the end of his administration he didn't get enough credit. who does he get it first with if the president does get credit? business leaders, the public, congress? >> it is not republican members of congress, we know that. >> that answer was a gimm e. >> i think it'll be more from the business community. it has to come from the public, those independent-minded voters that on november 4 did not give him credit in part because he lost because he's didn't participate. >> business activity is up consumer confidence, housing everything seems to be moving. probably the fact of the world economy is not doing that well is the biggest drag right now. >> we are the envy of the world. we are so much better than everybody else. everybody went through a tough time six years ago and we have done better than western europe and other places. >> i said 64

is an agency who president truman oversaw. you will hear people say nothing important happened in american intelligence prior to the c.i.a. or at least its immediate predecessor. this is actually drivel u of course. in fact, many of the main components have their roots in world war i. intelligence involves many forms of collecting information. world war ii saw the initial flourishing of a number of them. also; a signal's intelligence. the breaking of the codes and ciphers and the extraction of the information found therein. however, today, i want to specifically talk about espionage. there's an old joke that it's the second oldest profession in the world. you find espionage in all different ancient texts. ie, ant of what actually happened on the battlefield was in 1274 b.c., egyptians versus the syrians. spies play a pivotal role in two different aspects of that battle. espionage has been around for a long time. in the united states it was of course widely practiced during the civil war but that legacy didn't really carry forw

. >>> plus new questions about truman capote's classic book "true blood.l go to los angeles for the announcement of this year's grammy nominations. >>> that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. . >> we begin at 4:30 with breaking news, mobile three liver at the scene of a row home fire. the flames broke out about 20 minute ago, on the unit block of south connestoga street. firefighters just got this one under control. we've learned one person is being evaluated for injuries. the fire has not spread to any other homes. stay with us for the very latest all morning long. >> it is friday, december 5th, i'm ukee washington. >> i'm nicole brewer in for erika this morning. stories we're following today. >> fiery toned one car crash leaves one person dead. >> comedian bill cosby is fighting back against at least one every hirst accusers, the new development playing out in a california courtroom. >>> and, take two, live look

and harry truman, as some of you y may know, was an artillery officer in the great war. and on november 1st, 1918, he e wrote a letter to his cousin, and he told her of the saying t that was making the rounds. and i think this sort of illustrates perhaps why the y te american public does not support the treaty of versailles. the saying was, germany was li s fighting for territory, england for the sea, france for patriotism, and thepa americans for souvenirs. f and i think that conveys the th fact that wilson never really made the stakes of this war as n apparent to the american public as he should have. aharry harry truman also represents other aspects of the legacy of the war.on n on november 1st, 1918, he was o patrol near verdon he wrote a letter to his cousin saying he found a little poppy coming up through the rocks. he thought the flower had a r h nerve trying to grow on a site of such a terrible battle. but it looked so pretty in that shell-torn place, that he had t pick it and send it to her. there were actually two of them. he sent one to bess as well. there you

he needs to take a leap from harry truman. he wanted a one-armed economist.e was sick of on one hand, on the other hand. this president has to get that message. just imagine if it were bill clinton. we'd be hearing we are back. we are number one. obama needs to capture some of that. >> even bill clinton was frustrated that by the end of his administration, he didn't feel like he got enough credit. you have gotten worse since then. if he does get credit, does he get it first with? business leaders, the public republicans members of congress? where's the low-hanging fruit him more credit? >> it is not republican members of congress, we know that. >> that was a gimme. [laughter] >> i think he'll get more from the business community. it has to come from the public those independent-minded voters that on november 4 did not give him credit in part because he lost the debate because he didn't participate. >> business activity is up -- consumer confidence, housing everything seems to be moving. probably the fact the world economy is not doing that well is the biggest

. >> stephen: local pastor truman hurt is bringing the hurt to the fairness ordinance. >> we should be able to fire and deny them service or deny them housing. >> stephen: but pastor hurt has nothing against gays. >> i have nothing against gays. i don't like their lifestyle. i don't like them trying to push it on me and my family. and the community. >> stephen: so? they ought to go back in the closet where they belong. >> stephen: and pastor hurt has the full support of the city's simple hill folk. >> i'm in favor of the gay rights ordinance. >> stephen: he's obviously not from the city. who else? >> i think the ordinance is a great thing. >> stephen: she's a lesbian. what about gary? gary, tell me what's wrong with the ordinance. >> i have one thing against it. not one thing. >> stephen: not one thing. what is wrong with you people? >> this is a small town. they think we're a bunch of close minded hill billies. >> stephen: yes, we count on that and this openly gay mayor is ruining all our classic stereotypes. >> i'm also the town hairdresser. >> stephen: okay. that one sticks. but how

iraq in 2013 2003, and you're right, largely since president truman presidents in both parties have ignored . congress can be acquiescent. and it needs to be changed. >> we have a cult of the presidency. we have people who think that that--pretty much the american people expect too much from our president. there could be a good use of the king. it would be good to separate the head of state from the head of government. in england you have the head the state. and they embody all the patriotic whims, and head of government, he's just a politician and we can throw them out and make fun of them. here we have both of them. they have to be were hero, and go in and do things that congress is not able to do, but we ask them to do it. it's the cult of the presidency, as it's been talked about inside my book. >> what powers do congress and the courts have at their disposal when they decide the chief executive has gone too far or exceeded the letter of the law. stay with us. >> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to tal

one of the worst things -- he be harry truman's old saying, you want a friend in washington, get a dog i mean, look, they'll throw anybody under the bus for political reasons. i worked in the obama campaign. i worked with deb this mcdonough down the hall from me. he called me a lot in the campaign. in fact, we wrote the thing one day about if musesarif and acted in the campaign. basically, what you have say president who has taken more and more control of a foreign policy process. probably more than kissinger and nixon did. now, if you're a cabinet officer, you have two choices, you can say, hey, i'm secretary of state and defense, this isn't what i signed up for, and i'm out of here. and in the white house, he wasn't the neocons, you know, type of thing. look, i don't need this job, you want me, you've got to listen to me. if you don't, i'm out of here. see, and basically, so they were trying to show that okay -- he's lazy. i mean, come on, you know? they're trying to demean him. at the staff meetings he agreed with kerry and general dempsey. they were right, why not. in other words,