nixon had just gone to russia with clinton's okay, in fact, he'd gone with clinton's instructions. there are many foreign trips in this book, secret missions. this was one of them. and at the end of the trip, nixon writes clinton a long seven-page, single-spaced letters. it's never been released. we asked if we could see it, and he said no. but he told something that was in some ways better. he said, but i -- it's an amazing letter. it's hard-headed, it's smart, and we said how -- he quoted something from it. and we said, how do you know? and he said, oh, i reread it every year. and when nixon died in 1994 and it was clinton, the clinton white house that announced the death, and clinton, of course, gave the eulogy, he said a few weeks later he missed him in the same way he missed his mother. not is tame -- not the same, similar, because he said i often found myself wishing i could pick up the phone and ask him for advice. >> now, it was a truly extraordinary thing that we got to witness a father and son in the white house. you know, what are the chances of that, and if politics is

bush visited clinton when clinton was leaving office, and george w. bush asked clinton, you didn't used to be such a great speaker because clinton gave a horrible speech in the 1998 democratic convention. he said, do you have any tips about how to give a good speech? the president's club functions on levels both high, you know, and sometimes just very practical. >> but ultimately, i think, what struck us is the ultimate of all the rules and rituals, what makes the club reality, is the notion that the officer itself is more important than the individuals, and who occupy it and we kept hearing this again and again and again, particularly when one administration gives way to another, and so in january, 2009, president bush summoned the entire club membership to the white house to meet the new guy, and he says at that time to president obama, look, we all want you to succeed. those of us who have been in the office know, the office transcends the individual, and i think what michael and i took away from all of this research was seeing how these are men th

during clinton's presidency. relative peace and prosperity. clinton also has a special rapport with white, moderate blue collar voters a demographic that clinton, himself, hails from and one that mr. s, what shall we say, underemphasized? >> let me get this straight now. obama is going to ride on clinton's coattails into a second term? >> he is running on the clinton economic approach. >> no he is not. >> and people have fond memories of progressive taxation during that period, which gave us a surplus and 24 million jobs. at the white house they consider bill clinton a force multiplier. he underscores the difference between the romney approach and the obama clinton approach on the economy. >> mort, you are in pain. what are you in pain about? >> as they say, i worked with bill clinton for the better part of three years he knows and does understand the macroeconomy and the economy that this administration doesn't even come close to. he never would have gone ahead with the programs in my judgment this administratio

bill clinton reaches them. barack obama arguably has had a real challenge reaching them. >> that's a great point by the way. let me go back to a point you made about bill clinton being able to make the case against mitt romney and making that comparison. bill clinton is on the record, even recently praising mitt romney, saying he had a sterling business record at bain capital. and he has also been on the record criticizing a lot of barack obama's policies, case in point saying now is not the time to raise taxes on anybody, because the economy is really bad. i think a couple of months ago, maybe it was about a year ago, obama and clinton were standing side by side at a factory clinton blurts out everybody knows this economy stinks. you could see barack obama just want to slide under the carpet. so, are you at all worried that, yes, of course he will give the speech he needs to give but are you worried overall about bill clinton as a sur gated. >> no. he is on message most of the time. barring those few examples

positive view of clinton. more than any other american politician on that poll. >> he was extremely popular as a president. and as people get further away from their terms, their popularity seems to rise. it even happened to nixon, and it's happening somewhat to gourge w. bush. i'm sure 10, 20 years, he'll get a little more benefit of that distance. when people look back at the 90s, real wages actually rose somewhat for the first time in several decades. things were pretty good. there was a tech bubble that helped things along, and then -- which then fed into a housing bubble which collapsed and blew everything up, and people are reminded by this that things blew up on bush's watch. i think they're trying to create this contrast without bringing up bush, because the obama campaign thinks they can't mention him specifically, because then they'll get accused of trying to pass off blame. clinton is sort of a clever way of reminding people what things were like five, ten years ago. >> not only a clever way, but a

here's bill clinton. you want to get attacked by the other side. >> bill clinton wants to get by the other side, but this was an attack on barack obama. i think there's some distance from bill clinton here. he has to go out and defend barack obama, particularly on this issue. he's got this huge speaking role at the convention. >> he signed the welfare bill. >> he signed the bill. this came out in new york when bill clinton was in las vegas. came out of his foundation. for most reporters, they had to get it from the obama campaign or somewhere else. if you look at the language, it wasn't about savageness. he said it's not true and i find it disappointing. that's tame. >> he wants to be the guy above it all, but he also wants to support. he doesn't want to be the attack dog, i agree. >> he's walking a fine line. >> what do you think his point is? >> bill clinton's point in. >> yeah. >> his point is mitt romney is wrong about it. this is really complicated policy when you get down to. there aren't jobbed for

bill clinton didn't have that problem. he dealt more with the real political situation that faced him than as an idealogue because the idealogue thing didn't work for him early on and lanny knows that. >> look. they did face very different circumstances to be fair i guess you have to ask bill clinton what he would have done. he hasn't publicly endorsed what barack obama would have done. i'm not sure he would have handled it exactly the same way. i suspect or who knows maybe -- i now bill clinton would not have done healthcare in the first term the way obama did and focused more on the economy and unemployment. but they did come in to very very different circumstances. obama came in with everything falling apart. >> alisyn: that is true. however, bill clinton has been working with all these big hedge fund guys for the last several years. a lot of them are friends of his. a lot of them have department of education donated big moneyed to the clinton global initiative. people like him. he they think is he more of a centrist th

here's bill clinton. you want to get attacked by the other side. >> well, bill clinton definitely wants to get attacked by the other side. but this was an attack on barack obama. and i do think there was some distance from bill clinton here. he's got to go out and defend obama particularly on thish. he's got this huge speaking role -- >> he signed the welfare bill. zwle signed the welfare bill. this came out in new york when bill clinton was in las vegas. came out from his foundation. he had to get it from the obama campaign or somewhere else. if you look at the language, it wasn't about savageness. he said it's not true and i find it disappointing. that's kind of time for politics these days. >> he wants to be the guy above it all, but he also wants to support. he doesn't want to be the attack dog, i agree. >> he's walking a fine line. >> so what do you think his point is? >> bill clinton's point? >> yeah. his goal. >> i think his point is mitt romney's wrong about it. this is really complicated policy w

. >> i want to sit thank you to president bill clinton. >> president clinton. >> president bill clinton. >> both sides display of affection for bill clinton. as syria is pounded into rubble, even the president's supporters ask where is the united states. and, the mission to mars. they did not build this baby in the united states. -- did not build this baby in china. >> well, pulling in the key states of florida, ohio, and pennsylvania tell us that a lot of voters think a second obama term would be bad news for them financially, but according to a new poll, 56% of people have a favorable view of president obama, and mitt romney is that 40%. you have to go back to 1984 for a number that low, however,it has been such an uplifting week. let's start with campaign ads. we the to the pro-obama super pac add that implies that mitt romney is responsible for the wife. >> she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realizes what he is done to anyone. >> she had worked at a steel plant in missouri for almost 30 years, was laid off after bain capital closed the plant, his wife died. the w

hillary clinton had a lot of the votes. i was in the debate, i don't know about you, when i was hearing people say it's racism. and i was saying hillary clinton's platform is a little more progressive and her persuasion is emphatic. it's not as vague and gauzey as hope and change. when president obama became more serious he won people over. i think he can do it again. he's not going to win the majority, but he could do better. >> jennifer: we're out of time, but i'm so excited to have you on "the war room." i'm so excited to talk to you about this provocative and important book. joan walsh, author of "what's the matter with white people." thank you so much. as for what is the matter with brett bet. that's a mystery best left unsolved. >> up head here comes the story of the hurricane. the one that the republican authorities try to blame on vanguard: the documentary series that redefined tv journalism. >>we're going to places where few others are going. >>it doesn't get anymore real than this. >>occupy! >>the award winning se

so clinton, we now forget, but clinton there was a wonderful critique of the clinton administration that was called diplomacy by cruise missile, and that was his approach. let me turn to -- i want to get to other questions, but pakistan, i actually agree with the substance of what you're saying. um, there is a, my chapter on bin laden in the book, and i realize other people have written about it, i have a different slant to the account which is i go -- and it's more than obama allowing it. these stories are correct. he was leading, um -- >> right. >> -- the administration's thinking on this. no one's really focused on exactly how many choices obama made to say we don't care about pakistan. it's more than one. people think, oh, well, he could either tell the pakistanis that this operation in advance or even if he told them 30 minutes in advance, the fear was they'd be tipped off. >> right. >> and so in this sense he's more hawkish than bush. he's going to go ahead, bush's policy was to always work with pakistan. but it's more than that. because in the planning in which he was, obama was,

he wants to link those of the clinton policies, all he did was create. if you like him or not, his administration partially responsible for 18 point* 7 million new jobs. the unemployment rate was half from obama's first term. it was 4.2%. what is j kearney thinking? clinton benefited did from his republican predecessor. george h. w. bush. would everything of him him, when he broke his promise and raise taxes and created a massive reduction of military spending known as the peace dividend the beneficiary without question was william jefferson clinton. 18% right away the fall of the soviet union. where is the peace dividend now, a jay carney? is there anyone with the intellectual integrity to a knowledge these areas as being similar is a lie? there are other factors nothing to do with government. what about the internet boom? crude-oil selling for less than the $10 a barrel third 1999. but don't draw attention to that other than the current economy the numbers are not pretty. and nowhere near as attractive as the clinton years. $1 trillion with obama's. gi

what obama is doing a clear political ploy to align himself with clinton. what he is saying is completely true. it's just taking on clinton rates which were not terribly high. >> this guy has been in office for a full term. the plan as i remember, obama plan was cap and trade. trillion-dollar stimulus and obamacare. that was the plan. regulation wall street, all kind of regulation, hyper regulation of energy. that is the plan. now he pretends the plan was something he was not involved in. that happened in the '90s. extremely unusual era. it was also the decade of the peace dividend. between 1991, the collapse of the soviet union and 2001, beginning of the war on terro terror, we had ten years of peace and prosperity, which allowed a huge reduction in spending on defense and spending either debt reduction or social programs. that explains -- the idea that it was spurred by a 4% change, difference in the rate of income tax on 2% of population is a joke. he is running on this. this is his platform? >> that is not the claim. he is not claiming that it caused gr

>> bill clinton. clinton get >> both sides with a sudden burst of for bill clinton. as syria is pounded into rubble, supportersesident's states.e is the united mars -- they did not build this baby china. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> polls in the keytates of ohio, florida and pennsylvania they a lot ofat voters think a second obama term for thembad news financially. a different -- according to abc poll, 56% of people have a favorable view of president obama. romney is 40%. uplifting week. the star woocampaign advertisements. begin with a look at the obama super paco- at that implies mitt romney is of ansible for the death former steelworkers wife. >> she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney done to what he has anyone. he had wororked at a steel almt 30 years. was laid off f after bain plant, acquired the clolosed in 2001. wife died in 2006. lost his job in 2001, but the white had insurance from her ..b lost the insurance after leaving the job be

he sang clinton's praises. >> in many ways obama is the anti-clinton. he -- clinton was trying to move the party to the center. obama's moved it to the left. >> reporter: but it is obama, of course, who is really counting on bill clinton. the democrats have gone so far as to give clinton one of the most high profile speaking spots at the upcoming democratic convention. george, he will speak on the night that is usually reserved for the vice president. >> yep, he gets the whole night. jon karl, thank you. >>> for the airlines, it's been a summer feeled with near misses, bird strikes and bad behavior by crews and passengers alike. we are learning tonight about a new air scare. a passenger jet made and emergency landing when a pie yot reported a, quote, catastrophic electrical failure. abc's senior national correspondent jim avila details what happened next. >> reporter: first clue of a problem for passengers on board alaska air 539 from ontario, california, to seattle. a chorus of angry infants. >> all the babies were crying at the same time. >> reporter:

it's not the first time secretary clinton cut a rug on her 11-day tour of africa. kind of grinding there. on sunday she joined local farmers in malawi,106th country she visited as secretary of state. she visited businesses that help local women provide for they are families. the first lady was at it again in kenya, dance to raise the roof. in '09, she seemed a little more reserved here, just got low, didn't really raise the roof, head bob going there. she looks good. she's got the moves, she can hold her own. >>> back to the olympics where stephen colbert weighs in on those who have criticized the u.s. squad for not featuring enough flair on their uniforms. >> where's the american exceptionalism? those cheering fans and those athletes who've dedicated their lives to represent american, standing on the podium with hands over their hearts fighting tears while the u.s. flag ascends to rafters and our national anthem echoes throughout the arena just don't seem that into it. would it kill you to give that flag patch a flag pin? and you, gabby douglas, america's sweethea

president obama is now looking to reform clinton's welfare reform by calling on states to find better ways to administer the program to give more relief to more people and this prompted mitt romney to release this ad attacking the president take a look. in one nine hundred ninety six president clinton and a bipartisan congress helped and will fare as we know it by requiring welfare but on july twelfth president obama quietly announced a plan to go for reform by dropping more requirements under obama's plan you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job they just send you your welfare check and welfare to work goes back to being plain old welfare mitt romney will restore the work requirement because it works i'm mitt romney and i approve this message first off that ad is a lie the president's overhaul plan specifically includes the same work requirement that clinton created a second off that ad is coming from the same guy who said this. i've been in this race because i care about americans i'm not concerned about the very poor or good sure both are very poor and that's

. >> i want to thank bill clinton. >> president clinton. >> president bill clinton. >> reporter: that's right, even mitt romney is looking for a little clinton magic. just look who stars in his latest ad. >> america's basic bargain of providing opportunity and demanding in return responsibility. >> reporter: the ad makes the questionable claim that president obama is undermining the welfare reform law signed by bill clinton. something clinton himself says is not true. even newt gingrich is getting in on the act. he once led the drive to impeach bill clinton, but in a call sponsored by the romney campaign today, he sang clinton's praises. >> in many ways obama is the anti-clinton. he -- clinton was trying to move the party to the center. obama's moved it to the left. >> reporter: but it is obama, of course, who is really counting on bill clinton. the democrats have gone so far as to give clinton one of the most high profile speaking spots at the upcoming democratic convention. george, he will speak on the night that is usually reserved for the vice president. >> yep, he gets the whole ni

and this is why because i think that people understand that the clinton era was a separate economy. neil: he was moderate. >> he worked with republicans in congress to get -- with shrinking government,. neil: now this president. government actually grew at a slower rate under bill clinton, national debt was $6 trillion, now, it is $17 trillion. neil: a very smart guy. i have interviewed him many time issue his propensity for numbers is amazing, his recall is amazing, people can go back and forth, fair game, but he knows the numbers, i am thinking he has to know the numbers that this president 5 trillion on in debt, and has haranged business and gone after fat cats and almost made evil everyone who is successful in this country, and questioned how they became successful. >> i think when bill clinton is talking behind the scenes, and caught on tape talking with paul ryan, giving him a that's boy, and giving mitt romney some credit and talking about how, actually we should be extending tax cuts for everyone because we're in a recession, i don't think that it is a real genuine portrayal

one not so great moment was bill clinton's debut as keynoter. as nbc's chris wallace reported, he got very low marks for endless drone. >> clinton went on for 32 minutes instead of the scheduled 15. the crowd first tuned out and then things got out of hand. organizers flashed a red light on the podium and even put a message on the teleprompter, please, your time is up. but clinton kept talking, finally saying something the crowd approved of. in closing -- [cheers and applause] [laughter] chris: well, he made a complete recovery, obviously, which brings us to this week's big question -- this convention. will bill clinton, by his very presence, upstage president obama? sam? >> everyone put on shades and played the saxophone. chris: will he upstage him? >> no. chris: kelly? >> he will be talked about more, but he won't upstage him. crip helene? >> no. chris: a wipeout for the big dog, for bubba, for elvis. thanks for a great roundtable, sam donaldson, kelly o'donnell, helene cooper, john hileman. that's the show. thanks for watching. see you back h

what happened to bill clinton? >> that is what they have been doing for 30 years but specifically with the obama campaign. bill clinton is another shiny object for the democrats to show out and say look at bill clinton's record during the '90s. we are in a barack obama presidency here and the stack that they are throwing bill clinton out because barack obama is an embarrassment to the democratic party. bill clinton is trying to save his party and the coal mine workers in ohio that were lining up for mitt romney. he is trying to get the vote back by putting bill clinton out there. >> sean: let me ask you a question and i want you to answer it and stop your liberal spin because i know you. is there anything worse than planning to play the race card on somebody? is there anything worse than doing that? >> i do not think, first of all. there is not and i don't think barack obama planned to play the race card. i think he was angry at that time. the facts are and bill clinton told me this two weeks ago. a cheer choice he

vamos a ver cÓmo baila hillary clinton. >>> el perreo sudafricano fue uno de los puntos de hillary clinton durante su visita a ese paÍs. es que lo que pudiera ser sus Últimos meses antes de retirarse, clinton no parÓ su ritmo, sobre todo el ritmo de su carrera. ♪ >>> despuÉs de hablar de temas serios se trasladÓ a tratar de emular a esta cantante que no daba crÉdito de la soltura que influyentes del planeta.res mÁs- >>> pero antes de llepar a este punto, la secretaria comenzÓ a calentar los motores en untribu de malawi. ♪ >>> o quizÁs en el momento que iniciÓ su cambio, y fue en cartagena, cuando con cerveza disfrutÓ a ritmo de ballenato. ♪ >>> aunque hay controversia en las fechas, porque otros dicen que comenzaron cuando visitÓ kenia. hillary clinton no fue la Única que mostrÓ dotes artÍsticos, bush lo hizo en una ocasiÓn, aunque trata de encontrar el ritmo todavÍa. >>> pero las malas lenguas dicen que para lo que se prepara para volver a disfrutar bailando con el presidente clinton que se dedicÓ a tocar el saxofon. ♪ >>> aparte de sus bailes, la secretaria de e

kings live in poverty the most ever recorded in our nation's history so why is bill clinton to blame for all this and what needs to be done to fix it. pepper spray that just burns your eyes right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially. this is much stronger than anything it's used by a lot of sort of loses thousands of times we're stronger than any kind of the body of ever put you know. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture. into that only military mechanisms that do the work to bring justice or accountability. i have every right to know what my government should do if you want to know why i pay taxes. but i would characterize obama as a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. now i'm learning mr. one thousand nine hundred six president bill clinton ended welfare as we know it this mantling the last remnants of ly

and coming up it has been 20 years since james carville and others helped get bill clinton in office. the directors of "the war room" are next! >> connecticut is fine. delaware is fine. it has zero calories for me, and a taste my family loves. [ nervous ] i hope no one recognizes us... you...you think these disguises will... no. [ male announcer ] salty. sweet. and impossible to resist. >>> you have been taught to pull something special in my life? i'll never forget how it was done. thank you. [ applause ] >> can you believe that it has been almost 20 years since the seminal political documentary, the war room came out? back then i was just a part-time political junky with a full-time u.s. assistant attorney and i was totally fascinated by the movie, and the then unknown, george stephanopolous and james carville, little did i know that nearly two decades later i would have my own war room as a candidate, a governor and now this show inspired by that whole documentary. so i'm so thrilled to be able to welcome the codirectors of the movie version of the war room into our war room, one d

. >> president clinton. >> president clinton. >> president bill clinton. >> that's right even mitt romney is looking for a little clinton magic. look who stars in his latest ad. >> america's basic bargain of providing opportunity and demanding in return responsibility. the ad makes the questionable claim that president obama is undermining the welfare reform law signed by bill clinton. something clinton himself says is not true. even newt gingrich is getting in on the act. he once led the drive to impeach bill clinton. in a call sponsored by the romney campaign today he sang clinton's praises. >> in many ways, obama is the anti-clinton. he, clinton was trying to move the party to the center. obama's moved it to the left. >> reporter: it is obama, of course, who is really counting on bill clinton. democrats have gone so far as to give clinton one of the most high profile speaking slots at the upcoming democratic convention. he will speak on the night usually reserved for the vice president. jonathan karl, abc news, washington. >> pretty telling. >> amazing all of these years later after le