for the white house. what about edith roosevelt? >> she had managed the governor's mansion in albany quite successfully. they had to move from their home on long island back and forth. she would be there in the summer when he was the civil service commissioner in washington. she was used to packing up the servants in the households and moved back and forth. she is somebody who knew how to manage things. he was not good with money. he overdrew his checking account all the time. she would organize him and the children. she was a good manager. that is what the first lady needs to do. >> one of the things that has been delightful about the series there are up couple of things. we are learning a lot, but we also learn in what you are interested in. in a few minutes, we will take telephone calls. let me give you the phone numbers. also, a conversation already going on facebook. you can join it by logging on facebook's c-span page and log into the mix. what we will be asking tonight about edith roosevelt and her

the white house can't control. recent examples, the president's lunch with hillary clinton, his oval office visit with mulalah yousafzai, a pakistani human rights activist who told the president to stop using drones in her country and a meeting with palestinian and israeli negotiators. doug mills is a "new york times" photographer. >> the white house photos as many people have, are press releases, basically putting the president in the best light. >> reporter: last month, 37 news organizations, including cnn, sent the white house a letter, comparing decisions that shut out the press to "placing a hand over a journalist's camera lens." the restrictions seem at odds with the pledge president obama made to americans at the beginning of his presidency. >> let me say it as simply as i can. transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. >> reporter: isn't it sort of the problem is that he has set up a standard himself that he's not meeting? >> what i can tell you brianna, every president has

could not entertain in the white house. it is mamie who brings back entertaining to the white house. >> she is a curator of exhibitions. how significant of a decision was it? >> i think they were afraid that it would look like bribery or some kind of, you know, prompting of return for political favor for the gift. that was made illegal. >> presidents still get lots of gifts. >> they usually go to the state department or the national archives. through the archives, they often turn up at presidential libraries. they are not owned by the president or first lady. >> one statement that the president and first lady can make is by who they did not invite. one person they did not invite was joe mccarthy. >> actually, mrs. mccarthy was invited to tea and receptions. she did not attend. >> what is a significance of that? >> she was making a political statement on her husband's behalf to not cross the door into the white house. >> some people do not know who joe mccarthy is. a quick snapshot of who he is. >> he was -- he was the senat

house, to loan pieces to the white house. they went out and sought out people to donate the money to be able to get the proper pieces to -- to build the room. she had always been interested in decorating. she had decorated a number of their homes. so this was something that was very important to her. not something widely known. they didn't publicize this. it was like she was doing it for a while before anybody realized she was doing it. and when jackie -- jackie says, this is all wonderful. she tries to give the credit to other people rather than taking it herself. >> when pat nixon came to the white house, one third of the furnishings were antiques. when she left, two thirds were antiques. some might not know this, dolly madison is famous for saving the canvass of george washington in 1814. she saved two canvasses. the other was the portrait of herself and pat nixon brought it back to the white house. >> chilecothe, ohio, hi, bill. >> i was a butler with the nixons. i was there at the house all the time at camp david. >> wha

she held a news conference at the white house. we're going to listen to one question that was asked of her and her response. >> how would you like to be remembered, for what? >> i'd like to be remembered in a very kind way. also as a constructive wife of a president. i don't expect to come anywhere near living up to those first ladies who have gone before me. they've all done a great job and i admire them a great deal and it's only my ambition to come close to it. >> out of the blue we were talking and she said to me i don't even know what prompted it but she said i don't know why everyone thought it was a bad thing i admired eleanor roosevelt. eleanor roosevelt was one of her heroes. i don't think it was her life in the white house as it was the private challenges that eleanor roosevelt confronted along the way in becoming eleanor roosevelt. but she was a role model. and lady bird johnson was a very good friend and a role model for mrs. ford. >> the ford presidency was 865 days but this was a difficult time in our country's histo

the idea of the white house as a democratic place. certainly the hardings had set that precedent. >> as we all know, you are the head of state. we don't have royalty here. and they are somewhat our royalty. that is what you're getting at a little bit with all this adulation by the public. when they would travel, people swarmed them, so to speak. she brought a little more discipline into the role of first lady. she had two secretaries instead of one. florence harding let people come any old time to the white house. grace said no, i think you should meet me at noon on the steps, or a 3:00 reception. she was a little more organized about these things. people forget that they had the mayflower yacht. that was their camp david. this was a place they could go and be themselves. the military ran it, and the public really didn't know a lot about what was going on there. it was a time-out for them a little bit. >> when they escaped, did they go to northampton or back to plymouth notch? >> it was often no escape because of the crowds. plymouth

scott wilson, "the washington ost" white house bureau chief focusing on the white house and president obama's recent issues care.gov, the rollout. criticism and the legacy looking down the road. we start with angel from woodbridge, virginia. you're on with scott wilson. >> can you hear me? >> yes, go ahead. >> i want to address if you want and keep ance company it issue. the president was speaking for the american people. insurancespeaking for companies. which doesn't make him a liar. you can keep your insurance it.any if you want he wasn't speaking for the insurance company. i would like to address also to guests, what are epublicans doing to help this country? thank you? >> scott wilson, some of how the public perception is on some of the issues of the health care law. the president t if you quently about like your insurance plan, you plan, p your insurance that was a pithy way that people ho try to get their insurance, the vast majority of americans, should not fear the new legislation. it did not turn out to be the case. the fact of the matter is that the legislation was written i

a deep live into a photo fight at the white house. the obama administration is giving staff photographs access to the president that media organizations should have too. good morning from washington. details coming up on preparations for the massive memorial service for nelson mandela in south africa. we are starting with the economy. there have been solid job numbers and major revision for the gd approximate, and a strong end to the week on wall street. it has a bunch of experts predictioning that a steadily improving economy is on the horizon for the coming year. what would that mean politically? health care and obstruction are the clubs are choice for the two parties. they are beating each other up over both issues and both could be problems as well. the economy is the wild card right now. right now things are looking up. on friday we got word that they push the average jobs growth to 189,000 a month. not great, but not horrible. it's an improvement over 2012. unemployment is down to 7% down 18/10 of a point from this time last yea

hoover had an african-american at the white house. the entire summer, you have sent censure and threats from the southern states and members of congress to censure mrs. hoover. it becomes quite a brouhaha. >> it is a precarious time for african-americans in the united states. how did it affect their future over the next few years over that brouhaha? >> in that time, the republican party was the party of civil rights and the party of african- americans. herbert hoover, in 1928, had broken into -- harding made a slight inroad to it -- but hoover had won five state in what normally been democratic states in 1928. on one hand, he is trying to balance expectations of the party of lincoln and a heritage of civil rights and seeing that there are inroads to the south, which is democratic territory. hoover and lou have to negotiate the after effects of this brouhaha. it has a substantial effect. southern democrats are outraged at him. there are what as known as lilywhite republican organizations that are trying to become viable by respecting t

i think it reflerkts a sloppiness within the white house operation. but we've had other presidents who have had relatives who have rather inconvenient histories, let us say, and there's always been a fairly strong effort by the white house staff to distance the president from that inconvenient relative if possible. that seems to what has gone on here. what is odd is that the president must have known his team was putting out the word that he didn't know this fellow. and never met him. and it's odd that he didn't correct the record then. >> yeah. and let me ask you, professor, do you get the feeling here that obama aides simply didn't want to dig too hard that they didn't want it getting out that the president has an uncle here that was illegal? he had the same problem with an aunt just a couple years ago. she, too, was here without proper papers. >> it could be they wanted to protect him, and it could be they didn't want this story to suddenly be connected to the president, but i think rather than a case of deception, i do think this is a case of slop

house -- i chair the white house council on women and girls. we hope to improve the lives of women and girls. we want our girls to grow up on an even playing field. we want more women to enter the workforce. we are looking at ways of helping support families through the workforce. that can be equal pay, a range of issues. i also oversee the office of intergovernmental affairs. that is the relationship that we have with all of the elected officials. our marriage, our governors, our -- mayors, our governors, our state legislators. the final office a oversee is the office of engagement. we address a full range of constituencies, including the is this community. in addition to being a senior adviser to the president. people presume, because i am a friend of the president and the first lady, for 22 years, we do compartmentalize. i assure you that when he goes home to the residence, he is not interested in talking about jobs. when you guys go home, you talk about your families, your movies, scandal, my favorite tv show. >> all i talk about is my job.

white house. she added basically to the publications as well as the new york state publication. she's on the board of labor unions and social reform. she taught civics, history and literature in a girls school. she was a major political force in her all right. -- in her own right. so much so that in the campaign, all of the major newspapers and the united states would run full-page stories on her own political career and her own ambitions. when she comes in to the white house, fdr said you have to resign all of your positions and you have to stay and be the traditional first lady. she tells her friends at the thought of living in the white house fills her with the greatest sense of dread. at the white house eats women and she fears a life of white glove tests. and so she says to fdr, let me help you with your mail. he says no. she said let me help you with your calendar. he said no. she said let me be your eyes and ears. he said no. so she is in the white house desolate. just saying she loves her

the white house photographer was up there. and individual photographers from news organizations that you just hailed were not allowed on that same platform. >> there were photographers there. if you ask the photographers on the trip, we made -- our staff went to great lengths to get as much access for all of our traveling press as we could. in fact, got exceptionally more access for our traveling press than we were told we would get. and i think if you ask the people who traveled, they would confirm that. that's something when we go overseas we work with all the time. now, the disposition of the photographers, when it comes to where the president is standing or sitting, is obviously something that is worked out depending on the host government, and, you know, what we can do in working with the photographers. but this is something i promise you, ed, we take seriously and we're going to work hard on addressing. >> let's bring in the columnist for the "washington times." bob franken recently said, this is the most hostile to the

from panicking and putting more pressure on the white house. before i let you go, proud auburn alum, robert, wondering first of all we've seen incredible shots on youtube. is that what your house looked like? i guess you were at the game, right? >> i had my 10-year-old section 28, row 13. we were doing a lot of that with 84,000 of our closest friends on saturday night inside the stadium. i will say this, i may need zeke to schedule a heart appointment for me after watching these games. >> what are you going to do saturday? you need somebody to lose. are you rooting for michigan state, ohio state, florida. >> i'm the biggest michigan state fan you'll met this weekend. >> okay. >> even i who is not a big football fan thought that was truly amazing. >> that's not the way he was monday morning at 6:00 a.m. thank you very much, robert. go auburn. >> thank you. war eagle. >> thanks, zeke, good to see you, too. >>> this thursday we have an msnbc exclusive chris matthews with president obama. chris will be interviewing the president as part of the "har

as far as i am concerned, we have wonderful people in the white house. it is one of the all-time best white house staff in the country. one has reached a retirement age. they need to replace him. >> do you think obama will have a better sixth year? >> first of all, the economy will be better. we do not have to worry about the government closing or default on its debt. maybe we can do good legislation. >> will republicans make an issue of the debt issue in february? >> we talked about them committing suicide. >> happy holiday to you. thank you for being with us. when we come back, we talked to representative chris van hollen. ♪ >> welcome back. we're joined by the top house democrat chris van hollen. thank you for being with us. >> great to be back. >> it was a small deal. is this the high water mark on any crystal measures in this congress? >> i hope not. this was a small -- it was a forward moving step, but a small one. the jury is still out on where we go from here. it is a good sign that speaker boehner finally stood up to the tea party crowd. they

house briefing wrapping up with questions on the white house photo flack. ed henry is live with the story. you kicked this off with your line of questioning right? >> i started asking with open ness and transparenctransparenc. pretty strong charges not providing more access of white house news photographers closing off events to them while allowing an official white house photograph eer into those eye . he said this is sort of part of the historical push and pull between white houses of both parties and the press. >> i will not live to see the day and neither will you when independent journalists who cover the white house will say i got all the access that i wanted that is not going to happen. >> the president was on air force one and flown over with president bush and they came back and had dinner and no news photographers were allowed up to capture this historic moment. they said it was a private moment. they are saying if it was closed why weren't we let in? >> jay carney gets pummeled with health care questions. i assume you had questions about health c

so that was a big asset. >> and for the record, the carter white house was no hard liquor white house. >> i think that was more of a budgetary thing than it was aesthetics. they figured they could get better wines and better food if they didn't serve hard liquor. but, yeah, that was one way of doing it. they had to do this on a small budget. so, you know, the fact that you are doing more events doesn't mean you have more money to do them. you do have to be cost conscious about it. >> also i think it was part of where they were from. their kind of background. many people in the south, small town south, white and black, who are people are faith do not drink. and it was also part of who they were and they brought that with them to the white house. and i think that was, you know, a cultural issue and also again a kind of class choice. it isn't going to be an elite atmosphere. we are going to have more of the people's white house and that was part of what they saw as something that they wanted to promote. >> in the next clip, mrs. carter talks about the media's reaction to this people's wh

>> kind of a white house watch on the senate. through the period when the of the affordable care act was not working the senators mood and making it clear to the white house. they think since the website has hasoved some that the fever broke and little bit but we will have to see. gwen: we will talk more about inther the fiver is breaking a moment. first we turn to the n.s.a. the national security agency. federal judge and then a separate review panel said the too far top spies go and the president conceded today it has hurt his government's andibility at home aproceed. >> in fact, there -- abroad. >> there have not been actual where it has been alleged that the n.s.a. in some inappropriately in whatse of this data, but is also clear is from the public debate people are concerned onl the prospect, the possibility of abuse. gwen: the president seems to be talk persian gulf perception than rial -- talking about perception rather than reality. >> he said i wanted to see these recommendations not because i is out ofthing control but

she held a news conference at the white house. we're going to listen to one question that was asked of her and her response. >> how would you like to be remembered, for what? >> i'd like to be remembered in a very kind way. of a a cructive wife president. i don't expect to come anywhere near living up to those first ladies who have gone before me. they've all done a great job and i admire them a great deal and it's only my ambition to come close to it. >> out of the blue we were talking and she said to me i don't even know what prompted it but she said i don't know why everyone thought it was a bad thing i admired eller nor roosevelt. eleanor roosevelt was one of her heroes. i don't think it was her life in the white house as it was the private challenge that is eleanor roosevelt confronted along the way in bocing eleanor roosevelt. but she was a role model. and lady bird johnson was a very good friend and a role model for mrs. ford. >> the ford presidency was 865 days but this was a difficult time in our country's history. we cho

the white house feels strongly this is the time it's going to work. the president made it pretty clear, krystal, you can make fun e

the white house spokesman is not saying at this point. we're hoping to get some kind of a read out on this meeting when it does break up and we'll bring that to you as soon as we have it. we're getting news out of the white house in terms of who's going to take over for jeff zion to handle the healthcare.gov rollout so troubled and botched. jeff had been the point guy leading that. we're told by the white house that a man named kirk dell ben nay a former microsoft executive is going to take over that role here at the white house and sort of honcho the website rollout from here on out because jeff is taking over at the national economic council. they needed to move him out of the way and bringing kirk in, sue. >> amman, before we letgo, talk to me a more about the battle that seems to be brewing between the white house and media specifically when it comes to access, access to the president and access to information. what can you tell us? >> yeah, sue. there have been some real moments of frustration for the white house press corps, folks p

the deal that he struck with white house chief of staff dennis mcdonnough is to be at the white house for just one year, a sign of just how important president obama thinks 2014 will be to his legacy as he tries to tackle immigration reform and tries to get obama care back on track. failed gun legislation, stalled immigration reform. the government shutdown and one very, very bad health care reform rollout. his approval rating is at record lows. it's been a rough year for president obama and he needs to turn his presidency around. >> my friend john podesta -- >> reporter: obama is bringing in two men with extensive ties to congress as he loses one of his closest capitol hill savvy advisors, pete rouse, by his side since his days in the senate. shilero was there during the passage of health care reform and is returning to steer the troubled program to success and assuage the concerns of democrats. podesta shepherded president-elect obama's transition team in 2008 and will serve as counselor to the president, traditionally a very influential role. he has advised even pushed the presiden

what did it take to pull the white house together for christmas this year? >> gather round is a theme mrs. obama picked. she always cuts too the heart of the matter and 85 of us got together on thanksgiving night to start working for six days straight to pull the white house into the spectacular shape that it is now. so it was a great deal of fun and a lot of work. >> your book deals with hoe all of the first ladies through the years did the white house over the years. i have a vision that hillary is less into the first lady thing than others. is that right or wrong? >> that's absolutely wrong. that was my impression too. i thought she was going to be not so into it. she had other things little bit. but she really recreated christmas every year and she was spectacular. >> good. >> i love some of these photos from the '80s in your wachovia. the reagans like to bring a surprise celebrity santa the house every year. larry hagman from "dallas",dom dell owe weise, mr. t. kelly freaking out about it. tell us how they brought hollywood flair. >> i love mrs. reagan

how is the white house been dealing the at -- has the white house been dealing with that? feel the president should get some measure of credit considering where things started when he took office in 2009. they are hopeful today's gdp numbers will translate to good implications for the on implement rate and also for some sort of general credit among the general -- among the american public. when you look at his approval ratings, they are bush second term approval ratings. that is not in spire confidence. -- they do not inspire confidence. >> this has been a frustrating year for president obama and this white house. what has been at the top of the list? relations with the republican house of representatives? has that cost the most frustrations that cause the most frustrations with the white house? >> it flows through everything they attempted to do. looking at the beginning of the year, sandy hook was just one year ago. that was not going anywhere. if this quest are -- the sequester that he thought was so bad for everyone, it happened. the debt ceiling fight, the temporary s

how is the white house -- is the white house even reacting to those numbers? >> well, the white house as the president may vouch in the final news conference of the year, he says -- to use his language, screwed up. recognize this didn't go the way they intended it to. they are hoping to shift the conversation into the start of the new year with the people who have been able to get plans. many of the people with preexisting conditions and focus on positive headlines, not the negative. that's the people who potentially are newly uninsured but ultimately the verdict of the jury is still out on this one, craig. even as we were hearing your introduction, i was finishing the conversation with the health industry consultant who tells me from his conversations with insurance executives that they are reporting that the error rate on the back end, the information that they are receiving in terms of people's enrollments is still between 5 and 10%. as he described it, january could be in his words, a very difficult month. >> peter alexander, that is not a green screen. he

the white house is claiming success. the problem has taken a toll on the president. >> it started with a promise of affordable health care. >> through marketplaces you can get health insurance for what may be the equivalence of your cell phone bill. >> technical failures turned into political disaster. healthcare.gov launched on 1 october. immediately people faced long waits, broken website links and a host of problems. >> a lot of information i had to re-enter or reverify. >> congress demanded answers from health secretary kathleen sebelius. >> i apologise, i'm accountable to you to fix the problems. i'm committed to earning your confidence back. adding to the embarrass, as kathleen sebelius testified the website crashed. the president issued apologies and made promises. what i will do is make sure we get it fixed. by the end of the month it will work how it's supposed to. >> november 30th is the deadline the administration set to have healthcare.gov fully functioning. having hired contractors and performing stress test

she brings the white house gardener back to this garden at prospect house and says to the white house gardener, thus re- create the rose section of this garden at the white house. ellen wilson could look out of her bedroom window in prospect mansion and look right down and see the flowers all day. similarly, she wanted the president of the united states to be able to see roses when he looked out of his window in the white house. this becomes a famous rose garden at the white house. ellen tragically doesn't live to see the rose garden completed, however. she is dying in the summer of 1914. she is wheeled out into the space outside in her wheelchair and she watches as a gardener works, but she doesn't live to see the completion of this vision she had for roses blooming at the white house. that is a vision that really begins here at aspect of art and in princeton. -- that begins here at prospect garden in princeton. >> here is a photograph of what it looks like you're in the wilson administration and here's what the rose garden looks like today. >> we have for short tenure in the white h

house -- first lady of the white house. you mentioned she was very intellectual and even though she did not go to college, she was self educated. how important was this in shaping the role of first lady? washingtoned to make the cultural center of united states. this may people in new york very uneasy. there were some new super columns saying, what are you trying to do? washington do not have a symphony orchestra. she wanted to bring those musical things here but she also wanted to have this city and body american values. values.y american this was a very specific agenda. that was partly what the luneta was about. --was all part of our vision of her vision of what washington could be. she hit the ground running and she also started going to see congress, visiting the supreme court, advising taft on the cabinet. she was going to be a very activist first lady for two months. wise, onelity biographer described her as abrupt and determined. >> i would agree. she could be quite blunt. when she was this young teenager visiting th

eamon, what did the ceo hope the white house would do here? >> what they are telling us is what they would like to see is the white house and united states government allow them more transparency, tell their customers, facebook, twitter, google, to tell their customers exactly how often they are turning over information to the united states intelligence. right now, they are not allowed to reveal some details how often they cooperate. they feel like this would go a long way to alleviating concerns customers have in the wake of edward snowden disclosures. >> that's what the ceos looked for. did the president page any offer? >> this meeting, which was unusual, about two hours and 45 minutes long with the top figures in global technology at this meeting the president more or less took a listen and learn approach. he wanted to hear their ideas for what they would suggest that the white house do here. of course, the white house is wrapping up an overall review of the intelligence gathering capabilities and just figuring out exactly what changes it w

but white house aides now say they weren't doing that. he's a 69-year-old man who works at a liquor store near boston and is now kuth up in the president's political migraine. the man's name called omar, the president's uncle. the boston globe previously cited the white house as saying the president and his uncle had never met. but the white house press secretary now says this -- >> the president said that he, in fact, had met omar obama when he moved to cambridge for law school and he stayed with him for a brief period of time until his -- the president's apartment was ready. >> reporter: in recent days the uncle said barack obama stayed with him for three weeks in the 1980s. why the differing accounts? >> back when this arose, folks looked at the record including the president's book and there was no evidence that they had met. >> reporter: jay carney says it was when he asked the president in person that the president acknowledged he had stayed with his uncle. it could be simple semantics but the white house was first asked about the r

part of the white house would be torn down. >> dolley madison -- the white house was lit up -- >> it would have been replaced by federal office buildings of the time -- a penitentiary and a prison yard. this really helped the historic preservation -- >> in the book you quote aldrich >> this was her schoolmate at miss porter's school. >> she wrote that mrs. kennedy designed her mission of first lady along the following lines. do you remember this? >> preservation of family, entertaining with style and grace in the number one house in the world, the makeover of the white house itself and the raising of the cultural stature of this country. >> wasn't that amazing that she wrote that before going into the white house. she already had a firm sense -- family and children first. everyone would hope that would be the case but she already had a mission statement before she began as the first lady. >> the next clip is from an interview that was done about raising children in the white house. >> it is rather hard with children. there is so little privacy. i don't mind for myself -- but i think

the white house has very little -- i think it is temporary. the white house is temporary. the white house has very little to do with this. >> it has more to do really with realization that they bore the brunt of much of the blame that follow. >> indeed, even though the public views the republicans responsible for the previous shutdown. that was quickly forgotten as obamacare entered all of its extreme difficulties. i think the republicans don't want to again engage in some sort of politicking that will bring the negative eye back to the republican party. a want to keep it on the white house and president obama. house may finally be able to push through on some of its priorities. i'm thinking in particular of immigration. is that likely to be the case? >> i would be skeptical about that cou -- i would be skeptical about that. the gaps for the moment are too wide to bridge. on the debt limit, immigration, on other issues coming up in congress, we are likely to see polarization comeback. but once again, the republican leadership will have to bring under its wing the more radi

chief white house correspondent ed henry. problems are hurting the president with his core supporters. poll suggest iing in 2008 and 22 majority say they are opposed or disapprove of the affordable care act saying that they think the president should be removed from office. just asked jay carney from that. they do not believe he is losing his disapproval rate. >> you know in the way of our efforts here. i think a poll today said that basically the persentati secent americans speaks to then trenched political debate. you have to set aside those issues and focus on delivering the benefits of the law. >> the president was at a youth summit here. get him to sign up for health care. we spoke to one of the college students who was at the event. i keep up on the news and defended the president and said i don't know what is in the act. that one poll said 67% of the young are only that much familiar with it. the president did the interview with chris matthews. >> he was trying to make the point that there are big government agencies a

what the white house has tried to do, they node a new subject. whether the details of this are going to be visited upon them, to a certain extent they cannot get out from under this. in my newspaper this morning, there is an opinion piece about the person who has the worst year in washington is obama and there is a certain truth to that much of the white house needs to find a way to start talking about things. a last these are negatives but we have not had a big terrorist attack, we do not have a new war army people would like to have and it is good we do not have that. the economy, although struggling, is advancing and the white house has to find some way to get out from under this and it could literally be impossible because the president and his team in the white house have appointed them build mission managers for obamacare. >> i want to pick up on this, look at all of this, you have spent, you and others, have pent your career making the conservative argument and saying big government isn't the way to go. is it president obama could be a mor

you have seen from the white house. from washington, the idea of wisemen who can come in, fix things up. change everything. we have seen this white house do this a couple time thousands. with rouse, daily, reorganizations that went on, after 2010. but it is hard to know how effective this will be with the big things that obama has to do. and has to see happen in 2014. namely, really making health care work effectively, for folks, that botched, rollout. we have seen the poll numbers plummet. immigration reform. budget fights, sam has written about. and this deal looks pretty good. on the surface. if you look behind the details of it and the fights that are going to come in the house, not so good. >> yeah. >> sam, is this just a normal staffing cycle. people leave. people come in. or is this -- what everyone in washington wants to say the is. which is some kind of white house in trouble. second term. and, you know, talking about, we need a rescuer. >> it is both. john podesta was transition chief for the white house. ther

the white house said there was no deception. they couldn't find evidence to support the president met his uncle. it is not clear what evidence they were looking for though omar was mentioned in the president's book there was no mention of them meeting. today jay carney pinpointed the problem. listen to this. >> nobody asked him in the past. the president said he, in fact, had met omar obama when he moved to the cambridge for law school. he stayed with him for a brief period of time until the president's apartment was ready. after that they saw each other once every few months while the president was in cambridge. after law school they gradually fell out of touch. >> in case you missed it jay carney said the problem was nobody asked the president if he met his uncle. the white house says he's not seen his uncle in 20 years. uncle omar was allowed to remain in this country because of his good moral character. the white house didn't intervene at all in the immigration hearing. >> mark thiessen is a former speech writer for presiden

i believed in a white house strategy. i saw a big united states government operation was maybe treading on dangerous territory. i was cautiously optimistic about what might happen. the context about why and where was coming from, there were two points at animated my interest in the 1990s. first come as a christian, i was quite interested in seeing my faith applied to the living problems and human needs. so i was desirous of strategies that would further that. but i also came to the work as a welfare reformer, a welfare policy guy. what welfare reform success of the 1990s tommy was that -- 1990s taught me was that transformative life change does not happen in government programming. we incentivize good behavior in welfare reform, which offended a lot of unintended consequences of what had been a 60-year entitlement program. we had 97,000 families in welfare. within a few years, that number reduced to 7000. unbelievable reduction. better, poverty went down as employment went up. so don't you think it was one of the biggest

the white house says it is coincidental. the "washington post" reports otherwise. what do you think? tweet us at at hnhqdc or at shannon bream and we will have those later in the show. >>> could they be forced to appear in federal court saying that he went beyond the powers out leaned for him in the constitution? some want legal action. one is joining us to explain that in the show. and the president says he will lessen to alternatives to owe bay you ma care, but -- to obamacare, but does he mean it? there is a plan with more than 100 members signed on and he asked the president for a meeting. first, another winter storm weekend for the east coast. we will have your forecast next. >>> the clean up begins for much of the northeast today after a weekend snowstorm dropped several inches of snow. take a look at what the snow did in smithfield, rhode island. check it out. well, is there more in the forecast? let's ask our expert, janice dean in the fox weather center. >> thank if you like the snow we have more on the way. if you don't like the snow, turn the volume down

that last name may not seem threatening, but the white house claimed he said he was. the characterization that david axelrod played out. >> we have been questioning the e-mails and whether or not regret means threat. i want to know how you got there in terms of a watch out point of view. >> it was not -- i never said it was a threat. politico was doing the story about the column i wrote on sunday, calling out the administration, making it clear from the reporting and finally to jay carney's credit that the idea for the quester came from the white house and i mentioned they got an e-mail from somebody like lots of things in washington and the details leaked out. as david axelrod knows, gene sperling is one of the most decent hardworking people i dealt with the obama white house and axelrod a lot. it's unusual to say when there is not -- this was not a factual disagreement. this was a disagreement about i was challenging them on something and gene said we are not going to see eye to eye and you are going to regret staking out this claim. axelrod and i disagreed many tim

what is going on inside the white house? >> the reporting is that the relationship between hhs and the white house was poisonous and the relationship between hhs and the contractors was poisonous. so there is a huge mess and everybody basically knew the ship was going down but no one wanted to admit it because the white house's political game to rumble on no matter what and create facts on the ground and sign people up, say to the critics, get over it, this thing is reality. martha: what about down the road? it is working better. 800,000 users daily according to jeff zeints can come on to the website. they're trying to do 50,000 at a time. they say they have 90% stability rate as far as that goes right now. what about when it starts really cooking and more and more people start coming on is it likely they will run into the same troubles? >> we'll see. there are two key indicators to look at. obviously the enrollment numbers. do they increase the rate of enrollment month by month and do they seem what looks like a big number

. >> no discussion on faith in the white house with current and former directors of the white house faith-based office which was created by president george w. bush, the -- bush. it is two hours. >> thank you for that kind introduction. ladies and gentlemen, we at smu and the center for presidential history is honored to have you here with us this evening. i hope i can speak for all of us when i say it is an honor to have our five guests and panelists with us today. these five people have served our country well. they have led the charge in finding fair, constitutional, efficient, and effective ways for our national government to assist and partner with faith- based and neighborhood organizations in our midst which are doing great social good. in short, they have invested personally in making our country a better place to live in. we have the opportunity to hear from all of them are on the same stage. for years, president osha and his advisers believed that small faith-based and community organizations had been at an unfair disadvantage, competing on an unlevel playing field when it came to qua

i put him in the white house. you do not believe she said that. >> may be at any given moment she did, but the nickname she had before she was the duchess was the boss. war and -- warren sort of toned that down for public consumption, but i think half the time he felt she was the boss. in many ways he valued her opinion. i think there was a real partnership. >> roger is watching us in baltimore. >> thank you. i have a few questions for ms. sibley. since listening to you, i think i would like to read your biography of florence. i have already read one biography that was very detailed, and i am wondering if you have an opinion on that one. do you think mr. carl anthony's biography of florence harding is accurate and well researched? i am hoping you can answer the other question with ace temple a simple yes or no, but it might be difficult. you have done a mountain of research on florence harding, i am sure. now that all is said and done, do you have a gut feeling, yes or no, simply from your heart, do you think that

a dark horse candidate, brian schweitzer has indicated he might launch a bid for the white house. he told real clear politics there's a whole lot of america that looks at each other and says well, there's 340 million people living in america. isn't there somebody else other than a bush or clinton who can be president in these modern times? it could be that the 75 year old governor of california, there he is jerry brown, who began his career in 1969 might be considering a fourth run for the white house. what a run he's had. the l.a. times said some are pushing him to try for another try for the white house even if it means taking on hillary rodham clinton. let me ask you this, you study the numbers, numbers, numbers. i would like to see a fight for the primaries. almost like the crazy fight i expect on the other side, for interest. and i think the issues ought to be debated. are we going into another iraq? i want to hear them say we're not going into another middle east war. >> there is going to be a primary, whether hillary wins or not. >> i'm hoping for something where it might j

any word that goes out of the white house goes through the white house staffing process to make sure every office signs off on whatever it says to be the that is in possible -- >> is there a follow-up to this? >> we will have to see how the culture those. all the presidents from washington through obama we don't have to follow what we will have to have an additional president. >> so which president was your favorite in terms of the technology? >> bill clinton gets high marks in my book for his understanding of technology and his use of music. remember fleetwood mac stopped talking about tomorrow. he understood how to use television and he was watching the political conventions and he watched adamle stevenson's address and he also read a real and serious books so he gets high marks both ronald reagan gets high marks for his use of the media in the way that he appeared with and as i say in the book without pop culture, ronald reagan had never would have made it through anything let alone president. >> thank you. >> this was a deliberate move and to simply and with a controversy, but wa

we are live now at the white house. earlier today he turned to the economy calling the growing income gap a defining challenge of our time. chief white house correspondent ed henry is with us. >> this is a president who has been struggling in dealing with the health care law. how does he do that. partly by rallying in this political base. before the liberal group center for american progress. that is another key part of his base. they helped elect him and get those young people out there talking about the health care law and talking about what you said he wanted to really stress at this economic speech which is what he calls the defining issue of our time. listen to this. >> if republicans have concrete plans that will actually reduce in equality and build the middle class let's hear them. i want to know what they are. if you don't think we should raise the minimum wage, let's hear your ideas. >> you hear the president there calling out republicans on the hill. he did that yesterday when he tried to reboot the health ca

each white house has its own challenges. the things i miss most is what we used to call a pool spray where they will bring in reporters to the oval office. meeting with a world leader or congressional leader and a chance to ask a couple of questions about the day. there is a riot in cincinnati or ukraine is up in arms. what do you think? we do not get that anymore. they want to control the message. they want to control everything. they think those things distract from the intended message of the day, and they are right. i completely understand the logic. so many events go by in which we never have a chance to hear the president thought about that. north korea is just an example. they just executed the uncle of the leader. i would like to know what the president thinks about that. we will probably never get that chance. by the time the next questioning comes along we will have moved on to three or four stories. >> if you are in for the pool spray, something which advisers are present tells you a lot about who has the presiden

house for a preview of the white house christmas decorations. afterwards, the first lady and sunny, the not -- the younger of their two dogs, participated in a christmas cookie decorating event. >> good morning. my name is diane cole and i am thrilled and honored to be standing here addressing some of our military personnel and their families. when i applied to volunteer at the white house to decorate for this holiday season, i never thought i would be standing here. and, yes, i am extremely nervous. is here withs, who me today, joined the u.s. army .n 2002 he was trained as a telecommunications specialist and assisted in allowing soldiers and multinational forces to communicate in the battlefield. he was assigned to the first infantry division and deployed in support of operation iraqi freedom in 2004. after this deployment, he was promoted to sergeant and took charge of his own team in 2006 for 16 months in baghdad. he was part of the surge in during that deployment, which allowed a further transition of u.s. to iraqi control. since leaving ac

i just think that everything in the white house should be the best. the entertainment that is given here. children are the same the world over and so is our feeling for children. i think it is good in the world, there is quite enough to divide people, so we should cherish the language and the emotion that unites us. >> jacqueline kennedy's 1000 days as first lady was defined by images, young mother, advocate for the arts, fashion icon. footage of the assassination of president kennedy and his funeral cemented her in the public consciousness. welcome to the c-span series, first ladies, influence and image. we have two guests at the table, to tell you more about her story. he has a special focus on the cold war era and the kennedy administration. robert parry is a political scientist and as part of the modern first ladies series, he has written the jacqueline kennedy biography. before we get into more details about her white house years, i want to talk about the images of that assassination. anyone who was alive at that time has those images in their mi