The biden institute. This is an hour in 25 minutes. [applause] Vice President biden thank you. John, welcome to my campus. Proud graduate here. I just wanted to see a really beautiful campus. [applause] john, because of the faculty here, they have been kind enough to give me a platform here to work with, in this case, the center for political communication and be part of their series, the National Agenda series. We are working, the bidens, because the board have been generous in allowing me to bring some major, serious staff people from washington who work with me and know you and you know them and to Work Together to produce , some genuinely we have two objectives. One is to produce serious academic material that sheds light on the issues of the day. And two, to bring to the campus expose them to some of the best minds and leaders in the country in all fields, but mainly in this case, politics. And so dr. Hoffman, thank you , for letting us join your operation and thank you for being willing to moderate. And nancy, who ive known for years since shes been a child she reminded me she started interviewing me when my daughter ashley, who is now 35 years old, was four years old. She said she was peeking out from behind the desk at the time. Nancy has done a great job here. I just wanted you to know that, you know, it is not that hard for john and i to get along. We never had trouble, because we come from the same background. We have slightly different political perspectives on the role of government, but johns father was a mailman. John came from a workingclass neighborhood, like i did in scranton. We grew up with people and believing in people that were ordinary people like us. Our parents told us there wasnt a damn thing we couldnt do even though we didnt have the wild pedigrees and incredible credentials. We both believe strongly in the capacity of the American People. John and i have worked together on issues together on the same side and we have occasionally disagreed. I will end with this and i will turn it over to you, doctor. One of the things that matters , and we got a chance to speak to some of the class sponsoring this today, is that personal relationships matter. Every time i am here you hear me talk about that. Getting to know someone. Getting to know what they think. Getting to know their background. Getting to know their family. Getting to know how they act and what they care about really matters, even when you fundamentally disagree. And we dont fundamentally disagree, but even when you do. Because this system is built in a way that you have to be able to reach compromise. You have to be able to get to go to be able to make this place work. I just want to tell you, john, when i asked who they wanted, who they wanted me to reach out to, it was you. It wasnt like it was a big contest or a lot of people that were going to bring to campus. The first person they wanted was you, and thats because of your leadership buddy. Thanks again for being here. Doc, it is all yours. Nancy thank you so much. This is our 7th annual National Agenda series. I think what we do here serves a really important purpose, which is to demonstrate civil dialogue. I think in 2017, we are seeing greater discord, more racism, violence than we have seen in many years. I think that this program serves as a great resource for demonstrating and having discussions about how do we get across these divides and how do we communicate more effectively. Our mission here is to kind of lower the heat, recede from hate, and really provide good models for communication. I will skip my introductory remarks. We are featuring two leading voices in bridging partisan divides. A recent study from the Pew Research Center showed that republicans and democrats, since they have been measuring this, have never been further away from each other in their ideological approach than they are in 2017. It is time to talk partisan divides. Governor kasich, after leaving congress in 2000, running for president , he worked as managing director in the Investment Banking division of lehman brothers. He was previously a commentator on fox news and a president ial fellow at his alma mater, the ohio state university. I should mention here that as a proud buckeye myself, we reserve the right to say the ohio university. So lets give another round of applause to governor kasich. [applause] we know delawares own Vice President joe biden was, at age 29, one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States senate. He served as senator from delaware for 36 years and most recently as the 47th Vice President. Please again, join us in welcoming joe back to campus. [applause] [laughter] lindsay can i interrupt . [laughter] gov. Kasich we dont need all that introduction, lets go. Lindsay here we go. Here is what i want you guys to address. You have both written recently about the state of our nations soul and the need for a shared moral compass. Our country has been at these crossroads before. What does that soul or shared moral compass look like in 2017 . How do we get there . Since the Vice President has home field advantage, i will toss this to you first. Vice pres. Biden this is going to sound strange, but leadership matters. Leadership matters. I think that what you saw in charlottesville was, seeing these people come out from under rocks, out of fields, carrying torches and nazi flags, and the same rhetoric that occurred in kristallnacht in germany in the 1930s. The idea that you would see that again was just beyond comprehension. The failure for americas voice, the president of the United States, to condemn it and not be we are talking about it in relative terms, emboldens people to think that they can do this kind of thing. You see it in every walk of life. You see it in every circumstance where bad things happen. So thats number one. Number two, it does not represent america. It is not americas soul. We know that is not america. The 300 million americans who take overwhelming objection to both Political Parties to what they saw down there. One of the things we have to remember is that this is a time of real crisis in america and the world. There is a change is taking place economically. We are in the midst of this digital revolution. Moores law continues to escalate in ways that a lot of ordinary people see their future as being in the rearview mirror. They wonder what jobs they are going to have, what are they going to do . John and i were talking at lunch. The highest rate of suicide, the highest rate of divorce, the highestrate of opioid abuse, the only country where Life Expectancy is diminishing, the white male is between 40 and 48 years old. There is a sense of hopelessness and that always generates demagogues. Demagogues do two things. One, they appeal to a fear in order to get the aggrandizement of power. And one of the things, i will end with this because there is so much more to say and i want to hear john. Last night, i had the great honor as chairman of the Constitution Center up in philadelphia to award another great friend of both of us, john mccain. Unlike this john and i john , mccain and i have hollered at each other and gone at each other. The bottom line is that one of the things we talked about is you all have to know the constitution better. And by that i mean, you know, we say we hold these truths as selfevident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator. We all believe that. But the thing that is unique about america is we set up a political system that guaranteed you could assert that and guaranteed it. Its called the madisonian notion of counter majoritarian instincts built into our constitution. There are certain things for which a majority rule does not pertain. We are not a pure democracy. We are a republic. There are certain things that are so consequential to us in terms of basic human rights that it doesnt matter whether 99 of the people wanted to do away with it. Its called the counter majoritarian element built into our constitution. The reason why we have been the light for the world is not just because what we said, but we built the institutions that guarantee it. And the guarantees that are in that constitution are ones that people are walking away from now. What do you see now . Demagogues talking about how its just about whatever the majority thinks. They are riling up people, finding the other. Every time theres a problem, why doesnt a guy in coal country have a job in ohio . Well, an immigrant. What does an immigrant have to do with the coal problem in Southeastern Ohio . It has nothing to do with it. Why dont people have jobs in delaware . Well, youre catering to blacks. You are giving special preference. And it goes on and on. They need a target to pick. We have to start to reinvigorate and remind people what is the unique element of this country. It is, we are uniquely of product of our political institutions. You cannot define an america based on ethnicity, race, religion, culture, background. But you can, in saying that i adhere to the notion that there are certain inalienable rights that cannot be overruled by anyone the government, the majority it cannot be there. And so whats happened here . What have you seen . You have seen a direct attack for a year and a on the half legitimate courts from some quarters in our government now. The second thing you have seen as a direct attack on the free press. What are the two things that to protect and prevent the abuse of power . The courts and the press. So you guys have to get engaged. And remember why we are who we are. It is because we built institutional structures to guarantee that all men and women are treated equally. Its the structures. We dont have enough people informed. Lindsay thank you. Gov. Kasich i never thought i would see the advantages of getting older. Dont get me wrong. Last night, after dinner, one of my daughters and i and my wife, we were listening to linkin park, so dont think im an old fogey. [laughter] there are not many songs better numb. Im changing as im aging. Joe, i think part of it is, as a governor, i have 11. 5 Million People. I see people that hurt. I see people that need help. I see the whole jobs issue. There is certain of a weight that falls of you when you have that level of responsibility. I dont want to talk so much about what joe said about the constitution is really important. But i think there are two things that i think we are somehow forgetting. Those are two great commandments. I know in our Society Today the moment i mention the word god, well have thought bubbles about oh, my goodness, what is he going to do now . Look i dont care who you are , sleeping with. Look i dont care who you are , sleeping with. That Means Nothing to me. That is not what god is all about. God is about love, connectedness, togetherness, forgiveness, grace, patience. And the two great commanders commandments that we have look, if youre humanist, im cool with that. You dont have to believe what i believe. The First Amendment is to love god. That is about humility. What is humility . I know i dont have as much of it as i need, but what is humility . Well, i need to listen to somebody. Some of the great theologians say is im not as worthy as you are. I fall short of you. Its really important. The second one and the one we have increasingly been forgetting is love your neighbor as you want your neighbor to love you. When i think about the gnashing of teeth, the elements of hatred, viciousness, of division, what happened to that commandment . Have we forgotten it . Have we written it off . I think that if you love your neighbor as you want your neighbor to love you, and if you practice humility, you have an obligation to live your life a little differently. Now it is popular today to talk about the failure of government. I have never seen anything like we see in washington, the dysfunction and the willingness to just care about my own election. Maybe thats another higher moral purpose. Because we are all heading out of this world at some point. My goal is to have at least 80 of what they say about me be true when im dead. We see the failures in government, the inability to put the good of our society above the good of my reelection. Easy for me to say. I think joe and i practiced that for longtime. We have. I remember when you pushed the president to some difficult positions. It wasnt easy. I think we both did pretty good on that. But then we look at the rest of our culture. I look at equifax. I look at wells fargo. By the way, they are not doing state business in my state. Ive banned them. You cant be taking advantage of people. [applause] seriously. I look at these companies and i say, is it about profit without value . Because some of the great theologians have said Free Enterprise not underlaid by a set of values is bankrupt. One of the great catholic theologians said that. I happen to agree with that. Hollywood, not saying another word. From the standpoint of if you think thats the only place where these things in just come up you are crazy. What are people thinking . If we look at sports where they will now appeal ezekiel elliott. They wanted to play football on sunday. Are you kidding me . Are you kidding me . The guy should play . We look at the matters of faith. So many of these evangelicals deciding the politics should be interspersed with religion. Theres no place, unless you are talking morality, like Martin Luther king did. But when i look across our culture, i begin to wonder, have we all lost our way . Where does it come down to . It comes down to you. I will wrap up because a note you have a lot of questions. I was out in utah at a town hall. There was a young lady standing behind me. As said no it has ever been made like you before. No one will ever be made like you again. Do you understand the purpose you have . She started to cry. My wife said you probably scared her, john. [laughter] i dont mean this just politically. You all matter very much. The power of our country does not rest in president s, governors, senators. The power of our country rests in you and us as people, and how we behave in class, how we behave out of class, how the Business Executives behave, how the theologians behave, how the sports figures behave. Was there anything more uplifting than to see jt watt raise all of those thats all that money for the flood victims in houston . These are powerful things. We look at houston and florida puerto rico and say there are , heroes emerging. We dont have to be saints, but maybe a little better heroes every day to somebody else. So the power is in us. Dont be yelling and screaming or blaming them. Youre doing the same thing. Be patient. Embrace people. Tell them you care about them. Give them a hug. You will feel 10 times better. That is the strength of our country. Its you. Joe is right about that. You. Not somebody else. Lindsay thank you. [applause] lets stick with the governor for a moment and travel back in time to 2016 and the campaign for president. Gov. Kasich do we really have to . [laughter] come on. Thats not fair. Lindsay only one question. [laughter] lindsay only one question. Gov. Kasich thats fine. Lindsay since i studied the intersection between technology and politics, im fascinated how every fouryear is a facebook or twitter or a new medium tracking things. I was fascinated by the president ial debates in the primary. Facebook could click an emoji as to what you are feeling. I monitored this throughout the debate, before the march 1 primary. People were angry. They got more angry as the debate went on. I think these debates are historically one of the best models for civil dialogue. Gov. Kasich which debates were you watching . [laughter] i wish i had been invited to those. Let me tell you something about the debates. First of all, the debates were the craziest thing you said, figure out what you can say to get on the morning news. Im going to rip up the iran deal. Im going to kick 15 Million People out of the country. That is what got the press. Do you think anybody was for you . It didnt work that way. The debates didnt work because it was all about whats the biggest thing you can do. It was not about a discussion like we are going to have here today. You know why . Because most people wouldnt watch. You might get 7 million are 8 or 8 million. But you got 25 million. And when it comes to the networks, money matters. Someone made doing all the 1 billion stuff. And now they are going crazy because of the result. [laughter] thats the first thing. The second thing i want to tell you is this is really interesting. No good deed goes unpunished. So i didnt go to the convention in ohio. People are still furious with me about it. I never endorsed donald trump. People in my party still angry at me about it. Ive just gotten together with John Hickenlooper to put together a bipartisan proposal on health care. You know what everybody says . There is something in it for him. We have become so cynical that if joe and i are sitting on this stage and we get along, somebody figures out there some ulterior motive behind it all. Do you know that people actually do nice things and good things because its the right thing to do . And its so hard for people to understand it. [applause] [laughter] lindsay thank you so much. Im wondering if either of you play the what would i do . Game if you are president in this , period right now today. [laughter] vice pres. Biden let me go back for a second. [laughter] and i will answer that question directly. John and i have a bad habit of answering the questions we are asked. Sometimes it gets us in trouble. Number one, the press bears some responsibility. You guys, school of medications. Communications. I dont think you are teaching the right things over time. Im not being facetious. Think about it now. If in fact there was an actual debate that didnt include donald trump groping a womans crotch im not being facetious look, there was a study done. The Communications People probably know this. Of all the words spoken in the debates and the campaign, only 4 was covered that involve issues. You hear me now . 4 . 4 . The press is going through an overwhelming really the brightest people i have known in my career i count among the press people. I mean i really mean it. Academically, intellectually. Gov. Kasich yup. Vice pres. Biden if a newspaper is going to survive, they dont know how they are going to do it. It has changed incredibly. There is very little editorial comment very little editorial , filter about anything that goes out. Yourself if innd fact you are going to respond to something that is substantively important, but you can elevate it by taking an extreme position, you know it will be carried the next day on the news. Its all about and thats why we are going to get to it probably somewhere along the line. Thats why the new technology is both incredibly liberating and also dangerous. Because there is no editorial filter on anything at all out there now. So with regard to the question of whether or not do i sit and do i think to myself what i would do, one of the great advantages and there is no power in the vice presidency. It is all reflective. Students have heard me say before. As Benjamin Franklin said, we should refer to the Vice President as his superfluous excellency. [laughter] there is no power. You are standby equipment, and you break a tie unless you have , a relationship with the that is real, and i was lucky to have that. One of the things you get to do as a governor i have never been and Vice President , which i have i got to be the , last guy in the room in every major decision. He made that commitment to me and he kept it. I could make my case as to what i felt we should do. Youre able to judge whether or not the advice you gave and the position you took, whether it turned out to be correct or not correct. So you have a sense, a scorecard. He knows the things he did that succeeded and the things that didnt succeed. He didnt have to guess about it. He has done it. And one of the things i found, it doesnt mean the recommendation you had that was different wouldnt work. It just means you knew it increases your confidence in your judgment for guys like john and i have been around for a long time. What i was able to do for eight years is not second guess, but absolutely be directly clear to the president when i thought he was right, when i thought he was wrong, what i thought he should do. The fact that i am no longer Vice President doesnt mean that i no longer have those thoughts. I do. Im not trying to be funny. The point is that there has been a tradition and it has been sorely tested by this president , a tradition that the outgoing president and Vice President give a grace period to an administration to get their feet on the ground. One of the things that i use as an excuse i look on it in reverse now is that they didnt expect to win. They werent prepared at all to govern. They had not anybody in place. They didnt even have what every Major Campaign has. They didnt have a committee working on exactly what they do in transition. There was no transition group. So i said, lets give them a chance to put people in place and see what they do. But what has really happened is that we have a president who does not understand governance. Forget his policies for a minute. He doesnt understand how the government functions. Of up of the Constitution Center. He talked about the fact the reason why we have certain basic norms certain basic political , norms is they are the things which are the ballast which keeps differing opinions and conflicts floating so that we can deal with them. And he came along and said he is going to break down all the norms. Its like breaking down the norms on a campus, where you walk by and somebody says hello to you and you dont say hello. Well, guess what. You break down the norm, it becomes not a friendly place to work off of what john was talking about. There are certain basic norms, and he doesnt understand them. The he understands, he tries to ones break down. Secondly, this penchant for self aggrandizement and this penchant for tweeting, this penchant to focus so specifically and internally on what he does or doesnt do, even if he was right about everything, is sending a message to all of you and sending a message to your younger siblings that is totally inappropriate. This when yout and i and barack or playing golf last time. You guys won. [laughter] we saw the beginning of the demise of the nature of discourse when the gingrich revolution started to occur. On the floor of the United States senate, a senator would refer to the sitting president as bubba. Forget democrat republican. When someone would yell at the state of the union liar, these are basic norms. Theres a reason why we have certain basic social norms. They are the arbiter of how we Work Together. The thing that i find the most debilitating about what is going on now is the destruction of these norms and it is generating chaos. It is generating chaos internally. I dont want to see the chief of staff quit. I dont want to see the secretary of defense and the secretary of state quit. All the people that are in our administration who are still there, they call and i say please stay. Please stay. There has to be some competence and normalcy. Again its not even about the , issues. Its about the norms. I will conclude by saying you dont say you dont say to a foreign leader, even someone as difficult and dangerous as the president of north korea you , dont refer to him as a little guy. I was recently with a head of state. John, i have had 14 heads of state contact me who want to get me to explain what is going on. I am not being facetious. Im deadly earnest. Im very careful. Im not in power. I dont set Foreign Policy. I never speak ill of an american president abroad. Thats an absolute rule of mine. I was recently with one Prime Minister in europe. I went to speak at a conference. He wanted to see me. I thought it was a courtesy call. I thought it would last 10 minutes. It lasted two and a half hours. At one point, this Prime Minister said and did you see what he did . We were sitting on the same side of a conference table as close as you and i are. He stood up and he said he took the president of montenegro and shoved him aside and stuck his chest out and his chin. All i could think of was il duce. Thats not a joke. That is what people are thinking. Violating the norms of personal conduct generates more anxiety and fear than any policy prescription that this president has enunciated. Sending his secretary of state to talk with north korea, saying he is on a fools errand. It is absolutely bizarre. It is bizarre conduct. Let me ask you professors out there, if i said to you two months after this election, are you fundamentally worried in a fundamental way things getting out of control . Democracy being questioned, or Foreign Policy may be ending up in a war my guess is 90 of you , would have said, no, this is a bad period. But let me ask you today. I just spoke i did a major speech. I got the burzynski award from the council of International Security studies in washington. Every political policy pubah was there. I asked the question, how many forou today are concerned the first time in your career a genuine possibility of a nuclear war . In january, it wouldve been 1 and they thought it would occur only if isis got a hold of a Nuclear Weapon or an accident occurred. Folks, this breaking down of the international and National Norms is the glue that holds the world order together, and holds together our system. That is what is being attacked now. That is what is most dangerous. Lindsay can it be reversed . Can we get back on track and what are some suggestions for doing that . Gov. Kasich first of all, let me say a couple of things. What is Pretty Amazing is that when you look at polls, the country is divided about the president. Not 50 50, but there is still strong support for the president in some quarters. There was an article yesterday that flake in arizona may be in trouble because he has criticized the president. It has become about base politics. The base politics of republicans and the base politics of democrats. I have been involved with John Hickenlooper trying to resolve the health issue. The minute that the republican proposal went down on the health care issue, democrats went out the window. I think what were seeing why did trump get elected . I wrote a book about it. Buy it, it is great. [laughter] lindsay its not in the lobby, by the way. Gov. Kasich ive talked about temperament and i have tried to stick to these issues, on which i have profound differences in many cases with the administration. But what was really behind it in many respects was that people felt you said earlier, joe they felt hopeless that the , current political system doesnt work for them. They are unemployed. They have nowhere to go. They thought, you know what, all these politicians, forget it and im going to try something different. Im going to try something new. I think that is part of the reason we have this result. But to some degree, the Politics Today is a manifestation of the politics thats been brewing for a long time. I remember the bork hearings. You were on the committee. You saw how ruckus they were. Then we went through an impeachment and then through the republican revolution and we saw jim wright and foley driven out. Then we saw the republicans get the house for the first time in 40 years and the democrats said you never one. We are going to fight you. It is really a pox on both houses. You are right about the gathering of the president you , lie. The next day he put out a fundraising letter to make money on it. The system has an breaking down because of base politics. Why did the democrats go out the window when health care . Because if you dont stand behind Obamacare Bernie and the , boys will come and get you. And if you are republican and you try to cross the base of the republican party, they coming get you in the primary. The whole system is polarizing and we have a manifestation. Of what has been happening time. Long period of we are more divided. How do you fix it . I was chairman of the budget committee. One of the most partisan committees. But i got along with everybody, with the democrats on the committee. Republicans would say lets come in for a couple of hours and then we will shut them down. Whoa, wait a minute here. You cant do that. Are you kidding . Not only are we not going to shut them down, i want to know what a minutes we are going to accept. It doesnt exist anymore the congress. Nobody is telling anybody what the behavior ought to be. The grownups have somehow disappeared. When that happens, there are no rules. It is interesting what you say. There are a fundamental rules that have been violated, they cannot be violated, and thats back to respect and humility and all these other things. When i look at the political system, do i think it can be fixed . Absolutely. What would i do if i were president . Let me tell you what i would do. I governor. Am i have a big job. So what are we about . We are about economic growth, and we are growing up 479,000 jobs since i came in. We were down 350,000. Jobs. Did you read the article in the New York Times . The lady who lost her job to mexico, she said this was my identity. Now we have people working in these jobs for uber one minute and then amazon. They have no job. They are contract employees. What is their identity . What we have is an inability for people to feel their purpose. That is what we need to reach out. So in my state, more jobs. But thats not enough. Because if people at the bottom dont feel the opportunity and they dont feel the wind of change blowing there would positively, it wont work. So we created the first income tax credit in ohios history. We do set asides for minorities. We have addressed the issue of race in my state. Ive expanded medicaid so the mentally ill, the drug addicted, and the chronically ill can get help. [applause] my goal, along with joe look, i saw joe in columbus. He said, would you go to delaware . Where do you want me to go . I will go anywhere you wanted to go. You know why . People go crazy when they see this at home. Theres not a lot of a difference between these two human beings who grew up in bluecollar families. There will be a difference in human beings who grew up in bluecollar families. There is going to be a difference on this issue and that issue. The bottomline is we want to look at a problem into say, what is the most practical way to fix it . Joe is saying, government can be more involved. So what . So what . Is that enough to cause us to have a war . Most of the wars are caused by politics, not philosophy. They are about the politics of how i can get ahead. Inherit the earth, and lose your soul. That is what we have to be careful about. We are on a roll. We need two more hours of this. [applause] when i sat where you are sitting in these very seats, the mantra was dropped out, disengage. We were more divided as a nation than we are today. The vietnam war was ripping us apart. We were rubbing each other apart, when i was involved in promoting womens issues. I was viewed as, i have to be gay, there must be something wrong. When we talk about the environment, it was, biden and others are going after corporate america. The civil rights cases were not settled by any stretch of the imagination. When i walked across the stage of syracuse the day Robert Kennedy was shot, i was determined that to me and my generation can change things could change things. What you face is a totally different problem today. It is not substance. On every major issue, from gay marriage to infrastructure, a majority of American People agree. From 53 to 68 . Not one major issue out there that the public disagrees on. Unlike my generation, when there was no agreement. But the political system is broken. I got there before john, but not a lot before. When i got there, there were 10 segregationists in my party. Mcclellan from arkansas. Strom thurmond. We argued like hell, but we resolved it. Today, the political system is broken. John and i talked about this at lunch. The reason we were late, we would have stayed there another two hours probably. The work he is doing on gerrymandering in his state and the money and politics. What is happening today is [applause] and i will let john speak to the gerrymandering. Look, here you go. What has happened now . Nobody worries about getting defeated by the other guy. Theres only 44 of the 435 districts in the house, only 45 are actually tossup based on registration. So what are you worried about . In the democratic side, you worry about coming at you on the left and losing the primary. And you worry about on the republican side coming at you at the right. So both Political Parties are moving more to the extremes. The center is shrinking. That isnt to say that the center per se is good. But how can you run this country without consensus . Its not possible. Its not possible for this country to function unless you reach a consensus. Gov. Kasich its the middle out. Heres the problem. Weve got extremes. You sell problems from the you solve problems from the middle out. When people have a competitive race, they have to listen to both sides. If you are in a safe district and you are a democrat, they are going to come get you if you try to work with those evil republicans. And if you are a republican and you try to Say Something about barack obama that might be positive, forget it. Oh, my goodness. But its both. Its both. How does it get fixed . Thats what we are trying to do in ohio. I get criticized from republicans in ohio. Does it bother me . Not in the least. Im trying to create a model that everyone ought to have a chance to rise. And you dont do it on partisanship or how you get money. Everyone gets a chance to live their dream. And if i can do that and joe can do that, maybe we will make gains. Nothing has been torn down overnight and nothing will be rebuilt overnight. It will have to be rebuilt one block at a time. You are talking about the debate over the war. There is something worth debating. Civil rights, that is something worth debating. But i dont know what the debate is about this health care law. Its all political. So we get away from the political wars, we can deal with the issues, then we have something to fight about. Vice pres. Biden our poor moderators going nuts. Lindsay im enjoying this. Vice pres. Biden last night, i introduced john mccain, who has been my friend for 44 years. I presented him with the medal of the people of the people who have gotten it, six have gone on to win the nobel prize. I was reminded that the first time john and i realized how things were beginning to change, there was a big debate going on, we would sit next each other on the floor. I would disagree, but i would sit next to him or he would sit next to me. Coincidentally, we have what you call party caucuses, we had lunch and you discuss policy. The same day that i got this, he got it in the republican caucus. The leadership of my caucus actually asked me and i was so senior that no one could screw around with me. Not a joke. To be very blunt about it. And they said why are you sitting next to mccain during the debate . It is a bad image for us. The party. Image for and the republicans told him to stop sitting next to the democrats during the debates. Gov. Kasich when i go home, they will ask me why am i sitting next to you. [laughter] vice pres. Biden i sat in the white house, those two chairs around the fireplace, the two leading republicans in the United States today im not saying the president was always right, but the president was asking if they could work on such and such a thing. And they looked at him and said do you realize how difficult it is for me to even sit here with you . I looked at them. And i swear to god, my word as a biden. The response was, i am taking a real Political Risk even being here with you. The president of the United States. Hell it is. Who the as we are walking out the door, i am always the last guy out the door. I start out the door first after this one particular congressman. He grabs my shoulder, he pulls me back. He says where are you going, the president says. I have to go talk to that guy. [laughter] looked at me. He looked at me. He says, dont, joe. Im not going to let anybody talk to the president of the United States like that in front of me. An interesting guy. , you take the good with the bad. I said, no thats just bad. , that is not good manners. But it started. As you said, john, it goes back. These things incrementally build. Character is made of a thousand Little Things you do. No one thing. So is the political system. You take out these things that are the basic normal procedures. You weaken the whole foundation. Lindsay what advice can you offer young people in my classroom who were woken up in a lot of ways by the politics of the past year and a half, two years . What can you offer them to encourage them to help rebuild what you are describing . Gov. Kasich i think you ought to go get an education. Figure out what you want to do with your life. One of my daughters is probably inclined to politics. She wouldnt admit it. I say to her, would you want to run for office . She said, not until i made my money, daddy. Joe and i were lucky. I was elected to the legislature when i was 26. No relatives in ohio, no support, just a couple of buddies. I went to the United States senate at 29. I went to congress at the age of 30. Joe was there a long time and becomes the Vice President. We made the nba. You ask all these kids what you want to be and they say i want to be in the nba or a soccer player. Some make it, but most dont. But the most important thing for young people is to carve out your career and be about the things you believe in the things we have talked about here already. If you want to get into politics and be involved in a movement, thats good. But as a young person, i wouldnt make it the center of my life. I would get on with my career and make something. You can get been while dip in while you are making your career. Theres nothing more important for women to do now than to stand together. There are movements around race, movements around the environment, fine. Get yourself established. Get yourself something where you are strong yourself and then dip in. Whenever i hear a young person is going to washington, this is really not politics, i say, ok, when you go, when are you leaving . Ill tell you why. How many staffers do you know devoted a lifetime and a career to a politician and the politician walked out the door the staffer was left with not much . Dont be seduced by that. But make a difference. I guess im being contradictory in a way. But i want you to get your degrees. I want you to become something. I want you to stand on your own two legs. I dont want you to have to depend on somebody else. And involve yourself, but dont disrupt that specific mission you feel you were created to perform. Lindsay mr. Vice president . Vice pres. Biden i dont disagree in any fundamental way. It starts with the same premise. My dad used to have an expression. He said its a lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they are about to do and thinks it still matters. Think of your parents generation, how many people they know are very successful, and, at age 5055, no longer thinks what that does really matters. It is a lucky person who figures out what they really want to do and be. Its a hard thing. It doesnt come from us people they are in high school or college. It comes after exposure to other opportunities. The second thing is, i think you can serve the country without being involved in public life, without being engaged in the public process. I did the commencement at yale. I was making the case that, you know, there is a professor i had here who had a gigantic impact on me. He was in the Political Science department, one of the brightest. He talked political philosophy. He was one of the guys who had the most impact on me and my career. I remember what he would say. He would quote plato. Plato said the penalty that good people pay for not being involved in politics is being governed by people worse than themselves. That is deadly earnest and true. Think about this. If you go out and you do very well and i hope you do, financially or professionally one of the things that is happening today is that a lot of the elite college graduates, democrat and republican, coming from middleclass backgrounds as well as wealthy backgrounds, are selfisolating. You tend to mirror the people who have the same taste and education you have. You tend to be with people that are people that share the same values and care about the same kind of entertainment, art, recreation, etc. For example, there was a study. All the people who graduated from harvard, from 19922002, they lived in 42 zip codes. Over 65 of them. I can tell you promised every senior staff person lives in washington. They live in their own gated communities, figuratively speaking. There was a test done by a book that was recently rewritten. It drove my two sons crazy. I had them take the test. Grown men, when bo was still alive. Did you ever grow up in a neighborhood where 40 of the people did not have a College Degree . Have you ever been on a factory floor . Do you have whole milk in your refrigerator . Not a joke. Think about it. If you have a chance to buy starbucks or a Dunkin Donuts coffee, where would you go . Who are your friends . The middle class is becoming increasingly isolated. People coming from the middle class are selfisolated. There is a new elite in america and the new elite is not based on your pedigree or where you are born. It is based on cognitive capability. But theres not much engagement anymore. Theres not much engagement. For example, i have a guy who was with me here at the university of delaware. His mom was president of the Janitors Union in rhode island. He comes from a modest background like i did. He and his brother are great successes. His brother was a National Security adviser. He has been one of the leading people in terms of public policy. Hes here now. But i asked of the president , when we got elected, what do you want . He said, i want you to let me set up a middleclass task force. So i called 19 cabinet meetings. He gave me authority to do it. The first cabinet meeting, i said i want each of you members in the cabinet, within the next month, hire someone who answers directly to you and has no other obligation other than what they can do administratively to ease the burden on the middle class. One cabinet member said i dont think thats a good idea. I said do exactly what the hell i tell you go talk to the president. I wanted to make sure he understood. The first guy that came to me was geithner. Smart guy, decent guy. I said i have this great idea. He brought in senior people in the Treasury Department. We know how to apply set 528s, those programs your parents have to save for college that is taxfree. I had a guy named jerry bernstein, a labor economist. All people of modest means. Thats a great idea. I said i dont know who has a 528. But they all did. The people where i come from and me, when i was making 42,000 a year and had a kid at yale, a kid at penn, and a kid at tulane, i didnt make enough money to save for a 528. What percentage of people qualify have a 528 . It ranged from 20 to 40 . There was a headline, it is probable no man who ever assumed the office of Vice President has fewer assets than joe biden. I said i bet you know more than 10 have them because they dont have any money to save. I said, if im wrong, i will take each of you to lunch at every restaurant you pick once a month, all of you together. Guess how many people have them . 7 . The point is, we are not remembering where an awful lot of people are. If you dont get engaged, you can put yourself behind that gated community. But you cant hide from the ozone layer being eliminated. No place to hide. You cannot hide from the Drinking Water being polluted. You cannot hide from your brother being profiled because he is black and stopped in the street. You cannot hide from your sister being denied to marry her female partner. You cannot hide. No place to hide. Whether you end up being an investment banker, professor, teacher, salesperson, or involved in public policy, you have an obligation to be involved in public policy. You have no place to hide. No matter how much money you make. No matter what happens. I am not discouraging from making money. I should have raised a couple republican kids. All my kids did the wrong thing. One kid goes to war and then becomes attorney general and gives up 800,000 in income. The other gets an mba and goes to the Treasury Department and then ends up heading up the World Food Program usa, and my daughter goes to tulane and graduates from penn with honors and runs the largest nonprofit in the state. I need one kid making money at least so when they put me in a home at least i have a room with a view, you know . Folks, i have said enough. But youve got to get involved. Dont tell me there is no opportunity. It is wide open. It is wide open. You can drive a mack truck through the opportunities. If you want to go run im serious. Last point shorenstein school put on this study. How much of the graduating class had any interest being involved with public life . When i started, it was 40 . Now it is down to 14 percent. Lindsay i think that is a good transition to our class, which is here. Gov. Kasich one thing, i want to talk about politics and education. You all know we are entering the fastestchanging economy in the history of the world. The number one occupation in america is driving. Whats autonomous vehicles, approximately 1011 years down the road, you tell me what is going to happen to people who have those occupations. K12 education in many cases is not preparing young people for college. When you graduate from college, you are not prepared for work. Anyone who from here graduates and works for amazon or google, you know it the first thing that they will deal is . They will train you. We have to realize experience gives the power which gives the income, which gives them the hope. We need a complete reengineering of our k12 system that is not based on 100 years ago or longer. Where people are in touch with the real business world. Where the skills they need will be imparted based on the things they want to do and where the jobs are. The same is true for higher education. The twoyear Community Colleges have done a great job at being able to respond. The fouryear schools not so much. I do not know about delaware but i would say were not preparing people for the jobs of the future. Why dont we change it . It is too hard. I am a principal or superintendent, you know what michael is tomorrow . You know what my goal is tomorrow . I want to be a superintendent. Im the president of the university. Do you think politics is the only place where people do not have courage . It is not true. What i am suggesting to you is this issue of workforce training and connecting people with the skills that are part of the future, there are a lot of important issues. It is a long list. When people get left behind and they are in youngstown, ohio, and they dont have a job or a skill, what do you think happens to them . We have to reengineer the entire education system. Online education put up by businesses, there is a multitude of things that can be done and it needs to be done. I know that google has just offered 1 million to train people in i. T. That is not the only place they need to be trained, but god bless them. But this workforce issue is something that can take somebody who has nothing and give them the power and the opportunity to become powerful in their own right and do much good in the world. I needed to say that. Lindsay thank you. [applause] lindsay i would like to feature another component of the National Agenda, where the speakers get to meet with the students and ask questions. I thought i would ask if students could stand up and say hello and thank you for what you are doing. [applause] lindsay what i would like to do is start with these National Agenda students. You can get an inside peek at what our speakers go through. You can kind of see what we do in the classroom except now we are in a room with like 650 people. So no pressure. Lets start with a question from sarah. Thank you both for being here. So, this is a question for both of you. I was in a congress simulation class. We picked a party and district. At first we wanted everything to be bipartisan. We were going to pass as much as possible. Slowly that competitive nature within us all came out and suddenly nothing got done, we cannot agree on anything. It was frustrating and disappointing. My question for you, how can my generation keep the mindset of getting along and do you think sometimes winning comes in the form of letting things go that you wanted and finding something in between . V. P. Biden one of the things that my staff used to always get upset with me about was when i would do things, when we passed an amendment, i went out and said, why dont you introduce . I wrote the thing. Why dont you introduce this, do this, do that. My staff said, you are never going to get any credit for that you have to say it is your idea. Guess what . The best way to become wellknown and wellrespected is to yield to other people and give them the opportunity to present the ideas. It is called human nature. Human nature. And there is so much selfserving today, including in your generation. Although you represent the most open, tolerant, and giving generation in american history. But it is about being able to decide what is better for the group then what is the best for me. It is interesting. It is, again, think about it. You figure out who the one among you is who is really the most generous and brightest and does the most. G you is who is really the most generous and brightest and does the most. It is not because they tell you. You figure it out. You do not have to wonder. It is the same when sports teams, he and everything we do. It is human nature. The point. John made there has been a dumbing down of the culture. That it is about me. I want to be the star. The best way to become a star is to make other people the star. You notice making a football analogy in the season. You notice the halfbacks and running backs and quarterbacks are the most revered. They walk back and have the lineman. Not a joke. Guess what . The lineman but busts their passes the next time the linemen busts their asses the next time. Gov. Kasich did you do better at the end . Reince we started to get along we started to get along at the end. Gov. Kasich one thing i will thingou it is the one they walked out heres the one thing i will tell you we all absorb that which we agree with. What we need to do is stop just observing that which we are grew at the end of sort something we do not grant because we might find out that some of what is being said would be deeply appreciated. I will tell you a funny thing that happened a couple days ago. I was talking to this lady, she is a preacher. An fact, i had my daughters principal with me because i thought it would get points with them. We were laughing this morning because we found out this is colinning thing kaepernick is a devoted and serious christian. Nobody knew that. Isnt that interesting . People will hear that and be like, that cant be true. What im saying is, absorb something you cannot agree with. It is hard to do. But i think it is worth doing. Lindsay thank you. Lets get a question from jordan. We are in the middle of free speech week. Gov. Kasich free speech on a campus. Yes lindsay President BidenVice President biden, we have seen recently protests of conservative speakers. Shut protests sometimes down the speakers altogether and sometimes there is violence. Is, how would you encourage people to be more accepting of opposing viewpoints. I did it is interesting. When i was coming up through college and graduate school, free speech was the big issue. But it was the opposite. It was liberals who were shouted down when they spoke. And, liberals have very short memories. Demonstration of what has been lost here. The First Amendment means what it says. Youre not allowed to stand up thisell fire in auditorium. It you are allowed to stand up and say biden i think you are an absolute jerk and by the way, i think we should do away with or i believe that races a problem in america race is a problem in america. Look, what we do as we heard ourselves badly when we do not allow the speech to take place. Speech can move to the point of incitement, and citing riots. What the truth of the matter is, the incitement that occurs before the person even speaks, lets called on those who are engaged in that violence. Not on the speaker. So i got in trouble, as gov because the when that first up in a berkeley i said i think theyre absolutely wrong to deny the ability of the various people to go out and speak. I mean, look, if your idea is big enough it should be able to compete. You should be able to listen to another point of view as there arent as it might be and rejected. As. Virulent as it might be. Dont let the trumps of the world be able to compare you to not seize, races because you are nazis compare you to war racists. You are doing the same thing. I taught law school for 22 years. The First Amendment as one of the defining features of who we are in the bill of rights. In to shut it down in the name of what is appropriate is simply wrong. It is wrong. Lindsay thank you. I think we time for one more student question. Gov. Kasich this is an area where i would disagree with joe. If there was some hate speech person coming, i would not let them come. I would just not let them come. Heres what i mean by that, hate speech. Those quote hate speech speakers. The College President called me is that were not going to let him come. I said, good with me. I think there is a common sense element. Were not talking now about people with very diverse ideas. Were not talking about that. Whether it is left wing, right wing, were not talking about that. Were talking months of it for the explicit purpose of trying to upset. That is not the issue. We should not have it. That is kind of how i feel about it. If people like it, great. If they dont, dont make me president of the United States. They did not choose the first one, either. Lindsay thank you. We do have time for one more question from one of the students in the class. Brando, would you like to ask your question. This is for both. I want to thank both of you for being here today and my question is for governor kasich. Often uses fake news when a new story does not go along with his narrative. Do you believe that calling the news fake is harmful to the country as a whole because most of us outsider like people who are living in washington dc, that is where we get our news from. Or do you think the media does not cover politics fairly and accurately . Gov. Kasich i think if you are all about the eyeballs and money youre not doing your job. There are ethics required of journalists, too. I do not think i have ever used the word of the term fake news about journalists. I have Great Respect and admiration for them. But how do i deal with this . I read all kinds of stuff, stuff i grew up from the stuff i do not agree with, just try to figure out what the truth is because you know what i have figured out a my life . Theres three sides to every one story. Your story, everyone elses story, and what the truth is. I do not want to disparage them but i do tell you they have to carry responsibility. When the election is over i call an executive called an executive and said, you made a billion dollars theyre going to tell you to make another billion, my question is, if you make the other billion are you going to be able to look yourself in the mirror . My view is that we respect them. Joe and i work with them. Weve been slammed by them, praised by them. It is part of what it is in the life and politics. Narrowcast. U, dont then you reinforce your opinions and that is not healthy because the growing experiences to open your mind for things you never thought you would ask areas. Guess what . It andit and you grow you are more satisfied in life. So, i would use not use that term. Mr. Biden you have any comments on fake news . The first tacked that occurs, freedom of expression. , the limitation on the ability to use power is to attack the press. As a legitimate as illegitimate. If that thinks through enough, then what happens is you can do a lot of things if you are in power that allow you to accumulate power interviews the power. The power. E i think there has been a concert at effort on the part of breitbart and others to try to so discredit the press that then when you do things that are the flat abuse of power, they are characterized as not you doing anything but as fake news. I really did not do that. Think of the things, the boldfaced lies that have been eighted just in the last months. I am not holding any water in my hand. My says im Holding Water in hand . It is fake news. That are blatant. That is what i just did. As blatant as what i just did. Press,u delegitimize the agree that they are not believable at all, then, you know, katie bar the door. It is all about abusing power. Accumulating in and using it for your own purposes. Way though, would of the things youre going to have to figure out, your generation, every generation has had to deal with it in some form. You know, radio changed the way politics works. Television changed the way politics worked. And, the social media is changing the way policies work. Tool. A great liberating but how do you, it is a rhetorical question, how do you determine what you get on the ,ocial media that you in fact what do you determine, how do you determine whether or not what you see on the internet is accurate or not . How do you make that judgment . It is awful hard. Recently you have seen the ability on the internet and social media to actually superimpose my voice on another image andsee the looking like joe biden is saying, i love those nazis. Not a joke. It is happening. Now that capacity exists. You were going to have to figure out, your generation, what is the filter you use to determine whether or not not a like or dislike that you get but what on read on and what you see social media and the internet to determine whether or not it is true. How do you do it . It is hard. Is goingese i predict to happen. There will have to be some roles of the road and i have been wideopen and not restrained on the internet my whole career. But think of what just happened on facebook will stop think of just think of what it does happen on facebook, think of what has happened on google. You have a foreign power paying hundreds of thousands of not millions of dollars to run unidentified ads going after a candidate to try to change the outcome of an american election. Facebook oversimplified it, saying until recently that is not our responsibility. What would you do if the local newspaper allowed ads to be put in the paper without any identification of who took out the ad . Rapist. Is a he has been convicted of rape. You just dont know it. With nobodys name on it. You would think it is outrageous, right . What in the hell is going on . You and, by the way, there is only one thing i do know a whole lot about it and john served on the committee for 10 years. Lot about our foreignpolicy and National Security system. Im telling you, there is a assaultwn unadulterated on the openness of our electoral system that is in fact frightening. It is not just happening here. France, germany, moldova, it is happening all over. What is it designed to do . Breakdown, fundamentally breakdown those elements in our governments that prevent the accumulation and abuse of power. That is what it is about. And, by the way, i promise you, i promise you you are going to soon see how extensive it has been. Heading upbody facebook to say ive no responsibility, input out ads so sophisticated where they are making hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars, with no identification. Russian out it is governmentsponsored ads to try to affect the outcome of an election. It may be the democrats today. Republicans tomorrow that are targeted. Doesnt matter. So, it is one of the things i predict you are going to do negotiate. What are the legitimate, if there are any legitimate constraints as it relates to the dissemination of information and those entities that are within the United States jurisdiction. It is really, i think, you guys are going to spend more time in the next 10 years on that then giving someelse reasonable prospect that at isst, at least you know who paying to have the message put. Ut lindsay thank you so much. I think we could continue this conversation gov. Kasich this is important because i tell you why. Joe is hitting on an issue and if you put 10 people in a room they may come out it different ways. There is a problem. Youhen the question is, can get people of good will not representing their party club but can you get people of goodwill to sit down and figure this out. Information inside of an iphone unlocked. Throw people who love the country and put Country First can sit down and worked their way through so many vexing issues. Maybe cannot solve everything but to work their way through vexing issues if they are of goodwill and Work Together. I believe most of these things can be fixed. Thank you for allowing me to be her. You have a beautiful campus. I had a chance to walk into the middle of your campus. I mean, it is fantastic. You should be really, really proud of it. I do not think you couldve done any better than to have joseph Biden Associated with the university of delaware blue hands. God bless you. Ok . With the university of delaware blue hens. Ok . God bless you. [applause] mr. Biden we made it hard for you. [applause] this weekend on the cspan networks tonight, former president ial speechwriters from president s nixon to obama and dr. Anthony eitan on how your zip code impacts your help. Caller tv, the daily editor on his book the art of the art of the donald lessons from americas philosopher in chief. And author Rebecca Fraser in her book the mayflower, the families, the voyage, and the founding of america. Tonight on cspan3, the u. S. Capitol art in and architecture, and sunday at 9 10 p. M. The groundbreaking for the dwight d. Eisenhower in washington, d. C. This weekend on the cspan networks. A, robert perry on his book president mckinley architect of the american century. He was a very effective president. He could not quite figure out how he was able to accomplish what he accomplished. He was indirect. He was a manager. He was not a man of force. It turns out he had amazing peopley to manipulate and manipulate them into doing what they need to do. At 8 p. M. Night eastern. The organizers