Transcripts For CSPAN2 Books By The 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates 20240713

Want to show you the programs we have covered with the democratic president ial primary candidates. Politicians write book once policy issues or memoirs prior to launching a Political Campaign and well kick off with michael bennett. He has been a senator for colorado since 2009. He launched his president ial campaign in may of 2019, and his book, the land of flickering lights, came out in june of 2019. Heres a portion of his discussion from san francisco. Ben. You cant accept the way politics works in was and create a tour double seeings on climate. You cant fix Climate Change four years at a time. I dont think thats any way to regulate a Banking System or support education. But you certainly cant deal with climate that way, and thats why i think sort of as a definitional matter you cannot accept the current political align independent america and we have to build a coalition of americans outside of washington to overcome a broken washington. Thats what well have to do. That sounds really hard, and it is really hard. But there are no shortcuts and democracy. This why the debate about to get rid of the full buster or not. Filibuster, the question is can you win states like colorado, iowa, arizona . Because if you cant, youre not going to be able to make the kinds of changes that we need to be able to make. The democrats are putting forth a lot of ideas on Climate Change and one heat gotten the most attention for better or worse is the Green New Deal, or as pelosi calls it, the green new dream. Not so much anymore. She buried the hatch set aoc. Inscientist say the longer you wait, the tougher the solution. What should congress be doing that is acceptable, thats doable . First of all, i believe that we should not ever compromise with the science. Ever. Ever. And thats why i actually support the findings of the Green New Deal that say, weve got to get to net zero carbon by 2050 and a bunch of other thing is agree with. But i think another approach to the policy is going to be more likely to be successful for the reasons i said earlier. I of you come out to colorado have a conversation with people and say, my climate plan we have to act urgently and my plan is that were going to retrofit every building in america in the next ten years and give everybody a paid vacation and well give everybody a paid job, and Bernie Sanders health care plan, people will say that doesnt sound like a climate plan to me. Sounds like Something Else and one thing that drives me nut, the one thing the left of the list was a high Quality Public School for every kid in america. Why are always left behind . Theyre invisible to us. The kids in these urban School Districts and theyre invisible to the Progressive Left in the country. And so what i believe is that the tragedy of the last election, is that we lost an election to a climbed denier. It should be disqualifying for the white house if you deknee the climb change is real. Satellite be disqualifying it should be disqualifying on moral terms. But i mean Something Else. It should be disqualifying on political terms. Because the majority of americans believe the Climate Change is real and the majority of americans believe we need to do something to fix it and the argument we lost to trump, which is a disgrace, should never have lost is, was on economics and he won an argument with the American People where he said if we deal with Climate Change, its going to be an economic catastrophe for america, when the reverse is true. Of course. Itself we dont deal with climate, it will be an economic catastrophe for america. That is an argue. We cannot lose again. A failure of democrats to come up with a message. It. That resonates. Aning a guying description in the book about agonizing description in the book but the Keystone Pipeline vote and this is a thing where i voted in a way that was not consistent with the environmental communities view with whom i have very very strong relationship women moved to colorado because my wife was the regional director or earth justice, the rockie mountain region. They do a great job and i had to crawl into bed every night so i need to be right on these issues. But what disturbed what was is like the night you vote for the keystone. It was fine because we had been through it. At galvanizeed our base but didnt bring anybody else to the table. Somebody else once say what would mickael have said two gets to pick symbols, the movement or the politics and thats a legitimate question and my answer is probably a little bit of both. And then the question from the friend of mine in colorado, who was very disappointed in me on this but had agreed it was the keystone was a symbol, not more than a symbol. What would michael have said but the lunch counters in the Civil Rights Movement and this is all in the book to which i said, exactly, thats my point. This civil rights the lunch currenters broth the north into the Civil Rights Movement. It expanded the movement. And built it in a way that could overcome people who thought they would never be able never give up on segregation in this country. We need the same sort of relentlessness and approach on Climate Change. Have the build a coalition of people to change politics in washington, dc so with a adorable solution and i believe we can easily do that. Think the coalition is waiting for news america to do it. But you cant just expect that its going to be there and you cant make proposals that actually divide people when youre trying to unite people, and i want to end by just to be very clear about it, you cannot compromise on the science and we cannot compromise on the science. That is not the same thing as saying we shouldnt be open to figure out how to build a durable coalition of people that can sustain a political outcome in this country. Thats an honorable thing to do i think, not a dishonorable thing. As you say in the book, i think you allude to this, youre talking about segregation, civil rights, the big civil rights bills made in the mid60s could never have happened without the republican. Never have happened. And what has happened to the party . Not just on civil rights which is little more understandable but on science. Its good example. A chapter in the book called the corruption of inaction about what is really bit Citizens United and the way i describe the effect on temperature country is by using Climate Change. Dont want to overstate it but the republicans actually had a fairly honorable environmental tradition. Everybody knows that Teddy Roosevelts honorable tradition but imagine this. Richard nixon signed into law the Clean Air Act and the clean water act and stood up the epa. Ronald reagan closed the hole in the ozone layer. He was a skip cancer survivor, log cap and trade system. Two gorge bushes went the u. N. Unand said we have to do something, gorge bush the dad went to detroit, michigan, and said, people that think were not going to get anything done on climate, forget but the white effect and well get something done on climate. My friend, john mccain, i was on the gaining of eight with him on immigration, he ran on Climate Change. What happened in 2010 the Supreme Court decided Citizens United and led to the Koch Brothers and other billionaires, fossil fuel people from have a completely outsized role in their politics and first set out just in that year, set out to require every member of the congress who is republican to sign a climate pledge that said that i would say the Climate Change was real and that humans werent going contribute to it and so they went out and sign that pledge. And then ever since then, we have been living in a world where if a republican in washington looks like theyre going to do something on climate, the coaches have kochs have to ratting their coins in the pockets because its chump change for them and say, oh really . Because of the Supreme Court we can put 30 million in your next primary and you will be dead before this even starts and that has creates this profound corruption of inaction in our country. The Supreme Court in their opinion, which i used to describe as like reading a seventh graders American Government paper, and then i decided that was insulting to americas seventh grader sod i dont say that anymore. But the ignorance of that opinion where they were so focuses on this idea of corruption of action. You give me 5,000, i go write a bill for you. Or you give me 5,000, and i go write a bill that has the appearance of being written for you. The court stayed, both those things we have a right to worry about and we can limit contributions. Set that why you can only give me 5,000 but to then they said with independent expenditures by definition theyre independent so we dont have to worry ask thats why the Koch Brothers can give a billion dollars and not put their name on it and affect all ol american elects. Said this money in american politic is while not cause thisser is their language with nothing cause the American People to lose faith in their democracy. 95 of the American People say theres too much money in our dem address and the billionaires control to much of it. This is one of the huge reasons why we are in the mess were in. Its not the only reason. It was a confluence of the rise of the tea party and reaction to the election of barack obama. It was the Koch Brothers simultaneously being unleashed by the white house, and unbelief by corrosive effect, the particularly corrosive effect in that era of the partisan gerrymanders that happened in the house of representatives. Those things co lessed together in a structural, toxic stew were live being. When minimum friend joe biden says if this guess to the question of trump being a symptom not a cause says if we just get rid of trump it will go back to normal. Ignores the structural issue that exist in the democracy i lay out in my book. And many of the changes over the last ten years, and ignores the fact that the place is now populated by a bunch of Tea Party People and not by the kind of republicans who were available to pass a civil rights bill. Joe Bidens National political clear began in 1972 when he whereas elected senator for dedelaware he has over 1,000 cspan arches us but only once on booktv. He wrote a book in 2000 called promises to keep. We want to show you a portion now. The twin temperatures collapsed i by thyme get on the road and the death estimates for in new york were five, six, seven thousand, me a more. When i got home and put on the television i saw that americans were still had a heart that was still beating very strong. Doctor and nurses ready to treat the wound. Snaking through the streets and up the avenues were long lines of new yorkers waiting to give their blood. Even though the word was being passed that no more blood was needed. I can see it in their faces. They were hungry to do something, anything. Nobody was talking about war footings or paybacks. They just wanted to do thing part. That was a day that reminds me that even in the moment of almost total silence from the leaders in washington, americans would rise to the occasion. Watching these people in the blood lines way convinced the country would get up off the mat, face the new challenges head on, and emerge stronger for having faced them. To me, this is the first principle of life. The foundation principle. A lesson you cant learn defeat of any wise man or woman. Get up. The art of living is simply getting up after you have been knocked down. Its a lesson taught by example and learned in the doing. I got that lesson every day while growing up in a nondescript split level moment. My ad, joseph arent bid bide sr. Was man of few years. I learn from him i learned from watching. He had been knocked down hard as a young man. But he never stopped trying. He was the first one up in the morning, every morning, in our home. Clean, shaven, el againstly tress dressed, pouting on the coffee, going the karl dealership show a job he never liked misbrother, jim, said most morning you do hear dad singing in the kitchen. My dad had real grace. He never, ever gave up. And the never complain. The world done owe you a living, joey, he used to say but without ranch core. Didnt jump a imagine by how many times he got knocked down. He judged them by how rapidly he got back up. Get up. That was the phrase. That was the phrase and echoed through my whole life. The world dropped on your head . My dad would say, get up. Youre lying in bed, feeling sorry for yourself . Get up. You got knocked down, not docked on your ass on a football field, get up. Bad great lake get up. The girls parents wont let her go out with a catholic boy. Get up. Wasnt just small things but big ones as well. When the only voice i could hear is my own, after the surgery, senator, your might lose your able to speak, get up. The newspapers are calling you a plagiarerrist, get upper,under wife and daughter, im sorry, joe, nothing we do coo do to save them. Get up. Flunked a class in law school. Get up. Kids make fun of you because you cant pronounce your last name, you said bbbbiden. I get up no daylight between my moms philosophy of life and my dads. She just was more vocal and continues to be. He couldnt stan people who abused power of any kind. He never laid a hand on any of us and if we heard him, time and time again say, it takes a small man to hit a small child. No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman. Under any circumstances. Always about getting up. And standing up, standing up to abuse of power whether at the hands of a neighborhood bully or a dictator. When i was in eight grade, i got invited to the Presbyterian Church for a mix are for the kids kids who went to public school. Was the catholic kid in mayfield ask and. Heyed to we are one if dads dress shirts. A big deal to go to the dance but the dress shirt was too long so i never forget my mom rolled up the sleeves twice, french cuff shirt, and then she couldnt find any cuff links and hi dad worked on friday nights and we couldnt find them. So my mother went down to the washing man and picked up the toolbox and out of the toolbox she got a nut and a bolt. You think im kidding, im not. And my mom came up from the basement and started to put them into my sleeves. I pulled away i said, mom, im not doing this. Im not going to do this. Im not going to do this, mom. Theyll make fun of me mitchell mother, as all of her kids and grandkids and grandchildren have heard, said, joey, look at me. I said, mom, im not doing it. Im not doing it under any circumstances. She said, joey, look at me. If anybody says anything about these nuts and bolts to you, you just look them right in the eye and say, you dont have a pair of these . And i said, mom, im not doing this. [applause] im not doing this. I wanted to go to this dance in the worst way. All the best looking girls in eighth and ninth grade were there so i went. Nuts and bolts and all. And literally as i was stand he to punch bowl, one of the sort of bullies of the neighborhood, i reached out and he held up my arm and said, look, look, biden, look at his cuff links. Nuts and bolts. And first i felt just so embarrassed. And then he felt more angry than i was embarrassed. And i looked him straight in the eye and i said, frank you dont have a pair of these . And it was dead silence, true story. And he looked and he went, yeah, yeah issue got a pair of those, too. [laughter] i want you to know, i want you to know, it always reminded me and taught me that its not about whether youre barefoot orr wear guccis, have it ins and bolts or fine cuff links. Its who you are and what you believe. My 50th birth day me best friend, my sister val my stir is incredible. Stand up. [applause] my sister went to tiffanys and had a pair of sterling silver cuff links made. Theyre nuts and bolts. She got them for me to remind me, to remind me where we come from. And remind me about how to judge a person. Never forget. Never forget. From time to time, you talk but the holocaust, my dad. He could never understand how people could be persecuted for just being who they were. The war was wrong, joey at the dinner table where we had one rule mitch dad came home every night from the dealership. One rule was, at dinner, the only place you are expected to have impeccable manners. No excuses. Theres a place we sat to have conversations and occasionally eat. Wasnt about eating. And my dad would respond to what he thought were these terrible things he said the world was wrong, failing to respond to the atrocities against the jews we should be ashamed and also very critical of jews who did not want to establish the state of israel. He couldnt quite understand it mitchell father was not jewish. We each had a personal responsibility, he told us, just like the nuns toll us. Wasnt sufficient enough to point out something was wrong. It was obliged, if you had the capacity, any way to impact it, to intervene. In april 1993 i traveled to belgrade, come in, senator, he said, lets talk. We sat down at his conference table and he talked. You know you got us all wrong, senator. Got us all wrong. Its the muslims and the cruet, its not us. I brought up a largely muslim town trying like hell to hold all the serb soldiers who were firing on neighborhoods from aretily pieces around the town who were minute during the humanitarian relief effort and pummeling their convoys. No, no the u. N. Has preceded this. The recent bombings are not us. Theyre doing it to themselves. To make us look bad. He tried to tell me that all sides in bosnia have artilleries. Battery and tanks. Including the muslims. Mr. Mellow rich i said youre the only person in the world who would say such a ridiculous thing. He could tell i just about had it with his lies and at one point he looked at me from the table about 10 00 at night all those maps in front of him and he said what do you think of me . I all i could think of was my father. I said i think youre a damn war criminal. And im going to do everything in my power to spend the rest of my life seeing youre tried as one. And he looked right back at me as if i said to him, i thought he was a wonderful guy. It had no impact on him. But it was about keeping power promises. It was about keeping the promises to yourself as well as keeping your promises to what your country stands for. Lime former president cal candidate cory booker Pete Buttigieg fans his career as a mayor. The south bend mayor released hit book the shortest way home . 2019 here hees eh is debrook pin library. I follow a simple formula. Somebody is mad, talling me names, assuming its a real person. And you try to give them the benefit of the doubt. I reply, acknowledging this stretch of rod is road is table. Said yet i know. Ill say what were doing to fix it and i let them know a way they can help. So if its a problem about a road i say its crunchy on the road were trying to get more funs to cover the stretch of road. By the way, road funding is up in the state legislature in april would you be willing to send a letter . And more times than not, people actually respond to that in a way thats really encouraging. They im not saying every skeptic becomes a convert but its helpful. The flip side it doesnt always bring out our best selves, and but its human nature. Its manipulating good and bad things in us as does every good and bad influence, not that it itself can only do good or can do evil. Its how we come it to. I think were only beginning to become cities indicated consumers. When you open the newspaper, and theres a full page ad, it resembles news print. Looks like a story but you look at it and you realize its a full age ad taken but a group with a quirky perspective on a perspective. We dont have that same pattern of recognition for things that come on social immediate. The reason it has so much potential for misinformation. As we grow into it well become a little more savvy, too. As. Do you can the the federal government can and should be doing things to mitigate the damage. I do. What would those be. We need for one thing a policy that clarifies the ownership of data. And we are behind on this. We also need all si that establishes whose job authentication is. We have the weirdest patchwork of systems. Establish that you are who you say you are, is one of the buysic functions of government. And yet the way we do it is through drivers licenses when a lot of people dont even drive in terms of i. D. And then your digital i. D. For the most part is your Social Security number. As a not to instinct out in terms of data not to geek out, Social Security number sucks. Contains information which is not something you want an dealership number to do. Youing can learn things just by seeing the number. I does something we would never do, the way your Social Security number is used. Your user i. D. Is also your password. We would never do that. So, theres some of these we need a better system for digital identification. A lot of functions because people run legislating these things dont understand them. Which iseye of he bam rahrs spectrum tech cals of senators quizzing tech exec thieves have nod idea ware theyre asking about. Its not just an age thing. You can be an elderly senator and understands these but most of. The dont. So, understand its just clear were behind. You just mentioned age. When you are in your late 20s you rand for state treasurer of indiana. You became a mayor at what aim. 29. Youre 37 and you have memoir out. Youre fourth president of the United States. Why the hurry . Um, i dont know to be in a hurry you have to think youre trying to get to a certain destination. I wrote a book because i felt like i had a books worth of things i wanted to share. I have this Exploratory Committee because i believe that heres the process of discernment works for running for office. You look at the office and what it calls for and needs. So what did south bend need in 2011 . Itit needed to bring its youth home. It needed a better model for Economic Development. And it needs a sense of faith in the future. You look at yourself and what you bring to table. At the time way a young permanent in a background of Economic Development and new running for office would be an act of hope in the future. Then you see a match and ive gone through the process in order to decide to run for office. Ive gone through the process in order to decide to not run for office, a process i followed decided more than once to not run for congress. And the question now is, okay, looking that country needs, is it just maybe the case for a country where especially a party that has really lost touch with the industrial midwest and socalled forgotten communities in a moment that seems to be crying out for generational change at a time when our politics has become just unbelievably contracts and also divorced from reality. And also disconnected from the extent to which politics matters most because it impacts individual lives. Maybe the right idea for a young mid worn my help yap gay mayor to have something to offer. [applause] squeaker mentioned mill happenam. Im the last year of the babyboom. Youre the first year of Millenial Generation so consider me a punching bag and tell me how he boomers screwed up everything four millenials milld should never by given the reigns of government again. Its not all your fault. It is interesting, though. I recently found out that the three of the last four president s, george w. Bush, donald trump and bill clinton, they were all different ages when they came into the public consciousness but theyre they same age, the same ann. All about born in the summer of 1946. So one generation has mostly been running most things for quite a while. Nothing wrong with that. But i do believe the perspective of a different generation is really important. I come from a generation that i was inle high school when columbine happened. I feel like im from now the School Shooting generation. My generation provide evidence most of the troop for to conflicts after 9 11. My generation will be dealing with Climate Change for the rest of our lives. We will be paying the price tag on tax cuts for billionaires. All these things that were talked about also theoretical and now talked but some of to the anymore charges if theyre somebody elses problem. Are very personal. I think for anybody my age or younger. And so i think that the younger you are, kind of by definition, the longer you plan to be here the more you have at stake in the consequences of testify decisions being made today because you just can think of it as subelses problem. You cant even think of is at grandkids problem. Its your problem. That perspective needs to be on then table. A skin skulk skeptic would sea youre the arm mayor of a country of 170,000 peel. And you want to be president of the most powerful nation in the world. Why should we trust you with that. Theres something at audacious, a little on obscene. Thing but the presidency and what it calls for, any human being who thinks they belong in that office theres something a little bit crazy about that. The current occupant would support that theory, yeah. In extremeness. But really anybody. And we have had 45 human beings, mortals, flawed human beings, we some of them were more all of them older than i am. Some more experience nets different ways marks, more intelligent but how does what you bring match what is out there . So, conventional question i often get is wouldnt it i be better if you spent more time in congress. Heres he the ha have gotten so much done. Thats the thing. Really automatic the case that being a member of congress, being marinated in washington right now makes you a better lead center i dont mean to disrespect people doing good work in congress. You could be a very Senior Member of congress or even the senate and never in your life managed more than 100 people. So, why wouldnt the experience of a mayor of the city of any size, especially a strong mayor system like we have in indiana. We dont have unlike pawnee we dont have a city manager. So, you get to the the call. Could be an Economic Development question, parks and recreation controversy. That happens a lot. Ive also get the call about activating the Emergency Operation center for a flood. About what to do when an airplane crashed into a neighborhood or about an officerinvolved shooting shooting with racial sensitivity and have to good on television and hold a Community Together you think but function of the president ty im passing and implementing good policy, it is capably running an organization, an administration, and it is Holding People to their highest values and bringing them together. I would argue theres no better preparation for that, ate least within government, than leading a city. Maybe leading a state. But also leading a city. Theres nowhere to hide. Your eat your own dog food. You experience everything you impose on everyone bus youre by definition a resident of. The city you serve. So given that i also have more years of government experience than the president , and more years of executive experience than the Vice President , and more military experience than anybody that walked in the office since george h. W. Bush. Maybe experience is one of the main reasons i ought to have, cheeky as i sounds for a 37yearold, maybe experience why shy be at the table. In just a moment well show you a portion of our Author Interview program after words which features best selling authors and guest interviews, former representative from maryland, john delany, who is the first to announce his candidacy any direct primary in 2017. Has appeared twice on after words, once as an interview and ones as the author of the right answer. Published in may of 2018. And it offers his thoughts on bridging americas partisan divide. Its interesting about washington, he wrote these amazing farewell addresses, the first one is when we stepped down as the general of the u. S. Military, and the second when we stepped down as president. And he could have said on and been the president for the rest of his life. Theres never been a president nor will there ever be a president as popular as George Washington was at the time. He was viewed as really the founder of the country in many ways. Many Founding Fathers but washington is almost graniteslike in his greatness. And he decided that we should not have kings, and he stepped down. And he wrote in miss farewell address, tells us a lot about washingtons character and it tells us us a lot what to the thought but the new grand experiment of a country that he was so important to creating. But what he said in his farewell address, he talked about partisan politics and it was amazingly kind of prescient when you think about his words help talked but the need for Political Parties. That we inherently need a way of organizing ourselves. Which i agree with. So we need Political Parties what the didnt talk about which he was probably thinking, Political Parties serve a purpose around having a debate. Because debates should actually unify us in many ways as opposed to dividing us. What he warned about was Political Parties who will put their own interests ahead of the country. So he was probably the first person to criticize people for putting their party ahead of their country and said it could lead to treasonous activities because back then, at the beginning of this amazing country, people were very worried about the new government kind of committing treason with foreign powers, who may want to influence how we unfold, particularly the world, they could foresee he could for hsieh how another country could get involved, which is interesting help warn but hyperpartisan politics, getting to point where people put their Political Party ahead of their country other, tone the point of committing treason and warned the country in this sternest language he could muster about it. When how to think about it today i kind of agree with washington because we do need Political Parties. We do need a way of organizing a debate because debateds are healthy, and they should be civil, respectful, and based on the facts, and it should be a bottle battle of ideas and unify us. In book you talk but answers and solutions and shouldnt be democratic answers, republican answers, how did you come to that conclusion . That our the problems that fails this country should not just come from one side or the other but could possibly be forged together . I dont think half the country is entirely wrong but everything they believe, and if you listen to our Political Parties these days, thats kind of what they say, which is democratic party, which im a proud member of and or a proud member of and you have been fight north democratic partyer longer than i am but when youve listen to what comes out of mouth, everything a republican believe is wrong and the Republican Party does the same think so. Most americans know that thats not the way this country is. They have friends and people they work with, makes, people in the church, in other Political Party and the respect them, lime them, have good values and smart and have good ideas. So thats probably the private sector in me. One thing i always try to do in the private sector was be always think but best practices and the best ideas and you should always be think can about, okay, what is this best idea, what is the best solution, the best practice for this opportunity or challenge. And i was just struck by how theres so little of that inll politics. Soffit elected officials get inning in and saying my job is to find the best idea. Dont care where it comes from want make yui democrat or republican is oren attention how you see the role of government. Probably lean you toward one set of ideas but dunce mean you entirely focus on what side. You have been a member of congress now since 2013. You have had an opportunity to introduce legislation, work with democrats, republicans. But you also in the book call for an end of partisanship, especially partisanship that rewards division. What do you mean by that. I think a president or any other elected leader in this country, should effectively represent everyone. Whether they voted for them or not. And they should almost take a pledge never to divide us. That doesnt mean they dont go out there and say why that should vote for me over the other person or why my ideas are better than the other persons ideas or why the future im envisioning is better than the other persons but the taking it to the step where youre actually kind of cultivating a spirit of division, is i think one of the things going on right now which is really insidious and i do think if you have. The privilege of serving which i feel like i do, we should a in addition to swearing to defend and protect the constitution, we really should pledge to the American People that were not going to say things to divide us. That were going to go out of our way to try to unfie the country because the country is inharenly strong he when we unify. Doesnt men we agree with everything. Theres a difference between a respectful disagreement and actually engageness divisive rhetoric in politics. In thread book what i found very encouraging is that you took on big issues from universal prek to health care to infrastructure and you wrote in the book that we can solve some of these problems. All these problems. But some of the solutions you propose are still quite polarizing beau because it involves raising money. Coming one a dedicated revenue stream. You really came one great ideas. Do you think the ideas can pass through, say, the next congress . Some of them are easier than others. And right now the congress is in a really tough spot. One thing i talked but in the book is that i think as someone who is running for president , it would be amazing if a president said, in their inauguration speech, they represent every american and to prove i theyre only go to do Bipartisan Legislation in the first 100 dimize senator Amy Klobuchar of minnesota has appeared on after words twice, once an as interviewer, once as a guest. Her booking called the senator next door and heres a portion. We have had two really strong women. The majority leader had run one time in the 80s and then in the 70s, the secretary of state had run and they both lost and when i stared running. People were asking could a woman win. That was in 2006. With a reference to Kay Baily Hutchinson i said a woman won in texas, so i think a woman can probably win. Think the last two are in the 80s and 90s. And so then i finally ended i didnt emphasize gender that much because of that issue and the other two women who were so accomplished that run on the issue so i would say id speak to big rooms of steelworkers and say, someone would ask the question and id say, last time i checked, half the votes men if was just running a as woman i wouldnt win. And they would go, yeah so i said im running is a in record as a prosecutor and what i want to do for to state of minnesota, when i won by overwhelming margin one of the newspaper editors reporters, pat lopez, who noted i had not emphasized gender and didnt. Didnt mean i didnt have a lot of women support. Id a ha group called amys angels. So we kid did do a lot in terms of gathering womens support but wasnt the theme of my campaign. We have a Record Number of women serving in u. S. Senate now but out only 20, and in fact there have been fewer than 50 women elected to the senate in the history of our country. For 20 women now in the senate do you think the women senators tend to behave differently than the male senators. Die. Theres a recent study that showed from harvard that showed that the women senators tend to sponsor each other bills more and ten to get things done more, more bipartisan so its not just anecdotal. Ive seep time and time again, whether it was susan kole minimums in the shutdown giving a major speech. Was the first drop drop to join heir. Witness deb Debbie Stabenow on the farm bill or patty mother Murray Patty Murray the u. S. Senate. So a lot of times you see the women showing this kind of leadership, and i think theres a lot more trust because theres only 20 of us, and we have of course our do e every other month dinners and what we say about the men never guess out of the room. Of course we never talk about. The. Just kidding. But i think thats been important part of the senate, the women senators. As transcribe i never elected woman to national office, sarah palin was animal nateed as Vice President on the republican ticket in 2018, Hillary Clinton is now favored to win the democratic nomination for. From 2016 and Carly Fiorina is running in the g. O. P. Race. To what degree do you think jenner is a fact gender is a factor. Go to the governor level. Its been difficult for women to win ines to type of jobs we have gotten better in senate but were still 20 . First theres. The modify issue. A lot of men give money to men. And a lot of men are in business and so the more we get women in business, think that will be to our advantage. And. The second piece of it is that sometimes voters just its a leap for people to think of a woman in that kind of management role so you have smaller percentage of women governors and then of course a woman president has not been achieved yet, even though its been achieved in many other country. I think the time i right. The time has come and i think that people are starting to see more and more women in leadership roles. They want their own daughters to be in leadership roles and that changes the thinking. Hillary clinton, your supporter of hers in her president ial campaign, and she has had some challenges. Do you think sexism is behind some of. The criticism of her or he same criticism she would getting shove he war male. Taught her life as every other woman official she has gotten criticism that is not fair. Thats happened to everybody if think the key is again what 0 do you do with . How do you move on. Talk about how sometimes low expectations where peopling can he really do this job ask then have a debate or speech where you show you know your stuff, and you almost can be to your advantage if you do it right. The second thing in the book talk about the harassment issue which we know still go on and must be taken seriously and the sexist names names which in so y racies patty murray is called a mom in tennis shoes or clear mccaskill gets the opponent who starts talking about rape as some its somehow the fat of the fault of the woman and wont produce a baby. All that kind of stuff. You go legitimate, he called it, legitimate rape. When you go back through you realize they started to boomerang and hurt opponents who say these things. I had someone who work for my opponent call me a prom queen. Wish. And daddys little girl. No one notice itsed because i didnt make a big deal. So my point is no one notices it because its so minor and just unnecessary and you dont think you need to bring it up, but if you do, it boom rang. The challenge is the thing that is so hard to define, when you a minority, whether youre a racial minority or minority because youre a woman, only 20 of us in the senate and you always do wonder sometimes, was i not included in that gang to work on that group because i have no women it . They wanted to hang out with each other . Or is it just by a they pick him that wanted to have in the group . And its really hard to define. That Sheryl Sandberg talk about that with lean, in and column she hat written but that subtlety about being kept of power or the rooms and having to assert yourself to get in the room. Think that is the level at the leadership level and i do not discount sexist words or some of the harass when you get at the leadership level thats we fight is now and gets into the president ial level to make sure that were calling people when they exclude women from the decisionmaking roles. It wasnt until november of 2019 that former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced his candidacy for president. He has written two books tug faith in the dream in 2012, a year he spoke fifth National Press club to discuss his first book, reason to belief. A memoir of his life and political career. Ive done business all over the world. Ive had some remarkable experiences, i improbable ones in the eyes of man. ,ed in he Supreme Court. Him hiked from okay row to khartoum, counseled two president s, served as the first black governor 0 massachusetts my first time running for office but as i reflect on these experience, each has its roots in the lessons i try to write about in this book. These lessons have given me a sense of the possible. And that has made all the difference. I write in the book about the transition from the south side of chicago to Milton Academy but the experience of trying to bridge very different worlds where each one seem to demand that you reject the other as at the price of acceptance in the one. And how important it was for me to understand malted lot that was a false choice. I write about the way the old ladies and billing big hat inside Church Caught me to see that faiths not much what you say you believe but how you live. I write but the extraordinary courage and strength of my wife, diane through her first marriage to an abusive husband and the toll my early days in Public Office took on her and how her triumphs have strengthened not just me but thousands of others. Time and time again, experiences of great trial and even turmoil produced transcendent positives and they have contributed to my idealism. I want to defend and encourage that kind of idealism because i think its what motivates people to what to make what seems improbable, possible. That may sound corny to some of you, especially in hard washington, dc, but in fact there is nothing at all corny about hope. And there is nothing at all empower organize ennobling about the cal concerntive. About pessimism. In fact as governor it has been a sense of the possible that has helped us achieve many remarkable things against more than customary odds. In these exceptally cynical times people are hungry for something more positive affirming than the steady diet of, no, that they get. It has impreliminary indications on both a policy implications on a policy and personal level. 0 an policy level without a renewed sense of idealism and all the risk of failure and disappointment that entails and a central part of the national character, our cando spirit will be in jeopardy and number of the big challenges facing the country will successfully be faced. Securing Marriage Equality or expanding health care for everyone or furnishing schools at the highest level in history during the worst economy in living memory. These would be a couple of examples of letting our idealism and our highest values guide us as home in the commonwealth of massachusetts. On a personal level, before anyone can change their circumstances, people need a faith in their own capacity to shape a better future. They have to be able to imagine something better. And then apply themselves to achieving it. Hope for the best and work for it is. The way my grandmother described it. And thats why i chose to write a book about personal values before i write the one about policy or politics. You have to stand by for that. One of the lesson is write about is forgiveness. As a predicate to moving forward. My parents split up when i was four years old and my father moved no new york with his band, which was an avantgarde jazz ban but an acquired test help was a gifted jazz musician, totally committed to his music and he would have also been described as a black militant. Hoping for reckon sill situation that would never reconciliation that would never come my mother worked hard to keep me and my sister in touch with him and i believe he regretted not being able to watch is grew up but as i grew older and spread my own wings we had tortureed relationship. Write how disapproving he was going to milton, how concerned it would make me white, not black enough. He was also convinced my mother was poisoning us with unflattering opinions of him and his life choices as a father and as a man. None of this was true. But it was a powerful dynamic in our fractured relationship. We finally found pa way tech are con sile tentatively but mean ifully and i want to read a passage about that. Here are my glasses. Its come to that. The summer before my third year of law school, i worked at a law firm in washington, dc. I turn 25 that july and on my birthday, my father happened to be playing in a local jazz club called pig foot, and invited know join him. I hadnt spent a birth day with him since i was three but i agreed. I arrived near the end of the first set just before the break, and my father was playing the saxophone, jamming with. The skilled quartet. I oak my seat and nodded when he saw me come. In when they finished the number he took the microphone and said to the crowd its my sons birthday and i want to play this next tune for him. There was warm applause and an approving glance my way. Then the place got quiet and he played an old standard, i cant get started. It was no vocalist but by then i had developed my own love for jazz and i knew the words. I ive been around the world in a plane. Ive started revolutions in spain. In the north pole ive charted. Still i cant get started with you. He looked me straight in the eye while he played, long and soulfully, full of regret and longing all at once. I gazed right back at him knowing what he was trying to say. Life is too short to go on like this, lets find a way to come together. No word were spoken. But the music gave us our own language. We communicated more in those few moments than we ever had before. And it was clear how much we both wanted simple understanding. We werent quite there. When i graduated from law school he did not attend the commencement. But we were moving closer and it seemed my father never felt threatened by my choices again. I had saved a place and so had he. Ive given a lot of thought over the years to this idea of generational responsibility, that old farced lesson each of us was taught, were supposed to do what we income our time to leave things better force those who come behind us. I have thought about what that means in the context of budget deficits and Health Care Services and educational policy, and if thought about what it means as the father of two extraordinary young women and many young men who might as well be mine, and of whom im equally proud, and i am convinced the most important gift that we can give our heirs is the ability to dream about a better life, a better community, a better country. Thats a gift i was given by grandparents and teachers and more than a few total strangers. And thats what im trying to pass on with this book. Wore watching booktv on cspan2. Right now were showing you the books written by the democratic president ial candidates. Author and senator Bernie Sanders appearing on booktv 13 times. As his lost in 2016, he wrote a book called where we go from here oh, arizona portion of that tram. I think the most important thing as we sat around that room in our home in burlington that we understood is that we had forced the American People to go outside of the media, go outside of what Congress Talks about and think big, not small. To ask questions that are not going to be asked on cbs. And not even fox television. To ask a question which is never asked, is it appropriate that three people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of the American People . [applause] you can watch television for morning to night for years, that question will not come up. Is it appropriate that the top one ten inch of one percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 . Is it appropriate that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any other major country on earth. Are we concern that a handful of media conglomerates control what we see and read. Hough in gods name happened it didnt knee the u. N. Report on Climate Change or the recent report that came from 13 agencies of the federal government. I knew and grew knew three years otherring what the media was not talking about and that is light change was not only real, not only caused by human activity, but already causing devastating harm. Why werent we talking about that issue . [applause] so we kind of busted the discussion over open and maybe that was the most important. Thats what we talked but. People sat around the room, said okay we did this things the American People are now asking questions. Why are the original major continue away north to guarantee health care to all people . We are going to continue to do everything we can, in a sense, to move the Progressive Movement forward. What was kind of concluded on that day was that we would go forward in terms of the Political Revolution we had talked about which was basically twofold. Number one, the need to continue to fight for an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families. And that is what we have done and the truth is, as is widely acknowledged, we have succeeded in that struggle. Three years ago, when i began the campaign for president and i said, the United States must join every other major country on earth. Guarantee health care to all people as a right. Through a medicare for all singlepayer program. [applause] three years ago, people were saying, you are crazy. Nobody believes in that idea. Its too radical. Its not what the American People want. Guess what . Last couple poles that have come out on that issue suggest 70 percent of the American People believe in medicare for all. [applause] which is why that concept is attacked by donald trump every single day. He sees the same poles i see. Three years ago, we talked about the fact again, common sense that the british three years ago, not a long time. People werent saying, you know what, maybe in the richest country in the history of the world, if you work 40 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty. Whoa, radical idea. [applause] terrible, extremist, radical idea. What we proposed, working with groups like the fight for 15. Was that we raise the National Minimum ways from a starvation wage of 7. 25 an hour, which it is today. Two 15 an hour, a living wage. [applause] and again, oh my god. Democrats three years ago were talking about 10. 60 an hour. Now weve got 30 people on board the legislation ive introduced for 15 bucks an hour. More importantly, all over the country have cities and states moving toward 15 bucks. By the way, you may have noticed like countries like amazon have now moved to 15 an hour. I dont suggest we were the first people to do this but we raised it to a different level. We said look, we are living as everybody in this room knows in a competitive, global economy. And as everybody knows, most of the good paying middleclass jobs out there require a Higher Education or Post High School training. Nobody disagrees. Nobody disagrees that 2025 years ago, the United States of america had the best educated workforce in the world. The highest percentage of people with college degrees. That is no longer the case. It didnt seem to me to be a radical idea to say we should make public colleges and universities tuition free and lower student debts in this country. [cheering and applause] everybody knows, theres no debate, that we have an infrastructure. This is the wealthiest country in the world. Yet we have an infrastructure which is our roads and bridges. If you think michigan is the only city with water problems, you are mistaken. We have a rail system way behind other countries. A major crisis in urban and Rural America in terms of affordable housing. [applause] and gentrification, might i add. For everybody, no debate about that. I remember a few years ago, we try to get 1 trillion to be appropriated. Its much too much money. Even donald trump recognizes we now need 1 trillion. Terms of immigration reform. While trump is demonizing, in a distant red disgusting way, undocumented people in this country. The overwhelming majority of people from 80 percent, support providing legal status to the young people in the daca program. And they majority support a path toward citizenship for the undocumented. [cheering and applause] and when we talked about a broken criminal Justice System and more people in jail, 2 million. For than any country on earth. And when we talked about the fact that the rates of recidivism were so very high. What we learned is that the American People, including many conservatives understand that we need fundamental reform of a broken criminal Justice System which includes by the way, ending this disastrous, socalled war on drugs which has destroyed many lives. [applause] the issue is the same with gun safety legislation. Turns out vast majority of the American People support sensible gun safety legislation. Heres my point for my point is twofold. Number one, it turns out the American People, if you give them options, if you allow them to get beyond fox news and rush limbaugh, it turns out the American People are far more progressive than the media perceives them to be. It turns out the American People support governmental policies that work for all of us and not just one percent. So what we felt in burlington as we discussed that as we have to continue that fight. But, what we also recognize is you can have all the great ideas in the world. But those ideas dont mean anything unless we have people who are elected, who are going to carry out those ideas. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has written several books including, this fight is our fight. Heres her booktv appearance. I have an open house. Visitors form of rough line. We shake hands and they tell me a little about their issues or themselves. And we usually take a picture together. We have done killer selfies. We really have. At one of these gatherings, a nice couple stood first in line, holding hands. The guy was 30, about my height with salt and pepper hair. As i stretched out my hand, his face lit up with a broad smile. He wore a dark suit and a nice purple sure in time. But what caught me, were his eyes. Bright and engaged and completely locked on mine. Hi senator, he began. I am mike from douglas, massachusetts. And i have alzheimers. Early onset. Im 55. Soon, i will have forgotten this conversation. I will have forgotten everything. You, my children, my wife. His wife stood quietly as he paused, searching for words. Finally he said, everything i know will be taken from me. And that was all it took. My eyes filled with tears and i held my breath. How does anyone deal with that future . For instance, the faces of those i love pleaded across my mind. My grandchildren. My husband bruce. My three brothers. And all those who had already died. Daddy, mother, and to our beloved dog otis. Who would i be if i forgot them . Before i could recover enough to speak, mike founded on. Im here today while i can remember. Im here to ask you to fight for more funding for research on alzheimers. Please, im going to forget. So i need you to remember. I walked into that room with my mind on some annoying paperwork. Thinking ahead to my next meeting. Mike stopped me cold. His story was like a spear thrust between my ribs. Reminding me that everything we do in washington, matters to real people. People whonever plan to ask for help. But who needed it, right now. Alzheimers disease offers the perfect example of how foolish it is to shortchange investments in research. In 2016 alone, americans spent 236 billion caring for people with alzheimers. Thats 236 billion in one year. Just for care. All that money didnt delay the advance of that illness by a single day. And we will keep on spending these astronomical psalms your after year. The amount will continue to grow so much, that by 2050, alzheimers alone could bankrupt medicare. We know this financial soon army is coming. And weve still got time to do something about it. So, how much does the allocate to Alzheimers Research . In 2016, the amount spent on research reflects one half of one percent of the money spent on care. Nih isnt heartless or stupid. It just doesnt have enough funding. Even if the population ages and the number of diagnoses increases, Congress Cuts research dollars. Medical research at the nih now receive 20 percent. Alzheimers isnt the only medical concerns. Think about the other diseases on the cusp of breakthroughs. Think about kids with lifethreatening allergies for autism. Think about people with als, trapped in a nonresponsive body until they suffocate. Think about people addicted to opioids and people in chronic pain. Think about how a single medical breakthrough could give to hundreds of thousands of people. I get worked up over this. The way i figure it, we should all be worked up. It isnt just medical research. If our government had spent a proportion of its 2016 budget on research that we spent in the 1960s. We would have devoted an extra 162 billion to basic research in just one year. Five times the funding. Just think for a minute of the additional scientists and laboratories that would have been working hard to solve problems. Could you imagine how much further we would be along on Energy Development or diseaseresistant crops or cheap ways to turn seawater into frustrating water . If we made progress on just those three fronts alone, think how much more money we could save and how much better off our people and our planet would be. Today, only two out of every 11 Research Proposals that are finalists for grants at the National Institute of health get funding. Two out of 11. The nih is leading good science on the table because its chronically short of money. One in five Biochemistry Research scientists admit they are considering leaving the United States. So they can continue their work. Its not an exaggeration to say, an entire generation of young researchers is threatened with extinction or exile. Some of the work may migrate to another country but much of the research thats desperately needed simply doesnt get done. I asked the director of he described how we are on the cusp of a resolution. He believes researchers are right on the edge of unraveling the more so important puzzle about the brain. They believed we are inches away from opening an exciting new of treatment. For mental illness, alzheimers, huntingtons disease, psychosis and schizophrenia. But theres a catch. Without government funding, those discoveries will be delayed by years or maybe decades. For me, this fight is about building a future. This fight is also about mike from douglas, massachusetts. Because mike is starting to have trouble remembering his wife and children. [applause] new and i want to say two things about that passage. The first one is that last thursday night, i was at in massachusetts. I was at mount holyoke. When i finished reading that passage, mike and his wife cheryl will worthless and i asked him to stand. He got this enormous standing ovation. People in tears because they could look at the man im talking about here. And mike is not here in washington tonight. But its the only way i know to say, its real people that are touched by every one of these decisions made in washington. Every time we decide to cut a budget, every time we take research off the table. It touches the lives of real people. I want to say one more thing. That is that five weeks ago, President Trump put out his first version of the budget. He proposed a massive 5. 8 billion cut to the National Institute of health. It would take up aaway about 20 percent of their budget. This book is about stories. Stories like mikes. A story about a woman named gina. Your classic middleclass. Went to college, got married. Had two boys. Worked. Who now finds herself, boys are grown. Her husband was a roofer, his knees are starting to go. Starting to have trouble with his back. Gina has worked for several years at walmart. And i asked gina after telling me about her life story. Does gina think she is still middleclass . And gina said, i dont think there is a middle class in america anymore. If there was, i would have to go to the food pantry at the end of every month. Its also a story about kai. Headed off to college with a plan. Not just a dream but a plan. He was going to go into computers. Had a pretty wow our idea of how to do that but got his feet tangled up with the forprofit college. When i pick her up in the book, she is 27 years old. She is no diploma. She has 100,000 in student loan debt. And shes working as a waitress. Its about another mike, michael in chicago. Who worked hard all his life. When the crash of 2008 came, percy lost his house and then his job. He describes the grass as it, for my heart. The people in this book are the ones who tried to give voice and make real these policies we make in washington. These Big Decisions we make about the direction our government will go. Here is a portion of his book tv appearance. There are a number of things that are making americans angry. Part of it is that our Labor Force Participation rate has fallen to 62. 9 percent, which is the same levels as el salvador and the Dominican Republic it because of the exodus of men from the workforce. Almost one in five are prime working age between the ages of 2130, have not worked in the last 12 months. I started digging into time banking because i was trying to figure out if [indiscernible]. 30 percent of the malls closed. Then mcdonalds rolls out selfserve kiosks. Which they already said they would do. You need to do a few dramatic things to create more touch point in the economy. First we need to do is put buying power into the hands of every american. So if youre the owner and shareholder of the company, you can declare yourself a dividend. And we the shareholders of this country can declare a dividend. The next thing is to create touch point where everyones time has value. You look at time banking and you try to rev it up. Nurturing children, caregiving, environmental sustainability. Arts and creativity. Journalism, increasingly. Volunteering in the community. Showing up to a book fair, just kidding. [laughter] the question is how do you reinforce that activity. Certainly people putting money in peoples hands is a great first step. But then the second thing is you want to create reinforcements and touch points to get frankly, a lot of unskilled men out of the house. By the data, women are fine when their idols. When youre idle, youre aok. When men are idle, they do not do good things. Even when they are idle, theyre not idle. [laughter] the data around what men do is not promising. Its like a progression of video games, substance abuse, gambling and selfdestruction. Thats data. The guys are laughing because we know. So the question, we need to try to reinforce these positive social activities. There are three ways we can do it. We Pay Lip Service to it which is what we do now and it will continue to dwindle. Number two, we start paying people money to do it. But that ends up having perverse outcomes in many respects. Number three is you create a new currency and say if you volunteer in the nonprofits as you were here for x hours, then you get social credit. If you do something positive in your community, you get the social credit. The social credit has monetary value because president yang has made it exchange exchangeable for dollars. So you trade with your neighbor in the same where the time Banking System works. Traded in for particular vendors and experiences. You can build this robust, positive, parallel economy around social good thats been public but we cannot go around like, i made 20 bucks. Where you can do that with this currency. That is the mood we have to start pushing forward in. If you believe in it digital social credit, theres a variety of options for dealings with the vanishing jobs. There is universal basic income. People oppose massive investment in jobs. Deep social problems that capitalism isnt solving for like infrastructure, childcare, paid leave, healthcare. So why not just have a largescale Public Investment in those areas that. 510 Million People to work . Other countries have experienced that. Thats not a new model of capitalism. Thats a new an existing model that plenty of other countries have experience with. If youre willing to have the government allocate value for particular goods, why not have the government just invest . Instead of a teacher driving a there, you can have teachers in the United States make as much as teachers in finland or south korea. And they wouldnt have to drive and they could afford childcare. So, whats your response to that critique . Im a fan of everything you just said. A higher teacher salary, a massive infrastructure investment, Public Investment in our broken Health Care System where we spend twice as much as other industrialized countries. Someone said the difference between 25 and 30 percent is civilization. We need to invest in civilization. The only thing i would hesitate on is you shouldnt embark on these largescale societal missions, saying, we will employ x amount of people. We will through infrastructure but the issue is you cant back into it. As someone was run companies, you would never say im going to know what number of employees i did before i know what im going to do. Its possible if you build 3 trillion worth of venture structure, you might need 10 million. 12 Million People. Its indeterminate. The issue is you cant guarantee people employment because there are many people and we know this. If you have a giant government raucously. Its efficiency will tend to not be great. And then you end up with the whole system where millions of americans are working for some government bureaucracy, doing what they know is not that valuable. And will be justifying their own livelihoods because thats what humans do. It would be better to get those things done in as efficient a way as possible. But we need to get the job done. If it takes 10 million, fine. If it takes 2 million, also fine. The great challenge is building enough resources and communities so people dont look to look to the government for a sense of purpose, structure, fulfillment and work. We need to have it be work that we all actually believe in and want to do. In addition to a massive Public Investment in all of the goods that we are under investing in right now. That wraps up our look at the books by some of the 2020 president ial candidates