Conversation with kerri seely who is the inaugural president of the center for advancing the American Dream at the Milken Institute opening 2022. Those massachusetts know of for public leadership as well. She was former lieutenant governor, the president s College President as well and with pride she was a former resident fellow here at the institute of politics. So joinit in welcoming lieutenat governor healey with mrs. Mccain and vicki kennedy. [applause] thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for those kind introductions, and i amin so excited to get of this conversation with both of you today. I think withf the backdrop of everything that is going on in the country right now one of the most interesting legacies both of your husbands is that they actually got a long, and they were fiercely partisan. They were fiercely partisan, no doubt about that. They wanted to win but how was it relationship both in public and in private . What you have tt the time, the senate was a different place. It was a body of leaders that were very passionate about what they believed in, their home states, constituencies, etc. , and the world. They were also friends. Place,debates took especially between our husbands. They believed in what it was, but they were never enemies. They were friends. See themtimes did we slap each others back and laugh off of the floor . It is a different time, and im sad about that. Likehn said he didnt teddy very much when he first met him. He maybe saw a lot of himself in him, he grew to respect him. They were both on the Armed Services committee. They saw real patriotism in each other. Love of this country. Even though they came at it from a different place, they both knew that they cared about the country and loved it. They developed a bond. They found these little nuggets of Common Ground where they can Work Together. Sea power, immigration they were both passionate about. They would sometimes really love to go at it on the floor. Of then they would walk off the floor and say that was pretty good, wasnt it . It was never personal. I wish those days were here. It was a really long time ago. Changed you see the in congress . Passed,e, when teddy we saw it subside in all of this. Thatthe older members didnt run again or did pass, ultimately, it has changed. Twitter, facebook, all of social changed whatt just is going on, but in a very bad way. Where you can instantly wack someone verbally on twitter or facebook is not a good thing. You talked about the fact that you knew each other, spouses know each other and members knew of their spouses. How do you think that modulates conflict . It makes a huge difference. Had a senate we spouse lunch where we would go to a lucnch and get to know each other. I found if i developed a friendship, or worked on a committee with a senate spouse, that teddy would go to their our wives are having lunch, what do you think they are talking about . Dissolve a closer friendship. Maybe they would find something to work on. The relationships of the spouses was one way that you can begin to have something to talk about with someone on the other of the aisle and develop a relationship. It was all about Relationship Building and having a facetoface conversation, getting to know them as a person, getting to know their family. Thats what i think is missing. Ifyou dont know someone you dont know someones family, aeone is a person onedimensional kind of caricature. You dont need to know them or think of them as a human being. After all, these are members of congress, members of the senate, and we are all human in the very end. Not just getting to know one a very uniques situation in washington. Can be very daunting at times, i will use the word sisterhood. It is primarily women. It was very important. It didnt matter what side of the aisle youre on, a friend is a friend. Both of you have a really heavy responsibility, the keeper of your husbands legacies. These are profound legacies. They both have long and varied a nd rich careers that focused on any number of areas. List as longte a as that table. When you were approaching the responsibility, preserving your husbands legacies, how did you choose . How did you know what he would have wanted you to do, and what role did it play in terms of what interested you . I feel very fortunate, because we have the institute for the United States senate on columbia point. It is something teddy helped to create and think through long before he got sick. It was Something Back into thousand two we started thinking about. He wanted people to love the senate as much as he did, i dont think thats possible. If young people could come in and understand how the senate worked, and he wanted a full scale replica of the senate chamber, which we have. You can walk in and feel the awe ofmen and women of good will both parties facing the greatest challenges, addressing the greatest challenges we have had in our nation. You can come in and feel that, that they would be inspired to try and do it again. Thats really what the whole goal was. Working together, solving problems, understanding how our government worked. He thought if we can inspire people to do that, then they would want to vote and care about our country, then go back into their communities and be involved. How did you start thinking about it . Senator mccain was interested in so many different things. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to plan this. This was long before we found out he was ill. Joint definitely a participation with both of us. Character andis the kinds of leadership he had exhibited in tough times and making the tough decisions that were not popular, it takes a certain kind of person to stand up to that and make those decisions. He wanted to bring people from around the world. Politically, but to learn what is important, what you have to make a tough decision, to become a leader and a country. Maybe those people would have an inference. Tell us about that program, how it is structured. We call it the next generation leaders. We bring people from midcareer around the world and they spend a year in washington. Y place a note in various sometimes in their professions and sometimes not, around the country, then we get them together five or six times a year. It has proved to be very successful, we call it character driven leadership. The things that mattered to him, formed defense, foreign policy, security issues, my issue was human trafficking. , thatd to joke about it was not the way it was. So we had that time to talk dout it, to really plan and what his vision was for all of this. Washy do you think he particularly inspired by or motivated to try to train these Global Leaders . What was he hoping they would discover in the u. S. . I believe they have, discovered the importance of character in government. John, like teddy, there were some thugs around the world and guys who would not make the right decisions. You know the people im talking about. It was important to him that these young people, he at least inspired them in one way or another to help them be better. What do you think senator kennedy really wanted to do . I know he wanted people to love senate as much as him, but he also wanted to inspire civility. How is that connected . Wanted to inspire civility more than he felt he wanted to inspire civility. Thats really kind of the spirit of teddy. In really creating the institute, he said it isnt about him, although we have things about him in it, it is about the senate, government, he wanted to explain how government worked, how legislation happened. I wanted to infuse it with his spirit. How do you do that . Thats really the civility, working across lines comes in. Everyone knows he was a passionate partisan. It. Oved he worked across the aisle to get things done. Finding that negative Common Ground. That is really such a key part of what we do. We have a big waitlist to get into a Popular Program called our Senate Simulation program. Students come in, up to 100 , they come inre and become senators. They are assigned a state, a party. They are forced to put themselves in someone elses shoes. They have to understand what their constituents believe, what their party believes, reconcile what they believe, and they have a piece of legislation or amendment they have to adopt based on either a current topic or historic topic. It could be immigration, health the farmhave even had bill, other pieces of legislation. And they have to Work Together to get this passed. They have to put aside their own beliefs that a lot of cases. They have to listen to other people. We do it in a fastpaced and lively way. They have technology. They have to meet each other and talk and work. It is facilitated. Thats where the civility comes in. If it is my way or the highway, nothing gets done. Realize that pretty quickly. You focused on the experiential learning piece of this, it is important for them to be in that persona. Do you tell them they should be civil or they wont succeed . I think they kind of figure it out quickly. They have to talk to people. We even have an exhibit that shows even the youngest children can have how you pass a political piece of legislation with the National Topping is for ice cream. The house has things that are not very tasty if you only go in your compromise with what the senate wants and not any of the toppings in the house, things like raisins and orange slices as opposed to sprinkles and whipped cream, you dont get a legislation passed. You find out really quickly that you have to come together and listen to other people. Your institute is also very focused on experiential learning, putting people out into the country to have those experiences. It is really the only way you the way they understand what we are trying to do is the same. Easy to be a monday morning quarterback at home in your armchair. They should have done this, why arent they doing that . When you really experience it, especially with young people, they realize it is important to compromise, but also to lead with character. With regards to what we do at home, our institute is completely open source. With,hing we experiment it is online and open book free of charge, which is exactly what john wanted, and what i wanted. It is the experiential part of it that spreads that way. If i can ask you something more personal, id like to talk about grief and how that changes people. How your loss in changed how you saw the world, or perhaps what you wanted to do with this next part of your life . Grief, everyone experiences it differently. Everyone has a different experience no matter what it is. For me, the beginning portion, i st, like there was no safety net for me. Thats not true, but it was how i felt. What it inspired me to do even more is not just continue his we are int make sure this for the long term and make sure his legacy not only survives, but thrives in all of this. Thats a large part of what i do, not just legacy, but of course our institute in the library we are focused on. I think one thing you realize is grief is very personal. At the same time, its universal. Everyone goes through grief. They go through it in a very personal way. As shocking as it is to think about, that both of our husbands died of the same thing, that is mindboggling to me. They happened to die on the same date. That is mindboggling to me. We are just bound forever now. It is unbelievable. Similarity,that our connection, communication, it is still very individual and personal, but universal. I think grief makes you take focus on whats important. When i met my best, it makes me more patient. I try to do that. Date, the same disease took both of our husbands, and we both had to deal with this in front of the world. Theres a different element to dealing with it, but having to do it and make sure you held it together for your family and other things you endure during those times. To do it on a Television Set every day was definitely hard. Roled it changed your tremendously, while you are both accomplished, you had these very prominent, very highprofile spouses. Suddenly it was your responsibility to fill those shoes. That is true. Changed. In life did you feel the public attention differently afterwards . Or did you . I think i was in a fog. I was, too. Theres a lot i remember and dont remember about it. Everything, your mind has a way of protecting you a great deal. Once you come out the other side and the new normal hits, it is a new normal, and getting used to it for your family, too. Complicated things in some ways, because she couldnt spend time with her son because he was overseas. I understand when joe bidens son died, you passed along a note of advice to him from your family. Would you mind talking about it . It wasnt really advice, it was more a note after bo died, happened to also die of the same thing our husbands did. I shared with him a letter that teddy, that his father, who had lost two children of his own three children of his own during his. Ifetime son in world war ii, and a daughter in a plane crash later. He wrote to a friend who lost his son and said i cant tell you that i know how you feel, because no one could tell me, no felt, but what i i didnt knowhen whether life had meeting, i found meaning in what i thought my children would have done with the rest of their lives. Maybe thats what makes it all worth it. Something to that effect. Witht shared those words hee Vice President , and shared those words again. It meant something to him to find meaning in what bo would have done with the rest of his life. It has been inspirational to him. Both senator mccain and senator kennedy were enormously optimistic. They showed a lot of perseverance. I would like to hear your thoughts on where people can find that sense, that reservoir of optimism and perseverance today . How do you find it . How do others look at their legacy and find theres . I think it was a defining aspect of teddys life. Mucherseverance, optimism, of it came from his deep religious faith. Wore ont something he his sleeve, but it was profound and kept him very grounded. Also kept him persevering. It was absolutely who he was. This being focus on something important, something to do and to keep going. I will tell you a wonderful persevering story that makes me smile to think about. In the spring of 2009, he throughout the first pitch for the red sox. He was sick, but it was exhilarating. This was like the greatest thing. He could not believe how wonderful it was throwing out the first pitch on opening day. He had practiced. I said you are not going to be on the mound, is just going to be a sure thing, it will be terrific. He was ready. He gets out there and they put him on the mound. This is different. Had a brain tumor, the coordination was not quite he threw the first pitch and it went in the ground. Teddy said i want to do it again. So theycould do it, gave him one more. Our grandson that night, i would have stayed out there all day until i got it right. And he would have, because he said thats what we do, we stay there all day until we get it right. That was his life. He was just going to stay there until he got it right. Obviously senator mccain is the fit me of optimism the up enemy of optimism epitome of optimism. He learned it as a young man in the war. It doesnt get much worse than being tortured every day in a place that was so hostile to him. When he got out, he said ive got nothing else, thats as bad as it will go, im happy all day long every day. He would find humor and great grace in things. I would be pacing the wall, and he would say this is great, dont worry about it, it will be fine. Was, he saw great joy in things. Much like teddy, just reveled in it and loved it so much. It was infectious with other people. Dont you think that is something they loved about each other . I really do. They both had that same perseverance and sense of humor. It connected them. Wicked sense of humor, by the way. I will end on a story of your husbands wicked sense of humor. When governor romney was signing the health care bill, i remember very vividly that your husband iflooking on and quipped both mitt romney and i are supporting the same bill, one of us must not have read it. [laughter] on that happy note, i would like to move to questions from the audience. Im sure everyone is anxious to join this conversation. Microphones in different places. Please identify yourself if you would like to join the conversation, and limit yourself to one question. Unfortunately, the press will not be able to participate in questions. Thats it. Would someone like to join our conversation . If not, i will have to continue. Thank you for being here at the kennedy school. Im a director of the Malcolm Weiner center for social policy. My question is about the nature of the bond between senators mccain and kennedy. When i think about their relationship, which was evident, one thing i dont see as much today in public life is a sense of common purpose, a sense that even if we disagree on a specific issue, we are united behind the idea of country over party, and in some sense, country over personal gain. My question is how do we foster that in our younger people . It is important to the function of government. Thank you very much. Country over party . Country over party, country over state, over everything else. Was reading john mccains oral history i encourage everybody to read it. It is online. He said something that was so interesting to me, theres a reason we are called United States senators, and then our states come next. I think you can say the same thing with party. They always list it later. The sense that it was a higher purpose about the country. How you pass it on, i dont know. Thats what were trying to do. I think we all have an obligation. George washington in his farewell address was very concerned about Political Parties taking away from caring about the country. I hate to think thats where we are. I think its a huge problem. I dont have a solution, to be honest, except come to the institute. [laughter] just keep talking about it, look to examples of not our distant future, of statesmen and women who really did put country over party. I think we will get there again. Reason, asfor this voters, we should demand more. This is unacceptable what is going on. Up there husbands are right now going at it about this. Of theause of the nature lack of civility and honor, character being displayed, not just one person, but an entire body, in my opinion, a body our husbands respected to a level beyond even understanding sometimes. There honor and dignity about this country was even more spectacular. I think we as voters owe that to our country. I was taken by something you said earlier, and i could think of examples where senator mccain did this, your husbands looked for the little pieces of agreement. Way was certainly the only we could ever get anything done in massachusetts, because we were looking for that one thing you agreed on as opposed to the 90 of things you did not. Not assuming a bad motive of somebody who you believe had a difficult different philosophy from you. That was a huge thing with our husbands. Just because you think there is a different way doesnt mean you have a bad motive. We have to get away with that. People who think differently from us are not bad. It doesnt mean they are not patriots. Sustained, it cant. Much like a lot of things that have happened, it swings like a pendulum. We will come back. Vote andne just has to hold people accountable. We have a question here. To say both ofd your husbands were incredible leaders that passed on. If they were magically back and in top form, given the challenges we are talking about with partisanship and everything, what would they actually do . What would they be hitting the floor doing to start healing us . One of the things we talked itut, when the senate works, is a very procedural place. Order,s regular committee work, committees work. Routine kinds of things. Things happen. When the democrats were in charge, teddy was the chair of the health committee, when republicans are in charge, he was the ranking member. What happened . That committee did unbelievable amounts of things. Education, health care, but how . When you have republicans and democrats together, they worked together. No matter who the republican was in that committee, they would sit down, they worked together, and said give me your list of top five things you want to do, i will give you my top five things, lets see if we have any overlap. Oh look, we overlap on two. Lets get our staff to Work Together and see if we can get these things done. Wyoming, a very conservative senator, worked with teddy back then. That all of the legislation out of their committee passed with nothing less then 80 vote in the senate. They got tremendous amounts of things done. We are talking 10 years ago. Example of having regular order in the senate and having a system that works. Acts was of his last standing on the floor and talking about regular order. Dont you think it is something he would have been passionately advocating . I think thats what they would be doing, letting the senate be the senate. People often ask me that. He would be begging for regular order. To the balcony. Thank you so much for being here. Its an honor to hear from inspirational role models as yourself. Onh of you have talked about education, playing a key part in your career, also the care of a former husband in the committee. What role, if any, do you think education plays when solving bipartisan striving towards bipartisanship when you are passing on civic engagement, Youth Engagement in universities . Is there room to have a conversation about bipartisanship and solution seeking more seriously . Bringing back Civics EducationPublic Schools is very important. In my home state, they told it. We cant do that. It wasnt exactly what you are asking, but it is. Help oure going to students and communities understand the importance of serving your country in the u. S. Unlessor any other way they understand what Civics Education is and what it does, and how to do it . Funding issues are everywhere, but that is one i would say to hang onto. It is not the case in my own home state. I want to echo that. You have to have first steps before you get to a discussion of bipartisanship. You have to know how your government works. We have an unbelievable lack of knowledge in the country, even with College Students as to how the government works. In terms of three branches of government. Only onetudies show third of americans know that we have three branches of government. Third can name all three branches. They dont know we have coequal branches of government. Honestly, i dont know if everyone serving in government knows we have a coequal branch of the government. I am very sincere about that. With that andts how ournding constitutional system works. Once you understand that, then you can take it to the other level. Know how it is supposed to work, i think civility flow and from that. If i can add onto that and push you further. Ist you said is right, but it for higher education, High School Education to promote a diversity of ideas . I think so. It is important. I will go out and perhaps shock people that i am saying this, but i do. I think you need to be exposed to a lot of ideas. You can have just one idea that you are hearing. You need to hear a diversity of ideas. You need to debate diversity of ideas, absolutely. So that you know what you really believe. Every school has a nurturing environment, with regard to just that. Encouraging different ideas, different thoughts. Those are the things especially at the High School Level and collegelevel that we are missing. But alsot of debate, the spirit of agreeing and disagreeing. It is something i wish we had more of. I wish that would be a part of what we would do. You can have a diversity of ideas in debate, but in a civil way. It doesnt have to be the most provocative person on either side who is insulting, rude, and makes people feel unsafe and unwelcome. E tend to go to extremes there are other ways to do it. On can have vigorous debate hot topics, which can be fun. You talk about dignity, that is part of it. How to debate with dignity. Let me go up here to this balcony. I i would like to expand am a sophomore here at the college i want to expand on the questions you answered earlier about putting country over party. Balance when they see candidate, with one they have a crisis of character, and the other they have a crisis of ideas, where they fundamentally disagree with the entire direction and feel it would hurt them in their families, but the others feel they have fundamental disagreements about the way they live their life. I think a major crisis of character is extremely problematic. Checks and balances on policy. We have aats what congress, hope lee, that works, and hopefully we have courts that will do their job. You have two other branches of government, but the crisis of character with a bully pulpit and on the world stage, at least from where i sit, is tremendously problematic. I agree. A crisis of character, or character in general, tells a great deal about someone. The obvious things and obvious problems that are also about who that person is and how they make decisions. There is a lot to gauge when we vote, but i think character is extremely important. Look deep into the person. As muchreachers research as possible. I think it should be heavily considered in your vote. Im interested in your response, because senator mccain was considered a maverick. Expressedften how he his unique ideas. Willingee people being to be mavericks in this environment, or is that as much of a casualty as civility . I think it is a casualty. I wish we saw more of it. I wish we saw people that were mavericks that would step forward, perhaps the unpopular topic and move it along. Much like my husband. He would take the unpopular vote when he thought it was right. It wasnt about him or his party, it was about the country. , noticed the case with teddy he loved the term maverick. He was a Fighter Pilot in his other life. [laughter] he was a maverick, as well. I think its just what he believed, he knew what he believed. He wasnt afraid to compromise. He just didnt compromise his values. Are we having a crisis of courage today . Gosh yes. Absolutely. Without question. It is a crisis of leadership. It is a crisis in terms of voting population. Fix this, wes to have twohis, but we pay attention. I think different ways of getting news can also be difficult, as well. Here we are at the institute of politics, i cant not mentioned president kennedys profile and book, and people being willing to risk their seat, risk standing up for principle and courage. Right now, i fear that too many people are more worried about becomes theand that motivation. When i hear the base is against we cant upset the base, that really bothers me. Is that really the test, or is it whats right for the country . It goes back to the other question, what comes first . It is what do you believe, what is right for all of us, not whats right for your reelection. It is a rarity. I realize we are asking a lot. I am a former alum and a grad student. I grew up thinking experience matters. Both john mccain and ted kennedy had decades of Public Service experience. Ay other profession, if it is pilot going into a rough storm, you would want a pilot with experience, like the gentleman that landed his plane on the hudson. Or if you are going into a serious surgery, you dont want a rookie. Why is it the public somehow is disaffected with people with experience in politics . Both of your husbands seemed to be a great re representation of extremes. What can be done to change the perception that long serving politicians are bad . I actually think they are great sometimes. You make a you make a very good point, experience does matter. I think its a core element in all of this. I think all too often we tend to, again, all the social media, the news, we pick whats glamorous and some people there voted, well, he said something outrageous or did something outrageous and overlooked some of the things that are important. Thats an educational process that we need to undertake with regards to the voting population. Its, you know for both of our husbands, both of them ran for president , both of them lost and i know in both cases, had a great run, they had done the right thing, they had had lived, had done the very best they could, were kind to their opponent, which is even more important and came out of it, you know, as the end result was maybe not what they wanted, but it was a good race, clean race, you know, on the issues. You wont see that right now, i dont believe. I mean, you may disagree. No, no. No, no, no, i do. And im smiling when you talk about experience, teddy ran for the senate when he was 30 and he used to say there was nothing like a young man with new ideas, and then he said later he started to say theres nothing like age, wisdom and experience. [laughte [laughter] i think the key is really whether youre still relevant and whether youre still engaged and whether youre phoning it in or whether youre really still, you know, hitting the ground every single day working hard and really getting things done, and i think for both of our husbands, they were every day hitting the ground, really working hard and getting things done. They were engaged in making a difference. And thats the test to me. And you can be in one term or you could be in seven terms, it depends on whether youve still got the energy and are still doing it and there could be someone in their first term who really is still just phoning it in. So, i agree with you. Its not about how long youre there, its really about what youre doing with the time that you have there. And the truth is, the longer youre there, you understand the system. You understand the issues. You really know how to get things done. Youve developed relationships. You have a depth of knowledge that you dont have at the very beginning and you really understand what you believe in a way that you may not have known when you were really a very first elected. So thats its a good thing. I also think that learning to listen. The ones that do really well, in my opinion, that are truly bubble to the top are the ones that listen. Absolutely. Absolutely. Lets go up to the balcony. Hi, thanks so much for being here today. My name is rachel, an alum and project director here at kennedy school. I was thinking a little about one of the things that has been fun about this cycle is watching people in the role of potential president ial spouse who dont fit our traditional conceptions of what that would look like and i was wondering to hear a little about you two your reflections of how that role has transitioned over time during the period in which you both served in it and also, if you have thoughts on kind of for the public, whether our expectations of that role should be changing. Well, as far as im concerned, i think the role has changed greatly and its fun to watch. Its fun to watch the changes that are happening and seeing how the roles have melded around this kind of new beginning with everything. I still am a big believer in the quote, dont get mad, in the traditional spouse because like it or not in a political family, you have to have support and the spouse is the likely person thats going to do that. I do like the opportunities now that people, spouses dont always move to washington, they stay at home in the home states. I think thats very important. Thats a new development. Thats new a negative development or positive. A positive. A positive development. Absolutely, very positive in my opinion. I think it keeps the member grounded and more centered on whats important its your state, its where youre from. But i also love watching the new, the younger folks coming in and how theyre doing it and how they see themselves in their roles for the country. Its fun. So, cindi will disagree on that and i know you like being home state about you massachusetts was so close to washington that, for us it was much better, i mean, for me to be in washington with teddy, but then we just zip right back to massachusetts. I preferred that way and so did he. I think, i have to i think its an interesting role, depending on whether youre the spouse of a senator or if youre the spouse of a president. I dont think the idea of a totally separate career for the wife or husband of a preside president i dont know how that would work. I dont think it can work. I think there are issues of conflicts that you have to be very, very sensitive to. I think that there are issues of conflicts even with the senate. It is its a very its something you have to be aware of. And certainly thats been the case with you with your legal work. It was. You were not able to work. I could not. On so many things. And i think that and i didnt have anything before the senate, but i think that there are other people who do it very successfully. It was not possible for me to continue my legal work and be married to teddy although he was very encouraging and said you should continue, but it was, you know, clients were, you know, in the newspaper because they were my clients and it was not it wasnt possible to do. But im back practicing law. You are practicing law. We have a backup with the microphones, weve got about five minutes left. Can we just hear some of the questions and maybe you guys can choose which ones you want to respond to. [laughter]. Hi, thank you so much for being here today. I was just going to ask who do you think today in the senate is best representing your husbands legacies. Okay, i look that question. So lets very quick, lightning round. I actually am not touching that with a 10foot pole. Im not either, thank you. [laughter] pass that one by. That tells you thats a great question. That was a great question. Here. Thanks very much and thank you for giving us a glimpse into your own personal selections on grief which i found very moving. My question is, weve talked a little about being a political spouse, but what was it, because you would have known about that role, right, before you got involved with it. So i wondered what it was that attracted you to the life of Public Service . I think thats really funny because i dont think we really, either of us i didnt think of the role. Well, you go ahead. I married a naval officer, i had no idea we were going to be doing what we did. So i thought we were going to be living in florida or something. [laughter] so, for me, i grew up in it. We didnt have children when he ran the first time, we started having our babies right away and anyway, so i grew into it and its much different than vi vickis experience was. Nevertheless, one thing you hear a lot, you read a lot about political spouses or whatever it may be, but id like to remind everybody, we had a front row seat to history, like none other, and every time i would get a little frustrated with things, i think this is this is really a unique perspective and a unique position to be in. I wouldnt trade it for anything in the world. So, one minute answers in the next two questions, lets stay here and i promise ill get to you. Thank you for being here. I just have a very quick question. Do you think that the need to have a quick and fast answer and to streamlining of executive authority and Decision Making in our government is whats eroding peoples appreciation of the senate where you debate an issue for long period of time . I just would like to ask you that question. Is it the fast pace of the global world that we live in that is eroding that appreciation . Thats it. Is the senate too oldfashioned . I think thats a very interesting question. I think its very interesting question. I think its whether it should be streamlined and made more fastpaced. I think its an interesting provocative thought and one worth considering. I completely agree with that. You could try it in your institute. I think its very interesting. Im looking at Institute People in the front row. [laughter] this is very interesting. Speed deliberations. Last question. No pressure, i guess. Thank you both for being here. Im from arizona so a particular appreciation for senator mccains service. Thank you. I guess the question i have in my mind, what might you consider one of the most underreported aspects of your husbands legacies and the joint legacies that you share together . Thank you, a wonderful question to end on. I dont know. I dont either, i cant underreported . Underappreciated perhaps. It could be ill say this, i dont think people really understand teddys work on Armed Services. Right. And his work and i think that thats probably it. And what would people what would he have wanted people to know about that . He wasnt really big on people knowing too much about much of what he did, to be quite honest. I can remember him running for reelection in one competitive race, actually against someone you know well and people said, well, lets talk about your record and he would just like, he said, oh, i just kind of move on from that and somebody said if you dont toot your own horn, no one is going to hear your music. He just kind of moved on so im not sure he was focused on what other people knew about what he did. He was focused on our troops and them having the proper equipment, the proper armor, on being adequately equipped. That was something very, very important to him. Is there an underappreciated legacy. John through his career remained on the interior committee and remained careful about certainly the land in arizona, land use in arizona, but land use around the country. I dont think that he was ever truly appreciated for the work that he put in on protecting our national parks, protecting our land, our, you know, our grazing rights are a huge deal out west, all those things. The amount of work he put into that i think kind of went when it was Armed Services or interior, you know who got the tv clip that night. Well, mrs. Mccain, mrs. Kennedy, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] thank you. On cspan2, a conversation on the humanitarian response to the conflict in syria hosted by the middle east institute, live at 10 a. M. Eastern. The focus shifts to the indopacific region and u. S. Strategy towards china at 12 00. Thats live from the hudson institute. Also on cspan2. The online at cspan. Org and on the free cspan radio app. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government created by cable in 1979 and brought to you today by your television provider. Provider. California governor gavin newsom delivered his annual state of the state address in sacramento speaking about economic growth, Climate Change and health care. This is about 45 minutes. [applaus [applause] thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. You know how long these things go. Why dont we sit down . Thank you. Thank you all. Im tempted to make some comments about being lt. Governor. But dont do it. All right, i wont make any, but thank you madam lt. Governor for your introduction and thank you, mr. Speaker for welcoming jen and me to your house and madam pro tem, members of the legislature, fellow californians, thank you once again for the privilege of this podium. Traditionally, this is where governors stand before you and report with practiced grand 0sty that the state of our state is strong and getting stronger. And largely, that is still true and yes, proudly, we still are americas coming attraction