Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And im here to say, this needs to stop. This moment does not require short term thinking. It does not require having the same oldtale debates. The president talng about the scandals as phony . Should president obama ask the families of the four americans killed in the benghazi terrorist attacks that their pursuit of the truth regarding how the government did or did not go to thaid of thei loved ones, could that be phony . How about fox news chief washington correspondent jes rosen and those at the Associated Press who had their phone records and emails breeched by the Obama Justice department. Im gssing they dont consider their anger over the governments violation of their First Amendment riights to be i any way phony. Please dont forget, slain Border Patrol agent brian terry just because the obama ministration has. Is there anything phony about the terry familysursuit of the truth seeking those who are responsible for the death of their son . Could u imagine what would happen if the president told conservative groups, Tea Party Activists and others targeted or audited by the Internal Revenue service that simply because of their political views, at their concerns are phony . And how did treasury secretary jack blue come to an absurd conclusion regarding the investigation into the irs scandal whicis nowhere near completionfter he has been at his post for all of 4 1 2 months . He told cbs new with all of the investigations that have gone on, theres been no evidence of any politicacal decisionmaking in the irs. Whatever that means. The statement, course, is a contradiction to testimony offered by i attorney carter hull, who implicated the irs chief counsels office in the tea party and conservative Group Targeting scandal. The office headed by an Obama Admistration political appointee. Todays attempt at a pivot by the president ined a transparent effort to divert public attention from a scandalplagued white house. President obama said it himself. And because such clarity from this president is s rare, it is worth hearing him say it one more time. But with this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, washington has taken its eye off the ball. Im here to say this needs to st. This moment does not require shortterm thinking. It does not reire having the same old stale debates. The president also today sai he has a plan to grow our middle class. But he laid out barely a hint of new policy plans to achieve growth, all while blaming congress and his republican opponents for gridlock and obstructionism thats kept him from achieving his agenda. Fox news chief White House Correspondent ed henry has more on the residents speech from galesburg, illinois. Clocking in at 1 04, this speech was three m minutes long than president obamas state of the union. At the start of his second term. Iwe just stand by and do nothing in the face of immense change, understand that the part of our character will be lost. A speech soamiliar that he could have delivered it eight years ago and in fact, he pretty much did at the same i will i location as a young senator in 2005. This is not us the option that i just mentioned, doing nothing. White house aides say the return visit to knox cllege shows reilding the middle class has aays been his central focus. Though todays speech also sounded like a familiar laundry st of promises that could have been delivered on the 2012 campaign stump. Good job. Good education for your kids, ho of your own, secure retirement. Im going to keep focusing on health care. Republicans said this was more about a lame duck president trying to stay relevant and the onlyly new part of the speech w the president revealing hell give more speeches. Americans arent asking the question, where are the speeches, theyre asking where are the jobs . In the latest fox news poll, the president hit a new lomong independents, just 25 of independents approve of the job hes doing, down from 31 last month. Plus, over half of the public says they do not see signs the economy has returned the corner. The job level remains below 50 perz. 46 approve, 47 disapprove. The president is eager to try and turn the page on his summer stall over the irs and over over controversies, which he dismissed toda or the distractions of scandals, washington has taken its eye off the ll. Im here to say, this needs to stop. At one point the president said he was ready to work with ninl. At others he slammed republicans for blocking the agenda and vowed to go around them when h deemed fit. I will not allow gridlock or inaction or willful indifference to get in our way. In whatides build as a Major Economic address, he repeated a familiar refrain. Were not there yet. Weve got more work to do. Drawing scorn from his rivals. If a hollow shell is an easter egg wh no candy in it. The president also boasted that he had saved the American Auto industry and those Car Companies are having pretty strong sales right now. But he did not mention that in the last week, detroit filed for bankruptcy anyway. Lou . Ed, thank you very much. Ed henry, fox news chief white house corresponden in the wake of ooamas latest pivot on the ecomy and by the way, it is his 1th such pivot since he became president , and now the looming budget battle ahead, our first guest tonight supports calls for blocking the continuing resolution that would fund t government beyond september 30th if it includes funding of obama care. Joining us now is congressman steve stockman, a member of t House Committee on foreign affairs. Ngressman, good to have you with us. Let me first get your reaction to the president s speech which had been styled as an importan speech, a major speech by the white house. Well, this is the second time, lou, that the president tried to change topics. The first time, remember, he went to africa and as the White House Press corps was when he isssed a retraction of his health care. He gave a break to big business anwhat we want to do in the house is give a break to really the average folks. So he keeps c changing the topi because the topics that the American People are interested in, jobs and what happened to our four slain members of government in benghazi, he didnt want to talk about that. He wantedo talk abo blaming republicans and pretend he doesnt live in the white hous you have petitiooed successfully over a thousand veteraf special operations to look for, to establish a select committee to investigate bengzi. Where does thatstand . When will ere be movement in the house to call for exactly that, at is a selelect committee to investigate . Lou, we have introduced or going to introduce a discharge petition to allow frank wolfs bill for independent investigatiolong overdue. Wercoming up on the oneyear anniversary. We nd some answers. We cant say what hillary said which it doesnt really matter. It does matter. If we dont want to repeat these mistakes in which our folks were murdered and killed we need to t to the bottom of this scandal and, apparently, i believe theres so much smoke, there must be fire. Because the administration sure is doing a lot to block. Twice ourearings were canceled. From what i heard, it was witness intimidation telling them not to go testify. Ts a real concern to me that theres a lot more there that needs to be answered. And we have just received word that the which you cosponsored and supported has just been voted down byythe house by a margin of 21720 that happening within the last minute. This billas one that would affect tifl roll back the effectivess of the National Security agency and opposed by the leadership of the publican party. Why did you choose to support it i just came back from that vote. Heres one of the things we had. We have a young man already being prosecuted, was in the army, stealing data. We have another one thats fleeing to russia that stole data. And my concern is not just with this collection of data. But who can access it. Whats disappointing is the nsa never looked at the other case and said hey, we need to change our policy. What happened to the military could happen to us. They didnt change any polies. I pointed this out. This data, while you may wt to safeguard it, easily a third world or some other country can accessit and it would be left to really our administration to protect our data. I dont think we should be collecting it because other people may have easy access to it. Itslready been demonstrated twice within the lastyear. The idea that you would not pant nsato collect intelligence, data, information to protect its the security of data thats not collected seems to me to be a bit of a stretch if i may say, congressman. This would impair one of the most iortant intelligence agencies in the country from doing its job and by the way, the congress of the United States, the senate of the United States has checked off on each one of these programs thats been at issue because of the snowden leaks, our congress has been giv an opportunity to raise objection and to approve each of those programs. Youre right. Thats what were doing again. Were looking at the program. I have a difference of opinion, so do some of the authors, eve the man who helped write the bill said its gone too far. The post articulated correctly, this is a violation of 4th amendment. Its searcng for records and things that havent really been processed under due process. The endment simply stated that it should be targeting those which theyre investigating, which they could do easily. Congressman, its always good po talk with you. We appreciate it very much. Congressman steve stock man. Thank you sir. Thank you. President obama and secretary of state keery pushing the Peace Process forwd. Fox news middle east and terrorism expert, dr. A lien fair is on whether peace between the palestinians and israelis is actually possible. The white house is cautiously optimistic over the possibilities of an agreemt between the israelis and pal stainians to resume peace talks that could come next week. Joining me now to discuss the region, the obama for en policy and likelihood of success, analt dr. Walid phares. Its good have you with us. Your thoughts, it appears that the israelis and the palestinians are genuinely interested in talks. They may be. Both of them. Buits the authority, not hamas, the government. The issue is how far will the u. S. Efforts go in terms of putting pressure on the regional players. Lou, what stopped this Peace Process from winning in the last four, five, six years is the fact that iran through hamas, hezbollah, through syria would do the necessa things to stop the press. Now there is an opening. That opening is as follows. Theres a civil war in syria. Hezbollah is very busy i syria and with the european decision to consider them as a terrorist and egypt is in the middle of political chaos. Now the ideal moment for the ministration to really comee and strong perspective to put them together. Whether they do that, i dont know. Netanyahu already, it seems to me, an anticatory move, that includes some possibility of ccess. Netanyahu saying he wants a public referendum before signing any peace deal and has already set motion what is required to create the structure of that public referendum in rael. Your thoughts . Well, i think this would be a good move because it will tell the world and tell the arabs and the palestinians that netanyahu, his government, his country are serious about the matter. Theyre going to have the referendum. Its not just the majority. On the other hand, the real challenge is not going to be israel. Israel has lready parliament has democratic institutions. Its going to be on the palestinian side. Namely, mr. Abbas, mahmoud abbas. He will have to make a quick and shar decision. He may do it. But we dont know yet. To strike that deal with israelis and americans and make surethat hamass from the process. Dr. Wad phares, we thank you for being with us, as always. Up next, well go to the chalkboard to show you whether or not president obama is still relevant or is he already a lame duck . Thats next. Stay with us. Any last requests mr. Baldwin . Do you mind grabbing my phone and opening the capital one purchase eraser . I need to redeem some venture milebefore my demise. Okay. Its easy to erase any recent travel expense i want. Just pick that flight right there. Mmm hmmm. Give it a few taps, and. Its taken care of. This is pretty easy, and i see it works on hotels too. You bet. Now if you like that, press the red button on top. How did he not see that coming . Whats in your wallet . Its delicious. So now weve turned her ffee into a business. My goal was to take an idea and make it happen. Im janet long and i formed my Toffee Company through legalzoom. Never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. Go to legalzoom. Com today and make your business dream a reality. At legalzo. Com we put the law on your side. [ male announcer ] if you cant stand the heat, get off the test track. Get the mercedesbz uve been burning g for at the summ event, going on now at your authorized mercedesbenz dealer. But hurry, offers end july 31st. [growl] going on now at your authorized we used to live with a bear. Wed always have to go everywhere with it. Get in the front. We drive. It was so embarrasing that we just wanted to say, well, go away. Shoo bear. But we cant rlly tell bears what to do. Moooooommmmmm then one day, it was just gone. Mom [announcer] you are how you sleep. Teurpedic. E president today trying his very best to take some of his old economic ideas and repackage them and deliver them the American People in a shiny new package. Well, what effect will it all have . Certainly, speeches wont help the 22 million americans who are unemployed, underemployed or who have giien up looking for work. It wont help them find a job. Thats what really cous. Speeches certainly wont get legislation through congss. Some critics say the Campaign Style tour of the midwest with his battered agenda in tow is a sure sign that he is in fact a lame duck. So we thought wed take a look at that question and assess it. Is president obama relevant or is he a lame duck . First, lets take a look at the president s foreign policy. Theres a glimmer of hope th secretaryyof state john kerry will be able to restart middle east peace talks. A real possibility. But thatsot a probability. Theres still no date for talks. The odds of scess are long, to say the least. But we will say the administration is still relevant here. So lets take lets move this to the side of relevant. Certainly relevant. On the other hand, the administration has managed to add to the chaos in lib,in egypt, syria and weve got to put even within the prospects of the middle east, this process, weve got to put libya here. I think an indication hes a lame duck. Egypt as well. Syria. This isnt going too well and the fact of the matter is that isnt helping them as we speak tonight. Congress and the white house needs to raise the nations borrowing mit over the next six months to avoid a default and downgrade. The president is already making noises he needs to make a deal with republicans so is he still relevant when it comes to the debt ceiling . Well, its an interesting question. Because the debt ceiling issue is a little ambiguous. Talk of the president s lame duck status ramped up in april, when its bush for gun control and it failed. So the debt ceiling, well put this over here. I think it still makes him relevant. The push for gun control failed, so gun control, tis isnt helping the present in his persistence isnt helping him. Gun control is definitely a lame duck. Immiation reform, the legislation is still alive but not in the form he envisioned. The llgislation is dead on arrival at the house. I thk an intelligent approach to immigration reform, theyre doing it incrementally, focusing on security and making certain that there i a path to legalization. It is one that puts those Illegal Immigrants behind those who have followed the lawful procesand does not create some sort of expedited path to citizenship. Most political analysts say the reason its still kicking is because the president chosen not to meddle in the process. Immigration,ithout a question, hes a lame duck. Next up, the sequester. The sequester that he continues to comain about, agaii, today he criticized sequester, calng it a meat cleaver thats cost jo and harmed growth. Now, heress a problem. It was his administrations idea, it was his white houses idea. And he hasnt engaged House Republicans onhe issue, nor has he persuaded anyone. Hes also, by the way, the president who signed it into effect. On the issue of sequester, hes behaving exactly like a lame duck. Finally, there is, of course, the big issue. Obama care. A new fox news poll out today shows 53 want this law repealed. But the white house says all obama care needs is a good Public Relations blitz by the president. Until they stop thinking like that and start thinking about how to fix it and to implement it intelligently, effectively, if it could be, obama care will only serve to make the preside a lame duck. The final count, two issues. Two issues for the president is relevant. Seven where he is for that question a lame duck. Id say this president is in trouble. What do you think . President obama injecting his peonal views squarely into the Trayvon MartinGeorge Zimmerman debate. Not all democrats are too happy about it. Juan williams jay mu green offer their unique perspective next. At a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. What . Customers didnt like it. So why do banks do it . Hello . Hello . if your bank doesnt let you talk to a al person 24 7, you need an ally. Hello . Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. 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[ male announcer ] if you nt afrd your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Before todays latest pivot, the Obama Administration was laser focused on the results of the George Zimmerman murder trial and the implicationn of race, justice, gun control. They werent alone. But today the American Civil Liberties union made a stunning pivot of its own originally saying the trial cast doubt on whethe the legal system truly provides equal protection of the la to everyone regardless of race. Also asking the Justice Department to investigate the shooting as a hate crime and prosecute. Theyve since issued this statement. The aclu believes the double jeopardy clause of the constitution protects someone from being prosecuted in another court for charges arising from the same transaction. The jury found zimmerman not guilty and that should be the end of the criminal case. I will point out that that is precisely what i said at the time. Joining us is former adviser to hillary clinton, fox news contributor, jehmu greene. And hill. Com analyst, Juan Williams. Anks both for being here. Jehmu, lets start with the aclu pivot. Are you surprised . Im not surprised. Weve actually see them go through the same situation years ago with the rney king trial. But ihink just to be clear, their pivot was on the double jeopardy part of tir original statement and not from calling on the federal government to really look at racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal Justice System. I think that is something that theyrstill to be clear, whati said was that the pivot was on the issue of double jeopaady and it was awful decent of the aclu to make reference to the constitution of the United States, which one would have thought they would have refenced the outset. I think they got caught up in the passion of it all. Theyre not paid to get caught up in passion and neither are others who assume the mantle of National Leadership. I mean, find it extraordinary that w watching an administration, the aclu and others who decided to race bait and use Racial Division to distract the country, in my judgment, from the issues at hand. Juan williams, the president himself pivoted, making not that the prosecution had basically ben assured, certainly implied by his attorney general, would not likely be occuing either. Right. Well, i think what you get here is a situation where the adnistration wanted to fos all of the energies, all of the upset over the verdict away from the possibility of a second prosecution. Because i dont think i mean, just talking to peoplwho work for justice, people who still work for the Justice Department here in d. C. , they dont see that theres a strong case to be made. Theyve got hot lines inviting anybody with any evidence of racial intent or racial behavior by mr. Zimmerman to phone it in. Right now, they dont have it. So i think that what youre seeing is theyre trying to move away from the possibility of any hate crime possibility would move something towards the standyourground law and concealed weapons are really the focus of the energies and the protestsround the country. You know juan, as we try to understand what this adnistration, reverend al sharpton, reverend Jesse Jackson and others were doing, the attorney general of the United States, i find i difficult to understand how they could have set out on this course, which is embarrassing for National Leadership of any kind. Secondly, the reversals which are necessary because of the tone ttat they took, the passions of the moment as you referred to it, jehmu. But Jesse Jackson referring to florida as an apartheid state, what in the world could e h been thinking . What is your thinking . Well, i think theres a difference between the passion weave seen from reverend jackson and sharpton and from president obama. I would actually say that i think president obama has come very late to this issue and the fact that hes coming to this issue en the country is so divided over a criminal case makes it all the more controversial and not effective. If he ad hes tried to have a National Conversation about race away from a case, away from the division that were seeing. I thi it would have been a much more productive conversation. Now, reverend sharpton, reverend jackson, i think we know that they will go to extremes when it comes to the language they use around this. But theyre also missing the boat when it comes to what is the biggest issues they suld be focusing on. When you have National Attention like this, if get everything we want in florida and if it is, as he says, an apartheid state, ich is a bit ridiculous, if he got everything he wanted, there would be a plethora of issues facing the Africanamerican Community that were not seeing leadership from these two gentlemen in particular. Juan, your thoughts . First, let me say, amen. Theres so mmny big issues out there at you just dot see. These two especially. But in general, the civil rights leadership in my mind, standing up to. I would begin with things like family breakdown, lou. I would talk about drugs, i would talk about that whole thug life. Gangster culture tt was being encouraged. Again, education, gosh, education, the need for better schools, it just seems to me is so primary. But you dont see it. I difr with jehmu abo the president. I think the president had come out earlier and said anything, it would haveadded to the kind of upset around the country. I think whhe when he spoke on friday, it was after he found the Hispanic Media that he had done interviews with last week didnt ask him about it. He came out friday and i thought he spoke a way that was wise. He acknowledged, look, if you look at younglamen, a higher rate of involvement with violent crime, he understands why people might be. But he says we have to have soul searching and iust thought i thought he struck the right i thought his words im talking about in his first administration, when he was first elected. These problems, i we only addressed them when theres a criminal case, thats where it becomes, again, so not productive. When you look at the American Bar Association and the recommendationsthat they made in 2004 for racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal Justice System and this administration and the states havent picked up on any of that at some point, the leaders of the black community in this country have got toassume an initiative that goes beyd victimhood, that goes beyond racial discrimination, because it has it ii not nonexistent, but it has ebbed to a point that its not the principle factor like Juan Williams said, wther it be education. We have Jesse Jackson cling for a boycott of a state that is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse states in this country. This is the kind of righteousness that weve gotto inspect a little. Because it turns out, its ignorance posing as righteousness. We need to change just as you said at the outset, the characr of the conversation about race i think weve got do it soon. Because some people are getting carried away. Meanwhile, we have 40 unemployment among black in tis country. 23 Million People unemployed or underemployed. The fact of the matter is, we have specific issues with young blacks in this country that have to be addressed and unerstood. And as you said, create a National Conversation. Juan, im going to give you the last word here. You know, i mea to my mind, a lot of what you see from jackson and sharpton is about two guys who i think are still caught up in a mold that goes back to the 50s and 60 and theyve madit into your business, lou. Thats my uncharitable description of those two. On other side of that fence, i understand there are lots of poor black people, poor people any color in this couny who feel they never get heard from. When sharpton or jackson, at least the media shows up. I think its bad leadership when you dont say to people heres what you c do to help yourself heres why we ca help you in terms of education, in terms of employment, in terms of family, in terms of faith to take the steps you need to get up that ladder, upward mobility and enjoy america. You know, benefit from all that america has to offer. You kn, talk about whether the president i couldn agree more, by the way, juan. But talking about whether or not the president could have weighed in earlier or not atthe George Zimmerman trial, i honestly believe that it wa appropriate for him to weigh in as soon as that verdict was delivered, knowing the passions that some had said were raging in parts of the country. It would have been a time for him to be the president of all the peoplend say that ts is a judicial system, while imperfect, is the foundation of our nation of laws. That a jury has spoken. Anthat we accept that verdict. Andwe move on. That was what i wanted to hear the president of all the people say, n tell me or anyone else that what smiley called weak as koolaid a statement on race that frankly, was neither eloquent nor particularly moving. Thank you very much jehmu greene, we appreciate it. Juan williams, thank you. His handle is carlos danger. Anthony weiner and his twitter handle. Making him the laughing stockof national politics. But the joke is on the voters of new york. Political analyst rand blake man and angela mcglou wan on the big apples far sickle mayoral race. Did we mention Eliot Spitzer . Were coming right back. The pursuit of a better tomorrow is something we all share. But who can help you fi your own path . Who can build you a plan, not just aie chart . Who can help keep your investments on course, whateveries ahead . That someone is a Morgan Stanley financial advisor. And were ready to work for u. Why let erectile dysfunction get in your way . Talk to your dtor about viagra. Ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take viagra if you ta nitrates for chest pai it may cause unsafe drop in Blood Pressure. Side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. To avoid longterm injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. Stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away, if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. This is the age of taking action. Viagra. Talk to your doctor. Joining us now brad blakeman, former Deputy Assistant to president george w. Bush. Fox news contributor,ngela mcglowan. Great to have you here. Thank you. I want to sta with brad, if i may, with this pivot. How bad an idea is it from the president s political standpoint . Well, i think the pivot tt he made today announcing this huge speech in the economy that was absolutely devoid of any ideas or principleor policies that the president wants to advance this fall. All it was, was a speech in illinois before an adoring crowd of people who he supported and who will support him no matter what. The american pple arent buying it. Your fox news poll reflects that. Hes lost independence completely. Hes lost not onlyny middlef the road people, if you can call them that. But he also lost a good percentage of his base because lo the people who supported this president the most, any inner cities are hurting the st. The presents blame game is alive and well and it will not play well in 2013 and 14. Angela, are you surprised the esident chose to do this . I mean, it looks to me somewhat peculiar to see a president at the beginning of his second term acting like hes on the campaign trail and talking exactly that way. No, im not surprised. Lou. The country elected a grassroots organizer, a greatr tore. Thats about all the president speech. Is give a really good and brad, youre right, from the standpoint that hes losing some of h base. When you have cornell west and tavis smiley saying that al sharpton is on the obama plantation, thats a problem. And as we look at whats happening in the Republican Party, brad, justin congressman justin mash, his legislation voted down by a narrow margin. Hes one of the youngest, may be the youngest congressman republican and the white house says what he was doing was destructive of the nsa interests. Republicans, obviously, deciding at least most of them that it was not in the national interest. What is thee deal with the Republican Party has a fellow like this man running around with ts kind of nonsense. The Republican Party is in the majority in the house. Yet, youd never know it sometimes. Bills come to the floor and have be pulled because the whips vote count wasnt correct. They didnt have the support they needed. Remember, we had the hastert rule unless you had a majority the majority. They couldnt even real important pieces of legislation pass the hastert test. When we have a clear and comfortable majority. Look, its a tail wagging the dog sometimes in the house. The senate has their own chlenges. Weve got to get our own house in order. As you pointed out on your board, lou, we have plenty of fodder and ammunition to tell the American People why the current leadership stinks. Lets get our act together. I dont even want to use the word fodder with you rpublicans because you have lots of fodder last year and completely blew it. Youre watching the predent right now, angela, with the organization for action, he said he needs a little i love the modesty of this man. President obama telling folks that hjust needs hes going to give a very good speech but hes given lots of good speeches. He said hell need the help of his private political army. I mean, this is serious uff and the republicans have nothing, nothing that is commensurate to osa. You have bhner on the house floor sayi that the president s speech was like an easter egg, candy, very hollow. Listen, we need leadership on both sides, lo because the bottom line is this. Tte American People are suffering here. To get back to the nsa and the amendment voted down, are we throwing away the Fourth Amendment by giving the nsa so much control over personal information . I think that some replicans are brave enough, brad,to go against the establhment and standing for ourrights. What are you talking about . Angela, the establishment is google. Its microsoft. Its facebook. Theyre gathering more information, personal information, private as are the health care companies. My lord, nsa is trying to keep up with ese slick son of a guns. What we need to do is revisit all privacy laws, lou. They should not have access to our information. Im for protecting our homeland by any means nessary. But were innocent people and theyre getting our information. Youre sounding like you werent including brad and in that innocent people. Angela, thanks for being with us, brad blakeman, thank you. We take a look at how a piece of work written almost two decades ago accurateredicted what is todays society. The Award Winning novelist of voltaires bass tards, John Ralston Saul. Hes a heck of a prognosticator, too. Too. Next. Are you flo . Yes. Is this the thing u gave my husband . Well, yeah, yes. The name your price tool. You tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose fro careful, though that kind of power can go to your head. That explains a lot. Yo, buddy i got this. Gimme one, gimme one, gimme one the power of the name your price tool. Only from progressive. My next guest says that reason is at the root of our problems today. Joining me now Award Winning novelist, the president of Pen InternationalJohn Ralston Saul. Author intellectual. Author of the reissued novel, voltaires basrds. We recommend it highly. Its a blliant work and its great to see you. The idea of bringing this ok out and reissuing it today, i think its a superb idea. What made you do it . Well, it felt, 20 years, its still in print all over the world in all these languages. I thought, lets put a forward on it, sort of i told you so, if youll forgive me for putting it that way. But i thought just its interesting, for example, theres a chapter in there on death and money. I thought, ill have to rewrite this. Its about how the west made a mess of africa in the 90s by following certain moral issues of death. I didnt change a word. Its exactly what the same people, i mean two generations on are doing to ourselves with death. There are people watching and listening to us rig now, is John Ralston Saul crazy . This is reason in washington, d. C. These people are being reasonable . They dont go together, right . I mean, this idea of rationality, which what it did is it separated one human quality, being rational, from ethics, common sense, intuition, imagination. Think about capitalism or a good government. A lot of it is about imagination, business not rational. Ethics isnt rational. Weve got schools filled with brilliant economists using the most advanced arithmetic to come up with an idea of what an economy is going to do, yet, at the same time every time theres a lull in that economy, theres any kind of dee tracks, they talk about animal spirits,eve got to get them back. It is throughout r society. Issue, as you correctly point out, what do we do about itall . I think we have to break away from, fir of all, frankly, the Business Schools and the government schools because thats creating this sort of manarial atmosphere. You replace leadership with mamanaging things. Managing things, most of our businesses are run by managers. Theyrnot capitalists. Most of our government is run by managers. Theyre not democrats. Its not to do with right wing, left wing. Its not frankly, theyre both glty of this. They dont get the idea that business is about risk and creaaivity and imaginatn. Its not about buying companies that already exist and in getting them in order to get them. And government isnt you have to have good administration. You have to handle the flood when theres a flood and that sort of stuff. But actually, its ou leadership. And its about imagination. Its about education. Its about memory. Its about rememberinghat when you have a debt crisis, what happens last time, what happened in africa. What happens over the last 2,000, 500 years . What you get too far in debt, the last thing do you is tie it will destroy you. Just to take a single example. And faith, religion . Well, you have to find the right role for it. I mean, this may not be a positive thing to say. Everybody has some kind of faith. Everybody does. Even the ones who say they dont believe in god. But do you bring it right into the public place or do you use it to inform the way you come into a public place, where you have to sit down with people that dont believe the same things you do. How do we all live together, protestants, catholics, nonbelievers. Knowing we all have faith,how do we all live together . Human is particularly, i suppose would be one answer and the second, living our faith. Living our faith and human is particularly is right with all these different qualities. Its fascinating, the people that we have who are cfos who become ceos. Its one of the big problems at american a lot of people watching will be very upset. When we send chief financial lose a lot of that imagination, a lot of the creativity that defines american business. It is managing and sometimes brilliantly so, but it is not leading. It does not provide leadership at tes we ne it. You were saying before iame on, how do we gethis economy going . Well, you cant have grth that doesnt produce jobs. Right. So you have to do it and i believe this whole thing of more goods, cheaper goods just wont work for middle class democracy. John ralston saul, come back soon. The book is v the boys used double miles from their capital one venture card to fly home for the big family reunion. You must be garths father . Hello. Mother. Mother traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. Two words. Double miles this guy can act. Wanna play dodge rock . Oh, you guys and with double miles you can actuay use, you never miss the fun. Beard growing contest and go win whats in your wallet . Its delicio. So now weve turned her toffee into a business. My goal was to take an idea and make it happen. Im janet long and i formed my Toffee Company through legalzoom. 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