again. in the incident in fort worth. he was discharged. navy officials said because of a pattern of misconduct. what leaps out here, he kept the security clearance. the security clearance was good for ten years. not clear, the navy, if they had all the information that caused the discharge here. ever went and took steps to revoke the security clearance. so when he goes to work for the contractor, the experts, that s the florida it firm. he he maintains the security clearance. the experts they say, that s the name of the company went to dod twice in june of this, as recently as in june of this year. does he still have the security clearance. and was told in the affirmative he does. thank you for joining us with the lateest to night, michael
not clear, the navy, if they had all the information that caused the discharge here. ever went and took steps to revoke the security clearance. so when he goes to work for the contractor, the experts, that s the florida it firm. he he maintains the security clearance. the experts they say, that s the name of the company went to dod twice in june of this, as recently as in june of this year. does he still have the security clearance. and was told in the affirmative he does. thank you for joining us with the latest to night, michael isikoff. thank you. coming up the things you did not know were happening inside the obama re-election campaign. richard wolf knows it all and has got all the secrets. he will join us. i think farmers care more about the land
his father tells police he has anger management problems. because of because of his rescue efforts during 9/11. is that a record that would normally pop up in this kind of background check? well it depends on how thorough the background check is, that s one of the big questions that lawmakers on capitol hill are asking now. he would have had to have filled out, there is a very extremely detailed questionnaire. that you need to get for any kind of security clearance. and he certainly would have been asked about his arrest record. now whether he lied to federal investigators on the background check. whether they checked beyond that, certainly, if he liveden the community. checking with local police. and something that in any standard practice background check one would do. but then, go beyond that, lawrence. he gets the back, he gets the security clearance, march 2008. then in 2010, he gets arrested
at length about our son, trayvon. that phrase, a more perfect unit. it s not part of the preamble to the constitution of the united states is how then senator barack obama began his other definitive commentary about race. the one before today is how we refer to a speech he gave in march 2008 in philadelphia in which he addressed the democratic race for president that year. in that speech senator obama described the nation s black/white divide as a racial stalemate we have been stuck in for years. joining us now is michael, msnbc presidential historian and author of nine books on american politics and political figures. thank you for being here tonight. a pleasure. other presidents have addressed race. exactly 50 years ago in june,
begin a conversation about race. the attorney general s already told the naacp and the deltas in washington, d.c., that we need a national conversation on race. and i think who better to lead the conversation. go back and listen to the march 2008 speech that president obama, then senator obama, delivered titled a more perfect union, and he talks about the generosity and decency of americans. he holds together his white grandmother and reverend jeremiah wright. he s engaged in some very important work that as a nation we need to do as we move to reconciliation. how does he do that? as the first african-american president, not take a side but almost rise above? he can rise above. president clinton did it with the race initiative. appointing credible people to lead that forward. dr. john hope franklin did it before. dean chris edley. all sorts of great people who can do that today for him. in addition, i just returned from south africa where i paid homage to president nelson