surveillance. that s the policy. now let s get to the politics. you mattered the president is trying to calm the outrage over the nsa spying programs. do you think it will work? we ll see what he ends up doing. we won t know until january. the president is rightly focused on striking this very difficult balance. i think what we need to stop doing is treating the american people like the jack nicholson character on a few good men. they can handle the truthful as long as the administration is transparent, is above board and understands what the parameters are, i think that the president will be going, will be taking a step in the right direction. but by the way, industry needs to do the same as well. these recommendations say while the nsa shouldn t be keeping this, it doesn t say that we shouldn t be doing it at all of it says industry should be keeping it. so the president obviously has a trust deficit in the way
then see. why he does have a credibility issue. even though this isn t one of those issues where the american people are outraged. i don t think they are. and it is a bipartisan issue that people agree. on it is important for this president to be very transparent about this. i want to get your response to something senator ran paul brought up. the director of national intelligence, james clapper. i think what our government is doing is unconstitutional. and i really think that in order to restore confidence in our intelligence community, i think james clapper should resign. should he resign? would that do anything to restore this trust deficit? well, you can throw a body over the side but i m not sure that does anything for the president. i m not sure that it fundamentally changes the policy direction of the country. the cia has been an effective tool in our war against terrorism. i know we don t call it a war anymore. but without them we probably wouldn t have gotten bin laden
for ukrainians. and for those who want a democratic future. i think the president s feelings is it is time to get tough with president putin and show president putin we can be definite about protecting our values. so for me, i think this is a positive step the president is taking. let s talk about this. president obama gets to be somewhat tough against a reliable american foe. and also gets to be pro gay rights. kind of a twofer. yeah. if you re playing domestic politics with the olympics, sure. this is not like sending jesse owens to hitler s germany to prove a point. it is a strong symbolic step. our trump card as a country is freedom and diversity. two thing russia is not known for. this is a strong symbolic step but it is just a symbolic step. that said i think it will draw attention. whether it plays domestic will in the polls, probably won t even register. is it the right thing to do? hell yes.
and fundamentally, the policies stay in place. it is a question of how the president handles it. the level of transparency this government continues to offer the american people that i think is crucial. all right. we agree on this. a beautiful christmas moment. thank you. still to come, another example of a diplomat allegedly abuse go his power. a victim describes the abuse she endured. and one of the stars of duck dynasty in hot water. i feel so alone. but you re not alone. i knew you d come. like i could stay away. you know i can t do this without you. you ll never have to. you re always there for me. shh! i ll get you a rental car. i could also use an umbrella. fall in love with progressive s claims service.
yes, i mean, definitely it vindicates the result of what has happened. i mean, i remain convinced. and i remain sure that this was not the vehicle that snowden should have used to go forward. you know, classified information is not his to decide to give to glenn greenwald or anyone else. but raising these issues is very important. and i continue to disagree with how it came up, but this is an important conversation for the country to have. glenn, how much of these recommendations do you actually see the white house adopting? well, that is a really great questionment. i think already they have indicated that some of them they re not amenable to. if the white house convenes this panel, and hand picked them, these are obama loyalists to the