intent to have a racial consequence. so the republican party can t wrap their minds around it. as joan just indicated those of us who speak about race are blamed. a ha, you re the ones fomenting race in america as opposed to joining with us to deal with racial reality. they believe rosa park to racism. the reason i played the clip of president speaking extemporaneously after the trayvon martin verdict came in. the last thing he was doing was stoking. it was one of the best moments of his presidency. it was so real. it was something for people who think about race, comfortably liberal and progressive, the notion that the president of the united states once heard doors click shut or women grab their handbags tighter in the elevator is horrifying, in the america we live and important to hear. no doubt about it.
and that all contributes, i think, to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that from top to bottom both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different. joining us, nbc news white house correspondent, peter alexander. richard wolffe, the executive editor of msnbc.com, and back with us, maya wiley. peter, i want to go to you first. we just played that sound bite from president obama and he makes a point of talking about context. and parts of that seemed directed at white america and parts of that seemed directed at black america. race is obviously an incendiary topic in american society and the president has been very careful thus far, but i think a lot of us were shocked at the fact he was speaking extemporaneously without a script. there was also no heads-up that this was happening. from the vantage point of the white house, do you know how much preparation went into this?
lot of us were shocked at the fact he was speaking extemporaneously without a script. there was also no heads-up that this was happening. from the vantage point of the white house, do you know how much preparation went into this? what kind of intel do we have about the lead-in into this historic address? yeah, senior white house officials tell us, alex, this decision was made by the president late yesterday afternoon, even yesterday evening after several days of consideration. he said america really needs to some soul searching and it s now obvious that he had been doing some soul searching of his own over the course of the last several days. the decision apparently we are told was made after conversations with members of his family and with some friends. he brought together some of his senior advisers and said i want to make a statement on this topic, but i don t want this to be some scripted event. i want to be able to speak extemporaneously and from the heart. what struck me when
example. without a state income tax look at all the prosperity. paul: so it could be a prelude for rick perry running in 2016. he said don t do it, he had surgery before he ran and he gets in early. so is this really a good idea? there are more blue states than red states and you have to win more states to win the presidency is this aheme to run on? i think economic success is good one even in blue states. these are average people who want to have jobs and children, have good jobs, that i think would work. i would add one more and that is participating in president al primaries. he had a little trouble speaking extemporaneously. paul: it s more populace blue states? i think if mr. perry may
we are just acquaintances. so will jeffress be a liability for perry? or is he actually an asset? i think he s acting as a political asset. when he did that introduction for him at that event with the value voters, perry knew what he was going to say. and perry knows how reverend jeffress feels about these things. the pastor wasn t speaking extemporaneously. they knew he was going to be approached by reporters and going to be asked these questions. this isn t an accident. rick perry doesn t have to distance himself. perry doesn t have to say anything. he just lets pastor jeffress keep saying the same thing over and over again and it helps rick perry. candidate jon huntsman who s not doing well, he is also a mormon. he called jeffress a moron today. but other candidates like michele bachmann and herman cain, they pretty much are dodging the question. what do you make of that? i think that the problem is