And Experts Joining us this evening. My pal and colleague Tyler Matheson, hampton pierceson, john harwood are with us but i want to begin with chris bishop, live outside mandelas home. You see the scene. People gathering to celebrate his life. Chris, can you describe whats going on and what is the feeling, what is the basic sense there . Reporter well, whats happening at the moment, the police have actually, there are so many people around, the police have closed off the roads around Nelson Mandelas home in johannesburg where he passed away this evening. But there are people there, there are people with flags, people are crying, people are coming to sing and a bit further away at Nelson Mandelas former home in soweto, where he lived when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s and early 1960s, when he went on the ground, there were people gathering there, singing songs, celebrating his life. Some people are crying and some people are consoling each other. It really is a celebration of a life thats going to carry on for many, many weeks in this country. I believe the plan is for roughly nine days of mourning and celebration of mandelas life and on the tenth day, there will be i gather a state funeral where World Leaders will attend, presumably including the president and many leaders who both worked with him and were inspired by him. So this will be at least over the next ten days or so, as chris points out, an intense celebration of his life and of his memory. Chris, who is taking the calls from World Leaders right now today, as best you can determine . Reporter well, its essentially the whole world is going to come. We have known this for some time. The government has been preparing, making arrangements for this funeral which will be held, incidentally, in the village where Nelson Mandela grew up in the rural eastern cape area of south africa. It will be held in his home village there. Every leader on the planet is expected to come and pay their respects to a man who inspired i would say almost all of them. Chris bishop, thanks very much from south africa. We appreciate it. Now, who are we going to next . Going to john harwood. All right. We welcome our own john harwood. John, what can you tell us about the president s reaction and related matters . Well, first of all, on the point that chris bishop was just discussing with you a moment ago, i talked to four former aides to president obama. The white house isnt confirming this but all four of them said they expect that president obama will, in fact, attend that ceremony along with other World Leaders. We saw president obama come into the Briefing Room as in the clip that you played tonight where he referred to Nelson Mandela as an inspiration, an example for him from the earliest phase of his political stirrings as a student at Occidental College where he attended an antiapartheid protest there. Of course, Nelson Mandela is someone who was the first africanamerican or excuse me, the first african leader, black african leader of south africa which had been governed by a white government, president obama followed in that footstep as the first africanamerican president of the United States, and he said that he would spend the rest of his life trying to live up to and follow Nelson Mandelas example. What was so notable about Nelson Mandela was that he actually achieved in practice the promise that president obama had held out in 2004 at that Famous Convention speech of bringing south africa together, adopting a policy of reconciliation at a time when there was such tremendous bitterness built up over decades and decades of conflict. It was a titanic achievement for a leader, for a statesman, and thats why so many people looked up to Nelson Mandela. You know, as you pointed out earlier today, one of the remarkable things in his epic life is when he came to power, he was a man without spite or though he certainly must have had some anger, he did not act upon that anger. He was a conciliator. He brought people from the former apartheid government into his own circle of advisors and in some cases, opponents into the government there. He was, to my thinking, both his nations George Washington and its abraham lincoln. Theres no question. You know, the power of the state and the way the state used its power for so long in south africa was so oppressive and it stirred such anger and bitterness and hatred that it is a miracle, really, that you had a leader who was able not to act on that, who was able to bring his former jailors for a period of 27 years to his inauguration ceremony as the first black president. I want to show you something, guys. This is a pass that i had to receive as a white journalist in the early 1980s to go into soweto. The essence of apartheid was control and racial control, and so when black South Africans would go into white areas, they had to carry a pass with them at all times. So did whites going into black areas, and as a reporter, i had to go to a government office, fill out this form, be granted a pass in order to legally go into soweto, the place where we have been seeing the pictures of people gathered outside Nelson Mandelas home. Those days are long gone and thats part of Nelson Mandelas legacy, that he was able to lead the country to put those things in the past. John, just one of the other things that is amazing, mandela was, as we have all been discussing, okay, in the spirit of reconciliation, i would add the word forgiveness, which is a remarkable i think spiritual value that he had as well as political strategy, but john, he governed essentially with de klerk. Many said it couldnt be done and they wound up sharing a nobel prize and managed to keep, as one person put it, a middle ground between white fears and black hopes. Can you talk a little bit, and i will ask this question all night, his relationship with de klerk and how he was able to govern in a broader coalition. It was interest, he engaged in negotiations before f. W. De klerk took office and then with de klerk about the terms of hoihis own release. Everyone knew where this was headed but not how it was going to work out. When they finally reached an accommodation, Nelson Mandela was released in 1990, he finally stood for election, took power in 1994, and his Deputy President was f. W. De klerk. They did share the nobel prize as you mentioned and the hallmark of his tenure, he established a board of inquiry to look into past atrocities that had been done. What was it called . The truth and reconciliation commission. Thats what it was all about. South africa had the economy, has the economy that is the greatest economic engine on the african continent and Nelson N Mandela did not dismantle that economy, he did not force the kind of redistribution of wealth at a pace in which his supporters wanted it to happen, he said now its time for us to build, not to function as a revolution anymore. Thanks, john harwood. We appreciate it. Now, we are joined on the phone by robert johnson, who is a cnbc contributor, founder of the rlj and former chairman of b. E. T. , old friend of mine. Robert, you met Nelson Mandela many times, okay. How many times did you meet him, what are your thoughts tonight as he passes away . Yeah, i had the great and humbling pleasure of meeting president mandela on a number of occasions, first with the former commerce secretary, late ron brown, and then i also accompanied president clinton on his historic trip to Subsaharan Africa and of course when president mandela came to the United States seeking to raise funds to continue to fight apartheid and support his charities. The one thing, larry, that strikes me about president mandela is i have never known a man so comfortable in his convictions that he could invite his jailor to his inauguration, giving him a seat of recognition, and at the same time, recognize that the real true power of south African Unity was going to be the acceptance by black and White South Africans that this country had to come together peacefully and to put aside all the hatred, the bitterness of apartheid and the feeling by many black americans that everything that whites own should be turned over to black South Africans. It was a task worthy of what i would call the greatest person this world has ever known to be able to show that forgiveness, that courage of conviction, and he kept that same conviction when he would come to the United States and scold american leaders and individuals who wanted him to not associate with remember gadhafi had given money to fight apartheid when the United States was holding back, castro gave money. All the people that people in the United States called dictators but president mandela was firm that those who helped him, who shared his belief in ending apartheid, he would not turn their backs on. But he was, robert, if i can add, looking at his history, he was a firm anticommunist and he never lost that. There were parts of his coalition, the anc, that were procommunist. Correct me if im wrong, but mandela always down through the years, when he got his freedom, when he took office and afterwards, was a firm anticommunist. Well, he was i dont know fully whether he was a firm anticommunist in the sense of what you call soviet communism, but he was firm in that he did not want to give the impression that he was going to turn black nationalism into black Racial Discrimination against whites. I think that really is the point, mr. Johnson. He was first and foremost an African Nationalist. There were communists who wanted to coopt, if you will, the movement there and he once famously went onstage at a rally of i believe the African National congress and tore up the posters of the communists who had tried to sort of commandeer the movement over there. Larry, a moment ago used the word forgiveness. There was a divineness about this mans spirit, wasnt there . I think you would have to say if anybody would ever dare say that someone carried a christlike mantle in their life, you would have to say that about president mandela. He clearly understood that, you know, as i think one of the authors of cry the beloved country wrote about south africa where she said i hope when the whites turn to loving, the blacks have not turned to hating. And that i think was president mandelas, what i call his humanitarian genius. He knew that there was hatred out there. He had seen it. He just would not under any circumstances give credit to that hatred so it would inflame south africa into probably what would be the worst racial conflagration that the world had ever seen. All right. Well leave it there. Robert johnson, thank you very much. Appreciate your input. Now we will turn to Hampton Pearson, who is going to continue our news coverage. Hampton, are you out there . There you are. Good. Oh, yeah. Larry, first of all, just to piggyback on a lot of what you all have been talking about, because Nelson Mandela had such a Strong International profile as a human rights leader, his economic legacy basically rebuilding the postapartheid economy often gets overlooked. Look at south africa today, the 25th Largest Global economy, gdp under mandela picked up from less than 1. 5 between 1980 and 94 to slightly 3 , 95 to 2003, basically doubling. Average personal income for White South Africans increased by 62 between 93 and 2008, and thats according to Capetown University economist mary liebrant. Unemployment is still high, 25 , stubbornly high, but look at the alternative and the path that mandela chose. Remember, south africa frankly was extremely lucky that it didnt follow the path of its neighbor to the north, zimbabwe, and its president. Under mandelas guidance, there were no land reforms that took property from white farmers and awarded it to cronies undermining production and growth on the way. Mandela instead presiding over the nonviolent absorption of the black majority population into an economy which they had previously been totally excluded, with incomes, access to services and civil rights all dramatically improving as well. Now, i did not have as many encounters with Nelson Mandela as our good friend bob johnson did, but one of the most memorable days of my life, it was bill clintons inaugural, the morning of. I was on the capitol grounds. I happened to be Walking Around at the time and i literally bumped into Nelson Mandela. He was being escorted by ron brown, and i have to tell you, he is and was one of those people, he had an aura. When you were in his presence, you felt differently, your life changed and its a memory that i have personally cherished for the better part of some 20 years. We have lost one of the great humanitarians of any age. All right. Thank you very much. Thanks for telling us that great story. Now, folks, to repeat the big news tonight, Nelson Mandela has died today at the age of 95. Many thanks to Hampton Pearson and Tyler Matheson and john harwood. We will be right back with much more of the kudlow report. announcer scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. With scottrades smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. Their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in realtime. Plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. Because they know i dont trade like everybody. I trade like me. Im with scottrade. announcer ranked highest in Investor Satisfaction with selfdirected services by j. D. Power and associates. Every day were working to and to keep our commitments. And weve made a big commitment to america. Bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. Through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u. S. Than any other place in the world. In fact, weve invested over 55 billion here in the last five years making bp americas Largest Energy investor. Our commitment has never been stronger. All right. Across the country today, Union Members led protests outside fast food restaurants. The seiu union backed these protests, so the question is, whether this is really a political issue and not so much an economic issue about the minimum wage. Is the seiu merely attempting to boost its membership rolls, get more dues in order to spend money on its favorite liberal left political causes. Lets talk. We have democratic strategist, former clinton advisor Carrie Wofford and welcome rick berman from the center for union facts. Carrie, i know youre going to tell me im being too hard on the seiu, although the Clinton Administration was not really much of a prolabor administration, if you ask me, to their credit. But i think, i think they have their ulterior motives. Whats your take . They may have an ulterior motive but i think youre on to the wrong one. I think the motive is to build momentum for the federal minimum wage to increase in congress, so they see connecticut, new jersey, over 61 of the voters just voted recently for a minimum wage increase. California, new york, you see all these states, d. C. , raising the minimum wage. They see gallup putting out a poll that threequarters of americans want a minimum wage increase, and they see the momentum and they want to get a federal bill. That would be my sense. Rick berman, i want to know if you agree with what carrie is saying. Do you regard this as a true strike, in other words, were these workers from the fast food restaurants or were these simply Union Members maybe in some cases bussed in . They were definitely bussed in. These are people who are paid to protest. There are very few people who walk out and are joining these picket lines. Its not a strike. Strikes are when employees walk out. These are people who are showing up carrying picket signs. And i agree, this is really just an attempt to gain some sort of political appeal for a minimum wage increase which they could just as easily get by taking out full page ads in newspapers and at the end of the day, it may be true that polling shows that people are in favor of a minimum wage increase until you tell them that people will lose their jobs if theyre lowskilled or that technology is going to start replacing some of these jobs, and then you get a much different reaction from the public. You get support down in the 30 range and quite frankly, now because technology has raced ahead from where it was in the 80s and the 90s, there are jobs that are about to be replaced in fast food restaurants that are about to disappear. Thats the risk. You may not agree with it but youve got to acknowledge thats the risk. We have a lot of Small Business people and franchisees on this network and they say if you raise the minimum wage for the low end workers, thats going