caller: this year will absolutely go down as a historical year. let's omit the fact that we elected the first african-american president. it will go down with the same ranks of dr. king and the march on washington initially, the initiative march on washington in, what, 1963? so this will definitely be a historical year. all the things that our president has encountered coming into office, i think he has done a remarkable job trying to meet those challenges and bring the country around to some sustainable success this year. so i think this year will absolutely go down as a historical year, given all the context of the things he had to deal with as the first african-american president. >> thanks for the call. on the republican line we'll listen to greg joining us from union, missouri. greg, are you with us? we'll go on to gilbert joining us from alabama. good morning. caller: i feel that this will notñi only be remembered as a historical year, but i feel this will be the tipping point of the world. three things that point in that direction is the war in afghanistan and the war in iraq. the rising unemployment and the copenhagen climate meeting. if these are not handled professionally, it will change the whole direction of the world. and i'm looking forward to these three issues being addressed not only by the administration in america but by other world leaders. ju mention copenhagen. this from the "the new york times" this morning. one of the many photographs of the demonstrations around the capital city of denmark, an area known as capital square where demonstrations took place. thousands marching in copenhagen calling for action. the president calling there for the first couple days of the meeting. also what is called a congressional delegation, and our news makers guests will be in attendance for the final days of the copenhagen summit. we'll have more on that in a couple moments. first, joining us from richmond, virginia. historic year? caller: i don't know about historic. i'm a u.s. veteran of the navy. i'm also an african-american. wanted to elect a president, i wanted to vote for mccain, but i couldn't because i'm a convicteó felon, or wlaffer. i got caught carrying a gun in detroit because of a situation i was going through. i cannot believe the spending the congress is trying to appropriate and what the president is pushing with -- when we're in a deficit, and we're trying to push health reform when every american has a chance to take care of their health and lifestyle by finding employment. every american has that freedom. it's like a never ending story with this president. i wish mccain would have gotten voted in. like i sarksde i couldn't vote or whatever, and i wish that would change about convicted felons, because everyone who commits a crime is not a bad person, perçó say, but it was te that i learned a lesson, but like i said, i was a u.s. veteran. i fought for this country. i am not too happy with barack obama, per say. host: looking at headlines, with friends like these, u.s. help depends on a nation deeply suspicious of american intentions. this year saying 2009 will be remembered as the year the american people stood up and put pressure on washington. next is bob joining us from chicago. good morning. caller: good morning. [unintelligible] caller: rush limbaugh is one of the most racist people in america to a black president. only in america could that happen. what is astonishing is that george bush, i felt comfortable during the iraq war, and then for him to keep -- when he had a son that trashed this country, is really astonishing. i appreciate being able to say this on c-span. i tell you why there is going to be a whole lot of good that comes out of obama's administration, no matter what people do or say or lie. host: there was an election in houston for mayor, and if you go to the houston chronicle web site, more details. annise parker wins houston race for mayor, which means she will be the first openly gay mayor in houston. the former attorney was attempting to become the city's second elected black mayor. a lot of anti-gay rhetoric, but apparently annise parker is the apparent winner. more from the houston chronicle dot com. caller from ohio. caller: i think we've reached the tipping point. we may well stee what the civil war could not do, the undoing of this country from a fiscal standpoint. and i suspect that texas will be the first to withdraw from this union, bissed on the fact it was a republican who came in and has the only legal right apparently to withdraw from the union. if that happens, you will see the demice of the -- demiesñr o the united states. you cannot snub your nose at god for -- or the constitution. you cannot spend your way out of a resession when you don't have the money. we have borrowed on credit cards tot maximum, and this may well be the year of the tipping point. i think we got what we asked for, and i think we're going to probably be very sorry in the future, and certainly our children and our grandchildren will be sorry. host: if you just joined us, we're reading from "the washington post" outlook section. "the year is over, but is it history?" he writes. it turns out there is plenty of competition in the "big years" department. there is a well worn genre, producing books such as "1776" and "paris 1919." he goes on to say an era, no doubt, and a story well told, but was it a year when the world as we know it began to take form , as one of the authors assert? good morning, welcome to the ram on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. it is a historic year, but i feel it is a yearçóñi where evee is feeling that what they voted for and what they got were two different things. host: how so? caller: i think when barack obama ran for president he convinced the public that he was going to cut taxes and he was going to be fiscally conservative and he was going to get everyone out of the war. but i think what was really going on is g.e. and other conglomerates own the media, and they were putting their candidate in place that they thought was going to be spending big government money on contracts, and the unions are supporting him because they want the contracts to be signed so that they can have the government money paid, their paychecks that are way overblown and their compensation packages that are out of whack with private industry. so really i think the crooks are in charge at this point and our country is suffering because of it. i think socialism has taken over. host: thanks for the call. as we said earlier, congressman joe barton is our guest on c-span's "newsmakers" program. it airs at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. for our west coast viewers. in it he raises doubts about global warming and whether or not it is occurring in the u.s. here is an excerpt. >> there are just as many data sets showing temperatures going down as they are going up. when you get into it, what is average temperature? some of the data sets are taking surface temperature. some are taking temperature in the mid atmosphere, and some are taking temperature data in the upper atmosphere. those don't agree. so when the scientific community begins to choose which data set, which input, and how they come up with the definition of average, if they are doing that in a way simply so that it supports a conclusion that they have already arrived at, i think the public needs to know about that. you know, when you say that the last decade is the warmest on record, there appear to be very good data sets that say the temperature has gone down eight years in a row, and maybe as many as 12 years in a row. how do you reconcile that? i don't have the answer to that. but the answer is not to just assume that the alarmists are right and take these draconian steps they want us to take. host: joe barton our guest on "newsmakers" and he is expected to join nancy pelosi in a trip. the white house flying overto denmark for to friday one day of meetings to deal with climate change. the entire program on "news makers." back to the discussion we were talking about. was 2009 a historic dwrear? how will the historians regard 2009 one, two, three decades hence? various writers speculating on the most important year ever, and the contenders are i illuminating, including the year 5 b.c., also the year guttenberg invented moveable printing. finally, 1944 and 1945 which featured the bretton woods conference, the bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki and the beginning of the cold war stalemate. >> compared to those events that you just cited were more world changing than just historic. i think it will be historic. if i could respond quickly to a couple callers that said this is a tipping point for america and we're headed toward destruction and i guess you would call them deficit hawks 10 or 11 months into the obama administration. i would just remind them that ronald reagan trippled the deficit and george bush added several trillion to the deficit, and i find it interesting that we have finally reached the destruction of the country 11 months into the obama administration. the reason i think 2009 is historic, first of all, obama's inauguration, of course. we have begun withdrawing from iraq i think that will be historic, however that turns out. the economic recovery package, surely, was on a historic scale. i can remember watching the news hour and seeing 2-3 economists use the word "depression" about the situation that we were facing. and it was on that day that i really became triedent. it seems that we got through it. it looks like we will pass financial reregulation. the biggest deal since maybe glass-speegl passed. one quick housekeeping thing, if i could shortly. to the pete sons in texas who called in and wished everyone a merry christmas, merry christmas back at you, folks. you really are sweet people, and i enjoy hearing from you. host: thank you. and also happy chanukah. written an editorial written by bill kristol is called "a nobel war speech" and the photograph includes barack obama and teddy roosevelt. jimmy carter receiving it after he left office. michael joining us from redway, california. was it a historic year? >> yes, it was. historically it was the year that the one world order offered up a candidate who was hope not only for the black people but for the rest of the american people. hope is dying with this man. i think america needs to get their eyes on what the real problem is. the real problem is corporate america, wall street, and our bligses. what do you think, sir? host: thank you, sir. a look at the book 1959, the year that changed everything, and now 1959, the year everything changed. good morning, jim. caller: i experienced a happy year this year. i think it was a great year. i never thought i could see the day where a black man would be inaugurated president of the united states. however, it was also a bad year. we legalized crime in this country. i was an ex-banker in connecticut, and back then we were honest people. even though we had a tragedy, this is an old movie that's happening that worked out in the banks. we used to close down banks and we formed what was called the resolution trust, and now we give money to the crooks back then we had candidating. a thousand bankers went to jail. i don't see one banker going to jail. these were out and out frauds. i think that will go down as a very black mark against the united states that it actually gave money to brooks crooks. -- to crooks. host: they are called the om bus spending bill, but in essence, it is one of the major spending packages that the senate needs to have to send it to law. but it is outlined this morning in wimes -- wimeswimes -- "the washington times." here are the details from andrew taylor in "the washington times." "the democrats passed a bill that rewards most agencies with a generous budget boost. the $1.1 trillion measure combines much of the year's unfinished budget work -- only a $626 billion pentagon spending measure would remain -- into a 1,000-plus page spending bill that would give education department the -- would give the education department, the state department, the department of health and human services and others increases far exceeding inflation." joe lieberman had to walk three miles because saturday is the sabbat thsm, and he does not drive on saturday. also to provide enough time for robert bird to also make it to the senate floor. the store -- story inside "the washington times." go ahead, deny, you are next. caller: this is historic because it is a black president. but, you know, they have short memories. they forgotñrñi george bush bant the country. he left over trillion dwhrar debt. two warred -- wars. this president is saving us from depression, but nobody give him credit. the republicans, all they are doing is fighting for 2010. everybody knows it is a game. they are fighting for 2010. they are not going to say yes to anything. they say no, no. that's all. they try to break this president. republicans, shame on them. thank you, c-span. caller: good morning. i have a girlfriend who was black and white both. all she did was cry, who do i belong to, years and years ago. let me tell you,, you have stepped fomplt you made people proud, you made the lord proud because you accepted what no one else could do, and thank you, because it is a beginning. we're pulling together as human beings, and i am very proud, and so is god and so is jesus. host: thank you. 4r 2009, is it a historic year? from twit tesm r, "the way the year is ending, it is only historic in the way that histor" the senate meets again. david clange writing "democrats assembled a six-bill omnibus spending package that strongly reflects the number of priorities set by the obama administration and most of the democratic caucus. the leaders decided to leave one of the remaining spending bills out of the omnibus. senator john mccain yesterday on the senate floor going after democrats on spending and the deficit. >> isn't that remarkable? a 12% increase in spending when people are out of jobs, out of their homes, they cannot afford we have approved about $4 billion of it. so here we are with a deficit of $1.4 trillion, a debt of 12 trillion, unemployment at 10%, nearly 900,000 families lost their homes in 2008, and it is every indication that the aggregate number for 2009 will be worse. with all this we continue to spend and spend and spend, and every time we pass an appropriations bill, it would increase spending and load it with earmarks, we are robbing future generations of americans of theirable to attain the american dream. host: "spend, spend, spend, and the seniors are disabled and damned." helen joining us from california. caller: 2009 has been wup of the best years i have experienced. the united states has had a historic year of -- has had a history of slavery, and finally we elected a president of color. i think that is wufment i think has a big step toward a better future. unfortunately, obama is stillñr pretty much the same old stuff. i believed he was going to get us out of war, and i believe he escalated it. i think what people will look at when they look at 2009 they won't look at the election of obama being a watershed year, but more they will look at the tea party movement, this grassroots movement. it is going to be a momentous year in our history. finally people are rebelling against the elitist, power elitists in washington, d.c. we are no longer going to accept that a few people in our country know what's best to -- best for everyone. i think that is what will mark 2009 as a historic year. i think also what will go down as a footnote in history is the global warming theories and and -- host: thanks for the call. tune into our conversation with joe barton about that issue. a historical note from "the washington post" we wanted to share with you. this is reporting of paul caine who has been on this program many times. "increasingly common for the house and senate since the house and senate -- since the health care debate has consumed the legislative calendar and has left little time to consider the key items. aside from thanksgiving weekend, the senate has now worked three straight weekeds. the usual decore yum of the suits and ties gave way." the senate will be back -- back to a more normal schedule when the senate is out. joe, you get the last word. caller: i kind of concur a little bit with what the lady just said about elitism and those things being a problem in this country. i have think that capital -- getting back to this year, the capital is it -- is not the main source of power in this country, anymore. if it ever was. power from the people. when you have somebody who can buy a shower curtain for $18,000 and you have a guy on a construction line making $2.50 an hour, which is below minimum wage, but minimum wage, you might be able to get by, i don't know. and then you have house wives, nurses, all these people in the country, and all these people working for low wages and laid off, you know, the power is in the people in this country, not the capital. not the grassroots dollar. you don't need that golden ring. host: some call it the brass ring, but we know what you mean. caller: i'm sorry. host: no, i only know that because what you see on the merry go bround round. before my time, i suppose and your time too. a couple other quick headlines we want to share with you. first from the "detroit free press." "rising from the wreckage, a determined michigan auto industry enters a new age. "also "the new york times" pointing out that the u.s. has begun talks with russia and a united nations arms control study about strengthening internet security and limiting use of cyberspace. there is a related story and more on those five men from alexandria, virginia. a figure believed to have aided those five virginia men who allegedly tried to join al qaeda saying they would unhelp them unravel a growing network of terrorist recruiters who scour the internet for radicalized young men." there are 12 zeros in a trillion. we'll find out what that means. first, a look at topics on sunday morning programs. with that, bobbi jackson. >> topics on sunday morning shows will include the economy as well as health care and afghanistan. the guests on nbc's "meet the press" hosted by david gregory will be christina roemer, chair of the council of the president's economic council of advisors, allen greensman, grandholm, and former presidential candidate mitt romney. abc "this week" george steff no luss will talk with sommers and house republican whip eric cantor. the guests on fox news sunday hosted by chris wallace include clare mccatskill, also oklahoma republican senator james inhoff and massachusetts democratic senator ed markey on "face the nation," connecticut independent senator joseph lism eberman and rockefeller from west virginia and nebraska's ben nelson. and cnn's state of the union will include lauren so maniers, director of the national economic council, virginia democratic senator mark warner, and south dakota republican john stone. you can listen to all five of the sunday morning talk shows starting at noon eastern on c-span radio at 90.1 f.m., nationwide on channel 132, xm, and on the web at c-span.org, c-spanradio.org. >> michael faunroy wrote "republicans and the black vote." he is our guest tonight on c-span's "q & a." >> this week on "the communicateors," an insider's perspective with ralph de la vega. monday at 8:00 p.m. on c-span2. host: we want to welcome the president of the committee congress for a responsible budget. guest: thank you. host: the budget is approaching $it trillion. -- approaching $2 trillion. what does that mean? guest: there is no question we will need to borrow money to get our way out of it. we have less money going into the government and we're spending