given update on syria, afghanistan, and iran. and we will get perspective on u.s.-french relations. and the french president's visit to the united states. plus your phone calls, emails and tweets on "washington journal" >> on tuesday the new chair of the federal reserve delivers her first monetary report to the house financial service committee. we will have live coverage on c-span 3. >> saturday, booktv is live in georgia at the georgia book festival. we will continue all throughout the day: >> a look at efforts from doctors and insurance companies to block programs >> our guest is sam baker this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> we are talking about the medicare advantage program. explain what that is for people who are not familiar. >> medicare advantage is privately administered coverage. instead of the traditional program, these are private plans you can buy. they have a little bit of supplemental coverage and they are administrated by private insurance companies and reimbursed by the federal government. >> how is that affected by the affordable care act? >> it cuts medicare advantage relatively significantly. democrats in particular have always felt this was paying insurance companies more to provide basically the same service that the government was already providing. so the affordable care act cuts this. we saw last year we are afraid we will see more this year. >> so you have a chart that looks at the cuts. you can talk about what percentage of the cuts are to the program, but what does it mean for a person involved in this program? >> to some extent we are still figuring that. insurance companies say there is no way for us to cut the cost without passing that on to someone else. so that means plans with fewer benefits or it will have to include certain doctors from their network so people might lose a doctor they like. >> sam baker of national journal is our guest. we have the republican number on the screen now: for democrats: and independents: explain why the cuts are going on? >> the cuts included in the affordable care act were included because they felt the program was oversaving and people needed savings. you are looking at an administration that is trying to expand coverage and pay for that and trying to cut cost where it can. so that is why the administrative cuts were proposed. insurance agents were able to turn it into a pay increase. that doesn't affect the affordable care act and this cut was going to be layered on top but that is why you are seeing it. no one is having a great time in terms of getting paid to provide health care. >> our first call is from pittsburgh, illinois. peter for democrats is on the line >> raise the taxes on the rich so we can get the country back in shape. they are so far out -- we have 137 billionares last year. that is the only way to get out of the mess. as far as medicare advantage, it should have never been in there. they took it away. and it needs to be brought back in and get medicare back up where it is supposed to be. and i don't think the people making $1000 up to $50,000 shouldn't be taxed. if you tax them to death they will bring the cost down because they don't want to pay the tax. >> you see, this is the debate in congress: do you raise taxes and create revenue or do you cut? paul ryan wants to cut inentitlement programs like medicare. so you will see balance between the two. this is a form of cutting medicare. these were some of the cuts during the presidential campaign there was that whole to do over romny and ryan attacking president obama within the cuts that includes this. >> ken is on the line for republicans. >> i would like information first about what sam baker said he was -- that the government will pay for it. well, you know, i am 64 years old. i have been around and i remember when medicare separated from social security and we have been paying this. not the government. we. and the seniors that are being forced back down into the below poverty levels. $3.5 trillion in the social security and $1.5 million out of the medical trust fund. and we put the funds in ourselv ourselves. for every dollar we put in, our employer matches that fund. so there is twice as much money that is supposed to be in there and they have never shown the other dollar for ever dollar we put in. i think when you use the word entitlement it sound like welfare. we have been working all of our lives and most of the baby boomers that have been and there is a lot that have already died and their money absorbed into the system. i think it is time that everybody starts investigating into what is really theirs. very simple to do. simple math. and i just like to see that, you know, what is ours. it is pretty pitiful when senior citizens have to eat dog food to make up the difference between rent and their electric and since 2009, they did away with the cost of living adjustment, the way it should have been by taking out electric or utility cost and the food cost. and to bring the cost of living adjustment down. these people worked all of their lives and are deserving of it. >> the caller mentioned the medicare and social security trust funds that gets back to this intention we were talking about before. no body likes a pay cut. any of the stakeholders we have in the health care system. but because of some of the cuts affordable care act, the medicare trustees are saying that program is solevant for 12 years. you want a program to last longer that means painful cuts for somebody. >> i want to talk about the medicare advantage and get your take: >> medicare ad vantage makes or our medical care worse. >> without medicare advantage, i don't think what i would do. >> i am not sure about all of this. >> we will talk and spread the world: >> no more cuts to medicare advantage. >> explain that ad and the group behind it. >> that is being run by the insurance agency. here and in some districts back home for lawmakers to see. this is ramping up right now because it is time for the medicare program to set payment rates for next year for medicare advantage. these are the same ads that worked last year when the program proposed significant cuts in the medicare advantage payments. a similar ad campaign started running and a huge group of bipartisan lawmakers sent letters to the medicare agency saying you have to reconsider. so there is president for these to work. gale in florida is on the line for democrats. >> good morning. i am calling from florida. i am a nurse and a long-term care provider as well. i feel the best thing with eliminating the medicare advantage program. it benefits the insurance companies not the senior citizens because most of the seniors that need it long-term care were in such limited amounts of services that could be provided to the senior system through the program. the medicare advantage program -- the insurance providers profit. not necessarily the long-term care seniors who need the assistance and care to maintain daily living. i was so happy to know they were going to eliminate that. we did very well prior to medicare advantages coming on the scene. they do restrain providers as far as giving certainly amount of care and services because it is all about profit. so i applaud the obama administration for eliminating that because it is about profit for the insurance company. >> i think the obama administration would differ with the conclusion they are trying to eliminate it. but they are rolling it back. the democrats do feel like it is give away to the insurance companies especially the way it is structured now. that is why you are seeing the cuts taking affect. the other side of that, the argument insurance companies make, seniors have a lot of coverage and buy additional coverage outside of medicare to pay for other benefits that the program doesn't cover. medicare advantage included them so it comes at a higher price but sometimes you are getting more coverage. >> going to a question from twitter. david larson writes explain how medicare had a subsidy increase last year? >> that is a program that has been staying predy affordable. medicare part- d has been doing good as well. that is prescription drug coverage. so you are not seeing them translate into the benefits yet. so you can argue week do another cut or two -- we can -- >> gale is on the republican line this morning. >> i have a degree in health care administration and i see huge problems with the health care act that has taken place. but i want to hone in on medicare advantage and i think the bottom line as the lady earlier said from florida, it did and is a kickback to the insurance companies. however physicians are not going to order or give the best treatment they can to a patient knowing they will not get reimbursed for that particular type of care. therefore, what we have done, in my opinion, as an rn, and we have decreased our level of care to the elderly. we are sorry you can not have this because we cannot afford it. we cannot pay for you and therefore it isn't covered on the insurance so we are not going to do it. the doctors have to guesstimate what he feels the problem may be. that is main concern with the health care that is occurring. our health care has become more of a third world establishments. >> the affordable care act care is trying to change the way that medicare pays doctors, hospitals and other providers. you get paid right now for each service you provide. so one test, you get paid for that, another test and you get paid for that. and that is what the caller is referring to. there is a shift to say this isn't a good way to have the payment structure set up. maybe it would make more sense to pay based on had health. if your patient is healthy you get paid more. if they come in with a problem, rather than paying for the x-ray and drug and such we will pay you one lump sum to make that patient healthy. >> sam baker, we are hearing doctors are being dropped from this program. why is that? >> that is a step insurance companies are taking as they see their payments from the federal government come down. they are pushing out providers and doctors to cost them more. it is way to absorb a payment cut on their end without directly cutting the benefits they offer to seniors. you are seeing doctors suing to get back into medicare advantage network's. so you have the doctors suing the insurance companies but they are protesting the same thing. >> let's go to florida where steven is on the line for democrats. >> okay. can i ask me question? >> go ahead. you are on with sam baker from national journal. >> thank you. i am wondering and i think maybe this was already answered. when do the cuts take place? have they taken place already? >> so the cuts in the affordable care act are phased in over a number of years. some have taken affect and some have yet to take affect. what you are seeing the insurance companies lobby on are possible cuts that could take effect next year >> we have brenda from tallahassee and on the line for republicans. >> i am a senior citizen and i am on medicare advantage. i can tell you from day one, president obama's first speeches was i am going to get rid of medicare advantage. and i will tell you why: because it is a good deal for the people and senior citizens and obama wants to make sure that retirees have to work until their 80s. this provides more income for welfare clients. i pay $130 a month through medicare for my medicare advantage. i have had my heart worked on. my heart was worked on prior to be on medicare advantage. i was under chp prior to medicare advantage. that was $97,000 worth of work on my heart. and then a year ago, i was diagnosed with breast cancer and that was under the medicare advantage. and the medicare advantage, my treatments, without insurance were $700 for the radiation. after all was said and done, what i owed was my total amount that was due from me was $3200. that is what i paid that i was made to pay. but as i said, obama and pelosi and harry reid would like to see all of the senior citizens work right up through their death so we can continue paying in until we die for all of the welfare clients that get free medicaid and free food stamps and free housing. and help on their electric bill. and this is where our obama stands. >> we are hearing that the insurance companies are making claims that people with medicare advantage like it. seniors who get their coverage through medicare advantage rate the program pretty well. the point the insurers were saying if you cut this enough it will trickle down. >> and in north carolina, we have gerlean on the line for democrats. >> hi. >> hi, there. >> i was calling in about the affordable care act. i tried to apply for it a couple weeks ago. they told me i had to make at least $11,000 before i could even apply for it. now i was one those that was effected by the unemployment shutdown. i worked for 36 years. i am 59 years old. and i have been out to look for a job and i can just not find one. i tried to get food stamps and i was told i could only get $15 for a whole month. i want to know -- i have no income now. >> this is a real problem a lot of people are running into. because of the supreme courts decision upholding the affordable care act, there is a discrepancy about the states expanding medicare. some states are expanding and then the subsidy picks up. but in the states that are not you have a group of people that are telling them they are too poor to qualify for the benefit. this is the administration arguments in trying to pursway other states to take up the policy. >> host: i am curious what you think is the overall impact of the affordable care act on seniors? >> it is possible too early to tell. there are reductions in medicare advantage. but there are also new benefits added to medicare. the donut hole we are heard so much about in prescription drugs is being closed. new benefits for cost-free preventive care that has been added and the lifespan of the program has been expanded. but there is an argument fewer doctors will provide fewer services. >> albany georgia, johnny for democrats is on the line. >> i want to talk about medicare advantage. in my point of view, medicare advantage is another form of welfare. and that is all it is. because i am 79 years old. every senior citizen paid the same amount into social security programs. and the medicare program as well. and those people who are on medicare advantage that is what they get: an advantage. they don't have to have a secondary to pay that 20% medicare doesn't cover. i have to have it. i would not go around saying i would not like welfare when i am accepting it on the medicare advantage. and the lady from jacksonville is getting welfare. >> medicare certainly is an entitlement program that seniors pay into and the government also funds so it is as a publically-funded insurance plan. one of the arguments for or against medicare advantage cuts is the critics feel like it is costing too much and costing extra for the same care. that in a sense it is welfare for insurance companies. obviously, insurance companies would reject that and medicare advantage does offer a lot of benefits that traditional medicare doesn't. >> reporter: sam, you focus on risk corridors and write they are part of a three-pong safety net designed to stabilize the insurance company in case the affordable care act plays out differently. >> this is a flashpoint that fla flared up. so the insurance agencies had to guess how would they think the people will be signing up when setting their estimates. if they were too conservative and end up with a better experience, they will pay into the fund. if is much worse, they take money out. because of the taking money out, you have seen several republicans, led my mark rubio from florida calling this a bailout for insurance companies. there is a push to repeal the risk corridors even though there was a similar problem in the medicare prescription drug benefits and other previous forms of insurance that the federal government has under taken. >> marion, indiana, we have zeal on the line for independence. >> good morning. my husband was disabled prior to age 65. in indiana, he could not take a medicare supplement. we are not eligible for medicare. we cannot go on the affordable care act exchange we are are eligible for medicare so the only option is medicare advantage. and we do pay a premium for that but there was nothing else available. if they were to do away with that, i don't think where that leaves us. so that is my comment. >> again, that is going back to the point medicare advantage -- stepping back. traditional medicare doesn't cover everything. almost every senior on traditional medicare needs some form of supplemental coverage and a lot of the medicare advantage build that into their plans. so they do offer benefits -- ... >> there is no time to think or reflect. >> we are about to plant a garden. >> i won't be satisfied until every single veteran who wants a job has a job. at the end of the day, my most important title is still mom. [cheers] [applause] >> in 2000 a barack obama was elected as our 44th president and he and first lady michele obama went into the history books. the first african-american couple. one year into the second obama term, the first lady continues her campaign against obesity and fostering access to education. tonight is the final installment of our first lady's influence and image. for the next 90 minutes, we will learn more about her biography and how she approaches the job in her six years in the office so far. let me introduce you to her journalists who will be with us here. liza is a biographer of of michele obama. and krista pops in is a "washington journal" correspondent. and this is from 2008. let watch. >> all my life i have confronted people who had a certain expectation of me. every step of the way there was somebody there telling me what i couldn't do. so i applied to princeton. you can't go there. your test scores on high enough. i went and i graduated with honors. [cheers] [applause] and then it wasn't supposed to go to harvard, that was something they said. i could go through every curve and twist and turn of my life and find somebody who is telling me to lower your expectations and set your sights. you cannot do that. and every time i pushed past others, people limited the expectations of me and reached for things that i knew i could do and grabbed my seat at the table that others also entitled to. what i learned is that there is no matter. there is no matter to these people. those who feel so much more ready than me. i was just as ready always. and just as prepared. just as prepared as anyone at the table. >> we are going to talk about her biography. before she went to the white house out on the campaign trail, both of you have been up there to talk to her about this. when you watched the pre-white house michele obama and think about her today in the job, how shashi changed her approach from what you have seen in that clip? >> i think that she has become more optimistic and positive. i have a hard time imagining her saying something quite like that. she seems to be articulating in the clip something that is impostor syndrome. something where people feel that they are not supposed to be where they are and it takes them a while to get over that feeling as well. just as good as everyone else because maybe you came from a background where you weren't expected to be in this. and i think that she is -- and she felt any of that she certainly has gotten over it and i think that she seems very comfortable and where she is today. >> were your observations yamaichi is built and some of the things. i think some of the rough edges have been polished off. when she's talking to young people she is definitely saying that people didn't leave in me at different points in my life but i showed them that i could overcome and i have made these achievements anyway. just knowing that there is no magic to this. she says that often. so the people know that she can close this gap between where she came from and where she is and that kids can do the same thing. >> and your in your book you say early on that michele obama once i'd of politics that sometimes it is a waste of time and she has become at times her husband's trusted political adviser and sergei. when that transformation happen? that's a really good question. she came from chicago which is a city of machine politics and that he that had not been politically just or fair to african-american residents and she had a lot of reason to be skeptical of politics when she was growing up and her family was famously skeptical of politics to the point where barack obama when he confessed that he wanted to be a politician, she said do not tell aunt gracie, keep them under your hat. and so i think that it -- you know, she even described herself in 2007 as having been the last one to accept a barack obama was going to run for president. and so it must have come during the presidential campaign. >> yes, i agree. there is this idea that she was a reluctant campaigner and i think that she was relock and to sign on. in part because, you know, they had two young daughters at the time and thinking about the sacrifices that would have to be made. she had already been through a campaign for senator from all across the state of vermont had to wrap up in many ways and help with the kids. and so there was a lot to consider and she counted the cost and you could look at it that way. but once she signed on she was okay with that. so it's not like this reluctance continued throughout. >> we started out the series and we promised it would be from martha washington to michele obama to cover the ladies throughout history. this one is a challenge. because it is a sitting first lady and the stories have not been told and there has been some distance and time to judge her legacy in history. it has not happened yet. so let's talk about how she had used her or six years in the white house and we invite your calls along the way rid we hope it will be less about politics today and more about the biography in the series. here's how you can join in. you can go by telephone. here are the numbers if you live in the eastern or central time zones, and here is the mountain or pacific time zone or far west including hawaii. the president's home state. and you can find us on twitter and our first ladies is our twitter address. facebook is another opportunity and there is a rollicking conversation on facebook about michele obama and you can join not and make comments throughout the program. so let's go to her biography. she was born when and where? >> she was one in chicago in 1964. >> generates 17th. he references. but what was 1960s chicago like for the robinson family? >> it was a very segregated city still. she grew up on the south side of chicago and there were a lot of different neighborhoods or immigrants different ethnic neighborhoods and there's a lot of racial redlining and the city was just opening up a little bit so that her family when she was still pretty small was able to move into a neighborhood that had been a white neighborhood. and craig has said and neighbors have said that the white family started moving away when families like the robinson for moving and then they would've been aware of that. it would've been aware that opportunities were opening up for better neighborhoods and better schools and other same time there was this situation going on. paul: he was born in 1935 and died in 1931. mother mary robinson, who we all know, we don't see her too often, but she certainly part of the first family. we have a clip about her talking about her father. if you watch the democratic convention you may remember this speech. >> my father was a pump operator at the city water plant and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis for my brother and i were young. and even as a kid, i knew that there were plenty of days when he was in pain. and i knew that there were plenty of warnings when it was a struggle for him to simply get out of bed. but every morning i watched my father week up with a smile. grab his walker and propped himself up against the bathrooms inc. and slowly shave and button his uniform. and when he returned home after a long days work, my brother and i would stand at the top of the stairs of our little apartment and we would patiently wait to greet him, watching as he reached down to lift one leg and then the other to slowly climb his way into her arms. but despite these challenges, my dad hardly ever missed a day of work. he and my mom were determined to give me and my brother the kind of education that they could only dream of. [cheers] [applause] and when my brother and i finally made it to college, nearly all of our tuition came from student loans and grants. but my dad still had to pay a tiny portion of that tuition himself. and every semester he was determined to pay that bill right on time, even taking out loans when he fell short. he was so proud to be sending his kids to college and he made sure that we never missed a registration deadline because his check was late. for my dad, that is what it meant to be a man. >> let's start with her father and his influence. if you look at the obama's as a couple. barack obama didn't notice his father at all and it seems like what we can see there, for michele obama, her father was a very important person. >> her father was a central figure in both of her appearances. her brother describes her childhood as being a shangri-la of chicago where her parents spent a lot of time with them. they weren't leaving the kids with babysitters often. they built self-esteem and made it seem like they were wonderful people to be around and that kind of confidence that was infused in their lives and they played board games and they took family trips. there was so much broader robinson quinn in town and they knew all their relatives and went to visit and described a really warm family centered childhood and their dad was at the heart of that. >> she describes him as the pump operator and he was also part of the present arrangement in the city of chicago. a very highly political city. so what was his job and how does that influence the family's understanding? >> cubicle around and in some ways he was a community organizer like barack obama. and neighbors said that he was a jovial man with a good sense of humor and he was an extrovert. and so it may be that he genuinely enjoyed this. it may also be that he was a precinct captain to get the pump operator start because that was a way that what the city that you would get a city job. what this political help. and the other thought i had about both of her parents is that having this job meant for them that michele obama's mom could stay home with the children in a way that many women and in their community were not able to do so. african-american women have a much longer tradition of having to go out to work. and so i think that when she had children, you know, she asked should i be home with my daughters with my mother was home with me. and i think that probably made her father's job team baltimore valuable to have. >> i would like to add that because i think that is an important point. she was a stay-at-home mom. but she also had a couple of years of teachers college and she was able to homeschool her children before homeschooling was popular in the way we think about it. both of them skipped early grades in elementary school. and so you see some things happening in this family really early that are different. >> civil children went to princeton and michelle went on to harvard. where did that emphasis on education come from? >> looking from her parents. they were really clear that this was the road to get ahead. and her brother writes about his mom teaching them to read our home and doing math tables in that kind of thing. so when they got to school, even as early as first and second grades they are already steps ahead of everyone else. and i continues with their own hard work, of course, through high school. they are excelling really early on. >> when michele obama got into this, it was a completely different part of chicago at an early age and she had to take several military transfers to get to high school. >> an hour-long bus ride. now, during 2008, the newspaper at "the washington post" wrote a big story about the geology of michele obama's family. tracing it back to slavery in georgetown, south carolina. a question for both of you because you're both right about this. the arc of life is the arc of black history in america. in ways that barack obama's wife is not. so can you comment about bad and what we see in the great migration in the 40s and 50-cent etc. and how we should understand. >> we know more about the family from south carolina, optus coax that. we know that more african-americans feel that her story is rooted and connected to the community in general. when you look back to 2008 there were some questions early on about this, is barack obama black enough? you never heard that about barack obama's wife, michelle obama. i think that that is part of the traditional african-american experience. so she serves as a validator for him in many ways. and so that was important. >> so what would you like to add about the robinson family history? >> just as you say, her family's history is quintessential in that some of her family stayed in georgetown and there was a train depot close to town and at least one of her male ancestors, i think he would have been -- i can't remember if it was her great-grandfather not. he traveled to chicago and that is where the trains went and was able to settle in the south died where there was the meatpacking plants and all of that industrial labor and there is a lot of racism and different wage scales for black men and white men. but it was better than the south. and then the robinson family was able to establish a very broad and rooted family so that when they were first going out that was his epiphany for him and experience to be in such a rooted family where your uncles were coming around and people were visiting with each other it was a different family life and he had experienced. >> before we leave, adrian asks mrs. obama is into having children exercise more. wishy into playing sports? >> she did ballet in high school and she danced. her brother writes a little bit about this in his book and describing his sister as being very competitive. she wanted to win more games in the racism that sort of thing. and if that is right, you know, she said that she didn't do many sports in high school and beyond because like liza said, she was taking a bus back and forth and it would've kept her at school too late to be able to do some of those afterschool extracurricular activities. >> packages at one point that she resisted putting the ball because she was tall and people thought that she would be likely to play basketball. >> that sounds reasonable. >> the first lady is 5'11". >> i have a yearbook of her doing ballet. >> will take a couple of calls and learn about her days at princeton and at law school and meeting the future president. >> caller: thank you so much for your program. i've been watching it for martha washington until now. my comment is i see her as a romantic. some presidents seem to show a lot of love and all of this and had richard nixon. as an example. i think he loved her, but he just didn't show it, and i can see it with michelle and president obama. they are really there for one another. and i think that they really do care for one another and they enjoy each other's company. and that is just my comment. and i just think that is so important for the people of the united states. for them to say that these two people really do love one another. and i don't care if you're republican or democrat. i think it's so important that they do show that they do care and don't put on a show. >> thank you. >> host: also since we have been moving through history with the series. we are more welcoming of seeing the emotional and personal side of people in the white house. >> i think so. in part it's because the reality television if nothing else. we are so intimately involved with people that we don't know well. some people feel like they are knowing the obama's because it's on public display we know that last week and they had an early valentine's day dinner and that kind of thing and that is out in the public eye and people see them, you know, warmly being there for each other even in his campaign, he sent out a photo of them together hugging one another. both embracing one another when that went viral. and then there were the pieces of newspaper thinking about what it means to see a kind of modern marriage. >> host: we have been talking about her first days at the office. many lady said that they are cognizant of this role model and the importance that they have. and would you please comment about how much of this is a conscious effort? >> i think that it's very conscious and it's not just for young people who have been a focus about the president and first first lady, but also first lady, but also the families is love there is so much talk about how you do this well in this country and they understand that people are hungry for that in remission and how do you raise well-adjusted teenagers and to help them do that. and it's kind of like giving them parenting tips just like they gave some tips to justin bieber's mother. people want that kind of information and i think that it also provides some of that personal connection that this white house has been talking about. i would say it helps people to feel like, you know, that the white house people's house and this is a family that you can relate to. >> we have seen lots of different forms of presidents and first ladies. hello, john, you are on your. >> caller: hello, my call is about how it is. my question is after they kill osama bin laden, when they saw the pictures, what was his reaction and what was her reaction and will they ever release them. >> thank you very much. >> of either of you know whether or not she had a reaction? two no idea. if i run correctly that night, it he was at the white house. and i think she went out to dinner with his sister maybe. so we really don't know anything about her private reactions. but we do know that they were at the white house. >> hello, keith. >> hello. it is obvious and thank you for taking my call. it is obvious that michele obama and barack obama are really good periods. then i was appalled with that ad campaign and i was appalled at the last election i was talking about our kid was getting special treatment and they should because they are the president's children. but how did that upset michelle obama and how did she maintain and not just go viral on tv after that was done? >> thank you very much. >> i think i know what he is referring to. i believe it was the nra or another organization when we were in the midst of the gun rights debate and a web ad and not a regular ad for television. asking questions about being guarded by secret service, men's or carrying weapons, and why shouldn't they have on guns in schools. and i believe the president himself reacted. and this brings up an interesting point about how protecting the white house has been and the white house quickly shut that down and it has been pretty true to form. >> moving the story along here. as far as the history, there were some who talked about having the children available and making advertisements out of this. that has been another story lines are series has regressed. >> there were about 90 african americans on campus to about 1100. >> one of the things that has stayed with her is her thesis because she's a sociology major and she voted on the subject of black princeton alumni. and would you talk about this and it's not somebody with everything would have been when you're struggling for your senior thesis. they are opening up to a more diverse student body and there is definitely resistance and backlash against that. it was a time or a lot of students at campus didn't have a lot of experience and hadn't traveled a lot. we are coming to campus and made aware of their difference in a way that they had never been made aware before. and she realized for the first time that she was black, it seems completely unsurprising. and yet it is interesting. it was a sociology experiment where she was writing alumni and saying did you feel, before you graduated why you are here, did you feel more comfortable with white people or lack people and the what kind of responsibility do you feel now to the lower income community. and she's working out these changes. and it seems to be so normal and so many other students of different gender or racial groups or ethnic groups would also be asking themselves to a lot of different people. and we have to kind of figure this out. what does it mean and what does that look like and how i stay connected to this which is really important to me and also moving into some of these opportunities that are ahead of me. >> exactly. the highest office in the land where anything is fair game. so she moves from princeton to harvard and we weren't quite sure what we were going to do. so she said they went to law school. and i think also the civil rights act is not that old. and he thought, i will change the world, that will be what i do if i go to law school. and there is a producer wrong conformist push to law school at that time and i did interviews at that time and try to talk or going out of the going to law school. but she chose to go back to chicago and get a job in a corporate law firm specializing in talk communication. >> yes, she did. and i think that getting back to the what do i owe my community and what will make my parents proud, i think that she and him were part of the african-american citizens that had the chance to work for a corporate law firm and have access to this kind of a job and they asked themselves should i take advantage of that opportunity or should i go back and work on behalf of my community and the community that i came from. and i think that is one thing that she has been aware of ever since. >> lisa, you are on the air. >> hello. .. >> this happened repeatedly because she was shouldering the way of raising and supporting a family. so this is a difficult point for them in their marriage with what he is going to do. >> his political life is left then to raise a family. >> and there have been first ladies who have prayed for their husbands. and those were the ladies who are really directed the white house to done so well. >> host: sandy is in clarksville, tennessee. >> to welcome i want to commend you guys are doing an excellent series. and the main one is the presidential library. the president and first lady have done a contribution in their service. have they done so in chicago as well? >> no one knows. but we do know that they have formed a committee and i guess he would have them work from cities in different locations where there is a sense that chicago makes it in part because he is part of the political part that was there. and even within chicago, they have different locations. >> we are going to fast forward to the senator of illinois and his successful bid. coming to washington then, the decision will start running for president. >> you have to convince her the way that her brother tells a story and michelle's brother, craig robinson, i think that this is the opportunity to do this and he said have you talked to my wife? [laughter] and barack obama says that i thought you could help me with that. and craig robinson, in some ways, like this is paving the way. >> we're going to go back to the campaign trail in 2008. >> what we have learned over the years is that and hope is making a comeback. and for the first time in my adult lifetime, i am really proud of my country. and not just because i think people are hungry for change. and i am just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. i have seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues. >> celebs talk about the view of how she thinks about society. >> actually with what she is saying there and what she is trying to say. >> i think that she did talk a bit about that. and in fact at the time, she has said things in different ways and what has happened in that moment, she was out seeking grassroots and supporters. and as the candidate she spoke from her heart without a lot of notes and at that time the democratic grassroots found that refreshing. and then comes this moment where this one mine is extricated and they begin to define her. and this will begin to create a different story around her. >> any comments on that narrative and how it defined her and how the opposition used it to create a narrative? >> in a sort of winding up with a thesis and reverend wright and alleged evidence that she was unhappy with america. i think you mean where that line came out of, she was talking a lot about time. she would talk about racial division and she would say i know what that is like. you guys need to come together. she would talk about america being isolated so that people who are fighting the war, the people at home or going shopping and there was a sense of coming together that still needed to happen. and i think that is what was coming from. at the campaign definitely kicked into gear after that. you know, there was not another episode like that. >> during the primary, hillary clinton was a rival of barack obama. she commented about this interesting relationship of the former first lady who is now presidential candidate and ultimately was succeeded by his opponent and goes on to serve as his precarious state and has a first lady about time in the white house. i'm so how will that work out? >> it is interesting because during the 2008 primary campaign, it really became a dogfight and it got ugly at some point. and you had to really define this within the democratic party and there were the clintonites and the obama nights. and there was question as to whether everyone would be able to come together in this way and this idea that hillary clinton would serve as secretary of state did a lot with mending those bridges and early on in the obama term, michele obama goes over to the state department and their is a warm sort of moment of coming together. and so in many ways she is a rival and laura bush gave her early on guidance about how things would operate in the east wing because hillary clinton had an office in the west wing. about the issue and we have the issues that we can show a short clip from that. and talk about how they use and campaign the national media. >> and we have a political situation. >> i take the paper and i followed up and i thrown across a room. [laughter] >> you know, of course. there are frustrations. and you know, i get protective. >> yes, i do. i love my husband. you know, you don't want anyone talking poorly about the people that you love. and quite frankly, i think he has handled this stuff well. you know, i am so proud of how he has maintained his dignity and his cool in his honor. but i know that you are trying to coming off what i'm talking nicely about you. [laughter] >> yes, it's embarrassing. [laughter] >> i am proud of you. >> i appreciate that. >> what you take away from this and others, it's such a tenderhearted thing into the national media. >> it so it's so interesting to see them interacting with each other and the playfulness there and the way that they sometimes touch each other and joke with each other and it genuinely enjoy being together. and i think that that more than anything, the idea of this family and this relationship in addition to president obama talking about some of the issues around the controversy head-on on race, they didn't do much to toss that issue out the window. >> so john mccain chose their palen as his vice presidential candidate. wondering if there is a national dialogue about the role and what happened to them in 2008. >> yes, but i would say that it's not a very coherent conversation. and one thing that you saw is that before the 2000 election, her favorable ratings rose with conservative women. it did a lot to change her image and to soften her image and it's also something that within hillary clinton's generation, they could not say of themselves. with hillary clinton you couldn't even have a photo of your children on her desk. if you wanted to be seen as a credible working women. too soft, you would rely on people that had children in it once was to be read in the 1980s. you're supposed to be all there at the work twice. and i really like that was a generational difference between the two women. >> at the 2008 convention where people of both parties are political junkies who are part of the candidates, they had a chance to see the michele obama. >> what struck me when i first met rock obama is that one he had his phony name and even though he had grown up all the way across the continent in hawaii, his family was so much like mine. he was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents were. and by a single mother who struggle to pay the bills just what we did. and like my family they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities that they never had for themselves. and barack obama and i were raised with so many of the same values like you work hard for what you want in life. and you do what you say you're going to do and that you treat people with dignity and respect even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them. >> so what was she doing there? >> introducing herself and her husband and that was the funny name. and really she did a lot of that early on during the campaign. her role as the first lady has been dehumanized this alert what the candidate to help people connect with who he is and what happens when i get home and he snores in that kind of thing and he is a real guy. and talking about him as a man. >> then when i met him, i realized that you have the midwestern family. >> david is watching us in utah. >> thank you, susan. first off, i want to thank c-span and the white house historical association as well. my question is i know the issue that michele obama has been interested in. and where that issue originated from and how he has influenced military families. and early on she talks about having women who were raising their sacrifices. and so wanting to do something not only for the veterans but their families as well who are left behind and realizing that like herself most americans don't have relatives who are serving in the military. including those that have children who serve who are getting forces. who serve military families and he went to the business roundtable to the ceos their and they need to hire more veterans and we have some companies to sign pledges to save how many they would hire. >> we have one of those comic pictures and people were seeing. can you comment a bit about this for this series? >> well, you know, they were going to be in history books regardless. and so there comes the moment when the history can be seen. .. >> we had a an interview at c-span in 2009 shortly after she took over where she talks about her approach. >> i think every first lady brings their unique perspective to this job. if you didn't you could not live through it. to the extent of this feels unnatural to me at any level i never would have thought living in the white house or being first lady feels natural because i try to make it, not me. i try to bring a little bit of michelle obama but at the same time respecting and valuing the tradition that is america. >> host: didn't they reached out to laura bush for ways they may emulate the approach that she took as her role when she became first lady. >> guest: with that vast knowledge how things work to a and it is a significant institution and michelle obama had not been a governor's wife so did not have that experience two's set up shop so she had to figure out how to do that. the it's the reagan came, i think they had lunch and i think the advice was have a lot of state dinners. so she does talk to those who know as she prepares a. >> host: she would not to visit cabinet agencies also homeless shelters and soup kitchens and meeting with officials and an article that you wrote of another thing that she did was unusual, she really lived in washington d.c. >> it was a graphic go for the first term all the places in the metropolitan area she visited, worked, and made speeches how does that differ from other first family is? >> it was interesting because she made this holmes a and i was able to talk to her staff about that. the nonprofits in visiting agencies begonia to restaurants with girlfriends, her daughters were in school here, at soccer games, and catching shows at local theaters, but just really getting to know the city as a place outside of federal washington. but that is for political families in general where people huge setback to the home state every weekend and the idea of spending time in washington is bad for your political life. but she made a concerted effort to get to know this place, this city and town azide put together all the places she had been to a restaurant in town there and i have. she has not allowed the white house like martha washington said she was not there but the idea that you cannot get outside the bubble. >> host: including visiting places like target in the suburbs. if she alone? are they able to sneak away incognito? >> sometimes as far as being alone with her family it means leaving the washington gurgling to camp david where she can walk around a and not be the target. >> modern first ladies have done similar things laura bush would go a antiquing in george bush to check out the stops on dash shops. to find a way to maintain your life out cited the of whitehouse. >> host: in bill clinton would go running but i feel like the clintons had a presence as well. >> the media has covered the first lady extensively the number of magazine covers and that has been done, it was highly competitive with your book with michelle obama in various parts of her life. is this and the way it will be covering for a or is this special and particular? >> there was intense interest from the beginning and i think a willingness to engage the public outside of the traditional press corps and the magazine covers are one example from the better homes and gardens, to amtrak magazine, it is such a broad spectrum ian you speak to those audiences of those magazines and a very personal way in the way that she is on univision and urban radio to talk to people directly. in also like social media that can connect that way. >> host: this is pretty soft stuff the cover of women's magazines and social media how successful have they been to you? >> guest: part of that is bypassing the traditional media so which of course, they are eager to cover her. when i was writing my book, and not accessible and very, very careful of her public image. it was after the does she like her country episode? they were very careful about her public image to not make her accessible. she was not. i had to find other ways to report the story and i think that is still the case. >> host: this demonstrates the administration's approach to the entertainment media. >> [applause] faq. welcome to the white house. i am so honored to introduce this year's nominees for best picture. this is my midlife crisis. [laughter] i could not get a sports car if they will not let me bunge jump. >> you are the boss of your hair. [laughter] [laughter] civic knu do more push-ups' man i came into? >> it depends on your back. you have back issues. [laughter] thirteen. 14. 15. 16. [laughter] >> host: it has spent fascinating on the political scene you mid to jacqueline kennedy, watch how the political campaigns have used the media to communicate with the public to portray an image. how is this white house doing? >> it is fascinating to look at the way she especially has collapsed as the space between pop culture and politics with the public in the way that she has operated to create these videos that go fibril on you to. she is on instagram but not just on but impose the throwback thursday photos the and really engaging in and out way that captures the public imagination and not just through the filter of the mainstream press if you are cultivating an image is she is a popular figure but she is probably one of the most popular figures in the democratic party so to have her be such a public presence with the team like the miami heat that was shared so much as a strategic way to look at her public image. >> host: we have some of the key events that have happened during the term so far also a graphic that you use did your stories that looks at the approval ratings. let's take a look at the key events so far like the stimulus package and the 2008 crisis. the iraq war is in the passage of the health care act, 2010 election. this tube of relations of congress and so many aspects of that story including closing of the government, the debt ceiling, the killing of some of the allotted and the 2012 reelection campaign. this is how research has been tracked the approval rating heard has been coming down over time but the first lady is higher and consistent all along the way. the president was 79 in the area of 45 and now fairly consistent along the way. to what do we know that? >> the management of her public image to a very strategic approach to social media have to the fact the family does seem to be flourishing a and it remains a very appealing family in the the issues she has chosen. they are not hard issues or mold breaking. let's move campaign. there is in line with literacy and traditional first lady programs. >> caller: concerning mrs. obama, they seem to be so recognizable that they work together but do they ever socialize just the two of them together? are they allowed to go out together? >> guest: that is an interesting question. i wrote a piece about dr. by did during the 2012 campaign with her staff she made the point that they work well together and they are friendly but they both have very busy lives so the idea that they are socializing doesn't it happen and in addition to be the vice president's wife comes with much fewer offical duties also joel biden continues to teach at a local community colleges and is the english professors of and she was traveling she would have her papers with her and would be grading papers. so that idea that they are enjoying one another's company does not happen very often. >> host: the second lady continues to pursue her career. >> laura bush talked about that during the series' biggest she talked about noncontroversial issues such as e.t. wall. >> her staff led argue about bad. >> host: i have seen the from the facebook comments but we have a clip with a c-span even and from our stated kiam competition in one did a documentary about the concept in mrs. obama met with the students. >> having the platform of the white house is helpful to get the attention and so when i do something the cameras showed up sometimes they write about it. sometimes more than one i am wearing. [laughter] so it is my job to shine the light on what is already working so that is why i chose this as my initiative. also one of the reasons that i think we can move this effort, why we can be successful is it doesn't require, i don't believe, a whole scale changes said your life. the beauty about kids is that you are young, your metabolism is healthy that behan's once you start moving in and eat the right right, the change really quickly. you were growing so if we make little changes to get you moving more, just a little more movement and take out the sugar drinks and make school lunches better get you educated about what to eat, these are things we can control and it doesn't take millions of dollars and legislation. we don't have to count on people passing stuff thank god to remove the problem along. >> host: but to your point sugary drinks were a problem >> school lunches. >> a lot of money is tied up in the food industry. there is a strategy how your address these issues. food politics for those involved are very contentious aided uc some of this in the debate with the idea which the ministate telling the kids. she talks about not passing legislation but she was very supportive of the legislation that changed school lunches that has been controversial. they were pretty big changes aside from of teenagers making videos are complaining not having as much junk food at lunch people try to figure out how to implement these things. >> host: we have a photograph of the organic garden. >> is the clip. >> as she wrote her garden book at least in the beginning the proceeds are going to a foundation so there is money there even after the obama this are no longer in the white house. >> host: there used to be animals grazing. >>. >> the other part that we don't see what is known about how she has been able to move them in a direction that matters? >> he talks about the idea on social issues is pretty progressive talking about same-sex marriage before he came out to support it she was for it even did her stump speech before the vice president came out for same-sex marriage that line was in her speech generating a lot of headlines and a similarly earlier with her time in the white house there is a moment she is worth the first lady of mexico i think they were in the suburbs a of the young girl was in the audience having a conversation in that she raises her he and and it says what should i do? my mom doesn't have papers. that was a great moment. this is hard to imagine there was not conversations about this. >> host: you are on the air. >> caller: three -- seeking for the program. i would like to ask how she interacted or felt about her in a modest family seems important but how which they met. >> host: there was also the same question and did she ever read the president's mother? >> that is a really good question but i cannot answer at all links. they did meet of course, she would not have met his father. >> she was at the wedding. i don't know of a great deal about their relationship. i don't think it was close. >> guest: i don't know. the president talks about his mother passing when he talks about health care i am not sure how much time. >> host: tomorrow night there will be a state did very mentioned earlier that we have asked about the first lady's job as a steward of the white house. how has this is a obama approach to life in what has she done differently? we back we just talked about the guarded that has been the signature part of a first tube. the part that she is the most excited about we see her regularly going out for the ceremonial plantations and harvesting the also she refers to as the people's house for those that never cover should be will come to an end to bring in folks who have never been there before so you have a lot of school children come been for workshops if there is a celebrity with a musec performance there is a workshop earlier in the day with the students from local schools. the idea to use it has the third space or a community center is a little fresher you the different. >> host: for a number of years of the beginning it was closed to the public tour because of the fight to joe -- i did chalker says. we have just 15 minutes left but you mention after the election they talk about issues she would get more involved one would be education. we have a clip from last year at the historically black college dash she talks about education. >> for generations it wishes illegal for black people to get an education. or being beaten to within 1 inch of their lives. anyone who dared to teach them could be fined or thrown into jail but yet just two years after the bids a patient proclamation was on and the school was founded how to educate others it was an act of defiance to evoke the idea that black people couldn't or shouldn't be educated. but today more than 150 years after the "emancipation proclamation" after the end of separate but equal, when it comes to getting an education to many of our young people just can't be bothered. today instead of walking 1 mile they sit on the couch is playing video games instead of a tree being to be a teacher or a lawyer there fantasizes about be a baller. >> i was there when she gave the speech but that was very well-received to thinking about what she would spend her time doing in addition to healthy eating and military families that could activity you could see that she had with the audience to talk about issues are round education became clear to the staff. the plan to develop this issue of education of one that she will focus on most closely with students and the department of education. to reinforce to high school students particularly those who are still early in their years that they be to prepare themselves for college. going through the of very minutia and she was a at a seminar where talking about killing of financial aid forms a and she has done a video where she shared some of her experience that sheets were not long enough for her bet tuned to she knows what it feels like to not be completely prepared but you can go through it anyway and be successful with the idea of full bottle to say there is no magic. >> host: portland or it can go ahead. >> caller: i want to say to the host you are my family my mother enjoys the show i have a quick question. former texas governor you richards says it is always of a double standard with with an aunt i faker show obama exemplifies her own purpose. is there a possible consideration for a hillary clinton michelle lobov the ticket and 2016? >> does the politically have political ambitions of her own? giving people often ask that they draw that parallel because they are both lawyers. i don't think she will run. i think hillary clinton had up passion early space civic she has said emphatically many times that this is not her think she is interested in some politicians say that this schaede is experience said about it he feel like she does not have the personality that she is too impatient. you get the sense talking about messaging the way she enjoys connecting that going through the rigors of the political press is not something she would enjoy but she will make an impact. >> she will stay in public life some house. >> definitely. >> how is she changing the way that future first ladies will model? >> the way she has engaged with entertainment in pop culture has been ground-breaking as i covered her at the oscars for our it was a head turning a moment what is she doing on the oscars? for staff talked about it but she loves the movies the and the idea that she could do it and there was an invitation be be these folks in hollywood would support her program. so to get outside the structure of politics. that is said trail she has placed. >> host: with the time we have left we looked at her high approval ratings consistently high in the '60s and higher than her husband's but she has had some criticisms what she engendered your choices of phrase is tuned as a surrogate for her husband but also trips and vacations and she has taken what your comments how high she has approached that? >> guest: also wearing expensive speakers to is a soup kitchen she did make a comment other than what i am wearing but she has cultivated a public image to be fashionable and she is interested in her clothes as well. there has been a misstep to take expensive vacations at the time the country is suffering. >> she has not had to do much to animate folks who don't like her. looking at the poll numbers earlier, they have stayed pretty steady also has the unfavorable. i guess about one-quarter of the public does not like this first lady you that is not uncommon a huge you will hear from them even on the healthy eating when she shows up on the oscars people say she is everywhere. why? it has not been universal love fest. >> host: you write in your book behind-the-scenes how she organizes staff she has had some turnover in the years she has been in the white house issues a better boston and first lady. she likes to be in charge and does not like heard time to be wasted and as forcefully and intimidating. >> i don't think that would surprise anybody. we don't see that person a lot but she does have a forceful and charismatic personality. also when she was in high school she was terrified of public speaking it had to work up the courage for she was running for office. she has really grown into that role to be so comfortable to have fun and give speeches. she found the spotlight in this very comfortable. >> host: let's take a call from texas. >> caller: how are you? i have two questions. which first lady do you think michelle obama is most similar to? tuned second if you could arrange for michelle to be with any other first lady which one would it be? >> host: great questions as we close out the program and the series. >> she is compared to hillary clinton she is compared to jackie onassis is the glamour and the arts a unharnessing of culture i would make more of a comparison there. >> i think pieces. there is some of the jackie onassis with the cultivation of the image in the the family but you can see a little bit of laura bush with that able to maintain that popularity, also a popular fund-raiser within her party. clinton is a more difficult comparison. but michelle obama is a vicious in her own way just as hillary clinton is no you could take slices and i think michelle obama told c-span it is the modern first lady that she relates to much more than and some of the others to see pages of a history book. >> host: this is from her 2009 interviews. >> it is an evolutionary process that you grow into this role. my sense is you never get comfortable if you push for change and growth with the issues that you care about. you are never done. you never feel like they're. i am now here. i can do this the same way all the time. it is always changing. the state of the issues of the country you and you never know what those will be. so you have to be flexible and fluid and open to revolve. >> host: coming full circle on the three years that she has left? >> the education initiative will be paramount because i do think 2013 fell to a continuation of the first term if things will be much different to the first few years with that do program she has also said she will continue rushy has been doing you have seen the michelle obama we will see. >> also sending a dollar -- a daughter to college that is a significant transition as a family. >> we may not see much of that but with that bubble that they have put around their kids be back we were talking the oldest will be 16 many learn to drive how do you do that? that will be interesting to watch. and also your reported about her life after the warehouse saying i will be a rare early '50s and i have so much more weather as a mother or as a mentor to other kids spee ratios very representative of many women in we may see that women in general that those career trajectories are a little different that the peak later because of that child rearing period. she is in the intensive child-rearing period but she will re-enter the workforce in a very significant way. >> this marriage is about taking turns. vb we will see her turn. >> going from martha washington to the show obama one of the early callers mentioned that they have written the biography of the first lady to help make the special edition available. as medea other historical organizations and as we close out. think you along the way. . .