Facetoface compromise. Im pleased that the senators decided not to break the rules to change the rules. This must be a new normal, qualified executive nominees must not be blocked on procedural super majority votes. Gwen and on the political Playing Field another incumbent republican face as challenge from the right. This time from a chaney. A mother question no longer afford to go along to get along. Hot debates for a hot week. Covering that week Pierre Thomas of abc news. Dan balls of the washington post. Charles babbington of the associated press. And amy walter the cook political report. Awardwinning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. Live from our nations capital, this is is Washington Week with gwen ifill. Corporate funding for Washington Week is provided by we went out and asked people a simple question, how old is the oldest person youve known . We gave people a sticker and had them show us. We learned a lot of us know someone that lives into their 90s. One thange hasnt change, the official retirement age. The question is, how do you make sure you have the fun you need to enjoy all of these years . Additional funding for Washington Week is provided by the annenberg foundation. The corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. Gwen good evening. Americans from coast to coast are still engaged in a rolling conversation about race, justice and the definition of selfdefense in the wake of last weeks not guilty verdict for George Zimmerman in the Travon Martin case. We discovered that the president is as well. He surprised reporters in the Briefing Room today sharing his own experiences as a black man in america. I think its important to recognize that the Africanamerican Community is looking that issue through a set of experiences and a history hat that doesnt go away. There are very few africanamerican men in this country who havent had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a Department Store, that includes me. The president remarks continued for 18 minutes. They followed two speeches this week from attorney general eric holder who talked about similar experiences and of speaking to his son about what to expect. I am determined to do everything in my power to insure that the kind of talk i had with my son isnt the only conversation that we engage in as a result of these tragic events. Left unsaid, where can and should such conversations lead . What do the president and attorney general have in snind pierre . Theres an act of open of Justice Department involving the f. B. I. Now the threshold is very high in terms of whether they can actually charge George Zimmerman. They would have to prove that zimmerman had racial bias as the primary motive for his attack for his engagement with Travon Martin. Thats a really high threshold. Its beyond negligence. You have to prove that race was the primary motivating factomplet many people see it as a long shot for the Justice Department. But having said that, when the f. B. I. Is boring into a case thats an entirely different matter that even when a local department does its investigation. Gwen the president acknowledged theres not necessarily something that the federal government can do here. But he seemed to be setting us up for something else. There was a remarkable moment in the Briefing Room. There was no advance warning that he was going to do this. I thought was what was most interesting about this the degree to which this was a personal commentary and his reaction and the way that he set it in the context of the black experience in america and how africanamericans see this verdict. I mean, the comment he made when he said, when this first happened, i said Travon Martin could have been my son. Today he said, Travon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. As the clip showed, he talked about the feeling of africanamerican men in a Department Store being followed or walking along a street and hearing car locks snap shut when theyre around. I mean, everything he talked about, he said the Africanamerican Community is not naive about the realities of crime that africanamerican men are both disproportionately victims and perpetrators. I think what he was trying to do was to say, for those of you who think this verdict was legitimate, there is another perspective and here it is why it is the way it is. He felt like the explainer in chief. A week after this verdict having come down and all the conversations that had been held about it since, why today . Why come out now . Why not just leave eric holder to carry the water . Well, the president and the attorney general are under extreme pressure from the civil ights community. Naacp had a petition that had more than one million signatures. Everywhere you go, particularly in the Africanamerican Community people are discussing this issue. I think again the president probably knew he couldnt remain in the shadows too long that he had to come out and talk about this issue in a forthright manner. One of the things that struck ne talking to people, weve interviewed a number of people about this story is that Travon Martin has become the son of many. For African Americans in particular, their focused on the moment that George Zimmerman first notices Travon Martin. Its between 7 00 and 8 00 p. M. Its not 2 00 a. M. In the morning. Its not 4 00 a. M. In the morning. At that time there was no report of any robby or any crime whatsoever. So for many African Americans it becomes well, why did this escalate in the first place . Why was he targeted . Why was he a person to be suspect . Gwen that was true for the president as well. Yes, i think this is obviously a topic that he has thought long about. I mean, he wrote a whole book about his own search for identity and his embrace of the black community. Hes biracial, obviously. Its clear from some of the things he said today that he and the first lady have talked a lot about this and particularly the role of africanamerican men and what can be done to make life better for them. Gwen boys, africanamerican boys. Yes, young men. You know, what in talking or emails with some white house officials today. What they said was he told them the oval office that he wanted to do this. He did not want to give a formal speech. He did not want to give a sitdown interview. He wanted to do what he did today. Talk extemporaneously but clearly from deep inside him. What make this is different from other race discussions hes had both in his book and then the famous one he had while he was a candidate . I think the biggest difference, amy is that this one was very much or almost singularly from the perspective from an africanamerican, an africanamerican that happens to be the president or a president that happens to be an africanamerican. He basically tried to explain to the black community why there is resentment in the black community gwen i was there. And he was trying to thread the needle very politically. Yes, totally. We all remember he stepped elegantly in the henry lewis ates arrest and was forced to conduct this which was a stagey and very ineffective thing. This was different. The way he spoke was so much different that he had adopted it was im going to try to explain to people dont understand this why there is the unrest and the dissatisfaction and the grieving in the black community. He never mentioned George Zimmerman by name. Never mentioned George Zimmerman by name. He said mr. Zimmerman one time. Gwen go ahead. Peter, you talked about the high threshold that the federal government, the f. B. I. Would have to meet to bring a charge against zimmerman after hes been acquitted in the state trial. I thought the president today sort of tried to drop some hints that that would be a very high threshold. And yet, talk a little bit about the pressure of political and otherwise that theyre under and how do they get out of this jam . Gwen hundreds of marches around the country tomorrow. Expectation. At the owned of the day, the f. B. I. Is going to have to look at what the facts are. And they have to look at in terms of George Zimmermans history was there anything about africanamericans that they can draw upon that would show that race was the motivating factor in him, singling out Travon Martin. And then did his reactions to whatever Travon Martin did there after were those covered by race as well . Again, its a very interesting investigation. But i should say, the history of the Civil Rights Division is that they were asked in the past to take on cases the state wouldnt take on. And you have some very thoughtful and creative prosecutors there who will look at this, know that the threshold is high. But its going get some intellectual debate within the Department Going again, you know, whether the notion of profiling someone perhaps because of race could that lead to for example, did he react more negatively to what Travon Martin would do in terms of when he approached. Did he feel more prone to act more aggressively because of that . Its a really fascinating set of questions that they have to resolve. Gwen its interesting to me you know we talk about the 2008 speech that the president gave. I remember the Clinton Administration when he convened as the national conversation, i dont even remember why and it didnt seem to go anywhere. And he seemed to poo poo that notion that we have to create some federally mandate some sort of structure to have that conversation. I thought he was interesting on that point. When bill clinton did that in 197, he set up a commission. They issued some reports. They gave a big speech gwen we probably still have that report somewhere i think president obama is realistic. He saw what happened. Hes seen other efforts in this. And basically he thinks these are stilted conversations because people come to it with preconceived positions and want to defend those positions rather than have a real conversation. Its interesting. A lot of people say we still tiptoe around the issue of race. What i heard the president saying is that its time to just have frank conversations with whom ever. People of different hues having these conversations about what does it mean when if Pierre Thomas takes off his suit and walks in a pair of jeans into a walmart that perhaps people might be wondering what im up to. What does it mean if you talk to your young son as the attorney general did . I did a radio sthow morning. An africanamerican male called in and said, i taught my children that if theyre stalked or followed bay stranger to run. But if they cannot run to fight for their lives. He said, what am i to teach them now . Gwen well, the other thing seems to me that the president did strive to end on an upbeat note and how his own children look at this differently. Our children dont see it the way we did. They dont approach it the way we did. But theres this balance that every family i know is trying to strike making sure you remember your history and then knowing how to deal with the reality of the president. I think one of the interesting things is obviously this country has made great progress on racial issues. We talked about it recently with the context in the Voting Rights act. Its not 1965 in terms of africanamericans voting. Every generation makes strives, and yet this is still the most difficult conversation we have in america. Gwen thank you all for bringing that conversation here. Now, on to capitol hill where you could be for given for being confused. At lawmakers would like an obscure procedure to nuclear war. This is about power and who gets to wield it the executive or the legislative branch. What in the end was the answer . Chuck . Looking at the answer in that context you would senior to say that the executive branch won because president obama got the various nominations, looks like theyre all going to go through. And he had to give nothing. He had to swap a couple of b. Ple for the nl this is a battle between the Minority Party which has been republicans and the Majority Party what has been democrats for some years. And this whole question with how much power should the minority have to exercise it and at what depoint they go too far in exercising theas minority power . Gwen its fair to assume that if republicans were in the majority, they would not feel the same way. Actually they promised over and over that if you the democrats do make this rule change, you will regret it because we absolutely will gwen playing with the rule explain what the rule change. The filibuster is unlimited debate. You can require a 60 vote super majority in the 100member senate. In the old days it wasnt use often. More and more its being used with almost everything. This issue dealt with executive nominations with the president. It did not deal with executive or judicial nominations only with cabinet members and that sort of thing. And the democrats were fed up with these long delays. So finally harry reid said were going to change the rule. Were going to have a simple vote which had been very controversial itself. And were going to say that you cant filibuster these executive nominations. Theyll have a simple majority up or down vote. That was the rule. That was the threat that he made. So how did they come up with this compromise . And does this mean this is a whole new era that theyre going to be Holding Hands and singing songs and passing legislation together . I would not say that. Kumbaya. They reached this resolution which is a very imperfect resolution largely because many republicans felt that harry reid was not bluffing. That he was going make this change that it would be detrimental to the senate and the republican party. They broke ranks with Mitch Mcconnell and cut this deal with the democrats. But nen, keep in mind that it didnt pretend to deal with legislation or judicial nominees and also it really doesnt resolve for the long run one demand that mr. Mcconnell had made on harry reid that i want you to promise that you will not even talk about making this rule change and reid said, no im not going to do that. What is the relationship at this point between harry reid and Mitch Mcconnell . They had some very harsh words before one another before the compromise was reached . Where does that leave that . Its not good, dan. The two men i think generally have gotten along fairly well with a mutual respect. This is clearly damaged that relationship. Its not the end of the rule. They dont have to get along. But the way the senate worked it certainly would help somewhat. You know, the bigger problem might be for the republicans is that now youve got this unrest within their own ranks and, you know, theres a testy meeting on wednesday night, a private meeting in which Mitch Mcconnell was trying to distance himself from this deal and said i didnt know very much about it. One of the members said in words we cant use here saying that aint so. [laughter] although small some progress in terms of bipartisan, does it pertain anything inner the house . Pierre, its funny because the way we look at things. The house has rules that just let the Majority Party get things done. Boom, boom, boom. And theres really nothing that the Majority Party can do. The senate is the cooling saucer and it takes time and things really bog down. Well, the house has all kinds of problems and is largely dealing within the republican majority and as weve seen over and over, the farm bill and the debts an all kinds of things where Speaker Boehner has trouble getting a consensus within his own body. Oddly enough as little as the senate did it almost makes them look like they can do more done in the house. Gwen the last time they did was to impeach bill clinton. Its a rare thing. No cameras rolling. No microphones. Facetoface 98 senators just to get to this deal. This was monday night. Things had not gone well through the weekend. 98 of the 100 showed up. I was struck by several members of both parties who said i really learned a lot from that. Its remarkable to me how much they live in these silos because they dont talk to each other. Gwen amazing moment. Now wure were going to move on to more politics but this time ive got two words, liv chaney. Ly never unning because compromise when our freedom is at stake. Gwen the foreman Vice President s daughter hopes to be the giant killer who can take on a previous well liked republican this time mike enzy, tag him as a washington accommodationist and win his seat. Is there more to it than that . Of course. Theres always something more to it. But this this case i think much of it is about liv chaney. Its much more about her than anybody else. Gwen tell us about her. For many of you youve seen her, shes very close to her father. Many see her as his sort of political appendage in some ways. Shes been on a lot of the National Talk shows. She served in the bush administration. She is as much of a hawk as her father. You heard her in that clip there talking about patriotism and freedom. She believ