countries or screening at point of entry. >> the united states is assessing and reassessing the procedures in place to safeguard the traveling public around the globe, but also the american public here at home. a travel ban is not something we're currently considering. there already is a multilayered screening protocol in place in our transportation system. there are guidelines and guidance and training that has been given to flight crews to ensure that they are aware of what the symptoms of ebola are and -- >> president obama will receive an update at any moment now on the crisis. homeland security committee will hold a rare field hearing at the dallas/ft. worth airport. a dozen cases of possible ebola across the nation have all tested negative in the past two months. a positive sign that the cdc's process is working. 41% of the folks in this country have little to no confidence the american government can prevent a major ebola outbreak here in the states. john yang is in omaha, sarah is in dallas. john, what is the treatment plan for ashoka mukpo. >> reporter: right now they're considering any number of options of using experimental drugs. there is no fda-approved drug to treat ebola. there is no regimen, specified drug treatment regimen for treating ebola. in each case they have to look at the patient, assess his condition, assess his symptoms and determine a treatment plan that way. so, each case is treated differently, the doctors say. >> the therapy needs to be individualized, so we certainly are really considering all treatment options. obviously, will need toe be discussed with him because ultimately if there are experimental therapies involved, he has to be willing to and understand the risks and benefits of those. >> we have two nurses in the room with our patient at all times. but vital signs, for example r being taken at a minimum every one to two hours. lab work has been three to four times a day. >> reporter: two nurses in the room at all time. part of a medical team of about 40 people, 40 doctors, nurses, other medical technicians and the team is growing. officials here at the hospital say people are volunteering to join the team to make sure there is 24/7 care for ashoka. also here at the hospital, asho ashoka's parents, his family and his girlfriend. and as you heard the mother -- ashoka's mother say, he's relieved to be here to be getting treatment. the parents say they were also relieved to see ashoka. they can't see him in the same room because of the isolation, but they can talk to him on video conference. they had the first one this morning after he had been at the hospital for about three hours. and both his parents said it was a great relief to see his face. toure? >> john yang in omaha, thank you very much for that. now to dallas and nbc's sarah. hazmat crews were at the apartment again today. duncan is getting worse. governor perry is creating a special task force. >> reporter: yeah, that is correct, toure. it's been a very busy day. let's start with an update on duncan's condition, which we're told is critical but stable this afternoon. he's also receiving an experimental drug, brincidofovir, the first time it's been used to treat a patient with ebola. duncan's family told it killed the infection in a sample of his blood over the weekend. meanwhile, crews have finished clean-up at the apartment where he was staying, placing items, everything from carpet to bed linens in sealed drums, which will later be destroyed. meanwhile, officials continue to monitor 48 people who had some type of contact with duncan. that includes seven medical workers and three family members who had direct contact with him. now, most people develop symptoms of ebola eight to ten days after exposurexposure, whis today, tomorrow and wednesday are a critical window for those ten and those 48 people, who may have had some contact. now, also today, texas's governor announced the creation of a task force which will develop a rapid response to any infectious disease, including ebola, which pops up here in the state. they say it would be foolish not to expect to learn lessons from this first example of ebola in their state. they're fully prepared to make changes based on what they've learned. they say they're prepared to share those lessons with other states as well. back to you. >> nbc's sarah doloff in dallas. thank you very much. let's bring in lori garrett. why is it that one of these patients who we're trying to treat is doing well and the other is not doing so well? >> well, it's early stages for ashoka. it's late stages for duncan. i think it would be injudicious of me to comment. >> talk to us about something called con voe less ent serum, just the blood of ebola survivors, which is being used in some cases as treatment and is also now being sold in illicit trade on the black market, which is a concern for the world health organization. tell us, how effective is the treatment using this blood and what are the concerns the w.h.o. has here? >> well, we don't know for sure. there was one big trial, trying to use it in uganda that didn't seem to have any particularly positive benefit. the dangers inherent in using convalescent blood, what is dangerous about using blood products generally. you don't know what else is in that blood and if it hasn't been fully screened for hiv, hepatitis, ma llaria, a whole ht of thins you might put in certain convalescent material and also infect the patient with other things. we don't know if it works or not. that doesn't eliminate the possibility of trying to come up with, you know, sterilized convenienting convalescent blood samples and using them as last-ditch effort. we just don't really know if it works or not. >> laurie, with how quickly this virus has spread in parts of africa, there's a real question about what more the u.s. can do logistically to stop this from spreading and give people a sense over the past year, 27,000 people flew from the u.s. either sierra leone or liberia. is there a concern that people over there that might think they got infected would want to fly here to get care? if that's the case, can you legally stop flights from sierra leone or liberia from coming to the united states? >> well, i suppose desperate people will take desperate measures, but not a lot of the individuals who live in sierra leone or liberia could afford a plane ticket to fly anywhere, much less all the way to the united states. and if they think they've been exposed, they're likely to try to seek care locally. i think the larger picture is, are there ways we can prevent the spread of infectious diseases in our age of globalization when in a matter of hours you're on another couldn continent and the virus is incubating over a period of days so you don't present with illness until after you've been in the country for quite some time. and i think we're going to see some new technologies coming forward in the very near future that may allow us to avoid really heinous legal procedures that may violate international law and certainly violate the united nations security council resolution on ebola. >> you mentioned on the restrictive side of what our policies are. on the more positive side, trying to get people the care they need. i want to read you something that dr. redletter has said, an adviser to the mayor of new york. he says, look, west africans here in new york have to know they can get medical care regardless of their immigration status or their ability to pay, which sounds like a good step. what do you think, though, of the larger policy question here around the country, how do you take people who may have a questionable immigration status or not able to pay and deal with that? and what happens if they get a negative diagnosis, do they not get help with other care they may need? >> well, you've asked two very important questions that boil down to the same problem. how do we deal with infectious diseases when we have a huge population of people in this country -- put aside the question if they're legal residents or not -- we have huge numbers of uninsured americans. millions and millions of people. and then we have a lot of working parents who cannot afford to stay home from work when they're sick. and it's kind of a general tendency in this country to try to tough through a fever. you don't go to the doctor just because you have a high fever in most cases. and if you do, you may not be able to afford the results, the tests and so on. and i think this is a big vuler in anlt for america. it's a huge hole in our safety net that we've got to find a way to fill or we're going to always be vulnerable to those infections that people can't afford to see a doctor about. >> laurie garrett, thank you for your time. dallas officials are now updating thomas duncan's condition and that new task force. let's listen in. >> this virus is not spread before individuals are having symptoms. i'm confident enough that i shook somebody's hand, you know, yesterday. went out and saw somebody, shook their hand. i'm confident enough that when i was with the judge, we talked about -- you see the judge going out and visiting a family. betalked about that. and i felt confident enough to advise them that, that's okay. all the signs say that's okay. you're not going to get the virus from being next to somebody that is not having any of the symptoms. not having any fever. you're not going to get the virus. we'll continue in our monitoring. we'll continue to watch this closely. we'll continue to have in events like this and share information. i'm sure, you know, we had a large number of phone conferences with dr. frieden and myself about trying to be transparent about what's going on and we'll continue to do that. final lishgs agaly finally, again, i want to thank the leadership of dallas, judge jenkins, mayor rawlings. as we discussed yesterday, this is a one effort, one fight, one team as we ensure that other texans are not exposed to this virus. >> you've been listening to the latest update on the ebola health crisis from officials in dallas. we have another huge health crisis today, enterovirus d-68, which has now been directly linked to the death of a 4-year-old new jersey boy, eli waller, contracted enterovirus, but he's the only one we know to die as a direct result. >> reporter: enterovirus d-68 itself is relatively common this time of year. typical symptoms include a runny nose, fever, maybe a cough. but this year there are more cases that seem more severe. patients with asthma or difficulty breathing are more at risk. >> we want to make sure parents know most children who contract enterovirus d-68 will be perfectly fine. they should be more worried if their child has asthma or trouble breathing. in which case they should seek medical attention. >> coming up on both of these health crises in america, to the folks juggling the politics around them. you're in "the cycle." it's a business monday. you get used to the pet odors in your couch. you think it smells fine, but your guests smell this. eliminate odors you've gone noseblind to with febreze fabric refresher. smells good. so you and your guests can breathe happy. your customers, our financing. your aspirations, our analytics. your goals, our technology. introducing synchrony financial, bringing new meaning to the word partnership. banking. loyalty. analytics. synchrony financial. enagage with us. less-expensive optionf than a traditional lawyer? at legalzoom you get personalized services for your family and your business that's 100% guaranteed. so go to legalzoom.com today for personalized, affordable legal protection. marriage equality became more widespread than ever before. the supreme court effectively made it legal in five additional states. utah, oklahoma, virginia, indiana, wisconsin, all now legal. and they did it in a pretty interesting manner. they did it by refusing each of those state's appeals. now couples in six additional states will be able to get married soon as well because those states are bound by the same appellate ruling. the total then now stands at 30 states where same-sex marriage is effectively legal. for more we go to live to nbc news justice correspondent pete williams outside the supreme court. pete, has the court essentially here made a ruling, in a sense, by not making one? >> reporter: not in the literal sense, no. they do leave the issue for another day. if a federal court were to say that a state can, under the constitution, ban same-sex marriage and that decision got appealed to the supreme court, i think there's a very good chance the supreme court would take that case. the question is, does today's action stack the deck against the states that want to ban same-sex marriage? that's the issue here. will there be a sort of inevidentibility factor. because there's a series of dominos here. for sure, the supreme court's action today lift the bans on court rulings that declared it unconstitutional in utah, wisconsin, virginia, so marriage can start up -- in the case of wisconsin, resume. utah, too, for that matter. then it applies to six other states in the same federal circuits as those states. colorado, kansas, wyoming, north and south carolina and west virginia. so, we're going to have very shortly 30 states where same-sex marriage is legal. we'll soon get a ruling from the ninth sir consult, which will almost certainly add five more. now we're at 35. so if a state were to come back to the supreme court later and say, we want the right to ban same-sex marriage, just -- there's -- the question is, is there an inevidentibility factor here. does it become harder for the supreme court to say, we said you could get married. we were kidding. both sides asked the supreme court to take these cases, no doubt opponents of same-sex marriage are much more disappointed at what the court did today. >> an historic day. pete williams at the supreme court. thank you for that. democratic congressman peter welch joins us now. his state was the first to legalize marriage equality. can you tell other states what it's like to have gay marriage in your state? is it going to be okay? >> it is okay. the supreme court, as pete williams said, saw the handwriting on the wail. you know what's happened n vermont when we did this, we were the first legislature that actually legalized gay marriage. it was very controversial. people thought the sky was going to fall. what happened, in fact, is more people got married and our families got stronger. it was no big deal. people accepted one another. and that has been the history, whether you have been in a blue state or a red state. people have come to embrace this notion that if two people love one another, let them get married. >> no biggy. >> i want to turn to the bad news, the threat to the u.s. by the ebola outbreak in west africa. some politicians are calling for a travel ban, flight ban. some say we need to do a more thorough screening at the airports. do you support any of those measures? >> well, certainly screening. two things. one is screening at the airports. we should be doing as good a job as we can. the other is, we have to get our act together back here. it was kind of a mess down in texas when we had that first case. it was kind of a keystone cop situation. but what you're seeing now is that the medical community around the country is really bracing itself for any potential that they'll have an ebola patient that comes to their facility. in fact, we've got a solid health infrastructure here. people are terrified about that disease, rightly so. the two things we have to do, one, be prepared here. that's being alert to having good intake. number two, we with other countries have to go to the source and try to stop the spread of the ebola outbreak at its origin. >> congressman, we would like to get your thoughts on isis. i want to do a quick update for our viewers. isis holding another american hostage, 26-year-old former army ranger who traveled to lebanon for humanitarian work. on friday isis released a video, this is reportedly of another beheading of a british aid worker. despite all those u.s. air strikes over the weekend, isis is close to capturing a syrian town called kobani. you probably heard about it in the news. six miles from turkey. they raised their flag just this morning in the eastern part of the town. more than 180,000 people have fled into turkey since this fighting began two weeks ago. a new analysis this more than in "the new york times" showing a portion of the ammunition that isis is using, yes, from the united states. congressman, i know you're up to date on all of this. what do you make of these very real problems on the ground there? >> well, isis is hideous, despicable organization. and there's a collective revulgs at what they do to our. people and people in the wake of their advance. but i think the fundamental question we have to ask is what is required for us to protect our national security interests and what is that? i think it's two things. i think it's, number one, we can't allow a safe haven, whether that's safe haven for planning and plotting and attacking the united states in iraq, kurdistan or in syria. that can be dealt with with air power and with counterterrorism activities. the second is, we want to work with bolstering our local allies, like turk y like jordan. in iraq we're working to reconstitute that army. those are the things we should be doing. what's at the heart and root of the problem with isis is the ongoing sunni/shia divide that has been simmering for over a century. and we should be careful not to think that american taxpayers or american soldiers should be required to solve something at the end of the day that's going to have to be solved by those countries in the region. >> yeah. on that note, i mean, the president has made it clear our mission is to degrade and destroy some isis, to degrade and destroy. so far we're working towards degrading them but not close to destroying pem. air strikes alone can only do so much. it reminds me of shining a light on a bunch of cockroaches where they just scatter but they're not killed. i wonder from you, how far you are willing to go now with the threat of another american they say they might behead. we don't know where that will end up. how far are you willing to go here? >> well, i'm willing to go as far as required to protect our national security interests and to protect the homeland. but i think what that requires is that we give real definition to what that is. we are not going to, in my view, destroy isis. if we destroy isis, quote, destroy it, there's al qaeda, there's khorasan, the metastasizing in that region. we would like to protect america by making sure there's no safe haven, as there was for osama bin laden in afghanistan. that can be done with air strikes. that wouldn't accomplish the goal of destruction. but if we're going to really say we're going to, quote, destroy it, then we are then taking that next step towards the boots on the ground presence. that didn't work out so well in iraq and afghanistan. i think we have to be careful about having the fundamental definition be, what do we have to do to protect america? >> such a great point, congressman peter welch. thank you. another green mountain politician, who's never been known to hold back is strangely silent when it comes to one of his colleagues. that's next. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. eir credit score, they don't have one. but they do. your score still needs someone to take care of it. it needs your help. for the low price of completely free forever, you can get your credit score from credit karma.com. credit karma will give you your score for free and show you what you can do to nurture it. love your score. take care of it for free at credit karma.com. ring ring! progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister... 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. perry bacon. really big news today. some of the most conservative states. utah being one of them, my home state, arguably the most conservative state in the country where it is legal to be married now as a same-sex couple. i keep saying, this is a day this will no longer be an issue and we'll tell our kids and grand kids about the world that used to be. it's also a reminder for the republican party, who is still quite divided on this issue. if we can pull up the latest pew poll, younger republicans age 18 to 29 years old, 61% support it compared to 65 and older. only 22% support same-sex marriage. perry, it's a clear indication to me that in order to have broad-based appeal, they have to find the right narrative and ultimately we have to evolve on this issue. >> i think you're right. the question is the timing. i think pete williams just said, it looks like in terms of the legal debate, this is inevitably moving toward same-sex marriage. remember, next year a lot of republican candidates will go to iowa. iowa's dominated by evangelical conservative voters. my guess, if you polled them, there's a strong majority against same-sex marriage. so, if you're ted cruz, you're rand paul, you've got to think about, how do i appeal to the avoters i need in iowa to win to get started without offending the rest of the country? >> perry, you're not that old, but are you old enough to remember when republicans loved running against judges and making roe v. wade and gay gay marriage issues not just democratic candidates but an idea judges were way out of step with america. this is john roberts' court, bush appointee, super conservative, feels the blood of corporations coarsing through his veins. and he is -- he is better than i think anyone else positioned -- speak to this. he is positioned to say, there is a conservative case for the values and the ethics here long term of marriage equality. that's harder for some republicans to deal with. >> there's a phrase that used to number politics all the time. called activists jgs. george bush talked about that all the time. that was his way of saying judges are passing gay marriage and imposing abortion on us. you notice today the most striking thing about today politically how few statements i've gotten from john boehner, so on, you know, criticizing what happened today. the republican party has become much more silent on this issue. and the democratic party is very nervous about it. john kerry, even barack obama in 2008 and 2012, a little cautious. now the democratic party very comfortable saying, they're for same-sex marriages. republicans are silent today. that's where the issue is headed. the question for the court will be whether they want to essentially allow all 50 states to legalize gay marriage through court rulings or if they want to intervene sthemsz. they look like they want to hang back. >> to that point, perry, even governor bobby jindal who did say he supports marriage between a man and a woman, traditional marriage, as he calls it. he was careful to say, i know public opinion is changing but i'm not a weathervein like hillary clinton and barack obama so i'm going to stick with my position. >> he doesn't get -- >> perry, elsewhere in the political world we have a little hillary clinton news. we had jim webb and bernice sanders, potential 2016 primary challengers to hillary clinton on sunday shows, very reluctant to criticize her. she has a very big footprint in the democratic party and is try to lock up the nomination before there ever is a primary fight. >> right. >> politico is also reporting some big democratic donors are a little reluctant to get on board with hillary clinton. they want to push her. they want to make her, you know, be stronger on things like climate change, financial regulation, other issues. is she vulnerable due to the changing landscape of money in politics where a few rogue billionaires can have a big impact? >> i don't know if she's vuler? able. i would break it down a little bit by looking at the candidates themselves who might make her vulnerable. i was in iowa a few weeks ago when hillary clinton was there. i didn't hear a lot of talk about jim webb or bernie sanders. i think people know they might run but not a lot of talk around them. the question i always come back to is, who can mobilize the donors, the political support and the endorsements needed to really run a real campaign? i keep coming back to, elizabeth warren is the one person who i think could do that. there are donors available who she could rally. she could also raise money because she has a big grassroots following. i hard to see a lot of other democrats who have that. there are donors out there that's sort of an anybody but hillary group. they're having a hard time finding someone who's viable right now to really run and take her on directly. i suspect that's why -- bernie sanders and jim webb to me sound like they're running more issue-based campaigns. it's not really about beating hillary. it's about saying we want medicare for all f you're bernie sanders. i think that's what they're talking about right now. >> part of what hillary has in her pocket, one thing we don't know what the 2016 campaign is ultimately going to be about. a few months ago liberals were talking about inequality all the time. hillary did not fit that moment. they're saying, rich hillary can't talk about inequality. credibly, she should not be our standard bearer. now that we're talking about foreign policy, the secretary of state makes a lot more sense with her foreign policy bone fides. we don't know the tenor of the race, but hillary clinton, anywhere the race goes, she's able to say, i have experience. i've been tested on the issue. i am an expert on that. >> that's right, toure. i think that's right. also, we don't know what the issues are going to be. but we do know you have to run for president starting about by next april or so, right? that's probably the last time f you're a democrat, you're going to get in and really challenge her. whatever the issues are, i know it sounds really early to the audience probably, it actually is the fact that time is running out for people to decide i want to take on somebody already. we call it the invisible primary. meetings with donors are already happening. >> the universe is expanding, so -- >> in a world you have to raise over a billion dollars to run a presidential campaign, time is -- >> i think krystal ball would be wonderful. perry bacon, thank you. as always, we appreciate it. when we come back, the man who predicted the end of history has big predictions on the history of democracy. francis fukuyama is in the guest spot. so guys -- it's just you and your honey. the setting is perfect. you know what? plenty of guys have this issue, not just getting an erection, but keeping it. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. and you only take it when you need it. good to know, right? 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor if viagra is right for you. after a week of intense protests, civil servants are headed back to work in hong kong. protesters agreed to remove barriers blocking roads. some student leaders are meeting with officials to talk about political reform. still, several hundred activists remain in the streets. the clashes have demonstrated china's long-standing hostility toward democracy. the chinese government official, for example, responded to those protests by warning, quote, engaging in an election system of one man/one vote is bound to quickly lead to turmoil, unrest and even civil war. now, that may sound like fear mongering to american audiences but china remains one of the most successful nondemocratic states in world's history. one leading scholar says china's ability to offer economic success without the rule of law makes it the most serious competitor to the hope that western democracy might finally take over the world. that's one part of the grand theory in political order and political decay which argues the key difference between successful and failed states isn't well for a culture or even the leaders who are in charge. the key is steady institutions and rules. successful nations, in other words, use rules to govern people. they don't let people abuse the rules. in the guest spot is author, professor francis fukuyama, former state department official who has written some of the most cited and influential on democracy in the post cold war era. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> let's start with the idea that china is a competitor, not in the economy, which we hear about often, but rather in the way it's organized as a government. >> well, for 2,000 years the chinese have been good at running centralized, bureaucratic government. they're better than other authoritarian regimes because they actually respond to popular pressure. we hear a lot about the repression, but they actually modify policies in response to protests. and they impose term limits on their own leadership. and so, in many ways, they do follow a certain number of rules that i think makes them stand out from, let's say, the arab dictatorships who were overthrown in the arab spring. >> one other points you make in the book. when we talk about politics, so often we talk about the people, the personalities, maybe the political paerlrties in their direction. you say that's fine but if we want to understand the arc of history, we have to look to the institutions themselves because they last longer than any human life span and they create norms that are very powerful. what's an example of that. >> well, i think the u.s. constitution is a great example of an institution. the constitution doesn't depend on having a charismatic president or just electing the right person, although that helps. it's really a set of rules by which we agree to mediate our differences through congress, through voting, through a free press. and that's what keeps conflict at bay. and i think if you have to simply depend on having this great leader every generation, you're not going to have a successful society. >> professor, you do have some troubling words about the state of american democracy. you say that we're in a state of decline. one of the forces that you speak to is the influence of money and politics. you say the trade of of political influence for money has come back in a big way in american politics. this time in a form that's perfectly legal and much harder to eradicate. you go on to talk about reciprocal ail trui reciprocal altruism, you say that's what the american lobbying industry is built around. talk about reciprocal all truism. >> it's defined extremely narrowly. it has to be a quid pro quo where you give money in return for a very specific favor. what the law does not outlaw is the exchange of favors. so, i give a campaign donation in one time period. then the congressman just happens to do a favor for my industry, or my company a few months down the road. you can't prove any connection between the two. and i think that that in a sense has allowed -- the country has to have interest groups but these interest groups collectively are not representative of the american people, because they really speak to those that are the most well healed, the best organized, the loudest. and it distorts our public policy. when you connect it with our particular constitutional system, it gives small, well-organized groups a veto over many public policies. it means we're gridlocked in our ability to fix some basic problems. >> right. you talk about the political decay and sort of what we're facing today with gridlock and less about our democracy and more about our lawmakers and the decisions they make. help us understand -- i think about the shutdown about a year ago. help us understand what is going through the mind of these lawmakers and why they make sometimes the stupid decisions they make. >> well, i think part of it has to do with a lot of our institutional rules, like the system of party primaries. very few people vote in primaries. so, it turns out the people that vote are party activists. so the people that come out of the primary process are not representative of either the democrats or the republicans generally. they are representative of the activist wings of both of those parties. that's why can you get a tea party challenger to a great senator like senator lugar, who would win clearly in a general election but will lose in the primary because that primary is actually not really democratic -- or it's not representative in the way the institution is supposed to be. >> that's a great point. we think your book is so thick, it's a good candidate for kindle because it's heavy. professor fukuyama, thanks for joining us today. >> thank you very much. up next, it goes way beyond jell-o. it's bill cosby on the "the cycle." stronger than peoples twice her size.er was and that strength inspired his liquid muscle cleaner. it lifts tough dirt so you do less scrubbing. and its nozzle stops by itself... ...so less is wasted sure made grandma proud. mr. clean liquid muscle. come from all walks of life. if you have high blood sugar, ask your doctor about farxiga. it's a different kind of medicine that works by removing some sugar from your body. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. with one pill a day, farxiga helps lower your a1c. and, although it's not a weight-loss 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water. nothing is better. ♪ i want you by my side ♪ party day ♪ in that time that day ♪ ♪ every day is a holiday ♪ holiday >> "the cosby show," one of the greatest shows in television history. according to our next guest, it did more than draw in viewers, resurrect the sitcom when it was considered a dying art form. it implanted such a positive image of the black family life in the national consciousness that helped americans envision sending a black president and his wife and daughters to live in the white house less than two decades later. from an engrossing new biography called "cosby: his life and times" written by my old friend mark whitaker, who joins us now. tell us how "the cosby show" changed america so we could later have the obamas becoming the first family. >> 15 minutes after barack obama was elected president in 2008, karl rove was on fox news talking about the cosby effect and the fact that it helped not just people envision a black president, but a black family living in our national home, which is the white house. when cosby was asked about, that interestingly, a lot of white folks think of bill cosby who helped white america become comfortable for black america. cosby takes some responsibility for that, requesting back to "i spy" and the commercials but he's proud of the the sense of affirmation it gave to the black community. as you well know, that show at time -- people said, this isn't an authentically black family. but black viewers heard the jazz in the background, the black art on the walls, they saw those kids go to college and that was ve kids saw the kids go to college and that was empowering about. >> what you're touching on is what is part of what makes the show so important. the original vision in cosby's mind was that he would be limo driver and his wife would be latino and the producers said, no, we'll have this be upper middle class. and when he took to his wife, camille, he said, heck no, you're not going to be limo driver. and that shifting was a critical. >> absolutely. and i have the scene in the book of his long dinner, it went past midnight, and as you say, it was only the next day when he reported all of this to his wife camille that she said, no, no, you've always stood for education, temple university you're a road scholar. you won't go back to being limo driver. but it did something else in terms of the creative kecontentf that show. once cosby bought into that, h could bring his opepe own life t show. the five kid, love of antiques, the jazz. right from his life. >> i grew up watching the show and i still watch the reruns. but in recent year, bill cosby has gotten a lot of attention for some pretty conservative statements about the black community calling out poverty pinmps and things of that natur. is that impacting the way younger generations are viewing bill koz bi? >> this all dates back to a speech he gave ten years ago. and again, in the book, i talk about the fact that that was not a planned speech. he just got very emotional that day hearing all these speeches about the progress that has been made. and feeling that in fact not enough progress has been made. and there has been sort of debate about being a rich elitist that was out of touch. the fact is when will cosby talks about these themes of we need to -- more respect for education, better parenting, he's talking about himself, a kid who grew up in a house project in north philadelphia, dropped out of high school and never would have been the bill cosby, the success he became if he hadn't developed discipline which he mostly was in the navy. and then embraced, you know, getting a good education and talking his way into temple university. >> something i love about bill cosby, it was so fun in the book to learn more about the man behind the tv screen. but what i love about him will, he still does shows and when you think of comedy, it's on which crude and can be disrespectful and places you don't want to at that time little kids to. he's not like that. he's actually quite respectful. >> and you will see in the book how he makes those decisions. it was early on when he was still in college that he makes these fundamental decisions. first of all, because at first he was doing race humor, trying to be a junior dick gregory. he decides he will go away from that. he's not going to be a joke teller. he'll be a story teller. and he's going to work clean. and these are all very conscious decisions he makes at the beginning of his career that have seen him for 50 years and now he's still on the road entertaining people, sitting down two hours and still telling stories. >> does he feel he's being assessed independently of this character that we view him as? >> it took me a year, but i finally got access to cosby and interviewed him at some length. he doesn't think about these things strategically. i kind of think people say did he have a grand plan. he's a story teller. he's instinctive, he's creative, but it's not like he sits down and says i have an agenda. i think he's just made these decisions based on being an entertainer and i think also based on the fundamental instincts of wanting to do work that had a sense of dignity to it. >> he really is a legend. thanks so much for being here. as we led to break, a special moment from last night's game between the patriots and bengals that we had to share. during a time-out, the patriots paid tribute to the daughter of visiting devon still. cheerleaders came out winning the number 75 while a music video featuring his daughter played on the video board. it's part of an initiative to raise money for pediatric research. s it was a match-up of true colors and brave. the result, truly brave. inspiring as much as it is beautiful. check this out. it's a tear jerker from the "today" show this morning. >> she's trway stronger than i ever have been. for her to continue to smile through all this and continue to step back, the same personality is amazing and definitely inspiring to me. >> to hear all of the story and see the full individual i don't, plea video, see the "today" show website. hi, are we still on for tomorrow? tomorrow. quick look at the weather. nice day, beautiful tomorrow. tomorrow is full of promise. we can come back tomorrrow. and we promise to keep it that way. driven to preserve the environment, csx moves a ton of freight nearly 450 miles on one gallon of fuel. what a day. can't wait til tomorrow. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? 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"now" with alex wag they aner s right now. >> all options are on the table as the white house mulls the next steps in the fight against ebola. it's monday, october 6. and this is "now". >> concerns over ebola in america. >> the first person dyiiagnosed with ebola in the united states now in critical condition fighting for his life. >> he has been given an experimental drug. >> they are keeping a close eye on 48 people who may have had contact with him. >> today, tomorrow and wednesday a very critical phase for hose 48 people. >> the president is convening a meeting with the members of his team working on this issue. >> washington needs to take immediate steps to minimize the dangers ebola. >> we need to have a national approach. >> we can do a better job. >> the outbreak in africa is getting worse. >> an outbreak anywhere is a global health threat everywhere. >> officials could deploy cdc workers to key u.s. airports. >> lawmakers calling for maybe some travel bans. >> borders complaint stop the spread of any infectious disease.