Netanyahu tries to put together, its sure to include new faces and new agendas that will influence the country. Ifill we examine a new study on concussions, showing the impact of hard hits on the brains of living but retired n. F. L. Players. I go through stages where i think how come i cant remember that and i always wondered are these agerelated or are they conclusion related . Brown and we mark the 40th anniversary of the roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court, with a look at the strategies of abortion rights advocates and opponents. Thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by close to iconic landmarks, to local life, to cultural treasures. Its a feeling that only a river can give you. These are journeys that change your perspective on the world. And perhaps even yourself. Viking river cruises. Exploring the world in comfort. Bnsf railway. And by the bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. And with the ongoing support of these institions andc fountions. And friends of the newshour. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill president obamas forceful new focus on progressive ideals echoed across the nation on this day after the inauguration. And it earned him both praise and potshots. The president s inaugural themes lingered in the air this morning at a Traditional Prayer Service at the Washington National cathedral. Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton offered words of praise in the cathedrals great vaulted sanctuary. We americans say it seldom, but we should say it far more often. Thank you for giving yourselves, for sacrificing, for living in glass houses, for accepting the constant barrage of criticism with very little praise. For being willing to risk everything in order to serve this country. Thank you. applause and yesterday you began to lay out a vision for us in your inaugural address that was very powerful and compelling. Ifill mr. Obama used that 18minute address to tack toward a more overtly liberal agenda, perhaps most notable on gay rights our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters treated like anyone else under the law. For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. I now pronounce you married. Fill the president first announced his support of same sex marriage last may. But that reference for a first for a president ial inaugural speech. He also raised Immigration Reform. An issue that went unaddressed for much of his first term. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the hopeful immigrants who still see america as a land of opportunity. Until bright, Young Students and engineers are lifted in our work force rather than expelled from our country ifill the president singled out Climate Change as well, another issue that remains largely on the back burner during his first four years in the white house. We will respond to the threat of Climate Change. Knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. applause some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms ifill the calls to action drew cheers from the hundreds of thousands of well wishers on the National Mall and from most democrats. But republicans complained of a defiant tone and a sharply left oting, for e,l that the president has mentioned the deficit just once. The super pac cross roads g. P. S. Unveiled a web video citing news accounts of the speech. The progressive liberal agenda is what hes now clearly staking his second term on. Ifill and at the capital today, Republican SenateMinority Leader Mitch Mcconnell joined the criticism one thing that pretty clear from the president s speech yesterday, the era of liberalism is back. Unabashedly far left of Center Inauguration speech certainly brings back memories of the Democratic Party of ages past. If the president pursues that kind of agenda, obviously its not designed to bring us together and certainly not designed to deal with the transcendent issue of our era which is deficit and debt. Until we fix that problem, we cant fix america. Ifill white house officials dismissed that critique today. They said the president will speak directly to a wider array of issues in his state of the Union Address in february. Brown so how is the president framing his second term . Joining us now for a broad view Angela Glover blackwell, founder and c. E. O. Of the Advocacy Group policy link in oakland. The reverend Adam Hamilton of the United Methodist church of the resurrection in leawood, kansas, and author of when christians get it wrong. As we saw, he delivered todays sermon at the prayer service. Ramesh ponnuru, Senior Editor at the national review, columnist for bloomberg view, and visiting fellow with the American Enterprise institute. And trey grayson. He was the republican secretary of state in kentucky, and is now director of the institute of politics at harvard university. Welcome to all of you. Angela glover blackwell, i think ilstart with you. What did you hear in that speech . What vision was the president putting out this yesterday . I heard a leader who is prepared to honestly take the American People into the future, a leader who wants america to return to First Principles of equality, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness but tie them to the reality of today. I heard a leader who understands that our todays reality, becoming a nation in which the majority will be people of color very soon, is a nation that has the quality and assets that this World Without boundaries is demanding. So i was really delighted to see an embracing of the future but also an embracing across struggles. Mentioning seneca falls, selma, stonewall. Our history as this nation has been one of we achieve our best when were willing to struggle. So the embracing of struggle and also thinking about the generations that have to own today but lead us tomorrow when he talked about four years from now, 40 years from now and 400 years from now really made me see that he is not running away from our change and sees value in it brown ramesh ponnuru, what did you hear . I suspect Something Different i did hear a president who is very interested in that kind of ideological struggle but not terribly interested in unemployment. It was really remarkable that it was not treated as a crisis even though we have unemployment at about the same level as we had four years ago when he first took office. We have no sense from this inaugural address that the welfare state is facing any kind of longterm financing crisis or anything that would require more than a little bit of tweaking, some sort of technocrat i can change to bend the cost curve down. In these senses i think this was a speech that was sort of aggressively running away from reality. That i think strikes me even more than the lack of bipartisanship and the aggressionive support for Big Government was that theres just no sense of that. That these things are part of our reality. Brown rev. Hamilton, what did you hear . You had an interesting look from the pulpit today sure. Well, first of all i think when the president is giving an inaugural address like this,ese trying to cast a lofty vision for the future rather than trying to get into the details of policy. So for me i heard him speaking about equality. I heard him speaking about the vision of children being able to have a future with hope. And i wasnt expecting him to give a Detailed Analysis of the Economy Today and what needs to be changed. Im not suggesting thats not important but i was hearing him speak about lofty ideas of equality and freedom brown yet he did point to some specific things as we heard in gwens setup that is true when it came to Global Warming or addressing the global Climate Change, i think we have to be willing to address these things. Brown trey grayson, what did you hear . I heard a pretty visionary, pretty articulate speech, articulate in a progressive vision for the country. I would agree with ramesh that the lack of the economy or references to the deficit in his speech was a little surprising given that thats the. Probably the Biggest Issue of today audio is the fiscal cliff and everything else. And the fact that that was the number one issue on voters minds even at the thematic level that was missing and a bit of a surprise brown to stay with you, were you surprised by the emphasis on things such as gay rights or Climate Change, some of the specifics that he did point to . Yeah, you know, he did get specific on those. I wasnt surprised on the issues that he picked. The one issue that i thought came across and maybe it will have the most impact by his words were the references and the discussion about gay equality. Thats something where the country is moved really fast over the last couple of years. I think as a president he may have the ability via the bully pulpit to really advance that particular issue. That may be the most Lasting Impact of his speech. Brown Angela Blackwell, to come back to where you opened this discussion i was thinking of what we heard this label by opponents as an era of liberalism being back. Do you accept that . Did you hear that . As a person who is liberal and progressive, i did feel that the agenda that i embraced was being put forward. But i think that the is the agenda that the nation needs. I disagree with the observation that the economy wasnt in this discussion because there was a lot of discussion about inequality. The reference to we couldnt survive as a nation half slave and half free led right into we cant survive as a nation where so few have so much and so many have so little. The antidote to inequality is equity and full inclusion. That means jobs. That means investing in communities. So what we often label a liberal agenda is now an essential agenda. This is where america has to go to thrive. Brown ramesh look, i dont think that the public thinks equality in the economy is more important than jobs or that they are the same. But i think we do basically agree that this is the liberal vision of government. Its really striking how few tradeoffs the president is willing to acknowledge in his speech. There are no problems with entitlements. They dont sap our initiative. Theres no reason to reduce or revamp them in anyway because that would be walking back from our commitment to our senior citizens. There is nothing that we can not solve by an everlarger government. In fact thats the story he tells about american history. American history is a story of our discovering our need for ever larger government. Well, i am not sure that thats at all what the public wanted whennity lected him but were going to find out over the next few years brown youre hearing this as a more aggressionive stance which this is the way i want to go forward without bringing everyone along . Well, look, there was nothing in this speech to bring along other people the way previous inaugural addresses have tried to make some gesture toward the other party. And i think that that is, you know, thats not republicans that republicans should whine about. He did win the election hes entitled to try this very liberal strategy and see if it succeeds for him and if its the way to get his agenda through. I tend to have my doubts. Were all going to find out. Brown rev. Hamilton, by your role you get involved in all the social issues of our time. Did you hear the president making a kind of aggressionive statement about, this is the way forward for all of us or did you hear him reaching out to embrace people, to help create that . I think its a great question. I wish he had done more to reach out. In fact that was the point of my message today at the National Cathedral was to say, you know, we need a new American Vision thats not just democratic or not just republican. It has to be a new vision that brings people together. If we had a new vision with key strategic goals that republicans and democrats have crafted together and say this is what were going to Work Together over the next ten years, it would have a huge impact on bringing americans together. I wish that he had done more of that brown so you liked his message overall i liked the idea of. Brown but you didnt like the lack of embrace right. I would have loved for him to have done more to reach out to people across the line. I think when the president recommends something, unfortunately in the polarized place that we are today, the president makes a recommendation or puts forth a proposal, immediately theres going to be a negative response to that. I think in bringing people together, which is what im hearing across the country, is please, president , bring us together or leaders of our government bring us together. Its going to have to be republicans and democrats working together to forge whatever those, you know, visions, dreams, whatever you want to call them are, that we can Work Together on. Were going to gis agree on a whole host of other issues. I wish he had done more in that regard. He clearly articulated what hes been saying at least through the election. And the campaign. In concern for rights for people and concern for both the elderly as well as children in poverty and looking at lifting up the middle class. But, yes, i do think that theres a need to bring us together. Brown trey grayson, what do you think about that question of how much he reached out . And of course this is relevant for Going Forward because theres so much on the table now in washington. There is a lot on the table. Earlier somebody made the reference to the fact that there was also a state of the Union Address which will come up in a few weeks. That is really part 2 of the beginning of this term. Hes going to set forth maybe more specific policy agenda. The one area where i said i thought he empathized in his speech that perhaps could be an area for Common Ground is immigration. Over the last week or so youve seen senator marco rubio from florida come up with a pretty comprehensive Immigration Reform package or ideas. That could be a place where the president and certainly senator rubio but other members of the Republican Party could take an issue thats hard and its historically been hard to reach compromise on and maybe find the Common Ground, find the soluti solution. So that might be something we might want to look out for over the next few weeks in addition to all the talk about the economy and that and deficits. Brown whats your answer to what others have commented on here as to the kind of signal the president was sending as to what kind of leader he wants to be . You know, with his vision now or reaching across the aisle . I thought it was more of an articulation of his vision not as much signaling reaching across the aisle. That was the message he ran on in this first race and aate lot of the message of his first inaugural. Less so in this particular speech. But as ramesh pointed out, he won the election. Its his opportunity to set forth that. Were in a divided time right now. So maybe this is the correct approach if he wants to advance those particular issues but i would have likedded to have seen a few more olive branches in the address brown Angela Blackwell you talked about agreeing with the vision he put forward. You put it into policy terms or politic terms Going Forward, weve been talking about a divided washington here. What do you think is viable now . What do you want him to do next . Thats where the reaching out really happens. He wants to and i want to see him really invest in educating our children. That means universal preschool education. Thats true for somebody in rural alabama and in detroit. We really need to invest in infrastructure. He talked about that. Thats good for all of america to physically be able to compete in the global economy. But there must be a pathway to jobs for those who are too often left behind. We absolutely have to create a pathway to citizenship. We have to go beyond the dream act to really including people so that not only are they able to contribute but the nation is able to benefit. We need to raise the minimum wage. We need to index it to inflation. These are things that arent just the people who are black and latino. These are all americans. I think this reaching across requires that we see ourselves and the other. If we can see ourselves in the other, we realize that the agenda for those who are too often left behind is an american agenda brown i have to point out that here we are talking about divided washington, right . Divided america on many of those issues you just mentioned. Do you think the politics have changed dramatically enough for something to happen the way youd like to see them happen . Its possible. It is possible. People know that something is different in this country. The majority of babies being born today are of color.