My feeling is we could go on for an hour or two or three more, but were not going to was we have to stop, and i want to thank you, kenneth walsh, for a wonderful presentation. Thank you. Very interesting to us, and is we will look forward to reading your book. Thanks for having me. [applause] thank you, everyone. Commonwealth is now now adjourned. And ill do some books now, right . [inaudible conversations] wed like to hear from you. Tweet us our feedback, twitter. Com booktv. Booktv attended a book party for democratic leadership counsel al from, author of the new democrats and the return to power. Mr. From talked to guests and made informal remarks. Its about an hour. Look at this crowd, okay. How are you . How are ya . I cant tell you any secrets. Yeah, basically. Thats all right. But you know what . [laughter] but we dont have any secrets, right . Yes. [inaudible] im doing my best. Youre doing great. Working out all the time. All right. So you will be very pleased. Tomorrow morning go to the brookings web site. Yeah . If it doesnt show up right on the front page go to [inaudible] because one of my fellows read your book and wrote an essay on it. Okay. Well, you know, youre a star in the book. Theres a whole chapter on [inaudible conversations] i mean, its basically, i just lifted most of the politics. Good. And i had this brother or sister in january of 1989, and that was one of the most important yeah. So youre coming friday for lunch, right . Yeah. Because were going to do a brookings lunch. Its me and [inaudible] and michael. Okay. Because thatll be the, itll be the pivot to talking about the republicans. Right. Which is what makes his book i had a piece, yeah, in the Politico Magazine today, and i think they called me and said they wanted to do some promotion of it, so i assume well do some of that tomorrow on the lessons republicans could oh, good. All right. Yeah. Well, i tweeted it youve got to follow me. I dont follow anybody. I just got on twitter. Barney, how are you . Good to see you. Great to see you. Congratulations. Thank you. This is great. Are you going to sign these things . Yeah. I think theyre, i think most of these are presigned, but oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. [inaudible conversations] family okay . Everybodys fine. Should be around here somewhere. My daughter who just got married and her new husband, just got back from her honeymoon, are coming down. Oh, how neat. A lot of people waiting to see you. How are you . How are you . Im jolly. Wow. [inaudible] well, you know, i just decided about a year ago that i really had to do it. So i go to the gym every day yeah. Which is in my basement and do and [inaudible] my daughter got engaged over the weekend, she put me on a diet. I have to lose 20 pounds to walk her down the aisle. Hey, congratulations. I was going to buy book. Get on amazon and buy as many as you can. Already agreed to buy a dozen. El, thats good. Well, thats good. Buy more [inaudible] you know, one of the, you know, youre one of the i cant remember whether i kept this in the book, but your story about 2000 is one of the Great Stories of all times. Which one . About Election Night, 2000, when you lost three jobs. [laughter] so, i mean, the first line in my book is on Election Night. My year was 1980. Im sorry, on Election Night, 1980, i held a party and nobody came. Because by the time of the party, everybody had lost their job. You know, and then i i think about i did a big party in 2000 right. Over at [inaudible] right. And a whole bunch of people, and i thought it was just going to cost this much and we were going to leave when the election was over, and it cost 4,000 more. I was on the plane with lieberman, so we were for about an hour or an hour and a half i was going to be chief of staff of the transition for the vice president. So close, so close. That didnt quite make it. Yeah. Anyway i think of the old days in the 70s. Right. Well, you remember guy. How are you . You look thinner and younger and the whole thing. Youve really been working out. Working hard. Mr. Gibbs, how are you . Pleasure. Great to see you. Congratulations. Great book. Thank you. Were on cspan now, but got to talk to lanny about what he and i i talked about yesterday, our new plan. I love it. I like it. So it fits really well. I flipped through the week, and i read various the book, and i read various [inaudible] so interesting, all the personalities. Right. Im really glad you wrote this book. Its a story that had to be told. I mean, you know this because youre living down in north carolina. But the so easy to forget. Its so easy to forget. And, you know, the other thing that drives me crazy in todays politics, nobody cares about ideas, nobody cares about performs. Its all about posture. I love your thought of party unity is not the goal. Right, right. Well, you know what . You were a very important guy because you wrote all those speeches for [inaudible] well, you know, i cant tell you how many times i repeated the words responsibility, opportunity. Yeah. Its a really good book. Thank you. Im glad, im glad you like it. You know, it was so much fun to write. I bet. Well, you know, your lifes an experience, and good luck to you. Great. You know, im glad youre keeping this legacy alive, because ill tell you what, its so easy for people to forget. I think its alive, more than alive. I agree. You know, obamas speech today was interesting because its basically the message ive been trying to deliver when i go out and sell this book, that, you know, we believe in government. Yeah. In activist government. But because of that its incumbent on him and the administration to make this Health Care Bill work. Good bill. Thats the other thing, its a good bill. And theyve just got to make it work. Because [inaudible] i hope so. Im so pleased for you. Great. How you doing . Thank you very much. Of course. Great. Hey, how are you . Congratulations. You look fantastic. You look like youre in fantastic condition. Work out, try to work out every day. I mean, this is what youre going to learn, its a great life after politics. Yeah . You look very happy. I mean, this has been great for me because, i mean, writing the book was fun. It brought back all these memories. But it also convinced me that, you know, i dont want to really be in the Business World very much. I mean, i want to do what i yeah. Well, you did this awful well. Thank you. I started reading the book yesterday. Great. Tell all your friends to oh, dont worry. To buy it. Get their kindle i never realized, people get a better deal, for me, on kindle than you do buying the book. All right. I hope we sell a lot of these books, so good. You want to sign one for us . Oh, yeah. Ill catch you later. Sounds good. All right, thank you. [inaudible conversations] the great chris coons. And i will bring that back to him. [inaudible conversations] yeah. I think i probably owe you guys something. Wheres the rest of you . Well, ill bring it to brookings on friday. [laughter] i mean, both of you guys are big parts of the story, but ive got almost a whole chapter on you. Youre kidding . No, im not kidding. Youre crazy. I i did our breakfast in january of 1989 which was, you know a really famous breakfast. I remember that breakfast. You know, there are really fascinating dates. One is july 14, 1987. Nobody would ever know anything about it, but its the day that clinton decided not to run in 88. But that breakfast, those are two of the hidden days of movement. I understand. All right. Comrade, itll be a pleasure to see you on friday. Books already signed. But ill sign it, i want to really personalize it. I just wanted to pay my respects. I though youre not dead. [laughter] thats right. Almost. Not dead yet. Yeah, not yet. [inaudible conversations] or. Good evening. Thank you all, thank you all for coming. This is just [inaudible] thank you. Good evening, thank you for coming. Im bruce reed, im pinch hitting for, as host this evening for connie millstein, the hostess with the mostest and her wonderful husband j. C. Were incredible grateful to coppny for everything shes done connie for everything shes done there for this city,s country, for the new Democrat Movement. Shes a magnificent philanthropist and has the biggest heart and the biggest laugh that washington has seen in a long time. Its a shame that she couldnt be here tonight because out of all the remarkable projects that she has embraced over the years, al from may very well be her favorite. The moment she met al, she knew that he was the brightest political mind of our time. And when she bought this place, this hotel, it would not have surprised me to see her change its name from the jeff to the from if not for the uncontrollable rage that would have caused for that staunch virginian, will marshall. But thank you all for coming. So many people here helped make this event possible. All these years al from has made a name for himself as one of the alltime great troublemakers, and its wonderful tonight to see him surrounded by so many coconspirators. For decades, for two decades now ive made a living in this town off of one joke which tonight i get to tell one more time. [laughter] you see, i was born with the ultimate washington curse; i look like ralph reed, and i think like al from. [laughter] but it could be worse, it could have been the other way around. Now, i figure that by now, by now the shelf life on that joke would have run out in a place as trenchant as washington where most people cant remember any of the people involved. But just today i was walking back to my office in the white house, and a republican from across the street waved and said, hi, ralph. [laughter] til death do us part. [laughter] the truth is thinking like al from has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime. And while luckily im the only one cursed to look like ralph reed, the world is a vastly better place because over the years so Many Democrats have come to think like al from. And the amazing story that al tells in this book brings it all back. We take it for granted now, but we shouldnt forget just how hard it was to try to breathe new life into an old party when al got started back in the 80s. And back then, as congresswoman Pat Schroeder used to tell audiences, democrats just need to do three things to win back the white house. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. [laughter] but al from knew. He understood that to lead a party out of the political wilderness would take a different kind of democrat, and today we have a different kind of Democratic Party as a result. And if youve forgotten what the political wilderness was like in those days, just take a look across the aisle at the sad, unreconstructed state of todays republican party. Weve been there, and thanks to bill clinton and Hillary Clinton and barack obama and joe biden and al from and a host of new democrats like jack or markell of who have worked their way up the ranks, we decided long ago to be done with all that. Theres a lot of people in this room who made als vision come true. He certainly wouldnt be here if it werent for the woman he met in the Civil Rights Movement and worked alongside on the war on poverty, the mother of jeannie and sarah and the love of his life, ginger from. [applause] all of us cosere to haves thank al for the lessons that he taught us. He showed us that ideas matter and obstacles dont. Hes a thinner man than he was when he started, but were stronger because of his thick skin. When our party had to wreak some china, al from was the donkey in the china shop he needed. [laughter] and i think what has meant the most to me over the years is hes just always reminded me that the fickle fashions of washington in the end dont matter. E never cared who was down. He woke up every morning determined to fight for the same principles that he fought for and believed in the night before. And it is a rare man who can stay true to his heart for a lifetime in this town. Ask were all forever grateful to him for that. Be so the mission of the Democratic Party has always been to enable every generation to build a better, Brighter Future for the next one. And in the end, that is really what al from has dope for all of of us done for all of us. Because of him were better off than we were three decades ago, and we could easily say of al what ed killgore got sam nunn to say about bill clinton back in 1990. He was a rising star in at least three decades. [laughter] and the Democratic Party has seen a parade of rising stars because of als work and on als. Watch. And its now my privilege to introduce one of the most impressive of those rising star, governor jack markell. For the last three years as joe bidens chief of staff, ive been privileged to be an honorary citizen of the great state of delaware. And like my woz, i burst with pride every time the first state does something amazing from the basketball teams great run to this months grand opening just down the street of capriatis, the best sub shot in america. [laughter] but for the past five years, delaware has been blessed with one of the smartest, most innovative governors in the country. Jacks made tremendous progress with delawares schools, its finances, its economy. He just finished an incredibly successful run as chair of the National Governors association. Hes the kind of leader we look to all the time for ideas. Hes the kind of person who makes you proud to work in this business, and hes the kind of new democrat that al from had in mind all along. Jack . [applause] well, thank you, bruce. And id ask all of you to join me in expressing our appreciation to bruce for his Phenomenal Service in the Clinton White house, at the dlc, in the Obama Biden White house, and hes got about a week left before he heads out to the west coast. Were really excited to see all that he does and all that the grant he makes to the state of delaware. [laughter] so please join me in thanking bruce reed. [applause] i am, and by the way, theres more room up front. I know it looks very tight up there, so if people want to move up a bit, they can. I am thrilled to be here tonight with my wife, carla, to honor al who has made so many incredible contributions to this country over the last 5 years. 25 years. And im not going to go through the full list of all of the programs, whether its the earned income tax credit or National Service or welfare reform. Theres such a long list of ideas that he and will and bruise and the whole team at the dlc and the ppi championed for so long. I will never forget back in 99 or 2000 when president clinton spoke to a gathering of the dlc up in hyde park, new york. And i was so fortunate to be day, and i got to remember to president chinton speak for about clinton speak for about 45 minutes basically without a note. And he talked for 45 minutes straight. This was at the end of his administration. About all the accomplishments that they had achieved over their seven or eight years then. And the entire speech was tying it back to the work of the democratic leadership council. It was a stunning performance. And, of course, he concluded by talking all about al. And the fact is he said at the time theres not been anybody else who hasnt been in public life who has made a bigger contribution to the country during these last couple decades. And that is, thats al. But i really believe that als contributions go beyond that, because there are literally thousands of people like me, elected officials and now appointed officials across the country who owe in large part much of our own political success to al. In my case, or its literally true. I would not be governor without al because i learned from the best that ideas, thats what politics is all about. Politics is supposed to be about ideas s. And i decided to run for governor back in 2008, and i knew my only chance of winning a very competitive race would be to offer bold ideas for a changed state. And thats what i did. And it was because of those ideas and because of all that i learned from al and the dlc ppi team that i won. So in my case, i literally would not be governor without al. But there are thousands of others who may not necessarily owe our political victories to al, but we certainly owe our success at governing to al and all that we have learned. And youll find this all over the place. There is this group of us all over the country, just recently a couple weeks ago the brand new mayor of st. Pete, florida, somebody who we all got to know at dlc, the mayor of tampa, florida, somebody we all got to know at the dlc. There are u. S. Senators, there are congressmen, there are governors, there are a number of members of the cab net. I got to know Kathleen Sebelius and Janet Napolitano and tom vilsack through the dlc. And al and his team created this unbelievable community. And so here we are, you know, decades later, so many of us recognizing that what al said, that politics is supposed tonight tonight to be about ideas. And so much of the focus is about personality rather than the ideas. And we all have continuing work to do to put the focus where it ought to be, which is on the ideas. You know, at the beginning of als book, chapter one begins by him saying that he threw away party on Election Night of 1980, ask nobody showed up and nobody showed up. He went to work. For the next 25 or 30 years. And here we are tonight to celebrate the book that chronicles the rise of of the nw Democrat Movement, the movement that brought our party back a. And, al, tonight you threw a party, and a whole lot of people showed up. Lets hear it for al from. [cheers and applause] wow. Thank you very much, jack, and thanks to bruce. I always like to have bruce sort of warm up the crowd, because he gets you laughing, and then i can be serious. [laughter] but jack markell is one of those remarkable young politicians. I get asked all the time where are the new democrats, where are the great leaders because everybody focuses on all of the shenanigans in washington. And theyre in places like dover, delaware and annapolis and albany, new york, and denver, colorado, with governors, great democratic governors all over the country. And, you know, theyre this countrys future leadershipment i just look out over this room, and its a whole lifetime. Most everybody in this room a is part of the story, and i thank you for that. A lot of you are even in the book, and i hope i didnt embarrass you. [laughter] but thanks, i think hes probably left now, but greg farmer was here who led our first trip to florida. I see melissa, and, you know, when we started the dlc, we were called a lot of things including democrats for the leisure class. And melissa set out to prove that because at our first breakfast in tallahassee, we had quiche. [laughter] but, you know, in any event [laughter] but melissa actually brought this elegance and this style to the dlc that lasted my whole lifetime at the dlc. A really important contribution. I just want to thank so many people, and im not going to try to name everybody, but a few people deserve special thanks. First is gyppinger. Bruce ginger. Bruce already alluded to ginger. And when i wrote this book, i thank her not only for putting up with me when i wrote the book which was seven days a week not talking to anybody for about four months, but when i wrote this book and i pulled out all those old schedules and i cant imagine that anybody could have withstood all of that. I mean, you take off on a sunday night, and you go to four or five states, and on friday night the youre lucky but often saturday morning you come home, and if you couldnt get and in those days we didnt have Public TransportationLike Air Force one. We had to fly on small planes [laughter] or wherever we could get a flight. And youd come home on saturday morning when youre lucky, and sometimes you wont get back until late saturday because you couldnt get a flight. And then you had to be out on the road again sunday night. And we raised two wonderful daughters, one of whom, sarah, is here. Newlywed sarah right in front and her husband, rusty. [laughter] thank you all. Just returned from their hon think moon, and thank you for coming honeymoon and thank you for coming. I want to say a special word about alice mckeon whos over here, next to melissa. Alice was my partner in this book, and she just i cant say enough for what alice did to get this book done. And, in fact, in many ways she helped me come up with the concept that allowed me to write it. And so, and she had to put up with my writing a book that was about three and a half times as long as the publisher wanted and cut it down. But alice, thank you very much for a wonderful [applause] or to the all of my friends, some of whom go back to the u. S. Senate and to the days that i worked for ed muskie, worked real closely with sam urban, a bunch of the urban people are here tonight. The days of the House Democratic caucus and then the days of the dlc, thank you very much for making in this story possible. Making this story possible. And i dont know if hes here yet, hell be here later because he had a conflicting event that hes sponsoring, but will marshall, who was brains of this place with bruce for a long time, the dlc, will be here. And, again, you know, Everybody Knows about the public figures who made such a be big impact on this country. But if it werent for guys like will and bruce and rob shapiro and Elaine Kamarck and bill galston and a whole bunch of others who are here its always dangerous to Start Talking about people [laughter] we wouldnt have had this done. I could go on forever, and i dont want to, but what i would like to do very briefly is tell you three things. One is why i wrote this book. Second, just the very basics about whats this the book, was i want you to read it, by buy it, buy it, buy it and read it. [laughter] and, third, i just think there are lessons for both parties as we look ahead from what we did, and i want to talk just very briefly about this. Whyd i write the this book in jack markell really hit on it when he, you know, memories in the political world are very short. And he took my line about, the first line of the book which was on october or Election Night, 1980, i held a party, and nobody came. And the reason nobody came is because wed all lost our jobs. [laughter] i was working in the Carter White House, most of my friends were in the senate or on the hill, on capitol hill. We lost the senate. Jeff peterson, i think, has had to leave, but he was here. Peterson was the poster child. He made today show the next morning because he was working in the senate, i think for the Senate Finance committee. I think his wife was working for the committee too, and his son was a page. So they lost three jobs this one night. But, you know, its hard to remember that 25 years ago the roles were reversed. And, actually, our position was worse than the republicans are now. In the three elections of the 1980s, we won a smaller percentage of electoral votes than any Political Party in the history of the country had won in three consecutive elections. We were the Weakest Party in the history of the country. And theres no doubt and i remember talking to clinton about this one time on one of our trips to one of our dlc retreats, he said if we dont win this 92 and 96, forget it, well be the whigs. Well go the way of the whigs. People dont remember that, and its important we do because things could reverse. Right now we have a demographic advantage, and the reason many part because republicans in the 1980s, Michael Barone used to call us the stupid party. Tear theyre the stupid party now. Because they tell hispanic voters and activist women, among the most important constituencies in the electorate, that we dont want you in our party. They send them away. But theyre not going to be stupid forever. And when they change and i can figure f be i were a republican, i could tell them a lot of reasons hispanic voters ought to support them. Just take this into account, if mitt romney had won the same percentage of hispanics in 2012 that george bush won in 2004, louis wouldnt be working for the bruce wouldnt with working for the vice president. [laughter] because we would have had a different vice president. So i want seem to understand i want people to understand that it was really important to modernize our party. And the way we did it, a lot of you here were in new orleans and in cleveland, and youll remember in new orleans in clintons inaugural seep as chairman of the dlc, he said the intellectual resurgence of our party must precede our political resurgence. Well, the republicans ought to listen to that. But thats the second reason i wrote the this book. What we did is we brought our party back not by fancy messaging. I mean, in todays politics its all about how you can communicate with true believers, and, you know, all your core supporters, and no one worries about solving the problems of the country. We brought this party back around ideas. And i think its important. Because ideas that help move this country forward are the only hope really for bringing this country together and for tackling big robs. And progresses. And, you know its the dlc closed its doors and its now part of the chinton foundation. But will is still battling every day. And its very, very important that we do that because ideas are too important in politics. And if you think about the ideas, you know, many of you were in a lot of the fights. Clinton in his introduction in the book says we werent very popular when we started the dlc. Well, it depends who you listen to. If you listened to the lake jackier monday, you would have had to read our bitch ware three times in the an 18month period. And theres no doubt that a lot of forces. We were a threat because with our ideas we were going to change the power arrangements in the party. There are and thats something that people in politics dont really understand anymore. I mean, people now think you just, you talk to this group, or you talk to that group. Well, thats great, and itll get em revved up, and it really works this congressional politics because districts are so gerrymandered. Whatd we get, a million more votes for Congress Last time than we did, and they still have this majority . But we have plenty of districts that are the same on our side, and the only challenge do sr. The challenge never to work with the other party, its to hold the party line, move toward the extremes because if you dont, you get primaried. And thats just such a terrible thing for the country. So the second reason is i just wanted to focus on ideas. Yall have been part of this movement. Im not going to go into those ideas that yall though about opportunity and responsibility in community. Many of you were in cleveland when i was a pinata for a few seem the many our party. [laughter] and bruce reed made his greatest contribution ever, and hes made a lot of big contributions to this movement, when we reprinted clintons speech for cleveland which was, the you read clintons book, hell tell you its the best speech he ever gave. And if and we also in the same little pamphlet did all the resolutions we passed which were all the ideas that changed america. Bruce put three words on the cover opportunity, responsibility and community. Be and from that day forward, those three words became the mantra of the new Democrat Movement and really not only changed american politics and brought the democrats back, but changed politics all over the world. But im not going to talk a lot about that. I just want to say one thing. One of the things that a lot of people dont know about me is that, you know, everybody used to call me the person who tried to move the party to the right. I never believed that. I always believed that what we were trying to do was reconnect our party with the great, with its First Principles including principles for mr. Jefferson. But jacksons credo of opportunity, kennedys ethic of responsibility, civic responsibility, roosevelts thirst for innovation. And my first job is where i learned all this, that those principles really worked. And that was in the war on poverty. I had the greatest job ever. Sargent shriver didnt trust the bureaucrats telling him what was going on around the country, so he hired young reporters to go around the country and write about these, what was happening in his programs. Long new york magazinetype pieces. I happened to be hostly in the south mostly in the south where the Civil Rights Movement and the war on poverty were really joined during that period, so i knew everybody in the Civil Rights Movement. I met ginger in camden, alabama, when she was working for the sclc and trying to teach 4yearold kids how to say their name. Think about it. And, you know, one of the poorest counties in the country. Well, when the sclc went into wilcox county, camden, alabama, in 1965, not one black was registered to vote. Imagine that. President obama could not have voted in the county that ginger was working in. But i just want to tell you the story of the two jesses, because its not the jesse who im sort of intertwined with in american political history. [laughter] its jesse brooks and jesse banks. Jesse brooks was a poor sharecropper in wilcox county, alabama. When ginger went down there to work the summer for the sclc, he was sort of her protecter. He had a truck that was so old that it didnt have any floorboards, you could see the cement, the pavement through his truck. And dont forget, this is a county where nobody, no black could vote two years earlier. We were married in 1968, and jesse brooks came up to visit us in bethesda in 1969. And because of the war on poverty and the Voting Rights act, jesse weeks was a tax collector, duly elected by the people of wilcox county. Government can play an important role. [applause] and then theres the story of jesse banks. Shriver sent me down to Holmes County, alabama Holmes County, mississippi. And in the heart of the mississippi delta to look at a Work Experience programment and i wrote him this long report about how the young black kids in Holmes County were getting their Work Experience by building segregation academies for the white citizens council. David dunn and other people who lived through that period in the south remember those things. Most people dont. Well, fast forward to 25 years later, and mike espy, i think his daughter is here tonight and wilson would know that mike espy and i and wilson and a bunch of other people were in one of those bastions of segregation, one of those old chambers in the mississippi capitol filled with mikes constituents from delta to launch the dlc chapter this mississippi. So when i made my remarks, i said, you know, i just want you to know how historic it is for mike espy to represent you. And i told the story about going to Holmes County. Of after my speech a woman who im sure wilson knows came up, shes probably in her early 70s at that time. She says my names jessie banks. Im payor of chew la, mississippi, in Holmes County. And that family that ran the chevrolet dealerships and built the segregation academies was run out of town. And thats why no matter what out furor over obamacare and its ministry incidentally, its a good program, its the right design. Despite all that tour or, its really important for us to focus on making this government work. Elaine did reinventing goth for al gore for a long time. Now doing it for brookings. Its really important. Because if we want liberalism to last in america, weve got to make government work. Its that simple. Im not going to talk you get me started about stories [laughter] and i will never, ill never quit. My great friends and my surrogate daughters, the moore sisters, remember well. I think linda and maybe deb were on this trip. We were having breakfast one monday morning in louisville, kentucky, with jerry abramson, the mayor. And he happened to mention that kentucky was playing in chapel hill that night, basketball, against the university of north carolina. I dont know, bruce, you may have been on that trip, im not sure. [inaudible conversations] still lives on in north carolina. Enter right. Clinton turns to me immediately and say, lets go to the game. So i could david price and arranged to get tickets. And as was im sure its still the custom, when a governor visits another state, the host governor sends a police car to take him around. So we had a police car, and we had another car that was for linda and i think craig smith and clintons people and the rest of our entourage. And so clinton and i get in the police car, they get in the other car. We drive you up to the dean dom, and the state police say park your car right here. So we go in, come out, and the Campus Police had towed our car. [laughter] so for those people who think we always travel on air force one, it wasnt quite the way. And linda and i think deb was there. We spent two and a half hours at the Campus Police station, because clinton would not leave until the guy who owned the car got his car back. [laughter] so thats what travel in those days were. But the main thing was it was about ideas. Let me just quickly move very tsa forward. And for those of you who want to know what the republicans could do, lessons they could learn, you can read my piece in Politico Magazine. But i just want to say one thing about what we need to do. Because we arent going to have these demographic advantages forever. And its very important to me anyway that we make liberalism and progressive government work again. And so to me, we should have two priorities. One, we need more than anything else a new round of reinventing government to fix government. In the 1980s people lost faith in government and our ability to govern, and thats why we had the three worst elections ever. We cant afford that again. And so as i said a minute ago, i think obama cares a good structure. I mean, i could explain it pretty simply which would simply be if youre everybody should have insurance, basic plan. If you cant afford it, government will help you pay for it, which it should. And if you want more, you pay for it. Now, thats not very complicated to me. I dont know why its so hard for people to explain. In any event, its critical that we fix, its critical that we fix obamacare and fix this web sie. I mean web site. I mean, ive been helping a private Sector Company that probably could have done this turnkey, and its just incredible. But we cant afford to have government lose its crez about in the country. Its credibility in the country. And the second thing, rob shapiros standing behind elaine, and hes the architect of all this. You can read a lot about rob in the book. We need a growth strategy. You know . When i was a very young man, paul son gas said when i worked in the Carter White House which didnt know about growth strategies, incidentally [laughter] paul tsongas was the chair of one of the subcommittees that we had to report to on the hill. And he pulled me aside one day, and he said the problem with the Democratic Party is were so interested in passing out the golden eggs, we forget to worry about the health of the goose. Well, if we dont worry about the health of the goose, theres not going to be enough golden eggs to pass out. And this is a problem on both sides of the aisle, because everybody wants to take from government, but nobody wants to give. And the only way you can have a pie that we can expand and, you know, lord knows we belief if many redistribution, we believe in a rollive income tax, we progressive income tax, we believe in people who need help should get it. But the only way youre going to do that and incidentally, when i say its pervasive, think about what happens to the stock market every time bernanke even retends that he might cut off the subsidies to the bond market. I mean, you know, those, you know, sort of advocates of the free market are just as tied to the federal dole as anybody else. I mean, its incredible. But if were going to have enough money and enough resources to bring out the best in our country, then we gotta grow the pie. And to he, if theres to me, if theres been a shortcoming in this current administration, its that we dont talk enough about that. That ought to be, that and making sure Government Works ought to be the singular focuses of this administration. They could go to jack markell and a bunch of governors around the country who understand that. But its really important. As i said, you know, in the 19 in 1992 i think we saved progressive government by trimming its excesses. And i think were going to have to do it again