Page 554 - Predecessors News Today

16-hour flight to south africa, where they will attend the memorial service for nelson mandela that will be held tomorrow morning. as we speak, world leaders from every corner of the globe are on their way to south africa for that memorial service and for the funeral and other events that are going to take place there over the next few days. the american delegation to south africa includes not only president obama and the first lady, but also three former presidents, george w. bush will be there...

Hollande and even the cuban president, as we said he had ties with cuba in the past, raul castro, list goes on and on of dignitaries. >> of course, with president obama and three of his predecessors going to south africa, you can imagine what robin was talking about, and that is security and the kind of complex situation theyre dealing with potentially a nightmare. secret service had very little time to prepare for the trip. athena jones is joining us at the white house. were very much aware of ...

President, im not necessarily saying i have these qualities, im speaking historically, i think it has to do with more than anything a sense of connection with the american people. thats what allows you then to have that sec qual, with i is persistence. >> how is it? hes looking at some of his predecessors saying maybe he feels they had something he didnt have its something he seems one reing is he is saying there is i feel that i lack here. >> yeah, he admitted i dont know necessarily if i have ...

"the washington post" and gail lamont. esther, let me start with you. "the new york times" talks about the chasm between young south africans and their predecessors. talked to an 18-year-old girl who said, quote, at the end of the day, africans is just a language. such feelings are common among members of her generation, known as the born frees because they were born after the end of apartheid or just before it ended and are too young to have many memories of it. how do young south africans, how...

Presenting that message. and i think he surprised people that when he emerged from 27 years of imprisonment, i dont think anyone can imagine what it would be like to spend that much time in a narrow jail cell, to be cut off and then to come back and be so lucid, so politically astute, so politically aware and really emerge as one of the great leaders of our times. >> donald, when we talk about mandela and his relationship with this country, with the united states, one facet that often seems to g...

And secular nation that it is today. for that, we are all grateful. >> i asked one of your predecessors a little early, he was with the labor government. are you with the coalition, so differ parties across the aisle. i did cc ask him on this day, the person that inspired people to think more of themselves in trying to lead and inspire. do you think now with nelson mandela gone, do you think that maybe for just a moment that politicians around the world and there is still some game of politics m...

He ciriticized george w. bush fr readiness to invade iraq without the blessing of the united natio nations. >> bush and an idea which was sponsored by their predecessors, they did not care. >> i want your reaction to mandela. what kind of a man is he to you? >> a historic figure that made a huge difference in peoples lives. >> he was quite tough on you, though, he cite sized you publicly about the iraq war. >> yeah, he wasnt the only guy. >> did you get backlash from people who he perhaps -- >> ...

>> the black caucus provided enormous leadership. when i say that, even those words dont equate to the leadership that the congressional black caucus had. my predecessors, bar bra jordan and ron dellums, great leaders all throughout the congressional black caucus would not take no for an answer, not only from congress but president ronald reagan that thought he was adhering to the leadership of a sovereign nation. but we know that sovereignty could not in any way stamp on our trample on freedom ...

Washington and in the halls of congress and presidents of both parties eventually understood he was not only a hero, but much closer to bill clinton and hillary clinton and barack obama than predecessors, but he reached across party lines and in the fact that george w. bush might not have done as much as he did and big events in contributions with his administration. not for the leadership to the foundation. bill clinton, ideologically, the deep discussions, do they see the parallel. >> they wer...

Joins us. nice to see you sir. >> good to be with you. >> is president obama overstepping his constitutional powers. >> i think i is article 2 of the constitution says the president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed and what this president has done on a number of cases looks a lot more like rewriting the law than executing it. >> is he doing any more than any of his pred predecessors? >> i think that he is president bush occasionally declines to execute statutes because he bel...