The year, pushing back though against the headline, president of the divided states of america. In fact he says his most ferocious republican critic is still being considered for the coveted secretary of state position. Listen. Let me go back to mitt romney. Is he still under consideration . Yes, he is. Does he have a chance to become secretary of state . Yes, he does. I have spoken to him a lot. We have come a long way together. We had some tremendous difficulty together and now i think we have come a long way. But the answer is yes. This isnt about some case of stringing him along as revenge being a dish best served cold for comments he made during the campaign . Its not about revenge. Its about whats good for the country. Im able to put this stuff behind us. Jessica schneider is live outside of trump tower. Turned into the transition headquarters. Good morning, jessica. Reporter good morning. The most anticipated pick from donald trump being secretary of state. Hes saying he will likely announce his pick next week. Of course, all eyes have been on mitt romney for many weeks now. Hes emerged as one of the leading contenders. He sat down with the president elect twice, most recently at a dinner just a few blocks from trump tower, and after he emerged from that dinner with donald trump, he said he was quite impressed by Donald Trumps electoral victory and this morning, donald trump saying the two men have come a long way in their relationship. Donald trump has come a long way in how he feels about mitt romney. Of course, mitt romney calling donald trump back in march a phony and a fraud. Despite that, in the past few days we have seen several other on names emerge, people like general david petraeus, also exxon ceo. The former governor jon huntsman. Who will donald trump pick . Donald trump says hes not trying to string this out, not looking for revenge, he just wants whats best for the country. He says hes even consulted with the current president , president obama, about some of his potential picks. I was fascinated to read in your interview that you say you actually talked to president obama about some of your possible appointments. I do. And the people you would surround yourself in the white house. Can you tell me specifically who you mentioned to president obama that you are considering appointing . I dont think that would be fair to him but i have asked him what he would think of this one and that one. I have asked him what he thinks are the biggest problems of the country, what are some of the greatest assets going forward, and we have a very good dialogue and i must tell you, i never met him before this and i never spoke to him before this. I really, i do like him. I love getting his ideas and i may differ in many cases, i differ very greatly. Just very quickly i would say yes, i take his recommendations very seriously and there are some people that i will be appointing and in one case, have appointed where he thought very highly of that person. Yes. Donald trump giving some insight into his conversations with president obama. But the white house not commenting on any of those discussions and not indicating who president obama may have suggested to donald trump he picked for one of these cabinet appointments. But Kellyanne Conway saying we could expect more announcements today, perhaps two ambassadorships. We have mentioned the Iowa Governor will be u. S. Ambassador to china. Donald trump has picked him. Possibly epa and Homeland Security as well. Poppy . Jessica schneider live outside trump tower, thank you so much. We obviously have a lot to discuss. Lets bring but i do think there are these two Donald Trumps. I think that sometimes people get so surprised that they see donald trump who might reach out to president obama, somebody who for five years, he had said, questioned whether or not he was born in the United States. Now seems to value his advice. I think thats one lesson in getting to know people rather than judging them immediately in some caricature way which is something we have seen throughout this campaign. But there are two trumps. We heard Kellyanne Conway, i was in the room for that harvard meeting for the Campaign Managers at the institute of politics last week and you heard Kellyanne Conway say look, hes transactional, folks. I think you have seen that throughout this campaign and you will likely see that even in rahm emanuel, the mayor of chicago in the next couple days. So you do see him beginning to reach out and trying to bridge the divide and as you said, Time Magazine just named him president of the divided states of america. This is something he has to deal with, something he has to be able to bring america together and represent both the angry base that elected him but also the rest of the country, 2. 5 Million People who voted actually for the opponent, for his opponent. I want to get your take on trump tapping according to dana bash, iowas governor as ambassador to china. Obviously the governor was very loyal to donald trump throughout the campaign. We know trump likes that. But at the same time, this is someone who has a long history with china and also someone who knows frankly president xi. What do you make of this pick and how tough this job is going to be given all trump has said about china . I think this is a really fascinating pick. As you mentioned, the governor has known the president since 1985 when xi was a rural agricultural officer for some back water part of china nobody heard of, and showed up in iowa and they stayed friends and visit each other. They have had him over for dinner recently. If we are going to have this contentious relationship with china, it seems like we are going to, seems thats the direction president elect trump wants to go, its invaluable to have someone in beijing who has that personal relationship. China is basically a dictatorship. President xi consolidated power. The fact we will have an ambassador who can pick up the phone and call him could make a real difference in a crisis situation and also in a negotiation. The first job he will have is likely to try to smooth things over after the president elect took that phone call from the president of taiwan. How does he do that . Thats really fascinating. The fact that bob dole was somebody who had to kind of be an emissary. We have seen conflicting reporting whether or not this was hey, it was just a call, sort of dismissing the importance of it, but then to learn it was had some time in the making, i think it does reflect on the personal relationships that donald trump values. If he knows you, if he trusts you, you have a way in. If he doesnt, then you have seen some of that vindictive side, some of that thinskinned side of donald trump and that is going to be weighed out. We should expect you will see both of those things come out at various points in a trump presidency. All right. Im just being told governor pat mccrory just arrived at trump tower, about to head up in the golden elevators, obviously after a disappointing loss for him. Guys, as we watch and see who else might come out and who else might talk, as you said, we are expecting possible rahm emanuel as well. To meet with president trump. Former Vice President al gore met with donald trump about climate change, something trump has called a hoax created by the chinese. Rahm emanuel not only the mayor of chicago, also formerly chief of staff and someone who has said i dont care what your administration is doing, chicago will stay a sanctuary city. Yes, its really interesting. Hes got a really diverse cast of characters here. I think thus far a lot of his cabinet picks have been pretty much loyalists. There have been some establishment picks, nikki haley from south carolina, for u. N. Ambassador, for example, who was a critic of donald trump but for the large majority of the picks, have been people who have been very loyal to him, jeff sessions, his a. G. , michael flynn, his National Security adviser. It will be interesting now to see as he really rounds out his cabinet, is he going to build a team of rivals, is he going to gather together mitt romney, who was highly critical of him. Will he put a democrat in his cabinet . Hes kind of indicating he is going to. He has been if recent days really sort of saying he does seem to plan to do that. It makes its really refreshing, a really good idea to have Diverse Voices in the cabinet, to get lots of opinions that are not necessarily ones that agree with you because thats going to give you the best kind of decision making. We hope to see that. We have to wait and see who he actually names secretary of state at the end of it. Its been such a long sort of tortured process. Yeah. But i do think it is a much more diverse cabinet than a lot of observers expected early on and it will be really interesting to see if he includes a democrat in the cabinet. Yeah. Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Coming up, dueling messages on the war on terror. Donald trump and president obama both delivering speeches yesterday on exactly that. Different messages, different tactics on how to keep america safe. 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Marie callenders president obama delivers his final address on National Security and offers some advice to president elect trump not directly using his name but it was pretty clear. Trump will inherit the war on terror and as you know, has delivered a lot of tough words when it comes to radical islam, torture, et cetera. Obama never mentioned trump by name. Clearly, though, this was directed towards him. Adhering to the rule of law is not a weakness in the long term, it is our greatest strength. The whole objective of these terrorists is to scare us into changing the nature of who we are and our democracy. The fact is, people and nations do not make good decisions when they are driven by fear. Athena jones is live outside the white house this morning. Good morning. Very different speeches from the president and the president elect. Both on the same issue. Reporter thats right. Very different speeches from two very different leaders who have different ideas about how to approach these issues. Lest anyone call president obama weak on terror, he delivered a forceful defense of his administrations Counter Terrorism efforts and made the case for continuation of his approach to dealing with these issues. He talked about killing osama bin laden. He talked about weakening al qaeda, the progress made so far against isis and he talked about the need to continue to focus on diplomacy and working with allies, not only to defeat terror groups but also to deal with other issues like irans pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Heres more of what he had to say on that. Terrorists would love to see us walk away from the type of work that builds International Coalitions and ends conflicts and stops the spread of deadly weapons. It would make life easier for them. It would be a tragic mistake for us. Reporter there again, the president was referring to the Iran Nuclear Deal, something that trump during the campaign railed against. This was just one of several areas where he was drawing contrast with some of the views expressed by president elect trump. The president continued to make his case for closing guantanamo bay. Thats a prison that president elect trump said he wants to fill up with more bad guys. The president also talked about the need to maintain the ban against torture, something trump has seemed to be opposed to. He talked about bringing back waterboarding. But this focus on working with allies, with coalitions, is something the president clearly very much wanted to stress, in the view president elect trump talked about putting america first, president obama wanted to stress the need to work with wa partners. Athena jones, thank you very much. President obama working to solidify his legacy as republicans threaten to dismantle it. With me, fareed zakaria, who just sat down for the longest interview, Television Interview the president has ever done. You got an hour and a half with him for your special report airing tonight on cnn. Your takeaway when you walked out of the room . I always do this when i leave interviews. What surprised me the most. What was it . The degree to which obama is at peace with himself. He is somebody who i think thinks very hard and carefully about stuff when he confronts it. He balances pros and cons and then makes a choice. Im struck by the fact theres very little second guessing. He has very few second thoughts. You could some people would call that arrogance, some call it confidence. Its certainly a cool, forwardlooking determination. Race is a key part of your discussion and it was a very poignant part of what is airing tonight. He was asked about race. Let me read one of the things he said. I think theres a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in northern states are very different from whites in southern states. He talked about the Birther Movement and the impact that had on him. He tried very hard, hes always tried to navigate these two positions and he did in the interview. He has always wanted to be the president who just happened to be black and at the same time, he recognizes that for africanamericans theres something deep and resonant and important about it. Almost every one of these racial crises that he confronted in his presidency, hes navigating between wanting to be white enough or nonracial enough to assure and reassure most americans but at the same time being black enough not to make blacks feel hes betraying them or letting them down. You see him navigating, we talk in the documentary about the very First Episode people might not remember is henry louis gates, this black professor at harvard arrested because he was trying to get into his own house. Obama criticizes the cambridge police. Backlash. He decides im not going to go there. For two years, i think, he really doesnt talk about race again because he realizes hes in an impossible position. Then he makes it very personal talking around the case of Trayvon Martin and talks about himself and his children. Looking at policies, though, health care reform, obviously the first domestic big thing he took on as commander in chief, now threatening to be completely dismantled by the republicans. Also when it comes to foreign policy, he says syria haunts him still but then has the Iran Nuclear Deal and what has been done in opening up cuba. So many of these on the world stage. You know, its interesting, i think he feels that he has really changed the orientation of American Foreign policy, the way hes reached out to countries that we had no conversations with like iran, cuba, burma, myanmar, for decades and decades and hes made openings to them to try to see are there places we can cut a deal, find a new opening, and i think perhaps most importantly, we talked about this in the speech yesterday, he tried to put terrorism in perspective, to say look, this is not an existential threat, this is not like the soviet union, not like nazi armies marching across europe. These are a band of thugs and if we elevate them, overreact and start shredding Civil Liberties and the constitution we are giving them what they want. That has been a very important part of the kind of discipline hes wanted to bring and of course, that personality is very different from the president elect, who one might argue kind of enjoys inflating or exaggerating these things for dramatic effect. Now we have learned from the president elect this morning telling nbc hes taking some of president obamas advice which is really interesting, on some of these cabinet picks. Lets take a listen to part of what we will watch tonight in this special. Let me ask you if its possible in your position to be completely honest and say the rise of the Islamic State surprised you, it took you by surprise, it took the administration by surprise. The ability of isil to initiate major land offensives, that was not on my intelligence radar screen. Everyone was stunned that a few thousand militants swept through iraq and syria sowing fear in the region and the world. We chop off the heads of the americans, chop off the heads of the french, chop off the heads of whoever you may bring. They created a caliphate. Ruled by strict sharia law, meting out punishment in the most barbaric ways imaginable. The special obviously, we will see all of it tonight. When you talked to him about the war on terror and frankly, the huge debate throughout the election about the words he would use or not use, what did he say that sticks with you most as this fight continues under the next president . He has always been very determined not to paint islam with a broad brush. He did that last night. I think people who think he doesnt understand that there are people in america who dont get that, who feel like hes pussyfooting, he gets it. He knows he pays a political price for that. Hes a very good politician. He just thinks its the wrong thing to do. Its another case where obama has been willing to do things that are unpopular on the theory they are the right thing to do and history will vindicate him. We have to see. His Approval Rating right now is near a record high for him. Quickly, what do you think he will do next . I think he will take a long vacation. I think hes absolutely right when he says that and i think he will read a lot. Lot of president ial memoirs because i think he intends to write one of the great ones. Thank you so much. C