the banks that were too big to fail are bigger than ever and still making multimillion dollar bets. i'm wore blitzer, you're in "the situation room" of . the latest skirmishes are being fought on college campuses with both president obama and mitt romney but neither candidate is saying much -- not saying much at all about same-sex marriage. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is joining us from new york so. jessica, what exactly did the president say when he addressed the graduates today? >> reporter: the president had a real message of empowerment and a little bit of politics. from president obama a message to female graduates that equality can be theirs. >> it is simple math, today women are not just half this country, it's half its workforce. >> reporter: if they work for it. >> don't just get involved, fight for your seat at the table. better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table. >> reporter: wonder if this is part of the campaign's apile to women voters, politics did creep into his message. >> whether you'll be able to earn equal pay for equal work. whether you'll be able to balance the demands of your job and your family. >> reporter: though the president share the stage with evan wolfson, he made only glancing reference to the issue that's dominate headlines. >> no matter who you are or what you look like, no matter who you love. >> during a weekend graduation speech at the evangelical liberty university with just this one line. >> marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. >> reporter: at barnard in new york city city, the president's position is popular. >> i think it's ah smchlt i think it's about time. >> i think that actually makes me support him enmore. i am definitely for gay marriage so i think that definitely -- it was a big day. >> reporter: but a mixed reaction after sunday services at salem bible church in atlanta. >> i support the president, but i just disagree with him on the issue of gay marriage, i think it's between a man and a woman. >> it does change the way i feel about him, because i don't think he had that view when he came into office, but he may have been persuaded to change his mind. >> a new york fund raidser ho hosted -- the president today also taped an appearance on the talk show "the view" it you know as a largely female audience. no doubt he'll get a few questions there on his position on gay marriage. here's a little bit of a change, the president in addition to his fund raidser with ricky martin has a fund-raiser with wall street executives. they expect to raise a total of a little over $3 million from his two fund-raisers in new york today, wolf. >> he's also spending some time speaking with african-american pastors around the country. isn't he? >> yes, after his announcement on gay marriage last wednesday, he had a phone call with 13 pastors to explain how he came to his decision and his staff continues to reach out to african-american and other progressive pastors that have been allied with the white house to continue sort of what they call a dialogue on the issue. >> the number three democrat in the house of representatives differs somewhat with president obama on the issue of gay marriage. james clyburn welcomes the president's support but feels it doesn't go far enough. representative clyburn is joining us from north carolina. tell us why you believe the president does not go far enough in declaration saying that he personally supports gay marriage? >> thank you for having me, wolf, i don't disagree with the president, but what i said was and i genuinely feel, as a 70-year-old having grown up here in south carolina, i can remember when marriage between two people of different races was not allowed in south carolina. but it was allowed in other states. so i think that when you have something like this, you have to be very careful that you don't have an approach that could very well have people jumping across state lines, having people's conditions changing late in live and finding out that they're in the state where certain things may not be recognized and it could have very severe legal consequences going forward, so i just think we need to really look at this yurks study it very well and be very, very careful how we implement it. >> because i just want to make it clear, congressman, i just want to make it clear t president in announcing his support for same-sex marriage said this was a personal view but it should be left up to the states, you disagree with him on that, you believe this should be a federal issue not left up to the states because you see it a right? >> yes, it is personal with me as well, and civil rights are very personal with me as well. so if we are going to say this is in fact a civil rights issue, then it ought to be an issue for all americans, not just based upon what state you live in. we have been down that road, where my rights here in south carolina were different than rights in new york or pennsylvania. i don't think that we can tread too lightly here, we have got to be very, very careful of how we put these kinds of issues together. look, i just signed the amicas brief on doma, the defense of marriage act. because i want the supreme courts to rule that law that i voted for several years, but i have evolved to the point where i am today. so i am for the federal courts to find that unconstitutional. that's why i signed that. i supported approximately president clinton's decision when it came to don't ask don't tell. i voted against don't ask, don't tell last year whenever it was because i had evolved to that point. this is an issue that all of us know that's been challenging all of our lives, i'm a preacher's kid, born and i have been married married to the same woman for 54 years. i just think we have to be very careful that we don't tread on people's rights. >> a lot of african-american pastors were speaking out against same-sex marriage. if the reverend dr. martin luther king were alive today, where would he stand on the issue of same-sex marriage? >> i think dr. king would have evol evolved, much like president obama has evolved. much like i have evolved. i don't believe that at the time that dr. king passed away or was taken in us that he was then where i am today. i just don't believe that. i don't remember him ever addressing this in any of his writiings or speeches, but i believe all of us wrote, one should not be expected to wear the same jacket as a man that he wore as a child. that's the way i feel. and i think that i have grown to a different size jacket today when it comes to this question. >> will you introduce legislation in the house of representatives that would allow same-sex marriage to go forward across the country? >> well, once again, i'm not going to do anything willie nilly. i'm going to set down with members, i would hope that it's an issue that could be dealt with in a bipartisan way, there's a big difference between us doing something in statute and something being determined constitutionally. that's why i signed the amicas brief because i want this issue addressed by the judicial body that will get the opportunity to determine what i may or may not have done is in fact kopgsal. i'm big for health reform and now we all sit and waited with baited breath to see what the supreme court is going to do about the constitutionality of that. so it's one thing to do something statutely. >> james clyburn is -- the obama campaign is helping to make it a four-letter word with supporters, wire talking about bain. also ron paul announcing he'll stop actively campaigning for president of the united states, but he's not dropping out of the race, at least not yet. and when you talk about pempb politics being dysfunctional. take a look at this political battle. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! let's go to jack cafferty, he's here with "the cafferty file." >> washington hard at work. abc news reports that our government is just out with a study about a study of study. try to keep up now. back in 2010, defense secretary robert gates complained his department was, quote, a wash in taskings for reports and studies. he wanted to know how much they cost. so the pentagon commissioned a study to find out how much it costs to produce all these studies. fast forward two years, pentagon review still going on, so congress asked the government accountability office to check in on them. so now the gao is out with its reports and not too promising. they found only nine studies that had been reviewed by the pentagon review in two years and the military was unable to, quote, readily retrieve documentation for the nine reports, they couldn't find 2/3 of them. you want to know how much they cost? don't ask. these are our tax dollars that are going down the porcelain facility. meanwhile try understanding what these reports even say. quote, gao's cost guides state that cost estimates should include all costs but allows flexibility for the reports to exclude cost as long as steps were taken and documented to -- someone drops the ball in washington. politicianli politicians like to start a study. the hope is that after the results come out, we will have forgotten about it in the first. place. here is a -- what does it mean when congress commissions a study on studies on studies. >> it meanings a lot of taxpayer dollars are being thrown aworks you might as well rip it up, throe it away. for years i have been hearing from federal workers here in washington that they have all these studies that are commissioned. a lot of them outsourced that are simply a waste of time. nobody bothering even reading these studies but they cost tons and tons of money. you're on to something there. >> i thank abc for that, because they're the ones that came one this. >> who commissioned the study of studies of studies, they're on to something. >> but you can't fire all the people who do these studies because you can't fire anybody in washington. it's now going directly after mitt romney's business brack ground. take a look at this ad airing now the five critical states. >> he's running for president and if he's going run the country the way he ran our business, i wouldn't want him there, he would be so out of touch with the average person in this country, how could you care for the average working person. >> what's the point in reviving the whole bain capital romney issue right now because they went through it a lot during the republican primaries. >> they sure did. what the obama campaign is trying to do right now is two things. they're trying to define mitt romney and then disqualify him as a potential president of the united states. they want to define him as somebody, as you heard from that gentleman out of touch, somebody who doesn't share your values, somebody who is much more interested in making money than creating jobs. during the primaries, mitt romney said he created or helped create over 100,000 jobs. all you can do is take out that story line by line. here's my problem with their theory of the case, that in the end i believe that president obama is going to be judged on his record. he can say he wants to disqualify mitt romney because he doesn't care about you, but in the end, he's going to be judged on barack obama's record, and when these two men go mano e mano on this case. >> when romney tried to -- he came band and said, bain capital also has create sports authority, office depot, they created hundreds of thousands of jobs and in the job of venture capitali capitalists, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. >> it didn't work very well when newt gingrich pac ran a 28-minute ad against bain capital. but these were republicans. i mean the obama campaign believes that this is going to work better with independent voters, but let me tell you a little bit of a web video that the romney campaign just released within the hour in response to the obama campaign. >> sdi almost never got started. when others shied away, mitt romney's private sector leadership team step nchlped. in i'm holding a dream with 6,000 employees today. >> so bain capital helped this company steel dynamics -- some things work and some things don't work. and the romney campaign spok spokesman came out today and said mitt romney helped create more jobs through being governor of massachusetts and the private sector than barack obama, to be continued. >> and of course there will be, there's going to be a big, big fight out there. >> republican presidential can at the ron paul finally decides to stop campaigning, we're going to take a closer look at his passionate run for president, how it affected the race. and rick santorum says romney has a, quote, potent weapon to beat president obama, what his formal rival says is his key to victory. [ pilot ] flying teaches me to prepare for turbulence. the key is to have a good strategy. the same goes for my retirement. with the plan my financial advisor and i put together, a quick check and i know my retirement is on course. [ male announcer ] with wells fargo advisor's envision plan, you always know where you stand. in fact, 93 percent of envision plan holders say they will retire on their own terms. get started on the plan you need today -- wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. here at the hutchison household but one dark stormy evening... there were two things i could tell: she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her what our other cats love, purina cat chow complete. it's the best because it has something for all of our cats! and after a couple of weeks she was healthy, happy, and definitely part of the family. we're so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. always there for you. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. mpxz two presidenting candida candidates, two very, very different commencement addresses. joining us now democratic strategist jamaal simmons and republican strategist. thanks very much for coming n i'm going to play two very different clips, mitt romney saturday at liberty university. president obama today at barnard college in new york. >> marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. >> from the gypping, this nation has trusted in god, not man. religious liberty is the first freedom in our constitution and one of the causes justice for the persecuted. compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born. there is not greater good in the nation than christian consciousness on the tornado. >> it takes patience, it takes commitment, it comes with plenty of set backs and it comes with plenty of failures. but whenever you hear that creeping cynicism, whenever somebody tells you to set your sights lower, the trajectory of this country should give you hope. previous generations should give you hope. what young generations have done before should give you hope. young folks who stood up and matched and sat in, they didn't just do it for themselves, they did it for other people, that's how we achieved women's right, that's how we achieved voting rights, that's how we achieved workers rights. that's how we achieved gay rights. >> alice, which line of attack, if you will is going to be more success in winning over that mott earn democrats and republicans that will make a difference the presidents, the people in the. who's going to be the person polls have shown that more people trust that mitt romney is the person to do that. right now obviously the social issues of taking center stage of the marriage discussion. but in november, it's going to be jobs and the economy. we're seeing that the current situation with our economy, with the jobless rate continuing to be at above 8% for the longest point in history. >> most of the conservatives i have been talking to, they don't really want to talk about gay rights, they want to talk about the economy because they see that as the president's great weakness right now. how does the president deal with them 12346789. >> i think this will be an argument about the economy. and when it comes to this issue of gay rights, the country has moved on a lot. i was doing campaigns in 2004 and 2005, where civil unions were considered a pretty forward position. now gay marriage is kind of a forward position. ultimately if you're against same-sex marriage, then you shouldn't marry somebody in the same sex. but i had a 40-minute conversation with a pastor friday night after the president's decision. it was an african-american pastor and it was hard to get him to take the president and be comfortable with his position, he was really uncomfortable with his position. and i think ultimately the argument just sort of has to be the government of the united states can't be in the position of discriminating against people and even if you're investmently opposed to this because of your religious beliefs. your religious beliefs do not have to have an impact on everyone else in the country. >> you told -- listen to santorum. >> this is a very potent weapon. for mitt romney if he's willing to stand up and take advantage of a president who's very much out of touch with the values of america. >> do you agree with your former boss? >> well, certainly, it is an issue that's going to show the stark contrast between governor romney and obama on this issue. but what we're seeing state after state after state. we seeing that overwhelmingly, people across in country are standing up for traditional marriage and for gay marriage. >> this is a big issue for governor santorum. be what we're seeing four or five days out from this announcement, the prom any campaign is focussing on what they are concerned be. he is going to be focus on where his strengths are which is creating jobs and turning the economy around. and he's made it quite confident about where he stands on this computer, he firmly believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. >> who's right, president obama or jim clyburn, clyburn says the federal government should deal with this, this is a civil rights issue. the president says gay marriage should be left to the states, who's right. >> if anybody can make a political argument, jim clyburn can. but with most americans in particular, calling it a civil rights movement -- but the civil rights movement is a very particular thing for most african-american voters, they don't like to hear it compared -- i have done a lot of research on this. instead, i would argue that people do talk about this in terms of wral equal rights. the president's on the right path by saying here's where i am, the country is going to make some decisions and he's going -- governor romney has devolved. he said when he ran against ted kennedy, he would be better on gay rights than ted kennedy. and he has now become worse. he's going to answer for that. >> guess what, the superintendent is going to go away. imagine being trapped in a car for three days only able to drink some rain water a little soda to survive. one woman's incredible story of survival. remember the words too big for fail, o. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ of all our different items in our festival of shrimp. the crab-stuffed shrimp are awesome! tequila lime tacos. [ man ] delicious! [ male announcer ] it's festival of shrimp! for $12.99 try any two shrimp creations like new barbeque glazed shrimp. offer ends soon. we're servers at red lobster. and we sea food differently. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stor