Part of tonights special program looking at the trump cabinet. We will show you portions of confirmation hearing featuring education secretary betsy devos, scott pruitt of the epa and others beginning at 8 00 p. M. Tonight here on cspan. Check out our cspan classroom website. Its full of free Teaching Resources for cspan classroom members. The approved layout gives teachers easy access to ready to go resources for the classroom including short Current Events important highlight events in washington, d. C. , constitution clips that bring the constitution to life, social studies lesson plans as well as on this day in history resources. Our search function allows Classroom Teachers to search and filter by date, person, keyword, topic and grade level. Bellringers video clips of teacher favorites, short videos p with vocabulary and discussion questions that make the federal government and politics more accessible to your students. I love the bellringers. 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President obamas former Senior Adviser, Valerie Jarrett, Obama Foundation as an unpaid adviser. She will help plan the obama president ial center in jackson park on the southside of chicago. The day of the announcement, she sat down for a Obama Foundation as an unpaid adviser. Discussion at the city club of chicago about her years at the Obama White House and the future plans of barack and michelle obama. This is about 45 minutes. Ok, everybody, lets get started. Valerie jarrett is the longestserving Senior Adviser to president barack obama where she oversaw the offices of public she chaired the White House Council on women and girls. Throughout her tenure at the white house, she worked to mobilize elected officials, is business and Community Leaders and diverse groups of , advocates. She led president obamas efforts to expand and strengthen access to the middleclass and to boost american businesses and the economy. She fought to empower women politically and economically in the u. S. And around the world. She oversaw the administrations advocacy for workplace policies that empower working families , including equal pay, raising the minimum wage, paid leave, paid sick days, work place flexibility and affordable , childcare. Valerie jarrett also led the campaigns to reform our criminal Justice System and Sexual Assault and reduced gun violence. She has a background in the public and private sectors. She served as ceo of the Habitat Company in chicago, chairman of the chicago transit board, commissioner of planning and development for the city, deputy chief of staff for mayor richard m daley. She has also served as the director of numerous corporate and notforprofit boards, including as chairman of the board of the chicago stock exchange, chairman of the university of chago. Medical center board of trustees, director of the Federal Reserve bank of chicago. She has received numerous rewards and honorary degrees , including time magazines 100 most influential people. Valerie grew up in chicago. She received her ba from Stanford University and her law degree from the university of michigan law school. Just last week, she was appointed to the board of directors of chicagobased aerial investments. A little point of information on that. Her father, dr. James bowman, was one of the original members of the board of directors. So the obvious first question is what is it like to be in your , fathers seat . Boy you are going , to make me cry at the beginning . First of all, good afternoon. I think i know almost everybody here. There is no place like home. So thank you very much for welcoming me back here. [applause] valerie give me a second to compose myself. It is an extraordinary honor. My dad was one of the original investors. Those of you who know john rogers, and if you started the company as a very young adult. I was one of the people who said, youre far too young to start this business. Similarly to me telling someone else you are far too young to run for president. So much for my advise. My father believed in john and his mission. Not only is he extra ordinary business person, but also a great civic leader here and around the United States and around the world. I am honored to join. After you finish telling than u. S. Senator barack obama that he was too young to run for president , what did he say to what did he say to you . Valerie the story goes back further. I gave him my most incorrect advice when i suggested he not run for u. S. Senate. Those of you from chicago will note he had not that long before lost a congressional race. I said, if you run so quickly, then if you lose again, your political career is over. So i dont think you should do it. He said, well, im going to do it. And if im not afraid of losing, then why are you . Which was actually very good sound advice. He thought his opportunity was then so he decided to run. By the time he decided to run for president , i was like ok, all right. Youre kind of young, but ok. Lets try. The rest is history. How would you describe your experiences as advisor to the president over the last eight years . Valerie extraordinary. The best eight years of my life be able to be there from day one until the last day and have a chance to see our country come back from what could have been the worst economic crisis of a lifetime. Certainly, it was in my lifetime. Not since the Great Depression have we been on the precipice of the banks in a freefall and losing 750,000 jobs a month. To see us go from it Unemployment Rate down to 10 up to 10, down to 20 million five. People without health care. Scaling down wars, figuring out how to grow and build a middleclass, it was an extraordinary experience. And there were some highs and lows, but i would not have traded it for anything. What was it like for that first day . Valerie stunning. That is all i can tell you. In fact, i will tell you a funny story. Before we moved in, i was one of the cochairs of the transition team. We started working literally the day after the election preparing for the transition of power. I always give president bush a shout out and his team because they did Everything Possible to insure we could hit the ground running. They were cooperative. They volunteered as much information as possible. They really set the tone. It says a lot i think about democracy where we really ran a campaign against many of his policies, and yet he knew it was his responsibility to help us. The first time i went to the white house as part of the transition team, i went with mike, who is here who is now , with the Obama Foundation. Mike was overseeing the organization of the staffing of the offices of public engagement. We go into the white house together and right before christmas and the decorations were up and it was just a twilight at twilight. We were petrified, to say the least. Excited, exhilarated, did not know what we were going to encounter. Just as we went to the checkpoint at the secret service counter, first of all, we were delighted they let us in, because who knows . [laughter] valerie i was more worried about mike than myself. We go through the gates and are walking up and look at the white house and it is all lit up. So exciting. The cameramen who are around this place, one of the cameramen you will remember this, mike yelled out, welcome to the white house. We burst into tears. We stood there crying like babies. If you had asked me growing up what were the chances of my ever , working in the white house, even knowing or meeting the president of the United States, i would have been stunned. So that first day was overwhelming. The parade was going on in front of the white house. Mike and i were trying to figure out where the bathrooms were. Had you ever been in the white house before that day . Valerie i had been in there to two other times. I was invited as a guest when president clinton was president. And also my cousin worked for president clinton. I went to her goodbye party. But i certainly had not been around it away we explored and discovered it over the eight years we were there. If that was the first day, what was it like on the last day . Calico did you hear that sigh . Oh, my gosh. I was determined to be there on the last day. I wanted to just finish out this entire journey. People always joked and wondered , how did you last for eight years . It never occurred to me to leave early. That last day, it was bittersweet. I went over early, and they have a tradition where they fly a flag on the first and last day of the administration. And the people who oversee the white house deliver the flag to the president and the first lady. I watched that ceremony and it was quite powerful and emotional as you would imagine. I was there when president elect trump and mike pence and theres and their spouses arrived. Again, it is an indication of how hard you have to work no matter how you might feel about the outcome of an election. For a smooth and early transition. We tried very hard to do the same thing to the Trump Transition Team as president bush did for us. But it was painful to see, for example, the house staff that we log on and on such personal terms, come down to say that final goodbye. There were a lot of tears. You have been described as president and Michelle Obamas first friend. What does that imply . What does that mean . Valerie we are really good buddies. I have known them 26 years. I was telling the story last friday about how i met them. Solicit me a copy of her resume of Michelle Robinson when it was mayor daleys chief of staff. Across the top, she wrote an. Outstanding young lawyer no offense of being involved with the law firm. No offense. I thought my kind of person. , i wasnt too hot on Law Firm Life either. ,i interviewed her. 10 minutes into the interview , i figured out i was to longer interviewing her. She was interviewing me. I made her an offer on the spot. The next thing im saying to her, why have you not accepted the offer . She said, well my fiancee does not think it is such a great idea. I said, what do you mean, your fiance doesnt think it is a good idea . Said, what if he doesnt agree with something mayor daley does . Who will be looking out for me . Would you have dinner with the three of us . So i said, yes, and that was a really was decision. I take the dinner was not at valloys. Valerie it couldve been. That is my moms favorite restaurant. It really was the beginning of what i know would be a lifelong friendship. Over the course of 26 years, they married, had two amazing children. We were involved with each other professionally and personally over the course of the normal institutes of life. Out of that, you find out who you can trust. Im sure everyone in your who has a friend that you made friends with 26 years ago, you have become pretty good friends. Absolutely. Reflecting back at this experience, what do you think were the greatest successes of president obama and his team . Valerie that is easy. Number one, saving our economy. The fact that you now have millions and millions of people who have jobs who did not have them and who were at risk of losing them is very important. Putting rules in place to ensure that the banks were not able to take risks with other peoples money, to that degree, get too big to fail again. We wanted to make sure we did not repeat that tragedy again. So those rules are in place and i hope they stay in place. I am proud of the work we did around the Affordable Care act. Still to this day confused about , how it turned into such a politically charged issue. What is wrong with wanting everybody to have Affordable Health care . I just dont get that. [applause] on the international stage, im proud of the fact we were able to strike a deal with a consortium of other countries to ensure that iran does not develop nuclear weapons. Reestablishing the relationship with cuba i think is transformative. The fact that on the world stage i think president obama tried , hard to show that force is not the only way you solve big problems. That as complex as the world is, you really do need to use diplomacy. You should not be afraid to use force, but you should also use diplomacy. I think our reputation improved on the world stage. [applause] valerie we reduced our dependence on foreign oil. Amazing strides we made towards energy efficiency. One of the areas im concerned about policy going forward, we do have to that the climate recognize that the climate is changing. The fact that we were able to get nearly 200 countries to come together in paris and signed an accord not just government , commitments but private commit , because we do want to leave the environment better to our chilton and grandchildren than we found it. These are just a few of the many things im very proud of. We are proud you were part of that. How about the lack of success . What do you think rankled the president and someone like yourself the most . Valerie i will give you three. First of all, i deeply regret we were unable to get congress to back just the simplest of laws requiring universal background checks before we give people access to lethal weapons. [applause] valerie why wouldnt you do that . We focus on the tragedy of sandy hook. It was certainly my worst day during the president s time in office. We heard the news, and in a couple of days later went to , newtown and participated in a Memorial Service for those who lost their lives so viciously. Soon thereafter i came back home , to chicago with the first lady and attended the funeral of a woman who was murdered just a mile or so from where we live in north kenwood, oakland area. South kenwood. So whether it is a mass tragedy or one daughter, we can do better. So that is big disappointment. One another big disappointment was on comprehensive immigration reform. The president believes we are a nation of laws but we are also a , nation of immigrants. Part of what we are a beacon of hope to the world and people are drawn to the United States this , is the land of opportunity. We should have been able to get congress with the bipartisan support we had to pass comprehensive immigration reform. That wouldve been a path to citizenship for many people in this country and who do contribute to our economy and our quality of life as well as provide opportunities for people who come here and enjoy our incredible institution. We have the best universities in the world. What we do after they get their degree . We send them back home so they can compete in another country. Why wouldnt we want to keep them here . Those jobs just create more jobs. I suppose the final one is one that is disappointing to me because it was one of my responsibilities. And that was to try to get criminal Justice Reform legislation through congress. The goal there was to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. Are fullns and jails of people who either belong in facilities where they can get treatment for Substance Abuse or Mental Health challenges, or they deserve to of had a better education and they need a pack to diversion. And we need to be investing in people when they are incarcerated. Finally, we need to be hiring them when they are released from prison and giving them that Second Chance so they dont go through the revolving recidivism door. The piece of that we did not get him was the piece that required congressional action. Again, where we had bipartisan support. I tell the story that if anyone told me i was in the quantity of time i did with the general industries, jose that would not be. You know what . They were supportive of it and we had grover norquist, very fiscally conservative academic the right and the aclu on the and everyone in between. Yet and Still Congress refused , to act. The good news is there is work going on all across the country, including a cook county, the state of illinois, cities, states, passing legislation. The vast majority of people who are incarcerated are at the state and local level. 2. 2 Million People are incarcerated. 11 million cycle through our jails on an annual basis. There is important work that can be done outside of federal government. Thank you. Could you describe president obamas management and leadership style . And as a followup to that did , you ever tell him know about something and what was his , reaction . Valerie i will start with the first one. That is easier. His management style is first of all, it takes the long view. There were a lot of decisions he made as president that might not materialize and come to fruition for years on end. I think part of the challenge when you are an elected official , by necessity, you tend to focus on the election cycle. There are certain things you can do right after you are elected that you cant do in an Election Year. Your moment for bold change its limited. He always managed to say lets take the long view. There w