herald" as a story about the blind activist in china. the u.s. said china had agreed to issue travel documents so he can study abroad. before we get to those stories, for the first 45 minutes of "the washington journal"we will talk about comments made yesterday by leon panettiere troops at fort benning, georgia. the troops were warned about conduct. we want to get your thoughts on the comments he made. we have special phone lines this morning. you can get in touch with us electronically on twitter - 4 on facebook -- and you can send us e-mails -- host: here is the story we referred to this morning in "the los angeles times." [video clip] >> these days it takes only seconds, seconds for a picture, a photo, to seven the become an international headlines. i know that none of you, none of you deliberately acted to avert your mission -- act to hurt your mission or put your fellow soldiers at risk. you are the best and that is why i am here today. to tell you that i need you, i need your leadership, i need your courage, i need your strength to make sure we always abide by the highest standards. i know that these incidents represent a very, very, very small percentage of the great work our men and women do across this world. i represent 3 million people, 2 million in uniform, it is a small percentage of people. they sometimes make these terrible mistakes. these incidents concern me and they have to concern year and they do concern and our service chiefs. because a few lacked judgment, lacked professionalism, black leadership -- black leadership can hurt all of us and convert all those men and women who serve this country with distinction. they concern us because our enemies will seek to turn them -- these incidents in their favor. at the very moment that they are losing the war. we're host: we're talking about leon panetta's comments yesterday warning the military about their conduct, particularly about incidents in afghanistan. our first call is from stamford, connecticut. caller: good morning and thank you for cspan. i think he was way out of line, making this big deal at fort benning. first of all, it was not regular troops that were causing the big problems that were in the news lately. it was the secret service, the president's guard. this is like the top of the top of the top. to bring this down to the level of regular troops at fort benning is really inappropriate. host: what branch of the military were you in? caller: i was in for six years during the vietnam era. host: this is from "the baltimore sun" -- it's not just the incident that happened with the sequoyah service agents. caller: what about world war two japanese people? there was the bataan death march, how about the people in the middle east cutting the heads of people? this is minor stuff. the urinating, the body parts are not poor. but these are 18, 19, 20-year- old kids. this is not somebody 40 years old that has maybe a little more thought. this was probably something done as a joke to stay within the con fines of the unit. all of a sudden it went virus. host: we will move onto hawthorne, new jersey, also retired. caller: i was in the navy. host: did you spend overseas? caller: yes, in the mediterranean. host: what did you think of the comments yesterday. caller: i think he was right on. he was parking as back to george washington and the policy he had toward english prisoners. basically statements he made to his own troops is that he expected them to carry out the principles that we were fighting for. i think all the way back to that time. we have held the higher standard portrait that secretary panetta was right to bring forth and indicate what disasters can come with the technology we have now. host: quaker town, pa., james also retired, go ahead. caller: been a long time since i have been able to get through. host: what are your thoughts? caller: this is a generational thing. we are post-world war two and i was in the army in the 1980's but did not see combat. we never had to kill millions of people for our survival. all our infrastructure was put in place. you can talk to your father or my father or any father in world war two. my dad was in open now. -- okinawa. our marines got the gold out of japanese soldiers' teeth. if there was a japanese prisoner taken, many of them concealed grenades and so they killed them. they took flame throwers and burned people alive. i remember seeing a horrible episode about how i put the flame thrower in a nursing school. that is part of fire -- fighting fire with fire. host: you are not talking about the behavior changing over the generations of the fact that we can see these things now because of the electronic and social media? caller: that's a good points. no, i think we were tougher people back then. look at the bombing of tokyo. we done to catch gasoline on 100,000 people in one night. we had to do that to survive. we bombed dresden and we didn't really have to. there were a german civilians and we did not care about the holiness of a church. they bombed an historic christian sites. host: let's move on to robert in milwaukee, wisconsin, also retired. caller: i was in the united states marine corps. host: where did you serve? caller: i serve for 1963-1967, two years i was in vietnam. i was a grunt. that first caller was totally outrageous. i believe that panetta is doing the right thing because there is something called the uniform code of military justice. we are all prepped about what lines we can and cannot cross when we are involved in a war. there are some incidences that do occur. in this day and age because of the internet, people have easy access to some of these things. when i was in vietnam, we burned down some hootches, way through somebody's on top of them and put lime on top of them but we were in the war. host: when you were in vietnam, were you briefed by your commanding officers or the nco's in your unit about what was and was not acceptable behavior? caller: i was a noncommissioned officer. i was a sergeant. yes, we were briefed by the upper echelon captain and majors and tank commanders. host: more from the article in "the baltimore sun." back to the telephones. florida, william, also retired, go ahead. caller: sometimes you can see that maybe the stress of the war gets to the guys. they may do stupid things but you also have to remember their respective a person that is deceased must be honored. the greatest conquest will be when we are judged by the lord. keep respect where respect is due. fight when the fight is due. thank you. host: that is william in florida. this is from " the new york times." [inaudible] >> we want to show you more of what secretary panetta had to say in fort benning, georgia. [video clip] >> our enemies are losing on the battlefield. they will seek any opportunity to damage us. in particular, they have sought to take advantage of a series of troubling incidents that involved misconduct on the part of a few, on the part of a few who do not represent, who do not represent the vast majority of those in uniform who serve this country. that brings me to the last point i want to make. i need everyone of you, everyone of you and all of your fellow service members to always despite -- display the strongest character, the greatest discipline, and the utmost integrity in everything you do. host: more discussion regarding those comments yesterday. caller: i'm here. host: you are active duty. today address these kinds of incidences? -- do they address these kinds of incidences? two officers tell you what you are supposed to look for as far as behavior in the field? caller: it is addressed all the time and i disagree with the young person who called in from connecticut. the american people told us to a higher standard. things aso these leaders and as american soldiers. host: what did you think about what the secretary had to say? caller: i think he is right on point because we don't do those type of things. our job is to help protect one another and doing the right thing in other countries. host: have you had experience overseas in afghanistan? caller: yes, sir and dealing with other cultures and countries, not just afghanistan and iraq but other nations. they look up to us to do the right thing and that is what we should be doing. host: our next call is from mike, retired, living in louisville, ky. caller: good morning, i agree with leon panetta's comments. we are not above -- barbarians we have been painted. i was in 24 years in the infantry. i was in the gulf war and panama. we, as u.s. military, we comply with the geneva convention, the code of context at the rules of engagement. regardless of whether things happened in world war two and vietnam and whether some was we have a code of conduct and their rules of engagements of this is what separates us from barbarians. when we begin to display this behavior -- i believe this is a larger problem than what is being reported. host: what are you talking about? caller: as far as the misconduct of u.s. forces. host: you think more goes on and what has been reported? caller: i have a lot of battle bodies -- buddies. we talk with them in the va and we see what is being reported. there are multiple rotations. you cannot have someone who has friends who were killed affected by these battles. they are returning multiply. there is an anger and resentment and retaliation that is being built and this is what is causing the misconduct for you cannot put someone back in a field three and four times i expect misconduct not to happen. that is the main problem. host: here is a tweet -- back to the telephones, virginia beach, va., margaret, retired. caller: my husband served in the navy. my son is currently serving in the u.s. army. host: what did you think about what the secretary had to say? caller: i think he was right on. my son was taught that. host: you need to turn your television down because we are getting feedback. caller: sorry about that -- when the kids go on field trips to and they are little, they are taught that they are representing their school and our country when they go overseas greet when you are overseas and the military, you are representing our country. your also representing god if you're a christian. what do the muslims see when we don't act right? leon panetta was right. the troops are in harm's way when a couple of people cause problems. they make them angry and it scares me. host: more from " the new york times"article -- claremore, okla., jim is retired. go ahead. caller: i want to clarify that i am tired military. i'm not retired. i only served four years. i want to talk about the hypocrisy from leon panetta. what the marines did was wrong but there is a bigger picture that they tried to eliminate people from seeing and it is the little war and the illegal actions of panetta and all of them by bombing innocent people. i think that is a little worse than someone urinating on someone that is dead. the drone attacks are horrible. if we were not there, these people would not be dying. what about hiroshima and nagasaki? i don't believe those people deserve what happens to them. host: we will taken pause from our discussion. glenn thrush, senior white house reporter for politico. he is here to talk to us by telephone. a little bit about the president officials launching his reelection campaign. welcome to the "washington journal." the president officially kicks off his campaign. how'd you find -- how do you define it officially. ? guest: it comes as a surprise to no one that he has been campaigning for the last six months or so. his operation in chicago now has hundreds of people who are mobilized for him. as you know, as some republicans have complained, he has done a lot of these events including a slow them last week that really skirt the lines between campaign and governments. today is the official kickoff. i am at andrews air force base and we will fly to columbus, ohio to columbus state university and onto the virginia commonwealth university in richmond to conclude the day. today is the official kickoff after months and months of actual campaigning. host: 04 the telethon's start lighting up. why those two states and why those two schools? guest: they represent the two pats to victory that obama will have to drive. ohio is the old democratic map the centers around what used to be three critical swing states, ohio, virginia, and florida. florida.nia and virginia is the new kid on the block. colorado, nevada, and new mexico, this is the alternate map which has become a core map for obama. both of these states which are conveniently clustered close together today represent the two paths he will have to go on. host: kind of new school and old school. guest: it goes to show the extent to which things every origin -- reoriented themselves since the 2006 midterm election. without winning the upper south states cover without wearing western states, president obama does not stand a chance. for the first time in a generation, the electoral college map advantages a democrat this time. when you see these polls tightening up and the president is leading, i believe we will see mitt romney surging ahead at various points. the popularity numbers are less important to the map and democrats and republicans think of the map advantages president obama. host: we will talk later with heather smith, the president of barack of the votes. why did the obama campaign decide to start off in two colleges as opposed to other sites, maybe labor organizations are places like that? guest: college campuses in 2008 were really the critical message point for the presidential campaign. there really formed the army, the volunteer army that created this massive grass-roots campaign in 2008. i recall being in iowa and busloads of college kids were coming across the border from illinois and overwhelming the clinton campaign in terms of grass roots. the youth vote in 2008 when roughly 2-1, actually more than that fuel by this massive registration drive. in 2012, we are seeing a different dynamic. in north carolina, a state which has a tremendous amount of universities, there has been a sharp drop off in registration and there are more restrictive voter registration law is crimping the president obama campaign. the polls show that the youth vote is still pretty strong for obama but not as enthusiastic. they really have got to solidify on these campuses and create a sense of buzz and enthusiasm. when young people are not feeling so fired up. host: glenn thrush covers the white house for a politico. last question before we let you go -- for the president, this marks marshaling the troops. is there any coincidence to the fact that he is talking to two colleges at a time when college students are getting ready to leave campus for their summer break? great point.s a i had not thought of that. maybe people are feeling elusi a a little loose. they created this culture. it really was not work for a lot of these kids. it became a social activity. a lot of relationships started from this. there is a cultural component to this, too. host: speaking of relationships -- you wrote on may 3, the danger is new obama book. the author has been reaching out to his old friends and lovers for the past several years. how does this book redefine the self portrait? guest: this is not going to be a blockbuster. there was a book about damaging revelations about bill clinton. this will not become a kind of book. president obama's 2008 campaign was largely fueled by this amazing life story and a biography of himself that he was able to control of being the personification of the american melting pot and a hopeful new vision for the future. the hillary clinton folks said they were not running against a man, they're running against a more. - memoir. these are not great and new revelations. because of the credibility of the author as a historian, he can challenge the vision obama has projected of himself as being this organic force, somebody who was above calculation and politics. the portrait we saw from initial expert -- excerpt released last week shows that he was far from it. he was somebody who in the view of the people closest to him was somewhat aloof, some of calculating, and someone with sort of a steely eye on the future. while that is not a game changer, that pumps up against of obama thathe perception himself. host: you can find his work at politico.com and back here for speaking to us about the official kickoff of the obama campaign. guest: thank you. host: we will have coverage of the kickoff today. the president and michelle obama are in a campaign rally in columbus, ohio and live coverage begins at 12:55 p.m. eastern time and online at c-span.org. the rally is taking place at the value city of arena's center on the campus of the ohio state university. later in the day, we will have live coverage of the president and first lady in richmond, va. for a second obama for america campaign rally and large -- live coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. eastern. the campaign rally is taking place at the verizon wireless arena of stuart siegel center on the campus of virginia commonwealth university. for more information on coverage of those events, you could go to our website, c-span.org. back to our discussion regarding secretary of defense a leon panetta's comments warning military about contact -- about conduct yesterday at fort benning. our next call is from florida, andy, retired military. what branch of the military were you in? caller: i was in the army. i was in during the cuban crisis. host: what did you about what the secretary said yesterday? caller: i don't believe we should go against our troops. i was a rescue worker at the world trade center. i was there three days. i see what these people did to us. i think you should ask the families of these people if it is right to urinate on dead bodies. there was a street in brooklyn called atlantic avenue that was all our of the population. -- arab population. there was they farouk mosque and all the people live here in this country cannot on the streets and were waving flags and blowing whistles. they were happy. we should never go against our own troops. host: let's move on to a council bluffs, iowa, tim, also retired. what branch of the service for your index caller: the marine corps from 1982-1986 and the army reserves from 1989-2004. we are missing the point here. the proverbial dood oo rolls down help. our soldiers are tired and burned out and they have been sent out multiple times. you lose the senior nco's, you lose discipline with younger troops. that is the problem. \here isbeing set up pe that we will be losing troops, troop withdrawals, troop drawdowns, etc. host: called on a second -- there was an item in "the new york times" article. it says general dempsey dismissed one explanation for the episodes that the military is exhausted and stretched to the breaking point. he said the tempo of diplomas to iraq and afghanistan and the style of deployment had disconnected the tradition chain of command. what do you think about that? guest: i agree 100%. we have to stop this talk about drawing down our troops. we need to stop blaming our troops and quit airing our dirty laundry. we have to do with the situation now. the stuff has to be addressed to boot camps. as to be addressed in special forces schools, everything. used to teach senior nco's before they became platoon sergeants and this is the kind of thing we talked about. host: we will move on to joe in salt lake city, utah, retired. caller: i was part of the big red one. you cannot expect people to fight for you and conduct themselves in the proper way when you don't have a defined commander in chief that runs around the country like a rock star, acting like a clueless individual. the troops cannot respect somebody like that, that is why your secret service and