[ music ] [ theme music ] cenk welcome to the the young turks. I think there was a little bit of a political event the inauguration of the president. Of course, how did it go . Well give you both sides. Obama my fellow americans we are made for this moment, and we will seize it so long as we seize it together. Cenk oh, together with the republicans. No, some good moments and not so great moments in the speech and over all day well give you all of that, and there was one person who was definitely not happy with what went down. His brother dr. Cornell west. When i got the news that my dear brother barack obama president obama, was going to put his hand on Martin Luther king jr. s bible i got upset. Cenk why did he get upset . Well explain. And lupe fiasco. A wrapper weve had on the show. They were not happy with him either. He was thrown out of a party. For this. [ music ] cenk is he right . Practice the partywere the partyers right . Thats what we discuss on this show. Thats exactly why its go time. Cenk you know how these inauguration events go. Theres a lot of talk about this is the moment. In fact, give me a moment here. Oh there it is. There is the president and first lady walking down the street. Now, this always makes me nervous. God bless them for walking down the street. At some point you got to get in the car. It makes everybody in the country nervous. Its great that theyre walking along and great that there was a lot of security. Now, of course there was some good moments in the speech. First as always president obama trying to hit that middle ground. We have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority. Nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all societys ills can be cured through government alone. Cenk as usual, i like government but not too much. There were great moments in the speech. Including this one. Obama we the people declared today that the most evident of truths, that all of us are created equal. Its the star that guides us still just as it guided our forebears through seneca falls and just as it guided all those women sung and unsung who left theirs footprints here on washington mall, to hear a king proclaim that our inextricable freedom. Cenk he connected it to the civil rights and womens rights m. That was a moment today and one you should soak in. There were moments that i thought werelets just put it this way ironic. Obama this generation of americans has been tested by crises that test our resolve and prove our resilience. The decade of war is just ending. Cenk only if it were so. There was recently a statement put out that basically the war on terror will continue indefinitely at least for another ten years but probably much longer than that, and by the way we had another drone strike in yemen today as president obama was saying that the war is coming to an end interesting. And then here is the issue of politics and the central theme of the campaign. Remember how paul ryan and mitt romney talked about the takers . Well the president addressed that. Obama we recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives any one of us at any time may face a job loss or a sudden illness or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through medicare and medicaid, and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative they strengthen us. [applause] they do not make us a nation of takers. They free us to take the risks that make this country great. Cenk see, that right there is the moment of the speech. Because if you listen to it, it sounds great. If he follows through and protects medicare, Social Security and medicaid fantastic. Thats why he won the election, and hes repeating it again. But look at the reaction. In the middle of that speech hes negotiating with the republicans on possibly reducing Medicare Medicaid and possibly reducing Social Security. Ill judge him by his actions not on his words, even though they were great today. Final one classic president obama, and what he emphasizeed throughout the campaign, for better or for worse, i like the words. Lets see if he follows through on action. Here he is again. Obama fidelity to our found founding principles requires new responses to our new challenges, preserveing individual freedom ultimately requires collective action. Now more than ever we must do these things together as one nation, one people. My fellow americans we are made for this moment, and we will see so long as we seize it together. Cenk this moment, i hope so. I hope we can seize it together. The republicans, of course, have not always been willing to work together. Thats not how president obama deals with it. Thats an interesting topic one that well discuss not only today but throughout, and the president on a goodnews front has a new strategy which is not to rely on the republicans so much. Here, here on that. Well bring in a couple of experts, Michael Shure, our own epics politics man and joe williams dc reporter and commentator, its great to have both of you guys on. Joe, let me start with you first. What is your over all take on the speech. Does it show that the president is going to be more aggressive in his second term or is it the usual stuff . I think it signals that hes going to be more aggressive in the second term. You heard him mention some things that we havent heard him talk about before. He talked about Climate Change. He talked about voting rights. He also talked about trying to protect the elderly and the most vulnerable. These are things that we heard from the president long term but we have not heard them talked in a way in a national address. Weve seen emails go out to campaign supporters. Theyre trying to organize america into an action committee, and hes relying on legacy, the one thing that he had not had to consider in the last two years or last four years over his first term. You know, joe thats a good point. He mentioned all these things that are really positives for progressives. You have gay rights. You have the issues you were discussing and you also add immigration. For both of you lets lay play a clip on immigration throughout the street. Obama our journey is not a better way until we find a way to welcome the striving those who still see america as the land of opportunity. Bright young engineers in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Cenk michael, were in the situation where the words do seem good, and they do seem positive, but ive also seen progressives throughout today saying well, its nice, but weve heard these words before. Are we going to get action . Well, cenk, i couldnt help but watch the inaugural speech and think what are you going to say, cenk. This is not so bad. Im very proud of you. Cenk thank you. To answer your question a little bit there is a backdrop to this speech. The backdrop to this speech is the fact that he was strong on the debt ceiling and has been strong on the debt cereal something far. He was strong on gun rights. He came out worried about legacy and hes going to build the legacy through strength. I understand why people are dubious, but this was a magnificent speech in that it was about we, other people. You talk about immigration you talk about a poet of cube an disaccidentdissent who is gay. He talked about stone wall and seneca walls and selma benchmark historical moments for women, black americans gay americans, this was a spectacular speech because of that. It is words but i think hes starting to see the we in this and he wants to lead all of us. Cenk i saw your tweet from earlier saying if this was for mitt romney you wouldnt here about seneca or selma thats a good point. Here is a clip that sounds perfectly good but there is one big issue if you ask me. Lets watch it together. Obama we must act knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act knowing todays victories will only be partial, and it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40 years, and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare philadelphia hall. Cenk by itself thats perfectly good, and there are a lot of partial victories and rome was not built in a day. Im afraid president obama will get a couple of partial victories and ill let the president 400 years from now handle it. Tell me im overreading into it. Joe, step in. Okay, youre overreading it. No, i think what you have is a veryyoure absolutely right. There are some partial victories. There are a lot of half measures we saw in the first term, the Affordable Care act being front and center for progressives, and the Biggest Issue why theyre cynical about the second term. But you have two things here that you didnt have back then. The first is a president with a second term agenda where he doesnt have to worry about half measures. The second thing is you have a got a president who is been educated, some say through a hard way through an intransijent congress one who is figuring out how to use the leaver levers of power. One thing that struck me when looking at the people at the mall and going back and forth living to the inaugural address was how diverse it was and how enthusiastic it was. And people were estimated 600,000 to 800,000. Thats a lot of people. Thats a lot of power to put behind tim. He used it on the debt ceiling i expect to see him use it going forward. Cenk it is about the start and they are right about executive orders especially on Climate Change. Thats exactly what were going to talk about in the next segment. Well talk about the new president obama taking executive action. Well discuss that when we return. Obama some may still deny the overwhelming science but no one can avoid the raging fires, crippling drought and more powerful storms. They dont know it yet but theyre gonna fall in love get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married theyll find some retirement people who are paid on salary not commission. Theyll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. [ voice of dennis ] allstate. With accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. Are you in good hands . We have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. vo current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. You are. The troops love me. vo tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. Just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. The sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Cenk were back on the young turks. The better moments during the speech for president obama was when he talked about Climate Change with stronger words than expected. Lets watch some of that. Obama we will respond to the threat of Climate Change knowing thatthat not to do would threaten our children and future generations. [applause] some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms. Cenk well, i wouldnt say noncodeny it. Im sure some of the republicans can defly it, but it was great to see him mention that and push that agenda forward. Of course hes right. We have the hottest year on record by a significant amount. You have a summer drought that covered 65 of the u. S. We have a mississippi drought significantly challenging commerce in the area. We have record low arctic sea ice. We had Hurricane Sandy and the National Climate assessment report says this, quote, summers are longer and hotter and periods of extreme heat last longer than any living american has ever experienced. Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours though in many region there is are longer dry spells in between. Obviously the news is not good. Thats a combination of over 100 scientists that agree to that. That report is coming out soon. Lets bring out an expert, michael brun. I take it youre going to one of the balances. I am, cenk, thank you for having me on the show. Cenk no problem. Maybe you got dressed up for us, which would be awesome. You would be the first. All right, lets talk about the president s speech on Climate Change. Let me give you one more clip, michael, and get youre assessment of this. Obama the path towards Sustainable Energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But america cannot resist this transition. We must lead it. We cant cede to other nations the technology that willpower new jobs and new industry, we must claim its promise. Thats how we will maintain our Economic Vitality and our national treasure. A forest and waterways our crop lands and snow capped peaks. Cenk so michael, first off were you encouraged by these portions of the speech . Yes, i was encouraged. I was inspired. I thought it was a great speech. You know, i thought what the president did really well was he talked about fighting climate disruption both as moral obligation, but he also pointed out that transitioning to clean energy is a great economic opportunity. Its not just an obligation that we have for future generations. Its an opportunity that we have right now to move beyond dirty fuel. I thought the president did a great job. Cenk all right michael, we know that it wasnt just words in this case, because the New York Times with a story about how the president is going to take executive action. Let me give a list of some of the things hes going do. Reduce coal emissions from coal power plants and then get applianceapplyefficiency as he has done with automobiles, and then reduce military emissions and capital capitalize on the gas boom. How are you encouraged by those moves . I think almost all those moves are really good. What we need to do in almost every sector of the economy is move beyond our dependence on fossil fuel and invest in in clean energies instead. Every time we do that well put more people to work, well cut emissions, and well keep our air clean and water safe. If we keep jesting in dirty fuel projects whether its the tar sands from canada or the coal in the Pacific Northwest or fracking in west virginia, ohio and mission. Michigan. The more we do what were doing the more well stay stuck in the fossil fuel economy. Cenk you mentioned the sand stone there. When you hear a speech like the president made today it becomes clear that hes committed to fighting Climate Change. The first test, the first big test that the president will have is whether to approve or reject this pipeline. Im confident that hell reject it. I really am. You simply cannot be committed to fighting Climate Change and then simultaneously invest in the most dirty carbonintensive oil source on the planet. This is the first test for the president whether he or not hes invested in Climate Change. If you believe the sincerity behind what he was saying then you got to believe that hell reject this pipeline and show his true commitment to clean energy. Cenk here is the question. If the president approves the pipeline and then says guys, be cool im doing all these executive orders for the things you like, so lets just play ball what will be the reaction of the sierra club . It wont work. Lets get real. We have to get real here. You talked at the beginning of the show about how Climate Change already has contributed to record wildfires. Twothirds of our country was facing severe, crippling drought. We have had super storm sandy a thousand milediameter hit the coast. That is just one degree of warning. We could see four, five, six degrees in this century. We cannot be committed to fighting Climate Change and stabilizing our climate and simultaneously investing in massive fossil fuel projects. When we say this is a test of the president s commitment, we mean it. The sierra club and all of our allies are putting enormous resources into this fight to show the president that we have his back when he invests in if clean energy, and we are not going to stand for any more massive investments in fossil fuels that take us way back from where we need to go. Cenk michael, my main question here is what happens if you gives you half a loaf again . What we want to do is challenge and support the president to achieve his climate agenda. On february 17th well be mobilizing Sierra Club Volunteers and members. Were working with phil kibbet and 350. Org. Were bringing to washington, d. C. Tens of thousands of people to show president obama that were committed to action on Climate Change. We believe hell reject the tar sands pipeline. We believe hes sincere in his commitment to clean energy. I can talk after the president makes his decision on this about what the consequences of that decision will be but well put everything that we have into this fight to make sure that my kids all of our kids and grandkids can grow up on a planet with a stable climate and were determined to succeed and we believe we will. Cenk really interesting conversation, and im curious to see how things are going to go down the road, if president obama rejects the Keystone Pipeline everyone will be happy and along with the executive orders it will seem like we have a new president obama than the one we had in the first term. That will be positive, and thats what were rooting for here. If he doesnt then were going to have a really interesting question and i would love to see your reaction then as well. Thank you for joining us on the young turks. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. On your show. Cenk when we come back, tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of roe v. Wade. Were going to talk to one of the last abortion doctors in the state of mississippi. Doctors who perform abortions in mississippi must be Board Certified obgyn and also have privileges at local hospital to admit patients if necessary. The pomp, the circumstance the insight and analysis. Current tv presents the president ial inauguration plus insight into obama