2014. The 73yearold saying, quote, its just time to step aside. Harkin has become a leading liberal voice in the senate. He was also a key backer of president obamas 2010 health care bill. President obama meanwhile and outgoing secretary of state Hillary Clinton have given their first ever joint television interview. It airs tomorrow night on 60 minutes. The president in that interview thanked secretary clinton for her hard work. I think hillary will go down as one of the finest secretaries of state weve had. It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. Im going to miss her. A few years ago it would have been seen as improbable because we had that very long, hard, primary campaign. I worked very hard, but i lost and president obama asked me to be secretary of state, and i said yes, and why did he ask me and why did i say yes . Because we both love our country. Congressman paul ryan today is spelling out what he learned from the election, he speak out as the Vice President ial nominee saying moving forward the gop needs to lay out its vision with even more specifics and with a broader appeal. Meanwhile, the Nations Capital today there was a powerful unprecedented show of public sentiment in gun control. The million mom march brought together thousands from all over the country including 100 people from newtown, connecticut. Parents, pastors and gun violence survivors calling for action in the wake of the murders at sandy hook element y elementary. This time we, the people, will act. Were stepping up and this time we will not step back and what its counting on is for us to get the newtowns, for us to forget the Virginia Techs. The march comes one day after Vice President joe biden held a roundtable talk about gun control in virginia. Kristen welker is at the white house and joins me now. When can we expect the president thoims ta himself to take the gun control debate on the road . Reporter i think you can expect president obama to hit the road and talk about gun control in the next several days, if not weeks. The white house has said that he as well as Vice President biden will continue to leave the white house, get out of d. C. And build up public support for the proposals that president obama unveiled several days ago. Of course, those proposals include increasing and improving access to Mental Health services, reinstating the assault weapons ban and limiting highcapacity magazines as well as enacting universal background checks. Common knowledge around here, craig, is that a lot of those have a good chance of actually getting passed through congress with the exception of that reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a tough bill to ban assault weapons this week and even she said it will be a tough uphill battle and there is still fierce opposition in such a ban in congress and throughout the country, the nra has talked about that, as well. On friday, Vice President biden kicked off the Public Campaign to rally public support for the stever gun me stiffer gun measures and senator tim cain. Heres what the Vice President had to say on friday. Take a listen. Its a consequence of what happen happened. [ inaudible ] reporter the group called organizing for action, craig, which is essentially the relaunched branch of the Obama Campaign is also helping out in this effort. They are sending out emails and trying to rally support at the Grassroots Level for stiffer Gun Legislation and this continues to be an incredibly divisive issue and new legislation will be tough to get through both chambers of congress. Kristen welker at the white house, thank you so much. Well check back with you later in the show. Joining me now, christina ballantoni and the congressional reporter from politico. Bank to both of you. Christine, along with big shows of support like todays march and the Obama Administration taking this push for gun control right to the American People, as well. Is the white house are they even going to bother trying to work with congress on this or is their plan to purely galvanize Public Opinion . Its both. Theyll be working with congress on the things that there is support for. A lot of support for Mental Health funding and taking a look at that. The highcapacity magazines is an issue that both congress and the white house keep talking about and expect to see some agreement on that, but it is a matter of taking it to the people and what Vice President biden did on thursday and that was a big deal. He actually took questions from real people and opened himself up for half an hour to questions that doesnt really happen and theyre not doing this on accident. Theyre not going to virginia, for example, on accident either. Theyre trying to galvanize the Virginia Tech community that was struck by tragedy several years ago to make sure they get action on their own behalf. Theres been some talk of violent video games and the president did call for funding to study the impact of those games on young minds, but why has there not been more talk about violence and movies and white house and television from the white house or Vice President biden, for that matter . The Entertainment Industry is very powerful in washington and its got a key ally in the white house. Folks in hollywood have spent an enormous amount of time raising money for this president , helping him get elected and in a lot of ways that influence is seen. The Motion Picture association of america is a very powerful group. Chris dodd, the former senator is ahead of that group. That had something to do with it. Instead, as weve seen, a big push on the gun control issue and less so on the entertainment side, but i think what youll see is initially them trying to double down to the universal background check piece of this because thats the area where they see some consensus particularly on the democratic side. Thats also one of the areas where john six pack sitting at home saying i have to show my drivers license to buy sudafed. It kind of makes sense to be subjected to a background check to buy a gun, as well. Do you think, christina, that the video Game Industry and the Entertainment Industry, are they going to get a pass at the end of this process . I mean, thats a tough question what you define as a pass, but what you are looking at is people preparing to sort of take the heat, particularly in president obamas state of the union and hes not afraid to mention video games sxhooez not afraid to say this is an effort and the nra has said that, as well. So its definitely going to get a look, but this is not a new issue and what manu says is exactly right. You are going to expect a political fight on both sides on this. Gabe rielle giffords will spend more money in 2013, and this will will be a battle. She mentioned the google fireside chat. I want to play a snippet of what Vice President biden said and talk about it on the other side. Take a listen. Im much less concerned, quite frankly, about what you call an assault weapons and im about magazines and the number of rounds that can be held in the magazine, but the point is that the fact that Violent Crime is down and theres been a proliferation of assault weapons, quote, unquote, as was defined up until now on the street does not suggest that taking the assault weapons off the street does not, in fact, make it safer particularly for the folks that are mostly outgunned cops. Is the Vice President , is he already walking back the assault weapons ban . I think its a little bit of political reality. Getting an assault weapons ban is virtually impossible given that the republicans control the house and there are moderate democrats who are very opposed to much stricter Gun Legislation and especially ones who are up for reelection that say in states like alaska and louisiana and theyre not exactly very popular. Theyre trying to be both politically realistic and sort of setting the stage and what they can actually get through, but they also dont want to back down in what they believe in which is to actually, reinstate the assault weapons ban and reduce the amount of highcapacity magazines. So youll see the rhetoric will still be focused on the assault weapons ban and the reality, the white house knows whats politically feasible here. We will be coming back to you in just a few minutes. We appreciate it. Coming up, a health alert. The flu has left millions of us miserable. There are folks that werent at work as a result of this thing. Now theres another microscopic troublemaker on the loose. Also the chair that just wont quit. If you think its gone to the scrap heap, youre just plain wrong, punk. First up, women on the front lines. Well talk to a woman who served in iraq that will talk about what the change will mean for the u. S. Military and what it will not mean, as well. 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With three of your daily vegetable servings so, im working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. No way im like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot . Wherever your business takes you, nobody keeps you on the road like progressive commercial auto. [ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. Now, thats progressive. Call or click today. I fundamentally believe that our military is more effective when success is based solely on ability and qualifications and on performance. Life, as we all know, there are no guarantees of success. Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. But everyone is entitled to a chance. Defense secretary leon panetta there along with chairman of the joint chiefs and general Martin Dempsey lifting the ban on women in combat earlier this week. The decision overturns in 1994 rule that barred women from front line combat roles. I want to bring in retired army colonel jack jacobs and also a medal of honor recipient and he is an msnbc military analyst and an iraq war veteran and an author of love my rifle more than you, good afternoon, kayla. You are, again, an iraq war vet and served in the armys most well known unit, the 101st Airborne Division the screaming eagles and you werent even sure women should serve in combat, why not . Im not so sure that the men i served with were ready. I heard right before we invaded iraq some of the guys saying you dont belong in the military at all and much less in combat zones and i wasnt sure if they would ever be prepared, but once we were serving for a while and i went in combat foot patrols and realized the only thing that mattered was to help them accomplish the mission i started to think, okay, maybe some day down the road eventually things will change and these young guys as they move up into leadership positions having served alongside women in combat they may be ready for this type of change and here we are today. That change is happening. Colonel, here ate thing. Women in combat situations have been a reality for a number of years now. More than 150 female troops have died in iraq and afghanistan. Why did it take so long for the pentagon to recognize the true role of women in these combat positions . Bureaucratic institutions change more slowly than almost anything else in the universe, slower than evolution, and it usually takes a great deal of leadership or some catastrophic event to change them. I think the irony is that the war weve been fighting for the last ten years which as you said, were casualties were the catalyst that changed everything because we decided we werent going to put women in combat units and we were fighting in environments that there are no front lines and everybody realized that there was a difference. Everybodys a target and the ban against women were women if combat all of the time. What are going to be some of the obstacles to put in this plan in place in the military . Of course, there are always administrative and logistical decisions that will have to be made and that will take some time. Women have to apply to be in combat units, and i think some combat units and most notably, special operations and organizations are probably going to have such a high a low selection rate, if not most women would be able to be involved. I think the biggest thing is socialization. People will have to be socialized. Im reminded in 1976 when we had women first coming into the military academy and they said it wont work. Military academies are going down the tubes. Yeah. And here we are, two decades later when women are actually Senior Officers in their own children have gone through the military a dead me, we did very well with indeed, as a result. Something else that mr. Panetta talked about at the press conference, Sexual Assault in the military remains a major problem for the military and general dempsey at the briefing said that the old policy toward women may have contributed to that problem. Take a listen. I believe its because weve had separate classes of military personnel at some level. Its far more complicated than that, but when you have one part of the population that is designated as warriors and another part thats designated as something else, i think that disparity begins to establish a psychology that in some cases led to that environment. Do you agree with that . Do you think the restrictions on women in combat may have created a hostile environment of sorts to women . Absolutely agree with general dempsey. I think the combat exclusion policy formalized womens stat us as secondclass citizens within the military and that that created an atmosphere that tolerated Sexual Harassment. Of course, men and women both experience Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault in the military and women do so at much higher rates and i believe that in the long run removing the combat exclusion policy will go a long way toward improving that atmosphere. When you heard of the announcement earlier this week, what was your initial reaction . Wheres the champagne . I was incredibly excited and i was very close to a number of female veterans and we were texting and calling each other excitedly and it was a tremendous validation and the service of hundreds of thousands of american women in combat including tremendous women like shoshana johnson, the first africanamerican prisoner of war and Tammy Duckworth who lost both her legs serving in combat. This truly validates and vindicates everything that all of these brave women have done serving their country in the past decade. The last thing ill say is that good leaders make good units. It doesnt matter what the policies are. It youre a bad leader it doesnt matter if the policy makes sense and its not going get it. A good leader will make a good unit and this is no different. A good leader will change things. Very quickly, before i let you get out of here, the repeal of dont ask, dont tell. The women permitted to serve in combat roles and whats next for the u. S. Military in term of equal rights and civil rights. The Biggest Issue is what role the military will have in defending the country at a time when our enemies are fragmented everywhere and it requires very welleducated people and i think the next big thing is in my view is universal service. Were not going to be able to defend the country of ten Million People and were an extremely small force and i dont care what the technology. I believe in universal service. A la israel or oh, yeah. Its going to require some logistical changes and it will require a great deal of leadership, but if you have a situation where you have more people in new york city than you had at pearl harbor and you have an allvolunteer force youre outsourcing our defense for a small number of brave young men and women. Thats the next big equal opportunity. Thats fascinating. Kayla, very quickly. Youre a published author now and an outspoken advocate. Ive got to ask you, political future. Are you thinking of running for something, maybe . Perhaps . You know, im not sure that the people are that interested in electing a woman with tattoos, but i am both happy to continue serving our country in as many ways as we can. Weve learn more about you today. Colonel jack jacobs, kayla williams, thanks to both of you. We appreciate it. Im not going ask you where the tattoos were and what they were. You like the restraint there . The naacp joining the lawsuit against the city of new york. Well tell you in the next hour. First, though, quick. Is it a bird . Is it a plane . No. Its a man. New yorks cory booker saving a dog this time. The latest on the standoff between booker and senior statesmen. Youre watching msnbc. The place for politics. To the best vacation spot on earth. all the gulf it doesnt matter which of our great states folks visit. Mississippi, alabama