Successor. The pope will not participate. Theres you are surgency to hav pope seated before the holy week. We start with claudio in vatican city. Whens the latest . Reporter hi, toure. Now the countdown is finally started, of course. Well, theres no usually people dont have the chance to see the to know when the end of an end happens because in the past the pope had to die before a new pope could be voted in. This time, we have a date. 28th of february and we got a lot of reaction to the announcement of Pope Benedict xvi that he is resigning. First of all, look at how he well, he abdicated rather than resigning. Lets see how. He did that during a lowkey affair this morning the vatican meeting with cardinals. Wasnt a big deal and he said his speech made it in latin. Not italian or english or a comprehensible language to most people and it was down to somebody from a local press office, local wire agency to actually figure out that he actually said, well look, im going to abdicate. Even the way that he resigned or sorry. Abdicated was kind of low key and he did it as hes done the as hes leaved his pontificate all along. Low key, suited with the personality. So different from john paul ii who was this media savvy loved pope that loved to come out and do big speech and address the big crowds so the pope is kind of going away and stepping aside in a very low key manner as he leaves the whole of his upon tir kate. Shocking but not unexpected hinting in the past that a pope is if he doesnt feel the strength to carry on, he should resign or abdicate in this case. Thank you very much. Here with now contributor father robert barren. Can you put the benedict papacy in to context . Pope john paul ii, massive. This ones different. Whats the legacy in your mind . Well, i think he sees the papacy very much in continuity of john paul ii. They were both men of the council. They were at vatican 2 and contributed and i think both saw an attempt to interpret vatican 2 properly. I would say thats the major contribution of Pope Benedict. He wanted to read vatican 2 as a an evangelical council, a council to get the message of the faith out to the wider world and i think in koont knewty with john paul and thats probably the major legacy. Father, this will kick off sort of the ultimate insider political battle if you will. I can think of nothing less than transparent of the election. Its a cardinal sin to discuss it an theyre told i guess going to hell to talk about what happens in that room. Wow. I wonder if you could just take for sort of the laymen and women out there for the process. What is going to unfold in the week and months ahead to elect a new pope . Of course, this is very unusual. We are not dealing with the death of a pope followed by a period of mourning and a number offer is moans and masses that intervene. Now we have a pope telling us when hes going to resign, namely february 28th. He resigns 8 00 in the evening rome time and then we have a cede of vacante situation. The chair of peter is vacant. The cardinals of the world gather and they have a period of consultation. Were not sure how long that will be but theyll consult with one another. And theyll discuss the future of the church. Then theyll go in to conclave and the conclave in recent years not typically all that long. Go back over history, some quite long. They tend to be a day, maybe a few days but the conclave will take place. The new pope elected and then announced to the world. Whats really interesting about this situation is now we have a resigned or retired pope and that as you say not happened for a long time. But the main process is pretty much as you would expect except we dont have the intervening time of mourning. So father, with all good nontransparent political processes lets speculate on what the result will be. So the largest growth within the Catholic Church has been in the developing world, in south america, actually, the top three countries now. Yeah. For the number of catholics are brazil and then mexico and the philippines. Yet when you look at the composition of the conclave, 60 europeans, majority of the conclave. Is there any chance that we would see a pope who came from outside of europe . Sure. The last couple of pontiff cats we have seen an increased internationalization of the college of cardinals. As you say, theres a dominance to the european cardinals and more and more from other parts of the world and especially the third world. And so, sure. I think thats a possibility. Cardinal turkson is sometimes mentioned. And i think of cardinal maridiago of honduras. Hes mentioned last time. Last time around, a cardinal is mentioned and certainly a possibility and there are a lot of people in the church who realize how much the church has changed and how its growing very much the third world. That might be reflected in the papal election. Well, yeah, father, im hearing that the insider pick is a sort of a safer bet. Angelo scola. I watched last fall because im a dork and the figure of philippine loomed large. Tagle is really thought of as being sort of the future of the vatican in so many ways, both for being an intellectual, populous. The philippines is a big constituency, do you think theres a possibility to get someone like him . Maybe, maybe. Its hard to speculate. Think of someone like in 1978, emerging from what was maybe a bit of a disagreement among the leading candidates and then votima emerges. He was a huge surprise in 1978. Sometimes the expected candidate emerges. Many times the unexpected candidate emerges. We dont know. If i were putting money on it, i think i would get behind Cardinal Mark ulette and hes a very impressive fellow. He was the archbishop of quebec in canada. He would be the first pope from the new world. And i was in rome just about a month ago for a conference he chaired and i heard him go effortlessly from italian to spanish to french to portuguese. So he has that john paul ii ease with languages and knows the church very widely. A seminary rector in colombia, from canada, wide experience in europe and at the vatican. He would be certainly a strong candidate. Hmm. Father, what do you make of this is supposed to be a called by god to this throne and youre generally supposed to sit there until youre gone and your body gives out and a personal reason for saying i can do it no more. He watched his friend do it until he could no longer breathe. What do you make of that personal part of the abdication . Yeah. Its interesting. As you said, it surprised pretty much everybody. I think even the popes inner circle surprised by this move so and its very unusual move as you say. Its not been for 700 years that we have seen this happen. I think in Pope Benedicts case, i think he knew that he was just physically too weak to carry out this punishingly difficult job and it is that. And for someone at that advanced age, i think he said in honesty, i cant do this. John paul had a different spirituality and to carry it through to the bitter end. I think with Pope Benedict it was a rational calculus that this was a job thats proving too much for him and i think he had such respect for the office he felt it wasnt the ideal situation. But again, thats speculative, too. Going on what he said in the statement which is really just that. That he didnt feel Strong Enough to carry on and i think people should realize how very difficult that job is. And for someone whos 85 and increasingly infirm its especially difficult job. All right. Father, thank you very much. My great pleasure. Thank you. Up next, the state of our union is in askegs says toure. We have a preview with a speechwriter. Last night was the recording industrys big night. The best performance hands down, of course, the tribute to bob marley a week after his birthday. Play it [ whistle blows ] hi victor mom . I know you got to go in a minute but this is a real quick meal, thats perfect for two campbells chunky beef with country vegetables, poured over rice [ male announcer ] campbells chunky soup. It fills you up right. White house insiders say to expect more aggressive approach from the president in tomorrow nights state of the union speech. Gone is the olive branch which the president will reportedly now use to draw a line in the sand. His emphasis on the need to continue to create jobs or need to continue to have the Manufacturing Sector expand, that work isnt done so you can believe hell continue to focus on that. While jobs and the economy takes center stage, insiders say to watch for a tighter focus on the middle class, infrastructure and the environment and touched on in the inaugural address and starting wednesday the president will hit the road, takes the message to residents of north carolina, georgia and north carolina. Our next guest was a speechwriter for president clinton. Including four state of the union addresses. Michael waldman is executive director of the Brennan Center for justice at nyu. Welcome. Great to be with you. Whats the strategy behind a more aggressive maybe antagonist kind of message that we might hear tomorrow night . Well, one of the things is that it seems to be working. I think that his inaugural address, for example, was to me the best speech hes given as president. It didnt have some of the drabness and caution of some of his earlier speeches. It said something. And so, i think that if he keeps going with that approach of boldness and ambition it is not that everything he says is enacted in to law but hell be able to make a case to the country and with some vivid colors and strong arguments. And the country wants to hear a lot about jobs which was relatively unmentioned in the inauguration. He mentioned jobs three times and not really in the context of job growth or creation. Do you expect that to be a focal point tomorrow night . You are right one area he talked about in the inaugural was his theory of the role of government and didnt really wade in to the budget fights and the immediate things facing the congress and him on the economy. I think what his challenge is is to kind of make an argument to the public that its really not just about who can cut the deficit more and the debt, who can trim government but whats an Overall Economic strategy for investing now while imposing fiscal discipline down the road where its really needed and thats a case he has an opportunity to make with, you know, with millions of people watching. So one of the changes for the second term in the white house is that the president s longtime speech writer favreau is gone and as somebody there on the inside, what that transition is like from one speechwriter to another, what thats like for president obama or for any president and also in terms of what we see and what we hear as voters, as americans, is there going to be a slightly different voice for obama because theres a new speechwriter . We dont. Its like a favorite tv show and aaron sorkin left the show. Is it going to change now that hes gone or Something Like that . You know, with president obama as was the case with president clinton and most of these folks, its their voice and they are deeply involved in the writing of a speech like the state of the union. Its not as if theyre kind of handed a piece of paper or someone points at the teleprompter and tells them to look. It is a bit of a transition. John favreau president obamas speechwriter in the first term had a close relationship with him going back to the campaign and worked with him and writes. He actually works on a laptop and works on text, you know. It really varies quite a bit. President clinton whom i worked with for many years, he wrote but he especially wrote speeches talking out loud, by trying outlines and whole paragraphs. A lot of what we try to do is capture what he was saying. Michael, i want to hear more about the writing process for a state of the union, how much typically is the president involved and how long does it take . How close to the actual delivering of it is it actually finished . How many people tend to get involved . Because its not like one person writes it and the president edits it. Right. Not a job for a lonely poet. You know . Up in the garrett writes prose. I used to joke the state of the union, we would install a round keyboard in my office so everybody could type at once. State of the union speech is not just about getting applause, it is not even just what the people at home think. Its the governing document, its an agenda for the administration and the president will hope for the whole country so its an elaborate process of deciding what goes in, what policies are significant and then what are some of the policy details so let me give you an example of what im interested in hearing. On election night, and then in his inaugural address, the president said that he thought it was wrong for people to have to wait in line as long as they did in elections and really called for reforming the ramshackle way we run elections in this country and im hoping to put forward some of the ideas for modernizing Voter Registration. That sort of things and can have a big impact in Building Momentum for an issue same with Climate Change, same with gun violence and other things like that. And well michael, we are on the same wave length there with election reform and i understand the Brennan Center put out a study making the case for Voter Registration modernization. Youre the executive director of that organization. Kind what kind of details do you want to see from the president on that issue in particular . Well, i dont think any president is going to get in to all the weeds, i hope, of the details of policy. But and thats an example of making it clear that there are steps you can take to modernize Voter Registration so its no longer a paper based errorfilled system. National standards for early voting and for election administration. Those are the kinds of things that eater in a speech or after that and administration can send a signal. Same kind of thing on Climate Change. I thought the president was terrific not only said we needed to do something but called out those deniers of Climate Change in the inaugural but, of course, his attempt to enact legislation didnt work out in the first term. I would like to know what kinds of things he is thinking and talking about. The goal should not just be what can i get passed in the next six months but lay out an argument to the country of what kind of country we ought to be and drive toward it over four years and again i thought that his inaugural address was so powerful. It suggested that maybe he feels a little liberated by the reelection to do that kind of thing. Does he mention drones tomorrow night . Hmm. I doubt it. You doubt it . I doubt it. He might, though. He might because he might want to make his argument that its kept the country safer. Right. Well see. Isnt his official position, whats a drone . What Drone Program . He will not drone on. Michael, thank you very much. In case you missed that, thats thanks very much. Toure was yelling over it. Here ats msnbc were asking yo to fill in the blank. I say its full of promise. But we want to hear how you finish the statement. Gregory dean says its great political theater. True. Submit your vote. Up next, todays development out of the vatican is just the latest twist of in centuries of secrets. Were spinning on the story everybodys talking about today, next. [ male announcer ] heres a word that could give you peace of mind. Unbiased. Some Brokerage Firms are. But way too many arent. Some of the ones that push mutual funds with their names on them arent. Why . Because selling their funds makes them more money. Which makes you wonder isnt that a conflict . Am i in the best fund for me, or them . Search proprietary mutual funds. Yikes, its best for them. Then go to etrade. Weve got over 8,000 mutual funds and not one of them has our name on it. Why . Because thats not the business were in. Were in the business of finding the right investments for you. Etrade. Less for us. More for you. To compete on the global stage. What we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. By 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough College Graduates to fill them. Thats why at devry university, were teaming up with Companies Like cisco to help make sure everyone is ready with the knowhow we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure americas ready. Make sure youre ready. At devry. Edu knowhow. So the supreme pontiff the abdicating. Gods rottweiler is stepping aside. Technically cant resign. Theres nobody to accept the resignation but the long and short of it is we need a new guy so soon well set until to vatican watch and twice a day smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel as the cardials burn the ballots. Black smoke is no choice yet. White smoke means we have a new pope. Lets spin on it. I really am interested in this process and cant wait for the waiting in the smoke. I remember it in 78 after the blizzard. You are so old. You shut your mouth, lady fingers. Young lady. Its really a thing he wanted to step down and word is wise but anyway. Stepping down because this man ratzinger really wanted to be pope. Thats a great story in the atlantic the year of two popes. Look it up from 2006. Talking about the years he spent inching toward being the pope. He was very close with Pope John Paul and spent years making himself seem like an intellectual massive figure so the others in the vatican look to him as the number two and starting the process, he was considered the favorite to win. You know, i mean, john paul was mr. Outside. Right . He would go out on the balcony. Ratzinger is always mr. Inside. Everybody inside the vatican had Great Respect for him. Im interested to see what happens with this process. Well never know what actually happens inside that room and we know its an election of a very small town and Everybody Knows everybody. You cant out wardly campaign. You cant ambitious but theres subtle ways of campaigning and ratzing ratzinger to benedict campaigned. Steve did all day. Im the right age. Call him now . And the right religion. 42 years. You know, whats interesting to me about this is youre right. You know, benedict is mr. Inside and his election, first of all, there were so many reasons why it was sort of doub