Down an american movie, Censor An American picture it doesnt like, wrong in not calling him first before buckling before a north korean dictator. This is obama laying it on the line in a Press Conference that signalled all the audacity hes packed into a week since the november election, the deal on climate change, the protective order for people who came here illegally, and including the post of an American Ambassador with the communist government in cube a taking questions from all Women Reporters in todays Press Conference, where will this Obama Audacity take us . Im joined by david corn, and by actor, writer and director sean penn who joins me now by phone. First of all, heres the president speaking about sonys decision to pull the interview, the movie that inspired the hacking. Lets watch. Sony is a corporation. I would agree with the president. I think that, you know, im not speaking as an advocate for the Motion Picture industry or as a critic. But we have to realize this is a genuine emergency, this is the popularization of cyber war and it requires an alternate threshold on the thinking and the language that we use. When representatives of sony deny that they pulled the film and put it on distributors, that its not really recognizing the same responsibility a parent has to drive the show when something threatens their child. In this case, it doesnt matter whether its an individual, a government, or a company, the response of sony should have been to say, well make our apologies later and well put it online open and free for the world to see. So i would say its a copout
popularized taking a weapon and shooting at civilians on the street. It shows the possibilities. Once those possibilities go out into the culture, just like guns, weve got a computer in every household, and this is not technology. This is far from the hands of anyone. Let me go over to david corn. Your view on this as a guy who writes all the time. It does seem to be an easy call. As sean penn just said, they could have gone other routes besides the regal theater chain. Were going to put it on a network. They could have put it out themselves on a website. They could have said we take these threats seriously to the theaters. If they feel they cant have security, well do it another way. At the end of the day, unless they put it out they still can put it out. They can put it out for free. Or set up their own website and anyone who wants to see it pays ten bucks and thats it. If they dont do that, at some point, probably some point soon,
it just sends the message, that this works. Ive heard some conservatives today criticize the president for saying what he did too late, after sony already did what its done. And the question, though, is, is this going to set a precedent or not . Thats why i think its right for the president and for the others to say, we dont agree and try to give them some more spine, give them some support, back them up a bit. And so sony still has a chance to make this right. But theyre engaged now in what looks to be and sean penn, i want to bring you in. Sony is engaged with a dialogue in the north koreans. They thanked them today by saying, thank you for doing what we told you to do. If you keep doing that, dont show this picture, then we wont cause you any more trouble, we wont release any more of the information from the hacking. It seems like theyre almost in league now because theyre being thanked for it, and told, if youre a good boy, we wont bother you anymore. Its an engagement of relations now, it seems. Yeah, i think that sony has made themselves almost irrelevant in whats going to be a much, much bigger and more dangerous story. They might have been the trigger that participated in what was a mistake here. But, again, i think that if we dont take this on, on a United Nations level, if it if we arent waking up and recognizing that what happens once, and recognize that we just got hit by a truck and we cant tell ourselves that we have a mild headache and we can go home and go to bed, because youre going to wake up with blood in the brain. Thats where we are on this cyber war issue. The declaration has been set. Its not even its not sony. Its not even north korea. North korea is the size of mississippi. That can be handled by the mean spirited in a day. And its also that which gets into the minds of a culture with a lot of disease in it. Is there any way the creative community, the directors, writers, the actors, are able to leverage this . I mean, its always dangerous in a tricky career to make demands be on, pay me and put me to work. But is there any way actors or writers could say, youre going to green light this movie, okay, when you green light it, it stays green and no dictator is going to stop it . Do you think theres any chance, or is that too far a hope, that the creative communities will say, im not making movies to be stopped by the bad guys . I think there will be discussions and there will be attempts to put lobbies together on that basis. But i think that the very first
thing that those in hollywood or wisconsin can do is stand up as a country and stand up as a United Country that this be taken in a serious way. Well the me show you more of the president today. I thought it was a firstrate Press Conference. Clarity, and good guys, bad guys, it wasnt the soft line he sometimes has taken before. Here talking about north korea and the sony hacking. Lets watch again the president today. I think it says Something Interesting about north korea that they decided to have the state mount an allout assault on a movie studio because of a satirical movie starring seth rogen and james flacco. I love seth, and i love james. But the notion that that was a
threat to them, i think gives you some sense of the kind of regime were talking about here. They caused a lot of damage. And we will respond. We will respond proportionally and in a place and time and manner that we choose. I wonder, when you make a movie, youve made some really important films, and i was thinking, part of the decision to make a movie is that you want the bad guy to hear it. It isnt just a joke by seth rogen, a satire movie, but it wouldnt bother you a bit to know that the people being satirized hear it and it hurts them and humiliates them. What did you make of the president saying, its a seth rogen movie, its a bit over the top to begin with, that it would scare them . Well, you know, i go back to, i think it was 1997 when martin
scorseses film came out on tibbett and the chinese were in negotiations with disney, who backed down tremendously on the release of that film as a result. And whether or not its the president framing it as a marginalized threat based on the movie, it really goes deeper than all of that to me. I think that when eisner was interviewed and said disney was not in the Human Rights Business, they were in the entertainment business, that he really missed the mark. We are all in the Human Rights Business today, whether in our economy, or in our homes. And i do think that sony does have an opportunity now to do something heroic, but more importantly, i think that moscow and beijing and washington have something to do thats very important. Because this is something that threatens all governments, all
corporations. It calls into question, you know, where we divide our capitalism and our recognition of human rights, and i think its a really, really big historic moment. And if its not taken by the reins by some brave people, well be heading into a world that we never imagined. Sean, thank you for coming on and for the great work youve done, all the greatest performances, dead man walking, every one seemed like it dealt with an important issue and you were on the right side. Thank you very much and thank you to david corn. Coming up, President Obama in his Press Conference, it was kind of a Press Conference, not the idiotic swagger of w. It was real, it was human. This is a changed president , a confident president. You can see it in the way hes talking and acting. If you watched it today, you may have noticed that the president
made some history today. He called only on Women Reporters. Didnt mention it. I noticed it halfway through. Somebody called it to my attention when we were covering it live. More on that decision in a minute. And this is hardball, the place for politics. My baby drove up in a brand new cadillac. My baby drove up in a brand new cadillac. Look here, daddy, im never coming back. Discover the new spirit of cadillac and the best offers of the season. Lease this 2015 standard Collection Ats for around 329 a month. L today Sony Pictures released a statement that said the studio did not cave to the threats from the hackers. The studio says that when theater owners refused to run the movie, they had no choice but to pull it. Well decide. The statement adds that the studio is surveying other platforms in which to release the film. Ill believe it when i see it. Well be right back after this. Thank you. Ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. I order b14. I get b14. No surprises. Buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster White Knuckle thrill ride. Youre promised one speed. But do you consistently get it . You do with comcast business. And often even more. Its reliable. Just like kung pao fish. Thank you, ping. Reliably fast internet starts at 89. 95 a month. Comcast business. Built for business. Hello, everybody. We really got a full house today, huh . Well, all i want for christmas is to take your questions. Well, since the midterm weve seen there again a
selfconfident forwardleaning president. And in todays final Press Conference of the year that he hopes will capture the year, he commanded the room, ticking off his accomplishments. Here he is. All told, over a 57month streak, our businesses have created nearly 11 million new jobs. Americas now the number one producer of oil, the number one producer of natural gas. Our rescue of the Auto Industry is officially over. Weve now repaid taxpayers every dime and more of what my administration committed. Weve created about half a million new jobs in the Auto Industry alone. About ten million americans have gained Health Insurance just this past year. Were leading the coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. And in less than two weeks, after more than 13 years, our Combat Mission in afghanistan will be over. There he is talking about his successes. Joining me now, washington
bureau chief for usa today. And from National Urban radio. Well have you on to talk about your book, april, if youd like. April, you were there today, and i want to know what the reaction was from your male colleagues to the fact that not one i could be a male and say, why did you invite us if you werent going to let us involve ourselves in the q a process, mr. President . Your thoughts and feelings. You know for one thing for sure, in this town, its a white, male dominated town. I know for a fact. I just walked out of the white house and the press area. Many of our male colleagues have been going into the Press Secretary very upset that they were not called on today. But let me say this to you. As a woman, as someone whos been covering the white house, its nice. And someone who sits in the third row, not the first row or the second row, but the third row, its nice to see a change of pace. And from some of the white house sources that i talked to tonight, apparently there was a plan not to go this is not the first time, but not to go to the networks. This is not the first time that this has happened. They said, okay, since we see weve got a lot of women in the audience who are really good at what they do, lets call on the women. So he didnt call on you. Yes he did call on me. You demanded chris, i raised my hand like a reporters supposed to. Why dont they have the old tradition of reporters waving their hands and the reporters get the attention of the president. I raised my hand. That started during the bush years, like a good reporter is supposed to. Who else raised their hand besides you . I dont know. I didnt see behind me. Anyway, good for you. And how would you describe the mens attitude . We were they whining or bitchy, the fact that they didnt get called on . Let me tell you something, the cameras on the front row, theyll keep cool. But behind the scenes, theyre not happy. Phone calls are being made. But theyll be cool. Youll always see a cool demeanor, but they are not happy with it. What do you think of that, susan . I didnt even notice for the first six or seven, then somebody pointed it out and said, its all women. And hes going to keep this up. And he went to the end and i think clearly they had a plan to do this. Whats the point . A little mischief. Why not . Whats the purpose of this thing . What was the quality of the questions . I have to tell you sounded pretty good to me. I have to tell you, i didnt notice anything was going on. In fact, i wouldnt have noticed they were all women. So thats a great thing. Lets talk about the president today. April, you cover him all the time, and susan. Theres Something Different about the president. I wouldnt call it swagger, because i hate it. Some president s being like w. Swagger sitting down, i dont know how they do it, but they do. The french word i like is alon, a quiet selfconfidence in the president. He didnt have before this election. Something liberated this guy. I dont know if it was liberation, but i think it was more so what he had to present to america, an optimism. Because they got a shellacking in november. And he had to come out, everything is changing, im optimistic, we are americans, we can fix problems. Thats what he said to the end, we can fix things as americans. So i think he wanted to come out with an optimistic tone, looking forward to the positive. And one thing that i took away was when he said with the democrats and the republicans, the fight, he said, yeah, there are fighting, but there are things that we also agree on. So hes looking to the positive in 2015 in closing out 2014. How did you react to him talking about the quality in fact, lets watch him respond to you. Okay. I actually think its been a healthy conversation that weve had. These are not new phenomenon. The fact that theyre now surfacing, in part because people are able to film what have just been in the past stories passed on around a kitchen table, allows people to, you know, make their own assessments and eflgdss and youre not going to solve a problem if its not being talked about. Did you buy the fact that people and Race Relations . I saw his optimism and his hope. You have to remember, when you talk about race in this country, the president did get it right. This is centuries old. Centuries. And it stems from slavery. Went to jim crow and its moved on. Its not just a legislative issue. Its a heart issue as well. I do think people want to see a better day, but are there still vestiges and residue of the past . Oh, yes. As a reporter, i did like the fact that he did kind of change his answer. Because i asked him six years ago this month, in the oval office about the state of black america, and he harkens to Charles Dickens talk about the the best of times and the worst of times, yeah. Yeah. For African Americans who have a good education, its a good time. But for those who dont, its unemployment and lack of opportunity. When he talked about black america, as well as all america is better in the aggregate since
his administration, it was interesting to hear that versus six years ago this month in the oval office from my interview that i had with him. Thanks so much. You know, one thing that struck me about his answer was how much different just Cell Phone Technology makes. That picture, the video of eric garner makes all the difference in settling the he said he said debate. It makes all the difference for people who might have denied what had happened there. There was no denying it. I dont know anybody that thought that was a proper decision. Sometimes you have to have a trial before a jury before a thank you. I raised my hand, chris. By the way, i love the weather today. Did you like the weather today . It was okay. See, you have to disagree with me. [ laughter ] i proved it now. Every time i say something, this reporter has to find a different conclusion. Anyway, its style. Thank you very much. Coming up, a new biography
of john f. Kennedy jr reveals new details about the relationship with his mother Jacqueline Kennedy. The author joins us next to talk about a little bit of glamor here in politics. And this is hardball, the place for politics. I got it. Now jump off the bridge. What . In 3. 2. 1. Are you kidding me . Go. Right on time. Right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. We call that predictable. Thrillingly predictable. Right now, you can get a single line with 3 gigs for 65 a month. 3 gigs. Is that a lot . Thats about. 100 app downloads, 45 hours of streaming music, and 6 hours of video playing. singing and five golden rings ha, i see what you did. singing four calling birds. Three french hens. the guys starts to fizzle out two. Turtle. Doves. I really went for it there ya you did. You really, really did now get 3 gigs of data on one line for 65 a month. Switch to at t, buy a new smartphone and get 150 credit per line. Intbladder leak protection. Ant new always discreet underwear for sensitive bladders from always, the experts in feminine protection new always discreet underwear absorbs heavy Bladder Leaks faster than the leading brand, so you can feel comfortably dry. Plus always discreet has a discreet fit that hugs your curves. You barely feel it. New always discreet underwear. Now Bladder Leaks can feel like no big deal. Because, hey, pee happens. Get to the terminal across town. Are all the green light