had. the dynasties they had then. i think it's going to be more moderate, but i'm hopeful that it will at least be sufficient. >> hope you notice that healthy greek salad, but it was the last meal on the state of the union budget, so i tried the onion rings, as well. president obama resets his agenda. >> jobs must be our number one focus in 2010. >> and he and his party regain the initiative or will republicans thrive in the election year policy battles. two exclusive interviews we'll talk to robert gibbs and we'll go inside the gop strategy with the senate's top republican, mitch mcconnell. he says president obama finally gets it when it comes to making job creation priority number one. influential labor leader richard trumka gets the last word. this is the state of the union report for sunday, january 31st.

we spend much of this sunday exploring whether this new talk of bipartisanship from the president and his republican opposition will blossom into true partnership or turn out to be more political posturing. the answer matters because so many big decisions looming. the president subout to send congress a new budget and asking for swift action on the job's bill and looking for a plan "b" now that his plan to put 9/11 terror suspects on trial in new york city seems to be collapsing. a man who has even more leverage now in the wake of the gop's massachusetts special election upset. but, first, the white house view. robert gibes is the white house press secretary. welcome. a man with deep experience on capitol hill. before we get to questions a quick, but important piece of housekeeping. this will be my last sunday in

this chair. at the end of this hour a bit more on that and i have the privilege of introducing to you the next journalist with you on "state of the union." sorry, you didn't get the job. >> i didn't necessarily want it. but congratulations to your tenure and good luck in the future. >> thank you, it's been a great treat. >> you don't know anything about the fact that i need a new job, do you? >> i don't. the president has a huge agenda before him. and in the state of the union he said first, second and third should be jobs, jobs, and jobs. how much will a new job's bill cost and how many jobs will it create? >> well, what the president outlined friday in baltimore at a small business was a tax credit that will encourage small businesses to hire by providing them money to pay payroll taxes next year or, i'm sorry, this year. we want to add infrastructure spending, which we know will

create jobs and another part of the president's plan is to take money that the banks have paid back, the big banks have paid back through t.a.r.p. and lend that money through community banks, again, to small business. we know small businesses are the engine that drive our economy and this is the place that will create jobs. we wanted to create an atmosphere that allows those to begin to hire. this bill, as parts of this has gone through the house in december, the president hopes that the next order of business that the senate will take up is this package and we'll see how much -- >> rough overall price tag for a job's bill? >> i think probably somewhere in the $100 billion range. but, john, i think what's important is we know two things about the state of oour union, if you will. one is that jobs are on the mind of virtually every american and, two, that they want democrats and republicans to work together. i can think of no better message to send the american people at

the beginning of this year and the beginning of this decade the americans and the republicans will put aside their differences and work together to pass a tax credit for small businesses and increase lending for small businesses and increase our investment in infrastructure and create more jobs and i think that will be a powerful message to send to the american people and i hope the republicans will meet the senator halfway. >> let me ask you a couple more details. already $500 billion left to be spent in stimulus money, you say you need additional spending on infrastructure? >> i don't know if it's that amount of money that is left to be spent. the recovery act that we saw in the economic figures that were released saturday with 5.7% economic growth and we now have two straight quarters of economic growth that have been preceded by four consecutive quarters where the economy has retracted. economic growth will eventually lead to job growth and that's what we always wanted to see through the recovery act.

but, obviously, we are not creating the jobs that we'd like to and i think some additional recovery and stimulus spending is important in order to, again, create an environment where small businesses and large alike can hire more. >> on the point of creating jobs, you say not as fast as you would like. your critics dispute your numbers. but let's use the administration numbers for a minute. the stimulus act would create or save 3.5 million jobs this year and end of last year. 1.5 million jobs left. if the stimulus by your projection would meet those goals, how many more jobs would it ad add? >> we know this, john, whatever those recovery acts were going to save or create, it would not completely fill the hole that we saw this economy bring, which was more than 7 million people that were out of work. but, you know, i know there are critics that want to say they don't agree with that number. the congressional budget office

which is the score keeper for legislation that has to go through congress agreed with our numbers. but i know this, john, we have a tremendous hole and we didn't get here overnight and we were losing jobs for two years. we have been losing jobs for two years and we have a tremendous hole that we have to fill in. this is not going to do it all. but this is an important first step in filling that hole. >> many people in this town and many people around the country wonder where does heth care end up in this equigz. i know from our ed henry you had a meeting at friday's afternoon in the white house next steps when it comes to health care. something your friend david axelrod said here five weeks ago. >> we're way deep in the red zone and we're right on the one yard line. >> right on the 1 yard line. that was one week ago before the special election. probowl is today and super bowl

is next week. if you're on the 1 yard line five weeks ago, where are you now and where are you next? >> we're still inside the 5 yard line. >> you believe that? >> i do. we're one vote away in the house of representatives to making health care reform a reality. look, the problem hasn't changed. >> the senate, you mean the house. >> well, the house and the senate have passed a bill. if the house were to take up the senate bill, that bill would then go to the president's desk. but, understand this. the problem that millions of families struggle with, the high cost of health care, small businesses that can't offer the same benefit package that they could only a few years ago because of the skyrocketing cost. families fighting with insurance companies to cover their children as these insurance companies say these kids have pre-existing conditions, those problems existed for many years. they existed before the massachusetts election and even after the massachusetts election. you know, if you look at some of the polling that has come out of what drove people's decision in the massachusetts election, 70%

of those interviewed said that they hoped scott brown, the new senator elect would go to washington and be able to work with democrats to make health care reform a reality. only 28% wanted him to come to washington and stop everything and, again, i think, once again, the american people are far ahead of where washington is. i think we can get something done for the american people if we sit down and listen to each other and if we share dwrids and we work together on the pritorties. >> scott brown is willing to work with you, but he doesn't like the existing two bills. the president had a fascinating session on friday up in baltimore. i was in the back of the room and never seen anything like it. the president of the united states on television it was like question time in the british parliament. one thing he said was quite interesting. how he and the republicans disagree on several big issues when it comes to sweeping legislation. the president suggested maybe there is another one. . >> my hope would be that we can look at some of these component parts of what we're doing and

maybe we break some of them up on different policy issues. >> was that a signal on health care? would the president like speaker pelosi to pass the senate bill but get the president the big bill or does the president think, let's test the republicans. if they say they'll work with us, let's break up health care on several different proposals. >> look, john y don't think we know yet the answer on this process of this. but we do know this, the american people want to see that process take place. i think what you saw yesterday or friday the give and take in the open where people can evacuate the questions and the answers that each side is giving. look, i think, you know, the president talked about the recovery act. the recovery act is comprised of about $300 billion in tax cuts. tax cuts that almost, in almost every single instance republicans in congress are for or would have voted for were it not for being proposed by a democratic president. one of the messages he had was,

we may not agree on every single thing, every single word in a piece of legislation, but you can find things that are important for you and make sense for you. there are things that are important for me and make sense for me. that's what legislating and governing is all about. >> let me ask you lastly on this sunday morning. tell the american people what is going to happen. the plan was to put them on trial in new york and the mayor of new york says he can't afford it and weorries about the security issues and republicans and a growing number of democrats in congress say, number one, we don't want american soil and a lot of those lawmakers also say this should be done in the military justice system and not in the federal court justice system. >> khalid shaikh mohammed is going to meet justs and going to meet his maker. >> in a federal court ruling or a military commission? >> he will be brought to justice and likely to be executed for the heinous crimes he committed and masterminding the killing of 3 million americans. that you can be sure of.

>> will it be in a federal courtroom or a possibility the administration will back track on that one? >> the attorney general believes that the best place to do this is in an american courtroom and, quite frankly, i hate to go back to the game plan on this, that's what a lot of people believed. richard reid who tried to blow up an airliner. again, a plot masterminded by khalid shaikh mohammed was tried in boston, massachusetts. zacarias moussaoui was trialed ten miles from here. testifying rudy giuliani who raised it up as the hallmark of the american justice system. i hope you'll ask mitch and others why trying those terrorists in our courts during the bush administration was fine. >> i promise, i will ask him. let me try one more time. no way in new york city and are you sure it will be in a federal courtroom or is it a possibility because of its controversy you will go back to the military? >> where will say this, john, we are talking with the authorities in new york. we understand their logistical

concerns and their security concerns that are involved. we have been discussing that with them. as you know, originally supportive of this. we want to see this man tried and brought to justice in the place in which the crime was committed. we will work with them and come to a solution that we think will bring about justice for those that lost loved ones on such a horrific day on 9/11. and, again, khalid shaikh mohammed will be executed for the crimes that he committed. >> robert gibbs, thank you for coming in. up next, the republican view. mitch mcconnell is here for an exclusive conversation. please, stay with us. thank you. >> thank you. the census helps us know exactly what we need. so everyone can get their fair share of funding. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census he sure is working up an appetite up there. bet you guys are, too. how about some hamburger helper?

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and if the republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the senate are required to do any business at all in this town, a super majority then the responsibility of the government is now yours, as well. just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership. the president didn't name names there, but that state of the union message, some called it a lecture was aimed at our next guest. mitch mcconnell of kentucky. welcome. >> good to be here, john. >> to that point the president called you out in the state of the union address saying you have a responsibility to join him in governing. let's go through some of the issues. he thinks that might be a place

where democrats and republicans can sit down and write a bill. do you share that optimism? >> as long as it creates jobs we're willing to take a look at it. we were responsible for governing before we got 41 votes. we didn't come here to do nothing. the president charts the course and, unfortunately, he chose to go really hard left and made it difficult for him to build any kind of bipartisan consensus in the senate or the house and it's silly talk about having no ideas. he knows that's not true. he admitted it. if the house republican meeting on friday. >> when it comes to a job's bill, you heard robert gibbs talk about tax cuts and tax credits or would you need to go knock on the white house door and say, yes to this. about 100. >> we're willing to take a look at it. it's kind of hard to prejudge it. so far this administration has done best what it's done best is spend, borrow and tax and the

unemployment has gone up. we all have a responsibility to seriously grapple with the question of how do you get jobs created again. two things that we know would help, businesses aren't hiring now in part because they're looking at health care taxes if this health care bill passes and one big step to put this health care bill on the shelf. put it on the shelf and go back and start over. that would be a great relief to american business looking at health care taxes. we know the american public is against the poll. 20-point difference. 20% more opposed the bill than support it, but the health care bill on the shelf. indicate that you're not going to allow all the tax relief that is supposed to expire at the end of this calendar year to expire. that's not a reassuring message. >> let's talk about your side of the equation. the president mentioned it in

his saturday radio address. it would create a commission that would spend a few months studying, how could we cut federal spending and maybe propose tax increases and find some way to reduce the federal deficit. here's the president's complaint. >> this past week 53 democrats and republicans voted for this commission in the senate. but it failed when seven republicans who had co-sponsored this idea in the first place suddenly decided to vote against it. >> now, we want to show on the screen the seven republicans that were co-sponsors and then withdrew their co-sponsorship and mike crapo and john ensign and john mccain of arizona and robert bennett. this is what comes up in my travels all the time, why don't they just play politics in washington, is this just politics as the president says or the same proposal six months ago when they co-sponsored it,

what was wrong with it last week when a president wanted it? >> i discussed this very issue with the president right after he came to office and with his chief of staff. never could get a commitment out of him. in a meantime we have seen a year now they passed a budget that doubled the national debt in five years and tripled it in ten and a lot of skepticism and the president endorses this commission a couple days before the vote and where was he a year ago when we were talking about it? >> why should that matter? i'm sorry for interrupting. yes, the president endorsed it because of political pressure without a doubt. democratic senators weent the white house and said we will not vote to increase the ceiling. if it's a good idea, let's say the president is playing politics and if it's a good idea, why not vote for it. you were here several months ago and you said it was a good idea. >> the greg conrad proposal would set up a base closing type approach for you. point of commission it would come up with a solution and come

to the congress with an up or down vote which would guarantee a result? that's something we can have a bipartisan approach on. i'm in favor of that kind of move to give us the ability to tackle one of our long-term deficit problems. >> and, yet, you voted -- >> the conrad greg commission is not the only commission proposed the other day. we also had a spending reduction commission. the same kind of mechanism but targ lted at getting spending down. the american people are appalled by the amount of money we have been spending this year. the targeted way to do the same kind of commission approach with the brownback proposal that many of us voted on last week. i think that's a better way to go. >> a better way for republicans in an election year because it qud take tax increases off the table. >> no one thinks raising taxes in the middle of a recession is a good idea. have you ever heard anybody say that? i don't think so. we have 10% unemployment.

this commission would have made it possible to raise taxes. if you target the spending problem. look, i don't think anybody in the country has a problem because we tax too little. i think the problem is, we spend too much. i like the commission idea just as i said a few months ago and a better way to do it is target spending. >> you heard robert gib say a few moments ago that he believes khalid shaikh mohammed will be executed. a big debate about where this trial will take place and what form this trial will take. mr. gibbs would not commit. the plan is try him in a new york city courtroom and i was trying to get him to say will it be in a new york city courthouse, he never firmly said yes. where do you think this will take place? >> it is to mention that there were some terrorists tried in u.s. courts. we now know that was a mistake and that was a mistake by the previous administration and the other mistake they made that shouldn't be replicated is

letting too many people go from guantanamo. what should we do? three years ago we passed a military commission for the specific purpose of trying foreigners captured on the battlefield. they ought to be tried in thiz military commissions and they also ought to be detained at guantanamo. i think, john, any community in america is going to object in the same way that new york finally did to these people being put on trial in the united states and civilian courts. >> if you ask the white house about this at high levels they say it's not just the president or attorney general holder. attorney general petraeus says he believes a federal trial at the public courthouse is the way to do it so it's not an al qaeda recruiting tool. the defense department believes a trial in the federal court system is preferably to a closed trial in the military commission and that the cia operatives leading the fight against these guys in yemen, in somalia and in afghanistan and else where also believe that if you did it in a

closed setting in a military commission, it would be a powerful recruiting trool. if general petraeus and others say do it in court, why do you say that's a bad idea? >> i simply disagree and so do the american people. look, guantanamo was not there before they started attacking us in the '90s before they attacked us on 9/11. osama bin laden didn't mentioned guantanamo in his last video. what we need to do is deny these people a show trial. we need to proceed to interrogate them, which you couldn't do, obviously, with the christmas bomber. i mean, larry king would have a more thorough interrogation of one of his witnesses than the christmas bomber had by the justice department. this is really dangerous nonsense. we have a way to do it, john. interrogate them, detain them and try them in military commissions off shore guantanamo from which no one ever escaped. most of the legal experts that

we talk to think it's the best way to do it. >> as the administration continues bring them somewhere in the united states and put them on trial in the federal courthouse your defile to stop them is the funding. would you step up and say, bad idea, mr. president, you're not getting the money. >> the sooner the administration figures out whatever domestic support they had for this is totally collapsing. >> i thank you for that and i hope you will be in the days ahead and maybe you'll see me on the nighttime, as well. the political climate from an outspoken democrat. you're finishing up your term, would you want to be a democrat on the ballot this year? >> no, no, personally, no. >> we'll talk to michigan governor jennifer granhol and what she wants president obama to do about it. having to go in the middle of traffic and just starting and stopping. having to go in the middle of a ballgame and then not being able to go once i got there. and going at night.

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meineke. if you had to pick one state to study the toll of this recession, michigan would lead the list. the highest unemployment rate in the nation. household incomes have dropped substantially and manufacturing jobs, tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have vanished. one of our early stops and we stopped back this week including a visit with the democratic governor, jennifer granholm. >> what is it like to be the governor of a state for 43 months, 43 months led the nation in unemployment? >> it's enormously challenging and people are feeling it so deeply. there is anger across the country. here there is anger that has lasted for longer and people are at the point where it's not just anger but we have to do something about this. we're the poster child of the

global shift in manufacturing jobs. >> in the context of that, the president now says a whole lot of other things we want to, do first and foremost, we need to do a job's bill. let's do a job's bill. as someone who has been in the middle of this storm, what needs to be in it for it to work and work in the short term? >> i know we talked about tax cuts and all that. but, frankly, for us, the most important thing that was said, the thing that got me out of my seat is that he would provide tax credits for those who manufacture in this country and take them away from those who are off shoring. he would enforce trade agreements to ensure we would have a level playing field and export initiative. that tells me and others here that we're going to be making stuff in this country. >> is it overdue? >> are you kidding me, it's like a million jobs overdue in michigan. you know, we shouldn't be in the position where we are giving away the store to other countries. we are allowing them to beat the

pants off of us. in this trade war. we don't even enforce the darn agreements we have sxen the enter into ones that give advantages to the other side. what the heck is that? i mean, it's just crazy to me. >> he is a somewhat weaker president delivering the message now than had that been at the top of the speech a year ago instead of health care. should it have been? should it have been health care a year ago? >> i learn in this job, things transform so much in the course of a year that it's easy to be monday morning quarterbacking. i do know i'm grateful he's taking it on. health care is a job's issue, but, obviously, focus egmore directly on the word jobs and specifically creating the environment for jobs is something that is very welcome. >> the president of the united states is now learning after a year in office that campaigning is one thing. governing is another and when you're president or governor for a while, when you're in charge, you start to get the blame. >> we have this sort of myth of the leader, the super leader

with the cape comes in with a wand and fixes all the problems and understandably people who are hurting want quick results and, so, you're up against those, that level of expectation and frustration, but you have to understand that it comes with the territory. you have to have thick skin and you have to continue to push the boulder. you have to keep at it and not pay attention, not be focused just on polls. >> does washington look any different to you? the fundamental promise whether you forget the economy, health care, iraq, afghanistan, the biggest thing candidate obama promised was is we're going to be grownups and the poison partisanship is going to be gone. a year in, does washington look any different than it does under a president clinton or a president bush? >> from a partisan perspective more difficult to govern but i don't think it's his fault. i think the circumstances in the country have become more partisan. but i can tell you from a governor's perspective, it has been night and day the

difference between the prior administration and the obama administration for us and the fact that we were able to get the largest numbers of advanced battery grants because we have an administration who cared about advancement and technology for electric vehicles. that means jobs for us. totally different ball game. we were able to get investment in michigan for tearing down blighted homes in our urban centers where people moved out. we would have never gotten that under a bush administration. virtually all his policies track with what we're trying to do here. it is night and day from my perspeckive sitting in this chair and i'm very grateful for that difference. >> you're finishing up your term, but would you want to be a democrat on the ballot this year? >> no, no. personally, no, i'm glad i'm not on the ballot at all. i don't want to be an incumbent on the battle. i know democrats have taken more of the heat on this, but, honestly, i think it's incumbents that are really the

endangered species or about to become more endangered. anybody who is in office will suffer the rath of the voter because they want it fixed. and they haven't seen it fixed so let's try somebody new. >> when you travel, especially to places like this. their mayor has cut services and maybe raising taxes and they are sitting around saying, can't pay for college, have to cancel the family vacation and they look at washington and washington doesn't seem to be cutting back anywhere. is that part of the disconnect the president's problem right now. >> hugely important. when the president said he was going to free spending, that's an important step. triage everything to provide the basics to people so you're protecting them, but all this other stuff, forget it. put money where you have to and cut everything else and that's what i think people want to see. >> governor, thank you. >> you bet, thanks, john. president obama finally gets it when it comes to the issues of jobs.

richard trumca gets the last word, next. you help our community get what it needs for the next, oh, 10 years. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census [ female announcer ] most people make resolutions... based on what they see on the outside. ♪ this year, focus on what's inside... and let cheerios help tackle your cholesterol. now you could win a free box to get started.

16 newmakers, analysts and. >> reporter:ers were out on the sunday morning talk show and one gets the last word, that goes to richard trumka president of afl' cio. a year in to this administration, where is your trust level with the president of the united states? >> oh, we have tremendous trust for him. i think he's showing a real sensitivity to working people and he had some real opposition and some real problems to overcome. i mean this president, more than any, came in with two wars going on and came in with an economy that was about to go off the end of the charts and, so, we had a lot to do. we have been working with him and now we have a job of creating jobs, jobs, jobs. that's where we end up with. >> a lot to do, but with labor's

help. not only did president obama come to home the house had 93 seats in the senate and health care reform and the employee free choice act which would make it easier to organize and health care on the sxroepz mr. president of the afl-cio knowing you helped these guys get re-elected and they didn't stand up for you. >> they did stand up for us. the first thing you have to look at is 40 republicans. who absolutely refused to do anything to make health care reform a reality. 40 republicans who said no to anything before you get to any of the democrats. the employee first choice act, john, is not just good for the unions, but good for the economy because it will bring more money in people's pockets across the board so they can spend a little bit more and create an economy that does work for everybody. that is where we're going to go to. i think we'll get health care

done and i think we will get labor reform before this year's up. >> before this year's up? >> i do believe that. if you don't, what happens? i want to ask you in the context of the speech you gave in the national press club. you mentioned a year that most democrats don't want to think about, 1994. >> the politicians who think that working people have it too good, too much health care, too much social security, too much medicare, too much power on the job are actually inviting a repeat of 1994. >> essentially telling the democrats stand up and make the tough votes or you'll lose this november. >> not just the republicdemocra the american people are frustrated, angry and hurting. like you, i traveled around the country talking to them. they want action. they don't want any more excuses. they're tired of it. people didn't say in massachusetts that people

overreached. they said that we underreached. we're telling them. you either get on the program with jobs on a scale necessary to help us put millions of people back to work or you're going to face the rath of those voters in november. that's democrat, republican and independent alike. america is tired of excuses, they're tired of people just saying no and they're tired of not having jobs created. >> you mentioned massachusetts, what happened there? if you look at a poll conducted after that election, scott brown actually won, just barely, but he won the labor vote, the union household vote. 49% to 46%. one thing i know from meeting a lot of your brothers and sisters across the country, they remember late in the presidential campaign when afl-cio and other unions might support john mccain. you can't do this, you have to be with obama. if mccain wins, he will raise taxes on your health care plans and then the president opened himself up to a compromise.

has that decision on health care, how much has that decision on health care. we know it angered your men and women. how lasting is that damage? >> well, it all depends. if they continue the same policies, it will continue to agitate people. look, we told everybody involved, we told the president, we told congress that the excise tax was bad policy and bad politics. it still is bad policy and bad politics. you can't bend the cost curve by taxing people's benefits. you need to go after the providers. we said that. if they continue to advocate that, there will continue to be an adverse reaction. that wasn't the thing in massachusetts that set them off. they voted against people, they voted against coakley because they thought we haven't done enough. that democrats haven't done enough and that republicans hadn't done enough and brown happened to be there. and said i'll do something. and we'll see.

if he does something, then people will respond. >> if you want the president to push a job's bill and circle back on health care and circle back on the right of union workers to organize. the president had this fascinating event friday with the house republicans, not always on your side and many of these issues and the president walked into that room and one thing he hopes to do in the next year is work with those republicans to pass trade agreements that the afl' cio opposes or has serious questions about. let's listen. >> i will be talking more about trade this year. it will have to be trade that combines opening their markets with an enforcement mecicism as well as just opening up our markets. that's something that all of us can agree on. let's see if we can execute it over the next several years. all right. >> all of us would agree on. does that include rich trumka. >> we have always agreed that we need trade. we also agree with what the president said to explain that. that clip that you showed.

we want to export our products, not our jobs. we want to change the tax code to reward people that produce here and then export that product. he's onboard with all that and we'll continue to push him with all that. if all this is is a continuation of the old trade policy whatever party pushes that will pay a tremendous price at the polls. as we said at nafta, it won't work the way you're talking about. even president clinton who advocated the nafta bill now says there's a mistake. we need to make changes. if they just do things the way they did before. it will never work. take columbia. more trade uniiests killed in columbia than any other country in the world. if all we do is pass a trade bill with them and columbia continues on the way it is, you'll see more trade unionists skilled and it's how you advance trade. we want trade, but we want to export products, not jobs. >> we'll continue to watch this

in a monumental year. we thank you for your time today. up next, a powerful look at our travels over the last year and a conversat anchor of this program, the new anchor of state of the union, just ahead. elief moisturizing lotion. only aveeno has an active naturals... triple oat and shea butter formula... that soothes, nourishes and restores moisture. women saw improvement in all five symptoms... of winter skin in just one day. beauty you can see and feel. that's being comfortable in your own skin. aveeno skin relief. and try aveeno baby soothing relief... for baby's dry skin this winter. aveeno. that's the beauty of nature and science.

i have only a few minutes left with you on sundays before i move on to a new challenge. as i do that and end my time on this program, i want to circle back to where i began. when we started this program 55

weeks ago. a lot of talk about what happens in washington, d.c., but what we thought was critical to get out of washington every week to travel the country to listen to you. what issues concerned you and what did you like about what was happening here and what didn't you like about what was happening here. as i say farewell, we want to look back at a 50-state journey that brought us face-to-face with remarkable people and face-to-face with the anxiety and frustration that makes our politics so vulnerable. >> 200 other people standing in the same line. >> 46 million people who have no health insurance is an embarr s embarrassme embarrassment. >> go to college, get a degree so you can get a good job and it's just not working out that way. >> 50 states are 50 very different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. have ask you seen stimulus money

fast enough? >> not a government leader in america that wouldn't want more money to do more things right now. >> you work hard for a number of years, retire, enjoy yourself, relax, unfortunately, no more. >> some of what we have seen over the last year is a reflection of what you see if you can visit 50 states. >> i have a lot of trust in obama. >> he's hiring on people who can't even pay their own taxes. >> i have been real disappointed in the republicans so far. >> it's not just the government, but also just the people in general. we all have to be willing to do a little changing. >> you're learning about how diverse the country is politically, you're also seeing how diverse and breathtaking it is geographically. western idaho is, in a word, spectacular. hawaii is in the early stages of a dramatic energy evolution. clay, west virginia, is tucked into the remote rolling hills of coal country.

more often than not what a place looks like tells you a lot about what it is and what it does. the joy, for me, is in having the privilege and the gift of meeting people. this is kimberly. what's turtle in spanish? there are a lot of very different families and philosophies and ways of life. in washington when you read a report from the labor department, you can look at the numbers and say, wow, that's bad. or you can be on the factory floor in peoria when they tell 2,000 more people at caterpillar, you're losing your job. >> i don't want to be on unemployment. i've never been on unemployment before. >> they're not talking about somebody you can't see, that's me. >> economic anxiety is not a theory. it's a way of life. for a whole lot of people.

>> we have young people come in and say, i'm here, i'm 18 years old, my family can't afford me any more. >> i've been cold, hungry, soaked to the skin and tired and sick. >> even though i'm homeless, i would rather give the last dollar i have to the person i see that needs it more. >> it personalized the pain and worries and anxieties and also personalized the resilience. >> we ran over an ied in afghanistan. i broke the top of my femur and two months later i am able to do some walking. >> what is your ultimate goal? >> to get back out in the fight. >> to see those people and hear their stories means something. >> i came here kind of lost. >> our daughter dates an architect who works at the grocery store at the bakery because he has to survive. >> if you keep in touch with those people over the course of time, it makes you a better reporter because you can

understand what somebody who felt so strongly last year feels so differently now and maybe in five years feels differently again. because the experience of their life, the experience within their community at their workplace and at their schools or watching their children grow up changed them. you need to go it and see it and feel it and taste it before you can even begin to understand it. we made it our goal to touch all 50 states and we did and for sharing your stories i will be forever grateful. when we come back, a special introduction, the new anchor of "state of the union."

sundays are special a time for family, and faith and dig deep into the sunday paper and reflect with loved ones on the issues shaping our lives. to be invited to share those sundays with you this past year has been a remarkable gift and a learning experience for which i will be forever grateful. i will miss it, i promise you that. as i move on to a new challenge monday through friday nights i could not be more proud or more

excited about the future of this program. we have the best political team on television and we say it and we believe it. great teams have great leaders. in that regard our senior political correspondent an experienced reporter and a po poetic writer and mentor and beginning next sunday candy crowley will have the privilege and pleasure of leading our sunday conversation. good luck to you. >> you'll come back here, though, and sit here. >> i will come back. never say no to the sunday anchor. that has been my philosophy for a year. >> i will remember that. >> what do you hope to do? >> have some fun, which i think you did. >> amen. >> and, you know, not just me, but the group as a whole and the viewers. i think sometimes we tend to flatten out our politicians and make them caricatures when you and i know they are actual people with interesting and charming elements and maybe we

can bring some of that out and i hope to continue what you did, really, which was making that connection between people's real fears and hopes and the people who are in charge of seeing whether they can do anything about it. >> they will continue to get state of the union money? >> yes. >> it's a great year to do it because of all the consequenceal elections. >> what a great year to be starting something new, as well. >> i mean it when i say i could not be more excited about the direction of this program. as i say good-bye to this final time there has been a staff that made it possible. the crew on the floor here, the crew in the control room, the staff of young, hungry people who work hard for me all the time, as i say good-bye to them on sunday morns i want them to know how greatful i am. candy will be here next sunday and ever sunday for the first and last word in sunday talk. until then, i'm john king in