00:00:15 Tell me when you guys are ready.

00:00:16
00:00:23 We announced we were going to be talking to
you.
00:00:26
00:00:26 Yeah.
00:00:27
00:00:27 And we said on the internet send us some
questions.
00:00:31
00:00:31 Right.
00:00:31
00:00:31 Because we want to have a dialogue.
00:00:33
00:00:33 Yeah.
And we'll ask the president.
00:00:36
00:00:36 And the internet blew up.
00:00:38
00:00:39 It was incredible.
00:00:41
00:00:41 I do a lot of environmental pieces and
whenever I do an environmental piece,
00:00:45
00:00:45 out come the box, out come the eggs, you
know on Twitter.
00:00:47
00:00:47 Right.
00:00:48
00:00:48 Because there's all kinds of negative
stuff-.
00:00:50
00:00:50 That they want to caused up.
00:00:52
00:00:52 That's every day for you.
00:00:53
00:00:53 Yeah.
00:00:53
00:00:54 How do you do it?
00:00:54
00:00:54 How do you handle the, the controversy,
the negativity?
00:00:57
00:00:57 Yeah.
00:00:58
00:00:58 Why be pres-, it's, are you a masochist?
00:01:00
00:01:02 You know, l, l, let me tell you, this is a
fun job.
00:01:06
00:01:06 Right.
I, every day I wake up and
00:01:11
00:01:11 I get a bird's eye view on what's going on
everywhere in the world.
00:01:14
00:01:14 Hm.
00:01:15
00:01:15 I can have as much of an impact
00:01:18
00:01:19 on the things that are important to people
as anybody on the planet?
00:01:24
00:01:24 Right.
You know,
00:01:25
00:01:25 if you're applying yourself steadily every
single day to
00:01:28
00:01:30 the job and you're keeping your North Star
which is,
00:01:35
00:01:35 when I leave this office I want things to
be a little bit better.
00:01:38
00:01:38 Then the day to day criticism, the
chatter,
00:01:42
00:01:42 the noise, is something that you end up
blocking out.
00:01:45
00:01:45 And the longer you're in the job the more
you're likely to take the long view.
00:01:49
00:01:49 Let's take something like climate change.
00:01:53
00:01:53 Let's.
00:01:54
00:01:55 We just got back from Antarctica and
Antarctica is melting,
00:01:57
00:01:58 Greenland is melting as fast as they can.
00:02:00
00:02:00 Sea levels are rising, yet many people are
putting their head in the sand.
00:02:05
00:02:05 It's right over the hill, Shane.
00:02:06
00:02:06 Yeah.
Pine Island and
00:02:07
00:02:07 Thwaites are right over the hill, 100
miles from here.
00:02:10
00:02:10 Yeah.
00:02:10
00:02:11 All that ice, it's just a matter of time,
is going to fall down to sea.
00:02:15
00:02:16 If I can change how the country thinks
about this.
00:02:20
00:02:20 Mm-hm.
As, as a serious, immediate threat.
00:02:24
00:02:24 Not some distant vague thing.
00:02:26
00:02:26 Which is crucial.
00:02:27
00:02:27 If I can encourage and gain commitments
from the Chinese
00:02:32
00:02:32 to put forward a serious plan to start
curbing their greenhouse gases.
00:02:38
00:02:38 And that then allows us to leverage the
entire world for
00:02:42
00:02:42 the conference that will be taking this
place this year in, in Paris.
00:02:45
00:02:45 And if I'm able to double fuel efficiency
standards, and if I'm able to
00:02:50
00:02:50 make appliances more efficient, and to
double the production of clean energy.
00:02:54
00:02:54 If I'm able to do all those things now,
when I'm done.
00:02:57
00:02:57 We're still going to have a heck of a
problem, but
00:02:59
00:02:59 we will have made enough progress that,
the next president and
00:03:03
00:03:03 the next generations can start building on
it, you start getting some momentum.
00:03:06
00:03:07 Which is rational, sane
That's a great answer,
00:03:11
00:03:11 however
Yeah.
00:03:13
00:03:13 You have people.
00:03:16
00:03:16 For example Senator Inhofe whose whose
throwing snowballs,
00:03:21
00:03:21 whose saying the greatest hoax perpetrated
on the American
00:03:25
00:03:25 public is that we can do anything about
climate change or that it's even real.
00:03:28
00:03:28 Senator from Oklahoma.
00:03:29
00:03:29 We keep hearing that 2014 has been the
warmest year on record.
00:03:35
00:03:35 I asked the chair, do you know what this
is?
00:03:37
00:03:37 It's a snowball.
00:03:38
00:03:39 And, that's just from outside here.
00:03:41
00:03:42 So it's very, very cold out.
00:03:44
00:03:44 Very unseasonal.
00:03:45
00:03:45 So here Mr. President, catch this.
00:03:47
00:03:47 Throwing a snowball would be funny-
Yeah.
00:03:49
00:03:49 If it weren't for
00:03:50
00:03:50 the fact that he's chairman of the Senate
committee on the environment.
00:03:52
00:03:52 That's disturbing.
00:03:54
00:03:54 So you have a very sane and rational plan,
but
00:03:58
00:03:58 we're not acting in a sane and rational
way.
00:04:00
00:04:00 Yeah.
00:04:01
00:04:01 Well I, and I, I, I'll tell you.
00:04:03
00:04:03 Climate change is an example of the
hardest problems to solve,
00:04:10
00:04:10 the hardest thing to do in politics and in
government is to make
00:04:14
00:04:14 sacrifices now for a long term payoff.
00:04:19
00:04:20 But here's, here's what keeps me
optimistic.
00:04:23
00:04:23 Is, you talk to Malia and Sasha, you know?
00:04:25
00:04:25 Mm-hm.
16 and 13.
00:04:26
00:04:26 Mm-hm.
00:04:27
00:04:27 And the sophistication and awareness that
they have about environmental issues,
00:04:32
00:04:32 compared to my generation or yours.
00:04:34
00:04:34 Yeah.
00:04:35
00:04:35 They're way ahead of the game.
00:04:36
00:04:36 There's always gonna be resistance to
change.
00:04:40
00:04:40 And some of that is gonna be generational.
00:04:43
00:04:43 I guarantee you that the Republican party
will have to change it's approach
00:04:48
00:04:48 to climate change, because voters will
insist upon it.
00:04:52
00:04:52 The challenge on something like climate
change is,
00:04:54
00:04:54 there comes a point of no return.
00:04:56
00:04:56 Mm-hm.
00:04:57
00:04:57 And you do have to make sure that we get
at this thing quick enough and
00:05:03
00:05:03 with enough force, to be able to make a
difference.
00:05:06
00:05:06 Why is the resistance so strong?
00:05:07
00:05:07 Well some of it's economic.
00:05:09
00:05:09 If you poll folks, they're concerned about
climate change.
00:05:13
00:05:13 But they're more concerned about gas
prices.
00:05:15
00:05:15 Right.
00:05:16
00:05:16 You can't fault somebody for being
concerned about paying the bills or
00:05:20
00:05:20 being able to fill up your tank to get to
your job.
00:05:22
00:05:22 In some cases, though, you have elected
officials who are shills for
00:05:26
00:05:27 the oil companies or the fossil fuel
industry.
00:05:31
00:05:31 And there's a lot of money involved.
00:05:33
00:05:33 Typically in Congress the committees of
jurisdiction, like the energy committees,
00:05:39
00:05:39 are populated by folks from places that
pump a lot of oil and pump a lot of gas.
00:05:45
00:05:45 In our research the environment or
00:05:46
00:05:46 global warming is the number one issue
for, for Gen Y.
00:05:51
00:05:51 But another issue is dysfunction.
00:05:54
00:05:54 Yeah.
 You know,
00:05:55
00:05:55 it seems that from the outside that.
00:05:59
00:05:59 From the inside too.
00:06:01
00:06:01 That Washington, if you look at global
warming for example.
00:06:04
00:06:05 Yeah.
00:06:05
00:06:05 And you're right, the younger generation,
there is no debate.
00:06:07
00:06:08 Yeah.
00:06:08
00:06:09 Yet they see.
00:06:10
00:06:10 This fighting, this gridlock in-
Yeah.
00:06:12
00:06:12 In Washington.
00:06:13
00:06:13 Or for other things.
00:06:15
00:06:15 Just for example, now sort of chicken
that's being played
00:06:20
00:06:20 with Department of Homeland Security for
example.
00:06:25
00:06:26 Republicans are playing politics with the
critical funding.
00:06:29
00:06:29 For the Department of Homeland Security
and threatening a shut down.
00:06:34
00:06:34 The President's executive amnesty is
lawless and unconstitutional.
00:06:40
00:06:40 These are things that our taxes pay for.
00:06:43
00:06:43 Right.
Yet
00:06:44
00:06:44 it seems to be a game that's being played.
00:06:48
00:06:48 And young people are dissatisfied and
angry, but they don't know what to do.
00:06:54
00:06:54 What would you, what would you tell them?
00:06:56
00:06:56 Well, let me say a couple things.
00:06:58
00:06:58 A lot of times, from the outside, and
sometimes mainstream media reports this
00:07:03
00:07:03 as a food fight, and it's a problem of
both parties just being partisan.
00:07:07
00:07:09 Well, that's just not accurate.
00:07:11
00:07:11 On climate change, 90% of Democrats agree
with me and
00:07:18
00:07:18 90% of Republicans oppose any action on
it.
00:07:24
00:07:25 And a sizable portion of their party deny
it even exists.
00:07:28
00:07:28 There have been times in history where
Democrats have been unreasonable.
00:07:32
00:07:32 Mm.
There have been times where
00:07:33
00:07:34 Republicans have led the way.
00:07:35
00:07:35 But right now, on a lot of the issues that
young people care about,
00:07:40
00:07:40 it's not both sides arguing and creating
gridlock.
00:07:43
00:07:43 You've got one side that is denying the
facts.
00:07:47
00:07:47 Mm.
Who are often motivated, principally,
00:07:50
00:07:50 by opposing whatever it is that I propose.
00:07:54
00:07:54 Now, that's not inevitable to our
democracy.
00:07:57
00:07:57 That's some,
00:07:58
00:07:58 that's a phase that the Republican Party's
going through right now.
00:08:01
00:08:01 And it'll outgrow that phase.
00:08:04
00:08:04 The thing that we do have to worry about
is the fact that
00:08:06
00:08:07 the pace of change globally is so quick.
00:08:10
00:08:10 Mm.
That we may not have the luxury
00:08:12
00:08:14 of 20 years or ten years of not getting a
lot done.
00:08:17
00:08:18 Mm-hm.
00:08:19
00:08:19 If we want to deal with not just climate
change but the potential for a pandemic.
00:08:24
00:08:24 With terrorism, with the challenges around
cyber security.
00:08:28
00:08:28 Some of these things are just moving.
00:08:30
00:08:30 One thing young people could do
00:08:31
00:08:31 immediately-
Yes.
00:08:33
00:08:33 Is vote.
Okay.
00:08:33
00:08:34 And the fact of the matter is, is that in
the last midterm election,
00:08:38
00:08:38 about a third of eligible voters voted.
00:08:42
00:08:42 Mm-hm.
00:08:42
00:08:43 And so, if you've got gridlock and you've
got people who aren't producing,
00:08:47
00:08:47 the fact that a lot of them got rewarded
with reelection and
00:08:50
00:08:50 the people who were in power creating the
gridlock stayed in power,
00:08:54
00:08:54 that's the consequence of everybody
staying home and acting cynical.
00:08:58
00:08:58 And the minute you withdraw in that way
from the process of politics,
00:09:04
00:09:04 well, then you're destined to have the
existing power structures call the shots.
00:09:11
00:09:11 47 Republican senators put their names
today to this open letter to Iran
00:09:16
00:09:16 informing Iran that any nuclear agreement
not voted in by Congress will be viewed
00:09:21
00:09:21 as, quote, nothing more than an executive
agreement between President Obama and
00:09:26
00:09:26 Ayatollah Khamenei.
00:09:29
00:09:29 How does it feel when you're trying to get
a deal done with Iran,
00:09:34
00:09:34 for example, and then you have senators
who are sending separate letters?
00:09:40
00:09:40 Yeah.
Well, it I'm embarrassed for them.
00:09:43
00:09:43 Yeah.
00:09:45
00:09:45 Because it's not how America does
business.
00:09:48
00:09:48 Mm-hm.
00:09:50
00:09:50 I think it's entirely legitimate for
00:09:52
00:09:52 my friends in the Senate who signed that
letter to ask very
00:09:56
00:09:56 hard questions about how can we assure
that Iran's not getting a nuclear weapon.
00:10:00
00:10:00 You know, why would we lift sanctions now
given
00:10:04
00:10:04 how they're causing problems in other part
of the world.
00:10:06
00:10:07 Given the venomous things they've said
about Israel.
00:10:10
00:10:10 You know, how can we even negotiate with
them?
00:10:12
00:10:12 Now, I will have responses to each of
those questions, and
00:10:15
00:10:15 I will say that I've committed to making
sure Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon.
00:10:19
00:10:20 I'm prepared to take all options to
prevent them from getting a nuclear
00:10:23
00:10:23 weapon, but the absolute best option is a
diplomatic resolution.
00:10:26
00:10:27 And if we do get a deal, it's going to be
because I can verify that they won't have
00:10:31
00:10:31 a weapon and I will have the international
community helping us verify that.
00:10:35
00:10:35 We can have that debate.
00:10:36
00:10:38 For them to address a letter to the
Ayatollah,
00:10:42
00:10:44 the supreme leader of Iran, who they claim
is our mortal enemy, and
00:10:51
00:10:51 their basic argument to them is, don't
deal with our president,
00:10:56
00:10:56 because you can't trust him to follow through
on an agreement.
00:11:01
00:11:02 That's close to unprecedented.
00:11:04
00:11:04 Mm-hm.
We were
00:11:05
00:11:05 looking at the history to see if there was
an example of it.
00:11:07
00:11:07 We couldn't find one.
00:11:08
00:11:08 And by doing so, they were effectively
making common cause with the hardliners in
00:11:12
00:11:12 Iran who also don't want any kind of
diplomatic resolution,
00:11:16
00:11:16 because they are invested in getting a nuclear
weapon.
00:11:19
00:11:19 Mm-hm.
00:11:20
00:11:20 So this is a good example, I think, of
where the state of our politics.
00:11:25
00:11:25 Sure.
That leads Republicans to be more worried
00:11:28
00:11:28 about a Tea Party primary than they are
about what ordinary folks are thinking.
00:11:33
00:11:33 It damages the country, it damages our
standing, it's not productive.
00:11:37
00:11:37 In this day and age where we've got such
big issues, we can't afford it.
00:11:41
00:11:44 We embedded with ISIL last summer for a
month.
00:11:50
00:11:58 One of the biggest questions that I had
was, how did they become so
00:12:02
00:12:02 popular so fast?
00:12:04
00:12:04 How did they get so many foreign fighters
from America, from the UK-.
00:12:07
00:12:07 Mm-hm.
You know, from Scandinavia,
00:12:09
00:12:09 from all over the world, go there,
outstrip al-Qaeda almost overnight?
00:12:14
00:12:14 Yeah.
00:12:15
00:12:15 And so, A, how did they become so popular
out of nowhere?
00:12:20
00:12:20 And then, B, how do we stop them?
00:12:23
00:12:23 Two things.
00:12:24
00:12:24 One is ISIL is a direct outgrowth of
Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
00:12:29
00:12:29 Mm-hm.
00:12:29
00:12:31 That grew out of our invasion.
00:12:33
00:12:33 Which is an example of unintended
consequences,
00:12:36
00:12:36 which is why we should generally aim
before we shoot.
00:12:40
00:12:41 We've got a 60 country coalition.
00:12:42
00:12:42 We will slowly push back ISIL out of Iraq.
00:12:49
00:12:49 I'm confident that will happen.
00:12:51
00:12:51 But what I'm worried about, and
00:12:53
00:12:53 what we have to stay worried about, is,
even if ISIL is defeated,
00:12:58
00:12:58 the underlying problem of disaffected
Sunnis around the world,
00:13:03
00:13:03 but particularly in some of these areas,
including Libya, including Yemen.
00:13:10
00:13:10 Where a young man who's growing up, has no
education and
00:13:14
00:13:14 has no prospects for the future, is
looking around, and
00:13:18
00:13:18 the one way that he can get validation,
power, respect as if he's a fighter.
00:13:24
00:13:24 And this looks like the toughest gang
around, so let me affiliate with them.
00:13:28
00:13:28 Mm-hm.
00:13:29
00:13:29 And now you're giving me a, a religious
rationale for doing this.
00:13:36
00:13:36 That's a problem we're gonna have, have
generally and
00:13:40
00:13:40 we can't keep on thinking about
counter-terrorism and
00:13:44
00:13:44 security as entirely separate from
diplomacy, development, education.
00:13:50
00:13:50 All these things that are considered soft,
but
00:13:53
00:13:53 in fact, are vital to our national
security.
00:13:56
00:13:56 And we do not fund those.
00:13:57
00:13:57 If you asked the average person, how much
do we spend on foreign aid?
00:14:00
00:14:00 They'll say, 25% of the federal budget.
00:14:02
00:14:02 Right.
00:14:02
00:14:02 Well it's a little over 1%.
00:14:04
00:14:04 Mm-hm.
00:14:05
00:14:05 We should be thinking about making
investments there
00:14:10
00:14:10 that ultimately save us from having to
send our young men and women
00:14:16
00:14:16 to fight or having folks come here and,
and doing great harm.
00:14:22
00:14:22 This is the last question.
00:14:22
00:14:22 All right.
Our number one question
00:14:25
00:14:25 from everyone on the Internet.
00:14:27
00:14:27 Yeah.
00:14:28
00:14:28 Was, and this might seem flippant, but
with the War on Drugs.
00:14:30
00:14:30 Yeah.
With too many people in prisons,
00:14:32
00:14:32 like we said, it's hurting education.
00:14:33
00:14:33 Right.
00:14:35
00:14:35 States are legalizing marijuana.
00:14:36
00:14:36 Right.
00:14:37
00:14:37 It seems like an inevitability.
00:14:39
00:14:41 I declare this war over.
00:14:44
00:14:45 We're ending a failed policy of
prohibition.
00:14:49
00:14:52 For young people, I'm sorry, but if you
 legalize marijuana,
00:14:55
00:14:55 it would be the biggest part of your
legacy.
00:14:57
00:14:57 So what are your thoughts on that?
00:14:58
00:14:58 Well first of all, it shouldn't be young
people's biggest priority.
00:15:01
00:15:01 Right.
The.
00:15:02
00:15:02 It was our, it was our, it was our most
popular.
00:15:03
00:15:03 I, I, no I understand 'cause, 'cause sometimes
on the, the White House website and
00:15:08
00:15:08 petitions you know we get the same.
00:15:11
00:15:11 So let's put it in perspective, young
people I understand this is
00:15:15
00:15:15 important to you but, you know, you should
be thinking about climate change.
00:15:17
00:15:17 Right.
00:15:18
00:15:18 The economy, jobs, war and peace.
00:15:21
00:15:21 Maybe way at the bottom you should be
thinking about marijuana.
00:15:25
00:15:25 I, I'd separate out the issue of
decriminalization
00:15:28
00:15:30 of marijuana from encouraging its use.
00:15:34
00:15:34 I think there is no doubt that our
criminal justice system generally is so
00:15:39
00:15:39 heavily skewed towards cracking down on
non-violent drug offenders.
00:15:44
00:15:44 Mm-hm.
That, it has not just had a,
00:15:48
00:15:48 a terrible effect on, many communities,
particularly communities of color.
00:15:52
00:15:53 Rendering a lot of folks unemployable,
because they got felony records.
00:15:58
00:15:58 Disproportionate prison sentences.
00:16:00
00:16:01 It costs a huge amount of money to states,
and
00:16:05
00:16:05 a lot of states are staring to figure that
out.
00:16:08
00:16:08 But, what I'm encouraged by is,
00:16:10
00:16:10 you're starting to see, not just liberal
Democrats, but also some con-,
00:16:15
00:16:15 very conservative Republicans recognize
this doesn't make sense.
00:16:19
00:16:19 Including sort of the Libertarian wing of
the Republican party.
00:16:22
00:16:22 And they see the money in it.
00:16:24
00:16:24 And they see the money and, and how costly
it is to incarcerate.
00:16:28
00:16:28 So, we may actually be able to make some
progress on the decriminalization side.
00:16:33
00:16:33 At a certain point if enough states, end
up,
00:16:38
00:16:39 decriminalizing, then Congress may then,
you know, reschedule marijuana.
00:16:45
00:16:45 Mm-hm.
00:16:45
00:16:46 And I always say to folks, you know,
legalization or
00:16:49
00:16:49 decriminalization is not a panacea.
00:16:52
00:16:52 Do you feel the same way about meth?
00:16:53
00:16:53 Mm-hm.
00:16:54
00:16:54 Do we feel the same way about coke?
00:16:56
00:16:57 How about crack?
00:16:58
00:16:59 How about heroin?
00:17:00
00:17:00 And, and, and, there is a legitimate, I
think, concern about the overall effects
00:17:06
00:17:06 this has on society and, and particularly
vulnerable parts of our society.
00:17:10
00:17:10 Substance abuse, generally legal and
illegal substances, is a problem.
00:17:16
00:17:16 Locking somebody up for 20 years is
probably not the best strategy.
00:17:20
00:17:20 And that's something that we have to re,
rethink as society as a whole.
00:17:24
00:17:24 Mr. President, I'd like to thank you for
your time today and
00:17:27
00:17:27 I'd like to thank you for coming here and
talking about, young issues or issues for
00:17:31
00:17:31 young people as well as being with the
students.
00:17:33
00:17:33 I had a great time.
00:17:34
00:17:34 Thank you.
00:17:36
00:17:37 All right, we got it.
00:17:38
00:17:38 Thanks, Mr. President.
00:17:40
00:17:40 Appreciate it, man.
00:17:41
00:17:41 Do you guys want to take a picture with
the crew before I get out of here?
00:17:43
00:17:43 Come on, guys.
00:17:44