Original subtitles

Samantha Power: No, no, sweetie, we gotta go, man.

Mommy, I want five of them. You're gonna get five kisses and hugs.

Where's my bagel? No, I need it for the car. I need it for the car, actually.

Your bagel? That's a good question.

Maria, could you just get her bagel which is right there?

I'll get it, actually.

Thank you.

Where'd it go?

Maria, what did you-- Maria: I'll find it.

No, no, I literally just had it.

Okay, great. Okay.

(elevator dings)

Thank you, sir.

John Kerry: How are you?

Sorry, we're running a little late.

Guess what, I forgot my phone.

Good catch!

Hey! Sorry. Went the wrong way.

Rumana Ahmed: All right, that's okay.

So I'm pulling you still at 3:15.

Do they know about HBO? Yes, they do. I gave them a handbook already.

All right, well, uh, thanks everybody,

and, uh, thanks for bearing with.

The HBO folks have been making a documentary about our

administration's diplomacy for a few months now.

♪ ♪

(indistinct chatter)

Albright was here the full time,

and Kirkpatrick and Susan.

♪ ♪

(indistinct chatter)

Yes. Go down the stairs?

Hey, John!

Mr. President. Thank you.

You're welcome. Good to see you.

Kerry: Now, I met President Obama when I ran for president.

Mr. John Kerry.

Kerry: And I asked him if he would be willing

to be the keynote speaker for my convention.

When we send our young men and women into harm's way,

we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers,

or shade the truth about why they're going,

and to never, ever... (applause and cheers)

...go to war without enough troops

to win the war, secure the peace,

and earn the respect of the world.

Ben Rhodes: I was very much one of those people

who got hit by lightning when he gave that speech.

And I immediately made it my single-minded mission to work for this man.

Barack Obama: People of the world,

this is our moment.

This is our time.

Power: I was a professor at Harvard,

and I got an email from this first-term Senator.

I went and I met him,

and started talking about the book I had done

on American responses to genocide.

Talking about the state of the world, you know,

brainstorming about how it could be done differently.

And I heard myself saying, "Why don't I leave my job

and come and intern in your office?"

But I'd like to just sketch a few examples

of what Obama has done on foreign policy,

and what he's capable of...

Rhodes: It felt very much like a pickup team.

You know, Samantha, like, she gets excited,

and we're talking about these ideas, and I'm thinking, "Wow, this is great."

Like, we're gonna change the world.

(crowd cheering)

♪ ♪

Power: Seeing President Obama not long after he was elected

and seeing this dramatic shift in his demeanor

was to be reminded of what these individuals take on.

Obama: Perhaps the most profound issue

surrounding my receipt of this prize

is the fact that I am the commander in chief

of a nation in the midst of two wars.

Power: We came in wanting to repair

America's standing in the world.

Obama: We will show the courage to try

and resolve our differences with our nations peacefully.

Not because we are naive about the dangers we face,

but because engagement can more durably lift

suspicion and fear.

Susan Rice: Many of us who are still on the president's team today

began with him before the administration.

Each of us brings something to the table,

informed by our history,

by our experience, by our background.

Rhodes: The president knew what team he was building.

He knew Samantha was gonna be

trying to hold his conscience accountable.

He knew John Kerry was gonna be an activist.

For the sake of our national security,

we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed.

I say this recognizing that diplomacy is hard.

That it's rarely politically popular.

Let us reach for the world that ought to be.

Clear-eyed, we can understand

that there will be war and still strive for peace.

We can do that,

for that is the story of human progress.

♪ ♪

No, 'cause I think they're gonna come to the...

Rhodes: The first day I walked into this building,

the first thing I noticed

and was struck by was how small it was.

And you realize there's nobody else.

You know, this is it.

There's, like, 30 people who work here

who are setting the direction for the entire US government,

and in that way, the entire world.

Woman: They've agreed to sign an agreement with us

which formalizes sharing of information

about foreign terrorist fighters.

Okay. And that's gonna allow us to make real progress

in the counter-ISIL fight. Good.

We'll try to build on that, uh,

because part of what we need

is better information sharing among the Europeans.

Not just between us and the Europeans.

Exactly. The, uh, and on the climate change side,

our, uh... in terms of bringing the Paris agreement into force,

Obama: I'm always feeling a sense of urgency

to try to get as much done as possible,

because this office is a singular privilege.

All good? Ready to go?

You know, you have the ability to press levers

and push buttons that are different

from any other job you're ever gonna have,

and, hopefully, uh, you've set a course,

and then you pass the baton,

and you know that you're gonna have to see, uh,

some other folks continue that process.

♪ ♪

Newswoman: The Obama administration

has just one more year to make changes to US policy

in a way that it hopes the next US president won't reverse.

Newsman: Well, the president has said

a lot of stuff happens in the fourth quarter.

Newsman 2: During his final year in office,

President Obama will spend much of his time traveling.

Okay, I am POTUS. I'm coming in.

Oh my gosh, I see my friends. I recognize--

Can I introduce to you, uh, Khadija Najefi, Mr. President?

Yes! And then, you have your natural reaction

that I've told you to have five times. Uh-huh.

Man: Can I introduce to you Khadija Najefi?

How are you? It's nice to meet you.

So nice to meet you.

Newswoman: Are we seeing the creation

of the president's foreign policy legacy?

Newsman: Republicans are blaming Obama for foreign policy failures.

I feel like we should have, you know, a clock up

with the days counting down.

Because what we have set in motion

with the Cuba normalization,

climate change, Syria.

You know, incredibly important issues

of our national security.

You know, all of that is at stake.

Newsman: A lot of people are running to succeed President Obama.

Republicans have the largest primary field ever.

Newsman 2: Seventeen candidates are now in the race

who promise to undo much of his work

on climate and foreign policy.

Rhodes: One of the things I wanna do with the time remaining,

you know, is to just try to convey

that this is a different way of doing foreign policy.

It's less militarized,

and it's more engagement-focused,

and the areas where we're actually making progress,

and achieving big results in foreign policy

are areas where we've been able to re-elevate diplomacy.

The Cuba opening,

Paris climate accord,

the Iran deal.

Obama: We're dealing with a country, Iran,

that has been a sworn adversary of the United States

for over 35 years.

Newsman: This deal wouldn't have happened without John Kerry.

His persistence.

Newsman 2: This was the longest

we've ever seen a secretary of state

outside the United States

working on one project in decades.

Today marks the moment

that the Iran nuclear agreement transitions

from an ambitious set of promises on paper...

Done.

...to measurable action in progress.

Thank you very much everybody. (applause)

All right!

Kerry: I think undoing the potential of a nuclear weapon...

is about as serious a moment in diplomacy

as you can get.

I mean, yeah, you're happy when you can get something like that done.

It doesn't happen every day.

But you're on to the next.

You know, Syria,

Yemen,

Libya, North Korea,

climate change.

Now we have about as full an agenda,

as I think any administration has ever had.

♪ ♪

Thank you very much. Take care.

(horns honk) (siren whoops)

Power: You did good on the reading, Dec.

You were, you were actually blasting through/ If we had, uh--

That we almost got--

We didn't do our five pages,

but we did, I think we made substantial progress.

Declan: I think you're trying to trick me about the donut.

Power: I'm not trying to trick you, honestly.

I'm trying to come up with a compromise.

Declan: I think you are, okay? If I--

You think I'm gonna say I'm gonna get you a donut

and not get you one? Yeah.

You think I'm that kind of person.

Damn.

All right, all set.

What do you mean "damn"?

(laughs)

I mean, no, I'm not that kind of person.

Darn, how could you think that?

Declan: 'Cause we can't find the...

I think the key is when does the secretary general arrive.

Right.

Uh, so I don't want to be late for him,

but everybody else I can be a little bit late for.

Power: I have been struck initially as a journalist in Bosnia

and now, certainly as a diplomat,

at the extent to which discussions

about what to do about problems

seem completely removed from those problems.

This is Dina, the Jordanian ambassador. (translating)

She's the one who's willing to,

to brave her soul here today so.

Power: For me it wasn't some conscious choice

where I sat around with my team and said,

you know I'm going to do things differently.

We are going to take ourselves

out to the field as often as possible

and sit down with the people

who are affected most by conflicts.

It's amazing... It was just instinct.

It was how I used to report stories.

I don't-- I'm okay without the umbrella. I'm okay.

I'm okay, I'm okay.

Power: Bearing witness is both an instinct

and a responsibility.

It is also the best way I know of convincing people,

which is the essence of what I'm trying to achieve as a diplomat.

Wow, never been in here before.

There's Gabo. Hi. Hi, Gabo.

Thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much. This is beautiful.

When did the UN get modern?

Do you have, uh, do you have, like, 15 minutes right now?

Yes. You should go-- no, not to talk to me.

You should go into this booth.

They take you--

They'll put a pair of glasses on you,

and they take you into the Za'atari refugee camp.

Abdallah Al-Mouallimi: Okay.

Thank you. Thank you, wow. That's very powerful.

Whoo.

Power: And then they hook you up

to talk to a person in the camp.

Wow, this is amazing!

Hello.

I'm well.

Brings home the serious stakes. I'll do it. Thank you.

It's just right there,

and I'm gonna try to go to the SG and get him to keep it,

because it's... Yes.

If we're trying to raise money and, you know, get people

to support these people in the camps, and--

Excellent, excellent.

Anyway, but-- but otherwise, bad day, Thank you.

because of what's going on in... I know.

It's unbelievable. They hit the--

they hit the Free Syrian Army.

Yes, they did. Of course, they did.

Seriously, if you do nothing else I ever ask you to do,

just do this thing, really. I'll do it.

Really, okay. It's really amazing.

It's right there.

Woman: Uh, and one other thing they sent over,

there is a op-ed about Iran,

that we're preventing business.

I know State can get a little hysterical,

but I'm-- I'm actually beginning to get a little hysterical.

'Cause, like, at a certain point,

the Iranians have, like, a...

fairly substantial body of evidence

to say that they don't need to abide by the deal.

You know, so, we may lose control of it today.

The last thing is that there's this

massive dead cockroach

like right under this chair.

Rhodes: There are nights sometimes when you hear the rats

scurrying around in the ceiling, too.

Man: Yeah.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: What makes America great is who we are as a country

and what we do around the world.

Rhodes: My job defies, like, easy description,

but I oversee the president's speech writing,

our press, our public engagement.

You know, what is he doing and saying

and what are we communicating about foreign policy.

I mean, that's the core of my job.

So, I added this line.

In Germany of all places,

we know the last thing the world needs is more walls.

Rhodes: And I've been on every foreign trip except one.

So, you know, I tend to live

trip to trip or speech to speech,

or, you know, finding the priorities

that he wants me to focus on.

Rice: Ben's one of the longest and closest,

uh, advisors to the president.

Ben, as-- as few others do,

um, have with the president, a sort of mind-meld.

They are not only good friends,

uh, but they see many issues eye to eye

and that's very, uh, valued by the president, I know.

Power: Having started in the campaign together,

and worked together for four years at the White House,

uh, you could just see he was creative,

strategic, impassioned,

irreverent,

but stubborn.

I mean, he doesn't care if everyone in the room--

If the herd is going in a direction,

he'll interrupt and say,

"What are you people talking about?"

Uh-oh.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: We're actually doing some things

that question certain underlying assumptions

of the conduct of American foreign policy.

He's been saying for ten years

that American exceptionalism is rooted in

what we stand for and how we act.

Um, and not just in our ability

to impose our will on people,

in part, cause it doesn't work.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: So I think the main thing for them

is drawing the arc of progress.

Like how far this place has come and how tied that is

to the relationship with us.

And our whole theory,

not just in Vietnam, but frankly of foreign policy, right,

is that engagement is gonna make it more possible

for us to make progress on these issues.

This is why I really thought

you got to come to this part of the country,

'cause it's just so, you know.

Well, and there is--

A lot happening, a lot happening here. Yeah.

I think we're ready to--

And then, how many-- how many questions do you want to take?

I'd say he take two. I'll do whatever you want. I don't care.

No, take two and let us deal with this.

(laughing) Whatever. Two is good.

You don't want to subject yourself to too much at once.

All right. Great, that's good.

Kerry (on video): My sitting up here is really symbolic.

I'm not here as John Kerry.

I'm here as a small representation

of a very much larger group of veterans in this country.

Millions of men who have been taught

to deal and to trade in violence,

and who are given the chance to die

for the biggest nothing in history.

Kerry: I was a very angry guy

who had seen a lot of carnage,

and loss of friends as a result of bad decisions being made.

You know I've been very blessed

to be able to go through a progression of experiences

which underscore the value of experience.

Obama: When I think about the trajectory of his career,

from somebody who was fighting in the war

to somebody who was protesting against the war

to somebody who helped bring about a reconciliation

to now.

Nice to see you.

Obama: You know, this is a reflection of the work of decades.

How are you? I'm good. I'm good. How are you?

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Rhodes: She went to Stanford. I didn't get into Stanford.

Obama: You know, well... (laughing)

There are a lot of places you didn't get in. Yes.

Me neither.

(cheers and applause)

Obama: You know, this is one of the favorite things that I do.

And just about every country, where we have the time,

uh, is to set up one of these forums

and just hear what's on the minds

of the young people around the world.

And you are a very great leader.

And we are young leaders.

Do you have any advice that how can we be great like you?

Oh, wow. (cheers and applause)

One of the things that...

uh, I've learned about being a leader is,

sometimes we think people are motivated only by money

or they're only motivated by power

or these very concrete, uh, incentives.

But people are also inspired by stories.

You think about the United States of America.

We have a really good story

called the Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident

that all men are created equal."

It was just a good story that they were telling

about what could be.

So, it's worthwhile to listen to other people,

and ask them questions about

the stories that are important to them.

(applause)

Obama: Let's see, uh...

I'll be right there, Josh. I just have to do one thing.

Rhodes: I remember walking home on 9/11.

I was 23 years old.

Um, my life was planned out for me.

You know, I was gonna live in New York

and try to write novels.

And I remember just thinking,

"I'm gonna do something different.

I don't know what, but it's gonna be about this."

It is Monday, and we're in Hanoi.

And the speech is Friday.

People sometimes think we write these things, like, weeks in advance,

and given how busy we are, we don't.

These are the remarks that the president will give in Hiroshima

after he tours the peace memorial.

One of the things you do when you write a speech often,

is you read the other speeches

that people have given in that circumstance.

And there's nothing that I could find

that was similar to this, you know.

It's a pretty unique, uh, thing.

'Cause I mean, other people have given speeches in Hiroshima,

but then, not as the president of the country that dropped the bomb.

And, uh, he may completely rewrite it, I don't know.

'Cause he'll have a very personal view of what to say.

Greg Barker: And just, I mean, you don't have to answer this but just...

Uh, um...

um...

Well, I'll answer it, 'cause what the hell.

This doesn't come out for a while.

They were pretty awful. Man: Ben Rhodes!

Ben Rhodes. Ben Rhodes.

One of the president's top aides.

Newswoman: An article from the New York Times Magazine

has stirred days of controversy.

Newsman: A 10,000-word profile of Ben Rhodes.

I'd never actually done a profile like that of myself.

But the New York Times Magazine seemed like,

you know, fine, I'll do this one.

Um... and-- and we talked about everything

from Cuba to Burma,

to Iran to speech-writing.

So, I-- I actually didn't know exactly where--

what the angle of the article was.

Newsman: Rhodes ripped the Washington press corps,

called the American foreign policy establishment "the blob,"

and bragged about the echo chamber he orchestrated

to sell the Iran nuclear deal.

Rhodes: You know when I read it,

you know, I immediately felt...

"Huh, well, that Iran section is a little weird."

And, frankly, that was the author's view and not mine,

and frankly, it's his view, he's entitled to it. I don't agree with it.

Newsman: New York Times Magazine used quotes from Rhodes himself

to portray him as having sold the Iran nuclear deal.

Newsman 2: Most of the reporters, who are on average 27-year-olds,

and knew, as he put it,

literally nothing about world affairs.

Newswoman: What he clearly views as a stupid,

compliant, lazy press corps.

Newswoman 2: They literally know--

Newswoman 3: Literally know nothing!

Uh, you know, uh...

I don't want to take, you know,

uh, bits of quotes that were,

um, pulled out of different places.

Those of you who have worked with me know

how much I respect the media.

We have to go.

Look, uh, again. I'm not gonna-- I'm not gonna parse quotes.

I think I have a body of experience,

and you can make your judgments

based on that body of experience.

Schultz: Thank you.

Rhodes: Sometimes, I felt like the personal attacks on me

were a way of avoiding the actual questions

that were being raised.

'Cause it's easier just to attack me for being an asshole

than to, uh, think about, well...

why do we keep getting into wars in the Middle East?

But what I hope...

and I actually was just talking to the president about this,

is somehow we can use the rest of this year

to keep surfacing these questions

about war and peace,

uh, that he's been wrestling with

for the last seven and a half years.

And just going to Hiroshima,

that's gonna surface some of these questions.

(helicopter blades whirring)

Obama: The Hiroshima speech,

it wasn't connected to a particular policy...

but told a story.

From my perspective, it was a story about

the inevitable tragedy of war.

Seventy-one years ago,

on a bright, cloudless morning,

death fell from the sky,

and the world was changed.

A flash of light

and a wall of fire destroyed a city.

Mere words cannot give voice to such suffering.

But we have a shared responsibility

to look directly into the eye of history.

And ask what we must do differently

to curb such suffering again.

We must change our mindset about war itself.

To prevent conflict through diplomacy.

Ordinary people understand this, I think.

They do not want more war.

I had a chance to say hello to a gentleman

who had survived the war,

who had taken the time to find families

of American POWs who had also died,

insisted that their names be enshrined

so that they were recognized.

And to see how much a moment like this meant to him.

It's ultimately where

politics, government, diplomacy...

uh, has to be rooted.

In that moment, in that belief in a common humanity.

Without being naive,

understanding that the world is a dangerous

and difficult place.

Without being so idealistic that you don't

protect and preserve America's core interests.

But wherever we can make those kinds of connections,

I think in some small increment,

we're making the world a little bit better.

Power: What is missing from this memo

is under atrocity prevention.

You know, where does Boko Haram fall on this?

If-- if it's not part of this document,

then why would we spend ten days traveling to four countries?

We have to know what we, and I am seeking to achieve in 2016.

And without that,

we can't make the kinds of choices that we need to make

given the-- the time we have left.

Power: We're all just passing through these jobs,

and I think I-- I feel the urgency of these,

you know, incredibly challenging, uh, conflicts.

We-- we can't leave that hanging.

We've got to-- we've got to make sure

we have reengaged in a way

that really acutely advances US national interests.

So that it'll be harder to dismantle

in the event that, uh...

you know, we take a-- a different turn.

(siren wailing)

Copy. Correct, thanks.

Hi, sweetie. It's me calling.

I've just been trying to reach you during the day,

'cause we haven't chatted.

So, um, I'm about to take off tonight,

and I wanted to try to talk to you before I go.

Love you, take care.

Hi to everybody. Bye.

We're on a tight schedule there,

so guys, we'll have to--

Man: Pretty much all day. Really move fast.

Got a packed day.

Kerry: The clock is ticking 'cause I would like

to put a few things in a better place

before we-- we finish.

And Syria is clearly one of them,

but it's very, very difficult.

(engines whooshing)

♪ ♪

Newswoman: Largest ever diplomatic push for peace in Syria

is underway this morning in Vienna.

Newsman: Top diplomats from over 20 countries

and representatives from several international bodies.

Newswoman: US Secretary of State John Kerry

is hopeful about delivering a breakthrough.

Kerry: I think I'm an optimist by nature.

I will never stop trying to stop people from waging a war

if I think that, uh, there's a chance

of finding a way forward.

Our job is to try to find a way

to the negotiating table and to political solutions.

Finer: We're the State Department, we're not the Pentagon,

so our big resource is

not things like, you know F-16s.

What we have is the-- the time,

uh, and energy of our-- our senior diplomats.

And we have a secretary who, while, uh, 72 years old,

has got a boundless amount of energy,

and so, we've got 30 hours of meetings over the two days.

Quite busy, but, uh, you know

when you're half the age of your boss,

you can't very well complain too much about,

uh, wanting to get more sleep.

If somebody could put that call in, I'd appreciate it.

I'd love to be able to go into the opera,

but we don't have much time unfortunately.

In a normal life. (chuckles)

Man: Can I take a selfie?

Selfie, selfie, selfie, selfie, selfie, selfie.

Thank you very much.

This is a major diplomatic challenge.

And I'm grateful to the president for trusting me,

and empowering me and giving me a pretty long leash,

and letting me go out there and take risks,

and, uh, trying to fight for things

that some people think are impossible.

Newsman: John Kerry and Barack Obama

have sold out the Syrian people.

Newsman 2: 250,000 dead.

Millions of refugees.

Newswoman: The direction that Syria is going,

it's becoming a failed state

that ultimately is going to threaten our very security.

Rice: My mood all the time on Syria is pained.

And fraught by-- by the complexity of the challenge.

But we have an opening.

I'm not overly optimistic,

but I think any opening

that can end the suffering potentially,

and create the space for political settlement

is one we are obliged to explore.

Rhodes: Russia would benefit

from there being a political resolution

inside of Syria that can end the violence.

Uh, at the same time,

uh, Russia wants, it says,

to go after Al-Qaeda and ISIL.

Kerry: Syria is tough because

there are a lot of competing interests.

What we're trying to do is get the Russians to get aligned better

and after as much suspicion and as much doubt,

um, given Ukraine, Crimea, and other things,

is-- is not easy either.

A thief can steal property,

but that does not confer the right of ownership.

What Russia has done is wrong,

as a matter of law,

wrong as a matter of history.

Power: At the same time

that I was blasting the Russian Federation

for lopping off part of a neighbor,

using bunker buster bombs in Syria,

you know, often I'm also working with Russia.

Power: In the EU session, Russia just blasted her.

I was like you gotta fight back!

(laughter) Come on!

Take it to 'em!

They-- they bully, and if they just are allowed to bully,

they just bully more.

I'm in awe of the refugees who've traveled so far.

Anyone who wants to share,

I'd be-- I and my team would be very grateful to hear it.

(exhales deeply)

Man: Me and my friends who have, uh, families in Syria,

they are sinking, sinking,

and you-- you can't help them.

(sighs deeply) I'm sorry.

Power: It-- it is heart-wrenching.

I mean, I wake up in the night thinking about it.

I go to bed thinking about it.

You know, it is the most catastrophic

humanitarian situation of our time.

So, working with Secretary Kerry,

that is atop the priority list.

It's also atop the degree of difficulty list.

So, we have our work cut out for us,

and-- and a short period of time

left to-- to work with.

(engine whooshing)

Rhodes: To the establishment in-- in Washington,

foreign policy is basically, like,

the Middle East and Russia.

And then maybe how those two things enter Europe.

Um, and those are all very important,

but, you know, American foreign policy--

if we are gonna remain the global leader,

it has to be global.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: After the, uh, reelection,

uh, we looked at the world

and decided where we wanted to do things affirmatively.

The thing I asked to do was Cuba.

♪ ♪

But on Cuba, I was the principal negotiator,

and we actually got a lot farther

than I ever imagined.

You know, I just look at the...

American and Cuban flags next to each other,

and become overcome with emotion.

And it was about the US and Cuba,

but it was about, you know,

something bigger than that, too.

I mean it was about...

if these two countries can try to put the past behind them,

you know, maybe...

maybe we-- we all can do that, you know?

Hey, man, how's it going?

(chanting in foreign language)

Rhodes: So we have a whole team that's visiting

different places the president might go while he's here.

'Cause we see it as an historic visit.

The first time a US president is gonna visit Laos.

And, and also it will frankly,

just help Americans confront that part of our history,

which is not a good part of our history.

♪ ♪

(inaudible)

(inaudible)

(indistinct chattering)

I don't think so. I, uh...

I-- I know, um, you know, Hillary Clinton and her team very well.

You know, I could do something

for Hillary Clinton just 'cause it--

So you're saying Hillary Clinton will be selected?

I think she'll-- I think she'll win. Not Donald Trump?

No. No. No, you don't, no?

Surely? I'm sure.

Yeah, no, no, that, that, that--

that shows you that anything can happen.

Rhodes: The foreign minister asked me about it

and asked me about Trump.

And to be asked, you know by a foreign minister

and then a-- a young exchange participant,

uh, just shows you how much it's permeated.

It's already having a cost.

I mean, it's already, uh, just-- just the--

the rhetoric and the divisiveness,

and the-- the profile of-- of the campaign.

It's clearly making people around the world think,

"Well, what's going on in America?"

Men and women: ♪ The land of the free ♪

♪ And the home ♪

♪ Of the brave ♪

My two kids are six and three years old.

And one woman who is becoming a citizen with you today,

has helped me raise them.

Maria and I are not related by blood,

but we are family.

And it's very humbling for me to--

to get to be a part of this.

As I rode here this morning,

I remembered when I was sitting as you are now,

It was 36 years ago when I came to this country. I was nine years old.

I emigrated to the United States from my native Ireland.

One of the characteristics that defines us

as immigrants in this country

is we never lose sight of the fact

that we might not have made it to America.

Were it not, uh, I get-- it's very moving.

My son warned me I was gonna cry.

(laughter)

Were it not for the remarkable bravery of my mother

and my dad,

and-- and the tremendous generosity of this country,

I would not be here,

and I wouldn't get to do so many of the things I get to do.

I wouldn't get to be the person I am.

And serving, as I do,

every day at the United Nations, it's surreal as an immigrant,

I get to go to work every day and there's a placard

that says United States of America.

And I, an immigrant, get to represent this country. Right?

None of you lose sight of that.

The ability to shape America is now your right,

and we are counting on you to exercise it.

We welcome you with open arms.

Thank you so much. (applause)

(Samantha laughs)

(engines roaring)

Rhodes: The president just had, um,

his bilateral meeting with President Xi of China.

Frankly, every bilateral meeting in a summit room,

I've been to hundreds of them,

looks basically like this.

You know, a hotel conference room, a table.

So, uh, they just finished meeting in here about 15 minutes ago.

And the president sits right here, and there's his tea.

You're sitting here and you're realizing,

um, the scope of what has been done for eight years

just in this one relationship.

The stakes in the relationship--

I mean, the whole world kind of depends on the US and China

being able to figure out how to work things out and get along.

And-- and look, I've gotten in trouble for talking about this,

but we're in a meeting with the leader of China and the United States

talking about the global economy,

and climate, and the transition to a green economy,

and the South China Sea.

And none of these things

are being discussed in the United States.

They're talking about Donald Trump's Twitter feed.

(traffic noise)

Declan: I know where Chad is.

Power: That big one, right? Now they have a lot of animals in Chad.

Now, show me Nigeria.

Declan: No, I know where Nigeria is!

Power: Can you show me Nigeria?

There. There's Nigeria. Good job, Dec.

Can I tell you about Nigeria? Yeah.

So, there were all these girls

and they were working really hard in school

just like Declan's been doing,

and they were learning to read, and they were amazing, amazing girls.

And these really bad people came and took them away.

Declan: Are they fighting right now?

Power: They're fighting right now, but Mommy's going in order--

Rian: What did you say?

Are they crying?

They're probably-- a lot of people are crying, unfortunately.

♪ ♪

Power: This is a Boko Haram centered trip.

We really want to bring more international attention

to what this monstrous movement is doing.

It is amazing that a group of kids

who are just trying to study

and improve their lives could get taken.

And that two years later,

we'd not have made a dent in-- in finding them.

So to bring media,

to bring a full US government delegation from across the sectors,

it's-- it-- you know.

With all the suffering that's going on right now in the world

and all the terror,

it's a horrible time to be a victim.

(horns honking loudly)

Is this our entrance? Jesus.

(people singing in foreign language)

♪ We shall always fight for girls ♪

♪ All we are saying ♪

♪ Is bring back our girls ♪

Crowd: Now! And alive!

Oby Ezekwesili: Can we please take our seats?

We'll make it fast. No problem at all.

No, this is the most important part of my day.

As I stand before you, Madam Ambassador,

Aisha Ezekiel is now your daughter.

You have to remember that your daughter

has been in captivity for 738 days.

And they're waiting to be brought back home.

As long as Chibok girls are in captivity,

we all are in captivity!

Humanity is in captivity!

We do not have any moral justification as parents

to tell our children to go to school

when we cannot protect them.

I-I-I as a-- as a parent...

as a human being,

I-I can't even imagine the frustration that you feel.

And I'm sure having a senior US official come here

only exacerbates that frustration,

'cause you think we're the superpower.

If we really wanted this,

we could just snap our fingers and make it happen,

and I wish that were so.

But we have to bring back these girls

by pursuing military force,

and by respecting human rights on the ground,

so that more terrorists aren't created.

We are bringing more resources to bear every day.

(inaudible)

Power: What I can tell you

as a personal representative of President Obama,

is that we will never give up,

just as you will never give up.

We will never give up. (crowd applauds)

(turn signal indicator clicking)

One of my most frustrating things is...

we were in Paris for the Paris talks,

shortly after the-- the terrorist attack.

In our press, you know, it's complicated,

climate change issues, but, you know, some of them, they can do it.

But the kind of cheap headline

political press just kept asking me,

"What's a bigger threat?

ISIL or climate change?"

And the thing is, they know we think

climate change is a bigger threat, right?

But they want us to say that so that there's like a--

Then they can debate on cable news and go,

"Obama thinks climate change is bigger threat than terrorism. He doesn't get it."

You know, and it's like, well...

like one thing could destroy, like, the world, you know.

I mean, I said, "Well, they're both threats,

and we need to take them both seriously."

But just the fact that it's still viewed

as, like, a political vulnerability.

♪ ♪

Man: You can see everything from space, from satellites,

but you need instruments in the water

that can actually transmit real-time.

Is anybody doing that at this point? It's not something you can do in one country.

It's something we need to collaborate on.

We need to collaborate. Well, we need to collaborate.

Man: And, uh, I think it's meant...

Kerry: This is seeing firsthand things I've read about.

And I think it'll make me a more urgent advocate,

and hopefully a better advocate.

And you're multi-tasking.

Uh, no other issue,

I mean, Libya doesn't stop or Yemen or Syria or whatever.

I just had a conversation on the bridge of this ship

with our team, uh, that's working on the issue

of a cessation of hostilities on Syria.

My job is to keep fighting and keep working.

And if I wasn't an optimist,

I wouldn't be able to do this job.

♪ ♪

Newswoman: What is it that makes you believe

that the Russians are your partners in trying

to get a ceasefire and a political resolution

when they're actually Assad's partner,

certainly in trying to regain--

Newsman: What is Putin's game here?

To outflank the Obama administration in Syria.

Sameh! Sameh: Good to see you.

How are you?

All right, come on in. Come on in.

We're gonna go into my office.

Kerry: If you're gonna get something done,

you have to keep trying to work at it.

And, uh, you know Ronald Reagan sat down with Gorbachev.

Uh, Nixon sat down with Mao Zedong and went to China,

and people in his own party vilified him for,

you know, diverting from the orthodoxy.

But it made the difference.

And-- and we-- we've learned through history,

you can not only avoid war,

you can actually make peace.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: In Washington, there is a kind of default

that we've been trying to break,

which is that the way in which we demonstrate

that we're serious about a problem

is by using military force.

Or the way in which we establish

our own credibility on an issue

is by demonstrating

that we're willing to use military force.

♪ ♪

Nixon: There are no American combat forces in Laos.

We do have aerial reconnaissance.

Uh, we do have, perhaps, some other activities.

I won't discuss those other activities at this time.

♪ ♪

Obama: It was a secret war.

Over nine years from 1964 to 1973,

the United States dropped more than

two million tons of bombs here in Laos.

More than we dropped on Germany and Japan combined

during all of World War II.

It made Laos, per person,

the most heavily bombed country in history.

Many of the bombs that dropped were never exploded.

Over the years, thousands of Laotians have been killed or injured.

Farmers tending their fields, children playing.

(cameras clicking)

Obama: How many victims do you still see every year, do you think?

Man: Last year, we had 50, so it seems like--

It's-- it's coming down hopefully? Coming down every year.

And if we can get rid of--

Man: Yeah, because of the support from the US government,

and different governments.

Rhodes: You know, here we are,

and there's still people who are being killed and maimed

by bombs that we dropped decades ago.

You know, if we-- we cannot think that through

before we get involved militarily,

then we shouldn't.

♪ ♪

(indistinct chatter)

Woman: Do you have any advice on...

Like how do you find, like, who takes the leading role?

Well, I think that you got to switch off, right?

Yeah. So, uh, there are times where Michelle has...

uh, sacrificed for me.

Times where-- And when have you sacrificed for her?

Right after I finish this. (laughter)

Okay. That's awesome.

From here on out, she gets to do whatever she wants.

All right, we're ready? It's great to see you.

Power: This is a book on America's national parks,

which are our-- our effort to preserve our nature.

Merci. Thank you very much.

Power: We agreed to a really important,

uh, set of priorities

for the United States to partner with Cameroon

in defeating Boko Haram in the long-term.

Michael Hoza: That was incredible.

A speech, impromptu remarks. (Samantha laughs)

After three bilaterals,

one of which was with a head of state.

Power: All right, that's good.

Bruce Warton and I together--

Do I get a beer, a beer on the plane? You get a beer on the plane.

The public stuff, you just don't want to make a mistake.

Right. And get-- you know, make your job harder,

'cause you're the ones pursuing implementation, but...

You're out there making sure that

American foreign policy is based on values.

But I reject that.

I am about, I-- You-- you do. I wanna--

What you do is, you set yourself up

for a conversation that says

there's values,

and then there's interests like security.

And so, I'll-- I'll hear, you know, at meetings with DOD,

"I agree with Ambassador Power from a values standpoint.

But you know, we live in th real world." But...

But we live in the real world, yeah.

Power: And I'm like...

"I live in the real world, man!" Exactly.

Like this is a terrorism problem.

It's not a values problem alone.

Correct.

♪ ♪

(helicopter blades whirring)

Newswoman: The US Ambassador to the United Nations,

Samantha Power is visiting Boko Haram victims.

Newswoman 2: It's called the Extreme North,

and one politician described it

as a region of extremes,

and so it has been hard hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Power: Well, there has been a longstanding debate

in the history of American foreign policy between,

uh, the so-called Realists,

who believe the States pursue their power

and their self-interest.

And then there's another camp who have long argued

that, uh, people need to be at the center

of our foreign policy thinking.

Both because they're people

and they deserve respect and dignity,

but also because that advances our national security.

(indistinct chattering)

♪ ♪

Power: Was Boko Haram chasing you? Yes.

(woman speaking indistinctly)

Oh! Oh gosh.

They took her husband and her children.

Oh, God. I'm so sorry.

(clears throat)

(speaking in foreign language) Man: Don't cry.

Power: She can cry. It's okay.

It's okay. We all cry.

We all should cry.

(speaking in French) (crying)

Just, maybe just tell her we'll do everything in our power

to try and help her. (speaking French)

It was a dark, devastating day.

Really devastating.

Man (on radio): Uh, vehicle seven, vehicle seven.

This is vehicle four. Be advised they sent an ambulance to the scene.

I've already spoken with them.

There's an ambulance right now there.

Newswoman: Joining us right now is NPR's Michele Kelemen.

She's traveling with the ambassador.

Kelemen: A small boy, he was seven years old,

ran in front of, uh, one of the cars in the convoy.

Apparently he was going to look up at

one of the helicopters that was overhead.

And just ran into the street,

and one of the cars hit him.

Um, unfortunately he died.

And at the end of the day,

Ambassador Power ended up stopping by

to visit the parents to express her personal condolences.

Power: The father, you know, they had that strength

that I-- I can't even imagine as a-- as a parent.

But this beautiful boy was playing

at this time yesterday,

and now he's-- he's gone, so that's--

You know, of course, you think about your family.

Your-- my son is gonna be seven on Sunday, so...

Rhodes: Three.

Ben and Ella Rhodes: Four, five...

six... seven...

eight... nine...

ten... eleven...

twelve... thirteen...

Four--? Fourteen?

Fifteen?

Sixteen?

An airplane. An airplane!

Rhodes: Yeah, up in the sky.

A bus! Bus!

Bus. Buses!

Josh Earnest: So, Ben, you'll start. I think it makes sense

for you to sort of start and walk through the schedule.

I'll get the Putin question and everything,

but I'll deal with that. Earnest: Right. Right, okay.

Anything else? What have we forgotten?

You'll get a li-- The only thing we didn't do, uh,

before that is like, uh, China in the context of our election.

You know, uh, there's gotta be some question about Trump and-- Oh, yeah.

China, and you know, the optics of China and...

Mm-hmm. It's--

Man: It could also be Trump and Paris agreement.

That's an easy one to do. Yeah.

Well, we've got our-- we've got our case to make about why that's--

Unilateral withdrawal is not...

Complete isolation of the United States...

Yeah. ...and condemning our children to a future of, yeah.

Okay, you got the door behind us?

Okay.

All right.

(reporters murmuring)

Earnest: All right, good afternoon, everybody.

♪ ♪

Newsman: Today, President Obama received

an extraordinary letter from Syria.

A plea for help from 15 of the last remaining doctors in Aleppo.

Newsman 2: It has been an act of real delinquence on our part

to stay away from this conflict,

which is rippling across the world now.

Newswoman: There appears to be dissent in the White House

over the handling of the crisis.

Newswoman: Pressure mounting for President Obama

to step up military action against Syria.

Woman (on speaker phone): Is the president feeling like he needs to, once again,

lay out the pretty detailed defense

for not using more military intervention in Syria?

The-- The president has been more than willing

to use military force against threats to the United States.

If you actually look at his record,

he's been much more aggressive about going after terrorists

and terrorist networks wherever they are,

um, than any other president.

Um, in Syria,

at no time has there been a clear plan

that could make the situation demonstrably better.

Despite Vietnam, I'm not a pacifist.

I'm not a pacifist even after that experience.

I do think that the United States of America

has to be able to reinforce our diplomacy

with the use of force.

Um, and there were debates about that.

Power: There's no issue that we've worked on

where there was such a divergence,

uh, among people who, on some issues might be aligned,

but on this, just saw it very differently.

Rhodes: Samantha and I, we have split, um,

in some important ways.

You know she sustains that kind of original idealism

around our ability to save lives

and make things better.

I sit close to the president,

and when you're president, you know,

you know he has to think about

"What is Congress gonna do about this?

"How is this gonna be received by the American people?

"How am I gonna measure this against

every other priority I have in the world?"

Power: Certainly what's happening in Syria is beyond frustrating.

It's haunting.

There is no issue...

where my thoughts and my feelings

and my ideas

have made such a marginal impact on desperate people.

Power: The regime of Bashar al-Assad,

Russia, Iran, and their affiliated militia

are responsible for what the UN called,

"a complete meltdown of humanity."

Power: Of course, I asked myself

had I made an argument differently,

I think we could have tried other things.

But there's a whole-- there's a whole drama there, so.

Kerry: She'll put her point of view out there

as tough as anybody else, but...

We joke and we commiserate at times

when we both were in the same place,

and didn't, uh, get what we wanted.

I mean, sometimes we have

some tough arguments in this business.

Rice: You don't want a groupthink around a table

that serious, right?

That would be dangerous in my opinion.

Rice: Everybody is heard.

And then out of our structured decision-making

come recommendations that

we can present to the president

whether unanimously or with a split.

Obama: National security debates,

when we make big decisions about war and peace,

we've got to be able to build coalitions

and get others involved.

Rhodes: I had been for military intervention in Syria.

I argued for it in the situation room.

And the president explained his thinking to us.

I could see exactly what he was talking about

'cause basically what he said is,

"Look, you don't have international support.

"You don't have congressional support. You know, you don't--

"You don't have any of the things

that allow a military intervention to succeed."

And he's like...

"That's a hell of a way to start a war."

Obama: I like about America, the fact that we want to do something,

and not just stand there.

But even when we're on the right side of issues,

we have to understand that war always has a--

a tragic toll.

Not just on the countries with which we may be at war,

but also on our troops,

on our veterans, on their families.

I will become the first President of the United States

to serve two full terms during a time of war.

I have met our wounded warriors,

and I've grieved with gold star families.

Let me say that our nation owes you

an unbelievable debt of gratitude.

Power: What, perhaps, is not on display

except to those of us who are privileged

to have worked with him for so long and so closely

is just-- he carries around the--

the human consequences of his decision-making.

The toll it takes on just a narrow slice of our society

when we go and fight these wars.

♪ ♪

I mean, his heart is breaking

for the people in Aleppo right now.

Um, and his heart has broken

every time he's had to call a family

of an American soldier who's been killed or injured in battle.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: If we had gone full-bore into Syria,

we wouldn't be sitting here with the climate agreement.

We'd have no Iran agreement, we'd have no--

I don't think we would've had the time to do Cuba.

Like that's all we would be doing.

Um, and this is what, you know,

what's striking to me, I mean,

it's like Iraq didn't happen

because we spent a trillion dollars in a country

and have 150,000 troops there for eight years,

and we didn't fix that country.

Why-- why would it be different in Syria?

Obama: I genuinely believe that if I could have ordered

a limited military operation

that would have stopped the bloodshed,

it would have been worth the sacrifice.

Uh, the problem is that the lesson we learned

from Iraq and Afghanistan

is that in the absence of our willingness

to govern these areas,

oftentimes our intervention, uh, doesn't solve the problem.

And in fact, can make it worse.

Newsman: Save your hand-wringing,

Obama administration officials, just save it.

Newsman 2: He has consistently painted himself into a corner,

and the options are pretty limited.

Newsman 3: As a consequence of the West not having done anything--

Newsman 4: It has actually led to the festering of extremism.

Newsman 5: The re-emergence of Russia.

Newsman 6: The size of the refugee problem.

Newsman 7: I think the president's been a foreign policy disaster.

Earnest: ...expect to get more on at some point

is Trump's erratic position on immigration.

It seems to keep changing.

He is? Nice!

(indistinct chattering)

(inaudible)

Rhodes: When I am really stressed and pressed on a deadline,

I try to find some space where I can get away from everybody.

It's fairly Spartan, but, you know, it does the trick.

I'm working on the UN General Assembly speech.

I think he sees it as a kind of

farewell address to the world,

so it's more thematic about the moment,

uh, in history that we're in.

Greg Barker: And just finally, are you at all getting anxious

with these poll numbers coming out?

Showing Trump's numbers,

messing up everything that you guys have been working on.

Is it in jeopardy?

You know, I've never really considered

that he has any opportunity to win the election.

I've just been operating under the assumption

that she was gonna win.

So, if--

If I did think about it, I would... (laughs)

I would freak out, but, uh,

uh, I'm not there yet.

Oh! Sorry.

(applause)

Peter Thomson: On behalf of the General Assembly,

I have the honor to welcome to the United Nations,

his excellency, Barack Obama,

President of the United States of America.

(applause) Newsman: He arrives at the UN at a time when

you've got this on-again, off-again ceasefire in Syria.

You've got an election.

You have a terror attack in New York and New Jersey

over the weekend while the president was here.

As I address this hall as president for the final time,

let me recount the progress that we've made.

A quarter century after the end of the Cold War,

the world is by many measures, less violent,

and more prosperous than ever before.

And yet our societies are filled with uncertainty

and unease...

and strife.

You know, I had this huge fight with Samantha last night.

(laughing): You can ask her about it, but, um...

I think she thought it was--

Well, I don't want to speak for her,

but she-- she was concerned. Is it too optimistic?

It wasn't just me and Ben who were fighting.

Obama was in the argument as well, so-- (laughs)

And he's kind of the most important person in the discussion, but um...

Our perspectives are just

fundamentally different perspectives.

The president and Ben, you know, want to affirm,

uh, just how peaceful, uh, our cities have become relatively speaking.

Obama: Indeed our international order has been so successful

that we take it as a given

that great powers no longer fight world wars.

That the end of the Cold War

lifted the shadow of nuclear armageddon.

Power: My world is a world where we have 65 million displaced.

Yemen and Syria and Iraq.

Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad,

Central African Republic,

Burundi, South Sudan, Darfur.

Um, you know the list--

Afghanistan, of course. Venezuela imploding.

We had basically end up having a long debate

about how bad this moment is.

There are concerns about terrorism

and there is a fear of the other.

And where all the trend lines on democracy,

right now at least, are going in the wrong direction.

Whereas the president is saying,

for all of these problems, like,

this is actually the best time to be alive

in human history, you know.

Um, I think she felt that that was potentially

discordant with the mood.

Thank you very much. (applause)

Obama: As heartbreaking as events are around the world, uh, today,

the truth is is that the levels of conflict and violence

that we're experiencing so far in the 21st century

pale in comparison to what we saw in the 20th.

The question is can we sustain that trend line?

♪ ♪

Kerry: You know, the world won't necessarily see it,

but in this week of intensified diplomacy,

we have done a lot!

Finer: The UN General Assembly is, uh,

the secretary sometimes jokingly refers to it

as diplomatic speed dating.

I think he did more than 70 meetings last year...

(applause) ...on an extremely wide range of topics.

You take advantage of the fact that everybody's in one place,

uh, and you can get a lot of business done

that would take you, maybe months if not years,

absent that opportunity.

Today, the United States and Russia

are announcing a plan which, we hope,

has the ability to provide a turning a point,

a moment of change.

Power: In order for that deal to come into effect,

we need to see seven days of relative calm

and ultimately, it's incumbent on Russia

to deliver the Syrian regime.

♪ ♪

Obama: I'm here today, I called this summit,

to assist the world's displaced people and refugees.

Power: Sixty-five million displaced people.

More than at any time since World War II is--

(applause) stands out as this sort of iconic example

of the international system not delivering.

So he's decided to try to use his last General Assembly

to mobilize commitments.

Obama: Today's commitment means

that we're going to be creating

employment opportunities

for more than 220,000 refugees.

There's been no end to the opportunities

to probe and push and cajole.

Kerry: In Colombia, we helped sign a peace treaty

that brings to end the longest conflict in the hemisphere.

We were able to get over the threshold of 55 nations

signing up for the global climate change agreement of Paris.

Now, we got a pacifier that fell.

(crowd laughs) And could pose a danger to the president.

(laughter) Obama: There ya go.

We had bilateral meetings today with the prime minister of Iraq,

which is very positive, and also the premier of China.

Kerry: We had a trilateral with Japan

and worked through North Korea,

the nuclear testing.

♪ ♪

Kerry: Over the weekend, I read a story

that referred to the US/Russia plan as, quote,

"flawed and full of caveats."

Flawed compared to what?

Compared to nothing?

Power: He's completely undeterrable.

He knows his odds in Syria,

but his answer is,

"Oh, so the alternative is to just walk away

"when, you know, this number of lives is at stake?

"I've gotta try. I've got to see what we can do here,

and use the time we have."

♪ ♪

...must figure out how we--

...make something work. Right.

Mm-hmm. Well, just-- that's it.

And then, after a few days,

maybe we can think about opening a JIB.

I mean, you can't make this thing out of nothing.

Newswoman: American war plans bombed the Syrian Army by mistake.

Newsman: Mr. Secretary, the Syrian military

is saying the seven day ceasefire is over.

It'd be good if they didn't talk first to the press,

but if they talked to the people

who are actually negotiating this. (cameras clicking)

It-- it's just so frustrating,

because we really had an agreement

that could have worked.

And unfortunately, we have some people

who didn't want to cooperate.

Uh, it's like so much in diplomacy if--

if a country wants to do something,

you know, you just can't sometimes

get them to switch gears.

And-- and so, when our guys accidentally hit 70 soldiers,

and the other guys didn't believe it was accidental,

and then on Sunday,

the Assad regime attacked a humanitarian convoy and boom!

(explosion)

Newsman: In a brutal war, a new low.

The food for 78,000 people targeted.

Russia says it didn't do it, nor did Syrian aircraft.

It blames rebel fire.

Rhodes: What have we said publicly?

What we've said last night in the background,

and what we're prepared to say now,

is that whether it was the regime of the Russians,

the Russians are responsible. It's an airstrike.

And it's absolutely an airstrike,

and everyone is comfortable confirming that.

Because it's an airstrike that only leaves two possibilities anyway.

Price: And DOD was very firm that it was not any sort

of US operation or coalition operation.

And so what are we saying about then

the future of the agreement?

So while it's suffered a serious blow,

uh, we're still working to advance it,

and you know, we're looking for steps from the Russians.

Doubts are very high.

The Russians have put out drone footage of the convoy.

Rhodes: Just to, like, make clear to everybody what it was?

Carlin Woog: They're saying that-- that the opposition

must have taken action to strike that convoy.

Rhodes: This is fucking sick even by their standards, man.

Rhodes: There are no consequences for anybody

for bombing this convoy, are there?

Right?

Yeah. Earnest: Yeah.

Russians seem to care deeply about that, don't they? Price: Yes, yes.

"...of the world."

"And plain common sense." That's good.

Finer: All of this stuff

was painstakingly negotiated by people

who really know what they're doing, and so,

the fact that that convoy ended up getting struck

certainly felt like far from an accident.

Russian translator: Many said that it, it could have been a, a, a rocket

or an arti-- or, or artillery shelling

that was, uh, what the initial reports were.

Then helicopters or, or warplanes were mentioned

so I think we need to refrain from emotional reactions.

And we insist, uh, on a very thorough

and impartial investigation of the attack

on the humanitarian convoy.

Thank you very much.

I listened to my colleague from Russia.

And-- and I sort of felt a little bit

like they were sort of in a parallel universe here.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,

but you are not entitled to your own facts.

And as President John Adams once said,

"Facts are stubborn things."

Yes, the coalition did hit people on Saturday.

We did it.

A terrible accident.

But I gotta tell you, people running around with guns on the ground,

from the air,

is a very different thing from trucks in a convoy

with big UN markings all over them.

On Monday, 20 aid workers were killed

in an outrageous, sustained, two-hour attack

directed at a fully authorized

humanitarian mission

near Aleppo, fully authorized.

There are only two countries that have airplanes

that are flying in that particular area.

Russia and Syria.

Kerry: Those are facts.

The primary question is no longer, "What do we know?"

The primary question is, "Collectively, what are we going to do about it?"

Power: Well, the Russian Federation

doesn't care about atrocities

committed against people--

maybe would sooner atrocities

you know didn't have-- that their ally

weren't perpetrating atrocities maybe,

um, but certainly wasn't motivated by that.

That's not-- when Putin wakes up in the morning,

doesn't think, "How can I prevent mass atrocities today?"

And then became a party to the conflict,

and was part of carrying out atrocities.

Are you truly incapable of shame?

Is there literally nothing that can shame you?

Rhodes: The error that we may have made is...

Putin doesn't seem to pursue Russia's national interests.

Uh, he pursues Putin's interests.

You know, Russia's national interests

are actually not to have a shrinking economy

and to be this kind of rogue actor.

Their-- their best and brightest are leaving, like, you know.

So I think, probably for, uh, you know,

and we figured that out,

but I think that that did take us...

(sighs) uh...

you know, that that was a thing that took us,

you know, too long in retrospect

to separate Putin out from Russia.

(inaudible)

And the irony of the Obama years

is going to be that, you know,

he was advocating an inclusive global view

rooted in common humanity and international order,

amidst this kind of, you know, roiling ocean

of growing nationalism and authoritarianism.

(indistinct chattering)

Power: There she is!

I'm gonna put my-- my son's broccoli in the plant.

Madeleine Albright: How are ya? Good to see you!

What a night. What a night!

♪ What a night, what a night, what a night ♪

Power: All right, everybody! We're gonna just--

Madeleine's not gonna be with us

for-- for, uh, the whole night

but we may be seeing the first woman president elected tonight.

We have with us the first American Secretary--

woman Secretary of State! (cheers and applause)

Tonight is a seminal American event

being lived with the 37 women ambassadors to the UN.

There are 193 countries, 37 women.

We have invited Gloria Steinem,

an icon to women all around the world.

Madeleine Albright, one of my predecessors in the job.

A hero of mine.

This is great, breaking the glass ceiling.

The glass ceiling, that's right!

(indistinct chatter)

(indistinct chattering)

Newsman: And you look at the only numbers that really matter tonight

and that is the race to 270.

Newsman 2: This is much closer than the Democrats were saying.

You have to be worried tonight if you're a Democrat.

It's scary, right? It's looking scary, yeah.

Yeah, it's not that ideal.

In the Obama election four years ago,

look all that blue.

Donald Trump has taken them,

and he's turned them red tonight.

Did you come in thinking we're good,

or did you just know that it was gonna be...?

I didn't think it would be this bad. (laughs)

Newsman: And here we go.

In California--

Yay! 55 votes now! Make it look close!

(cheering)

Newsman: ...red this evening. We have a call.

The state of Florida.

The apparent winner: Donald Trump.

I need to interrupt with another one.

Trump wins Iowa.

The projected-- Donald Trump is being awarded North Carolina.

It's over. (groaning)

Newsman: Just came in. 15 electoral votes.

They have a very realistic possibility tomorrow

of controlling both the House, the Senate,

and, uh, the White House.

(inhales deeply) To think of them in control of the Senate,

the House, and the Presidency.

Newsman 2: I mean, it's almost like the Civil War, you know?

Newsman 2: Donald Trump did not run to unify the country.

Newsman 2: No. Newsman 3: That was the last thing that he did.

(inaudible) The country did not vote to be unified.

Newsman 2: Look, this is the second of four

really consequential global elections.

This phenomenon is playing out

across the whole of the western democracies.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: I just came outside to try to process all this.

Um...

It's a lot to-- a lot to process.

I mean, uh...

Like I-I can't even...

Uh...

Uh, I can't...

I mean, I-I...

I-I-I can't...

(scoffs) I can't-- I can't put it into words.

I-I don't know what the words are. I mean, it's...

(inaudible)

Rice: On-- on a personal level, this is tough.

My daughter was at home and went to bed before,

uh, she knew what the outcome was.

And so I had to explain it to her in the morning,

and it took her a while to absorb and digest.

She thought I was joking at first. (chuckles)

(laughing): It's like, no, I'm not joking.

(crowd clamoring) Thank you everybody. We're not--

We are not going to be taking any questions.

Thank you guys. Thank you.

Kerry: I think we have to be realistic

about the nature of the challenges that we face.

Our job is to make sure the team coming in

has a sense of the stakes,

because they don't get higher.

You have a responsibility, morally,

to make judgments that are based on facts!

Not fiction.

So, I'll do everything in my power to put that kind of evidence

in front of them as they come in.

Newsman (on TV): The President-elect Donald Trump busy on Twitter

(lowers volume) slamming Hillary Clinton.

Rhodes: You think about the, you know,

people around the country who are afraid.

My assistant who works for me is a Muslim who wears a hijab,

and she's-- was crying for days.

You know, that's what's immediately on your mind,

and then you're thinking about things that we worked on.

Cuba, Iran, climate.

You know, what-- what is gonna happen to those things?

And I-- I cannot stress to you enough,

there's no backstop here.

I mean, I think people assume...

Well, there's some grownup somewhere, right,

who will make sure he doesn't, you know...

screw up too bad or something, there's not.

There's no-- this is it.

Like, you're in the office.

You decide whether to...

take a strike that kills somebody,

or you decide whether to start a war.

The presidents had to make a hundred,

hundreds of those decisions.

He will have to make hundreds of those decisions.

That will happen every week here, you know,

and there's not anybody else

(knocking at door) who will make those decisions for him.

(door opens)

Hey.

I think we're wrapping anyway, so...

(engines whining)

(Commander shouts in Greek)

(fanfare playing)

(inaudible)

So, he's-- Woman (over PA): Ladies and gentlemen...

He's the expert. Phonetics based on his, uh...

Yassas! Very good.

Kalispea.

Kalispe-ra.

Kalispera. There's an R missing.

There's an R missing.

Kalispera. Kalispera.

Come on.

Kalispera. I'll-- I'll figure that out.

All right.

Philoxenia.

This is where you intonate. Philoxenia.

Philoxenia! Very good.

Philoxenia. Philoxenia.

Philoxenia. All right, let's do this.

(crowd cheering, applause)

(cheering continues)

As many of you know, this is my final trip overseas

as President of the United States.

And I was determined on my last trip

to come to Greece.

Partly because I've heard about

the legendary hospitality of the Greek people.

Your philoxenia.

(cheers and applause)

But also because I came here

with gratitude for all that Greece,

this small great world,

has given to humanity through the ages.

Twenty-five centuries ago...

in the rocky hills of this city...

democracy was born.

♪ ♪

After eight years of being

President of the United States,

♪ ♪

having traveled around the globe,

I still believe the fundamental desire

to have control of our lives,

and our future,

and our nations.

♪ ♪

These yearnings are universal.

They burn in every human heart.

That's why the most important office in any country

is not president or prime minister.

The most important title is citizen.

Obama: Uh, it's been interesting talking to my staff,

my team, many of whom are younger.

I-I just have to remind them,

and do you notice I've been sticking this

in probably all my remarks,

history really doesn't follow a straight line.

It-- it zigs and zags.

But the trend lines...

ultimately will be in the direction of...

is less violent,

more empathetic, more generous world.

And that requires individuals

uh, fighting for that future.

Rhodes: There's this generation that seems to be coming up

that seems to share a very Obama view of the world.

In the United States and-- and all these other places.

And then there are these retrenchment forces,

kind of pushing back from the other direction,

um, who have actually gotten the--

their hands on the levers of power now.

Rhodes: In a strange way, like...

it may just be that this has to happen.

You know, that people just have to...

confront the ugly reality of that.

I've begun to just think about the next thing.

You know, and I'm gonna keep working for President Obama

in his international work.

He's 55 years old.

I'm 39 years old.

Um, and...

You know, the-- the pendulum will swing back.

And I think we have the template...

for when that happens.

There-- there is a lot that we have done

that we will--

how do I put this?

Um...

Whatever it, uh, let me--

We're all exhausted. (laughing)

So tired.

Uh, we all need to reintroduce ourselves

to, uh, loved ones

who have been incredibly patient with us.

Um...

But I think any thought that any of us might have had

that we could go gently into the night,

uh, that thought has been vanquished.

So we're in this for the long, long haul.

♪ ♪

Obama: I always like visiting these ancient sites,

whether it's the pyramid or Petra or the Parthenon,

because it gives you perspective.

In today's world,

we live so much day to day.

We're looking at stock numbers and poll numbers and...

uh, the latest tweet,

and it-- it just fills us with distractions.

With anxieties, fears.

You know you visit a place like the Parthenon,

and you're reminded that we're just part of this long chain.

Uh, and we do our best with the little link

of that chain that is allotted to us.

♪ ♪

Rhodes: It's-- it's made me rethink

kind of how we measure what we got done.

You know, you can measure the impact of the Cuba deal.

But there are these things that we do

that are really important

that don't show up on that scorecard.

And I'm thinking about like, you know

these visits to, you know, to Vietnam,

and-- and Hiroshima,

and Laos.

The impact you have on people's lives

that the president is speaking to,

and connecting with and giving resources to.

And you know, cause when you meet them,

they tell you that they trace back, you know,

their decision to start an organization,

or to start a business,

or to go into government,

you know, to some interaction with the president.

So that's what I'm excited to-- to watch.

That's a long, long game.

I mean, that-- we won't know that for 20 years, but...

you know, maybe there's a--

there's a different happy ending. (chuckles)

♪ ♪

Obama: I think of all the young people

who I've met around the world.

You know, they are representative

of a lifetime of potential

that's gonna be realized in all kinds of ways

we can't even anticipate at this point.

Imagine what kind of amazing revolutions for good

they can inspire.

The speeches they're gonna make.

The policies that they're gonna implement.

The laws that they're gonna pass.

Girl: Um, I feel that we have a great responsibility

to take part in our community.

More of an opportunity to play, but you have to study!

Obama: That-- that's not the--

the side of foreign policy that...

attracts attention.

But may ultimately,

uh, be the thing that, uh,

has the most impact.

Barker: Thank you, Mr. President. Good.

Appreciate it. Appreciate it.

All right!

See you guys.

You all good?

Man: Good. We outta here?

♪ Mmm ♪

♪ Come gather round people ♪

♪ Wherever you roam ♪

♪ Whoa ♪

♪ Gather round ♪

♪ And admit that the waters ♪

♪ Around you have grown ♪

♪ And accept it that soon ♪

♪ You'll be drenched to the bone ♪

♪ If all your time to you ♪

♪ Is worth savin' ♪

♪ Then you better start swimmin' ♪

♪ Or you'll sink like a stone ♪

♪ For the times ♪

♪ They are a-changin' ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Come writers ♪

♪ Critics ♪

♪ Prophesied... ♪

This is the job description

that they had me write for this job in 2009.

Oh, gosh! Yeah!

♪ Gather round ♪

♪ And keep your eyes wide ♪

♪ The chance won't come again ♪

♪ And don't speak too soon ♪

♪ For the wheels are still in spin ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ For there's no tellin' who ♪

♪ That it's namin' ♪

♪ The loser now ♪

(cheering) ♪ Maybe later to win ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ ♪

Kerry: You never fail

when you try greatly to go out and make things happen.

♪ Everybody comes to the river ♪

♪ Come congressmen ♪

♪ Please heed to the call ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Heed the call ♪

♪ Don't you stand in the doorway ♪

♪ And don't you block up the hall ♪

Long day.

Long day. ♪ For he that gets hurt ♪

♪ Will be he who has stalled ♪

♪ There's a battle outside ♪

♪ And I tell you it's ragin' ♪

♪ It'll soon shake your windows ♪

♪ And then it'll rattle your wall ♪

♪ For the times ♪

♪ They are ♪

♪ A-changin' ♪

♪ ♪