Multiple Speakers:
Welcome to West Wing Week. Narrator: Welcome to
the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's
happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and beyond. This week the President focused
on students and college affordability. The President: I'm
all fired up now. Narrator: At Benedict College. The President: Got to
make sure the mic works. Narrator: Georgia Tech, and
back at the people's house. The President: Cheese. It actually works
if you (inaudible). Narrator: As for Dr. Biden,
she met with community college students in
Gainesville and Austin. The First Lady hosted
a Nowruz celebration, and the First Family marched to
mark an important anniversary. That's March 6th to March 12th,
or the single most powerful word. Multiple Speakers:
(inaudible) Narrator: On Friday, the President
traveled to Benedict College, a historically black liberal
arts college in Columbia, South Carolina, for a
town hall with students. The President: Do you
always wear a tie, or you just wore it today? (laughter) Male Speaker:
I wear it all the time. The President: Okay, good. (laughter) Yeah, I like that. We've got to ensure not
just the absence of formal, legal oppression, but the
presence of an active dynamic opportunity, good jobs
that pay good wages, a good start for every child,
healthcare for every family, a higher education that prepares
you for the world without crippling you with debt, a fair
and more just legal and criminal justice system. Female Speaker: Fired up. The President: Fired up. Female Speaker: Ready to go. The President: Ready to go. Female Speaker: Fired up. The President: Fired up. Female Speaker: Ready to go. The President: Ready to go. (laughter) Narrator: He also
stopped by for a surprise lunchtime visit to the
Brookland Baptist Church, one of the largest African
American churches in the state. Male Speaker: And I left my
phone in the car, oh my god. Male Speaker: I tell you what,
I'll take some pictures, and I'll send them
to your phone. Narrator: On Saturday the First
Family traveled to Selma, Alabama to march the 50th
anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches, a milestone
in the Civil Rights Movements. Joined by congressman and
civil rights icon John Lewis, President George W. Bush, and Mrs. Bush, the
President spoke to a crowd of more than 40,000 people in front
of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The President: Because the
single most powerful word in our democracy is the word 'we.' We
the people, we shall overcome. Yes, we can. That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. We honor those who
walked so we could run. We must run so
our children soar. Narrator: Foot soldiers who
braved the march 50 years ago, despite tear gas, clubs, and
violence -- The President: So nice to see you. Narrator: -- joined hands with
the First Family to walk across the bridge that day, a somber,
but celebratory reminder of how far we've come and the
courage it took to get here. The First Lady: One of the foot
soldiers was a woman who said she was 14 years old
when she marched. She was so scared. The woman who is 111, she made
her go through with the march, because she said that if you
walk away now you'll let your fears guide you and
rule you forever. And she went ahead with the
march, but on that day, she got her head beaten in. And for me, I thought
about that and thought, that would have been
Sasha on that day. Narrator: Then the First Family
toured the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, and
the President sat down for an interview with
CBS's Bill Plante. Plante's a journalist who
actually covered the marches back in 1965. The President: I'd start reading
about -- Narrator: On Monday the President introduced a new
initiative called Tech Higher, a multi-sector effort to get
more Americans rapidly trained for well-paying technology jobs. Tech Higher builds on the
momentum of the past five years, when American businesses have
created more than 12 million new jobs. Meanwhile, Dr. Biden and
Undersecretary of Education Dr. Ted Mitchell toured
community colleges in Gainesville, Florida,
and Austin, Texas. Dr. Biden: Community colleges
have so much to offer you. They offer mentors, they
offer writing centers, they offer math labs. (laughter) Narrator:
Back at the ranch, the President welcomed European
Council President Donald Tusk to the Oval Office to discuss
pressing foreign policy issues, such as Ukraine and the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership,
otherwise known as TTIP. On Tuesday, the President took
his student aid bill of rights for a road test, presenting it
to a representative sample of the very people he wrote it for,
10,000 students at Georgia Tech. The President: So if you agree
with the basic values that I outlined, if you believe in a
student aid bill of rights that will help more Americans
pay for a quality education, then sign your name
to this declaration. You can go to a website, because
you guys like tech stuff. (laughter) You go to whitehouse.gov/collegeopportunit y. Narrator: On Wednesday morning
the aromatic White House kitchen was busy preparing for
Nowruz, the Persian new year, celebrated by more than 300
million people across the Middle East, Central and Southwest
Asia, and Eastern Europe. Maziar Farivar: So this
celebration is celebration of spring coming up. We say good bye to the winter,
all the cold and sort of darkness of winter, and welcome
in the brightness of spring. The First Lady: And
after a long winter, we can use a little
bit of all that, right? (laughter) Finally thawing out. You're ready. (laughter) Payam Yousefi: I'm so
excited to be able to share a part of my heritage, my culture,
and I'm honored with the fact that the White House is willing
to share this with a large crowd, and high
light it as well. It's just that I cannot express
how excited I am about this. Narrator: In the afternoon the
White House teamed up with Arne Duncan to discuss the student
aid bill of rights with college newspapers over the phone,
and to their surprise, the President hopped on
the call to say hello, and to go through his proposal. Jennifer Friedman:
Mr. President? The President: Hey, everybody. Yesterday I took new action to
make it easier for students to pay for college, pay off their
loans through an executive action that streamlines and
improves the way the federal government interacts with
students when it comes to student loans, helps students
cut through the bureaucracy, and get faster responses
about their loans. Narrator: At the end of the day
the President got to spend some time with some of his
favorites, kid scientists, who are finalists in the 2015
Intel Science Talent Search. The President: I could not be
more impressed with how you've done. Narrator: So stay engaged
with us online and remember, you can find out more
information about any of these topics, or see complete
videos of these events at whitehouse.gov, and thanks again
for checking out this edition of your West Wing Week. The President: "How do you
make Obama's eyes light up? Shine a flashlight in his ears." (laughs) That's pretty good. "Somebody send Obama some life
hacks on how to be a good president. Ha-ha. Like I bet that would help. LOL." You know, the LOL is redundant
when you have the ha-ha. "I'm all right with the
President wearing jeans. I'm not all right with the
President wearing those jeans." Jimmy Kimmel: Can I
just say something? The President: Yeah, Jimmy. Jimmy Kimmel: I
think that's mean, and I don't think there's
anything wrong with the jeans you wear. The President: Jimmy, I
think they've got a point. Have you been working out. (laughter) The President: All right. Female Speaker:
That was perfect.
