 There is this feeling that America and I know no politician ever says this Oh, there is a feeling out there that America has seen better days You know what we we have the National Governors Associations, you know gets together a couple times a year one one time here in Washington I was at a an NGA meeting Candy a few years ago when someone one of the presenters asked that question of all the governor sitting around the room and everybody was there and He said how many of you are better off than your parents were and lots of hands went up in fact I think everybody's hand went up and then he asked how many of you think that your children will be better off than you and very Few hands went up So it's not that politicians won't say it or maybe they'll just say it silently No, of course not of course not, but you know, I feel like the like our our greatest Lurches forward in history in this country have been when when we have set goals for ourselves as a nation and One of the great tensions I see right now and I see it coming mainly from the Tea Party Is that it they're raised they raise real questions about whether we we want a nation rather than a loose association of states and There's a difference seems to me we ought to have it's not that the federal government should set all goals but there are certain fundamental goals around global competition in particular and and around those American ideals I talked about particularly opportunity that we should reach and I believe can in time reach Consensus again at the federal level