ronald regan brought in californians and also asked jim baker to be chief of staff. there are not a lot of heavyweightes who have independent standing around the president who can give him advice, you know, shoulder to shoulder. very hard-hitting advice and disagree with him. and he does not have in particular, heavyweights around him to execute policy. washington post has an extremely interesting story about the struggle inside the white house on who would run health care once it is passed. who will have the biggest start-up in american history. who is the captain of that ship. heavy weights in that administration urge someone to have a start-up experience. technical experience. experience and new technologies. insurance business. president went with someone who could do that. he is an individual that does not have that kind of world class experience. and what followed is we didn't get very good execution of one of the biggest and the most important in american history and signature issue for this president. >> listen, i want to ask you professor, before i came here

it was nancy reagan not donald regan who ran things in ronald reagan's white house. it was she who dictated the president's schedule, supervise his speeches >> guest: i stand by that. she was busy, wasn't she? [laughter] she was a powerful first lady, powerful. petticoat president as they might call her. and i came away from that book having respect for her power. because she toned down ronald reagan. she helped push him with gorbachev. she was very good in that respect. yes, she was extraordinarily powerful people were terrorized of her. >> host: did you ever meet her? did she ever consoled -- and sent to an interview currently no. she never consented to an interview. as i said, none of the subjects have. but i did meet her very, very briefly when i went to the white house with a photographer friend of mine, and he was taking pictures of president reagan and mrs. reagan for the cover of "people" magazine. and they were having a hard time getting the president to relax. he was upset about what was going on in congress. and i still member when we went to the white hou

it was nancy reagan not donald regan who ran things in ronald reagan's white house. it was she who dictated the president's schedule, supervise his speeches >> guest: i stand by that. she was busy, wasn't she? [laughter] she was a powerful first lady, powerful. petticoat president as they might call her. and i came away from that book having respect for her power. because she toned down ronald reagan. she helped push him with gorbachev. she was very good in that respect. yes, she was extraordinarily powerful people were terrorized of her. >> host: did you ever meet her? did she ever consoled -- and sent to an interview currently no. she never consented to an interview. as i said, none of the subjects have. but i did meet her very, very briefly when i went to the white house with a photographer friend of mine, and he was taking pictures of president reagan and mrs. reagan for the cover of "people" magazine. and they were having a hard time getting the president to relax. he was upset about what was going on in congress. and i still member when we went to the white hou