--- title: Joe Klein: After the Road Trip, Rethinking America | TIME description: After a cross-country road trip, Joe Klein says what concerns Americans most isn't what you hear on cable news canonical: https://time.com/video/91goDzKE/ og:title: Joe Klein: After the Road Trip, Rethinking America og:description: After a cross-country road trip, Joe Klein says what concerns Americans most isn't what you hear on cable news og:url: https://time.com/video/91goDzKE/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/91goDzKE/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Klein: After the Road Trip, Rethinking America twitter:description: After a cross-country road trip, Joe Klein says what concerns Americans most isn't what you hear on cable news twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/91goDzKE/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Joe Klein: After the Road Trip, Rethinking America > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Joe Klein: After the Road Trip, Rethinking America [Watch (HLS stream): Joe Klein: After the Road Trip, Rethinking America](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/91goDzKE.m3u8) (4:53)  _Published 2010-10-08. After a cross-country road trip, Joe Klein says what concerns Americans most isn't what you hear on cable news_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:06 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Joe Klein Takes a Road Trip](/video/OcmAaBli/) ### Joe Klein Takes a Road Trip [Joe Klein Road Trip 2011: Meet the Austin Entrepreneurs](/video/uHJ8qnBQ/) ### Joe Klein Road Trip 2011: Meet the Austin Entrepreneurs [Joe Klein Begins 'Election Road Trip 2010'](/video/zxJLiGZv/) ### Joe Klein Begins 'Election Road Trip 2010' --- ## Transcript >> Ever since Huckleberry Finn, went out for the territories, the basic truth of America is that it's always been a place where people can pick up, go someplace else and find a new life. And, there's always the promise of that in a road trip that when you go out there you're gonna find a new way of thinking, a new rhythm, new friends, it's one of the classic American pastimes. I decided to go on a road trip because I realized that I've been spending a lot of time in the last few years covering overseas stories like the war in Afghanistan, and the elections in Iran, and I hadn't spent much time out in the middle of the country. Only thing I knew about the middle of the country was the stuff I was seeing on TV, and that seemed kind of angry and clichéd, I figured that there was something deeper going on, and I wanted to find out what it was. >> Don't, don't forget to vote now. >> Hey, I won't. >> Alright. >> I'm a fan of politicians-- >> I'm not getting off of there-- >> I'm not tremendously cynical about-- >> Is there a war now or somethin'? >> Right. >> and the dozen or two politicians I interviewed on this trip were pretty sober- minded. They were not demagoguing the issues. They were thoughtful, they were concerned, I didn't always agree with them, but they really were working at their jobs. But they were completely dwarfed in eloquence, and candor, and creativity by the average folks I met along the way. >> When you get down to Washington, you start doing something for the people. Not like the people that are currently in power down there. >> The people who really poured their hearts out to me, people who were very, very anxious about the future. >> These big companies, Bush gave them tax cuts but they're sending all the manufacturing jobs overseas, we're losing our middle class. >> And, themes began to emerge. In fact, it was an almost seamless experience. People were concerned about the same things everywhere. >> You look at government spending. Nobody's got, nobody's watching. >> And the things they were most concerned about was the great fear, in fact, the conviction that life wouldn't be as good for their kids as it had been for them. >> The 'American Dream' used to be achievable, and I think the 'American Dream' is this unachievable fantasy where there's jobs, homes, good future, good education, it is gone, poof. >> There were a lot of people who were worried about losing their homes. A lot of people whose homes were underwater, their mortgages were worth more than their house. >> People who were responsible with-- >> Uh- huh. >> their mortgages, and they took care of that and paid their bills were the ones who are being penalized compared to everybody who didn't. >> A lot of people concerned about China moving ahead of us. And, in contrast, the stuff that I'd spend all my time, thinking and worrying about like the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, people didn't mention that stuff at all. If they did, it was, isn't that costing an awful lot of the moment when we need the money here? Support for those words were-- was evaporating. >> Is it possible to be optimistic without hope, being hopeful? >> You go out and you talk to average folks, and you have to be optimistic. It's kinda like going overseas even into a war like Afghanistan which is pretty hopeless but when you're with the American soldiers in the field, you feel optimistic about our country and our future. That's kinda the way I feel now. I don't see any immediate answers for the major problems that are facing this country now. Except for the fact, that this is an extraordinary people that's unique that's becoming more unique by the generation because of intermarriage. We're becoming an American race and that race is mongrel, and creative and strong. 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