And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN, the Axviles, with your

host, David Axelrod.

Long before the world knew him as a White House press secretary, Jay Carney was a great

reporter, covering things as varied as the U.S. invasion of Panama and the nearly successful

coup de topple Gorbachev in Russia.

He was a respected Washington correspondent.

And then in 2008, he decided to cross over and went to work for Vice President Biden,

which is when I got to know him, and ultimately as spokesperson for President Obama.

Now he's a Hancho at Amazon.

I sat down with him recently to talk about all of his different careers and get his insights

on what he's seeing out there today.

Jay Carney, it is great to be with you, my old friend and colleague.

You know, in preparing for this, I always get notes.

And this line I kind of enjoyed, which is not much is known about Carney's childhood.

Besides the fact that he did not have a blue blood-sillerspoon in the mouth pedigree

of many of his peers.

So I think one of the services we can provide for researchers everywhere is to fill in this

sort of epic gap in your history.

And tell me a little bit about your family and how you grew up.

Well, we're in Washington, DC, as we record this.

And I was actually born in DC, not very common, because my father was a foreign service officer

and he happened to have been stationed after a stint in Germany, in Brayman, Germany.

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