"Issues That Matter" for America and the next president

Through the end of the year, "CBS This Morning" is hosting a series called "Issues That Matter" about the challenges facing the next president. The series has featured conversations on foreign policy, education, healthcare, the economy and the Supreme Court. Here is a look.

Foreign policy

In our first installment of "Issues That Matter," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham discussed the top foreign policy challenges facing the next president.

North Korea and Iran are two "most concerning" issues

"Because you have two unstable regimes. One has nuclear weapons, one's trying to get them. What would happen, in terms of game changer, if they had the capability to hit the American homeland?" Graham said.

The senator said the next president should be prepared to attack North Korean nuclear facilities if they continue their nuclear program, in violation of United Nations resolutions.

But the Syrian crisis is more immediate

"I see land grab in Syria. I see the complete destruction of Aleppo... I'm really worried that the next few months, that you'll send an all-out assault on Aleppo and that maybe some of the Baltic areas might be under threat [from Russia]," Graham said.

The senator said the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria lacked the power to fight ISIS, and proposed creating a regional force that would "go after Assad" after destroying ISIS.

On Russian airstrikes: "Shoot them down"

Graham said the U.S. should enforce a "safe zone" and take military action if Russia continues to complicate efforts in Syria with deadly airstrikes - supposedly meant to target terrorists - that are blamed for thousands of civilian deaths.

"If you're not willing to do that, it's not a safe zone. And the Russians, that they believe we would shoot them down, would bomb. It's all about attitude," Graham said.

National security

In this installment of "Issues That Matter," retired four-star Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, who served as director of the CIA and the NSA, discussed top national security and foreign policy threats facing the next president. Hayden ranked the issues according to their urgency.

First, terrorism - including cyberattacks

Hayden said cyberattacks fall into the "Russia problem box." He believes Russia is trying to "erode" Americans' confidence in the political process by interfering in this presidential election. He believes criminal gangs directed by the Russian state are responsible for the hack into the Clinton campaign manager's emails.

"It's to mess with our heads. It's to do to us what he thinks we do to him and his political processes. It's a way of his pushing back against what he views to be American pressure," Hayden said.

Threats from "ambitious, fragile and nuclear" states

That includes North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Russia. On Russia, Hayden said the U.S. should act "more robustly" to create a "tectonic shift in a Russian pressure point."

"Can we be more robust in Ukraine, with regard to what we may or may not provide them? Can we be more robust in Syria, with how much space we give the Russians to operate?" Hayden said. "Getting out of the narrow box, why don't we make it American policy to wean the Europeans off of Russian gas? Why don't we simply say, 'We got it, we're going to exploit it, and we're going to ship it.'"

Hayden also believes the Obama administration's response to Russia's intervention in Syria has been "too light." If Russia continues its airstrikes, Hayden believes the U.S. should be prepared to use military force. He also said yes to safe zones in Syria, and proposed creating "relatively thin" zones along the Turkish and Jordanian borders.

The U.S.-China relationship

"Not saying China's an enemy, but if we don't get that right, over the long term, that's pass-fail."

Economy and trade

In this installment of "Issues That Matter," former Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich discussed key economic issues facing the next president, including expanding the American economy and handling international trade agreements.

Trans-Pacific Partnership is "high priority"

According to Governor Kasich, the massive trade deal with 11 Pacific Rim countries is crucial for the U.S. to "continue to innovate" and keep Russia and China - which are not included in the agreement - from expanding their influence in the Pacific region.

"We have a lot of little countries out there that are saying, 'We want to work with the United States.' And to tell them 'no' really is a big mistake, not only from an economic point of view but also from the standpoint of geopolitics and our ability to be strong in the Pacific," Kasich said.

Fix the "broken" job training system

Kasich stressed the need for job retraining programs, especially for older industries.

"Look, we don't make the inside of the Apple phone anymore, but we built the Apple phone, we designed the Apple phone, we created the Apple phone. It's better to work making computer chips than potato chips. And so those people who are stuck in the old industries need to be retrained," he said.

On tax reform

Kasich said people are flocking to "park their money overseas" to avoid America's corporate taxes - the highest in the world among leading industrial nations.

"It'd be great to be able to get that money back to America so we can help with tax cuts," he said.

Supreme Court vacancy

In this installment of "Issues That Matter," legal legends David Boies and Ted Olson discuss the lasting legal impact the next president could have.

Who will fill the Supreme Court vacancy?

The empty seat left by Justice Antontin Scalia's death in the nation's highest court has yet to be filled. Boies said Senate Republican leaders' refusal to confirm Judge Merrick Garland, more than six months after President Obama nominated him, is "disappointing."

"I mean you can disagree or agree that [he] ought to be confirmed - I frankly share with Ted he ought to be confirmed - but I don't think you can disagree reasonably that he shouldn't be given a vote. That's the Senate's responsibility," Olson added.

Could Garland be confirmed during the lame-duck session? They said it's a possibility, as some Republicans may think, "We could do a lot worse," especially should Hillary Clinton win the election.

Who we elect next month could be even more consequential as there are likely to be more Supreme Court vacancies during their presidency, as three current justices are around 80 years old.

As president, both candidates have vowed to push major issues before the nation's highest court, including abortion and gun laws.

But first, the election can it really be rigged?

In 2000, Boies and Olson were on opposing sides of Bush v. Gore, when then Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore refused to concede the election to George Bush amid a Florida recount.

Olson said Trump's claim of a "rigged" election is conceivable, but "highly unlikely." Still, Boies acknowledged there are risks of election hacking - especially with electronic machines that do not have a paper record.

Education

In this installment of "Issues That Matter," former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, the current president of the University of North Carolina, discussed key education issues facing the next president, from pre-kindergarten to college.

Affording a college diploma

According to Spellings, the college diploma is the new high school diploma. So one of the top responsibilities for the next president is to make sure education is "available and accessible for many, many more people than ever before," by making it more affordable.

"College is not free. Nothing is free, so it's all a question about who's going to pay - the individual, the state and the federal government," she said.

Another issue with college education, Spellings said, is that kids are taking too long to get through school.

"What I mean is students get in and out of college as quickly and as efficiently as possible - in four years optimally, as opposed to six," Spellings said. "And time is money. And so to be very efficient about what you want to do, your trajectory to get through college so that you're not spending more time than you need to and spending more money than you need to taking courses that are, you know, extraneous."

Invest in early education

While the federal government have spent billions on higher education - with Pell Grants, work study and other student loan programs - Spellings said it must invest more on grade levels K-12. She also believes preparations for a higher education must begin as early as the pre-kindergarten years.

"Well, I think what we need to do is make sure that the pre-K we have - largely Head Start, which obviously is income-based, need-based - is the right kind of pre-K. That it's set the table for good learning... and so I think we need to get pre-K right before we expand it," Spellings said.

Common Core "makes sense"

"It allows technology and text books and teacher development - all sorts of things to be done in a more efficient way and a more cost-effective way," Spellings explained.

Because it is a "state-led effort," Spellings said it also works for families who move around a lot, because "there's no coherence in the standards."

Health care

In this installment of "Issues That Matter," CBS News contributor Dr. David Agus and Steven Brill, author of "America's Bitter Pill," discuss the costly health care issues facing the next president.

What Obamacare got right

Twenty million more Americans now have health care coverage. Dr. Agus said the Affordable Care Act is "great" because it got the principle right - that everyone should have a right to health care.

What went wrong

Premium prices are skyrocketing. Some states have seen double-digit percentages, and some popular plans will see an increase by an average of 25 percent next year. Major insurance companies are now cutting back on participation in the exchange program, and younger Americans are opting out of the system, paying a fee instead, to avoid the higher prices.

Brill said Obamacare has done "nothing" to control the rising cost of health care, which he called a "monopoly market."

Health care is a "bipartisan issue"

"Health care is not partisan and I think that is really the message," Agus said. "It is partisan because you have abortion - yes, no. It's partisan because they want the term 'Obamacare' kicked out. No matter how you do it, you're not going to be able to remove health care from 20 million people. So the parties have to work together."

"It's not going to be repealed," Brill agreed.