my concern is the looseness of the obama administration with borders. we're very concerned about the mexican border with the drugs and cartels. my concern is the northern border along canada. i think it's very peculiar that muslims that are used to very warm climates are coming to detroit, coming to chicago, wisconsin and settling there and building mosques. my concern is that they might, the muslim terrorists might be coming over the canadian border into the united states and settling in detroit. and i think we might have on our -- on the platter there a trojan horse, and muslim terrorists coming into the united states there. guest: first of all, as far as detroit. detroit has been a population center for arab-americans for decades, generations, and that's not a recent phenom. and of course let me quickly underscore the vast majority of arab americans and muslim americans are like the rest of us, they have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism and are as appalled by these incidents as anyone else but both the subject of the borders the mexican border

host: for the next hour it is the obama administration and economy. we are joined by dean baker,

administration. newshour correspondent kwame holman begins with more about the meeting in denmark. . >> reporter: diplomats from 192 nation its gathered in copenhagen today for the largest and potentially most important u.n. climate change conference ever. their goal to shift away from fossil fuels and get rich countries to send billions of dollars to poorer ones to help them adapt. organizers warned this could be the critical last chance to curb global warming. >> the science has never been clearer. the solutions have never been more abundant. political will has never been stronger. and let me warn you, political will will never be

he spent a lot of time here at the beginning of the obama administration. what do you see the dynamics next year? >> i am not sure the midterm elections will matter that much. i think the rest of the world already perceives the president is having a great deal of trouble with congress with trying to get through what he wants to get through. i suspect just as president obama gets the nobel prize, the assumption could be the wrong one, is that he looks like a two-term president. they tend to go for two terms. i think there is still in europe a tremendous amount of goodwill and feeling that the economic crisis has been handled well. the government's in britain and america have behaved in a similar way which makes it paradoxical i would agree with congress, -- agreed that gordon brown will lose the election. that is partly because of the fact they are tired with the incumbent government. its effect of time for change. gordon brown is on charismatic. -- gordon brown is unchar ismatic. there is another factor which we have not mentioned it sufficiently, which is

the obama administration has to realize their own culpability. >> larry: president obama sat down with oprah winfrey and she asked him how he would grade himself? >> the economy is growing again. we are on our way out of iraq. i think we've got the best possible plan for afghanistan. we have reset our image around the world. we are -- we have achieved an international consensus around the need for iran and north korea to disable their nuclear weapons and i think that we're going to pass the most significant piece of social legislation since social security, and that's health insurance for every american. >> larry: let me get the panel's reaction after this. no way! way. ♪ - sure, cake or pie? - pie. - apple or cherry? - cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip. >> larry: before we discuss health care, let's get the panel's reaction to the record card? what grade do you give the president? >> he said b plus. that's the only possible answer you can give. any president, any time in history,

and the obama administration, and the nobel peace prize is a standard to the military center that obama has shown himself to be. and that's why we are, it's a tipping point. it didn't have to be this way, that could have been an asserted, nondogmatic aggressiveness pursued by the obama administration. obama is not pursuing an aggressive policy. this year is a tipping back to a center policy that has a lot in the negative sense of terms of effects, domestically and ç foreign and that's going to be an issue in a year or two ahead. guest: 2009 has been a transitional year, i wrote a column saying that if president obama would make him a symbol of what is wrong with the government, which is too much government, he would be a one-term president. and everyone that has happened in my view is that he's on a one-term strategy. host: before we let you go, this network and this town, the subject of political humor last night on "saturday night live." >> senators held a press conference earlier today to criticize the media's excessive coverage of tiger woods' extra martial affairs. >> good evenin

host: for the next hour it is the obama administration and economy. we are joined by dean baker, economic and policy research, and university of maryland economics professor peter morici. thank you for joining us this morning. we will take a look at the president's comments from the signing of the stimulus bill earlier. but i want to get iraq on where the administration started this year -- a wrap on where the administration started this year, what they did in response to the economy, where we are now and what is ahead. this is back in february, the signing of the stimulus legislation. >> i don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems. nor does it constitute all of what we are going to have to do to turn our economy around. but today does mark the beginning of the end. the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs. it the beginning of what we need to do to provide relief for families were read a will not be able to pay next month's bills. the beginning of the first steps t

and the obama administration, and the nobel peace prize is a standard to the military center that obama has shown himself to be. and that's why we are, it's a tipping point. it didn't have to be this way, that could have been an asserted, nondogmatic aggressiveness pursued by the obama administration. obama is not pursuing an aggressive policy. this year is a tipping back to a center policy that has a lot in the negative sense of terms of effects, domestically and ç foreign and that's going to be an issue in a year or two ahead. guest: 2009 has been a transitional year, i wrote a column saying that if president obama would make him a symbol of what is wrong with the government, which is too much government, he would be a one-term president. and everyone that has happened in my view is that he's on a one-term strategy. host: before we let you go, this network and this town, the subject of political humor last night on "saturday night live." >> senators held a press conference earlier today to criticize the media's excessive coverage of tiger woods' extra martial affairs. >> good evenin

place. >> host: the bush -- >> guest: the obama administration. oftentimes things have happened at staff level where they're looking at different issues, but as far as us knowing of a formal review, that happened during the obama administration. and i would say general, the way that -- this is not a direct answer to your question, but the way that the obama administration is approaching antitrust appears to be different. they appear to be very interested in issues revolving around technology, the technology industry both at the justice department and the federal trade commission. and that's a tricky thing. i wrote a story for the paper on sunday about how some regulatory interests in the high-tech sector has really engaged washington and silicon valley more than it really ever has been. but gerntion it's a delicate balance. google will tell you and other companies, too, that you don't want to be overly burdensome with rules or regulations that would hamper innovation, that could potentially set rules that could be outdated so terribly quickly beca

the obama administration introducing a stimulus pack ago. all those measures combined managed to prevent a return to the 1930s whereas if we had been gathering sometime last year some people would have been worried about. but the authoritys were concentrating on avoiding the a immediate crisis they didn't take long-term measures. now what we found is the economy is recovered, these big banks have got labee pog we are again in washington. the political agenda has moved on, all focused on health care and the wall street reform movement has been stymied. it is not clear to me at all that we're going to get any significant changes. >> reporter: andrew, what do you see, is there a possibility for change. >> john's absolutely right. i think we are going to get change but it is going to be only on the margins. john again is right when he says that the farther we get away from this crisis, the more we focus on other issues and rightly there are other important issues like health care, but the farther we get away and the more the economy seems like i

i would say that cities are too important to fail. >> suarez: nutter asked the obama administration to free up more stimulus funds is so cities like philadelphia can avoid even deeper layoffs. city revenue is way down. federal money can fill a gap for philadelphiaans as they wait for a better year in 2010. >> . >> lehrer: tomorrow night ray reports from ann arbor, michigan, a college town prospering in an economic depressed state >> ifill: jim, we turn our attention now to this week's big meeting in copenhagen on climate change, and a new decision from the obama administration. newshour correspondent kwame holman begins with more about the meeting in denmark. . >> reporter: diplomats from 192 nation its gathered in copenhagen today for the largest and potentially most important u.n. climate change conference ever. their goal to shift away from fossil fuels and get rich countries to send billions of dollars to poorer ones to help them adapt. organizers warned this could be the critical last chance to curb global warming. >> the science has never been clearer. the solutions have never be

i mean, the obama administration has to realize their own culpability here. >> larry: president obama sat down with oprah winfrey. she asked him how he would grade himself on a number of issues since he became president. watch. >> the economy is growing again. we are on our way out of iraq. i think we've got the best possible plan for afghanistan. we have reset our image around the world. we are -- we have achieved an international consensus around the need for iran and north korea to disable their nuclear weapons. and i think that we're going to pass the most significant piece of social legislation since social security, and that's health insurance for every american. >> larry: let me get the panel's reaction after this. so many arthritis pain relievers -- i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve have the s

i think the obama administration wants to close the door as soon as possible. host: was there anything that the administration or congress could do to save the auto industry before 2008? did it have to happen to take a look at it? guest: the credit crisis in 2008 pushed the industry off the cliff. the auto makers have been struggling. they had been able to push their reckoning days further into the future by borrowing against future earnings. it is a lot like a lot of people in the country. if you get into trouble, even put your bets on the credit card and live to fight another day. that is what happened with the companies. it turned out the only way to deal with it was bankruptcy or to get help. host: the next call is from raleigh, north carolina. caller: there were some interesting things of the autumn show last week. one of them was turbine powered cars they built themselves. it is supposed to have a 500- mile range. could you talk about the future of micro turbines as range extenders for electric vehicles? guest: turbines are sort of this jump over technolo

the obama administration has to realize they're own cupability here. >> larry: president obama -- that wasn't even -- >> one day. maybe one day. >> larry: president obama and future president oprah discussed his first year report card. we'll talk about it in 60 seconds. (announcer) take your time to find the right time with cialis for daily use... a clinically proven, low-dose tablet for erectile dysfunction you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision stop taking cialis and call your doctor right away. (announcer) 36-hour cialis. or cialis for daily use. ask yo

the obama administration has to realize their own culpibility here. >> larry: president obama -- that wasn't even -- >> one day. maybe one day. >> larry: president obama and future president oprah discussed his first year report card. we'll talk about it in 60 seconds. ♪ approximate. >> we are on our way out of iraq. (announcer) they've been tested, built and driven like no other. and now they're being offered like no other. come to the winter event and get an exceptional offer on the mercedes-benz of your dreams. it's our way of showing a little holiday spirit. hurry before the offer ends january 4th. by changing her medicare prescription plan. all we had to do was go to cvs.com and use the free savings calculator. we learned that changing your medicare part d plan could save an average of $612. woman: we just entered my prescriptions, and it compared plans for us. it was easy to find the right plan for the prescriptions i need. your cvs pharmacist can help, too. come in today, or go to cvs.com before december 31st to find the best plan for you -- at cvs/pharmacy. >> larry: preside

visit ken auletta.com. >> other ann coulter, we are a year into the obama administration. grade it. >> i would say worse than carter on foreign policy and worsen clinton on domestic policy, so other than that i think he is doing a great job. >> in what way were some president carter? >> i now understand the look on my father's face when carter was president. everything obama does is the wrong thing to do. you don't know what is going to happen but he is pouring gasoline all over the world, in russia, in iran, in iraq and afghanistan, and china, and where the match will be lit we don't nowhere it is going to be but you can count on obama to do the wrong thing. every president is basically living off the foreign policy of his predecessor for the first year so right now we are still living off of bush just like the way bush was living off of clinton's farm policy for the first year but were about to move into the obama foreign policy and i think there's going to be a disaster and i don't nowhere or how or what it will be but i know obama's going to do the wrong thing. >> cong

in fact, the obama administration has even gone so far as to use tarp to set executive pay in several companies and during the reorganization of general motors, the obama administration has used that leverage to benefit its union allies over the rights of secured bondholders who had loaned their money to these companies. now, madam president, i have been a -- been a vocal opponent of this misuse of tarp by both administrations. in december of 2008, i joined my colleagues in voting against the government bailout of the american auto industry, ignored by the previous administration an current administration. earlier this year i supported a tarp disapproval resolution that would have stopped the program dead in its tracks because of this misrepresentation of the purpose for which these funds would be used. i also supported several initiatives that would have increased tarp transparency and congressional oversight. then in september i joined many of our colleagues in sending a letter to secretary tim geithner, of treasury, asking him not to extend his tarp authority beyond the end of this

look, i think the obama administration deserves a lot of credit. i think we're on the path to getting things better. i think the -- whatever you think of george bush's leadership in this thing, and in the book i write about how largely irrelevant he was in the process, he did let bernanke and pulse and run the show and he did stay behind them when they went to get $700 billion. that was probably needed to save the economy. but i think a lot has happened since inauguration day that is positive. americans are not convinced that this team is worked, but it seems to be if there ever was a time when you want a fiscal status, this was it. secondly, despite all the criticism that got this bizarre stress testing needed, which was a metaphor that they're going to put the bags on the treadmill and some of them would pass out or something. [laughter] >> and it created months of uncertainty. in the end, it gave people confidence that the banks have come clean with her stuffed. a number of banks, surprising number of banks have been able to raise capital privat

he was here in this town for the first 100 days of the obama administration. but he is also one of the most experienced and respected commentators on not only british politics, but politics around the world for "sky news." and last, but not least, david gregory, who is the host of "meet the press" for nbc. a chance, here, i think, to change you for allowing us to be present at your program yesterday. it was much appreciated. thank you very much. congressman, if i can start with you. imagine we're sitting here a year from now and you're looking back on 2010. apart, presumably, from the heroic republican victory in the midterm, what would be your highlights of the political year? >> well, you know, if we're a year from now looking back, i think the story obviously has to be the progress or lack thereof made on the jobs front. clearly this has been a year in 2009 and will be again about whether washington will focus on getting americans back to work. if i go back and look at where we've been over the last 11 months, i remember the instance when i was at a meeting

the obama administration has admitted that. their goal is to get out as soon as possible. the same time getting the government's handout. there is a lot of political pressure around the government owning a government stake in gm. it opens the door to political interfeerns. they want to close that door as soon as possible. >> is there anything that they could do to save the auto industry before it boughted out in 2008 it guest: it was really the credit crisis in 2008 that pushed things off a cliff. they have been able to push their wrecking days further into the future by barrowing against future earnings. they had to dole with that debt load. the only way to do that was bankruptcy. host: the[ow next call out of north carolina. caller: the l.a. auto show was here last week. there was some interestingÑi things there. they had a turbine car there i wonder if you could talk about this. guest: sure. turbines are sort of this jumped over technology. chrysler built a couple of them. it turned out they were expensive and a little loud and that you could get some of theÑ same ben

in fact, the obama administration has even gone so far as to use tarp to set executive pay in several companies and during the reorganization of general motors, the obama administration has used that leverage to benefit its union allies over the rights of secured bondholders who had loaned their money to these companies. now, madam president, i have been a -- been a vocal opponent of this misuse of tarp by both administrations. in december of 2008, i joined my colleagues in voting against the government bailout of the american auto industry, ignored by the previous administration an current administration. earlier this year i supported a tarp disapproval resolution that would have stopped the program dead in its tracks because of this misrepresentation of the purpose for which these funds would be used. i also supported several initiatives that would have increased tarp transparency and congressional oversight. then in september i joined many of our colleagues in sending a letter to secretary tim geithner, of treasury, asking him not to extend his tarp authority beyond the end of this

he let the administration put bills out that where no good. now the obama administration. guys, wake up, george bush only spent one quarter of what obama has spent in nine months. we are going on $14 trillion in debt. everybody is still looking back at bush. guys, obama has been a disaster financially for this country. he's given our money away to the banks, wall street, car companies, the tarp money was a joke. we are in financial straits right now. host: president obama's nom any has withdrawn his name from the financial reform. a former goldman sachs executive host: back to the phone. win gate, new york carolina. caller: fot caller just called about all the money obama spent. obama's money is coming back in. i know you know better. this bombing thing, i think that was a joke. he tried keep them bringing detainees into new york. that's all that is. thank you. host: baltimore, marlede on the line for inds. go ahead. caller: this has been the perfect decade of reaping what you sew. bush, i don't blame him for being an idiot. i think he's a product of what the ivey league s

the bush administration didn't deal with that, and frankly the obama administration is not dealing with that properly. how do we deal with terrorists? do we treat them according to rules and law or put nem in a military tribunal. throwing them back on the battlefield to kill us again, that's not a plan i believe in. >> larry: i'm going to ask this panel if we can really win a war against terrorism right after this. >>> we're back. peter bergen, logically can we assume a terrorist is born today somewhere. can we ever win this war? >> look, you can make it and manage it so it's a nuisance and not a major strategic problem. right now the al qaeda the threat to the united states is not on the strategic level. it's more on the tactical level. even if this guy had succeeded on that plane, that would have been a very, very, very big deal. i'm not sure it would have been a 9/11 style event. maybe in the post-9/11 world it would have been, but we've had american planes blow up and kill a lot of passengers, pan am 103 back in 1988. that dent reorient american foreign policy. the winning looks lik

the obama administration's approach, however, was different. essentially saying that because this is an internal struggle and because of the history of the u.s. relationship in which having the united states support explicitly at least is not necessarily a positive for you, the reality was that there was no cause from the opposition asking for the united states to side with it. as a result, the obama administration went forward with a policy in which they did not take sides in that conflict but made it clear that they stand on the side of the aspirations of the iranian people. what happened perhaps a little bit too late was strong condemnations of the human rights violations. it did come about but i think until this day there is a sense increasingly amongst people on the ground in iran that the united states needs to be a little bit more vocal when it comes to the horrific human rights violations that are taking place. speaking out against human rights violations is not to take sides. nor is it even to interfere because iran has treaty obligati

your thoughts about the obama administration's priorities for 2010. either foreign or domestic. 12k3w4 good morning. thanks for taking my call. i think he's going down the wrong road with foreign policy especially with what was accomplish indeed copenhagen el seems to -- they did put a 27 tax on all signature in a tori and many of the attendees said it was to align us with a global governing system so i see the obama administration capitulating and these calls we tend to call conspiracy theorists, there's a fact around them. an executive order granting immunity and the caller was right. and also six of the 10 9/11 commissioners have came out in the past couple of years saying that the spire investigation was a fraud and a cofferup. and i would have liked to have asked mr. ervin if he knew about operation north woods, the declassified joint chief of staffs paper that shows our government was more than willing in the 1960's to perform a false attack to get us into a war with cuba. host: you still with me? caller: yes, sir. host: in "the washington post"

according to the obama administration's chief actuary. and so i have an amendment, madam president, which would apply the truth test to the obama administration's own independent actuary based on the evidenced reid bill will increase health care costs for the nation, for american families, for american taxpayers. this amendment leaf leaves up io the actuary for the center for medicare and medicaid services, if that office finds the reid bill does lower health care costs as advertised, the bill will then proceed to go into effect. but if, in fact, it doesn't, then it will not. now, advocates of the reid health bill continue to promise that it lowers health care costs but this amendment will apply the truth test to the obama administration's own independent actuary. madam president, i see the distinguished majority whip on the floor and i'm glad he is here because he may have something to say about this. but i would at this time, madam president, ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that i be allowed to call up

the obama administration's no more transparent from the other two. from day one, and this is a little bit off the cuff, but they've been throwing parties every week. we saw information on how much they were spending on these parties. stevie wonder, movie stars, you name it. it was like "the beverly hillbillies" back in the white house carrying on, and we wanted to find out what was being spent in this period of economic crisis, and we can't get that information from the obama administration. it's not the only thing. the flyover of new york, they held back information where people got scared, they thought it was another 9/11. so they all talk about that, but very few administrations -- in fact, i don't know of any in my lifetime, have come forward with information. and certainly the bush administration stonewalled almost completely any information, and the clinton administration, as you'll see in my book, they just simply destroyed the documents. so using one method or another, we don't get to transparency. >> host: you were initially supportive of th

the past administration -- bush administration and obama administration said it has to be done. we are going to buy troubled assets. if we don't do that, we are in the crisis. guess what? tarp money was used to do all measure of things that was never presented to the voters to be how the money would be used. we bought general motors with tarp. had i been on the program to one half years ago as candidate for senate and said, i know, i think the president has the power to buy general motors without congressional approval, no hearings, just do it, i think everybody would have laughed. i think across this country people would have been falling out of the chairs laughing at senator de-candidate might johanns, and you know what, the president bought general motors and using that money with no congressional vote, oversight, little -- literally bought general motors. this is not with this money was intended for. and very clearly, i believe, when the money is paid back the legislation calls for the money to be put back into the treasury to pay down the debt. that is what we should be doi

host: for the next hour it is the obama administration and economy. we are joined by dean baker, economic and policy research, and university of maryland economics professor peter morici. thank you for joining us this morning. we will take a look at the president's comments from the signing of the stimulus bill earlier. but i want to get iraq on where the administration started this year -- a wrap on where the administration started this year, what they did in response to the economy, where we are now and what is ahead. this is back in february, the signing of the stimulus legislation. >> i don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems. nor does it constitute all of what we are going to have to do to turn our economy around. but today does mark the beginning of the end. the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs. it the beginning of what we need to do to provide relief for families were read a will not be able to pay next month's bills. the beginning of the first steps t

what do you expect from -- from barack obama and the obama administration? i mean, you know, you hear the story of cheryl and the you hear the story of wadia and you hear the story of patricia and you hear the story of -- these are real human, big problems and not just inthg that is -- that is sort of a -- a glancing blow or something that is -- that is, slightly enconvenient. and talk to me. what do you expect from the obama administration? is there anything they could do, is -- do you feel the president understands your plight and -- what you're going through? >> i think he totally understands what we're going through. >> and -- and -- again, we said it. he wants to change things and he's realistic in, as far as, the -- the plight of the country. and i don't think he's like 0 blirveuous to it. i think he knows exactly what is going on. and he's going to work to make it happen. >> i think where he came from -- >> i was going to say that. >> where he came from has everything to do with it. >> he came from sangal parent home and they struggled and he wasn't b

we're a into the obama administration. rate it? >> i'd say, worst than carter on policy, and worst than domestic policy. other than that, i think he's doing great. >> in what way worse than president carter? >> i now understand the look on my father's face was carter was president. everything that obama does is the wrong thing. you don't know what's going to happen. but he's pouring gasoline all over the world, in russia, iran, iraq, afghanistan, in china. and whether the match will be lit, we don't know where it's going to be. but you can count on obama to do the wrong thing. every president is living off the foreign policy of the predecessor for the first year. we're about to move into the obama foreign policy. i think there's going to be disaster. i don't know where or how or what it'll be. but i know obama is going to do the wrong thing. >> congress? >> well, congress. is there something below an f. the only good thing is they are not really getting things done and passed. they passed the crazy cap-and-trade bill. which really,

and just what is exactly the obama administration currently doing to deal with this issue of the poor in africa -- darfur in africa? >> well, as you say, darfur is one of the most serious crisis that we face in africa or anywhere in the world. 300,000 people at least have died, been killed, several million people are internally displaced and millions more have been forced to flee across the border into chad. there is an envoy, special envoy the president appointed general scott gracian who's working more broadly on sued an ease issues. one of the challenges in sudan is not only is there a crisis in darfur but there is also a coming apart of what had been a very frank aisle peace between the north and the south. and so part of the challenge is to both deal with that emerging crisis and at the same time focus on the continuing tragedy in darfur. you're absolutely right. it is a crisis. it is a very depressing situation. it's a humanitarian crisis. we're trying to deal with the humanitarian side, and at the same time try to find a broader political solution. and i should add that we're a

and i think the obama administration is talking about more money. if we can get our counterparts to come up with a signature to portion of the money, that is the jumpstart. one other thing we can do immediately -- right now, we have tariffs and non-tariff restrictions on clean energy technologies, especially countries like china and india. leaders mariko 20 tariffs on energy technologies and that alone -- leaders tomorrow could go to no tariffs on energy technologies and that alone would be a big star. host: first call is on the democratic line, good morning. caller: my question isn't -- leads to science and i complained about it. i went to school for an engineering degree and i went to professors and i said, look, i want to do experiments, and their specialty was a computer simulation of chemicals. i said, don't you know that the scientific method is experimentation? i do not believe that computer simulations of things that you already know, of things that you are ready are projecting to know is really science. i just want to say that all of this c

he spent a lot of time here at the beginning of the obama administration. what do you see the dynamics next year? >> i am not sure the midterm elections will matter that much. i think the rest of the world already perceives the president is having a great deal of trouble with congress with trying to get through what he wants to get through. i suspect just as president obama gets the nobel prize, the assumption could be the wrong one, is that he looks like a two-term president. they tend to go for two terms. i think there is still in europe a tremendous amount of goodwill and feeling that the economic crisis has been handled well. the government's in britain and america have behaved in a similar way which makes it paradoxical i would agree with congress, -- agreed that gordon brown will lose the election. that is partly because of the fact they are tired with the incumbent government. its effect of time for change. gordon brown is on charismatic. -- gordon brown is unchar ismatic. there is another factor which we have not mentioned it sufficiently, which is

and the obama administration has to strike that balance. and we can't always cave into political correctness and to keep americans safe. host: the response to al-qaeda and other groups and that response over the hours? guest: you make a great w3point that al-qaeda is not the only ç group that seeks harm.q and the same things that work for stopping al-qaeda are the same that stop people that try to do harm on qtheir own. the patriot act and other tools can stop those in the beginning regardless i]of the perpetrator. host: we have terry on the line. caller: good morning, i want to ask the question, i am for the security.ñr i wanted to find out from the young lady, are they expecting' administration to start from scratch in protectingi] us or h the republican party when they were in office, do they have ç can #wç caller: how can the"se republi line talk about the blocked funding and this demint that w3 blocked the administrator's appointee, i don't understand as both parties are trying everything, çcooperation to he the security. it

a -- you know, the obama administration's fault? please, every democrat addressed president obama as president obama. these republicans will disrespect him and call him obama but we know he's the president. there's nothing they can do about it. they hate it when we do it. let's address president obama as president obama. host: the point of t.s.a., i'd like to quote from twitter, nigerian and dutch security's fault wasn't ours. if he was in our airports the t.s.a. would have gotten him. guest: that's the other side of the argument. it raises theÑi point, we have partnerships with other countries and we have to rely on them as well. these countries work with us, as i said. they have a vested interest in maintaining the confidence of the flying public. but they are their own bosses, so to speak. they do what they feel is appropriate and what they can financially afford. just a point that your caller raised. the radical islam gets a lot of attention in the news. there's no question about that. he makes the point and it's certainly true

the question is whether president obama and his administration has not addressed that. and i think they have. when you look at the fact that he has appointed an african-american eric holder, who will deal with protecting civil rights in blacks in the working place and the arguments when we deal with affirmative action. when we look at the fact that he's addressed the structural inequality when he addressed the naacpp. so i think there is a difference between trying to make the president an activist leading and dealing with the policy. for anyone to say that bill clinton, who certainly a policy of welfare reform, that cost job, had a better policy than barack obama, i don't understand how one can even possibly say that? when you look at the fact that this president has said we must deal with unemployment across the board, the worst thing that can happen to black americans is that they make the jobs bill a black bill to give those conservatives a way to willie horton us not getting a jobs bill or for that matter health care. i hope the president does not go for that bait.

i had received calls from the obama administration. so i knew what was going to happen if he was elected, that acorn would be like they are now, they're basically untouchable. things are kind of hitting them but they're sliding off. so i tried to tell this story before the election and the "new york times" killed it. after the election i've still been trying to tell it because it's important. they're making money off the poor. poverty is big business for acorn. and it's time to let the poor people stand up instead of them standing on their backs. >> thank you for being willing to tell the truth. we appreciate it. mr. von spakovsky, given what you know and what you've heard, could any easterly tax or election laws have been -- any election laws have been violated? >> i'm not an expert on tax law, but i think it's pretty clear that they violated their tax-exempt status. and at the very least, they should lose that tax-exempt status and pay whatever fines are associated with having received partisan political contributions and money to en

he was here in this town for the first first 100 days of the obama administration. and he is also one of the most experienced and -- and respected commenttators on -- not only british politician but politician around the world for -- for the news. and last but not least, david gregory, who is -- the host of meet the press, for nbc, and a chance here i think to thank you for -- for allowing us to be present as your program yesterday was mush appreciated. thank you so much. congressman, if i could start with you. imagine that we are sitting here a year from now and you're looking back on 2 hundred -- 2010, apart presumably from the heroic republican victory in the mid term, what else would be your highlights of the mill year? >> you know, if we're referring a year from now, looking back, i think the story, obviously has to be -- the progress of lack there of made on the jobs front. clearly, this is -- this has been a year in 2009 and will be again about -- about whether washington will focus on getting americans back to work. if i go back and look at where we have bee

the obama administration acceded to reid's demands. he's been placed in the general prison population, a less restrictive environment where he can speak with the media and where his mail will no longer be regularly monitored by the f.b.i. is this how we should treat people who attempt to blow up commercial airliners? we will no longer have the f.b.i. routinely monitor the mail? this is an outrage, an absolute outrage. unfortunately, it's not an isolated case. just a few years ago this same supermax allowed terrorist inmates to communicate with terrorist network abroad. at the time our democratic colleagues criticized these security lapses. the senior senator from new york said federal prisoner officials *fr officials were -- quote -- "incompetent when it comes to detecting possible terrorist activity in federal prisons." and he noted past evidence of terrorist communicating from live terror cells from inside prison walls. that's the senior senator from new york. our democratic colleagues now raise concerns about similar potential lapse

first of all, we give secretary lock in the obama administration great credit for taking steps since they were inaugurated to improve a plan for the 2010 they inherited. that included commitment of additional dollars. commitment to the community partnership effort and a strengthening of the census bureau plan to reach a hard to count communities. that notwithstanding, we share today a number of areas of concern. we think while the secretary and the obama administration has taken in important steps, we still feel there are important significant steps that need to be taken to ensure that there is a complete counts in the 2010 census. at today's press conference we will outline and talk a little bit of up those steps and those suggestions that we made today to the secretary. we are committed to raise awareness, to motivate people, to encourage people and impress upon people the importance of participating in 2010. we note that an accurate count incomplete count where a the -- where there is undercount is essential. it is doubly important at a time in this nation with high unemployment,

he is covering of course the obama administration and the president who is out there on christmas vacation. jeanne, let's get right to it. maybe a reset. where are we? what do we know today? >> well, the president came out and said there were pieces of information that had not been put together and we've discovered one of those pieces of information at least. from a very well placed source we've learned that the father of umar farouk abdul mutallab as we know went to the embassy and when he went there or in subsequent conversations he conversed with cia representatives at the embassy. what we're told is that the cia people at the embassy wrote a report and that report was sent on to the cia headquarters in langley but was not distributed more widely to the intelligence community in the united states. and what i'm told is that if that report had been disseminated more widely it might have been pieced together with some other information that had come in. might not have been named specific. maybe it talked about a nigerian, maybe a man of a certain age, maybe travel to yemen. we don't know y

host: is there a concern on your part that the bush administration, clinton administration, obama administration will be defined by the polls and other than by the offense, or how they handle them -- events, or how they handle them? guest: i do not think so. bush left with a record low numbers. guest: truman left office with lower numbers than george bush. presidents are judged by who came after them, what happened, the fruits of their labor. when the post-mortem of the eisenhower was written, everyone talks about the shah in iran. even now, i think it is too early to write about the legacy about george bush. guest: i think that is a good point, but my point about the bush poll -- that datapoint will be remembered in a larger picture, in the way that truman -- people remember that truman left with record low approval ratings. clinton, i could not tell you. probably positive. guest: truman, he has become this figure that can be invoked by any party now. our memories things happen and it causes us to go back and reevaluate. host: we are talking about defining moment of the decade with carl cannon

are completely there under the obama administration. but i don't think we have to play a blame game but i do think we need obama administration today the appropriate steps, and that's irresponsible as the current administration. >> host: galas on independent color line. >> caller: good morning. to kind of follow along with the last caller thoughts, how can the obama administration fully protect us, gore tried to have, when the republicans have a block funding, they've got, as was mentioned early, demint, republican debate that has blocked the gsa administrator, i don't understand it's like, you know, both parties would be trying everything, cooperation, to help the security. seems like the republicans are trying to block everything that the obama administration is trying. >> guest: well, you know, there's a lot of washington politics obviously. you know, whether it's republican or democratic administration there's always good to be those politics. and that's what we have people in place regardless of an administration. you know, those p

the obama administration would use smart power to change all of that. iran would be the first and most urgent test. the new president started earlyç barbara slaven? >> i think obama has had a role in this. perhaps not the one he would have expected. because he has not been brook n belligerent the same way george bush and others wereç i think has removed america from the equation and what we see now is the iranians are pretty much taking the situation into their own hands. the government is trying to blame the protests on outsiders but nobody believes it because it is not true. this is all home grown. so, although it is not what obama expected, he expected a process of engagement in the government. i think we are seeing -- i don't know if regime change in 2010 is likely but we are seeing, i think, the beginning of the third iranian revolution. the first theyç wanted a republican. then in 1978 and 1979 when they got rid of the shah. the third was the beginning in 2009. >> charles krauthammer calls the president's response and spokes people as being f

party of no, no, no during the obama administration. Ñithe republicans are definitely saying no to everything. i think that the vote last night -- i stood up until 1:00 a.m. in the morning because i'm very interested in our government. the things that the republicans are saner just totally out of whack. -- that they are saying. when the pharmaceuticals past that caused a $600 billion deficit during the bush administration or the wars which created a the deficit problem -- now there trying to blame obama for the jobs lost during the bush administration -- seven of 35,000 jobs per month -- people need to wake up and smell the coffee. host: that caller mentioned watching the vote at 1:00 p.m. -- the hill rights that the route to the vote which took place with solemn ceremony as harry reid requested that every lawmaker but at their desk was not a smooth one -- he can under with three -- came under withering criticism. the public here at tom harkin yesterday on the floor debating the bill. -- have a look here at tom harkin. >> the last coup

he's covering, of course, the obama administration and the president out there on christmas vacation. let's get right to it. maybe a reset. where are we? what do we know today? >> the president came out and said pieces of information that have not put together, and we've discovered one of those pieces of information at least frchlt a very well-placed source we learned that the father of umar embassy. when he went there, he conversed with cia representatives at the embassy. what we're told is that the cia people at the embassy wrote a report, and that report was sent on to cia headquarters in langley, but it was not distributed more widely to the intelligence community in the united states. what i'm told is that if that report had been disseminated more widely it might have been pieced together with other information that had come in. might not have been name specific. maybe it talked about a nigerian and a man of a certain age, maybe it talked about travel to yemen. we don't know yet, but it seems apparent that there was a failure to put these pieces togeth together. this cia report i

i rise in strong support of a sanctions bill that will strengthen the obama administration's ability to conduct effective diplomacy. the world, and i mean both our allies and others, needs to know that the u.s. congress is dead serious about sanctions should diplomacy fail to resolve the real concerns about iran's nuclear program. for those who worry that sanctions may lead to conflict, i would suggest that the opposite is true. with iranian proliferation on the horizon, it is reckless. if you don't want war it seems to me that you absolutely must back the toughest possible political and economic sanctions. it is true that sanctions alone are almost certainly not going to be sufficient to force the iranian regime to change course. but if we are serious about stopping iran's race for nuclear capability, we must apply the maximum possible pressure by enhancing our capacity to unilateral sanctions, as we're doing today, by implementing crippling multilateral sanctions and by developing a strategy that applies more comprehensive pressure than just diplomatic engagement followed by sancti

but this administration -- the obama administration has made partnerships and global engagement with others a top priority. this is not about patronage. it is not about working only with governments. this is about a meaningful, honest conversation about our shared interest as we are trying to solve them. looking at some of these, i will give you a couple of examples of the work that i have been doing. after all, i have only been on the job for all little over three months. two months ago, i was proud to lead the delegation on the u.s.- bolivia dialogue. it was a very special moment for me to stand before the bolivian foreign minister and to begin three engaging the relationship on a way that is based on mutual trust and dialogue between our nations. it was important for me because of my bolivian raids. i was born and raised in bolivia. it is also significant because it signals a direction that we are trying to move in. we are really looking to government efforts to forge new paths in addressing foreign- policy of this country, not only in this region but throughout the world. the glo