>> obama: i... i think that what i know is what everybody knows, which is that these people should not have gotten through the gate. >> kroft: were you unhappy with your social secretary? >> obama: i was unhappy with everybody who was involved in the process. and so, it was a screw up. now, i don't think that, from a policy perspective, this was the most important thing or even the fifth or sixth most important thing that happened this week, although it got the most news. >> kroft: were you angry when you found out about it? >> obama: yes. that's why... >> kroft: seriously angry? right. >> obama: yes. that's why it won't happen again. >> cbs money watch update. >> good evening. the senate today passed a massive spending bill that funds most federal agencies. the consulting firm acsenture says it ended its corporate sponsorship of tiger woods. and the princess and the frog was the top movie of the weekend, bringing in $25 million. i'm russ mitchell, cbs news. wn . fishing at the shore. wn . i'm breat

obama instead of president obama and i saw that you just read mr. obama. but people pay attention they keep saying mr. obama and really should be addressed as president obama and my second disappoint if president obama was a constitutional lawyer so americans get your facts straight and realized and understand that our president is trying to re-establish and give credit back to our constitution. bush and cheney pretty much ripped it apart. he's actually trying to put it back together again and so give him his credit and pay attention that he is for the people. ok? but the foreign policy priorities, i think they finish and the back part of making everybody happy. people, pay attention, if you don't have a job, you cannot afford it. which means it puts you in a category that you're either going to get a, medicare, or b, medicaid. it depends on your age. that is -- it's a no-brainer. i don't understand the problem. host: thanks jeannine. we're going to leave it there. matt on our line for independents. in brooklyn. good morning. caller: yes. i'm sorry. there'

-- blaming obama, talking about obama. you can find everything he will say or do is attacked, so you need to be very careful host: tobias, thanks for your call. guest: i think one of the things to buy as is pointing out there is the tension in the debate. in the long run, you are going to have an economic benefit from curbing read us gases, and it will spur innovation in green technology here at home, but it will be essential if we're going to shift to a low-carbon economy. in the short term, there will be some economic dislocation, and you'll be hearing a lot about that, including higher energy prices, as part of the congressional debate early next year. host: we have this week. "the best way to deal with climate change is to reduce the çrole taxes by 30% and add a 3% gas tax." guest: that proposal has certainly been raised as a possibility, but it seems that that is not generally the direction in which congress is headed. but the idea of kind of reducing taxes somewhere and raising them in order to do exactly what the

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

i was an obama supporter against john mccain. i was glad obama 1 november a year ago. he has broken many promises. he has broken a promise for habeas corpus in civil liberty. one year ago he said that a public option is crucial. now it has disappeared and he does not really care. he has not broken really bad promise which was to focus more resources on afghanistan. he could have and he has chosen not to. host: disappointed in the president? guest: very disappointed. i did not have extremely high expectations, but my dearly low these petitions have not been met. i was reading many forces to help get him host: collected do both of the tweet? guest: absolutely, a little bit. that is absolutely not true. there have been at least 14 republican alternative proposals. the problem is, harry reid and barack obama and nancy pelosi made a decision at the outset to ignore public and. that is exactly why we continually hear this idea. host: david is joining us for nashville. caller: good morning. mr. solomon, you and i are living in very different worlds. the last time i checked th

and in part it's down to obama and the american push. we are bound to what the americans do, it's almost inconceivable that we can pile out. with obama announcing his surge we have to follow that course and we have with sending 500 more troops. and it doesn't mean the day, and obama said july 11 that american troops may come out. but this is an issue of most parties seeing the view of giving it a go. >> but the scrutiny of parliament goes on and following the arrest of david green in 2008, a special committee was set up. mr. green's home and offices were searched by police and he was interrogated for nine hours. mr. green was later released without charge. and the people on the committee were to find out how mr. green's common office was searched without a warrant. he gives his version of events. >> they arrested me when i came into the building, and they took me. i said we want to take you back to your home. and i took them back there. about 200 yards before we got there, he said here, and i said no, at the top of the hill. i directed 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

obama is doing. host: that is a sentiment we have heard from democrats looking back at what this president inherited and how president george w. beadle -- bush is viewed in this country and around washington guest: he will be remembered very fondly eventually. he is remembered primarily because of the decision of going into iraq. we shall see what the final line is. he corrected it in terms of the search. we hope the next president will get us out in an orderly way. we forget the importance of iraq in the explosive situation. there may be dissertations written 20 years from now that say it was painful to live through it and it cost american lives and certainly iraqi laws but maybe it was worth it. i think we can afford to be generous. there is no reason not to be. we will see how history plays out for george w. bush. host: the former president has given a couple of speeches off camera. he announced the bush center in dallas. guest: i don't think he wants to stick his oar in this. i don't know why tha

obama instead of president obama and i saw that you just read mr. obama. but people pay attention they keep saying mr. obama and really should be addressed as president obama and my second disappoint if president obama was a constitutional lawyer so americans get your facts straight and realized and understand that our president is trying to re-establish and give credit back to our constitution. bush and cheney pretty much ripped it apart. he's actually trying to put it back together again and so give him his credit and pay attention that he is for the people. ok? but the foreign policy priorities, i think they finish and the back part of making everybody happy. people, pay attention, if you don't have a job, you cannot afford it. which means it puts you in a category that you're either going to get a, medicare, or b, medicaid. it depends on your age. that is -- it's a no-brainer. i don't understand the problem. host: thanks jeannine. we're going to leave it there. matt on our line for independents. in brooklyn. good morning. caller: yes. i'm sorry. there'

barack obama got it. he understood in 2008 that his race was not a liability but in assets in this new demographic and fire met. he said i think if you tell people we have a president in the white house on the shores of lake which iran and day sister half indonesian married to a chinese canadian, they will think he may have a better sense of what is going on in our lives and country and he would be right. he was. there is an old saying that demography is destiny. this racial revolution is huge. and one of the things as i wrote the book, i realized it was big but i did not realize just how big it really wasn't until you pore through the numbers but also the different stories that people have as they bring to the table. and that it is every where. is not a california revolution or new york revolution, a revolution happening and kansas, iowa, places we don't think of where a huge amount of immigration and inter ratio marriage and all the rest is changing our country. that is a big story itself and certainly

i was an obama supporter against john mccain. i was glad obama 1 november a year ago. he has broken many promises. he has broken a promise for habeas corpus in civil liberty. one year ago he said that a public option is crucial. now it has disappeared and he does not really care. he has not broken really bad promise which was to focus more resources on afghanistan. he could have and he has chosen not to. host: disappointed in the president? guest: very disappointed. i did not have extremely high expectations, but my dearly low these petitions have not been met. i was reading many forces to help get him host: collected do both of the tweet? guest: absolutely, a little bit. that is absolutely not true. there have been at least 14 republican alternative proposals. the problem is, harry reid and barack obama and nancy pelosi made a decision at the outset to ignore public and. that is exactly why we continually hear this idea. host: david is joining us for nashville. caller: good morning. mr. solomon, you and i are living in very different worlds. the last time i checked th

is obama failing the african-americans? >> i think failing is a strong word. >> larry: disappointing. >> certainly. i think plenty of reason to be disappointed. i think he has falling short of big clinton and jimmy carter. >> larry: what do you think, al? >> i think the overwhelming majority of the people i talked to said that president obama is doing what he protected. he was given a terrible economy a word at war and he has dealt in the way that most african-americans are proud of. he was elected president of the united states and he is doing exactly what he said. this morning, the chairman of congressional black caucus, and cbc two or three people who always criticized president obama that are saying things now they said then. >> larry: jeff what do you think? break the tie here? >> let me first say that it's a misnomer to act that all the black community wants the same thing all the time. what segment are we talking about? and i think disappointment is n my mind is based on exmekations. and one of the biggest problems i

[unintelligible] >> obama was certainly more popular abroad. >> president obama is still much more popular abroad and his popularity has not rubbed off abroad to the extent it has in this country. the reputations don't travel as quickly as you might think others travel. cracks it is because of democracy. if you have rival party is going -- international politics, there is a bunch of leaders in office. it does not matter where they come from ideologically. the other factor is that we are at the end of an era where people make political assumptions that the market was good and it could sort out a lot of the problems that the world faced. now there is realization what we call a state, has a bigger role at a time when the government can find the money to occupy that bigger role and has to rely on individual responsibility. that is the question we have been talking about, that balance between private enterprise and the role of the central state. >> how do you think it has been in the past? what has been the dynamic of discourse in washington? what momentum will be approaching in 2010 as the pol

i was an obama supporter against john mccain. i was glad obama 1 november a year ago. he has broken many promises. he has broken a promise for habeas corpus in civil liberty. one year ago he said that a public option is crucial. now it has disappeared and he does not really care. he has not broken really bad promise which was to focus more resources on afghanistan. he could have and he has chosen not to. host: disappointed in the president? guest: very disappointed. i did not have extremely high expectations, but my dearly low these petitions have not been met. i was reading many forces to help get him host: collected do both of the tweet? guest: absolutely, a little bit. that is absolutely not true. there have been at least 14 repuican alternative proposals. the problem is, harry reid and barack obama and nancy pelosi made a decision at the outset to ignore public and. that is exactly why we continually hear this idea. host: david is joining us for nashville. caller: good morning. mr. solomon, you and i are living in very different worlds. the last time i checked the

intensity against obama. you accept these numbers. the republicans are three points of the generic ballot and get obama won this district by seven points predellas a nine. shift. -- that is a nine. shif -- that is a nine point shift. everybody knows to the common is and he is down in the polls? that is not good for your political health. the most important number is the democratic incumbents image, 34%-50% hundred number when everybody knows this guy. you're not going to change the impressions that voters have. 84% of people in a district of opinion for you not change what they think about him. that will not happen. the republican challenger, 27%- 8%. let's look at the ballot test for democrats sitting at their position, you will got that, republicans at 36%, images of 27%. people are voting for the republican as -- because they don't]÷ care what the democrats. this election is about, right now, the democrat and the incumbents in office. it is about this. if he has 46% of the vote, he is likely to get that o

thank you. >> lehrer: president obama's address about war and peace. as he formally received the nobel prize today in norway. judy woodruff begins our coverage. ♪ >> woodruff: the president walked into the city hall of oslo, a wartime leader, on hand to accept the most prestigious prize bestowed on peacemakers. it was a paradox not lost on him. >> perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that i am the commander-in-chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars. >> woodruff: just last week mr. obama ordered 30,000 more u.s. troops to afghanistan, on top of 21,000 he sent earlier this year. that tension, between his actions as commander in chief, and his advocacy of peace, animated much of the 36-minute address. >> we are at war, and i'm responsible for the deployment of thousands of young americans to battle in a distant land. some will kill, and some will be killed. and so i come here with an acute sense of the costs of armed conflict, >> woodruff: the president acknowledged as he did when the prize

okay, professor hill, is obama failing african-americans? >> i think failing is kind of a bold word. he is definitely not doing enough. >> larry: disappointing. >> certainly. i think plenty of reason to be disappointed. when you look at the public policies that are developed and not developed, he's falling short of bill clinton and jimmy carter in that regard. >> larry: what do you think, al? >> i think the overwhelming majority of the people i talked to think that president obama's doing exactly what he promised. he was given a terrible economy. he was given a world that was at war. and he's really dealt in a way that most african-americans, even pollsters are proud of. he was elected the president of the united states, not the president of the civil rights organization. he's doing exactly what he said. this morning, the chairman of congressional black caucus, barbara lee, and you have two or three people who always criticized president obama who supported his opponents in primaries are saying things now that they said then. most blacks don

president obama was critical in his speech last night. will the prime minister tell us whether this is being taken forward and perhaps give us a feel for what steps have been taken to involve those other countries in the region. >> as he recognizes the military surge has got to be matched by a political and diplomatic surge and it will be no use for the future of afghanistan if there is no security around afghanistan with the neighbors of hassling that's why they have an important role in afghanistan's affairs and building up the links that are necessary for afghan trade and industry and afghan's commerce to flourish and stop the weapons into afghanistan. we will invite international powers. >> will the prime minister join with me in marking 60 years since the british surgeon commissioned my company to produce the first inter-occular lens and on friday received the queen's prize for enterprise in restoring sight? >> in her constituency there are many excellent companies and one of them is reyna and i want to thank all who contributed to t

." >> larry: tonight, is barack obama the new war president? >> as commander in chief, i have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 u.s. troops to afghanistan. >> larry: what will the decision mean for his presidency? america, the world? michael moore is here. he says obama's caving in. we've got reaction from war vets. we'll go live to afghanistan. those for and against troop escalation will debate it. can the u.s. win all this? next on a midnight special edition of "larry king live." midnight in the east, 9:00 in the west. the special live edition of "larry king live," following this historic westpoint address by the president. we go first to tokyo, where michael moore is standing by. the oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, his latest film is "capitalism: a love story." prior to tonight's speech, he posted a letter to the president. the president didn't listen to you. you wanted to withdraw. he did not take your advice. what do you think the result will be? >> i feel very bad for him. i feel even w

long before obama declared that it was torture. we have cheney running around the country saying we should be torturing and doing more of this. we don't want other countries or people doing it to us. yet, here we are doing it knowingly that we shouldn't be didding it. my question is why didn't anything ever come about on cheney even today still advocating at the top of his lungs? guest: before i came into government. i've been in this position a little over three months. i worked for many years with a private human rights organization. i probably spent the last sim or seven years working on the issue of human rights national security. i believe we turned a page on that. this president won't allow that. we made terrible mistakes. they hurt us in the world by engaging in cruel practicesb we have gun to look back in several ways. the attorney general has appointed a special prosecutor to look at some abuses by the cia in the previous administration. over time there are going to be other ways to evaluate what happened in the past. the

obama. for the extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples dirk the committee has attached special importance to obama's mission and work for a world free from nuclear weapons. commencing on the award, president obama said it did not feel that he deserved to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this price, and whose courageous piece has inspired the world. but he added that he also knew that the nobel peace prize has not just been used to honor specific achievements, but also to give to just causes. the prize could thus represent a call to action. president obama has understood the vision of the committee perfectly. we congratulate him with this year's nobel peace prize. [applause] this year's award must be where the great tension, numerous force, earned resolve conflict and many places of the world. and note this. there is the imminent danger of spread of nuclear weapons, degradation of the environment

long before obama declared that it was torture. we have cheney running around the country saying we should be torturing and doing more of this. we don't want other countries or people doing it to us. yet, here we are doing it knowingly that we shouldn't be didding it. my question is why didn't anything ever come about on cheney even today still advocating at the top of his lungs? guest: before i came into government. i've been in this position a little over three months. i worked for many years with a private human rights organization. i probably spent the last sim or seven years working on the issue of human rights national security. i believe we turned a page on that. this president won't allow that. we made terrible mistakes. they hurt us in the world by engaging in cruel practicesb we have gun to look back in several ways. the attorney general has appointed a special prosecutor to look at some abuses by the cia in the previous administration. over time there are going to be other ways to evaluate what happened in the past. the

number one, in your opinion do you find president obama a. true pragmatist and second you have abundance and talking heads on the right propagating this idea that president obama presidency is going to turn out like jimmy carter's. could you elaborate on those? >> i do think he's a true pragmatist tactically. i think that he is an idealist you might say ideologically. but he may even air on the side of pragmatism. will he turn out like jimmy carter? i don't -- i love jimmy carter. but jimmy carter was a one-term president, and i'm hoping that obama will be a to termed president. and i think he will be, and i love jimmy carter to much to answer this question honestly. so i will just move on to the next one. [laughter] >> these are the last two questions. >> do you believe in political cycles or is the process more random than that, and if you do do you think we are in the middle of a sustained political shift that would go beyond just one or two terms or do you think we are in the middle of some other type of political long-term change and wha

a lot of that is obama's problem. it is like a rotating credit card will probably bar again to pay off debt and then who knows? but on the other hand,, the health care stufftuff the global warming health care reform has much a hire of a price tag and our history of predicting the expenditures in the new government program like medicare, social security has been very bad. it has outpaced. whenever taxes he introduces will not be adequate. i am not an economist but i would not be surprised if we see inflation. the government creates money out of thin air. that is how we did the bailout. i do not think we will see significant spending cuts because right now the number one objection to the health care bill is democrats are trying to cut medicare. why are republicans are arguing against spending money? part of it is insurance companies do not like medicare and republicans know it is a good issue. and nobody is looking for real spending cuts. it is more money, more borrowing, and more taxes. >> i know you expressed your opi

obama moves toward center stage. and we are taking that to kind of ask you if you think president obama is moving to the middle on certain topics. thursday it goes on a little bit more. but like i said, peggy's thrust this morning, her thought is that when it comes to these two issues, one on the economy, one on the speech in ozzlo that it shows a move towards the center by the president. we want to get your thoughts on if you agree or not. the numbers are on the bottom of your screen. so as you call and get your thoughts on if the president is moving towards the center in these issues particularly on the economy and what he said about afghanistan. here's a little bit more. here's the president. we'll let the president speak for himself. this is from the speech about afghanistan. >> i do not bring with me today a deventive solution to the problems of war. what i do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work, and persistance of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. and

what i voted for obama -- when i voted for obama, i was really hoping that we would see serious change, and in the famous words of peote townshend, we were not going to get fooled again, and it is certainly looking that way. again, let's take care of all the corporate people, let's take care of all the lobbyists, the insurance companies, the lawyers, and forget the people. the bottom line -- if this thing comes through and president obama since this thing without any government option in it, i am appealing must occur off my bumper. -- peeling might sticker off my bumper. guest: i understand his feelings exactly, and despite all the problems with the bill, trillions of dollars that is not necessary to accomplish the primary purpose of the bill -- leaving all those issues aside, the fact is that they promised the uninsured in america that they will have access to health insurance. that is the bottom line purpose. whether or not there is a public plan is a footnote sort of issue. it is an ideological red flag, but it is not essential. those who oppose say that it opens the door towards th

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 earlier this year the government hadxd assessments about left-wing extremism and also right-wing extremism. these are very controversial but these are two areas considered by the intelligence community. host: what's the next angle in this story? guest: my prediction is tha

what do you expect from barack obama and the obama administration? you hear your stories and these are really big human problems, and not just something that is a glancing blow, or something that is slightly inconvenient. talk to me. what do you expect from the obama administration? is there anything they can do? do you feel that the president understands your plight and what you are going through? >> i think he does. i think he really does, and i think he is very realistic as far as the plight of this country. i do not think he is oblivious to it. i think he knows exactly what is going on, and he is trying to work hard to make it happen. >> i think where he came from has everything to do with it. >> he is the common man, and he came from a single-parent home and they struggle. i think he can relate more so than some of the other presidents who did not have those same concerns growing up. their families were a little more well-off. >> how about the sense of what they should do? it is one thing to say he can relate, but is he making anything happen? p

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

that had to me showed obama looking like a pedophile. he standing there like this, their children behind them and its barack obama wants to teach children about sex education. well, fine. show that. if you're the republican party, but cnn, msnbc, fox, no. don't show that. i think that was very damaging. >> mr. overstreet, you self publish this book. >> i had to self publish it because the idea came to me from watching gore debate george bush actually, previously. and i watched the debate and i would think george bush, really didn't do that you go or won that debate. he was very informative. so at the end of the debate i would wait for the postdebate coverage and sure enough they would say things like george bush was really funny. he did a good job on that debate. and i'm looking, going, did they just watch the same -- the media is telling people that you and i get calls of people saying i don't know, it looks like george bush won that debate. they're getting the information from the media. i got that idea then. but then once i saw obama

taitz, the fringe movement to prove barack obama is not an american citizen has a new voice. >> would you make the birth certificate issue an issue if you ran? >> i think the public still makes it an issue. i think it's a good record as well as past associations and past voting records, all of that is fair game. >> and she thinks the mccain campaign failed voters by not exploiting the birther conspiracy theory. >>> the health care debate in the senate continues but ben nelson keeps his anti-abortion. and the republican stunt opposing an amendment to force all congress members to enroll in a public option backfires in their face. three democrats sign on to co-sign on the amendment including sherrod brown of ohio. >>> rush limbaugh goes where no one would debating on a ridiculous couch. >> if you don't have money you're going to live in a bungalow somewhere. that's -- >> we're talking about health care p. >> what's the difference? >>> the president talking job creation today in pennsylvania demonstrating the beauty of town halls without screened questions. >> i was wondering if maybe yo

she did not want that to happen to obama. and there was a broader intergenerational conversation that he is forcing, which is what is the agenda for the black community, there's been this gap in the civil rights movement, and sort of, really in some ways the question i'm trying to understand is, what happened to the civil-rights movement. what happened to the freedom struggle in this country? obama postelection takes that to the forefront. where is the agenda for dancing the welfare of black americans to die -- today? >> did you feel about the world with dreadlocks differently? when did you get that of them? >> i had dreadlocks for 19 years. i started growing them in high school. it was my own hair. basically, it is matted hair. if you do not rush it out, it will matc. you let it grow and grow and grow. i had the privilege of having bosses at jobs that saw it as a plus rather than something to get rid of. i thought i might have to cut my hair when i was working for the congressman. i thought they might say, no, no. i was not

-- blaming obama, talking about obama. you can find everything he will say or do is attacked, so you need to be very careful host: tobias, thanks for your call. guest: i think one of the things to buy as is pointing out there is the tension in the debate. in the long run, you are going to have an economic benefit from curbing read us gases, and it will spur innovation in green technology here at home, but it will be essential if we're going to shift to a low-carbon economy. in the short term, there will be some economic dislocation, and you'll be hearing a lot about that, including higher energy prices, as part of the congressional debate early next year. host: we have this week. "the best way to deal with climate change is to reduce the çrole taxes by 30% and add a 3% gas tax." guest: that proposal has certainly been raised as a possibility, but it seems that that is not generally the direction in which congress is headed. but the idea of kind of reducing taxes somewhere and raising them in order to do exactly what the

obama is experiencing this already. it is less than a year since he has been in office and he is already looking grey. if president go away and look like they are insensitive when people have problems with the recession or economic problems. president barack obama understands this. he delayed his departure so that he could preside over the senate passage of health-care par. host: our next call is on our lives republicans out of new york city. caller: i think it is important for a president to get away so he can reflect on everything without the influence of others around him and also without the pressures that are confronting him every day at his door through his secretary and such. he goes away and gets to relax and he gets to think. thinking is a more effective tool in solving problems. guest: presidents are also -- often asked what books they are taking with them? you always get a list of books. president barack obama and president clinton also did the same thing. stack they took stacks of books with them on vacation

president obama was elected because he said we needed change. i think what people in this country want now is certainty, businesses and families alike. >> one of the things that, as an outsider coming into america, i'm always struck by is the fundamental optimism of this country, a sort of sense of the possible. what you're describing speaks to a sort of grumpy, gloomy mood next year. do you think that's right, or are we going to see the optimistic, upside of america on display as well? >> i think we saw last week sort of a recognition on the part of this administration that, hey, wait a minute, it's been 11 months. maybe we ought to get back and talk about jobs. we ought to talk about the kinds of issues that people face around the kitchen table, which is essentially getting through the month, worrying about college tuition, worrying about whether they can retire early or not. and if jobs is the key to that, maybe we should take some encouragement. but what i did not hear last week was a recognition on the part of this white house and the major

. >> i see that you are writing about the obama presidential race and the internet. did you work for the campaign? if you did not, why not? but i did not work for the campaign -- eli >> i did not work for the campaign. -- >> i did not work for the campaign. i felt that we had some personal comparisons. his father is from kenya and my father is from kenya. i come from a mixed race and he comes from a mixed race. there is sort of a generational thing. it feels like he could be a peer. he has a funny first name. there are all sorts of things that are arbitrary and substantive that gave me a strong connection to him. i was the student body president of my high school. i thought i would go on and run for office. i care deeply about politics and i had the privilege to work with bill gray. when i was in college, i intern with him. one of the things that i took away is that i did not want to work in politics. it was to far removed -- it was too too far removed -- it was too far removed from what i wanted to do. the way i could make a contribution in the world is to instill i

republican party verses obama. this is the extent of what is going on in terms of trend data, people have more faith in the republican party than barack obama. who will do a better job handling the economy? left hand side, republicans from 923--11. health-care reform, republicans are 7 points down in health care reform. think about that. 7 points down on health care reform and it is not driven by but republicans are putting forward the reaction to what people are thinking about obama and what congress is doing on health care reform. the republican party feared even better against democrats rather than barack obama. two surveys. july survey, november survey, and the movement on the economy. plus 3. it has gone from plus 11 to plus 7. basically lost a couple points. healthcare, this survey gone from minus 12 to-3 and gained nine points and gaining two points and the democrats gained 2 points. the democrats -- the ball is in your court. voters have less confidence in the democrats now. it proves the other party. the b

this is a key moment in the obama presidency. he spent a lot of time deciding which course to take and he is definitely a war presidents. host: the other had line is that the president must sway doubting democrats. will the president be speaking ahead of this speech? guest: yes, he is going to be meeting with 30 lawmakers before he heads to west point, he will be detailing what he will be saying tonight in the speech. there will be some powerful democrats there, including david obi, who has been saying in recent days that the war must be paid for. the afghanistan war, we have obviously been there since 2001, he has been saying that it will cost to $2 trillion and that we should offset that. he has proposed a tax on wealthy americans. nancy pelosi has noted much unrest in her caucus with afghanistan and have it has been going. this will be tough for the president. he has to convince not only republicans, who want 40,000 troops at least, but he must convince a fair amount of powerful democrats to go along with his plan and i think

president obama's -- green buildings. a bunch of architects' drawing up plans for buildings to be built in 2012 or 2013, or electric cars. guest: a lot was retrofitted. guest: has a lot of retrofitting been going on? but what about grain buildings -- a lot of architects working and so forth. the obama administration says a lot money has not been spent when the job numbers are bad, and the money has all been spent and things look great when the job numbers are good. a bad month black october, we have not got the money out, good numbers and november, it work -- he has the most flexible view on earth. look at the johns number for that month -- if it is bad, we have not got the money out and if it is good, it is all out and making gangbusters' work. host: there is still money to be spent. guest: 400 billion next year and 200 billion the following. guest: we should agree on this -- just to be clear, the impact, the stimulus from the spending depends on the rate of spending. guest: and how it is spent. guest: but the rate of sp

"the boston globe" has "obama to add 30,000 troops." this morning's "chicago tribune"-- "our security is at stake"is the headline. across town, this headline in the "chicago sun-times." the president says the status quo is not sustainable. "los angeles times" -- " obama vows to break taliban >' ." this is the reaction from the top commander in afghanistan. he says he is absolutely supportive of president obama's decision. general mcchrystal told reporters that even if the taliban lay low, the 18-month period gives time to bolster the afghan capability. there are all sorts of opinions and thoughts in the newspapers this morning. we start with "the new york post." host: our first call comes from mark, who opposes the president. mark? all right. let's try chicago. caller: i support the president. he told us throughout the campaign that he wanted to bring people out of iraq and put the focus on afghanistan. he repeatedly defined to the fact that we had abandoned afghanistan for the last eight years. we do not like to have to go to war. i am

speaker, president obama's mr. speaker, president obama's speech lakt$4 he has set a very tight timetable indeed for the strategy to have an effect. given this tight timetable, does the prime minister agree that we are not to over rely on president karzai. president obama said last night that the best way forward is to get tough on karzai. given the two former vice presidents are exports, does the prime minister not think it is better to work around president karzai to rely on the local and regional political leadership instead? >> mr. speaker, president obama will be grateful for his endorsement. >> he is absolutely right -- he is absolutely right that we have to both weaken the taliban and strengthen the afghan state. the action we are taking with troops to deal with the insurgency are important. but as he rightly recognizes, so too is building up the strength of the afghan army, its police and local and national government. and as president obama said last night, there is no blank check for president karzai. he

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 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

helicopter girl or obama. maybe if ron paul or dentist it did -- and dennis kucinich could get together, that might be a government we could work with. host: westwood, and new jersey. caller: a super game. the two fellows on both intelligent. i really wanted to talk to barbara. but president clinton is the most impressive for this reason. his self-fulfilling prophecy that things were terrible came true. he really is the most responsible person for all the trouble we are in. i certainly agree that the fellows. then what he did he brought into power those who created the problem. obama says change, but there was no change. but what i wanted to say to barbara and her book -- all these people, we must change the mindset of our people, by accepting the truth of the first christmas, either jesus came and he is god and he taught us to live and give. we have to give. in other words, st. paul wood said, if a person has two clubs, give one to someone else, the same with food, do what they want. he said to the tax collec

this is a key moment in the obama presidency. he spent a lot of time deciding which course to take and he is definitely a war presidents. host: the other had line is that the president must sway doubting democrats. will the president be speaking ahead of this speech? guest: yes, he is going to be meeting with 30 lawmakers before he heads to west point, he will be detailing what he will be saying tonight in the speech. there will be some powerful democrats there, including david obi, who has been saying in recent days that the war must be paid for. the afghanistan war, we have obviously been there since 2001, he has been saying that it will cost to $2 trillion and that we should offset that. he has proposed a tax on wealthy americans. nancy pelosi has noted much unrest in her caucus with afghanistan and have it has been going. this will be tough for the president. he has to convince not only republicans, who want 40,000 troops at least, but he must convince a fair amount of powerful democrats to go along with his plan and i think

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,

why didn't i work for obama? the way i could make a contribution in the world is to instill issues into a more could take action. >> you were at stanford when you worked with bill gray as an intern. what did you learn the most at that juncture? that stood out. i saw a speech by a person who was winning -- this is not in reference to bill gray, but it deals with politics. a candidate came and spoke to our dorm. you could tell that this speech had been said so many times that the life had been beaten out of it. i thought that i did not want to be in a career were the things i care about most deeply have the life beaten out of them. i want to cherish the work a little more. it seems subtle. i work for bill gray for 30 weeks. bill gray had two offices and i was in the philadelphia office. after 13 weeks, we got to go across to the leadership office and meet him. this was exciting. we finally got to meet him. i had not met him after three months of working for him. we got ushered into the office and they took a photo

>> suarez: you know, president obama extended his visit. he was meant to leave copenhagen hours before he did. but while there was still a chance that something could be worked out, he stayed be. he invited premier wen to two subsequent meetings which the chin ease premier skipped sending the deputy foreign minister and his chief investigator instead. it was a snub? was it a gambit to move the talk as long? later in the evening there was a meeting around 7:00 denmark time with some of the big emitters, some of the big industrial economy. brazil's lula, one from india along with wen and president obama. those meetings kept on through the evening. and finally resulted in an agreement just before midnight denmark time. >> reporter: all week, ray, we've talked about the big issues, targets, financing, verification. so what's in this this agreement -- agreement? >> suarez: the most generous thing you can say about it is that it puts off some of the hardest negotiating down into the future. the most near-end target are left blank, left undefined