look at president obama. i mean, a lot of people have read this book and said it's very painful. >> larry: so far it is to me. >> to see that -- he's not sure what to do, that he's perhaps overintellectualizing. so people on the right, republicans, can look at this and say, he's not committed. democrats, all kinds of people who don't like the war, could read this and say, you know what, he got it, he understood that this is not just a bad hand, as he said at one of the end -- end of one of these monthly reviews, which he does, he walks out, and they're talking about kandahar and he's being briefed. he says, given that definition of the problem, i don't know how we come up with a solution to this. now, that was four months ago. >> larry: tell you whose strong, biden, right? >> yes, yeah. >> larry: i mean, he is -- he slams the fist down. >> biden, he does, and i asked president obama, doesn't this make you a little uneasy and jumpy? biden makes long passionate arguments. and president obama said no, that's exa

does obama care what she says? >> well, she aligned herself with secretary of defense gates and the military, supported them even more to a certain extent than gates did. they talked about the five blocks of granite, the three generals and admiral and gates and hillary and they just said, 40,000 troops and in a sense, an unlimited counter insurgency strategy, which is what general petraeus wanted. >> bill: just win the war. now, you correct me if i am wrong. my gut instinct, and i have this not on anything other than gut -- is that barak obama doesn't listen to hillary clinton. she is not a major shaper in what he does or doesn't do. >> that is absolutely correct. and political people in the white house were quite annoyed that she aligned herself with the military in such a dramatic way. i wanted to get to something -- you really need to make a distinction on the fight against al-qaeda, which as we know is in pakistan, not afghanistan, obama has been very aggressive and i think we're going to see in coming weeks mo

one of those things that obama -- look, obama is in two political boxes. one as pat points out, he has general patraeus in there and he can't say no to general patraeus. when he was campaigning, he has made iraq the bad war, afghanistan the good war. the question is, how is he going to do it and how is he going to do it effectively? >> exit question. is obama the victim of his own success in the war of afghanistan from the 2008 campaign? >> just said. that is exactly correct. >> eleanor. >> i think that we needed to put troops in afghanistan. i think president bush squandered several years by misdirecting american attention into iraq and this president is trying to clean up the mess. he is doing it imperfectly, but not going to stay there for ever. >> you cannot have a political reconciliation without changing the balance of security forces on the ground. if the taliban and other radical forces believe they can wait out the american forces, they will certainly do that. if we are in this and fight it to win it, you can have some relatively political resolut

obama exhausts organized labor. he fumes at republican opponents and their alleged negativism. >> yes, we can. remember that was our slogan? their slogan is, no we can't. [ laughter ] nope, no. no. >> 50 days to go in the name of the game is blame. blame the opponent. keep the focus on him. for the incumbent president, the strategy is offensive. blast the republicans. the party of no. >> when it comes to just about everything we've done to strengthen our middle class, to rebuild our economy, almost every republican in congress says no. >> as a punitive positive yes merger, embraced by the democrats, mr. obama calls for $50 billion of new spending. infrastructure on roads, bridges, runways, but spread over many years and fully paid for, but how the $50 billion would be produced was not explained. this was not a stimulous proposal and chance of passing congress seemed to be minus zero. on thursday, the president called for other money measures, including investment tax credits, emphasizing restriction development, the

that is not -- i don't believe, i spent too much time studying barack obama, that is not who barack obama is. i'm not saying that he shouldn't take a little of bill clinton's vaerks pour it over, do the i feel your pain bit. but you have to in politics, the reason barack obama won this presidency in the first place, because he was true to himself. because he didn't pander. he didn't do the sorts of things that are expected of politician. >> i think that basically the advice is basically, you can do it, i can't. it's more like bragging. >>> coming up, the republican party unveils its so-called pledge to america and it may be just the biggest political cover up since watergate. you know the good stuff, cut taxes. cut spending. but the big question is, does it really hide or disguise the much more serious, more radical proposal than the republican party has? the tea party stuff that we hear all of the time. how come that's not on the paper? let's talk about what's being covered over on this pledge. you're watching "hardball." ouldr if we didn't have to weigh 'em all. if those boxes are under

that is not -- i don't believe, i spent too much time studying barack obama, that is not who barack obama is. i'm not saying that he shouldn't take a little of bill clinton's advice, do the i feel your pain bit. but you have to in politics, the reason barack obama won this presidency in the first place, because he was true to himself. he didn't pander, do the sorts of things expected of polices. >> you're basically saying, you can do it, i can't. it's more like bragging. >>> coming up, the republican party unveils its so-called pledge to america and it may be just the biggest political cover up since water gate. the good stuff. cut taxes, spending, but the big question, does it really hide or disguise the more serious, radical p radical pro pose sal the republicans have. let's talk about what's being covered over. stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, expresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywher

the obama administration wants to call this the obama tax cut for the middle class, but yet, even if they get it through congress, no one will be getting cut further from what they are today in the middle class? >> well, status quo is that they sunset in 2010, on december about 1 of this year, that's status quo and anything new is a new tax cut. i mean, technically. it is a game of semantics. disagree with steve, i think they will all be extended. i do not think this will happen before november 2nd and they will come back in the laem duck session and pressure will be so enormous from the republican victory if not a huge republican majority maybe a slight one or a close call with the democrats barely holding on and i do believe that at that time, they will buckle and extend it for at least a year or two to all the brackets. in the meantime, democrats are back from an extended recess tonight in a very tense meeting, all coming together after having lost august in a disastrous way, politically, to discuss the fact that they have six national polls, bolstering the argument. their argumen

for obama's senate seat in illinois. colorado senate michael bennett. washington senator patty murray. nancy pelosi. california senator barbara boxer. political analysts say several races are must-wins for democrats. >> they know if patty murray and boxer go down on election night, they've almost certainly lost the senate. if they hold them both, they're in better shape. >> reporter: it's not unusual for first ladies to campaign in mid-term election. laurie bush did it in 2006. first lady is no strainier to campaigning. she stirred controversial in 2008 talking about her husband's candidacy for president. >> for the first time in my adult life i am proud of my country. >> as first lady, mrs. obama in a recent poll had 68% favorability rating focussed on platform of healthy eating and physical fitness for kids. her office says he comes to campaigning as a mom. that is the lens as she sees the world. sabato expects she will stick to fixed, nice remarks. >> she says nice things about the candidate she's with. >> reporter: s

obama doesn't know the country. john, i thought your answer was interesting and said he lacks a consistent compelling communication right now. is it the people don't get why he is president, the basic reason he's there? >> yeah, and actually it goes beyond communication. you mentioned in t stup reagan and clinton. the are two people who are not just good communicators but had a good theory of the case, they knew what they believed and exained it well to the country and talked about where the country was at that moment in history and how their policies would translate and lead us forward. obama during the him campaign had a clear message but had that theory of the case, he was for change, he was not a clinton, he was not a bush. he came into office still without that big narrative and really hurt him becauset this moment you can see he is left as a state figure. people on the left think he's sold out as becoming a modern centrist and betrayed their ideals. people in the center think he sold out and went to the left.

and to illinois president obama's old senate seat. both candidates had ethical issues, but the republican is virtually tried with the democrat. the green party candidate gets 7%, and says that's significant for democrats. >> it hurts them, because most of the green party voters in 2008 voted for barack obama. >> a surprisingly close senate race in the blue state of washington and one point united states patty murray from her republican challenger dina rossy and in ohio still a double digit lead for republican rob portman over democrat lee fisher. president obama won all five of the states in 2008, but now, ohio seems somewhat out of reach. and democrats are struggling to hold on to the others. barone attributes that mainly to voters discontent over the democrats handling of the economy. in washington, molly henneberg, fox news. >> bret: over on capitol hill senate democrats failed to pass a measure aimed at discouraging out outsourcing of american jobs. why a handful blocked the bill. >> mr. hennessey, no-- >> another legislative show

i'll begin with obama's father, this man, barack obama senior. barack obama senior was born in kenya. he came of age in kenya's great struggle of independence against the british, called anti-colonialism. to push the british out of kenya. he came to america in the late 1960s as a student, to study at the university of hawaii. this is where he met obama's mother. this woman right here. stanley ann dunham. they were married. actually, he didn't tell her at the time he was already married. he had married a woman in kenya. they had two children. ultimately he married four different women and had eight children. he was quite a character. he was also a chronic drunk driver. he was involved in multiple accidents. he lost both of his legs in one of the accidents. >> glenn: hang on a second. i want to make this really clear. because my mother was an alcoholic. died a tragic death. yada, yada. you're not insinuating anything on that he was, you know, a drunk or anything else. >> no, no, no. >> glenn: it's fact. >> it's fact and i'm getting to it because it

thinks obama wants to impose islamic law now tell me where did that come from because it sounds like it comes came from the blogs fear that you go from the blog sphere into the mainstream and now everybody's talking about it it seems quite amazing that we can hear these things repeated over and over again and then people start believing it i think that's right i think you're exactly right peter i think what you have is you have these rumors that began in the in the right wing fever swamps of the blogosphere they sleep upwards into into the world of talk radio and fox news and other murdoch outlets like the new york post and they are amplified they enter this right wing media app echo chamber in which they raise doubts now. as with other bits of right wing propaganda you don't have to succeed you don't have to get most of americans believing that obama is in fact a sleeper agent for for islam but if you can toss that you can throw some smoke out there and muddy the waters if you will to mix metaphors you can create doubt and this is bad for your opponent and it's a it's a tried and tr

look at president obama. i mean, a lot of people have read this book and said it's very painful. >> larry: so far it is to me. >> to see that -- he's not sure what to do, that he's perhaps overintellectualizing. so people on the right, republicans, can look at this and say, he's not committed. democrats, all kinds of people who don't like the war, could read this and say, you know what, he got it, he understood that this is not just a bad hand, as he said at one of the end -- end of one of these monthly reviews, which he does, he walks out, and they're talking about kandahar and he's being briefed. he says, given that definition of the problem, i don't know how we come up with a solution to this. now, that was four months ago. >> larry: tell you whose strong, biden, right? >> yes, yeah. >> larry: i mean, he is -- he slams the fist down. >> biden, he does, and i asked president obama, doesn't this make you a little uneasy and jumpy? i mean, biden makes long, passionate arguments, and president obama said, no,

barack obama could recover. but this smear will stick, and this is what they're hitting him with when they got him down. that's my thought p it's purely political but that's what newt is, i think. >> well, i think newt is visoral. he's a visceral attack guy. he wasn't very good as a speaker because he wasn't an affirmative character as much as a brilliant attack guy. here, he's doing the dirtiest of dirty work for the conservative cause and the conservative coalition. why he feels he needs to do this, i'm not sure. he used to be more focused on economics and issues like that. than he is on this. even though he came out of georgia, he was seen almost as a progressive in certain respects, for his -- the flavor of what he said 15, 18 years ago. why he's doing this now, i don't know. but you're right. it's to keep obama down and to try to turn the virtues of biography around on obama. let's not forget that obama sold himself originally and was embraced for it. i think the republicans understand that his biography is

obama a socialist, obama is this and that. not born in the country. it's stirred up things to the point where the establishment has lost control and the tea party is now in control in terms of picking candidates. when i hear you guys talking about o'donnell, it's amazing to me. okay, so o'donnell has trouble with taxes, her academic credentials, paying for school, paying her own mortgage. she is someone with no record. and when you start to talk policy, you know, obama is un -- obama is un-american. she says her jobs plan for america is cut the capital gains tax. when the voters of delaware -- by the way, delaware has very few republican voters. they have independent voters, more than republicans. i think people are anti-establishment and challenge them to give republicans a chance. when they look at that candidate they say this is extreme. and that's the problem across the country. >> o'donnell may be too far and delaware is not the state to elect someone with a strong conservative message. but before the tea party began and the republican party is o

thinks obama wants to impose islamic law now tell me where did that come from because it sounds like a car came from the blogs fear that it go from the blogs fear into the mainstream and now everybody's talking about it and it seems quite amazing that we can hear these things repeated over and over again and then people start believing it. i think that's right i think you're exactly right peter i think what you have is you have these rumors that began in the in the right wing fever swamp so the blogosphere they sleep upwards into into the world of talk radio and fox news and other murdoch outlets like the new york post and they are amplified they enter this right wing media app echo chamber in which they raise doubts now as with other bits of right wing propaganda they don't have to succeed you don't have to get most of americans believing that obama is in fact a sleeper agent for for islam but if you can toss that you can throw some smoke out there and muddy the waters if you will to mix metaphors you can create doubt and this is bad for your opponent and it's a it's a tried and tru

thinks obama wants to impose islamic law now tell me where did that come from because it sounds like it comes came from the blogs fear that you go from the blog sphere into the mainstream and now everybody's talking about it and it seems quite amazing that we can hear these things repeated over and over again and then people start believing it i think that's right i think you're exactly right peter i think what you have is you have these rumors that began in the in the right wing fever swamp so the blogosphere they sleep upwards into into the world of talk radio and fox news and other murdoch outlets like the new york post and they are amplified they enter this right wing media app echo chamber in which they raise doubts now as with other bits of right wing propaganda they don't have to succeed you don't have to get most of americans believing that obama is in fact a sleeper agent for for islam but if you can toss that you can throw some smoke out there and muddy the waters if you will to mix metaphors you can create doubt and this is bad for your opponent and it's a it's a tried and

obama. it should be noted with summers announcing his intention to leave by the end of the year, this is now the third key member of the obama team, economic team to announce departure following peter orszag, the budget director and christina romer who chaired counsel of economic advisors. >> bret: mike emanuel live on the north lawn. thank you. let's get more on the president's economic team and the politics of the economy. from senior political analyst brit hume. good evening, brit. >> hi, bret. president obama suggesting that that town hall meeting monday, the top members of the economic team might be leaving was followed by comments from the press secretary today that did nothing to dispel the impression and then came the summers announcement. it makes sense. his original chief economic advisor as mentioned, christina romer left after a rocky tenure, among other things she claimed that passing the stimulus spinfest would host jobless rate at 8%. the economic research, official judge of s

thinks obama wants to impose islamic law now tell me where did that come from because it sounds like it comes came from the blogs fear that go from the blogs fear into the mainstream and now everybody's talking about it and it seems quite amazing that we can hear these things repeated over and over again and then people start believing it i think that's right i think you're exactly right peter i think what you have is you have these rumors that began in the in the right wing fever swamp so the blogosphere they see upwards into into the world of talk radio and fox news and other murdoch outlets like the new york post and they are amplified they enter this right wing media app echo chamber in which they raise doubts now. as with other bits of right wing propaganda you don't have to succeed you don't have to get most of americans believing that obama is in fact a sleeper agent for for islam but if you can toss that you can throw some smoke out there and muddy the waters if you will to mix metaphors you can create doubt and this is bad for your opponent and it's a it's a tried and true w

michelle obama has long said she is, quote, no political animal. but, she's about to jump head on into the political fray. the white house is about to unleash one of its biggest stars onto the campaign trail. next month, first lady michelle obama will headline at least nine democratic fund-raisers in six states. she'll raise money for a handful of candidates facing tight re-election battles on democratic turf. among them, wisconsin senator russ feingold who passed up a chance to campaign with president obama earlier this month and california senator barbara boxer. >> i think she will go out and make a forceful and positive case for what this administration has done. >> reporter: the white house insists mrs. obama is eager to hit the road and democrats are just as eager to have her. polls show she's more popular than her husband. >> michelle obama has, i think, enormous power in energizing the base and reenergizing the base where that's necessary. >> reporter: the first lady has scored points with americans through her efforts to curb childhood obes

president obama does not want the sunset. he wants to keep the bush- cheney tax cuts in place, except for two brackets -- the brackets for the money class of society. >> the wealthiest americans who disproportionately benefitted note only from tax cuts from the bausch and bush administration but also benefitted when it comes to corporate profits and where the gains and productivity were going, they're going to give up a little more. >> just this week, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell introduced a bill that would keep in place bush- cheney tax policy. republicans in the senate have vowed to block any change by president obama on the tax bracket now in force for the big earners and big investors currently and paying 33% and 35%, which obama wants to put back to 36% and 39.6%. question, are the democrats going to increase taxes on the high earners during a recession? >> no, they will not. despite the fact that president obama has driven a stake in the ground, nancy pelosi has said no, they're very averse to raising taxes

is president obama trying to circumvent the nomination process. and the pope arrives in great britain with a message of traditional values. live from our studio in washington. this is special report. good evening, i'm bret baier. president obama looked to the future today saying he is confident the country will emerge from the current storm, with the stronger economy. but for the average family, that positivity about tomorrow doesn't necessarily translate when bills need to be paid today. chief washington correspondent jim angle looks at the economic situation. >> more signs of a struggling economy today as mortgage lenders repossess more homes in august than any month since the housing market crashed almost three years ago. >> looking at rising foreclosures and the expectation is we're not going to peak until at least the middle of next year. >> reporter: in all banks repossessed more than 95,000 homes last month. up 3% from july and an increase of 25% from august of last year. and some say administration efforts have only made things worse. >> t

the full obama care doesn't go into effect until 2014. some key changes that are patient protections part of that act going into effect today including no, you already mentioned this one, children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage anymore. the wrinkle on that is a lot of insurers now, they find if they're not sure how that's going to work for them. so they're only going to do that through family plans. if you buy on their own, you will have trouble buying on a child-only plan for that. they're lifting the lifetime limits on how much coverage you can get. this is important for people who may have cancer, hem fill yeah, they can no longer max out. if you get cancer, some people have complained that insurers can drop them. rescission is now banned as well. you cannot be dropped for a condition. the two biggest changes that affect the most people are the extensions for kids up to 26. the adult child can be remaining or added back to your plan. a slew of options are added including what you mentioned earlier, mammograms, c

it goes to obama. >> obama is at the end of the day carrying the bag and deciding whether or not the investigation is correct. >> bill: walk into the oval office and says this is what i find out about your pal holder he is a pinhead. >> i don't know those words. >> the president would be hard-pressed to ignore the findings of the inspector general. >> oh, p.r. >> to have the oversight. >> bill: how long is this going to take? like eight years? that's how they usually do it. >> after the next presidential election. see what i'm saying? >> isn't that true? >> take as long as they want. what they have done now is apiece the people who said look, you didn't bring these charges. >> bill: they didn't appease me. >> they are trying to appease. they are not going to appease quickly. >> bill: the final thing we have to ask ladies real quick in florida a disturbing thing a manual that was floating around on the internet teaching people how to molest children. okay? >> outrageous. and the florida authorities looked at it and what conclusion did they come to. >> authorities said look, this is le

of barack obama. he smokes. he drinks beer. he eats hot dogs. and he checks out -- if he's a muslim, he stinks at it. obama loves war and rich people and never goes to church if that doesn't prove he's a christian, i don't know what does. >> bill maher, of course he did go to church yesterday, president obama. >>> jennifer lopez reported to be a new judge on "american idol" for 12 million bucks a year. turns out, if she will earn her keep because her ex, ex, ex-husband, a guy named ojani noa, this guy here, she was married to him for less than a year, his manager says he is going to try out to be a contestant on "american idol." he wants to perform in front of his ex-wife. a few problems with this one. he's 36. the age limit, 28. his manager says that won't stop him from being in line in l.a. on september 22nd. remember, this is a guy who was a waiter that she met and married briefly. has tried to sell a book, a sex tape and a feature-length film about his ex-wife. >>> still ahead on "way too early,"

that is not -- i don't believe, i spent too much time studying barack obama, that is not who barack obama is. i'm not saying that he shouldn't take a little of bill clinton's vaerks pour it over, do the i feel your pain bit. but you have to in politics, the reason barack obama won this presidency in the first place, because he was true to himself. because he didn't pander. he didn't do the sorts of things that are expected of politician. >> i think that basically the advice is basically, you can do it, i can't. it's more like bragging. >>> coming up, the republican party unveils its so-called pledge to america and it may be just the biggest political cover up since watergate. you know the good stuff, cut taxes. cut spending. but the big question is, does it really hide or disguise the much more serious, more radical proposal than the republican party has? the tea party stuff that we hear all of the time. how come that's not on the paper? let's talk about what's being covered over on this pledge. you're watching "hardball." no pain medicine is proven to last longer than advil. not tylenol.

he is saying the country was in a ditch when obama took over and obama did a lot of things and democrats in congress did a lot of things that got us out of the ditch and we will build on those the next two years. everything hasn't been perfect. as far as the health care plan is contender concerned, i agree with that. i think we ought to be talking about that. i think ultimately it will be popular and things are just starting to be phased in. i had children out of college who didn't have insurance. i would love to have been able to carry my daughter on my health insurance policy until she was 26. >> today in the headlines you're seeing major providers opting out of offering basic insurance services. blue cross/blue shield in minnesota pulled two offerings that they don't believe it's in their business interest to do it under their new health care plan. i think republicans are confident in making the case obama care generally is an anti-growth, anti -- is a policy that is fundamentally flawed for the future of our country. that is the debate that is going to play out. >> if they are comfor

president obama is talking the economy this week. vice president biden urged democrats yesterday to stop whining and consider the alternatives. the question is whether youth will back it up with their vote. >> they're paying attention. they want to participate. but they're starting to increase in their cynicism about the political process. >> reporter: president obama's trip to wisconsin, really highlights a huge shift in the electoral landscape over the last couple of years. in 2008, a record number of new voters in wisconsin turned out for the democrats. this year, key races all across the state, looking much tighter. rob and vinita? >> emily schmidt, live in washington this morning. >>> bob woodward's new book, "obama's wars" is number two, on amazon's best-selling list this morning. and in an exclusive interview with diane sawyer, woodward tells of president obama battling with top pentagon brass over the war in afghanistan. >> what's the angriest that he gets at the military? >> at one of the meetings, if i can quote him directl

obama as a christian. we're going to have more on this story later this hour. >>> let's go to connecticut right now where a tightening senate battle could contribute to a major power shift in washington in november. to cnn's mary snow working the story for us. getting closer to the contest in connecticut, is that right? >> this is -- this is a state that democrats outnumbers republicans months ago. rich blumenthal had a lead over newcomer linda mcmahon. a new poll out today suggests it's too close to call and anger at the government is one reason why. >> gained fame and fortune in the form of wrestling. now lindamacman is going to give a blow to the democrats in the blue state. mcmahon has chipped away at what once was a wide lead held by democrat richard blumenthal, a popular attorney general seen by many as a shoe-in. a new quinnipiac poll shows blumenthal leading 49% to 46%. quinnipiac's polling director says independents are making the difference. >> an anti-government feeling that connecticut voters h

obama says, i'm taking charge. i'll do a 30,000 temporary surge but we're going to have a plan to get out of there. i was impressed by that. he took charge. good for him. >> bill, bill, i think this bill -- this book is very troubling. the fact of the matter is the pentagon and the white house are not on the same page. the fact that the president's worried mostly about politics and not about policy, he's worried about losing the whole democratic party. why doesn't he -- and also does not say at all -- >> well, hold on, john. >> john, john -- >> no sense of winning the war. >> wait. >> here's the bottom line here, gentlemen -- >> they are -- >> hold it, time-out. hold it, we have to bring in point in. john, this is a key point. the bushies always said that they listened to the generals on ground. despite of what president obama wants to do he's listening to the generals who are operating this war. he gave them another 30,000 troops. >> exactly. >> how can the conservatives turn on him for that? >> the implication of

obama doesn't know the country. john, i thought your answer was interesting and said he lacks a consistent compelling communication right now. is it the people don't get why he is president, the basic reason he's there? >> yeah, and actually it goes beyond communication. you mentioned in the setup reagan and clinton. these are two people who are not just good communicators but had a good theory of the case, they knew what they believed and explained it well to the country and talked about where the country was at that moment in history and how their policies would translate and lead us forward. obama during the him campaign had a clear message but had that theory of the case, he was for change, he was not a clinton, he was not a bush. he came into office still without that big narrative and really hurt him because at this moment you can see he is left as a state figure. people on the left think he's sold out as becoming a modern centrist and betrayed their ideals. people in the center think he sold out and went to t

. -- an obama supporter, an obama enthusiast. the poll indicates they are the ones who could take over in november. what do you make of that? >> that is going to be the political dynamic that we have coming up here, which is to say, obama, by the way, was dealt a very bad hand. let's just stipulate that from the beginning. tavis: sure. >> the question is, what do you do with the hand? he did not play it as well as he could have, but at the same time, we have not heard of a meaningful plan from the republicans. the question is, can they win on that? at the moment, given the state of the economy, given that what americans look in their wallet, there is less money there, it does not matter if they are the party of no or the party of yes. they are a different party, a different choice, and i think what you keep hearing is that people want a different choice, and that is the result of the economic situation we're in right now. tavis: with the poll was -- >> i say it is all about the wallet. you can talk about this all summer, mistake

>> bill clinton led them down the garden path as did barack obama. this was perhaps the greatest political miscalculation in the last 50 years, this thing is not selling and, yeah, he is going to have to offer them jobs. >> the line is going to be long. when we come back, the latest salvos in the battle over school reforms, the movement, get the boost as al gore's movie director sets his sights on the teachers union, but they have the school chief michelle reed in their sights. will she hold on to her job? . look at all this stuff foffee. oh there's tons. french presses, expresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, tho. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. th is easy. best news i've hed all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort mped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate bo

barack and michelle obama. that's right, the first black president has followed in the footsteps of previous presidents known for their elite education, significant personal worth and preppy trappings. franklin dell nor roosevelt, john kennedy and both jorgee bushes. he went to columbia. she went to princeton and both went to harvard law. for the second year in a row they've summered at martha's vineyard. they have that was pi sartorial style under control. barack obama with the jacket over his shoulder and michelle has made the eternally preppy j. crew label a major part of her wardbe. even beau is preppy. what's next? time to bring back the sboya with cole porter music wafting through the potomac evening? wow. all the bad news for the o bob: administration means the g.o.p. nomination is a rize p worth having. weho's definitely running for president on the republican side. plus tell me something i don't know. chris: welcome back. we're close to go or no go time for the republicans, believe it or not andho are

even though president obama -- colin powell has supported obama. >> he has lost some support he had in the campaign. it's not just me picking on the president. it's polling. he has to do more with respect to reducing the deficit and also being careful about putting more and more programs, more and more rocks into that knapsack because the american people looking for singular focus on the economy and unemployment. >> bill: check four, former president clinton also being questioned about mr. obama. >> let me ask you about health care. back in august of 2009, you spoke in front of that net roots convention. this is what you said about health care reform. let's watch. >> i'm telling you i don't care how low they drive support for this with misinformation, the minute the president signs the health care reform bill, approval will go up because americans are inherently optimistic. >> the white house said the same thing, mr. president, but it hasn't happened yet. >> well, i was wrong about that for two reasons. first of all, the benefits of the bill are spread out over three or four years. it

this is why president obama wants us to buck up. i'm following those orders in a commentary tonight. >>> and john boehner and his crew, they don't really care about the middle class. they don't care about the divided american we live in, because you see the income gap between the rich and poor is at an all-time high and republicans have nothing to say about it. jessie jackson sounds off. what can we do about it? president obama takes off the gloves and hammering fox news. he says fox promotes a point of view that is destructive. now, for a guy who always rips on the cables, i think the president would do a pretty good job if he was on cable. we do it every night, mr. president. this is the story that has me fired up tonight. the most powerful elected republican in america is plotting to stop the united states government dead in its tracks procedurally. on monday night, senator "waterloo" jim demint warned he would place a hold on any legislation that would not been cleared by his office before the close of business today. demint, as

one of those things that obama -- look, obama is in two political boxes. one as pat points out, he has general patraeus in there and he can't say no to general patraeus. when he was campaigning, he has made iraq the bad war, afghanistan the good war. the question is, how is he going to do it and how is he going to do it effectively? >> exit question. is obama the victim of his own success in the war of afghanistan from the 2008 campaign? >> just said. that is exactly correct. >> eleanor. >> i think that we needed to put troops in afghanistan. i think president bush squandered several years by misdirecting american attention into iraq and this president is trying to clean up the mess. he is doing it imperfectly, but not going to stay there for ever. >> you cannot have a political reconciliation without changing the balance of security forces on the ground. if the taliban and other radical forces believe they can wait out the american forces, they will certainly do that. if we are in this and fight it to win , you can have some relatively political resolutio

obama's middle name calling him barrack hussein obama to decry his secret foreignness. >> think about how you'll feel on november 5th if you wake up in the morning and see the news that barack obama, barack hussein obama is the united states of america. >> a local republican party leader speaking at a mccain/palin party in october 2008. immediately after that rally th mccain/palin group released this statement. mccain/palin campaign made no bones about it. they called the hussein tactic off limits, even as a lot of conservatives associated with their campaign really wanted to use it. >> at some point the media will quit taking sides in this thing and maybe start covering barack haines obama, at some point going to peel the bark off barack haines obama. >> immediately after that hussein incident, mccain addressed in no uncertain terms and said he understood why they were invoking the haines name and he would not stand for it. >> it's my understanding before i came in here that a person who was on the program before i spoke made some disparaging remarks my two colleagues in the senate,

president obama: yeah, i took a trip to elkhart, indiana, today. elkhart's a place that has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in america, and the people who've lost them have no idea what to do or who to turn to. in fact, local tv stations have started running public service announcements that tell people where to find food banks, even as the food banks don't have enough to meet the demand. [ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to fight fatigue. so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. [ monkey cheeps ] [ male announcer ] a bath becomes even more pleasurable when you know that your water is being heated in an environmentally- conscious way while saving you hundreds of dollars on your water-heating energy bill. the geospring water heater from ge with advanced hybrid technology. heating the water in your home any other way is just going to seem primitive. [ monkey cheeps ] ♪ maryland residents can save up to $780 while funds l