peter orszag was obama's own budget director and the road apiece in which he argued that to keep them all or you let them all go. he wants them all abolished in two years. speaking as an economist, what will help our economy the most? the tax cuts that affect the rest, so-called,f that half of the small business income in the united states. do you really want a significant hike on those taxes on the biggest hiring of people in the country? the answer is no. >> the idea that in two years the taxes would be repealed, what about that? >> the economy will recover and more money will start coming in to the federal government in other ways and this issue will go way and that taxcuts will go away. >> [inaudible] two years this time, two years the next time. >> the article says that the majority is against the tax cuts. >> do you think that peter orszag is a republican operative? >> i think he gave his view of the world. >> on the eve of a republican -- on the eve of an election, you think republican will give you tax hikes? not a chance. >> peter orszag got a lot of publicity and that helps.

peter orszag was obama's own budget director and the road apiece in which he argued that to keep them all or you let them all go. he wants them all abolished in two years. speaking as an economist, what will help our economy the most? the tax cuts that affect the rest, so-called, of that half of the small business income in the united states. do you really want a significant hike on those taxes on the biggest hiring of people in the country? the answer is no. >> the idea that in two years the taxes would be repealed, what about that? >> the economy will recover and more money will start coming in to the federal government in other ways and this issue will go way and that tax cuts will go away. >> [inaudible] two years this time, two years the next time. >> the article says that the majority is against the tax cuts. >> do you think that peter orszag is a republican operative? >> i think he gave his view of the world. >> on the eve of a republican -- on the eve of an election, you think republican will give you tax hikes? not a chance. >> peter orszag got a lot of publicity and that hel

orszag is here. he is as you know the former director of the office of management and budget. earlier this summer it... he became the first member of president obama's cabinet to announce his resignation. he played a key role in the stimulus bill and health care reform. he saw the budget deficit levels grow to its highest level since the second world war. he is a guest columnist for the "new york times". i am pleased to have him here to look back and to look forward. so welcome. >> good to be here. >> charlie: one of the big questions for the policy arena today is what to do about the bush tax cuts. >> yes. >> charlie: you step forward and say, here's what i think would be the wise thing to do: extend both of the tax cuts for two years and then eliminate both of them. >> 2015, 2016, 2017, in that range, we face a very large projected deficit. much larger than can be addressed just on the spending side of the budget especially because changes to social security, for example, will always be gradually p

peter orszag was obama's own budget director. he wrote a piece in which he argued that to either keep them all or let them all go. he wants them all abolished in two years. speaking as an economist, what will help our economy the most? the tax cuts that affect the rich, so-called, a fact half of the small business in, in the united states. do you really want to make a hike on those taxes on the biggest engine of hiring in the country at a time of 10% unemployment? peter orszag says keep the now and abolish them in two years and he is right. >> in two years, they could be repealed. >> that is the hope. is that the economy will recover and more money will start coming in to the federal government in other ways and this issue will go away and the tax cuts [inaudible] >> in the year of the president's election -- [inaudible] >> two years this time, two years the next time. >> the republican majority, the article says that the republican majority is against tax cuts than i do you think that peter orszag is a republican operative? >> i

peter orszag was obama's own budget director and he wrote a piece in which he argued that you either keep the mall or let them all go. he wants them all abolished in two years. speaking as an economist, what will help our economy the most? the tax cuts that affect the rich, so-called, of that half of the small business income in the united states. do you really want a significant hike on those taxes on the biggest engine of hiring in the country at a time of 10% unemployment? peter orszagh says to abolish them and \ two years and he is right. >> in two years, they would be repealed. [inaudible] >> that is the hope that the economy will recover and more money will start coming in to the federal government in other ways and vent this issue will go away. [inaudible] >> [inaudible] ." two years, this time, at two years the next time. >> there is faith that the one organizing principle against tax cuts -- >> do you think that peter orszag is a republican operative here? >> i think he just gave his opinion. >> on the eve of a presidential election, a republican congress will raise taxes? n

budget director peter orszag is gone. council of economic advisers chair christina romer is gone. >> the work that they do is difficult. they have been at it two years. >> only treasury secretary tim geithner remains and he is under fire. >> the economic team on the way out. >> five weeks before midterm elections. people are predicting big losses for democrats. the timing could not be more crucial. >>> the cia is intensifying missile attacks against militants in pakistan. they have heard of a new plan to target the multiple countries including the u.k., france, and germany. if 20 drawn strikes have been launched by the c.eia in the pat months. -- drone attacks. >>> 20 insurgents have been killed in a day of hard fighting. u.s. soldiers are now controlling is they had never been to before. commanders have taken away the homemade bombs from the taliban. >>> former alaska senator ted stevens will be laid to rest this afternoon at arlington national cemetery. the 86-year olds died last month in a plane crash in a remote part

peter orszag, the budget director, left in late summer and he's been replaced by jack lu who was budget director to bill clinton at a time when surpluses were building. and he was brought over from the state department where he had been hillary clinton's -- and still is until he gets confirmed by the senate -- deputy secretary of state. and then christie roemer of the chair of economic advisors, she left at the beginning of this month to go back to berkeley. and she's been replaced by austin goolsby who was one of the members of the council of economic advisors. so it's very much he's brought people from within his team. and brought them in. so it's not big change. he hasn't reached outside. there is one difference, though, in that you could say he had a team of wonks. these four principals. and both jack lu, for budget director, and austin goolsby, are more political veterans. and in will be important -- and this will be important because this will coincide with the president's re-election campaign. >> there were some pretty vigorous policy debates and even disagreements in this admini

. >> david mentioned the now famous op ed that peter orszag wrote in "the new york times" this week. what he argued was for a two-year extension of all the tax cuts, not so much on policy grounds but just because that's basically what you can get through congress, he thinks, at this point. is there a compromise here? because the president was sounding pretty inflexible this week? >> i think that's a bargaining position and one aimed at getting the democratic base out. i wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the outcome here is an agreement to extend the tax cuts for a couple of years. the orszag argument. >> all of them? >> all of them. the orszag argument was two years and then it's over. the president is not committed to raising taxes on people under $250,000. peter orszag thinks he's going to have to do that. >> it looks like he might have hardened a little bit today on. that both parties are trying to maneuver here to keep voters happy. but when you actually look at the polls and ask them, what is it the voters really want the government to do, what's the answer? >> i think we'v

peter orszag hated in the wing. his first column in the "new york times" which they felt und mined the president's view of tax cuts, very unhappen we with him. one senior official told me in a politico playbook we should run a quiz, which is the more disloyal former staffer, peter orszag or steven ratiner, they said the answer was definitely peter orszag. >> mike, you say the west wing hates peter orszag. >> he had no friends when he left. no top-level friends. very unhappy with him. not a lot of crying when he departed. >> wow. >> and made no new friends when he suggested they should let the tax cuts -- >> go for two years. >> yeah. >> i'm sure they set at google alert foris "new york times" columns. >> mike, a little scandal. >> this is just -- maybe this is the politician in me. but if a guy leaves and he's working for me and he dings me on the way out and he's got a "new york times" column, i would go to his wedding. no, no, seriously. i mean, there's no room for that in washington, d.c. when you're running the

. >> whether we are talking about rahm emanuel or peter orszag, [inaudible] the rights and in "the new york times" calling for an extension of the tax cuts that the rich has. >> this is something that the president can draw a line on. he does have a veto power. he can decide whether or not to extend the tax cuts for the rich for a year or something like that, or not. it seems to me the best thing to do would be to pull it back for those people who make less than $200,000, and will veto anything that does not help them. >> george stephanopoulos tried to nail him down on that question, but he said he would not necessarily veto. >> with a tough vote, you could pass the house, not to limit the tax cuts to those earning less than $250,000. but the house is not going to cast a single vote if the senate is not going to act. the president will have to say, if this is the issue, i will veto. he cannot give one interview and then walk away from the issue. >> the same problem with the healthcare bill. there are some democrats who are backing away from the idea. >> they have backed off. they are m

obama trio planning to skip ex-budget director peter orszag's wedding. the paper reports that there were last minute cancellations because of a new york times column that orszag wrote this month. orszag's wedding is set tomorrow in manhattan. i think that this stuff has a lot more to do with something that isn't about that column and may have to do with how they work together in the white house. now for tonight's big number. it started with lisa murkowski up in alaska. and now delaware's mike castle's reportedly conducting polls to see how he would do as a write-in candidate. well, they face long odds. there's been just one senator that's been elected as a write-in. how long ago was it, 1954. the candidate, longtime south carolina senator, strom thurmond. 56 years since the last and only successful write-in senate campaign. 1954. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. up next, "your business."

other members, peter orszag and christina roam rer already gone. david axelrod will be heading home to chicago by spring to work on the president's reelection. axelrod expects david plough, the president's campaign manager, will likely come to washington as an adviser. press secretary robert gibbses is autopsy likely to move to adviser status. we've seen this movie before. bill clinton changed chiefs of staff four times at different crisis points in his presidency. president george w. bush dumped donald rumedz felled from the pentagon after the 2006 elections. all presidents have crisis point. president obama is in one leading up to the november elections so the new team he builds will say a lot about the direction he wants to go next year. jeff. >> glor: bill plante at the white house. bill, thank you. in the race for the california state house, the latest poll shows former ebay chief met whitman in a 41-41 tie with state attorney jerry brown. not so close is the campaign spending race between the two. ben tracy tonight has the facts and figures.

other members of the team peter orszag and christina romer are already gone. the senior adviser david axelrod will head home to chicago by spring. bill clinton changed chiefs of staff four times at different crisis points in his presidency. president george w. bush dumped donald rumsfeld from the pentagon after 2006 elections. all presidents have crisis points. president obama is in one leading up to the november elections, so the new team he builds will say a lot about the direction he wants to go in next year. bill plante, cbs news, the white house. >>> this morning on "the early show" a preview of the hottest toys for the holiday season. it's amazing we are already talking about the holiday season. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." [ male announcer ] the new subway flatbread breakfast sandwiches! like the new double bacon & cheese omelet sandwich! they're all new. toasty, tasty, and made to your order. so come and build your better breakfast today, at subway! no pills, no pain. how can you get pain relief without taking pills around the clo

the budget director, peter orszag, stepped down in july. christina romer went earlier this month. the highest profile remaining member of the team is treasury secretary geithner. some are asking if he will be the fall guy. >> joining me now is our economics editor. why do you think larry summers is gone? >> many people thought he would go by the end of this year. if he did not, he would have to reapply for his place as a professor at harvard. there's the much desired tenure at harvard. it seems clear that he did ask the president if he could leave one year ago. he did originally planned to stay one year. he was persuaded to stay one more year. >> was he being listened to in the white house? there was this debate over policy. sometimes he felt left out. >> he's a man of very strong opinions. if he is up against a lot of people, sometimes he will lose arguments. i'm sure he would have expected to have lost some battles. he was a driving intellectual force. people knew they have to take him on in getting their views through to the president. he was quite a key figure. there are now q

. >> charlie: peter orszag is here. he is as you know the former director of the office of management and budget. earlier this summer it... he became the first member of president obama's cabinet to announce his resignation. he played a key role in the stimulus bill and health care reform. he saw the budget deficit levels grow to its highest level since the second world war. he is a guest columnist for the "new york times". i am pleased to have him here to look back and to look forward. so welcome. >> good to be here. >> charlie: one of the big questions for the policy arena today is what to do about the bush tax cuts. >> yes. >> charlie: you step forward and say, here's what i think would be the wise thing to do: extend both of the tax cuts for two years and then eliminate both of them. >> 2015, 2016, 2017, in that range, we face a very large projected deficit. much larger than can be addressed just on the spending side of the budget especially because changes to social security, for example, will always be gradually p

peter orszag who is the budget director is opposed to that. he was obama's budget director. here's why harry reid won't hold the vote. one of two reasons. a, he's going to lose the vote or, b, he's fearful if he wins the vote, it will be a catastrophe for his party and that's why he's not holding the vote. >> peter orszag coming out and saying that he's kind of persona non grata in the white house. >> a little bit. but you know, here's the thing, though. i agree with -- unfortunately, i do wish that the democrats would have stood up and taken this vote because i think there's a very strong contrast to be made. the middle class tax cuts is the one area, as the president outlined several weeks ago, where there is broad agreement. so why not move forward on the areas where there's agreement rather than holding it hostage to tax cuts for millionaires where they can't spend the money fast enough. these are folks that already have quite a bit of money, there's no reason they can't be spending it. >> alex, let me answer that. the question on these when you raise taxes on people mak

budget director, peter orszag was the first to leave in july. christina roma was next. the white house is also expecting rahm emanuel to leave the use to run for mayor of chicago. >> if rahm emanuel leaves, he will be the fourth of president obama's closest advisers to have left since july. question, after 20 months, is this presidential staff turnover normal? pat buchanan. >> this is not terribly unusual if you have a presidency in trouble. john, when you came into the white house, '71, john connolly came in, dave kennedy was out. nixon closed the goal window, let the dollar flow. he sent arthur burns to the federal reserve. they gunned the money supply to $23 billion deficits. that was enormously dramatic in terms of a change. this is nothing like that. rahm is going out there because there's an opening for mayor's office and secondly, because he has been hammered and had a bad time. but i don't think this is extraordinarily unusual. i don't see any signs of panic here. >> a vietnam war on his hands. >> nixon, our election was disappointing and he took that big move.

this comes after the departure of former budget director peter orszag and of christina romer, the former chair of economic advisers. now only tim geithner remains in place from that original core. meanwhile, it's the administration looking for ways to jump-start the economy and a new reuters poll shows 68% of americans believes lowering taxes will create jobs in the country and 68% say reducing the deficit will help. >>> president obama heads to new york this afternoon to speak at a development summit at the united nations. tomorrow he'll speak to the general assembly where administration officials say he'll walk a fine line on iran in a broad-based foreign policy speech. yesterday, iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad warned an attack on his country's nuclear facilities would spark a war that would "know no limits" and also weighed in on capitalism saying it's on the verge of death and that it's time for a new economic system and he is just getting going. he speaks at the general assembly tomorrow. >>> eight city officials of the blue collar suburb of bell, california, are scheduled to

obama trio planning to skip ex-budget director peter orszag's wedding. the paper reports that valerie jarrett and david axelrod made last-minute cancellations apparently because of a "new york times" column that orszag wrote this month. the president's official position. orszag's wedding is set tomorrow in manhattan. i think that this stuff has a lot more to do with something that isn't about that column and may have to do with how they work together in the white house. now for tonight's big number. it started with lisa murkowski up in alaska. and now delaware's mike castle's is reportedly conducting polls to see how he would do as a write-in candidate. well, they face long odds. been just one senator that's been elected as a write-in. how long ago was it, 1954. the candidate, longtime south carolina senator, strom thermond. 56 years since the last and only successful write-in senate campaign. 1954. >>> that's "hardball" for now. up next, "your business." r. r. who's your somebody? eating campbell's healthy request can help. 25 delicious soups with low c

president obama is now former budget director, peter orszag made his very first public statement in support of extending all of the bush tax cuts for everybody. so i find it very ironic and interesting that it doesn't matter. i find it fascinating that once again we are getting an acknowledgment that bush was right. >> is there any other reason why he left the white house? wasn't there a lady? >> christine romer left. >> they said they want to get off the sinking ship? >> certainly the sinking ship. >> you think so? >> the economic team has -- there has been some on the economic team who have been making specific arguments extending the bush tax cuts. trying to reign in the deficit and been ignored. >> will you straighten this out? >> this gets back to the original question. has president obama done enough this week to change the narrative? well he started. he has 50 days to go. if obama can get back into the kind of campaigning mode that we all remember from 2008, he can turn thisgot much to run on he doesn't talk about the healthcare achievement. he doesn't want to talk about his stimulou

other members of the team peter orszag and christina romer are already gone. the senior adviser david axelrod will head home by spring. bill clinton changed chiefs of staff four times at different crisis points in his presidency. president george bush dumped donald rumsfeld from the pentagon after 2006 elections. all presidents have crisis points. president obama is in one leading up to the november elections, so the new team he builds will say a lot about the direction he wants to go in next year. bill plante, cbs news, the white house. >>> this morning on "the early show" a preview of the hottest toys for the holiday season. it's amazing we are already talking about the holiday season. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." [ male announcer ] the new subway flatbread breakfast sandwiches! like the new double bacon & cheese omelet sandwich! they're all new. toasty, tasty, and made to your order. so come and build your better breakfast today, at subway! no pills, no pain. how can you get pain relief without taking pills around the clock? try therma

april. >> robert, following up on jake -- on his question about orszag, was peter orszag someone here who was known as a dissenting voice, somewhat -- to push back on proposals periodically? or was he someone who just pretty much followed through on giving the president ideas or implementing things that the president wanted? what was he, or was he a mixture of both? >> april, i wouldn't want to generalize about anybody here. i mean, look, i think probably like a number of people that work here -- and if you walked into any meeting, people have opinions that may or may not vary with those that are in the room. this is a longer way of saying i think it would be hard to put just anybody in a box, for two years of service, in one neat box so quickly. >> so would you at least say that he did maybe push back on some economic issues, maybe give other ideas a twist or turns? because, i mean, he made a persuasive argument in this story that he wrote about a nation, two deficits and how to come out of that. so, i mean, you were saying about congress -- he was trying to make the point about cong

budget director, peter orszag was the first to leave in july. christina roma was next. the white house is also expecting rahm emanuel to leave the use to run for mayor of chicago. >> if rahm emanuel leaves, he will be the fourth of president obama's closest advisers to have left since july. question, after 20 months, is this presidential staff turnover normal? pat buchanan. >> this is not terribly unusual if you have a presidency in trouble. john, when you came into the white house, '71, john connolly came in, dave kennedy was out. nixon closed the goal window, let the dollar flow. he sent arthur burns to the federal reserve. they gunned the money supply to $23 billion deficits. that was enormously dramatic in terms of a change. this is nothinlike that. rahm is going out there because there's an opening for mayor's office and secondly, because he has been hammered and had a bad time. but i don't think this is extraordinarily unusual. i don't see any signs of panic here. >> a vietnam war on his hands. >> nixon, our election was disappointing and he took that big move. jo

president obama is now former budget director, peter orszag g-de his very first public statement in support of extending all of the bush tax cuts for everybody. so i find it very ironic and interesting that it doesn't matter. i find it fascinating that once again we are getting an acknowledgment that bush was right. >> is there any other reason why he left the white house? wasn't there a lady? >> christine romer left. >> they said they want to get off the sinking ship? >> certainly the sinking ship. >> you think so? >> the economic team has -- there has been some on the economic team who have been making specific arguments extending the bush tax cuts. trying to reign in the deficit and been ignored. >> will you straighten this out? >> this gets back to the original question. has president obama done enough this week to change the narrative? well he started. he has 50 days to go. if obama can get back into the kind of campaigning mode that we all remember from 2008, he can turn thisgot much to run on he doesn't talk about the healthcare achievement. he doesn't want to talk about his stimulou

peter orszag, christina romer, now larry summers have all gone. white house officials tell me summers' position will not be filled until after the election, but this is not the only change in the white house. very possible maybe even likely that rahm emanuel, the chief of staff, will run for mayor of chicago. there is likely to be changes in the communications and political team as the re-election approaches so, i would expect a significant reorganization, after the election. now, that is not all that uncommon. >> but not easy to do. >> reporter: not easy to do at all, absolutely. >> let's talk about former president clinton's advice to president obama, is he going to take it? >> reporter: i think he may. first of all, white house aides say the president has already taken a piece of that advice. to go out on the campaign trail and really talk about the choice between republican and democratic policies. now, it is true that the president clinton and the first lady are more popular than the president, but what white house aides say president obama i

this comes on the heels of peter orszag and christina romo. summers is regarded as being friendly to the business community and a voice of moderation in the administration's economic policies. the markets got off to a rip-roaring start on monday, up about 150 points on the dow, but then broke a five-day winning streak on wednesday, and fell again on thursday. the markets rebounded big on friday. even though it may not feel lying it. >> america's great recession is officially over. the national bureau of economic research, a group which monitors business cycles says the recession ended in june of 2009. it began in december of '07 and was the longest of any recession since world war ii. >>> the federal reserve ended a one-day meeting and kept interest rates at near zero. in its statement, the feds said that the pace of economic recovery is likely to be modest in the near term, and did not take any additional steps to stimulate the economy. but the fed said it was prepared to do so if conditions weakened further. >>> well, the great news is the g

peter orszag, christina romer, now summers have all gone. white house officials tell me somers' position will not be filled until after the election. but this is not the only change in the white house. very possible maybe even likely that ram emanuel will run for mayor of chicago. there is likely to be changes in the communications and political team as the re-election approaches so, i would expect a significant reorganization, after the election. now, that is not all that uncommon. >> but not easy to do. >> reporter: not easy to do at all, absolutely. >> let's talk about former president clinton's advice to president obama, is he going to take it? >> reporter: i think he may. white house aides say the president has already taken a piece of that advice. to go out on the trail and really talk about the choice between republican and democratic politics. it is true that president clinton and the first lady are more popular than the president, but what white house aides say president obama is more popular than republicans. i have to say, they we

this follows the departure of budget director peter orszag and christina romer, head of the council of economic advisors. still ahead on the "cbs evening news"... do you think situation in this country would be different if your wife had been elected instead? but up next, giving teachers report cards and posting them online. they don't like it one bit. seventh leading cause of death and affects more than 5 million americans. the alzheimer's association is taking action, and has been a part of every major advancement. but we won't rest until we have a cure. you have dreams... help the alzheimer's association protect them. act now, go to alz.org. >> couric: states allow student test scores to be used to judge how well their teachers are doing. in los angeles, evaluations of teachers are posted online and they're not happy about it. as ben tracy reports in our continuing series "reading, writing, and reform." >> reporter: these teachers if los angeles feel picked on, singled out, and accused of not being good enough. >> it is unfair! >> when did we become the bad guys? when did we become