could you read brooke obama? >> i think so. >> ok, she thinks she can beat barack obama. does anybody agree with that? >> i used to think it was a joke. >> i wonder. i think it will take a smarter it demigod to beat barack obama. i think we are getting to a point where the inconceivable is now possible. >> sarah palin is going to be on the cover of new york times magazine and has another book coming out. >> i think it is mostly a celebrity nonsense. >> we live in an era where you can say almost anything. she has been very successful at that. she is a very gifted and attractive candidate. i still think she polarizes people so much she cannot win. this is a woman who has exactly two years of governance in a small state. that is her only experience it. >> can she win the nomination? if she wins it, can she wind? >> can she win the nomination? i am not sure. she is certainly a possible nominee. i do not rule out anybody winning becau anying can happen. she does not have an ally in li- sao rakowski who was just reelected to the senate on every count. >> this is the mandatory s

could you read brooke obama? >> i think so. >> ok, she thinks she can beat barack obama. does anybody agree with that? >> i used to think it was a joke. >> i wonder. i think it will take a smarter it demigod to beat barack obama. i think we are getting to a point where the inconceivable is now possible. >> sarah palin is going to be on the cover of new york times magazine and has another book coming out. >> i think it is mostly a celebrity nonsense. >> we live in an era where you can say almost anything. she has been very successful at that. she is a very gifted and attractive candidate. i still think she polarizes people so much she cannot win. this is a woman who has exactly two years of governance in a small state. that is her only experience it. >> can she win the nomination? if she wins it, can she wind? >> can she win the nomination? i am not sure. she is certainly a possible nominee. i do not rule out anybody winning because anything can happen. she does not have an ally in li- sao rakowski who was just reelected to the senate on every count. >> this is the mandato

. >> brooke said obama's appeasement is counter productive. greg, you said it is counterproductive and it is not working. i don't think you know what counterproductive means. >> well, counterproductive means it is not productive. >> you are being productive on a counter rather than a floor. >> all those vois -- vows you were offended by, shakespeare. >> oh yeah, whatever. i know you, andy. >> those are from shakespeare. >> bill, you were impressed obama took the time to learn the language. he did live there as a child after he moved from his birthplace of kenya. >> wait a second. andrew. >> you said good . -- you said good . -- good point. >>> saudi arabia gets a seat on the women's rights panel. ryan, you were amazed iran got 19 vote, but i agree. the reason saudi arabia is on the panel is because six seats were set aside for major donors and saudi arabia got one. what do you think about that? >> what do you think about that? >> i showed you, interest did i? >> i think it is great. you can donate more money. >> brooke, you said the u.n is los

she's alice rivlin, senior fellow at brookings and former vice chair of the federal reserve. she also sits on president obama's deficit commission. >> the soaring federal debt was featured in the election, but solutions were scarce. any serious plan to cut the massive debt build-up requires reining in future federal spending and raising revenues. both can be done in ways that will give us a more productive economy and keep the recovery going. but any balanced proposal for spending cuts and revenue increases runs into a buzz saw of exaggeration. witness the reception of the ideas that erskine bowles and alan simpson floated last week. the left screams that reducing federal spending growth will hurt the poor, the elderly, and working families. the right shrieks that tax increases will kill investment and enterprise. but if we go on borrowing, the difference between the spending the liberals say we can't cut and the taxes the conservatives say we can't raise, we will run out of creditors willing to finance our profligacy. a debt crisis could cause economic devastation for worker

>> the big news today, brooke, is that the deficit commission that president obama convened has come out with its recommendations and they are leaping on to the third rail of politics suggesting the usually unthinkable, which is helping to reduce the deficit by reducing the growth of social security. it is one of those things politicians rarely like to take on. one of the proposals is to bring down the growth of social security by reducing the increase in the cost of living adjustment every year. that's when they adjust it for inflation. and also gradually increasing the retirement age to 69. they also suggest about $200 billion in cut to defense and domestic spending and changes to the tax code. as you might guess this is all being received with praise and criticism and it is a long way from this proposal to any kind of reality. so we'll see where that one goes. one of the big new changes, brooke, when the republicans take over control of the house next year, speaker boehner says he'll do one big thing differently, he says he will fly home to his district commercial. why does this m

well the obama ad. the fact is that corning plant shut down because it made old fashioned cathode ray tube t.v. two that are being replaced by flat screen technology not john mccain's for. this mccain a it is part of a pattern. obama is actually proposing is a tax cut for most of us eighty percent probably and a tax increase only for families making over two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. we call this a pattern of misrepresentation a pattern of deceit which is something we don't often say jackson says fact checking by news organizations in two thousand and eight has been better than in previous years still t.v. stations are making a lot of money from these t.v. ads we're seeing just unprecedented amounts of cash thrown at political advertising in this election it's always seemed to me that a television station that's making so much money off of these things owes the audience the viewers a responsibility to channel a little bit of that money back into check and whether or not what's been said in

barack obama. throughout 22 years of our history and 111 congresses, only six black americans have been able to serve. this is troubling in its own way, madam president. but when the 112th congress is sworn in this coming january, there will not be a single black american take the oath of office in this chamber. this is simply unacceptable. we can and we will and we must do better. in this regard and in any other, our political progress has proven less accessible and less representative than it ought to be. and although i've never allowed my race to define me in a sense, it has meant that my constituencies as a united states senator has stretched far beyond the boundaries of illinois. letters, emails, telephone calls have poured into my office from black americans from all across the country and at times as i've tried to bring their voice to this chamber, i have accurately felt the influence of any black person to represent them. our government hardly resembles a diverse country it is -- it was ele

well the obama ad. the fact is that corning plant shut down because it made old fashioned cathode ray tube t.v. two that are being replaced by flat screen technology now john mccain's phone. this mccain aide as part of a pattern. obama is actually proposing is a tax cut for most of us eighty percent probably and a tax increase only for families making over two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. actually we call this a pattern a misrepresentation a pattern of deceit which is something we don't often say jackson says fact checking by news organizations in two thousand and eight has been better than in previous years still t.v. stations are making a lot of money from these t.v. ads we're seeing just unprecedented amounts of cash thrown at political advertising in this election it's always seemed to me that a television station that's making so much money off of these things owes the audience the viewers a responsibility to channel a little bit of that money back into check and whether or not what's bei

well the obama ad. the fact is that corning plant shut down because it made old fashioned cathode ray tube t.v. two that are being replaced by flat screen technology not john mccain's phone. this mccain aide as part of a pattern. obama is actually proposing is a tax cut for most of us eighty percent probably and a tax increase only for families making over two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. actually we call this a pattern of misrepresentation a pattern of deceit which is something we don't often say jackson says that checking by news organizations in two thousand and eight has been better than in previous years still t.v. stations are making a lot of money from these t.v. ads we're seeing just unprecedented amounts of cash thrown at political advertising in this election it's always seemed to me that a television station that's making so much money off of these things owes the audience the viewers a responsibility to channel a little bit of that money back into check and whether or not what's be

well the obama ad. the fact is that corning plant shut down because it made old fashioned cathode ray tube t.v. tunes that are being replaced by flat screen technology not john mccain's for. this mccain a it is part of a pattern. obama is actually proposing is a tax cut for most of us eighty percent probably and a tax increase only for families making over two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. actually we call this a pattern a misrepresentation a pattern of deceit which is something we don't often say jackson says that checking by news organizations in two thousand and eight has been better than in previous years you know still t.v. stations are making a lot of money from these t.v. ads we're seeing just unprecedented amounts of cash thrown at political advertising in this election it's always seemed to me that a television station that's making so much money off of these things owes the audience the viewers a responsibility to channel a little bit of that money back into check and whether or not w

well the obama ad. the fact is that corning plant shut down because it made old fashioned cathode ray tube t.v. two that are being replaced by flat screen technology not john mccain's for. this mccain a it is part of a pattern. obama is actually proposing is a tax cut for most of us eighty percent probably and a tax increase only for families making over two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. actually we call this a pattern of misrepresentation a pattern of deceit which is something we don't often say jackson says that checking by news organizations in two thousand and eight has been better than in previous years still t.v. stations are making a lot of money from these t.v. ads we're seeing just unprecedented amounts of cash thrown at political advertising in this election it's always seemed to me that a television station that's making so much money off of these things owes the audience the viewers a responsibility to channel a little bit of that money back into check and whether or not what's been

well the obama ad. the fact is that corning plant shut down because it made old fashioned cathode ray tube t.v. two that are being replaced by flat screen technology not john mccain's for. this mccain a it is part of a pattern. obama is actually proposing is a tax cut for most of us eighty percent probably and a tax increase only for families making over two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. actually we call this a pattern of misrepresentation a pattern of deceit which is something we don't often say jackson says that checking by news organizations in two thousand and eight has been better than in previous years you know still t.v. stations are making a lot of money from these t.v. ads we're seeing just unprecedented amounts of cash thrown at political advertising in this election it's always seemed to me that a television station that's making so much money off of these things owes the audience the viewers a responsibility to channel a little bit of that money back into check and whether or not wh

this panel includes thomas mann of the brookings institution. it is a little more than an hour. >> good morning. welcome to the second session. let me briefly introduce myself. i am the newly minted managing editor of cq weekly magazine having moved from political and the washington post. there are different kinds of publications. when the things the editor has to do is go back and previous how the news media coverage of their elections once the results were in. i went back into the 1980 posted to do that. it was a humbling experience to do what we said each election. if you is humiliating. almost without fail, we were in not only wrong, we were dead wrong. we have a tendency to declare things did that where a life and a life that where dead. realignments never done this. we are in the business a short- term observation. that is why we call our panelists. these are people that know what it is like and have the old- fashioned quality that used to be known as prospective. they had seen it before. they understand where it may lead. they understand

face brook streamed the entire conversation on the web site. former president says he is happy and content in private life. he would not publicly criticize his successor barack obama and said he likes the current afghanistan policy an when asked about his favorite january it bush said that he has switched from the black berry to the i pad. bush book decision point was released earlier this month. i like his answer. selling backs. >> weather let's talk about that. sandy is here and it is chilly outside tonight again. >> absolutely dan. much like last night. the only difference is temperatures are a few degrees milder. >> really. if you can believe it. >> compared to last night. thanks to the higher clouds moving in. let's get you outside. bundle up tonight. turn up the heat. it is going to be a cold night. by morning you are looking at frost in some of our inland locations. much like this morning. here's live picture from our high definition mountain tam pis camera. lovely view no fog to speak of. few high cloud passing through the neighborhood.

and one final thing, brooke, and i think you're going to like this. i think a lot of our viewers will like this. >> yes. >> are you listening? >> i'm with you, wolf blitzer. >> do you know who doug e. fresh is? >> your pal who did the dougie after the soultrain awards. >> guess where he's going to be today? >> in "the situation room." >> that is correct! doug e. fresh will be in "the situation room" with me, the so soul train will come to "the situation room" on this day. i want everyone to start getting excited and to think of the possibilities. >> because when we think "soul train," we think -- >> wolf blitzer, right. >> wolf blitzer. >> obviously, and doug e. fresh. >> and doug e. fresh. we'll all be watching, i can promise you that, wolf. thank you. how do i go on from there? >>> another cnn equals politics update in 30 minutes. you can also get the political news online. go to cnnpolitics.com or go to twitter@politicalticker. >>> final check here of the billboard as it is all closing down for the day. the dow up 24 points, just about, 11,202. not

i'm brook baldwin. thanks so much for watching. wolf blitzer starts now. >> kaler volcano is leave its mark on mr. obama and the visit to the country where he lived as a child and i'll ask not rand paul if he believes the gop party is more than the gop. and i'll ask him whether he actually sold out on an issue that helped get him elected stand by for that. it looks like a missile launch. what is that? something the pentagon can't explain. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> now the volcano erupting in indonesia will likely force him to leave the country earlier than planned. our white house correspondent dan lothian is traveling with the president. he's in the capital of indonesia, jakarta. dan, this was already a pretty brief visit to indonesia, but it's about to get even more brief. >> these right. and as you pointed out the white house has been concerned about this for quite some time. but some rains had moved into the region and cleared the air, so this trip was given green light. well, now, the situation appe

. >> lehrer: we have more on jobs coming up as president obama gives his asia trip an economic focus. plus the tensions in the himalayan land of kashmir; the scan that could cut lung cancer deaths; and shields and brooks. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: outgoing speaker of the house nancy pelosi will try to stay on as democratic minority leader. she'd come under pressure after tuesday's sweeping losses that handed power to republicans. but in a statement today, pelosi wrote: "driven by the urgency of protecting health care reform, wall street reform, and social security and medicare, i have decided to run." in addition, jim clyburn of south carolina said today he wants to remain party whip, which now becomes the number two post. it was unclear if steny hoyer of maryland, the current majority leader, will challenge clyburn. a suicide bomber killed at least 67 people at a mosque near peshawar, pakistan, today. the attack, just after midday prayers, left blood-stained wreckage and sent scores of wounded to local hospitals. tv

. >> lehrer: we have more on jobs coming up as president obama gives his asia trip an economic focus. plus the tensions in the himalayan land of kashmir; the scan that could cut lung cancer deaths; and shields and brooks. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: outgoing speaker of the house nancy pelosi will try to stay on as democratic minority leader. she'd come under pressure after tuesday's sweeping losses that handed power to republicans. but in a statement today, pelosi wrote: "driven by the urgency of protecting health care refm, wall street reform, and social security and medicare, i have decided to run." in addition, jim clyburn of south carolina said today he wants to remain party whip, which now becomes the number two post. it was unclear if steny hoyer of maryland, the current majority leader, will challenge clyburn. a suicide bomber killed at least 67 people at a mosque near peshawar, pakistan, today. the attack, just after midday prayers, left blood-stained wreckage and sent scores of wounded to local hospitals. tv r

if you look at president obama's economist, larry summers and the head of policy for treasury they agree with brook brookings institute that if you keep extending these, you will have an increase of the unemployment rate and you can get it down a point if you kept it at the cap at 26 weeks. we are talking about extending it for two years. congress has to have a plan, just have people on spiral of government dependency or create jobs by repealing obamacare and keeping tax rates where they are? >> and, this could be worse gore the economy, do you buy that, andy? where do you get your numbers? >> well, president reagan didn't cut off jobless benefits until 1984 when the rate was 7.2 percent and we have never cut off the benefits when the economy has been this bad. if you ask someone out there, thousands of people on jobless benefits find jobs each week but for five jobless workers for each opening it takes a while. they need money to put in the car and to get to an interview and going back to 26 weeks is unprecedented and cruel especially during the holiday season. we know we are our brothe

that's a form that refute the 2010 midterm election results and what that means for congress and the obama administration. we expect to hear today from the roll call newspaper executive editor. also the brookings institution congressional scholar thomas mann, and the chief congressional correspondent for the "new york times." as we can see people are starting to file in. let's listen to an interview yesterday speaker nancy pelosi interviewed by diane sawyer talking about the midterm election results. >> [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] we are having a technical problem with that nancy pelosi entity. his what "the associated press" is reporting in colorado. michael bennet has declared victory, was declared the winner in u.s. senate race over tea party republican candidate ken buck. washington state and alaska needs more time of according to the ap counting all the write-in ballots that could give alaska senator lisa murkowski another term. that count will begin until november 10. in washington state, two-thirds of the vote have been counted. the

sort of like a david brooks, republican, that doesn't lob a lot of spitballs to the opposition. but in this book, "leadership in crisis" which is coming out, he actually has some tough things to say about the obama sfraigs administration when it comes to his response about the gulf oil spill. saying that barack obama and the white house was almost solely or way too focused on the political ramifications of this, about image, even at one point suggesting that perhaps the white house had helped stage this moment where obama was sort of tough talking to bobby jindal. so he had some really harsh things to say about the administration, saying that all they really cared about was the political fallout and didn't care about the human element. >> it's interesting he says that, patrick, because he talked to valerie jarrett every day. i mean, they talked on the phone every day for the most part. and they would have good conversations and then he would go out and trash the obama administration in the afternoon and then talk the next day and not bring up any complaints. >> what's he doing h

obama's five challenges at lisbon. ian writes this. president obama must demonstrate unambiguous determination to prevail in afghanistan. what has been a year of increasing western forces is instead regarded as a year of european withdrawals and media counts of a u.s. president focused solely on bringing american troops home. without a clear u.s. commitment to win, one cannot expect europe to sustain or increase its contributions to this important mission. he goes on to say, i'll read one more line lower down. a forcefully articulated resolve to defeat the taliban is needed to complement to the west's long term commitment to afghan political and economic -- >> i would not want to be at that dinner table at thanksgiving. your father versus ian. >> i just invited everybody over. >> is there anybody in your family not brilliant, mika? >> my brother's -- >> we need to get him here to debate this issue. >> ian and mark do that. it ends up outside. >> when your father asks him, define "win," what do you figure he will say? >> you will make h