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obama white house is making its political comeback", richard wolffe, and columnist for the "wall street journal," kim strassel. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning. new developments this weekend concerning congressman anthony weiner after new online communications were revealed between him and a 17-year-old girl in delaware. his staff claiming, however, the contents were not explicit or indecent, but that news appeared to accelerate pressure from top democrats for him to resign. ignoring that pressure this weekend, the congressman issued a statement yesterday afternoon via his congressional office saying in part the following -- "congressman weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person. in light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the house of representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well. congressman weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy an

now, let's have a conversation about that joining me now is richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst and former bush adviser, mark mckinnon who is founder of the no labels group. mark, i will start with you, i just don't get it. i mean, just tell me, what is it? how can this last ten years of tax cuts be such a disaster economically and republicans with a straight face can tell us the anticipate is more tax cut? >> let me say a few things. first from the no labels point of view and current budget debate, i support our view, which is that everything should be on the table and everybody should be at the table. but on the issue of the bush tax cuts, you know, there is a conventional notion that the fiscal melt down that we experienced was a result of tax policy when that wasn't the case at all. it was a result of house regulation which president bush tried to strengthen and democrats opposed. and i support the democratic position at the time. i thought that was -- i agreed we should make housing easy but we made it too easy. let me just -- >> no, no, no, no. i'm sorry, but that is just not

richard wolffe we appreciate it. thanks so much. >> you bet. >> maybe one more golf outing. >> i was going to say. >> just one more swing at it. 18 more holes. let's head over to thomas roberts at the news desk now. he's got more of today's headlines. good morning. >> lester, good morning. amy good morning. hi, everyone. we begin in afghanistan where at least 60 people were killed today, after a car bombing outside a hospital in kabul. the attack comes just days after president obama outlined a plan to withdraw 30,000 troops from the country by september of 2012. we turn now to syria where activists say anti-government protests friday left 20 demonstrators dead. this, as syrians continue fleeing the country. a lebanese official says 1,000 syrians crossed the border overnight. >>> and now to the first lady. michelle obama, who is winding down her week-long trip in africa, but not before taking in a private family safari this weekend. nbc's kristen walker is live in botswana with more for us. good morning. >> good morn

here's a piece -- is what richard wolff writes in today's "usa today." host: the sun is 32 in alabama. what do you think about this latest proposal to cut medicare spending? caller: i don't think they ought to cut medicare or medicaid or social security. social security. moving in the aged to 67, we need to take care of our older generation. we will need those programs when we get older. i have been a taxpayer all my life spans and i'm pretty sure all americans agree with me that there are other things we can cut besides these programs. i am one of the workers that will need the programs as we get older. host: john, you are 32. there was an analysis that shows 25-year-olds will get less than $1 in benefits for every $1 they put in. by the time you get to receive medicare, and you will be getting less than what you have put in over time. caller: i understand that. the government needs to figure a way to cut some other things instead of cutting those programs. i know i will need those programs when i get older. that is a simple fact. we need to realize tha