so, what is obama stream? what motivates obama? one-way device that is obama's during the american dream? is that martin luther's dream or is it something else? is it the american dream? no. that seems odd to say because obama is an embodiment of the american dream. during the presidential campaign he said my story is only possible in america. and that since you think america is unique. and yet in a press conference when obama was in europe, he was asked, do you believe america is unique? actually he was asked, do you believe in american exceptionalism? american exceptionalism is the academic word for american uniqueness. america is exceptional. it's not like any other place. the founders certainly believed america was unique. they called america a new order for the ages. so obama was asked, do you believe in american exceptionalism? and obama said, no, i don't believe america is in a more exceptional than greece or britain or anyplace else. so in a sense, obama was rejecting at least this idea of american uniqueness that the found

and obama may need them. now, the white house is right, they're not talking about it now because they are worried about the november elections coming up. but after that when they get into presidential election mode, is, we know in politics people will do anything that is legitimate to win. and sometimes things that are illegitimate. >> host: one of the things we will do during this program is show some clips if we can from prior books. but before we get to that and to our calls this is the list in front of the current book, "obama's wars." you seem fascinated, using regulate to go back to the concept of presidents and pentagon as the leadership around the war position. why does that aspect interest you? gets back because it's so important to give you travel abroad you discover we're defined by our wars in many ways. i think the country is defined to itself by its wars. it is a serious moral choice always. people lose their lives. people are named. is the defining undertaking for a nationstate, and if you can

> i don't want to see obama cry either. i want to come back to monica's point. boehner is going to discover the same thing nancy pelosi did. they are going to get things done and they will be dead on arrival in the u.s. senate. two years from now, the american people are going to hit the clicker and say where are the jobs? where is the progress on this? where's the progress on that? he didn't get anything done. >> john -- >> change the language talking about cutting spending. i didn't hear anything about cutting the deficit. he is going to adjust to reality because he's going to have a hard time fulfilling the pledges. >> he'll have a bigger problem with the deficit. it is the public debt, which is $13 trillion, is it not? >> bill has a good point. the country -- if they gave obama a mandate, i'm not sure they did in 2008, there's a new mandate. the country said we don't want to go over here, we want to go over there. how do you compromise? >> let's get into that. tuesday's election. >> republicans gained 60 plus seats in t

obama's real religion. his favorite team, the chicago bulls, who just happen to play in the same division as the milwaukee bucks whose arena just happened to be known as the mecca. coincidence? the wall street shuffle. big business's latest fix. avoiding taxes on the big bonuses. my special guest michael moore. including his response to shots taken at him by president bush in his new autobiography. bush versus reality. waterboarding? >> if it's legal, president bush, and if an american is taken into custody in a foreign country, not necessarily in uniform. >> i'm not going to debate the issue, matt. >> the tea party rallies against michelle backman. ron paul endorses her opponent. plus -- >> backman is a loud mouth. >> so how was your weekend? >> msnbc has a hard and fast rule that political donations represent bias in journalism unless you ask first. >> all the news and commentary now on "countdown." >> ready? here we go. >>> good evening from new york. this is tuesday, november 9. 728 days before the 2012

republicans say president obama ambushed them. republicans say obama broke their trust. republicans also say they're fiscally conservative. republicans say they're cracking down on our national debt by cutting earmarks. it is true that republicans have been saying all of these things. that is not the same thing as those things being true. in that spirit i hereby declare that if there is, in fact, a coup in madagascar today, it is to make me queen of madagascar. it is true that those things have all been said, i just said them. you can put them in quotes. it is true that someone has said those things that is not the same thing as those things being true. there is a difference and it is really, really, really important. without taking pills around the clock? try thermacare heatwraps, for all day relief without pills. i was surprised, thermacare worked all day. you feel the heat. and it relaxes and unlocks the muscle. you've got to try it. [ man ] thermacare, more effective for back pain than the maximum dose of acetaminophen, the medicine in tylenol. go to thermacare.com t

prospects looked worse than obama's do now. i think in our hyperventilating commentarriat tend to exaggerate what's happening this week, and as significant as the election was, it was a typical correction that we associate with all bi-elections, and the last three elections have been swing elections. so it may well be that we're going to see this kind of back-and-forth now for some period of time. and i don't see it as necessarily an indication that 2012 is going to deliver either the house or the senate or the white house to the republican party. >> rose: reminds me of mrs. churchill who said to winston churchill after his defeat in 1946, it may be a blessing in disguise. and mr. churchill said it's a hell of a disguise. >> i wouldn't describe it as a pleasing in disguise, but i wouldn't say the presidenciy is dead on arrival at this point. >> rose: so who has influenced barack obama's mind? >> that's a very difficult question to answer in short order. i think he is seriously influenced by social christianity, by the gospels--

now it's the obama bailout. they haven't made a job good making it clear that that policy that hurt him is a policy that has con newity that goes back into the other party and it's the previous administration. >> charlie: he should be wary of changing his policies of changing his direction because truth be known he is essentially a centrist and as john just said it's a question of the public catching up to him. >> he has to be more assertive than he has been. he said at a photo opportunity with his cabinet, he has to be part of what gets down now. he can't be part of it he must lead it. he's identified very well the challenges the country must deal with. deficit reduction, afghanistan, education, jobs first and foremost and immigration. i think he's picked all the right energy. he's picked all the right things. he must, this is a mathematical reality he accepts, he must find ways to cooperate with republicans without abandoning his principles. >> charlie: these republicans and democrats cooperate over the next t

went to obama in 2010. a lot of people at tiewdz are negative about her in those segments'. and are stuck there. >> bill: sarah palin is coming up with sean hannity in a full hour after this program. and she has a new book out. she seems to be able to handle herself well in almost every forum. she hasn't melted down anywhere. i'm not understanding what the big weakness. >> i think there is some baggage from 2008, a lot of the unfair attacks she got. >> bill: you think that the media attacks some people believed them without taking a look. >> i think she has sort of taken the reality show route has maybe people think does she want to be president? >> bill: doesn't have the gravitas for the job? is that how you see it, williams? >> you know, first of all, let me say that i saw sarah palin the other day and she gave me a big hug. it's a very difficult segment for me to do to just be the analyst here. she is very supportive of me. i will say this, that i think that the polls, especially the polls in terms of fa

of the opposite of obama in a lot of ways. it was an immediate indication that this white house was not going to be about "kumbaya" and getting along and trying to do everything they could to win republican votes. they were going to try and win. >> narrator: emanuel told obama to win, he needed to move fast. >> he recognized that the moment obama was going to be at his strongest was the beginning. >> narrator: in the end, the president decided to go for health care right away to make a larger point. >> we were sitting in the oval office, and we were sort of having a debate around health care at one point, and the president said, "it's about health care, but it's not really about health care. it's also about proving whether we can still solve big problems in this country." and this was going to be the test case for that. ( sirens ) >> narrator: in his first address to congress, the president wasted no time putting health care on the nation's agenda. >> let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and

i think the anti-obama is mitch daniels, governor of indiana. i mean, you don't get drier than the former omb director under bush. he's a number cruncher. what he's done in indiana, bret, he privatized the interstate, and everybody held after he did it, but turns out to be a genius move. he's taken budget deficits and turned them into budget surpluses. created thousands of jobs. the guy is dry, but very, very likely. i think he has a very good chance of challenging barack obama from a very crucial state. >> kirsten? >> i think that's sort of the johnson and mitch daniels fit into what charles is talking about if it turns out into the year of the dull as he said it would be, those are the type of people, but when you go through the list it always leads you back to sarah palin. the reason is because most of these people are kind of -- yes, they're great on paper, they're kind of like the bill frist. remember bill frist? great on paper, but when it comes to connecting with voters doesn't really work. the only one that really jumps out me as a great

obama really wasn't. every once in a while he'd appear in a factory or workplace or talk about green jobs. >> rose: and that was later rather than earlier. >> yes. he didn't really talk about it. joe biden was given that role, didn't really do it much. and then he'd have to send out people like summers and geithner who would appear on shows like this on sunday and say, you know, joblessness is a lagging indicator and we're seeing some green shoots. it's ridiculous. i mean, it wasn't even... >> he didn't have anybody speaking to the workers. he didn't have anybody speaking to business. i mean, you don't have a central person in the administration who talks a language of business so you get a jack welch as you did earlier in the show feeling like they don't talk my language and you didn't have peel who really felt like they were talking to the average guy losing a job. >> i would argue he accelerated the narrative. the president was brought in because people wanted change. in many ways the change they wante

so we're just like the obamas, but we're not." so there's this way that as wonderful as it is-- this acceptance of the obama girls, this acceptance of michelle-- it still has the impact of marginalizing, for example, the fact that a majority of african-american children are being raised by... in households like mine, where you may have intergenerational women, but where you don't have a present father. it is still true that, for example, gay and lesbian families don't have the same kind of social recognition. so if you're a michelle obama but you're in a lesbian household, does the acceptance of the kind of heteronormative, you know, traditional picture of the obamas, does that, you know, kind of continue on and lead to a broader acceptance? i don't know. and i'm certainly, you know, a little distressed that at the same time that we have michelle obama, we have precious. >> hinojosa: and you're concerned about it because... i mean, that movie-- i haven't seen the movie, i read the book when it came out a long time ago-- is so incr

and obama policies. do all of your reporting and the polls reflect that to be the case. >> when you look at house races that's definitely the case. we've seen a nationalized election when it comes to house races. despite the attempts of democrats and a lot of democratic candidates to make it a choice between me and the other person, i think that's... republicans have succeeded in large part this year by having a very consistent narrative against the obama administration, against nancy pelosi, against the actions of the democratic congress, and have made it a referendum on what they've done. voters are speaking in a big way that they're not happy with those steps that they've taken. >> lehrer: barbour and kaine seem to be agreeing on the reverse of this, that if there is a big response to the republicans tomorrow night that that shouldn't be read as a mandate necessarily, a positive mandate for republicans per se. >> i really do think this is one of the most unique things in this election cycle. this noti

>> i think president obama really well. there are a few free trade pacts that the republicans really want. something on education. definitely e -- and on foreign policy he can work with the republicans. but on the big issues like social security, once the debt commission reported comes out is a huge issue. is betting that the republicans are on the wrong side of that. that's where you can see some ugly fighting. how can they have some kind of deal on debt reduction? >> the liberals who will be left are planning to -- to sew as much -- as many republicans for them as much as they can. the democrats are going to push deficit in the beginning of the new congress. chris: you have made a good point of studying his thinking. going to be like bill clinton? >> no. it's funny because two of the biggest things that you see in the book, he is a stay the course guy. he's careful about putting together a plan and sticks to it even though there are people that want him to change course. can baner bring in the republican party together? w

president obama said yesterday in the news conference that i had the privilege of attending that we had to act fast and furious to get out of the ditch ok for you aren't you in your folks the republicans certainly weren't satisfied and you probably very quickly fell with your victory what's going to be different this time what's the difference you know a lot of what a little a little says let me finish my question a little supercharged tea party stuff and who knows where that's going to lead to i mean if we just heard here bob just said that the president was punished for doing too much what he thinks. well i would say that the president's agenda was part of it but i'm not exactly sure this was a vote of confidence for republicans either the bottom line is we were not the victors yesterday we were the beneficiaries of voter anger a lot of people are going to put this on the tea party and say particularly the us media these are a bunch of crazies they're not really crazies or average americans are concerned about the fiscal plight of this country yes we are going to have gridlock but

what that mean asks a bunch of people who voted for obama didn't turn out. the droppers or the dropouts or what have you. but if you look at place where is actually there was high obama turnout, which i would argue is much more important than the hypotheticals you're playing with, in colorado, senator michael bennett, who was an advocate for the public option, a new strong democrat. i don't know if he's super liberal. i was just say he's strong and bold and he won. and he won with 89% of the obama voters, three points higher than his opponent because he consolidated his base. he won. in washington state, senator murray who opposed the iraq war has been a strong, progressive advocate. i wouldn't say she's super liberal. i don't even know why you're so hung up on the terminology. i would say she turned out voters, 13-point obama edge. she won a tight race. we could look at a couple who won or we could play word games. >> a couple of points for you, ari. first of all, the ten states were the ten battleground state where is the next election will be decided. the

i wish all of these through you know obama obama excuse me has been saying all along that he wants lunch on a motive closed down and i don't know if that's going to happen especially after this so while it was a victory victory because the idea was to get everyone out of there bring him over here and have these civilian trials and now there's still many people are dissatisfied with the result is that going to take place probably not why i think that people need a serious reality check which is something that you know this case this verdict offered them because this is what happens when you break the rules when you torture people when you do things that are illegal then you can no longer take them to the justice system and you know expected to always go your way and have a guilty verdict kelli thank you so much for joining us. all right so to come on tonight's show the hypocrites on the right who ran against repealing health care reform are now being challenged to give up their government run health care outside time award and then has obama given up he seems unwilling to fight anyone the

>> obama: i do get discouraged. i mean, there are times where i thought the economy would've gotten better by now. one of the things i think you understand as president is, you're held responsible for everything. but you don't always have control of everything, especially an economy this big. there are limited tools to encourage the kind of job growth that we need. i am constantly reminded that we have been through worse times than these, and we've always come out on top. and i'm positive that the same thing is going to happen this time. >> kroft: you spent nearly a trillion dollars on the stimulus package. you've got short... short-term interest rates are zero, practically zero, and still the unemployment rate is 9.6%. what can you do to create jobs that hasn't already been done? >> obama: some of this is going to be just a matter of the economy healing. there are some things we can do to accelerate growth. we still... we've got a couple of trillion dollars' worth of infrastructure improvements that need to be made

there's the political obama, a process for obama, and a philosophical obama. and the white house within the philosophical and the professorial and not enough of the clinical. i want to see similar political. good to have a fellow socialist call here. dan from chantilly, virginia. you are on c-span. >> caller: good morning, bill. i'm on my way to work. here's the thing. i don't know if it people don't get it, bill. i disagree with it. they understand the corporate democrats, so they had control. and into the corporations one. they want on drugs, importing drugs from canada. they just want on to the rules, not pushing through when they had a chance to get a better bill. >> host: the question, dan is should the president try to compromise with boehner and mcconnell? >> caller: know, because get this. this is what politicians don't understand, because if you do anything towards keeping taxes, if you do anything with them affirmatively, they will take credit for this economy recovering. it's like they did in 1996 with the tax hike, created the jobs. that's why they

obama? richard call-in a columnist for the "washington post" and supporter had a column a few weeks ago titled who is barack obama? it is very clear he has a set of policies. we know about those. but what is missing is a description of what is underneath that were behind that were the ideology that is driving those policies and what motivates obama's? and interestingly the last couple years we had a bunch of series about what motivates her obama in response to the fact that obama does things people don't know why so people think he must be this or that but did my view they don't hold up or make that much, sen spreads on the left and the right you have these explanations it on the right it is commonly said the obama is not the american citizen or board in this country over obama is a muslim a closet follower of islam that explains why he came out in favor of the ground zero mosque or obama is a progressive. a left liberal picking up ideologies o or obama is a socialist european-style that is

no matter who gets the top ticket. >> let's talk about obama's problems. >> bill: obama's problems, you say, are that he is going to have a primary challenge. i said hillary clinton is going to be the challenginger because she would be the only one to have the money to do it. >> yeah, but not yet. maybe but not yet. i have a column on dick morris.com that explores this. hillary can't just run. because there has to be a groundswell of dissatisfaction with obama. >> bill: you haven't seen that yet? >> well, not in the democratic party yet. his approval fell from 7 to 81. but it's still at 81. >> bill: within the democratic party 81% of the voters or likely voters think he is doing okay? >> down from 87 a week ago but still 81. >> bill: all right. >> i think what's going to happen is that a real radical like russ feingold or dennis kucinich and outside chance of jerry brown. >> bill: he won't do it? >> get into the race and stakeout the left alternative. >> bill: why bother. >> as those guys move up in the polls and maybe do well in some of the early primaries like mccarthy did in '68. jus

obama visited indonesia. margaret warner chronicles the president's stop in the world's most populous muslim nation. >> lehrer: then, some perspective on george w. bush's and other presidential memoirs from historians julian zelizer and michael beschloss. >> ifill: from flood-ravaged pakistan, special correspondent saima mohsin follows a team from doctors without borders still working to save lives. >> we have mostly skin diseases. we have upper respiratory tract infek shuns and we have about 6 to 8 malaria cases. >> lehrer: we look at the power shift in state capitals after the midterm elections with reporters from minnesota, ohio, wisconsin and maine. >> ifill: plus, ray suarez has the story of neighbors and classmates who remember barack obama's childhood days in indonesia. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for

if the obama administration opts for a definite detention, it means president obama's team has adopted one of the fundamental tenets of the bush administration. in washington, catherine herridge, fox news. >> bret: still ahead, a third war for u.s. troops? we'll explore the possibility. and he's been in the political wars before. is mike huckabee ready for another fiñ÷ >> bret: and now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. high profile democrats are not being shy about criticizing president obama. the huffington post reports billionaire george soros said during a private meeting with democratic donors, "we've just lost this election. we need to draw a line and if this president can't do what we need, it is time to start looking somewhere else." soros advisor insists his boss was not talking about a primary challenger in 2012 but was instead "stressing the importance of being heard by elected officials." on the hill reports, democratic pollster stan greenberg told reporters "a metaphor about a car in the ditch when people are in trouble and angry about the abuse of wall st

i think he'll give obama a tough run but obama will ultimately win. >> larry: who do you think? >> if it were not for mass obama care i would like mitt romney. i think michelle bachman would be a great jolt of energy to conservatives, to women, to the party. i think she's a really smart lady. >> sarah palin -- >> larry: are you kidding or do you mean that? >> what kind of question is that, larry? of course, i mean it. >> if she's the nominee obama needs to start -- >> michelle bachman is a pale comparison. >> she's a woman to admire. she's very smart and she's done great things for her state and conservatives love her. >> okay. i'm all for it. michelle bachman. i was going to say go, sarah, go but now i'm all for backman. >> so am i. >> you guys are terrible. >> please, please! >> listen, i think. >> larry: i think ari would complain, too. >> larry, barack obama is the most popular democrat in the country. -- the most popular politician in the country, still, in every poll. sarah palin is actually the most popular republican politician in the country. so, you know, there it goes

so, the bell were in hiroshima and obama was in yokahama at the same time. >> did president obama owe hiroshima a visit? >> i think it would have been nice but frankly if the president would have done this, we wouldn't be sitting here talking about what a great trip he had to india. monica and pat would be saying enough with the apology tour. so, i think this is not an invitation that has been head lined and i don't think there were any expectations of this president. he has been gone for ten days. it's time for him to come home. >> this is a historical wasps nest he didn't want to polk. he sent the u.s. ambassador to japan to the memorial in august on the actual anniversary of the dropping of the bomb. so, there was no need for him to go. you don't want to suggest moral he quiff vow lens in the role of the united states in world war ii and imperial japan in world war ii. the dropping of those weapons brought an end to the war. it was a last resort. truman didn't want to do it. but at the risk of having a full ground invasion of japan to end the war, it was the right moral decision. >

obama that he had a. clinton not that the interesting thing is you look at the team that obama surrounded himself with, and i hate to say this, but i think it starts with his ex-chief of staff rahm emanuel which is if you only surround yourself with the insiders, it starts to take a toll. which is bad to say that he didn't need some people like rahm in his white house, and i think in some ways they can start taking it over. it didn't make a similar space for the grassroots part of it. you need to mix and i think obama in some over learn the lessons of the clinton years, which is the clinton people came in and they told congress this is the what is going to be done and they came in with a lot of smart, brash, kind of insurgent types, and other people from arkansas that weren't that well regarded by the traditional washington players in the capital. and it backfired on clinton. so i think they said okay we need to pitch on a washington capital insiders. we need to put it in our administration and we will ma

that's the obama warning. >> greta: president obama says the tsa has told him the new procedures are necessary to fight terrorism. the president and his team will continue to evaluate whether the new measures are necessary. >> did the new tsa techniques have you blushing? a man has a new invention. introducing scanner-proof underwear. yes the underwear uses a special metal to block sensitive areas from view while not setting off detectors. strategicly placed fig leaf on the male while the female uses clasped hands. >> not everybody is excited about the upcoming royal wedding. a bishop in london is not optimistic about the couple. the ladies at the view are not happy. >> it has been a week since prince william has announced his engagement. the backlash has already begun. a london bishop fired off a facebook rant saying i give the marriage seven here's. he's a bone head. >> he is william just rescued a guy on a mountain somewhere. to go off on him personally, this guy is a bishop. funny, national flim-flam. >> leave them alone. >> greta: the bishop has apologized for his comments. >> g

it is an anti-obama movement. when the tea party started, it started when he came in. do you remember, they were out saying outrageous things about obama. they were saying kill him. they were saying kill people who just transformed the tea party movement. it is an anti-obama movement. a lot of people know these republicans, they are not out to help the small guy. their main objective is to gain power. host: to kevin's point and emma who sent this twitter saying could we have a third party called a free market party for all the conservative rums, democrats -- republicans, democrats and libertarians who wo worship markets and privatize government. guest: if you are looking for folks the tea party supported it is hard to find where you have some sort of identifiable or measured support for the tea party because it is not a honor lift thick group -- not monday lift thick group that hands out endorsements. it is like mike said before a very grassroots up from the ground movement. it is important to remember that a lot

yeah, obama got attacked for it. hi. i just wanted to let you know that military personnel can preboard at the gate. we are ready to invite our first class passengers and uniformed military personnel to board at this time. to those who put our country first, we're honored to do the same for you. it's like hardwiring the market right into my desktop. launch my watchlist -- a popping stock catches my eye. pull up the price chart. see what the analysts say. as i jump back, cnbc confirms what i thought. pull the trigger -- done. i can even do most of this on my smartphone. really, it's incredible. like nothing i've ever experienced. unleash your investing and trade free for 60 days with e-trade. why go there when there's olay regenerist? [ male announcer ] microsculpting cream hydrates better than some creams costing $500. [ female announcer ] and not only that, [ male announcer ] 80% of women find olay to be a luxurious experience. [ female announcer ] olay. challenge what's possible. >> last month, john stewart's rally to

it was a theme president obama touched on. interacting should be more than just security, he said. >> indonesia has the largest moslem population in the world. -- security is important, but i want to make sure that we are interacting with a wide range of people on a wide range of issues. >> so the key speech, while he is here, is expected to use the backdrop of indonesias moderate islam to reach out beyond asia and to the muslim world. >> there was apiculture of complacency rather than one of safety. that is the central accusation today. the causesking into of april's huge oil spill. the panel has heard the the three main committees involved all made serious mistakes. >> this is the president's panel. what happened yesterday is that some of the panel actually exaggerated bp on the worst counts of great negligence, effectively putting profits the case at bp. but, today, we have had more revelations from the panel. they have included the fact that there was a rush, a perceived rush to get this oil rig up and running and finished

obama the they adore mrs. obama. i haven't heard a lot of adoration when it comes to the man on the mountain, the anointed one as sean hannity calls him. i haven't heard that, jim. >> having a little bit of a down beat, but-- (laughter) >> first time he calls the name, he'll come back up j talk about for a minute, nancy pelosi. some people say that she essentially was doing what the president wanted in the 111th congress and her party, her membership took a shellacking because of it. and now, a lot of people, even in her own party are urging her to step aside. are the media giving that the right amount of coverage, do you think? >> i think this is a major fight in terms of the direction of the democratic party and the media are responding as one would expect them to. i mean, what standards are we holding her to other than her ability to continue to raise money for a lot of people? look, she is the emblem of the left wing democrat, if she maintains that seat, i think it says something about where the party is going. >

does president obama -- the point i'm trying to get to, would president obama benefit from doing some of that. >> yes. megyn: or is it different when you're the current president? megyn: you have to communicate that you're confident in the decisions you're making. you can't very well sit there and i wouldn't expect the president to say i don't know what i'm doing, i'm a deer caught in the headlights. when the president passes a healthcare plan and realizes over half of the country hates it, wants it repealed and changed an entire election because of it it's too much to say i can't explained it enough or the people don't understand what i'm doing. that doesn't wash. megyn: i wonder how it would work if president obama came out and said, yeah they hate it. this is why we had to do it and this is why. all right, panel thanks so much. folks we promised to get you to more information on this mystery missile launch. a live report now from the pentagon in about 15 minutes. former navy commander chuck nash has some thoughts on exactly what this may have been. he joins us from washington. plus

the problem obama -- the obama administration has is i think it's the law of the land. and whether it's repealed or substantially reformed is a big issue. and if you want to repeal obamacare obvious -- or substantially change it, you need to defeat. you need to set up the situation. we've been talking about that. that's partly a matter of his own choice and his own psychology. but it's also just a matter of a funny way you kept it. because either, you know, he's going to be defending it and republicans are going to be attacking it through 2011, 2012. it's a funny situation. he set up the situation until he can convince the majority americans to be okay, the only way is to get rid of it by defeating the president in 2012. he didn't have that because he failed in the first years where obama succeeded. we have 10 minutes left. we at the "weekly standard" do close on saturday. we should pretend to work on it. let's take a few questions. i think we have a microphone here. someone would raise -- i can't see with the lights. you find someone there. good. >> hi, my name is debr

was obama able to deliver? >> i think, fareed, what president obama was able to do was something we've seen imdo before, actually, was to keep the expectations really low. before he landed in india, he gave an interview to a news agency where he really said everything that he had wanted, whether it was support at the u.n. security council for a permanent seat, whether it was the lifting of curbs on entities for high-tech exports. he said everything was very complicated. those were the words he used. and those were what he delivered on by the end of his visit in new delhi. and as a result, as a result of keeping those expectations low and then delivering high, i think he was able to go away with a very, very strong impact made in those three days, also going away with a real feel-good factor. >> did people react very strongly to obama's decision to publicly for the first time have the united states support india's quest to be a part of the u.n. security council? >> the announcement of support on the u.n. securit

president obama had to campaign in this district. that tells you the democrats are worried about the northeast. massachusetts, ten, a former prosecutor came to congress. democrats are very worried about this seat. can they make a comeback in new england. a couple other things to look at here, you look at congress and see seats in the pennsylvania suburbs, chris carney further up near scranton. and it's a huge and including here a republican charlie bass wanting to get his seat back. and it starts to topple for republicans and you'll see the early bricks in the wave. and when we come back, the low-tech team we'll discuss. can they get the senate? and is it easier? to keep in balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has gingko for memory and concentration plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. >>> so we talked a limb bit about what the gop does. what does president obama do assuming he loses the house

republicans say president obama ambushed them. republicans say obama broke their trust. republicans also say they're fiscally conservative. republicans say they're cracking down on our national debt by cutting earmarks. it is true that republicans have been saying all of these things. that is not the same thing as those things being true. in that spirit i hereby declare that if there is, in fact, a coup in madagascar today, it is to make me queen of madagascar. it is true that those things have all been said, i just said them. you can put them in quotes. it is true that someone has said those things that is not the same thing as those things being true. there is a difference and it is really, really, really important. receiving the bronze star, that was definitely one of my proudest moments. i graduated from west point, then i did a tour of duty in iraq. when i was transitioning from active duty, i went to a military officer hiring conference. it was kind of like speed dating. there were 12 companies that i was pre-matched with, but walmart turned out to be the best for

president obama preparing to name unvetted czar. this time he will be appointed with regulating internet privacy laws. today panel headed by john kerry's brother cameron has been leading white house reform effort. no word if he will be elevated to the new post. but maybe al gore is looking work. [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards. or get a car that does it for you. ♪ fifteen percent orr more on car insurance? does a former drill sergeant make a terrible therapist? patient: and that's why yellow makes me sad. i think. sarge: that's interesting. you know what makes me sad? you do! maybe we should chug on over to mambie pambie land where maybe we can find some self-confidence for you. ya jackwagon! tissue? crybaby. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. >>> speaker nancy pelosi shocked republicans and democrats alike when she announced she would run for minority leader of her party. despite the mid-te

can president obama beat her? you bet you or you can bet he thinks he can. >>> plus, can we cut the cheap shots over those new tsa screenings? okay, you tell me how to keep the killers off of the planes because that is the real question. and it's going to be a huger issue in one of those get by, one of those hijackers get by and blow a plane. we're going to get tougher and tougher and how do you think that there is -- to prevent airline terrorism from them all of those years? >>> also, will president obama really put on the pressure to repeat don't ask, don't tell and trim the tax cuts on the rich? will he? or will he try to get through christmas with a compromise? and who's going to scream if he does? he's seen this quote, caving the republicans. will that cause him troubled with the howard dean, russ feingold folks who may be looking to challenge the president the next time. one of the key issues are the s.t.a.r.t. treat which republican jon kyl is opposing for no other reason than to humiliate the president and

the person that should be weeping in his martini tonight is barack obama. it is not good for the white house to have her over -- you know wielding her power and highlighting the areas where the extreme left is agitated with the white house. i think what the white house really could have done and didn't have the political courage to do, would have been to get behind more centrist democrats. >> sean: there are none left. who? >> wasn't there one that ran against her? >> sean: all right schuler, altmire. four democrats. >> alarming if we would see them take know toys what happened. as a republican it is reassuring. >> sean: 6% of independents support nancy pelosi. she's a rigid ideologue like the president. harry reid not backing off earmarks. mcconnell took a courageous political decision said i support the moratorium on earmarks. >> polls show only 23% of voters approved of the job she did while she was in her position. sean, at the end of the day, what did she do before in vote? what did she do after? before she was talking about, while i'm pinning this on

six thirty am in moscow good to have you with us here on our team these are your headlines president obama facing a tough challenge to ratify the atomic weapons control treaty is a shift of seats in the senate leaves him with a lame duck body the u.s. leader of the sixty seven votes even though the democrats only control fifty nine seats in the upper house lead russia's chief diplomat says the financial sun is rising in the east during trilateral talks with china and india the world's second largest economy china overtaking japan in recent months. also crossing. years investigating an organ trafficking network in the balkans connected with seven people charged in kosovo details of the case due to be made public at the end of the month. you're up to date i'll be back with more in less than half an hour up next artie's spotlight asks if obama fails to push through the start treaty before he's weakened in the senate what will what the impact will be on russia u.s. relations is coming your way next. hello again and welcome to spotlight the interview show on our team i'm algernon's and today my

now, this guy recently called president obama his administration corrupt. but he has absolutely no proof of any of this. congressman dennis kucinich is furious and demanding a retraction. he'll twist some arms tonight's story in "the battleground" is coming up. >>> and tea party and queen michele bachmann threw in the towel on her dream to dominate the republicans. now, rand paul wants to drive the crazy train. that's coming up. >>> but this is the story that has me fired up tonight. i think congressman darrell issa is on a witch-hunt to take president obama down for absolutely nothing. with no proof. but he doesn't have the guts to go after a president, who just admitted a crime on national television. a comment from former president, george w. bush to nbc's matt lauer has set off a wildfire of controversy. >> and so i said to our team, are the techniques legal? and a legal team says, yes they are. and i said, use them. >> why is waterboarding legal in your opinion? >> because the lawyer said it was legal. it said it did not fall within the -- the antitort

snubs obama. congressional republicans said they were too busy to accept the invitation to a bipartisanship leadership meeting thursday of last week. the meeting would mark the first time president obama meets with new leaders since the midterm elections. the white house postponed the meeting until november 30 to accommodate the g.o.p. schedule. question, was president obama trying to lure the g.o.p. into a snare? and did they dodge the trap? >> no, i don't think he was trying to lure them. i think the president is genuine, talking about bipartisanship, compromise. i think he's being followish in a way to say this so openly that he's ready to compromise. where is the leverage going to come when the meeting actually happens? >> right. senator mcconnell was complaining that he never really met with the president, hadn't gotten any phone calls, and now we've gotten two phone calls, as though they were welcoming this. they are intimidated by the tea party that doesn't want them to do any engagement ac

there was the big mid-term election loss of president obama's party. and there's been talk of whether that weakened his ability to get his way in seoul. how did it feel there in watching the leaders and delegations interact? >> i don't think anyone would say that the americans left here with a rousing victory. these kind of summit meetings are almost not designed for that kind of outcome. but to the extent that the americans succeeded, it was in their ability to still help shape the agenda for what the world's nations talk about. the americans clearly put this issue of imbalances front and center, and they got the other countries to make at least a conceptual agreement, an agreement in principle, on reducing those imbalances, even though many of the specifics were punted over to next year. >> brown: okay, sewell chan of "the new york times" talking to us from seoul, korea. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> lehrer: we have more on the outcomes of the g20 summit coming up. that's followed by the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy; mark shiel

thank you look this is about an election obama got elected in two thousand and eight because americans didn't like what they had which was george bush and arguably fit fiscal irresponsibility among other things you have to remember there was an unpopular war and some other things too this year americans are unhappy about the economy now fairly or unfairly they're beginning to blame barack obama for so that the notion of fiscal responsibility is the coin of the realm in two thousand and ten whether will continue to be the case or not we don't know what we do know is that the democrats and president obama certainly had an incredible opportunity in two thousand and nine to form a lasting coalition it is not lasted two years later by all accounts our polls everybody else's polls this can be a very republican year now what happens after this we can't tell on wednesday morning the two thousand and twelve presidential campaign starts it will get very hot it will get very heavy and the environment that is forward on will determine what happens if the economy gets better mr obama will be in muc