>> reporter: so do jokes about geography. new york? >> amazing trick he does, al franken. senator al franken. that's it for me. i'm wolf blitzer intisttist. >> thank you. tonight, the white house says president obama is going to be more forceful with democrats as he struggles with his top priority. he's now squirrely in the midst of the health care debate on the eve of a critical moment in his presidency. also tonight, a battle over the public option. opponents want no part of it. tonight, two of the nation's most influential senators join us for the faceoff debate. >> and all the president's cz czars. a czar has quit, bypassing

congress, hitting new troubles. good evening, everybody. tonight, the white house crafting a new approach to health care at a pivotal moment in the obama presidency. president obama tonight trying to assert his authority on the issue as he prepares for a make or break address to a joint session of congress. the health care fight has all but exhausted the president's capital and severely damaged his standing in public opinion polls. we have complete coverage tonight from the hill and the white house. we begin at the white house where president obama today met with democratic leaders. what happened? >> what we know from people familiar with the meeting is that the president was pushing the democrat leader speaker pelosi as well as harry reid that there was a real sense of

urgency now. now is the time to act. and aides to the president tell me that's the approach, the tone the president is going to be taking as well tomorrow night in a speech to a joint session of congress. really trying to take the bull by the horns and acert himself. be more aggressive than he has been in the debate than before. this is a high-stakes forum. 16 years ago this month, then president clinton used the same venue, a high pressure venue to try to sell health care reform. he failed then. that's why there's so much pressure on this president, that there's not a repeat. that they fail on health reform and a year later take a beating at the polls in the midterm congressional elections. what is interesting is after the meeting speaker pelosi emerged still pushing very hard on the public option even though there are others in the democratic party who don't want it as badly. >> on the public option, i

believe that the public option will be essential to our passing a bill in the house of representatives. because as the president has said, and i listened to him very carefully, he believes that the public option is the best way to keep the insurance companies honest and to increase competition in order to lower costs, improve quality, retain choice. if you like what's you have, you can keep it, and expand coverage. in a fiscally sound way, that is saves money. >> but advisers to the president are suggesting that maybe mr. obama will be not quite as aggressive tomorrow night in pushing the public option. he'll continue to say it's an important tool to try to drive down costs and keep the insurance companies honest, but this is essentially not a deal breaker for him. if it's thrown out, he in the end wants a deal, loul. >> he wants a deal whether it has what he wants in it or not.

sort that out for us if you will. >> part of it is what i mentioned about 1994 and bill clinton. what they read into 1994 is that democrats paid a political price for getting nothing done at all. and so what i'm told the senior advisers to the president are telling top democrats on the hill right now is if you try to make essentially the perfect enemy of the good and don't walk away with at least half a loaf here, democrats will pay a price for spending all this time, spending all this capital and walking away with nothing. essentially trying to make the case that something is better than nothing. they can come back next year, the year after and try to finish the job. however, there are some people in the country right now who feel something is not better than nothing and no reform might be better than what the president is pushing, lou. >> and nancy pelosi and harry reid also seemed to be caught off guard when they were asked about where were the republicans of the white house? let's listen to that and get

your reaction. >> why was there no place for republicans at the table today, sir? >> i'm sorry, today? >> why no republicans at the table today at the meeting? >> you know, i think -- we have had a large table on the finance committee and the health committee and the senate. there's always a place for them. >> the president was meeting with the speaker of the house and the democratic leader of the senate. he has other meetings that we're not invited to that republicans are at. i don't know what the point of the question is. >> well, ed, help the speaker out. >> well, i'm not sure why she didn't understand the question. a share question, saying why were there nose republicans in the oval office today? look, they essentially were trying to say republicans have been at the table before. they have been much earlier in

the process. the republicans have not been at the table other than that gang of six in recent days. they haven't been at the white house lately. i think the bottom line is while the president tomorrow night will continue to say he wants a bipartisan deal, it's clear the democrat leaders were saying the republicans didn't need a seat at the table today at the white house schthe republicans are not the leader's problem right now. the problem is they cannot get consensus on the democratic side. that's been the problem throughout the debate. until they sort that out, they're not going to get a deal. >> ed henry, thank you very much from the white house. >> the so-called gang of six leading democrats and republicans who have led bipartisan efforts in the senate also were meeting today. dana bash was outside the meeting on capitol hill, and dana, after what has been a summer with no agreement and plenty of discontent, senators are now racing to make a deal before the speech tomorrow, is that right? >> they are trying.

ed talked about the sense of urgency at the white house after the meeting. noplace did we see more of a place of urgency outside of the meeting of the so-called gang of six. the reason is they know full well that the white house simply doesn't think they're going to get a deal, that the republicans, especially wo republicans you see on the screen, charles grassley and mike enzi don't think they're going to sign on to a bipartisan plan. that's why baucus said he's giving them until 10:00 tomorrow to decide whether they can go forward with the deal by tomorrow afternoon. listen to what he said. >> a lot of this comes down to political issues. i'm hopeful when the president gives his statement tomorrow night, that's going to help move all forward. the rubber is starting to meet

the road here. >> lou, this is the 18-page proposal of what senator baucus send around to five other senators. he did it over the holiday weekend. that's what they were discussing today. i can go over some sof the highlights many of these senators see as points of compromise. first and foremost, the public option is not in this. instead, there are nonprofit, so-called cooperatives that would take place. no employer mandate. except there is a penalty for companies that have 50 or more employees if they don't give their employees coverage. there is a mandate for individuals. all individuals in this country to get health insurance. for people at or right above the poverty level, they will get subsidies. a family of 4 making $66,000, if they don't have health insurance, they would be fined a

penalty of $3,800 a year. one of the republicans, olympia snowe, told ted barrett she doesn't think they can get a deal by tomorrow night. >> move on without the republicans, how about the rest of the country? when you start finding people, $3,800 for not having health care insurance, i mean, that takes on certain -- well, authoritarian tones, does it not? >> that's what we heard from republicans who are not in this meeting today. john mccain went to the senator floor and blasted that idea. we haven't heard much from negotiators on this. >> i don't understand something. perhaps you can sort it out for us. max baucus set a 10:00 a.m. deadline tomorrow? >> deadline -- >> and the president doesn't speak until tomorrow evening at the joint session. and he says he needs obama to

help move forward any possible compromise, but he's got a deadline that will take place hours before the president speaks. sort that out for us. >> sure, what he said is that he wants the other senators to come back with their problems with this. he insists there were only four or five major issues and the group is going to meet again tomorrow afternoon. he didn't lay down a line to say we're going to make or break this before the president's speech, but he's absolutely using the deadline of the president having the speech in the hopes of moving this group along. he's not wedding to saying we're going to fish or cut bait, to use his words, by tomorrow night, but he's trying to put the pressure on big time because he knows the pressure is on him because the white house doesn't think this is the forum for the health care proposal that the white house can ultimately sign on for. he wants to prove them wrong because he has been working for months and months to get this deal. >> and certainly amount of desperation on capitol hill,

would you say? >> definitely, desperation is one word. definitely a desire by many, many democrats to get something done, and they understand it's going to be very tough to do it unless they compromise. you talked about this a little with ed, lou. that's why you're hearing different points of view on whether or not the public option will be in this. nancy pelosi is standing firm, but more and more democrats. even liberal democrats today made it clear they're willing to go along with something that doesn't have the government option if it means getting a bill. >> does this also mean the likelihood that the public option that would be reasserted during conference? >> that is such a great question and that's going to be a question that many a conservative democrat is going to ask, and it will probably be -- the answer to that question is looking at where the votes are now, it would be tough to do that and get this through

the senate and house and get it to the president's desk. >> dana bash, thank you. gloothe battle over health care is diminishing the president's approval ratings. according to the gallup daily tracking poll, the president's approval rating is just 51%. 41% disapprove of the president now. president obama giving a back to school pep talk broadcast to thousands of class rooms across the country after an uproar in the past week. his speech avoided politics. it provided a predictable stay in school message. >> we need every single one of you to develop your talnlts and skills and intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. if you don't do that, you're not quitting on yourself. you're quitting on your country. >> controversy over the president's speech erupted last

week after a initial plan asked students to ask what they could do to help the president. and oprah winfrey produced video calling on students to figure out how they can serve president obama. parents across the country o outraged by what they see as political engaging in the class room. they said they were simply starting an animal house food fight, as he put it. the white house today insists the speech was not altered because of the controversy. >> democrats applauded the speech today, but the reaction was completely different when george h.w. bush was president. he made a similar speech to the nation's children back in 1991. >> i'm not here to tell you what to do or what to think. maybe you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you. well, today, i'm here to talk to

you and challenge you. education matters. and what you do today and what you don't do can change your future. >> and what happened then? democrats, the majority party in congress at the time accused george h.w. bush of exploiting children for political gain. they held hearings on the issue, and the national liberal media promoting the storyline as was pointed out in the washington examiner. the washington post at the time ran a front page story that began "the white house turned a northwest washington junior high classroom into a 12 studio and its students into props. they found no wrong doing in president bush's speech 18 years ago was as unremarkable as

president obama's speech today. up next, the public option. will there be a health care deal without it? there's the subject of our faceoff debate now. also, jobs now. >> even if you're not a union member, every american owes something to america's labor movement. we'll tell you what's behind the big comeback for union workers and how you're paying for it. >> and all the president's men and women. the obama administration planning to bypass congress. that plan to bypass congress is exploding, not just backfiring. we'll be right back. so i'm packing my own lunch now-- for less than $3. thanks to walmart. just two times a week saves my family over $500 a year. save money. live better. walmart. this is humiliating. stand still so we can get an accurate reading. okay...um...eighteen pounds and a smidge. a smidge? y'know, there's really no need to weigh packages under 70 pounds. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service,

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♪ at northwestern mutual, we've answered that question compellingly... for over 150 years. northwestern mutual. consistency counts. put our strength to work for you. learn how at northwesternmutual.com. washington tonight still abuzz about the sudden resignation of the so-called green job czar, ben jones. there's more than two dozen czars reporting to the obama white house, far more than any other administration in history. none of the so-called high level

advisers are subject to congressional vetting or approval. lisa sylvester has our report. >> reporter: pick a topic and there's likely to be an obama administration czar. car czar, climate czar, and pay czar. all told, some 30 specialized czars. some congressional lawmakers felt like they were cut out of the vetting process. >> the constitution makes it very clear they should be put up by the president and confirmed by the senate. and these czars are simply deliberately sirkm venting that process. >> van jones was president obama's green czar. he resigned after it was revealed he signed a pudition that showed the bush administration allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen and separately, that he used a vulgar term to describe republicans. glenn beck was the first to criticize jones. this after a group co-founded by

jones, the color of change, tried to lead a boycott of beck's sponsors. it's led to new scrutiny of other obama appointees. among them, markloid. in 2008, lloyd made these comments at a media reform conference in which he appeared to praise leftist leader hugo chavez. >> he had an incredible revolution to put in place, saying we're going to have this key moment. >> reporter: conservative radio hosts have narrowed in on lloyd for a report he coauthors in which he argues that commercial private radio shows that aren't diverse enough should pay a fee to public broadcasters. lloyd in a statement to cnn defended himself saying "the

point i was trying to make was there was dramatic social change in places like rwanda and venezuela and media played an important part in that. i'm not a chavez supporter. i do believe all americans would benefit from more opportunities to participate in media and that the answer to ugly speech is not sensorship but more speech. markloid, who worked at cnn in the '90s, has the title of associate general counsel at the acc. he does not have to go before the senate for confirmation. the only individuals who need approval are the commissioners. >> so we might be clear, mark lloyd isn't talking about ethnic, racial, or diversity. he's talking about more liberals on the air. >> that's right. if you look at the paper he coauthored, it's very clear what

he wants to do is go after some of these conservative broadcasters and try to essentially give a leg up to more liberal voices out there. >> he wants to turn the market upside down and supplant the market with government fiat. >> that's what some of the concerns are, lou. >> all right, lisa, outstanding. thank you very much and thank you for sitting in here while i was taking a quick breather, if you will. >> glad to do it. lisa sylvester. now our continuing series of reports, jobs now. the fourth quarter outlook remains grim. a report out today predicting an additional 3% decline in the jobs through the end of the year with construction on the hospitality industry taking the hardest hits. in california, the job loss is turning into a big gain for the state's unions. >> reporter: most people don't consider california a union stronghold. in facts, california has more union members than any other

state and ranks sixth nationally in percentage of its workforce belonging to a union. now they're leading a recovery in union membership nationwide. after decades of steady decline, the workers have risen slightly in the past two years according to a new ucla study. california's unionization rate has increased five times as fast and now exceeds 18% of the state's workforce compared to 12% nationally. >> it's quite amazing that the rates are increasing in this recession. i think what that says is that workers are seeing unions as their best chance to have a decent wage, to have some job security, to have some health care. >> reporter: another factor is during the recession, millions of private sector jobs in manufacturing, residential construction, and other industries have disappeared.

at the same time, government jobs which are highly unionized have remained stable. they claim 200,000 new unionized workers in the past 18 months. >> remember, after the great recession, depression sfoev years ago, that's when we had by far the greatest influx of people wantingunions. it was a massive movement toward unionization. >> they also have a friend in the white house. >> labor helped middle the largest middle class in history. even if you're not a union member, every american owes something to america's labor movement. >> reporter: hundreds of union supporters are gathering in the capital this week to lobby for passage of the employee free passage act. labor experts say without that change in the law, unions may have a difficult time continuing to grow, especially because so

many states are facing budget shortfalls. state and local governments are just now beginning to experience the job cuts that the private seconder has endured for two years. >> in fairness, though, you report over the past two years. unions as a percentage of the total labor force have risen in california and substantially, 2%, i believe, over that period of time. what is driving this? is it simply the unionization of government jobs in california? >> it's both. it's the fact that so many private sector jobs in industries like residential construction and manufacturing, which have low rates of unionization, have disappeared while government jobs have slowly increased, and those government jobs in education, state government, local government, are highly unionized. >> to put it in context, the two questions we need to answer.

what percent mg of the private workforce is unionized? and what percentage of the government workforce is unionized? >> i don't have the answers on the tip of my tongue, but i can get them for you quick. >> sounds good. we'll pick that up later in the broadcast. coming up next, the public option. should it be in the final version of any health care plan? should there be a final version of what the folks in washington call health care? that's the topic of tonight's faceoff debate. glooand the quality of health care in the czech republic. we continue our series of special reports on the "lou dobbs tonight" show. bringing you the health care systems that seem to be working and not working all around the world. we'll be right back. (announcer) take your time to find the right time

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well, we continue our coverage of health care systems all around the world, and we're comparing them to health care in this country. tonight, we take a look at the czech republic. all citizens of the czech republic are covered under a variety of plans. and the czech system has undergone a lot of overhauls since the country moved away from its communist system and

became a republic in the '90s. life expectancy is 77 years. kit kitty pilgrim has our report. >> reporter: in the which can republic, people choose any doctor, any hospital they like under a virtually free of charge system. some drugs. even spas are covered if advised by a doctor, and they pay the lowest out of pocket expenses in all of europe. only 5% of the total cost. >> so far, it's worked very well. the main concern right now, of course, is the economic downturn. however, the health insurance funds had set aside reserves in the last two years when the economy was doing well, and this year, at least, they will be fine. the concern is what happens next year. >> reporter: nine privately run insurance funds cover everyone. 25% is by the government. because of the communist past, czechs still tend to expect free and frequent service without

thinking of cost. this man points out they average 15 doctor visits a year, more than three times the average in yearp, and few think about costs. >> for doctors to basically submit a patient to hospitals where there are no downside risks associated with that, financial risks associated with that. >> reporter:rupts are run by the regional government. under the old system, hospitals were paid more money if they were bigger. but now there are too many hospital beds and too many doctors. there is 1 doctor to 277 people in the czech republic. the government controls cost by paying doctors low salaries and negotiating hospital reinbursements. insurances can't make profits and can only pay 3% on administrative costs. they pay 6.8% of gop health care

compared to 18% for the u.s. the population moves away from the habits of smoking and obesity compared to the 78 years in the united states. in 2005, much money from the en union helped fund the czech republic. now, with the recession, a lot of the entitlements and aging populati population, it's almost impossible to see how they're going to fund their country. >> it seems almost communist because they're just moving the money around. >> certainly, the psychology is in that everyone hasn't come to the terms with the fact that everything is free all the time. >> over the course of 20 years, it's got to be an adjustment for what was a communist country. but the number of doctors, 1 for every 77 czech citizens is good,

and they're thinking of that as, if you will, too good? >> they used to get pay bide the number of doctors. >> particularly in this country when we're trying to find a way to incentivize more doctors. kitty, thanks very much. tomorrow, we continue our reporting on health care systems around the world. argentina tomorrow. later, chile and mexico, and i'll have a few thoughts about health care in this country and particularly the debate on health care. join me on the radio mondays through fridays. get your local listings in your area for the lou dobbs show on the radio and follow me on twitter.com. up next, the health care debate returns to the nation's capital. is there still hope for a bipartisan solution? is that truly hope? that is the subject of the faceoff debate. a massive california sinkhole, and we're not talking

about sacramento. this one swallows a 22 ton firetruck. we'll have the story as we continue next.

the battle over health care rages on in washington, d.c. opponents of the president's plan still trying to elimflate the public option. and we think the president is continuing to support the public option. which some say is necessary and in the house, they're pressing to keep it in. joining me tonight are two influential senators, republican snord judd gregg of new hampshire who says a bipartisan bill is necessary. good to have you with us. and senator bernie sanders. independent of vermont who says the public option is absolutely necessary. gentleman, let's start with the president's joint session speech tomorrow. first, you, senator gregg, what do you hope to hear from the president to influence you positively on health care legislation? >> it would be great if he would indorse the efforts of senator

baucus and senator grassly and get to some solutions. the president hasn't been very strong on specifics. when you get down on the details, that's where you get to the issues that are important and make a difference in how the whole system works. so there's a lot of specifics coming out of this joint group that is negotiating. senator baucus, senator grassley, i think that would move things down the pike a long way. >> do you agree, senator sanders? >> no, i don't. i would hope the president comes forward and explains the very serious health care crisis that we're facing, lou, you know, i'm glad we're talking about health care internationally because every viewer should know the united states today embarrassingly is the only country in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care to its people, and yet we end up spending twice as much per person on health care

as any other nation and our outcomes in terms of life expectancy, infant mortality, deaths, are larger. i hope he urges republicans to come on board. bottom line is, we need health care reform so that we cut the costs of health care spending and make it affordable and guarantee health care to all people. >> let me ask you this, because it seems to many in this country that very little has been done in the way of public hearings, putting intelligently and comprehensively, facts on the table about health care in the country, about who owns what when it comes to pharmaceutical companies. what is the role of the doctor and what is their compensation? how will we make up for a deficit of doctors in thus country? those are public policy

questions that aren't even being discussed for millions of americans by their elected representatives in the house and snalt. and frankly, many in the national media cannot begin to understand why there has been this reluctance to hold substandive, open, forthright hearings whether it be on part of the obama administration, under the leadership of senator reid, or by nancy pelosi. ybl turn to you, senator gregg. >> there's no question the president tried to rush through this through because he didn't want people to pay attention to it. millions of people would be forced off their health care system which they generally like. about 80 million people have health care that is privately delivered, and they like that. they like their health care, their doctors, and usually their

doctors. as you look at the plan which came forward which senator sanders supports, which is a government plan or a single-payer plan, most of those folks would have lost their private insurance. as people started to focus on that, they got a little upset. >> i think it was moving quickly, i think you have to take time on something this complex and it dmeedz a lot of discussion and airing and i don't think we need to rush it through. if you do, you get a lot of unintended consequences. >> i think you're asking a good question, and i think certainly if i was directing the nature of the debate, i think we would have started off by saying how come we spend twice as much, almost twice as much per capita as any other country, twice as much as france, for example, yet we have 46 million uninsured? and this year, we're going to have close to 1 million people going bankrupt because of medically related illnesses.

so the bottom line here is why do we spend so much and why is the outcome not so good? and one of the reasons is we spend almost 30% of every health care dollar on administrator costs. not on doctors. we need more dentists, we need more nurses. yet what we're seeing an explosion is in health care bureaucrats working for private health care insurance companies that are telling us we're not entitled to the benefits we thought we paid for. i think we have a wasteful and inefficient system. and i agree with you. that should have been exploited. >> senator gregg, you were smiling as senator sanders war saying that. >> if you want to see an explosion of bureaucrats, turn it over to the government. he wants a single plan, a nationized plan. a very honest statement. i don't think that gets you good quality health care. i think it stifles innovation.

it causes a lot of people in the country who are quite comfortable with the health care system they have to have to leave that system and move to something that is proprietary unpredictable which i think would be massively bureaucratic and would lead ultimately to a government that puts the government between you and your doctor. >> right now, i think everyone knows the bureaucrat between the physician and the patient is often somebody working for the insurance company and is telling the doctor, and doctors are w e widely upset about this, what they can prescribe and what they can use. i think medicare works pretty well. in fact, in terms of administrative costs, they spend less than to doo the private insurance companies. but it's not on the table. what is on the table is a public option and the right of the american people to choose a medicare type option as opposed to private insurance.

>> let me ask you -- >> medicare works. this point need to be made. medicare works. it works because it pays about 80% of the full cost. the extra 20% is passed on to the private seconder and people paying private insurance. and there's a lot of treatments that aren't allowed. >> i have to bring it to a close. quickly, can i ask you for a yes or no? every viewer, every listener answering this question, would the senators and congressman be willing to put aside the plan, the health care insurance that they have now and take on the one that they would create? senator gregg, you first? >> i actually sponsor a bill that does that. it's a bipartisan bill that has ten democratic sponsors, ten republican sponsors. >> senator sanders? >> if the public option were there and was better for me than the blue cross blue shield i have right now, i certainly would take it. >> what if it wasn't? >> like every other american, i

surely wouldn't take it. it's a choice. nobody has to take it. people should have that choice. >> as senator gregg said, an honest, forthright senator sanders. thank you for being with us. bernie sanders and judd gregg. >> joaning me now with an update on the stories, anez ferre. wind gusts have caused dangerous flare-ups in los angeles county. the fire, the result of arson, has burned more than 260 square miles. the state is offering $150,000 in awards leading to the arsonists. also police escorted drivers over the san francisco oakland bay bridge as it reopened this morning. it was closed when inspectors found a crack going halfway through a steel link. contractors worked through the night and the bridge opened a day earlier than expected.

in los angeles, a broken water main caused a massive sink hole trapping a 22-ton fire truck. firefighters who responded to a call about flooding were trying to back out of the area when the road gave out beneath them. all four firemen on board managed to escape without injury. >> thank you very much. up next, the president's new approach on health care adv advocacy. he gears up for tomorrow's big speech. the white house promises a, quote, very forceful case for reform. we'll be right back.

joining me now from washington, d.c. white house reporter for politico, nia-malika henderson. also ed rollins. good to have you with us. i wanted to work my way up to it. >> you can put a lot of titles behind it. >> cnn contributor and so much more, robert zelman. let's take a look at the van jones controversy. here are just some of the comments today. let's start with david, a left wing columnist. the white house is listening to the right wing's political terrorists, people like glenn beck. howard dean, i think he was brought down. washington is a tough place that way. i think it's a loss of the country. and david gergen, cnn's

political analyst say it's a sad day to see a good man get so little credit. let's share some of the good things that are going to leave a hole on the obama administration. >> there's no question the man has an extraordinary record in his work with green jobs. >> how many did he create? >> i can't give you a specific number, but that's not the point. the point is the man should have resigned his statement because the statements he made that were ignorant and reckless, but that doesn't mean he didn't have the intellectual achievements and the strength of character to do the job in the white house. >> was he a national hero? >> i didn't say he was. he was recognized by "time" magazine for his achievements. he's been widely recognized for his innovative thinking.

>> what do you think? >> what i have said and what david gergen said, you pop off from time to time. you statement opinions that obviously are embarrassing to the man you work for, then you basically have to step aside. that's what he did. he was a low-level guy, whatever the czar title was, he didn't even have mess privileges at the white house. and at the end of the day, to try to make him a hero at the white house is absurd. >> nia, your thoughts? >> he was a hero to the leftists and progressives. i think going forward, the conservatives are certainly emboldened by this and have trained in their sights other czars they're targeting now, so it will be interesting going forward if they're able to bring other folks down, too by combing through their records. >> this is not a liberal versing conservative. van jones make reckless,

ignorant, and in many respects, extraordina extraordinarily irresponsible t white house staff. and you don't belong in government if you're going to question heavy that way. i would not call this a victory for the right wing. >> i'm just giving you a sense of what a lot of progressives are saying. we heard in the top of this segment what some of the progressives were saying, that it was essentially a loss and they're also kind of angered that glenn beck essentially won this round. >> we see it as a loss too as conservatives, we would like to see him on the microphone every day and bring reverend wright around and do everything we can to get back in the game again. >> we'll be right back with our panel in just a moment. stay with us, please.

we're back with our panel let me turn to you, mia. the controversy of the number of czars remains a new czar is brought in for manufacturing as the old czar for green jobs is departing. has the obama administration made a mistake by this sir couple vengeance of the congress and putting in so many czars? >> they certainly aren't backing off from appointing czars, as you said ron bloom is going to be the new manufacturing czar and he took over as car czar over the summer. he does have quite a few czars, you heard john mccain joke that he's got more czars than russia. i think the number is at 33. >> we have the number at 35. no one seems to come up with a tally they're willing to bet on. >> i think it depends on the definition of czar essentially. it's 33, 35, essentially it is a

lot. and this is going to be a continued talking point from folks from the right and even from the left. robert byrd himself expressed concerns with the number of czars. >> i don't agree with robert birds concerns. if you have a car czar, what does the secretary of transportation do? he's got cars and the department of transportation and what have you. now the environmental czar, what does the e.p.a. administrator do? there's a conflict that's built. >> it makes it look like anybody who took a secretary's job is an idiot. >> usually you have an office in the west wing. >> there's an institutional question that has to be judged. it's not a partisan issue, but i'm saying whether the president has a right to put the staff around him he chooses to and what the role that congress has in terms of confirming presidential staff. >> advice and consent is a constitutional requirement.

>> for cabinet positions. >> and a cabinet person who would have a czar enroaching on 3/4s of his department might be something that you would want to dismiss. >> in our modern presidency, we have had czars from both peters. >> at the end of the day, they have a big office and no staff. so they don't get to do much. >> the highest number of czars preobama was mr. clinton's ten czars. tomorrow mr. obama talks health care to a joint session of congress. mia, what does he got to do? >> well, he's got to get specific. he's got to show some passion as well and he's got to convince the progressive base to get behind him and we heard from folks today, pelosi and reid, they were in the oval office sessions with the president today talking about the public option. it looks like that might not be completely, you know, thrown overboard but it's certainly walking a plank at this point.

>> mia, we have about 30 seconds. in or out, what does the president have to do? >> there's 4 million people on medicare that they're not going to lose their benefits. 85 pest of americans are covered by health insurance and they don't get half of it. >> did i hear you that the stat was quo will be observed? mia, thank you very much. robert, thank you. coming up at the top of the hour, campbell brown. campbell, help us out. all right, lou, well tonight, we are also looking ahead to president obama's big speech to see if he -- to see if we can get past some of the wild attacks, some of the crazy rhetoric we have heard from both sides in the last few days and actually focus on fixing health care. also are we really making any

head way in afghanistan in anderson cooper and michael ware are joining us from the front lines tonight. also our newsmaker, mrs. d-list herself, kathy griffin, her personal life, her plastic surgery and her relationship with levi johnston, all ahead, lou. >> sounds like a lot of laughs, appreciate it campbell. we'll be right back. stay with us.

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