washington. our coverage will continue. i'm wolf blitzer here at the cnn center. campbell brown, thanks very much. the best political team on television. "larry king live" starts right now. >> larry: tonight, barack obama's first state of the union address. >> the president of the united states. >> larry: his big message, jobs and the economy. >> i'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight. >> larry: and an in-your-face challenge to republicans on health care. >> if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen medicare for seniors, let me know. >> larry: talking tough on terrorism. >> hundreds of al qaeda's fighters and affiliates have been captured or killed. >> larry: what did the president

need to say and did he say it? is it going to make any difference? that's all next on a special edition. of "larry king live". well, the state of the union address is over. and the analysis is now continue as they do with us. if you missed any part of the speech, it will be repeated in one hour. wolf blitzer, john king and candy crowley in this segment, then senator john mccain, then a panel of pundits, as they say. wolf, you've seen a lot of these. how do you score this one? >> if you like a lot of wonkish detail, as i do, the president went through a lot of that. so i was just happy that he got into those kinds of specifics. he made his case. and i loved watching it. i'm sure you did, too, larry, a lot of our viewers did, the democrats jumping up, applauding, standing ovations, the republicans sort of sitting

quietly. you saw john boehner and eric cantor, they were stone-faced so often when the democrats were enthusiastic. if yur a real political news junkie, as all of us are, you love this stuff. >> larry: john king the host of "state of the union with john king." they borrowed this tonight from your show. >> they came before me on this one, larry. >> larry: how did you see it, john? did he hit it out of the park? >> it's a fascinating speech. we won't know the answer to that. part of the answer will come in november's elections. he clearly understands he's lost the bond he had with the american people during the campaign. many said he wasn't just a politician, he was the leader of a movement. now he's struggling. he receive a time-out in the health care debate. he understands in this environment he needs to prove to people he's spending most of husband time and energy on jobs and the economy. now, this is not helicopterive -- representative of the country. but this is on twitter. we took nearly 200,000 twitter

messages and our friends at crimson hexing aen helped us with this. blue means support. 31% strong support, 12%, 43% globally support. 39 globalo pose. the yellow is more neutral. most asking questions or making observations. let's take a quick look at the united states when we bring that up. the different reactions. the president's home state of illinois. 3200 messages there. 35% support. 37% oppose. take a peek at some of the messages. someone who opposed said, "painful to watch. sounds like george bush's back to the moon speech. congress will do nothing." a supporter in illinois, "glad the president changed the focus to jobs. finally he gets it. should be the highest priority." we'll continue to track this. not representative, but shows you what people in the social networking sites who watched the

speech were churning tonight as they analyze it. >> larry: they're a big part of the scene now. candy crowley is our senior political correspondent. you've seen a lot of these. how did you rate this one? >> the shelf life of state of the union addresses is not very long. i don't think probably next monday most people will be able to tell you what sort of specifics he put in there. the fact of the matter is what the president needed to do tonight was start anew. what matters is what happened tomorrow, what happens the day after. it's not enough to say, okay, i'm about jobs and the economy and bipartisanship. what matters, as he runs up to an election day that's important in november is whether or not any of those things happen. >> larry: wolf blitzer, what's the headline in the morning papers off this speech? >> i think a lot of people will say, yes, he wanted to change the subject from health care to jobs. he did make the case that health care reform is essential. but he sort of buried that, what, 25 minutes into the speech. the whole first part of the speech was about jobs, jobs,

jobs. the other thing i noticed was that several times during the speech he acknowledged, you know what, he made mistakes. he wrapped it up. "our administration has had some political setbacks this year and some of them were deserved." you don't often hear a president of the united states go before a joint session of the congress and the american public and say, you know what? we made mistakes, and we're going to try to do better this coming year. >> larry: how do you rate him, john, on performance? just performance alone. delivery, the way he handled himself. >> the president was less nervous now. his third appearance in that chamber. he told aides he's more familiar with the setting. the president is a very good performer. his most fierce republican critic would concede that. there were some democrats at the end of the speech seemed to think by their reaction and their poost tur that perhaps he had gone on a little too long. as a political performer, he's the premier politician in the country right now. which is why even though you see the popularity of his policies

have gone down and republicans criticize those policies, they're very careful not to overly criticize him personally because they understand the president you saw delivering that speech tonight is a premier politician, a premier performer. and the big question for republicans, if this president goes on the road like ronald reagan did in his first midterm, can he help the democrats at least limit the damage. they know in the democratic party this will be a tough year. how much can the president help them limit that? >> larry: were you surprised that he got to terrorism late in the speech? >> no. because what he knows is what we've been saying in the polls for so long which is that the american people want to hear what his plan is about the economy and about bringing more jobs in to the economy. so they knew he had to and signaled well ahead of time. but this was going to be a speech about the economy, about what people want to hear him talk about and about what they are most worried about. and i think if you look tomorrow, my guess is what you're going to see are

headlines that, quote, the i don't quit. this is a president who at times was conciliatory and, as wolf said, we made some mistakes, but this was also a president who said, i'm not giving up on this. i knew it was going to be hard and i don't quit. i thing in the end that's the take-away, that, yes, he's going to get less than he wanted on health care. this is certainly something that's been put somewhat aside, but he certainly sent the message. and i think largely to his base, i'm not going to quit on this. >> larry: our terrific triumvirate, wolf blitzer, john king, candy crowley. thank you all. what does the senator from arizona think of the president's first state of the union? at the end of the day in sitka, alaska, everyone awaits the return of the fishing boats.

their safe arrival is highly anticipated. as is something else. a shipment of natural sea salt from cargill, essential for preserving the catch. we deliver the salt on precise schedules and ship it efficiently all along the alaskan coast. saving the fishermen money and their catch. this is how cargill works with customers.

>> larry: joining us now is senator john mccain, republican of arizona. he was, of course, the 2008 gop presidential nominee. senator, what did you -- did you like anything in tonight's speech? >> well, i appreciate the president's call for bipartisanship. i appreciate his support for our efforts in iraq and afghanistan. but it seems to me quickly lapsed into the biob, which is the blame it on bush routine, which has grown a little

tiresome. i had hoped that he heard the message in massachusetts on health care which is stop, let's start all over and let's have some real bipartisan negotiations. obviously, he didn't get that message. >> larry: speaking of health care, the president did put it up to the republicans tonight to act. watch this and then let me have your comment. >> if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen medicare for seniors and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. let me know. let me know. i'm eager to see it. here's what i ask congress, though, don't walk away from reform. not now.

not when we are so close. let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the american people. >> larry: senator, what's your response to that challenge? >> well, if the president or the democrats had invited us over to sit down and seriously negotiate, they would have heard -- and i don't know how they missed it -- that we have many proposals ranging from medical malpractice reform, which there's none in the democratic proposal, to buying insurance across state lines to rewards for wellness and fitness to establishing risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions to encouraging health savings account. i can give you a long list of the proposals that we have that get at the issue of costs of health care. what the president and the democrats have proposed and has been rejected not only in massachusetts but around the country is a very big government takeover, and despite what the president said, adding $2.5

trillion to the debt. the president's proposal -- the democrats' proposal, the taxes and the benefit cuts start immediately and the benefits don't start for four years. that's bernie madoff accounting. the other issue that i really was disappointed in was the president's solution to the earmarking and pork barrelling was to put it all on a webpage. that's -- we all know what earmarking and pork barreling does. finally his proposal for next year, 2011, to eliminate $15 billion in spending and meanwhile is proposing another stimulus bill that ranges between 80 and $115 billion additionally on the debt. it doesn't work. >> larry: we'll have more with senator john mccain after this. sfx: coin drop

want to hear how more families are saving money, saving time and saving for the future? it's regions lifegreen checking and savings. these accounts come with a personal savings review, up to a $250 annual savings account bonus, and free online and mobile banking for simple and safe banking anytime, anywhere. just drop by or visit regions.com/open to open your accounts, and get into the rhythm of saving. reons it's time to expect more.

>> larry: we're back from the rotunda in capitol hill with senator john mccain. you mentioned that he keeps criticizing the bush administration. you have to admit in all fairness that obama inherited quite a set of problems. >> absolutely. and that's one of the reasons why we lost the election. maybe also because not so great a candidate. but the point is that we let spending get out of control under the bush administration. we republicans. and we paid a heavy price for it. but the president also promised that he would go line by line, that he would veto bills, that there would be transparency. i mean, tonight when he said that he was going to put further restraint on the lobbyists after the deals that they've been cutting in the white house with the special interests and pharmaceutical companies and others? i mean, there was two reasons why the people have rejected if president's health care reform. one is because the product they don't like because it's a $2.5

trillion debt on future americans. but also the process. the cornhusker kickback and the louisiana purchase and all that unsavory stuff that's been going on. it amounts to bribery. >> larry: senator, there was a part of the speech, i wonder if you enjoyed it. when he criticized the supreme court for overturning portions of mccain/feingold, your treasured legislation. how did you react to that? >> obviously, i agreed with the president. i tried to get a look at the supreme court justices down there. but it is what it is. and i thing the preside-- think president did raise a legitimate point. what are we going to do about foreign-owned kormgs having a part in american elections. >> larry: he had this message. i'll show it to you. then i want you to comment. watch. >> the republican leadership is

going to insist that 60 votes in the senate are required to do any business at all in this town, a supermajority, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership. we were sent here to serve our citizens not our ambitions. >> larry: is that a good point or not, john? >> well, i think it's important to recognize that the president campaigned on a change in the climate in washington, that he would have c-span cameras in, that there would be transparency, bipartisan negotiations. i can assure you that has not happened. and so having been shut out of the process, of course, we resist legislation being jammed down our throats. and so my suggestion is, as the american people have said, stop your health care reform, go back from the beginning and fix the

biggest problem, which is the cost. sit down across the table and negotiate seriously. that has not happened. and therefore, the climate is not changed in washington. in fact, it's gotten worse. >> larry: are you optimistic that, based on this, and the election in massachusetts, that it will change? >> i hope that the president will -- i would love to have heard him say tonight on next monday i'm going to call republicans and democrats over to the white house and we'll sit down and try to address some of these issues together. he didn't do that. but i think we republicans have our work cut out for us. we got to propose a positive agenda for america. we have to be careful stewards of the dollars and practice fiscal responsibility. we've got our obligations. but we want to work with the president and with the democrats. so let's start all over again and see if we can do it. and we can begin by starting all over with health care reform.

>> larry: do you favor throwing out don't ask, don't tell? >> i think it's a serious mistake. we're in two wars. don't ask, don't tell has been a very effective policy and one that has worked. the evidence of that is the best trained, best equipped, most professional military we've ever had. and i just think it would be a very serious mistake when we're in two wars to make an abrupt policy change. >> larry: would you change it down the road? >> well, i would rely on the joint chiefs of staff, our military leadership. those are the ones we entrust the lives of our young men and women, and have them do a study and come up with recommendations as to whether this policy needs to be modified or not. i would place great credence on that. right now, the military leaders i know say that the policy's working and they don't want it changed.

>> larry: he said that the war in iraq is coming to an end and the troops are coming home. he said in afghanistan he's confident they will succeed. i gather you agree with him in both of those areas? >> well, i would have liked to have said that we've achieved victory in iraq and the surge succeeded in afghanistan. i would also like for him to emphasize a little more the fact that it's going to be tough. beginning in march, it's going to get really tough. and the fact is that we're going to stay the course there. our allies and people in the region are very nervous about his statement that in the middle of 2011, we would be withdrawing. i think they need some reassurance because, as you know, they have to stay in the neighborhood if we left. and we left once before. >> larry: why the beginning of march? >> because the weather gets a lot better. and the taliban activities will be stepped up, unfortunately. >> larry: senator, are you going

to be -- you always were the kind of bipartisan person who put principle above party and the like. and there are some who say you've been in this first year of obama contrarian. do you think that you've been a little aggressive on the other side? >> well, the stakes are very high. but you know, just yesterday senator evan bayh and i had a package of proposals to reduce the deficit, to eliminate earmarks and pork barrel spending and to get our financial ship right. i worked with senator levin on defense acquisition reform. i continue to work with democrats on the committees and on a number of policies ranging from indian affairs to national defense. so i'm very proud of my record, but i again say that when you are in a majority and you do not respect the views and input of the minority, you get a predictable reaction, larry.

>> larry: thanks, as always, senator. see you down the road. >> thank you, my friend. >> larry: senator john mccain. our political experts.

we are building a website by ourselves. announcer: there's an easier way. create your own business site with intuit websites. just choose a style, then customize, publish and get found. sweet. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com.

>> larry: joining us from chicago, arianna huffington, editor in chief of the huffington post. kevin madden, senior advisor to mitt romney's campaign. here in los angeles the actor, author, longtime friend of barack obama. he was active in the campaign. he's one of the stars of "csi: new york." and a former mccain campaign

adviser. arianna, how did he do? >> well, of course, he was charming. there was the impassioned rhetoric once in a while. he was at ease. but my concern, larry, is that the speech felt as though he had been focused group tested within an inch of its life. there's a little bit of everything for everyone. the spending freeze, for example, which was clearly something which he felt republicans and independents wanted. well, republicans met it with derision. so much so that the president had to make a caustic remark and say that's how budgets work. so he did not make the middle class the priority that he should have made it. these are the people who are hurting, and they should have been at the forefront of this speech. >> larry: kevin madden, how did you read it? >> well i'm surprised i agree with arianna. i was very underwhelmed by the president's speech.

it felt like there was this conveyor belt of these poll-tested ideas that were supposed to be very palatable almost as though he was trying to master the unobjectionable. in doing so, i think that he kind of underperformed. especially those in his liberal base were looking for him to really offer some grand vision, pick a fight on behalf of the party. and i think he failed to do that. >> larry: hill harper, longtime supporter, i gather you disagree. >> it's funny, larry. i hear folks talk about it. it seems to me the president issued a challenge in his speech. it seems even to shows like this, pretty specifically. and it's like we're already failing the challenge. it's how we define our politics, whether we define ourselves as democrats or republicans. >> larry: not pundits. >> the challenge is do we believe america's best days are behind us or in front of us? i believe they're in front of us. the president believes they're

in front of us. whether he's talking about solutions or poll tested this or that, makes no sense. people don't want to hear that. >> larry: nancy, are we knit picking here? >> i don't think so. it's fairly remarkable that you can have arianna, kevin and i agree that this speech was one where he checked political bocks. it was a very chin in the air speech. you've got an extremely talented man here who is a great orator. i don't think anybody can challenge that. but if there's a sin, it's hubris, at one point when he was talking about health care, he literally said, hey, you're not with me, but that's okay. i understand. i just didn't speak clearly enough to you. like if i slow down and talk in smaller words, maybe you'll get it. now, that is incredibly arrogant given what has happened in virginia, new jersey, and just in massachusetts. >> larry: in fairness, didn't he say he just didn't explain it

well enough? he didn't talk about big words or -- >> no, no, no. let me just be a woman here for a moment and say, he said, you're not with me, and i take some of that blame. i just didn't explain it clearly enough. >> larry: so? >> so the response is, no, no, you explained it, i heard it and i disagreed with you. you're talking about not a proposal to fix the small problems here that are significant to the people who are experiencing them and absolutely need to be fixed. you're talking about a proposal that increases taxes by half a trillion dollars that cuts medicare by half a trillion dollars, that causes most americans to have their premiums increased, not decreased, and hundreds of millions of people to lose their current insurance coverage. this is not something that's good. >> larry: we expected, i gather, that arianna would be the liberal member of the panel. we'll come back to this.

i wanted to show you one of the biggest applauses he got tonight was when he took a swipe at wall street. watch. >> i propose a fee on the biggest banks. now -- now, i know wall street isn't keen on this idea. but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need. get the taste of a home-cooked meal at work with new marie callender's home-style creations-- a delicious meal made fresh from your desk. just cook them, strain them, mix them. marie callender's home-style creations. a little touch of home for lunch. find them in the soup or pasta aisle.

and if you think all batteries are the same... consider this: at iowa lakes community college, the students learn to keep america's wind turbines going and to keep them safe, the only battery they trust in their high voltage meters are duracell rechargeables. so whether you're responsible for tomorrow... or enjoying today... it just has to work. duracell smart power. duracell trusted everywhere and when my symptoms-the coughing, wheezing, tightness in my chest came back- i knew i had to see my doctor. he told me i had choices in controller medicines. we chose symbicort. symbicort starts to improve my lung function within 15 minutes. that's important to me because i know the two medicines in symbicort are beginning to treat my symptoms and helping me take control of my asthma. and that makes symbicort a good choice for me. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. and should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol.

medicines like formoterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death. so, it is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on other asthma medicines. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. i know symbicort won't replace a rescue inhaler. within 15 minutes symbicort starts to improve my lung function and begins to treat my symptoms. that makes symbicort a good choice for me. you have choices. ask your doctor if symbicort is right for you. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

>> larry: joining us now representative debbie wasserman schultz, democrat of florida, vice chair of the democratic national committee. and congressman aaron shock, republican of illinois. he's the deputy republican whip. i think he's the youngest member of congress. and we have dinner together, when i got my honorary degree at bradley university where he graduated. the president talked tonight about america's frustrations with both of your parties. listen to what he said. then i want your comment. >> what frustrates the american people is a washington where every day is election day.

we can't wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about the other side. a belief that if you lose, i win. neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can. >> larry: congresswoman schultz, did he have a point? >> he absolutely has a point, larry. i don't know how many ways into a pretzel the president needs to twist himself to get the republicans to come to the table and sit down and try to work out some common -- some compromise on any issue. i mean, for us to expect in the senate that everything we do has to pass the test of 60 votes is not what the founding fathers envisioned. majority rules. and the president has sent that message over and over.

it just to me, you know, continuously seems like the republicans are just not rooting for americans to succeed. it's really unfortunate. >> larry: congressman shock, how do you respond? >> larry, look, republicans stand ready with an open hand to work with the president on all of his priorities, specifically health care. we wrote to the president last april laying out a series of reforms. you heard senator mccain highlight many of those. those are republicans ideas. if the president is willing to work with us, he'll get bipartisan support. you'll see many of the moderate republicans go along with him. but he's going to have to upset some of his liberal base to do that. up until this point, the administration and the speaker of the house have been very happy to just go along with their party's own members on issues like health care, very partisan cap and trade bill, partisan stimulus bill. what we heard tonight about working across the aisle does not mirror what happened this year. what the voters are trying to del us in new jersey, virginia

and certainly massachusetts is it's not about republican or democrat, it's the power of a good idea. they didn't like the ideas that the majority were selling this year. >> larry: he says the republicans are doing their best to cooperate. >> well, if you think that not a single republican voting for the stimulus package, only one republican voting for the health care reform legislation, no republicans voting for the health care legislation, one republican voting for the energy legislation, if you think that's bipartisan cooperation, then i'm looking at a different dictionary. at the end of the day, we need to make sure that we can move this country in a new direction which is what the american people wanted when they elected barack obama president. and i thought the president did an incredible job tonight speaking to the folks in my district and districts across the country that are struggling. my state had 11.8% unemployment.

the key so job creation is right through small businesses. president obama's proposal to put $30 billion into community banks to lend to small businesses, that's going to go a long way towards jump-starting this economy and a number of other proposals that he talked about. >> larry: congressman shock, is he going to get out of your house and the senate a health bill? >> if he reaches across the aisle and gives us a seat at the table. you know, with all due respect about all the rhetoric, the fact of the matter is it hasn't happened. you heard from john mccain. the senate republican leadership were kept out of the negotiations. i can tell you from the house side, the house republican leadership were kept out of the negotiations. that's why you had minimal republican support. same thing with the stimulus bill and the cap and trade bill. tonight it was another great speech. he did a great job of dliing a speech. as was mentioned earlier, many of the themes were ballot tested. you heard about him talking

about cutting the taxes, cutting the deficit, the need for nuclear and drilling. that's like rod blagojevich talking about ethics reform. it doesn't meet the history of work. if the president is serious, i and many of my republican colleagues, i can assure you, stand ready as a willing partner. >> we'll take back -- go ahead, larry. i'm sorry. >> larry: you think he'll get a bump tonight? >> i think he will. incredibly frustrating that my colleague and friend adam -- aaron shock looks at the president's speech tonight as cynical box checking. i mean, i don't know which kind of constituents he represents, but the ones i represent are hurting. they want to make sure they have an opportunity for job creation. they want to make sure that when you have a pre-existing condition that an insurance company can't drop or deny you coverage. >> larry: aaron, will you get a jobs bill, aaron?

>> let me say first, i'm not being cynical. i'm being somewhat critical because the rhetoric hasn't matched up with his behavior. if he's serious about the platform he laid out here tonight, he's going to get it. on the jobs bill, we had nearly a trillion dollar jobs bill that passed last year that was supposed to put americans back to work, keep unemployment less than 8%. and we're at double digits over 10%. much of that money was to go to infrastructure. that's the goods and the bill sold, less than 10% was infrastructure. >> larry: we'll have you both on. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz of florida and aaron shock of illinois. we want to know how do you think he's doing? go to the quick vote section of our webpage and grade the president. cnn.com/larryking.

>> larry: our panel returns, arianna huffington, hill and nancy. >> we cut taxes for 95% of working families, we cut taxes for small businesses. we cut taxes for first time home buyer. we cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. we cut taxes for 8 million americans paying for college.

>> larry: arianna, did that satisfy you? >> you know, let me just make something very clear. i thought the speech did not go far enough to deal with the major problems facing the middle class. the greatest increase in poverty at the moment is in the suburbs. and the president is still trying to be bipartisan. he's still trying to please john mccain and my fellow republican panelists. it's not going to work. he can talk about tax cuts as much as he wants. he can talk about a spending freeze. these are not the keepd of policies that are going to create jobs. and that's the criticism. let me just say one more thing. he talked about child care tax credits. now, the problem why people can't get jobs is not because they can't hire a baby-sitter. it's because there are six applicants for every job opening. why was it in the speech that will create the jobs needed?

>> larry: her criticism -- you're a liberal -- he didn't go far enough, if her standpoint. what do you think? >> you know, it's funny that we can hear a speech and then as soon as it's over clock in to what he didn't do here. he didn't go far enough here. he was saying things that clearly someone told him to say because it would resonate with this group or that group rather than saying, okay, this is what he talked about and these are my solutions. i'd rather have all these smart people talk about solutions rather than talk about what he didn't do, didn't go far enough. let's use the rest of the half hour, let's talk about solutions. nancy, what solutions do you have, kevin, what solutions do you have? arianna, what are yours? >> larry: kevin, where is he failing? >> i look at this from a little bit of a meta approach. the president was elected by a large swath of voters that were democrats, independents and even some republicans because he was

a vessel for a lot of americans as frustration at the time. washington was not focused on the priorities, spending too much money, washington was too partisan. the reason that the president struggled this entire year is because he has actually become a guardian of that very same status quo that he was sent to washington to change. washington is still partisan. washington is still spending enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars with very little effect. then washington's priorities, spending a whole year fighting about health care and bailouts, at a time where people are really hurting. people in the suburbs, the inner city, people in the exburbs. president obama has not been the force of change that he promised americans he can be. i don't say that hypercritically, i say it as a look back over the last year. >> kevin, i think the slogan was change we can believe in, not miracles we can believe in. >> no, i think you're absolute

lit rye there. that's a good point. >> this is a huge problem. for to you say that he's experienced enormous difficulty. that's not true. >> you're telling me he hasn't experienced difficulty this year? his poll numbers have dropped 20 points everywhere. he's lost independents. he's losing democrats. >> kevin, poll numbers reflect present fear not future results. >> hill, my point is that it reflects a trend line. i think people have lost faith in the president's ability to change washington. >> i disagree. >> no, i agree that poll numbers is not what matters. >> i'm not saying what matters. >> the president is very aware of the incredible and growing anger in america, the disparity between the fate of wall street and the fate of main street. that's why his wall street line got such great applause. >> larry: let nancy get a word in here. >> it's funny, that we agree on some thins and disagree on

others. but i think most people who want this on a day-to-day basis would agree with the congressman in the prior segment who said that the problem that president obama is facing is due to the dissonance between what he says and what he does. the american people are smart. and he's not listening. and that's the problem. now, it's hard to say, i care about main street when you are the person who approved and signed into law -- a lot of tough talk about vetoes tonight. sign loo law a bailout bonanza, the second bill he signed included 8500 pork barrel spending provisions otherwise known as earmarks that are just political payoffs. this whole idea of promising to have c-span in, then not letting them in. he's not walking his talk. that's why he's got a credibility gap that is present and growing. >> larry: we'll get a break. sfx: coin drop

sfx: can shaking when you own a business, nothing beats the sound of saving time and money. and it's never been simpler to save - with regions lifegreen checkg and savings for business. you'll enjoy free online and mobile banking. and with regions quick deposit, you can deposit checks right from your desk. drop by and get started with a business financial review through a regions cashcor analysis. it's how business gets into the rhym of saving. regions it's time to expect more.

>> larry: we're back. a few times tonight the president accepted the blame, acknowledged to some out there that question his ability to deliver. watch. >> i take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the american people. i know there are many americans who aren't sure that they still believe we can change. or that i can deliver. our administration has had some political setbacks this year.

and some of them were deserved. >> larry: and let's get into the stimulus project based on all of that. by the way, the stimulus project is something that cnn is examining all week long on all of our programs. arianna, has that worked? >> well, it really hasn't worked enough. i'm sure it saved jobs, i'm sure it went someway towards making the suffering across the country less pronounced. but larry, you know, there's an 18% reunempolite rate, those too discouraged to look for work, those unemployed. what i was looking for in the speech is what are we going to do about that? and if you want real solution, i can give you real solutions. a real big infrastructure program that would put people to work. a payroll tax holiday. you know, when wall street was suffering, we didn't just give

them micro initiatives, we gave them a huge bailout. and they turn around and they cut down lending and they gave themselves huge bonuses and hired lobbyists. so what is the middle class getting tonight? that's the question that everyone wants this country to answer. >> larry: kevin, you agree? >> i definitely agree with the payroll tax. anything we can do on the supply side to start incentivizing businesses to grow and start hiring people. i think also -- there's been a lot of demonization of corporations, but corporations are essentially, you know, lifeblood of a lot of the job creation. big companies and small companies. we need to get them all working together. but i think that we have to remember that when we're putting together these policies that are designed to rejuvenate regional economies, local economies, that we have to remember that we cannot fundamentally help the wage earner by constantly trying to tear down the wage payer.

anything we can do to encourage more of the growth on the private sector, my biggest problem with the stimulus program is it was emblematic with what is wrong with washington. hyperpartisan and very wasteful. we stimulated the size of government -- pardon me? >> larry: supported by george bush, wasn't it, initially? >> i think the idea of, right, of making sure that we inject some liquidity into the economy was absolutely supported. but what happened was it injected too much money into the public sector and we grew the size of government rather than stimulating the private sector job development that's needed. >> larry: hill? >> i don't think there's anything in president obama's policies that are talking about tearing down the wage payer. you know, i think that he wants incentives just like everyone else. i agree with arianna. we want to figure out different ways. now, here's the deal. do we have groups of people that are just saying no, no, no, no to everything that's proposed and nothing gets done? now there's no perfect panacea,

no perfect policy, but if we do nothing, we can't progress to start to amend it to make it better. >> larry: we have another issue to discuss. i want nancy to get in on it. years from now, how will we look back on today? as the great recession? or as the recession that made us great? allstate has seen twelve recoveries. but this one's different. because we're different. we realized our things are not as important... as the future we're building with the ones we love. protect yours. put it... in good hands. ♪

>> larry: at the top of the hour we'll repeat the president's state of the union speech. when president obama was critical of the recent supreme court decision on election financing, justice alito was caught mouthing what looked like "not true." watch. >> with all due deference to separation of powers, last week the supreme court reversed a century of law that i believe will open the floodgates for special interests including foreign corporations to spend without limit in our elections. >> larry: where did you stand on that decision, nancy? >> well, i think it was a little bit of a surprise to everyone but certainly this kind of extrapolation of justice alito's comment to himself, if you will, during the state of the union is overblown. i mean, i don't know about you and your family, but when my family watches one of these

things we're all talking back at the screen the entire time. if anyone was qualified to know whether what president obama was saying was accurate or inaccurate, it would be justice alito. so i think that we should take seriously the justice' response but not read into it anything that's too emotional. if i could go back to the whole jobs question, stimulus package, we're a year later, unemployment is over 10%. it's higher. one percentage point higher than the president's own top economic adviser projected it to be. it has been a dismal failure. when he talks about jobs saved, quote, unquote, that is a madeup thing. it is nothing that economists measure. you look at jobs that are either -- that are lost, if you will. when he's advocating the global climate change bill he's talking about, how can he create jobs when that one is estimated to cost 2.5 million jobs. >> you and other republicans have zero credibility when you

talk about jobs. you have zero ideas how to create jobs. >> that's not true, arianna. >> the government is just about the only entity spending at the moment. i'm very glad the president is taking $30 billion of t.a.r.p. money and putting it into community banks. we've been advocating that for a while, asking people to move their banks too big to fail and putting it into community banks and credit unions that have a much better chance of actually lending to small businesses that create jobs. but in the end, the government also needs to be involved. >> but what they did was under the auspices of a stimulus package they stitched together whatever they want -- >> i'm talking about a -- >> it's clear whether you're. >> larry: we'll get the final word are the gentleman. hill, are you confident he'll turn this economy around? >> yes, larry. this is the first quarter of a four-quarter game. we're not even at half time yet. give the man a chance. be patient. let's talk solutions.

>> larry: kevin, are we jumping too soon? >> on the economy or on the president? >> larry: on all the hang time. >> i think the analogy is correct that we're still in the first quarter of a four-quarter game. we have a lot of time for the president to continue to try to turn around his administration. this is somebody who obviously we know he has an incredible intellect. he feels strongly about his policies, as wrong as i thing they are. six months is a lifetime in politics. in 2008 they were saying that the republican party is dead. we just won three straight elections. things can change quickly. >> larry: and obviously, we have just the beginning of the second quarter. lots of action ahead. this is a three-year super bowl left. and that's it for us. state tuned