are treated fairly and equally in every aspect of american life. >> reporter: the president needs women to win as his party rails at a war against them. >> turning back the clock for women really is something that is unacceptable. >> the left is ratcheting up the rhetoric. >> this november we're going to remember. >> how you threw women under the bus. >> but is the argument backfiring? >> the real war on women has been the job losses as a result of the obama economy. >> the american people are smarter than that and women are smarter than that. >> 2012 is no 2008 when president obama handily won the women's vote. this week two polls showed president obama and his republican rival inches apart. a gallup poll looks a lot like 2008 with the president leading romney by nine points among women. but the shocker came from a cbs/"new york times" poll with romney holding a slight edge over mr. obama. joining me now are hillary

rosen, a cnn political contributor and democratic strategist and margaret hoover, a republican consultant, cnn political contributor, and the great granddaughter of president herbert hoover. margaret, who was born in my home state of iowa, a hero to iowans. margaret, for months democrats have said a republican war on women will help president obama. these polls, are they telling us something different? >> i think that it's true. i think the republican or the republicans' war on women was this mechanism that seems to have been contrived by democratic strategists but in order to exploit the gains among women. the truth is when you look at the numbers democrats and president obama need to win more women because they're losing men. and so they won women handily in 2008, split women evenly in 2010. they need women to come back to the democratic fold if they're going to win in november. >> and certainly women were really energized in 2008 and that is something that is important from the democrats' point of view. hillary, i want to ask you. women care about jobs more than anything else. do you think it was a mechanism as she puts it, margaret puts

it? was the war on women a mechanism for the political season? >> well, i mean, first of all we shouldn't think of women as a constituency group. we are a majority of the country number one. when a candidate is trying to lead the country policies toward women matter a lot. it's not sort of a tactical political move. and, you know, i think that first of all you should just know i hate this word war on women. >> i know. it's been so political and terrible. >> so sound bited to death. such a bad vibe and terrible energy and it's just -- it really is disturbing. let's go back to i think that this kind of started when there was that big fight over contraception. >> right. >> and reproductive health and those issues. let's put those aside because you really smartly focus on money. so aside from whether or not policies go there there are three things that women in particular and all

citizens will look at when it comes to who to vote for in november. the first is, you know, who's created jobs. the second is, what is the tax policy that's going to help. the third is, what is the, you know, the things that a president has control over like a federal budget there are a lot of things they don't have control over. how does the budget policy affect women in particular? and i think kind of on all three of those things people are going to come down on president obama's side. we've had, you know, 20 -- >> you're not worried about the cbs/"new york times" -- i know there's six months to go but it really caught a lot of people by surprise. >> it did. and i think the obama campaign is sort of debunking several components of it as a bunch of outliers in terms of who they're serving. let's just, you know, polls are going to go up and down and move all around but i think when you look at things, you know, the romney campaign is trying to be, portraying themselves as job creators.

you know, mitt romney actually when he was governor of massachusetts was the third lowest in the country for job creation. >> people want to know who is going to create a job in the future. you know, we can hash out all of the track records but in an interesting twist on this, margaret, i'll bring you in. mitt romney can say, look at what this president, what his policies are doing right now. and that's where they have been focusing. right? he's been saying, look. i can make it better because i understand business. that means i can make jobs for women and for men and for however you want to break the demographic. >> what republican women of course are doing is trying to push back and saying, look. all issues that are relevant to the electorate are relevant to women. you have 14 members of congress. women members of congress came out and wrote an article in politico saying 85% of health care decisions are made by women. 85% of a family's consumer purchases are made by women in the family. two-thirds of all new businesses, startup businesses are started by women.

all of these issues, job recovery, economic recovery, debt deficit reduction, all of these affect women no differently than men. but these are women's issues. so this is an effective pushback of the gop. and we just have to sort of look at the record. how is the economy doing? has it not been as strong a recovery and women have been disproportionately affected? >> do you think women are going to be less energized this fall than in 2008? >> i think americans are less energized. people are frustrated. you know, people want greater economic growth. i don't think -- i think the enthusiasm factor on the republican side is, you know, potentially as low as it is on the democratic side. but let's talk about kind of the record and where this goes. we have had 26 straight months of job growth. an interesting statistic christine that ali was talking about on tv last week. >> the best -- >> wait. >> go ahead. >> wait. president obama has finally restored all of the jobs lost before he came into office and now we get into job growth.

somebody had to restore the jobs lost. now we get into job growth. who has got the best plans to do that? and i think that what we are going to have to compare is does a romney economic policy, which essentially provides additional tax breaks for the wealthy, no investment in education and technology and energy and those sorts of things compare -- >> let me roll back for a second. for every one of those economic statistics the other team can take it and turn it upside down. i watch it happen. i can read the press releases in my mind from both teams, the minute the jobs numbers come out. you're right. the president has restored a lot of those jobs that have been lost, almost all of them. but not keeping up with population growth it's still the slowest jobs recovery of our lifetime. so -- >> right. but you know what the job growth drag is? >> the key is whose message do people believe? >> exactly right. >> the person who owns the message is going to own the

election. and that's what i think is so interesting about some of these polls this week. >> and that is exactly -- also, you know, just to say another point because hillary made such a good point on her side. you know, there is also this question many articles now, how many people left the work force entirely? so even when you talk about jobs recovery if people aren't even competing in the work force you still have over 8 percent unemployment. i think you're right. it is whose message is going to be believable and at the end of the day people are going to ask are you better off today than four years ago? >> i think also what kind of capitalist are you? are you an obama capitalist or romney capitalist? >> you guys, so nice to talk to you this morning. thanks for dropping by. nice to see you. have a great weekend. >> you too. coming up next reach high. you could end up in the white house. dream big. you could end up a supreme court justice. that's the message from two of the nation's highest achievers to america's class of 2012. how much student debt does it take to get there? ♪

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viagra. talk to your doctor. it's graduation week for many schools across the country. from the president to the supreme court justice the commencement message was clear. dream big. >> if you fight for your seat at the table and you set a better example and you persevere in what you decide to do with your life, i have every faith not only that you will succeed but

that through you our nation will continue to be a beacon of light for men and women, boys and girls, in every corner of the globe. >> i am sure you are a little sad about leaving some of your friends and leaving your familiar and comfortable routines. a little fearful of the unknown challenges life will bring finding a career in uncertain economic times. >> but students are optimistic. >> there are a lot of jobs that are needed so i'm pretty confident i'll find something. >> there are definitely opportunities out there. you can tell it's not the same market as it would have been five or six years ago. it's definitely tough. >> i don't have a job lined up. i'm not sure what i want to do but i'm pretty sure it's going to work out. >> for 1.8 million graduates it's going to be big dreams and big debt. i'm joined by cnn political analyst roland martin and aaron smith cofounder and executive director of young invincibles an

advocacy group for 18 and -- kids 18 to 35 years old. now, roland, student debt. the conventional wisdom is these kids are drowning in it. 94% of under grads borrow now. they've got some 20,000 plus in debt. but, roland, i've written about this and reported about it. that should be manageable once people get a job. >> right. it should be. and that's -- there is a thing i believe, christine, called good debt. and that is this college degree is putting you in a position to be able to get a job to earn a certain amount of income. i think you have to look at this thing over a ten-year period. that is this. that's how i look at it. i came out of college with about $30,000 worth of debt and that was in 1991. and so if you say over a ten-year period you have an average salary of about, you know, $40,000 and that's adjusted for growth over that period you're talking about $400,000 gross that you would

earn in a ten-year period based upon a $20,000 student loan. if you went out and got a car that was a $25,000, $30,000 car note, you're going to lose value in that car and so i think we have to look at student debt in a different way but it must be manageable and not some crazy $100,000, $150,000. >> let's be clear. that is the one percent of the 99 percent of kids who are getting student debt the ones with hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> precisely. >> aaron, i want to lay out the job situation here. because the issue is once you get a job you can start to pay the debt but we know a rutgers university survey found just over half of recent college grads are working full-time. and gallup says, aaron, one in three, 18 to 29-year-olds in the work force, was underemployed meaning they were doing a job that they were underqualified -- they could be doing something much bigger. president obama is calling for you. your generation to fight for a seat at the table. you know, your generation is seen as generation entitled

complaining about debt that should be an investment and kind of waiting for the right job to come around. picking majors that the economy doesn't favor anymore. >> well, you know, we just finished 21-state bus tour hitting over 43 different campuses. we talked to graduates all across the country and absolutely the economy is brutal but the optimism that you said, you suggested is definitely out there. i mean, this is a generation that we've done polling and find they want to work hard. they know education pays off and is the key to success. but i absolutely agree that the college is still a good investment but the question is at what point does the cost really start to work against graduates? we are seeing tuition that's going up. >> right. >> three times since the 1980s. it's just not sustainable. >> you know what, christine? i think we need to be honest about something as well. you hit a critical point when you said, what is your major? people have to study. and i believe as a high school

sophomore, junior, and senior, where are the available jobs in america? where are the areas where you are going to have growth? also where are you going to have people who are retiring? you have to say, what is my major and what is the profession i'm going in? not just that. does my profession require a masters degree as well? >> right. >> i know lots of students who are going to get masters who don't need them and they're incurring more debt. >> you're right about that. the economy is changing so quickly. we don't do a good enough job of telling kids what the prospects are out there. we also still have this feeling in america that we're the leader in the world and college is a place to find yourself. to find yourself to be a well rounded person and then to enter into a dynamic labor market that is going to embrace you. that's just not the way it is right now. >> i hate that phrase. i hate that whole notion of looking for yourself because while you're looking for yourself you're spending either your parents' money or you are trying to get more loans going into debt. i also believe, christine, that on the high school level, we've

got to staff up aggressively when it comes to advising people. also, taking advantage of people who are in the industries right now who can say, no. here is the appropriate advice that you need. i knew i was going to be a journalist. i knew that my industry did not require a masters degree and so i said, look. get the bs and then get in the work force versus incurring more debt. >> let me bring you in. we see all this optimism from your generation and one thing that hr experts tell me is that your generation doesn't know you can't do it. you also don't have mortgages and kids and a lot of other responsibilities. you can be more mobile and nimble and you are the first real generation in the work force who was born tech savvy. do you think those are things that are, you know, we're looking at you with generation x eyes here. >> there is tremendous potential for this generation because they are so tech savvy because they are so entrepreneurial.

there is a lot going in our favor. at the same time, you know, we have these concerns that we're not investing in this generation in the same way we have in the past and hitting on the point about information there is a total information gap. young people don't necessarily know where the jobs are and they're not being provided. you know, a lot of schools are cutting guidance counselors. those are the people who should be providing -- >> you can watch every weekend to find out where the jobs are and what they pay. we do this over and over again. another really important point here fellas is kids can take on as much debt as they possibly can. you could not buy a car with less scrutiny or a house with less scrutiny. you couldn't even apply for a job with less scrutiny than it is for getting just loading up on student debt so all of those things are really important factors here. thank you so much for joining us. have a great weekend, guys. >> thanks very much. all right. coming up next facebook makes history. it starts trading on the nasdaq but if you're upset you didn't get a piece of facebook it might be a good thing. we'll tell you why the odds were

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facebook has now gone public, meaning you could own a share of this company. the frenzy of the ipo behind us, the question is whether you should get in on the action at this point. ali velshi and i have been arguing about this, like every other couple who battles about money, all week. tell me why it's a good idea to buy the stock. >> okay, maybe this isn't the best proof why you should buy the stock. this just isn't over hype. this is the second transformation of the internet. the first from the portals, comp

you serve, aol and yao hoo still looks like one, you get everything you didn't know to look for on one page. and you went to search. a little box where you put any question you could possibly think of into this thing, and people smarter than you, you don't know if they are really people, answer the question. but facebook is taking the internet a space that is a journey through life occur racu by your friends and community that you choose. a new way to look at the most powerful tool in the world. if you belief that's important, then you should buy the stock. >> if you believe advertisers and facebook can make money off that, that's a reason to buy the stock. there is a reason why anybody can't walk up and buy a share of facebook. we take a company public to see what it's going to do look under the hood. find out -- >> can't do that with private companies, we'll start to learn now, today, companies public, the day is ahead and the quarter is ahead, where the company

reports to the government what it's doing. that's where we get a real look at facebook. i'm the conservative type who says ipos are risky, if you are not a seasoned investors, could lose money. >> we talk about advertising, and you feel like you have to make sure. >> i'm concerned about advertising. oh, my goodness. i'm concerned about advertising. what is the business moldle for th this company? not all ads get clicked on. >> you buy a stock to sell it for more money than you paid for it. if you think you can do that with facebook. can you buy it this week and sell it for more two years, three years later. coming up, if i told you buy selling your house for less than you paid for it is a smart move, would you believe me? a party?

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for years, nothing but bad news in housing. two years ago it looked like buying a house was buying at the bottom. not quite. but in real estate, sometimes getting ahead means taking a loss. scott nooner is a geo physicist. kate nooner is a brain researcher. no question, this couple is smart. their saviest move of late. >> tell me about the advice you got for staging. >> reporter: putting their home on the market for 10% less than they paid for it. >> look at this, these are the brokers that viewed this house. >> over 92.

>> the nooners have exciting new jobs in north carolina. they don't have much time to pack up and move, so they priced their home to sell quickly. >> definitely a pretty bitter pill to swallow as we were making this decision. >> it may not be easy, but selling at a loss gives something valuable in return. piece of mind. robbi ludwig says life can't wait for the housing market to improve. >> we are in an economy, a housing market, where 5% to 10% loss is a good thing in the end. we live in different economic times. to measure things against an old economy doesn't make sense and isn't appropriate. >> reporter: the first spring selling season in years that hasn't been, well, miserable. housing affordability is the best in 40 years, relentless price declines are slowing and surveys point to prices creeping higher next year. housing starts are up, and home building confidence are at a five-year time. a true recovery in housing comes only with a better job market.

>> the bottom line, you know, you can't have a household you back from living your life. >> that's what we ultimately decided. even if we lose money, if that's the right move for us, we decided we have to do it. >> their strategy sure paid off. after a successful open house, they received several offers and they accepted one for about 5% less than they paid for their home in 2010. all right. if you have a question you would like to us answer, find us on facebook and twitter, cnn bottomline. mine is @christineromans. back to cnn saturday. have a great weekend. from cnn world headquarters in atlanta this is "cnn saturday morning." a bride stabbed to death in her bathtub, the suspect, her new husband. now an international manhunt as the fbi follows leads to mexico. >> wrr and it's a multimillion do