afghanistan and they say a dozen years at war is enough and he concedes that getting out could be a messy process and a former rutgers student sentenced to 30 days in jail for spying on his gay roommate with a webcam. that roommate committed suicide. was it a fair sentence? we begin with evening with president obama's most personal and most direct critique of his republican challenger, mitt romney. speaking in chicago at the conclusion of the nato summit and brush ago side criticism from a prominent democratic ally the president took aim at governor romney's tun you're at the head of the private equity firm bain capital. >> this issue is, quote, not a distraction. this is part of a debate we'll be having in this election campaign about how do we create an economy where everybody from top to bottom, folks on wall street and folks on main street, have a shot at success?

>> the distraction critique came from cory booker who sunday urged the president and republicans to focus on the country's biggest problem. >> this kind of stuff is nauz ating on both sides. it is nauz ating to the american public. enough is enough. stop attacking private equity. >> asked about mayor booker's critique the president praised his friend and then dismissed the criticism. >> the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent governor romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. he is not going out there touting his experience in mis. massachusetts. he is saying i am a business guy and i know how to fix it and this is his business and when you're president as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. your job is to figure out how

everybody in the country has a fair shot. >> our chief white house core spend ent jessica yellen was on hand and sometimes you think it is the distracting strategy but making quite clear he not only completely agrees he is prepared to continue to step on the throttle here. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, john. the campaign will continue with this bain strategy. they believe that it connects very effectively with the voters they want to reach most, middle income voters, people who in the words of campaign strategists feel the deck is stacked against them. the president today for the first time picked up the line of attack that his campaign has been waging for weeks and frankly democrats have been waging since january, john. there were democrats in iowa during the gop primary there who were bringing along some people who were laid off by a firm that had been they said shut down by

bain activities and pushing this line of attack then, and so today the president defending the message that effectively mitt romney is not as the campaign says not a job creator but a job killer and the president defending this position and saying that they're not attacking wealth. he believes that creating wealth is good but this is a fair -- this is all fair game for his campaign, john. >> and as they take fair game, do they worry at all when they have a prominent african-american democrat and a good friend like cory booker, when you have the former democratic congressman from tennessee, ford, and steve ratner and when they have the more pro business democrats saying, well, mr. president, do they worry ought all there could be a negative impact? >> i am sorry? are they worried about getting negative attacks in response? >> do they worry the criticism could hurt in the end. >> they're not worried about the democratic response because they're so convinced this

message works with the people they need to reach the most because, look, the bottom line is cory booker slipped on what he said. he didn't flip entirely, but he took back enough of it and they're going to continue with this message no matter what because they think it connects with the vo voters they need to reach period. you heard the president stand by this campaign strategy because they believe bottom line, john, it works. >> it is not just the romney campaign complaining that teem obama is highlighting the blemishing but ignoring the successes. bain capital is usually publicity shy but today it issued a strongly worded statement criticizing the latest attack. it reads in part throughout bain capital's 28 year history we have been focused on growing businesses and improving their operations despite political attacks that emphasize the few

companies that have struggled, the facts are that during bain capital's ownership revenues grew 80% in the more than 350 companies in which we have invested. tim acosta joins us now live with more and, jim, the bain capital statement was a bit earlier and i want to read from a statement governor romney himself issued. he said president obama confirmed he will continue his attacks on the free enter surprise system which mayor booker and other leading democrats that have spoken out against. what this is about is the 23 million americans who are still struggling to find work and the millions who have lost their homes and fallen into poverty and president obama refuses to accept moral responsibility for his failed policies and my campaign is offering a positive agenda to help america get back to work. despite the last reference about a positive agenda it is very clear today if the president wants to put bain in play governor romney is prepared to kickback just as hard and i don't think it will be positive from here on out. >> that's right. last week the romney campaign was trying to find its footing on how to respond to some of these bain attacks and what's

interesting about that statement that you read from mitt romney, listen to the first line that is in a romney campaign web video just released earlier today. have you had enough of president obama's attacks on free enterprise? almost word-for-word what mitt romney said in the same statement in this web video that the romney campaign but out also uses the word bain. that is not something we heard from the romney campaign so far. they released a web video last week that talked about a different steel factory that had done okay after bain capital had come in and that ad referred to a private sector leadership team that worked with mitt romney, didn't talk about bain, but in this web video you hear cory booker clearly saying the word bain, and i talked to a romney advisor earlier this afternoon and asked about what do you think about what's going on with mayor booker and how the obama campaign is dealing with this, and his response was that this shows that anybody who is not walking the, quote, not

antibusiness line inside obama world is punished, so you hear our tax on the free enterprise system from mitt romney, attacks on the free enterprise system in the web ad and antibusiness in the statements coming from romney advisers. john, it almost sounds like antijobs, antieconomy, and this is moving in their direction and at least that's the way they look at it, john. >> so they will push back at the president, jim, and his record, his tenure as president of the united states and take us behind the curtain. governor romney has experience at this. senator kennedy when he ran against romney years ago, the kennedy campaign used bain effectively including the same examples. when romney ran for governor, his democratic opponent tried again and it wasn't as successful. newt gingrich, rick perry wrought it up and what do they think and what are the lessons learned, the bruises, and the best way to respond when essentially people say he is a heartless, corporate greedy guy. >> so far up until this weekend they really haven't been saying that much. they were sort of reluctant to talk about this publicly. you remember last week they were trying to shoe reporters away

from the rope line to keep the prosecute he is from asking the questions and i did talk to a senior advisor behind the scenes that day and what's the deal with all of this and why are you so reluctant to talk about this and the message that he was putting forward is wait a minute, keep in mind bain, people at bain have supported democrats in the past and they have contributed money to democrats in the past and they're located up in boston for pete sakes, so they feel like they have some ground to stand on when it comes to these attacks and make no mistake, i don't think they want to have this go on for months and months and months as it appears to be the case, at least that's what the president said today. he says this is going to be what the campaign is about. this is not a distraction. the romney campaign is hoping it is a distraction, john. >> jim, thanks so much. in the pointed remarks today the president suggested romney's profit orient the mission at bain wasn't compassionate enough toer carry over to the oval office. >> so if your main argument for

how to grow the economy is i knew how to make a lot of money for investors, then you're missing what this job is about. it doesn't mean you weren't good at private equity. that's not what my job is as president. my job is to take into account everybody, not just some. >> chief political analyst gloria borger is here with more. if you strip away this, the specifics about what the president says and what romney says about the economic tenure, this is an argument for voters who is best on your side and who will fight for you and your job, is it not? >> yeah, and i think what they're both trying to do is turn this into a character issue. presidential campaigns are about character. they're about values. you first heard it from the obama campaign using bain

capital as evidence that these same values as the obama people say would have severe consequences as they put it for the middle class. what was interesting to me today about romney's statement that he released within the last hour is that he said president obama refuses to accept moral responsibility for his failed choices. this is the first time i have heard the romney campaign kind of throw it right back at the obama campaign and say, okay, you want to have an argument about values? you want to have an argument about morality? you want to have an argument about character? well, what about all of the jobs that were lost? so you see where the romney campaign is headed on this one, john. >> glor a i think there is no question the romney campaign is going to have to do more and maybe get help from bain in doing more and saying here are the successes and here are the failures. we h what romney says and bain

allies say, yes, some of the companies we tried to turn around, it didn't work. when it didn't work, we shut them down. that's painful. how is that any different? i want you to listen. this is the president of the united states talking about his challenge and reinventing government and at times facing hard choices about shutting down agencies. >> no business or non-profit leader would allow this kind of duplication or unnecessary complexity their operations. you wouldn't do it when you're thinking about your businesses. so why is it okay for our government? it is not. it has to change. >> not exactly the same, gloria, but couldn't governor romney say sometimes you have to make a tough call. >> right. he could. he could also point back to president obama then senator obama's vote on not raising the debt ceiling. okay? which president obama has since said was a bad vote. so, you know, i think the romney campaign can find plenty of

areas in which it could say to president obama, well, you know what, maybe your experience didn't lead you to make the best decisions and how do you know my experience wouldn't lead me to make better decisions? i think this is the kind of argument as cory booker said that the american public in the end may not tune into as much as the obama campaign would hope because each side has an argument to make and meanwhile people are worried about they're jobs. president obama clearly wants to carry this argument on and on, though, john, and he will. >> you can see the president's passion today. there is no question he believes it. >> he is driving it. >> he is clearly -- it is interesting. i think he is clearly driving this strategy. this is not a campaign who is telling a candidate what to do. it is clearly a president that says this is what this campaign is about for me.

>> gloria borger, appreciate your insight. up next, an afghan president reacts to nato's decision to speed up the time able to get the african forces the lead in fighting the taliban and later the accusations of gang rape leveled against a disgraced former head of the international monetary fund. we're live. ♪... ♪... ♪...

choose the perfect hotel in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better.

♪ i'm a wife, i'm a mom... and chantix worked for me. it's a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. my inspiration for quitting were my sons. they were my little cheering squad. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix

is right for you. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix in the latino communityr retirement. the word that we use is jubilation. as you're getting older, you should be able to do the things that you love. critical decisions about winding down the long egest war. they intend to speed up the transition. >> we agreed that afghan forces will take the lead for combat operations next year in

mid-2013. at that time istaff forces will have shifted from combat to a support role in all parts of the country. >> my colleague wolf blitz certificate on hand at the nato summit in chicago and spoke exclusively with hamid karzai that says war weary taxpayers will save money come 2014. >> 2014 will be a year in which the united states will not be spending as much money in afghanistan as it is spending today and it will save money and we will be providing security ourselves. >> wolf, he sounds confident, president karzai, that his forces are ready to take on the job. what was your sense eye-to-eye with them? are they ready? >> he certainly does sound confident and he gives the impression that they're ready to take charge. i have to tell you from other sources the u.s. sources on the ground, nato sources, they're not all that confident and this

timeline will necessarily work, that when the u.s. begins to pull out significant forces 2013 and 2014, still another two-and-a-half years until all u.s. forces are out of afghanistan, still going to be awhile. they're not sure that the afghan troops will be ready. we'll see. karzai insists they're moving in the right direction and disagrees with the house and senate intelligence committees that the taliban is stronger now they say than a year ago and he says that is not true and disagreeing with diane fienstien and making that point and there seems to be disagreement although he says all the right things in public. >> fascinating conversation and wide ranging conversation including americans may be tired of a war that began ten years ago. if they were right after 9/11 one of the face of the taliban was omar, and you put this question to president karzai.

>> even muhammed omar, in total alliance with al qaeda and osama bin laden before 9/11, if he were to pop up some place and your troops were to find him, let's say, would they arrest him? would they kill him? would you negotiate a deal with him? >> well, we are talking of peace. we're not talking of arrests or of killing. >> even muhammed omar. >> we're not talking about that. we are talking of peaceful afghanistan. we are talking stability and security for afghanistan. >> isn't that huge one. >> piece with the taliban. people criticize the obama administration for being willing to accept the taliban under certain conditions. they say they shouldn't accept the taliban and they should kill the taliban and you heard that from a lot of the critics of the obama administration and in this particular case even though they're fighting the afghan troops and the nature owe

troops, the u.s. troops are fighting the taliban now they're still at the same time willing to negotiate a seltsment and it was prizing to hear him say, yes, even muhammed omar, the guy in charge of afghanistan before 9/11 when worked closely with osama bin laden and al qaeda, even he under certain circumstances would be welcome into some sort of partnership, so it is a strange situation to put it mildly, john, and one that a lot of folks can't understand but it is one they're working on over there in afghanistan and a lot of questions that remain to be answered and huge uncertainty and by no means a done deal. >> striking how he said it so matter of factually. my colleague live for us in chicago. if you missed the interview go to cnn and a very important conversation. thanks so much. facebook's brand new stock did an about face today. we'll have allie how the price

headed downhill in a hurry and a record price for a piece of sports history. we're live in boston, massachusetts. back in a moment. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... 1 ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.

domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. we love theme parks but with four kids, it can just be too expensive. yeah, so to save money we just de our own. oh no! what could be worse than ninety-foot swells?! typhoon! first prize! it's a cheese grater. wooooo... this isn't scary. are you kidding me?

look at that picture of your mom's hair from the '80s. there's an easier way to save. wooohooo... geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

welcome back. here is kate baldwin with the latest news you need to know right now. >> we begin with a story just into cnn, a congressional source confirms three agents from the

drug enforcement administration are under investigation for allegedly hiring prostitutes in cartagena, columbia. a dea spokesman says the agency has provided information from the secret service unrelated to the secret service hotel incident during president obama's columbia summit last month. i am sure much more will develop on that. french prosecutors are looking into allegations of a gang rape involving former international monetary fund chief dominique strauss kahn. the alleged incident took place here in washington about five months before a new york hotel made accused him of rape. those charges were dropped and an attorney says strauss kahn has never committed an act of violence. an alarming new study suggests the rising generation of u.s. adolescents may be heart attacks waiting to happen. the study that we found on health.com says 34% of u.s. adolescents are overweight or obese. 14% already have high blood pressure, and 23% either have diabetes or borderline

condition. very concerning stuff. finally, a new york yankees jersey worn by babe ruth holds the record as the highest price piece of sports memorabilia auctioned over the weekend for a shade over 4.4 million dollars. the babe wore it in 190 and i am told that's the year your boss traded him to the yankees. >> that may have been a mistake. >> you know, hindsight is 2020. >> yes, it sure is, or 1920. we'll see you in a few minutes. facebook's brand new stock took a hit. we'll ask ali why facebook droppedes more than 10% and whether it is still a good deal and the truth about why president obama is ignoring his critics even in his own party and zeroing in on mitt romney's business record. live from boston, back in a moment. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac!

[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! [ engine turns over ] [ male announcer ] we began with the rx. [ tires squeal ] then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx and the next chapter for lexus. see your lexus dealer. and the next chapter for lexus. where they grow america's favorite wpotatoes. idaho, everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they're good for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart association for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. so they're good for my family, and for yours. heart smart idaho potatoes.

always look for the grown in idaho seal. lastin florida we hadulf's best tomore sun tans...years. in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records down here on the gulf. more people more good times. this year we're out to do even better... and now's a great time to start. the sun's out and the beaches are even more relaxing. you can go deep sea fishing or enjoy our world-class restaurants... our hotels and rentals have special deals for the whole family. go golfing, kite boarding, or build the worlds biggest sand sculpture... with the world's best sand. so come on down to mississippi... get yourself down to louisiana... we'll see you in florida... you know you want to come to alabama. the gulf is america's get-a-way... and we're 100 percent ready to see you. come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for the gulf.

brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

and zeroing in on mitt romney's this half hour sentencing day for the former rutgers student whose webcam spying led to his gay roommate's suicide and will he be deported to his native country of india. and another disappointing day for facebook. should it worry the founder mark zuckerberg and the truth about why the obama came pain isn't going to let up in the attacks on mitt romney's bain record any time soon. faust book founder mark zuckerberg was maefrd over the

weekend but the company's sliding stock hasn't been a great p.r. move. shares in the social media giant dropped 11% below friday's closing price ending the day at $34 a share. this just a bump for facebook or the sign of a larger problem for the company? ali joins us to break it down. what's happening here? was there just too much hype? >> you know what, i know it is not really going to be as interesting to hear. this is really a problem for the syndicate that underwrites the offering which is morgan stanley and about 30 other banks. they priced it incorrectly. no company can be relied upon to find out the price of the ipo. they want a price to create demand and give the early stage investors a good return on the money and they depend on morgan stanley to come out and say what's the right price and come out and be big and morgan stanley got greedy and put a price on that was too high, $38, and the market said no, it is actually worth 34 dollars and today to $33. what they should have done if you remember, john, we talked

about, this the original range was 28 to $35. they should have priced it in that range. they felt the demand was high for this stock and in the course of the two-week roadshow what happened is people started to hear a lot in the media about the growth problems and people asked about how they're going to make money when everybody uses mobile phones and they didn't have a good answer for it and in the i understand invest oshz simply didn't have the appetite. this is much more a technical wall street kind of problem. it was just priced too high. it doesn't actually say anything about the company at all. >> that is my follow-up. have you a negative reaction among investors. does it have any impact at all from a consumer sfand boint. >> everybody is a little less rich and the company has a little less money but when google went public it was a search engine. today it is a company that has google plus and coming up with driverless cars and has glasses and that's what the being a public company does. it gives you that much more money that you can hire that many more engineers and the world is your oyster and you can start to think about things and

facebook will still do that. the price of the stock probably ends up higher in a year than it is now but for all of our viewers, john, that's exactly what they should have been thinking about. what is the price a year from now, not day one. this business of tracking ipos and performance in the first week, that's for guys like me who follow this all the time. ultimately facebook will be the same experience. it will get richer. it will meaning the experience will get richer and mean more to consumers and this will be a blip in history, but this is really more damaging for wall street and the investment bank than it is for facebook. >> chief business corresponden ali velshi breaking it down. turning to an emotional day in court and a light sentence in a bullying case. da ruin ravi was convicted of bies intimidation. clementi committed suicide the nature after ravi invited online friends to spy on him while the roommate was on a date. he could have received ten years in prison and be deported to

india but instead he will serve 30 days in prison, three years probation and pay $10,000 to a program that helps victim of hate crimes. prosecutors are furious. they say they plan to appeal the sentence calling it, quote, insufficient. jeffly toobin joins us from new york. jeff, to that point, it does sound like a remarkably light sentence, no? >> it sure does. the heart of the case was a paradox. was this a prank that got out of control after the factor was it a hate crime? he was convicted of a hate crime but the judge really treated this like a prank. he didn't really take into consideration the aftermath of the law, of what happened, tyler clementi's suicide and in light of that the judge treated it in a much lighter way and 30 days is a lot less than the ten-year maximum but even much less than the year or two the prosecutors sought in the case. >> when prosecutors appeal a

sentence, what's the track record? do they have a prayer? >> very little chance. the judge has a great deal of discretion. the sentence was zero range. the sentencing range was zero to ten years. this sentence was within the range. there are no binding sentencing guidelines in new jersey that forced the judge to sentence within a certain range. i think this is a registering of outrage by the prosecution and frankly i don't we grudge them the fact they're very disappointed in the sentence but as a legal matter i don't think they have much chance of having the sentence over turned. >> as this played out, it was a dramatic case all along and a dramatic trial and city sentencing hearing you had both mothers, the mother of the victim spoke to the court and the mother of the defendant spoke to the court and jeff in the sentencing the judge went through a long litany essentially very, very critical of the defendant and then goes pretty light. i mean, what was your sense on the theater, the drama, and the

end result? >> i think the judge wanted to send a message that this was a serious crime, that this crime is going to be taken seriously, but at the end of the day, the judge was not going to send ravi away for a long time. one of the reasons i think people were so surprised by this sentence is that ravi himself has shown minimal remorse. he gave really an apaulg interview to chris como of abc news and never really come to grips with what a terrible thing he did leaving many people to speculate he would get really banged because this is something that judges care about often which is remorse and acceptance of responsibility but even in the absence of serious remorse on the part of ravi, the judge did not hit him very hard. >> and any chance now at all he will be deported is does this guarantee he can stay in the states if he wants to? >> i think that is very unlikely at this point. it is a separate legal

proceeding and involves the federal government as opposed to the state government and which handled this prosecution, and i think given such a small sentence the chance is really, really remote. >> important case, jeff. thanks. coming up when we return, will president obama's tough talk on bain capital backfire or help him over the top on election day? remember, we're live in boston tonight. as we go to break, the old state house. genco services -- mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country.

from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn... financing industries that are creating jobs in boston... providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community... and lending to ensure a north texas hospital continues to deliver quality care. because the more we can do in local neighborhoods and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. >> announcer: this is the day. the day that we say to the world

of identity thieves "enough." we're lifelock, and we believe you have the right to live free from the fear of identity theft. our pledge to you? as long as there are identity thieves, we'll be there. we're lifelock. and we offer the most comprehensive identity theft protection ever created. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. liberty mutual auto insurance.

cory booker is the mayor of newark, new jersey. not shy, loves to tweet and maybe you saw in the news he ran into a neighbor's house during a fire and played super hero. he fashions himself as a straight shooter and there is zero reason to believe he meant every word of this. >> this kind of stuff is nauseaating to me on both sides and to the public and enough is enough. stop attacking private equity. stop attacking jeremiah wright. this stuff has to stop. it under mines to me what this country should be focused on. it is a distraction from the real issues. it is either going to be a small campaign about this or a big campaign about the issues that the american public cares about. >> now, focus on the big issues. you heard there, solid advice from a solid guy. team obama went into immediate hyperdrive and pushed booker to take that private equity meaning

bain capital part back. >> mitt romney has made his business record a centerpiece of his campaign. he talked about himself as a job creator and therefore it is reasonable and in fact i encourage it for the obama campaign to examine that record and to discuss it. >> romney has made that the centerpiece of his campaign and it is way more than reasonable for the obama campaign to question that record. context, though, would be nice, and in a rare statement bain capitol took issue. despite political attacks that emphasize the few company that is have struggled, the company said, the facts are during bain capital ownership revenues grew in 80% in more than 350 companies in which we have invested. democrats who work at bain and democrats who support president obama who work at bain also told me the obama campaign attacks are in their view painting an unfair picture of bain and of governor romney's work there and don't expect team obama to

change strategy. truth is the goal is simple and from a politics perspective it is smart. persuade voters they can't trust romney to look out for them and the president needs to make this case because if it isn't just a referen dumb -- if it is just a referendum on his economic record he could well lose the election. nearly 6 in 10 americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction. a majority of americans disapprove of how the president is handling the economy. now, those numbers aren't good for any incumbent. we should be here, they aren't as bad as they were a few months ago, but team obama isn't taking any chances or taking any advice from friends who find those bain attacks over the top. here to talk truth, editor in chief of red state.com and contributor eric erickson and maria cardona and michael crowley. eric, i want to go to you first and bring the president into the conversation as we do so. a short time ago at the nato summit, at the end of the summit

he did a news conference in chicago and made clear in his view why he thinks this is not only fair game but very relevant. >> the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, governor romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. he is not touting his experience in massachusetts. he is saying i am a business guy, and i know how to fix it and this is his business. >> you don't dispute it is fair game, do you? what is missing in your view from how the democrats are going about this? >> i think context is probably what's missing. steven ratner, an obama appointee point out as cory booker implied the other day and a number of other democrats pointed out and one of the chief attacks they're raising lately is mitt romney wasn't at bain capital when it happened, when one of the places was shut down, he was saving the olympics, so

totally fair game but at least go after the things mitt romney was involved in just as mitt romney when he goes after barack obama should go after the things barack obama was involved in. for example, don't go after barack obama for tarp. that was a george bush thing. go after obama on the stimulus. >> does the president in his campaign, do they have a responsibility to have context and double and triple check dates or in your view it is all fair game and anything bain has done in its history is fair to throw at romney? >> to go back to something that eric said, mitt romney was actually at bain, he was still listed as the ceo of bain when that company went under, so let's just put that out there. that is a fact. yes, john, when the obama campaign prosecutes this and puts this on trial they should be dealing with th facts and my understanding is everything they have put out there has stood up in terms of facts. eric also brought up ratner.

ratner was of the one who said that mitt romney should not have mentioned that at bain that he created 100,000 jobs because he even said and this is what the obama campaign's point is that that wasn't his first priority as ceo of bain. his first priority was not creating jobs, it was making money for himself and his investors. that is fine. don't put that out there and use that as a reason why american voters should trust to you look out for american workers and look out for what's best for the economy in terms of growing jobs. >> michael crowley, you know from covering campaign that is sometimes you wonder and you're getting stuff from the staff and they're saying this is what is effective and you start to think does the candidate really believe this or is this the staff? any doubt watching the president, the passion with which he took off governor romney and the ban issue and not only does he believe this issue but he thinks it is the right fight? >> he does seem to think it is the right fight, john.

it is an interesting contrast to the obama we saw at the beginning of the first run for president. he was initially saying he was not going to -- he was going to run a positive campaign and reviewed staffers who attacked hillary clinton in negative terms and interesting to see how the political process has changed obama's philosophy of campaigning, but ultimately i actually think the president probably would rather be talking about the issues and talking on a higher ground. i think he is kind of a policy at heart and i think he sees an issue where he can get advantage and wants to be re-elected and i think at the end of the day obama in his gut probably agrees with booker. he would rather be talking about medicare and taxes and wealth in america. i think that's probably where his heart really is. >> maria, he is an incumbent president and i will get a lot of tweets immediately saying he inherited a mess and inherited a mess and he has been president

for three years. by the time of the election he will be president four years. when you are an incumbent, you can't decide. he has to have this attack, doesn't he? >> there is no question about that. i talked about this before where so many times in the past democrats have let the opponents define them and this i think is something that is very smart the obama campaign is doing going out and defining what romney in his own words and vision would be as president of the united states versus what president obama's vision continues to be in terms of doing what is best for the middle class and in terms of touting fairness and a level playing field where everybody can get by if they play by the rules and you have romney touting his record at bain where essentially what he does is look out for himself so that he could get rich or look out for his investors and as they got richer and even as they shipped american jobs overseas. that, i think, is a very fair fight to have in terms of what your values are and what you're going to be focused on and if you're elected president.

>> we'll continue the conversation in a moment. mr. erickson looked like he wanted to counter that point. erin burnett out front at the top of the hour. you're speaking with the former ceo of aol, a lot to say about facebook's big and not momentous week. >> that's certainly true as the guy that has been there and done that and today facebook fell 11% on its second day as a public company and just to give you a sense of what that means, that's about $40 billion in market cap from the minimum at this time opened until the minute it closed today. pretty number. these numbers are all big. we'll talk to steve case about that an also an effort he has to deal with the fact that we have about 16%, 17% of people in this country that are over 25 who are basically not born in this country. but about one-third of the degrees in science, technology, engineering go to people who aren't born in this country, and then they go home with all of that knowledge. we're going to talk about that and also get mr. case's view on

the bain issue. >> see new a few minutes, erin. the university of notre dame suing the obama administration. the school explains why it is turning to the courts over birth control. google's chief executive gives unexpected advice to college grads. unplug. take a look, see if you can identify this beauty. he's on the water front in charlestown, massachusetts. live in boston tonight. back in a moment. see life in the best light.

outdoors, or in. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. receiving a transitions lenses certificate of authenticity is your only guarantee that you're getting the world's #1 recommended photochromic lens. ask for it and register your lenses online today.

[ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. with more choices and fewer calories, have you ever partaken in a car insurance taste test before? by taste? yes, never heard of it. well, that's what we're doing today. car insurance x has been perfected over the past 75 years. it's tasty. our second car insurance... they've not been around very long. mmmm... no good! no good?

no good! so you chose geico over the other. whatever this insurance is, it's no good. ok so you... ericsson. the president making the case that mitt romney's business record is more than fair game. this is a web video put up by the romney campaign because some democrats have questioned the president's strategy. listen. >> have you had enough of president obama's attacks on free enterprise? his own key supporters have. >> if i have to say from a very personal level i'm not about to sit here and indict private equity. >> private equity's not a bad thing. matter of fact, private equity is a good thing in many, many instances. >> i don't think there's anything bain capital did that they need to be embarrassed about. >> eric ericsson, is that enough for the romney campaign to say

three or four maybe there will be eight or ten democrats disagree with the president, are they going to have to do more to open the books? they say the president's cherry picking, picking one or two bad cases. are they going to have to open the books and prove it? >> i don't know necessarily that they have to prove it all. the obama campaign has to convince the american public of this point -- that mitt romney will do a worst job than he's done. i think that's a very high hill for the president to climb given the last 3, 3 1/2 years. if the economy starts to improve it becomes easier for him. but with what's going on in europe and greece it becomes harder to the point of maybe being insurmountable depending what greece does. it may be the president dependent on greece and europe. this is a referendum on him. he's going to have to convince people that mitt romney is not the guy to replace him. when the romney campaign starts pointing out how many people from bain have given barack obama money and that barack obama's gotten more money from private equity firms than mitt romney's gotten, then suddenly

it opens up an avenue to question. really does the president mean it? >> but michael crowley, will this pass? governor romney's been through this in every campaign he's run. he won when he ran for governor. he lost when he ran for senate and he won the nomination despite the attacks on him in the primary. this is essentially an argument about who is on your side and the president is trying to say you might be mad at me but this guy won't help you. >> that's absolutely right. i think there is a character element to this on one hand we are talking about sort of the capitalist system and how it works and who gets the upper hand and who gets the short end of the stick. but i think to some extent to a very important extent here this is a message about who mitt romney is. the obama campaign wants people to feel he's an unfeeling, uncaring, greedy guy and that kind of flows into a larger picture of the republican party that obama's trying to paint which does go back to the basic policy issues of lowering taxes

on the rich and cutting benefits for the poor that obama wants his campaign to be about. so in an interesting way this isn't so much about his record and what one company did as this image of a person and a character that the obama campaign is trying to sell. >> who are you? that will be a debate, who are you, what are your values. thanks all for coming in tonight. john, the supreme court has agreed to tackle the government's secret international wiretapping program. it will hear an appeal this fall from the american civil liberties union which is representing domestic groups who have what the aclu believes is a "reasonable fear" they will be monitored because of their interactions with targeted foreigners. the plaintiffs want to be able to challenge the federal law even though they don't have proof their calls for e-mails have been monitored. the university of notre dame and dozens of other catholic groups are suing the white house over a mandate requiring employers to offer insurance that includes birth control.

in february president obama tried to accommodate the groups saying they wouldn't have to pay for contraceptives directly but the school argues the policy violates the first amendment. no comment yet from the white house. and when you think of places to enjoy a frosty cold guinness, you think of a bar or possibly a ball game. not so much a submarine. but the irish brewery is going underwater to celebrate 250 years in busy. it worked with an architecture firm to launch its dead sea bar which is a redesigned retro fitted submeant to zem pli fight brand slogan alive inside. i don't know, sound kind of fun. >> if they're looking for volunteers, i'm number one. >> i'm number two. >> all aboard. finally tonight's moment you may have missed unless you happen to be in town for graduation day at boston university. 6,700 graduating seniors.

listen. >> learn where the off button is. take your eyes off that screen and look into the eyes of the person that you love. all right? have a conversation. a real conversation with the friends who make you think, with the family who make you laugh. don't push a button saying i like something. actually, tell them. what a concept! >> guy who makes his money off the internet telling you every now and then put it down, have a conversation. good advice there, kate. that's all the time we've got tonight. we're live in boston tonight. back here tomorrow. erin burnett out front starts right now. "out front" next. facebook's ipo took a dive today. was it a colossal mistake? steve case out front tonight. president obama criticized by members of his own party for his attacks against mitt romney.