the american public will let you know what the center is through elections every two years. i expect the republican party to come back. but they will have to let new people into the coalition. the problem is not as much demographic as regional. we are just non-competitive right now. host: hypothetically, would your party accept a tom ridge on the ticket? guest: of course. first of all, we will have to establish more of an electoral base in more states. new jersey has just slipped further and further away. there's a chance to come back this year. basically rejecting democrats. . .

i had a bill for $107,000. when the insurance paid it, my insurance paid it and got it down to $27,000. is that not a double standard? and the same thing is going on between the health care providers, my insurance premium

, it cost me about half of what it cost me as an individual. guest: the strong insurance companies have a strong bargaining position. they just say if you want to get our business, you will have to lower your rates. so that is what they do. that is what the market can help in competition can help to bring these costs down. in the medical marketplace today, there is not much of the marketplace. it is a third-party payer system. the third -- a people going in are not paying. i would hope this can be addressed. >> caller: a little background.

i live in stepney queers district. -- steny hoyer district. i have a very progressive social values and i see tom smiling there as most republicans would. let me inform you that i spent seven years and navy special operations. i have a great deal of respect for thomas jefferson, who i think would be rolling over in his grave if he saw what was happening today.

one of the things that i notice this one was tom's reaction, with his final statements, good luck. i also have a master's in economics. guest: i wish you good luck at this point. we will see what comes out of the health-care plan. when you start having the government take care of everybody with a problem, these are not simple solutions, we just continue to borrow money. it is an inefficient way of

doing things number one. i think i am progress of in my views as well. i the government as a very tough business. i don't know that you can call on washington to solve this. she will be eligible for medicare in three years. at that point, she can probably get some of will -- some relief on these issues. she wanted to retire at 62. i am not sure government can guarantee that people can just retire at 62, or that we should be doing those kind of things.

>> let me conclude with one final point from mike murphy. he says that saving the gop is not about the lifting conservatism, but about modernizing it to respect the country and its habits instead of an america that no longer exist. guest: a lot of conservatives right now are struggling. in many ways, the country, ronald reagan was a great president and will go down in history that way. he did a number of great things. but we have a whole new set of problems and challenges. what will we do to solve these problems? the party is struggling. governing is a tough business. i am a republican, i was the co- chairman in virginia.

with that comes good and bad. always a pleasure. please come back again. joining us in new york is kevin baker, the author of the cover story in harper's magazine, barack hoover obama. thank you for being with us. you read in the july edition, not that president obama's failure would be unthinkable, but the best indication is that he will fail because he will be an able and refused to seize the radical moment at hand. please explain. hoguest: almost all the time and

politics, change comes with a compromise. occasionally you have a radical moment, a moment where you are headed for the edge of a cliff. if you don't take drastic action, you go over the cliff. i think one -- this is one of these moments, like most moments in our history, the civil war, the start of the cold war period this is what he will have to deal with. host: you can send us an e-mail

or twitter. you also read in your piece, and both the private and public sectors, the lack of both will and new ideas is stunning. guest: starting from the auto makers, you would have think what is shown up in washington fighting for their lives with a terrific new ideas on how they would run their businesses. you go into those congressional hearings, you would have that best minds to come up here and knock us out with great cars. instead, you have these guys who take a separate, private, planes down to washington. they just don't get it. it is been very sad, their reaction from the right wing and the republican party.

even pandering to the gun nuts and per bulging paranoid theories about how obama will take people's guns away. in all fairness to obama, this is a terrible deficit he has to work with. the comments of bill more on his program this last week as he talked about some of the issues that you outlined in the cover story of harper's magazine. >> i do what might president to be a tv star.

the party is doing everything they possibly can to ensure that you will get reelected. the republican party. speaking of which, if you cannot see shove some real reform other through now, then when? guest: he needs to start putting it on the line against banks, energy companies and the health- care industry. i never thought i would say this, but what he needs in his personality is a little george bush. guest: i think that is right on the mark. i think he will realize he will

have to have some bite here. things will not change without picking on -- taking and some of these interest groups. you have seen this all through, the ama coming out saying, no change. these guys sound like the castro regime in cuba. we will go on forever with the same failed system. more money for doctors and fewer fees, lower malpractice fees and things like this. this sort of response is terrible. you'll have to take the various interest groups, and try to bring about change. host: our guest is kevin baker. first up is richard joining us from massachusetts. good morning. caller: you'll never see change in our government. our government, they are all a

bunch of crooks. that is the way it is. they have their own insurance, but me, i have a pension from the fire department. they are going to take half away because i get my pension. we as americans, we are proud and honest people. but our government is the most corrupt government and the world. thank you for listening. host: your response? guest: i would agree with a lot of that. the government comes from somewhere. these people did not land from mars. we will all have to get more involved with making the government respond. one of the great advances fdr

had is that he was being pushed hard by working people in this country there are strikes throughout this nation textile mill strikes and the carolinas. teamsters drivers and minneapolis chasing police of the middle of the city. a whole push going on for economic justice. that will have to happen. we cannot just sit back and watch tv and critique people. we will have to make things happen ourself. you said that much like herbert hoover, a obama is attempting to realize a stirring new version of the society without cutting himself free from the dogmas of the past without the inevitable conflict. like hoover, he is bound to fail.

guest: frederick douglass says power is nothing without a struggle. this is very traumatic for a society to depart from the way it used to do things. hoover came up with this business when he was coming of age. he felt the conflict had to be avoided. he thought the reason why people would come up with a solution for society. a lot of the same process goes on in obama's mind. he can caress people into going along in doing what is right. i don't think that will happen.

i think he ever met -- underestimated the forces lined up against him. host: we have a piece called obama's slip is showing. he is personally more popular than his policies. that's a question is unsustainable. something has to give. the first law of politics as you must eventually get an instant. guest: i would largely agree with that. a lot of his policies are too complex. he has not grabbed the narrative. what he needs to do was to grab that narrative and say what happened and what was going to happen. back in the new deal before fdr came in office, democrats got control of office called up these people from wall street,

and wall street said, what brought on the stock market and the depression? then he knew for the progressive ideas for this is not been done. they are trying to play down the trauma. 100 days was vital. he needed to grab the time. , established the name -- narrative and go with that. host: our guest is kevin baker from harper's magazine. you can send us your tweaked yourtweet. virginia, go ahead. caller: i read everything you sat down. thank you very much for your

wonderful riding. --writing. i was listening to my congressman, and he was complaining about where are we going to get money from when it comes to education? this baffles me because these are the same guys we are spending billions of dollars in iraq. where are we going to get the money to spend in iraq? at the end of this war, we are going to pay over two trillion dollars. no one seems to have any concern for that. when it comes to the american people, we have to think about where we are going to spend money.

host: response? guest: i agree with that very much. i was interested in mr. davis's response, work harder and good luck. people unable to get health- care. it seems to be the solution of the republicans in general. there is a ridiculous contradictory thing going on. the consequences of the policies of the last eight years were horrendously expensive. we need to avoid from them. we are also not taking into consideration what the price tag will be done that -- in not addressing global warming at all. it will have a huge price tag.

it has already been widely publicized how much our lack of a health-care system, is returning our ability to compete in world economy. this sort of thing is nothing considering all of it. host: in your july article you right, every week there is another max baucus, another can conrad and ben nelson huffing and puffing that we better forget about single payer health care, carbon tax, nationalizing the banks, funding for mass transit, these are men with tiny constituencies who have been in the senate for decades without doing a thing. these are the worst abuses of the bush administration who have come forward now to check the president for trying to do too

much. guest: this is just one of the things, to see all of these people suddenly take the lead. people like max blog was -- bacchus, well who are they to say single payer is off the table? the idea that things will even get debated because a senator from a state where the jackrabbits outnumber the people, it is not even clear he is representing his own people without the lobby is behind him. this is something that will have to be reined in. i don't see any leadership in the senate. i don't think anybody quite knows what harry reid is doing, or what direction he is pushing anybody.

it is a sad thing to see. it is eroding a lot of the core constituency. host: kevin baker is the author of a number of books including, sometimes you see it coming and dreamland. he is a contributing editor for harper's magazine. caller: this is a very interesting topic. this reminds me a lot of the story -- i feel like the tractors are coming, because in not taking cues from big

business. we have to start looking at things global as thickly. we will create plenty of jobs and careers. to be honest, i believe it is technology, and people will have to get into more technological fields. capitalism is great, but when you don't regulate greed, people say we will staff the working class and going overseas to get more cheap level -- -- to get cheap labor. at some point we will be competing with south america and china as a global economy comes together. we will be a beacon for consumerism, not a beacon for hope anymore.

guest: there is a limit to how much we can sustain with the economy, just borrowing money from china. that was one of the things that attracted me to present obama originally, that would rebuild and industrial sector answer to make things again, but in a great economy. greg run to lead with that. that seems to have evaporated since got into office. host: next is a call from michigan. caller: host: we will come back

to you. let's go to new jersey. caller: i am a supporter of ron paul. a belief in his programs. i think the american people made a tragic mistake choosing between mccain and obama. my question to your guess is, do we need a new commission to come into looking -- to look at downsizing the government? why shouldn't the government do the same thing? the government is inflationary and we need to downsize it. let's do it immediately. your comments? guest: i disagree. i think it is crazy that we are even talking about this at a time when we are having the biggest crisis in 70 years.

it amazes me that you have all these people on the right side of the aisle still talking about how we of to cut government workers and the budget. we need to be inflating this economy, giving people jobs. host: our next call from kentucky, good morning. let me share with you part of the interview we did with president obama from the library of the white house. one of the questions we asked him is a comment made that he was a pragmatist. here is his response. >> what is the way to achieve an outcome where the american people -- or their health care quality has improved? or our schools are producing well educated workforce for the

21st century. i am willing to tinker anbar and steal ideas from just about everybody. i think -- if i think they will work. we try to make most of our decisions on what are the facts and evidence out there? i spent a lot time going -- talking to my adviser and the winter programs. some of the usual, stale ideas and sometimes i will ask them, what do our critics say? do they have ideas that maybe we have not thought of? i don't have a lot of pride of authorship on this. i don't have a need to

constantly say, my way or the highway. my attitude is let's sit down and create a process where we can work through and find the best ideas that will help the american people the most. host: that was the president one month ago, talking about how he makes decisions. your response? guest: in theory, i think that is the mindset we need. i have been dismayed that the administration has not lived up to that. fdr had everybody come to the white house and talk about things to offer ideas. i think the set of people the obama white house is getting ideas from is much smaller. it is amazing to me that the people who presided over the dismantling of glass stiegel and started this whole financial crisis, the -- tim geithner and

larry summers just have come back to the white house without any kind of problem. it is almost as if fdr had brought back herbert hoover's secretary of the treasury. that would have stunned the country. it is kind of stunning to not seek a wider range of people for information. host: some of the mistakes is the president's decision to leave the reordering of the financial world to timothy geithner and larry summers. they played a major role in bringing on the disaster in the first place. you say it is not too late to