the american people can't wait that long. gwen: that was the president's sixth pitch this week for his jobs plan. but is anybody listening? >> let's be honest with ourselves. the president's proposals are a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in america. >> what the president proposed so far is not serious. and it's not a jobs plan. gwen: as the battle heats up along pennsylvania avenue, g.o.p. candidates draw new lines in the sand, too. >> the question is, do you still believe that social security should be ended as a federal program as you did six months ago when your book came out and returned to the states or do you want -- >> i think we ought to have a conversation -- >> we're having that right now, governor. >> if you let me finish. gwen: the fight is engaged. over social programs. immigration. and mandatory vaccination. while census numbers show more americans stuck in poverty than ever before.

will any of these debates speak to that? covering the week, john dickerson of "slate" magazine and cbs news. beth reinhard of "national journal." charles babington of the associated press. and michael fletcher of "the washington post." >> award winning reporting and analysis. covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week with gwen ifill." produced in association with "national journal." corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> this rock has never stood still. since 1875, we've been there for our clients through good times and bad. when their needs changed, we were there to meet them. through the years, from insurance to investment management, from real estate to retirement solutions, we've developed new ideas for the financial challenges ahead. this rock has never stood

still. and that's one thing that will never change. prudential. >> corporate funding is also provided by boeing. at&t. rethink possible. additional funding for "washington week" is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. a lot of things got thrown into sharper focus this week as the president upped the ante on the pitch to sell his jobs plan. and as members of congress whose political approval remain even lower than the president's prepare to push back. but troubles are piling up. democrats lost two special house races and the american public is showing signs of

despair that the nation will ever turn the corner. tonight, we talk about the consequences. the president's goal is to dismiss all opposition to his plan as garden variety washington politics. >> they don't want to pass it because it would give me a win. give me a win? give me a break. [cheers] [applause] that's exactly what folks are fed up with washington. gwen: the republicans' goal is to signal they are willing to at a lot of listen to the president but only this much. >> tax increases i think are off the table. and i don't think they're a viable option for the joint committee. it's a very simple equation. tax increases destroy jobs. and the joint committee is a jobs committee.

gwen: the stakes seem to grow higher every week, don't they, john? >> they do. and for the president the stakes were growing in ways that were big and small. we had an economic indicators, we had these horrible numbers about poverty that we're going to talk about later. but we also had weekly jobs claims go up which means this is looking like another bad month for jobs. the president -- the democrats lost those two elections. the republicans had their best fund raresing months in august -- -- fundraising months in august, the best august they've ever had. that's on the political side. cbs did a poll that came out today and there are two key numbers people look at when they look at re-election presidents and that's what we're all about here, even in this conversation about jobs, the focus is so much the president and whether he'll get re-elected. two numbers people look at, the approval rating of the president and also the right track, wrong track, do people feel like the crypt is on the wrong track -- the country is on the wrong track? 72% feel the country is on the wrong track and the worst under obama's things and approval rating, 43ers is the worst it's ever been.

so those two numbers are very bad for the president and if you look at the signature -- he gave a speech last week and said pass this bill and went all around pass this bill. no one seems to have the fierce urgency of now in washington. a phrase the president used to use to listen and heed the president. which means he's putting no pressure on the republicans and he's getting some pushback from senators in his own party so he's not even able to assert or exert pressure on democrats of his own party. gwen: so is the president bad for the president to rise past washington and say six times is the charm and just this week, but then he's off next week again? >> right. i think that's what he's trying to do. get out of washington. he's been to ohio and virginia. north carolina. gwen: anything significant about those states? >> i was about to say. north carolina is a state he won by the closest margin. virginia i don't think had been won by a democrat in four decades. and ohio is always a swing

state. so no accident he's going to those states and next week rick perry's back yard in texas. gwen: not like he has a chance to win texas, does he? >> probably doing some fundraising there. and continuing to make his pitch on the road. >> and he's got three days at the united nations next week which is basically a huge distraction. because they're trying to stay focused on jobs. stay focused on the showing that the president is focused on jobs. and he's got to go up to the u.n. and talk about foreign policy and not only that, but he has some very complicated nettlesome issues at the u.n., palestinian statehood, that are only going to cause him headaches. it's not a chance for him to go and be presidential in a way that burnishes his stand being with the voters. gwen: there is one day, i picked up a newspaper and there was a story about the attack in afghanistan where his leaders -- military advisors told him the taliban was a dead letter. and another story about this solar panel company that the white house has been advocating

for. giving a lot of government money for that collapsed. there was about five stories on page one which were all bad news for the president and maybe only one about the republicans fighting among themselves. which meant that he was in rock and a hard place time. >> right. i think there's definitely a feeling that things have reached critical pass. the wheels are coming off the bus. bottom is falling out. use whatever metaphor. gwen: the feeling among democrats or people in the white house? democrats outside the white house or inside the white house? >> inside the white house at least, you know, what they tell reporters, like myself, there's pushback. there's no sense of panic here. we're still doing very well among the democratic base. there's 14 months until the election. lots of time. and the other point that folks in the white house make is there's no one that they're comparing barack obama to now. right now. at some point, it will become a choice between barack obama and someone else. and right now, people are just asking people, how do you feel

about the president who's in charge? and so i agree that once there's that frame on it for the general election, that will be a different question. >> does it feel like -- in their eyes, they're on the right track by holding steady and vk the president continue to talk about the things he's continuing to talk about for months and months now or do you sense thathey need a change or they sense that they need a change? >> well, i think what -- they're of two minds. they need to do some kind of change and you see the president in that clip that -- the more campaign voice. and what they need to do is show that he's being reasonable. that the policies he's putting forward are reasonable. and the republicans are the ones being unreasonable. and to make that third point, part of that case, he needs to get into a slightly more of a campaign mode. although of course there's danger in that. because it looks like he's then fully engaged in the campaign mode. and so they're trying to strike that careful balance. james carville who is bill clinton's political guru wrote something for cnn saying it's time to panic. the president should be firing people. they should be indicting people for the financial scandals.

it was a little hyperbolic. gwen: james carville? hyperbolic? >> shocking, it's true. the problem for the president is that a lot of people on the left want this kind of really passioned action from him. but he's a bit constrained. because for the president to do anything bold much to get everybody to kind of wake up and listen to him, is probably boldness that's beyond his office. people don't like presidents to panic. gwen: we had elections this week. sometimes you can talk about the theory, what they should or should not do. but in the new york ninth district, a district that for a special house seat, anthony weiner's seat, which the democrats had held for 90 years. down the drain. in nevada, which -- even though it was republican seat, the president had actually run neck and neck there and lost that seat by 22 points. aren't they worried about that? >> i mean, they should be. i think both of those were alarm bells. loud and clear. that they were both races that were framed on the president.

and while -- like you said, the seat leaned republican, the other a solid democratic stronghold and that should be a warning sign. >> john, you talked about the more combative voice of the president. but we kind of heard that before. the push and the pull is that he's trying to show that he's working with the republicans and yet the republicans have not yielded. we've seen this go on for months. is there a way out for him? what does he do? does he just keep sort of inching along? >> yeah. this is the problem. they have no other measure. the president, the bully pulpit isn't what it used to be. it probably never was. we overemphasize the power of the rhetorical presidency. but it sure isn't there for this president. what else can they do? their hope is they can continue to make the case the republicans will look so far outside the mainstream. and, you know, going to beth's point she mentioned earlier, the argument from the white house is that look, if you look at the president's approval rating, they're not great but congress' approval rating in

that cbs poll is 12%. you have to actively hurt people to get it much worse than 12%. and also, if you look on the individual attributes, the voters say they prefer the president's plan to the republican plan. they think the republicans are being obstructionist. and on down the line, the president comes out ahead. but remember, before the 2012 -- 2010 elections, there were all these instances in which you would ask voters, down the line, who do you prefer? and they would ask -- they would answer always republicans, republicans, and you say in the end, which party will you be voting for in the congressional elections? they would say, we would prefer the republicans. so instead of saying that the democrats were the ones that they preferred on the individual items, but they voted for the republican in the end. so with the president, the question is, when voters say we prefer the president to the republicans, will they say that on individual items, but in the end, pick the other guy? gwen: i want to meet the 12% by the way. and ask them what is it they like? i would be curious for the

answer. florida, a perfect example of a swing state in which the republicans are taking a couple bites of that apple. the debate there last week. they're coming back again this week. different areas of the state. is that gettable anymore or at least in this currently environment? if the election were held tomorrow as people like to say? >> the president's approval is fairly low in florida. and not surprisingly, the unemployment railt and foreclosure rates are both higher in florida than the national average. so it makes sense that thinks approval would be low. it is 14 months out. but the polls show if the election was held tomorrow, he would be in trouble. and his republican rivals are polling pretty evenly with him at this point. >> although the white house says that given this terrible environment, where 9% unemployment, 14 million people unmany employed that pulling even is -- unemployed that pulling even is ok and the president isn't fullien gauged or put ads -- isn't fully engaged or put ads on the air and it's ok because they expect -- should be worse given the

president's problems. gwen: are these the same political advisors who thought new york nine was going to work for them? >> of course they argue in new york nine this is just a snapshot of what has been a volatile situation. several months ago you remember in the 26th district in new york there was a victory by a democrat. and everybody was saying oh, this is a sign that republicans have overreached. so they argue this is momentary volatility. look, things are quite bad. but they at least have a case that they're following that they believe is all hope is not lost. gwen: ok. thank you both. and welcome to "washington week." >> thank you. gwen: more consequences. this time on the republican side. as presidential candidates met today to debate having apparently discovered before they can take on president obama, they need to sort things out among themselves. frontrunner rick perry was the target. here michelle bachmann takes him to task for supporting h.p.v. vaccinations for young girls. >> to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is

just flat out wrong. drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor. and this is flat-out wrong. gwen: perry tried to keep the focus on the president. >> we don't need to elect a nominee who is going to blur the lines between this administration and the republican party. we need a nominee who draws a distinct and a clear contrast. gwen: certainly a distinct and clear contrast. and there weren't any lines blurred on that debate stage, either, chuck. >> no, there weren't, gwen. a couple weeks ago you had a debate in california that was kind of between romney and perry. and this debate in tampa last week, it was everybody ganged up against rick perry. he's clearly the frontrunner. everyone knows it. they can't keep talking about obama in this context. because this is what primaries are for. this is what elections are about. they can only select one nominee in the end. so now that perry is the frontrunner, they came at him really on a number of fronts. we've heard a lot about social

security. they slightly changed the tactic on that. they had been harping before about him calling it a ponzi scheme. that's sort of thing. as we saw in the clip mitt romney focused on what he has said in a book earlier thinking that he can get a little more traction on that. but came at him on this vaccine issue. gwen: explain the vaccine issue a little bit. because we just heard what michelle bachmann said but didn't hear perry's answer. >> he's still governor of texas. there's a virus that can cause cervical cancer. there's a vaccine that's pretty effective and most effective if it's given to girls when they're about 12 or 11, that age. and so governor perry had wanted to mandate that unless parents said no, all the school girls in texas would be vaccinated. the legislature said no, it never was implemented and now perry says he handled it badly. but one of the problems is that merck, the company that made it has given him money and one of his former top aides is a

lobbyist for merck. >> is the worry about perry that -- because these are hits from the right. the argument about the h.p.v. is that this is an overreach by the government. he was also hit on immigration. and he was too lenient. is he vulnerable from the right or is it a larger problem about his potential electable in the general election? >> i think think rivals are trying to figure that out. they're coming at him from the left if you will on social security. saying he's too far out there. his -- radical and out of the mainstream. romney has gone so far as to say this will ruin the party if he's the nominee. with these positions on social security. i think they're sort of trying the kitchen sink. they're just throwing everything at him and seeing what might work and not work. they're feeling their way. we're going to see. we have another debate in orlando on thursday. there can be some other forums there. connected with that. i bet you're going to see them keep coming at him. because they have not knocked him off his pedestal yet. >> what has he done so far? has he pushed back much or has

he sturk to his -- stuck to his guns? >> perry is not -- doesn't seem to be rattled. he went to liberty university in virginia, fall well's school. -- fallwell's school. and spoke to 13,000 students and spoke about his religion and religious faith and did not make a political speech there and in richmond in that clip we saw a minute ago and he's staying focused on obama. and again, he can afford to do that. because he is the frontrunner. he is defending himself. and he did on social security, it's interesting. he is still saying i think it's a ponzi scheme. i don't apologize for that. but he is not proposing any alternatives yet. time magazine had a long interview with him, what would you do with social security? he said we'll talk about that later. >> what do you glean from the debate about the other candidates? especially mitt romney. but also michelle bachmann who we were talking about a lot not that long ago, jon huntsman. >> bachmann clearly was probably the tea party favorite until rick perry came in.

and as soon as he started going up in the polls, she started going down. two debates ago, she did not have a strong debate. this time she clearly came out fighting much harder to try to regain some of that. huntsman, who many i guess establishment republicans if you will think -- might perhaps could be a good candidate is still very low in the polls. he just can't seem to get out of that. gwen: and it should be said that michelle bachmann was great until the debate ended and came out and said that h.p.v. vaccine caused retardation. >> because a woman had come up to her and said that. and michelle bachmann without vetting that repeated it on tv a few times. and she's caught a lot of criticism for that. gwen: is it nare to say the tea party -- is it fair to say the tea party has a big influence? they were the co-sponsors of this debate and in the room? >> the tea party is still the most dynamic force in the republican party now. we don't know how long that will last. but again, rick perry, ebs not tea party right down the -- he's not tea partyy right down the line but fairly close and

at the top. gwen: if they can swallow the idea of giving tuition to undocumented immigrants in texas that perhaps he can stick with them. we'll see. it's going to be fun to watch. finally tonight, though, troubling news that goes beyond politics. the census bureau reported that one in six americans is living in poverty. in raw numbers, that means more than 46 million people lived below the poverty line last year. 22% of them, children. how much of this has to do with the struggling economy? michael? >> a big part of it. i mean, it's two things at play here. the high unemployment levels we've seen. pushed a lot of people who are hanging on the edge of what we would call middle class existence. pushed them back into poverty. and we've seen that for the fourth year in a row. the number of people in poverty go up in this crinlt. and that's -- it's been a huge problem and it's going to continue. and that's i think the scariest thing facing people. the jobless projected to continue. gwen: we have some stereotypes about who these people are. when we look at the census numbers what does it tell us

about the demographics of poverty, who are the faces of poverty? >> everyone essentially but the elderly. it's interesting. and throughout this whole economic decline, the people who have suffered the most are those who are closest to the bottom. nor thing that was in this report was income levels. you're seeing growing inequality in this country and the people in the bottom 10% of wage earners have lost the most. and the people in the top have lost the least. kind of just making worse or trying -- a disturbing part of our economy for the last 10 or 15 years. so it's been everybody but the elderly in terms of losing ground and becoming more -- african-americans, high levels of poverty, hispanics. hispanic children are the biggest group of children in poverty right now. >> and so we've got this terrible news and we've also got a washington that doesn't seem to be able to do anything. so what's -- how do the policymakers respond to this? >> it's been -- the policymakers don't talk about poverty. the president himself i haven't heard him say anything about it yet. members -- just a few members of congress talk about this. and for the reason they don't

see votes talking about poverty. all of their campaigning, all of their talking is around the middle class and middle class issues. and looming out here are budget cuts. you talk about supporting people in poverty. but yet all the talk in washington is about how are we going to cut the domestic spending essentially going forward? so i think things are just going to be -- >> so interesting, going way back, robert kennedy, to some degree lyndon johnson, made political careers or part of their political careers, the war on poverty. and i guess we felt a long time alaska the war on poverty -- a long time the war on poverty must be won but it's fell off the table. >> it's kind of stopped and we've been stuck in this place when you have a bad economy, poverty ticks back up. but even when things are good it stays at this level that's -- that should be uncomfortable for a country as rich as ours. >> john edwards tried to talk about it and he didn't get much traction. >> he didn't get a lot of political traction. gwen: he turned out to be a flawed messenger. >> yes, he did.

>> reading about those statistics, the way they define poverty. and like $20,000 or $22,000 for a family of four. when you think about that, i think most of us would consider people who earn considerably above that, fairly low income. really get -- congrats how big this problem is. -- can grasp how big this problem is. >> and about how you define poverty, what things are included. do you include food stamps? do you include subsidized housing? and these things aren't included. but even if you took the most generous measure, and included all of these things, a lot of people are living close to the economic edge in this crinlt. and as we -- in this country. and as we said few policymakers see political advantage in talking about it. gwen: how much, whether poverty or the struggling middle class of downward mobility driving a lot of the political anxiety that we see in our political discourse? not just -- everyone may not know someone who lives under the poverty line.

but everyone feels that stress. >> yeah. i think so. and i think what we saw, even before the recession hit, you saw more and more americans kind of engaged in this high wire act of trying to sustain a middle class lifestyle. but with increasing amounts of debt. whether it was home equity loan, whether it was the credit cards. so you have people making less but wanting to maintain a lifestyle and borrowing more and hoping -- just hoping against hope that the future will be better. so i think that's created anxiety in them. and you see it in the volatility you see in poll tirks. -- in the politics. throw out the republicans, things not better, democrats, vice versa. gwen: and it extends to the white house. >> yes. gwen: thank you, michael, everybody else as well and thank you for joining us. the conversation has to end here. but we'll continue it online. want to know what we make of tim pawlenty's endorsement, the jackie kennedy book? find out in our "washington week" webcast extra. it will be posted at 11 p.m. eastern at pbs.org.

keep up with daily developments all week online and on the air at the pbs newshour. we'll sum it up for you again as always. next week on "washington week." good night. every thursday, get a preview of our topics and panel with our "washington week" email alert. available at washington week online at pbs.org. >> "washington week" was produced by weta which is soley responsible for its content. funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> we know why we're here. >> to connect our forces to what they need, when they need

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