>> production assistance was provided by -- captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> this week on the final "inside washington" -- evaluating the obama presidency. >> he is really good. i was excited listening to him. >> obama excites a lot of people. charles in his column says he ought to run. what are you guys up to? >> trying to destroy him. if i endorse him, he is dead. >> has barack obama lived up to expectations? in the 25 years we have been on the air, how has washington changed? horse backs the wrong

for majority leader. there is no willingness on either side of the aisle to find common ground. it does not exist anymore. >> a word on the quality of our democracy and politics. here is krauthammer in october of 2006. >> when you lose the presidential election in america, people are cruel. but when you compound it by acting like an idiot afterwards, it is over. >> ♪ year in whiche this program began, ronald reagan was in the white house, william rehnquist was chief

justice, democrats controlled congress, republicans nominated vice president bush for president, the democrats nominated michael dukakis. president reagan visited the soviet union that year. the soviet president visit date he -- visited the united states. barack obama began his studies and met a young lawyer named michelle robinson whom he later married. seven years ago, about three months before he announced his candidacy, mark shields said this on "inside washington." >> i will say this about obama quickly. he is genuine and spontaneous. with thenow, speculation, assuming he becomes a candidate, they will come after him and take him down. he ought to enjoy this while he can. >> hillary has the money and all the organization. but he has something nobody else

has had -- the excitement factor. >> wow! that was about three months before barack obama announced. his poll numbers are plummeting. record numbers of americans disapprove of the way he is doing his job. and his signature achievement, the affordable care act, is apparently in deep trouble. let's begin with our resident presidential historian. how will history treat barack obama? >> not well right now. he is too insular. he has three years left. he has got to talk to a wider circle of advisers. he has to be big. he has become small. >> on that same row graham -- program, you appeared to be open-minded about barack obama. what is your take on him now? >> at the time, i did not know anything about him other than he

was a charismatic speaker. he made a great speech at the 2004 democratic convention that electrified the country. it was a sign of his promise. i think his problem was he showed that charisma in that speech and in the 2008 campaign. it turns out, you cannot govern a country on charisma. >> your take seven years and a couple of months later? >> charisma is not unimportant. in the final analysis, americans judge presidents not on ideology but on results. at adeologue looks situation and says what is right works. most americans say what works is right. ronald reagan cut taxes, tripled the debt, and left with 65% approval. bill clinton raised taxes, balanced the budget for the first time in 40 years, and left with 65% approval -- after being

impeached. in both cases, the voters look at the results. they thought the country was better off under each stewardship. if health care works, he will be remembered positively. >> i'm going to say something non--controversy out. i think barack obama will be the most consequent to president since franklin delano roosevelt. do not take a snapshot in time. a year and a half into his presidency, ronald reagan's approval rating was 35%. it stayed low a whole year. in 1989, bill clinton was impeached. look where he is today. take the long view. if the affordable care act does survive, and i think it will survive, that is going to be a major achievement. look at things like energy independence.

the united states for the first time in 20 years is importing less energy from overseas. the banking industry has been recapitalized. the auto industry has been saved. you can go down the list of solid accomplishments. historians will look back and say this is a major turning point. we have not even gotten to foreign policy or the wars he has pulled us out of. >> well, the problem at the a wonderfulama speech maker. i think he is also a man of considerable good judgment and accomplishment, but his problem at the moment is public administration. that is the doing of things and the execution of things. the public does not see that going particularly well. he has three more years or two more years plus until he is a lame duck. he has brought back john podesta to help.

outward, start looking as my colleagues have suggested, non-chicago mafia help, people who he is not so comfortable with but know what he may succeed-- in public administration in ways he has not at the moment. >> what about his relationship with the congress? >> a disaster. >> is that his fault? >> partly. he's dealing with difficult people in the tea party, but he has not made an effort to reach out. he does not hang around out there. he does not play golf with them. he has not reached out. he has been too insular and withdrawn. i think he is a private person and does not like to be around people who make them feel uncomfortable. >> how has the nation's capital changed in the last 25 years? >> let me finish. >> can we talk about the current

scandal? >> let's make it clear what he did. ina october 2006. how has washington changed in the past 25 years? wrote the 100th congress had been one of the most productive in decades. he said congress has more people of ability than in the past. the standard they set for themselves is higher than their constituents demand. they are not content just to hold power. they want to exercise it. compare that to this congress. , harrychange in attitude reid said this congress is as popular as a cockroach. i have never seen a cockroach lobby. change occurred after 1988.

it crystallized in the election of 1994 when people got elected by running against the job. in other words, i hate washington, i hate congress. therefore, elect me to congress. it is the equivalent of someone applying to be a babysitter by saying they have a masters in child security -- psychology but hey children. that has become the formula for getting elected. to spend less time in washington, not know your colleagues, and take pride in the fact you sleep on the office couch and do not know anyone else. >> how would you characterize that kind of behavior? >> increasing medication perhaps. a classic trope of liberalism to measure productivity in honduras by how in congress by-- how much it passes and the size of the bills. by that measure, obamacare is the most successful in history

because it can sink a ship with all the pages. if you are the opposition and believe the administration is running the country in the wrong way, imposing obamacare when you can see it will be a train wreck and you oppose it, that is a success of the congress. that is not a failure. >> there are people who voted for regulation of the financial industry who then went about trying to not enforce the law they just voted for. i think the root of much of this is money. we do not seem to have a way to limit the amount of money, who gives the money, how it is routed through congress through various power centers, through outside groups who are increasingly not disclosed. it has become such a web that we have billions of dollars that go into our campaigns. we do not know where it is from.

we do not know how it is being used. it has some very unforeseen consequences. >> citizens united, supreme court. >> stop looking for devils. we are the devil's here. the problem is transparency. now we have a 24/seven news cycle. everything done is known instantly. if the passage of the social security act and medicare have been subjected to the same kind of news coverage we are giving the affordable health care act, we would see the same kind of rollout problems. there was a time when we got started with the show, there were closed conferences on the hill. members can get together across party lines and work things out. now they cannot do that. this is our business. we have covered this place like a blanket. we have put these individuals

and politicians into certain get outd they can't because of the way we cover them. >> he says we have seen the enemy and it is us. >> we have contributed to a sense of moral superiority. in an earlier age, there was less of it. people were more willing and able to get together and not posture that they were morally superior. i think it has been almost fatal to washington. thomas p o'neill junior, democratic speaker of the house late golf at haines point, a public golf course, with bob michael, the republican leader of the house. there were not limos. they did it regularly. i want to endorse what nina said about money. it is pervasive and corrupting.

the secretary of agriculture from kansas said when both parties take from the same sources financially it becomes difficult to distinguish any differences in their policies. >> assessing the democracy. >> the middle is a lonely place in congress. >> the congressman retired last year. congress passed just 57 bills this year. the 100th congress in session in 1988 when this program began passed over 1000. once considered staunch conservatives are leaving. the heritage foundation considers them less conservative than other house members. frank wolf less conservative? >> yes. >> i do not get it. >> what you have had over the last 30 years is an ideological polarization of the country. there are fewer liberal or

moderate republicans. there are fewer conservative democrats. in the 1970's, there was the coalition for a democratic majority. they were conservatives among democrats. the liberals among more publicans have been wiped out. parties are more ideological, polarized. we are seeing the result of that on the hill. i would argue that is because government has grown to a huge extent. high as there so government increases in size and influence that the size and scope of government is the central issue. the country is terribly split on that issue. >> is there a place they could come together in terms of the new report on the nsa surveillance? apparently, the people on the

panel are saying they are poking in places they do not need to. >> we are talking about two different kinds of problems. we have seen such gridlock. it is not so much of the ideological divide. political redistricting has made the problem very apparent. when state legislatures are making it possible for districts an ideological perspective, that is what you will get. the nsa business is something else. the genesis of that problem is the same thing we had after the cold war. the cold war led to the kind of behavior in government that ended up with our democracy under real threat because of the laws we passed trying to get to communism. 9/11 has produced what we are seeing now with the nsa. this is not to say these are necessarily wrong. but we are talking about

responses to external threats. we have seen, excesses. >> evan? >> i'm torn on the nsa thing. it sounds like they are doing too much, but we do not know the nature of the threat. i do not know if they have successfully been able to shut down threats or if the threats do not exist. >> do you want to take that chance, charles? >> it is a balance. it ought to be decided in congress. we do not know some of the stuff the people in congress know where at least the ones who want to know. i would rather have a decided by people in congress representing us that have judges rule one way or the other. if it is in congress, there will be some kind of compromise. >> that is probably true. 9/11hat's happened since is technology has outstripped our wildest dreams of what we could do. it does things we did not

anticipate after 9/11. we are going to have to come to grips with that and what we want to do and do not want to do. >> global democracy ranking. this is a nonprofit based in vienna. it has been measuring the quality of democracy for 10 years. it looks at political and nonpolitical factors. norway is number one. germany is number seven. the united states is number 15. russia is 95. china's 107. shouldn't the world's oldest democracy be number one? >> i want these people brought here to explain what they did. a lack ofo question confidence, optimism in our system --is eroding. americans feel less confident about america's leadership and our system of government. it is not a time of great

american optimism and confidence. in view of our 15th ranking, all of those countries ahead of us -- i am going to be a little and-- they are rather small generally homogeneous comp trees -- countries. we are a widely diverse country with open arms for immigrants who can become citizens legally. >> what about immigrants who are here illegally? >> we can get into that later. >> we cannot get into it later. this is the last show. [laughter] the comparisons are silly in a way. >> i do not except those rankings at all. workers in germany, things are not hunky-dory for them. i do not know the criteria they

are using to make these judgments. lot.u do not hear norway a you do not hear germany where immigrants are heading. you hear the united states. >> the world knows we protect individual freedom like nobody else. that remains the bottom line. hello? equal --ings being >> is your laptop smiling on you? >> yes, they do a lot of spying. i am waiting. you could say it is so supersecret even he does not know. invasion, wea huge would hear one or two or three stories --and we have not. >> is it a question of freedom

or confidence? >> confidence is a problem. nsa notwithstanding, in this country you still have equality before the law to a degree not the norm throughout human history. that has been our unique contribution. rights are protected before the law and a way that never happened before or since. however, our government is not terribly -- >> we make our arguments not on the basis of our arms or guns but on the basis of the constitution. even if you are arguing different sides. this palin is defending guy with the beard, robertson, citing his free-speech rights. what the held does free speech have to do with a&e. >> we could not end the program without a mention of sarah

palin. worrye the reason we about confidence is because the government has outgrown its own limits and confidence in the last 60 years. it is doing stuff because it is in the business -- er grover said that -- hoov said that. >> i hate to say this, but we will wrap up 25 years of "inside washington" next. >> let me set the record straight. tip o'neill called bob and said we have to do something. the minute they found out. let me finish. >> there you are. greeknside washington" chorus spreading enlightenment several years ago. no hedging. who will be the next president? >> i do not think there is any way to answer that. are you going to fire me? it is a little late. i want to say something to our viewers.

it has been a wonderful time. when the presidential campaign was heating up with gennifer flowers in 1992, that is when i began on "inside washington" when a guy named gordon peterson took a risk on me and made me "the girl." i have had such a wonderful time with my brothers in crime here. i assume this is not the last time i will be on television, but i feel a special connection to the viewers so i wanted to use my time to say that i wish you all the best in this wonderful new year. >> if we're going to get sentimental, i want to interject and interrupt. >> what else is new? >> gordon is one of the great anchors in this town. he has been one of the most wonderful hosts of the show you could ever have. all of those times i savagely attack you for bias and twisting the news, i stand by every

single one of them. [laughter] because --n >> he is answering my question. [laughter] >> a democratic nominee will never be able to replicate what barack obama has done. that is not a matter of preference. it is a matter of analysis. to my colleagues and the "inside you areon" family, ♪ , weg to be in my memory will always be together. ♪ i have no idea who the next president is going to be. i do not sing. i know i will miss coming here talking to my friends about interesting stuff. >> mark? >> i am not quite as sanguine

about president obama as colby. the canyon government -- the ken yan government will announce tuesday they have established barack obama was born in hawaii. one of the great anchors of washington, i will save the anchor. some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. marines do not have that problem. gordon peterson is a murdering. -- gordon peterson is a marine. >> let me say what a great privilege it has been to bring "inside washington" to you for the past 25 years. what an honor it has been to work with these five extraordinary smart, gifted, and wickedly funny dedicated americans for the past several years. my eternal gratitude to them and my thanks to you for watching. the pulitzer prize-

winning cartoonist sees us. i want to thank matt for giving me a full head of hair. it has been many years since i have had that. here are the many folks that have made this possible over the years. our ceo, my boss, our terrific producers,our great , ourroduction manager brilliant graphic artist, our and christyitor, who made us up. we are out of time. this is the very last word from "inside washington." thanks so much for being with us.

it's the 32nd annual mclaughlin group year-end award. 2013 part i. here's the master of ceremonies, john mclaughlin! biggest winner of 2013, pat buchanan. >> cardinal becomes pope francis the i, the most famous and popular man in the world. >> eleanor? >> wall street tops 16,000. and markets are doing fine and i'm glad the pope is pointing out all the inequalities that represent because main street is still waiting for its turn. >> martin? >> well vladimir putin, the leader of russia who outmaneuvered the