there is breaking political news from washington tonight, house speaker john boehner has walked away from the negotiations on a major deficit reduction agreement, the so-called big deal with president obama. speaker of the house, john boehner, told reporters he would be calling the president and then at 5:30 tonight, he told the president he would no longer be working with the president on a deal on the debt. the speaker says he will now be working on a way forward with republican and democratic leaders in the house and senate on raising the debt ceiling. in a few minutes, i'll be joined by eugene robinson, richard wolffe, and kent conrad. first, here's the president in the white house after speaking with speaker boehnor. >> this was an extraordinarily

fair deal. if it was unbalanced, it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue. but in the interest of being serious about deficit reduction, i was willing to take a lot of heat from my party, and i spoke to democratic leaders yesterday, and although they didn't sign off on a plan, they were willing to engage in serious negotiations, despite a lot of heat from a lot of interest groups around the country in order to make sure that we actually dealt with this problem. it is hard to understand why speaker boehnor would walk away from this kind of deal, and frankly, if you look at the commentary out there, there are a lot of republicans that are puzzled as to why it couldn't get done. we have now run out of time.

i've told speaker boehnor, i've told democratic leader, nancy pelosi, i've told harry reid and i've told mitch mcconnell i want them here at 11:00 tomorrow. we have run out of time, and they are going to have to explain to me how it is that we are going to avoid default. and they can come up with any plans that they want and bring them up here and we will work on them. the only bottom line that i have is we have to extend this debt ceiling through the next election into 2013. and the reason for it is we now see how difficult it is to get any kind of deal done. the economy is already weakened. and the notion that five or six or eight months from now we'll be in a better position to try and solve this problem makes no sense. up until sometime early today

when i couldn't get a phone call returned, my expectation was that speaker boehnor was going to be willing to go to his caucus and ask them to do the tough thing, but the right thing. i think it has proven difficult for speaker boehnor to do that. i've been left at the alter now a couple of times, and i think that one of the questions that the republican party's going to have to ask itself is can they say yes to anything. i've gone out of my way to say that both parties have to make compromises. i think this whole episode has indicated the degree to which, at least a democratic president, has willing to make some tough compromises. so when you guys go out and write your stories, this is not a situation of somehow this was the usual food fight between democrats and republicans.

a lot of democrats stepped up. in ways that were not advantageous politically. so we've shown ourselves willing to do the tough stuff. on an issue that republicans ran on. working stiffs out there, ordinary folks who are struggling every day, and they know they are getting a raw deal, and they are mad at everybody about it. they are mad at democrats and they are mad at republicans, because they know somehow, no matter how hard they work, they don't seem to be able to keep up. and what they are looking for is somebody who's willing to look out for them. that's all they are looking for. and, you know, for us not to be keeping those folks in mind every single day when we're up here, for us to be more worried about what some funder says or

some talk radio show host says or what some columnist says or what pledge we signed back when we were trying it run or worrying about having a primary fight, for us to be thinking in those terms instead of thinking of those folks is inexcusable. why was i willing to go along with a deal that wasn't optimal from my perspective is because even if i didn't think the deal was perfect, at least it would show that this place is serious. that we're willing to take on our responsibilities even if it was tough, that we're willing to step up even if the folks who helped get us elected may disagree. and, you know, at some point i think if you want to be a leader, then you got to lead.

>> house speaker john boehner then held a press conference at the capitol shortly after the president spoke tonight where boehnor, big surprise, blamed the breakdown in negotiations on the president. >> i want to be entirely clear. no one wants to default on the full faith and credit of the united states government. and i'm convinced that we will not. starting tonight, i'll be working with the colleagues here in the capitol, both the house and the senate, to find a responsible path forward, and i have confidence in the bipartisan leaders of the congress that can come together to ensure that we have an agreement that will allow the country to avoid default and meets the principles that we've outlined. spending cuts that must be greater than the increase in the debt limit and no tax increases. discussions we have had with the

white house have broken down for two reasons. first, they insisted on raising taxes. we had an agreement on a revenue number. a revenue number that we thought we could reach based on a flatter tax code with lower rates and a broader base that would produce more economic growth, more employees, and more tax payers, and a tax system that was more efficient in collecting the taxes that were due the federal government. let me just say, the white house moved the goal post. there was an agreement, some additional revenues, until yesterday when the president demanded $400 billion more, which was going to be nothing more than a tax increase on the american people, and i can tell you that leader cantor and i were very disappointed in this

call for higher revenue. but secondly, they refused to get serious about cutting spending and making the tough choices that are facing our country on entitlement reform. that's the bottom line. i take the same oath of office as the president of the united states. i've got the same responsibilities as the president of the united states, and i think that's for both of us to do what's in the best interest of our country, and i can tell you that it's not in the best interest of our country to raise taxes during this difficult economy and not in the best interest of our country to ignore the serious spending challenges that we face. i want to say, this is a serious debate. and it's a debate about jobs and it's a debate about our economy, and frankly, it's also a big debate about the future of our country. you know, until recently, the

president was demanded congress increase the debt limit with no strings attached. as a matter of fact, treasury secretary sent me a letter two days after we were sworn in on january demanding we give him a clean increase on the debt limit. i immediately responded and told the secretary treasury that the american people would not tolerate a clean increase on the debt ceiling unless there were serious spending cuts attached and real reforms to the way we spend the american people's money. i went to new york city where i outlined the challenges we were facing and i made it clear that we would not increase the debt limit without cuts that exceeded that increase in the debt limit, that there would be no new taxes, and that there would be serious spending reforms put into place. listen, it's time to get serious, and i'm confident the

bipartisan leaders here in the congress can act, the white house won't get serious, we will. dealing with the white house is dealing with a bowl of jell-o. >> details on the communications between the speaker and the president. kristen, thanks for joining us again. what more have you learned about what went on between the speaker and the president. there's talk of missed phone calls and refusals to return phone calls, what do we know? >> we're getting a better sense of the timeline, lawrence, wednesday, senior white house officials say the deal to get $3 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade really started to pick up speed. that's when speaker boehnor, eric cantor, came to the white house, talked to the president. also talked to the democratic leadership. as you know, on thursday, the democrats expressed concern this $3 trillion deal would be too

heavy in terms of entitlement reforms and not heavy enough in terms of tax reforms. you hear that $800 billion. white house officials agree the $800 billion had been agreed to. there's a lot of question over this $400 billion. senior white house officials say look, that had always been a possibility, always been bandied about. however, they do say it was on thursday that the president let the speaker know that he wanted to revisit this idea of $400 billion being added to changes in the tax code, so according to the white house officials, president obama called speaker boehnor on thursday night and he said during this phone conversation or the message that he left, if you can't do $400 billion, let's talk. i just want to repeat that. if you can't do $400 billion, let's talk. a very interesting statement we're getting out of the white house tonight. you heard speaker boehnor say the president demanded there be

$400 billion. so certainly agreement on that front, but after the phone call last night, president obama didn't hear back from boehnor. the white house got an e-mail today saying speaker boehnor will contact the president at 5:30 this evening. that was 3:30 this afternoon. at that point in time, the white house picked up the phone and asked speaker boehnor's office can they talk right now, they were told no, they can't. it was at 5:30 speaker boehnor called the president and said they were pulling out of the deal. the reports out of the white house, this $400 billion was always a possibility is simply misleading. they say the goal posts were changed at the very last minute, but again, this final message that was left by president obama certainly interesting and shedding new light on how these talks may have broken down. lawrence? >> kristen, that's very helpful. it seems to indicate the president did reopen the tax number, which they seemed to

have agreed on the $800, he was not just reopening it. he was suggesting can we raise it by 50%. can we add another $400 to it. but that's the semantics they are giving you, the presidential language of if you can't do this, let me know. seems to be that's where the white house is trying to say to us look, we didn't make a new demand, we made a new suggestion and wanted feedback on it. kristen, take us through it one more time. the feedback they got on that, if this is a problem for you, let us know. what was the next thing they heard? >> basically radio silence thursday night, and then, just again, friday afternoon, 3:30 this afternoon, the white house reached out to speaker boehnor's office again through an e-mail and said can we -- rather speaker boehnor's office e-mailed the white house saying you will hear from speaker boehnor 5:30 this evening.

look, can we talk on the telephone about this. speaker boehnor's office said no, you'll hear from us at 5:30. it was at that point, 5:30 p.m. this evening, called president obama and said he was pulling out of this deal. >> kristen, we'll find out if anyone has voice mail messages they want to play for us. thank you very much nor joining us again tonight. ahead, house speaker john boehner caught in the middle of a battle with his own party. yo. thought they were dead. [ laughter ] [ grunting ] huh? [ male announcer ] should've used roundup. america's number one weed killer. it kills weeds to the root, so they don't come back. guaranteed. weeds won't play dead, they'll stay dead. roundup. no root. no weed. no problem.

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as i said on election night, this would be the biggest challenge of his speakership, how would he be able to negotiate an increase in the debt ceiling and negotiate that with president obama? president obama presented that biggest challenge to the boehnor speakership, and tonight, john boehner walked away from those

negotiations. senate budget committee chairman kent conrad will join me next. every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. ♪ i like your messy hair ♪ i like the clothes you wear

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you know, obviously, we're going to have to extend the debt limit before august 2nd. in addition to that, the overarching challenge here is to deal with the debt threat itself. just extending the debt limit without dealing with the debt doesn't solve the problem, so both have to be achieved. that's why the speaker and the president were talking about a grand bargain, and that's ultimately required, and to get one we're going to have to have revenue, entitlement reform, and spending cuts. >> senator conrad, you've come after this a couple of different ways, assembling the gang of six, famous gang of six in the senate, including three republicans who were willing to raise tax revenue. the president kept stressing the gang of six tonight in his statement, describing how all of this broke down, and he was

comparing his proposal to the republicans with the gang of six proposal and saying that it was more -- it was more compromising in certain ways than the gang of six proposal. at the same time, senator, you may have heard some republican back talk about the gang of six proposal coming out this week somehow doomed these negotiations. what do you know about that? >> well, i don't know, and it's perplexing how anyone could claim that, because the gang of six came out in a bipartisan way, the only bipartisan plan that's emerged from anywhere, three democrats, three republicans, and, you know, it's very interesting how one talks about revenue, and you understand this, it's all about what you compare it to. what's kind of bizarre is if you compare all these proposals to current law, law republicans

supported, all these proposals constitute a tax cut, and apparently, the president's proposal, which he described $800 billion more in revenue, if you compare the current law is $2.3 trillion less in revenue. somehow the use of language here, i think, is confusing the american people and maybe confusing the negotiators themselves. >> at 11:00 tomorrow in the white house, do you expect them to be discussing some variation on what was the mcconnell plan and then became the reid-mcconnell plan, basically a way to get to a debt ceiling increase in a way the congress can claim to not have its fingerprints on it? >> yeah, i expect reid-mcconnell, mcconnell-reid, however one terms it, will be the basis of the discussion, and, you know, we had met with

the two leaders this morning, the group of six, we met with both leader reid and senator mcconnell and talked about how the group of six formulation might fit into a new offering, and so i anticipate on monday there will have been formed a new plan for going forward. and something that will involve an extension of the debt limit, but also a plan to deal with the debt, because i don't think anything passes either body unless it fundamentally and credibly deals with debt. >> but as we get closer to the clock ticking to midnight on august 1st, doesn't that actually increase the possibility, given the resolve expressed by speaker boehnor, senator mcconnell, senator reid, the president, all of you, to raise the debt ceiling. doesn't that increase the

possibility, slim at the moment, that this might end up being like most other debt increases, does nothing but raise the debt ceiling? >> i don't think so in this case. the reason for that, i spent hundreds of hours in negotiations with republican senators and house members, representatives of the administration, and it's very clear to me that people understand when you're borrowing 40 cents of every dollar and when the gross debt of the united states has reached 100% that we're at a new -- a new position, and it requires a new response, and just extending the debt limit itself is not going to cut it. clearly, we have to do that, we must do that. it would be a catastrophe not to, but at the same time, we have to do something credible that's serious about dealing with our debt burden as well, and i think any successful formula for navigating through here is going to have to deal

with both. >> senator, back when the white house was still at the position -- this was months ago, to give us a clean debt ceiling increase, began the whole story, interested in not doing any big deficit reduction deal in association with a debt ceiling increase. way back at that point, you told this audience you didn't see any way a debt ceiling to occur without a large and significant deficit reduction package being attached to it. what happened that changed the shape of things that the white house started moving toward what you described as the legislative reality? >> well, i remember very well a meeting we had in leader reid's office, leader reid, myself, and jack lew, they were saying, you know, they were going for a clean debt limit, and i told them with some intensity that it's not going to happen.

just, you know, you got to come up here and talk to the members and find out what they are thinking and feeling and what their constituents are thinking and feeling and just extending the debt limit is not going to happen. >> senator, if this administration, as expressed to you in that kind of meeting, was interested in a clean debt ceiling increase with nothing else attached to it, how disappointed can the president really be tonight if that's where this process ended up? >> you know, i think he is very disappointed. having met with him two weeks ago, having met with he and the vice president. the president is absolutely genuine about wanting to do the grand compromise in the range of $4 trillion to not only stabilize the debt but to begin to bring it down, because he

recognizes that would provide certainty to the markets, certainty to the business community in terms of what the rules of the road are going forward, and also get us going in a much more positive direction, take away the threat of a spike in interest rates because of failure to deal with the debt. remember, rating agencies have told us you have 90 days here. yes, you can raise the debt ceiling, you simply must do that, but if you don't deal with the debt in a credible way, a serious way, if you're not making progress, we're going to downgrade you. that means, as you well know, higher interest rates. you know, lloyd benson, you know well. when he was secretary of the treasury invited me down one day for lunch. i thought i was going to be there with many others, got there, i was the only person there. i got on his chair in the finance committee, and he showed me a calculation that added up all the debt of the country, the

corporate debt, the government debt, not only federal, but state and local, individual debt, and then he showed me what percent of that number is bigger than any tax cut being discussed in washington, and he said senator, i want you to always remember that 1% of the outstanding debt of this country is bigger than any of the tax provisions being discussed. and a 1% interest rate hike in this country is a hidden tax on everybody. you know, i think our colleagues need to remember that today. >> senator kent conrad of north dakota, thank you very much for joining us to cover this breaking news tonight. >> you bet. >> coming up, what happens in tomorrow's meeting at the white house. msnbc political analyst eugene robinson joins me. plap

the president has summoned house and senate leaders to the white house tomorrow for the next step in the talks to raise the debt ceiling. msnbc's eugene robinson, richard wolffe, david corn, and david frum will join me on the way forward. esurance instantly compares our car insurance rates

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inability for politicians to take responsible action as opposed to dodge their responsibilities. >> we're back with the last word's special coverage of the breaking news, collapse of the debt ceiling talks in washington tonight. tomorrow morning, house and senate leaders will convene at the white house including speaker john boehner, who started the breakdown by refusing to return to the president's calls and walking away from the talks. the big question still hanging over the heads of republicans, is there any deal that they will accept? >> one of the questions that the republican party's going to have to ask itself is can they say yes to anything? can they say yes to anything? i mean, keep in mind, it's the republican party that has said that the single most important thing facing our country is

deficits and debts. we'd now put forward a package that would significantly cut deficits and debt. it would be the biggest debt reduction package that we've seen in a very long time. and it's accomplished without raising individual tax rates. it's accomplished in a way that's compatible with the no tax pledge that a whole bunch of these folks signed on to, because we were mindful they had boxed themselves in, and we're trying to find a way to generate revenue ins a way that did not put them in a bad t can you say yes to? >> joining me now, msnbc analyst and columnist for "the washington post," eugene robinson. whenever the talks of this kind break down, whenever you hit the

complete collapse point, there's a rush to the microphones because the political tax at hand immediately becomes winning the blame game for how these things broke down. it seemed to me the president turned in a masterful performance, about 45 minutes at the microphone at the white house, making a statement, answering some questions, in which as far as i can see, there's no way the republicans can counter that effectively. he seems to have won the perception of who was the reasonable man here. >> i think he absolutely did, lawrence. he was first out of the box, number one. number two, he's laid the groundwork for this, the last weeks he's been ensuring that he's seen as the reasonable man, the guy who's willing to make a compromise, who's willing to anger his own base as opposed to the republicans who have this adamant position, no new revenue

no matter what you call it, label it, structure it. and so i think the president has won that -- that sort of political perception battle, but, you know, i think that ends up being the president's plan b to win the politics of it. i think he genuinely did want to do some sort of big deal, because i think he saw this as genuinely the best time to try to do some kind of big deal, and i think that frustration that you saw while expertly presented by the president, i think it was genuine. >> and he also kept saying tonight as much as he regrets it, we must absolutely raise the debt ceiling, and if that's the least they can do, he kept saying that thing in an insulting sort of way, if they are so bad that all they can do is raise the debt ceiling, well, then, i'll just have to live with that and sign a clean increase in the debt ceiling that does nothing else and doesn't inflict any painful cuts

that he'd have to explain to the democratic party. he could settle for that, lawrence. you know, he would be able to live with that. and frankly, as you well know, as time grows shorter, the odds on a relatively short piece of legislation, of limited scope that doesn't try to do all this stuff becomes more likely because again, there's just not the time to, perhaps, do the big deal anymore, so if he has to sign some limited little thing that's basically a clean debt ceiling increase, i think he could stand that. >> he will dry his tears at having been, as he put it, left at the alter twice by the republicans. especially when the opening position of the white house, the administration, was we want a clean debt ceiling bill with none of this big legislation attached to it, which is the most common kind of debt ceiling

increase, they are frequently done at the last minute, so congress knows how to do this. the question, i guess, becomes, eugene, will the republicans be able to do that? boehnor seems to me tonight truly frustrated to the point where he doesn't want to deal with the debt ceiling anymore, please, get this thing off my doorstep he seems to be saying. >> boehnor doesn't want to deal with it anymore. nobody wants to deal with this anymore, and frankly, if you look at the big picture, the politics of this might be somewhat better for the president than for the republicans, but they are not really good for anybody. in the end, all this attention has been focussed on debt and deficit and expectations of a big deal have been raised and if, in the end, it's sort of a damp squib and gets increased and we go on about our business, i think it reenforces this idea they can't get anything done in washington. that's, obviously, bad for republicans who took an

absolutist position, but it's not great for a president who came into office with great promise of changing the culture of washington with this sort of we can work together to tackle the big problems sort of -- sort of ethos. and, you know, if it doesn't bare fruit, i think that's not great for him. >> but there was no great choice for the president in this, gene, having cut medicare, medicaid, and social security as he said he agreed to in these discussions, i think that particular part of his democratic convention speech would be a difficult paragraph to right. >> that would be a difficult paragraph to write. i was speaking to a friend of mine this morning who's a labor organizer here in washington who, you know, i don't know, livid incensed, you know, a apaplectic on the deal.

not having to explain that to the base is something that the president will indeed relish. >> msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. thank you very much for joining us. will the debt ceiling be with us in 2012? ng today's real estate market is complicated. you've seen the signs. that's why having the right real estate agent is more important than ever. at remax.com, you can find experts in short sales or bank-owned properties or commercial real estate, agents who can help speed up the process, no matter how intricate. and that's good news, whether you're trying to sell or hoping to buy. because the only sign you really want to see is "sold." nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk.

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you said that your bottom line has been the big deal. that's not going to happen. are you going to be willing to go back to just a raising the debt ceiling bill? >> well, i think i've been consistently saying here in this press room and everywhere that it is very important for us to raise the debt ceiling. we don't have an option on that. so if that's the best that congress can do, then i will sign a extension of the debt ceiling that takes us through 2013. >> joining me now, msnbc political analyst, richard wolffe, also david corn and

former speech writer for president george w. bush and founder of frumforum.com, david frum. richard wolffe, the president said he'd sign -- the only debt ceiling increase he'd sign is one that goes to 2013. he used the phrase "one that gets us past the election." and he was able to say that without sounding political to most ears, because he has won so masterfully this perception of being the reasonable man. it clearly is a political issue that he does not want to be dealing with at any point during the next year, 2012, the campaign year, isn't? >> that's plainly reasonable. if washington is this dysfunctional now, how much more dysfunctional is it going to be next year? and when you look at the reasonable fight, the fight to look reasonable, you have to remember it's republicans who have repeatedly walked away from these talks. that never looks good.

no matter what the numbers debate is, what who said when, if you look out of talks, you're talking a hardlined approach and looking unreasonable by the very nature. yes, you want to get this done, unfortunately, the president said the american people are tired of posturing with this debt ceiling, denial, disapproval vote is a monumental exercise in posturing. people are going to be pretending to dislike the debt ceiling while voting to increase the debt ceiling. >> david frum, did the republicans make a mistake with these walkouts? >> sure, they made a mistake, but there's a danger of overdoing the criticism. everything you say about the president's performance is right, but it's also true he's lost the plot of the substance. the president has moved off the concerns which are most urgent. he hasn't negotiated very successfully. he wanted something, i think he sincerely wanted it, he didn't

get it. he was dealing with difficult people, presidents often has to do that. why do this now? and it's not just -- it's not just because of the political cycle. a recession, a deep recession is a bad time to do your path to future budget balance. first, because your revenues look worse and your expenses look worse than they may in a year or two. second, everyone is so afraid. no generosity to make the concessions. people who have lost so much in savings don't want to take a risk in medicare. when americans feel good -- >> i think are the most important dynamic about this whole thing is that at a moment in the fragile and very delayed recovery of this economy, how did we shift over to this massive deficit reduction

conversation without thinking through the full economic implications of it? >> well, what happened was, go back to the beginning. the president came in, wanted a bigger stimulus than he could get through the senate. he had to he had to cut it down according to the congressional budget office. it saved 3 million jobs but unemployment went up. what did republicans like eric cantor do? they proved the used of stimulus. he said it didn't create a single job. the president, to his discredit, and he will admit this, lost the messaging war, the salesmanship war whether we should have stimulus. people said if i have to cut back, the government has to cut back, too. they ran with it. they won seats back in november and it spooked the democrats. it spooked the white house.

and this republican field which doesn't make sense economically. the president felt boxed in and had to do this to maintain credibility politicalically. in some ways, he's been helped by the republican whose decided to hold the debt ceiling hostage. they could have had this fight another year and a half, but they tied it to the debt ceiling. it's not working out well for them. >> everyone stand by. we'll have a few finality thoughts on tonight's breaking news . [ man ] i got this new citi thankyou card

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congress would end up being that irresponsible that they would not send a package that avoids a sel self-inflicted wound to the economy at the time when things are so difficult. >> we are back with our panel. guys, i have to tell you, i share the president's confidence because it is very easy to raise the debt ceiling technically. it is just one section section 3101 of title xxxi change it to $16 trillion and you're done. take us through what you think you'll see as this unfolds next week. >> you'll get this kabuki dance and papering over the clacks with this implausible

deniability mcconnell wants. i think this is a fundamental debate being played out in the pettiest manner. this is about the right size and scope of government. is the government crowding out the private sector or is that same government the last best hope when everything else fails? is that all there is? that is not a small thing being played out in a ridiculous way right now. >> the mcconnell plan is to put a resolution forward that is a resolution of disapproval of raising the debt ceiling. republicans can vote their disapproval and the president can veto that resolution. he gets to raise the debt ceiling. will tea parties be fooled by that maneuver that mcconnell didn't facilitate raising the celebrity ceiling?

>> he will fool only those who want to be fooled, which will just be about everybody. the president said irresponsible things that he will veto a stop-gap ceiling. >> i said i don't believe that. that's not true. if at the last minute that's the only thing i well get to sign, he will not put the country in default. the republicans luckily, for the president and perception, have continued to play unreasonable so those little moments that david isolated, they disappear in the general flow of this story and what you have are walkouts and republicans leaving the table. the president left alone as the only reasonable man. >> for now. what people want to know is about jobs. they all look like squabbling school children. i'm not sure the way this plays out in the short term takes us

through the next year. >> david korn, how does it play out? >> i think there is back and forth. at the end of the day whether they have 1-13 or 1-6 months, something will be signed. the tea party will scream bloody murder. the unreasonableness of the republicans will give the president a temporary escape route. he has to find a way to pivot back to jobs and the economy. the interesting thing is tonight grov grover nor grover northquist is saying we should have the fight all what it through the 2012 elections.

it should be a clean political fight. >> what discussions is the president going to have to have with his base above this revelation tonight he brought himself to the point of an agreement with what he calls adjustments to medicare, social security and medicaid? >> he think he gets points for triangulating without triangualation. right now when it comes to votes, republicans have put down that they are for ending medicare as a guaranteed benefit. the president discussed possible savings. the democrats are ahead in that political fight. >> he did stress nothing he agreed to would affect current