reaches lows, it keeps rising. is this the right time for him to go on vacation or should we cut him some slack? will the super committee listen? and are african-american lawmakers too cautious about criticizing the president? frustration with the economy boils over, some are starting to speak out. good morning. it's thursday, august 18, 2011, and this is "the daily rundown." i'm chris, pinch hitting for chuck todd. we begin with the top political headlines this morning. the president heard it all week from voters. now he's seeing it in black and white. fears about the economy have the public angry, frustrated and losing faith in this administration. new gallup numbers so just 26% of people approve of the way he's handling the economy, why more than 70% disapreserve. for more, mark murray.

doesn't take a mathematician to look at the numbers and think they're not very good for the president. is this the right time for him to be gob on vacation? >> chris, the president has always had tough augusts. covering 2008, 2009, 2010 and once again in 2011. you chat with the people at the white house, they knew this summer would be really tough with the debt ceiling showdown. compromises that would have to be made. difficult discussiecisions, et and, boy, did he take a gut punch. gallup, overall approval rating, 39%, and then 26% and gallup a new number, 11% of the country -- >> right. >> so the good news for the president, he has plenty of time top recuperate. he didn't get knocked down. he's still standing. bad news, quite a hole to climb out from. >> now, the president announced he was going to announce a jobs plan after labor day. let's go over this talking about

has he's going to announce when he returns from this vacation. >> i wish that the speaker had taken me up on a grand bargain to deal with our long-term debt and deficits. we still have the opportunity to fix that. it's not too late. i will be putting forward a plan that will be very similar to the plan that i put forward to the speaker. >> so it seems like from that we're going back to the idea of a grand bargain. this big tax cuts, tax increases potentially spending cuts. can that go through congress? >> it probably might not go through congress, but the white house sees it as a winning political argument. we talked about taking a gut punch the past couple of month, but they believe this long-term argument about that he's the compromiser. that he's willing to make the tough decisions, that republicans are the ones holding up. oh, by the way, check out what all the republicans are saying on the presidential campaign trail. they feel in the long term that will help them.

perhaps our attention and the public's attention on rick perry, mitt romney, michele bachmann gives them breathing room. they feel they can talk about the economy, about their balanced approach and that that's going to work for them. >> he's still got the bully pull it. he's the president of the united states. anytime he says anything -- rick perry has been everywhere since announcing his candidacy. got into trouble saying ben bernanke my be engaging in treason. it appears he's walking back a little bit, moderating. listen to has he had to say yesterday. >> i got in trouble about talking about the federal reserve yesterday. i got -- i got -- i got lectured about that yesterday. they should open their books up. they should be transparent so the people are the united states know what they're doing, how they're doing it. >> so rick perry made his name in texas. you know this better than i. made his name on speaking truth

and being honest. do you think he went too far? will we see scaled back or dialed back rick perry over the next couple of weeks? >> he didn't back down and didn't double down. the next day more controversial. he's a smart politician. there's a reason he's won statewide office in section so many times. said something people thought were incendiary. some republican voters that might have been just news, that might have been something they would have liked but he didn't go far enough. we read today, he is showing flexibility, some agility to shows he's actually in it to win it. he wants this republican nomination. >> you stole my thunder. i was going to plug, he must -- i read it every morning. thank you for joining us, mark murray. still new to the campaign trail, governor perry has come out swinging. as mark and i just said, criticized for his fiery comments. yesterday he responded to some campaign advice from the president.

>> the president said i needed to watch what i say. mr. president, actions speak louder than words. my actions as governor are helping create jobs in this country. the president's actions are killing jobs in this country. >> right now in portsmouth, new hampshire, governor perry is talking to voters at a cafe. traveling with the perry campaign, jo ling joins me by phone. what do we expect this morning from rick perry? >> reporter: good morning, chris. voters here in portsmouth are still very much getting to another governor perry and laying out focusing primarily on jobs. he's going after president obama as you were discussing before and taking no prisoners criticizing the commander in chief, and he's come under fire himself. perry was criticized last night

by congressman ron paul, who did very well in the straw poll in iowa coming in second place, saying that paul actually is less conservative than perry with perry going an bernanke in his weekend comments. other interesting things we've seen here in new hampshire, governor perry has criticized and global warming, calling into question whether it actually is man-made or not. so governor perry, still very much meeting the crowds here in new hampshire. he's got two more events today, and then he'll be headed out for some fund-raising. we'll continue to follow him and see what comes next. chris? >> thanks, jo ling. i expect we'll hear more about his comments on global warming. that's not going away. it's getaway day for the president. he'll fly out just before 4:00 this afternoon and should arrive in martha's vineyard about an hour later to start his ten-day vacation. kristen welker is already there, and she joins me live. kristen, i first want to talk to you about new developments out of syria. what's going on there?

>> reporter: hi there, chris. that's right. we have breaking news. nbc has learned that later on this morning we are expecting president obama to call for the president of syria, bashar al assad, to step down. and then we expect secretary of state hillary clinton to follow-up in some comments later on this morning. of course, this is something that has been going on for months. clashes between civilians in syria and the government there. as many as 2,000 civilians have been killed. the united states has been ramping up pressure against assad through sanctions, but it seems as though today they will officially call for assad to step down. chris? >> and, kristen, you're in martha's vineyard. let's talk about the president's vacation, even before he leaves today he faced criticism from mitt romney, rick perry, even tim pawlenty who dropped out of the race got in on the game. is this the wrong time? what is the white house saying, why they're continuing on with this trip in this place at this time?

>> reporter: right. well, chris, as you say, the president has gotten a lot of criticism about this vacation. a lot of republicans saying that this is the wrong time to take a vacation. in fact, the rnc just released a statement calling on people to send out postcards online asking the president to cancel his vacation until he's dealt with the jobs situation. white house officials pushed back against this criticism essentially saying that the office of the presidency travels with mr. obama wherever he goes. so they say ding this is certaiy not not a true vacation. that plan includes decreasing tax cuts as well as investing in construction projects. we don't have a lot of information about the plan so far, but even that has gotten criticism from republicans who say, why not release the plan now? way wait until after labor day? here's what republican presidential candidate mitt romney had to say on the campaign trail. take a listen.

>> too little too late, but we appreciate the fact that he's trying to devote some time to it, and not just at the bus tour, not just vacationing in martha's vineyard but giving some thought to the american people. i would have thought that's what he would have done from day one. >> reporter: so that's really been the criticism. too little too late and this vacation is essentially bad optics. white house facials say the president will be working and don't think anyone would begrudge the president some time with his family. one interesting note. there seem to be one tracking, even the white house turns to do track presidential vacations. mark knoller of cbs radio. reported the president has taken 61 days since he took office, compare that to 180 george bush had taken in his presidency. a fun fact. we expect the president to

arrive in martha's vineyard later on this afternoon. chris? >> kristen, thank you for mentioning mark knoller, a national treasure. i urge people if you don't already follow him at mark knoller on twitter, you will not forget, you will thank kristen for mentioning that. thanks for joining us. have fun out there. >> reporter: thanks so much. >> sure. up next, republican party chairman priebus into controversy, accusing the president of driving our country into a ditch. plus, we'll ask him about the 2012 republican field and about his home state of wisconsin in the effort to recall governor scott walker. and still to come, we're following developing news out of israel this morning. violence has broken out in the southern part of that country. first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. i think everyone's got the meets in martha's vineyard, including chuck todd. you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc.

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my basic argument to them is this -- we should not have to choose between getting our fiscal house in order and jobs and growth. we can't afford to do just one or the other. we've got to do both. >> that was president obama in illinois yesterday. essentially challenging republicans to stand in the way of his upcoming proposal and at jump-starting the economy. with the potential push for more stimulus spending and fresh revenue it sets up the prospect for another washington standoff. chairman of the republican national committee, chairman

prepa priebus joins us. are republicans to listen? >> i'm not sure your premise is right. the president says he's going to propose something. he's been talking about proposing something for seven months and said nothing, not a single sentence on a piece of paper. to answer your question, the republicans have given. remember it was tim geithner and the president who said three months ago that anything except a clean debt limit increase, anything but that, was un-american. and, guess what? the republicans said, no. we're going to cut spending along with this debt limit increase and that's exactly what happened. so the republicans said, no, to the clean debt limb imt increase, most americans said that. democrats said we'll work with the country as long as there was debt limit increase. there was compromise. cap and balance, this notion

that somehow the republicans haven't offered anything, it's a myth and it's not true. >> you know, how much -- democrats say, this is about the republican base. the republican base likes cut, cap and balance. the republican base didn't want to raise the debt ceiling. ultimately, this is about the good of country and doing things good for the republican base and the republican presidential race might not be good for the country. how much responsibility do you feel, as chairman, to place some role in helping the president turn this economy around? >> well, i mean, we are playing a role. i mean, republicans are the only ones, chris, that passed any budget through congress. the ryan budget. then we came back and the republicans passed cut, cap and balance. the democrats haven't pass add single budget through cons in 850 days. here's the thing. put the partisanship aside for a second, because you know what? i think most americans in this country, they're not worried about republican and democrat. this is the problem the president has. americans and people in this

country, we're tired the people like the president who give speeches and press conferences but offer nothing. what americans are starving for right now are real authentic people who want to serve this country with a pure heart and make a difference, turn this economy around and right now we have a president on bus tours, martha's vineyard and a person in love with giving speeches, but not in love with following through a single one of his promises that he made in 2008. i think that's the problem. he's aloof and not in touch with the american people. >> i want to switch topics on you. i can say i knew you when, when you were the wisconsin republican chairman and became big time, the chairman of the republican national party. talk about a bunch of recall elections. democrats picked up two seats. they didn't win the majority they hoped to. what's your take away from wisconsin? what do you think we've learned, both about wisconsin politics, more importantly about national

politics? >> i think that the american people and the folks in wisconsin want to get serious about putting the fiscal house in order, and what i think is that the democrats and especially the public employee unions overplayed their hand. i also think that wisconsin has truly trended and turned much more of a shade of red as opposed to purple or light blue, and that the conservative movement in wisconsin and around the country is alive and well, and when given the option, even in a special election with $30 million that the public employees put in place, when given the choice of government being a little bit leaner so that it can be more functional, more operational, we could attract business, people will come out and support bold initiatives and support governors like scott walker in making these steps. now, if the unions go forward -- >> can i -- >> go ahead. >> you mentioned scott walker. we're short on time and i want 20 make sure i get this.

scott walker is eligible for a recall. you can't be recalled until you've been in office a year. that would be january. democrats are system talking about the possibility that they think they have a chance. what do you make of that? how worried should he be? >> i don't think he should be worried at all. if the public employee unions want to flush another $30 million down the toilet and allow scott walker to be even stronger and win a recall election, then we'll pass more reforms after that, they should go ahead and do it, because the $30 million they flushed don the toilet will be $30 million they don't have for other races. so, hey, go for it. >> senator priebus, thanks for joining us. >> you bet. thank you, buddy. up next, a major financial firm warns the global economy is dangerously close to a recession. how will markets react? a preview of wall street before the bell. plus -- less than two weeks after cutting the u.s. credit rating, standard & poor's finds itself at the center of a justice department investigation. but first -- today's trivia question. which u.s. president took the longest vacation while on the

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what's happening in europe, but a lot of pressure other than the banks there. banks like the general, a lot of pressure, rumors, off by 7% impacting the banks here. you're looking at big banks like bank of america, their stock off before the market now, about 4%. we're just back to that sort of same grind again where a lot of rumors are taking over, and sort of fear and panic about what's going to happen in europe and how that will eventually, or not, affect what we're doing on this side of the pond. >> andrew, let me ask you, what do you make of this report about the department of justice investigating standard & poor's and their ratings? how much stir is that causing? >> it's not necessarily causing stir in the markets so much as, again, it is one of these issues about the credality of the rating agencies. oddly enough, s&p, moody's and fitch, you know, got criticized before the financial crisis, not oddly enough that because of their bad ratings on so much of the subprime and now on the flip

side, they've downgraded the united states in the past two weeks, the s&p has, and their credibility is now come under fire on the opposite end. there is some people talking on wall street about how this investigation, know, may have started before that downgrade, but may 2340u9 now be ramped up because of the downgrade and if there's political pressure. i think it's actually oddly more a washington story than a wall street one. >> all right. andrew, thanks for the perspective. >> thank you. the president's new plan to jump-start the job market can't come soon enough for many americans. and even some of obama's most ardent offenders are running out of patience. >> people are hurting. they're unemployed. we don't know what the strategy is. >> up next, how unemployment is causing friction between the president and his base. and the way some lawmakers are trying to help struggling americans. and don't forget -- we're less than three weeks away

from the nbc news politico republican debate at the reagan library moderated by nbc's own brian williams. wednesday september 7th at 8:00 eastern right here on msnbc. the place for politics. you've been stuck in the garage, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend most. ♪ lily and i are back on the road again. where we belong. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®.

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with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. welcome back to "the daily rundown." i'm in for chuck todd. bottom look the hour, quick look what's driving the day. president obama will spend a few more hours in washington meeting with the national security team before leaving for his family to martha's vineyard for a ten-day vacation. and vice president biden meeting with xi jinping in china. he told the vice president it is essential for gobel security. and the market could be helped today by news

unemployment claims reached their lowest week average since april. other stories making headlines -- the white house is expected to call for the resignation of syrian president bashar al assad today. senior administration officials tell nbc news we expect a written statement from the president followed by one from secretary of state hillary clinton. similar action by the european union. the treasury department is expected to announce sweeping new sanctions against assad and his have a sheregime. pope benedict areirived in spain for world youth day. the visit comes at europe was mired in crushing debt and chronic unemployment. the pope told reporters today a lack of ethics is to blame for europe's crisis and morals much play a greater role in public

policy. and a series of deadly attacks in the southern part of israel. gunmen attacked a passenger bus, private car near the border. jim maceda is following the fast moving developments from london. jim what can you tell us? >> reporter: hi, chris. one report from israeli military radio claim as gun battle between an unnamed militant group and the idf may still be going on and then that other unconfirmed report of a fourth attack. here's hats coming from the idf. about mid-day today on a desert road between beersheba, in southern israel, at least three gunmen jumped out of a car and fired at a passenger bus. there were civilians and soldiers onboard that bus. that turned quickly into a firefight. shortly after that, another gunman fired at what is described as an anti-tank rocket at a passenger car.

this was in the same general vicinity and at the same time an israeli military patrol perhaps approaching was hit by an ied. a complex and coordinated attack suggesteding militants. ambulance services are reporting at least six killed including soldiers and civilians and about a dozen wounded. violence, chris, in this area of north sinai is relatively rare, just on the other side of the border with israel, but it has been on the rise of late. you see the number of militant cells striking a gas pipeline that goes in egypt into israel several times, and very recently israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu waurn warned t eed th hosting is no longer with the desert allowing militants to operate there. >> thanks, jim. fast-moving story. thanks for keeping us on top of it. despite announces his

september jobs speech the president is feeling mounting pressure in his own base to act now. the congressional black caucus got tired of waiting for ak action and launched a series of town fairs across the country. this was the scene of one earlier this week in detroit. >> we're supportive of the president, but we're getting tired. getting tired. when you let us know it is time to let go, we'll let go. >> joining us now, democratic congressman from louisiana, cedric richmond. talk about congresswoman waters comments. is the president taking you guys for granted? >> i think what you see overallis just a pew frustration. whenever you have 15.9% unemployment in a segment of community you're going to see frustration. and that's what you see, but i

think what we all know and what we should focus on is the fact there is a common enemy, and that's unemployment. the frustration we have is the fact that we as the black caucus, we've introduced over 40 bills this session to create jobs, and the republican-controlled congress will not bring them up so we can act on it. that's where our frustration comes in. >> and congressman, what has the reaction been, congressional black caucus has done a number of job fairs around the country. you're in atlanta. what's the reaction been from folks you talked to? is there a frustration level at president obama, directed at republicans? where do people put the blame, if there's enough to go around? >> i think people are very, very frustrated. most of the frustration is targeted at republicans. the unfortunate part, the american people are very smart, and they can see that the republicans have waged a war on the president, and they want to win the white house by any means necessary, and the casualty of that war that the republicans

are waging are the 14.1 million people in this country that are unemployed, and i think it's sinful. i think it's wrong. and i think that we should come together as republicans, democrats and the president to focus on getting people employed. that's why we decided in september when we get back we will be pushing jobs legislation through the congress. >> and i was going to ask you, congressman, the president will make eck a speech, we know, after labor day on jobs and how to create them. what should he say? >> well, i think you broke up a little bit. if the question was, what do i expect from him? >> yes. >> i expect him to lay out a plan specifically on how we can invest in this country. how we can create jobs and how we can help small businesses create more jobs. that's what i anticipate hearing, and i also anticipate hearing other ideas from him on how to system latest the economy. >> are there specifics,

congressman? something specific you want to hear from in terms of a proposal? the republican argument, president obama made a lot of speeches about jobs but not specific proposals. is there something specific he were propose making you, cbc, african-american voters happy to hear in that speech? >> well, i don't think there's a specific thing that african-american voters would like to hear. specific that the american people would like to hear, and that is how do we get people back to work? how do we get companies to hire? how do we get banks to lend to small businesses so that they can have access to capital? and how are we going to get our bigger corporations in the country to start investing back in our country, which means hiring people and doing those things? so i expect him to have a specific plan. of course, we'll hear some things like the infrastructure bank, which i know he still supports and would like to do. we have to invest in this country, and investing in our infrastructure creates jobs immediately. so those are the things i expect to hear, but more importantly, i

think that the american people want to know that there's light at the end of the tunnel, and they expect the president in that speech to give them the road map where we're going. >> congressman, thanks for joining us. developing now, andrew ross sorkin predicted on "daily rundown," the dow dropped more than 300 points after the opening bell this morning. we'll keep an eye on it all morning and all day. up next, we've got our powerhouse panel here to break down all of the latest news in the campaign trail, as the perry campaign slams romney, is michele bachmann's campaign slamming reporters? plus, aloha. knew gingrich heads to the critical battleground of hawaii. no. hawaii isn't a battleground state, but gingrich is going there. first, the white house soup of the day. it's gazpacho. you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. ♪ i like dat

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day in 1920, the 19th amendment ratified granding women to vote in the u.s. and it all came down to a single vote. a young state representative named harry burns end the deadlock and kachted the deciding vote after his mother sent him a letter reminding him to "be a good boy." always listen to your mother. turning back to the republican race for president. rick perry and ron paul are both stumping in romney country today. perry makes stops in port stith, dove dover, new hampshire. and ron paul last night took a shot at, well, you know who. >> a southern governor, i can't remember his name, coming into -- he realizes talking about the state of this, too,

but i'll tell you what, he makes me look like a moderate. i have never once said bernanke has committed treason. >> a national political reporter, and my partner in crime at "the washington post." miker shearer, a white house correspondent for "time" magazine and covering politics for "usa today." all right, guys. rick perry remains ta s target r one. took a shot back at mitt romney essentially saying i don't think we need somebody who cutting jobs. are we looking at a perry versus romney? is that we're we're talking about? >> i think it is. sort of a three-person race with bachmann having a strong showing there, but i think the realization now, even though there's all this chatter about other folks getting in, paul ryan, chris christie, it looks like it's a two-man race. the question going forward what does romney hit back? you see him change his strategy

focusing on the private sector, but then perry comes back, just because i didn't work at bank capital doesn't mean i didn't have private sector experience. >> mike, you have a great piece in "times" that details, none of these guy, pure on the issue of pork including rick perry on federal spending. who wins the fight on federal spending earmarks, taking money particular the government that they're criticizing? >> probably ends up a wash. both were governors. as governors both worked very hard to get all the federal money they could. even money that most people would say was not needed, not essential responsibility, like the olympics for romney, and tom delay got for help and sugarland taxes. >> tom delay. >> of course. the whole deal. >> just a coincidence. >> it ends up being a wash. i think perry would be fine with that. really, what's happening right now is that perry just wants to be in the same conversation with

romney. this is about that. he wants there to be a two-man race. you talk to romney's people and people around romney, they're talking about president bush. about the magical bus tour. they don't want to talk about perry. they're hoping perry does what he started to do earlier this week, disqualifies himself as he moves forward. >> jackie, i want to talk about eric ericsson, red state, and counterintuitive. rick perry's biggest problem in getting the republican nomination is rick perry. they will play perry for goldwater. it's rick perry's race to lose. go take a cold shower. i say once a week as a matter of principles in terms of politics. is this true? talking about rick perry, mitt romney seems like the lost guy here for a minute. is this still his race to lose? >> out there saying, hey, guys. i'm here. i can hear you. you're talking about me. >> i'm right here. >> exactly. there are some people who -- but

romney has run before. i think because of that there are a lot of skeptics about some of the things he did last time. trying very hard not to replay the same mistakes. yeah, it is mitt romney's race to lose. >> rick perry is clearly coming up on the rail. >> he's going right after romney. he isn't beating around the bush at all. >> if rick perry was running ghent a mitt romney of 2008, this would be rick perry's race. amazing, how disciplined mitt romney has been so far. >> yes. >> focus, he stays on. doesn't leave message and is better on the stump than last time. it's a really -- >> anyone out there and seen mitt romney i attribute a lot of it to matt rose, his campaign manager. disciplined saying, don't engage. don't fight every battle. the question for you, can rick perry draw mitt romney out in a way that michele bachmann and tim pawlenty haven't been able to? he's been attacked -- he's ignored it. >> yes. >> how long until he starts --

>> he said this ramps up after labor day. we'll see them in three debates. ideally, for romney, if perry's up there, they'll get into a back and forth. the question is, is peractual -- perry actually going to debate? he isn't known as a strong debater. with perry in the race a strong contender for romney it make it is a nomination worth having. to win over pawlenty wouldn't be the same thing. >> right. >> exactly. >> five debates in the next 60 days. so we'll have a proving ground. first, before the panel, we're going to trivia time. we asked, which president took the longest vacation while on the job? the answer -- james madison. near the end of his presidency, madison left washington for, count them, four months. he took off in june of 1816 and didn't come back until october. we'll be right back with more from our panel. you're watching "the daily

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developing now as we've been reporting would happen, president obama has just called on syrian president assad to resign, "for the sake of the syrian people." the white house imposing sanctions on syrian government and freezing syrian assets in the united states. obama says the sanctions will prohibit americans from operating or investing in syria. at a michele bachmann campaign event, you can count on elvis' promiseland the big blue bus. she's from waterloo, but is roughing up reporters also becoming a campaign staple? >> don't ever do it again. do not put your hand on me. >> i asked her very respectful questions about her performance last night and where she thinks she will end up on the straw poll. two of her staffers, the one in

the white dress and black dress started elbowing me and pushing me through the crowd and her husband, marcus, did the same thing. he elbowed me into a golf cart where i hit my head. >> let's bring back our panel. jackie y was with you in iowa, what do you make of this? there have been five incidents of pushing or shoving by bachmann people. >> compare that to sarah palin, they give reporters a wide berth and you have to do that because once you start pushing reporters, it's never good for you. >> it's a former secret service guy doing his job. i just want to ask you because i know you've been on the campaign trail. have you been there and thought this is what i normally expect. >> i haven't been personally roughed up by bachmann security, but you can see it's crazy and a little bit aggressive.

it just is. from both sides. >> let's talk about hawaii, where we probably wish we all would be, where newt gingrich will be. is this just newt unbound? >> newt goes where he wants. >> he's running a campaign based on big ideas. this is going to be unconventional campaign and beyond what people expect. we all know what newt is doing right now. newt is on a book and movie tour and go on the book and movie tour wherever it takes him and if we criticize him, he'll say people don't understand the depth of his thought. >> is there any shred of political strategy in this? i tend to agree with michael, there's not. >> the only political strategy is rebuilding the brand and you saw him start to do that in the debate in iowa when he was feisty and combative with the modrard and the other folks on the stage. i think that's what it is about. next, he'll go to puerto rico.

>> look, if the primary fight goes to hawaii, he may well have it totally wrapped up. let's go to shameless plugs. jackie, go ahead. >> my mom, stepfather are celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary coming up. >> the more shameless, the better. >> mine may be more shameless, actually a positive story about america and where we're headed. >> and that has the michael sheer. >> it does. >> i read it this morning, well worth reading. >> my shout out goes to you for doing such a great job today. >> that is incredibly shameless. wow. look, that makes me happy. that's it for this edition of "daily rundown." we'll see you back right here tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. coming up on "chrisg & co."

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good morning, i'm chris jansing. suddenly a very busy thursday morning. a couple breaking news stories to tell you about. first of all, for the first time, president obumma is now calling for syrian president assad to step down. in a written statement, the president says that syrian people should decide their country's future and assad is standing in their way. the administration is also talking about new economic sanctions on syria. we are expecting to hear from secretary of state hillary clinton any minute now. we will bring that to you live when it happens. well, here she comes, the secretary of state. >> good morning. for months the assad regime for

contempt of its own people. syrians are demanding their universal human rights. the regime has answered their demands with empty promises and horrific violence. torturing opposition leaders, laying siege to cities, slaughtering thousands of unarmed civilians, including children. the assad government has been condemned by all parts of the world and can look only to iran for support for its brutal and unjust crackdown. this morning president obama called on assad to step aside and announced the strongest set of sanctions to date targeting the syrian government. these sanctions include the energy sector to increase pressure on the regime. the transition to democracy in syria has begun and it's time for assad to get out of the way.

as president obama said this morning, no outside power can or should impose on this transition. it is up to the syrian people to choose their own leaders. in a democratic system based on the rule of law and dedicated to protecting the rights of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion, sect or gender. we understand the strong desire of the syrian people that no foreign country should intervene in their struggle. and we respect their wishes. at the same time, we will do our part to support their aspirations for a syria that is democratic, just and inclusive. and we will stand up for their universal rights and dignity by pressuring the regime