session of congress. but he'll be facing tough defensive line. >> listen, this is not a state of the union address. the american people shouldn't be forced to watch some politician they don't want to listen to and frankly, most of them would rather watch the football game. >> republican smack-down. rick perry and mitt romney trade jabs over just who created more jobs. >> michael dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, mitt. >> well, as a matter of fact, george bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, governor. >> and a decade later, are we any safer? homeland security secretary janet napolitano is live with us in studio. what does she think about ron paul's rant against the tsa? >> sometimes they're accused of all kinds of sexual activities on the way they maul people at the airport. so the airlines --

>> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. game on for the republican candidates. it didn't take more than just a few minutes into the nbc news politico debate for the two leading republicans to tangle. >> we created more jobs in the last three months in texas than he created in four years in massachusetts. >> texas has zero income tax. texas has a right to work state. a republican legislature, a republican supreme court. governor perry doesn't believe that he created those things. if he tried to say that, it would be like al gore saying he invented the internet. >> john harwood, cnbc's chief washington correspondent, joins us from the hill. hey, john. it was quite a mash-up last night between perry and romney, as we expected. who do you think came out on top? >> i think mitt romney had a very good night. he defended himself well. he was aggressive and sharp in coming back at rick perry. but i think rick perry had an effective debut on the national stage. there were a couple answers in the middle of the debate where

he flagged a little bit. at the beginning he was very strong, coming right out of the box and taking it to mitt romney as now the front-runner himself, rick perry is. he had an effective close for republican primary voters on the death penalty. that's very popular within the republican party. so i thought given the fact that mitt romney's only been in the race for a month -- excuse me, rick perry has only been in the race for a month, he's now leading in the polls, the fact that he was able to come out and have a credible showing in his first national debate was a strong night for him as well. >> let me play devil's advocate for a bit and pick up on something that joe scarborough and others were saying this morning on "morning joe" which is that rick perry is really asking for trouble when he talks about social security the way he did. in any general election campaign and even in a republican primary campaign. let's watch. >> it is a ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you are paying into a program that's going to be

there. >> our nominee has to be someone who isn't committed to abolishing social security, but who is committed to saving social security. >> regardless of what anyone says, oh, it's not and that's provocative language, maybe it's time to have some provocative language in this country. >> what about that? the ponzi scheme and also, rick perry going back to creationism and challenging the science on not only evolution but also on climate change. >> i think the two bites that you just played, andrea, frame the question for the republican primary. there's no question that what rick perry is saying and the vehemence with which he's saying it will play in the primary. barack obama will hit him hard should he become the nominee. the question is in a republican primary, will rick perry come across as somebody telling the truth about social security financing and the fact that the financing doesn't add up over the long run? this is an argument that many republican politicians make. they don't make it in quite as

colorful language, or can mitt romney succeed in portraying rick perry as somebody who is fundamentally hostile to the idea of social security and wants to do away with it. that's really the crux of it. if mitt romney can succeed in that, he might be able to use that issue to stop rick perry in a republican primary but it's also possible that perry can come back and say mitt romney, you're using democratic talking points against me, i'm saying something that many people in our party believe, and we're going to see that play out in the debates over the next few weeks. >> indeed we will. john harwood, thanks so much. we will talk about the other candidates in the briefing still to come. tonight could be the president's last best chance to reframe the jobs debate. speaking before a joint session of congress, the president will unveil a major package, the white house says, to try to spur hiring and help the middle class if, of course, it could pass. with me now, melody barnes, the president's domestic policy advisor. thanks for joining us from inside the briefing room. >> thanks for having me.

>> i want to ask you about a challenge from your own base. you have andy stern, the former president of sciu, former long-time supporter, members of the jobs panel and also the bowles-simpson commission, and he challenged the president already, writing in "new york times" he's erred on the side of trying to reason with unreasonable people which seems to be the wrong strategy. there is not a clear understanding in most people's minds of what is his philosophy. in republicans there is a clear understanding. what do you say to that? >> i would say to andy and the american people and congress, who will be there tonight, listen to what the president has to say tonight, because the president will tell the american people and he will tell congress i'm going to send you the american jobs act. it is my idea, it is my set of ideas, my plans, for how we can make sure that american people are working, creating and saving jobs, doing that in places where there are needs, whether it's rebuilding our roads and

bridges, keeping teachers in front of our children in classrooms, thinking about the rest of our infrastructure, also finding ways to encourage and incentivize the private sector to do so and particularly focusing on those people who have been unemployed for a long period of time and making sure workers have additional money in their pockets so they can send their children to college, so they can buy groceries at the grocery store. this is our plan. we are going to fight for it vigorously. we are asking congress to work with us to pass this act right now and send the american people back to work where they want to be. that is our vision. that is our philosophy and that's what the american -- the president will be saying to the american people and to congress tonight. >> but of course, it's not only from the outside, from andy stern, although he's within the democratic base. maxine waters and the congressional black caucus spent ten days traveling across america. black unemployment is more than

16% and that's not even long-term unemployment or all of the people who have given up trying to get jobs. this is maxine waters on "meet the press" after that jobs tour. >> this joblessness is not only hitting the middle class, but it is hitting all classes. it is absolutely unconscionable what is happening in the minority communities. i'm hopeful, i'm very hopeful that the president is going to put a big program out there and that he's going to fight very hard for it. >> i heard bill daly, the chief of staff, say anything the president proposes is going to be paid for. can he pay for a program that's big enough to satisfy the more progressive, liberal part of the party? >> it's important to the american people that we pay for this plan, that we not add to the deficit, because we know that people are rightfully concerned about that. at the same time, the president has a laser-like focus. his number one priority when he gets up every single day is to make sure that we are sending

people to work, including those who have been unemployed for a long period of time. absolutely agree, what's happening is unconscionable. we know that it is affecting the american people and our economy in a very, very serious way. that's why we're sending the american jobs act to congress and that's why we're saying to congress work with us now to get this done. the time for partisan bickering is over. the time for dithering is over. the time for talking is over. it's time to act. that's what we intend to do. that's our number one goal. >> what about al gore and the environmentalists who are furious with the white house decision to overrule the epa? you're the domestic policy top advisor. and al gore tweeted instead of relying on science, president obama appears to have bowed to pressure from polluters. the result of the white house's action will be increased medical bills for seniors with lung disease, more children developing asthma and the continued degradation of our air quality. >> right. first of all, everyone can rest

assured that the president doesn't get up in the morning and put his finger in the wind and determine what our policies are going to be. when it comes to regulation, all regulation we believe that it's important to protect american workers, to protect american -- >> but they say you're not. >> but we are. in fact, we have a two-year history and track record, what we've done for air and water, what we have done in all parts of the economy to make sure that people are protected and at the same time, be very conscious of what's going on in our economy. this isn't a zero sum game. this isn't -- there's no false choice here. this is a balancing and a looking at how we should move forward. we have a track record to prove that we have focused on this and we will continue to focus on this, and this is something of great import to the president. >> melody, john boehner today slammed the president and said the american people shouldn't be forced to watch some politician they don't want to listen to and frankly, most of them would rather watch a football game. is that disrespectful?

>> i give the american people a lot of credit. the american people are concerned about the economy. the american people want to know how we're going to make sure that they are working, which is where they want to be, and that's what the american -- >> and john boehner? >> and john boehner, we are hoping john boehner and others in congress will work with us, that they will take action. that's why the president will be spending legislation forward. it then will be incumbent upon congress to act. >> thank you, melody barnes. thanks so much. we will of course be watching what the president has to say today. after telling president obama that enough is enough, what does the congressional black caucus want to hear from the president tonight? we'll be asking congressman elijah cummings. stay with msnbc for live coverage. president obama's speech to a joint session of congress tonight, 7:00 eastern here on msnbc. up next, homeland security secretary janet napolitano. as the nation marks a decade since 9/11, what is the biggest threat now to national security? this is "andrea mitchell reports." ♪

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now to 9/11. america remembers. ten years later, are we any safer? secretary of homeland security janet napolitano is here. your job was created out of the 9/11 commission, all of that has evolved, but are we really safer? there has been criticism again from lee hamilton and the other leaders of the 9/11 commission that it's not all done, it's not really there yet. >> it's not all done, but substantial amount has been done. the department has been formed, we have a much stronger homeland security architecture. around the country, that

includes state and local law enforcement as well as federal information sharing is better, intelligence gathering is better. the whole system is better. so while it's not a finished product yet, nothing ever is, really, in this world of ever-evolving threats, a substantial amount has been accomplished. >> is there any chatter now as we approach this anniversary, there have been a lot of talk about plans that bin laden himself may have had or launched before he was killed. what should we be concerned about in the days and weeks ahead? >> well, we know from what was found in the compound that this tenth anniversary was somewhat of an iconic date, but there are other iconic dates that we find during the course of the year and there's always some chatter around it, so we work with not just within dhs but with all of the other intelligence community to track that down and follow it up, and make sure that we're keeping the american people

safe. >> is there increased chatter, anything right now that should be concerning? >> well, there's increased chatter and as i said, we track it down, working with other departments of the federal government. we have a system now that has replaced the color code and if we get to the point where there's specific credible evidence of a substantial nature, we can raise that alert. we start with a base level that's already a raised alert, but we can always raise it if we find something particular that the american people need to know about. >> ron paul last night was voicing the frustration of a lot of people, not just that wing of the republican party, at all of the intrusions that are felt and at the tsa. i wanted to play a little bit more of that. >> just remember, 9/11 came about because there was too much government. government was more or less in charge. they told the pilots they couldn't have guns and they were told never to resist. they set up the stage for all this. so no, private, private markets

do a good job in protecting, much better than this bureaucracy called the tsa. >> the tsa is a favorite whipping boy. i find them to be wonderful as i go through airports, frankly. i stand in line and see the courtesy with which they treat people. but you had a ray of hope for a lot of us travelers. can we wear our shoes? is that in the future? >> that's right. i said that earlier this week and we are looking at that. we are moving to more of a risk-based process within airports. we want to expand programs like global entry that are for frequent known travelers that are low-risk travelers, and yes, we are researching whether we can let passengers leave their shoes on. >> but not the liquids? >> not the liquids. from a science point of view, look, the number one thing we want to do is keep passengers safe. we have the largest and safest airline system in the world. we process about 1.8 million passengers a day through hundreds of airports and we want to keep it safe. >> fema, under your management,

has done an extraordinary job. everyone agrees. but the challenges of the earthquake was a smaller challenge, but the flooding, the storms and the storms keep coming. what can you tell us about fema? we know there are budget challenges but what about just the ability to keep up with this? >> well, i think the men and women at fema have done a magnificent job. we have been managing storms and tornadoes since the spring. this year, we had 1200 tornadoes. the norm is about 200 tornadoes. and some very devastating ones in alabama, in georgia, mississippi, joplin, missouri, to name but a few places. and so we have irene that came up the atlantic coast last week. we have still the aftereffects of lee, which is causing extensive flooding right now. and we have maria that is pending. so we will continue to work with cities and towns and counties and states to make sure that they have what they need.

>> you have the toughest job in washington, i think. thank you so much, janet napolitano. thanks for being here. good luck in the days to come. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for your service. >> you bet. and a crane collapse at the national cathedral has now forced officials to move sunday's 9/11 concert of hope to the kennedy center. president obama is expected to speak at the event. the crane collapse wednesday due to wind and rain. repairs were being done to the cathedral after sustaining damage from last month's east coast earthquake. the national cathedral was where all the former presidents gathered for an ecumenical service in the days following the attacks. [ female announcer ] investing for yourself is a necessity.

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citracal. how big an influence is the tea party on the current crop of candidates? mitt romney seemed to be distancing himself last night. >> are you a member of the tea party? >> i don't think you carry cards in the tea party. i believe in a lot of what the tea party believes in. if the tea party is for keeping government small, and spending down, and helping us create

jobs, then hey, i'm for the tea party. >> mark meckler, co-founder of tea party patriots. thanks for being with us. you watched the debate. what did you think of the way the candidates handled the tea party, particularly mitt romney? >> i thought it was fantastic. if you heard what he just said, i think he's dead-on. nobody is a card-carrying member of the tea party. you either agree with tea party principles or you don't. i thought it was fantastic. every single candidate on that stage was speaking tea party principles. that's exactly what we want to hear. that's exactly what the nation needs. >> one thing that was -- that really stood out was the way rick perry dealt with social security. there's been a lot of criticism of social security, but to call it a ponzi scheme and not suggest improving it, changing it, making it more secure, better funded, but to just talk about getting rid of it, do you support that? >> well, first of all, i was watching the debate and rick perry did not talk about getting rid of it. they tried to push him into saying that. he actually said it is a ponzi scheme. it is a ponzi scheme.

in other words, the folks that are paying in today if we leave it the way it is, they have absolutely no chance of getting their money out. that is the very definition, open webster's, you'll see it, that's a ponzi scheme. de not say he wanted to get rid of it. none of the candidates said that. >> but he talked about it as a ponzi scheme and didn't talk about a way forward for social security. do you think that politically that is a good platform for republicans? >> well, again, it wasn't talking about getting rid of it. every republican agreed on that stage that it needed to be reformed and that if we don't reform it, and frankly, folks who are sticking their head in the sand are the ones who are going to destroy social security. seemed to me the republicans on that stage were unified around the concept we have to address the problems facing social security or it will continue to be a ponzi scheme and ultimately it will simply fail, leaving millions of americans without any hope in their later years. >> finally, do you think jon huntsman has a role to play here, or is it really now perry versus romney?

>> you know, the polls might tell you one thing but as i watched the debate last night, i was hit by the fact that all of those candidates seemed very competent. they all seemed to understand the issues and deal with the issues facing the country seriously. if anything, i was really excited after that debate that there are some great people running in the republican primary. >> thank you so much, mark. thanks for being with us. does a moderate republican like jon huntsman have any chance of getting the nomination? huntsman tried to make the case that the party can't defeat president obama by denying that global warming is partly man-made or by taking us back to creationism. >> all i am saying is that in order for the republican party to win, we can't run from science. if we're going to win in 2012, we've got to make sure we have somebody who can win based upon numbers, the math that will get us there. >> glenn thresh covers the white house for politico. what's your take on the way this

all was shaking out last night? huntsman i thought had a really good debate, but the question is, is there room in the party for him? >> doesn't he look like a presidential candidate, like a ready-made presidential candidate who is just in search of a party? he just doesn't have a place to go. there's just no place that he can occupy. i was really struck by something mark meckler told you, where he was sort of defending the ponzi scheme comment by rick perry. with all due respect to mark, you know, rick perry or mitt romney, these guys have real inroads to make against president obama in places like eastern ohio, western pennsylvania, florida, michigan, places where the elderly vote is going to be decisive and i'm sorry, when you call social security a ponzi scheme, that is something highly negative with a connotation that you don't like the whole system. so he is really going to have to answer for that. >> right you are, glenn thrush. that's a very active part of the

electorate. thank you very much. a quick correction. our apologies to speaker boehner who was speaking apparently about republicans not giving an official response to the president tonight when he said americans would rather be americans would rather be ilm so strong it survives brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula penetrates biofilm, kills germs and protects your mouth for hours. fight biofilm with listerine®. ♪ [ country ]rms and protects your mouth for hours. [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. whose non-stop day starts with back pain...

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now life's a picnic. [ man ] omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com. topping the headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports" the tail end of tropical storm lee is powerful enough to still be causing severe flooding in the northeast. killing at least three people in pennsylvania. a mandatory evacuation has now been ordered in wilkes-barre. torrential rain is leading to school closures and road flooding. in maryland, several roads have been closed. a coastal flood advisory is in effect. forecasters are tracking tropical storm maria, heading to the caribbean and tropical storm nate is shaping up as a possible threat to mexico and could reach

hurricane status by this weekend. firefighters are still battling to control wildfires across central texas. this map from texas' forestry service shows just how many fires are still raging. nearly 800 homes have now been destroyed in bastrop county. the largest wildfires in the state's history cover 45 miles. fire officials have contained 30% of the blaze so far. as the nation reflects on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, we also look toward the future and other challenges that remain. the 9/11 commission says the u.s. has not yet taken all the steps needed to prevent another attack. i recently asked the commission's vice chairman, lee hamilton, about the ongoing threats and whether we are a safer country today than then. >> we certainly are safer. a lot of good things have been done to make the american people more secure but i think we're not as safe as we would like to be or should be. a lot of progress has been made but a lot more needs to be done.

>> what would you like to see done? what are the key things that you think still leave us vulnerable? >> first of all, i would like to solve the question of the unity of effort, the question of who's in command at the site of the disaster, progress made there but i don't think we've really worked it out yet completely. second, i would like to see the first responders have the ability to talk with one another at the site of the disaster. ten years after 9/11, it's very frustrating that this challenge has not been worked out. third, i would like to see a lot more progress in making the sharing of information among the intelligence agencies seamless. a lot of progress has been made there, significant progress, but more to do. i'd like to see more progress on detecting explosives. we still are not at the place where we can be sure that people coming on that airplane or

whatever transportation do not have explosives on them. those are some of the things that need to be done. i'd like to see us have a privacy and civil liberties board that can give some push-back as the various agencies ask for more powers to survey and to intrude into the lives of americans. >> one of the things that is so noticeable is we've changed completely the way we travel by air. we haven't changed the way we travel by rail. what about the tunnels and the bridges, the subways, the amtrak? it doesn't seem that very much has been done to protect against observable threats. >> i think that's correct. we have been so focused on air travel and indeed, al qaeda has been focused at least historically on air travel, that i think we've neglected the ground transportation and

maritime transportation to some considerable degree. i think the adversary here, our enemy, is quite skillful in identifying our vulnerabilities and certainly transportation by water and by ground would be among our vulnerabilities. some progress there but not enough. >> bin laden is dead. does that mean that al qaeda central is no longer a threat? is it now the more diffuse surrogate and franchise operations in places like somalia and pakistan that we still need to worry about? >> i think al qaeda has evolved for sure. it's become more diffuse, as you suggested, but i don't think because of osama bin laden's death that the al qaeda threat is at an end. their intent is still very clear. they want to do as much harm to americans as they possibly can. their capabilities i believe have been diminished.

we're not as certain about their capabilities. they are less than they once were but al qaeda still remains a significant threat to the united states and we must not become complacent. >> we have figures who are recruiting and training and recruiting here in the united states, and are english speakers. is there a big concern about people here in the u.s., u.s. citizens or people with passports who are a bigger threat now than some of the people, some of the foreign-born terrorists? >> yes. i think this is one of the significant changes. i said a moment ago that al qaeda has evolved and it has, and it has evolved in one way and that is the self-radicalization, the home-made, home-grown terrorist has become much more of a threat. good english speakers, often. this kind of threat is much more difficult, really, to guard against than the foreign threat,

because these people are among us, they can often pass as americans, they often act by themselves. that presents formidable challenges to our law enforcement people. this is an area of i think very great concern now among the counterterrorism experts. >> is there anything finally that we did after 9/11 that actually made things worse? >> oh, i don't think we've made things worse. i think we have overall improved our security and our safety. i think the major concern that i would have at the moment is that because we have been very fortunate, maybe because we have been very skillful, we have not been attacked on american soil now successfully for ten years, and that invariably leads to some complacency. i think it is likely given the technology, given the posture of al qaeda and others who don't wish us well, it's likely that

one of their attacks will get through and so we must not be complacent. we must understand this is not an existential threat to the united states but they could still do us very serious harm and we have to be resilient as a country, we have to bounce back in the event such an attack succeeds. >> lee hamilton, great pleasure seeing you again, sir. thank you very much. >> thank you. nice to be with you. before the president helps commemorate the 9/11 anniversary, tonight he of course will be going to capitol hill to lay out his plan to jump-start the economy and try to create jobs. a series of measures that the white house says have gotten bipartisan support in the past. unemployment among african-americans is now at 16.7%. its highest level in nearly three decades. that probably understates the problem in minority communities. maryland congressman elijah cummings is a member of the congressional black caucus,

congressional leader and serves on the house oversight committee. good to see you. thanks so much, congressman. what do you want to hear from the president tonight? >> i want the president to basically lay out a plan that will get americans back to work immediately and you know, mr. cantor and mr. boehner have already said that they want to cooperate and i think the president needs to hold them to their word and present proposals that they have already agreed to in the past, things that they pushed. for example, the tax holiday, so that people have the extra thousand dollars in their pocket. keep in mind, andrea, back when we were doing the stimulus a year or so ago, the republicans had their own stimulus bill for reconstruction, so i mean, they liked it then. they should like it now. as a matter of fact, they should like it even more because we face very, very difficult circumstances. and then this idea of giving certain tax breaks to employers who want to indeed hire and do

hire people, i think again, that's a republican proposal. we need to see that presented and many others that the president has been talking about, but those are the kinds of things that people want to see get done. so i don't want -- i'm anxious to hear the president's words, but you know, it's sort of like a wedding, andrea. the wedding is one thing. the marriage itself is another. in other words, i want to see what we can get done as fast as we can get it done, because americans are out of work, looking for jobs, and then you have another problem and that is that a lot of people have lost some confidence. so our consumer spending is down a bit and as you know, that's 70% of our economy. so we've got -- i think, this is an ideal time for the president to be presenting his case and i know he'll do it and he's got to go to the highest height of his oratory ability which is phenomenal, to let the country know that we're not talking about damage that may be done

for a moment or for a week, but if we don't begin to straighten this up now and get people back to work, it could have ramifications far into the future and make it even more difficult to straighten this situation out in the future. >> congressman, there are a couple really shocking numbers out there, besides the unemployment numbers, which are the most painful of all. when you talk about consumer confidence, the fact is that the debt ceiling debate, all those weeks this summer, was second only to 9/11 in terms of the failure of consumer confidence. worse than katrina, worse than the iran hostage episode. all of these historic tragic events in american history. and the debt ceiling debate, the congressional failure, the political breakdown, that caused more of a drop in consumer confidence than any of these other events. that's got to be a real cause of concern to both political parties. >> it definitely should be. that doesn't shock me. one of the things we know from

political science 101 is that when a country or a town is in trouble, they want to know that they have leadership that is stable, that is working for them and not against them. i don't think the people want to hear us blaming each other. they want us to get something done. when you don't have the money to buy tennis shoes for your kids, when they are about to go to school, they don't want to hear a blame game. they want to hear -- they want to know we're doing something. keep in mind, our republican colleagues, they are now beginning to feel some of the pain, too, because as you know, at their town hall meetings, people are beginning to question them with regard to, you know, looking out so much for the rich but at the same time, trying to cut those things that would support the middle class. so i'm hopeful that we can get above the politics. i'm hopeful that the president can take us there. he certainly has the ability to do that. we've got to leave our political hats at the door and walk in and do something for the american people. not so much wall street, but main street. >> i know you will be there

watching. >> live and in living color. i'm going to get there early. >> you'll get a good seat, an aisle seat. we will see you in the coming days for your reaction. thank you, congressman. >> all right. thank you. for the families of the victims of 9/11, the pain never ends. we'll be talking to one man who lost his wife in the attacks. t a little information first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do. i'm not looking forward to my flight. try this. bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back. no, this is new bayer advanced aspirin... clinically proven to relieve tough pain twice as fast as before.

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coming up on "news nation" former union leader andy stern says president obama has quote, lost the sense of power and mystique of the presidency. i'll talk with stern about what he thinks president obama needs to say tonight that will hit home to americans who are out of work at this point. plus a shocking development in the case of a missing nursing student. police arrest her high school friend and charge her with murder. was the motive a love triangle? all that and more ahead on "news nation." charles wolf lost his wife, katherine, in the september 11th attacks. he has been a vocal activist for

victims' families ever since and joins me now. mr. wolf, thanks so much for being with us. again, we are so sorry for your loss. >> i appreciate that. thank you very much. >> you have tried to turn this pain into something positive for other people. tell me first what you think needs to be done. what more needs to be done for the victims and their families? >> well, i'm not sure how to answer that question, because so much has been done already. revival of our spirit is very important and when we come into the tenth anniversary like this, just the reporting on it, the intense reporting, tends to bring things up and causes many of us to relive it, which brings up all the pain all over again. and i think that the memorial that's going to be opened on saturday or sunday, rather, the national september 11th memorial, is absolutely beautiful. i was privileged to have seen it already and it is gorgeous. i think that really, as we move

on here, people just need to understand that they need to get to the point of being able to remember without reliving. i think it's up to us, really, right now, and not something that other people can do for us. >> can you tell us something about katherine as you remember her on that day? >> well, on that day, it was very short because she left for work at 8:06 that morning, kind of bothered with something on her mind. gave her a hug and a kiss and kind of walked her to the door as she walked to the elevator and that's the last i ever saw of her. my apartment's in greenwich village and american airlines flight 11 flew directly over our apartment five seconds before it crashed directly into my wife's office which was on the 97th floor of tower one, the north tower. so that was -- but my life with katherine before that had been wonderfully interesting. we were best friends. she was also my business partner. she was a graduate of the royal college of music of london.

she was a rehearsal accompanyist for the trumpeter that played at the wedding of prince charles to diana. she came here, married me, eventually left the music world and eventually worked as an executive assistant for top executives in several corporations before she took this job on august 20th. >> just one of so many lives changed. is this anniversary any different with the killing of osama bin laden? does that make it any easier? >> well, since -- the tenth anniversary itself makes it different because of the intensity of what's going on, the wall-to-wall coverage, the programs that are happening on television, all those sorts of things. it makes it different right there. so it's hard to compare. but there is, i know amongst me and many of the other family members that i have talked to, there is a degree of satisfaction that we got osama bin laden. however, getting the man that got our loved ones, that ordered the killing of our loved ones,

of course doesn't bring the loved one back. and we have them in our hearts, we have them in our memories, and we must carry on. i made a statement, said they may have gotten my wife but they're not getting the rest of my life. and that's the way i've thought because nothing will bring her back. i still love her, always will, but i also know there's room in my heart for other love, too. >> it is such an important message. thank you for sharing your story, the story of katherine and she is now in all of our hearts. thank you very much for sharing. >> thank you so much. wishing you well in the days to come. stay with msnbc for special coverage as america remembers 9/11. my friend and colleague reporting live from ground zero tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. on saturday, chris matthews is live at the flight 93 memorial in shanksville, pennsylvania. starting at noon eastern. on sunday, live coverage of the ceremonies at ground zero

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so which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? the managing contributor eder or the of postpolitics.com, chris cillizza joins us. it is clearly the president's speech. >> we have been waiting before president obama went on vacation at martha's vineyard and we obviously thought it was 24 hours earlier a few days ago, but this is the big night. the white house is not backing down from this moment, and they know it is a big moment, and the joint session of congress tells it. you know, this is a speech that we may look back on and say, was this the start of barack obama turning that corner electorally or just more of the same? in the past, he has risen to the rhetorical moment, and i think back to the jeremiah wright

speech in philadelphia which turned a negative into a positive and a harder task here because the data out there is so pessimistic, but he has risen to the challenges before and clearly a big challenge for him tonight. >> well, there's almost no easy road path out of this economic doldrums or whatever you want to call it the pain of unemployment. david leonart writing of the threat of another recession if things don't turn around. and also, the substance of the politics. is it good enough for the president to come out with the fiery rhetoric and call tomorrow as that republicans will reject, more gridlock, but gives the democrats and the president's re-election a talking point, a platform, or does he need to accomplish something? >> well, it is not enough, andrea. i believe he will reach out more to the center and more to the republicans and whether the

republicans reach back is a big question, and the other question that follows is if the republicans don't reach back then barack obama has gone more than halfway there, and he is doing everything he can to make things better and is the republican intransigence getting in the way, and that blame game, because i can not imagine the current political environment with the broad stimulus to be passed. that blame game is the critical piece to be fought out over the next five or six months as we run up to the republican presidential primary, but i don't think he is super confrontational, but the policies he proposes will pass in any large measure either. >> we will have all of this tomorrow, the aftermath of the is speech. thank you, chris cillizza. that does it for us on this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." and tomorrow the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and the nation's first homeland national security leader tom ridge. and the man going after al qaeda's money, president of treasury department david cohen,

and my colleague tamron hall has the "newsnation." and thank you, andrea. chuck schumer will join us after giving an emotional speech on the floor of the senate, and now he is calling for congress to come together on this jobs crisis as it did ten years ago. and. and now 70,000 people are forced from their homes right now after more flooding in the northeast. some of these people are evacuating for the second time in two weeks. many streets are only accessible by boat. "newsnation" is minutes away.

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right now on "newsnation," here we go again. >> the american people shouldn't be forced to watch some politician they don't want to listen to, and frankly most of them would rather watch the football game. >> he has cheapened the very notion of a joint session of congress. >> despite an overwhelming number of americans voicing the disgust over the debt ceiling dete