saying about the american jobs act, my jobs plan, uniformly what they're saying is this buys us assurance against a double dip recession and it almost certainly helps the economy grow and will put more people back to work. >> this hour, nbc's brian williams' exclusive interview with president obama, what he says about his potential republican opponents. picking sides, mitt romney has a new ally, former rival tim pawlenty. perry's perks, just a taste of why it's good to be governor of texas. and a new portrait emerging of jack shin kennedy, the former lady's most intimate thoughts in her own voice for the first time. good day i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama made a rose garden pitch for his rose garden bill. >> i want to you pick up the phone.

i want you to send an e-mail, use one of those airplane sky riders, dust off the fax machine, or you can just like write a letter so long as you get the message to congress. send me the american jobs act so i can sign it into law. let's get something done. let's put this country back to work. >> kelly o'donnell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent. you remember snail mail, send us a statement. they were going to send it to the congressional budget office but what are they saying behind the scenes? >> reporter: they have two tracks, the conciliatory tone for the larger political landscape they want to appear cooperative on the side of jobs but when you get to the nitty

gritty is where it becomes difficult. once they get the nonpartisan but official numbers of the plan, the cbo score, that will say a lot. privately they're talking about real concern how would it be paid for. we heard from the white house budget director talking about the president's intent for how to pay for the new jobs and largely would go to some of the ingredients we've heard before, taking away some of the deductions that are popular for many americans, charitable, mortgage, at a certain thing at a certain income level of $200,000 a year or more and doing things different when it comes to corporate jets, been a punchline for the president, taking away one of the ways that you can deduct the cost of that. so looking at some tax increases that would be targeted in order to try to pay for it. what makes it so complicated, it would be a big story this fall is the white house would like congress to pass this sort of as it is, and then allow the supercommittee which will be getting rolling here as well to then look at those how you pay

for it elements and make changes, swap things out if they want. that would be very complicated, so you have some resistance from republicans when it comes to things like tax increases and how would it be paid for, would it add to the debt and deficit but also a certain amount of sentiment here that really does cross party lines about wanting to do something to encourage jobs and to improve the committee. >> and the president said coming out to the rose garden, he and the vice president noticed in politico one republican anonymously being reported obama is on the ropes, why do we appear to be headed to a win? >> reporter: there is that political element, the type of thing whispered more than said plainly, not wanting to give the president on advantage going into 2012, not wanting republicans to be claiming ownership of the broader economy. they feel it finally moved from being george w. bush's economy to president obama's economy so from the pure hard knuckle

politics some republicans do not want to see the president getting help from their side of the aisle. >> kelly o'donnell thanks so much. that's why you are going to have a busy fall indeed. >> reporter: it will be great. the weak economy say huge drag on the president's popularity. brian williams interviewed the president this weekend and asked him about his declining polls. >> one of the things i learned early on is not to worry about polls. if i was worrying about polls i wouldn't be sitting here interviewing with you. as i recall when i was running for president i was down about 30 points around this time in my first run for presidency. >> joining us now, brian williams, anchor and managing editor of "nbc nightly news." you had a busy weekend, extraordinary coverage and interview with the president. very interesting his responses to your political questions. >> it was andrea, thank you. the terror alert helped to form the backdrop of this interview. i think he was in kind of a

contemplative mood. as you've seen that job you deal with the deepest security level and concerning national threats and then of course as you just mentioned, this is all looming in the background. i tried to engage him on politics as you saw polling, i tried to ask if he had seen our last republican debate, and then in this next exchange, i read back a quote from mitt romney about how the president seems like a nice man who "doesn't have a clue about how to fix this economy." >> i'm not going to start reacting to republican rhetoric in a presidential campaign. let them decide who it is who is going to be their standard bear and we'll have more than ample time to have a debate with them. >> what do you make of rick perry who i guess is the front-runner? >> well, you know, he's been the governor of a big state and you know, there's no doubt he's a

formidable candidate as mr. romney and a whole bunch of other folks. >> you see, andrea, you've done this before and you can't quite get him to engage on certain topics unless he's in the mood to. >> you asked him about the tea party. >> i did. i wanted to know was the tea party here to stay and there was one specific aspect of that that interested him. >> i do think that the extreme position that you hear that says government has no role to play in growing our economy, that the federal government has no function to play in building a strong middle class is absolutely wrong. i reject that view. i think the vast majority of americans reject that view. i think having social security and medicare and medicaid, programs that provide a social safety net for people, that is a vital role for our government.

>> so where have we seen social security mentioned before? oh, that's right, when rick perry called it a ponzi scheme. >> right. >> so there you have working around the edges, and just as a little taste, tonight on "nightly news" i ask him the question, what about the people who voted for that man on the poster that said "hope," and in answering that question, he got a little philosophical. i think you're going to want to see that part as well. >> i know i'm going to want to see that part as well. it isn't the first rodeo for you and the president going round on politics and clearly focused on the fact if rick perry has a vulnerability the first one cropped up this question about the ponzi scheme and social security there, he'll be in florida tonight there is a debate and of course not only florida but other key early states have large numbers of older citizens who vote in large numbers. >> we might see some adjustment on that wording, you never know. >> yes.

by the way, brian i know you never look at sports, but this is your hometown paper, not mine, "the new york post" just want to point out what happened to, what is that team, the giants? >> we had some player eradication over the offseason, and right up until the season, where we had some miscommunications between certain members of the new york giants and new york giants management so it has resulted, andrea, in deficiencies in our roster. i don't want you to think that any other team in our division specifically say washington or dallas or philadelphia is a superior team in any way. >> not hardly. >> we just wanted to feel out kind of the parameters of this year's squad, and now we have a good idea as to how to proceed. >> yeah, now you know what the weaknesses are, so work on that. >> thanks so much. >> thank you so much. >> i owe you, my friend. >> see you tonight on "nightly news." >> thank you, brian. >> bye. >> of course, see more of brian

williams' exclusive interview with president obama tonight on "nightly news." check your local listings and spoorts as well. how to pay for the president's job as well, alan simpson joins me next. send me your thoughts on twitter @mitchellreports. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. new triple double oreo. ♪ yo stufy, come here! [ shoes squeaking ] looked better on paper. [ strike! ] looked better on paper. woman: we love ordering sushi, butso to save some money...e. man: looks great, hun... woman: ...and we're not real proud of this. man: no...we're not. woman: we...um... teen: have you guys seen captain stewie and lil' miss neptune? dad: did you look all over the place? under your desk? all around? teen: uh, they're fish, they live in a bowl. dad: what're gonna do?

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and we have just learned the president plans to propose $467 billion according to his own director in savings to offset the cost of his new jobs bill but it will be ultimately of course be up to congress and particularly the congressional supercommittee to agree to the recommendations or cover the costs some other way on top of

the kes' original to find $5 trillion in savings. former republican senator alan simpson joins me now. you and your partner erskine bowles say you should do more. >> don't forget the president of george washington university said we should do more. it's a long-term grotesque deficiency now because of what they did recently. they raised the debt limit to almost $17 trillion. you have to go long-term. you can't just get there with little cuts in the payroll tax which takeses money out of the social security system. i don't know why anybody hasn't figured out when you have a system that goes into the bylaws in 2036 and you do the cuts on

the payroll tax it funds it less. >> the counter argument would be right now from the president, but more broadly, certainly from the democratic base that the economy is teetering on a potential double dip, and that stimulus will help. do you disagree with that? >> no you don't but we we said in our report we'll put in the baby in 2013, don't forget what we did. we realize this is a fragile time and economic situation. i agree with you have to be careful but you have to get going. >> what do you think is specific about the president piling another $467 billion on to the mandate of the supercommittee? does that make it that much more difficult for them to get anywhere? >> i want to see where he's going to get it. they talk about we'll give you the specifics later. i still think the best way to do

all of this is get in there and dig around and the 180 tax expenditures which are tax earmarks which are spending by another name and belt them out of there and give tax reform in three separate rates. >> when you talk about tax reform you're making the point that tax expenditures are loopholes or really spending. you're saying it's not on the tax side but as you know the republican ideology among some that this is really a tax increase. what do you say to grover norquist and the others? >> the gospel according to grover is what that is. anybody who would sign a pledge 20 years ago to do something or not should not be in congress. you don't sign things before you hear the debate and listen to the arguments and all of the rest of it but i can tell you you can't get there without getting additional revenue. you see coburn take $6 billion

off of ethanol and call that a tax increase it's ludicrous, it's ridiculous. >> a card-carrying strong republican but willing to go along with getting rid of some of the tax breaks. what about trying to cut through the political gridlock in washington. would it have been better if the president and others had fully endorsed your commission back when, when it first came along? >> i think that's exactly what bill clinton would have done, knowing him as i do, he would have embraced that. come in with five dems and five republicans. >> president obama appointed you all. >> obama couldn't have done it because he would have been torn to bits so ryan, who got the gots to address the elephant in the bedroom, he goes after medicare and gets torn to bits so it's a case of throw out

something workable and you'll get ripped to shreds. these groups are tough. you got the aarp, these guys are unforgiving and not ready to do anything. they're loading up. >> when you say the republican presidential debate, you know presidential politics, you were in and out of it for years, you see rick perry say that social security is a ponzi scheme and everyone else immediately saying wait a second, you know, let's not talk that way, how likely is it we're going to have a real conversation about entitlements and social security and more importantly medicare? >> well, if the one driver is medicare, which is on automatic pilot, everybody knows the figures, 10,000 a day, people turning 65, you got to do something with medicare and you have to do something with providers, and with the copays, and affluence testing, but to see those nine stand up at that debate and said if you got nine

bucks worth of spending cuts -- >> actually 10-1 sthth. >> and $1 worth of taxes and all nine of them said no, that is absurd. that's not responsible government. it's fakery. >> going into this presidential campaign year it makes it harder to conceive of real compromise on the tough issues. what happens iffing nothing is? >> it will be a riot. there will be hatchet woes on defense and non-defense. >> coming out of the debt ceiling compromise? it's automatic? >> yes, because if you can't get it done and you have a great guy like leon panetta running the defense department he'll get in there and do things himself. he's smart, been on the budget committees, he's the sharpest knife in the drawer, leave him alone. don't just come down and cut a great chunk out of the defense and cut a great chunk out of non-defense. people will go crazy if that happens and should and they'll

punch holes in those 12. >> senator alan simpson thank you very much. always a pleasure. >> indeed always. rick perry living large with a lot of help from his friends, how texas law lets him get everything from luxury vacations to cable tv to cowboy boots all for free. ♪ you ain't been right yet ♪ these boots are made for walkin' ♪ ♪ and that's just what they'll do ♪ [ dog barks, growls ] ♪ whoa, watch out, little man. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you take away the worry, it's easy to enjoy the ride. hey, bud. hey, dad. [ male announcer ] introducing cadillac shield. the most comprehensive suite of owner benefits offered by any luxury auto maker in the world. is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release...

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[ baby crying ] ben harper: ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned into a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? rick perry likes to portray himself as a straight talking cotton farmer's son from texas, but during a decade as governor, perry's enjoyed lavish perks and travel mostly paid for by deep pocketed supporters and all entirely legal under texas loose ethics laws. ken came up with the list and how is this possible? >> well it's possible because like you mentioned andrea, there

are far less stringent laws governing campaign finance and the state of texas. there are no limits on the value of the gifts that a governor elected official can accept. there are also few limits on the uses of campaign money, so that while there is technically a prohibition on converting campaign money to personal use, the definition of what is personal use allows folks like rick perry to fly to the bahamas in 2004 for scuba diving and golf which he says he did, that there were policy discussions about education policy during this trip so he's taken full advantage of these lax ethics in campaign finance rules to bo bolster his lifestyle. >> a new cnn/opinion research poll saying that perry beats romney 2:1 by those thinking's more electable over barack obama. >> this is a very strong argument for perry.

let's not forget that romney and some of the folks in the establishment who were nervous about perry's entrance into the race tried to suggest that he was not going to be viewed as electable. this poll would seem to suggest that republican primary voters think quite the opposite. >> and speaking of republican primary voters, sarah palin seemed to be on fox the other day trying to bail out rick perry for whatever problem he may have over that ponzi scheme comment. let's watch. >> what rick perry was trying to say i believe is that there needs to be reform. status quo was not acceptable because the programs are insolve insolvent so he's saying reform is necessary. >> so wayne slater, who is a pretty good rick perry watcher among other things, wayne slater tweeted out after that "take it to the bank, sarah palin will not run for president, will endorse rick perry." that's a pretty good read on that. >> she did endorse him in 2010

in his very heated primary against senator kay bailey hu h hutchison. there was history on whether sarah palin was basing her own decision on whether rick perry was in the race. we see no indication she is going to get in and we see indication from this comment and a few others she might be leaning towards endorsing him. that would help him with the tea party wing of the party. however, there's some thought maybe that's not where he needs help. he needs help with the more mainstream centrist parts of the party so we'll have to see with what sarah palin does. it will be key to see whether she remains a force in the republican politics. >> absolutely. thank you very much ken, great reporting and appreciate your being here. nearly 50% of african-american teenagers are out of work. how does president obama's plan aim to help those who are hardest hit by the jobs crisis? plus crisis in egypt,

israeli diplomats were forced to leave cairo this weekend. the fragile peace treaty hangs in the balance. [ male announcer ] one-hundred-nineteen data points.

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in simulation technology, you engineer amazing. ♪ well tooled's unemployment situation is tough on everyone, on all americans. it is flat out devastating for minorities and particularly teenagers. one-quarter of younger americans are out of work and fully 50% of younger african americans are out of work. wes moore is a retired army captain and author and mentor for leading advocate for youth issues. this jobs plan even if it were to get through is not going to trickle down to the kids for a long time. >> one of the big challenges we're seeing isn't necessarily on the job opportunities in many cases just aren't there but also there's a skills gap. you take a look at the state of maryland, just as one example, the state of maryland has 70,000

jobs, 70,000 jobs that are available but the question is, where are people coming from that have the skills that can take on the jobs and where are people getting hit hard, young people, recent college graduates who as they're coming out of the college ranks not having that opportunity to transition immediately into jobs making that unemployment number so unacceptably high. >> what do you see specifically in the president's announcement today and what he's sending up to congress that might help young people, if it were to be passed? >> unwf the big claulzs inside of the bill as proposed right now is one that's looking at actual training and apprenticeship programs. when you look at the unemployment rate within this country, the frightening thing about it is for people with college degrees the unemployment rate for particularly the past couple of years has stayed relatively flat. the reason we've gone from 5% to close to 10% nationally is mainly looking at people without

college and high school degrees. to add training and apprenti apprenticeship program inside of this bill is a core way of not just being able to decrease the unemployment rate but also being able to increase the skills gap within that unemployment rate. >> wes can you speak to how continued unemployment and the fact that their parents in either two-parent or one-parent households are long-term unemployed, how that affects the more ral, the emotional context in which kids live? >> it's a great point. it's a huge drain on morale when you look at the unemployment rate in the country, 44% of all the unemployed have been deemed as chronically unemployed. they've been on the unemployment roles for a long time. what you start seeing this starts playing into the family dynamic.

addressing chronic unemployment is a huge issue in terms of just the psychology of the american people >> wes moore thanks for visiting today. >> thank you. virginia senator jim webb has been grappling with all of these issues. senator webb thank you for joining us from the hill. alan simpson says $4 trillion for the supercommittee to come up with if the real problems that we face down the road are going to be dealt with, not immediately but in terms of phasing in these cuts. is that even possible, given the current climate in congress? >> we're obviously going to have some pretty strong debates on where taxes would be and where cuts would come from. i do not believe we should be increasing ordinary earned income taxes on any level. i think there are places for us to be able to get money from changing things like capital gains tax and the loopholes and those sorts of things that have

existed in our tax code, but the number one reality that we're facing here is you cannot bring more jobs. you can't do these things without growing our economy, and we can't grow our economy unless we have greater capital investment, and there are a lot of reasons we're not getting the capital right now. one is business people are uneasy about the future, and they're holding back. there's a lot of money out there. others are for political reasons. there are people in corporations that are holding back on money right now, looking into the next year's election. there's $1 trillion overseas from american corporations who don't have to pay taxes on it. we may need to find a way to bring the money back in. what we have to do is grow capital investment in the country in order to address a whole range of problems. >> one of your areas of expertise is the military, and if they do not deal with this in the supercommittee you're going to get into that trigger, agree to the debt ceiling which would be hacking away at the defense

spending. >> well, there's, that's a good incentive i think for people to take on the committee, to take this next couple of months seriously but again when we look at the situation we're in right now, let's not forget, this has been over the last ten years a period where there were people like myself and others who were warning that if you occupy these other countries in the war against international terrorism you're going to drain the economy and the economy was drained not through budget deficits, which is where this supercommittee would go but through the supplemental appropriations that were above the budget debates and went directly into the national debt. we have a budget deficit argument and then we have this national debt argument, they were two separate things so we have to bring all of this into the same place. we have to look at the budget process as where these military expenditures are coming from. i was in the pentagon 25 years ago when the graham rudman cuts came down and they were able to find money. if you put percentages on to dod

and these other departments there are ways they will find the efficiencies rather than us sitting here picking one place or the other for them. >> speaking of the pentagon what happened ten years ago yesterday do you have any reflections on 9/11 on the anniversary and the way we were responding to terror threats, whether we are better prepared? they're clearly better prepared but are we prepared enough given the nature of the unconfirmed threat but a credible source? >> i have two very strong feelings about this, on the positive side i think we're doing much, much better, in terms of the terrorist threat per se, the ability of our technology, and of our tactical forces to deal with it. on the other side i wrote a piece ten years ago today in terms of how we deal with international terrorism and one paragraph, do not occupy territory. we take a maneuver force, turn it into a defensive force and we don't need to be building

permanent bases or semipermanent bases in order to deal with the notion of international terrorism. terrorism is mobile so we need to reduce our occupation forces around the world. we've learned the lesson these aren't the right models and we need to continue what we've been doing in terms of technology and the tactical ways of dealing with international terrorists who are out to do us harm. >> big lessons and i know you wrote an op ed september 4th in "the washington post." we have iraq and afghanistan. >> actually in that piece five months before the invasion i said i don't think they have an exit strategy because they don't want to leave, and you know, it's time. it's time for us to start taking care of the problems here at home, fighting international terrorism in a smart way and instead of going after nation building, which is costly and really hasn't given us that much of a benefit. >> jim webb, thank you so much for joining us. >> good to be with you. the israeli embassy in cairo

was under siege this weekend, penetrated by a mob of protesters who scaled the walls, removed the flag and seized documents. it forced the ambassador to flee. we are now joined by israeli's ambassador to the united states, michael oren. obviously a very scary time. what can you tell us about the security situation in cairo for your property, for your personnel? >> the embassy is being guarded. we have every intention of reopening once the security situation allows. the egyptian government is ensuring us they have every intention of maintaining the peace treaty with us. we are committed to the peace troo treaty and it is shared by the obama administration which acted swiftly and decisively to secure our embassy on friday night when it was overwhelmed. >> how did the obama administration help the israeli diplomats who were under siege

in cairo? >> prime minister netanyahu called president obama friday evening and asked him to intercede and the president acted immediately, called egyptian leaders, secretary of state clinton also made phone calls and assured that egyptian forces were on hand to help assist with the rescue operation. >> this was a really dire situation, but it's also very concerning because of the rest of the relationship. this is the longest standing peace treaty with the arab world, and if that's in jeopardy, and if you no longer feel secure on the border because of what's happening in sinai and the way egyptian police and security officials post the arab spring are guarding gaza and the tunnels into gaza, this creates even more concerns obviously for your country. >> keep in mind the entire middle east, andrea, is in upheaval. people want jobs and democracy. they're angry, frustrated.

sometimes they turn that frustration and anger at us. other times radicals turn it at us. >> this was not the muslim brotherhood. >> it was a soccer team involved in a conflict the day before. >> it was a flash mob? >> mostly soccer fans. it had nothing to do with us and i think that's very important to point out that the situation in the middle east is not about us. sometimes we get some of that anger gets deflected toward us. it's not about us. this was a perfect case of that. the egyptian government is committed to maintaining the peace and we're hoping to open the embassy as soon as possible. >> let me play a recent interview newsmax did, ron kessler with former vice president dick cheney about israel's intentions potentially toward iran. >> in terms of iran, do you think that israel would attack their nuclear facilities if necessary? >> i think they would.

i think for israel iran represents an existential threat and they'll do whatever they have to do to guarantee their survival and their security. >> we're seeing a lot of warnings that more and more of the uranium is being enriched to 20% and potentially beyond. when is iran going to reach the point where it is an existential threat and we could see israel taking military action? >> first of all we have some time but not a lot of time, and israel of course does have the right to defend itself against iranian threats which are quite considerable, but we're committed to the sanction program as led by president obama and with like-minded countries in the world and we're exploring ways of ratcheting up the sanctions right now and hope they'll prove effective in deflecting the iranians from acquiring nuclear weaponses. >> ann curry is in turkey, tensions with egypt and turkey,

arguments as to whether you can diplomats with turkey, and developing the conversation with friends becoming potential adversa adversaries. z>> there was no questions as t the flotilla and whether sex excessive force was used? >> we would go to arbitration which was a risk with the u.n., not always so fair toward israel and they found the, israel's blockade of gaza was legal and necessary to prevent rockets from falling into the hands of hamas. they found our soldiers who blocked the flotilla from reaching gaza uncountered serious violent resistance, had to defend themselves. >> there was critics excessive force was used. >> they also said we should expressed regret and we expressed deep regret and

offered to pay compensation. we want the turks to come back and be our friends and we hope that they'll go that way and not a different way. >> thank you so much, ambassador michael oren. a busy period with the meetings and vote on statehood. look forward to continuing the conversation. >> as always. a revealing look at former first lady jacqueline kennedy in her own words. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." from $10,990. the all-new nissan versa sedan. innovation upsized. innovation for all.

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[ male announcer ] the most legroom per dollar of any car in america. from $10,990. the all-new nissan versa sedan. innovation upsized. innovation for all. hi, everyone. come up on "news nation" across the country, gas prices are rising, creeping up six cents in two weeks. what's behind the rising prices? a pharmacist called a hero after pulling out his own gun to stop a man from robbing the store. now the pharmacist has been fired from his job. he's now suing and it's our gut check. all of that and more in 15 minutes. topping the headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports"

a nuclear plant explosion left one person dead and four more injured in southern france today. a furnace used to melt nuclear waste exploded. safety officials say there was no sign that any radiation escaped into the atmosphere from the building. the site remains sealed. ventilators are operating. roads are closed and rivers still flooded across the northeast, days after strong rain from tropical storm lee. flooding across central and northeast pennsylvania caused massive damage. it is to plam for the death of at least a dozen people. rivers are expected to recede by wednesday as residents return home for cleanup. the new york city 9/11 memorial at ground zero is now open to the public. too see for the first time ordinary americans are able to visit the eight-acre plaza that holds two giant fountains with the memorial of the engraved names of americans killed in the attacks. jacqueline kennedy never wrote a memoir but more than

eight hours of a recorded interview she did more than six months after the president was assassinated gives the world an entire new perspective. she speaks candidly. ♪ it was only months after her husband's assassination when a 34-year-old widow sat down to record more than eight hours of recollections wi about her husb and his most private thoughts while they were still fresh, even raw. jfk and his brother, bobby, on lyndon johnson, the new president -- >> bobby told me this later and i know jack said it to me sometimes, he said oh, god, about you ever imagine what would happen to the country if lyndon was president. so many times he would say it if there was ever a problem. >> reporter: the former first lady written to thank lbj calling him jack's right arm and

more than that we were friends, all four of us, almost a half century later we hear a different view. perhaps colored by bobby kennedy's resentments after the assassination and her annoyance after this call from johnson a month after her husband's death two days before christmas. >> i hope that you are doing all right. >> oh, i'm doing fine, thank you. >> do you know how much we love you? you have a good christmas dear. >> thank you, the same to you. >> good night. >> hours later she learned lbj was showing off for a room full of reporter action just as stunning the criticisms of dr. martin luther king jr. but they need to be understood in context. at the time fbi director j. edgar hoover was trying to incite divisions between the kennedys and dr. king telling bobby kennedy that dr. king was overheard on fbi wiretaps making crude comments about jackie kennedy, kissing her husband's coffin on the day of jack's funeral. the tapes were supposed to be locked in a vault for a is enry

but caroline decided to release them now all eight and a half hours uncensored. she also explained it isn't surprising her mother would have at the time made some statements she might have changed later. as caroline told "parade" when she first read the transcript they reminded her what made historical figures human is what made them more interesting and what made this oral history is what made a different jacqueline kennedy not the long familiar public figure whose whispery figure guided us through the white house. >> it seemed such a shame to find anything of the past in the white house. >> i am the man who accompanied jacqueline kennedy to paris. and i've enjoyed it. >> reporter: this jacqueline kennedy is far more complex with a keen eye for the characters around her husband, and a feel

for diplomacy and politics. >> i mean in politics things do change quickly and jack would never, he'd often say never get in anything so deep you've lost your chance of conciliation. >> she said they talked about politics all the time. these new recordings detail life with the president, in one poignant moment she talks about john kennedy jr. and he comes into the room, when john is then asked what happened to his father by arthur schlessinger jr., john john, barely 3 1/2, he said well, he's gone to heaven. the book will be released john only 3 1/2 said well, he has gone to heaven. it comes with a cd of the interviews and it was bought at a bookstore and it will be on sale on wednesday. what political story will be making headlines? i'm andrea mitchell reports.

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. post politics.com. are you looking towards florida and the impact of not only a debate, but the campaigning down there? . >> golly, andrea. two debates in ten days and a straw poll on september 24th, so yes. it was near term and long-term implications. this is the proving ground for rick perry and may ultimately be kind of either shines or steps back in terms of momentum. long-term i think the race may come down to florida on the republican side. it's likely to go after iowa, new hampshire, nevada and south carolina. a big diverse state like that, everywhere will target it. who wins there? they wind up being the republican nominee. >> that's the scenario from 2000it and you have the ponzi scheme and social security. that's one other piece. >> with an older population.

it really, really can matter in florida. >> the other thing happening tomorrow, a special election to replace anthony wiener and the democrats sound really, really worried they will lose a traditional democratic seat. this is the drag of the white house. president obama's lack of popularity or local and reaction to scandal? >> i don't think it helps. the president in polling that both public and private is note terribly popular. this is the district he won with 55% of the vote. it is moving in the republicans's direction. al gore won with 67%, but this is a democratic district. there were no democrats worried about it. they are very worried today. >> we will all be watching tonight and tomorrow. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. we have a look at what's next. wonderful coverage from

pennsylvania over the weekend. >> same to you. fantastic coverage live from washington, d.c. we are learning new details on how the white house plans to pay for the bill can't to kong. eric kantor is talking about which parts he won't support. plus, republican strategist will join me live. he said if republicans don't help pass something, they deserve to be trumanized. those are his words. news nation is just minutes away. new triple double oreo. ♪ yo stufy, come here! [ shoes squeaking ] looked better on paper. [ strike! ] while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®.

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