please explain it. >> i can't. our final question to you, is this going to affect his campaign? >> look, i think it has to. it has to because the american people just don't like the feel of this, but this is who the republicans are about to nominate, so we'll see. >> thanks so much. thanks so much and thanks for watching us. "hardball" picks things up right now. will mitt romney's flip flop? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish. leading off, the individual mandate is a tax. that's the wordç according to mitt romney who reversed course and contradicted his own campaign. his shift puts it in line with his party, which hasn't been happy with hi response and if the mandate is a tax, does that mean romney raised taxes with

his plan in massachusetts? according to romney, not exactly. we'll get to his verbal gymnastics at the top of the program. meanwhile, president obama is on a bus tour through ohio and pennsylvania. can he make enroads among those working class voters? and speaking of those voters, how will they respond to new reports of romney's extensive offshore bank account sns does romney have an image problem? and a florida life guard loses his job for trying to help save a swimmer's life. and finally, what went wrong at this fourth of july celebration in san diego? all of the fireworks exploded at the same time. making for a bombastic, but brief display. we'll figure out what happened in the "sideshow" tonight. we begin with mitt romney calling the health care mandate a tax. michael steele is an msnbc

political analyst and bob shrum is a democratic strategist. he's now on board with with others when it comes to their attack line. the individual mandate is is a tax. >> i said that i agreed with the dissent and the the dissent made it very clear they felt it was unconstitutional, but lost. it's in theç minority, so now e supreme court has spoken. you can try and say you wish they would have decided a different way. but they didn't. they concluded it was a tax. that's what it is. >> he contradicted his senior adviser who told chuck todd he believed the mandate was not a tax. >> the governor believes that what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty and that he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax. >> so agrees with the president, but agrees with the president that it is not and he believes that you shouldn't call the

man -- the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine? >> that's correct. >> and michael steele, how can obamacare be a tax and romneycare be a penalty? >> yeah, well, good question and i think from the governor's perspective, he's looking at it from two levels. one is what states do and how states handle these matters and what the laws allow him to get away with and of course, the federal government and he's drawing a bright distinction between the federal government imposing a tax under the court's, government's taxes authority versus what they passed in the state of massachusetts, which was a penalty. it was not a deemed a tax to either ledge it latively by the courts there. i think that's the distinction he's drawn.

>> wouldç he have said what he said without authorization? was he rogue or do you think he had authorization? >> look, the candidate himself had said this before and had sort of conceded that given what the court had done, he was going to call it a tax, but before it was a fine ft it's been all over the lot. fehrnstrom i think was just following what the candidate wanted. my guess is fehrnstrom will be off tv for a while. the deeper reality here is this shows us not flip-flopping, but how much this guy is enthralled to the right wing. he's on permanent probation in his own party. if he weren't president, he'd

face a primary in 2016. he's not like reagan who could govern as president in a pragmatic way, raise taxes, negotiate to save social security with tip o'neill, what this really tells us is that in this campaign, the romney campaign, the base calls the shot. not the candidate and if you were president, the same thing would be true. >> listen to mitt romney trying to explain why the mandate in obama's plan is a tax increase while the mandate that he put in place is not. >> actually, the chief justice in his opinion made it very clear that at the state level, states have the power to put in place mandates. they don't need to require them to be called taxes and to be constitutional and as a result, massachusetts mandate wss a mandate, a penalty, was ascribed that way bay the legislation and by me, so it stays as it was. >> then on msnbc this morning, stephanie cutter hit on his

flip-flop. >> the difference between the obama administration and the president and mitt romney is that we've been consistent. this is a penalty administered through the tax code. now, contrast that with mitt romney. it's a texas. it's a penalty. i watched a powerpoint yesterday from 2009 where mitt romney was walking through his health care law, which is almost identical to the president's, well, he was talking about taxing people. so he just needs to figure out what it is on his end. we're pretty clear on our end. >> what are people at the beach taking away from this because we eat, sleep and dring it. most americans are half paying attention. if we're lucky. what are they gleaning? >> nothing. they're at the beach. >> michael's hoping that's so. >> come on, bob. you've been around politics long enough to know that the fourth of july holiday, this is not something that the american people are focused on. this gives the i believe the romney team a window between thousand and the convention to

tighten the messaging up here. because it is problematic to bob's point. you could make a technical argument, but when people aren't looking at it technically, they're looking at the words and hearing the words coming out of your mouth. i think this gives them the window to do this. >> you think this is an issue that in late october people will still beç remembering? >> i think "this is ithis is go asked in the debate. the distinction is going to seem terribly artificial. romney's had a tough three weeks and people like bill crystal are saying -- saying if you're tired of obama, vote for romney. i don't think that is going to work and i think michael's right. they're going to have to tighten up, come up with a message. they can't just hope the economy

goes down the tubes. >> there were two strong attacks on mitt romney today from conservative intellectual heavy weights. take a look at what "the wall street journal" wrote quote the romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the white house by saying the economy stinks and it's mr. obama's fault. the main daily message if the campaign is that obama isn't working. thanks, guy, but americans already know that. what people want the hear is why the president's policies aren't working. also this morning, so it too much to ask mitt romney to get off autopilot and actually think about the race he's running. it's only the second quarter and you're not even ahead is dubious enough as a strategy, but his campaign's belief that it's only about the economy and they need to keep telling us stupid voters it's only l about the economy

has gone from being an annoying ticz to a dangerous self-delusion. is a shake up coming? i'm thinking of the criticism from jack welsh, rupert murdoch. >> i think you're on to something there and i don't know what the internal machinations are, but there is legitimate reason if they shake it up, to shake it up. they need to get this candidate out of his comfort zone. the romney people can come back and say on this issue about the health care, call it a tax, a penalty, when i'm president, i will call it gone. that kind of rhetoric is strong, but then you still have to come to the table with the message of what you will do an that's what bill kristol, "the wall street journal" and others are looking for this candidate to put on the table. i still have faith he will because romney's strategy is ultimately not to play this out in the summer, but when people

begin playing attention beginning at the convention and forward. >> bob, this makes rick santorum look like a soothe sayer. i recognize what michael steele said, drawing that bright line, but where they're essentially the same, this is hard to turn around. is it not? >> sure it is and he never got, romney never got pushed very hard in the primaries. santorum tried to push him and now, he's playing in the big leagues and he's not doing very well. a day before the health care decision, he said theç people the obama white house shouldn't sleep well that night. he raised expectationexpectatio. you can't do that in a campaign. i think the summer is a critically important period where candidates get defined and

right now, i think romney's getting defined. in a way that is not going to help him and he's actually going to have to climb out of a hole by the time he gets to this convention. >> coming up, president obama's wheeling his way through ohio and pennsylvania. can he make the sale with those voters in those states? that's ahead. this is "hardball," the place for politics. this isn't just a teddy bear. it's a step towards normal. it's why allstate catastrophe teams didn't just arrive at these fires with cold water and checks to help the grown-ups start the rebuilding... they also brought thousands of these teddy bears for kids. people come first. everything else is second. [ female announcer ] allstate customers affected by the recent wildfires call 1-800-547-8676. visit a mobile claims office, your agent or allstate.com

tomorrow's the first friday of july. that means new u jobless numbers will be out. the economy remains the most important issue in the presidential race and the unemployment rate is arguably the single biggest driver of how americans feel about the economy. but get this. americans are getting more and more optimistic that the economy will improve. 6 in 10 say the economy will be doing well by 2013 versus just 39% who say it will be poor. those numbers are the exact

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governor romney said we should just let detroit go bankrupt. i refuse to turn my back on communities like this one. i was betting on the american worker. and i was betting on american industry and three year later, the american auto industry is coming roaring back. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president obama this afternoon kicking off his two-day bus tour through ohio and pennsylvania. his swing through the two battleground states is headline betting on america, a nod to his auto industry bailout, but not far from the rallying cry against mitt romney, the quote outsourcer. chris cillizza is an msnbc political analyst, susan page is the washington bureau chief for

"usa today." dissect that slogan. >> betting on america. that means mitt romney is betting against america. that whether it comes to the auto bailout or to offshoring or outsourcing jobs or the whole swiss bank account thing, i think that is the contrast. they are trying to draw with this slogan on this first bus tour. >> does it make sense to you political speaking sm. >> i think it's a powerful case to make against mitt romney, manufacturing sector hit hard by jobs that did move overseas and the auto bailout, viewed positively in places like ohio and pennsylvania and michigan. >> the obama campaign is doubling down on its message, this ad is airing in nine battleground states including ohio and pennsylvania. let's watch. >> what a president believes

matters. mitt romney's companies were pioneers in outsourcing u.s. jobs to low wage countries cht he supports tax breaks for companies that ship@9=m overseas. president obama believes in insourcing. he fought to save the u.s. auto industry and favors tax cuts for companies that bring jobs home. outsourcing versus insourcing, it matters. >> obama echoed that message in maumee, ohio today. >> governor romney's experience has been in owning companies called pioneers of outsourcing. that's not my phrase. pioneers of outsourcing. my experience has been in saving the american auto industry. >> it seems like they've adopted that narrative now. that the focal point and a lot of this has to do with a story coming out of your newspaper and some back and forth on that, but outsourcing seems to be the tag line. >> you know, michael, i think a

lot of people talk about the presidential election, that it's decided on issues. that it's abortion, the economy, gay marriage. presidential elections are almost always decided on values. who is looking out for you? who understanding your life? who understands what you worry about? what you hope for? what's the key in there? i believe. this is what mitt romney believes. and this is what i believe. that in my core, i am someone who's looking out for the average person. in mitt romney's core, he's trying to make money on the backs of the american worker. i think so much of a presidential vote isç about fe. obama has a very tough economic argument to make simply because the numbers aren't there for him to say there's a robust recovery underway. so what do you do in the absence of those numbers?

you say thing aren't perfect, but i'm the guy who get it here, what you need, what you want, what you're worried about. the other guy, he's worried about the 1%. >> i think susan might be on to something in dissecting the messaging. and the claim of romney being the outsourcer in chief. you know, the principle being that barack obama is betting on americans and america and me meanwhi meanwhile, his opponent is betting on that which may take place overseas. now, this issue of more offshore accounts. is that what you were saying? >> that is what i'm saying. to the point that chris was making, here's the question that i think a lot of voters have. who stands up for me? who can i trust to keep my interests at heart and that is the point that the white house is trying to make. that the president has the middle class in his mind. in some ways, t a tough message

to make because these are part of the country that have been hit heart by the economy. unemployment in ohio has been doing pretty well, but generally, these are places that a lot of manufacturing jobs have been lost and a lot of people have been struggling with housing, jobs and so on. so, he's saying as chris was saying, things aren't perfect, but i'm thinking about you. you can't trust the other guy. to be thinking about your interests when heç gets up eve morning. >> can i just quickly, one very quick thing that i think is fascinating. this election is made for an economic populous. someone who says everybody big is against you. big oil, big business, big labor. fill in the blank. neither of these guys is a natural populous. neither are mike huckabee, bill clinton, neither of them are john edwards circa about 1998. they're not in that mold. both are trying to be because they know what's that works, but it's not a natural fit.

not for more and not ooen really for barack obama. >> for the bus trip, it might be reagan democrat. the question is, how is it going to play with swing voters and polls show this line of attack resognates with swing state voters. the latest quinnipiac poll, he's up by six in pennsylvania. the unemployment rate in both of those states is lower than the national average. what's the purpose of a bus trip in 2012 politics? some is just pure symbolism. i think the cake is large by baked when it comes to what people know about the president and the economy. we've seen all these different things have happened and it's basically between 47 and 49 and romney, somewhere between 45 and 48. there's no that many votes. to what you want to do with the bus tour, man of the people.

someone who's out there. he's not flying from place to place. he's taking a bus.ç again, it's largely symbolic. i'm not sure it sways. i may sway the people who get to meet the united states, or mitt romney, i'm not sure it sways an electorate that frankly has shown it cannot be swayed by almost anything. gallup polling, daily tracking, basically shows that where we were last thursday is roughly where we are today. i'm not sure any external event can shape anything. >> i would think that bill clinton, even his worst critics is among the best if not the best at retail politics among the living politicses and political class. and between the two of these fellas. who's the better retail politician? >> neither of these guys really relishes this part of politics. the kind of getting on and off the bus and speaking to a crowd, but i thought president obama did pretty well this afternoon.

he not only was riding the bus, he was wearing shirt sleeves, standing in the sun. i thought the speech he gave this afternoon -- >> sweating it up. >> was pretty effective, but if you ask him is this the thing he would most like to do, i suspect he would have said no. >> thank you. >> thank you. up next, the fireworks in san diego, they didn't last long, but man, they were cool and now we know why. they all went off at once cht stick around for the "sideshow." this is "hardball", the place for politics. with the capital one cash rewards card

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get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. back to "hardball." alec baldwinç has been floatin

the idea of running for mayor of new york for some time, but is he for real and does he have the temperatu temperment for politics? well, actor billy baldwin took on the subject with piers morgan. >> at one level, it's very real. he's very committed and bright and knowledgeable and i think he could do it and he could run on the other hand, item not quite sure if he's cut from the proper cloth because it requires a lot of tolerance and ashens. >> it's a bit hot headed. >> john mccain and rudy giuliani are quite the same and are very successful and effective politicses. >> i'm not sure comparing him to so-called hot headed republicans would do much help. he's known as an obama supporter and doesn't shy away from using his twitter account to blast at republicans. but speaking of getting heated, chris christie's youtube channel has reached 5 million views and

his office put together a reel reminding us of how they got the attention. really, are these highlights or low lights? >> let's start with this. i sat here, stood here and very respectfully listened to you. if what you want to listen to is put on a show and giggle every time i talk, then i have no interest in answering your question. i got sit here to do a job. not be elected prom king. got to be accurate and what i'm assailing. it's like your money is stuck in their dead, cold hands. i'm a nice guy. ask anybody. you shouldç really see me when i'm pissed. i'm the governor of new jersey. are you kidding? new jersey. whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. >> see what i mean? last week, christie drew backlash for calling a reporter stupid and an idiot at a press

conference. remember when mccotter was a contender in the presidential race? you're not alone. the campaign failed to pick up any steam whatsoever. he had a side project going while his political career was tanking. he was writing a tv show. according to the detroit news, quote, bumper sticker made on motown starred mccotter in a cast with characters bearing the names of his congressional staffers, his brother and a drunk, perverted black satanic. it features a cartoon intro with an oldsmobile knocking over landmarks. the congressman says the project wasn't created on taxpayer time. quote, most of my writing is done in my garage, where i can smoke. at least he doesn't have to worry about his re-election campaign. he failed to qualify for the primary ballot.

and a break from politics that's too explosive to pass up. last night, many celebrated independence day by heading to a fireworks display. the grand finale came a tad early.ç a computer malfunction caused all the fireworks to go off at once making the whole shebang about 15 seconds long. according to a coast guard employee, it took about 25 minutes to spread the word the show was over. that's even longer than the spectacle was supposed to last. up next, we're learning new details about mitt romney's offshore bank accounts. how's this going to play in places like scranton or milwauk milwaukee? she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

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i'm bertha coombs with your market wrap. the dow sheds 47 points. s&p off by 6, nasdaq ends flat on the day. private sector employers added 176,000 jobs in june accoing to adp. that's better than the expexation of 105,000. weekly jobless claims fell by 14,0 14,000. the june jobs report the due out tomorrow. and many retailers reported weaker than expected june sales, but nordstroms and saks, those high-end retailers, outperformed. that's it from cnbc, we're first in business worldwide ch. now back over to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." mitt romney took some hits this week over photosç like these o him on a jet-ski at his summer home in new hampshire. that comes as new questions are being raised about his offshore finances. "vanity fair" reports that -- the obama team has a new web ad out knocking romney on the topic. >> i do not have a bank account outside of the u.s. >> i do not have a swiss bank account, an account in the cayma caymans. >> i've never heard of anyone that i know having an overseas bank account. >> he needs to come clean about where that money is and why it's there.

>> how wig of an image problem does romney have when it comes to his wealth? now, according to "vanity fair," mitt romney has several offshore accounts about which not much is known cht he has money stored in tax havens where according to the magazine, he has personal interests in at least 12 funds worth as much as $30 million. in his 2010 returns, romney listed a $3 million bank account in switzerland. eugene, smart finance, stupid politics. >> absolutely. you read the kicker of a column i've written for tomorrow's newspaper. one other thing0w step away from the marine recreational equipment if you're running for president. we saw that with john kerry and we're seeing it again with mitt romney. just don't get on the jet-ski.

>> you know what surprises me about the money, in my view, he's been running for a number of years. i'm not just going back four years. it seems to me this was also predictable, that it would become a campaign issue. why a decade ago didn't he decide that all of his investments would be onshore? >> i have no idea. why didn't you think that at some point this would become an issue and i think it's possible that it's just the mind set. look at what he has done in his career. he's had a highly successful career in international finance. in the kind of finance where moving money through the caymans or through bermuda, switzerland, take advantage of this or that is perfectly normal. it's what makes you smart. on some level, he's very proud of this, it just didn't play very well. >> i should point out his campaign raised $100 million this month, which means it's a

high water mark for the gop. so we know that within the base, being successful is not a drawback. in the past, it's been an asset with everybody. is it different this time? >> americans don't hate rich people. what's different about mitt romney is how he made his money and the secretive nature of his finances. i think people really respect you if you're like a warren buffett and have built a business. where as if you're in venture capital, but you're basically making money off other people's failures as opposed to your own success and i think it's hard for people to relate to that. if you built a economy, a business and took risks of your own, that's something people can really respect. you add on top of that, this theme, financial structure ha he

has, people just can't relate to. >> will voters look at it as sneaky, greed, or will they say the tax code is fundamentally unfair to me, too, and if i had his assets, i'd be trying to park money overseas as well, too. >> i think the danger for romney is that people will look at this and say i didn't know you could skirt this tax or that situation if you ran your money through bermuda. he's taking advantage of shortcut and sort of ways of doing things that other people didn't know existed. that there are two sets of rules. a set of rules for people who are wealthy and in the know and a set of rules for everybody else. if people look at it that way, he may fall on the wrong side of that line. >> susan, the wall street took romneyç to task today on the

issue of his nice vacation. the obama campaign is assailing mr. romney as an out of touch rich man and the rich man obliged by vegas iing this week. i don't begrudge him being on a jet-ski. my attitude u is i want my president or presidential aspirants to cut loose and be focused when on the job. how do you see the jet-ski situation? >> they should take vacations and i think we beat up on our presidents way too much because they need a break. that makes him look even less authentic, but i think that maybe he would have learned from john kerry as eugene pointed out in 2008, not to participate in something that just underscores what circles he runs in. it's not that he's wealthy. ted kennedy was very wealthy,

but you never got the impression he didn't how people lived. with romney, you get the impression, not that he country care, he hasn't really been around people like that. >> is this a wind surfing moment? >> i don't think it's quite a wind surfing moment. i think it was worse for kerry than the jet-ski is for romney. it's only bad if it comes at a time when it reenforces a source of negative impression that may be forming. this isç the moment at which mt romney is being defined and i think this helps that definition for the romney campaign is not a good way. >> i think a jet-ski is much more every man. kenny powers has a jet-ski. hopefully, you don't know who he is. the former labor secretary robert reich had an interesting column. we've entered a guilded age in

which mitt romney is a perfect e reflecti reflection. four years ago, we paid $12 million for his fourth home in la jolla, california, a pool, a jacuzzi and unobstructed views from the pacific. he has filed plans to tear it down and replace it with a home five times bigger. romney's a opposite. he wants to do everything he can to make the super wealthy even wealthier, the poor even poorer and justifies it all with a thinthi thinly veiled social darwinis measurin. >> i think he can get himself into trouble with not just the house, but saying things for example, going to nevada and saying that you know, they should slow down the foreclosure process. that the market should be

allowed to work because then the real estate developers would come in and get things going again, which works out well if you're a real estate developer and not the person who lost your home.ç on the backdrop of the labor stuff, romney embraced that. it was overturned by a referendum by a 2-1 margin. i think that could come back to haunt him as well. there was a pretty stark way of putting it, but i think that the, there's some merit behind. >> eugene, final thought. we've never had a debate like this play out against a backdrop of income ddisparity. >> i think it's the income disparity and just a general economic angst that the country is going through. it's an interesting time to be having this discussion and we'll see. >> we will look at what you write tomorrow on the suggest.

thank you. up next, why did a life guard in florida loose his job for trying to help save a swimmer? we'll talk to the fire and life guard and find out what happened. this is "hardball." the place for politics.

president obama's on a three-stop swing through ohio today. tomorrow, it's on to pennsylvania and now, the obama campaign has announced the president will be back on the trail tomorrow on tuesday. he'll be in iowa. a state where mitt romney's mounting a strong challenge.

let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. latest polling out of iowa shows the candidates in a dead heat. obama, 45, romney, 44. according to a recent we ask america poll. obama carried iowa in 2008 by 9.5 points. we'll be right back.

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he helped was drowning outside the patrolled section of the beach. swiping at his own risk. toe, he was offered his job back. tomas is here to tell us his story. thank you for being here. what happened? >> thanks for having me. like you said, there was a young man drowning outside of my jurs diction and i went to assist him. >> in other words, you see him out there, he's flailing in the water. how far away? >> he was a good ways away. a couple hundred yards, maybe 200, 300 yards. they say go, so i went. >> so you bolted. when you took off, did you make sure that youç had back-up for the area you were there to

protect? >> i told everyone on the radio i'm going in for a rescue and when i told them it was out, when you tell them that, they automatically cover your water. >> about how many people were in your pat water at the time? >> about 20 through 40. >> so, you hustled down the tim water, he was already being pulled out by two guests. i then moved the board he was on. carried him by his arms. and got him on the beach as fast as possible. >> and he survived, which is good news. last i heard he was in a local hospital. is that true? >> yes, it is. >> so was this fella swimming in a non-designated swimming area? we've all been to the beach. usually they've got the flags in front of the life guard stand. a fella in your position is there to make sure people stay within the flags. was he swimming beyond that area in. >> how the contract works for our company on the beach is we guard from a quarter mile

stretch of the beach. anything south of that is unguarded. it's allowed to be swam in but it's swim at your own risk at that point. >> is it posted that way? >> i believe it is. we have a sign posted swim at your own risk. >> the reason i'm asking you these questions is your former employer is getting hammered in theç media. which i don't think you should have been fierd for this. the person was swimming where he shouldn't have been swimming. >> i see what you're saying there. to my knowledge, i believe he was living in the condo in front of that. so he went for a swim. it was low tide. i think he got too comfortable and got swept away. >> they've offered you your job back. what's your answer? >> we talked and i humbly declined. i have other plans already and i'm going to get back in school.

i'd rather not have the job anymore after everything that's happened. it's not i'm upset with the company. we've already talked about it, it's just -- it's another chapter done in my life. i'm moving on to the next one. >> have they been clear about the rules in advance of the training. did they say if something happens outside your area, we don't want you to respond. or did this come as a shock to you? >> no. we were full aware. >> what did they say the rationale was? >> they said somebody in your water could be at risk. if you leave to help someone in an unguarded area. that makes sense but at the same time we're trained another guard on duty will watch your area while you go out. >> which you did. you let them know. >> yes. i'm positive i let them know and i told me to go back to my tower which i didn't listen to them. >> we wish you all good things.

we're glad you saved that guy. >> thank you. >> okay. tomas lopez, thank you very much.ç when we return, i have some thoughts i want to share as to why i don't have a problem when presidents or presidential candidates for that matter relax when they're on vacation. earlier we discussed this controversy with the jet ski photo. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. by what's getting done. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. about how older people are becoming more and more antisocial, so i was really aggressive with my parents

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let me finish tonight with

this. by now you've seen this photograph of mitt and ann romney on a jet ski. it has prompted some political analysis including a piece by joan venaki. she wrote the last thing mitt romney needs is a john kerry moment that conjured up scott fitzgerald's description of the very rich. they are different from you and me. i gate it after the way the kerry wind surfing photo was used. and politicians need to be portrayed as the every man. that may be why the president isn't returning to martha's vineyard this summer. and it applies to a wealthy businessman who made his money at a time income disparity is of concern. but the criticism has gone too far. i say let them relax in what way they choose. the president's opponents like to call attention to his golfing. i want him to golf or shoot hoops or whatever else he needs to do to maintain hisç mental

edge app the white house responsibility for cbs news once told me the president is the president wherever he is. he maintains lists of everything the commander in chief does from bill signings to pardons, vetoes, air force one flights, marine one trips, and vacation destinations. nolor spends an hour every day updating his presidential activities. as of father's day, president obama had played 100 rounds of golf. and then vacations. george w. bush spent time at his ranch over days in office. not to mention the 170 days in camp david. ronald reagan spent almost a year near santa barbara. those trips were a top down directive. in her book "reagan: an american story" adriana bosh talked about something earlier in their time

at the white house. deever found the president doing his schedule which didn't include any ranch time. deever said that was because of the press being critical of his time outside of warkds. his answer. you can tell me a lot of things and i'll do them. but you're not going to tell me the more i get to the ranch. the more often i get to the ranch, the longer i'll live. being on vacation doesn't mean the same thing to a president or presidential candidate to the rest of us fop have the job is to be always plugged in orç rey to take the call. the black briefcase with the launch codes never more than a few feet away from a president. which is why no one should begrudge mitt romney jet skiing or the president golfing. the health of the country is in some part a function of the physical and mental health of its commander in chief. if jet skiing are blowing off steam with a couple of beers in the clubhouse keeps them sharper