well, that's what america's about. and every birthday we should celebrate a growing tour making that freedom to all citizens and setting the example of being free all over the world. as you celebrate your children's birthdays every year, you should also celebrate their maturity. those who love america want to help them mature. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts now. will mitt romney's flip flop? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish. leading off tonight, the individual mandate is a tax. that's the word according to mitt romney who reversed course and contradicted his own campaign.ç romney's shift puts him in line

with his party which hasn't exactly been happy with his flat footed response. and if it is a tax, does that mean romney raises his taxes in 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 inroads among those working class voters? and speaking of those voters, how will they respond to the new reports of romney's extensive offshore bank accounts? does romney have an image problem? and a florida life guard loses his job for trying to help save a swimmer's life. we'll ask him what happened. 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. it took only a week but romney is now on board with other republicans when it comes to their attack line against the president. the individual mandate is a tax. that's what romney told cbs yesterday. >> i said that i agreed with the dissent and the dissent made it very clear they felt it was unconstitutional. but it lost. it's in the minority. so now the supreme court has spoken. there's no wa]ç around that. you can try and say you wish they'd decide 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 it was not a tax. >> the governor believes what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty, and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the

mandate was a tax. >> so he agrees with the president -- but he agrees with the president that it is not, and he believes you shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine? >> that's correct. >> michael steele, how can obama care be a tax and romney care be a penalty? >> well, that's a 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 them to get away with or do with respect to penalties and taxes there. and of course the federal government. and he's drawn a bright line distinction between the federal government imposing a tax as defined by the supreme court under the government's taxing authority versus what they passed in the state of massachusetts, which was a penalty. it was not deemed a tax to

either legislatively or legally by the courts there. so i think that's the bright line distinction that he's drawn. and it's one what the states do. >> would eric çfeherstrom said what he said, was he rogue at that point? or do you think he had authorization? >> i cannot -- i'm sorry. go ahead, bob. >> yeah, michael. you made the best case you could, michael on what i think is technical ground. the candidate himself had said this before and a sort of conceded that given what the court had done, this was was going to be called a fine and then a tax. fehrnstrorm who is mr. etch a sketch will be off tv for awhile. but the deeper reality here is this shows us not flip-flopping. it shows us how much this guy is

enthralled to the right wing. he's on permanent authority. if he didn't go to their line with -- wlo could govern as president in a pragmatic way. negotiate to save social security reform. what this really tells us is that in this campaign, the romney campaign, the base called the shots not the candidate. if you're the president, the same would be true. >> listen to mitt romney trying to explain why the mandate in obama's plan is a tax and his 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 requireç th being called taxes in order for them to be unconstitutional. and as a result massachusetts mandate was a mandate, was a penalty. was described that way by the legislature and by me. so it stays as it was.

>> then on msnbc this morning obama spokeswoman stephanie cutter hit romney on his tax language flip-flop. >> the difference between the obama administration and the president and mitt romney is we've been consistent. this is a penalty administrated through the tax code. now, contrast that with mitt romney. it's a tax, it's a penalty. i watched a power point yesterday from 2009 where mitt romney was walking through his health care law, which as you know is almost identical to the president's health care law, well he was talking about taxing people. he needs to figure out what it is on his end. we're clear on our end. >> what about the people at the beach, what are they taking from this? most americans i figure are half paying attention if we're lucky. what's the take away they are gleaning? >> nothing. they're at the beach. which should put it all in perspective. >> michael's hoping that's so. >> no, no. come on, bob. you've been around politics long enough to know the fourth of

july holiday, this is not something the american people have focused on. this gives, i believe, the romney team a win between now and the convention to tighten up the wording. you can make a technical argument, but when people aren't looking at it technically, they're looking at the words and hearing the words out of your mouth. you've got to be clear and concise. this gives the window to do ç that. >> bob, do you think this is an issue in late october people will still be remembering? >> oh, i think this is going to get asked in the debate. i think romney has to come up with a better answer. if it walks like a tax, administers like a tax, it's going to be superficial. romney's had a tough three weeks. on bain capital, immigration, health care. people like bill crystal are saying the campaign has to give some sense of vision and purpose beyond trying to win this simply as a referendum. saying if you're tired of obama, vote for romney.

i don't think that one dimensional approach is going to work. i think michael is right. they're going to have to tighten up, they can't just hope the economy goes down the tubes and they win that way. >> let's get into that now. there is thunder from the right. there were two attacks from mitt romney on heavy weights. see what "the wall street journal" wrote in an editorial. 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. thanks guys but americans already know that. what they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the president's policies aren't working and how mr. romney's policies will do better. also weekly standard editor bill crystal wrote, is it too much to ask mitt romney to get off autopilot and actually think about the race he's running? adopting a prevent defense when it's only the second quarter and you're not even ahead is dubious enough as a strategy but as the

belief that it's about the eckááñ and only economy and that they need to keep tells us stupid voters that it's only about the economy has gone from being an annoying tick to a dangerous self-delusion. michael steele, is a shakeup coming? could you see the ranks of the campaign -- i'm thinking of the criticism from welsh, from murdoch. institutional kind of republican figures. >> i think you're on to something there, michael. i don't know what the internal mechanisms are now. but there is a -- they need to shake it up. if they're going to get the candidate out of his comfort zone. romney himself can come back on the issue about the health care, look, you know. call it a tax, call it a penalty. when i'm the president, i will call it gone. that rhetoric is strong. but then you have to come to the table with the message of what you will do. that's what bill crystal and others are looking for this candidate to put on the table.

i think -- i still have faith he will, because romney's strategy ultimately is not to play this out in the summer but to play it out when people really pay attention beginning the convention and forward. and i think that's ultimately the end game. >> bob shrum, this makes rick santorum look like a soothe sayer. much of these missteps are tied to health care and just not being able to -- and i recognize what michael steele said a moment ago. drawing the bright line between obama care and romney care. but essentially saying it's hard to turn around, is it not? >> sure it is. and look, he never got -- romney never got pushed hard in the ç primaries. santorum tried to push him, but now he's in the big leagues and not doing well. just before the health care decision he said if he were in the white house, the obama people in the white house shouldn't sleep well that night. he assumed the law would be thrown out. you can't do that in the middle of a campaign. i actually think the summer is a

very critical important period when candidates get defined. and i think right now romney's getting defined whether it's this outsourcing stuff, whether it's the offshore accounts, bain, immigration, health care. he's getting defined in a way that's not going to help him. he's going to have to climb out of a hole if this keeps up. >> thank you. coming up, president obama's wheeling his way through ohio and pennsylvania. can he make the sale with those critical working class voters in those states? that's ahead. this is "hardball," the place for politics. what's with you? trouble with a car insurance claim. [ voice of dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ normal voice ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. are you in good hands? mid grade unlike randy. dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september.

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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 ç industry. and three years 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 his campaign's number one 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." seuss seuss seussen -- susan, 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 work? does it make sense to you politically speaking? >> i think it's a powerful case to make against mitt romney, especially in this part of the country which has been hit heart. the 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.ç >> what a president believes matters. mitt romney's companies were pioneers in outsourcing u.s. jobs to low wage countries. he supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs 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. let's watch. >> 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. it's abortion or the economy or gay marriage. whatever you want. i actually think presidential elections are almost always divided on values broadly defined. which is who is looking out for you, who understands your life, who understands what your worry about, who understands what you hope for. that's why i believe this is so important. what's the key in there? i believe. this is what mitt romney believes. and this is what i believe. 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. again b, i just think so much of a presidential election vote is about what you feel. 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 getting it here. what you need, what you want, what you're worried about. the other guy, he's worried about the 1%. that's this argument they're trying to make. >> i think susan might be on to something in dissecting the messaging. when putting together the betting on america 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 meanwhile, his opponent is betting on that which may take place overseas. tapping into the narrative not only of job outsourcing but the issue of more offshore accounts. is that what you were saying? u >> 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 pretty hard by the economy. unemployment in ohio has been doing pretty well, but generally pqáq are places where 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 he gets up every 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. certainly for mitt romney and not 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 resonates 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? >> i mean, some of it is pure symbolism, michael. i think the cake is largely baked when it comes to what people know about president obama and the economy. we've seen all these different things have happened and it's ç basically obama between 47 and 49 and romney between 45 and 48.

there's not that many swing voters. to the extent there are, you want to do with that bus tour is man of the people. he's out there. he's not flying from place to place. he's taking a bus. 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. we talk about the supreme court ruling on health care. all this could change things. 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 really shape anything much less a bus tour. >> i would think that bill clinton, even his worst critics is among the best if not the best at retail politics among the living politicians and political class. and between the two of these fellas. romney and obama. who's the better retail politician?

>> one interesting thing is neither of these guys really relishes this part of politics. the getting off an on 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 you would most like to do, i suspect he would say no. >> thank you. >> thank you.ç 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. stick around for the "sideshow." remember, you can follow me on twitter so long as you can spell smerconish. this is "hardball", the place for politics.

back to "hardball."

now for the sideshow. alec baldwin has been floating the idea of running for mayor of new york for some time, but is he for real and duds he have the temperament 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, i'm not sure he's cut from the proper cloth because it requires a lot of tolerance and patience. >> he's temperamental and hot headed. >> john mccain and rudy giuliani are quite the same and are very successful and effective politicians. >> 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 he got all that attention. really, are these highlights or low lights? >> let's start with this. i sat here, stood here and very respectfully listened to you.ç if what you want to do 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. well, not anybody. you should really see me when i'm pissed. i have something better to do. i have to rearrange my sock drawer tonight. he should write a check and shut up. 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. that one didn't make the reel. moving on to the bizarre, remember when mccotter was a contender in the presidential race? you don't? 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 and closing snip it of 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 ree$ection campaign. he failed to qualify for the primary ballot. and a break from politics that's too explosive to pass up. last night much of the country celebrated independence day by heading to a fireworks display. for crowd lookers in san diego, the grand finale came a tad early. 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, in fact, over. that's even longer than the spectacle was supposed to last. up next, we're learning new details about mitt romney's extensive offshore bank accounts. how's this going to play in places like scranton or milwaukee? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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hey, there, everyone. here's what's happening. the stifling heat making large sections of the u.s. heat are expected to continue. a florida judge says he set bail for george zimmerman at $1 million because he may be a flight risk. zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of trayvon martin. i'm alex witt. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." mitt romney took some hits this week over photos like these of

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 romney has stores in places like bermuda and the cayman islands. the obama team has a new web ad out knocking romney on the topic. take a look. >> i do not have a bank account outside of the u.s. >> i do not have a swiss bank account, an account in the caymans. >> i've never heard of anyone that i know having an overseas bank account. >> wouldn't have an overseas bank account. i don't think our next president should either. >> he needs to come clean about where that money is and why it's there. >> how big of an image problem does romney have when it comes to his wealth?

susan milligan is a contributing editor for u.s. news and world report. according to "vanity fair," mitt romney has several offshore accounts about which not much is known. 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 columnç i've written for tomorrow's newspaper. spart finance, stupid politics. one other thing we've learned is 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, to take advantage of this or that is perfectly normal. that's what makes you smart. on some level, he's very proud of having done all of this. it just doesn't play very well if you're running for president. >> susan, i should point out his campaign raised $100 million this month, last 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? >> yeah.ç @&h(lc% i think, look -- americans don't hate rich people. in fact, i think they admire and respect 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 built a business and people think you created something. whereas if you're in venture capital which is fundamentalal, 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. i think that that just does make it harder. >> will voters look at it as sneaky? will they look at it as a

manifestation of greed, a gordon gecko kind of thing? 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. what do you think? >> 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. that he's taking advantage of shortcuts 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. and i think if people >> susan, the wall street took romney 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 vacationing this week with a jet ski cameo. i don't begrudge him being on a jet ski. my attitude and i'm going to talk about this later in the program, i want my president or presidential aspirants to cut loose and be focused 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. he'd look ridiculous if he tried doing something that isn't natural to him. that makes him look less authent authentic. i do think he maybe would have learned from john kerry 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 that kennedy didn't understand how other people lived. and romney, you get the impression he doesn't understand.

no that he doesn't care, i don't think he doesn't care. i just think 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 potentially the jet ski, thisç discreet innocent 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 is the moment at which mitt romney is being defined in the minds of many voters. and i think this helps that definition in what 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. robert rice had an article on romney's wealth. here's what he wrote. we've entered a guilded age in which mitt romney is a perfect reflection. romney looks and acts the part

perfectly. four years ago he paid $12 million for his fourth home in la jolla, california, with a pool, a jacuzzi, and five bathrooms. he has filed planneds to tear it down and replace it with a home four times bigger. we've had wealthy presidents before. 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 thinly vailed social darwinism. pretty harsh. to say he wants guys to be poorer? what's your reaction? >> that is a rather stark way of putting it. but i do think he can get himself in trouble with not just the house but things like going to nevada and saying 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 ç you're a real estate developer

and not the person who lost your home. 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 it. >> eugene, final thought. we've never had a debate like this play out against a backdrop of income disparity. i think that's also what sets this particular case different and apart from the others that have had wealthy candidates seeking very high office. >> 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 how it plays out for mitt romney. >> we will look at what you write tomorrow on the subject. thank you. up next, why did a life guard in florida lose 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. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] we believe you're at your best when you can relax and be yourself. and at thousands of newly refreshed holiday inn hotels, you always can. holiday inn. stay you. and now stay rewarded with vacation pay. stay two weekend nights and get a $75 prepaid card.

metamucil uses super hard working psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. 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.ç policewoman ♪ hello...rings ♪ what the... what the... what the... ♪ are you seein' this? ♪ ♪ uh-huh... uh-huh... uh-huh... ♪ ♪ it kinda makes me miss the days when we ♪ ♪ used to rock the microphone ♪ back when our credit score couldn't get us a micro-loan ♪ ♪ so light it up! ♪ even better than we did before ♪ ♪ yeah prep yourself america we're back for more ♪ ♪ our look is slacker chic and our sound is hardcore ♪ ♪ and we're here to drop a rhyme about free-credit-score ♪ ♪ i'm singing free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ dot-com narrator: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com. as her family pulled out of the driveway,

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we're back. the word lifeguard seems self-explanatory. guarding lives on the beach and in the water, but a young man in south florida found himself without a job this week after responding to the call of duty. the problem, the swimmer he helped was drowning outside the patrolled section of the beach. swimming at his own risk. today the lifeguard was offered his job back. the question is will he accept

it? tomas lopez 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 jurisdiction and i went to assist him. we assisted him and got him transported and i lost my job. >> in other words, you see him outç there and what? he's flailing in the water how far away from you. >> he was a good ways away. a couple hundred yards, maybe 200, 300 yards. i find out by guests yelling telling me there's someone drowning. people are trying to get your attention. go. and so i went. >> so you bolted. now, when you took off from your lifeguard stand, did you make sure you had backup for the area that 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 in your part of the water at the

time the man was drowning? >> about 20 through 40. around that area. >> so, you hustled down and when you get there, what did you find? >> by the time i was in the water, he was already being pulled out by two guests. i then moved the board away. it was a small boogie board. carried by his arms, his legs 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 lifeguard stand. a fella in your position is there to make sure people stay within the flags. was he swimming beyond that area in. >> no. how the contract works for our company in the beach is, i believe, we guard from a quarter mile stretch of the beach. ãeq!%9 unguarded beach. 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 so. we have a sign after you leave our section that it is swim at your own risk. i'm not sure about entering that area. >> the reason i'm asking you these questions is your former employer is getting hammered in the media. by the way, i'm happy to hammer them as well. i don't think you should have been fired for this. but the culprit in my mind is the guy who was swimming in an area at his own risk. he shouldn't have been swimming there. he should have been swimming in your area, then there wouldn't be any controversy. >> 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 he just got swept away. so 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 just rather not have the job anymore after everything that's happened. it's not i'm upset with the company or anything.

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. >> had they been clear about the rules in advance of the episode? had they said to you as part of your training, tomas, if something happens outside the area we don't want you to respond. or did this come as a shock to you? >> no. we were full aware. they made it clear. >> what did they say the rationale was? >> they said someone in your water could be at risk if you leave to help someone else in the unguarded çarea. which does make sense in a way. but at the same time we are trained that someone else will watch your water. another guard on duty will watch your area while you go out. >> which you did. you made sure to 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. >> okay. we wish you all good things. we're glad you saved that guy. >> thank you. >> okay. tomas lopez, thank you very much. 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.

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 ç joan vennochi. 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 get the sensitivity after the way the kerry wind surfing photo was used. and i understand that politicians need to constantly 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 in private equity at a time when income disparity is of increasing 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 his mental edge. after all, as mark knoller the white house correspondent 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. knoller spends an hour every day updating his searchable database of presidential activities. as of father's day, president obama had played 100 rounds of golf. then there's the subject of vacations. george w. bush spent all or part of 490 days at his ranch in texas over eight years in office. not to mention the 487 days at camp david according to knoller. ronald reagan spent almost a year near santa barbara.

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 inspecting his schedule which the president lamented didn't include ranch time. deever said that was because of the press being critical of his time outside of washington. 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. i'm convinced the more auch often i get to the ranch the longer i live. i'm going to the ranch. you can put it in there now. 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 always be plugged in or ready to take a call or make a decision. 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.