at a summit on syria in paris today, secretary of state hillary clinton blames russia for propping up assad. we'll talk to nbc's richard engel, who has just come out of a secret trip inside syria. and hello, dolly. the dalai lama is 77. namaste to him. and george bush turns 76. he's on a trip to africa with mrs. bush. a very special happy birthday to nancy reagan, who had a mickey and minnie moment at the reagan library as her ronnie would say for the 52nd anniversary of her 39th birthday. good day. happy birthday to all. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in our daily fix, the economy. we've created only 80,000 new jobs in june, net jobs, almost enough to keep up with the population growth. not enough to help the 13 million people who remain without work.

the stubborn jobless rate stuck at 8.2%, creates political headwinds against the president's re-election campaign. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com and joins us. this news is not good news for the president. he's in ohio in the crucial state of ohio, but he tried to put a positive spin on it saying it is a step in the right direction. >> i always say this and we always talk about this in political terms. this is a jobs report that is not good for the country, the last several jobs reports have not been good for the country. but my job is to see things through the political lens. you are exactly right. you hit on it in the opening. it's not just june. if june was kind of an unusual bad report, it's not great but not terrible. the problem is, april and may, particularly as they have been revised downward in terms of job creation, this now looks like the new normal as opposed to just one bad month and that's really bad news for the

president as he looks to re-election because it's very simple. he has to find a way to answer the are you better off than you were four years ago question that mitt romney is trying to make this election about. jobs numbers like today, jobs numbers like may, jobs numbers like april really complicate that answer. >> you could see the contrast. mitt romney came right off of his campaign to say something about it at 10:00 eastern this morning. the president waited 13 minutes into his prepared speech in ohio to bring it up. now, also, as you first reported, the "washington post" first reported yesterday, phil rucker i guess it was, mitt romney is going to bolster his communications team. kevin madden, who will be on the show in a little bit, is going to be added to the team more full-time going on the road. is this directly in response to the "wall street journal" criticism yesterday, rupert murdoch's tweets, or just the sense they needed more heft on the road? >> that depends on who you ask. i think some of this is a

response to the rupert murdoch tweet, jack welch treat, "wall street journal" op-ed, bill kristol comments, basically questioning whether the staff is up to it. now, adding staff is different than subtracting staff. no one in mitt romney's senior staff orbit is being fired or demoted. i talked to lots of people in that world yesterday and they made that very clear. i think what they are trying to do is recognizing that what you don't want to do is have this story line, this staff shakeup story line run endlessly. add a few senior people and hope that it quells it. i would say the best thing to quell it is today's jobs report. >> chris cillizza, talk to you later. thank you very much for starting us off. the president called it a step in the right direction. mitt romney called it a kick in the gut. for the american people, it's just another dismal jobs report. capping the weakest economic quarter in two years. hilda solis is u.s. labor

secretary and joins me now. great to see you. thank you very much. thanks for taking this on. this is not great news. tell me why it's a step in the right direction, as the president says. >> you know, when you look back, when the president started, we lost 8.5 million jobs. now we're up to in a 28-month period, 4.4 million private sector jobs. even though this number could have been better, we know we are working every single day and just look at what we have accomplished in the last few weeks, even as early as last week we saw the congress and the white house and everyone come together to pass an infrastructure transportation bill that's going to create a million jobs. that's what the public wants to see that we're working together, we're really on the job of bringing jobs back, bringing back those jobs from overseas. i can tell you that over the last course of three and a half years, we made some major investments in renewable energy, in new job training programs and also making sure that we're working with employers. employers want to know that the skills that are available to workers, potential workers, are

actually what they need to fulfill the jobs. we've got three million jobs out there that have to be filled and we need to do a good job at making sure there's a match there. >> of course, that is a long-term project and i know you and arne duncan and others are working hard on the education part of it to try to match the people, young graduates, with those jobs. but right now, you've got a political problem. you ran for elected office. you're a former member of congress. you know what the deal is here. you've got only four more months until election day and the persistent high unemployment in the democratic base is a problem. take a look at the numbers. 11% unemployment for hispanics. 14% for african-americans. nearly 24% for teenagers. and you've got all these young people who you need to inspire to be excited about coming out and voting and working for barack obama, if you're going to hold the white house. these are the very people who are saddled with huge debt, student loan debt, and the

discouragement of not having jobs out there. >> you know, the president was able to reach an agreement to make sure -- >> student loans. >> -- those student loan percentage rates will stay down for at least a year. but we know we do need to do more. we do need to have cooperation. that's why the president is saying there's an urgency of making sure that we can help create some jobs here, too, and we can do that by bringing back salaries for teachers so they can get employed. we continue to see a loss there. also, with the returning young vets that are coming back from afghanistan and iraq, we need to make sure they have a spot and a job opening, whether to be a firefighter or police officer, but i think more importantly, what needs to happen is people need to understand what we can control. as a former member of the house, you are absolutely right, when you say we can do things here, we can. we can get things done here if we have cooperation. we saw some signs of it, i think, last week. i'm sure the public and all of us would like to see more. i do believe that in the long run, the investments the president has made have been very good. they are paying off. think about it.

we lost 8.5 million private sector jobs. we need to do more, absolutely, but let's have cooperation and work together. >> hilda solis, great pleasure to see you. thank you very much. you made a good point about hiring vets. i don't have all the numbers right in front of me right now but i know rachel maddow closed her show last night with a wonderful appeal for not only hometown parades that are welcoming home our vets from iraq but also to do something, to show up, say welcome home, say thank you, and hire the vets. we want to make that appeal. that's on rachel's website as well. thank you. within hours of the reports released today, both president obama and mitt romney addressed it on the campaign trail. >> we learned this morning that our business has created 84,000 new jobs last month and that overall means that businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months, including 500,000 new

manufacturing jobs. that's a step in the right direction. that's a step in the right direction. but we can't be satisfied, because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back to where we were back in 2007. >> these numbers understate what people are feeling and the amount of pain which is occurring in middle class america. not only is the 8.2% number unacceptably high and one that's been in place now for over 41 months, but in addition, if you look at the broader analysis of people who are out of work or have dropped out of the work force, or that are underemployed in part-time jobs, needing full-time work, it's almost 15% of the american public. >> the new economics editor for "the economist" joins us now.

let's talk about this jobs report. you use the term torpor. i was thinking of that term and when i looked at what you were writing in your blog, and it is. >> yeah. the best thing you can say, it doesn't tell us we're going back in recession but we now have three months of extremely weak job creation and unemployment rates going nowhere. you can't call this a recovery. if you want to be optimistic, you can point to the fact the number of hours people worked went up. the fact that employers hired more temps. those are the sorts of things you might see as precursors to hiring but we got six months ahead of us of serious headwinds. europe which may not be imploding but is struggling to cope with its crisis and a fiscal cliff with each passing month weighs more heavily on the minds of business. i don't see the catalyst for a turnaround in coming months. >> in other words, if you're an employer and thinking about hiring and you look at the debt ceiling debate that is lying ahead, the fiscal cliff with the

bush tax cuts expiring unless somebody comes to an agreement and also the budget cuts that become automatic, that is a real hit, another hit in the gut, if you will. >> well, exactly. if your employer is sitting there saying should i open that new business line, why not wait that extra six months to know for sure whether some of these risks are going to materialize. i wod add there's another thing here. china, one of the sort of stalwarts of growth slowing rapidly. on thursday central banks in britain, europe and china eased policy to combat this weakness. the markets still sold off. i think one of the other negatives is a sense that policy makers either don't have the will or the ability to combat this weakness. >> was there any coordination in that among the central bankers or is that really unilateral action? >> no -- >> china and europe separately? >> those actions have been fairly well telegraphed. here in the united states, all eyes will be on the federal reserve, one of the few if not the only institution left with both the means to act and the ability to act.

they have a meeting coming up at the end of the month. i believe the weakness of job creation gives them the reason they need to do more so-called quantitative easing, buying bonds by printing money. the big question mark is has ben bernanke, the chairman, managed to get enough of his colleagues on board with that because he has faced resistance, and is he comfortable enough that some of the risks he sees are not serious enough to hold him back. >> is there real evidence that it has worked so far? >> these things are impossible to sort of say for sure. you are dealing with a macro economy with so many other things acting on it. most thoughtful analysis is that yes, unemployment is lower, markets are stronger, housing is not as weak as it would be if the fed had not acted. >> of course, they are the point of last resort because there has been inaction on the fiscal side and no response from political parties in washington. >> exactly. ben bernanke couldn't have been clearer in his last few testimonies and he will testify again in two weeks and i expect he will say the same thing. the fed can't do it by itself.

it needs help from the fiscal authorities but we have an election campaign going on where both parties essentially staked their campaign on forcing the other side to accept their vision of where things should go. >> greg ip, thank you very much. thanks for being with us to sort it out. four more jobs reports are due before november's election. up next, what happens if the unemployment rate doesn't move? later, the new transportation bill to be signed today, a key supporter, the mayor of los angeles. antonio villaraigosa. with the spark cash card from capital one, sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet?

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with the jobless rate still stuck at 8.2%, the president is on the defensive and mitt romney is on the attack. joining me now, bob shrum, democratic strategist and kevin

madden, romney campaign senior advisor, who is now taking on a larger day-to-day role with the campaign. congratulations in order? >> i guess so. >> sort of? you will head out, you will be more on the road. sort of. >> it's like a demonic laugh. >> no, no, i've done it. >> done that, been there, done that. what advice would you have to kevin madden? >> well, first i want to say that his new role is one job created that i think mitt romney welcomes. my guess is there will be a lot less etch-a-sketching coming from the romney campaign and a lot fewer missteps. he's obviously very talented. all you had to do was watch him in 2008 or as he's commented the last few months and having him out there as an official spokesman will help the romney campaign. >> kevin, what do you hope to bring to the table in your new role? you'll be out there with the governor, you'll be able to sort of help with the communications strategy, which i should say has been criticized by the "wall street journal" in an editorial and by rupert murdoch, jack

welch tweeting, saying they needed a better focus, beefing up of the staff. >> i think most importantly, what i bring to the table is an ability to and deep relationships with both national press and also local and regional press. >> and a lot of credibility. >> i appreciate that. the governor is somebody who i believe in, somebody who i think is going to make a great president. that part of the job makes it easier. when i talk to people about the message that he hopes to bring to the american people, why he wants to be president, how he will fix the economy, my job is to articulate the governor's grand vision for the country. >> but how would you have changed or altered the strategy this week where frankly, some people would say he seemed to be twisting himself into a pretzel, trying to explain tax versus mandate. >> i think most importantly, this is going to be an election that's a contest for the future. what people care about when they look at the obamacare debate is how it affects them. they believe it costs too much, they believe the size and scope of obamacare was too big, and they believe the taxes and

regulations in it are stifling economic growth. i think governor romney, what he's done very clear, when he's at his best on this issue, he's talking about what health care is going to look like in this country post-obamacare, what it will look like when we don't have the same taxes, the regulation, the spending, and putting government between patients and their doctors. so when governor romney talks about what his vision for health care is in this country going forward, what the future would look like under president romney, that's where he does his best. my job will be to help him do that. >> bob shrum, i want to give you a chance to respond but also ask you about the president's response today, calling this jobs report quote, a step in the right direction. >> well, first, it is a step in the right direction. it's a baby step. it's not a giant step. i listened to all the crocodile tears this morning from the romney campaign and the republicans about the jobs numbers. romney said it was a kick in the gut. the truth is, he hopes it's wind at his back because they want to turn this election into a referendum. if you're unhappy with the economy, give me a try. kevin is the first person i

heard from the romney campaign actually begin to try to outline a positive approach or positive alternative on health care. i think the american people are pretty smart about the economy. i think they are going to see through a republican congress that blocks virtually every measure, you talked about fiscal inaction for job creation, then bashes the president. i think the obama campaign was very smart to go out there and define romney, begin to define romney in battleground states early, go to the bain issue, go to the outsourcing issue, say this is a guy who often made money by creating jobs overseas. i think in some ways, romney has as difficult a time by the time we get through this process talking about the jobs issue we may find out as he has talking about romney care and obama care. >> the president, while the president is out in ohio and on a bus tour and mitt romney of course did his bus tour, now we learn that governor romney is going to go to europe, going to go to israel, going to do a foreign trip which barack obama did when he was running for

president. what is the advantage, what is the point of taking off and going overseas? >> look, i think it's very important to remind voters that governor romney is somebody who also believes as much as he has focused on fixing the economy, he also believes we have national security challenges around the globe. and we have foreign policy challenges around the globe that he has a vision for a better road forward for the country. so in those particular conversations with world leaders, talking about his vision for a stronger america, talking about american exceptionalism and how that helps create a safer, more secure world and how that helps make a safer and secure america, those will be important conversations and it's also, i think it's an important message to send to voters as they go through the entire course of considerations. the economy will be number one, no doubt, but also those issues are also important when choosing a president. >> bob shrum, good idea for candidates to go overseas? >> i'm not sure how much it matters. obama had a pretty decent lead when he did this.

republicans went after him for it. it yielded them nothing. i think it will be foolish for democrats to spend a lot of time going after romney for taking this trip. he obviously is going to do fund-raisers and raise money on the trip. i just don't think this is a big deal. on the other hand, i would probably spend, having lived through 2000 and 2004, i would spend a little more time in florida, little more time in ohio, maybe a little more time in pennsylvania. >> i think everybody is going to be spending a lot of time in ohio -- >> yeah, but i would spend as much as possible. i wish i had five more days in ohio in 2004, kerry would have been elected president. those days you give up really matter. >> i don't know if you want to be giving advice to kevin madden but you just did. >> they're not going to take it. i can say whatever i want. >> thanks very much. shrum, great to see you. >> thanks. congratulations, kevin. >> congratulations. lots of luck on the road. coming up next, mitt

romney's world tour. more on that, where he's headed, why he's going. you're watching msnbc. [ dad ] i'm usually checking up on my kids. but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day, and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to help keep bones strong and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste.

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call 1-800-547-8676. visit a mobile claims office, your agent or allstate.com in today's politico briefing, it's not just the economy and the 2012 election, it is about foreign policy as we have been saying and the romney campaign is considering this four country, two continent tour to prove his foreign policy credentials. joining me is jonathan martin. jonathan, you broke the story and i think kevin madden just confirmed it on camera, they are going overseas and they are going to travel to show off his foreign policy credentials. let's talk about where he's going. we're showing the map. what's the importance of -- well, england is obvious. it's the olympics. ann romney's got a horse in the olympics. >> literally a horse in the olympics. yeah. i think with the uk, you get the olympics reminder that he saved the '02 games in salt lake city,

a reminder that people that don't know that story about a role he's played outside of electoral politics that shows leadership. it also reminds americans of the so-called special relationship between our country and the uk. in poland, i think the focus there is romney's tough line towards russia. as you know, central europe and certainly poland share romney's wariness towards moscow. i think romney being there and talking about those kinds of issues could put him more in line with countries like poland and also, i would point out, president obama has not spoken in poland. he's been there but hasn't spoken unlike the past two presidents. on germany, the chance to visit with chancellor merkel who is sort of the leader of the eu effectively now, then lastly, israel, a chance for governor

romney to show his support for the jewish state, helps him politically back home. you can sort of tick off every one of these countries, there is some political benefit for him being there. of course, just more broadly as kevin mentioned, the hope in the romney campaign is to show him as more of a statesman, someone who is above the nitty-gritty, the daily fray, someone they can actually see as being commander in chief. >> of course, poland also reaches to the large numbers of polish-americans. that's a big constituency in a lot of key states. israel, really interesting that back in 1976, in boston, benjamin netanyahu was a financial consultant. so was american educated benjamin netanyahu. >> philadelphia. yeah. >> they worked together. they have a really close friendship that's not just based in republican or conservative ideology. they have a connection there, a friendship, that i think is -- they are going to play out in this meeting. >> absolutely.

absolutely. they were colleagues together at the boston consulting group back in the '70s and you can expect the romney campaign to make much of the fact that these two are sympatico personally, not just politically. >> jonathan martin, great reporting. thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. still to come, the politics of jet skis and budget travel in an election year. first, what the weak jobs numbers could mean for the democratic party. we talk to the man running this year's democratic convention. [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor,

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it's the third straight month of weak hiring numbers. today the report and that's more bad news for millions of unemployed and underemployed americans. los angeles mayor antonio

villaraigosa has to face these questions in california, where you see the economy up close and the difficult slowdown. when we look at these numbers, we look at the numbers, 11% unemployment for hispanic americans. the black unemployment, 14%. 14.4%. teenagers, 23.7%. all those kids coming out of school. what can you do? i know we will talk about this transportation bill the president's going to sign which was your big proposal today, but there has to also be a broader lift to this economy. >> no question about it. we've got to do everything we can and i say when i was president of the conference of mayors in a city of los angeles, job number one is job creation. that's why we're so frustrated with the congress, they're not working together on a bipartisan basis, they're putting party before country. they're not working to create the jobs that we need. thankfully, as you said, we're moving up 84,000 jobs. it is 28 straight months of job

growth. manufacturing's been growing since the late '90s but is moving along a lot faster. autos are up, it's good, five-year high. so is housing. but we still have a lot of work to do which is why we're elated that the president's going to sign the surface transportation bill, but we also need to make sure that our teachers, our firefighters, our police officers, stay on the job to protect the safety net, to make sure our kids are getting educated. that's 325,000 jobs. we can do that on a bipartisan basis. my hope is that they will. >> tell me about the transportation bill. i know how excited you are. we talked about it the other day. here you are, to be at the signing when the president gets back from his bus trip. >> it's two million jobs preserved or created, and another million jobs with a component of the surface transportation bill called america fast forward. what it was, we came up with this idea in l.a. about three

years ago. we said hey, look, during a time of high deficits and debt, when the federal government doesn't have a lot of money, why don't you incentivize localities to put up their own money, we have a source of funding going into the future, get a loan from the federal government, accelerate our programs now, we can create a million jobs and we'll create a million jobs in the next few years, we'll be able to access those loans very soon, but you have to have a source of money. so in the case of l.a. and a number of other cities across the country, if they've got a dedicated source of money for infrastructure investment, they can loan to accelerate job creation now. >> what kind of jobs? >> these are infrastructure jobs. it could be rebuilding our roads, our highways, our bridges, our airports. it could be public transportation in the case of l.a. where we're going to be doubling the size of our road system. in fact, this loan program coupled with the extension of a

half penny sales tax generating $40 billion will allow us to double the size of our rail system the next ten years. >> what advice would you give the president, who has this weak jobs report today, and he said it's a step forward, but as bob shrum, democratic strategist, was saying earlier on the program, it's a baby step. >> it's a step forward and it's 28 straight months. what i would say is let's keep on focusing on the future. let's keep on building an economy that will last, an economy that invests in the middle class, an economy that makes sure that our kids are getting educated, that we're building the infrastructure that we need, that we're staying on a course that says the strongest course ahead is fortifying and strengthening the middle class. >> mayor antonio villaraigosa, nice to see you on our coast. safe travels home after your signing ceremony today. >> thank you. >> thanks very much. secretary of state hillary clinton is on the road again. she had harsh words today for

russia and china with criticism of syria's allies just as president assad's top generals, key member of his inner circle, defected. >> it is frankly not enough just to come to the fringe of the syrian people because i will tell you very frankly i don't think russia and china believe they are paying any price at all, nothing at all, for standing up on behalf of the assad regime. >> nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me from istanbul, having just come out of syria. you heard the reporting of the defection but you have seen it on the ground. tell us what your perspective is from being an eyewitness to this tragedy. >> i have only been out of the -- out of syria for less than 24 hours and from what i could tell, it seems the bashar regime is losing control of the

country. we were able to move around very openly, traveling hundreds of miles in open trucks with the rebels, walking around from village to village, we hardly saw any syrian troops. it seems that the syrian forces are mostly now concentrated in a few key cities, but have effectively given the rebels control of the countryside, of rural areas, and there were many places where i would go out, talk to people, walk from village to village and as you know, whenever we go around openly with a camera, we start filming, crowds would form. not a problem, people would talk to us, complain about the regime, complain about the violence that the regime is using against the people, and they felt that they were living in a liberated area. so from my perspective, what i saw is that the regime is having serious trouble on the ground and has lost large parts of the country that are now openly and confidently being held by the rebels. the only thing we heard time and

time again is that they don't have enough weapons. if they had a little bit more help, more support, physically on the ground, money and weapons, that they could finish this conflict and drive out bashar from the few pockets in the rural areas where his forces remain, and from the urban areas where they are still in large numbers. >> from your perspective, having seen this on the ground, what about the criticism of the administration for not doing more for the rebels, for letting others do it, for letting the arab league take the lead, for not believing that the rebels are organized enough to handle this weaponry? >> i found the rebels to be very organized. it was not a situation where there were bands of rebels that were not communicating with each other. we went among many different rebel organizations. because they have so few weapons, they get together, they share them. every person i was with knew exactly how many magazines he

had, how many bullets he had, and when they don't have enough, they reach over to an ally, affiliated rebel organization, and ask to borrow ammunition. so on an organizational level, i don't think that is a problem, and the criticism against them being disorganized might be misplaced. there is a lot of anger on the ground against russia. you don't hear much anger against the united states. people say in syria that the united states' position has been fairly weak but we don't need a nato intervention, we just need weapons and they think the reason they're not getting those weapons is because of russian intransigence and russia blocking the international community to do more. >> with that, hillary clinton would certainly agree. richard engel, thanks so much. we look forward to your reporting tonight. a major diplomatic standoff between the u.s. and pakistan has been resolved, sort of. clearing the way for american convoys, trucks, to resume delivering military supplies to nato troops in afghanistan from a keyboarder crossing in pakistan.

joining me now is amna nawaz, direct from islamabad. great to see you back in washington. we have seen some backup along the border and there was a drone strike as well today. bring us up to date, we know we have been watching how this got resolved seven months, it took. how is it playing out on the ground? >> so far after these seven months we know the u.s. spent $100 million a month using alternative routes. it was an expensive route toward this agreement. the routes have been opened, the first few trucks made their way across yesterday. we know that 4,000 trucks are stuck down in karachi, where the containers come in, and are awaiting clearance to make their overland route to the border crossings. we also know that already, there has been a bit of backlash. the truckers association members told us they were worried about security along the route. there have been attacks on those truckers in the past, and already, there was a protest today in quetta, people saying they should not have reopened

those supply lines and they will continue to attack the truckers that take those routes. >> aside from protesters, what are the truckers' concerns? is it attacks from the group supported inside pakistan or another external source? >> that trucking job, that job of driving, it's been described as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. they're traveling through very precarious situations and they are vulnerable to criminal and militant extremists along the way. if the truckers take on the responsibility when doing that, there have been hundreds of them attacked in years past and because there has been so much growing anti-americanism because this issue has gotten so much attention in pakistan, they're worried they will be under increased scrutiny now as they start to drive on those roads. >> how much criticism is the government getting in pakistan for having reopened these routes? the sort of cover story was the americans will be able to leave afghanistan more quickly with these routes open. that's also the argument that

the administration was giving. and pakistan's going to get $1.2 billion in aid that had been frozen in the interim. they're trying to patch this over but is it a real political problem for a very weak government in pakistan to accept this sort of belated apology? >> that's certainly one view. this government has been on the back foot for quite some time now. they have sort of endured a series of political crises and remember, it's also election year in both countries so we have to keep that in mind when thinking about how long it took to come to this agreement. but certainly in the months leading up to this agreement, before a solution was reached, they knew that there would be backlash. there's a defense council of pakistan -- >> right now we are seeing some of the protests we just -- video we just received. we can see president obama's portrait being put to flame. this is today protests from pakistan against the agreement. >> that's right. these are some of the first pictures that we've seen coming out of pakistan showing that anger, that anti-americanism that's been growing in recent years. but the government knew this was

coming. there have been organizations, groups saying we will protest if you reopen those routes. and that anger is sure to continue. >> amna, your reporting from there is always spot-on and it's great to see you here. >> thanks for having me. up next, the week in politics with susan page and major garrett. first, news from wimbledon. federer defeated djokovic in four sets. federer will face andy murray or sanga in sunday's final. if federer wins on sunday, he will be -- he will tie pete sampras' record of seven wimbledon titles and would take away djokovic's number one world ranking. reath? fight both fast with new tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath,

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coming up in 15 minutes on "news nation" we are awaiting new remarks from president obama, who is wrapping up his

bus tour in pittsburgh. we will see if he makes any new comments about what many are calling a disappointing june jobs report. also, the president accuses mitt romney of flip-flopping on his position on the individual mandate in the health care law. our political panel will weigh in on that. and we have the new reports that romney is considering a major foreign policy push this summer. it's been a rough week for both campaigns. for the romney campaign, until today, at least, when the white house got hit with those stagnant job numbers. to put the week in perspective, i'm joined by the national journal's major garrett and susan page, bureau chief of "usa today" . thank you both very much. today we got a new, somewhat new narrative from the president about vacations. he was on his bus trip, he was in ohio, he was reminiscing about vacations and it wasn't martha's vineyard, it was howard johnson's and this is what he had to say today. >> my grandmother and my mom and

my sister, we traveled around the country on greyhound buses and on trains, we stayed at howard johnson's and you know, i was 11 and so if there was any kind of swimming pool, it didn't matter how big it was, right, you would spend the whole day there and then you were real excited to go to where the vending machine was and the ice machine and get the ice, and that was like a big deal. >> so that's the president. he did write about that in "dreams of my father" going to seattle, going to california, going to disneyland. this is what he remembers from his childhood, what he wants to talk about, not martha's vineyard. the politics of vacationing, major, we saw the criticism and i thought frankly it was really silly of mitt romney and ann romney on jet skis. that's what they do. >> that's what they do. >> that's how they vacation. i don't really think it's

analogous -- there's the president in martha's vineyard. >> i was with him, yes. >> john kerry, that picture is the picture which of course -- >> i think there's a much simpler explanation for the president's walk down memory lane, to try to associate himself with the common touch with american voters who feel uncommonly uncomfortable in this economy. the economy is slow. the trajectory is upward but only nominally so. the president has got to find a way if not to talk to them in an optimistic way about the future, because he's tried for the last two summers to be optimistic, net-net about the direction of the economy, and it hasn't panned out. he really can't try that a third time. he knows that. the campaign knows that. so a common touch or sense of common understanding of american issues and anxieties is about the best he can offer them right now, and a striking contrast with what he thinks mitt romney wants to do and why he thinks it's wrong. he doesn't have much other room -- >> the ice machine at hojo's.

>> i grew up in kansas and we did pile everyone in the car and drive to see our grandparents on the other side of the state. we would stop at a place like hojo's and dive for the swimming pool. this is not the life he's leading now. no surprise that he chose this hojo's. this summer he's running for re-election. >> remember when bill clinton chose the same, wyoming, which is not where he wanted to go. but it's kind of a nice story. >> it is a sweet story. >> any 11-year-old who's been on a bus all day and finds a pool is going to be happy. and the ice machine for every 11-year-old, 12-year-old, the ice machine was a very heavenly thing. >> and we all remember blow-up swimming pools in our backyard. but does mitt romney have a problem because his very different lifestyle growing up. >> no one begrudges mitt romney a vacation, just begrudge him the timing of it. and conservatives and republicans look at this campaign, look at the communities presenting themselves to romney and republicans generally, and this

issue trickles down to the economy and the possibilities of success. and they don't think this is the time on luxuryuating, number one, and vacationing. the romney campaign says, the americans are vacationing, we're going to vacation. we could be out there and busting our hump and they probably wouldn't be paying attention. >> i think americans care, do you have a plan? do you have me in mind? are you going to stand up for me? i sort of think this is stuff that we do over a holiday week around the fourth of july. >> exactly. >> and by october, this is going to not matter, not a whit. >> well, what is going to matter is the jobs report, susan. >> oh, yeah. and this is important not only because it's so disappointing for the administration, a weaker jobs report than economists had predi predicted, but because this is the moment when a lot of voters are turning in saying, this is the economy we've got. after the jobs numbers in june, and in july it gets harder and

harder to change people's ideas about where the economy stands. >> and going into the london olympic season, i've got some news for brits, murray wins and he's in the final against federer. this is going to be a really emotional tug. andy murray wins, just in from wimbledon. and which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? we've got more, stay with us. this is "andrea mitchell reports." chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save.

and which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? your eyes are not lying. that uniform does say the new york giants. the new york giants against the old washington senators, a re-match of the 1924 world series. kris cillizza is a baseball fan, i'm sure, and is back. and look at that game. we won last night, as we won in 1924 in the world series. so, chris, what are you going to be watching this weekend? >> i watched it last night, andrea, just like i watched the last two victories, and we are

going for a sweep. i have to say, i'm thrilled, though, my wife, who is a connoisseur of all things, was not a big fan of the 1924 washington nationals -- she said they looked like old white bags that the guys were wearing. >> they were great uniforms. this is nostalgia, this is an old-timy game. 5 cent hot dogs, i think. >> i liked it. >> chris cillizza, wimbledon, baseball, everything this weekend. thanks so much. have a great weekend. that's it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," and next week, actress sigourney weaver joins us to talk about political animals. craig melvin has a look at what's next on "news nation." we are awaiting remarks from president obama who's taking his bus tour to pittsburgh. also, the president accusing mitt romney of flip-flopping. flip-flopping on miss position on the individual mandate and the health care law. our "news nation" political

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