last decade in terms of people's attitudes about, you know, gays and lesbians serving our country. >> opposition to hagel has been building for weeks. weekly standard magazine, quote, his backers can cite no significant legislation for which hagel was responsible in his two terms in the senate. they can summarize no perceptive hagelian analysis of defense or foreign policy. so, does hagel have a chance to be confirmed or is this going to be a fight that's picked and the president suffers a black eye. joining us now mike allen,

welcome. >> good morning, mark. >> so why is the president picking this fight. hagel has a lot of opposition on the right. why does he want chuck hagel for the job? >> part of it now is a manhood thing. he can't be ruled second national security pick after susan was out there described as a presidential favorite, he went ahead and made a different choice for secretary of state going with john kerry. democrats are unhappy because of some of the gay comments, some of the democrats in the senate now didn't serve with him and so are on the fence. a top senate democratic official said to me, a path exists for him to be confirmed when you're with the president's party. but they say, he has a lot of

explaining to do and the white house has a lot of work to do if republicans impose hagel enmasse. they can't count on the 51 democratic votes. >> this confirmation fight threatens because of the prominence of the job to become a big part of the january/february narrative, does this hurt the president moving forward? >> it certainly does. mark, on time.com, you make the point that he's likely to be confirmed if he does well in the hearings at great cost. the most surprising thing about this nomination, the president's january/february agenda was already jammed. he wanted to do guns, immigration and energy and infrastructure. all of that was already threatened because all of the new cliffs that were set up. all of the fiscal overhang issues. now you throw a big con ffirmatn

fight into it. people will want to testify against him. it's a big problem and republicans, here, see a three-fer as democrats describe it for him. they get to oppose the president and give some come up pans on it and third, they get to do a solid for the pro-israel group. very little incentive people to stick their neck out for chuck hagel. >> the other big national security job is the cia position, where is the president's thinking on that? >> this is going to be the most calm of all of them, it's clear that he's going to be john brennan, if he wants to stay in government, if not the other choice is the current acting

head of the cia since general petraeus left michael morell. that pick we're told will come in the next day or so, possibly even packaged with chuck hagel. thank you. all right, last week's fiscal cliff deal settle d some things. republicans are now demanding significant spending cuts. democrats still talking about additional tax revenue. >> we have resolved the revenue issue, the question is, what are we going to do about spending? i wish the president would lead us in this discussion or put in a position of kicking and screaming to the table about the biggest issue confronting our future.

until we address the entitlements we can't solve this problem. the time to solve it is now. >> if mitch mcconnell is going to draw that line in the sandy it's going to be recipe for more grid lock. during the campaign when the -- you saw the republican candidate and paul ryan talking about all of those tax breaks and loopholes in the tax codes, that benefit wealthy people, guess what, they're still there. through tax reform we can raise more revenue matched by additional cuts. >> with republican leaders still clearly prepared to use the debt ceiling as leverage, nancy pelosi explained what she would do if she were in president obama's shoes. >> why do we go through this kind of exercise that embarrass everyone. >> ask the republicans.

we always passed the debt ceiling when president bush was president. there should be -- this is a conversation where there should be no doubt. in fact, if i were president, i would use the 14th amendment which says that united states will always be -- >> you would go ahead and do it. >> but the congress hasn't incurred much of this debt. >> more on the president's big january agenda the white house is considering comprehensive plans to crack down on gun violence. three weeks after the sandy hook shootings in newtown, connecticut, the task force is looking at wide-ranging measures. the group is exploring ways to

strengthen mental health checks. in some cases the potential measures could be implemented through executive action. >> i think what we need to do first is to see what the vice president's group comes up with, what their recommendations are, plenty of time to take a look at their recommendations once they come forward, what's going to dominate washington for the next three months here is going to be spending and debt. >> the president would like that gun control proposals from the biden group by the end of this week. hill krinton will be back at work following her hospitalization last week with that blood clot in her head. in her final days at the state department. clinton is said to be eager to get back to business.

karzai arrives in d.c. today and he'll meet with president obama, they're expected to discuss the withdrawal of u.s. troops and nato troops in 2014. officials say that the obama administration is considering leaving behind a minimal force, after security is handed over the afghans. karzai is expected to arrive with a wish list of both financial and military aid. he'll also be bringing with him a list of complaints. karzai's clash with the u.s. over treatment of afghan prisoners in u.s. custody just two days ago. in an interview with nbc, karzai was critical of what he described of continued attacks

on afghan villages. much of the insecurity in his country is because of the u.s. and nato presence there. overseas news, the u.s. is rejecting a peace plan from syrian president basha rshgbash. he said yesterday, blamed his country's struggles on the opposition. the u.s. state department in a very diplomatic response said that his plan is quote detached from reality. all right, as always let us know why you're up watching this program. shoot me an e-mail. or tweet me at mark halperin. still ahead here on "way too

early" robert griffin iii limps his way through the loss. we'll show you the highlights and get redskins coach mike shanahan take next in sports. plus, your country may be in a bad place when your selects start to defect to russia. gerard depardieu takes his hatred of the french tax code to russia. and a check of your weather when "way too early" comes back. today in the oval office the big five, all of this nation's living president future current and past, the first and last time so many presidents gathered in the white house at once was back in 1981. [ male announcer ] staples is the number-one

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ladies and gentlemen, you're looking live at our nation's capital, beautiful sight of washingt washington, waiting for the sun to come up. a check of the weather with the legendary bill karins. >> that was a nice winter? >> yes. i would like some snow. i like to be able to make snow angels and use carrots for noses. good morning, everyone. hope you had a wonderful weekend. we're watching warm air dominate the nation, from the rockies to the east coast. temperatures have plunged around chicago, minneapolis, we're talking, this is the heart of winter, we're going to have temperatures in d.c., possibly 60 degrees. this week is going to be our january thaw of the winter. enjoy it. some rain and thunderstorms.

in one spot with travel troubles, airlines, gusty winds, maybe a few tornadoes in and around east texas including the houston and san antonio area. nice day, beautiful weather today. from st. louis to kansas city all of the way to new york city, enjoy this week while it lasts. >> all right, bill, thank you for the warm weather. we're going to skip over traffic and go straight to sports. robert griffin iii and ho hosting russell wilson and the seattle saw hawks. rg3 rolls out, tries to put on the brakes, the pass falls, he reinjures himself, he gets up limping but stays in the game. two plays later, he finds logan

paulson in the end zone for the touchdown. second quarter now, wilson gets his team back in the game, the touchdown pass here to michael robinson for the score. redskins are up four. fourth quarter, seahawks down by one. marshawn lynch takes it. look at russell wilson, the final block from the quarterback, seahawks will take a seven-point lead there after they get the two-point conversion. redskins now on the ensuing possession, rg3 falls on it. he reinjuries his knee yet again in the process. rg3 he left the game for good after that. really was never 100% yesterday. 21 yards rushing. only 84 passing. the redskins lose the game. after the game, though, what a lot of people were talking about was mike shanahan's decision to keep rg3 in the game. >> i talked to robert and robert

said to me, coach, there's a difference between injured and hurting. that was enough for me. he's a competitor. i'll proem second-guess myself when you take a look at different -- you know in the second half, should you have done it earlier? >> i'm the quarterback of this team. my job is to be out there if i could play. so, this is the way you have to play it. i don't feel that many being out there hurt the team. >> the extent of the knee jury is unknown. he'll have amri. ray lewis taking the field, his last home game as a raven. they face off the colts in baltimore. fourth quarter, ravens are up by

eight. joe flacco throws one up for anquan boldin. good coverage from the colts. ravens go on to win the game, 24-9, we got our matchup set for the divisional round afc. those ravens against those top-seeded broncos in denver. the texans who beat the bengals in saturday's game will travel to foxborough to take on the task of beating the patriots there. green bay heads out west to face the 49ers and the red-hot seahawks go down south to face the very tough falcons. tonight, college football. the crown for the national championship will be bestowed on one of two teams, notre dame or the second-ranked alabama tide in the bc sshs national champiop game at 8:30. vegas odds maker, 9.5 favorite

over the undefeat ed irish. the tide, of course, would extend the s.e.c. streak of consecutive bcs championship wins to seven, count em seven. coming up at top of the hour -- how will president obama's pick for secretary of defense go over? chuck hagel whether he's a mountain or a mole hill. when we come back -- we'll huddle around the water cooler. a cat was detained in a brazilian prison, we'll have that when "way too early" comes back right here. de. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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all right, i know a lot of you are fed up with real news. we're going to gather around the water cooler with our man lewis. how are you? >> i'm doing very well. we told you earlier in the show that president obama is expected to nominate chuck hagel as the next defense secretary. it turns out chuck hagel and joe biden are longtime friends. back in 2007, hagel dressed up as biden for halloween. he surprised everyone by wearing a biden mask and a biden for president t-shirt. so, when biden saw that, he

smiled and said, hagel for vice president in typical biden fashion. so, we're going to the next story, russia's newest citizen, french actor gerard depardieu, he was fed up with the rising taxes on the millionaires in france that he packed his bags and moved to russia. he's getting quite the warm russian welcome. he flew into central russia where the government offered him a free apartment of his choice. they hosted an elaborate ceremony and presented him with his passport. not sure if moving to russia will help gerard depardieu's

antics. that guy knows how to have a good time. >> lewis, i didn't hear a word you said. i'm transfixed by your french accent. let me hare hear the last part. >> depardieu. finally the story that we have been waiting for, that's a cat doing time at an a mall shelter after being detained by police in brazil. it was caught smuggling contraband through a prison. items were wrapped around the cat's body with tape. officials say, some of the 260 prisoners could have been planning to use the items to

escape or communicate with criminals in the outside world. this investigation has been extremely difficult. one spokesperson told a local newspaper, quote, it's tough to find out who's responsible for the action because the cat does not speak. that's some incredible police work. i have to say. >> thank you so much. all right, still ahead -- why are you possibly awake, your texts, e-mails are next. and morning joe, now, just moments away. this is $100,000. 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. your money needs an ally.

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so at the very beginning of the program, we asked you the proverbial question, why are you awake? producer john tower has the answers. mr. tower. >> mark, i've got, on your way into work, you were soliciting phineas & ferb references. quote, these guys hammering out an agreement is like watching phineas & ferb title sequence. >> a cross between cicero and mr. magoo every time. thank you for watching. "morning joe" begins right this minute.

♪ and snap. and it belongs to seattle. and robert griffin iii is down on the ground and can't get up. >> i talked to robert. robert said to me, "coach, there's a difference between being injured and being hurt." "i'm hurting. give me a chance to win." that was enough for me. >> my job is the quarterback. my job is to play. the only time i couldn't is when i went down and i took myself out of the game. that's just the way you have to play it. i don't feel like me being out there hurt the team in any way. >> good morning. it's monday, january 7th. welcome to "morning joe." i guess that was pretty painful to watch.