them over the top for 2013. what present pro craft nation pore tends for profit and employment nor 2014. >> obama care, how many are your signups? i'm krystal ball carolling to you from pittsburgh and all the white house wants for christmas are big enrollment numbers. where things stand today the first major deadline for the law. >> baby it's warm outside. sure there was ice and snow but folks in short and flooding and tornado. we've got your christmas forecast coming up. >> a white house christmas, a member of my shell obama's decorating committee will tell us what it takes to turn 1600 penn into a winter wonderland. this is a whole different kind of stimulation for your senses. you're in "the cycle."

♪ i think it's very vital ♪ >> that's jimmy fallon and justin timberlake setting the mood for the holidays. today is the day before the day before christmas and the malls are mobs and santa is making his last minute updates to naughty and nice list. he's black, you know how it goes. checking in from the north pole. >> reporter: waiting for the latest update out of the north pole. i'm sorry -- wheef got what? a direct link to santa command. let's go to that right now. that's jeb, he's coming to town,

better watch out -- phil is in air traffic control tracking rudolph's last minute test flight. that looks like it's going well. there's dasher, dancer, pranser and vixen, comet and cupid. >> julia bore sten is braving the crowds. are shoppers procrastinators are enjoy the last minute holiday rush? >> reporter: this mall isn't that packed. there isn't that much of a last minute frenzy but in general people have been waiting longer to do holiday shopping because -- not just because they are procrastinating but they are holding out for really deep discounts. half of the stores in this mall seem to be promoting significant discounts, some as much as 50 to 70% off. it fits with overall trend.

this year we're seeing retailers do the deepest discounts they have since back in 2008. it does mean some losers among the retailers this past weekend. sales fell by mid single percentage compared to last year with traffic down 7% according to a company called retail next. the big winners this holiday season have a big presence online. online holiday sales will grow as much as 15%, that of course is great for amazon and ebay as well as retailers like walmart, which have been making a big online push. other big winners are those companies like gap, and ann taylor and macy's which combined online and brick and mortar operations to better manage inventory, whether shopping online or in stores. having a harder time in these malls are those teen retailers, american eagle, and abercrombie

& fitch. they've been offering deep discounts but the shoppers are less interested in the big brands em blazened across t-shirts another hot topic in the mall is target. everyone is wondering how much it will suffer after its massive credit card breach. the shoppers were talked to were a mixed bag. loyal shoppers were staying as far as possibility from the store and others are not worried and taking advantage of the discounts that target is offering. they are working hard to will he rerekrut shopper and rivals like walmart will benefit. >> here to talk about what 2013 shopping means for the economy in 2014, rick newman, latest piece entitled "why obama will have a better year in 2014." i like the sound of that. people are shopping less this year. are you seeing that? >> it's going to be a blaze

shopping year. maybe 3% above next year. no great shakes and doesn't create a lot of job or generate a lot of momentum into 2014. if everybody just spends $20 less, that doesn't mean that much to you and me but a big deal to retailers. people feel the pinch. >> why should have minimum wage increase. >> we have a consumer confidence up number, up strongly from last month, recouping everything that was lost, people were freaking out about the government shutdown and strong gdp number. but we're seeing weak retail sales despite everyone, all of the focus on thanksgiving sales down a few points from last year. and didn't come as high as they were expected to. are we having a renewed economic recovery are things still limping along. >> i think consumers have whiplash. we just come out of this nonsense, government shutdown, another threat to default on u.s. debt, don't know what to do

about obama care, what are they supposed to think? there's a lot of evidence that people are in pretty good shape, they are not as in debt as they used to be. they've gotten some of their wealth back in the housing and they are looking around, what is going on here? i don't know how i feel. i think i feel better but i'm not sure. if we can get into 2014 and don't have enough foolish man-made disasters in 2014, that's the best thing that can happen for the economy. be get the government out of the way and let companies do what they do and consumers do what they do. that's the best we can hope for. >> i hope ted cruz is listening. >> indeed. it shouldn't be a lot to ask for but with this group you never know. you've been writing about potential perils for 2014. to my ear you write, you have to go back a decade to 2005 to rediscover a time when the fourth coming year looked as if it would be a prosperous one. when we thought we were coming into prosperity then, we were really building a giant bubble

that when it collapsed nearly destroyed the entire economy. are we rebuilding our economy this time on a more solid foundation. >> we're certainly rebuilding parts of it. i mean, the companies that laid off millions of workers and have thinned out and gotten rid of most of the sort of dead wood in the companies and need to hire and waiting for business to pick up. we could have little bubbles here and there. some people think there's a stock market bubble. you never know you have one until it pops. some people think there could be a housing bubble. i have my doubts because it is down from where it was. but what we really need to do is transition into a situation where it's the real economy we're talking about and not the federal reserve policies and not what washington is going to do to take 20 billion or $40 billion out of the economy, not what's going to happen if certain people don't get benefits anymore. these are vestages of this tough recession. we're still not over and we're one inch at a time transitioning into trying to get back to a

real economy. >> you mentioned that and said earlier that the government needs to get out of the way. how do you square that with something like unemployment insurance, which is expiring this weekend and according to nonpartisan estimates from cbo, just extending that unemployment insurance for people out there hurting and actively looking for work could net us 200,000 jobs in the long term. >> i don't think you do square it. i think it's just messy to tell you the truth. what i do think is going to be a legacy of obama care and some of the things we saw happen in 2013. i think it was a high water mark for big government, however you define big government. there is widespread fatigue with all of these government programs and with washington benefits. even though the evidence does show that unemployment benefits in general you get more back than you put in. >> you get more back in the amount of those checks, tour'e looks to some people like little government. >> absolutely. when you say government gets out of the way, this artificial political scandals like a shutdown or debt ceiling.

what ari is referring to where government helps the little guy, that we all surely want. >> i think people are getting sick of it. what we've been through in 2013. >> sick of what? >> of all of the government programs. i think people have heard -- >> the 1.3 million people depending on those unemployment benefits aren't sick of it. >> they are not. but we have had a situation in 2013 where more and more people and the polls show this, we had a new poll out that people said the biggest threat to the united states is the government. that's more than 70% of people. the government -- people are just seeing what's going on with the government and they don't understand it. they feel like this is now the situation where benefits are coming from some people to go to others. people should support unemployment benefits because it's a relatively small amount of money and you get more back than put in. if there was stronger support for it, the democrats would push harder for it. >> all right, thank you very much for that. very interesting. >> up next, what president obama

got himself for christmas, starts with an "o" and ends with care and obama in the middle. last saturday's snl, the monday before christmas, ari. ♪ let your heart be light ♪ from now on our troubles will be out of sight ♪ >> sounds good, we should make an album. my mother and my grandmother are very old fashioned.

i think we both are clean freaks. i used to scrub the floor on my knees. [ daughter ] i've mastered the art of foot cleaning. oh, boy. oh, boy. oh, boy. [ carmel ] that drives me nuts. it gives me anxiety just thinking about how crazy they get. [ doorbell rings ] [ daughter ] oh, wow. [ carmel ] swiffer wetjet. you guys should try this. it's so easy. oh, my. [ gasps ] i just washed this floor. if i didn't see it i wouldn't believe it. [ carmel ] it did my heart good to see you cleaning. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. [ daughter ] oh, yeah. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff.

hoo-hoo...hoo-hoo. hoo-hoo hoo. sir... i'll get it together i promise... heeheehee. jimmy: ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? ronny:i'd say happier than the pillsbury doughboy on his way to a baking convention. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

another day and obamacare

deadline day. the white house announced the signup deadline will be pushed to tomorrow making tugs the last day to enroll in you want the new egt health care plan to begin covering you by january 1st. that means if you'd like to start the new year with insurance, tomorrow and today are the last days to sign up. according to the white house the president himself signed up through the d.c. marketplace even though he already has insurance through the military. but regardless of the growing enrollment, the battle lines have been drawn. >> the bottom line is there are a lot of good things in oba obamacare that people like. >> if it's so much more expensive than what we anticipated and the coverage is not as good as we've had, you've got a complete melt down at that time. >> we need to change health care but what they've gone, you can't fix this mess. >> if you haven't signed up by the end of tomorrow, you still have time to avoid paying a penalty for not carrying insurance because that deadline is march 21st. you have to wonder, what does

2014 hold in store for obama care. let's spin. here's what i'm seeing, we've been talking about this as an issue how easy it to sign up and is the website working. in eight days that will change, people will look and evaluate is this a good health plan. i think we'll see mixed reaction. some people didn't have health insurance before and very happy they are covered and see a doctor for the first time in a long while and a lot of people had different health insurance before aren't sure how to feel about the new plans. one of the ways that the white house quite effectively controlled insurance premiums is that insurers have been tight about the networks, going out to doctors and hospitals i'm not paying that much. who will get in? that means a lot of plans don't include certain doctors and hospitals that they really want. i don't hoe people are going to feel about this. they'll have health care and go to a doctor or hospital if they need it. a lot of people are likely to react negativively if they can't go to the most preferred hospital in their city.

>> he said you could keep your doctor and you can't. here's grandma, loses her doctor, fantastic. thank you for the preview of 2014. i want to point out what a lot of democrats will point to, ezra klein underlined, 9 had% of hospital executives think it will make care better and reduce the per patient operating cost within their particular hospital. if there's any group of people that should know what this law will do and have a good sense of what it will do, it's hospital executives and i think that poll means more than people out in the world saying, i think this is going to be horrible because they've been overaffected by the negative messaging and demagoguing from the right. the other thing to point out, we talk about death spiral if they don't make this march by march 21st and what have. we have an economy with there are multiple companies and millions of new consumers coming in. 40 million people coming into the mall. if you are the company that

raises rates, you're less likely to get a larger share of those new consumers coming in. there's a sort of market dynamic that is going to help people and incentivize insurers to keep prices down. i don't think we're going to see a death spiral any time soon. >> look, we have a model for this working in massachusetts, very similar law, worked well. i think though there have been bumps and i'm sure there will continue to be bumps, we'll ultimately see successes here. turning to the politics of this, there's no question in 2014 republicans want to run on obama care. this is like the only message that they've had. this is the only message that they do have going forward. and i think the public's appetite for that quite frankly they don't want to relitigate this health care law again when republicans have no real alternative to offer. on the other hand, i think democrats will be focused very much on the more populist

message around income inequality and raising minimum wage and things like that. there's a smart columnist, josh barrow, i don't know if you are familiar with his work. but we should look into booking him sometime on the show. he's been writing about how republicans have one economic plan and no way to deal with recessions. and the other piece of that, they have no way to deal with income inequality. as the economy does get better, at least for those at the top, people will be turning to the country and saying, okay, so the economy is coming back for some people. but what kind of an economy are we building for all? and republicans really have no answer to that. >> i think that's true. you can add bank regulation and other issues to the list of things where republicans don't have a clear answer. sometimes you can beat something with nothing if something is unpopular enough. that's why the white house has been so freaked out over the last couple of months. >> sure, but 2010, that was right after the law was passed.

that was right after the president was elected for first time. it was a different time and there was nothing sort of pushing from the left in the other direction. >> and 2010 is like this important store for conservat e conservatives and any time -- ari, what is going on? >> this conversation reminds me of an old saying about the internet, which is the internet is a book club where no one has read the book. for a lot of public, the affordable care act is this thing with a name, aca or obamacare and they are not actually interacting with it directly. the president's comments through a white house official were important because he said i'm doing this for solidarity but i'm like roughly 85% that has employer based care, meaning, i don't actually directly use this and most of the people don't. i'm not saying they don't have a right to an opinion. a lot of people vote on teacher and school issues even if your kids don't go to the school. i'm suggesting that we will as this law kicks in this coming

year, move away from a period where this is all political symbolism of the wording of obama care and into its performance. i've been arguing, even if the numbers are lower than we wanted to bend the cost curve, to be factual, they are, we still are going towards a space where we have over 1 million people who now have health care who wouldn't otherwise. as the cancellation works itself out, the net gain is more people covered, which is what we've been fighting for on the left for decades. >> and obamacare is new and there's a learning curve, but health policy is not new. the public misnd understood -- >> fact check, true. >> the law effects are being seen and people will change the way they feel about it. 90% of hospital executives think it will improve matters in their industry. what they are seeing will be different from what the patients are seeing. there are certain things that

will be effective cost control, ultimately good for the country but that will manifest of people not getting procedures they thought they wanted. >> there are aspects of that and als social security as a proposal is different than social security when people started getting it. >> we'll see over the course of the next year. up next, duck and cover and the sound of what we hope will be a ratings boost. the year in pop culture. what the heck is up with this weather? that's up next in "the cycle." snoen ♪ the sound of music ♪ with songs they have sung for a thousand years ♪ ♪ the hills fill my heart with the sound -- [ male announcer ] no matter what city you're playing tomorrow.

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into your holiday week, the

wild weather across the country totally different depending on where you are, from wisconsin to michigan and maine and flooded out ohio and unseasonably warm new york city, there was a little bit of everything this weekend. what can we expect heading into christmas. mark elliott has your forecast. >> it was an absolute monster of a storm system this past weekend. multifaceted, record breaking high temperatures out ahead of that rain band but the rain itself caused significant flooding especially around the paducah area and over 15 inches of snow in kansas and over 25 inches reported in northern wisconsin. and of course, the whole freezing rain event. a lot of people without power across the northern tier and there is another weak system coming through tomorrow into christmas day. generally light snow showers but plenty of cold air. it will add up to modest amounts of new snow. some of the highest totals will

be in the 3 to 5 inch range. if you don't have power, it's too much of a bad thing. that's definitely something that we're watching carefully. back to you in new york. >> mark elliott, thank you. weather in popular culture, 2013 was a bit of a wild year for pop culture, self-ys and breaking bad. it was the year pop culture attacked us like a shark, flung out of a sharknado and left us damaged psych logically, looking at you miley. the author of "critical mass qus", you say lou we is the comic of our time. let's give them a preview. >> it's beyond anything i can imagine. a woman saying yes to a date

with a man is literally insane. and ill advised. and the whole species existence counts on them doing it. how do women still go out with guys when you consider the fact there's no greater threat to women than men? we're the number one threat to women. globally and historically we're the number one cause of injury and mayhem to women. we're the worst thing that ever happens to them. it's true. you know what our number one threat is? heart disease, that's the whole thing. >> i think that bit fits me and ari both. why did our wiveses and girlfriends say yes to us. but he is undoubtedly the man. >> he is. his -- he seems to be taking time off. i think he's smart. it's like he's been on such a roll and his show was going sort of in the kind of dark place, you don't want to stay that dark

place for too long unless you're on "walking dead." some shows specialize on dark places. i think he's very smart. it's the tendency with social media. you can burn out quickly even if you're not actually working that much harder but everything you do -- >> he is a smart comedian. >> yeah, but even if they are not intellectual, they are so situationally smart. any politician who would go on with a stand-up comic would get chopped apart to bits. all you have to do is -- if you're in a comedy club and see somebody heckle the comic -- >> that does it. they are done. >> i want to talk about movies that meet the moment. "the wolf of wall street" is coming you don't know on christmas day. this is a story about insiders that take advantage of everyone

else. it reminds me in the previews around the feeling about the original wall street, greed and insider trading. and yet both of these movies while they meet this moody think of the failure of our politics to deal with wall street, they tap in to all of that anger in wall street but neither of them are actually in their plauds about what wall street is up to right now. this is not about the mortgage crisis, wall street was about insider trading and not the bigger systemic problems. how important is it for a movie to meet that? >> i haven't seen that yet but i think that these -- both of these movies are about testosterone and about male competition. so it's about -- and from the footage from the trailer here of wolf of wall street, it makes the original wall street look like empty stuff, i'm going to redecorate my apartment. i have my own jet. you could have a private jet. here they are crashing

helicopters on lawns and just apparently wall to wall they could -- is it midget tossing, they don't show that in the trailer but all of the reviews talk about. >> we have a segment on that later. >> it's like a testosterone overcompensation. it's like now we have to really mushroom it up. >> speaking of testosterone, i want to ask you about "duck dynasty" this show is huge. the premiere in august drew nearly 12 million viewers making it the most watched nonfiction cable show ever. what do you make of this? are you a fan? why -- >> let me say this. i am totally loyal to "mob wives." that is my show. >> i mean, half of the dialogue in mob wives is bleeped out, you have to watch it twice to figure it out.

duck dynasty seems to come out -- it was only a year ago it was honey boo boo, like we keep getting these fen nom na. this seems bigger than all of that. >> and the fans of it are very vocal. i wrote a piece on this -- usually i write about the economy. i get way more mail than anything else. they seem to be devoted. >> krooystal, what do you got? >> i have another show i need james help explaining to me. i have never gotten what everybody loves so much about "breaking bad qu "breaking bad." to me the characters are unlikely and it gave me nightmares, i watched it more than two seasons because everybody kept talking how good it is and i just don't get it. james, i know you're a fan. help me understand. >> i think likeable -- the likeable they are not but i do think they are very sympathetic.

i mean, i think walton is sympathetic and at a certain point it takes on its own momentum and is about problem solving. >> sure. >> each week it's like, here's the box walt is in, how is he going to get out of it? each person he works with is worse than the person he worked with before. so i mean, i love the way it starts small scale and then by the time you get to season five, it's a multinational thing where they are exporting meth into eastern europe and getting all these -- the episode when they are -- the german company, that was brilliant. but i understand -- look, i cannot get into "the walking dead" if you say that to a walking dead fan -- >> i agree. i can't get into "walking dead" but lived for "breaking bad" this nerdy white man from suburb

ya can go into the drug economy and overthink and outplay all of these guys and beat them at their own game. >> there are people who will say, that's part of the appeal "breaking bad", it was a white fantasy, sort of like here's a guy, a school teacher, he can o outwit the mexican cartel. >> i don't have that fantasy. >> you love "sound of music." why, sir? >> i wouldn't say i loved it. but here's the bad thing about twitter, i was watching the live version -- >> bad things about twitter? >> oh, i try to remain positive on twitter, but when the live version started, immediately there was this swarm of nastiness about carrie underwood, the production. they didn't really give it a chance. and it's sort of like -- everyone speaks so funny and

sarcastic. i thought, nbc deserves all of the props in the world. this is a gamble, a live production and something that goes back like 50 years in television, it's so retro it's futuristic. i thought there was a lot wrong with the production but i thought other things they did well. i loved the fact they used broadway people. i thought, you know, doing the countess, she was fabulous. there is a kind of -- sunday night you have to stay off twitter. sunday nights when all of the big shows are on and people either die vulg things. >> another good time to stay off twitter, monday through friday. look, there's no reason to see something nice on twitter. that is a wasted tweet. >> i always try to do the old -- >> our so sweet. >> thumb's up. >> that's why we love you. >> you know, i'm all about the sugar and spice. >> thank you very much. please come back sometime, sir. up next, a politically

incorrect holiday conversation with ellie valley, that's going to be my kind of segment, ari. ♪ [ grunts softly ]

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and the competition clocks in at 13%. so with tide pods, you know what you get, and what you get is an amazing clean. so try tide pods. why? the proof is in the pop. ♪ >> that's from the sara silverman's hit. holidays are a time for debating religion and santa's race and issues familiar territory for ellie valley, at the largest jewish newspaper in the u.s. her drawings challenge religion and foreign policy like his controversy about j. street, an american group that aims to be pro israel and pro-peace. >> i decided for this show trial in israel, the best analogy or

best way to dramatize was to use the trial. so joseph okay spends his time figuring out what the charges are against him and goes through this series of absurd encounters, this is called "the trial" and it's a mash-up between narrative, the trial and the interrogations. >> his other controversial characters called israel man, and stewart the jewish turtle, who hurls points about anti-sem tix at anyone who will listen. a friend of mine joins us. thank you for being mere. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to talk about one of

your comics that was very controversial, ee vang later, the idea that to get the most pro israel jews you could, they were going to convert every american liberal into evangelicals and this whole science fiction plot turns into basically changing them and turning into dinosaurs instead of evangelicals and we see them boarding. what were you trying to say? >> i was thinking a lot of things. a nice question. i was thinking of a few things. there used to be a huge divide between jews ee mans pated from the ghetto and it came out through great culture. these days the tension is on a

smaller level between jews within the community who are active and extremely liberal, american jews known for being predominantly progressive and the current israeli government, which is the most right wing government israel has ever had. and so in my view, netanyahu who claims to speak for jewish people and calls himself leader of the jews is out of touch with what they want and who jews are today. i think he would prefer it if american jews were no so liberal and evangelicaevangelicals, the god gave the land to the jews and don't question things the way active american jews do question it. >> can we talk about darth vader? >> no, i would rather stick to netanyahu. >> you have him as a half jew and trying to draw jews to the dark side by getting them to

marry non-jews and luke sky walker learn darnlg is his fajer and he's a quarter methodist. >> my father married a nonjew and four kids, two of them are practicing and two not. how should this community think about so common are people are worried about the declining population -- >> i don't know if that's necessarily the case. i do think intermarriage is an amazing opportunity for the jewish community, can can double its ranks. those who tend to speak for the community tend to be more tribal and us versus them in the outlook and tend to make people who have intermarried or children of the intermarried feel unwanted and unliked and not jewish. it could either be looked upon as a great opportunity or as a threat. unfortunately the leadership of the community, although it's changing slowly tends to look at

it as a threat. >> it's interesting that a lot of what you're dying doing is so real that it wouldn't be published in a nonjewish paper because it would hurt too many feelings. because you're speaking within the family, you have more freedom. >> some could say i have more freedom, others could say i get a lot of pushback because of the very people i mentioned who are more reactionary than the community. i've gone through problems for my comics people claim -- because i get accused of being a nazi, claim that the noses on my jews are too big. i go out of my way to make them as small as possible. i don't like that pushback. when i'm talking to someone, living caricatures, it's difficult because i'm a comic artist and not a plastic surgeon. >> are you really doing it? >> i go out of my way -- unless it's hyperbole, i try to make

them dmun tif. i'm excited because fish don't have noses and no one can have that issue. >> i don't do that kind of corn ball stuff -- i'm a little concerned the gills are too big. >> ari, are you able to deal with the burn. >> eli valley, it goes to a lot of political conversations how do he define jew, american, progressive. up next we'll talk about 24 trees, 1200 cookies and 1,000 yards of satinribbon. the question, what does it take to make the holidays special at the white house, from one of my shemy michelle obama's team at the white house. [ female announcer ] when you're serious about fighting wrinkles, turn to roc® retinol correxion®. one week, fine lines appear to fade. one month, deep wrinkles look smoother. after one year, skin looks ageless.

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♪ >> this holiday season and estimated 70,000 people will tour the decorations at the white house. the theme chosen by the first lady is gather round. a celebration of the stories and traditions that bring us all together. among the highlights, 24 christmas trees, topiaries of first dogs bo and sonny and edible fireplace that evokes fdr's famous fireside chats. they won't see the chefs and artisans and florists who starts

months in advance to get the home ready for the holidays. colleen christian burke is an interior designer part of multiple decorating teams for michelle obama this year and laura bush in 2008. she's the author of "chris ma mass with the first ladies" from jacqueline kennedy to michelle obama. thanks for being with us. if you can start with this year's theme, gather round. what did it take to pull the white house together for christmas this year? >> gather round is a theme mrs. obama picked. she always cuts too the heart of the matter and 85 of us got together on thanksgiving night to start working for six days straight to pull the white house into the spectacular shape that it is now. so it was a great deal of fun and a lot of work. >> your book deals with hoe all of the first ladies through the years did the white house over the years.

i have a vision that hillary is less into the first lady thing than others. is that right or wrong? >> that's absolutely wrong. that was my impression too. i thought she was going to be not so into it. she had other things little bit. but she really recreated christmas every year and she was spectacular. >> good. >> i love some of these photos from the '80s in your wachovia. the reagans like to bring a surprise celebrity santa the house every year. larry hagman from "dallas",dom dell owe weise, mr. t. kelly freaking out about it. tell us how they brought hollywood flair. >> i love mrs. reagan and that mr. t shot. it was so much fun. nancy brought a lot of glitz and glaum our to the white house after the carters. she really you said the game and it was really amazing and so many trees and everything was gold. and it was really great. >> well, and colleen, talk about -- how do the different

first ladies -- how do they choose the themes? is there an attempt to sort of tie them to something that's going on in the year, or to the first lady's personalities themselves. how do they come up with the themes? >> i've seen both. lots of times the first ladies' personalities will come through. mrs. obama try to say pick something meaningful. one year simple blessing. she wants us to remember what's important about the holidays. but also, like during the carters, there was a recession going on. and, you know, energy was really pricey. and their christmas card had them all wearing hats at christmastime. and they decorated much more simply. so sometimes the economy is reflected in the decorations. >> what about jackie kennedy's involvement in all of this? >> well, our fashion icon, you can bet she did christmas at the white house right. she is the first one who said, if we're going to have thousands of people over for the holidays, let's have a theme. let's put some thought into it. but the amazing thing is, jacque's personal decorations were kind of haphazard, even a little sloppy, which is kind of

a fun thing you wouldn't expect about jacque. >> interesting. >> you've been involved -- >> colleen christian berg. go ahead. >> you've been involved in 2008 and this year the set-up at the white house. what did you make of the difference between the bush administration and obama administration going into decorating? >> well, i was there for the last year of the bush administration. and it was very patriotic. it was a red, white and blue christmas, because it was an election year. so that was a really different way of looking at christmas decorations. and then mrs. obama really loves to decorate with colors that you wouldn't traditionally associate with christmas. like this year we had a lot of pastels in the east room, pale pink, pale blue. i know you guys love this kind of stuff. >> absolutely. >> it's more muted in a way i think is cool. >> bold color choices, too. purples and turquoise. so you can think out of the box in the obamaed decorating. >> colleen creation christianberg, thank you so

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got into the store and asked the sales girl if i could see some oh jeans, and she said they're so expensive. i felt like i was pretty womaned. >> you thought because you were put together you could shop anywhere you want without getting racially profiled. you do know you're black, right? >> i know. implemen >> it's the holiday season which means you may be compelled to buy a high end gift. and if you're black you prefer

to make that purchase without being detained or arrested. you want the to spend your hard-earned money in a store where you're not really wanted and avoid the shop and frisk. what do you do? a shoppers bill of rights says profiling is as unacceptable practice and will not be tolerated. let get real. black shoppers need to prevent shopping problems by themselves. and the way to do that, my brothers and sisters is to monthly my. you want to present yourself as nonthreatening, dress nicely, wave to security cameras, shake handled with security guards. utter well-articulated kings english. good afternoon, chap. blurt out the name of your place of employment, even if it's aprop apropos. try to imagine what they would think you could afford and buy that. and if at all possible, bring a white friend. >> everybody knows you're supposed to bring your white friend with you when you go shopping at a place like that. >> being escorted by a white person says i'm vouched for. >> i'll go shopping with you,

tore raw. >> not so fast, krystal. a black man like me showing up with a beautiful woman like you. if the goal is to mollify, you want to bring someone dorky, right ari? >> that's right. >> what you don't want to do is remind them about your moral/legal right to be in the store or black economic power, which recent reports put at $1 trillion and upward. don't point out these stories and the analysts who predict all consumers will spend less on gifts this year so them stores need all the shoppers they can get. and whatever you do, please don't mention the fbi statistics on larceny arrests that show that 68% were arrests of white folks while only 29% were black folks. don't tell that stuff. don't get mouthy. mollify. when you embody the black folks they love, things immediately get better. just listen to jay smooth. >> whenever a young black man pull his pants up, the cosmos

realign in his favor. >> of course, i'm being sark stick. white criminality is deviant and rare. stop. you want to sell, we want to buy. can we make a deal? and as my man duane recently tweeted, considering the criticism about saggy pants, it's hilariously ironic a black kid would get arrested for buying a belt. can't win. >> ooh-ee! oh, lord, this racism stuff is killing me inside. >> indeed, dave. that does it for "the cycle." we're off tomorrow and wednesday and thursday, i believe. so want to wish you and yours a merry christmas. before we go, we toss it to the ari melber experience. >> toure, i will go shopping with you. i just worry that as 50 cent said, you might be only a window shopper. we're going to leave it there.

good afternoon, it's monday, december 23rd, and from the holidays to health care, have you done your last-minute shopping? ♪ deadline day for anyone trying to get health coverage. >> a lot of good things in obamacare. >> you can't fix this mess. >> a bottle of whisk in one hand and box of kleenex in the other. >> have to find a way to respect the law. >> if there are adjustments that can be made, we should make them. >> the number one issue in the 2014 election. >> what we're for rather than what we're against. >> is not going to be obamacare. >> vital source of income just a few days after christmas. >> how can you justify cutting off unemployment benefits to these people who literally can't find jobs? >> because congress failed to act before leaving on vacation. >> president obama bid good riddance to 2013. >> enjoying a small soda in a nonsmoking beach. >> you know who loves christmas? >> this guy! >> how do you say it in