drink a cup of coffee in downtown dothan, alabama, where she was from until this act was signed but she raise add son who sat and watched the first black president of the united states be sworn in a few feet away. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. so sue me. let's play "hardball.." good evening. i'm in for chris matthews. let me start with president obama's counter punch at the republicans. less than a week ago house speaker john boehnerer accused the president of abusing his power as commander in chief. he called him a king and said

held file a lawsuit. president obama dismissed the suit as a stunt and now is basically taunting the gop. over the past 24 hour it is white house has unleashed an onslaught of headlines signalling the president obama will not back down when it comes to exercising his authority as commander in chief. yesterday, president obama announced plans to use executive actions to advance immigration reform and he also announceded on the order of lgbt work place discrimination. the lead story earlier today in the hill reported that president obama is weighing executive actions after the supreme court ruled against obamacare's contraception mandate. today, the president met with his cabinet specifically to come up with more executive actions telling them, quote, he'll be creative about how we can make real progress. hours later, he spoke to countdowns in washington. >> i'm going to keep on taking actions to help the middle class. they criticize me for this. boehner sued me for this.

i told him, i would rather do things with you. pass some laws. middle class families can't wait for republicans in congress stuff. -- to do stuff. so sue me. as long as they are doing nothing i'm not going to apologize for trying to do something. >> michael steele was the chairman of the rnc and joan walsh was editor at large with salon. joan are, i'm going to guess -- and i don't know for sure -- it might be the first time a president said so sue me. look, the president says that. he knows the reaction that's going to kick up. he knows this king obama, as john boehner calls him, what rush will say, what hannity will say on fox news. he knows this is happening. it's like he's baiting him. is that the strategy? >> i don't want to say he's baiting him. this was happening before president obama reacted.

they were suing him before he said "so sue me." they were never going to not sue him if he said, gee, i'm afraid of being sued. there was nothing he could do to make the threat go away. does he seem to be enjoying it a little bit? maybe. they have been calling him a king, a tyrant since january 1, 2009. so that's not going to stop. i think what you are seeing though is both sides in an election year playing to its base. on the one hand john boehner's base hate it is president. they think he's a king and a tyrant. this is good politics for john boehner. on the other side, the president's base is defensive of him. blames the republicans for all the hard times he's had. i'm sure they, like me, enjoy seeing him sound defiant and give up on the years and years of compromising that led to exactly nothing. >> michael, when i say baiting i'm saying, sure, there was no stopping the lawsuit. i think obama might be sensing

an opportunity here. thinking back and i have talked about this. thinking back to 1998, the mid terps when the democrats won seats because the republicans overreached. the republican opposition uh to clinton was overheated. they tried to impeach him and it backfired. i think president obama maybe sees i can stoke this obama as a tyrant talk. they do the lawsuit, it didn't work. they go further and it backfires. seems they are trying to bait him into that. >> you're both right. the government -- i'm thinking about the soccer game. the government right now is looking at the fact that they can bifurcate this. they can play it as joan rightly put, to the base. they can also goad the republicans into saying and doing things that furthers the narrative that will be a nice set-up for the fall about this

president as he said in that clip. you know, i'm going to act. while they are doing nothing, i'm doing something. you know, as the economy seems to still struggle, that's going to be tied to the republicans doing nothing. i think the smart side of the politics here is for republicans to not overreach. to dial back the rhetoric. >> that's easier said than done. >> we are actually past that point. my saying it is moot. i say it because i think there are still windows here for republicans to make the case going into the fall without jeopardizing other opportunities against the administration. >> president obamas has been energized. on friday he denounced the boehner lawsuit in an interview with abc news. >> i'm not going to apologize for trying to do something while

they are doing nothing. >> even if you get sued? >> the suit is a stunt. >> yesterday he attacked republicans as obstructionists on the issue of oh immigration. >> i take executive action only when we have a serious problem, a serious issue and congress chooses to do nothing. if congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours. >> today he attacked republicans for derailing parts of the agenda he says aren't controversial. >> people want to see results. on jek tyly, if you look at the agenda i'm putting forward, the things we are trying to get done like just fix some bridges and roads, it really shouldn't be controversial. it's not crazy. it's not soc.liialism. it's not -- you know, the

imperial presidency or -- no laws are broken. >> as the nbc political tale writes in the first read the white house loves the lawsuit. it only emphasizes the contrast that one with branch of government is doing something while the other branch is doing nothing. bottom line, the white house sees a political opportunity here. joan, we were talking about from the standpoint of rallying the bases there is something for both sides. the king, the tyrant all over again. and the democratic one, he's trying to fight these republicans who want to stop him . i wonder, we always look at -- we talk so much about are there swing voters, people in the middle trying to make up their minds but i wonder if there are people out there, anybody persuadable. when you're up 42% in the polls, when the presidency is stalled in congress like it is now, at a basic level the theater of this has to look good. he looks like he's fighting and if you look at the issues he's fighting for here they are all

pretty popular. >> theater is great for him. he would love the approval rating higher, but so would john boehner. there are few more popular in the house of republicans. in the battle between president obama and john boehner he looks like a titan. even that clip, i don't know what he'll do through executive orders on infrastructure. i'm not sure he can do anything. really, bridges, tunnels and roads used to be a bipartisan affair. that kind of legislation used to pass washington easily. it didn't used to be polarizinp. it did not used to lead to obstruction. so that's a measure of what the president is up against and what people really can't stand about the current congress. >> so, michael, is there any way -- so again we talk about, you know, the republican base is locked in. it's been a tyrant almost from day one with obama and the democratic base is locked in. is there thinking on the republican side and maybe it's totally flawed if there is, but

is there thinking that they can win over people outside of the republican universe, outside of republican world to this idea that the president is over it is reaching with his executive authority. maybe it's with immigration, with the lawsuit. do you think they actually believe they can grow that perception? >> well, yeah. the president says 42%. that means this 58% of the voters out there have a negative opinion. so you have that. that's kind of a baseline start. then you have decisions like the supreme court decision this week which more than smacked the president on the hand for his appointment strategy or acting extra executively on the issue of appointments. yeah, there are small narratives that sort of feed into the overall narrative about this president and the theme that, he blusters about no cooperation and republicans not helping and not doing anything. at the end of the day, you know,

where the rubber meets the road, the president is still falling short in the economy, on jobs, on a number of other things. so that kind of feeds that. the other side of this and it talks about the window that i mentioned before is that the house has sent bills to the senate that passed the house. they have not all been, you know, undo obamacare or abortion. there have been are substantive bills that passed the house on economic development and job creation and the like that have gone to the senate and stalled because harry reid doesn't let them get through the committee let alone to the floor. you have that top line narrative as well. so i think republicans can frame this about, you know, this is not just about a do nothing congress but an executive that does too much. >> very quick ly. >> they are deregulation, not job creation bills. >> that's your opinion. it is a bill and it's gone to

the senate and the senate has done nothing with it. it shows it's a bad bill, vote it down. is the president saying, send me a bill. we have sent them. you don't let the senate leadership put toyota a vote so we can debate whether or not, as you put it, it's a bad bill or something negative. >> that's the story of the last few years. the republicans in the house are pursuing one agenda and the white house another agenda. neither branch is working with the other ever. >> right. >> thanks to joan walsh and michael steele. coming up, republicans are thrill with the supreme court's hobby lobby decision. so are democrats. tonight who has the political advantage on this controversial issue. also, americans haven't been paying attention to the gains isis has been making in iraq. maybe it's time we do. they have their eyes set on the west. and african-americans helped push thad cochran over the top in the prime ary race. now they are saying we want something in return. your support for voting rights.

finally, as you may know the u.s. men's national soccer team lost today to belgium. a knockout round at the world cup in brazil. it was a dramatic finish. belgium took a 2-0 lead in extra time, but the u.s. fought back, scoring a goal coming within an agonizing whisker of tying the match. congratulations to the americans for making it as far as they did. congratulations to belgium for moving on to the quarter finals against argentina wholess also won. this is "hardball," the place for politics. what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. yeah?om. we got allstate, right?

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welcome back to "hardball." didn't take long for yesterday's hobby lobby ruling to be turned into a political football. within hour it is democratic senate campaign committee blasted the quote, disgusting, supreme court decision while asking for money to, quote, stop the gop senate take over. the republican national committee declared obamacare defeated. in faund-raising appeal of its own both sides are appealing to the bases. many 2016 presidential contenders joined in. here was hillary clinton yesterday calling the ruling deeply disturbing. let's watch. >> it's the first time that our court has said that a closely held corporation has the rights of a person when it comes to religious freedom which means that the corporation and closely held are often family

you have to live with it unless you can get the legislative body to change the law or the constitution. the point is why give an opinion on whether they are right or wrong. at the tend of the day they did what they did. that's not the law of the land. this is the way you get bogged

down. i don't think that's the most central issue to talk about. >> before we start i remember chris christie. one of his favorite past times is bashing the new jersey state supreme court. it's interesting to listen to him saying live with it when the supreme court weighs in. we'll put it aside. let's look at the little bitle ka folout from the ruling yesterday. most of the republican 2016 prospects praised the decision. then you have are christie saying his own thing. on the democratic side, i'm hearing basically the same thing from every democrat i have heard talk after yesterday. seems to me the democrats might be more united in seeing a political opportunity than republicans. is that your read? >> yeah. it reflects where public opinion is. first of all, 99% of women of childbearing age have used contraception. it's hardly controversial. but yet here we are having a controversy about it. it demonstrates how far to the right republicans are have moved

that with few exceptions they seem to think this is a good political strategy for them when we know polling about hobby lobby or broadly about contraception it's clear. this is not something -- i have never heard a woman say, i really wish my boss would tell me which birth control method to use. that would be helpful. and my neighbor should have her boss tell her what to do. chris christie equivocating here, i guess he's trying not to get anybody angry. it doesn't look executive. oh, what are you going to do? it's i will not an opinion. >> take us inside the republican world on this issue. is there a divide? is the party trying to grapple with it? the republican party, huge presence of religious conservatives in the party. that's part of the constituency. on the other hand, contraception is something used widely across party lines by women. the republican party has been

facing a gender gap. is this talked about inside the party? how do we handle issues or is the party more unified than i hing? >> look, there are serious religious liberty issues that are part of all of this debate. you know, certainly the republican party for a long time the majority the pro life party. i want to talk about the politics for a second and set aside for a moment the legal arguments which are more complex than i think we have an opportunity to debate now. this is a dangerous place for the republican party to be if they are viewed as a political matter as the anti-contraception party. being the pro life parties has never been a disqualifier from being able to elect republicans to the presidency. certainly when it comes to contraception these issues were decided seemingly in the mid 1960s. when you look at the reality in the republican party, just the

states democrats won six of the last six elections there are 270 votes needed to win. without exception every single kbrafk group, democrats are are gaining market share. that includes single women, younger voters. this is an enormously problematic political issue for republicans. >> that's interesting to hear. how do you think it's come to this for republicans? contraception is an issue that i think we all thought we wouldn't talk about in 2014 in politics in america. how did it come to this? did republicans fall into a trap here politically speaking when the obama administration did the contraception mandate? what is it in the universe that made it a problem? >> you go back to the debate for the 2012 election, i don't think it was the surprising when rick santorum started to talk about issues. i think he's a conviction politician. i think he believes what comes out of his mouth.

it wasn't tha rick santorum talked about it. it was that mitt romney and other candidateses didn't say, what are you talking about? we are not the anti-contraception party. if the republican party is to be viewed as a limited government party, it can't be a limited government party when it comes to regulations on business. when it comes to the personal space and sphere the big government peeping through the bedroom window is deeply offensive to a lot of americans out there. you look in the northeast of the country, the west coast, mountain west. you look at all these places that were bedrock staples of the republican electoral calculus, it's all fallen apart. there is enormous cultural differences in the country on these issues as well. republicans are going to have a are very difficult time particularly in the context of

immigration reform. they were unable to deliver the message that's key for republicans to deliver to win elections. >> look no further that happen some of the reaction on the right. conservative blogger eric erickson celebrated the ruling yesterday by tweeting, my religion trumps your right to employer subsidized consequence free sex. here's jesse waters giving his analysis of why democrats like hillary clinton are making a big deal. >> obama won single ladies by 76% last time. they made up a quarter of the electorate. >> true. >> they depend on government because they are not depending on their husbands. they need things like contraception, health care, and they love to talk about equal pay. >> i'm surprised he's there surrounded by women that it didn't provoke more of a reaction when you say that it

seems to me these are the sorts of moments that account for the gigantic gap he's talking about there. when we talk about the gender gap, that's something we have had in american politics since 1980 with the reagan platform throughout the e.r.a. now the story is the gap between married and single women. tell us more about the opportunity there for democrats and what these comments do for that. >> yeah. it reinforces a very clear narrative that republicans, by and large, are out of touch with the lives of american women. we are not discussing here what a prime ary candidate in one state said. we are talking about a supreme court ruling decided by men that requires women to get permission are from their employer before they can use contraception which most women want to use. the tone of all the comments makes it seem we are really not talking about a difference of faith but actually real

anti-woman tone deaf, completely off the deep end conversations. that's how it will strike a lot of women who are going to say do these folks understand what it's like to be me? some of the folks are commentators. they are looking -- it's a different calculation than someone who is a public servant. you have a lot of candidates and so-called public servants run aring off -- following these folks off the cliff. using language that's really just way outside what real women want to talk about. >> the moment i realized democrats seemed to be on the same page on this seeing an advantage is when i saw even mark pryor in arkansas, a state mitt romney won by 20-something points, even marc pryor was critical of the decision. thanks to steve schmidt and margie oh mee are are ' meara. the sidehow is next.

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back to "hardball." time for the sideshow. president obama said farewell to his white house pastry chef at a reception yesterday. in his remarks, he got attention after he admitted to having a sweet tooth for the white house pie revealing he suspectses the chef use as secret ingredient making it so addictive. what's that ingredient? take a look. >> we call bill the crustmaster because his pies -- i don't know what he does, whether he puts crack in them or -- [ laughter ] >> -- but -- >> no, he doesn't. there is no crack in our pies.

>> be grateful the first lady was there to clear it up. >> the supreme court ruling in favor of the hobby lobby fired up the democrat quick base. justice ginsburg's scathing dissent is something of a political manifesto among those who disagree. singer song writer jonathan main is well known for writing and posting a new song every day on youtube. he was inspired by the words yesterday. so much that he performed excerpts of her ss dissent. here is a clip of the latest with words from justice ginsburg's hobby lobby dissent. ♪ with the exemptions extend the blood trans fusion, anti-depressants and anesthesia ♪ ♪ pills coated with gelatin and vaccinations ♪ ♪ whoa ♪ now the court, i fear, has ventured into a minefield ♪ >> as they say, imitation is the

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here's what's happening. in murrieta, california, protesters blocked three buses carrying undocumented immigrants, preventing them from reaching a nearby border patrol facility. the families, including young children, were flown from texas and were supposed to be temp are rare areally housed at the location. in panama, secretary of state john kerry addressed the crisis at the border in meetings with central american leaders saying urgent action was immediated to stop the flood of children crossing the border alone. tropical storm arthur, the first named storm of the season, has formed off florida. it is expected to gain strength as it moves north and become a category one hurricane by thursday, affecting the outer banks of north carolina.

forecasters say its winds could produce dangerous are surf and rip currents. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." the stunning military gains that the are radical sunni group isis made in iraq aren't just a threat to the region but to the west as well. particularly the united states. here is a part of richard engel's most recent report for nbc news. >> reporter: isis militants have land, weapons and ambition. and u.s. officials are now very worried. several counter terrorism officials tell nbc new it is threat from isis to american sbres is, quote, extremely high. they say isis is developing advanced bomb-making skills. and cultivating a roster of foreign suicide bombers who

could target the u.s. and europe. and they are bragging about it. >> nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us from baghdad. michael crowley is time magazine chief foreign affairs correspondent. richard, we saw that report. that's a chilling report for any american to watch a. can you tell us, the average american watching this right now and seeing that report, how worried should they be about the are prospect of an attack on the homeland? >> well, i don't want to be alarmist or suggest that i have intelligence of any particular attack that could be under way. but i have spoken to officials, other governments and i know the group isis. i have been following it for a couple of yearses in syria and the last year or so in iraq. it is very dangerous. it has thousands of members,

hundreds at least with european passports. it is extremely ambitious. it is not simply interested in carving out a little mini state. it's now calling it a caliphate straddling iraq and syria. it has global ambitions. today, the leader of the group who is now the caliph gave a national address issuing a statement calling on muslims from all over the world to come here and fight. this is not just a regional problem. this is a global problem. the united states and many americans may have forgotten about this or want to forget about this militant group but this group thinks a lot about the united states. >> are they in position right now if they wanted to pull something off, are they in position now to do it or is this something we are talking about maybe a year or two down the road? is this right now? >> i think it is right now.

i think right now the group is clearly focused on fighting in mosul, launching against baghdad. when you have that much capacity, you have capacity. one senior counter terrorism official said right now they have a lot of suicide bombers. think of it like a faucet. right now the faucet and the stream of water coming out is directed at this part of the world. it could be easily directed at europe or the united states. it is just the will to do it. >> michael, when i hear this, i and a lot of people probably think about the warnings and the ominous signs there there in the 1990s about al qaeda leading up to the run up to 9/11 and really in the wake of 9/11. when you look at isis, look back at al qaeda and look at them now how does the threat from isis compare to threat from al qaeda? >> well, i would say in the very

immediate term, this group is doing something that al qaeda for the most part wasn't doing in the run up to 9/11 which was fighting -- they are in the midsts of a war basically fig fighting different enemies. they are fighting the iraq ary security forces, the assad regime and other radicals. they have essentially split from al qaeda and have had violent fights with with their sunni radical rifles rivals in al qae. this is a distraction bin laden didn't have in, say, the summer of 2001. the bad news is that this group is acquiring a huge amount of territory a lot of money. they are attracting foreign fighters from all over the world including those with western passports which is worrisome. also in the past decade, the battlefields in afghanistan and iraq have been a training ground for this new generation are of are radical fighters who are learning things like combat

techniques, how to build bombs. they are getting training in radicalization. in a way that the al qaeda fighters in afghanistan -- hay had training camps and some of it, but it's not the same as this real time front line battlefield experience. on the whole, it's actually more alarming than al qaeda was just before 9/11. >> we spent time thinking about what did we miss, how can we prevent it. so looking at this now, what can the u.s. be doing? is there anything the u.s. can do now to lessen the threat? >> well, there are armed drones and aircraft patrolling the skies over baghdad every day now. it is a political decision that would immediate to be taken. the it is not simply a switch that you can turn on and launch a counter terrorism offensive.

you need to gather intelligence, pick targets, recultivate relationships. when the united states was here in force for years it was watching every town, every city here. it knew all of the players. but for the last several years, american troops haven't been here in large numbers. there hasn't been a focus on iraq. it would take a little bit of time to rebuild that intelligence portfolio. some of the tools are already here. it would just take a decision to start using them. some officials i have spoken to think that's coming. that eventually after the military advisers who are here on the ground as they continue to realize that the iraqi security forces don't are have the capacity and don't are have the political leadership to stabilize the situation that the u.s. will have to start drawing up its own intelligence pacts and launching some air strikes or drone strikes. >> in terms of a commitment from

the united states because you know there is a war weariness in this country for understandable and obvious reasons and the question of how long does the united states need to be present over there? we can't be present there forever. if this is going to pop up when we leave, is it five, ten years? is it going to pop up when we are out for good? >> right. is it a whack-a mole? people who study nation states with civil wars and try to put themselves back together say you are talking five years, ten years, much longer for wounds to heal. it is a long-term commitment. if you want to commit. the question is what does this administration and the success of presidents ready to do? i think we are sorting it out. our best bet now is that regional allies can step in and

do the work. our closest ally ohs are sunnis. we need the shiites and don't have much of that. there is not an easy answer. one last point is relative to 2001 and al qaeda, a big difference is we have a whole counter terrorism infrastructure that we didn't have back then. for viewers wondering what the threat level is, al qaeda kind of caught us -- i won't say sleeping. there were counter terror oh officials focused on al qaeda. we have an enormous infrastructure now. >> this time we know it can happen. thank you. up next, african-american voters bailed out senator thad cochran in mississippi. now the big question -- what will senator thad cochran do for them? this is "hardball," the place for politics. my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit. good. i hate surprises. surprise! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card and see your fico® credit score.

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only at your ford dealer. the republican party of mississippi expanded its base. it reached out to democrats ander particularly black democrats and said, join with us, thad cochran is a better choice, and they succeeded. >> we are back. that was former secretary of state hillary clinton weighing in on thad cochran's victory in the mississippi run-off over tea party challenger chris mcdaniel by court democrats. whether it was about creating big tent politics or a desire to win african-american leaders are telling thad cochran he owes them. three members of the congressional black caucus told politico they expect something in return from senator cochran whether it's food stamp funding and programs that help poor blacks in mississippi or the voting rights act.

congressman fudge said, absolutely, we have expectations. representative hank johnson said the votes were delivered. i hope he'll be responsive to voters that pushed him over the top. emmanuel cleaver said i hope he comes to the realization that african-americans are the reason are i have this final six year ares so i will try to be more responsible than i have been. another african-american leader looking for more support from senator cochran is naacp president derek johnson. alex burns is a senior reporter for politico. two questions i want to establish for people. last week in the run-off in mississippi, did you vote? did you support either of the republican candidates? >> no. i did not vote. i voted in the democratic primary election so i could not vote in the run are-off election. >> the second thing is have you spoken with senator cochran since the election last week? >> i have not spoken with senator cochran since the election. >> okay. if you do get the opportunity,

if you were to get him on the phone now and he had a chance to talk to senator cochran and say, african-american democrats put you over the top last week, what would you tell him? what do you expect from democrats put you over the top what do you want from him in the next years in the senate? >> i would like for him to do what he did in 2006 which is support reactivation of the voting rights act and ensure african-americans and other disenfranchised communities would be able to cast a ballot free of intimidation. we got involved after we heard complaints that they would question whether african-americans were legitimate to vote in the primary. all americans should be allowed to vote. we are asking senator cochran to support. >> you want the -- here is my other question for you that is

about leverage. what do you have over him right now to get him to do that? two weeks ago if we are having this conversation he needs your votes or he is not going to win the runoff. let's say he wins in the fall. he doesn't need to go back to polls again maybe ever. so what is the leverage or is this just the right thing to do? >> for senator cochran it is the perfect opportunity to be the person that we believe he is. in 2006 there was no pressure for him to support the voting rights act and he did. now without pressure from the tea party and extreme individuals on the right he can be free to be the statesman that he had proven to be over time and support inclusion of democracy to ensure they are able to cast a ballot. it is about him being the statesman we believe he can be as shown in the past.

>> you know about cochran and the people around. what is your read on the situation? are we going to see any difference on senator cochran when he returns after this or did he get what he wanted? >> i think people around cochran see him as someone interested in reaching out to different communities in mississippi. as mr. johnson noted cochran did support the voting rights in the past. i think the bigger picture political story here the clip you played from hillary clinton where she was talking about how the mississippi republican party broadened the region i think the real test of that is whether folks like senator cochran or anyone else in the delegation steps up and says block democrats or independent voters who decide to participate in this primary runoff election, we weren't just talking a good game. we can deliver for you maybe on the voting rights act and maybe

on something like the snap program. these are all parts of the record that cochran has wrapped up in the senate. it is something i think is reasonable to expect him to try to do again especially given the way the election just played out. >> part of the story the politics, a lot of republicans used to support it. to find the ones who will say that now is a different story. we'll take a look and see what happens. when we return when we finish with how political tribalism is threatening our system of government and what president obama is doing about it.

let me finish tonight with the long game on president obama's stepped up use of his executive power. we talked about it here earlier right now in this moment the politics of this are really good for the president. republicans say no to a higher minimum wage so obama orders all federal contractors to pay workers more. obama orders the epa to set new rules. republicans won't touch anything having to do with gay rights so

obama orders same-sex couples made eligible for family and medical leave, too. officials say no to comprehensive immigration reform. obama says if you don't do anything i will use my executive power and do it on my own. republicans are getting ready to sue the president for use on executive power. this is a battle the white house is thrilled to have. think of the line about harry truman who ran against a do nothing republican congress in 2008. there is something in the american character that responded to a fighter. i think that something is still there in the american character. we would rather watch our president step into the ring and fight for what he believes than stand on the sidelines and say there is no point. i think we need to take a step back and think about this, too. john boehner and republicans have their own cynical reasons for suing obama. it may be good for the system if they do. we have entered a scary new era

where the two parties are increasingly becoming distinct and isolated tribes with deep cultural, geographic divisions that separate them. for our system to work there has to be at least some cooperation between the branches of government. since republicans gained control of the house in 2010 there has been none. we have had a shut down, a massive back log of nominees for key agencies in the federal courts. you may not like that republicans would rather stop governing than meet obama half way but they do run the house, the people's house. the way our system is set up they can make that choice if they want to. it is supposed to be on us as voters to throw them out if we don't like that choice. i'm not sure our founders anticipated this moment when the brilliant system they devised is threatened by political tribalism. what can a president do under our system? what can that president do when

the other party runs congress and says it won't do anything? it's probably about time we got that question answered. that's hard ball for now. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight we are all in isis declares their own state. iraqi parliament is m.i.a. the president sending more americans. >> what the president and his national security team have determined is that additional military service personnel are required. >> the latest troubling news from iraq. then the president continues to dare congressional republicans. >> so sue me. >> what can he do on immigration by himself? my exclusive interview with a white house official who has answers. the constitutional coalition met with the governor on saturday. >> guess which state's governor was