iends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ next on "meet the press," four o cuss is on the search for solutions to key crises around the u.s. and the world. the first ever known ebola patient on u.s. soil is now being treated at an atlanta hospital. what's his prognosis and how is the u.s. government responding? i'll ask the head of the centers for disease control. no end in sight to the war in the middle east. strong backing for israel from president obama. will israel win the war militarily but lose the battle of public opinion? plus, your government at work, not working. the most do nothing congress ever heads for vacation. tempers flair on the house floor. will anything get done on some of the country's most pressing problems?

>> announcer: from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with david gregory. good sunday morning. let's show you a live shot of emory university hospital in atlanta where dr. kent brantly is in a special isolation ward this morning. he was flown to the u.s. yesterday and walked into the hospital of his own accord with the assistance of another medical worker. he arrived on a specially equipped plane after contracting the deadly disease while working in liberia. president obama weighed in on the ebola crisis friday saying the u.s. is taking the grout break of the disease very seriously. our chief medical editor dr. nancy sneiderman has the latest and how the u.s. government plans to respond. >> good morning, david. the cdc is issuing an order for 50 people, disease detectives, if you will, to be deployed to west africa to try to start to get this epidemic, this outbreak of ebola under control. but in the meantime they were

also at the epicenter of an extraordinary operation. the required coordination of the state department, cdc, white house, fbi, the doctors and nurses at emory, and even patients on the ground, people on the ground, if you will, to get dr. brantly safely from liberia to the united states and admitted to the hospital. it was a military operation that took every precaution. while the disease continues to ravage parts of west africa, the death toll now over 700 and climbing, chances of an ebola outbreak in the united states are slim, but the government says it's ready. here are the three main reasons why. number one, government on alert. only the cdc can confirm ebola cases in the united states, and they have 20 quarantine stations at all major points of entry to the country staffed with medical and public health officers. if a traveler is sick on a

flight, that person would be flagged by the flight crew, isolated, and passengers and crew may be detained to get medical attention upon landing. if necessary, those with the disease can be denied entry into the united states. number two, our modern health care system. a person can't get ebola without direct contact with bodily fluids of someone who already has the disease. basic hygiene in our emergency rooms should prevent the virus from spreading. number three, command and control. hospitals in west africa have almost become amplification centers for the disease, meaning unmodern facilities and lack of medical supplies can increase rather than halt the disease's spread. in the united states the government says there are strong systems in place to find people who are sick, isolate them, and give treatment. having a command and control center gives experts a place to

centralize decision making and take quick action. the real issue right now is to prevent any further kidney or liver damage, to limit any bleeding, and that is the best way to save dr. brantly's life. no news yet on an update from emory. we expect that later today. >> all right, dr. nancy, thank you so much for your time this morning. >> you bet. >> earlier i spoke with dr. tom frieden, director of the centers for disease control, and i asked him as nancy was just talking about, about the outlook for dr. brantly at this point. >> well, it's encouraging. he seems to be improved from the reports we got earlier. ebola can be deadly, but in people who are healthy, the case fatality rate may be lower than the ones that we're usually quoting because people like this doctor are much healthier going in than many of the people who unfortunately are still getting ebola in africa. >> right. and he was working in western africa in liberia. when you look at some of the precautions that are taken,

especially outfitted plane for him to be contained, the medical units on site from the airport to his transport to emory and then in a containment unit at emory. is this an unacceptable risk to bring somebody with ebola back? >> well, first off, we have to say that he was coming home, and the organization that sent him to africa made the decision to bring him home. he's an american citizen, and what our role is in public health is to make sure if an american is coming home with an infectious disease, we protect others so they don't spread it, and that's what we did in transit and when he's here. >> the head of the world health organization has said in the last couple days the following from dr. margaret chan. this outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it. if the situation continues to deteriorate the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a

high risk of spread to other countries. what is the u.s. government doing to respond to that need, to respond to the potential for its spread? >> it is a very serious condition, and it is currently out of control in africa with a high risk of spreading further in africa. what we're doing now at cdc is surging our response. we are going to put at least 50 health -- public health experts in the three countries in the next 30 days because actually we do know how to stop ebola. it's old-fashioned, plain and simple public health. find the patients, make sure they get treated, find their contacts, track them, educate people, do infection control in hospitals. you do those things, but tough do them really well, and ebola goes away. >> people who are looking at the events of the last couple days who are concerned even of the centers of disease control mishandling of biochemicals and

other agents and diseases at your own labs have to be wondering about the ability of our health care system, of the u.s. government to be able to prevent a spread here, particularly with those affected workers, two in total, who will be back in the united states. what can you say to deal with that concern? >> i certainly understand that concern. at cdc we had lapses in our laboratories. fortunately, no one was hurt and nothing was released into the laboratory or environment. however -- or out of the laboratory and into the environment. but what is so important is if there are patients with possible ebola or confirmed ebola in honts, that doctors and the entire health care team are super careful. they have protocols in place and make sure that every one of those protocols is followed because ebola is really a formidable enemy, and your plan and your execution has to be meticulous to avoid its spread. if you don't do that, you can

have spread to workers in the health care system or family members. that can happen. you can have some secondary cases if you're not really, really careful. >> all right. dr. frieden, we will certainly send our best wishes to dr. kent brantly and monitor his progress. thanks so much for your time this morning. >> thank you very much. i'm joined by dr. toby cosgrove, chief executive officer and president of the renowned cleveland clinic, and dr. cosgrove, great to have you here. i wanted to get some additional perspective from the private sector, from the hospital sector in the united states. first of all, take me inside what this containment unit is like when you have a dr. brantly, how he's protected, how the workers are protected, how other patients and then the wider public are protected as a result of these efforts. >> we have to understand how disease spreads and different diseases spread differently. this disease is spread by direct contact or body fluid contact, and so inside these containment areas there's negative pressure, so any air going -- would go

into rather than coming out of that facility, and they are protected -- the workers are protected by complete covering of their face and all of their body and they are isolated, and so this is much like any other infectious disease that we deal with. interestingly, this is not as highly contagious as many other diseases. for example, more people die in the united states right now from influenza, and that requires hand washing and isolation to prevent that. so we must remember that we are in a global world -- >> right, but is it irrational to say, my goodness, these wonderful people helping to stop the spread of iebola in western africa, they're americans but they shouldn't be allowed to come back to the united states because the risk is too high. >> you have to understand we've gone to a globalized world now and diseases are globalized as well. just because it's in africa doesn't mean it doesn't affect

the entire world. with transportation, this is something we must learn to deal with, and i think the cdc has done a wonderful job being able to isolate these patients, having center that is look for people coming into the united states with disease. i think they've done a super job. >> there's a lot of people who think about a visit to the hospital, which is unpleasant, and they worry about getting sicker than what they came in for being at the hospital. when you have the introduction of a virus like this, is that a compounded fear and is it real? >> i don't think the fear is real, first of all, because we understand we have the disease, we isolate it, we take tremendous precautions with it, and i don't think that that represents an additional risk. the infection that is occur in the hospital are generally important in terms of people not washing their hands and spreading diseases -- bacterial diseases that way, not so much diseases doctor viral diseases like this. >> no known cure for the ebola virus. what do you look for then for dr. brantly and others who have

contracted this disease and who are being cared for now? >> we're looking for supportive care. you may have renal function failure. you may have failure of liver. you may have respiratory failure. all these could be supportive and that's the real care that these patients get. better in the united states than anyplace else in the world. >> as dr. frieden was saying, younger, healthier, better chance of survival, that dr. brantley was walking of his own volition is good sign to you as well? >> i think it's a terrific sign. as you know, the incubation period is somewhere between 8 and 21 days, and people spread the disease most when they're sick, which is a good thing, and it looks to me like he is now either in the recovery phase or has been able to handle it. >> if you had been over in the area, if you were in western africa in an outbreak area, when would you show symptoms? >> somewhere in the 8 to 21-day period, and people are coming back to the united states are having their temperature measured every day and

quarantined until that 21 days is passed. >> before i let you go, there's a real health threat in your neck of the words, in cleveland and toledo, this algae bloom in lake erie making the drinking water there toxic. how concerned are you about cleveland? what are they doing to fix this? >> well, we're concerned about the water supply across lake erie and across the great lakes, in fact, and the runoff from fertilizers from the farms has caused the algae to bloom in the lakes, and that has gotten worse and worse each year as we've gone along, and it's now reached critical proportions in the western portion of lake erie and obviously cleveland is right down the lake from that and we're concerned as well. >> all right, dr. cosgrove, always great to have you here on the program. thanks so much for your time. >> we're going to take a break, come back and talk about the big news overseas. the brutal fight between israel and hamas. no end in sight as president obama defends the efforts of his secretary of state john kerry. >> we shouldn't be a bunch of complaints and second guessing about, well, it hasn't happened

yet or nitpicking before he's had a chance to complete his efforts. >> the question is morning s there any hope of a negotiated solution to the crisis? i will ask diplomats from opposing sides of this conflict coming up next. >> announcer: "meet the press" is brought to you by boeing, where the drive to build something better inspires us every day. friday night has alws been all fun and games, here at the harrison household. but one dark, stormy evening... she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her purina cat chow complete. it's great because it has the four cornerstones of nutrition. everything a cat needs for the first step to a healthy, happy life. purina cat chow complete. share your rescue story and join us in building better lives. one rescue at a time. in the nation, the safest feature in your car is you.

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tunnels into israel. i'm joined by the permanent observer of palestine to the united nations, riyad mansour. ambassador, welcome. good to have you here. >> faw fthank you for having me. on that point on the redeployment and withdrawing of israeli troops, do you see an opening to get to a more durable cease fire? >> we open the israeli army would withdraw completely from the gaza strip. we have a tragic humanitarian situation in gaza in which as you have indicated more than 1,700 palestinians, most of them civilians, 80% or more, and more than 9,000 have been injured. 80% of them according to u.n. statistics have been injured. what we need now is to stop this fighting, to address the tragic humanitarian situation in the gaza strip -- >> let me stop you on that point. your anger at israel certainly understandable. the loss of civilians horrific.

there is agreement about that. i'm wondering though whether you're outraged by the conduct of hamas, starting the conflict by firing rockets, building tunnels to kill and kidnap israeli, being willing to sacrifice palestinian lives by embedding them in their own kind of arsenal and using them as shields. do you have a level of outrage at hamas. >> this concept of using palestinian civilians as human she would is not right, it is not correct, it is not even, you know, moral. instead of asking me why don't you bring on the show and let the american public, including the congress, to listen to third parties. for example, doctors without borders -- >> hold on one second. hold on. my question stands -- old on, sir. i'm asking whether you're outraged at the conduct of hamas? >> i am outraged -- >> they fired rockets, they

built tunnels for killing and kidnapping israelis, and they do exploit palestinian civilians when they know they're going to be in danger from where they're firing the rockets and so forth. do you have any outraged toward hamas? >> i am outraged at the killing of innocent civilians from any party of any side. another school of the united nations was hit. at least ten civilians were killed and possibly 100 injured. these things need to be stopped. and my president, president abbas, is doing more than that. he dispatched yesterday a delegation composed of all palestinian political groups to begin the negotiation with israel through the egyptians to have this cease fire extended more than three days, to have a sustainable cease fire, and to begin the discussion on the root causes -- >> but ambassador, i'm trying -- >> we are waiting for the israeli side to come to -- >> fair enough, fair enough. and indeed, the reason i'm pressing this point is not to

challenge you about the -- how horrific the loss of civilians are. as a more moderate palestinian political figure, which is what you are, representing the palestinian authority, which there is certainly no love lost between the palestinian authority and hamas, i'm wondering what level of culpability you believe that hamas has for the advancement of the palestinian people, not just in this conflict but more generally? >> i believe that if we allow for peace to take place, negotiation to take place under the leadership of president mahmoud abbas, who is bringing all political elements in the palestinian side, including hamas under his wing in the national consensus government, if we empower this government, we will be able to move gradually from the situation of confrontation and fighting into the situation of lifting this tragedy and blockade against our people in gaza, giving the

people there a hope. 50% of the population in gaza are under 18. if you put them in a continuous situation of fighting and resentment and hate, this is an excellent atmosphere for radicalism, but if you give them hope, you open the borders, you let them go to schools, let them look for good jobs, let them look for moderation, then we will succeed in allowing all of those who want to have peace between us and the israelis to have the upper hand. >> i think a lot of people listening would find that compelling, the idea that the palestinian authority could provide better leadership perhaps in gaza than hamas. but i just want to try one more on this, which is do you think that hamas is helping or hurting palestinians right now? >> hamas is part of the palestinian political configuration. the question is how to deal with that. the first step is the national consensus government. israel is trying to destroy this

government. to destroy this government, it's pushing us back into divisions and allowing hamas to have support in the gaza strip. the alternative is empower the national consensus government, allow the government of president mahmoud abbas to show the people in the gaza strip that it succeeded in having peace, in stopping the fighting, in addressing the wounds of our people in gaza. then in lifting the siege in gaza, giving people hope. let the 1.8 million people in gaza see that this national consensus government is improving their lives, then that would be strengthening. president mahmoud abbas and louing us to have more strength in the gaza strip and giving our people an alternative instead of the continuation of fighting, an alternative moving in the direction of peace. and, of course, we have to put an end to the occupation so that the independent state of palestine to become independent and to actualize the dream of

two state solution. >> ambassador mansour, thank you very much. i appreciate you for being here. >> thank you for having me. polls show that the majority of americans are sympathetic toward israel, but yesterday thousands of people protested in support of the palestinians near the white house, and the harrowing pictures of palestinian suffering being beamed out of gaza have provoked an outcry and prompted protests across the world. our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell assesses whether israel may achieve military victory but lose the battle of wider world opinion. >> reporter: as the violence continues with civilians trapped in the middle, israel's strategy of self-defense is becoming less defensivible in world opinion. in berlin pro-palestinian marches. no kos vo, free gaza signs. in sprain demonstrators against israel covering their hand in red paint. this week's cover of "the economist" a warning israel could be winning the battle and losing the war. as images of palestinian

suffering are shown around the world. a very real problem for prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> i think you'd have to reach the conclusion that no set of talking points, however compelling they are from israel's point of view, can somehow stand up and match up to those pictures, which is why most of the international community is reacting quite negatively to say the least to what's going on in gaza. >> reporter: here in the u.s. israel still enjoys strong support. our new polling shows 43% of americans sympathize with the israelis in the current conflict. 14% with the palestinians. 43% are unsure, but the generational divide is striking. among americans under 45, support for israel drops to 33%. among 18 to 29-year-olds, it's only 27%. and the longer this drags on, israel's global standing risks slipping further. as president obama cautioned friday. >> part of the reason why we've been pushing so hard for a cease-fire is precisely because

it's hard to reconcile skraeisr legitimate need to defend itself with our concern with those civilians. >> reporter: right now israelis overwhelmingly support their government's push into gaza to eliminate hamas tunnels, but they don't want a term nant occupation. >> the casualties that would be required to go house to house and secure gaza would be i think something that no israelis would want, and i think prime minister netanyahu knows that. >> reporter: the most surprising difference in this conflict, most arab leaders are quietly rooting for israel to eliminate the hamas threat which they see as a potential threat to them as well. for "meet the press," andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> i'm joined by the israeli ambassador to washington, ron dermer. ambassador, welcome. >> good to be with you. >> first the news, is the ground operation in gaza about to end? >> we're finishing up decommissioning these covers. we've uncovered three dozen tunnels --

>> destroying i guess that means. >> yes. we've destroyed these tunnels that are used to actually burrow underneath israel's borders, come out on the other side, massacre people, massacre soldiers. once we've uncovered them we're going to destroy them and we hope that job will be completed in a matter of hours. >> ground troops will -- >> we will redeploy our forces. >> meaning they will be taken out of gaza. >> not necessarily. we will redeploy so israel can don't to do what it needs to do. >> what is the state of palestinedemilitarized. >> we've hit a lot of missile batteries, a lot of rocket warehouses. they have also fired over 3,000 rockets at our country so they started this operation with over 10,000 rockets. they're probably less than half at this point. the key, david, is to prevent them from rearming in the future. this is the third time we've had to have a confrontation with hamas. the first was in 2008. the second was in pillar of

defense in 2012. now we're in 2014, a year and a half after pillar of defense. what we don't want to see is us simply leaving and allowing hamas to use the time to simply rearm thousands of rockets, more tunnels. we have to make sure we have an effective mechanism to prevent hamas from are he arming and refueling its war machine. >> ambassador mansour just here saying, look, you are essentially -- israel is, giving space to hamas. because the population is desperate, is being hit in attacks, civilians killed. while he would not express outrage to hamas for starting all this, it's still a reality that hamas was isolated, disliked by most in the arab world, and yet this campaign has given them newfound political energy and support. >> oh, i don't think so. i think they're more isolated -- >> within gaza? they're not casting off the government. >> well, five palestinians were executed a few days ago. i don't know if you know that. they tried to protest against

hamas. it's not a free society in gaza. you can't just come out and say they're against hamas. they actually shoot you. it was telling that the palestinian official would not actually condemn hamas. his problem is he has to go back to ramallah and ramallah right now, president abbas s in an alliance with hamas. this is like al qaeda. they're a terror organization. they're committed to our destruction. this is an organization whose officials were celebrating on 9/11 when thousands of americans were killed, whose prime minister who is right now underneath in some tunnel in gaza, he actually condemned the united states for killing osama bin laden. that's who we're dealing with. >> who at is the solution here. you don't have a delegation going to egypt -- >> what's the point? we've had -- >> is there really a sill marmi solution to this. well acquainted as i am obviously with israel's arguments about security, are you paying a price here that ultimately endangers israel's security in the future, enflames

not just international opinion but certainly been gaza and the arab world to the point you're losing the larger war even if you achieve some military objectives right now. >> i don't think so. you have to fight terror. you can't embrace terrorists. that's unfortunately what president abbas has done. take the case of iraq. do you think the solution of iraq is to have the iraqi government just simply include isis as a member of the government because that's what the palestinian government just did. they did it two months ago. we were very much opposed to it and very upset when the international community basically said this is a good thing for peace. it's a terrible thing for peace. the road to peace goes over hamas, it doesn't include hamas. >> so is there a military solution to the hamas problem? >> yes. and israel right now is working very hard to degrade their capabilities. >> degrade? can you eliminate -- >> you can. there's a cost for any action that you have and -- >> is israel willing to pay it? >> unfortunately israel has many threats. we live in a very, very unstable region. >> if you want the palestinian authority led by mahmoud abbas

to have a greater political say in what happens in gaza, then how do you achieve that? >> do you think hamas will allow him to go in? hamas is the ones who threw him out. the palestinian official who sat here forgot to mention in 2011 there was a coup in gaza. palestinian officials were thrown over the top of buildings. they were shot. now unfortunately they're in an alliance with this genocidal terrorist organization. hamas' charter calls for the murder of jews worldwide. i hope after this round of fighting is over that president abbas will abandon the pact he's made with hamas and will go back to paetion negotiations. >> is the number of civilian deaths by israel in gaza unacceptable to israel? >> well, every civilian death is unacceptable to israel. we don't try to kill any civilian. the problem we have is we have an enemy that fires indiscriminately at our civils but hides behind their own civilia civilians. they embed themselves in

civilian areas. they want those civilian deaths. hamas doesn't care about the civilian population. we left gaza in 2005. we withdrew all of our settlers. we withdrew all our military and we said make a better future or gaza. people were hoping at the time they were going to make a singapore in gaza of the middle east. instead, they built an iran in the middle east, used all this concrete to build a subterranean for res in gaza and used all the iron to manufacturer rockets to fire at israel. >> we'll leave it mr. ambassador, thank you so much. when we come back here, we'll switch gears, talk politics. a big week here. all this impeachment talk. why do some democrats think it's helping the party? and the immigration fiasco, what the impact of congress getting nothing done with hill on the republicans and on this issue. our round table will be here to discuss a pretty dramatic week in politics. can you pick me up at 6:30?

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we are back with our roundtable. we are back with our round table, but first just how angry are americans at washington? shall we count the ways? our political director chuck todd has some exclusive new poll numbers. >> reporter: more bad news for a congress already blistered by a bad reputation. new polling from nbc news, "the wall street journal," and mare rist that we're revealing exclusively today shows 3 out of 4 voters agree that congress hasn't done much this year. this includes 50% who say they've been very unproductive, and guess what? the public is right. congress hasn't been productive. in fact, this congress with republicans in charge of the house and democrats in charge of the senate is on track to be the least productive in history. 142 bills passed into law so far. that's fewer than even the last

congress at this same point, and they had set a record for inaction themselves. and it's a lot less productive than the most famous do nothing congress of all time. the one harry truman ran against in 1948. >> the country can't afford another republican congress. >> that do nothing congress actually pushed through more than 900 bills into law. so what does it mean for the mid-terps this year? well, americans are divided on who should control congress. our polling shows in both the house and the senate, there is a virtual tie over which party they want in charge, with republicans holding a slight edge. but democrats are starting to feel like they have something to run on or run against thanks to house republicans and their own struggles to pass even small bills. like one to deal with the emergency at the border. >> so that's not a disagreement between me and the house republicans. that's a disagreement between the house republicans and the house republicans. >> reporter: now it's a sprint to november with both parties pointing the finger at the other for washington's dysfunction which itself was on full display this week.

with the house voting to sue the president. senators not even showing up to do their job to confirm a new ambassador to russia. and now congress leaves town for a five-week vacation unable to address a slew of major issues. >> and with that our round table is here. carolyn ryan political editor of the "new york times." our friend mike murphy, a daddy primarily, but also a republican political strategist who has advised senior gop figures including mitt romney and jeb bush. i'd also like to welcome a new face to the program, kristen soltis anderson, co-founder of echelon insights, and democratic congressman keith ellison of minnesota. good to have you here. politics is easier than figuring out the middle east, and in a pretty bad way, mike murphy, the republicans are going to come back in the fall and ask americans to allow them to govern. are they in a position to govern? >> i think we are and i think we're going to do well at the elections, but the question is we're not going to win enough in

the elections to govern. we'll still have a democrat in the white house. the next two years for the republicans assuming we win the senate will be a test. do we use the double majority to do something and get some things done or do we just continue to pound away in kind of a campaign mentality? >> what is the mentality, carolyn? "the wall street journal" editorial page lashing fellow republicans for basically botching this immigration debate by giving the president something of a victory and being so hopelessly divided within itself with ted cruz lobbying for house members to oppose the speaker's bill? >> right, i think what we have created is a timid and often craven political culture in washington, and i think the one thing that we haven't really captured is the degree to which money is driving that. i think that republicans are fearful of primary opponents, so they don't want to move toward the middle. they move toward the extreme.

those primary opponents can access big money. you probably saw our story, there's going to be $2 billion in outside spending on congressional elections, so they're changing the culture and turning off the voters and sort of driving a divide between members of congress and the people they serve. >> how do you -- you can't feel good about the way this week ended. >> no, i don't feel good about it at all because i'm still mindful about 3.5 million people have not had their unemployment extended. i mean, people are in bad shape. we haven't done anything about the minimum wage. this mess with the immigration. we're just not moving forward on the things people us to cooperate on. but the president i think is trying because he just this week signed an executive order to help workers get all of the money that they earn by coming down on -- on company that is do wage theft who have federal contracts. earlier this year raising the minimum wage for people who work for federal contractors.

the president is going out of his way to try to be productive. i wish we could get some action in the house. >> kristen, we will probably the president take executive action on immigration. he's got some power to create a legal framework for a path for some undocumented children coming across, those in the process or those who may be here. republicans certainly aren't going to like that. >> no, they're not. what we have actually seen is even though folks are frustrated with congress they don't necessarily mean they think it's time for the president to be the king. 45% told a cnn poll they think the president has gone too far with executive action. on this immigration issue, since the border issue has arisen, republicans have actually gained a little bit of an advantage when you ask voters with i party do they trust more so to the extent the president takes action that may be beyond the scope of what his office allows,

i don't think this is a bad thing for republicans politically. >> mike murphy might disagree. >> this is one of these great con nun drums. just politics. policiwide, it's simple. we have to have a great immigration solution. short term this is going to help us win races we're going to win anyway. long term looking at 2016 when the senate map is bad, not good for republicans, we'd like to hold any majority we win and the presidential race is even more than a headwind demographically, we're playing with nitroglycerin. >> the president spoke with reporters on friday. he was asked by bill plante at cbs news about his efforts to try to use influence, and he was asked whether america has lost its influence, whether he's lost his influence. here is a bit of that. >> people have forgotten that

america as the most powerful country on earth still does not control everything around the world. >> do you think you could have done more? >> on which one? >> on any of them. >> well, look, i think, bill, the nature of being president is that you're always asking yourself what more can you do? >> carolyn, some will see that and say this is the reality of america and the world today or maybe it's the reality of president obama's leadership, that he doesn't have a big play here to make to -- >> exactly. well, there are two points here, right? every american election is a reaction to the last administration. so we elect barack obama to end the wars that george bush started and that were very unpopular. so he was with the american people there. but i think the cumulative unease about obama's leadership domestically and internationally kind of creates a sort of vagueness and a sense that he's uncertain about how and when to

assert american interests abroad, and i think that has created sort of a general uncertainty about what our mission is, and he's not good at articulating it. >> can or should america shape global events right now? >> yes, but i think it's important to understand that the world that barack obama is in is different from the world of a generation ago when you had soviet union, united states, and the world was kind of simple that way. now you have nonstate actors, you have failed states, you have a very complex border to play on and i think the president is trying to do the best he can. in fact, is using diplomacy, using development, and sometimes using kinetic power to try to manage a very unstable environment. >> but management is different than leadership. >> and there's a sense that things are getting worse, not better, despite that approach. i mean, the president's job approval numbers on foreign policy have been very bad over the last year. people don't think that he's able to lead, and they're looking around the world and seeing it's not just the nonstate actors and not just the

rise of terrorism but we actually are now back in a place where we're seeing a potential of a second cold war. it makes people very uneasy and that paired with their sense we've lost sort of economic competitiveness, that america long term is no longer necessarily the big economic player on the block is all coming together to make people feel very anxious. >> the world is more complicated, but channeling jimmy cart ser not the answer. while we don't control the world, we influence it more than anybody. when foreign actors good and bad perceive a vacuum of american leadership, our friends get worry baud we're still the most important force in their calculation and our enemies get encouraged. i think the biggest criticism of the administration has been their passivity. when that syrian red line was put down by the president of the united states and nothing happened, we kind of had deflation in the currency of american foreign policy influence and will power and we're paying a price. >> wait a minute, i had calls 9 against to 1 for when this whole

syrian crisis came up. the president, i think, was trying to stop assad because he will not stop until he is stopped. yet my constituents, i guarantee you, were not in favor of us doing anything in syria. >> but it's not just the policy outcome. it was the herky-jerky nature of how it unfolded. >> it's a herky-jerky environment we're in. >> you're not suggesting the kind of calls you get influence your leadership. >> this is a democracy you have to listen to what your constituents want. i was supporting the president because i believe assad is a real problem and will continue to be -- >> but if the president says if you cross this line -- you can't cross this line because of core national security interests and then you pull back from that because the sentiment -- >> and he ended up getting weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons cleaned out of that country. so, i mean, i think the president did take good action. the president took the action he

was able to take but you cannot just lead without -- >> but -- >> a good example of this, john ker kerry, a plus for burning up jet fuel running around the world, but when you start creating space and intention in the american relationship with israel, when the israelis know the stakes now, we're going to be powerful in putting the thing together. we're not going to be powerful enforcing a cease-fire neither side wants. >> but the people seed a cease-fire, the people need one -- >> i know the people want one. >> for john kerry running around trying to achieve -- >> can i ask you on that point, you always supported iron dome but you jest voted against more money for it. >> because a cease-fire is what we should prioritize now. a cease-fire protects civilians on both sides. it doesn't just say we're only concerned about people on one side. i have stood with those people talking about those rockets and that indiscriminate rocket fire

and i have been to gaza three times since 2009 and i can tell you those people are absolutely devastated. we need a cease-fire now. >> let me get a break in here. we'll come back and talk a little more in a moment. coming up here, temperatures flair in congress as you might imagine. who prompted nancy pelosi to cross the house floor to confront a member of congress? hey, i heard you guys can help me with frog protection? yeah, we help with fraud protection. we monitor every purchase every day and alert you if anything looks unusual. wow! you're really looking out for us. we are. and if there are unauthorized purchases on your discover card, you're never held responsible. just to be clear, you are saying "frog protection" right? yeah, fraud protection. frog protection. fraud protection.

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we are back. i mentioned a flash point on the house floor this week. a display of anger on the house on friday. democratic minority leader nancy pelosi actually crossed the floor of the house chamber, you know, considered kind of a break with procolontocol to front tom merino. the scene was sadly

representative of why this is one of the least productive congressional sessions of all time. joining me now democratic senator robert menendez and john thune. senator thune, there were the votes in the house to sue president obama, and yet neither the house or senate could pass even a bill on immigration that would deal with the border crisis at the moment. does this undermine the ability for republicans to say, vote for us in the fall, we should control the senate and the house and really be a governing party? >> well, david, the house did pass a border security bill before they went out. the senate has not. and you mentioned earlier people's frustration. i can understand that. you know, wages are flat. unemployment is high. everything from gas to food to health care costs more for the american people. but you can't address that situation if you don't vote. in the united states senate, we went for an entire year where we cast less than one vote on a

republican amendment per month, and in the harry reid as soon as, that's become the norm. it's a factory for show votes where votes are made there are more interested in winning votes for democrats in november elections than they are for winning jobs for the american people, and that's got to change. the senate has got to function again. that's what's frustrating to the american people. >> thanks for the correction. the house did pass something that it doesn't look like the president will support it or get through the senate. if the president on immigration wants to use executive power to deal with this problem, is that in excess of his authority? congress has spoken, distinctiondistinction functionally or not and said we're not going to deal with any part of immigration. why shouldn't the president stand pat until he can get everybody on board? >> i wouldn't say the congress has spoken. the senate spoke last year with an overwhelmingly bipartisan gridlock.

68 votes republicans and democrats, the gang of eight, put together a broad bipartisan comprehensive reform. that stalled in the house of representatives and they haven't even permitted one vote on it, and up or down vote or a vote on their version of immigration reform. in light of that, then it seems to me that the president, which my republican friends often call upon to act, in this case is i hope will act. the system as it exists today is broken. and to the extent that i believe and submitted to the white house and to the department of homeland security a legal memorandum that outlines the powers they have, i hope they will use the powers to get some elements of the system under order. >> senator i want to stick with you on other big issue, senator menendez about what's happening in israel and in gaza. there appears to be a redeployment as you heard ambassador dermer say a few moments ago. how would you define victory here for the zraisraelis?

>> for the israelis obviously they need peace and security, and they will define it for themselves in terms of what is their national security. look, this is -- the loss of any life is lamentable. the loss of palestinian lives a lamentable, but when you have a terrorist organization that hides behind women and children and puts their weapon stockpiles in mosques and schools and fires from civilian targets, it is an untenable situation for the israelis. when you have tunnels that pop up in your home country and which people come out shooting and wearing suicide bombs, it speaks volumes of the adversary israel has. so that's why you see broad bipartisan support in the senate in supporting the state of israel. >> even friends, senator thune, have to worry about the international opinion against israel, actions taken by israel that have contributed to so many civilians deaths in gaza that

perhaps undermine israel's long-term security. as a friend of israel, do you fear for israel? >> well, that's one of the things, david, as bob mentioned, that there is bipartisan support for in congress. we were able to get the house and the senate moved legislation to provide funding for iron dome. i think everybody realizes, israel has been to be able to protect their citizens. i think this operation, hopefully it will conclude quickly, once they destroy the tunnels and the rocket launchers coming into israeli communities, this think i think will get over with. hopefully we'll get to a place where we're discussing a solution, a long-term solution to the situation there in that region of the world. but we've got to defend and support israel's right to defend its own citizens from this constant hammering of rocket attacks and these tunnels that are being bored into their country. no country is going to be able to sustain that and we've got to be able to support israel until they get this job done. >> senator thune, final question for you, and this is about immigration.

on this program numerous times senator lindsey graham has said it would be a political death sentence for the republican party, i'm paraphasing him but that's his sentiment, if they don't coalesce around brosad based immigration reform. do you agree with that? >> i would say, david, we do. we have to zeal with this immediate crisis right now, and what the house bill did is it addresses the flow, stopping the flow. i think most americans realize it's a possibreasonable po stio can't sustain what's happening at the border. yes, we have to deal with the issue of immigration. i think it's important for republicans and democrats to come together behind a plan. as marco rubio has said, you can't fix legal immigration until you fix illegal immigration, and that means border security, that means building the strategic fence and having an e verify program and an entry/exit program that ensme ensures that our borders are secure. we're not going to have the trust and confidence of the american people that we can

address the problem if we don't fix illegal immigration. >> that's exactly what we did when 68 members of the senate -- i'm not sure if senator thune voted for it or not, but 68 members of the senate, republicans and democrats alike, sent a broad legislation border enforcement pathway to legalization, the economics that even the congressional budget office said would create jobs, lower the deficit and help the national economy. republicans in the house just can't seem to get there. >> i'm going to leave it there. my thanks to senators menendez and thune. we'll be back with the big question driving the conversation this week right after this. [ blows whistle ] then spend your time chasing your point "b"... ...the war of 1812. [ bell rings ] you get to point "b", and sometimes things change. but your journey is not done.

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back with our final moment. the week's big question, what issues should congress focus on when it gets back from the august recess and kristen, my question is how do republicans win the fall? what do you think they're leaving going home to think about? >> i think they're going home to visit the town hall meetings and they will get questions about the border issue but also a lot of questions about jobs and the economy. it remains the number one issues. the house numbers can say they've voted on a number of

bills they sent to the senate -- >> thank you all very much. you can find our big question and weigh in on the debate on our facebook page. that is all for today. we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." strong condemnation at this hour from the state department and the u.n. reacting to an israeli air strike earlier today outside of a u.n. school. ten civilians killed. israel dropping leaflets from the sky in gaza that warn the battle is ongoing against hamas. also, a lot of questions about ebola ever since an american doctor returned to the u.s. with the virus. the leading expert in the u.s. medical response to the virus will join us to help us separate fact from fiction. so far there's no real panic but people are very concerned. >> toxic water in toledo. 400,000 people in ohio there are scrambling to find drinkable water. the city is under a state