so we don't know much more than that about the exact details of his capture by the taliban. >> george lewis, thank you so much. we, obviously, wish the best to the entire family there as well as, obviously, bowe bergdahl who is currently captured and in the hands of the taliban. every morning i welcome a guest co-host and i'm pleased to have the former governor of new york, eliot spitzer. >> carlos, good morning. >> pleasure to have you here. >> thank you. >> what a tough story in afghanistan. the capturing of that soldier. >> yes. i've not been over to the region. obviously, a fair number of new york national guard are over there in iraq and in afghanistan so our prayers go out to them and also to the family of the captured soldier. i think this highlights what will become an increasingly difficult and emotional issue for the president. afghanistan is, by many accounts, a conveying quagmire.

i think when you have a situation like this that frames for the american public how treacherous it is and what we have at stake people will ask what is the strategy? i've spoken to many people and it's not clear right now there is an easy strategy or any strategy that gets us to success. >> apparently over the weekend, reports that even vice president biden has expressed concerns about what is possible in afghanistan. whether we'll ever make sufficient headway and whether we should get out sooner rather than later. >> deching what the end point is, how do you measure and define success is, obviously, the first question you ask what are we trying to accomplish. in britain substantial push-back ago the number of casualties spiked the past number of weeks. we're beginning to see replay of what we had in iraq where the casualties go up and people ask why are we there and what are we doing? financing. and, if anything, afghanistan was called the good war. i think people are beginning to

say given the terrain when you see images and speak to people who have been there and you begin to wonder what is the road to success. >> a reminder of what colin powell talked about, defining the mission clearly up front. with president obama self-imposed august deadline for health care fast approaching. in just two hours, the president will make a live statement on health care and his sales pitch will continue tomorrow with prime time news conference and on thursday, the president takes his show on the road to cleveland, my hometown. this is new public polls show that the president's public approval and his handling of particular health care has dropped below 50% for the first time and disapproval on the issue has risen 15 points since april. you see the graph there. nbc's savannah guthrie joins me from the white house. how worried is the white house that it seems that congress, including some key democrats, no longer committed to getting something done before the august

recess? >> well, look. they know it's crunch time and i think they are deploying what they consider to be their most valuable asset, the president, himself. on something of a public relations blitz recently. we saw him every single day last week, including saturday, making health care pitch reform. we'll see him today. he is sitting down with meredith vieira later on the ""today"" show. we will see more domestic travel they feel his best venue when he is out there with regular folks making this pitch for health care. it's an uphill battle in congress and not helped by a number of cbo reports that came out last week and they reported they found the current proposal and house side would increase the deficit and all of the proposals being considered right now would not reduce health care costs but may increase them. the white house would say, wait a minute, this is a work in progress. we'll have to see what the final bill does and the president is committed to a neutral plan that

doesn't increase costs but right now, we're in the thick of the sausage-making and it's ugly. >> what do you make as you look at this? what is a difficult situation -- >> i would make one point. a lot about the poll numbers that show his numbers are down a little bit. the honeymoon may be over but it's still a good marriage. the public loves barack obama. we may disagree with him about particular recipes and answers on policies, but we still have enormous confidence in him and that is the reservoir of goodwill he will depend upon. health care is the toughest fight. in addition to the cbo report over the weekend another critical piece. governors around the nation an i had written a piece a couple of weeks ago states cannot afford the additional medicaid costs built into this plan. so when it comes to health care, the president has got to answer and his aides have got to answer how do we control costs? the cost side of this equation hasn't been addressed and i don't think he will get the senate to bite on this when jobs are going down and people afraid of new taxes and additional trillion dollars of spending,

whatever the number may be, won't be something they want to be until they explain how do we control costs. he has to say to rahm and other people crafting this, grab ahold of this thing and explain how we control costs. >> savannah, do you think, given what governor spitzer is saying and what you shared earlier, do you think this inevitably leads us back frankly to john mccain's suggestion during the campaign we tax health care benefits, we say to people who make $60,000 to $90,000 a year and getting a good health care plan, that is like income, you've got to pay some taxes on it. that sthat where you think this ends up? >> look. the white house is resistant to that idea still. the president is very much opposed to that idea. however, they won't slam the door on it completely. so at the end of the day, one could surmise if their the only way to get reform done that they might be willing to have benefits taxed above some level so it wouldn't encompass the middle class, is what they are worried about.

the president made a pledge not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. this health benefit tax has the support of republicans and some moderate democrats, the idea hasn't gone away and waiting for what the senate finance committee does this week. they are trying to do a bipartisan deal and see if they can get it done. >> savannah, thank you. today marks six months since president obama took office and who better to talk about it than a man involved in not two, but three presidential transitions. we moo live is andy card, former chief of staff for president bush. good to have you and good to see you. >> great to be here. thank you very much. >> governor spitzer and i were just talking about the could nun drum that the president faces right now on health care and wants to get it through and best opportunity in decades and 60% approval rating and 60 votes in the senate and almost a hundred-vote manager in the house but doesn't seem to be able to solve the issue how do i provide health care without running up the deficit even further. what are your thoughts on what

he can do? >> well, first of all, i don't think he should have a contrived haste to get it ton. he has to get it done right rather than fast. if you get it done too fast you will have unintended consequences and enormous cost to the country and taxpayers. i would not say haste is necessary right now. >> if he pushes back on you as charlie rangel did this weekend on "face the nation," and says come on, guys, we've been talking about this decades and have scores of studies. we're not talking about haste but finally getting something done in a window that still exists. frankly, rangel was directly at it republicans so he was arguing delay was their final tactic. >> first of all, republicans want change, too. they don't want the status quo but they don't want the change to be such that it's going to cause taxes to go up, small businesses not to be able to compete in a global marketplace.

they want to see it smart. and there are ways to do it without busting the budget of the government. the cbo report was devastating for the administration and for charlie rangel and his colleagues in the house. they have to work across the aisle and say this is a push me/pull me. you got the push coming to cover people who are not getting insurance right now and a poll to reduce costs. that's a very, very difficult thing to do both, but you've got to make it such that you are reducing costs. you're not going to reduce the coverage that people have in the marketplace right now and yes, you want to expand the opportunity to cover people who have no coverage or have them meet responsibility for coverage. it's not easy. you have to make it honest bipartisan but it has not been honest bipartisan effort so far. >> i think the urgency right now is the president's poll numbers decline and you know this having lived in the white house for some period of time. the capacity of a president to

drive a domestic agenda dissipates over time. so president obama says we've got to get it done now. i agree with you doing it hastily is a mistake. on the other hand, delay is the enemy of progress. what is the case to me, though, there is no easy or perhaps satisfactory way to extend coverage to everybody and genuinely control the costs unless you do things that are even more fundamental and dramatic than what has been proposed. i'm talking about either a single payer or fundamentally changing the way we reimburse hospitals and doctors for the way they care for patients. reimbursing people primarily through a third-party payor system and also using a system that compensates people based on how many procedures they do inevitably, with improved technology, drives costs up. we haven't figured that out yet. we have to because i'm with you. we can't afford to see health care costs increasing as a percentage of gdp over the neck decade. >> you guys give me the perfect segue -- >> right now, that is not on the table. tort reform has to be part of

the solution. >> i think democrats agree with you on that. >> i want to jump in here and do a little report card on the president's first six months. six months from the cold january day in which he was inaugurated. andy, on domestic policy, only a couple of minutes here. what grade do you give the president on domestic policy and foreign policy and give him an overall grade for first six months. >> okay. on domestic policy he earns an honest incomplete. >> ouch! >> he has not had any suggest domestic policy changes. he has proposed some but he hasn't been able to bring them to reality and i'm not putting the stimulus package in that definition. >> andy, hang on one second. i'm actually going to jump in here and ask governor spitzer on domestic policy. what would you give? >> i give him a b plus for fundamentally redefine the ter range terrain. we haven't gotten anything across the finish line. >> andy, what about foreign

policy? what do you give the president some he has a busy agenda. what do you give him on foreign policy thus far? >> i would give him a b on foreign policy. first of all, the expectations where america was going to hit the reset button somehow and i think that there is an expectation that barack obama has been discussing in a new way with the world america's position in the world, and i think he gets a b. but he's got very, very difficult issues he has not addressed well. korea and iran are right at the top of that list. obviously, he hat challenges in iraq and afghanistan. but, overall, from domestic policy, i would say incomplete. foreign policy, a b. and his overall administration, you'll ask me about that in a few minutes. >> eliot? >> i give him a b. i think rhetoric is fantastic but he has found out more rapidly than on the to him side even that rhetoric internationally doesn't lead to solutions whether it's the middle east, afghanistan, iran,

iraq, korea, and even europe. our relationship with european allies, very nice meeting but nothing to show from it in terms of the economy, trade, co2 and i think finding out internationally the rhetoric is there but the results have not come through. >> your overall grade is? >> i give -- oddly, a b plus domestically and a minus for the performance at large because i think the primary role of the president right now is reenergize this nation and give us a sense of confidence and a sense we understand how to confront the future and barack obama is an inspirational character, a figure who already has begun to do that. >> andy, quickly, you get the final word. your overall? >> he gets a c overall. and that is because the stimulus packages haven't worked the way he told us they would. he hasn't delivered on his domestic agenda. it's a work in progress. and, yes, the rhetoric has been good overseas but the changes haven't been materialized to the point we can say things are different with iran or korea, or

in the middle east, or with regard to the wars in iraq or afghanistan. so an overall, a c. i give rahm oos emanuel an a for his ability to manage a white house staff and help the president do his job. >> andy, if you're a professor, i'm staying away from your class! you're one tough grader! he is a new kid in a just new job. cut him some slack! >> andy is from massachusetts. they don't play around up there. >> they are out of control in massachusetts. >> andy card, thanks for joining us and when you come up to new york, promise us you'll spend a full hour with us up here. >> i'd love to do that, carlos. thought. >> we'll be back in a moment. if you want to vote on how president obama did in his first six months vote by using your mobile phone. remember, standard text messages rates apply. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson.

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. according to a new poll, the president's job approval rating stands at 59%. not bad. under half of americans approve of his handling of health care and only 43% approve of his handling of the deficit budget. what will the next six months bring? michael, we just had a conversation with former white house chief of staff andy card looking at the last six months. we want to fast-forward and look at the next six months to come. what do you think the biggest challenge is for the president

are as we look at the fall and the winter? >> i think, carlos, what happens is that issues perception catches up to personality perception and by that, i mean, the survey that you've just referred to, the "the washington post" and abc, shows a disconnect. i mean, here he is at 59% approval, which is err it terrific, all things being considered, but it's unsupported on the numbers on issues themselves. in other words, people are coming to the conclusion that they continue to like this president, which is a terrific thing, but when you break it down on the subcategories, issue-oriented questions you can't sustain that number. sooner later the issues perception is going to catch up with him and the goodwill he has in this extended honeymoon period is going to be wiped out. i think he has to move quickly. i think he has to strike while the iron is hot. he has got all of the votes and continue to have all of the votes for at least the mid-term election but should move sooner than later. >> i agree with you on some

point the two converge. this is president obama in whom we have confidence. he is smart and likeable and making tough decisions and we, the american public, understand he is approaching this in our best interests. therefore i think he has a deeper reservoir of goodwill than the numbers on the specific issues would suggest. i would add the one issue wasn't listed in this poll or not in the numbers he put up on the screen is jobs. if the job numbers continue to get worse and i think they will, and most economists think they will i think that is the burr under the saddle the next six months. >> you don't think the president will get a pass from that? you don't think the american people will say it's horrendous, i'm not happy being out of work or working part-time? >> i think this is the stimulus which i thought was not a well-constructed bill, too much money for the wrong priorities, and this is where the continued creep in unemployment rate and it's even worse than the numbers suggest, i think, will catch up and provide some impetus.

the president has to sit down with his economic team and say we have to get jobs into this economy quickly. >> michael, what your thoughts on that? do you think the president gets any pass at all? especially by the way as we see the stock market grow. it's going to be as everyone likes to call it, you see, we're approaching 9,000 on the dow. not bad. >> yeah. . i don't know. i think that's an interesting number and one we all monitor but i don't think it puts food on people's table. i think the function is what are the prices for gas and am i employed. you ask the question of is he going to be held accountable for this and, ultimately, he will be. carlos, i'm one who believes we give our president too much credit when the economy is all fired up and too much blame when it's headed in the other direction. i believe he will rise and fall electorally speaking based on

how the economy performs. i think there is increase in the number of folks troubled by the size of the deficit and the spending and unless they see it's working and working quite soon, the mid-term elections could take a turn in a different direction. >> i think we ascribe too much power to the fed and white house and as unemployment in michigan over 15% and i think 15 states it's over 10. i think the fear of job losses is creeping through the economy. the dow has disconnected from the real economy too much. that is financial services. we are seeing goldman and morgan chis do well. that's another economy. >> when we come back, we will see if that leads to a second stimulus package. michael, thank you so much. >> thank you. big earnings registering on wall street. is the economy turning around? despite what spitzer and michael have said? we will dig into that ahead. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson.

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side on the other side on the other hand, on the other hand on the other hand,i'm carlos watso. rising doubts about the economic stimulus program are impacting the president's approval ratings but is the economy finally turning around? cnbc mark hains thinks so. watch what he had to say this morning on "morning joe." >> i haven't seen a morning like this in two years. it's great. the futures are up five. i -- i -- i -- i wish i could go home! >> i wish i could go home, too. but joining us is a chief economic correspondent for "the wall street journal." john, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> john, are you as bullish? are you feeling like peter ors shortstop zag said? last week the fed seemed to suggest something similar. banks announcing billions in

profits. are you feeling things are looking good some. >> i don't know if i want to go home when i'm feeling good but, you know, i -- i -- we have a mixed picture right now. what peter owners sglag said is right. we walked away from the cliff. it looked in february and march we were heading into another great depression. that's why stocks rose over the last few months. it looks like things are settling down. the big question what kind of road are we getting from here? and is the growth strong enough to create new jobs? we haven't answered that question. we have a very unusual setting right now where it looks like the economy has stopped contracting perhaps. but it's still very far from creating jobs. in fact, it's still cutting jobs very aggressively. >> i would disagree, john. i think we went over a cliff and we have settled at what we are trying to dech as a new normalcy.

that is permitting the sector to go back to what it was doing. goldman sachs is making money and volatility in the marketplace. not a single job being created in manufacturing and not a single job created anywhere other than government or health care. that does not speak to me as long-term success in a marketplace. i don't think we have yet gotten our arms around the fact we are in deep trouble. the chinese economy is growing and india is growing and balance of payments that are structurally flawed. i see major problems here. >> this point about the new normalcy is interesting. because if you look at the profit reports coming out of goldman and jpmorgan they are making their money in the market we thought were broken and were never going to work again. mortgage underwriting and the refinancing, it's kind of interesting that wall street has quickly gone back to some of -- >> look where that got us over the last decade. everybody talks about the housing bubble. we had a banking bubble and before we reinflate that banking bubble, we better create a real economy that makes things that

are sellable and can generate real jobs and i don't see that happening right now. >> we have to go. tell me what is the canary in the coal mine for you? what will tell you we're on better path? >> when i see automotive sales going back to a trend line that suggests that domestic auto production is going up, then i will think we have turned a corner. >> you want to see us back on the way to 10 million to 12 million cars sold a year? >> i don't know what the number is but we have to go way up. >> jonathan, thank you for joining us this morning. i hope you come back as guest co-host again. >> i'd love to. yeah. i won't go home in the middle of the show! >> which is why we like you! a couple of good new yorkers on the set, by the way. a former wrestler and former tennis player. good people are here. for more on the topics we're discussing, check out carloswatson.msnbc.com. next, appropriately so, to prosecute or not to? we'll take a look the dilemma

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. let's fast barred through today's top headlines. a family of a captured soldier in by the tall land are asking for privacy as they learn about his fate. bowe bergdahl kidnapped in afghanistan three weeks ago. you see the video there. president obama meet with apollo 11 astronauts in the oval office today. second man on the moon, buzz aldrin is using the milestone as a platform to push for new exploration this time to mars. no custody hearing, none at all today on the fate of michael jackson's three children. it's been pushed to next week.

this is two of michael's sisters who reportedly emerging as possible contenders for custody. in the meantime, authorities continue to investigate jackson's doctors, louisiana a. times is reporting murder charges are now unlikely. attorney general general eric holder is considering appointing a prosecution for the cia hearings does this move the counterproductive for president obama to leave issues in the past if? joining me is former governor of new york, eliot spitzer. also a former prosecutor. we talked about having a healthy democracy is checks and balances. in the course of our incomes there have only been a handful of well-known prosecutors be it dewy in the '40s and rudy giuliani in the '80s and patrick fitsgerald more recently. what does it take for a prosecutor to say i don't care

whether they are powerful on the other side, whether the gambino crime family, i'm going after them. why don't we see it more? >> i think you need to stand up to powerful interests. as eric holder is doing, his wos boss said we don't want to open the issue but holder says the law requires we ask the difficult questions and i think eric holder is saying to himself our obligation to democracy, our obligation to glx is we democracy is we draw the right conclusions. whether you prosecute at the end of that remains to be determined by the record. eric holder is doing the right thing in my view saying we need to get the facts out there. >> what kind of pressure comes down on you, though? he is not the first to do this. tell us what happens. are you getting a call from your boss? >> when i was attorney general of new york state i was lucky i didn't have a boss. technically i worked for the governor of the state of new york and separately elected official. eric holder was appointed by the president of the united states

and doing something rather courage urs in my view saying we should look at this. one example is i was told clearly by people i was vegging be careful, we have powerful friends. now, they didn't mean to threaten or intimidate but those are the things and the reality is they did and do and that is fine but your job as a prosecutor is stand up and say our obligation to the law and put the record and facts out there. i think holder is doing what needs to be done by saying let us investigate these tough issues. sometimes congress does it the church hearings into the cia a number of years back were critically important and therapeutic and necessary to understand what our security forces were doing. >> give me, finally, three areas in which you think there should be more investigation and more prosecution, given all of the various issues are going on in our society today. >> take wall street. in the context of wall street i think somebody should investigate the tension between the proprietary trade of all major wall street firms and the advice they were given to their consumers, their customers. was there a tension there? if there was, you have a structural problem that needs to be dealt with. second i think there are huge

tax issues that need to be pursued and tax fraud is committed left, right and center by wealthy individuals who play games with offshore accounts and offshore investment banks. >> interesting. that is going on right now as we are looking at ubs. >> that's right. >> very interesting. >> tip of the iceberg i'm persuaded and all sorts of games are played. i'll leave it at that. third, i would say insurance fraud. i think buried in the insurance secretary are all sorts of frauds, not only in terms what we uncovered by the insurance companies in how the bids people get for the insurance they buy but also fraud in terms it of claims that are made. all of those are costs that come back to us as consumers. >> if you got a call from the white house saying we want you to be a special proper? prosecutor? >> i'm not getting that call. i'm working on other things right now. >> we will come back to that. from pilots to missile tests and president barack obama first six months in 0 office have been anything but a cake walk when it comes to foreign policy. next, we take a look back and ahead at the big international decisions that come.

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. now we're looking at president barack obama's first six months in office from all angles today. in fact, internationally, the has faced threats from north korea and their missile test to wars in iraq and afghanistan, as well as fending or sew mallee somali pirates. the same amount of time that joe biden said it would take another country to test the president is what he said back in october.

i don't know if that is what you want your vice president so say, but he said it. joining us now is richard engel, nbc news, chief foreign correspondent and eliot spitzer is back with me today. richard, your thoughts on the president's first six months on foreign policy perspective. >> i think he has had challenges electric iran. uprising in that country against the regime that was brutally crushed and there is still some political throwing in the country but it doesn't seem to have gained much steam. that was a challenge, a major let-down a lot of people internationally would like to see iran succeed in breaking out of its political quagmire. >> being a turning point for him, like john f. kennedy got his briefing and none of the briefings were right. i heard rahm emanuel talk about the briefings that president obama got that could happen in iran. >> i think the president handled it skillfully but, still, it was

a disappointing outcome so people are going to look at this challenge and say there was a possibility for change in iran, a watershed moment and, at least for now, it never really happened. so i think that was a big challenge. >> the critical phrase you said at least for now. i think there are still turbulence and uncertainty. >> absolutely. >> i think some of those hoping for something 30 years ago there was another revolution that produced 30 years of cleric rule and maybe the public now seems to be rising up here. i have no capacity to predict where it will go but is it clear the last chapter has been written? >> over the last couple of days, we've seen statements by former iranian presidents saying there should be a reform, that there should be a new type of vote to determine the political outcome. it is continuing under the surface and that is while it has been a disappointment, it could potentially be a crowning moment. >> take -- >> iraq and afghanistan are the main problems that are really holdovers from the last

administration. in iraq, i don't know if you heard today, an iraqi general is saying that american troops, he was describing this on bases are practically under house arrest is how he was describing it in the interview. >> 130,000 american troops still there? >> that is disheartening for their famsly, in particular it, to think of the soldiers, why are they over there if they are on house arrest if they are on their bases locked down? this general was in a bit of a bragging tone was saying we sometimes turn down their requests to go out on missions. we're really the ones in charge. and i think that is a major conflict. >> clearly, complex situation. but do you think, in general, president obama has head the right decisions both in iraq and afghanistan, given what he had to work with in the first six months? >> i don't, i don't think you could say such a blanket statement like that. his hands were a little bit tied by the status of forces agreement in iraq. and he wanted to draw down troops. he didn't draw down -- isn't drawing down very many and is

limited by this status of forces agreement. could he have been more decisive and more taken a stronger stance against this -- this legal document that is now setting the war tone in iraq? perhaps. in afghanistan, he sent -- he is ending in more and those troops are arriving in afghanistan right now. the commanders on the ground wanted more. so he tried to strike a balance on both of these. whenever you strike a balance on war footing, it's a difficult thing to do. >> governor, final thoughts on this? >> i just think he will not be held accountable for iraq. that was president bush as war. afghanistan is his war. he said that is the good war. we are sending in more troops. i think that is the political liability for the president. we must define what we need by success and figure out how to get enough troops to air -- accomplish the success and if two years from now, people will say afghanistan is your iraq and i think that is the political crisis he afronts. >> what has he done well international sfli you say the

first six months -- >> diplomacy. with his election, his personality, his background, the -- immediately -- >> he sucked anti-americanism out of the air? >> that has been overwhelmingly the biggest, which isn't anything he did. it is who he is. just his election sent a message to a lot of countries in the world in the arab and islamic world that someone named hussein who openly embraces muslim members of his family was a shock to many people overseas. that is clearly been the biggest change that has happened. not necessarily any of his actions. his actions on afghanistan were somewhat middle of the road, not with the military, not what everyone wanted. a little bit, i guess you could even call wishy washy. on iraq, similar. no major changes there. the biggest change is who he. >> we'll watch the next six months. richard, be well. we know you're in the midst of shooting a documentary.

be well and be safe. coming up, we put the focus on the first family's impact on pop culture. that is straight ahead. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. introducing one a day women's 2o. the first complete women's multivitamin in a drink mix. with more calcium and vitamin d... to support bone and breast health... while helping you hydrate. one a day women's 2o. refreshingly healthy. if we don't act, medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage

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welcome back to "msnbc live." now, it's been a full six months since president obama took the oath of office. and today you'll hear a lot about the president's executive accomplishments since that cold january day. but what has changed culturally, if anything, since the obama family moved into 1600 pennsylvania avenue? here with me is toure, msnbc contributor and pop culture analyst. also joined again by my guest cohost, governor spitzer. we know people have had a huge impact on society and culture, even beyond the politics, if you will. what do you see when you look at obama's first six months? >> there are a lot of things we can talk about. we can do the whole show about his cultural impact. just a couple of things that i see, he's having an impact on

all young black people. limitless dreams, sky is the limit. we can do anything now. look, barack obama is the president. you hear teachers and parents say that. and this idea of being super cool is not antithetical. we see that, but obama taking it to a new level. >> the cool nerd with the big heart. >> exactly. and the importance of family is really powerful with this guy. the date night thing was so huge. took his wife to new york, dinner at a great new york -- >> put a lot of people to shame. >> broadway, joe turner is coming on. if a busy guy like him can make time for a date with his wife, you can too, i can too. reminds us of all of those things. and elevating the place of basketball. >> you know i like that. governor, i know you're a tennis player. like basketball? >> i have a sharp elbow.

>> michelle, also, when you see life magazine seeing their special issue of jackie o. next to their special issue of michelle o., they're having a huge impact. the guard out in front of the white house. >> i wrote a piece about this last fall. part of what was significant, not just that she was a new first lady, and not just that she was african-american, that she was dark skinned. to the extent we've celebrated black women, they tended to be lighter skinned. and i thought there was a real change -- i thought that was meaningful for lots of -- not just young girls, but lots of women. >> this is definitely a victory for strong, black women. someone who is strong is being represented as beautiful, a representative of the country, glamorous, and a fashion icon. she has validated j. crew in a way that did not happen before. i know when i went to private school, i was teased for wearing j. crew. but she makes it look cool. and she's bringing a spotlight

on american designers like jason wu and isabel toledo that we haven't seen before and wearing high-level clothes with low stuff like j. crew. not a dis, but a mass marketer. >> we only have 30 seconds. we normally do the "c" note, but today's "c" note is a family note. governor, what did you take away from today? >> i think the president has always been transformational. i don't know as many designers as you do, but the president has been a transformational figure. the issues are unbelievably difficult and it will be tougher day by day. but he as an individual is transformational. >> the thing that surprised me is that you play tennis. i want to get you out on the court. i'm a lifelong tennis player. >> we'll see how tough you are. >> if you're a serious athlete, keep watching "msnbc live," we'll start our challenge series this fall where we've got tennis players, basketball players, all the good stuff. but in all seriousness, please

join us tomorrow. we've got maria bartiromo, the governor of maryland, martin o'malley, rising star in the democratic party. and a writer from the economist. a great show straight ahead. that does it for me this hour. i'm carlos watson. nancy, over to you. what kind of good stuff awaiting us today? >> a good mix of everything today. thanks. we'll talk about first that young man that's being held captive in afghanistan. we're waiting for a press conference coming from his hometown in idaho. we have images, obviously, from afghanistan, where a video has been released showing that he has been held hostage. that news conference due to begin shortly. we'll have that. plus, you've changed your diet, you've changed your lifestyle, all because you've been told that you have a food allergy. has that diagnosis been correct? and he doesn't seem to go away. south carolina governor mark sanford asking for forgiveness again. we're going to have that and whether forgiveness can be tied to your health. it's almost noon here on the east coast. the doctor is in.

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coming up today on "dr. nancy," images from afghanistan. that video of an american soldier being held against his will. we're just moments away from a live news conference from his hometown in idaho. today, we're looking at the psychological impact of that video on this soldier, his family, and those of us at home. also, in one hour, president obama will be live with remarks, again addressing health care reform. he is now six months into office. what will his remarks focus on and could this be the signature issue that defines his presidency? to stay around for yourself and for your family. screening saves lives. >> and you've seen the ads urging you to get screened for any number of cancers, but are

those routine tests actually worth it? the debate, coming up. hi, everyone. i'm dr. nancy snyderman. and we begin with that u.s. soldier who is being held against his will in afghanistan. a news conference is due to begin at any time in idaho with the latest on private first class bowe bergdahl. he disappeared from his base june 30th and was listed captured by the taliban, just days later. his captors released a video that you perhaps have seen, showing bergdahl in captivity, and off-camera you can hear his captors coaching him. at one point, bergdahl asks that u.s. troops leave the country. >> please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives. >> with me now, nbc's nan greg

who is in idaho at the coffee shop where bergdahl works and jim mike la she halaszewslaszem. lee ann, who was supposed to hold this conference and what do you expect them to say? >> reporter: we could hear from some of the family's spokesmans, we're not sure what will be said, but they are keeping very quiet, low profile, they don't want any attention, and they're likely to appoint a spokesperson to talk for them. this has been a gathering place where there's been an outpouring of sympathy and support for bergdahl and it's also where he works off and on. it's a close-knit community. apparently, many of the people knew that he had been captured weeks before, but because of the family's wishes, they decided not to speak about it. so that is the latest. here we are in the main street -- one of the main streets in hailey.