out of capitol hill like new taxes. people saying what am i bog to get out of this? we heard the president talk about people losing their jobs and losing their insurance. something that will not be lost on americans who are living with this terrible unemployment. that was a big part of it. the other part of it is just making clear that health care costs are going up. it's not a choice between no change at all, status quo and radical change. he's trying to make the case your things are changing. health care costs are going out of control. if we don't do anything, things will change all right. they will change for much, much worse. that's the case the president tried to set out tonight. >> let's go to kelly o'donnell. let's start with the big one, did he make a compelling case for change? did the president leave the american people with a big message tonight that will reverberate on capitol hill why we need to act now? >> well, chris, i think when you look at those key questions, the president offered bits and

pieces on all of them, touched on topics. were they a convincing answer? i think there's real questions about that. when you're talking about the capitol hill perspective, their very steeped in that here. what struck me is when he was asked more than once about things americans might not be able to have access to, tests and there's a negative connotation called rationing. and would americans have a change in the kind of is services they could get, he was reluctant to answer that at first. he did come around to it and didn't use the same words that the questioner put to him. but he did say there would have to be changes, he couldn't guarantee there would be changes and some of the things would include choosing things that cost less. that will be something people want to know more about. will they have all of the same things they get now? it seems the president was hinting and saying probably not. on the big question of answering

why this is leaded, he gave lots of information relating to the economy, the needs to americans more broadly. but definitive answers, i think what you noticed is the president often didn't respond to the question but he had key points he wanted to make, especially about the deficit. he said he inherited those kinds of things. >> the president said a couple of things, and i think there might be a conflict here. dr. snyderman, you watched this when he said at the beginning of his remarks tonight, no one will have the government telling them what they could have in terms of treatment and later on end of life care and things like that, that suggested things would be different in terms of what you could access as a patient. here's the president on the question of what sacrifices will have to be made. let's listen. >> they're going to have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier. and i -- speaking as an american, i think that's the kind of change you want.

look, if right now hospitals and doctors aren't coordinating enough, to have you just take one test when you come in because of an illness but instead have you take one test and then you do to another specialist, you take a second test, you to to another specialist, you take a third test and nobody is bothering to send the first test you took, the same test, to the next doctors, you're wasting money. you may not see it because if you have health insurance right now, it's being sent to the insurance company but that's raising your premiums. it's raising everyone's presume yums and that money one way or another is coming out of your pocket. although we are also subsidizing some of that because there are tax breaks for health care. >> dr. snyderman, there are people out in the country who have health insurance and who are worried, many people age or earlier, at some point people from the government will say

you're wasting money with that test. don't take it. my experience with health care is you better get those tests because you don't know you have a problem until you have a couple tests. who's to say, you had enough tests. you're out of here. >> the problem is doctors don't talk to each other and the president is right about the inefficiencies. the administration has made a big point talking about the new technology that will electronically link all of us. that's billions of dollars and years aweigh. i think the plain talk, you know, to take the scare out of things like rationing, which basically is what's going on now. some people get medicines, some people don't. it didn't come through tonight. as a physician, i felt like i understood the complexity of the problem. as an american citizen, i was rooting for the president to hit a home run. and frankly at the end i thought he wifed on frankly people were looking for more substance than they got.

>> tell me what the compelling reason for change and how they're going to pay for it? >> not to my satisfaction. and he could have said it's hard to see what's around the bend. however, it's like the ad we are seeing, pay me now or pay me later. we're going to pay big time if we don't get this. i do think this could break the bank. but to say to everyone, you have to step up. that responsibility message, i deposit hear much about that tonight ernl. >> let's get start here as we have been. let's get smarter still. kelly, i want to ask you why the president, who's very, very smart be very, very careful about not waying out what he wants in the bill and how exactly we're going to pay for it? how does this address threatt republican senators he mentioned tonight? who were they, grassley -- and snowe. how does what he said tonight deal with the people he's trying to get aboard? >> i think the president kept a

lot of doors open by 0 offering pray to those senators and they are part of the small group who is working to write legislation in the senate finance committee. everyone's watching thauz bah they will have a lot to say about how this is paid for and will there be the so-called public option. all the of the other committees have that. will finance have that? they are key players in getting bipartisan support so the president gave them ape shot out. he was also critical more generally against some other republicans but said he wanted a good idea and would use good ideas from republicans. one of the tougher things when it comes to the paying for it, the president kept lots of doors open. when the house speaker nancy pelosi said perhaps there should be a surtax on households that have an income of more than $1 million a year. the president sort of green-lighted that by saying that would meet his requirement not to put the tax or burden for paying for this on middle class families. he seemed to be supportive without fully embraced it.

he said more than once he hasn't seen the plan. and in reality none of us know exactly what's in it but he's talking to the senators and leaders directly. if he doesn't know what's in it, then nobody does. he seemed to be keeping doors open so whenever something happened, he could claim responsibility or take part of the credit or perhaps if it doesn't meet some of his key requirements, he can distance himself. >> here's the president talking about how to pay for it. he went back to his original idea several weeks back or several months back. >> no one. >> the remaining one third is about the argument of what has been of late. what i said is there may be a number of different ways to raise money. i put forward which i thought the best proposal was to limit the deductions, itemized deductions for the wealthiest

americans. like myself could take the same percentage deduction that middle class families do and that would raise sufficient funds for that final one third. >> savannah, he's going back to something that was almost drop-kicked within hours of his proposing it. no one in the congress is willing to go after charitable deductions. you would have every church and synagogue against you ever every hospital against you and every university against you. everyone who benefits from charitable contributions be big-time contributions would suffer. does he really mean that? does he want to pay for health care by going after people who give money to hospitals? >> oh, i think he means it. in fact the budget director peter orszag brought it up again sunday. they keep resurrecting the idea that, let's face it, was dead on arrival the minute it landed on capitol hill. they like the idea. congress has never gone for it. it's a little odd, maybe a

little disingenuous when asked what are your specific ideas how to pay for it? he goes back to the ideas of a charitable deduction, which are not going anywhere. i agree with kelly he seemed to signal, he went a little teeny tiny bit further on the surtax in the house. if it were at the level of a millionaire's tax, he could support it. but he keeps avoiding taking a stand on the specific proposals that are on the hill. and you hear a little grousing even from democrats. they are ready for the president to come in publicly and say i stand for this. i stand for that. they don't want him above the fray. enough with the legislative deference. they want him to show leadership here. >> i want kelly and dr. snyderman to respond. here he is, the president saying he might go along with nancy pelosi, the speaker's proposal, for attacking people in the high brackets. >> we haven't seen a final draft. the house suggested a surcharge on wealthy americans and my

understanding, although ip have the seen the final versions, is there's been talk about making that basically only apply to families whose joint income is $1 million. to me that meets my principle that it's not being shoelderred by families who are already having a tough time. but i want to do is see what emerges from these committees, continuing to work to find more savings because i actually think it's possible to fund more of this process to identify waste in the system. >> the problem, kelly, it bumps up against another commitment he made i was reminded of in the papers, he promised not to have anyone's tax rates go higher than they were with president clinton. how does he match that with this proposal to add on an extra 4, 5% tax? >> i think he's hoping for the consent from the broader public.

but one of the challenges for the president to occupy an hour of primetime coverage tonight. many americans are not as seeped in this day to okay as we are. but there wasn't that much that really jumped out as being new. in fact, i think the president backed off some. he didn't repeat the got to get it done by august deadline. he talked about the importance of a deadline but didn't say what it was any longer. allowing are for a real push from democrats and republicans, this idea slow down. he said there has to be urgency but we need to do it right. so even on the deadline issue, he seemed to be softer. the only thing he consistently talks about is he wants no deficit issue. that's been a problem given some of the numbers and not wanting to put it on the middle class. but if we were looking for a lot more detail, there really wasn't a great deal for us to chew on. >> dr. snyderman, how will your

fellow positions react to the statement by the president that some of doctors will yank your tonsils because they could get a better deal out of it. he didn't say there was incentive but that doctors do it. if i were a physician out there working 60 hours a week, i would say who's this guy? >> i will tell you at someone who used to take out tonsils for a living, the reimlursment september so great. >> really? >> he should have used a better example. most doctors go into medicine for all of the right reasons and the average doctor feels pinched. i also see the average doctor is willing to give a little. but what i didn't hear the president say, which i was hoping he would say, everyone will have to step up to the plate. i have maintained from day one that if somebody had some skin in the game, across the board, even if it's $10, you have a vested interest in making sure that the system works. and sort of ask one part of the population to shoulder the

responsibility for someone else, i'm not so sure that's the american way of doing things. we are either all in or not. i don't think the americans will like the rancor on both sides. most of us live our life on the 50 yard line. we don't like it when people on streams on either way start rooting for each other's failure. we all have to have something because we're vested. >> it's hard to put skin when someone says it could be the liver transplant. and you try selling that to the patient waiting for the organ transplants. >> we know the organ transplants work for some things but not other things. because your special number was chosen, therefore, you're bog to have surgery. that's not prudent. someone will have to talk and speak plain and honestly about

that kind of thing. >> it didn't happen tonight. >> no, it did not. >> thank you very much, dr. nancy snyderman, who's in the trade actually. you can watch dr. nancy's show, by the way, on television every day at noon to see what doctors think, especially our favorite one, dr. nancy snyderman. on msnbc, of course. coming up -- did president obama step on his own headline about the comments about the arrest of robert gates. was it smart to take sides in a dispute involving the police where he took the professor's side against the police. i have read the police report. let's put it this way, consistent with what the president said tonight. we're going to have a fight about that. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. u live... ...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care

as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past... we're america's health insurance companies. supporting bipartisan reform that congress can build on.

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welcome back to "hardball." tonight's press conference was largely about health care but

president obama threatened to step on his owedn headlines wit his answer to the last question of the night about harvard professor gates. howard fineman is with "newsweek." both are msnbc political analysts. gentlemen, let's watch president obama answer the question about harvard professor henry lewis gates, who was arrested at his own home, starting with this joke. let's listen. >> well, i should say at the outset that skip gates is a friend, so i may be a little biased here. i don't know all of the facts. what's been reported, though, is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house. there was a report called in to the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. so far, so good, right? i mean, if i was trying to jigger -- i guess this is my house now, so, it probably wouldn't happen.

let's say my old house in chicago, here i would get shot. but so far, so good. >> and then the president went on. >> i don't know not having been there and not seeing all of the facts what role race played in that but i think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. number two, that the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. and number three, what i think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of african-americans and latinos being stopped by law enforcement

disproportionately. >> what do we make of this, gene? >> well -- >> is he smart to get into this case in such detail? >> he actually didn't given a couple of the details were wrong. he said he had forgotten the keys. that wasn't the case. in fact, he had gone around the back. but i thought he was actually careful in the way he talked about the case. he said, i don't know what role race played in it. i might have gone further had i been talking about it. and i thought the points he made about the police having acted stupidly because i don't think it's in dispute that they did know by the time the arrest was made, they knew they were dealing with a man in his own house. and i think short of attacking a police officer in your own house, you can be obnoxious even if that indeed is what gates was. i think that's the allegation. you don't have to bring out tea and cookies for the policemen

who are accosting you in your own house. so i think that was a fair thing to say. and i think it was fair to bring up the context. this sort of thing does happen. >> howard, one day one of the points of the dispute was whether professor gates was willing to give his i.d. card over. according to the police officer, he was slow to do so. s they these will be disputed for months on the blogosphere but there you have it. >> i can see it now. another rohrshock test for us here. i know him. he spent his career at harvard studying race and racism and this thing happened to him. so there will be people who hearts and minds flow to skip gates. >> sure, like the president. >> that means you're friends with the guy. >> and then there are going to be other people who will focus

on the president saying the cambridge police acted stupidly and they're going to get your backs up. they will say wait a minute, this guy is abusive to the police officer and they will get connected with the firemen in new hiven. i can see it all playing out. >> one thing that should be pointed out, first of all, i don't know a lot of people who look less like a burglar or less like a threat. skip gates is 5'6", he weighs about 150 pounds. >> he uses a cane. >> he uses a cane to get around. this is not anyone who is a threat to a burly police officer who has a gun, number one. >> as a former police officer and irishmen, i have to say something here. nobody talks about, this woman is standing on the curb, who has made the call, the 911 call. she's waiting on the curb because the police officer asked her to be there. she's pointing in the house as he arrives saying the gay's in there. there's a context here. it isn't just being at home while black.

there's a woman outside saying there's a burglar inside. >> i understand. there's no problem if the cambridge police responded. that's what they should have done. >> but this point of view, this buy burglarized us. >> he's on the cops. they are asking this guy who the heck are you? let's see your i.d. at that point, i'm guessing, gates went nuts. he said i'm standing in my own house. you're out there. you have no right to ask me this. but you are the one who was a cop, chris. i was not. but a good policeman knows how to back away from a situation. you have to know the people you are policing on the beat that you know. you can understand like a guy like skip gates would get as angry as he did. he was charged with something, sounds like out of the 18th century.

>> well, tee mull chumultuous. >> the professor was indignant that he was being treated like a common criminal. we don't have the full context but the history. this police officer has a woman outside pointing. two guys. both tried to break into the house. and this guy is responding to the situation. here's what he said. the guy may have had an attitude as well. we are all injecting our own experiences here, gene and you and i are too. >> we are. >> quote, i love this guy. sergeant james crowley. he is an official. there are not many certainties in life but it is for certain sergeant crowley, speaking to yourself in the third person, will apologize. >> he's sticking to his guns. >> yes. >> both of these guys are ready to say i'm right, you're wrong. to to hell. >> here's the question.

this is a racially charged incident. here's the question, once you have established that this is in fact a man who was in his own house, do you -- >> i agree. >> -- why do you then put him in the cuffs? would you that if it were famous harvard professor larry summers compared to famous har fard professor skip gates. >> i think larry summers would be more indignant. >> here's the piece where you respond to your view. here's crowley's report. as i stood in pain view of this manner, later identified as gates, i asked him if he would step out on the porch and speak with me. he demanded to know who i was so i told him i wa investigating a break in progress at the

residence. and gates opened his door and said, why, because i'm a black man in america? i'm keyelling, i'm sorry. he accused me of being a racist police officer. i assured gates i was responding to a citizen's call and the caller was outside as we spoke. gates seemed to ignore me and picked up a cordless phone and dialed an unknown phone number. as he did so, i radioed in channel one, the police number. and then i was off in the residence with someone who appears to be a resident but wasn't very cooperative. i overheard gates asking the person on the other end of the telephone call to get the chief. what's the chief's name? gates was telling the person he was dealing with a racist police officer in his home. gates turned to the man and said i had no idea who i was messing with and i had not heard the last of it. i was led to believe gates was lawfully in the residence, i was quite surprised and confused about the view towards me.

i ask him to provide identification that he verified at that address. and he did so blindly with a harvard education. >> he was being awfully uppity, wasn't he? he was in his own house and, gee, didn't react well by being called out of his house by some cop he had never seen. someone comes in the front of your house -- >> i want to know who the person outside is accusing me of burglarizing my house. >> from the point of view of the cop, he's thinking not own am i dealing with -- you used the word uppity. i couldn't and wouldn't but you did. he's big-timing me. he's calling the chief on me. he's going the harvard thing on me. i'm just a cambridge cop. he's doing the harvard thing on

me. >> not since the days of radio have people done so much without a visual. we are calling a baseball game like ronald reagan used to do without being here. we're getting it off the wire, ladies and gentlemen. and we did it in a civilized matter. much more on the president's press conference. back to that thing. and whether he missed a big opportunity tonight. this is night court. we're trying to get the verdict. millions of men 45 and older...

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still ahead on "hardball," how big a problem does the republican party have with this lunatic crowd, the crazies who are convinced that president obama isn't an american? can't we agree on something here? and did the president miss a big chance to not be able to explain why we need a big health care change. all of that is coming up on this late night edition of

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welcome back to a special late night edition of "hardball." president obama has been in office now six months but right wing conspiracyist are questioning his citizenship. check out this meeting that mike cassell had in delaware.

>> everybody's getting open the zoo bust when it comes to this question. nutty questions about the president's birth certificate like rush-bow himself and lou dobbs and lunatic fringes out there. they have 11 now displaying the birth certificate to run for president now, which is fine except the message is this guy deposit have one, meaning barack obama. joan walsh is editor and chief of salon and willie brown is the former great speaker of the california assembly and former mayor of san francisco most recently. i wanted to start with joe walsh. you wrote an interesting blog about your experience watching the former vice president liz cheney talking about this the other day. your view what's going on for this push to claim that the president of the united states is not american. >> i think it is despicable, dirty politics, chris.

i was shocked watching liz cheney. he shown own that clip you just showed and was asked to separate herself from them and refused. she went on to say the problem is people are uncomfortable with the president who doesn't seem comfortable defending our country overseas. she went on and on about it. i never have seen our friend james carville speechless. and he was. and then he got back in the game and said she and other people are using this lunatic fringe. they are playing to it the most dirty, disgusting elements of american politics for their own reason because they are trying to de la jit mize the president. i don't know what it's working but lately with lou dobbs, with liz cheney, with the crazy at the mike rally. >> and they certainly went through a road to damascus the other night. he finally got around saying he

believes the president is in fact one of us. he is an american. >> he did better than liz cheney. in response to my blog post, politico got ahold of liz cheney and said today, not last night in front of a large national audience, i think he has the right to be president. mighty of you, liz. i think it's terrible the pandering going on. >> i thought the new low was trying to deamericanize michael dukakis. they are almost declaring this guy undocumented alien. >> that's what they are doing, chris. i have got to tell you, the republican party is in shambles. quality people among the republicans should really step up to the plate and begin to denounce these lunatics, these people who are in fact taken away from all of the glory that at one time was with the republican party. when you had people like nelson

rockefeller. when you had the senator gold water from arizona, you had some incredible, outstanding americans who were republicans. it seems to me newt gingrich, john mccain, the governor of minnesota, the governor of florida, and the former vice president cheney really should step up to the plate and denounce this lunatic fringe. they don't need to say anything directly about obama. the american people have already said that by making mr. obama their president. but these lunatics need to be put in their place. >> what do you make of senator shelby joining this bandwagon? this zoo train actually is what it is. senator shelby of alabama has been on this program many times. why would he join those who actively question the president's americanism? is he in fact a native-born american president? he is joining this.

the nine republican gentlemen have all joined this. i wonder if this is not about documentation but pigmentation. would they be doing this to a george w. bush, or a ronald reagan? somebody who's white. would they do it in front of the somebody who's been around a while. bring into your question of ethic americanism, being basically one of us. >> john mccain was born in mpan. but democrats wouldn't do that. his republican colleagues wouldn't do that. >> i think it's worse here. >> it's much worse here. he's legit my and i'm not questioning that. it was never raised. i think it's very deep. i think it is racial. i think that the whole birther nonsense, it's prime moerdial. it lets you talk about his father, a muslim. it lets use the name hussein, which is scary. i will go farther since it is

late-night "hardball," it focuses on status of his birth which is a white mother and black father. >> at least you're admitting to the facts on his birth certificate. i was looking at the birth certificate, it says african farther, caucasian-american mother. here's rush limbaugh, who has a very high iq. he knows what he's doing, and here's what he's doing with this issue. >> barack obama has yet to have to prove he's a citizen. all he has to do is show a birth certificate. i have to show them 14 different ways before the hell i am. >> i am waving his berth certificate, again tonight. mayor brown, was is rush-bow talking about? we are showing it on the screen, ladies and gentlemen. rush limbaugh can watch this.

lou dobbs is into this game now. is this a viral disease they're all involved with this? mayor brown? >> they are just off the scale on this one. kmr clearly the american people have already accepted barack obama as they have accepted chris matthews, willie brown, ms. walsh. they know who we are s they know we are as american as they are. and believe me, you are not going to influence even your own relatives with this nonsense about whether or not barack obama is a citizen. no one should have to wave their birth certificate around when you are as authentic as barack obama is. if you want to call him an immigrant, call him an immigrant and then proceed to prove he's an immigrant. you want to to question whether or not he's american. prove it if you think that's important. i think rush is just wrong on this one. >> i think we have to put some money on this, like college in the middle of the night, and the

mayor, we should bet in the middle of the night. put money on it, rush. you get behind the bet saying he's not a citizen and then pay up. >> as a matter of fact, you out to say, barack, but your contract and proceeds from your contract -- >> none of us would do that. anyway, thank you joan walsh. lighthearted conversation about something that is truly crazy. mayor, as always. up next, we get back to the big press series with the public. i had a hard time getting a message out of the president. i think he might be very tired. i think getting up at 5:00 in the morning, his schedule doesn't permit being brilliant at 8:00 at night. it was a missed opportunity and we need that message. "politics fix" for others to think and speak when we come back on "hardball" on msnbc.

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if somebody told you that there is a plan out there that is guaranteed to double your health care costs over the next ten years, that's guaranteed to result in more americans losing their health care, and that is by far the biggest contributor to our federal deficit, i think most people would be opposed to that. well, that's the status quo. that's what we have right now. >> we're back now for "the

politics fix" with msnbc political annual michelle barnard and the politico's roger simon. we all watch politics and study it. the president is incredibly smart. incredibly able with eloquent language to get across a point. why didn't he get his point across tonight? if he did, i missed it. >> everybody would say there was a missed point. it was barely a net positive. he's charismatic. everybody likes him. they want this presidency to succe succeed. whatever the point was, he was lost in the details and the popularity wasn't enough to make the big sell. >> when a politician doesn't want to be clear with you, he tells you clearly what he will tell you hurt him. he doesn't want to tell us the cost of this policy. is this sort of the diplomacy and diplomatic dance he's engaged with on capitol hill and republicans, he can't tell them what he wants? >> maybe it is, but i don't think it worked on tv. i don't think you can go before

the american people and say you're going to finance two-thirds of a $1 trillion plan by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. >> reagan did it. >> he didn't say i understand some of you are anxious or skeptical or is cynical or queasy. this is why. presidents always promise to finance things about eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. they never never do it. it is much harder than it looks like. i can't believe at his fourth dress conference, this big-deal formal event, that was his whole mess aebl message. >> he didn't quite say that even. he said i can go along with nancy pelosi's idea of socking it to the rich. the people making over $1 million a year. but i would like to go back to my original plan, which i think is the best option, he would reduce charitable contributions and home mortgages and things like that, which is extremely unpopular and died within an hour or two of going to the hill.

why go back to something he knows can't sell. >> it's what you said just two seconds ago. he can't go into the details. if the american public will have to make, for example, what kind of test are you going to get, who's making those decisions? if we don't like the pinheads and insurance companies haking a decision about the test you get, nobody wants some dumb government bureaucrat. he want patient-center medicine. he raised so many questions tonight, i want to know who is making the decisions? i don't like the insurance company but i don't like the government doing it? >> do you think he would rather have the democrats say no him-to-him or a pinhead in michigan or connecticut? it's hard to get the government to change its mind. >> the current system is awful. it stinks. it will bankrupt us.

>> i deposidn't hear that. >> he said medicare and medicaid are drying up the country. >> obviously we have to do something to prevent that. unfortunately for him, the congressional budget office says his plan will be even worse. >> this is a night to give examples of real-life experiences of people who have lost their health care, when they lost their job. real-life concerns where in the movie by michael moore "sicko," where people are denied benefits. and he didn't do that. >> and he needed to show us we will not turn into canada or great britain. >> and he didn't do that either. wily right back with roger and michelle with the fix. introducing venus...

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rnlg rnlgts. we're back with michelle barnard and roger simon with the fix. we have to talk about the henry gates situation, professor gates up in harvard while he was arrested recently and then unarrested when it looked like a break-in in the neighborhood. turns out he was breaking into his own house. a police officer arrived. got into a big dispute but it looked like a case of profiling. >> and there are old shirts that college students used to wear in the '80s, it's a black thing and you wouldn't get it. a lot of people saying, why won't you give over the i.d.

right away? i can understand what these thinking. they saw a black man breaking into a house in a predominantly white neighborhood. i can understand the anger but . who says when police say step out of your home you have to. >> what we're doing is employ filing as it fits the standard. but it didn't happen this time. that young cop was doing his job. >> let me profile presidential press conferences. while i think president obama is right on the fact, if you're the president of the united states, you never want to say in the same sentence, i don't know all of the facts but the police acted stupidly. you just don't want to say that. >> especially if you have the keys. >> you don't know how the police acted. i agree he thought he knows the pertinent fact but obama is just skilled enough to have knot fact aside and still dealt with the question, to have dealt with the question of race. he could have easily done it.

he does that stuff in his sleep. i think he was tired. i don't think he handled that well. >> i think if he handled it differently, more caucasians would have been happy or too differently, african-americans would be very, very upset. >> o.j. simpson either killed his ex-wife or he didn't. everyone had their own reaction to it, racially and ethnically dividing it up, of course. but there is a fact, did he or did he not do it? and in the end, that is the question. was this case handled correctly by the police. was it in fact a case of police abuse or misbehavior by a citizen? >> in his own home. >> well, okay. but the fact that it was in his own home sort of removes the case of racial profiling. it wasn't a street stop where they were stoppling people at random and decided to stop only black men. what the police officer did wrong is disorderly conduct is

an absurd charge. i think this was the president's point. it's an absurd charge when you're standing in your living room. >> we don't know what happened. michelle barnard, roger simon. and that continues on "the ed show" with ed schultz. >> we will pass reform that lowers costs, provides choice and provides coverage every american can count on and we will do it this year. good evening, americans. thanks for joining us on this late edition of "the ed show." coming from the nation's capital, washington, d.c. president obama wrapped up his primetime news conference a few hours ago. i was there in the front row and somewhat dismayed. i will tell you about that. we'll have complete coverage. the president clobbers the insurance companies, highlighting the numbers we showed you earlier in the program. the president did address the republican critics and he was a little soft when it came to the conservative democrats. nancy pelosi is the one making the news.

the speaker says that she has the votes to pass a progressive option. she's willing to work through august, but dick durbin in the senate said he won't take it up until after august. the president says he's in a hurry to get it done for the american people. i'm all about that. plus, the moment that may steal the health care headlines. president obama took a hard line when asked about a high-profile case of alleged racial profiling. and the lion of the senate makes his voice heard, what ted kennedy said after the president's news conference. and get your phones ready, folks. i want to know what you think about the president's primetime speech tonight. great guests coming up. first tonight's "op said." i'm such a fan of this president. this is the man who with so much tenacity, so much energy, campaigned for the presidency of the united states. but he was almost a different guy at the podium