>> well, let me ask you the question, lois. do you think this all wraps together the fact that the republican right, the far right rather, has been questioning the president's birth as american, questioning his legitimacy as an elected president, even suggesting he ought to get picked up basically because he doesn't have a green card? then to take it obviously to going after him on the situation in cambridge which is murky and this whole thing here with glenn beck saying he's a racist, it seems there is a piece to this, it's all one message, this guy is not one of us. >> you know, chris, i think you're on to something there. i think the far right has picked up on all these racial overtones. you know, i did a piece on michelle obama i guess a few weeks ago and it had about 400 comments on the internet. >> right. >> some of them were so vile we had to take them down they were so racist. they know they're hitting a core segment of society and they're trying to inflame these racial feelings. >> right. >> your thoughts, john? why is party politics -- we know he's african-american. that's fact, manifest from the

first day we met him in his big speech. >> right. >> why is it news that they're playing the racial card the way they're playing it? >> well, the birth certificate offers a certain segment out there some degree of reassurance that this country didn't actually elect somebody who is african-american. i think it's not even thinly veiled. it's driven by this small fraction of american society. they can't accept the fact he's our president so they're grasping at this though it's totally debunked and of course it's about race. they don't want to accept the fact we don't have a white president. >> so it's not about documentation but pigmentation. it's not about race but patriotism. it's just a take on what the far right has always done, the whole thing about when they said john kerry looks french and they questioned john mccain's commitment to his country. you know, it's putting doubt in people's minds about people's

loyalty and who they are. >> maybe it's time for the republican party to unhook the caboose, let it go. we thank you, lois and jonathan. join us again tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for "hardball." "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? let's make a deal meets the blue dog democrat. >> we have reached an agreement that will allow health care reform to move forward. >> is the deal a breakdown or a breakthrough? as we try to expand coverage for americans, why is the senate trying to take health care away from kids? tonight, inside the negotiations on capitol hill with democratic senator sharon brown of ohio. the health care message war. why is fear winning out over facts? >> these folks need to stop scaring everybody. nobody is talking about you being forced to change your plan. >> tonight, why gop scare tactics keep working. smearing the stimulus.

the dnc has had enough of republican hypocrisy and they're taking to the airwaves. >> they supported the bush policies that sank our economy into recession. they broke it. now they refuse to fix it. >> the bonus battle on wall street. the house makes sure financial execs don't cash in on risky money moves. arianna huffington joins me on the return of her book "pigs at the trough." hollywood and hard times when this is happening on tv. >> an economic crisis has hit the nation like never before. >> you know the recession has taken a deep hold. and obama's beer diplomacy. his meeting tomorrow with professor gates and sergeant crowley still sparking controversy. >> this president i think has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seeded hatred for white people or the white culture. >> the race debate. expectations on tomorrow's meeting from eugene robinson. all that and more now on "countdown." good evening.

from new york i'm howard dean. keith olbermann has the night off. if you don't like what we already know about the health care bill that's being worked out behind closed doors by the senate finance committee, consider this. its final deal could be even worse. our fifth story on the "countdown", some democrats say they fear the committee will take away health insurance from the 11 million children who already have it just to keep republicans happy. first, the public option and now schip. dare we ask what's next? at least things appear to be going much better in the house where most of the blue dog democrats on the energy and commerce committee say they've reached an agreement with the leadership and the white house. the deal leaves intact almost everything that both sides wanted.

but in the senate, democrats like jay rockefeller say they're unhappy about the concessions democrats are making to keep a few republicans onboard. senator rockefeller told "the new york times" that schip could be on the table. the president's campaign to reform health care in this country is taking a hit on his poll numbers. more americans now disapprove than approve of how the president's handling health care reform. according to the latest nbc/"wall street journal" poll. once people are given more details about the kinds of things that president obama wants this plan to do, a clear majority are in favor of it. at a supermarket in virginia the president tried to clear up more of the confusion that's been created by republican spin. >> rumor has it that if we get this new health care system in, that we won't get the health care, our doctors and all that we have now, that virtually people, older american citizens would just be put out to pasture. please tell me that isn't so. >> it isn't so. i mean, i don't know --

[ applause ] >> nothing burns me up more than hearing some of these scare tactics directed at seniors. >> is this a plan that you would be willing to put your family on? >> yes. i mean, as i said, this is a plan that's similar to what i had when i was a member of congress. you know, the federal employees benefit plan is -- the way it basically works is that you have sort of a menu of options. you can choose the plan that you think is best and then, you know, you pay your premium. i also think one of the choices that you should be able to choose from is what's called a public option. this has gotten a lot of people riled up because, ah ha. see? this government run -- when you hear people talking about us wanting to create a government run health system? all they're really talking about is what we were -- what we

proposed is to have an option that is not for profit, it's set up by the government, and can keep administrative costs low and can keep insurance companies honest. because if you -- if the insurance companies started jacking up their rates real high, then you could go into the public option and, you know, those private insurers would start losing a lot of people so they'd have to compete for you. >> lots to talk about tonight with senator brown, democrat of ohio. welcome to the show. >> thanks, howard. good to talk to you. thanks. >> the house has come up with a pretty decent compromise. why is the senate having so much trouble doing the same thing? >> well, we have a good bill that came out of the health education labor pension committees, strong public option, employer mandate, everybody needs to be in the plan, very strong consumer protections for all people who have insurance and for those newcomers just getting insurance. the senate finance committee is

not coming up as good of a plan, as senator rockefeller said. but we're not going to do things like exclude the 11 million children now in schip. we're not going to accept a weak public option or a nonexisting public option. those are the president's priorities. that's what every democrat on the health education labor pension committee voted for. we're not going to lay down and come up with some sort of phony co-op that some few number of democrats seem to want. >> and in fairness to your committee's bill, it is a great bill, and one of the things i want to spend a little time talking about is the option, the part for small businesses. can you talk to me about what you do for small businesses? this is the first big break small businesses would ever have gotten from the federal government. >> yes, everybody is going to get -- if your workers are -- if

people are lower income they're going to get some subsidies to be able to afford insurance. it goes up to literally 400% of poverty so if a family is making $80,000 they'll get less help than somebody making $20,000 or $30,000 but a lot of these insurance reforms will help small business. those small businesses now that are not able to -- where insurance has gotten so expensive in part because they're not just covering their own employees but covering people who aren't insured because of cost shifting, that burden will be taken off. that will stabilize insurance premiums for those companies because everybody will be in the insurance plan and the so-called gateway. president obama said people are going to have a wide menu of choices. they can go into a public option. they can go with aetna. they can go with medical mutual in ohio which is a mutual company. they can go into a for profit or not for profit company like kaiser. as i said, or they can go into the public but that's the choice. businesses will have that and that's the choice individuals

will have. >> you must get this question all the time from your voters in ohio. why is it that your colleagues appear willing to give away so much just to please a few republicans who may not be interested in passing health care reform of any kind? >> i wish i could answer that question better, howard. i go back to 40 years ago when the medicare bill passed. people like bob dole, strom thurman, donald rumsfeld, gerald ford as members of congress all opposed it. in those days the fact is the democrats moved forward. they didn't worry about we have to have x number of republicans. their mission was we're going to get a good medicare bill. that's what they did. that needs to be our charge, not a bipartisan bill -- though i hope it is bipartisan and i hope republicans vote for it -- but our mission, our charge is we need a strong bill that works for the middle class that works for people in the country that don't have insurance and it works for people that already have decent insurance. in our bill that came out of the committee in the senate it's exactly that. >> what was going to be the reaction in the democratic caucus in the united states senate if the public option is not in the deal that comes out of the finance committee? >> people are going to be

unhappy and there will be a lot of pressure on leader reed to adopt a bill that's much more main stream democratic like the health committee but also main stream american bill. the country overwhelmingly as you know wants a strong public option. when these numbers for president obama have been declining, it's largely because the public is not seeing the strong public option, the strong pro consumer bill that they saw out of the health committee. when we passed our bill the president's numbers about how he was handling health care were much stronger than they are now because the public is not reading about these compromises and bringing along conservative republicans with their values, about weakening the public option, about cowtowing too much to the insurance industry and the drug companies. if we write a strong, progressive bill that's where

the public is and when president obama's numbers go up particularly when he starts talking about it like he did in the fruit and vegetable section in virginia today in that supermarket. >> senator enzi said he wanted a guarantee anything the committee agrees to ends up in the final legislation. that is not how the senate works. how can he ask for something like that and have any real intention of working for a bill? >> he can ask for whatever he wants but it's not going to happen. first of all, our bill, we had 11 days of markup. that's longer than any bill i've

ever worked on in 16 years, 17 years in the house and senate. it was, we explored every option. we accepted 160 republican amendments. senator enzi is the ranking member on that committee. he lost some he won some. he lost most of the big issues on the public option and some consumer protections but the fact is that the democrats are in the majority. the public voted for a strong health plan, not a bill written like the old medicare bill. you remember, howard, several years ago you ran in part on this issue, how the drug companies and the insurance companies wrote the medicare law that george bush pushed through congress. it was a betrayal of the middle class. it was a betrayal of consumers and patients because the drug companies and insurance companies had their way. those days are gone. i want to work with republicans. i want a bipartisan bill. i got a lot of republican votes when i was elected to the senate in '06 but the votes i got were not people saying, hey, play along with the drug industry and the insurance industry and do what they want in health care. that's exactly the opposite message i took. >> do you think the president needs to do more with the senate to get a good bill passed? has he got to step in here more? >> yeah, the president needs to do a couple things. i think he's begun to hit his stride listening to those clips you just played in the supermarket in virginia. the president needs to be out talking, you know, not through the screen of the drug industry or the insurance industry but the president needs to go directly to the american people,

talking about why this is good for them, if you already have insurance we're going to protect what you have. we're going to fix what's broken. second, the president needs to unleash all of those people that are -- that have been supporters of his the way that you build up your list five years ago, the way he did in his '08 race. all the people out there that believe in a progressive government that believe in this president that believe a democratic majority in both houses will move us forward on health care. those people need to start calling and writing their congressmen and senators in both parties. i think that will make the other difference. so it's the president hitting his stride and getting out there speaking directly to people and it's about all the people that support the president starting to write and call their members of congress. >> one last question. the inside the beltway media is writing about the idea that the republicans have gained control of the message war and democrats are losing just like what happened in 1993. i think my own view of this is that may be true and partly because the media only wants to seem to cover the republican negative message and not the positive message. how do we change this around? it's not going to be easy. >> you're right. i don't see a lot of parallels between now and '93.

my first year in the house was that year. i sat on the health committee and it turned out to be a disaster for a lot of reasons. i think that the republican message is easier because it says, stop. slow down. all the easy things to communicate to the public. i think once the president's out there, once we have a bill he can talk about, similar to the bill that came out of the health education labor pension committee, once he's got that, then we're going to see these numbers go back up and we're going to be on the offensive and we're going to let people know that this bill is good for the middle class in this country. >> senator sherrod brown of ohio, thanks so much for being on the show. >> my pleasure. >> health care of course is not the only battleground for the two parties today. democrats are hitting back on the gop stimulus attacks. we'll show you the video they put out. and can a beer heal the nation's racial divide? or will the nation once again split over an age-old conflict? tastes great, less filling. next on "countdown." gecko vo: geico's the third-largest

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first bush republicans broke the economy. then bush republicans opposed fixing it. then bush republicans blamed mr. obama for not fixing it quickly enough. now in tonight's fourth story, payback time. the bush generals who led the

gop congress in blindly following bushonomics off the cliff are senate republican leader mitch mcconnell and house republican leader john boehner. senate republican whit jon kyl and house republican whip eric cantor. in a new national ad today democrats not only refute their claims about the obama recovery but reassert how these bush republicans made it necessary. >> he said we should cancel the recovery act. he falsely claimed no projects had been awarded in ohio. he opposed the recovery act but then took credit for a project in his district. and he led the fight against the recovery act that is boosting kentucky's economy. they supported the bush policies that sank our economy into recession. they broke it. now they refuse to fix it. tell republican leaders to stop playing politics with our economy. the democratic national committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> congressman boehner's office responded, saying, quote, democrats can't run away from the fact that the stimulus has failed to provide the immediate jolt to the economy and prevent unemployment from climbing above 8% as the administration promised. this is the moral equivalent of

an abusive guy who puts his wife in the hospital and then gets mad at the doctors who can't send her home as soon as they had hoped. joining me now is laura flanders author of "blue grip" and host of grit tv at grit tv.org. thanks so much for your time tonight. >> it's great to be with you, governor. >> what is the point of targeting the leadership who are in safe seats rather than the followers who are vulnerable in the next election? >> well, first off it's a great ad can we just say? it's good to be reminded some of these republicans shouldn't be trusted any more when they talk about money than some should be trusted when they talk about their marriages. you know? so i think there is something to be said for going on the offensive, going on the attack and a loft the democratic base will be happy to see the dnc showing some sign of life and really pushing back. it's outrageous. it's an epidemic. the republicans who are now claiming credit for some of the

stimulus money that they, themselves, opposed. i saw a picture the other day of bobby jindel in louisiana. he went to present a region with a huge, jumbo check with his name at the bottom. the check was partly at least thanks to federal stimulus funds. it should have been the federal government's name at the bottom. he opposed that money and now wants credit for it. the question you're asking is an important one. do the democrats need to get really smart about the upcoming mid terms? absolutely. they are not won as you know in these national television contests but at the base at the local level, how much work gets done. i think that the, going on the offensive good, the attack is good. the accomplishments will be better. what will really win the mid terms for democrats is going to be actually coming through on what they've promised to their folks. >> laura, the fed today reported that most of its 12 regions have either stabilized economically or the pace of decline has started to level off. >> well, that's -- >> if the public starts sensing the worst is over what do

republicans have left? >> i have to say, that's kind of like telling new yorkers right now it's not going to rain all of august. it's only going to rain some of august. you know? i'm not better yet by knowing that the pace of decline after a 30-year decline has slowed a bit. and frankly the only people i see up there experiencing any recovery are the private health insurers. they're really just the profit insurers. they're going up to the ceiling with what they're getting out of this moment. but most of the people i know aren't yet feeling any real change. you're right, though. the republicans, you know, are making hay out of saying that the stimulus isn't working. it was never supposed to work in the first two seconds. we need to recall that. but they haven't got anything to solve the problem either. they're trying to go with, you know, drill baby drill and we won't let you have an abortion. i don't think that's going to really play. again, though, the democrats can't just sit back and say the gop is in trouble. they've got to come through. and most importantly, they've

got to come through with health care and with the public option you were just talking about. >> the republican national committee is meeting today in san diego getting to know minnesota governor tim pawlenty who is a possible candidate for president in 2012. can pawlenty or anyone win both the nomination that requires base support and then a general election that requires main stream support? >> well, i wonder how well the rnc is going to get to know pawlenty there. i mean, it seems i remember from the last sort of primaries this is a guy who came out against darwin. he's a creationist. there's going to be a pretty hard sell as a presidential candidate somebody who believes so much bunk about science is really going to save our economy. but, you know, yeah. you're right. they're facing the problem, can they get a general audience, can we get a general audience and get the extremes as well? it's interesting, though, isn't it, howard, and you know all about this, that on the republican side they're busily trying to curry favor always with the people at their

margins. on the democratic side we tend to kind of run away from the margins even when they represent majority views like the peace vote. these are interesting times. it's okay for the republicans to go for the people at their flanks i just wish the democrats wouldn't be going for the republican votes too. >> a pleasure speaking with you. thanks for being on. coming up from the stim tlous the bailout the house taking new action to make sure your taxpayer dollars are not abused by padding executive bonuses. and you know times are tough when recession talk makes it into the cartoon world. pop culture and the pain in the pocketbook collide. [ male announcer ] 1 in 4 women can misread a traditional pregnancy test. try clearblue easy digital. no pregnancy test is more accurate. it's the first test with totally clear results in words. clearblue easy digital: results 5 days sooner. no test is more accurate.

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when asked how the entertainment industry deals with recession, pop culture expert elaine rappy said the recession is like the elephant in the room. you can't avoid it. so it's not surprising that with our economic tales into the second year the continued hard times are finally reflected in our popular culture. here is nbc's chris jansing. >> reporter: call it recession tv. >> i had to kick the renters out and move into my parents' house where i grew up. >> reporter: on the new hbo series the leading man is underpaid, uninsured, and newly divorced. >> now all i ever seem to do is try not to drown. >> reporter: in the world of bank bailouts, automaker bankruptcys, foreclosures, and frauds, art is reflecting life. >> entertainment at its best, like a television show or movie is grounded in reality.

so there is no way good writers aren't looking at what's going on today. >> reporter: so "30 rock" has repeatedly mined the financial crisis for laughs. >> no, i never fired anybody in my life. >> it's an acquired skill. >> reporter: so has "south park." >> an economic crisis has hit south park and the nation like never before. >> reporter: and "the simpsons." >> here is your new monthly payment. >> michael moore asks for money. >> collectors will come down the aisles to collect your donations for citi bank, bank of america, aig. >> reporter: and ben aflac's upcoming film is about the aftermath of corporate downsizing. hollywood and the entertainment industry have certainly produced memorable story lines from bad times before. the great depression produced everything from "to kill a mockingbird" to "the waltons" and the economic downturn of the '70s gave voice to rap and hip hop. but where there are reality checks, there is also escapism. the top grossing movies of the year are "transformers" and "star trek" all in a galaxy about as far away from downsizing as you can get.

>> it's also about finding stories that really stress universal themes, that really help people deal with tough times by telling them, what are universal values we can always adhere to? >> reporter: the universal theme of love is giving romance novels their best year ever. if you're stressed or depressed the bottom line is romance novels ar lot cheaper than therapy. >> reporter: don't expect "dynasty 2" any time soon. because these days, even in the high flying hollywood world of entourage -- >> what's wrong? >> what's right? have you seen my stock portfolio, lloyd? >> no. >> reporter: the recession has gone primetime. chris jansing, nbc news, los angeles. still ahead on "countdown" a house committee votes to keep wall street wages in check. what else needs to happen to keep the financial industry from spinning out of control again? arianna huffington joins me

next. later, a single arrest sparking a national debate for the president's assertion that the arrest was stupid to the far right's cry that obama is a racist. we'll take a look at the stakes of tomorrow's white house meeting. stay on top of my game after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day men's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration. plus support for heart health. that's a great call. one a day men's.

one reason we've had a housing bubble is that industry -- finance industry executives were making millions in bonuses and other compensation by creating a whole new business of marketing even the worst mortgages as bright and shiny securities, putting their companies at long-term risk of collapse so they could make out like bandits in the short run. in our number three story tonight a house committee has now voted -- let's not do that anymore. specifically, barney frank's financial services committee, sending to the full house a bill that would ban big companies from paying executives enormous amounts of money for deals that put the company at, quote, inappropriate risk. ranking republican spencer bachus told the associated press, quote, politically it was very difficult for my members to stand up and fight against this. in part, because executives now

make up about 300 times what the average worker does, up from 35 times the average worker pay in 1978. let's bring in arianna huffington, cofounder and editor-in-chief of "the huffington post.com" and also author of "pigs at the trough." arianna, thanks for coming on tonight. >> great to be with you. >> if we don't pay these guys millions of dollars, how will we continue to get the same caliber of leadership that has given us aig and citi corp and so forth and so on? >> howard, that's exactly the question we should be asking ourselves. because the real issue here is how can we align the interests of executives with the interests of shareholders and the interests of the company, not to mention the interests of society at large? that's really what has gone awry.

i think it's important when we talk about this that it's not about limiting executive compensation in absolute terms. it's about correcting all this wrong incentives that have been there and as you pointed out have basically made it so likely that executives put the short-term interests of their compensation ahead of the interests of the company and the interests of the country. >> will this bill work not just in reducing big compensation packages but also shielding the economy from them? >> well, it's only one piece of the puzzle. i mean, we have a lot of work to do. we basically need to put an end to companies that are too big to fail because if they are too big to fail they are too big to exist. we cannot keep socializing losses and privatize go gains. the taxpayer is now on the hook for trillions of dollars. but it is definitely a good first step to align these different incentives. even if you go back to the high priestess of capitalism the

favorite of alan greenspan she would have been completely opposed to what has been happening. you have ceos and i read about them what happened in 2003 with enron and worldcom and then what's happened in the last year or so, who basically drive their companies into the ground and in the process become phenomenally rich themselves. that was not what was intended by capitalists. >> so we're now going to transform new the secretary of the treasury. you are presiding over what hank paulson and george bush saw a year ago. what do you do about it? you have a company like aig, which is $185 billion, has $185 billion of taxpayers' money. do you let them fail? because if you do, you know what the consequences are. >> no. i would not have let them fail but i would have driven a very hard bargain. i would have attached many strings which would have included breaking up the company so it's no longer too big to fail which it continues to be and i would have definitely driven a very hard bargain when

it came to paying back the counterparties. we gave a hundred cents to the dollar so that's why goldman sachs for example ended up getting $12 billion from the government. so when goldman sachs comes back now and says, look how much profit we are making, no they're not yet because they're still living off taxpayer money and with taxpayer guarantees. >> do you think citigroup should be broken up? >> absolutely. citigroup should definitely be broken up. citi corp is basically insolvent. we continue to subsidize and we are continuing to put the country at risk. that's really the key issue here. >> let's look at a bank that's not insolvent, jp morgan chase but clearly, enormously big, perhaps well managed now but maybe not in the future. should that be broken up? >> i think the way we should handle that, howard, is to bring back a form of procedure which happened during the clinton years. it was at the heart of a lot of this crisis we've been facing. as you know, it had huge

consequences around the country. so the essence is to regulate the different functions of the banks. we need to bring it back in some form that is compatible with the 21st century of economy. >> what about regulating the sort of mystical securities that nobody can put their fingers on that wall street claims they helped make things more liquid and help capital but without derivatives i think aig would still be solvent and a lot of the banks would not have, with the credit swaps, what do we do about that stuff? >> two things we need to do. we need to reform the credit ratings agencies. these agents kept giving perfect ratings to junk because they're basically paid by the people they are rating. that has to change.

the second thing we need to do is to bring back some real regulation. not the kind that the sec was in favor of, which basically let bernie madoff get away with what he did while the sec was pursuing martha stewart. >> arianna huffington, perhaps the next secretary of the treasury. the book is "pigs at the trough." nice to talk with you. >> thank you. coming up president obama is attacked as a racist for his remarks surrounding the arrest of harvard professor henry gates. why some are using this teachable moment to try to tear the country apart. on the lighter side, presidential getaways. we'll show you where the obamas might go for summer vacation. how many washes did it take cheer brightclean to get this from dingy to bright? one might be surprised. twelve. no. uh, excuse me! four? one...

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coming up the arrest of professor gates still sparking a bitter conversation about race in america. will president obama's meeting at the white house tomorrow with

gates and the arresting officer finally put the controversy to rest? up next, summer vacation obama style. where the first family is headed for some r & r, next on "countdown." ney honey honey honey honey! okay... i mean... you can't... this isn't a stove, alright? i mean... what if i just walked into the kitchen and started making a salad? - that'd be weird. - right? i mean, look, there's a technique. - okay... - ( strikes match ) wow. it's okay, everyone. - thanks, hon. - you're welcome. announcer: yep, it's that easy, - with kingsford match light. - ( match strikes ) some pharmacies make you work for it with memberships and fees. but not walmart. they have hundreds of generic prescriptions for just $4 for up to a 30-day supply or $10 for 90 days. save money. live better. walmart.

whether you consider it a cruiser or a clunker, you could turn it into cash. get to your dodge, chrysler, and jeep dealer, and get up to double the government's cash for your old car. now get up to $4,500 for your old car... plus, up to an additional $4,500 cash allowance. no turn-in? no problem. your dodge, chrysler, and jeep dealer guarantees everyone up to $4,500 cash allowance... on virtually every model. get to your dodge, chrysler and jeep dealer on the double, and get double cash for your old car! if you're the leader of the free world it's not easy to find the right place for your summer vacation but president obama and his family may finally have found theirs. they're reportedly going to be staying at the blue herron farm, a 28 acre estate on martha's vineyard. it comes with an apple orchard, a private beach, and required

for this president it brings its own basketball court. >> reporter: as president of the united states, you get to vacation pretty much wherever you want. but when you grew up in hawaii, not exactly a shabby vacation destination, where do you go to get away from all this? >> so, mr. president, it's time to scrap this bill. >> this president has no one else to blame. >> reporter: the white house says the obamas will be spending the last week of august on martha's vineyard. >> i think it's going to be one of the most exciting things to hit the island in a long time. >> carl and his family have been vacationing here for generations. >> i'm thrilled as i think a lot of folks here on the island are. and excited. >> reporter: presidents who vacationed on the island off the coast of massachusetts before, bill and hillary clinton spent time there, so did, that's right, ulysseus s. grant. now it's the obamas who will be tapping into an island which

also has a rich history as a summer haven for african-americans. for centuries, the town of oak bluff has been considered a center of black culture. martin luther king wrote and swam there. >> would it suffice to say the oprah winfreys of the world, the spike lees, lavar burtons have good sense, that's why they're coming to martha's vineyard? >> reporter: the obamas may not be staying in oak bluff. vineyard veterans are reporting the obamas will stay at the 28-acre blue heron farm ten miles from oak bluff. the white house won't confirm that but similar places rent for between $35,000 and $50,000 a week. reportedly the obamas are treating this as a standard vineyard summer rental from payment terms down to questions about bringing the family dog. of course, that's assuming your standard summer rental includes

dozens of staff and secret service going along with you. but after six months of this, who could blame the president if he's looking forward to just a little bit of this? coming up, tomorrow's big meeting at the white house. sergeant crowley and professor gates meeting face to face for the first time since that fateful arrest. the expectations for thursday's meeting and the heated racial conversations the arrest have sparked next on "countdown." more cash over here!

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make it your "mission" to c2-layer ambien cr. it started with a routine call about an assumed break-in. a black suspect arrested. a white police officer presiding. but as the details came out and the president weighed in, the story became much more than that. our number one story, the continuing debate on race. tomorrow president obama will meet with the harvard professor arrested in his own home, henry louis gates, and the man a who arrested him sergeant james crowley. meanwhile, the woman who called 911 to report the suspected burglary spoke with reporters today, breaking her silence on the matter. the incident also prompted inflammatory comments from the far right, proving that two weeks after professor gates' arrest there is still much to discuss. our correspondent is andrea mitchell. >> reporter: her call to police unwittingly triggered an incident that has ripped the

scab off racial politics in america. >> the criticism at first was so painful for me and difficult. i was frankly afraid to say anything. people called me racist and said i caused all the turmoil that followed and some even said threatening things that made me fear for my safety. i knew the truth but i didn't speak up right away. because i did not want to add to the controversy. >> reporter: on a lunch break she called 911 to describe what she saw on the front porch in cambridge, massachusetts. >> i'm not sure if these are two individuals who actually work there, i mean, live there. >> do you think they might have been breaking in?

>> i don't know because i have no idea. >> reporter: just the facts and contrary to the police report, no mention of race. she said today her parents taught her to be kind to strangers. >> i do not judge people based on race, ethnicity, or any other feature other than their character. >> reporter: but when the first african-american president criticized the police -- >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. >> reporter: his political opponents, who have huge followings, were off to the races and it was all about race. >> this president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep seeded hatred for white people or the white culture. listen. he can't say he doesn't like white people. david axelrod is white, rahm emanuel his chief of staff are right. 70% of the people we say every

day are white. robert gibbs is white. >> i'm not saying he doesn't like white people. i'm saying he has a problem. this guy is, i believe, a racist. >> reporter: fox news said that was beck's personal opinion. but then there's rush limbaugh. >> let's face it. president obama is black and i think he's got a chip on his shoulder. >> reporter: this is happening while right wing bloggers and talk radio hosts are also challenging whether barack obama is even a natural born american, ignoring all the evidence that he is. their underlying reason many say the president's race. even though barack obama's election was a milestone for the country we have a long way to go. >> it isn't quite post racial. we still have conflicts between african-american citizens especially males and the police department and we shouldn't wave that away or in any way minimize that kind of problem. >> reporter: the question whether we live in a post racial america in life or politics. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> joining me now is the pulitzer prize winning columnist for "the washington post" eugene robinson. good evening, gene. >> good evening, governor.

>> gene, i had two african-american room mates when i was in college my freshman year, the year martin luther king was assassinated and bobby kennedy was assassinated. it took us a year to listen to each other's narratives, understand each other's narratives, and begin to trust each other. today we're still friends. how can we possibly hope that this problem is going to be solved over a beer in the white house? >> well, it's not going to be, governor. you know, we've been working on race in this country since 1619. it is now 2009. so it's not going to happen over one beer but this is how the discussion happens i think. we say we would like to have a full and frank and comprehensive discussion about race in this country. i've written that. i've said that but i've come to realize that that's not going to happen. we're not all going to sit down in a classroom. we're not all going to be able to sit in the same dorm room and exchange narratives in that way. but what happens is an incident like this one happens and it's an incident with a lot of layers and a lot of levels and a lot of

angles and compelling personalities and in this case we're fortunate, an incident in which the only thing, the only feelings and dignity got injured but no one was hurt. there is no tragedy we have to talk about. but it's a compelling story. we look at it in different ways. and at the heart of it are unprovable propositions. i believe that if a white professor had been involved, there would not have been an arrest. others don't believe that. i cannot prove it unless i can get somebody like larry summers to participate in an experiment for me and we can see where we can run it. but these propositions are unprovable and so we talk about it and we are really talking about our own feelings and our own experience of race and our own prejudices and it's a good conversation. >> in many ways that's the whole point though. we've got to get people to listen to each other's feelings. maybe there's racism here.

maybe there isn't. i think most of us are now inclined to believe that maybe there wasn't but no matter what it's not whether there was or wasn't racism in this particular incident. it's you have two reasonably well respected people, one very well known, one not so well known, who have different narratives behind their whole history that caused this kind of problem. how can we get at those narratives and how can we listen to each other's narratives so we can understand each other? >> well, we can put them out there and, you know, we can't make people listen who don't want to listen, who aren't of a mind to listen. but, you know, i'm writing about it.

others are writing about it from different points of view. i do not believe that the flame throwers like glenn beck and rush limbaugh are constructively contributing to the conversation but i do think enough people are paying attention to the story that, you know, again, you don't get all the way there on one story in one week, but i guess i'm optimistic, because i just think this is such a multilayered story in which you have not just race but class and power and all sorts of things that have been happening in our society that make it different from what it was 30 years ago. >> one of the most interesting things to me about this is watching president obama who has really been above the racial tension in this country for a long time for the first time he seemed to kind of go into the narrative of the black community, the black male, who was historically and has been historically the target of abuse by white police. we think -- i think it's getting better. i'm an optimist. it was so interesting to see the president of the united states of america say that, realize he shouldn't have said it, and now react by trying to get the conversation started in a constructive way. >> governor, i don't know. i don't believe i know a, personally know a black man in this country who does not believe that race was somehow