having been made and statements that i don't think reflect her actual judicial temperament, because she made it very clear in her hearings, and if you read her cases, that she well followed the law and that basically she decides cases within the issue of how the law is presented and does so in a way which i think is reasonable. >> now, let me take you to the budget issues. you're known as a fiscal hawk and on the budget committee, the president is meeting today with members of the finance committee. and this is what he had to say to my colleague, chuck todd, yesterday, about how long he's willing to wait for republicans to come on board. let's watch. >> i am glad that in the senate finance committee, there have been a couple of republicans, chuck grassley, mike ensley, olympia snowe who have been willing to negotiate the democrats to try to produce a bill, but they haven't yet. and i think at some point, some time in september, we're just going to have to make an assessment.

>> senator, what point do you think will the president get enough republican support to proceed, or do you think that he will end up going with what's called reconciliation and not seeking 60 votes, but seeking the bare majority? >> well, let's remember that he hasn't put a plan forward, specifically. the only two plans that are pending are one that came out of the kennedy/dodd committee, the other came out of the house committee. neither of those accomplished the goal that he set out. the kennedy/dodd committee leaves 34 million people uncovered. the kennedy/dodd bill increases costs by $33 trillion in the second ten years. and both of those cost people their insurance. if you want to keep your insurance, you may not be able to, because employers will dump you on to the exchange and pay penalty, because it will be cheaper. i would like to see a plan from the white house that specifically supports the ideas he's put forward, because i support them. now, there are two bipartisan plans floating around this congress, which have very strong support.

the one is the wieden/bennett plan, which has -- which i'm a close sponsor of, which has 16 members on it, eight democrats, eight republicans here in the senate. and here we have this initiative by senator grassley and senator baucus, which has been very substantiative and very thoughtful and they've been negotiating aggressively. i i'm hopeful that that will either come to fruition or people will come a hard look at the bipartisanship wieden/bennett plan or my own plan that accomplishes the president's goal. but one thing we don't want to do is move too quickly or create a situation where you pass massive debt on to our kids and give them a government we can't afford and a lot of debt that they can't afford. >> senator, let me ask you about the baucus plan, the baucus/grassley plan out of senate finance. "the washington post" has broad outlines of it. they seem to be coming together toward an agreement. could you support that? >> i would have to see the specifics, but i have a lot of respect for the negotiators.

they decided to reduce the group to just members of the finance committee. and certainly the proposal if senator conrad on the issue of a coop is an interesting approach to get around the issue of a public plan, which inevitably leaves the single plan. that's an appropriate prech. they're also talking about very aggressive ways of bending the outyear cost curve by changing the reimbursement systems to prevent quality over quantity. i like those ideas. so the jury is still out on the plan, because we haven't seen the specifics, but the people who are negotiating it have a lot of respect on our side of the aisle. >> you sound fairly positive on that. so they may be moving closer to an agreement. the last day of big action, sotomayor and also cash for clunkers. thank you. coming up, now we talk to bill cohn, former defense secretary, bill cohn. thanks so much for joining us. mr. secretary, you were the defense secretary in the clinton

administration, when the embassy bombings took place. and i can't tell you how emotional the moment was today. i was with hillary clinton at the site of what was our embassy here. it was a 14-year-old boy, michael macria whose parents were both killed. he's being raised by his grandparents. and hillary clinton said to him, with his devotion to education, she was going to tell president obama what he is accomplished so far and what he wants to achieve. was it a real moment, as we stood in this empty area, which has been turned into a memorial park. what have we learned and what have we accomplished in these 11 years that would better protect our assets abroad, other countries, and our, of course, our homeland against these terrorists. >> well, andrea, i remember that day very well, and i remember when the bodies, the american diplomats who lost their lives in those two bombings came back to andrews air force base and we had a chance to meet the families.

my wife, janet, and i spent time with all of the families, and it was a very emotional moment for us. and you may recall, about two or three weeks later, we tried to strike back and tried to kill a number of terrorist groups, bin laden included. but in any event, what have we learned? we've learned that terrorism that goes unchecked will continue to spread like a cancer. we've learned that we've got to not only be defensive in terms of trying to protect our people and institutions and buildings, but we have to also be on the offense. offense in the sense of providing those governments that need help with military equipment and assistance, but equally important, if not more important, to try to build institutions that promote the rule of law, that promote equal rights, human rights, and provide for economic assistance that will help lift people up out of poverty. we know that when there is great poverty and no hope for the future, that's when the terrorist groups, that's when the radical extremists move in

and try to preach their brand of terrorism. >> there is concern, a lot of concern, about the horn of africa, about terror groups, al shabaab emerging, stronger than ever in somalia. the president of somalia met with secretary clinton today here in nairobi and we're supporting them militarily. how desperate is that situation? it seems to be getting worse rather than better? >> well, we're looking at the potential for a failed state, unless we see some significant economic improvement taking place, we're likely to face those kinds of consequences. africa has become a country of central concern, because of its richness in minerals, oil, and other resources. so you see a great deal of focus taking place in africa. we've seen what has taken place off the coast of somalia, with the piracy and the kidnapping, or at least the hostage taking

for ransom. and so i think that the world has got to join together and say, this is a threat that has global implications. it's not just directly against the united states or a few other countries, but it is global in nature. and so we have tried to respond to that. when i was in office, we created something called the african crisis response initiative. that was with involved in training african nations more peacekeeping missions, making sure that the african people defend themselves, as best as possible. we have created something called the africom, something set up to help those countries that wish to have proper training and assistance and logistical help whenever it's needed. so we're committed to helping the african nations to help themselves to resist this kind of increase in terrorism. >> but, let me tell you a little bit about what hillary clinton has been doing here.

because this is the front page of the newspaper here, the biggest paper. tongue lashing. and it's because of the corruption, the failures of the kenyan government, this coalition government, which is widely disrespected. this is what she had to say, again, today, about the threat here of corruption and also terrorism. >> we are considering steps that would target individuals about whom there is overwhelming evidence and belief that they have contributed to and participated in corruption at a massive level and also the kind of post-election violence and extra judicial killings that are so troubling. that is a possibility that we will consider. >> mr. secretary, do you think that trips such as this and

taking a hard line, and the tough line that president obama took can be that help or will it backfire? >> well, i believe what secretary clinton is saying is, in terms of targeting those individuals, is to bring them to justice. to say that we continue to support very strongly the rule of law, not the law of rule. and that those individuals who are engaged in mass corruption or extra judicial killings, murder, assassinations, they should be brought to justice, to the extent that the united states and other western countries and any other country, for that matter, can bring the kind of intelligence to bear that can identify those individuals and then bring them before a court of law, we certainly want to do that. and i think that the law-abiding and law-loving peoples around the world would want the same to take place. that you cannot survive, you cannot prevail if you have just the rule of those people who don't believe in the rule of law and simply use power and use

corruption to further their way of life. >> and so far, the kenyan government leaders are completely resisting all of that. thanks so much, bill cohn. thanks, mr. secretary, for joining us here today. when we come back, we'll talk about new poll numbers, not very good poll numbers for president obama. and that interesting relationship, bill clinton and president obama. mr. evans? this is janice from onstar. i have received an automatic signal you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help? yeah. i'll contact emergency services and stay with you. you okay? yeah. onstar. standard for one year on 14 chevy models.

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200 days into his presidency, president obama's poll numbers, at least in one poll, are at the lowest point of his short presidency. in the new quinnipiac poll, he is down to 50%.

this a seven-point drop since the beginning of july. with me now, white house correspondent, savannah guthrie. savannah, what is the mood in the white house? are they getting nervous about this, or do they think that they need to use their political capital and the biggest issue, of course, on their plate, health care, is not a popular one, never has been. >> well, it's two things, right? it's the health care and the economy. and i think they knew that there was really only one way to go when you start as high as approval ratings were at the beginning of the information, that naturally, there would be this decline. as for that quinnipiac poll in particular, some look at that as an outlier, but the bottom line is the trend is the same in all of the polls that we've seen recently. the president's approval rating has really taken a hit, his handling of the economy has taken a hit. they recognize the urge and i they feel like they've put themselves out there now. he's wrapped himself up in health care. the economy, while some things are getting better, the

joblessness issue still persists. it's a real problem. so you're seeing that in the polls. there are some people in the white house, i think, who are probably more concerned than others that there's a good deal of people who try to take the long view and feel that any one poll at any given time isn't a measure of success and that they've just got to hunker down achieve their objectives and that they'll be fine in the long run. >> and on the economy, we see the president going out, we see town hall meetings, joe biden carrying the pal on the stimulus package, christina romer today, another speech, saying the stimulus package is working. on health care, he's brought in the finance committee members, and it seems that the baucus/grassley compromise coming out of senate finance is certainly, according to what judd gregg was hinting out a few minutes ago, that's the emerging vehicle, at least for the senate side. >> yes. and i think we're learning a lot more about what this will look

like. one thing that seems to be gone is the idea of a public option. a government-run insurance plan, that the president has indicated a preference for. but again and again, when you press administration officials, will the president sign something that doesn't have this government option? you don't get a direct answer. they're keeping their options open. so if what comes out of senate finance committee is this co-op or some kind of hybrid, that something that looks and acts a little bit like a government option, but isn't a government-sponsored insurance plan, presumably that's something the president could sign on to. but of course this raises another issue, the progressives in the democratic caucus, both on the house and the senate side who think, wait a minute, why are we giving away the whole store. they're there at the white house today. this meeting is billed as a briefing to the president, not a negotiation between them. and the president, according to robert gibbs, the press secretary, isn't going to give them a deadline saying, hey, you've got until september, if you don't come up with a bipartisan plan, that's it.

but congress has its own deadline, so they are running out of time. >> savannah guthrie, we're going to stand right by right there. we'll be talking to each other in a few minutes as we continue this report from nairobi, kenya. thanks so much. peter baker, a white house correspondent for "the new york times" joining us now. peter, thanks for being here. the choreography of what we saw this week with several team's arrivals and you had barack obama and al gore calling in bill clinton to go to north korea. bill clinton, we're now told by robert gibbs, briefing the national security council today in washington on what he saw, what he observed and you couldn't have a more keen observer of kim jong-il and what's going on in pyongyang than the former president of the united states. how do we read this new dynamic? >> well, you know, of course, this is the first time that president clinton has done anything specific for president obama in his short presidency.

it's always been a question, would obama want to bring in the former president to undertake these kind of international missions in some fashion. and this is the first time we've seen that. it's been an interesting relationship. two most important democratic politicians in the last 40 years, and it's kind of an uneasy circling of each other over the last two years. the campaign was tough. then obama came out and invited bill clinton's wife, hillary rodham clinton, who you're, obviously, in africa to be part of the cabinet, secretary of state. so there's sort of this forced partnership, mutual interest. yet, this undercurrent of uncertainty and uneasy. >> and there's also that gore/clinton rivalry. we saw them, you know, back in 1992, they were on the road, on the bus trips. this was a new generation of leaders. and then everything went sour of impeachment, the anger that they felt, a mutual disregard, really, over whom to blame for what happened in 2000.

and then gore calling in bill clinton to help rescue these women. there seemed to be genuine affection as they got together, because they certainly have been estranged over the last few years. >> yeah, they haven't spent a lot of time together since the white house, but i think a lot of the emotion of the end of the clinton presidency as subsided. we're told they began to reconcile, really, after the 9/11 attacks. and i think, obviously, what we did see yesterday at the burbank airport in california was a genuine moment of shared partnership and emotion. maybe a nostalgic moment for a time, when they were, in fact, these partners on the stage, as they were, again, for one brief moment this week. >> to the anthem of "don't stop thinking about tomorrow," this is what al gore said yesterday on that tarmac in burbank, california. >> we want to thank president bill clinton for undertaking

this mission and performing it so skillfully and all the members of his team who played key roles in this. president obama and countless members of his administration have been deeply involved in this humanitarian effort. >> and do you think, peter, that this mission for bill clinton made it at all awkward for hillary clinton? she seemed to really enjoy the fact that he was center stage again. didn't seem to bother her at all. >> well, you know, obviously, it took a little of the sheen, perhaps, off the beginning of her africa trip. a little bit of the tension away from that. but i think, in the long-term, it reinforces what a remarkable role these two people, the clintons as a couple have played and continue to play, even to this day, even in the era of obama, there's nothing quite like it in american political history. a former president, rushing off to north korea to deal with a diplomatic crisis. the spouse, the secretary of state in the current administration, talking to the africans and also dealing with

all sorts of problems around the world. i mean, it's really a reinforcement that the clintons have not gone away. they're really still a part of the american political fabric right now. >> very interestingly, pieeter,t an hiv/aids clinton global event today, the former president was asked about the north korea trip and he said, he's not a policy maker, he has not had a chance yet to debrief his president or his government and that he had only talked briefly to secretary clinton, as we reported yesterday, who is in africa. so they had sort of bad cell phone communications, and he said that his one goal there was to bring the women home. so he made it very clear that he was not making policy, not speaking out on nuclear issues, and this was, of course, before he came to washington, and we understand from orbit gibbs, has debriefed the nfc. but he's not going off and free lan lancing at all. he's being very clear to stay within those policy lines and that seems to be a good sign for

the white house. this is in stark white house to what jimmy carter did when that former president did in 1994, went to pyongyang and went on television before calling home and calling the president. bill clinton was not happy. >> that's exactly right. he remembers that, that was 15 years ago, but he remembers that vividly and he was not going to do the same thing to president obama that he thought was done to him. and he mentioned yesterday on the tarmac in burbank, president clinton said nothing. he released a written statement, i think. he let it be vice president gore and the two women journalists have their day in the limelight. he stood back. not to say that he doesn't enjoy, with i thii think, this k in the sun, but he's being very careful not to do anything that gets in the way of president obama. i did an interview with him back spring, and he said, i'll do anything they want me to do, but i'm not going to be bothering them. i don't want to get in the way. >> peter baker of "the new york times." thanks so much. >> thank you. >> thanks for all your

reporting. when we come back, we'll talk about some of the really difficult problems here in kenya with the doctor who heads the centers for disease control here. 90s slacker hip-hop. ♪ singer: buckle up, everybody 'cause we're taking a ride ♪ ♪ that can strain your relationships and hurt your pride ♪ ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪ ♪ it's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl ♪ ♪ the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl ♪ ♪ so throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em around ♪ ♪ like a wanna-be frat boy trying to get down ♪ ♪ then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage.

"andrea mitchell reports" continues live from nairobi in just a moment. first, a look at the other top political headlines at this hour. the senate is expected to vote on the nomination of judge sonia sotomayor at 3:00 today, eastern time. if confirmed, sotomayor would become the first hispanic justice on the high court. it's anticipated she'll receive more than enough votes, but most of the senate's republicans will vote against her. a deal has been reached to save the cash for clunkers program. the senate agreed to infuse $2 billion more into the program and give drivers until labor day to trade in their gas guzzlers and get a big check from the government too. and the ex-mistress of former presidential candidate

john edwards appeared at a federal courthouse today as they examine his finances. his campaign paid rielle hunter $100,000 for work in 2006, the same year edwards has admitted to having that affair. and coming up next when "andrea mitchell reports" returns live from nairobi, andrea talks with tony zinny. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. mr. evans? this is janice from onstar. i have received an automatic signal you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help? yeah. i'll contact emergency services and stay with you. you okay? yeah. onstar. standard for one year on 14 chevy models.

welcome back to "andrea mitchell reports." standing today, next to hillary clinton, the leader of somalia, president shareif says his country has been struggling for 19 years and hillary clinton says there needs to be more military aid. joining me now, tony zinni, retired commander of centcom, and someone who also knows somalia very, very well.

he's also the author of "leading the charge." welcome, general zinni. great to see you again. you've seen so many attempts to try to bring peace to somalia. do you think that the latest efforts, and we understand that there is a lot of american military aid going in, will the latest efforts be anymore succe successful? >> you know, i doubt it. the military support alone is not enough. i think we have to do much more to stabilize the government, some economic incentives, to really bring the people around and break the grip of the war loads in there and the continuously wars factions. and i don't think more pumping and more arms or taking a military approach is going to work. >> one of the things you wrote about in "leading the charge" is that many of us have looked critically at the leadership failures and mistakes of the recently zparted bush administration with the mistaken belief that our country's

mistakes will go what with its departures. our leadership problems go deeper than those of governance. what recommendations could you bring to the table from your many years of experience in somalia and throughout the region? >> well, these failed states like somalia and others that are on the edge, it's a question of building institutions across this society. it's not just building up security forces, but it's building up political stability in institutions, economic institutions, changing and adding social institutions that work. and i think it has to be a comprehensive inner agency government approach on all these things. >> well, that's exactly what we did not see in iraq. is it too optimistic to expect that the new approach from defense secretary gates will bring that kind of coherent interagency task force to afghanistan. >> well, i think, secretary

gates has been the strongest proponent of more government resources provided to state department, usa i.d. and other agencies. he's probably been the strongest proponent of the so-called smart power, blending hard power, the military's piece to diplomacy, development, economic incentives and other areas. and i think what we have to do is not only increase resources for those other agencies and government, but build international partnerships, build regional partnerships, partnerships with nongovernmental organizations, and make sure they understand how to plan and put on the ground the kinds of people and resources and programs that will complement the military side. >> thank you very much, general zinni, retired marine general, anthony zinni, who's spent years running the military operation here and in the horn of africa and in somalia. and the rest of the, as general

zinni was just discussing involves disease, involves hunger. and we saw it firsthand today. we went to a school in one of the worst slums not only in this region, but in any region. in this area, 1 million people live. it's a shanty town smaller than a square mile. 38% of the schools that we visited, the children in the school are hiv positive. 70% of them are orphans. they're fed only once a day by a meal provided by the u.n.'s world food program and they get a mere cup of boga meat and split pea gruel. but it's their only meal. joining me now is kevin decook, the head of the cdc operation here in kenya, and a large one it is. $500 million for disease, for hiv/aids, much of it coming, more than $120 or $130 billion coming from the cdc. you know what we saw firsthand today. what hope is there for these

children, for these people, i guess, first of all, on disease, on hiv/aids? >> well, thank you, andrea, and good evening. it is a very dire and difficult place, but there's a huge amount being done. and i think it's a mistake to painthopelessly. the vigor and energy is quite remarkable. the cdc does work there, just to address the actual dollar amounts, the united states contributes for pepfar, the president's emergency plan for aids relief about $500 million to kenya annually. the cdc budget is about $220 million in total, annually. so the united states is very committed to global health and to supporting kenya. >> let me show you, chuck, that you see or hear a little bit of what we experienced today. we talked to josephine mum al about the children there. 38% are hiv positive, as we said, and many of them have been raped by, as she described it,

men who believe that the solution -- the cure for their hiv is to rape a child, a virginia. let's watch. >> what is life like in the slums? >> okay. life is unbearable. people are desperate for barley. they earn a less than $1 a day with no hope for tomorrow. >> no hope for tomorrow. and you introduced me to a child, 6 years old, who was raped by a customer of the child's mother. how can that happen? >> yeah, here people believe that when somebody is positive, when he rapes a girl who is a virgin, he will get cured. >> this man is in jail. what is the future for these children? >> the future, we have no hope for these children, because parents do not have means to care for their children. and in order for them to eat,

they must go to streets. >> as you just described, these women, these teachers are enormously committed. an extraordinary self-help operation. and they get world food money. tom vilsack, in fact, the agriculture secretary, was in that same school earlier this week. we interviewed him. this is what he had to say about the nutritional needs. >> part of what america can do, by listening, we can learn how we might be able to provide assistance based on what kenyans and other african nations determine is in their best interest. this is going to go beyond the traditional just food emergency assistance that we provided in the past. this is a much more comprehensive, coordinated effort. >> how important is nutrition, is adequate food to what you're trying to accomplish in terms of good medicine? well, it's extremely important, for different reasons. because taking the drugs without adequate food is very difficult, and of course, good nutrition is the basis of good health.

not only for hiv, but for people living with hiv, but protecting against other infectious diseases as well. i should just say that this administration, and the president himself and the secretary, secretary clinton are really committed to global health, have spoken out repeatedly. have emphasized the need to expand on the good work that's been done on hiv, tuberculosis and malaria to expand into child health and tropical diseases and see all this as a key element of assistance to this region. >> bill clinton, secretary clinton's husband, has just announced as part of the clinton global initiative in new york, that he has struck a deal with pfizer and one other company, mylan, to reduce the prices. how important is that for continuing to get these drugs into the system? >> this is extremely important. not only drugs, but also diagnostics. and this is, again, building on the good work that's been going on for quite some years now,

making drugs affordable in a way they just were not previously. >> one final question about h1n1, the swine flu, and some of the other diseases, cdc is so active here. what are you seeing now? what are you anticipating with the advent of flu season? >> you're right. we are working in that area as well. around program that we call our global disease detection program, one element of which is responding to flu. there's actually active surveillance going on in kenya for this. there's upwards of two dozen, less than three dozen identified cases so far. but i think kenya's probably better set up to respond -- to monitor and respond, if, indeed, there is spread of h1n1, as the cold season in this part of the world continues. >> kevin decook, thank you so much, we really appreciate it, and for all the work cdc does here, which is not well know back home. thank you. >> it's a pleasure.

coming up, we'll talk again about the issue of terror. tomorrow is the anniversary of the embassy bombings. robert cressey joins us next. at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick has the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. so i've come to this court to challenge his speed. ...on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than andy roddick. (announcer) "switch to the nations fastest 3g network" "and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free".

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call the number on your screen... for your free brochure. joining us now from arlington, virginia, robert cressey, nbc news terror analyst. roger, good to see you. how would you analyze the state of play here in nairobi, but also throughout the region regarding the threat, as you see it? >> well, andrea, i think the threat is particularly high in the horn of africa, both kenya and somalia suffer from two problems. the first is al qaeda in africa, the very group that attacked the embassies in 1998 is very strong. one of the leaders of that plot is still at large. and you have indigenous groups like al shabaab in a somalia, which is not a subsidiary of al qaeda, but is sympathetic to it

and has its own national holistic approach. and you can go to west africa and have similar issues. al qaeda has a presence, particularly in the mowerya, mauritania and indinlgenous gros as well. africa is a real priority when you look at our counterterrorism division and how we need to confront the threat that's out there right now. >> john brennan, the counterterror adviser for the president spoke on this "today." this is what he had to say, the president has been very clear on this. poverty does not cause violence and terrorism. lack of education does not cause terrorism. but just as there is no excuse for the wanton slaughter of innocence, there is no desire that when people have no hope for a job and feel disconnected from the modern world, then people become more susceptible to ideologies of violence and death. it's a long process rooted in

humiliation, hopelessness and hatred. do you agree with that? >> absolutely. it's a global recruitment pool that's available, not just for al qaeda, but other groups, where they see individuals who they believe have no hope for progress, no hope for success. the whole panoply is out there. the idea of a violent jihad resonates with them and they become willing to take on that message. because it provides a very simple explanation to answer all the problems and all the questions that they have. particularly in young people who can be influenced by charismatic, influential speakers, be it radical moms at local masks. especially like in the horn of africa, it is a real worry, because this recruitment pool is

growing every day because of the problems countries like kenya suffer from. >> roger, do you want to weigh in on the controversy, the dispute between former officials, such as the former vice president, dick cheney, and the current administration over whether going back on some of the more aggressive interrogation techniques is making us more vulnerable? >> yeah, i think it's delusional, andrea. i think what the vice president has failed to do is demonstrate how those interrogation techniques produce actionable, credible information that disrupted honest to god plots, number one. number two, his approach is not only approach that can be successful. so he's playing politics. what he's trying to do is burnish his credentials and the legacy of the administration, and it's counterproductive. we should have a very open and free debate about what makes sense to protect us from terrorism. but when certain members of either political party try and stake out ground that says it's either my way or there's no other way, that is counterproductive and it's not helpful.

>> thank you so much, roger cressey. good to see you. when we come back, savannah guthrie. i'll be rejoined by our white house correspondent and we'll be talking about the sotomayor nomination and some of the reporting back from bill clinton to the white house at the nsc. and you can watch my entire interview with hillary clinton down here in nairobi on our website at andrea.msnbc.com. stay with us. ♪

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welcome back. with so much going on now at the white house, i'm rejoined by savannah guthrie. you were talking about how important the downward trend in the economy has recording the president's deflation in the polls and tomorrow is unemployment number day. robert gibbs said they know it's

going to go beyond 10%. how concerned are they about the numbers tomorrow? >> they're concerned. if there's any economic indicator that every american feels either for themselves or somebody they know, it's this issue of unemployment. that's the one the president has to answer for, so we expect unemployment, the number to rise. it's at 9.5% right now. it may kick up a couple of points. as you said, they think it's going to exceed 10%. whether that will happen tomorrow remains to be scene, but they know we're headed towards double digit employment. >> of course the economy is beginning to get better, but it was really noticeable in the statements by larry summers and tim geithner, that they don't want to sound too optimistic about it because people are still feeling the pain. it's getting worse less badly.

>> not exactly a message that's easy to sell. it's not as bad as it could have been when because of the jobless issue, it feels pretty bad to most americans. there are things to talk about. areas of improvement and we see the administration really going out hard, trying to prove the stimulus is working. christie romer was out giving a big talk today to make the case that the stimulus is working, but this is a real tight rope for them to walk because they want to talk up what's better in the economy, but don't want to not understand the pain many american rs going through. >> and finally of course the sotomayor vote coming up within an hour or so. how good do they expect that to be? do they think they'll get more than the nine republicans? >> for weeks -- yeah. they don't expect to pick up a lot more in the way of

republican votes and i think there's a couple of issues going on. the nra decided to score this vote because they don't like some of her rulings on the second amendment where she said it doesn't necessarily apply to the states, but the federal government. a lot of republicans talk about what president obama did when he was a senator, so it's a little bit of what goes around comes around. a supreme court justice, that decision is one of the most enduring legacies the president has. this afternoon, she will be confirmed, make history and be the first hispanic to sit on a high court and that will be a long legacy for her and the president. >> and a big moment for him as well. with great thanks to you, my friend back there in washington. i'm andrea mitchell in nairobi, kenya. and now, we turn to contessa brewer in new york. >> the debate as you were just

talking about, also of the government's cash for clunkers program and we'll be following the historic vote on sonia sotomayor. cyber attacks today, the big news we're talking about today. hackers getting into twitter and facebook as well. we'll have the latest on that. i never thought i would have a heart attack,

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looking for a big report on jobs tomorrow. the president promises we can create hundreds of thousands of nup opportunities with green technology, but is that any comfort to those who have been laid off? we'll get real on this one. plus, millions of american homeowners facing foreclosure and in some cases, it's not the mortgage payment. it's the tax bill that comes due. the pennsylvania gunman who shot up a health club leaves behind lots of details about his

life, his feelings and why he wanted revenge. plus, math frustration. people who use twitter and facebook are getting error messages left and right. good thursday, everyone. i'm contessa brewer. our big story this hour, the senate's preparing to vote on a plan that will keep cash for clunkers on the road. lawmakers reached a deal that would pump 2 billion bucks into the program. with me now, kelly o'donnell on capitol hill. >> the deal you referred to is really about how they do the voting today and how much time they allow for amendment. that gets sbood weeds a bit. there are some senators who want to see changes to the law that would allow cash for clunkers to get the money. they want to talk out some of the issues they think are being overlooked like how long should the program go, should there be

a cap on income for people who can take advantage of this. after they do that, they expect, according to democratic sources, they will have enough votes to pass this through. they have to be able to pass it with no changes because the house of representatives has already left washington and they would not be able to vote on the changed version and that would bring the program to a halt. we expect it to pass. there will be a lot of conversation here tonight and we'll be staying to wait for that to call come down. >> we're hearing from viewers that they're running out of the models that are available for trade-in. the models eligible for this program. is that of any concern for these senators? >> i've talked to senators from states that produce these cars and just about everybody has dealerships calling their offices. there is some inventory concern