called hillary the movie, an unfavorable documentary about hillary clinton. and the question was, could the federal law block them from putting ads on to promote this, or actually putting it on cable where people could see it. but the court argued, we want you to come back, and let's argue the bigger question about whether these restrictions on corporate spending are unconstitutional. that's a very unusual thing. it will happen september 9th and she'll be on the court in time to hear that case. >> well, she's confirmed, as many expected, but she only got a handful of republican votes. just taking a look at the confirmation hearings, what if anything are the lessons learned? what do you think they tell us about what might happen the next time president obama certainly has the potential to have another opportunity to name a supreme court nominee? >> that does seem to be the big question. and, of course, the conservatives, the republicans say, see, mr. president, the lesson was, we have laid down a marker that if you try to send someone up here next time who's more liberal, who's more inclined to decide cases by empathy and not the law, then we're going to raise a fuss and we'll be even tougher on them

than sonia sotomayor. you get some sense that the republicans did hang back a little bit in terms of their attacks, because some history was being made here with the first hispanic justice, the third woman. but they say, you know, if you sent up a man here who's more liberal next time, it may be tough. the democrats are saying, look, we've got the votes, the president should send up here whomever he wants. it depends on who he asks what the lesson is. >> i want to read you something about the case load that she faces. it will be complicated for sure. he wrote, "the volume and difficulty of the work and the task of fitting into a storied institution populated by strong and idiosink rattic judges has unnerved have been judges with distinguished records on lower courts, fancy credentials. >> there's no really good orientation program at the supreme court. they say, there's your desk, there are the briefs, there's the courtroom, here's your robe, get on with it. >> does she get to hire her own

clerk? >> she will. bring in her own clerks, whoever she wishes. but it's daunting. and sandra day o'connor wrote about this about being the first woman, the first anything, makes it extra hard. >> pete williams, our justice correspondent. thank you so much. >> you bet. moving on, today is president obama's 200th day in office and there's some good news on the job market after experts feared unemployment would inch closer to double digits today. but the white house still expects unemployment to hit 10% before all is said and done with this recession. it's the big story at the white house today. so we want to bring biin bill burton, the white house deputy press secretary. thanks for being with us. >> you betcha. >> for the first time in several months, more than a year, actually, we saw the unemployment rate actually drop. my question to you is, number one, does the white house take credit for that? is this white house policies in action? number two, if that's the case, how do you square that with the fact that you still expect unemployment to top 10%?

>> well, savannah, we think that the report today is obviously the least bad report that we've had since this year started. and when you combine that with the gdp moving in the right direction from last week, we do think there are some encouraging signs in the economy. obviously, that's little comfort to the 250,000 americans that lost their jobs. but the president believes that the recovery plan has had an impact and has gotten people back to work, has kept some people in their jobs. and has moved economic growth in the right direction. but keep in mind, that we've only spent out about one-third of the money in the recovery plan and about two-thirds of that money is still left to be spent. so we do think that though it's encouraging, we think that there is some hard work ahead and we're going to continue to lay the new foundation that the president has talked about by investing in jobs and in health care and investing in jobs and in green jobs and making sure that we build an economic structure that we can really sustain growth on. >> real quickly, before we move

on to health care, was the president surprised to see this number today? it seemed like y'all were preparing all of us for a -- you know, obviously, a rise in the unploi unemployment rate. maybe not 10% yet, but was he surprised to see a drop? >> i don't think anybody feels like they can precisely project where unemployment is going to be, but we did see that. states and localities were hiring more people, were able to keep a lot of folks in their jobs. so certainly we saw that there was some benefit to what the recovery plan was doing. but we do think that there is still a lot more work to do. >> i want to ask you about health care. specifically, these town halls. as you well know, some of these town halls that congressmen and women have been holding around the country have gotten very heated. there's a lot of anger out there. earlier this week, white house press secretary robert gibbs suggested that may be manufactured dissent, kind of a fake protest, con tritrived by interest groups. is that still the white house position? >> certainly, you see there's a

lot of organization that's happening from groups from individuals who are personalities on tv shows and radio, from the republican party, and, look, the president thinks that town halls are a good opportunity for americans to have sometimes very vigorous discussions about issues that are important to them. but what we've seen is that there's a lot of folks who show up at these town halls who only come so they can shout other people down. and that's not necessarily productive. what we've seen is that as a country, we're able to make progress when people sit and talk to each other, not when they just scream at each other. so certainly, there's some organization that's happening, but we do think that town halls in general can be a positive way for americans to get together and talk about big, complicated issues that our nation is facing. >> in fact, the white house encouraged some members of congress to hold these town halls. is there any regret about that, given that some of them have really become an opportunity for quite vocal opposition to the president's plan? >> no, absolutely not. because town halls are important. and, you know, members of congress do go out into their communities, they spend time with the people who are

voting -- who vote for them and who live in their community and it's important for people to be able to have a dialogue with their government officials about the issues that are facing our country. so, no, there's no regret on that. but we do encourage folks to come to town halls and try to be a part of a discussion, not just try to shout down other people who they don't necessarily agree with. >> what's the strategy to deal with this q, assuming that this kind of thing continues to go on at these town halls? what's the white house point of view? do you just ignore it? or is there any danger that that really becomes enduring image of health care reform, that that's the image that people continue to see on their television sets and in their newspapers? >> well, what's most important here is that, if you look at any poll, talk to folks in any community, health care reform is critically important to the american people. and no matter what's happening at these town hall meetings, whether people are shouting or screaming or bringing offensive signs, what's important is that the american people want to make progress on health care reform, bring down costs, get more

people covered, make sure that people have a choice as it relates to health care. so i think the enduring image and the enduring ideas that people have about health care are more related to their own personal experiences and the experiences in their community about the rising costs that we have to cut down. this is one part of the discussion. we hope that people will try to have constructive discussions in their communities, and we're sure that when congress comes back in the fall that we're going to be able to make not just progress, but actually get a bill done, get the president's signature on it, and get health care reform this year. >> it seems, lately, you have refined your message on health care reform. in fact, you don't even call it health care reform these days. you call it health insurance reform, focusing on the consumer protection angle. but you only get one chance to make a first impression. is this a lost opportunity? what took so long to really hone in on the right message to sell health care reform to those, the majority who already have

insurance? >> savannah, this is a long conversation we've been having with the american people ever since the campaign. and since barack obama has been president, it's something that he's focused on very centrally. so i think that the individual word choice is less important than the fact that we have to get health reform done. yes, as you point out, there is an individual -- there is importance to individuals. what does health care reform mean to me? and the american people ought to know and the president has been talking about this, is that when health care reform comes through, it's going to stop health insurance companies from excludeing people because of pre-existing conditions. it's going to do things like cap the amount of out-of-pocket expenses and a whole host of things that will have an impact on people who have health insurance now or who want to have health insurance. the first impression is obviously important, but this is a long conversation we've been having with the american people and it's going to continue through august and in the fall, we're convinced that congress is going to get it done. >> we've been seeing a lot of the president in service of this goal, selling health care reform.

maybe too much of the president, some suggest. let me play you what the comedian bill maher said on this issue. listen. >> just because the press is willing to make a fuss about every aspect of your life doesn't mean you have to take them up on it. you don't have to be on television every minute of every day. you're the president! not a rerun of "law & order". >> okay, bill, so he's having a little fun with that, but as somebody who thinks about the president's image, who thinks about communication strategy, is there any concern in the white house that it's all a little bit too much, the president doing so many interviews, so many news conferences, so many town halls that it dilutes the message or it dilutes the power of the messenger? >> well, something to consider, savannah, is that the president came to office at a time of tremendous crisis, the economy, our nation is at war in two different countries, we're taking on things like health care, energy, and a whole host of things.

so the president wants to have an open and full conversation with the american people about, you know, what are some of the things that he's up to as president. what are some of the decisions that he's making. why is he making them? why isn't he making other ones? in many ways, he's the best messenger for this administration. so he has been out there for his ideas and his proposals to bring about some of the fundamental change that he's been talking about. no, i don't think that overexposure or anything like that is an issue. otherwise, i think that folks at your network and other networks wouldn't necessarily put him on tv so much. but, instead, i think that there's a wide agreement that these are big, important issues that we have to have full discussions about and that's what the president is engaging the american people in. >> all right. deputy press secretary over at the white house, bill burton, thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you, savannah. well, straight ahead, a better than expected jobs report today, but still millions of americans out of work. how bad will it get before americans are able to get back

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>> a live look at the white house rose garden. president obama is about to address today's better than expected job report. tub employment rate fell to 9.4%, the first drop in 15 months, but it is still well blof the 4.9% rate when the recession started. and here's president obama. >> i would like to say a few words with about the state of our economy and what we're doing

to put americans back to work and build a new foundation for growth. last week, we received a report on america's gross domestic product, a key measure of our economic health, and it showed marked improvement over the last few months. this morning, we received additional signs that the worst may be behind us, though we lost 247,000 jobs in july, that was nearly 200,000 fewer jobs lost than in june, and far fewer than the nearly 700,000 jobs a month that we were losing at the beginning of the year. today, we're pointed in the right direction. we're losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when when i took office. we pulled the financial system back from the brink and a rising market is restoring value to those 401(k)s that are the foundation of a secure retirement. we've enabled families to reduce

the payments on their mortgages and in making their homes more affordable and reducing the number of foreclosures. we helped to revive the credit markets and opened up loans for families and small businesses. while we've rescued our economy from catastrophe, we've also begun to build a new foundation for growth. that's why we passed an unprecedented recovery act less than a month after i took office and did so without any of the earmarks or pork barrel spending that's so common in washington. now, there's a lot of misinformation about the recovery act. so let me repeat what it is and what it is not. the plan's divided into three parts. one-third of the money is for tax relief that's going directly to families and small businesses. for americans struggling to pay rising bills with shrinking wages, we've kept a campaign promise to put a middle class tax cut in the pocket of 95% of

working families. a tax cut that began showing up in paychecks about four months ago. we also cut taxes for small businesses on the investments they make and substantially increased loans through the small business administration. another third of the money in the recovery act is for emergency relief that is helping folks who have borne the brunt of that recession. for americans who are laid off, we expanded unemployment benefits, a measure that's already made a difference in the lives of 12 million americans. we're making health insurance 65% cheaper for families that rely on cobra while they're looking for work and for states facing historic budget shortfalls, we provided assistance to save jobs of tens of thousands of teachers and police officers and other public service workers. so these two-thirds of the recovery act have helped people weather the worst phase of this recession while saving jobs and

stabilizing our economy. the last third is dedicated to the vital investments that are putting people back to work together to create a stronger economy tomorrow. part of that is the largest new investment of infrastructure in america since eisenhower built the interstate highway system back in the 1950s. these are jobs rebuilding america, upgrading roads and bridges andrenovating schools and hospitals. now, as we begin to put an end to this recession, we have to consider what comes next. because we can't afford to return to an economy based on inflated credit and maxed out credit cards. an economy where we're burdened by soaring health care costs that serve only the special interests. this won't create sustainable growth, it won't shrink our deficit, and it won't create jobs. and that's why we've put an end to the status quo that got us into this crisis.

we cannot turn back to the failed policies of the past, nor can we stand still. now's the time to build a new foundation for a stronger, more productive economy that creates the jobs of the future. and this foundation has to be supported by several pillars to our economy. we feed a historic commitment to education so that america's the most highly educated, well-trained workforce in the world. we need health insurance reform that brings down costs, provides more security for folks who have insurance and affordable options for those who don't. and we need to provide incentives that will create new, clean energy sources for our industries. that's where the jobs of the future are, that is the competition that will shape the 21st century, and that's a race that america must win. so we have a lot further to go. as far as i'm concerned, we will not have a true recovery as long as we're losing jobs, and we won't rest until every american

that is looking for work can find a job. i have no doubt that we can make these changes. it won't be easy, though. change is hard, especially in washington. we have a steep mountain to climb, and we started in a very deep valley, but i have faith in the american people, in their capacity for hard work and innovation and their commitment to one another and their courage to face adversity. we've seen, already, that strength of character over the course of this recession. across the country, people have persevered, even as bills have piled up and work's been hard to come by. everywhere i go, i meet americans who have kept their confidence in their country and in our future. that's how we fold the economy back from the brink. that's why we're turning this economy around. i am convinced that we can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but now we're going to have to move forward with confidence and conviction to reach the promise of a new day. thank you very much.

>> you've been watching president obama live in the rose garden at the white house talking about a somewhat unexpected report. unemployment rate dipped a tenth of a percent to 9.4% last month. that's the first drop in more than a year. i want to bring in david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" as well as our chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, on duty on the north lawn of the white house. david, i'll start with you. it's interesting, the president came out, that's not a tone of doing any kind of a jig. this was an unexpected report, but you can see he's really walking that line, where they want to talk up the good news that there is in the economy, but they also want to manage expectations, because there's tough times ahead. >> there are, but this is still psychology, this is argument, not news from the president. he's out there making an argument to talk up what's going well, that there is a beginning to the end of the recession, as he has said, as larry summers saying, we're in a much different place than we were in

the last couple of weeks. i think, fundamentally, this is a psychological play here, which is to get people thinking about the fact that things are getting better. they should go out end and money, get a little bit more confident. because that will start to become a self-fulfilling prophesy. what they have to guard against is the very real reality that even if there are signs of recovery, people are going to be saying, really, well why am i still having a hard time fiendingfiend i a job. but if you add underemployment, you see in so many states around the country high double digit unemployment. and there's still a fear that unemployment could go above 10% on a national basis. so this idea of it being a lagging indicator is a big deal. it's a big impediment. and it's actually, i think, one of the biggest overhangs in this health care reform business as well. because he not only has to fight this issue of whether you're going to lose your coverage in some way or lose your quality of care, at the same time that people are worried about losing anything in this kind of economic climate. >> and chuck, let me bring in --

you into the conversation. i've been struck in the last days and weeks. we really see the president out there, selling the stimulus again. it's like he's reselling it. it passed congress, now hei's gt to win the hearts of the american people. and the basic facts are, it's not polling well. our polls showed that and we see him out there making this argument for the stimulus, trying to convince people it is having an effect. >> reporter: it is. and i think they do have a couple of data points that they think makes the sell a little bit easier, right? data point number one is, frank will i, this unemployment number. yes, it's not a great number, yes, it went down, partially because the labor force as a whole shrank. so that's why, despite another month of job losses, you also had -- you were able to see the number go down. but the cash for clunkers program gave people an easy to understand, oh, this is ow government stimulus works. you do something, i get a check if i buy something. so that's helped in this argument, as you said, savannah, of trying to resell the

stimulus. you know what they have found out and what we've seen in our own polling is that when you ask people, what has the government done with stimulus, the first two things they'll say is, bail out the banks and bail out the auto industry. in actuality, that wasn't part of the stimulus. that's why he needs to go out there. and he needs to stiffen the spine of democrats in congress who can sit now, potentially say, okay, maybe the stimulus is starting to work, so maybe we'll trust you on health care too. >> and i've heard senior aides make that argument. if they could get some traction on the economy, they could leverage that, david, into the health care argument, saying, look, if it's worked here and we did all right on the economy, you can trust us with health care. >> but the flip side is also true. and you haven't heard this -- some republicans have made this argument, but if they say they were surprised about the economy and therefore the stimulus didn't have the near-term impact they thought it would, are we supposed to trust the administration on some of their projections on cost containment with regard to health care? i mean, those are very real

problems. and part of what, i think, chuck is alluding to as well, a lot of independent voters who supported president and defect from mccain and gave obama this new look are now looking at him and saying, well, this guy is just spending too much money and government's getting too big. so more conservative members of the democratic party, who have to go home to their congressional districts or more moderate centers, they have to go home, they have to be able to sell this as well and say, no, he's not leading from the left here, he's actually got a more pragmatic approach, that is what he was selling in this era of change. is he really doing that or ushering in an area of big government? that's why you're going to see on the health care debate, as you both know, because you're there every day reporting this, this idea of consumer protection from the insurance companies that really health care reform is not about big government stepping in, it's about government having your back. but they're not there yet in terms of winning that argument. >> i want to have both of you

stand by. we actually have on the phone the mayor of elkhart, indiana, an oft visited town of the president. a town that has 17% unemployment. mayor richard moore joining us now. mr. mayor, what do you make of these numbers? i suppose for you, it's more than just numbers. this is real jobs lost, a tough situation there in elkhart? >> it really is, but also, it's better than it was when i have talked to you before. we went as high as 20% unemployment, one out of every five of us being unemployed, so we see this as a turnaround and it's coming a little bbttle bitr than what i would have thought. but we're putting some people to work here for various reasons. one was a president's visit here in elkhart county this week. but we've received money through the stimulus program, putting some people to work. the rv industry is hiring a few, and all in all, we're seeing some indicators that show that we have maybe reached a bottom

and we're headed back the other way. >> all right. mayor richard moore from elkhart, indiana, thank you so much for joining us on the phone. i want to turn back to david and chuck. we were talking about health care reform, talking about members of congress returning to their districts, which inevitably raises this issue of the town halls. there's been a lot of anger at some of these town halls, which is getting a lot of attention, perhaps, out-sized attention. what should the white house do with this? they could ignore it, but perhaps at their peril. perhaps it becomes this enduring image that really sticks with people that health care reform evokes all this anger. what should they do? >> i don't think they can rest on their laurels. they may think there may be some backlash against it, but back in 1994, the clinton white house could have said, well, this is a trumped up campaign to kill the health care through the special interests. well, guess what? it worked. so there's something -- look, we know from public polling, you don't have to watch people getting angry and making death threats and town hall meeting.

people are really worried about this. they're worried about how much it's going to cost, they're worried about losing their own care. the president has to get out front in this argument, and he has been frustrated, privately and publicly. he had that big press conference where he sort of held forth and spoke in such a detailed way about health care, about the message still not getting out. well, there's lots of platforms he's got to use to get that message out and i think that they have to try to deal with some of the anger that's out there, in whatever form it's being expressed and however much it's being orchestrated, it's still real. they're still organizing and doing it. >> chuck, i was just going to ask you real quick about that. there's sort of been this approach over at the white house in the person of robert gibbs to make this seem like it's a contrived, manufactured protest, but that's kind of marginalizing or minimizes the genuine concerns that are out there. >> well, it does. number one, i would say the big warning sign to democrats in the white house is, hey, your opponents, even if they are orchestrating this, guess what,

they're orchestrating this. they're finding their grassroots mojo. that should be something that concerns the white house going forward into 2010, and that's certainly going to concern democrats on capitol hill, who will feel the wrath of voters first before president obama ever faces the ballot box. the second thing, the white house now is trying to stiffen the spine of senate democrats and house democrats on this issue by trying to get them -- you've got to emphasize on health care what the person with health insurance is going to get. this idea of providing security for health insurance -- for people that have health insurance now and trying to emphasize that. and i think that that's how they're trying to balance this fight back and forth that they're feeling from the town hall. >> and david, you'll be talking to the economy, among other things, on "meet the press". >> we're going to have two big-city mayors, talking about how the stimulus is playing around the country.

we've got general james jones. but mayor michael bloomberg of new york and mayor cory booker of newark, new jersey, talking about what they're seeing. also talking about some of the real fears they have in their cities, but also across the country about the swine flu hitting this fall. we'll get that look from the front lines. >> lots to talk about on "meet the press." thank you so much, david gregory and chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, thanks so much. and developing now on "andrea mitchell reports," the senate ethics committee has just dismissed complaints about senators chris dodd and kent conrad relating to the countrywide mortgage scandal. the ethics panels did not find substantial evidence that rules were violated, but warned the senators they should have exercised more vigilance in their dealings with countrywide. senator dodd says he's pleased and gratified that the democrats have dismissed the complaint. to. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom.

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consider what comes next, because we can't afford to return to an economy based on inflated profits and maxed out credit cards. an economy where we depend on dirty and outdated sources of energy. an economy where we're burdened by soaring health care costs that serve only the special interests. this won't create sustainable growth, it won't shrink our deficit, and it won't create jobs. >> president obama a few moments ago from the rose garden at the white house reacting to a rare bit of good news on the jobless front. the unemployment rate dipped one-tenth of a percent last month, more than a year. let's bring in greg ip. as you sat down here before, you put it in perspective, the lost of 247,000 looks good? >> at any other times, it would be an unmitigated disaster. but it rather shows a brisk ebbing of the job loss, which was as high as 700,000 in

january. there's quite a few elements to today's news, which are very encouraging. not only did the unemployment rate tick down, but we had fewer job losses. >> and the president said a few moments ago, the worst may be behind us. but there is a maybe there. is there a potential that there could be what you would call a double dip. for example, things could go up for a while, get a little better, and crash again before ultimately getting better? >> i think the president's caution is very much appropriate. what we're seeing right now with the economy slowly pulling out of its dive is a situation where many factories and businesses shut down the production lines, laid off the workers, and when they got new workers, they filled them out of inventories. inventories are now so low, they have no choice but to start up protections again. that is not the sort of thing out of which a sustainable recovery is made. you've got to have consumers

coming in. we still haven't seen that. car sales, yes, they're up, but up mostly because of cash for clunkers. >> how much of this psychological? does that translate to more consumer confidence, more consumer spending? >> it does to a certain extent, you can see it in the stock market. it's up very strongly today. it seems to be hitting new highs today. that directly makes people feel wealthier, they spend more. if house prices stop falling, that will help relieve some of the pressure on the banks, but the psychological will only take you so far. you actually have to have real sales, real income, and an improvement in people's situations. >> greg ip, thanks so much for your time. appreciate it. coming up, chaos ensues as lawmakers take the health care debate to town halls across the country. there's something more to this story. has the fight between the right and the left finally hit a fever pitch? first, an outpouring of tributes today for brat pack director john hughes. a spokeswoman says hughes died

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welcome back to "andrea mitchell reports." i'm savannah guthrie and here are the top political headlines at this hour. democratic new york congressman carolyn maloney has decided not to run for the senate.

she will not challenge kristen gillibrand in 2010. and mel martinez of florida is resigning. senator martinez had already announced he wouldn't be running for re-election in 2010. and the first lady of south carolina, jenny sanford, is moving out of the governor's mansion for the school year and taking her sons with her. mrs. sanford says she's headed home to live in charleston and will continue to work on her marriage to governor mark sanford, who of course admitted an affair. democratic leaders originally encouraged members of congress to hold town halls during the summer break, but was that a mistake? listen what happened last night during john dingell's town hall. congressman dingell released this statement today, saying, quote, i'm sorry for those who came wanting sincerely to know more about the bill but whose voices could not be heard over the protesters. as long as i have a vote,ly not let shouting, intimidation or

misinformation deter me from fighting for this cause. let's bring in republican strategist todd harris, welcome to you both. let's start with you, todd. the republicans, the right getting some traction with these town halls. there's a lot of anger there. that they're getting very heated. but is there a potential of a backlash? i mean, is this -- are republicans playing with fire here? >> people are ending up in the hospital, and i don't think there's ever an excuse on either side for violence. but i do have to say, savannah, i think the media's newfound interest in all of these protesters is a little bizarre. as somebody's who's been work in politics for a long time, i've been to dozens and dozens of meetings who have been broken up by union protesters who come in and chant, don't let people speak, and the media has never paid any interest to that. so now, all of a sudden, when people are upset about barack obama's proposed government takeover of the health care system, now all of a sudden this is a huge issue. >> okay, but people were

actually injured at this one in tampa. it's a little bit -- >> it's my understanding that was person who was injured was injured at the hands of an fbiu demonstrator. so, like i said, i don't think violence is ever acceptable, but there seems to be a bit of a double standard here. >> what about it, david? you are a former congressman. i don't know the your town halls ever got that exciting. >> they did, back in the '93, '94 era, they are similar to what we are seeing today. >> so what do you think, first of all, members of congress in this position should do? and what should the white house strategy be? frankly, right now, they're kind of saying this is a little bit of manufactured dissent. it's faux outrage, which i think ignores some of the concerns that some people have. >> i think people have a right to go to these meetings, be passionate at these meetings, express their views, these are life and death issues that are important to them, but the line is crossed when they shout down other people who are trying to make their points.

and i think when that happens, they hurt their own cause. because it's obvious to the rest of the people who are there that they're not being fair. >> and are you concerned at all, as a republican, that this becomes the loud, vocal face of republican opposition to health care reform, as opposed to something on the merit? >> i actually do agree with congressman bonnier. i think we can win this on the merit. and i think the reason why there's so much anger, the health care debate has become a focal point for some of the most controversial touchstone issues of our time. whether it's the abortion, tax increases, access to health care, all of that is wrapped up in this one issue. yeah, you send people out and tell them to have town hall meetings, tempers are going to flare. >> do you think the white house should just ignore this -- >> they can't ignore it, but what's happening is the progressives slash liberal organizations and groups are now out there expressing their own views and they have strong feelings about this as well. what i'm worried about is because you're getting two groups together who have very firm and very, very passionate

views on this that we could get into violent situations. and that's where it's important for the members of congress to set the rules at the beginning of the meeting, how this is going to be conducted. >> david bonnier, todd harris, got to leave it there. thank you so much. just moments ago, president obama said we might be entering the start of the recession's final chapter. listen. >> today we're pointed in the right direction. we're losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when i took office. we've pulled the financial system back from the brink. while we've rescued our economy from catastrophe, we've also begun to build a new foundation for growth. that's why we passed an unprecedented recovery act less than a month after i took office. and did so without any of the earmarks or pork barrel spending that's so common in washington. >> cnbc's erin burnett joins us on the new york stock exchange. erin, we don't see the president breaking out a champagne bottle

or doing any kind of jig, but frankly the white house expects unemployment to go back up in the other direction and approach 10%, if not surpass it. put it in perspective for us. >> it's a really interesting point. a lot of people have said, savannah, is he playing politics, and that he's trying to set the bar low and says he thinks things could get worse and then he'll be able to celebrate when they don't. maybe that's a little bit of it, is managing expectations and playing the political process, but he is also, perhaps, pointing to something that isn't getting a lot of conversation in the data. and that is that the improvement in the unemployment rate, which, as you know, went to 9.4% from 9.5 -- i've seen a lot of economists say that can really be contributed to a decline in the participation rate. and that means fewer people are in the workforce. they may have dropped out for a variety of reasons, but some of them, no doubt, because they're giving up on finding a job. and it's that drop in the participation rate that apparently fueled most of the improvements. so if that's really the case and the 9.4% becomes less something

to celebrate and maybe that's what the president was referring to. >> and how real is the fear, erin, of what some people call a jobless recovery? in other words, there are some conditions of the economy improving. we already know that the economy is a lagging indicator, not expected to get better for at least another year, but is there any worry that this could be a recovery that happens, but the jobs don't follow? >> savannah, it's a great point and there's a lot of worry about that. the president responding to the last recovery, which was also dubbed a jobless recovery, has been very adamant in saying, he's not going to say this recession is over or we're on full recovery mode until we stop losing jobs. that could be a very long time. one economist i spoke to this morning really brought it home to me, at least, savannah. he said, if you take all the jobs we've lost in this reskp s recession and take all the things that in an economy, people get older, immigrate into the workforce, then

country, we have about 15 million jobs this country must create in the next few years just to break even. it shows you the scale of what we're dealing with. >> erin burnette at the new york stock exchange. it's either a whopper of a rumor or the worst kept secret in washington. is chelsea clinton tieing the knot this summer? we're going to get into it right after this. we've all heard about the trouble in the housing industry.

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wedding bells for chelsea clinton? they say no, but the rumors are still swirling over reports that she will marry her long time boyfriend later this month. ann, this story strikes me as very funny because on the one hand, the clintons have totally denied this over and over and over again. so what's the deal?

why do people still believe it's true? >> she's been dating mark since 2005. she's become very adept to living very privately in a public life, so it would make sense that she would have a surprise wedding. hillary clinton said no. ted dan son said no. bill clinton's spokesperson said no as recently as wednesday. would they say yes? there would be no way to get away with this. >> could you really think you're going to pull that off? >> i think so. if anyone can get away with a surprise wedding, it's chelsea clinton and she's not the first person to get away with a surprise wedding. jfk did it brilliantly and we were surprised and happy. i don't think the american public would be upset if she didn't tell us. no one would begrudge her a very

private, nice ceremony. >> "the washington post" reliable source laid out some evidence in support of the wedding theory. that she's been looking at wedding invitations and that the fiance was shopping for rings and a washington couple slipped and said they were invited and clammed up. when and where allegedly is it supposed to happen? >> at ted danson's house -- and president obama is going to martha's vineyard the fourth week in august. he's coming the day after the supposed wedding date. >> hillary clinton was in africa this week. did you see some of her dance moves? she is ready for a wedding? >> she is ready for a wedding and ready maybe to accept 40 goats and 20 cows, right?

>> that's true. there was a real offer from an african man offering 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand. clinton was very diplomatic saying, chelsea's going to have to make up her own mind on that one. >> thanks so much. that does it for me at this hour. andrea mitchell welcome back monday. john harwood picks up our coverage from here with a special "new york times" edition. 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.

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this hour, town hall anger bubbling over. shouting, shoving, lawmakers hung an effigy. the debate is reaching a fevered pitch. what can the white house do to

stop it? new numbers show the unemployment rate dropping. is it a sign the recession could be at an end and recovery on the way? >> this morning, we received additional signs that the worst may be behind us. though we lost 247,000 jobs in july, that was merely 200,000 fewer jobs lost than in june. and the big dog. bill clinton comes to the rescue. will the former president become the obama administration's secret weapon to help americans in harm's way? plus, could president obama's sense of humor be hurting him when it comes to getting things done? good day, everyone. i'm john harwood of cnbc and "the new york times." and this is "the new york times special edition." on the front page this hour, tempers flare and town hall

meetings turn into angry mobs. the latest in tampa, florida, where a businessman who came out to hear the facts on reform got caught up in a rumble. >> one of them took my arm and doing a arm twist. tore my watch off, then the other one grabbed me by the neck and the shirt and tore the shirt off because i didn't immediately fall over for him. >> all right. let's bring in jeff zellny. jeff, how big a deal does the white house think this is and how much could it interfere with their ability to get this message out? >> there's no question that the news of these disturbances is getting in the way of this actual information. the white house views this as an opportunity to