i'm here in lisbon, i look forward to working with our nato and our isaf partners as we with look toward afghan responsibility that begins in 2011 with afghan forces taking the lead by 2014. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president obama looking for an exit sfrat ji from afghanistan at the nato summit in portugal. while his vice president makes the case here at home on "morning joe." >> 2014 is now a date that everyone has agreed upon, nato as well as the afghanis, that's kind of the drop dead date. that doesn't mean we're going to have anywhere near 100,000

troops in 2013. >> but threatening to overshadow the nato summit, president obama's showdown with senate republicans over a new arms control treaty with russia. what's at stake if s.t.a.r.t. doesn't get started? with us this hour, the republican senator trying to turn the tide for the white house, foreign relations committee leader richard lugar. and the chief treaty negotiator, assistant secretary of state rose gottemoeller. plus, mr. burt who started the treaty two decadeses ago. >> we are headed down a path of absolute disaster if we don't get this deficit under control. it's just plain -- >> and -- >> no sugar coating it. the co-chairs of the president's deficit commission say americans need to be prepared to make tough choices to bring down the federal deficit. and why is sarah palin taking another shot at first lady michelle obama? finally, dessert. we'll go viral with the "today" show video that's guaranteed to give you a good feeling on a

getaway friday. ♪ that tonight's gonna be a good night that tonight's gonna be ♪ ♪ a good night good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. we begin in portugal where the president landed this morning. his second foreign trip in as many weeks. this time the president is trying to find agreement on an exit strategy from afghanistan. even as ratification of the s.t.a.r.t. nuclear arms treaty with russia runs into road blocks at home. chuck todd is nbc news chief white house correspondent, he is traveling with the president covering it all and joins us from lisbon. chuck, first on nato and afghanistan, where does the president want to come out, if he is successful at this nato meeting? >> well, it's exactly the way vice president biden outlined it this morning, that everybody has sign-off on this transition. that's the new buzz word here, if you want to call it that, as far as the president is

concerned. he doesn't use the word withdrawal. he calls it a transition, which of course is -- he's not using the phrasology, but it is fairly familiar, which is as the afghanis stand up, nato and u.s. forces stand down. a very similar way the bush administration used to put it when it came to iraq and when -- in the timing of troops would come out then. that's going to be the tough sell for the president, this idea of 2014 because, look, the same impatience the american public has on this is similar to the impatience that a lot of nato nations have. this is not a popular war, the longer it drags on, nato forces while not in as great of numbers as u.s. forces, they've still been in an gave stan a very, very long time. and so that is where patience is wearing thin. and the question is, does the u.s. still have credibility saying, look, 2014 really is drop dead. we really, really, really mean it this time. and that's -- it will be

interesting to see the reaction. look, as you know, some of this stuff is precooked in the way vice president biden was talking it's as if they know they have nato sign-off on this plan. >> at the same time, hamid karzai, of course, coming to this summit having just within a week talked about wanting a smaller nato footprint. that really upset general petraeus last sunday you. he's also there. karzai met with hillary clinton this morning. we were told that was a candid and friendly conversation. >> right. >> unclear how it can be both candid diplomatic alley and friendly. they say they're coming out at the same place. >> well, and that is what they're trying to come at here. interestingly enough, both xbren petraeus and president karzai are staying at the same hotel so they can have some chance meetings here by the elevators to try to get on the same page. but i think, you know -- remember karzai has his own domestic political issues he's dealing with here which he wants to look like he is pushing this

timetable up and pushing this timetable up a little bit. but he's also supposed to address these nato nations while here as well. look, the spin from the u.s. side is simply, well, we're basically in the same page. we with just have to get in concert with karzai. we all want the same goal, which is this eventual takeover of security by the afghan forces. >> even as they're beginning to use tanks there, much bigger footprint in fact. let me ask you quickly about the s.t.a.r.t. treaty because the president has so far had no republican support. we'll talk to richard lugar, the sole republican leading the charge. but i am told lugar went to the president and his people last spring when this treaty was with negotiated and said, please give us a high-profile person to try to get republicans on the board. went to harry reid, let's get a ratification, a vote last summer. and got nowhere are wiwith the

house. the white house is very slow off the mark here. >> this has been the criticism i've heard as well on capitol hill. sort of, okay, you knew in july when there was a committee hearing in the senate armed services committee, you knew in july you had some issues here, and there is this -- what upsets some on capitol hill and some republicans, hey, the white house keeps making a political argument, well, we always have bipartisan support for this, but we want a substantive debate. of course, the whiets house says, hey, we're working with the chief republican we believe we should be working with, which is richard lugar. you've got other republicans that say, you know what, though? lugar doesn't speak for the caucus you on this, he's not the point person on this. that's jon kyl. don't be surprised if we hear from the president directly about s.t.a.r.t. over here in the next few hours fwrainkly. they know they need to keep moving this ball on the record, on camera a little bit more because, frankly, they haven't

done a sales job on tvery well. >> that's exactly where we're going next. perfect segue. we have with us the negotiator, the assistant secretary of state who negoti e negotiated the treaty in the first place. the question is, will republican efforts to scuttle this treaty undermine the president's broader influence overseas on iran and a host of other issues. assistant secretary of state rose gottemoeller negotiated the trey and is with us now. let's talk about what's at stake. you've been negotiated arms control treaties for decades and you know better than anybody else, the rolling effect if this is not negotiaratified we shoul. what will russia do, for instance? >> let me start with the positive results. once the treaty was with entrained, the president signed it in april. we have been able to develop great koorps with the russian federation first and foremost on iran. we've been able to achieve

stronger sanctions against iran and the russians have made important decisions. the president canceled the missile deal with the wake of an overall reset policy but certainly the arms control treaty was a big part of that. after our success in geneva and the treaty got signed, we moved on to the mpt review conference and came out of that with a -- nonproliferation review conversation. came out of that a consensus decision. so we've had some good momentum building out of this treaty and i think we need to continue it and not endanger it. >> there's a downside here as well. vice president biden and others have suggested that you've got medvedev as a partner on these issues, but looming on the horizon is vladimir putin, who would be strengthened if this goes down. >> i mentioned that president medvedev has been a very strong partner on these negotiations.

he and the president joined to push rocks uphill in the course of this negotiation. we know him to be a very strong partner on national security issues at large. >> on the subyou instance of jon kyl, senator kyl's opposition, first of all, he said that it would tie our hands on missile defense. he's pointing to language in the preamble. without getting too technical, how does this treaty stop the united states from going forward with missile defense in the future? >> the treaty in no way constrains our ability to deploy the most effective missile defense system for the united states of america. places no constraints on that whatsoever. what is in the preamble is not a treaty obligation. it's not a treaty constraint. it simply is says there is a relationship between missile offense and defense. that's why we build miss elle defenses in order to be able to deal with a threat from offensive missiles. >> and what do you say to those who say, let's just wait and renegotiate it and bring it up

in the next senate, start all over with hearings? what happens to you as a negotiator, to the united states, whom you represent, if you just say to the russians, well, we're going to tweak it here and rewrite it there and satisfy some republican objections? >> well, you know, i was a little bemused hearing your introduction because we have been working with the republican side of the aisle right along through the negotiations. i brief them multiple times. every time i came back from geneva to walk with i was briefing the senate, making sure -- >> why didn't harry reid put it to the floor? there needs to be a lot of negotiation, and arm twisting once it gets to the floor. there's only two weeks left and half of that is thanksgiving week. >> well, we did actually have to get it through the due diligence in the committee on foreign relations. there we had a dozenings, hears in the senate armed services committee and also the intelligence committee. that was with a very important period of due diligence through

the summer. we feel like we've gotten the information out there and have had a chance to discuss it and debate it, very important process overall. but we got to september, got the vote in the senate foreign relations committee and now we're moving forward and want to get it to the floor. >> thank you very much. it it's great to see you. we thank you for clarifying some of the misinformation that's been out there. >> my pleasure. and coming up next, the co-chairs of the president's deficit commission have no apologies to offer on their tough proposals. plus, sarah palin, she isn't apologizing for taking aim at michelle obama. is that smart? send me your thoughts.

the co-chairs of president obama's deficit commission told "morning joe" today that they are gaining public support for their tough medicine, even if they don't get a majority of

their own panel. >> we aren't going to do a white wash, we aren't going to make it softer than it is today. it's going to be a tough report. if we get 14 votes, great. if we don't, then by god we put it out there. >> when we waernd of wander through airports i can tell you i used to get all sorts of signals. i get more thumbs-ups now than other digits. >> oh, he hasn't changed. allan simpson. we have a member of the bipartisan second panel, the independent panel that came out earlier this week with some very tough medicine as well. let's talk about whether there is growing support. alan simpson said people are giving him a more welcoming digit. what about the response to what you and your colleagues propose? >> i think the major contribution of an independent effort like this one, this bipartisan policy center, is that it says, although this is

difficult, is it possible. so many people are throwing their hands up in despair and saying, my god, this is armageddon, this is impossible. what this says is, very hard to do, but it lays out a road map, says this is doable. hard medicine, tough things to do. but if we could get there, we could solve what otherwise is a very, very difficult situation for the country. the very first meeting of this panel, they told us, today we're at about 62% gdp to debt ratio. the highest or the average we've been in the post-war years since world war ii is about 36% or so. >> so more than double. >> more than double. the highest we ever were was 80% during world war ii for a couple of years. however, here's the bad news, by 2025 on the present trajectory, we get to 100%. >> mostly health and retirement costs. >> medicare, social security and interest on the debt itself. that will be the largest line item in the federal budget,

payment on the debt. and by about 2030, it's 200% of gdp. we've never been in that territory as a nation what do you say to those who say, don't do this now, the economy is struggling to get out of the recession, we're just beginning to move incrementally. we've got high unemployment. but this medicine, yours as well as theirs, is just -- >> i think the answer is we shouldn't do it right away. in fact, our commission called for a one-year holiday on social security payroll tax receipts in order to put about 650 billion into the economy that people would feel staptly because it would be in every payroll check that they'd get some money. so i think the recognition is we've got about another year or so of this fragile economy. i personally have every confidence that we are recovering. employment is going to begin to grow. clearly we're seeing the response in the markets. so the long-term picture is growth again, estimates of 2.5%,

some as high as 3% growth. that would be good. but, again, one of the first things we were told on this task force was, we cannot cut our way out of this. no matter what people say, you know, in about ten years we would pay social security, medicare, interest and have no other expenditures for any other form of government, including defense on the present trajectory. can't cut our way out of it, can't tax our way out of it because if you try to do it just with taxes you get to 90% tax rates. and we're not going to grow our way out of this, as we have in the past. >> but you know politics. you were an elected official, a mayor in texas, secretary of hud. sow you know the political landscape. what's the plus side for the president here if he adopts some of these tough measures? does it help him move the center and regain support from the independents and even some tea party activists?

>> i personally think it's one of the few ways the president can establish that he is the leader in this environment. and capture the center because he is dealing with a problem that people in this country intrinsically know is a problem. americans have to balance their budgets. they can't go into permanent debt the way the government can. and they know it's wrong to -- they understand a bit of debt. they understand a time of deficit. but they cannot comprehend just continuous spending, running the credit card forever. so if the president were to strike a tough pose on this, i think, despite being battered by advocates on the left and hard liners on the right for various pieces of it, he could establish his support with independents and with the center in a way that makes him competitive in 2012. >> thank you very much. great to see you again. henry. will she or won't she? sarah palin continues to flirt with launching a presidential campaign. but if she's serious about

broadening her appeal, is it that smart to slam the first lady? first there was palin with barbara walters, sparking a quick reaction from joe biden today on "morning joe". >> if you ran for president, could you beat barack obama? >> i believe so. >> well, i -- look, i don't -- you're going to get me in trouble. >> okay, okay. >> i don't think she could beat president obama, but, you know, you know, she's always underestimated so, you know, i think -- i think i shouldn't say any more. >> now, that's an instance of joe biden being very careful in his response. msnbc senior political analyst mark halperin is editor at large for "time" magazine, joins us now. thanks, mark. that was a very interesting reaction from joe biden. what about what palin did in the first place? >> well, the premise of your initial setup was, is she smart

to do this if she wants to run for president? the answer is, it's a great way to get a republican nomination and horrible way to get elected. but sarah palin has made so many smart decisions since the 2008 campaign ended that i don't think we should just dismiss this was a way to raise her political standing. it none straights she gets more attention than anybody else and she has a great ear for rhetoric and how to talk about politics in a way to get attention and rev up the people already supportive of her. >> let's throw up the quotation from her new book. it hasn't been released yet. "certainly has wife expressed this view when she said during the 2008 campaign that she never felt proud of her country until her husband started winning elections. in retrospect, i gis this shouldn't surprise us since both of them spent almost two decadeses in the pews of

reverend jeremiah wright's church church." she's throwing up mud. your point is that the base loves this stuff. >> this is out of the kind of rhetoric she's used since the 2008 campaign ended. she's willing to go places a lot of other republicans aren't going to go, particularly criticizing a sitting first lady. it shows again that she's willing to take chances to say what she thinks and it's going to be very difficult if she decides to run for president for republicans to beat her at this game and very risky to take her on and challenge her about some of these things if they want to make the argument that those statements may rev up the base but might condemn the republican party to losing the general election and letting barack obama win another term. >> as you helpfully pointed out this morning, i was incorrect when i suggested she had supp t supported sairn of sharron angle. she didn't in the primary. that was one case she couldn't be blamed for the nominee. she had the success of north carolina and others. the downside of course was

delaware and most importantly joe miller. i want to ask you about the republic republican governors. we have a bunch of hopefuls. can't imagine what's going on at that republican governors meeting. ly they're all kind of taking their time getting into this. what sort of time table do you think is ideal for the wannabes. >> i was in san diego. there's chatter among governors. they'd like to settle on a candidate. they'd like one of their own to perhaps be the republican nominee. but there's a lot of uncertainty. there's candidates who look stronger today than others but no one is in a hurry to get out there early and be a target for a lot of scrutiny. no one thinks any other candidate is getting such a big lead they need to get in. this is going to be a slow-starting race. i think it will with be summer before we have a sense of who's

in the field. >> summer would be okay. we with really don't need another two-year presidential race. thanks so much, mark. coming up next, senate democrats up in arms. what is their big beef with president obama? politico here next. ♪ but only one dad. ♪ show him how much you care with gillette fusion proglide. ♪ [ male announcer ] there are billions of people in the world. ♪ but only one dad. ♪ show him how much you care with gillette fusion proglide. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] open up a cadillac during our season's best sales event and receive the gift of asphalt. experience the exhilarating cadillac cts with a direct injection v6. it's the one gift you can open up all year long.

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word today that there was an angry and intense closed-door meeting of senate democrats in which they vented frustration about president obama, blaming him for many of the party's political problems. one unnamed democrat told politico, "if was the most frank exchange of views i've ever seen." another called it simply a raucous you caucus you. with me now, glen tlush, senior white house reporter for politico. well with, the senate democrats aren't known for being that raucous, but it sounds like they're pretty ticked off at the white house. >> first off, i would be ticked off if i was locked for 3 1/2 hows in the same room with them. i'll tell you how bad things

got, bill nelson, one of the quietest democratic senators, really went apparently after president obama and said that he was essentially toxic in the state of florida and really sort of blaming the president. >> wait a second. i just want to correct. we've got ben nelson up there, not bill nelson. you're talking about bill nelson of florida, not ben nelson of nebraska, correct? >> the aft row naug astronaut. >> right. lose the picture or get the right picture up. go ahead, glenn. >> both have perfect hair. they're very easy to get mixed up. bill nelson, a very calm, quiet guy usually. but i think the interesting part about this is, i think the white house in a much more quiet way is just as frustrated with the hill democrats who really haven't been singing the same tune on any issue from health care reform now to the tax cut thing. so i think the sense of contempt is mutual.

>> and what are they going to do about it? i mean, basically they need to work with the white house. is the white house aware? is the legislative strategy and the new chief of staff -- is that team geared up to try to fix the problems with with the hill? >> well, i think the most interesting thing of the meeting between democratic leaders and the president yesterday at the white house is the president apparently turned to harry reid and said, look, we can't have a strategy on tax cuts or anything else until you tell me what your conference will actually do. and so reid went back and conviened this 3 1/2-hour meetig and i have to tell you right now i don't think they have a game plan. >> thanks so much, glenn. thanks for being with us. coming up next, the showdown over s.t.a.r.t. we'll talk with ambassador richard burt who negotiated the original s.t.a.r.t. treat country in 1991. and prince charles opening up in an nbc interview with brian williams. don't forget the hour-long

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that are good for you. new v8 v-fusion + tea. one combined serving of vegetables and fruit with the goodness of green tea and powerful antioxidants. refreshingly good. the leading republican senator who's been leading the fight to get s.t.a.r.t. ratified says his republican colleagues are blocking a debate because they're afraid stand up and be counted. senator lugar joins me now. senator, great to see you. >> thank you. >> let's talk about s.t.a.r.t. and some of the comments that you made on the hill the other day about your own republican colleagues sounded very frustrated. i wanted to share with you what joe biden had to say this morning on "morning joe." >> only dick lugar seems to be cooperating with you guys. does that speak to how poisoned

partisan relations are right now in washington? >> well, it speaks more i think, joe, to the circumstances in the republican party. because i'm confident that there are 15 of my former republican colleagues who are inclined to support this treaty, but they'd rather have, as we catholics say, this cup pass from them, you know, because they'd rather not have to take on what is the internal dynamic in the republican party. >> senator, you know, i'm told that senator kerry and i believe you also tried to get a vote on this last summer, tried again in september, and kept being told by senator kyl and others that it would be all right, that more support would come your way by the lame duck. that has not turned out to be the fact. what's going on politically behind the scenes here? >> well, it's really all in front of the scenes. senator kyl and others want to have more money in the federal budget for the next ten years to

refurbish our own nuclear weapons. this is an admirable goal. i visited oak ridge with senator kyl and senator alexander and they have a very good point. the problem is that by not coming to closure, by that i mean senator kyl has said he's not satisfied, does not have the documents, the assurances he needs, therefore, is withholding his support, it's created a situation in which many republican senators don't want to get into that argument. likewise into an argument that passing the s.t.a.r.t. treaty would in some way help president obama. ear we're in a very partisan situation there, too. i've tried to argue that both the kyl situation as well as our country's situation of having boots on the ground in russia looking at the nuclear weapon withes and moving ahead can both be achieved if, in fact, the s.t.a.r.t. treaty comes to the floor, senator reid puts it on the agenda, and we pass it.

at that stage, our country is much better off. clearly the president is much better off, and our foreign policy. but so are we all as americans to have greater assurances in a very dangerous predicament. >> is time running out? because you only have a couple of weeks left, and some of that time is thanksgiving. how are you going to get this done by the end of of the lame duck session? >> specifically, both senator kerry and i have asked the president and the vice president to request strongly of senator reid that he schedule it now, that he put it on the agenda. that is the way you it happens. if it's not on the agenda, it will not happen. and whether people are for or against it, we'll never have the chance to vote for it one way or another. >> by now, you mean next week? already we understand that it's not even going to be on the agenda until after the thanksgiving break.

>> well, of course. thanksgiving break is occurring. there will be no senate session now until november 29. the next vote is 6:30 p.m. on that date. but it had better come right after that. for the moment, my understanding is we'll take up tax situation then, that both parties will offer tax solutions that will not be satisfactory to the other, but they will have had their say and people will go back into some type of discussion. i'm very hopeful that's the case right after the taxes we have s.t.a.r.t. because i think the priority is right there. >> senator, did the president do enough to fight for this back last spring and in the summer? wouldn't it have been better if he had put somebody in charge and really gone to the mat on this thing early, before the election results, which clearly undercut his authority on the hill? >> well, obviously, of course, it would have been helpful. i'm not going to get, however,

into criticism of the president. i have advocated what i've told you. he has agreed with it. he had a great meeting yesterday involving former secretary kissinger and cohen and sam nun was there and madeleine albright and a lot of figures of the past, all of whom say it's imperative for american security, for our own security, that we have this treaty. we've had no verification procedures in russia since last december the 5th. this is not a casual affair. along with many other partisan situations. so, clearly, the president is in favor of getting on with it now, and one can wish that things might have happened very differently, but this is too late to worry about that. >> what do you say to senator kyl and your other republican colleagues who are, in effect, going to kill this thing if it doesn't get passed by the end of this year? >> well, i think i'll try to say their self-interest is in doing

it now because that is clearly going to enhance not only american security but also it's going to make possible the administration's support for immediate budget work on our own nuclear situation. and refurbishment at the laboratories. if we fail to act now, my own prediction is that senator kyl's objectives are unlikely to occur either, that is, that the incoming house of representatives will not be enamoreded with the expenditure you of $80 billion over the next ten years for our own nuclear security. a big debate will occur quite apart from s.t.a.r.t. and the net result may be nothing on either side. >> bottom line here, is this all politics? is this all an attempt to try to damage the obama white house, the obama presidency? >> well, i am not ascribing motivations to anybody. at this point, i'm simply trying

in as civil a manner as possible to say, please do your duty for your country. we do not have verification of the russian nuclear posture right now. we're not going to have it until we sign the s.t.a.r.t. threety. we're not going to be able to get rid of further missiles and warheads aimed at us. i state it candidly to my colleagues, one wu of those warheads, there were 13,300 originally. one wi one with of them could demolish my city of annapolis. many americans may have forgotten it. i haven't. i think many concentrating on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty want to move ahead to move down the ladder of the number of weapons aimed eed at us. >> richard lugar who along with the former senator sam nun are real heroes in finding and controlling and disabling and categorizing all of the fissile

material, the nuclear material out there with the fall of the soviet union. thank you very much. >> thank you. ambassador richard burt negotiated the original s.t.a.r.t. treaty, now a chair of global zero to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide. i haven't seen senator lugar that fired up about this issue in quite some time. that's because on the nais of it, what is the explanation when you read this treaty, the preamble to the treaty, what is the explanation for saying that this is bad for u.s. interest? >> well, andrea, it's interesting. in the past and we've had arms control agreements negotiated and ratified during the nixon presidency, during the reagan presidency -- >> every republican president has signed a deal. >> bush 41 presidency. and in those situations, of course, republicans supported their republican white house. if this treaty gets ratified, this will be the first time a

democratic administration has gotten one ratified. in a sense, there's already politics injected into the situation. but beyond that, in the past, most of these treaties were discussed and debated by the national security foreign policy community. they were not overly politicized debates. they were with pretty careful, sometimes academic, often boring discussions of warheads, of missile accuracy, missile defense, even getting into throw weight and so forth. that's not the case right now. there are only two substantive issues being raced, one that you raised with ambassador gottemoeer, whether this constrains our options for strategic defense. as she pointed out to you, the agreement doesn't. in fact, it has the very same language that was in the treaty that i helped negotiate. >> you negotiated this for ronald reagan.

>> that's right. >> this was the reagan administration you were -- >> and the bush administration. and it has the same language that was ratified with only six senators voting against. and on the second issue, verification, this actually has improved verification. this treaty will allow inspectors to actually go with a screwdriver, take off the warhead of a russian missile and count of number of warheads actually deployed on that missile. >> since last december 5th we've had no one on the ground, since the last treaty expired. >> that's right. almost a year. it's got a breakthrough in verification. it will provide for a much more transparent regime between the united states and russia. but beyond that i think there are some key foreign policy objectives. president obama and dmitry medvedev have worked out a cooperative relationship. we with have russian cooperation

on afghanistan now, russian support for applying sanctions on iran at the u.n. security council. ironically, this weekend at the nato summit in lisbon, you're going to see a much more forthcoming russian approach on the question the missile defense. so clearly in terms of getting enhanced u.s./russia cooperation there's been a big step forward. then finally, the real problem of our time, the spread of nuclear weapons to countries like iran, north korea, but more importantly potentially to terrorists. if this treaty isn't ratified in my judgment, we will have no credibility to press on the nonproliferation, on the spread of nuclear weapons. and that will deeply weaken u.s. us security. >> rick burt, former a.mbassado, thank you very much. and ground zero, of course, global zero. the reason that is in my brain is because we do have breaking

news right now out of new york. more than 10,000 ground zero first responders have been settled their lawsuit with the city over toxic dust. this brings an end to a long legal fight over new york's failure to provide protective equipment to workers, police and firefighters. the first responders who cleaned up rubble from the world trade center site. the settlement will provide at least $625 million though related deals could boost that to more than $725 million problem is they limit the choice of etfs to what makes financial sense to them. td ameritrade doesn't limit you to one brand of etfs... they offer more than 100... each selected by investment experts at morningstar associates. only at the etf market center at td ameritrade. before investing, carefully consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. contact td ameritrade for a prospectus containing this and other information. read it carefully before investing. ♪

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washington? >> i think americans might start be wondering that americans are tired of things not happening in washington. in addition to the two you mentioned, we had a failure on the house to pass unemployment insurance expense at a time when 14% of the public is under poverty line and almost 10% unemployed. it's not a good time for washington right now. >> at the same time, you've got people struggling with deficit solutions, it's very clear that alan simpson came out with unpleasant news, unpleasant medicine, tough words and proposals. they don't have the votes. that's probably why they're using this window between now and december 1st when they have to report. they're not going to get 14 votes for what they are suggesting. >> right. that's the big elephant in the room for the whole country, how the difference between how much money we're spending and how much money we're bringing in. and the huge, huge pot of entitlements we'll have to pay for in the next generation or two of americans.

there are no easy solutions and there's nobody in this town right now prepared to do anything that's hard. >> i don't know how senator kyl got veto power over american foreign polpolicies. but what if the president comes back from the nato meeting and faces another embarrassment, the failure to ratify s.t.a.r.t.? >> you know, the irony embarrassment. the failure to ratify start. >> the irony is the president said this is not about politics. it's about national security. he realizes that it's important for a president coming out of a hidterm devastation like this, that he like past presidents, including president clinton, get a good foreign policy. republicans realize this is their point of extreme negotiation power. and if they're going to extract concessions like more money for new nuclear war heads. new advances in the nuclear arms race, this is the time to get

it. so you're able to block up a treaty that was going to sail through a few months ago. so like matt cooper reported, obama knew it would be hard coming out of the elections. but this debate over the treaty shows it will be even harder than he thought it wow. >> ron from the national journal. thank you very much, i think. and coming up next, who had the worst week this week in washington? chris cillizza is next. there's a long list. the morning is over, it's time for two more pills. the day marches on, back to more pills. and when he's finally home... but hang on; just two aleve can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is steven, who chose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

who had the worst week in washington? there are a lot of candidates. chris cillizza is managing editor of postpolitics.com. let's talk about what's coming up in the next 24 and the worst week as well. who did the award go to. no drum roll, but i'll go into it anyway. michael steele. sometimes we have a lot of people -- i write this for the joutd look section of the "washington post." sometimes i have very few people to choose from.

sometimes the week gives me a lot to choose from. but michael steele look looked to be rebuked in a four-page letter by a political director who resigns to have a meeting in san diego. which haley barbour says you shouldn't be the chairman anymore. a very tough week for michael steele encapsulating a very tough two years for michael steele at the top of the republican national committee. so he wins this week's award. >> he may win the award. but i would also put up the possibility of someone not just rebuked, but condemned, charlie rangel. stay with me here for just a minute. before we go i want to give you a taste of what our friends at the "today show" pulled off this morning. a music video shot on a steady cam in one continuous take with all the staff paying homage to a viral video.

they didn't have meredith, matt and al, lester and a surprise guest. take a look. ♪ i got a feeling that tonight's going to be a good night ♪ ♪ that tonight's going to be a good night ♪ ♪ that tonight's going to be a good good night ♪ ♪ i got a feeling that tonight's going to be a good night. ♪ that tonight's going to be a good night ♪ ♪ fill up my cup >> i mean -- >> i wasn't on camera, was i?

>> of course not. we wouldn't do that to you chris. but how about our brian williams? >> love it. the only thing it needed was more andrea mitchell and chuck todd for my money. >> thank you. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." like, this is such a great opportunity for us to write at least an hour to two every single day. you can see this? of course i can see you. but, steve, i'm thinking-- it's like you're standing-- it's like you're standing right there. it's like i'm touching you. yeah. introducing cisco umi, together we are the human network. cisco. it's like i'm talking to you from the future. funny thing about vegetables... they fill you up without filling you out. yes! v8 juice gives you three of your five daily servings of vegetables. that's what i'm talking about! v8. what's your number?

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