presidential election. and the fight for their vote heated up this week when a prominent democratic strategist took on ann romney. and created a firestorm. >> his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. >> my career choice was to be a mother. i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. >> i think this was an ill-advised statement by somebody on television. >> the fight for women voters and the gender wars is what kicked off this general election campaign. we'll debate thit this morning with kirsten gillibrand and republican, former presidential michele bachmann and plus we'll analyze how the gender gap figure into 2 fall campaign. nbc's savannah guthrie. former democratic congressman, mike murphy and nbc's chief white house correspondent and political director, chuck todd. but first this morning, i'll talk to the president's point man on the economy.

i'll talk to tim quiter, about jobs, your taxes and the fight about economic fairness in this campaign. >> from nbc news in washington, "meet the press" with david gregory. >> good morning, the president is in south america for a trade summit this weekend, but his individual sit there has been ov overshadowed by some news. the news has been -- 11 secret service agents. the investigation is continuing this morning, we're going to have more on this story and reaction as we go through the hour. the economy is still the number one issue to voters, but some troubling numbers for white house. six out of ten americans think the country is on the wrong track. 12.7 million people were unemployed and only 120,000 jobs were added in march. lower numbers are expected. i sat down with tim geithner and asked him why the economic

recovery is so sluggish. >> it's a very tough economy still and people still are living with the scars of the crisis. the worst crisis, you can see in the damage, it's not surprising you see that, but consumer confidence is gradually getting stronger. if you look at how the business sector is doing, the business sector of america is business. the business sector looks pretty strong, high-tech is strong, energy is strong. exports are coming back, private investment's been growing and those are all encouraging signs of strength. what hurts us in 2010 and 11, were the crisis in japan and the oil crisis shock. we got a long way to go, a lot of challenges ahead, what we should be doing is working with congress to help get more people back to work while doing some concrete things right now. >> a lot of people look at the

stock market and those gyrations and wonder what to make of it. what does the stock market tell us, particularly the way it's gone this week, sharply down, and then back up, but we have seen a lot of down in the last two weeks, about the strength or weakness of the economy. >> again, most of the available economic evidence we see is pretty encouraging. it shows an economy gradually strengthening and the strength looks pretty broad base and you see a lot of people coming back to work. but if you look at the last six months or so, job creation and the markets have improved steadily over that time. again, we have a lot of risks out there still, a lot of work to do, a lot of challenges to do. and we live with the burden and the obligation of trying to make sure we do as much as we can do make this economy stronger. >> what about your own money, are you feeling safe in the financial markets? >> i think americans generally

should feel much more confident about the basic strength of the economy as they have felt any time in the last four, five, six years, if you look at the scale of what president did and the speed and force that he put out the financial fires and got the economy started again, and you look at the strengths of what are fundamental -- i think americans should feel much more confident today than they felt any time in the last six years. >> we have a campaign that's underway, and in part it's about how are women doing in this country? in this economy? the governor has taken it head on. >> the real war on women has been the job losses result of the obama economy, and if we're going to get women back to work and help women with the real issues women care about, good jobs, good wages, a bright future for themselves, their families and their kids. we'll have to elect a president

who understands how the economy works and i do. >> romney makes the point that 90% of the job loss has been among women. >> the recession and the crisis started at the beginning of 2008 more than a year before the president took office. and it caused a huge amount of damage, to men, to women, to families and the damage lasted for a time. you're still seeing the scars of of that. if you look at the damage early on, you know, most of the early job losses were in construction and manufacturing and disproportionately affection men. you saw state and local governments, you saw the composition of those job losses change over the course of the recovery. but the president's policies have been very focused on trying

to ease the pain on working families. expand access to health care and women across the country, making sure that we're aiding the most vulnerable, those were very important policies at the worse moments of the crisis. and the republican proposal as you know would cut very deeply into all those basic programs so it's good we have a debate about what's the best path of the economy going forward. >> let me ask you about gas prices, we all feel high gas prices weighing down on us when we fill up our cars. do you think this gets worse before it gets better, do you see a time where the gas prices will level off. >> oil prices have risen quite a bit over the last six months in part because people got more confident about growth around the world, which is a good thing and in part because concerns about iran and you've seen some encouraging signs recently, just

this week, more supply coming on to global markets and that's helped calm some of the price pressures and that's very encouraging. what happened to oil prices and gas prices depends on how strong growth prices are in the united states and to deter iran from their nuclear missions? >> aren't you going to have better than average growth around the world and in iran? >> so this is a lot more unstable, a lot more unpredictable? >> these are inherent -- if you look at overall cost of energy to the average family, even over the last five months or so. because th utilities have gone down. the overall cost of energy for the consumer have actually come down, and the payroll tax cut

gave everybody a pretty substantial cushion to deal with those costs, obviously it's an . >> a lot of people i talk to ask to me which is the basis question, what role does the debt really play. because here's the fact about the debt under this administration and the prior administration of the if you go back, the debt increased for the total bush presidency was about $5 trillion, which is the the increase in the debt for this president's first term, about $5 trillion. is the debt so big that it keeps the economy from break through? >> those long-term problems are on a fiscal sustainability. the president's policies in the design to put out the financial fires and rescue an economy in crisis caused only about 12%, only a small fraction of the

increasing debt. the vast bulk of the increasing debt. by borrowing. to fans two wars by borrowing, not by cutting spending or raising taxes. that's the bulk of the contribution combined with the effects of the crisis. so it's a slightly misleading figure. but on the broad challenges we face as a country, they are mostly about how to get the economy growing, how to expand opportunity for middle class families. over the long run, we have to protect the safety net and protect requirement security for retirees. it's true we have a lot of challenges, but it would be a mistake to say the only challenge facing the country and the most important challenge facing the country and the

solutions to all our problems are to pull forward right now all those challenges we have to face in bringing down our deficits. we're going to have to do that, but how we do it is merely more important. and we propose to do it in a way that proposes a balance of incentive savings over time so this economy can heal and come out of this debt crisis. >> if congress would -- >> this president said we want to cut the debt in half in the first two years of his presidency, in the first terms of his presidency. you said the bulk of the problem is the prior administration. >> the bulk of the -- 9% of gdp today, to below 3% of gdp in the next several years. it would be better to start that process sooner, but you have to do it in a way that's balanced and fair and you have to do it

in a way that's protecting and preserving, you have to make sure you're protecting and preserving environment. >> the debt limit is going to have to be raised. what is your message to congressional leaders about that. >> it's congress's obligation to do, as they have always done in the past, and it would be good for the country, if this time they did it with less drama and less politics and les damage to the country than they did last summer. >> what was the damage done by last summer? >> it was terribly damaging, you saw a resprecipitous cost, it w completely unnecessary and very avoidable and we could say don't put the country through that again. >> tax day is coming up. now the 1040 short form is two pages long and yet we have put this together. this is actually just the

instructions, i think it's 88 pages to fill out the two pages. something's wrong here, right? >> we could use a simpler system as the president said. the right strategy is for both individuals to put in place a reform to simplify the- >> why hasn't the president produced real tax reform suggestions or a real plan because the focus this week, the buffett rule is to tax wealthier americans to ensure, you know, your vision of fairness in the tax code, but you're not taking a broad based approach to tax reform, why not. >> we have a detailed set of comprehensive rules on tax policy, both for businesses and for individuals. on the business side as you know, we're proposing to clean up a bunch of the corporate welfare in the tax system and use that to lower rates so we

can be more competitive and improve incentives for investment here. on the individual side, there's lots of ways to do this, but the only way to do it is by doing things that will put a modestly larger burden on the richest americans and the buffett rule you referred to is to make sure they can't take too much advantage of deductions in the tax code. >> we're still talking about 5 billion to $7 billion a year. >> isn't that the real argument? >> first of all we proposed this as part of the an incredibly detailed comprehensive incentive savings and tax returns. now, just because republicans oppose this, does not mean it's not the right thing to do and not the right thing to push for. and remember, look at what they have proposed. they fought giving millions of

americans access to health care, they fought all the things we did to keep more teachers on the job. they fought the payroll tax extension, just because they're against it, doesn't mean it's not the right thing, and we're going to keep pushing for the things that are good for the country and this is one of them. >> does the emphasis this president have on fairness, making them pay their fair share, republicans make the argument that the reason why you treat dividends or earned income differently is because you want people to save, you want people to invest and fairness does away with the prospect of economic growth? >> how did it work out for the country to have a long period where we cut taxes for the richest people, the way they did under president bush. there is no basis in evidence in experience across countries that these proposals will be damaging

in growth. if you're not going to ask the most fortunate americans to pay an additional share in taxes? who are you going to ask to bear the burdens? are you going to ask other americans to pay higher taxes or are you going to cut their benefits? and when you govern, you have to make those trails and he is not responsible to sit here today and offer the american people a path to -- >> i want to ask you one question about economic accountability. it's not a jobless recovery, the level of job creation is not what anybody thinks it should be and certainly not helping people get back to work at an appropriate level. what is the appropriate level of accountability for this president and his management of economic recovery which is incredibly slow by historical comparisons to other recoveries from recessions.

we all share this responsibility, the congress shares that because they have the power of the purse, and they write the laws of the land that can make a difference in this case. the president's policies were remarkably effective. if you look at this recovery and the effectiveness of our crisis of responsibility so any in recent memory dramatically affected at much lower costs than people expected. very tough for -- >> in terms of the president's stewardship of the economy, this is a success story? >> the president inherited, again as you know, the worst financial crisis since the great depression, a crisis caused -- he did the necessary, deeply damaging, deeply politically hard things to get things started again and he has done everything he could to get a reluctant opposition to join him in making the economy stronger. and we're going to keep doing that, even if they don't like it. >> you call this a success

story? >> if you measure what we did, the midwest will judge what he did as remarkably effective crisis management and a deeply dark time for the world's economy. >> and coming up here, the fight for women voters in this campaign. it got off to a contentious start last week. a debate over the fallout. and later part of my press pass interview with bill cosby on the president's performance in office. >> they have no idea what he inherited. it's as if he had the surplus when he moved into office. and this is -- this is sad. " [ male announcer ] you've climbed a few mountains during your time. and having an investment expert like northern trust by your side

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coming up the question balt over the gender gap got quite personal this week. with me this morning, new york senator kristen gillibrand and michele bachmann. um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity investments. turn here. i take the stuff everywhere. exactly. everyone's more energized, more alert. i've lost their respect. oh who's laughing now!? gazelle!! [ male announcer ] personal, portable mio energy. [ gazelle laughs ]

what you have is milt mitt romney running around the country and saying that what my wife really cares about is women's economic issues. his wife has never worked a day in here life. she has not dealt with the economic issues that the majority of women in the country are facing. >> that was the democratic strategist close to the white house that got all of this started this week. hillary rosen was supposed to appear, cancelled her appearance on friday, trying to avoid some of the firestorm on this. that was her comment that -- i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys, believe me it was hard work. so the debate about the gender gap got a lot more personal. joining me now, two working moms, one a voice of the democratic party when it comes to focusing on women's issues.

former republican presidential candidate, minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann. welcome to both of you. >> congresswomen, we have a slight delay, but i want to start with you, and ask you your thoughts after you heard all of this on both sides this week. >> i thought it was shocking and insulting. i'm a mother of five, i have been at home full-time with our children, i have also worked full-time as a federal tax litigation attorney. one thing i know, when women are home full-time, they probably have a better pulse on the economy than even their husbands have because they're the ones that are directly impacted by the price of groceries, by the price of gasoline, by the price of dealing with banking and all the other factors of running a home. ann romney certainly understood the economy and i think women all across the country were highly insulted and they should be because women have born the brunt of the failed economic policies under barack obama.

just one example, women are paying $2,000 a year for gasoline than they did the day barack obama came into office. that's just one example. when 92% of the women who -- 92% of the people under barack obama's failed economic policies are women who have lost jobs. that's an unbelievably shocking number. because 858,000 women have lost their jobs under barack obama. that's a direct opportunity that's lost for them. and your previous guest, secretary geithner, he continued to blame george w. bush for the current economic woes, for the current dealt woes, but barack obama has to take responsibility. there's no question, his economic policies have had a disproportionate negative impact on women and that's why i think women are going to be very upset with this current administration. >> senator, was there a broader

context to hillary rosen's remarks. >> hillary apologized for her remarks, her remarks were wrong and they were inappropriate. as a mom, i know one of the toughest jobs in the world is being a parent. but this election isn't going to be about ann romney or hillary's remarks. what the election is going to be about which candidate cares about the economy. barack obama whose first bill he ever signed was a lily ledbetter equal pay act. women are still making 78 cents on the dollar. this president has focused on -- access to capital. president obama has focused on increasing access to cap 258 --

president obama's also focused on education, pell grants are actually used by women. it's an enormous investment in women's future and potential. and when you look at the health care debate, overwhelmingly, it affects women. if you look at medicare and medicaid, both proportionately used by women. mitt romney would like to private advertise medicare and medicaid. that's not going to help women, under president obama's health care policy. he's been able to get $600 and then last, under president obama, being a woman is no longer going to be a preexisting condition. >> these are patently false statements that are being made about mitt romney, he has not come out and said that he's going to do what the senator is stating. in fact just the opposite, i think one thing that women are seeing is that mitt romney is an extremely smart guy, he's been

successful in creating jobs in the private economy and that's something barack obama has not been able to do. mitt romney also understands how to turn around companies. the united states government needs a turn around person that knows how to be successful. not only is mitt romney smart on job creation, he has a very optimistic message also. i think that's why women are trusting him when he speaks. one thing the senator had mentioned, is that women start jobs, women start 2/3 of all small businesses. but the problem is under the dodd-frank bill, there is a denial of access to secret. the other thing under health care, president obama promised us that our health insurance premiums would drop $2,500 per year. the health insurance premiums have skyrocketed to the highest they have in the last ten years. on every measure, women's lives are worse under president obama than they would be under a mitt

romney as president of the united states. that's the difference. do women want to pay $2.50 a gallon for gasoline? or do women want to say pay $5 or $6 a gallon for gasoline? do they want to pay lower prices for groceries or high e prices for groceries? do they want to pay lower insurance premiums or higher insurance premium. barack obama could omt blame his predecessor for his current economic poor choices. >> i think what you both are talking about is so important in terms of all voters perceptions of the economy and particularly women and that's what really is so important about the conversation, but there's an aspect of this senator, too, which is i guess the cultural

elements, the difficult subjects for women, working in the home, pursuing a career. and as i talked to women this week, one of the things i heard is that a lot of democratic women heard the debate about contraception and they would really? are we really discussing this issue that's bln settled? we're now turning back the clock 20 years? it was reminisce end if you recall hillary clinton saying this. >> you know, i suppose i could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas. but i what i decided to do was to fulfill my profession which i had before i was in public life. >> women's choices are going to be so important in this election. this is an election where i

believe that women have to be heard. a lot of younger women aren't voting, we want to make sure younger women are voting. making sure women are holding elected leaders accountable. but in politics today, women don't have a strong enough voice. we only have 17% women in congress. we only have six governors. i like to joke with my friends, if we had 61 women in congress, i don't think we would be debating contraception. we need to be thinking about the wie to get women into small businesses. so i think women's voices are very fundmental to this election. >> let's remember the backdrop to this also, michele bachmann, these are the latest numbers in the polls that you see between governor romney and president obama, and the president has a big advantage on the numbers, but i want to ask you this question, because frankly to me, it often seems con desending to

say that what are the issues that women care about. yet there are issues that women are particularly listening for. what kind of conversation would you like to see ensue this in campaign. >> certainly not the kind of conversation that you just rolled the tape from of hillary clinton where there's insulting women who make the choices to stay at home and care for their children. i think we need to lift up women who take up the most difficult job in the home, the women who choose to stay at home and raise children, or those who choose to wor work, life has gotten increasingly difficult. we're talking a $2,000 increase per year. and if the average income is $50,000 and you have a spike in $2,000 in your cost of gas

leem lealea especially if you have seen your price of health care 30%. here's the other thing that we can't forget to say today. your previous guest, tim geithner was in a hearing on the house budget committee when the government statistic came out that effectively, 15 years from now, our economy will effectively shut down because we're going to be smothered in debt. that's the story, young women need a future and a chance and a hope. and they won't have it if president obama's big spending policies, big debt accumulating policies continue. that's not going to help women, that's not going to help their children. we have to stop the big spending ways. and barack obama hasn't put forward one plan and harry reid hasn't put forth one budget to solve the out of control spending, or the problems with medicare. because medicare will also

collapse. president obama had told us that his future under medicare, is obama care. senior citizens will no longer have medicare, they will have obama care. >> before you respond, this question of do you think ann romney has any inability to connect to working class women in the country because she is wealthy? >> i think ann romney's voice should be part of this campaign as all women's voices sbhould part of this campaign. i just want to comment on one thing that michelle said. democrats have made it part of their agenda that they want bosses to tell women what medicines they are eligible to take. 99% of america's women take birth control in their lifetime. this is a debate that has long before settled. but this congress starting with

hl 11 as made an effort --. >> that's a false betrayal, what we want is women to be able to make their own choices and there's constantly -- >> that's not what the bill says. >> we want women to make choices. we want the ability to make their own choices in health care. that's the lie that happens under obama care. the president of the united states effectively becomes a health care dictator. women don't need anyone to tell them what to do on health care, we want women to have their own choices, their own money, that way they can make their own choices for their other than future on their own body. >> congressman bachmann, first to you, are you fully behind mitt romney for president at this point? >> well, i'm very seriously looking into the endorsement for mitt romney. as you know, rick santorum just

got out of the race this week. i have said that i want my voice to be one of uniting the party, the conservatives, the tea party movement. >> if i can get a quick comment, senator for you. on this secret service story, misconduct involver prostitutes. what is your next question about where this goes? >> obviously we need a very full investigation. and i understand the secret service acted quickly to send those involved in this behavior home quickly. it needs a full investigation. >> americans should be outraged. the secret service has a wonderful reputation, this is outrageous, it can't go on.

there's even stories that this has been spread into the military. and i think the white house clearly was embarrassed by this and this is not good. we have to make sure this never happens again. >> all right. i'm going to leave it there, both of you, thank you very much. >> thanks, david. >> and coming up here, we're going to have the allegations of misconduct. and at least 11 secret service agents on the president's visit to columbia, and the gender gap. joining us here, harold ford, jr., mike murphy and chuck todd. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

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i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. we are back with our roundtable. we are back with our round table. and joining me now is nbc's savannah guthrie. and political director chuck todd. this is the reunion of the old daily rundown. republican strategist for "time" magazine mike murphy and harold ford jr. how does it translate, how long does it live? >> i think they want to see the economy work.

>> each sideline to destroy the other's biography. saying he's done with warren buffett, he shut down factories, he's bad on jobs, what recovery were the promise of jobs legacy of failure. >> savannah guthrie, president obama wasted no time running for cover on those issues, saying i know seeing michelle, the first lady how hard it is to work at home, to raise our children, he wants no part of this. >> i think we can all agree that stay-at-home moms are wonderful, i'm the product of one, i like to think i was easy to raise, she may not agree. but i was surprised at how quickly the obama campaign motivated themselves to outdo each other on twitter. they worked so hard to disown hillary rosen that you almost

felt like they must owner, they must be aligned with her. it didn't betray a lot of confidence about their position with women. they weren't acting like a campaign that has a 19 point lead in the depender gap. >> if you do look at the numbers, what began all of this discussion was the fact that a tangible residual effect shock of the primary campaign was that romney was hurt. rick santorum may have talked about contraception, but you did have romney talking about planned parenthood, supporting an amendment that had to do with contraception that went beyond even the religious exception. this is a tangible bit of damage in the gender gap. >> and the romney campaign always says we're being assigned by voters, rick santorum's rhetoric, and once they get a chance to differentiate

themselves, we saw romney desperately close the -- ark session to health care, things like that, and instead move it to something that is on more comfortable turf. they found one thing and boy, did they essentially manufacture a controversy. this is a paid cnn commentator. but they were pretty effective and we know the echo chamber that was out there. she brings up a good point about this issue of the overly offensive nature of the obama campaign. this issue of suburban women. it's not just women, it's suburban women. >> and they were concerned about drawing a line in the sand to say, first ladies are off limits, they felt like they had to take that off the table now. if somebody wants to say

something about michelle obama, and we stood up for that back when it counted. >> the voters want an economic and jobs debate. anything they can feed the distortion chum, particularly gender identity, that will clog up a clean economic battle is good for them. they made a tactical error, but i think they like the idea of the debate lurching this stuff that isn't the economy. >> i don't think anybody really wants to fight about whether women should be working at home or working in their careers. in a political context, that's probably not a conversation that anyone wants to have. but the economy, working women, feeling the pressure of high gas prices, and the president's policies on the economy, that's the debate. >> whether you go to work -- whether you're a man or woman, you go to work, i was raised by a single mom. you know the price of gas better than your husband. you know the price of milk bread

and eggs better than your husband. michele bachmann which i don't often agree with, made some pretty valid points. what happens in these political races, people make these unforced errors. i think this issue is more powerful than some of the conversations around contraception. i know that 99% of american women have used it. people go around talking about raising their kids, understanding the price of things, understanding -- women are insulted that they if they stay home and -- hillary rosen made a dumb comment. if the president and his team do not get back to making those larger points, i think this is an opportunity for mitt romney to make big gains. >> mike you were talking yesterday, you said this was a starter gun week. you look at the economist magazine, and especially because i'm obsessed with baseball right

now. you talk about the -- it shows how negative this is going to be, romney on the pitcher's mound with a grenade and there's the president waiting to swing back. the president talked about the biggest contrast, the greatest vision for the country than perhaps goldwater in 64 up against johnson. >> that's an interesting comment because it cuts both ways, who's goldwater? i think what you're going to see, and i wrote about it in "time". that the obama campaign, they're not going to run a positive campaign, they're going to run a ruin romney campaign. the romney guys are going to go after obama and say what are the accomplishments, promised all these jobs, they're not here, a trillion bucks in hock and we have a -- there's no obama story. so they're going to be forced to argue forward. but both campaigns want to make

it a referendum on the other guy. >> you have your preconvention time here, is this going to be consumed by manufacturing controversy by each other? they are going to do that, it was actually sketched a couple of weeks ago, there will be more, mark my words, but once the convention comes, the resetting of the biographies, trying to make the sale. the actual issue debate will take place in that 60-day sprint in the fall. but to watch -- you know, when we were talking about that old comment's coming, because this is going to be the most negative campaign that we have seen in presidential politics, maybe more than 2004, or 1996. >> i think the biggest issue for the president, there's no doubt it's going to be negative, more money spent. but if you're the president, u you've talked about taxing rich people. but if you're mitt romney,

you've got to think his team is saying, announce that you're raising the capital gains tax on people who are more than $2 million or a million in investment income. in fact president obama bade 26%. he's not up to 30%, because the tax code needs to be fixed. romney's argument needs to be how do you make america more competitive around the world. it may work a bit to frame it. but attend of the days americans want to do better, they want the country more prosperous, there will be some manufacturing things, but until you get to the big issues, or until the president gets to the big issues, i think he begins to pull away. whoever gets to the big issues first. >> i read in the "new york times" this morning, our own network nbc "snl," has asked

romney to host "saturday night live." you remember then senator obama going on as part of the halloween program back in 2008. this could be a great opportunity for romney. >> this is a great opportunity if he can show his personality. any time you can be self-dep indicating, it works there. palin was very effective in 2008 when she appeared on the show. and to harold's point, i think romney should be looking for some opportunity to where he could stand up for people in his own party. people could feel they get the measure of the man and he's willing to show political courage and political backbone. >> it is dangerous because here's the problem, it's not an organic thing where romney shows up one week, and the thing every funny person from professional median on, hey, be funny. that's the problem, it becomes kind of a set up deal. i think romney should want to do the deal, rather than walk into

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we're back we're back with our rained table. i sat down with bill cosby to

talk about is role in the reopening of the historic howard theater in washington this week. it originally opened in 1910, the shaw neighborhood was known for the hosting of some great performances of our time. after closing its doors in 1980 and after many failed attempts at a come back, the theater is back in action. charges were actually fired against george zimmerman. here now part of the interview where i asked cosby on his thoughts on the events surrounding martin's death. >> a woman from "the washington times" interview and then later we were talking about the howard theater issue. well, i just want to know, is this, she said over the phone, she asked, is this about race? is it? what -- and i said it's about the gun.

it's about this gun, guns in our country. and i know that when you have a gun, you may not realize it. but you put it on your person and you mean to pull this and kill somebody. that's what you mean to do. >> what does president obama represent? in this whole process, an explosion of african-american history an appreciation that you're talking about around the country what, does his leadership represent, and in the positive and in confronting the real challenges that african-americans still encounter, including in the trayvon martin case where here he was at the white house saying if i had a son, he would look like trayvon, that's a powerful statement from our first african-american president. >> pacifist, i see obama as

sisifi sisifist in the first four years. and nobody would speak about the size of the rock or the elevation of the hill. all you hear people talking about is what he didn't do. to come from what he has asked to take over, and do in the time to behave as an american to put up with those who were in my estimation acting very

unnorthern gu un-american person. he tried to bring us together. even to argue with radio hosts and people who had nothing to do with anything. it's important that this man has had to fight similar battle of a black person in a position, in america, hundreds of thousands of millions of people still behind him, but people who are very quietly acting like they have no idea what he inherited. it's as if he had the surplus. when he moved into office. and this is -- this is sad. and it's sad about them. because they know that they have

misbehaved. they know they have taken american and slowed down the o progress and there are statements there are very clear in saying as much. i don't want this man to succeed. well, why, said the brown fly? >> on that note, bill cosby, you can watch the entire interview on the "meet the press" website as our round table will do. we're back next week, if it's sunday, it's meet the press. poor kid,