right now on "andrea mitchell reports," insider tweeting. turns out the anonymous twitter account that had d.c. buzzing with national security leaks, office gossip and shots at some of the president's top advisers was an inside job. how did one of the president's senior foreign policy advisers get away with it for over two years? >> by now you've probably heard that the website has not worked as smoothly as it was supposed to. >> too little, too late? as the white house races to reboot the flawed health care exchange website, we're finding out more about when the president first learned there were major problems.

>> do you know when he first knew that there was a problem? >> well, i think it became clear fairly early on, the first couple of days. >> and cheeky george. the future king of england was christened this morning in a small private ceremony attended by the royal family and the seven people william and kate chose as godparents, making his second ever public appearance. the newest prince showed off his chubby cheeks. we'll have all the details with a live report from buckingham palace. and good day from washington. i'm kristen welker in today for andrea mitchell. keeping your job 101, don't vent about the people you work for to the entire world. former national security council staffer joseph obviously didn't get that message and his years of anonymous tweets about everyone from hillary clinton to anthony weiner are now a black

eye for the obama white house. joining me now for our daily fix, my colleague, nbc's peter alexander, who's live at the white house. chris cillizza, msnbc contributor. and founder of therun2016.com. first, chris, i'm going to start with you. i'm going to read some of the low lights from this twitter feed. quote, loved "the new york times" column eviscerating the clintons today. chelsea clinton seems to be assuming all of her parents' vices. another one, was huma wearing beer goggles the night she met anthony weiner? these are tough tweets. what are the broader implications of this? >> and you're reading the ones we can read on cable television. >> good point. >> you know, i guess i'm continually amazed at -- and this happens -- this happened in the 2008 campaign with john edwards carrying on an affair and fathering a child while also

running for president, wanting to be vice president. i'm always amazed that people in public life think that they can keep these two things separate, that people won't find out. the age we live in now, people will find out. anonymous is, in my opinion, not really a thing anymore when you are either an elected official or a major high-level staffer here. you know, i don't know if it tells us anything other than this is the age that we now live in, kristen. you know, i'm pretty sure president obama would not -- i'm not convinced he's worried about this, but i'm sure he'd rather not have this problem to have jay carney answer tonight. >> i think that is definitely a very good point. dave, i want to go to you. joseph took a shot at the clintons in one of those tweets. until the former secretary of state makes a decision about

2016, we know anything with her name in it is going to get extra attention. this case is no different, right? >> obviously, anything directed at hillary clinton, anyone in government probably has an opinion on hillary clinton one way or the other. it's amazing that mr. joseph got away with this for two years and it would be one thing if he was just critiquing policy, if this was on substance, if he was short of playing it as a whistle blower role in an anonymous twitter account saying these are problems with our national security policy. but you run through these tweets, and the are very personal, demeaning tweets about people's appearance, things that went on many meetings that shouldn't be known to the wider public. remember, this is a guy that was intricately involved in iran policy. this wasn't even a campaign account which, you know, there's a lot of fake campaign accounts that are going on. but he was at a high level of government. i think that's what makes it all

that more important and startling. >> absolutely. we should say that joseph has apologized. peter, i want to turn to you. this is obviously one more headache for the white house. the larger issue they're dealing with is health care. it seems like every day we're learning about more red flags, more problems. i want to play you a little bit of what david axelrod had to say last night and then get your reaction on the other side. >> they need to be forthcoming with the public and report on a regular basis as to the progress that's being made, as to the problems that are being addressed so that people understand that there is work underway. this has been shrouded in a little bit of mystery. i don't think -- i don't quite understand why that is. i think it's better to be straightforward about it. >> so peter, you heard another person there calling for more transparency. you have been in the white house briefings. how tricky has this been for jay carney and this administration to navigate? >> well, i think it continues to be tricky for this white house,

for this administration. they tell nbc news that they're going to try to get ahead of this thing over the course of the next coming weeks. they're going to head to ten separate cities to try to boost enrollment, specifically focusing with volunteers and cabinet officials going there on trying to get individuals to go through the phone system and to do it in person. but these problems continue to last. i spoke to a health care insurance expert a short time ago. kristen, he tells me some of these insurance providers are reporting that they are getting between 10 and 20 enrollments a day. just 10 and 20 enrollments in an entire day. there appear to be significant issues, not just on the front end when you try to sign up, but also on the back end, what's referred to as the 834. that's the computerized, organized transmission of information. it's arriving garbled at these health insurance companies. now they can reach out to the vinls who are trying to sign up. they're afraid, and there's a meeting at 2:00 where kathleen

sebelius will be there and health insurance executives will be there. one of the major topics they're going to talk about is their concern that they're being set up for failure. if this thing does get fixed, just in the nick of a time before the next major deadline, december 15th, they fear they're the ones that are going to take the blame. >> and dave, just shifting to you, you heard peter there talk about the problems that the insurance companies are having when these receive these applications. does this have an impact on 2014 and maybe 2016 if this doesn't get resolved in a timely fashion? >> oh, absolutely. the ads for 2014 for republicans are writing themselves right now when you have david axelrod last night, robert gibbs just a few days previously hammering their own administration. you're going to see republicans taking those sound bites saying, look, obama care is not transparent, it's not working. you see marco rubio, you know, already coming out, a probable 2016 presidential candidate, now trying to delay the individual

mandate. that's the next fight. they sort of lost the fight on defunding and getting rid of obama care, but delaying the individual mandate is going to be the next big fight that republicans push into the new year, especially if they can't get these problems resolved and you see a trickle of stories continuing to come out. >> chris, i want to the give you the final question. these comments from dick durbin on facebook, who said, quote, many republicans searching for something to say in defense of the disastrous shutdown strategy will say president obama just doesn't try hard enough to communicate with republicans but in a, quote, negotiation meeting with the president, one gop house leader told the president, quote, i cannot even stand to look at you. now, republican leadership aides, we should say, are pushing back against that account. but this is getting ugly, isn't it? >> yeah, i mean, what's hard about this is as you point out, there's been a back and forth about the vor rasty of that exact quote. i think it gets to the fact that there is not only a lack of

personal relationship between president obama and many republicans on the hill, but it's not even close to that. there's sort of an outright animosity. president obama would say it's mostly one sided, it's mostly republicans aimed at him. what it speaks to is that we're talking about the budget conference and maybe getting something big done. the lack of relationship and the outright animosity, i think, really makes that very difficult to imagine. >> all right. dave, peter, and chris, thank you so much for your insights this afternoon. we appreciate it. house republican leaders are continuing to dig in on the issue of defunding obama care as democratic leaders say the law is here to stay. >> you know, what we need congressional republicans to do is to work with us, find -- let's achieve some common ground here. let's all agree that obama care, the affordable care act is settled law. as problems arise, let's work together to iron those out.

>> joining me mow from capitol hill is congressman marsha blackburn. thank you so much for joining me. i appreciate it. >> absolutely. thank you. >> i want to pick up where you just heard debbie wasserman-schultz leaving off. it's the law now. why not work with democrats to try to improve it? why not put some tweaks on the table that might make it stronger? why continue to try to tear it down? >> what we're continuing to do is work with our constituents as they come into us with story after story after story of increased insurance rates, of failures with the healthcare.gov site, and to work with them on where the problems are, the systemic problems, the access problems that they are seeing with this. and our committee will begin tomorrow a series of hearings. we're going to have the contractors in front of us at the energy and commerce

committee. people can follow that hearing. we'll have it via our website, blackburn.house.gov, facebook, and twitter. by the way, i also have a video people can go to facebook and our website and they'll be able to pull up what has happened to some of these individuals that are trying to carry out a chat. we have that live on our website. >> congresswoman, let me ask you quickly on that point of the hearings. what specifically do you want to hear tomorrow, do you need to hear tomorrow in those hearings from the contractors about the health care website? >> what we're seeking to do is find out what went wrong. because there is a tremendous amount of federal taxpayer money that has been wasted on building a site. we want to know how it went so wrong, why they did not certify to us as they were supposed to that it was ready. they did not do that. we want to find out about the

privacy issues and what is happening with individuals' information. is this compliant with all federal rules, regulations, and laws? so those are questions we'll have this week and next week also. >> i want to ask you about this point because congress repeatedly refused to authorize requests by the obama administration for additional funding for the rollout of the health care law. administration officials say that funding potentially could have made a difference. so does congress, do your colleagues bear any responsibility for this rocky rollout for refusing that funding? >> i would remind you that most website developers say an aggregator website, such as what healthcare.gov is, could be built easily for a half a million dollars. they have spent a half a billion dollars. like so many issues when it comes to the federal government, money is not the problem. but making certain that you are effective, efficient, that you're meeting timelines, that is the problem. that is what they did not do

here. what we're seeking to do is find out where's the glitch on this? was it hhs? was it the contractors? was it a lack of understanding? and people are very confused by what is happening with healthcare.gov. they're very confused by this process. the uncertainty that -- with our employers, is they are trying to meet the needs of their employees. we hear about this every day. people can even go to gop.gov and enter their story of what has happened to them as they've tried to interface. we're looking at these. every single day we get dozens of stories from people who have been adversely impacted by this law. bear in mind also, this was to be a $900 billion access to insurance program. >> congresswoman -- >> a program that's affecting every part of health care insurance and delivery.

>> let me shift to the fallout from the government shutdown. if you look at the polls, a majority of americans say that that was the republicans' fault, they're blaming your party for the government shutdown. here is what senator john mccain had to say yesterday. >> i, who fought when they weren't even in the senate, not even members of the senate, fought for 25 days against obama care, okay. so i'll take a backseat to nobody who fought against obama care, but i know -- i'm an old military guy. i know when a mission can succeed and when it can't. it couldn't succeed. >> so is the tea party strategy dividing your party, weakening it, and is it failing essentially? >> i think what you're seeing is a big tent on the conservative side of the house, if you will. >> some people have described it as a civil war, congresswoman. >> it is not a civil war. i would just caution you that

what you see is the american people are less partisan than ever. more of them have less affiliation with either democrats or republicans. they're more independent. they're more independent minded. what we are seeing is people have turned their focus to the debt, now over $17 trillion, to the annual deficit, to the rising cost of obama care. both from what it will cost government as an entity and what it is going to cost the private sec sector. and i think that what we will do is continue to hear diverse opinions as to how we go about addressing this. my hope is that we're going to be more strategic and focused as we look for a way to address the long-term deficit and debt issues that are affecting this nation. >> all right. congresswoman blackburn, we appreciate your time this afternoon. >> absolutely. thank you so much. well, police are still searching for a motive in

monday's fatal shooting at sparks middle school in nevada. but we're learning more about the heroic math teacher who was killed by the seventh grade shooter. police say michael landsberry's actions gave students enough time to escape. and an emotional moment yesterday. the teacher's brother met one of the students the math teacher saved. reggie landsberry says it is no surprise his brother risked his own life to protect his students. >> i love my brother, and i wish he was here, but thank goodness he could help in any way possible. humans. we are beautifully imperfect creatures

living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch, up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy?

waiting for your wrinkle cream to work? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula. to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. neutrogena®.

welcome back. we want to take you live now to the white house briefing room where press secretary jay carney has just started his daily briefing, answering questions,

of course, about the rocky rollout of the president's health care law. take a listen. >> -- the scale of the problems with the website. what is also important to remember is that the website is not the affordable care act. what has been in place since october 1st and what will be in place for the millions of consumers who want the product is the vast array of affordable health plans out there because of the marketplace set up by the affordable care act. every day more and more americans are submitting applications, they're enrolling, they're shopping, and they're finding out they have access to affordable health insurance and if they're among the 15% to 20% of the american people who did not have insurance in the past, they're discovering they have options available to them that make it affordable and that will provide them come january 1st

security that they've lacked in the past. while the struggles that individuals have had with the website are extremely unfortunate and we take responsibility for them and we are working around the clock to fix the website to make that experience easier, the struggles, as i said yesterday, pale in comparison to the uncertainly that a single mom who's a breast cancer survivor has felt every day that she's lacked insurance because she can't afford it. she's been priced out of it. or insurers simply won't give it to her because she has a pre-existing condition. that's why we have to keep focused on the end goal here, which is making this insurance available to millions of americans who need it. >> these struggles, as you say, jay, are also having a political impact. today the administration briefed a bunch of democrats in the house. as they came out, you could

clearly sense the frustration they were having. they were calling for accountability. they were demanding action. they were demanding more answers. i'm wondering, these are your allies. these are people who you're asking to be out there supporting the health care plan. what is the price that they might have to pay, and what is it that you can do to satisfy their demands for accountability for answers? >> well, we're -- >> and you were just listening to white house press secretary jay carney, continuing to defend the president in the wake of the rocky rollout of his health care website. joining me now, illinois congresswoman jan schakowsky. thank you for joining me. i just want to get your reaction to this statement from your colleague jeanne shaheen, who

writes, quote, given the existing problems with the website, i urge you to consider extending open enrollment beyond the current end date of march 13st, 2014. they should not be penalized because of lack of coverage. i put this question to you. should the open enrollment period be extended? should the individual mandate be delayed ultimately? >> i think we should watch that carefully. we're only three weeks into the kickoff of obama care. you have until december 15th to sign up in order to be enrolled as of january 1st when the program really runs out. if the problems continue, i think the white house and all of us ought to assess whether we ought to extend that deadline for the mandate, but i think that my expectation is that the problems are going to be resolved sooner, partly because we're all very anxious,

democrats and republicans, to make sure that the door is open and that people can actually sign up. but i have to tell you, kristen, i agree with the president and what jay carney said. we don't want to miss the forest for the trees. this is really big. you say people don't have to worry any longer about pre-existing conditions, and i'm getting letters from people who actually did make it through and say obama care is going to save my life -- >> congresswoman, i want to be clear about what you're saying, though. you would be open if these problems persist to delaying the individual mandate portion of that, just yes or no quickly. >> i think we need to watch that and to monitor that and see if really people are going to be prevented from enrolling in time. if so, they shouldn't be penalized. >> the fact that you have senator shaheen coming out writing that letter suggests that sort of the unity that we saw after the government

shutdown within the democratic party seems to be splintering given this rocky rollout of the president's health care law. is that a concern for you, and do you see that happening? could this have political implications for the party? >> you know, i really don't. of course we're all frustrated and disappointed that this has put some sort of a taint on obama care, that the republicans clearly are taking advantage of, but let me just say that we have seen now that the cost is lower than we thought it would be. the savings to the american taxpayers is actually about triple over the next ten years, $300 billion less than we thought it would cost. and so there are so many things that are successful about it, but our expressing frustration and announce wiyance with the ft this rollout has been so bad should be expected. i'm sure the president is feeling double what we're

feeling. >> as you have heard, a number of democrats, a number of the president's former advisers have called for more transparency from the administration. should the administration start to hold daily briefings on the rollout of the health care website as some in your own party have suggested? >> i think daily briefings are great. i would imagine that the press secretary is doing people -- giving updates lady, but i think formalizing that would be worthwhile, certainly. >> all right. thank you, congresswoman. we should note that white house press secretary jay carney just announced that cms will hold daily briefings starting tomorrow. congresswoman, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> well, it was a coming out party fit for a royal across the pond. prince george made his second public appearance today with the duke and duchess of cambridge for his christening. it was an intimate ceremony held at st. james palace with a small group of family and friends, including the queen.

nbc's kier simmons joins me now outside buckingham palace. set the stage. what was it like? >> reporter: hey, kristen. actually, we've just watched william and kate with prince george leave in the last half an hour. they left st. james palace. behind those walls was a historic ceremony, but you're right, it really was intimate. only 22 guests invited. members of the royal family. yes, the queen and duke of edinborough. close friends were really invited. it was a short ceremony, around 40 minutes long. the memory of diana, kristen, was weaved all the way throughout the day. at the chapel was where diana's coffin was before her funeral. they have chosen a photographer, a celebrity photographer more

known for taking pictures of famous people. diana would have really appreciated that. i think more than anything else, the clear message was that they are determined to protect prince george. you think of diana when you talk about this. to protect him from the media and the pressures of being a royal for as long as possible. you got that sense with them holding this ceremony within the closed walls of this historic palace. there were mother people in the crowds outside, really, than there were inside the ceremony itself. a ceremony held by the archbishop of canterbury, who talked about prince george become an ordinary baby, just another baby having a christening. of course, not all babies get to be christened in a royal palace with a silver fount. you understand the message. they want to bring up this little boy in as normal circumstances as possible for him to have a really fulfilled life. >> and to that point, for all of

the tradition today, some of today's ceremony actually broke with tradition. that's sort of in fitting with this royal couple. can you talk about that? >> reporter: well, that's right. that's some of the things i was talking about. one thing, by the way, baptisms in the royal family are genuinely, usually relatively private events compared, for example, with marriages or indeed with the birth where you saw william and kate walk out with prince george for the first time. there were departures from history. in particular, that selection of the godparents. traditionally, the royal family might look out across europe to other royal families to gather together godparents, to make those alliances, if you like. for example, william's godfather is king constantine of greece. here they have gone to godparents who they went to school with who are very close to the family.

so it's a very different kind of picture there. as you say, i think a picture that they intend. >> kier, thank you so much for that report. the images are just stunning and too adorable. little george. thank you so much. well a big announcement from the atlanta zoo. the twin giant panda cubs born 100 days ago have now been given names. formerly known simply as cub "a" and cub "b." the names originate from a chinese idiom describing something beautiful and magnificent. they've already made history as the first giant panda twins born in the u.s. they're expected to make their public debut later in the fall. we'll be right back. stay with us. life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis

is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education.

and welcome back. we are following news out of massachusetts today where a 24-year-old high school teacher was found dead and a young teen is facing murder charges. it happened in the north shore down of danvers. prosecutors say they found the body of the teacher behind the high school hours after she was reported missing. nbc's chris pallone joins me live from danvers, massachusetts. his picture is being released because he's being tried as an adult. what's the latest you can tell us about this case? >> reporter: yeah, kristen, within the last hour or so, that 14-year-old suspect who is being charged with the murder appeared in court here in essex county, massachusetts. he's been identified as 14-year-old phillip chisolm. he appeared in court. he's being held without bond. reporters who were in the courtroom say his mother was there crying throughout today's

appearance. the case will be turned over to a grand jury. as you mentioned, this all started to develop late last night when this 24-year-old teacher, a math teacher here at danvers high school, failed to return home. she wasn't answering her cell phone. she was reported as a missing person. police came here to the school. they discovered what was described this morning as quite a bit of blood in a bathroom at danvers high school. shortly thereafter, they discovered her body in some woods not far from the high school right here. at the same time, that 14-year-old student was also reported missing. police picked him up early this morning wandering down a street in a nearby town. all of that started to come together very quickly. at this point, the big question is why did this happen? investigators are trying to get to the bottom of that. right now people here in this small community, about 17 miles north of boston, obviously in stunned sadness today as they learn that one of their beloved

teachers here at the high school has been killed. authorities here in danvers are trying to figure out what to do. school was canceled here in the town of danvers today. they're trying to figure out what to do now as they proceed on. the school is still being treated as a crime scene as we speak. >> chris, thank you for that update on an incredibly disturbing story. turning to foreign policy now. pakistan's prime minister will be meeting with president obama at the white house this afternoon. the two leaders will try to reset the strained relations that have only gotten worse since the u.s. raid that killed bin laden in pakistan in 2011 and u.s. drone strikes that have killed thousands in that country. despite all the baggage, could this be a turning point in the relations? joining me is a columnist for "the atlantic." thank you so much for being here this afternoon. >> thanks for having me. >> so david, some foreign policy experts have described the

u.s.-pakistani relationship as being on the mend, potentially. the white house is releasing $1.5 billion in aid that has been frozen since the u.s. killed bin laden. so what does all of this say about the state of the relationship as the president prepares to meet with the prime minister? >> i think those are positive developments. this is a real opportunity to maybe reset, you know, a relationship that is really important to the united states. there still are al qaeda members in the tribal areas can of pakistan. we're not going to be able to simply walk away from there. a key problem, though, are these drone strikes, which pakistanis hate and the u.s. feels it needs to do to kind of keep weakening al qaeda's leadership. >> right. and there was an amnesty international report underscoring how problematic those drone strikes have been for pakistan. as you point out, that's a key concern for them. white house press secretary jay carney commented on this just yesterday. take a listen to what he had to say. >> to the extent these reports claim that the u.s. has acted contrary to international law,

we would strongly disagree. i think it's important to note that by narrowly targeting our action against those who want to kill us and not the people they hide among, we are choosing the course of action least likely to result in the loss of innocent life. >> so david, are there any indications that the white house would consider halting drone strikes? >> i don't think they'd ever halt drone strikes. part of the problem with the u.s. approach is we've kept these as covert strikes. i've advocated and many others have for making them public. release who we're attacking, release the tapes that show what happened. so the taliban aren't able to claim that so many civilians are killed. the other fault of the united states is that we originally were claiming that no civilians were dying. that's just not credible. you know, there is a process where the u.s. air force, if they were hailing strikes, would look into reports of civilian casualties. they do that in afghanistan when there are drone strikes there and pay compensation to

families. so we can make this a more public process, reduce the number of strikes, and maybe reduce some of the tensions regarding drone strikes in pakistan. >> and one of the biggest concerns from the perspective of of the united states is that they feel as though pakistan hasn't been a true partner in fighting terrorism, particularly because of the activities of the haqqani network. so is that something that's going to be addressed? can the pakistanis be trusted moving forward on that point? >> it's hard to know. this is a critical moment. pakistan right now, the new prime minister, will be meeting with the president today, has opened up talks with the pakistani taliban, the local militants inside pakistan. it's a moment for the u.s. to maybe strike a bargain here. a colleague of mine wrote something for reuters, an idea of the u.s. will say that we will only target senior members of al qaeda while these peace talks are going on with the pakistani taliban. every time there's a drone strike, the pakistani taliban sort of say, this is what's

bothering us, it's the american drone strikes. the u.s. should let those peace talks go forward. they'll probably not succeed. the pakistan in taliban will shown to be extreme and against pakistan's national interests. if we were to turn down our rhetoric and limit drone strikes during these talks, let them fail, let pakistanis see these are extreme militants and a negotiated solution is not possible, i think that would be a smart way to go forward. again, dan suggested this in a column on reuters today. >> all right, david. thank you so much for your insights this afternoon. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. well, shifting gears now, it was one of the biggest unsolved crimes in recent boston history, but newly released court documents link deceased boston bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev to a brutal triple murder in suburban massachusetts back in 2011. the information is attributed to a friend who was shot and killed in may while investigators were questioning him about tsarnaev.

during the interrogation, the friend confessed to playing a role in the brutal murder in the town of waltham along with tamerlan. tamerlan was killed on april 19th during a shootout with police during a massive manhunt after the boston marathon bombing. dzhokhar faces 30 federal charges in connection with the boston bombing that killed three spectators. stay with us. we will be right back. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your nasal congestion, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop.

in 2009, washington, d.c. schools implemented a controversial and aggressive teacher evaluation system known as impact. it's a system that rewards highly rated teachers with bonuses while allowing the option to fire poorly rated teachers. a new study from stanford university and the university of virginia says the model did

improve teacher performance. so joining me now to talk about it is michelle reed, former chancellor of washington, d.c. public schools. she implemented the impact system, and she's now ceo and founder of the nonprofit lobbying group students first. thanks so much for being here. we really appreciate it. thanks for having me. >> michelle, first, i want to get your reaction to this study. this was obviously a controversial program when you first implemented it. you got a lot of heat for it. so what's your reaction today? >> you know, my reaction is just that sort of common sense is prevailing here. if you invest in resources and teacher effectiveness and create the right environment for teachers, you're going to reap the results of that. the bottom line is that most people would say it would make sense to have a teacher evaluation system in place where the best teachers are recognized and rewarded. we compensated those teachers significantly. for those who are not perfor performing, you have to invest in developing them. if they can't get better, they

have to be removed from the system. if you create an environment like that, everybody's performance is going to improve. >> impact took effect in 2009. you left a year later. your successor continues the program. can you explain how the system works? >> sure. first it's important to sort of juxtapose that against what has happened in this country for decades, which is most teachers didn't have rigorous teacher evaluation systems. you know, yours principal would come in once a year maybe. they'd watch you teach and then they'd write something up that didn't really add any value to a teacher's professional development whatsoever. we put in place a rigorous teacher evaluation system that evaluates teachers based on multiple measures. the first is how effective is a teacher at moving student achievement of their students. are their students learning what they should be? that made up a significant component of it. we also had observations of classroom practice. there were five during the

course of the year. some that were done by the principal and some done by master educators, experts in their subject area and grade level. and then we also looked at things like contributions to school community and how the school overall was doing. it looked through multiple lens at how effective a teacher is. it was much, much more sort of comprehensive than any kind of teacher evaluation system that had been in place before. >> michelle, some of your critics say it's possible that you're actually losing some quality teachers though because they don't fit into this mold. what do you say to that criticism despite the study coming out? could there be some valuable people who are falling through the cracks with this policy? >> actually, what the study shows is exactly the opposite, that what you want to happen, which is the most highly effective teachers being retained in the system, is actually coming to fruition. a lot of that, i think, is because you're investing in those teachers. you're recognizing them. you're saying that they're

valuab valuable. this system gave up to $25,000 in bonus to those highly effective teachers. not that teachers are teaching for compensation. they certainly aren't. but it does, you know, feel good for those teachers when they're recognized in that way. >> michelle rhee, thank you so much for your time this afternoon. >> absolutely. >> take care. well, the world series kicks off tonight with the st. louis cardinals and the boston red sox facing off in game one at fenway. and to get you in the baseball spirit, "sports illustrated" kids is showing off some of the best moments of the playoffs so far. but this isn't your typical highlight reel. take a look at this miniature replay of david ortiz's grand slam using legos. that's creative. you can even spot a lego man version of the bull pen cop. we'll be right back with more.

♪

♪ nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone.

joining me now, chuck todd nbc chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown" and my partner in crime at the white house. how are you? >> reporter: i'm good. this is an honor guard getting ready to welcome officially the pakistani prime minister due here for a meeting with the president. that's what you could be seeing behind me in a few minutes. we shall see if the pakistani prime minister's motorcade will be pulling in. >> good scene setter. let's talk about joseph, who was tweeting about his colleagues under a different name and anonymous name. what's the white house saying about this? >> reporter: apparently we have a dispute between the white house and state department, who did he work for? he was assigned to the national security staff. that was clear.

he was a state department employee and state department said he was a white house employee. he worked for the administration, bottom line, two and a half years, been tweeting since the start of the arab spring, about when the first tweet started doing it anonym s anonymously and they were vicious tweets attacking people inside the west wing, senior advisers to the president, snarky e-mails at time. some of them seemed to allude to national security stuff that maybe shouldn't have been leaked, should have been classified material. but after two and a half years in talking to experts, kristen, it didn't take the nsa to figure him out. after a while, it was basic sort of -- what started out as something he thought would be a par ody, admitted himself, got

out of hand. >> let's talk about the other headache for the white house. >> the real one, yeah. >> the president's health care website. they are in full damage control mode. sebelius will meet tomorrow. what are we expecting to come out of that meeting tomorrow, chuck? >> reporter: this is to me about the white house reassuring the insurance companies they are going to make this work because it's the insurance companies that are very upset about the interface. we're hearing plenty of anecdotal reporting talking about various health insurance companies feeling as if the information they are getting from people who are able to -- or think they are a successful time applying on healthcare.gov, some information isn't going well. of greater political concern, though, kristen, some of the comments coming out of briefing that house democrats got from hhs officials and they have

one -- they have one minnesota democrat, who simply came out, richa richard nolan, he was in congress 30 years ago and simply said this, he's worried about the brand of health care has been damaged very badly by this and said this, the president needs to man up and find out who is responsible and fire them when it comes to the issue of why did this not get rolled out as well as it should have been, as well it was promised. he's in a swing district. that minnesota democrat, we've got jean saying what she's been saying, a democrat up for 2014. this is where the political headache hits the road for the white house, when democrats start complaining about the rollout so loudly. >> chuck todd, i'll see you later today at the white house. >> reporter: you got it. >> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tamron hall joins me for a look

at what's next on "news nation." good to see you, coming up, developing news. a 14-year-old boy has now been charged with killing a teacher. her body found in the woods behind the high school where she taught. and where that young man attended school. we'll get a live report. >> plus, fixing the problem, right now president obama is behind closed doors with insurance executives and health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, claims the president was blindsided bid thinks problems. latest effort to get the website up and running properly. we'll talk with texas congressman castro who represents one of the districts in his state with the highest rate of uninsured people. the focus on those who need the help at the time when the website is also under a need of help as well. we'll be right back. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the flexcare platinum.

new from philips sonicare. a confident retirement. those dreams, there's just no way we're going to let them die. ♪ like they helped millions of others. by listening. planning. working one on one. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. that's how ameriprise puts more within reach. ♪ big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,

insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. to me, relationships matter. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. so don't wait. call now and request this free decision guide to help you better understand medicare... and which aarp medicare supplement plan might be best for you. there's a wide range to choose from. we love to travel -- and there's so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans

endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. in this corner, the big cheese. and in this corner, dawn platinum. [ female announcer ] get the power of an overnight soak in 3 minutes, and 3 times more everyday grease cleaning ingredients. dawn platinum power clean.