i'm sam sacks in for tom hartman in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. president obama campaign in two thousand and eight on a promise to close guantanamo bay and in two thousand and nine he signed an executive order to do just that fast forward four years and get no one is still open and now the president has officially thrown in the towel in this fight i'll explain in just a moment. and president obama was in las vegas today speaking about the new bipartisan immigration reform effort while some republicans seem to be on board with this bipartisan package is comprehensive immigration reform in america really

a done deal. and we begin tonight in guantanamo bay for more than four years now president obama has made it look like he's trying to close the detention facility at gitmo he campaigned on a promise to close gitmo in reiterated this promise just after being elected in two thousand and eight take a look i have said repeatedly but i'm going to close guantanamo and i will follow through on it and you will follow through on that then on january twenty second two thousand and nine in one of his first actions as president he signed an executive order calling for the closure of get no within one year the president then created a special envoy post in early two thousand and nine dedicated exclusively to closing down get this guy daniel freed was selected to the position and he spent

the next year traveling around the world finding willing partners to accept current detainees at gitmo who would be released once the prison closes so early on when it came to closing gitmo the ball was moving forward. but then the president crashed head first into the post nine eleven political reality in america and in particular in congress right off the bat in may of two thousand and nine the senate blocked eighty million dollars requested by the president to close gitmo it was a ninety to six vote with nearly all the democrats and every single republican senator joining together to sabotage the president's efforts to close the facility now faced with this opposition the president didn't double down on his efforts to remove get mo this the scar from our national moral character instead retreated in july two thousand and nine the president issued a six month extension to his pledge to close gitmo within one year and at the end of two thousand and nine on december sixteenth he made one more effort to close the

facility ordering his attorney general and defense secretary to buy a state prison in illinois for three hundred fifty million dollars to replace get no but a few months later the house armed services committee headed up by democrats blocked those funds again placing a giant roadblock in front of the president's plans to close gitmo at this point the lack of fight on the part of the obama administration was becoming apparent as new york times reports in an interview with democratic senator carl levin in june of two thousand and ten quote there is a lot of inertia against closing the prison and the administration is not putting a lot of energy behind their position that i can see said sen carl levin the michigan democrat who is chairman of the senate armed services committee and supports the illinois plan he added that the odds are that it will still be open by the next presidential inauguration. so with little pressure coming from the white house congressional democrats decided it's not worth sticking their necks out to

help close gitmo either when their final moves as the majority in the house democrats passed a year and spending bill in december of two thousand and ten that a good block funding to transfer get most detainees and also block detainees from being transferred to the united states and to a slew of other nations a month later republicans would take control of the house of representatives and president obama's best chance of closing gitmo in those first two years of his administration would be completely lost get no would remain open his entire first term and as senator carl levin predicted in june two thousand and ten good mo remained open for the next presidential inauguration two currently there are still one hundred sixty six detainees at gitmo eighty seven of who are approved for release but are barred from being released four detainees have died at the faculty since president obama took office and currently five get motive to knees and clued in collegiate mohammed are facing a military trial at the facility that's fraught with questions about torture and

frequently interrupted by a sensor button that cuts off the audio and video of the trial to reporters and the media get no remains a moral black eye on the united states and a terrorist recruiting tool abroad the promise made on the campaign trail to close gitmo has now been met the one year deadline imposed in two thousand and nine to close gitmo came and went but what happened to that special envoy remember daniel fried that guy the guy at the start of the president's first term who is specifically assigned to closing gitmo well yesterday we learned that freed was reassigned to do work for the state department on iran and syria has special envoy post devoted to closing gitmo. it won't be filled it will disappear and its vacancy will be more confirmation that president obama never had the stomach for this fight to begin with yes much of the blame for get most staying open rests

squarely on congress not on the president after all had congress consented with the president's request for funding to transfer detainees to illinois would be an empty shell today but as we've seen over and over and over again with the public option cap and trade the disclose act the bush tax cuts labor struggles in wisconsin you name it when the going gets tough the president gets going he had numerous opportunities to fight congress on this issue but he remained silent and then embraced mortgage momentary tribunals perhaps he was worried that a prolonged battle over good mo would de rail his domestic agenda and he may have been right but how do you do a second term get mo is no longer a priority like it was in the president's first term he's now accepted to be defeat as you alluded to in his second inaugural he's content with polishing his progressive legacy through more civil rights victories like the repeal of don't ask don't tell by focusing on marriage equality equal pay for equal work for women and

immigration reform all of which may really be regarded in time as significant historic victories but in a nation gripped by economic calamity and never ending wars the president's focus is in my opinion misguided. after freed's departure yesterday a spokesperson for the office told the new york times quote we remain committed to closing guantanamo and doing so in a responsible fashion and quote well excuse me if i follow up on senator carl levin's prediction from two years ago and say that get no will likely remain open for the next inauguration to in two thousand and sixteen. all right now it's time to turn things over to tonight's politics panel on the panel tonight are francesca chambers editor and publisher of red alert politics richard fowler progressive strategist and host of the richard thaler show and beenz cohen a senior online editor at the daily caller thank you all for being here let's get

started so you guys heard my rant this is a bipartisan issue i mean democrats and republicans have worked in congress to keep guantanamo bay open why is neither party interested in shutting it down let's start with the french i'm sure well i don't think it's necessarily that the parties are not interested in shutting it down the issue is that the president has not proposed a plan yet that they think that they think is acceptable and you know moving the detainees to illinois is just not an acceptable plan or part of the reason is that if these people are really as violent as they say that they are which is the reason why they're being detained these are not violent criminals that we necessarily want you know in the united states in illinois i am from kansas which is near leavenworth which was another site that they wanted to move them to originally and i know that was a you know a huge issue with the leavenworth site as well i know we get these arguments the the nimby arguments not in my backyard i don't want these terrorists in my backyard first off there's already over three hundred people in u.s. prisons on u.s. soil in the united states who are facing terrorism charges and none of them are causing chaos around communities it's not like these guys are breaking down nuclear

reactors that need to be controlled they're not going to cause harm to people's homes i mean am i right richard i think you're completely right on this and i think if you put somebody in a super maximum security prison there's not really much they can do you put them behind bars the put them behind barbed wire you put them in the limo where there's not very much you can do i think beyond that point we've seen from the congress is on the willingness for them to actually put close to get more i want you can win the president for this and here's why someone rather than very clear about his mission on guantanamo bay and beyond be very clear about it he has already started the process he put the body in charge but every time congress has blocked a serious side where he was reassigned because they don't feel he's there he's resigning this time because congress says you can't move that i mean the last. fence authorization bills that no movement in guantanamo a bad habit or john boehner the house of representatives that he's totally given up is totally given up i think the president has learned that being president is not quite as easy as just saying something should be done i think he's learned a lot about national security while he's been in office and not going ton of i think one of those important to an important issue because you know the president

did his first act as president was to say that with this we should close guantanamo as you noted and it is where it is now because he really hasn't been adamant about the issue he's kind of mentioned it from time to time when it's been brought up now it's been brought up in the press i wouldn't be surprised to hear the president address it again soon but the reality is that we have a place in cuba where we can keep military detainees but with military guard and a military base and these guys are involved effectively in war crimes and i think that that's what we're president of these guys i mean we've this facility is housed about eight hundred people five hundred of which have been let go i mean these people were picked up on afghan battlefields because they had some grudge with the warlord or because they were wearing the wrong or was there something which was paid or because they were being paid to drop a bomb somewhere or you know there's all sorts of reasons why no wonder we uphold our american principle you take these people who we say are terrorists and bring them to trial here in the united states he wasn't ready to a.s.m. trial the way muhammad has been has played out people don't want him in the united

states they want him before a military tribunal they don't have this is because this is war this is not like a civilian trial that we afford war to americans these are people who are looking to kill americans and that's why one tunnel bay is a military detention facility is an important asset for the united states i mean how does that get out to anything because they want to kill americans and be prosecuted in the united states where this is their thing that is totally different these people are not americans they do not move here tonight against america going to say we are going to the right them if they do not have the same rights that americans do and that's a big difference what you meant timothy mcveigh so that's a completely ridiculous i'm hearing somewhat all because of one of the of an american want to border want to broaden did that in our own home i mean we didn't have exactly the. and right sir but i want to go back to i want to go back to you saying that this isn't president obama's fault which i which i think we can both agree is completely ridiculous to say that no you know what obama is going on here he said that the president is a way. you purchased presence of put these folks he said somebody at the front of

congress to take these folks but i'm now at the same time as a republican that's the way to show them john mccain again i don't know if completely given up he isn't even true what do you want to know what you have here is what he was going to have to come up with that it is very clear that is what are going to be what do you want to do is in one closing guantanamo has always been a symbolic gesture by the president it's never been that serious it's something he wanted to do with symbolism to show that he's repairing the harks that the united states has caused the world but the truth is i think he's overstated the how much the united states has hurt the earth and also you know the reality is he just can't close i mean we've got a retired marine corps general. joseph hoar they wrote you know good moves morally and financially expensive symbol of detainee abuse will remain open while in the future congress are all too willing to undermine our deals in the names of fighting terror terrorism i mean these are military leaders saying this you know i think that vince is right that i mean let's be honest here you probably can't get it close but all i'm saying is that it's not like the president's even trying anymore he's completely given up his second term on that first term promise which is sort of i feel like i don't want to destroy the group your printer is going to they did

block funding to move these people but the president could go through the department of justice file official charges if you are going to take the last word they were on a break but we'll have more politics panel right after the break. well

. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the few jerks covered.

and welcome back to tonight's politics panel joining me are francesca chambers richard valerie and vince colonies ok guys let's get back to yesterday we had a barb partisan group of senators four republicans four democrats come out with this kind of immigration reform framework main things it will put more than eleven million undocumented immigrants sort of on a pathway to citizenship citizenship first have to register with the government pass background checks pay back taxes and penalties and then they'll move to the end of the line and it's only their plan is contingent on the fact that we have all these border security mechanisms in place in order before they can it be citizens

the president came out today i believe we have a clip of what the president said on immigration. the reason i came here today is because of a challenge where the differences are dwindling. where a broad consensus is emerging and where a call for action can now be heard coming from all across america. i'm here today because the time has come for common sense comprehensive immigration reform. so the president's proposals are pretty similar to this bipartisan package that was introduced yesterday one of the differences this this make this trigger mechanism it will put people the president's proposal puts people on a pathway to citizenship before the borders are necessarily as secure as conservatives want them to be the main issue heading into the election and in two thousand and twelve on the republican side was no way no how do we agree with

a pathway to citizenship here now we have for republicans signing on to this plan are we going to get some sort of pathway and would that be a huge defeat for republicans for interest i think you're totally meffert misrepresenting republicans i guess if you on this heading into the election this wasn't even an issue in the two thousand and twelve election to be quite honest your leader the republican debates it was and they were they were he no they were a few back in the primary you know we all remember how mitt romney said that they were going to self deport themselves which i even i'll say is republican was just ridiculous but i don't think this was a big issue heading into the election and this is an issue that marco rubio has been working on for quite some time i think it's great that president obama has finally come around to the g.o.p.'s point of view on some of these issues such as the fact that we need better systems for the employers even if i would ever else so i screeches seem truly compromised richard is mark is marco rubio the hero in all of this one too i mean this is here although i'm just trying to. listen to the far as i love the fact that francesco woke up on the you know liberal side of

the bed this morning talking why you know immigration is such a republican idea but if i if i had my of my facts right just a couple weeks just a couple months ago during this election we heard they should be we should have they should be voluntary deportation and we could get them all out the country of a couple of weeks ago we had republican members of congress talking about why i will never support and that am is the any pathway to citizenship you're going to have that i mean i said it. the other day said this boils down to the fact that both ben's and francesco understand the politics of immigration of changing and the only republican can actually win races and they can actually win if one of the key texas read is that they come out someplace moderately on immigration so they don't piss off all the latino i just want to clarify very second that i think marco rubio's green my consistent might make my view on this issue has been extremely close and we have probably only person in the party that believes in immigration for well you know to have a president who's the democrats have actually had a lot of success in actually framing it the way that richard just said which is that democrats are the only party that cares about immigration reform publicans

noted been going on which is which is wrong for one but for another for another i think what you are seeing republicans are a kind of a wounded dog here right i mean they they do get beat you know they are and they are and they are the right allies when you pull like rush limbaugh on the hard right going to scuttle this deal that seems to another just about everybody always on rush limbaugh's show today rush limbaugh seem to need able to be nothing to him to an end and the reality is if you look at the two plans as you said they're very similar the distinctions come with obama considers he wants to take in gay partners as family members as well as part of his immigration plan and the other side is that obama is not as adamant on the issue of securing the border and they're going to be somewhere on hold on wait now let's look at the bunk this but let's talk about the facts since president obama's taken obviously double the amount of people that we have on the border we've doubled border security this is the same as i want to ever be more people than you were nelson breaking up bailey's terry reported to satisfy your ideal that would do that the democrats and president obama is not as soft on border control that's complete until it's

a farce so far i saw stopping the flow of illegal immigration for one for another is that you have a situation where the two plans are just almost identical and actually if you look at the president's plan what i found interesting in the president's plane was how like appealing it was on a bipartisan basis because it included things like one learning english two you actually have to you you have to like be put at the back of the line for immigration and actually think. and you don't think there is no notice just like you and i don't think it's everything up on the liberal side the right eve verify has in fact been a republican proposal of our white and trade and i don't remember what it was hope that breaks at the end of it when the dream act came out of the dream act has dreamers waiting at the end of the line it creates a pathway to citizenship republicans rejected that in the lame duck congress of two thousand and ten they were ejected at mitch mcconnell stood against it all republicans that against the dream act which is the say almost the same exact thing and now all of a sudden they've woken up one morning and realize that immigration is a good idea and i should have them not all republicans deaf they feel really good

at united states senate and i want to be or not liking necessarily take the view they are taking i know a lot of republicans and conservative ones in the house of representatives are still no i'm saying not all there but i'm sure it just i want to i want to get one more question here just on this i was watching the president's speech richard and he says that he's willing to let congress work this matter out i feel like that's the same thing he said about health care about energy reform he's going to let congress handle this matter he's not going to take much of a lead is that a big mistake i think there's a caveat to that and i think beyond what the president said if you talk to folks at the white house of the white house the saying is listen we're going to do understand that one that we need to offer a bill to get this done we will offer a bill we would not let it get bogged down like health care would not let it get bogged down like all of rather good ideas what we're going to do with congress is now want to act within a reasonable time we will stand up and we will push it before because it's going to be i actually agree with you on that issue i think the reason that he didn't press harder on it today was because congress has already preempted him the senate deal is a fence that is actually very similar to what obama wants to do so there's no point to fight congress on this i think we're all in agreement on that ok great well then

let's move on to the next topic which is you conservatives trying to steal elections so it looked like for a while that republicans were considering changing how they count electoral college votes in blue states like wisconsin michigan ohio pennsylvania virginia was considering it legislation was actually introduced in virginia and in pennsylvania do this but this kind of effort seems to have hit a wall a spokesperson person for governor. they will not change electoral college scheme in ohio virginia governor bob mcdonald oppose it florida speaker will weather per virginia's attorney general ken cuccinelli so is this effort dead and richard what does it say that republicans are even considering trying to do this i hope it's dead and i'm hoping for good reason because i think it's wrong for our country it's wrong for democracy and it's wrong for the constitution the country is pretty clear about how the electoral college works and how federalism works but beyond that i think that the republicans who are willing to do this are shows what they're willing to do the way and they will they will subjugate and suppress and find every

way possible against me the republicans are trying to suppress my right what i would have to i don't have to come back to twenty twelve election proved it is most effective but i wonder why do you all of us who's going to fight everyone and what are you going to every sentence in ninety eight of african-americans don't have a voter i.d. laws on your side you know the product that's how they live which as a product or as a product of the state there is to your right is a particle is a product of their state legislature and a republican controlled and they're doing everything possible to press african american voters latino voters hispanic voters nothing really to ban to syracuse or church of twenty five percent black twenty percent asian nineteen percent latino at the very bottom white guys eight percent yet this is opposed to the least effect is i don't like the people who live in cities that's how that break does not suit us of the secretary of state the secretary of state of florida came out during the election and said we're going to do everything possible to stop the stop the voting the same thing happening to the governor of pennsylvania one other person is that we do we do everything possibly so we're going to win as we suppress both and leave exulting binns why is it that when democrats control state legislatures you see

things like same day voter registration more early voting hours and then when republicans take over state legislatures you see restrictions to early voting voter id laws or get a sense of gravity that it was a roller coaster and you were gone it's been a popular vote effort to that head of the elections that talked about apportioning electoral votes in various states especially states that were already going red because there was a democratic there was a democratic movement to break up the line of the order to if we're going to. because you keep interrupting the point is both parties see opportunity in trying to game the electoral system and democrats have long been in favor of changing the electoral college because they see that they believe they can attain a national popular vote in this how about we just go to a national popular vote and nobody can reduces them my point and this is my point here it's just democracy that i'm making the point here by the way it's a democratic republic and the distinction is as ken cuccinelli argued in virginia when he opposed the very thing that we're talking about today which is this push to try and divide virginia up into this ludicrous map cuccinelli said look every state

needs to be winner takes all and the reason is is because the state has to have a voice in the process because the states created the federal government not the other way around well the thing about the virginia too is that you know i really want to talk about how these districts are porous and how many minorities are in the decision whatever else this isn't actually even a map that was gerrymandered by republicans it was actually democrats who created virginia as mouth for how the congressional districts are forced and that's not true yet there it is that so you don't want to talk about this that well that's going to refer back to the civil rights act which says that mine every vote each person gets one vote no i'm talking about the way the magistrates are portioned the digital records with by the governor of the state legislature and the well because of the recent census it would be republicans that actually had to do it were they for the redraw under the entire issue with a direct so they've redrawn virginia into the district that they're in but the reality is that republicans by and large in the state they've defeated the effort because they because they believe that once they had a hole that they believe that on principle that should be winner take all must let's stop it there we just have about two minutes we learned today that the

treasury department wasn't doing its job in keeping wall street compensation in bonuses in check for banks that were bailed out by taxpayers. there's this please are there was supposed to make sure the limit the executive pay for banks that were bailed out turns out approved eighteen pay raises totally more than six million dollars they approved one million dollars salary packages for sixty eight of sixty nine employees were held for have a problem that bill. banks that we taxpayers bailed out are paying their their c.e.o.'s who for the most part oversaw the mess they created millions of dollars with a lot of the money we gave them. sure i mean i think it just goes back to the into the first place you know that if the government wanted to oversee this then they should actually provide oversight i'm not arguing for tarp and then the president well i'm sure what i know i'm not saying there should be more oversight necessarily i don't even believe in tarp i don't think we should ever been in this position but if the government was going to put itself in this position if they were misfortune

was going to put itself in an oversight position then it needs to actually do that richard i will do the bit i think corporate greed is corporate greed and however you cut the cookie just as i think we have to find a way to fix that and hopefully we'll begin to see the change in the next of this next administration on tarp but what i am against is probably capitalism and that's the that's the question at stake right so it both republican and democratic administrations are guilty of this both general motors and a.i.g. have a very cozy relationship with the obama transition and it stands to reason that their executives will get away with the lack of oversight and that everybody else has objected to the thing that drives me nuts is the report that came out of the dallas fed yesterday about how twelve banks of the six thousand banks in operation just twelve own something like seventy percent of all banking assets in america that's a huge problem that something needs to be done about print cheska richard prince as you guys so much. coming up thanks to the care americans will soon have unprecedented access to affordable and lifesaving health care but my next guest

thinks that obamacare itself is a disaster she's recently written a book on how to survive its implementation that is coming up next.

he is a piece of the. elite . the sound.