>> it's a mix of i'm going to go through my checklist. i'm going through history. he's talking more about legacy. trying to finish up the unfinished business. he has never been playing with republicans and democrats house and senate. he's going to have to be working from a position of weakness. he's not necessarily been that great doing that up to this point. gwen: i don't know how those two things co-exist. >> in barack obama they exist very naturally, actually. what i mean by that his

resignation he understands the train is different. he understand what is he's not been able to do effectively. but the ambition is, look the economy is getting better. i still have some traction from these issues, you know, tax reform. he thinks that republicans want to work with him on tax reform. he thinks that on the idea of trade that republicans want to work with him on trade. he thinks on the international train that he and the united states has this indispensable nation, the engagement that he started is what he's going to carry through on. so he is a man with lingering ambition. >> how will that play out? what kind of proposals do you think can possibly bring some compromise. >> tax reform, we're talk about tax reform which is very interesting. the president before christmas time did talk to mitch mcconnell. they talked about how they might be able to trade proposal,

actual concrete ideas. from all the folks that i've talked to who have also been democratic advisors to president obama, this gets harder than the brass talks. and the president has this idea that he can leverage infrastructure spending, roads and bridges for democratic ideas and find some business partners that the business community wants to do that. on trade he's ready to defy some of the republicans on this. i remember the nafta fight. they're laying some tough markers -- first of all he has to negotiate that and then go to the senate to ok that. >> the president has been burned before when he thought he was getting good signals from the fiscal bargain.

does he have a new strategy? is there something that leads him to believe it can be different? >> within of the interesting things about barack obama he's got this idea of whose political interests are going to fit in with his political interest in the tax reform he thinks mitch mcconnell for instance has two years and the republicans want to show that they can govern. he thinks an incentive for them to work and develop some sort of idea if mitch mcconnell wants to show two years of his leadership facing a tougher calendar for republican senators wants to hold that majority. he thinks they can use that and work with him across the aisle. it is truly a good question. we haven't seen a whole lot of evidence of it. >> are are there any memos up his sleeve? >> he's dealing with guantanamo this week. >> on guantanamo unfinished business and something the

president will want to complete before handing it off to a successor. he's got 120 detainees left and still moving them out. we saw today the president had executive action on sanctionening north korea. we're going to continue to see him use his executive power where he can. gwen: let's go back and look at the polls. cnn asked an interesting question. do you think the policy is being proposed by republican leaders in congress will move the country in the right direction or the wrong direction? 43% the right direction. 49% say the wrong direction. who are those pollsters talking to, ed? >> they're going to start with an easy one with the authorization of the keystone excel pipeline, this lingering issue which really isn't a big deal policywise but it has become quite a big concern.

there's a lot of democratic support for this and they want to send it to the president and say dozens of democrats agree with this. why would you stand in the way? they expect him to do so. this is something that the white house asked senate democrats, iran is -- as the talks with teheran continued. now republicans and democrats want to move on it. bottom line, they want to do something and they want to make americans like the republican party ahead of the 2016 presidential elections. gwen: don't democrats want to do something too? >> some of them do. guys like joe mansion and kemp of north dakota who have said for year who are very eager to make deals that the whole reason they dime the senate in the first place, well, now's -- now

bob cork said, i've -- corker, said, now is your moment. now you are in a position to help cut deals and get things to 60 votes that can prevail. they'll turn to people like mark warner and tim kaine of virginia and other moderates who are willing and able to cut deals with them. >> you know, that sounds like something for the senate in terms of bipartisanship. don't we have a record numbers of republicans? >> 247 which is the most since the 1928 election. so they're -- >> so can republicans work with other republicans? >> that's -- that's a big question. and that's partly why the first few months of the house calendar at least are going to look like a lot of the last few years because they're going to push some of the bills that sat on harry reid's desk. now they'll clear mitch mcconnell's desk and send it to the president who will veto them or find ways to cut some deals.

>> i was listening to the president how he's going to use his veto pen much more than he has. we know he's done it twice before in the years he's been president. he is expecting to use it for forcefully. in the early rush sending bills for the president to veto, how is that going to be perceived to the public? >> i think it's both. the first test will come by february 27th. remember they passed 11 of the 12 spending bills at the end of the fiscal year back up funding for homeland security expires at the end of february. there already you've steen white house, you know, talk about the fact that they think it's weird that republicans want to hold up funding for airport security and port security and other elements of homeland security over some executive actions that the president took. so that will be an early test. later on it will be issues with the budget and appropriations

bill. you're right. it will be a question of do we really want to hold the government so significant in the grand scream or do we want to -- grand scheme or do we want to prove a political point? >> after the republicans have been blocking so much for so long, don't the democrats want some of them to give republicans a taste of their own medicine given that they're going to need it and you didn't give us what we wanted back then? >> you talk to them about what they want to do. they talk about income inequality. relieving student loan debt, women's rights. and you wonder if that's going to work given the new environment. i think because so many are going to side with republicans on a lot o this, it could be very difficult for harry reeth but inevidently there will be

differences. we saw them block it. gwen: can i ask you about scalise who 12 year ago unwittingly spoke in front of a group of racists that he didn't know? can he survive? >> perhaps. if there's evidence of him consorting can david duke and the white supremacists that will be a problem. top republican leadership aides admit that. they move very quickly and desivesly and they've gone through great lengths to point out when it comes to scandal john boehner moves fast. michael grimm the tax cheating staten island republicans got caught. chris lee a republican from new york also was gone very fast. that's an interesting. gwen: it helps to be convicted. it's a lot easier to move around when someone's being convicted

as om posed to just under a crowd. but with only three or four major rulings the thing is going to be at the supreme court. whether it's the future of the president's affordable care act or the prospect of rolling back laws in dozens of state that permit same-sex marriage. this promises to be a consequencetial area. what tops the docket? >> it's a sequel of what we've seen before. we have our best two cases obamacare and same sex marriage whether the justices will take up again. start with the obama sponsored health care law in 2010 back under another challenge. this a much more practical challenge to the core prevision that says that there will be federal tax credits to people who buy health insurance and exchanges. the law itself refers to state exchanges. so the question se can people

who buy insurance through federally facilitated exchanges which is the majority, can they also get these tax credits. the obama administration argues they argue should should be able to get this. the law is written to get the exchangeses. the chearlings say we're looking at -- challengers say we're looking at the clear language of it and it does not allow these tax credits for exchanges setup by the federal government which is a core part of the whole thing. in fact, if you all remember from 2012 when we had the constitutional challenge, it was a broad based challenge. it went to the heart of the individual mandate but this goes the practicalities and as one dissending judge said it could gut everything if the supreme court end up ruling that it would only allow tax credits for tate exchange, individual -- >> the at ministration has been

really touting a high percentage like 87% are getting the subsidies. are they playing to a particular member on the court? who's likely on the court to have a decisive decision-making power here? >> last time it was the four john roberts casting the deciding vote last year defying conventional wisdom that ulled -- it would be him to uphold obamacare. this time it's a closer call. as gwen remembers we actually predicted that. and i thought the chief would switch that time. this time it's a statutory case. the more conserve members say if we say this only applies to the state we can fix it. congress is not going to rewrite anything having to do with obamacare. i still think it falls to the

chief. if he's concerned about his legacy john roberts concerned about his legacies. this would be a major, major move if he struck down this obamacare law. >> do we think that there's going to be a case that they can take up now? >> advocates that have let up -- breathed a sigh of relief. they thought they were over the hump. this is where we were in october. five states have -- there were cases from five states saying come and decide once and for all whether there's a constitutional right to same sex marriage. the supreme court surprised many of us saying we're not going to come to that right now. there are 19 states that allowed same-sex marriage back in october. now we have 36. we also didn't have a split among lower appeals court. the appeals court had all said there should be a constitutional

right. now we have a ruling from the my west from the sixth circuit covering ohio, michigan, kentucky and tennessee saying those people are not it into told a right of same-sex marriage. it think it really forces the supreme court's hand this time. the earliest might be january 5th. >> one thing is how is everyone doing and who might be hanging it up any time soon? >> there was a lot of pressure on justice ruth bader ginsberg and just in case something could happen that would make it harder for president obama to replace her or we have a new president in 2016, a republican. but she's healthy. she's hanging in there. she gets regular cancer checks. she has survived two serious bouts of cancer. our next justices are anthony kennedy and anthony scalia, both 78. they don't look to be going anywhere soon. >> it's part of your watch, the

ghoul watch who might retire. and finallyer everything that happens or doesn't happen will inevidently play out of the next presidential campaign. jeb bush presumably cleared the deck for the run. hillary clinton. against this backdrop the cnbc survey showing that 53% of americans are pessimistic about the current economic situation while only 23% are optimistic. who's best in position to win that fight? >> well, it's a really good question. you think -- i think what we're hearing as these candidates start to hone their message or a reason for running they're going to have to answer that question. they're going to have to figure out how to speak to those americans no matter how we talk about the dow going up and the

rate of growth in the economy. obviously a lot of people still a deeply pessimistic. you know, it's a very unsettled field right now as much as many people say we just finished an election. gwen: it's 2015. it's now ok. >> it's the most interesting part of the cycle as people try to make their decision and try to engage the electorate. and a candidate someone like a rick perry is going to be taking the temperature as he sees it of what is it that voters are going to be looking for this year and do i have something that speaks to that. on the democratic side it's a one-person race and on the republican race it's like a 12-way tie. it's just crazy. i've got my whole list of candidates on the republican side. there just so many. but i think the top tier is jeb who you mentioned who it's almost like you mentioned.

he's a professional the way he's making these moves, coming out first announcing the exploratory committee and disincumbering himself of his professional intanglements but he knows that not being in elected office he doesn't have the same platform that a lot of these guys have. so he has to inject himself into the conversation. he's doing that very effectively. chris christie is doing that. ted cruz looks like he is going to make a bid for that sort of, the lane that paul is sort of in which is conservative anti-establishment lane. you've got a couple of social conservatives. mike huckabee. marco rubio, it's not clear what lane he's in. and that's become a problem for him and also jeb crowding the florida donor field and a lieutenant o other guys, a lot of the governors, bobby jindal, scott walker, scott kay sick, pence -- mike pence. >> with all that's has happened

with jeb bushes r, have you been able to detect that hillary clinton has been acting difpbletly because of his moves? >> i think that he's thrown a gauntlet. she's been scheduling speaking engagements several months down road which has led people she's looking for a late start. people on the democratic side especially if they start declaring their intentions. all the republicans are running against hillary already. at some point it becomes incumbent for her to respond. gwen: time for one more quick question and answer. >> if there was someone at the bottom of the pack who you thought had a hains? >> i think the sleeper candidate is ben carson who is not a politician but who is a doctor and a really beloved be the conservative base and who has a

super pac that's been out there creating space for him that has raced more money than the hillary super pac. there's the tea party crowd a lot of these names are all elected officials. that doesn't count. someone like ben carson who have some unorthodox bush might surprise him. gwen: we'd like to send our condolences to the family of mario cuomo. our remembrance comes by way of a fourth documentary "the italian americans." the story of the speech that vaulted him on to the national stage. >> at the 1984 democratic national convention, cuomo delivered a keynote address that catapulted him into the national spotlight and marked him as the next great hope of the democratic party. >> please allow me to zip poetry

and the temptation to deal with nice rhetoric. >> usually in the conventions when there are people speaking at the podium people are walking around and talking and not paying attention. >> but they help lift up generations to the middle-class and higher. >> little by little as he continued to speak the crowd got quieter and quieter. >> and before that to reach heights that our own parents would not have dared dream of. until all of a sunday everybody was sitting down listen to the speech. i learned about our obligation from each other from him and my mother. they were able to build a family and live in dignity and see one of their children go from behind their little grocery store in south jamaica to occupy the highest seat in the greatest state in the greatest nation in the only world we know.

>> it was passionate, pragmatic took pride in his italian-american heritage. i think that remains one of the top 10 speeches in history. gwen: he died yesterday at the age of 82. we'll talk about cuomo a little bit more on the "washington week" extra. you can find it on pbs.org/washingtonweek. also keep up with daily developments on the pbs news hour. and we'll see you here next week on "washington week"." good night. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.visit ncicap.org] >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> how much money do you have in your pocket right now? >> $40. >> $21. could something that small make

an impact on something as big as your retirement? if you start putting that in your retirement and let it grow overtime that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. >> additional corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by boeing. additional funding is provided by newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the an menburg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> as a little label that still exists we have a responsibility to have as much of our music available as possible. it's great, genuine music of the time and most of the other little labels are gone. the real genuine sound of those times is not really available. >> the main point of the photograph is to show where inc. had stay in my body. -- had stained my body. one-sided those photographs and a curator's others, then they got interested in me doing the full dressing. >>