>> there's nothing that we would have done differently. >> this week on "inside washington," with unemployment approaching 10%, republican sens blood in the water. >> the stimulus plan is not working. >> the vice-president lanes health care reform is on track. >> we have never in my entire public life been disclosed. >> the president tries to warm up relations with the russians. >> president medvedev and i are committed to leaving behind this the shouldn't read -- the suspicion and revelry. >> congratulations. >> mr. l franken comes to washington and gov. sarah palin decides to leave.

>> i'm not going to shut any door. >> the nation's unemployment rate is currently at 9.5% and probably had it to double digits with. what the president out of the country vice-president biden conceded the initial predictions that unemployment would peak at 8.5% were too optimistic. >> the truth is we and everyone else misread the economy. >> now, this is the greatest abdiation i seen since i've been in congress. >> the question now is, do we need a second singles? >> the first in less bill was sort of like taking a half a tablet of by agra, you know, and having a budget can be mixed in. >> that is warren buffett, the oracle of omaha -- half of tablet of viagra -- metaphor.

obama did say the had an incomplete and -- information of how bad things are. but nevertheless he claims he would not have done anything differently, even if he had more information. the question is, how long will the voters wait until they exact retribution? we see independent voters shifted away in some polls and in ohio one poll shows a real slive bridge in his rating. is the president in hot water yet? >> i don't know if he is in hot water, but this recovery is going to be so and it is going to be in fits and starts. it is a rollercoaster, and they are definitely in a dip right now, no question. the white house was sloto respond, the republicans were very effective when the new jobless number came out that was worse than expected, and a jump on it and took advantage of it and they got the best of the white house this week, that's for sure. >> charles? >> well, once it hits 10%, that will be the mantra in the press

and it will be the story every day. and the administration knows that. but i think the president's time verizon is the next november. he knows he has a hard time now. and he can take his dip now, evenhough the numbers will dip as well, but as long as there is improvement elastic -- next year, that is okay. that is the time or verizon. take a dip and time of the best you can -- that is the time horizon. then you get a rise at the end of next year. >> there is always a lag time even when have not had a real stimulus. that is it essentially why george bush the first lost the '92 election. the economy was recovering and he didn't get credit until -- because the recovery began really under clinton. this is such an awful recession and that it may be getting better by the 10 election, but i

think it is very questionable. i am sure obama thought about the likelihood that he certainly will lose seats in the next election. the question is, how many. >> colby, do we need a second stimulus package? >> i don't know why warren buffett would say that, although he ishe one who made the money and i have not at all. it seems to be in -- to me they have not fully distributed the first package. the money has yet to move into the economy. i think on that score, you see what happens with this stimulus package. there is early evidence that some of it has made a difference already and there is more to come. the president has suffered some slippage in the polls, which is expected at this point. but with democrats, the same polls shows he even went up a point come up to 90%. >> democrats are in a daze and a

stupor, what do you expect? >> to complete the sentence -- anyway, just a thought. >> just giving you a footnote. >> i appreciate the footnot and i will have one for you, to. [laughter] >> we will do that during the break. >> ok. but it is too early to pronounce him in political trouble. >> here is the new york times, this paul krugman on friday -- what mr. obama needs to do is level with the people. he needs to admit -- he nds to do on economic policy what he has already done with race relations and foreign policy, talk to americans like adults. >> he may do that. he said in the beginning it is only going to slowdown what will inevitably be a shrinking of the economy. but, you know, memories are short and people had high expectations for the stimulus plan and it didn't move fast

enough. the idea of a second stimulus plan is a red herring. it is not going to happen. he is not going to ask for it because it is a loser. he got as much as he could for the first time but in addition what they say they are focused on, and that is trying to get the infrastructure money out faster because right now the money that is out there is saving jobs and not creating new ones. the infrastructure jobs of the ones that could become new jobs. >> there is a lot of printed -- revisionism about what they promise. they said the stimulus would prevent unemployment rising above 8%, and of course it is 9.5%. but secondly, the president said it was so urgent that it had to be passed so quickly that it would not allow a 40-hour period which members of congress could read the damn bill. now the administration is saying, well, the stimulus acts

slowly and it takes a matter of months. well, if it was going to be that so, how come we did not have a week and over which of the members -- >> but the money cannot and phases. there was money that went out. there was early money that went out in taxes, then the second wave that went to state government. >> if that had not happened, look at where we would be now come in worse shape. you have to admit that. >> and remember the psychology of the times. we were in really bad shape. the automobile companies have not gone into bankruptcy yet. he knew that all of this was coming at a huge wave and had to do something to break the cycle. >> he did not be done so you wouldn't allow congress a week and to have a look inside of the trillion dollars. there was so much waste and abuse -- >> the republicans who were

looking for a reason to oppose it, founded. >> cbo said a 11% of the infrastructure stuff will be spent this fiscal year. that's all. >> the president reaches out to the russians, talks global wa

>> we may not end up agreeing on everything, but i think we can add a tone of mutual respect and consultation that will serve the american people. >> the president with a lot of their putin, he was in russia. when it comes to farm policy, this president will not be confrontational. america and obama administration will not go it alone. that is not obama's style. kissinger called him a chess player. i think that is a compliment. what advantage did the president achieve in moscow and later the g-8? >> in moscow, he didn't achieve

any milestones. on the other hand, i think he said the relationship the way it should be with the russian leaders. he didn't come out of moscow and say he looked into the president's soul and i is ieyes, not anything loopy like that. dealt with the president as president and putin as the prime minister and put him in a secondary position. knowing full well the power is with putin. the agreement they reached on arms is something the critics will say they could have done anyway, and it doesn't mean to much. but i think that meeting allowed them to take a measure of them and then take a measure of him up and closer -- up and personal. the g-8 summit, they did reach agreement over the objectives of the developing countries on climate change. no great milestones. on the other hand, it was a step forward, i think, and discussions we will have to have in the future. >> nuclear arms, driving one of

my favorite columnists use the word irrelevant. >> of the preliminary agreement that obama negotiated was entirely irrelevant. who cares how many warheads the russians have. but in order to be able to come home waving this useless agreement, obama made a huge concession. you can see for the first time in a quarter-century that america would link defensive and offensive strategic arms. the reason that is a huge concession is that offensive arms are entirely irrelevant. defense is where we have an enormous technological advantage. we can shoot down an icbm, and the russians can't come and we agreed explicitly and in writg to a linkage which reagan resisted, bush resisted, clinton resisted and the second bush resisted. we will rue the day because it is the one thing in this century

that will protect us, defenses. there is no way we are going to deter iranian and north korea appeared to give them a way of a big mistake. >> rue the day? >> i will let colby take this one. it is all about the shield. we have not done very well and my view, the tests has -- have failed as much as exhibits. i think it is better as an image than a reality. >> there is no way to say that he was looking forward to come back waving and agreements. that is a mischaracterization of what i think was after. i don't think there is an agreement that can be reached that would anyway of the united states to diminish its capability of defending itself, awards allies. nothing was done in russia that would lead to that, notwithstanding -- >> political question. he didn't get the response in russia that he has had and other

foreign capitals. >> no, no, but that should be no surprise. they are wary of the united states, and it doesn't matter who the president is, they would be wary of that person. this is a relationship that has to be built. vladimir putin didn't like him from the beginning and things and the frosty. bush loved putin in the beginning, at the end, frosty. >> this time, it was very interesting, the little thing obama did, he had dinner with medvedev, then he was supposed to have dinner the next night with putin, but it said, no, i was spending the night with my family, and putin is an evening sky. he has breakfast with putin and in the picture putin looks like the guard -- a little cup in his hand that looks like somebody gave him the cup to look fancy buddy has begun in the back. >> let us go back to domestic for a minute. the news conference on friday, and the president said it things health care is on track. he thinks he will have something but august recs. will it be anything tangible or

substantial? >> i think by the august recess is pretty optimistic. i think the senate in bed sick dollar isn't a very hard place because they are trying to write a bill for republican votes -- i think the senate is in a very hard place. they had a way to finance it and it fell apart, and they have to find new ways. but i do think you see on the hill a determination to turn out the bills. i have not seenny kind of wavering that would-be -- >> henry waxman said he would not be bound by any white house agreement. >> health care is a little bit like the human back. it has so many moving parts. you really wonder if it at some point if it is fixable, but god knows of they will try. >> it is senator al franken and

>> it would be apathetic to just hunker down and go with buffalo. only dead fish go with the flow. >> this is our good government section. alaska gov. sarah palin decided that the best way for deserve a state that she loves is to resign. then i could not stand here as your governor and allow the millions of dollars and all of that time both to waste just told the title of governor. >> in other words, you can take this job and shove it, i ain't working here no more. before we start of sarah palin, which inspires great devotion or bile an equal measure. let us look at a different lens -- her uniqueness. you get an airplane and it crashes in the wilderness, you, nancy police -- nancy pelosi, and the governor survive. who do you trust to build a fire, to trap a game and leave you back to civilization? nancy pelosi or sarah palin? >> and to bring home a dead fish

to eight. -- to eat. >> it takes better dead. >> i bet she could eat one alive. she is a great talent but she is unprepared. and if she left office because of the heat in the kitchen, because of that attacks on her and trig, that would be reasonable. if she had a calculation that this would help her politically, she does offer mind. this is a setback. it could be the end of her career. america has the second acts, like nixon, but if she imagines she could be like a reagan and the wilderness and the 70's, who gathers strength and becomes president, she has to be like reagan, a serious man who speaks and things to rights seriously and reads and learns. and she doesn't, she is not going to leave anything. >> i have already seen sarah palin 2012 bomb burst occurs. >> they might become collector's items for all the wrong reasons for the governor.

i ree with charles beard in quitting when she did she lost e opportunity to build a portfolio on policy and serious issues that would fill a hole that voters and concern voters had about her in the last campaign. i think, in a way which she had done it is embraced the celebrity side of sarah palin, which is very lucrative and very vacuous, and i don't think that can pass to presidency. >> if i could say something? if you look at her history, a very hard-working, very attractive dilettante. she never stayed and any job. not mayor of was selleck, the big commission she was appointed to head, and now not governor -- not the mayor wasilla. i think she embraced the celebrity side and not willing to put in the hard intellectual work. >> is mark shields were he here -- and i want to thank him for filling in -- i think he would remind us that there are an awful lot of working people out

there who don't care about her tortured syntax but who identify with the image that you saw here, of the person who knows what hard work is. >> i think he would probably say that and i would certainly say that. i am not sure i agree with the panelists. first of all, i don't understand sarah palin which talks commission loses me. but that doesn't matter because she has people who do understand and follow her. she has a core following. she helped energize the party base in the last election. what does it mean that she steps away? you have governor's already let the governor of virginia and texas asking them to come and campaign for them -- she will be able to do that for republicans of around the country over the next couple of years. she is popular in those areas. she will walk into 2012 but some people who will -- can she went? not sure? the nomination? not sure. but saying she will be a loser is premature. >> she will make a lot of money.

>> not campaigning. it cannot but she has a book coming out -- >> but she has a book coming out. >> speeches, television, very lucrative. >> sarah palin-sanford -- 2012. i want a ticket that is completely out to lunch. imagine how the russians would react. they wouldn't move an inch. they would be scared to death of those two. >> al franken sworn in. my question is, will he leave his comedic talents at the door, because it would be a shame? it needs lighting up. >> on the show the other week i mentioned that he would carry some of the old al franken with him, and i heard from one listeners that pointed out he was a harvard graduate and there is a lot more -- >> so was al gore.

>> and so was pat roberts, but i did not want to say that to my listener. we need all we can get. then i still think we need a few laughs and the senate. >> he probably won't give them to us at least up front. >> former defense secretary to us at least up front. >> former defense secretary robert mcnamara died at age 93. ah, just installed fios in the whole building. now everyone has the fastest upload speeds. and we're giving them a mini netbook. well, i'm sticking with cable. so's ted. (voice) no i'm not! he's just goofing. (voice) no i'm not! (sighing) ted has betrayed me. (announcer) unlike cable, fios brings 100% fiber optics straight to your home and when you switch now, you can get a free compaq mini netbook. just pay shipping, handling and taxes. with fios, you'll get razor-sharp tv, blazing fast internet and crystal-clear phone service all for just... sign up today. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v, and for a limited time, get an incredible compaq mini,

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>> our fire prior -- fiat -- fiat -- firepower is immense. why should we expect a military advantage? >> robert mcnamara directed the american participation of the war in vietnam. actually he was right. the united states prevailed in every major battle, including the tent offensive -- tat offensive. they won the battles, but the united states won the war -- lost the war. later he said we were wrong, terribly wrong, and we all would to future generations. he worked for him at the world

bank. >> i did not work for him but i worked with him, i was the u.s. were presented and he was the present -- i saw him almost every day. i think in some ways he tried to compensate for what he did as secretary of defense. i am not sure he achieved it. but he brought his considerable energy and talent on behalf of the world's poor of a driving the institution and countries of the world to increase assistance to the poor. china would not be where it is today as a world power were not for the world bank bringing it into the economic family of nations and encouraging economic development. robert mcnamara drove that decision. i was the to try to slow it down, as a matter of fact, and i think he was right and i was wrong. but i did it on behalf of the u.s. government. but his legacy is not going to be the world bank. it will be vietnam. and it is time for him to have said it was wrong, but he was part of the wrong.

>> was in a tragic figure, charles? >> i think in many ways. i think it is interesting colby remembers is 10 -- his tenure of the world bank, because many don't. i have a different take. everything he touched went wrong. at the world bank had this idea of a huge influx of capital into the poor countries. in a tan nia -- in tanzania, and completely ruined the countryside and agriculture because it favored by urban areas to the point where the farmers in tanzania planted the crops upside-down as a result. >> that is a false example used before by people on the right -- falls. tanzania had the highest literacy rate in the continent because of the intervention of the world bank and the story that has been passed originally was false. >> let me just turn to the subject of vietnam, the big subject with robert mcnamara appeared from a human -- mack

the merits. from a human point of view, to see someone so intimately involved in this disastrous war and later being the architects say we were wrong is an extraordinary thing. >> as much as it tried to recover the bitterness left behind is intense and probable for people was served in vietnam. >> colleagues, thank you very much. see you next week. hmmm... well... naaa... yeah! calculating for getaway. ♪ find your way to a perfect destination at busch gardens... and water country usa... where family-fun surrous you... and world-class rides astound. start at buschgardens.com.

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