>> production assistant was provided by albritton communications, and politico. >> there's nothing we wouldn't have done differently. >> this week, with unemployment approaching 10%, republicans sense blood in the water. >> there stimulus plan does not working. >> the vice president claims health care reform is on track. >> we have never in my entire tenure of my public life have been disclosed. >> the president tries to warm up relations with the russians. >> president medvedev and i are committed to leaving behind suspicion and a rivalry.

>> congratulations, senator. >> mr. al franken, the washington post and gov. sarah palin leaves you know. >> i will not shut any door. >> the nation's unemployment rate is currently at 9.5% and currently headed to double digits. with 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 must read -- miss read the economy. >> this is the greatest abdication i have seen. >> the question is, do we need a second stimulus? >> the first stimulus bill was like taking a half a tablet of niagara and have also a budget

can be mixed and. >> that is warren buffett, they are called -- the oracle omaha. dempf the president said he and his advisers did not mislead the economy but he did say they had incomplete information about how bad things were. but it claims he would have not done anything differently even if they had more information. how long will voters way before they try to exact retribution? we already see independences shifting and in an ohio poll it shows real slive in his approval rating. is the president in hot water yet? >> i don't know if he will be in hot water, but this recovery will be slow and in fits and starts. it is a roller coaster and indefinitely and a dip right now. the white house was slow to respond, the republicans were very effected when the new jobless numbers came out that was worse than expected and a jump on it and took advantage of it and i got the best of the white house this week.

that's for sure. >> charles? >> once it hits 10%, and that will be the mantra in the press and it will be a story every day. and the administration knows that. but the president's time verizon is next november. he knows he is going to have a hard time now, and he can take -- take a bus dip now, but as long as there is improvement late last year, he is ok. take a hit now and try to time it as best as you can. it is always a dicey proposition. so you get a rise at the end of next year. >> there is always a lag time even if you have not had a real stimulus package. that is essentially why george first the first lost the 92 election. the economy was recovering and he did not give any credit because the recovery began

really under clinton. this is such an awful recession 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 well lose seats, the question is how many. >> colby, do we need a second stimulus package? >> i don't know why warren buffett will say that -- although he is the man making money, and i haven't. it seems to me they have not fully distributed the first package. i think on that score, see what happens with the stimulus package. there is early evidence that some has made a difference already and there is more to come. the president has suffered some slippage in the polls, as would be expected at this time.

but with democrats, the same poll says he is even of a point, up to 90%. >> but the democrats are in a stupor, what do you expect? >> i would just say, to complete a sentence, just a thought -- >> giving a footnote. >> i appreciate the footnote, and i will have one for you in due course. [laughter] >> during the break. >> but it is too early to pronounce him and promote the political terms. >> here is a new york times columnist on friday. what mr. obama needs to do is level with the americans and people. it needs to admit that -- he needs to do what he has already done for race relations and foreign policy, talk to americans like adults. >> he may do something like that. and he did in the beginning. he said in the beginning this is only going to slow down what

will inevitably be a shrinking of the economy. but, memories are short, and the ball had high expectations for the stimulus plan, and it didn't move fast enough. the idea of a second plant is simply 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 the first time. in addition, what they are going to do and what they say they are focused on, and that is trying to get the infrastructure money out faster. right now the money that is out there is saving jobs, not creating new ones. the infrastructure jobs of the ones that could become new jobs. >> a lot of revisionism about what the administration had promised. they said it would prevent unemployment rising above 8%, and of course it is 9.5% but secondly, the president said it stimulus was so urgent that had been passed so quickly that he would not allow a 48-hour period

in which members of congress could read the damn bill. now the administration said the stimulus acts so slowly and it takes a matter of months. if it was going to be that slow, how come we did not have a week and over which the members might have -- >> but that -- the money came out in phases. there was early money that went out. there was money out in taxes, and a second phase for state governments. >> if that have not happened to look at where we would be now coming in even worse shape. you have to admit that. >> you have to remember this turcotte -- the psychology of the times. we were in really bad shape. the automobile companies have not gone into bankruptcy yet. i think was cleared to a lot of people they would, but he knew that all of this was coming like a huge wave and he had to do something to break the cycle. >> but it didn't have to be done so that you could not allow members of congress a week and to have a look.

it was so much waste -- >> the republicans who were looking for a reason to oppose it, founded. >> the cbo says 11% of the infrastructure stuff will be spent this fiscal year. that's all. >> the president reaching out to the russians and talks global warming to the world's wealthiest nations. >> we may not agree on everything but we can have a tone of mutual respect and consultation that will serve both the american people and the russian people. >> the president with vladimir putin, he was and russia. but when it comes to foreign policy this president will not be confrontational. america and the obama administration will not go it alone. that is not his style. kissinger calls him a chess player. i think that is a compliment. what, if anything, did the president achieved in moscow? >> in moscow, he didn't achieve

many milestones. but on the other hand i think he said the relationship the way it should be what the russian leaders. he did not come out say that he looked into the president's soul and eyes and saw his soul. he didn't get droopy like that. he dealt with the president as a president and the prime minister as a prime minister. and you put him in a secondary position, knowing full melt -- full well the power is with blood and a putin. the deal he reads from arms is something the critics say he could have done anyway. but i think that the meeting allowed him to take the measure to them and a measure to him up close and personal. the g-8 summit, they did reach some agreement over the objectives of the developing countries on climate change. no big milestones. on the other hand, it was a step forward, i think, in the discussions they're going to have that. >> nuclear arms, i think what my

favorite columnist used the word irrelevant. >> the preliminary agreements is entirely irrelevant. who cares how many warheads of the russians have? however, and ordered to be able to come home waving this useless agreement, obama made a huge concession. he conceded for the first time in a quarter-century that america would link the defensive and all -- defensive and offensive. the reason that is a huge concession is that offensive arms are entirely irrelevant and defense is where we have an enormous technological advantage. it we can shoot down and icm and the russians can't, and we've put in writing something right and resisted, clinton resisted, and a second bush resisted. we will rue that day because is

-- it is the one thing that will protect us, defenses. there is no way we will deter iranian that north korea, and to give that away is a big mistake. >> rue the day? >> i will take -- let colby take this one. it is all about the shield. we have not -- not done very well, and my point of view. the tests have failed. i think it is more image and reality. >> there is no way to say that he was looking for to come back waving an agreement in victory. that is a mischaracterization of what i think it was active -- after. i don't think there would be an agreement that in any way to cause the united states to diminish its capability of defending itself or its allies. nothing was done in russia that would lead to that, notwithstanding -- >> a political question. he didn't get the response in russia that he has had another

foreign capitals. >> no, no, but that should be no surprise. they are wary of the united states, and it does not matter to the president is. they will be wary of the person. this is a relations and that would have to be built. clinton met putin and unlike him from the beginning and it and it frosted. bush loved. the beginning, things ended frosty. >> and this time it was real interesting, a little thing that obama did, had dinner with medvedev, then he had dinner the next night with putin -- said, no, i am spending the evening with my family. he has breakfast with putin. he looks like a guard. he has a little cut, looks like somebody gave him a cup to be fancy buddy as a gun in the back. >> there was a news conference friday after the g-8, the president says he thinks health care is on track. he thinks he will have something by the august recess. will it be anything tangible,

substantial? >> i think by the august recess is pretty optimistic. i think the senate into a singular is in a very hard place because they are trying to write a bill that could draw some republican votes. and that is hard business. it's got harder this week when a had a way of financing it that fell apart and they have to find new ways to do that. i do think, though, you see on the hill a determination to turn out the bills. i haven't seen any wavering that would mean this is about to fall apart. >> henry waxman says he will not be bound by any white house agreement. >> house correct -- health care is like a human back. it has so many moving parts. you wonder at some point if it is fixable. >> we could do a whole show on bad backs. but let's just stick to the basic subject of health care. with all of the competing interests, what will the sausage look like? >> we know a few broad outlines.

and the key thing is how to get more people insured. will there be a big government program or the co-ops they are talking about? the senate is talking about going with first a co-op system which will be private with a trigger to set in a public program if the co-op doesn't work. the house doesn't like that at all. they will go with a government plan. all will be hashed out in a conference committee this fall. but joe biden is right, they are like this close. if they could figure out the money and the other pieces. >> obama was smart, which -- he could not impose his will. but at some point, he would have to get people of the room and knock heads together. there is too much fallen between the cracks. >> how will he pay for this? that is what he talked about in his press conference in rome on friday.

the need to control costs is an important part of this endeavor, in addition to -- to make it but neutral. it is tough, something $1 trillion is a tough part. but we are -- joe biden is right about this -- probably as close as we have ever been getting major health care enacted since lyndon johnson. will be perfect? by no means. the constitution was in perfect. we have had several amendments since then. it the social security act has been amended several times since it has been put on the books. this is going to happen with health care, too, but you have all the major players interested in doing something. and obama said he set the parameters and that his staff working coast-to-coast, face-to- face with members of congress. i don't see him not being engaged. i see him engaged in a way productive. >> there is no free lunch in

washington. i don't care what anybody says. >> a very expensive lost, $1.60 trillion. there is any central contradiction. on the one hand, he wants to expand coverage. that costs more. on the other hand, he tells us over and over again that the big threat to our fiscal health and to our economy in -- in entirety is the explosion of health care costs. this is not a solution. this would make it worse. >> how would you say it makes it worse when not in the bill? >> the cbo already scored the first at times -- >> a draft. >> proposal. >> but $390 billion missing here. and there are a lot of options -- >> sounds like bernie madoff. >> they are talking -- unchanged. things on the table.

max baucus was talking about taxing wealthy benefits. that seems to be off the table. >> what is what the? >> to london and 50,000 or above? >> the value of the benefits. -- 250,000 or above? >> the value of the benefits. and the other option is going back to the obama proposal, which is charitable deductions for people who make more than 2 budget and $50,000. so everything is back on the table to try to fill the gap. >> at the same time, you have the sotomayor hearings starting next week, and republicans still have not agreed to let the hearings go on in the afternoon when the senate is doing business. and it is not clear to me how obstructionist they are going to be and whether they will pay a penalty if they are. i am not sure they figured it out, either.

this is not a three-ring circus in washington come of this is a 10-ring circus. supreme court confirmation hearing, health care, crime bill, we've got all the stuff on foreign policy. >> senator al franken, if you please, and soon-to-be former gov. sarah palin. >> it would be apathetic to hunker down and go with the flow. only dead fish go with the flow. >> this is our good government section. alaska gov. sarah palin decided the best way to serve the state that she loves is to resign or office. >> i cannot stand here as your governor and allow the millions of dollars and all of that time go to waste gesso that i can have the title of governor. >> and other words, you can take this job and shove it. before we start of sarah palin, which seems to inspire great devotion or bile in equal measure, depending on how you said, let us look through a different lens, uniqueness. you are an airplane, it crashes and a wilderness area, you come unanswered blows cecum of the

speaker of the house, and the governor of alaska survive -- you, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, but governor of alaska survive. who do you trust more to bring you back to civilization? you or nancy pelosi? >> and bring home a dead fish. >> they are better dad. >> i bet she did it one alive, that is how good she is. she is a great talent but she is unprepared and if she left office because of the heat in the kitchen because of the attacks, that is understandable, and it would be reasonable. if she had a calculation that this would somehow help percolate -- politically, she is out of vermont. it 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 a reagan and the wilderness in the 1970's, gathers strength and becomes president, she has to be like the reagans -- a serious man who

speaks and things and rights seriously and reads and learns. if she doesn't, she is not going to leave anything. >> i have already seen pailin 2012 bumper stickers. >> now, they might become collector's items for all the wrong reasons for the governor. i agree with charles. i think that in quitting when she did, she lost the opportunity to build a portfolio on policy and serious issues that would still hold that voters and the concern of voters had about her in the last campaign. i think anyway, what she has done is embrace the celebrity side of sarah palin, which is very lucrative and very vacuous, and i don't think that contest to the president did >> can i say something? if you look at her history, a history of a very hard-working, very attractive dilettante. she never stayed in any job. not mayor, not the commission she was appointed to head, and now not governor. so, i think you are right. i've been she embraced the

celebrity side and is not willing to put in a hard intellectual work. >> colby, is mark shields were here -- and i want to thank him for filling in for me. 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 this image that you saw of the person knows what hard work is. >> i think mark probably would say that and i would certainly say that. i'm not sure i agree with the panelists. first of all, i don't understand sarah palin when she talks, she loses me. but that doesn't matter because she has a lot of people who do understand her. she has a core of followers. she helped energize the party base in the last election. now, what does it mean that she steps away? you have governor's already let the governor of virginia and texas asking her to campaign -- she will be able to do that on behalf of a lot of republicans over the last couple of years. she is popular in those areas.

she will walk into 2012 with people who are really going to over something. can she went? not sure. nomination? not sure. but saying she will be a loser will be premature. >> she will make a lot of money. >> not campaigning. >> but she had a book coming out. >> speeches, television appearances, it is very lucrative. the path -- >> i am looking for a bumper sticker, i want a ticket that is completely out to lunch. imagines how the russians would react. they wouldn't move an inch. they would be scared to death of these two. then al franken is sworn in this week. my question is, is he going to leave his comedic talents at the door? it would be a shame. the senate needs livening up. >> i mentioned that i thought he would carry some of the old al

franken with him. and i heard from a listener who took me to task, pointed out that our franken was the harvard dank -- graduate and there is a lot more to al franken -- >> so was out for it. -- al gore. >> as always pat robertson -- but i did not want to say to my listeners. then i did not think he will give it to us up front for a while. >> former defense secretary robert mcnamara died this week. >> our fire prior is immense. why shouldn't we expect to achieve a military advantage? >> robert mcnamara, secretary of defense over kennedy and johnson directed the american participation in the war in vietnam. actually, he was right about the military advantage. the united states prevailed in every major battle. our american soldiers, marines,

air and the one battle but the united states lost the war. robert mcnamara cut leader said we were terribly wrong and what to future generations to explain why. you worked for him? >> i was u.s. representative to the board of the world bank and he was president at the time. i saw him almost every day. i think in some ways he tried to compensate for what he did as secretary of defense. not sure he it she did. he brought his considerable talent on behalf of the world's poor, driving the institution and countries in the world to increase assistance to the poor. china would not be where it is today as a world power were it not for the world bank bringing it into the economic family of nations and encouraging economic development. mcnamara drove that decision. i know when to slow down -- and he was right, i was wrong.

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 he was done. >> was a tragic figure, charles? >> i think in many ways. it is interesting colby remembers his tenure of the world bank, because others don't. i have a different take. i think everything he touched went wrong. at the world bank he had the idea of a huge influx of capital into the poor countries -- tanzania -- it completely ruined the countryside and the agriculture because it favored the urban areas to the point of where the farmers of tanzania planted the crops upside down as a way to protest. >> it has been used before by people on the right, and it is false. tanzania had the highest literacy rate on the continent because of the world bank and the story that has been passed

originally was just false. >> let me just turn to the subject of vietnam, the subject with robert mcnamara. from a human point of view, to see somebody who was so intimately involved in this disastrous war later become the architect of saying that we were wrong about it is an extraordinary thing. >> as much as a try to recover, the bitterness left behind is intense and palpable for people was served in vietnam. >> thank you ramiya. see you next week. >> for a transcript, logw onto,ashington.tv. >> for a transcript, logw