allbritton communications and "politico." >> if you don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen. >> this week on "inside washington," the senate misses the president's health care deadline. in the house, the blue dogs have their day. >> are speaking for a silent majority within the democratic caucus. the american people want us to slow down and get it right. >> the average police acted stupidly in arresting somebody -- the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody who there was already proof was on his own home. >> was it stupidity or race or righteous bust? and a concealed weapons bill just misses in the senate. >> i consider a 58-vote majority in the senate a positive step, and we will be back to take it to 60. >> and the journalist was once

the most trusted man in america dies at the age of 92. >> good evening from the cbs news control center in new york. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> despite the president's very definite wishes to have a health-care bill by august 7, senate majority leader harry reid says it is not going to happen. he says it is better to get a product based on quality and thoughtfulness than to just get something through speaker pelosi says she is not afraid of august. it is just a month. in an interview with abc, the president tried to put the best face on it. >> given the progress i am seeing made, as long as everybody is working steadily, as fast as they can, and particularly the senate finance committee, which is the committee that a lot of folks

are waiting for -- if that gets done before the august recess, i feel pretty good. >> the president says that if you don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen. but apparently, even if you do set deadlines, things don't happen where does it go from here, mark? >> august is not fatal by any means. the idea that bill clinton past his tax bill before august, ronald reagan passed his at the end of this august, but every estimate there will be 43,000 americans who have lost their insurance in that month, and probably 600,000 losing their jobs, too. this sense of urgency will still be with us. but i don't think there's any question that the white house and administration supporters feel that time gives the opposition a chance to snipe.

the president did not have a great week. the press conference to call the error out of the room. encyclopedic answers, too long, like this one. [laughter] and no energy. >> i don't think it was as bad a week as a lot of people think. i think winning the f-22 vote was significant. i think it is unfortunate that they could not get a bill done, at least out of the house and the senate, by august. you might play some of the blame at the feet of the chairman of the senate finance committee as well as the president but the president, even over the break, is going to have to knock some heads together. >> the problem is not detected, it is that that -- the problem is not the tactic, it is that this week, the rhetoric met reality but the president

promises us more coverage, expanded coverage, secure coverage, live coverage, cannot ever deny you coverage, at no cost. yes, a couple of millionaires will pay an extra surtax. it is obviously impossible. the numbers don't add up. the cbo had a fatal blow when it said it would cost one trillion dollars. -- $1 trillion. until it is salt, it will not be anything near a bill. >> far be it for me -- be it from me to take all the joy out of the trust said, but to announce this dead is premature to by the end of year you will get something. you have five committee chairmen still working to produce a bill. it is the nature of things that all the key issues start to come to a head. now they come to the hard part, the cost. an easing of that cost is going to be difficult. but everybody knows that. there will be a huge backlash

against the congress if they fail to do something about health care this year. they know that. even some of the major industrial groups -- industry groups are behind some form of health care reform. >> but he is having trouble not only with republicans but with democrats. >> but the blue dogs are right that if you do not do something about cost, and the way we structure medical care, to have guidelines so that the doctors cannot prescribe tests and leslie and repeated tests and buy new equipment all the time, if you do not do something about the way we structured medical care, there is not enough money in the united states of america to pay for it as the years go out. >> two quick points. five out of six americans have health insurance coverage. three out of four of them, according to a survey after

survey, or satisfied rather than dissatisfied with their coverage. what you have to do is to convince those people that not only do we have to cover the uninsured, but that is going to be an improved system and that they are not going to be broken by it. i think that where the prison -- were the president's -- i think he has been trapped by the cbo numbers. he estimated that this is not just looking at the green eyeshade numbers, it is the economy. health care is killing the economy. i think that is the case he has to make. quite honestly, it is up to the president to do it, and i think he missed a golden opportunity this week. >> but the president argues that the health care is killing the economy, the costs are, and he is right in that. absolutely right. and then he proposes health care reform that the cbo is telling us is going to add $1 trillion. you do not cut costs by adding

$1 trillion. that is the central contradiction. all the tactical stuff is irrelevant. the problem is that in order to do that, even if you make tit revenue-neutral, it does not solve the problem. health care is destroying our economy because of its costs, and revenue neutrality leaves us on the same metric to insolvency, which obama himself said is going on. >> only know nothings and are doing for the status quo. would you have are -- >> i have got ideas. >> even the fiscally conservative blue dots are trying to say their peace. they want to allow medicare costs to be handled by the congress, because of their rural constituents. everybody has a piece of the action of what they wante.

>> my problem with just looking at the budget is it is the classic example of knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing. if you look at what we spend on public education in this country and said, my god, that is a loser, an investment in our economy and our people and pays handsome dividends. >> let me give you an example of how unserious the reformist did you hear one word on tort reform? everybody here knows that we are paying exorbitant amounts because of a completely insane malpractice insurance. a neurosurgeon who opens an office in philadelphia has to pay about $200,000 a year on insurance alone, and who pays? you pay and i pay. every doctor know how much testing and procedures are away from madison and to prevent losses.

why don't democrats speak about it? because of the trial lawyers own them. >> if the neurosurgeon screws up, doesn't a patient's family have legal recourse? >> there is no significant events in the amount of testing procedures in states that have a cap on damages, like texas, $250,000, and states that don't t. >> when democrat jay rockefeller says he is being iced out of the democratic caucus, you have problems with your party. >> he is quite critical of the chairman. >> of max baucus. >> he is the chairman of the health subcommittee, and he says that he and other democrats have been systematically excluded by max baucus in an effort to lure republicans and make this bipartisan. it would be nice if it is

bipartisan, but in final analysis, they better come up with a bill. >> if you listen to jim demint and james in hofe, they said that the longer it takes, the better it is for them as 2010. >> charles grassley and max baucus have established a relationship. but part of it is that max baucus place like a house of cards. at some point, i do think -- i said this before -- obama has to get the key players in, including his own guys come and say "here are things we have to do, and we will sit around a table, i will be back in half an hour." >> i don't think they are at that point yet. right now is a very important part max baucus and charles grassley to come to terms on some issues that they can bring

to a group in. rockefeller has a right to feel peaked, because he is a member of the committee and not involved in that. they want to bring him in as well. but this is part of the legislative process. you have to be able to establish what is going to be the critical mass around this bill. a lot of it very difficult issues are going to have to be reconciled. you will have to have people sign off on cost controls that they don't want to touch at all. some people are going to have to swallow, especially those who want full care -- coverage for everybody. >> jim demint of south carolina says that if health-care loses, it will be obama's waterloo and it will break him. >> you got hints of this in the obama press conference where he already is looking to fall back. he used the term five times,

"health insurance reform," not "health care reform." that means he may not be able to redo the 1/6 of the american economy in this experiment in social engineering. i think he is prepared for a bill at the end which will be heavy regulation of insurance companies so that you do not get a pre-existing condition requirements and all that stuff. that would be a fallback. there is one other hint. he said he would not impose a tax in which it would fall primarily on the middle class. until now, he said he would put nothing on the middle class. i thought that was a hint to max baucus that perhaps he would go along with some kind of taxing to help benefit -- taxing the health benefit you get in your employment, a $300 billion a year tax shelter. >> you are going to have to get control of medicare payments out of the hands of the congress and

into the hands of professionals. >> but the commission has to be, you have to do something to ensure that the commission is apolitical. that is a trick. >> i have seen congress reluctantly give up those kinds of powers before. going back to a senator jim demint, and he is a gift to president obama and those who want health care. he is reducing this to our question of let's get obama. that's blame him -- let's bring him down. inhofe is doing the same thing. and all the journalists who are talking about "let's kill this," using that language, they are showing their hands. they are not interested in the fact that 47 million americans do not have all insurance or that the cost is trickling did what they are interested in is scoring political points. >> we are making sausages year, friends. it is not pretty.

the president involves himself in a local police matter. >> he acted in a way consistent with his training. i do not believe his actions in any way were racially motivated. >> there is a long history in this country of african- americans and latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. that does not lessen the incredible progress being made. i am standing here as testimony to the progress that has been made. >> you can buy t-shirts in cabbage, massachusetts, saying "the world's most opinionated is a code." everybody has an opinion on what happened at the cambridge, of the nation's most famous black scholar last week as he was trying to get to his front door. but you have to say that it was a rare event were an american prison takes time off from an important news conference to expose an opinion -- to express an opinion that occurred 440 miles from the white house. >> it was probably stupid to use the word "stupidly."

but apparently at the white house they anticipated the question. i don't quite know what he did that. i don't come to this day, having read the police report even, understand why the officer felt compelled to arrest professor dates, even if he was doing everything that the police report said he was doing. you have the right to act like a jerk in your own home if it is your own home. they found out he was not breaking into his house. why didn't they just leave? >> they did drop the charges. >> look, i read the police report, and i also read that statement issued by professor gates' lawyer, charles ogletree , and once they establish that professor gates was the occoquan of tomback -- the occupant of

the home, that was the time for the police officer to say thank you and me. what happened? professor gates, in my view, committed the sin that has affected african-american males. he made a mistake of getting uppity with that white man. when you get uppity, they punish you for it. if he had said, "sur, may i please have your badge, number, and your name?" he might have gotten it. i believe that professor gates did ask for it. he said something to the police officers about the police officer's mama that upset him. >> but the police officer has a good record. >> he does not have to be a racist to -- >> i am not applying that r-

word to what he did. i'm saying that the dynamic in fall, you are upset in your own home, and you never write to act like a fool, as nina -- you have a right to act like a fool, as nina said, in your own home. how do you become disorderly in your own home? >> i have been disorderly in my home. look, everything that colby said, i believe that this and that happened -- all of us believe x and y happen, but nobody knows. nobody will ever know. three people were in the room. there was a hispanic officer who seems to support the evidence of the white officer. >> the blue code. >> well, that is what you think, but you don't know it. >> if we had to rely on what we

know on the show, we would be unemployed we offer opinions. >> on like us, who get cash for opinions without every knowledge, the president speaks and it has an effect on the country. we can go off on stuff that we don't know. he cannot and should not. >> the president stepped on his own story, 57 minutes on health care, and what dominates the news? the dates of fare. -- gates affair. i would submit, first of all, the police officer's name is james crowley and he teaches racial profiling and has been retained by black officers to teach racial profiling. the cambridge police department, known for racial profiling, has one of the best record in dealing. he is not sheriff jim clark.

did he lose his temper when pushed and rated -- beratetd? i think that is a distinct possibility. i think this is about power. this is a powerful person -- >> which one is the powerful person? >> gates is the powerful person. >> i thought a person with a gun in his hand is the powerful person. this short and not offutt him. -- shortened by mouthed off at him. he got uppity with him. >> had you ever had anybody say to you, "do you know who i am?" that is enough to set anybody off. >> and so have i been called up and put in my place when i have thtemerity to act like i had some sense.

it would not have happened if it was a black officer. the way that officer -- look, i've been there, done that. the white officer walked into a house number the way he presented himself, it begs the kind of response he got and you know and i know it. as bob dole said, "you know it, i know it." >> police have enormous power and they do not like getting challenge, but they should be trimmed enough to deal with it. >> there was a report of two people try to knock down the door without a key. >> but when he established that a person lives there, he should leave. >> but then he follows him out and be rates and? >> this means timeout.

>> someone who has been convicted of assault and drug driving will be able to obtain a permit and terry a gun in almost any place in america. except, i should point out, the halls of congress, which bars fire arms from the federal buildings. if you want an example of congressional hypocrisy, it would be tough to beat this. >> new york mayor michael bloomberg. the senate came up short two votes of passing it senator john thune's bill to allow hunters to carry guns across state lines. 20 democrats voted for it. this comes on the heel of the national rifle association a couple of months ago in congress allowing guns with permits in national parks. according to the brady campaign to combat gun violence, in the year 2004, handguns murdered 26

people in australia and 11,324 people in the united states. of course, we have a lot more people in the united states. >> in britain, they buy of that -- they died of bad teeth. [laughter] this will surprise you, but i would have voted against this. our gun culture is out of control. have done, don't travel. if you want to hang out in a bar in texas and carry a gun, that is ok. but each state has its own rules. you get attacked by a moose, you never know, but it is not going to happen. states' rights, federalism, and don't impose on them a unified system. >> if you are in congress and you don't have a gun and don't want trouble, don't mess with the nra. >> this is a pretty craven vote. this was a set up.

senator john thune was reduced to arguing for the rights of truckers. it was a set up to be used in campaigns so that democrats are forced to walk the plank. i'm glad that some of them were willing to. and the sotomayor vote is a bit the same. >> the nra is targeting people -- >> the nra did not come out against her. it said that there were concerned, and there was nothing new in the hearings, but they were getting pushed a former president and the gun owners of america, and are getting pushed hard for not being aggressive enough. it is scoring no vote. it would use that vote as a key vote in telling its voters that this is a guy you should support or a woman you should support or not. >> indiana is the most revealing vote in this entire debate.

evan bayh, a wrist while democratic presidential candidate, voted with the brunn folks. richard lugar, former chairman of the former relations committee, one of the two republicans who opposed it. michael bloomberg, the mayor of new york, put his finger on it. if you really want to do it, and you really believe that anybody has to carry a gun, let them carry it in the senate office building and see how they react to that when some loony shows up with a pistol. >> after hearing all of this, i think i ought to be on the other side. keep it up, guys. >> the nra will come back with something else and they will get the votes that they want. this was a test vote. >> walter cronkite is gone. hard to believe that > .

>> i feel so terrible about his death that i can hardly say anything. >> andy rooney of "60 minutes." they met in london, a young reporter is going on bombing raids in world war iii. walter cronkite seem like such an ordinary guy. why was he such a powerful fixture in american journalism? >> i think because he presided over and connected us in the great traumatic and glorious moments of that time. from the first time in american history, it began with the kennedy assassination, the moon shot. he had a sense of community in a continental nation. he was the one who did it. that is why he remains so strongly in our memory. >> he had a program called "you are there," which was about big historical events. that is what he did for all of us. in real life. we were there with him.

>> he put us there. >> he put us there and kept us there but did not do it as an advocate. that is what made him stand out from all the rest. he did it right. >> he was the gold standard. he was really the gold standard. a reporter first, it always was with him. >> that's the way it is. see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv.

gwen: the professor, the policeman and the president. did barack obama stp