captions by: caption colorado, llc (800) 775-7838 e- mail: with predictions. issue one, day 100 versus day 200. >> after 100 days, i'm pleased with the progress we've made, but i'm not satisfied. i'm confident in the future, but i'm not content with the present. >> april 29, 2009, the 100th day ever his presidency. >> coordinate your care.

>> just three months ago, april 29, barack obama's reservoir of political capital seemed inexhaustible. his approval rating 63%, the best 100-day approval rating since ronald reagan. health care 51% for his handling of the tender issue of health care. economy 60% for his handling of the economy. budget deficit 50% for his handling of the $1.8 trillion butch deficit. well, that was then. this is mow. -- now. next week, mr. obama will cross the finish line of his second 100 days and will cross the line limping not striding. his approval raiding is hovering just above the mid-way mark at 54% down from 63% in three months. that's his best news. health care, his approval rating is 42% down from 51% in three months. economy, his approval rating on

handling the economy is now 38% down from 60% in three months. budget deficit, his approval rating is now 38%, do 50% in three months. question, why has obama's job approval rating dropped so precipitously? is there a generalized lack of confidence growing? pat buchanan? >> there is indeed because obama's perceived to have failed by now, john. the stimulus bill passed. nobody believes it worked. everybody believes it's a boon dooling. another policy thing that came through the house with no chance to get through the senate. third on health care, his biggest project coming along. people are peeling off left, right and center. he's not going to get any preg res before august. the major bill will be dead by the fall. i think what's happened, john, is obama's still personally well liked, but the people thought here was someone who really represented something different, real change, somebody who could work through the center. they've come to believe that

these are tax and spend liberals just like the guys that went before them. i think he's sinking, john. it's hard to see anywhere where he's going to have any great gain. this economy has got to turn around for him, or his party's going to lose 40 seats in 2010. >> well, he needs a victory, and he actually got one on friday when the house of representatives overwhelmingly approved more money for the cash for clunkers program, which has been an overwhelming success. they exhausted the federal money in one week after the people -- >> what's all that, clunkers? >> well it's not people, john, fortunately. it's cars. if your car gets under a certain number of miles, you can trade it in, get a nice rebate to get a new car. the ford focuses are flying out of the show room, but look, to take the rest of your critique this is a work in progress. i think when we look back, we will see the recession probably officially ends this summer. it'll be a long time before

those jobs come back and the president's paying the price on health care. he is gonna get some bill before this year. it may not be everything he wants. clinton, which was the last serious attempt to get health care reform didn't even get a bill to capitol hill until november of that year. so he is making progress, but there are lots of targets here for the other side. now we're gonna see over the august recess whether the obama machine can tackle the attacks from the other side about creeping socialism and all of the rest. >> hold on. >> there has been a major slippage in public support from obama issue by issue, health care, the economy, taxes, and a slippage in his numbers in terms of trust, confidence in him, whether or not he's a trustworthy politician. now, his numbers are still relatively stable l but they are coming down. i think the real problem is that when he campaigned, he campaigned as a candidate whose

positions and the way he articulated how he wanted to bring this country along actually belied his radical left wing voting record in the ?et where he was the most liberal. now that he's governing, he's governing from the far left. he's allowed the far left in the congress. barney frank, nancy pelosi to write the economic stimulus which has failed, and to take control of the cap and trade, which is tantamount to the largest tax increase in the history of the world. so by allowing the far left to dominate his presidency, which is why he is ideologically anyway -- [ all talking at once ] >> in a year or so's time, the economy's stupid. already the economy's looking a lot less bad than three months ago. we're not talking about the collapse of finances anymore. that's bush and obama. the question is how quickly

will the jobs come back? it's going to take a year, year and a half or longer. if it takes longer, he's in real trouble. if they come back, he'll be fine. >> what's hurt this president the most was his wading into the controversy of henry louis gates because it made republicans, who there was still some giving the benefit of the doubt and made independents think he somehow had his thumb on the scale in favor of minorities. >> let's take a look at that. okay. brouhaha. two wieks after the arrest of harvard professor henry lewis gates, president obama hosted professor gates and the arresting officer sergeant james crowley at the white house with beer and sergeant cr bridge police department took questions from the press. >> can you share any words the president shared with you? >> it was a private discussion. it was a frank discrather not.

>> did the president provide any to the discussion? >> he provided the beer. >> vice president joe biden was also at the beer summit. why was he there? >> they dragged the vice president at the amtrak train at the last moment. >> why? >> i think they were concerned about the image, the photograph that would go all across the country of having two after cab american men professor gates and the president of the united states with one white police officer squeezed in between the two of them. so for racial balance, i think they brought joe biden in. also, joe biden's background from scranton, pennsylvania, gives him some blue collar street cred which the president needs. >> joe biden is the guy on the campaign trail running against obama who said obama was a clean, articulate african- american and he's the guy they bring in to make it seem more balanced? >> maybe it was an effort to

diffuse -- excuse me. to eleanor's point, obama's been hurt badly on this because it was a trowsh judgment on his part and racial profiling on his part. he and gates and the governor of massachusetts basically racially profiled this white cop who was doing his duty who never brought up the issue of race. the professor said he was racist, a rogue cop. obama comes out and says he acted stupidly. his reflexes were bad but his instincts on friday in turning that around saying wait a minute -- >> we'll come in after thhouse beer summit? was it this? >> the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were this their own home. >> question. if there had been no intrusion of the president, would the

contretante have gone away -- in other words, did obama create the problem? >> because he answered the question. if he had not used the word stupidly, i think we would not have seen -- >> would it have gone away? >> i think there are still issues that disturb a lot of people on local levels and been fought out on legal levels. henry louis gates is a prominent professor at harvard and a friend of the president, so i think this would have been an issue anyway. you can't say that he acted smartly. i think they have all now agreed everybody overreacted based on -- >> given the set of circumstances, don't you think that the way the president handled this politically was a stroke of genius? he made himself disappear from the stage. it's like houdini. he created the problem in a real way by reason of his intrution with the word stupid,

and then he made it go away. he diffused the problem by making it appear like a crow okay exercise on the lawn. [ all talking at once ] >> this was directed at me. the initial intervention and use of the word stupidly was a mistake. the going into the briefing room and gracefully saying he had called everyone and invited them to the white house that was fine. i'm not sure that the beer summit was necessary, but i think this has been damage control on the part of the white house. >> here's what he did. did he shut it down? >> i think it's fading out, but here's what he did. he went into that briefing room, and he took himself as basically a belligerent and moved around to a position of neutrality. both guys are good men, they are good guys and he got himself out of it. >> he moved right out of the threesome. >> that's right.

it's now gates versus the cop. >> it was gates and it was -- >> now it's gates and crowley with obama as referee. >> during the press conference, he realized he really stepped in it in two major ways. number one, as president, he is the cleave law enforcement officer so to prejudge a case like this without the facts was dead wrong. he realized that. secondly, beam positioned himself as a transcendent figure, somebody who was going to help deliver a post racial america. so by having the knee jerk reaction against the white police officer, boy did he throw that in reverse. so he wastrying to correct both of those things with this beer summit. >> if henry gates were white and not black, do you think that any of this -- >> nobody would have paid any attention to it. smoz it was henry kissinger, everybody would have laughed and said they cuffed henry. it would have been a joke. >> if he were white, all of

those talk show hosts who are screaming now about what obama did would be saying this is the sanctity of a man's home and it was invaded by the storm troopers. >> you are telling me if it was alan dershowitz we would have complained if they cuffed him? >> maybe not dershowitz. >> the fact that henry louis gates is a famous guy, a harvard professor is what brought it to the national station stage. this is a good opportunity -- >> do you think professor gates was outraged? they brought him to the police headquarters and photographed him. >> when i came to the states, the first thing i was told was don't argue with cops. i'm always more careful in states. the final question before we go to the exit question is, the performance of the sergeant at the press conference. was it flawless? >> i think the sergeant is a very large -- >> is he a political figure now? >> he's very positive.

he's a potential political figure. he hasn't retreated a single inch. >> there were no apologies by anybody. >> but the president has moved 120 degrees. the sergeant hasn't moved an inch. >> what do you mean by the president moving? >> the president first said he acted stupidly. secondly he said he's a good cop, a good guy, we'll have a beer. originally, he suggested that maybe the sergeant -- >> you are not giving obama the credit he deserves. >> i am giving credit. >> having that mess on his hands, he managed to extract himself right out of the picture. >> and became suddenly gates versus crowley. >> you haven't seen anything like that since the nixonian days. i mean, the layout of the whole thing, bringing biden in to further diffuse anything like obama being pivoted against them? >> he wishes he had never done it. >> it's political genius.

>> it's embarrassment and disaster. it's damage control all the way. >> then he goes out and the president says i've learned that they met between themselves before they came out here, meaning that they are going to settle it. it's right over there. crowley's a world figure. >> akazmy award. this is better -- academy award. this is better. >> as much as you want to say he extracted himself, they made decisions about president obama based on this last ten days. and i don't think -- i think he's lost -- >> is obama in the political danger zone, meaning he's at risk of losing control of his ability to set the agenda? >> this, by the way s the last lap if it's 100 days. this event on the white house lawn is kind of that last lap. >> i think he's losing not the ability to set the agenda, he

is losing the first six months of creating what he called a transformational presence. i think the moment has passed. >> i think transformation is underway and he has far from lost control of the agenda. he's going to get a health care bill this year and the first president in, what, 60 years to accomplish what he set out to. that's huge. he has stopped the bleeding in the economy. i agree with you, a lot of problems ahead. but i think his policy will have been shown to be effective. >> i don't think he's ever had control of the agenda because he's allowed the for left and congress to do the stimulus which we now now have failed and cap and trade all three which pat pointed out contributed to the collapse in the poll numbers. >> if he allowed the far left and congress do completely control the agenda, wouldn't we have a completely different control? >> this is his position. he wants what the far left wants. [ all talking at once ]

>> earth to monika. they are compromising on capitol hill. >> the public option is still out there whether or not he will sign a bill [ all talking at once ] >> he'll sign it as eleanor said just to get me something. >> we've got to go on. did you make the conclusion statement there? >> i was going to say one other thing next year people will be talking about again is afghanistan. >> people are already talking about that. >> mean his commitment? >> he's made it his war. is he going to make a bigger war for himself? >> afghanistan is obama's war? >> he t. is. is he going to recall it back -- roll it back quickly? when we come back, from g8 when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast. to help you feel more confident consider putting a portion of your savings in a metlife variable annuity. when the market goes up, it gives your assets a potential to grow. while protecting you if the market goes down

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bilateral relationship in the world. that really must underpin our partnership. >> a new world order is emerging. as american and european economies flounder, the world's geo political center of gravity is shifting, going east to asia, not west to europe. the other super power in the world is now the people's republic of china, and both super powers convened in washington this week for two days of strategic and economic dialogue. a twice yearly bilateral encounter that grew out of the april g-20 private summit meeting between president obama and his counterpart. in 2008, america's economy grew at the rate of 1.4%. china grew at the rate of 9.8%. who is america's largest creditor? answer, china by far. it holds $800 billion in u.s.

debt. so instead of a g8, the u.s., canada, france, germany, italy, japan, russia, and the u.k., we now have a g2. a g2. the u.s. and china. how will that pan out? >> i have no illusion that the united states and china will agree on every issue, nor choose to see the world in the same way. but that only makes dialogue more important. >> reporter: question. is talk of a g2 an accurate description of a u.s./china relationship or is it hyperbole? >> i think it's still hyperbole for the moment but in a few years' time it is going to be the relationship. at the moment, china is still a very important country to the u.s. it's still not a super power. >> these are the two countries that are going to shape, really, the economy of every other country in the world. and china's our banker.

we have to be real nervous around them. we need them if there's going to be any climate change, and yept they need us because it's the u.s. navy that protects the sea lanes and we keep the peace. they can't afford war because they have to take care of that huge population and modernize their country. >> china is not the first, second, third economic power on earth. number one is the european union, two the united states, three is japan. china is a very close fourth. i do agree that i think china will have to be brought into the g8 and then you go to g9 and india and brazil will say what about us? so maybe you need a g11. >> i didn't hear russia in there. >> russia's already in the g8. you read it. >> china clearly is on at sent, particularly -- on the assent, particularly on economics. they are spreading their tentacles now into central and south america, reinvigorating relationships with chavez and the castro brothers in cuba. they are also reaching deep into africa and the middle

east. so we've got to watch them strategically as well as economically. >> so exit question, is it obsolete or not, the g8? >> no, it's not but it will have to be slowly enlarged to include india and probably brazil. >> i'm not advocating a g2. i'm just saying china and the u.s. have to be partners in a lot of areas. >> i agree. >> the vice president of the united states is encouraging the china/u.s. relationship. she deserves a lot of credit. >> new york the secretary of state. >> excuse me, the secretary of state. >> right. >> there's been renewed interest in asia since barack obama came to power. hillary clinton's been to southeast asia twice. i think you will see a lot of attention on the region. >> is the eupasse? >> if it is, where am i going to go? >> dimitri's our man in hong kang. >> the u.e. is essential for running the world's economy. >> the e.u.

is huge on trade. the problem it has is its foreign policy is not aligned. when it comes to foreign policy, each country is still all over the place. >> will you tell that to phil stevens who says it's the switzerland of the world? >> i will opinion we'll be right the "the mc uggrhlinouou is brought to you when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast.

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