from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original! for over two decades, the sharpest issue one, bin laden. >> my fellow americans, we've traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war, but over the last three years the tide has turned. we broke the taliban's momentum. and one year ago from base here in afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed osama bin laden.

>> under cover of darkness, due to security concerns, on tuesday president obama made an unannounced visit to afghanistan. the reason for the visit was a treaty signing, with afghan president hamid karzai. the treaty outlines the terms of the u.s.-afghan relationship after nato turns over security to afghan forces in 2014, two years from now. the treaty allows for u.s. troops to be based in afghanistan until 2024, 10 years after the turnover. the u.s. invaded afghanistan in late 2001 and routed the taliban regime that shielded bin laden as he plotted in afghanistan the 9/11 attacks. three years ago, in 2009, to counter a taliban resurgence, mr. obama ordered a surge of

33,000 u.s. troops into afghanistan. that would bring the total to more than 100,000. this coming october, 22,000 will come home, leaving some 78,000 u.s. troops in place in afghanistan. 10,000 troops were removed from afghanistan in december. four months ago. leaving 68,000 in place today. this week's u.s.-afghanistan treaty expires in 2024, 12 years from now. after that, it is speculated that a u.s. residual military force of 24,000 may be left in place in afghanistan, indefinitely, in a situation a la seoul, korea. you understand the math. >> the math there's 90,000 troops in afghanistan now, when they pull the 22,000 out, it will be 68,000.

but that's not going to be until the end every september. but let me that about president obama. he flew 14,000 miles basically for a photo opportunity to give a speech for the american people at 4 a.m. in the morning in afghanistan. however, he is very skillful here. i think he is really -- he's done an excellent job politically in the sense he says, look, there's peace, all our troops, they're going to be coming home, combat troops are coming out, which is what the country wants. at the same time we have a re sided sidual force, which means i'm not cutting and running some he helped himself there and it would have within a real kous but the crass exploitation of the killing of osama bin laden that was -- an end zone dance i think severely damaged his message. he an excellent message and they tried to exploit it too hard. >> it was the anniversary of his killing. >> but, why don't you look at

how the troops, seal team 6 handled it, with dignity. he killed him, they if back. he -- >> come on! >> the owners box. >> is he really press that too hard? >> absolutely, john! i'm with you. it was the one-year anniversary, people are marking this. president flew over there, geared to the american people the timing, and karzai the afghan president was willing to do the signing at 4 a.m. in the morning. >> everybody a nervous wreck doing it! remember the situation room and the photography on that? >> the taking out of osama bin laden. and that was a decision that the president didn't just check a box. >> he could have lost seals over there. >> he campaigned on going after osama bin laden, he said if he had actual intelligence he would go into pakistan. it was a controversy between him and hillary clinton, and in the general election. but what he is doing is he's trying to build an infrastructure in afghanistan to leave whoever the next president is, republican or democrat, so we can have our

drones based there, so we can have a c.i.a. presence and not just abandon the country the way we did in the 80s. >> i'll turn to mr.-- okay. the political angle. >> it was also a political motive perhaps for mr. obama's trip to engage in some chest thumping over bin laden's demise. the week began with an ad questioning mitt romney's commitment to hunting down the al-qaeda founder. in contrast to mr. obama's accomplishment, with bin laden. the democratic ad featured this mitt romney quote from 2007. "it's not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just catch one person." question, on wednesday, president obama told nbc that the day bin laden died was the "most important single day of his first term in office." how much does president obama

stand to gain which biresurrecting osama this week? >> i agree with pat that there was something unseemly about the touchdown dance. he went going over there to jews sign a treaty. there's been lots of complaints about afghanis, even the new york times complaining there wasn't enough specifics some the purpose of the trip was the touchdown dance. as far as a political benefit to obama, it doesn't primarily sort of help him. i don't think there's an osama bump but it neuters a republican attack that obama is not strong enough on foreign policy. >> you remember when osama bin laden was finally killed, his popularity jumped about 12 points. and i remember saying then and feel that today too, in a couple months and will go away. but the overwhelming issue is the economy, and that's what people are going to be focused on. and i will also say that there's now a problem with obama. i mean, he came into office speaking in poetry, and then

began governing and pros and now he's campaigning and advertising copy. everything is a promotion of all this he's doing. and i don't think it's appropriate. and by the way, what he did and how he did it -- they disclosed certain sources and methods about how they it that operation. one was fascinating. there was -- how did they find out it was obama through the dna? they had a doctor going around, checking for -- some kind of epidemic and took blood in the process. but that guy is now in the jail and on are the other five locals who helped him, because we disclosed the way we did it. that was something we shouldn't have done. >> that gentleman has been in jail a long time and the secretary of defense is pressuring them. and the fallout from that difficult relations with pakistan. >> let's find out how well mitt romney has been treated in

this. let's look at what mitt romney actually said in 2007, about >> "i wouldn't want to concentrate on bin laden. he was one of many, many people who are involved in this global jihaddist effort. he is by no means the only leader. it's a very diverse group. hamas, hezbollah, al-qaeda, muslim brotherhood, and of course different names throughout the world. it's not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person. it is worth fashioning and executing an effective strategy to defeat global violent jihad, and i have a plan for doing that." in the obama advertising, pro- obama now, they are pulling sentence outs of that quote. given romney's full statement, the question is, was the obama and is the obama campaign ad a cheap shot? >> it is

that is right. look, joe biden sat in that meeting, as did gates, and they said we don't think you ought to risk this. now, what you're going to find when you got osama bin laden, he's in pakistan, do we send it in helicopters? there's a lot of things that go into it, john that you cannot know if you're not there. i think it's a cheap shot at romney. romney was saying look, we're going after him. if he was presented with i same circumstances, he would have done it -- >> thou protest too much. you're really worked up over there! it's a good ad, frankly if they ran the whole quote i don't think it changes the substance at all. >> oh, come on! come, come, come! >> really, eleanor? >> you're saying al-qaeda is not just one man? >> he wouldn't move heaven and earth to go after one man. >> disend -- [overlapping speakers] >> this president has also attacked al-qaeda. he's really driven an arrow through the heart of that

organization. and when you cut the head of the snake off, you make a big difference. also, mitt romney was in new york delivering pizzas to first responders to mark the anniversary of osama's death. he's trying to edge in the photo-op. political campaign! don't think thinks being -- unseemly -- [overlapping speakers] >> when we come back, chinese miss-fortune?

the united states raises the importance of human rights and fundamental freedoms because we believe that all governments do have to answer to citizens' aspirations for dignity and the rule of law, and that no nation can or should deny those rights.

>> tread cautiously! that's what u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton did in beijing on thursday by not mentioning head-on in front of her host the case of activist chen guangshen. chen is the chinese activist who arrived at the u.s. embassy in beijing last week seeking american help. he had come from the eastern coastal province of shandong where he had been under house arrest since ending a four-year jail term in 2010. chen is 40 years old, and is a pioneering self-taught lawyer who advocated on behalf of women subjected to forced abortions and forced sterilizations. policies undertaken by the chinese government to keep its enormous population in check. reportedly in march, chen escaped his captors by scaling a wall, meeting a car, traveling over 300 miles with a

foot injury, to beijing, making the story more remarkable is that chen is totally blind. the american embassy protected him for six days. then on wednesday of this week, chen emerged with u.s. ambassador gary locke and taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries curing his escape. american officials said they only brought chen out of the embassy after severing receiving a promise from beijing he would not be harmed. chen agreed to stay in china as long as he could continue his education and reform work, safely. but after arriving at the hospital chen changed his mind. chen now says american diplomats left him alone at the hospital with no protection. he says he fears for the safety of his family, his wife and two children, and for himself and now wants to leave china. to president obama chen had this message -- "please do everything you can to get our

whole family out." question, how does everyone save face here? i ask you. >> i think the obama administration really has to hope that everything turns out right, because they initially mishandled this. chen said that -- quote to the cnn interview was the embassy kept lobbying me to leave the embassy and go pack out there. and so if the whole situation doesn't turn out right, then it's going to be impossible for the administration to save face. you save face by instead of making it an asylum case, having it about what the administration is doing now, to make sure he's coming back to visit the yates. >> he may go to nyu? >> at the time we're recordrd recording this program it looks like they've stitched together a deal where he'll leave with his family and attend nyu. and the chinese government doesn't need this. they have a leadership battle go on. the foreign ministry at rods with the security apparatus,

working with the u.s. embassy, then he got in the clutches of the security people and pan under and wand something different. but for repressive society he's called morning congress, ' i think the chinese government will let him out to defuse this and that's a win-win for obama administration and hoon and china. >> the american embassy really handled this horribly. this guy was told either by embassy officials or the chinese that if you don't come out of this, we're going to beat your wife to death. okay? then the embassy said the chinese have given us assurances everything will be fine if you walk out the door. so they entrusted this guy to the chinese. i agree with eleanor to this extent -- the chinese do not want a hellish problem with it guy. they don't want him beaten or killed or something like that. i think they want him out of the country so there may be a win-win situation. >> let me put this question to

mr. stuckman. in the standoff over chen was the resolution a win-win situation? or did either side blink? if so, which side blinked? >> at one time both sides brinked. but if he's allowed on the the country with his family and this is what he is asking for, and i think the chinese want him to leave with his family, then it will be a win-win situation for both. one will solve the domestic problem and we'll solve a foreign affairs problem. >> he valued me, he treated me as an equal partner, and we are equal partners today in an everything that we do. we care for each other, we love each other. and we're there for each other. out and do these crazy things! >> ann romney, wife of republican candidate mitt, recently took the flat form at a political fund-raiser, connecticut g.o.p.

800 guests. according to attendees, her address was both personal and at times emotional. mrs. romney spoke in detail about raising her children and doing so while dealing with her own serious illnesses, breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, ms. diagnosed 14 years ago. >> there were days where i thought my only future was going to be in bed, and too weak to even have any kind of a normal life. he would remind me all the time that my job was more important than his. >> mrs. romney's "job" was the subject of a back and forth with democratic national committee strategist hillary rosen, who had told cnn that ann had "never worked a day in her life." mrs. romney had responded that raising five boys was "hard work." she alluded to the episode. >> i know what it's like to finish the laundry and look in the basket five minutes later

and it's full again! i know what it's like to pull all the groceries in and see the teenagers run through, and then all of a sudden all the groceries you just bought a few hours are ago were gone. some people think that i didn't work, but those were -- [laughter] those were things i was very busy doing. >> she also described the rigors of the campaign and how those grueling schedules and commitments, the price candidates' families must pay was worth it, or whether it was not worth it. >> i said i only want to know one thing. and that is, mitt, if you get the nomination, which isn't easy, and number two, if you beat barack obama, which isn't going to be easy either, can you fix it? i need to know is it too late, has america gone over the proverbial cliff and we don't have time to turn things around? and he said, no, it's getting late but it's not too late. [cheering]

>> how effective a political a society is ann romney to her running mate? >> oh, she's wonderful on this kind of presentation. i've never seen her speak this way. i mean, you can't help but be moved by it and also it's fact provoking if a positive way for her and her husband. to me it's a total win for him and i think he'lling effective as a campaigner and helped by what hillary rosen said. >> and lots of -- there is a cultural war in this campaign. and the left is trying to say the democrats are trying to say there's a war against women, and there's an abortion will be -- the huge part of the fund- raising thing, and the hillary rosen episode where she said that the democrat advisor said staying -- >> okay, there's a subtext, now what? she's very good. but you know where she helped huge was in the primary. i know lots of women who said, i could not imagine kalista gingrich being the first lady. but thinking about ann romney

being the first lady really warms my heart. so at least it's negative in the general and i think a big positive. >> she's an extraordinary asset. but the question should asked her husband, mitt, is it too late? i found that's very penetrating. a question a lot of us were asking about even if the republicans win, can they to it? in the way it's going the economy, i think it was just an excellent -- >> wait a minute! how does she compare to the existing first lady? >> i think both these women are terrific. and ann romney is as natural a presence when she's before a camera as mitt romney is a robotic a presence. so she really -- she relates. so -- >> what the those other good things you think about ann romney? >> i don't center anything negative to say about ann romney, and i think contracts and republicans too should be careful if you start pitting women against women. the gender gap is a lot more -- >> wait a minute!

you can pit -- man against man! why not women against women? >> because women who stay at home and women who go to work and all that, there's always been tension. but -- >> get into hillary rosen country here! >> that's right! >> remember eleanor roosevelt. >> she was fairly controversial. >> right some there's a political angle here. we'll be right back with predictions!

>> president sarkozy's career ends on sunday and there will be a crisis in the european union because the socialist will confront merckle on expansive policy, in the june elections the big winner will be marine le pen and the national front, because sarkozy will be gone.

>> and the euro zone is in peril. >> judging by obama campaign ads already running in virginia, obama is going to aggressively frame mitt romney's job creation and a sending jobs overseas. >> tim? >> richard lugar's career will end on tuesday, he will lose his republican primary in indiana to richard murdoch, the treasurer, and murdoch i think will win the general election also. >> mort? >> the very weak employment numbers that just came out really now tell you that we're going to have a very weak summer in terms of the economy. still going to be an even larger issue on i think we'll see unemployment really, really be hurt. >> newt gingrich will be offered a job but with mitt romney's administration and newt will accept the position. cinco de mayo! bye-bye!