this is what david brooks said. "and the irony is that obama supporters will be confronted by the problem for which they have the least experience and for which they are the least prepared, the problem of scarcity. raised in prosperity, favored by genetics, these young merocrats will have the demands on the nation's wealth outstrip supply. they will grapple with the growing burdens of an aging society, rising health care costs and high energy prices. they will have to make up for the trillion plus dollars the government will spend to avoid a deep recession. they will have to struggle to keep their promises to cut taxes create an energy revolution, pass an expensive health care plan and all the rest." david brooks. do you agree with that. >> i do largely agree with that, yes. >> rose: so now what... beyond monetary policy, keeping health care as deficit neutral, looking at some benefits from climate control policy, what else is there to do to raise revenues? to reduce the possibility of an overwhelming deficit? >> he

>> i'mrying not to be t dignifd. >> well, david brooks, as alwa, thank you very much. that was a lot of fun. may have n gotten best column of the week, but you got best appearance. those of us, it's fortunate that those of usn cable television are always dignified. > moving on. the cret to lingnger. could it liwith t monkey? accidents can happ,, but with libiberty mututl's new car r acement, wel give you the money to buy a brand-new car. d with our acacnt forgiveness, an accident won'n't cause yoce to go up y renew. you qualify, u u could save an a average of $345. ese are just two of our vu avaiblble all quififying drivers. plus, , osose o switch toto lerer mutual save an average 20.6% over the por policy. becaususe ing e right thing ist ju for rereonsibldrivers. it's for responsible car insurers, totoo. that's's our policy. find o out huch you cocoulsasave call us dictly a.. >>it'spart survivor, part jack ass. >> this is believable. for the past three years, daredevils he flock to veont to take part in this participants undergo intense physicalchallenges. >> the chal

george will, david brooks, arianna huffington, paul krugman and donna brazile.resident said he wanted this to be a teachable moment. what did we learn? >> that presidents should understand that some things are not their business, such as local police disputes in cambridge, massachusetts. george, look, when you are a highly paid, much-honored tenured professor at the richest university in the world, in a city with a black mayor, a state with a black governor and a country with a black president, it's hard to get the coveted status of victim. of victim with the help from the president because when the president said the police behaved stupidly, you could not escape the belief there is a name for what the president was doing called racially profiling, distinguished black man, white policeman, white policeman must be in some inferential way a racist. >> i think the president was very measured in his initial comments and perhaps the word "stupidly" caused some to believe he was attack the character of the police department. but george, there remains in this country a

a david brooks column today in "the new york times," taking the president to task for yielding too much to the liberal house members on the writing of the health care bill. and also saying that he's not feared, according to brooks, machiavelli said a leader should be feared as well as loved, obama is loved by the democratic chairman, but he's not feared. on health care, obama has emphasized cost control. the chairman flouted his priorities because they don't fear him. >> i don't know if obama is feared, but i think the period in the wilderness is feared. and i think what obama has increasingly argued in private to democrat that is the lesson of bill clinton's first two years is that no matter how fast you row or no matter how hard you try to separate yourself from me, if i am seen as a failure, you will ultimately pay the cost in these 2010 elections. and i think that argument does have some sway. i mean, the paradox we're in is that in many ways, the moderate democrats who have been the most resistant, especially in the house, but also in the senate, to some of the things that obama wa

i'm joinld by george will, david brooks of "new york times," arianna you. ington also paperback -- vividly titled book "pigs at the trough" corruption undermining america. paug krugman and donna brazile, welcome back. you see lyndon johnson signing medicare, president clinton giving his mea culpas on health care in 1995. which fate does obama have in his future right now? >> bill clinton's fate it seems to me. because of bill clinton's experience, which they sometimes askieb this white house to the fact that it took so long to get to it. the white house, obama white house has been saying speed is essential and they're right, for the reason that emerson said that when skating on thin ice speed is safety. >> the decision they made to go for everything is the right decision? >> but not with cap and trade and new energy supplies, country has a sense of overload. the president has 60 senators, he has a 70-vote majority in the house of representatives and he blames republicans. that's not republican. his difficulties from the mayo clinic to the congressional budg

is is what david brooks said "and the irony is tt obama supportersill be cononted by the problem for which they ve the least experience and for which they are the least prepared, the probleof scarcity raised in prosperity, favoredy netics, these young merocts will have th demands on the nation's wealth tstrip supply. they will grapple with the owing burdens of an aging society, rising heah care costs and high energy prices. they will have tomake up for the trilli plus dollars the governnt will spend to oid a deep recession. they will ha to struggle to ke their promises to cu taxes create an energy revotion, pass anxpensive healthare plan and all the rest." dad brooks. do you agr with that. i do largel agree with that, ye >> rose: so now what... beyond monetary policy keepi health care as deficit neral, looking at som befits from climate corol policy,hat else is there do to raise renues? to reduce the posbility of an overwhelming defit? >>ere is one possible scerio beyond whawe discussed already. if the achieve a health care bill, and i think after quite a struggle,specially a bloody

th is what david brooks said. "and the irony is tha obama supporters wl be confrted by the problem for which they ha the least experience and for which they are the least prepared, the problem scarcity. raised in prosperity favored b getics, these young merocra will have thedemands on the tion's wealth outrip supply. they will grapple with the gring burdens of anaging society, rising healt care costs andigh energy prices. they will have to ke up for the trillionlus dollars the governme will spend to avd a deep recession. they will haveo struggle to keepheir promises to cut taxes createn energy revoluon, pass an eensive health ce plan and all the rest." david bros. do you agree with that. >> i do largely agree with tha, yes. >> re: so now what... beyon netary policy, keeping alth care as deficit neutral, looking at some benefits fr climate control policy, what else is there to do to raise revenues? ruce the possibility of an overwhelming deficit? >> here is one possible scenario beyond what we disssed alread if the

i want to read the top of this piece from david brooks again. was interesting to watch the republican party lose touch with america. you have a party led by conservative southerners who neither understood nor sympathized with the moderates or representatives from a swing districts. the broad and pollsters to convince people that the country was behind them. they were cheered on by activists. they spend money and ended up losing. is that what democrats are doing now? >> the president is in an unusual position. he has strong majorities, 50 votes in the senate. in reality, the problem is that the president has not taken issue with nancy pelosi or the majority leader of the senate, and that is a problem if he wants to hand it over. shepard: now we have the largest percentage of people identifying themselves as independent voters. the largest. 59% majority say that his proposals call for too much spending and 52% called for too much expansion of government power. how do we get to a point where people answer polls? there is the case in the public medi

tina, david brooks says here, it's interesting the republican party lose touch with america. he's saying it's interesting to watch democrats do the same thing. >> it is interesting obama said when he took over he didn't want to be in the bubble of the presidency. but i do somewhat feel that he is right now only because he's become such a rock star that he doesn't -- there's not anybody in the administration that runs the business. there's an out of touch with small businesses which are being absolutely hit. what amuses me a bit all the way through the campaign, kennedy, kennedy, kennedy, lincoln, lincoln, lincoln. now we're into the lbj moment. they keep invoking lbj. what would lbj do. they will take the lbj solutions. there was quite a difference between lbj and obama. >> they are quite, quite different. nobody knew washington more than lbj. >> absolutely. he was so wired as a kind of nitty-gritty back room -- >> that's a great one. >> the outsider -- >> guess what, mark halperin sounds a lot like 1976, everyone wanted the outsider, everyone kennedy, kennedy, kennedy, now t

as much i love david brooks' columns, i think he's wrong in the way he's analyzing this situation. he's saying these members of congress are leading barack obama off the left edge of the cliff. i think what's happening many instead is that the committee chairman and leaders in congress are trying to get the votes to pass barack obama's program and if you look at what's in motion on health care, energy, it's dragging the programs to the right in order to get more votes. so david, i understand the argument that david's making, but i don't see it. >> those big, democratic policies are what's concerning a lot of americans. they're worried about how their money is being spent and what we may see is that blue dog democrats become the pivotal figures on the hill. >> i think you're right about that. and now, "new york times" op-ed columnist taxs on the situation in iran. he was there during the election last month and writes about the government's crack down on protestors. he says there's been tragedy aplenty since june the 12th. dozens of killings, countless arrests and i hope i've belitt

after its founding an update on health care refrm legislation; d the analysis of mark shiel d david brooks. major funding for thnewshour major funding for e newshour with j lehrer is provided by: cheon inl. supporting math and science education for tomrow's innovator thatlantic philanthropies. and with the ongoing pport of these institutions and fndations. and... this ogram was made possible by the corporation for public broadsting. and by contributionso your pbs statiofrom viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: mor new protests eruptedn iran today in the wake of lasmonth's disputed residential election. police and miliamen squared off with ousands of protesrs. lindsey hilsum of independent levision news begins our lea story coverage. >> reporter: violence on the streets ofehran. opposition suppoers still proteing. the militia still ard with what look like handguns. no journalists alled, but images e still emerging. tear gas fired at t crowd who gatred after fridayrayers. givg the sermon, the most powful cleric to support the opposition. "iran in crisis," says rafsanjani. thoserrested for

and david brooks works for the norgets. you know how sometimes you can see a turning point in front of you. this is what happens now. barack obama confronts resistance as congress gets down to the birth pain of his biggest prize, health care. the daunting project that is worrying people. the auto industry and the national debt, by some estimates has reached 30% the size of our economy. plus the federal deficit could top 2trillion dollars this year and then the $1 trillion that conservative estimates that health care well cost. he says nothing will stop him. >> i love the people that got us in this mess and said it is obama's economy. that's fine. give it to me. my job is to solve problems and not stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe. >> he's taken ownership, is he going to be the commanding force on the fight on health care? >> i wish. they made progress out there they a husband bill and senate bill moving forward. they're scaring the moderates let alone the republicans. the house bill calls for raising the top tax rat

an update on the war fronts in  and the analysis of mark shields and david brooks. major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer is provided by: >> tiny little thing, it's just... not big. ah... okay, i found it. ( cheers and applause ) okay. >> we are intel, sponsors of tomorrow. >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what is that energy came from an energy company? everyday, chevron invests $62 million in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, building. fueling growth around the world to move us all ahead. this is the power of human energy. chevron. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: there was news today that raised hopes th

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so from nytimes.com, i again quote david brooks. the theory of the democratic bill seems to be that 98% of the americans can party on with the latest and costliest health care manageable, no matter how infective and the top 2% will pay for it all. he goes on to say, if you don't control the rate of health care inflation, even the rich won't be able to pay for the cost increases. . it's others commenting on the cost, or commenting on the congressional budget office comments. mr. fleming: just to get down to the basics. if the public, consumer doesn't have skin in the game, there's no money to be saved in this. if it's all on the providers and government, you'll never see cost control. let me add one other thing before yield, we were talking a moment about the fact that illegal immigrants will be covered under this plan. 10 million or more. this also -- mr. broun: not our plan. mr. fleming: the democratic plan provides for coverage for illegal immigrants. the republican plan does not. the republican plan presumes that we will deal wit

the upcoming confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor; the analysis of david brooks and ruth marcus; and a media unit look at the saturation coverage of the michael jackson story. major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer is provided by: >> tiny little thing, it's just... not big. ah... okay, i found it. ( cheers and applause ) okay. >> we are intel, sponsors of tomorrow. >> the world is changing, and how we use energy today cannot be how we use it tomorrow. there is no one solution. it's not simply more oil, more renewables or being more efficient. it's all of it. our way of life depends on developing all forms of energy, and to use less of it. it's time to put our differences aside. will you be part of the solution? chevron, human energy. and the national science foundation. supporting education and research across all fields of science and engineering. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like y

david brooks, margaret carlson and linda wertheimer spoke. >> good evening, and welcome to "obama and the challenge of expectations: a look at the president's first six months." i am the director for a plant media, which is proud to be a co-sponsor of this event this week with the aspen institute. we have a great and multitudinous panel with us here tonight. we ended up in the brady bunch size range at one point today. it look like we were moving toward the john and cake + 8, but we have managed to stop at a more manageable number. we would like to give assent of what we are talking about tonight and then plunge right in. on my far right, fred wertheimer, founder of democracy 21 and before that, the longtime president of common cause. beside him, professor charles o. whitley, a professor of law at harvard law school, was a student have included a a one barack obama. laura carlson is the editor ed bloomberg news. linda wertheimer -- and yes, there is a relation -- senior and national correspondent for npr and before that, the longtime host for all things considered. david brooks, to he

david brooks see a collapse on the entire left.: bill: now, tomorrow night, president obama will try to save his health care vision press conference. he will not succeed. americans understand that the essential force of this country is freedom, not big government micromanaging what we can and cannot do. mr. obama does not get that he is still using his power to demand his vision of social justice. >> if you attach a surtax to people making 280,000 or more. isn't that, in fact, punishing the rich. >> no, it's not punishing the rich. the way i look at it is if i can afford to do a little bit more so that a whole bunch of families out there have a little more security when i already have security, that's part of being a community. bill: wrong. that's being forced to fund obama's vision of what's fair. being part of a community means voluntarily helping your neighbors by charitable acts and donations. we americans lead the world in that. look, the feds need to provide convict oversight on the health care industry. it's out of control.

in "the new york times," columnist david brooks calls this the liberal suicide march. he said this -- machiavelli said a leader should be fear as well as loved. obama is loved by the democratic chairmen but he is not feared. on health care obama has emphasized cost control. the chairman flouted his priorities because they don't fear him. true? >> in this poker game, if you will, everybody is betting more than they can afford right now. we'll see how it works out. think it's something that's an observation that people want him to be more involved at this point in the legislative process. he and his chief of staff rahm emanuel who knows a lot about the hill, in particular the house, have chosen not to do that. we will know the wisdom of that decision this fall. >> bill, republicans are without a doubt, enjoying this. are there risks for them? senator demint of south carolina talked to obama's waterloo and how republicans must defeat him on health care. bill kristol in the conservative weekly standard said with the republican weakened somewhat, republicans will see an ope

we'lsee you online, and again here tomrow evening with david brooks and ruth marcus,mong others. i'm jim lehrer. thank you and good nit. major fundingor the newshour with jim lrer is provided by: intel. supporting math and scien education for torrow's innovatos. chevron. and by thalfred p. sloan oundation. suppoing science, technology, and improved economic pformance and financial literacy in the1st century. and with the ongoing suprt of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made ssible by t corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions your pbs station from views like you. thank you captiing sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioneby media accs group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

we'll see you on-line anagain here tomorrow evening with mark shieldsnd david brooks, amongthers.i'mim lehrer. ank you and good night. major funding for the wshour with jilehrer is provided by: chevron. intel. supporting math anscience educatn for tomorrow's novators. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, rking to solve soal and environmental problems at home and arounthe world.mt and with the going support of ese institutions and foundations. and... this program was made poible by the corpotion for public brocasting. and by contritions to your pbs station from viewers like yo thank yu. captning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productio captioned by media access groupt wgbh accessgbh.org

. >> rose: this book is"the grand new party david brooks, a favite of mine asverybody knows said "ifi cod put one book on the desk of every publican office holder grand n party wod be it. the best single road map o ere the party should and is likely to head. grand new party. ross dthat. ank you for joining us. see you next time. captioning sponsored by rose communicatis caioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.or ed mapgrew up going to t movies. i think back on childhood and remember how imrtant movies were to me. at that me, it was the only way see the outside world. ed decidedo be a professor - an expert on the impact ofhe media. toy you have television. peop have at least one tv setin. whatever messages comi on that screen is being extended to the ente family. now that's esome. it can be fecting our country and lture for years to come. that's onef the reasons why public televisiois so important, because it does assy ed includehis public television staon in his will. consideroining the community ofeople who want public television to span generations.

we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks, among others i'm jim lehrer. thank you and good night. major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer is provided by: chevron. intel. supporting math and science education for tomorrow's innovators. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world.mt and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org captioning sponsored by wpbt >> suzanne: house democrats are getting ready to head home, taking with them a plan to sell health care reform across the country. we talk with a key player in th e

we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks, among othersm jim lehrer. thank you and good night. major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer is provided by: intel. supporting math and science education for tomorrow's innovators. chevron. the atlantic philanthropies. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by me captioning sponsored by wpbt >> paul: signs oab

david brooks, a favore of mine as erybody knows said " i could put one book o the desk of every republicanffice holder, grand new partwould be it. the best single road map of where the party should andis likely to head. grand new party. ross douat. thk you for joining us. see you nextime. captioning sponsored by rose communication captned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. >> lehrer: and to the analysis ofhields and brooks, synditedolumnist mark shields, david brooks, davidow has president oba's big public push on health cre done so far? s. >> the publicart, not so great. if they have to rate inside washington they are doing pretty well. they've got allthese committees work the bill and the big story is they are to the ing to pass it this summ. weill have to wait until the fall so that seems lake a big setback. t when you actually look at what the committees are doing, ad the substance the bills there is actlly much more overp that i i would have thought. so i tink, you know they're going toet the blue dog, the centrist. i would suspect witn washington righnow there a very good chance ey will get heth-care reform because of e way the bills are cohering. outside of washingn, the pubc part that is where the nger is. if yolook at where the american pple are, a sim majority now say -- disapprove of obama's approach to heth care. among independent, 66% think it's too b government. so there blic support is erong. among democrats in washington, there is a proce

a preew of the upcomi confirmation heings for supreme court minee sonia tomayor; the analis of david brooks and ruh marcus; and aedia unit look at the saturaon coverage of the michael jackson sto. major funding for the newsho with jim lehrer provided by: >> tiny little thing, 's just... not big. ah... okay, i found it. ( cheers and applse ) okay. >> we are intel, spsors of omorrow. >> the worlds changing, and how we use energy today cannot bhow we use it tomorrow. there is none solution. it not simply more oil, more renewables or beg more efficient. it's a of it. our way of life pends on deloping all forms of energy, and tose less of it. it's time o put our differences ase. will you be pt of the sotion? chevn, human energy. and thnational science undation. supporting educion and rearch across all fields of science and engineerg. and with the ongoingupport of these institutions an foundations. d... this pgram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and byontributions to your pbs station from viewers li you. thank yo >> lehrer: geral motors tered a new era today. the reo

charles ogle three joined journalist david brooks, margaret carlson and others. this last just over an hour. >> all right. good evening. and welcome to obama and the challenge of expectations, a look at the president's first six months. i am the political director for atlantic media, which is proud to be a co-sponsor of this event this week with the aspen institute's. and we have a great and multitudinous panel with us tonight. we ended up in the brady bunch size range. at one point today it looks like we were heading more toward the neighborhood of john and kate, plus 8, but we stopped at a more manageable number. i want to introduce everybody real quick and give you a sense of what we're going to talk about, the order of battle, and plunge in. on my floor right, the longtime president of common cause. beside him, professor charles ogletree of harvard law school, whose students have included 1 barack obama whom we have heard of since. margaret carlson is the editor of bloomberg news. our senior national corresponded at npr and a longtime host of "all things cons

david brooks says that liberals are walking themselves into their own suicide chamber by following theled themselves. he says, among other things, it was interesting to watch the republican party lose touch with america. then he goes on to tell how they killed themselves, and how liberals are doing the same thing with health care. health care is our bread today with ben rothlisberger. martha: i am not sure what they have to do with each other, but we look forward to it. trace: and a bit of product placement, just to add a bit of duszest. a major push to prepare for the comeback of the swine flu. mass vaccinations to combat the virus. should you get a shot? remember the disaster it was the last time around? dr. manny alvarez gives us his diagnosis. . are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. martha: health experts are gearing up for a possible surge. they say the swine flu could be back in force this fall and they're

david brooks is a columnist for "the new york times" and those of you out on the quad will note his two sons working on their curveballs. i'm going to try to work through this panel some of the different aspects of the early stages of the obama presidency, what we've learned about him, what are the successes he's had so far, what are some of the problems looming out there for him, then we'll turn it over to you for questions for a while and bring it back up here at the end and i'll ask the panelists some lightning round questions, i'll try to hold you to one-word answers for a few final thoughts before we go out the door. let me start with a broad question. these have been a very eventful first few months of the presidency, probably not since ronald reagan or even franklin roosevelt, have we seen so much activity on so many fronts, domestic and foreign. out of all the decisions and activities the obama administration has undertaken, when you look across the board at the specific policy choices and the broader decisions such as the way they're managing our relations with the world, out o

david in just a second. also with us, hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks. david, again, you were there. give us all the details. what did we learn today? >> what we learned today is that originally they had three persons of interest they were looking for that they thought might have entered this house. now they think six to eight people were involved in the attack on the house that left the couple murdered. they say that five people they can tell entered the house, three on one side, two on the other, a very crisp and clean type of operation. they worked very quickly. from the time they went onto the property to the time they were off took about ten minutes. they were only inside the house about four minutes, i believe he said. yes, four minutes inside the house. suggesting that they had trained and had prepared quite a bit for this intrusion. now, one thing we are not hearing about is why this couple was murdered. we do know today that there is a possible motive involved here. one motive at least that they're talking about is robbery. one of the reasons why they went into the home. but

guest: i have to thank david brooks for inspiring this.e culture of corruption opens with a column he had written not long after the election day and just sort of foretelling this klick of achievea-trons and how phenomenal he was impressed that obama brought with him the best of the washington insiders and praised their ivy league pedigrees, and really this was sort of a repeat of, you know, this idea that somehow these smarty pants were going to come in and change washington. and well, it didn't take long before the obama administration disabused us of that notion in a very big way. and i go through all of the botched nominations and then a lot of the nominations that actually went through, barely by the skin of their teeth. obviously tim quite they are in comes to mind. everybody knows about him, but there are many others that i document and one of the most important and relevant chapters i haven't talked about yet and if you look at the front page of "the new york times" you can see how well known this is a lot of the officials tied to

here is what david brooks writing in the "new york times" today, liberal suicide march the headline."months ago it seemed as if obama would lead a center-left coalition. instead, he has deferred to the old bulls on capitol hill on issue after issue. machiavelli said a leader should be feared as well as loved. obama is loved by the democratic chairman but he is not feared." brooks is referring to the liberals, especially in the house. what do you think? >> well, i mean, look, what he is doing and we will see if it works it will be brilliant f it doesn't, we will all say how stupid it is, but letting the house put that bill up and now some kind of deal, the senate on the finance committee, considerably more moderate. you know, one of these games this is very early in the bidding, if you will. and it is a little too early to draw conclusions. the truth of the matter is if you win, everything you do is smart. if you do, everything you do is stupid. we will see how this thing works its way through the process. >> how is it working with for him so far, bill? >> i don't think it's working v

have david brooks to o talk about -- youou mentned sarah palin, the lossss of digny in public fe.wrote fascining column about thisis earlier this weekk enenmpassi sarah palin and a lot of otheher pele. and raraised thentriguing prospect that barack o obama m ben antidote to t t cline of habits off dnity foror our publc officicis. we got theeek in review. i think you'll have sasa tanenhaus s onater as well. before i go,, iave to ask you one other t thingnd it't's not going totoe a metery story. i need a fafactual assessmementm a trueed sox fan. ortizbk? isisthe slump over? >> well, y you knoo he's bk but he's not g gng to be baackhe wahe was two o three year ago. that's n going to be there again. but david ortiz, the slump is ovover to a certain exnt but there's the e e factoror and al of hat. he's's probay not years of ag his babat's a little slowow. he's going t to be fun towatch. he's still a terrific guy, a a great rorole model for kids a a he's actuaually a profession al athle who likes people, genuinely likes peoplele. so he's always beeeeback ithat sense. i appreciate your c

david brooks, is a columnist for the "new york times." what we are going to do tonight is we are going to talk. i'm going to try to work through this panel some of the different aspects of the early stages of the obama presidency in what we have learned about him and water may be some of the successes that we of had so far. we will then turn it over to you for questions for a while. we will bring it back here at the end. we will try to hold you to one word answers during a lightning round. let me start with a broad question. this has been a very eventful first few months of a presidency. probably not since reagan's first few months or lyndon johnson or franklin roosevelt, have we seen so much activity on so many fronts, domestic and foreign. out of all but the decisions and activities of the obama administration, when you look across the board, those policy choices and the broader decisions and some of the governing strategy is. out of all these decisions, which to do you think of been the most consequential. what has obama done so far an

david. let me bring mike brooks into this while we try and get david back on the line. does this sounds like it fits the m.o. of what this guy's been doing in the past? >> it does to a certain extent. this is only 35 miles northeast of gaffney, where the other ones occurred. because consider it, we have five murders in the last nine days, and all within a ten mile radius. i have spoken to my law enforcement sources close to the investigation in south carolina. he's telling me they were able to link those five murders to the ballistics, the same gun used during the five murders, so that's one thing they do have. they were looking for other evidence so they should be able to link this particular shooting, rick, in short order after they come back and say okay, is it the same kind of weapon that's been used in the other five. >> this is magnificently frightening. i remember you and i both covered the situation in washington, d.c. >> oh, yeah. >> where they had the so-called d.c. sniper. not so-called, he was convicted and may be executed. nothing can frighten a populace mo

david cohen. he was part of the baseball strike that judge sotomayor helped resolve more than a decade ago. in washington, brooke hart, nbc news. >>> new concern this morning that the country's job market isn't getting a better. the federal reserve is now predicting that the unemployment rate could pass 10% by the end of the year. in fact, the forecast by the fed is actually worsened in the past couple of months. it expects the unemployment rate to hit its peak in the last quarter of 2009. >>> now boeing says it plans to cut about 1,000 jobs. the defense division of the aircraft manufacturer says layoffs are due to cuts in defense spending. boeing is a major contractor for the department of defense. this is the second major round of layoffs for boeing. back in january it announced it was eliminating 10,000 jobs. >>> it is hard to find a zblob just about any field right now. today job seekers in the area are getting a little help. >> megan mcgrath is live at a job fair kicking off right now at d.c. convention center. >> reporter: good morning. isn't the first time congresswoman eleanor holmes norton has sponsored