i am llewellyn king, host of "white house chronicle," coming right up. first, some thought of my own. i have taken the trouble for years to tell people about the virtue of a good idea as opposed to a new invention. we have reached a point in society where the inventions are so plentiful, so many of them, particularly in telephony, that we need billions of dollars to take the next step in anything. i am here to explain to you that sometimes, all you need is to get a better idea. i present, for example, this a small radio. it has this peace that goes like that. for years, you needed double radios on your head so you looked like someone from mars. and then the genius at sony. it is comfortable. it goes with many things. take this cup. people have been drinking out of them for thousands of years. they have been driving for years. goblet's for wine? no. who would have thought the great characters of europe -- it took convenience stores to make a funny plastic thing that you put on the window of your car and it tips into the most sensitive part of your body. d

you worked in the white house.ld you have let the cameras in and listen to this entire conversation? >> no. but we're not limiting coverage of this either. it's fine. but, no, i think alex is right, actually. there's an opportunity cost he has paid and is still paying today. hopefully for his sake he won't be paying it more tomorrow. every minute that we spend on this that we're not on health care, his preferred item, is a minute that barack obama is losing. but hopefully it's a casual atmosphere, i think carol's report was right. fdr famously made martinis for churchill. i think, i might have my history wrong, but i think jimmy carter brokered the middle east peace deal with israel over jell-o shooters at hooters. >> i think you missed out on that. not exactly right. >> maybe a little bit. >> they're supposed to be sitting at a picnic table. i guess they're going to move that -- a picture there. i don't know if they're going to move it into the rose garden. that is the rose garden. that's not the picnic table. >>

ok, so the guy leaves the white house. he leaves the white house. all right. he leaves the white house. nothing changes. "it was a great honor to go there." i have been to the white house many times. it is a great honor and experience to be a president, democrat or republican, and i have met them all since jimmy carter. so leave it at face value. >> again, let me go back to the campaign. where is the transparency? let me ask you this. why does this have to be done in the next two weeks? we have not had health care in this country and, when? is he worried that they will come back and they will not be as with them as they are today -- with him as they are today? neil: vincent, thank you. you can catch him again this weekend on my we can show. ssbn will be covering this at 8:00 p.m. -- on my we can show. -- on my weekend show. fbn will be covering bessette 8:00 pm coming up on -- -- will be covering this at 8:00 p.m. that went well. taxpayers have had it, and now, they are letting their senators know. we're going to hear what the specific governor haley barbour h

the big kegger down in washington at the white house.e having the beer party to celebrate the last day of finals. things really went nuts at the kegger. and -- at 8:00, everybody was a little tipsy. and they drunk-dialed ben bernanke. >> obama wants to make this a regular thing. he's invited ahmadinejad over for appletinis. thank you. >> the men met and talked at the white house. and each was served his own preferred brew. nothing says unity like three men sitting down together and insisting on three, differen brands of beer. >> i think he was brown-bagging while he was delivering that story. wonder if they considered beer-pong. >> quarters seems like it was fun enough. >> next time. >>> stay with us for "good morning america." could new help be on the way for 30 million americans who suffer migraines? we'll show you a simple forehead surgery showing some promise >>> just moments away, a suspect in one of the district's most infamous murder mysteries is due in one of the district's most infamous murder mysteries is due in cou

dan lothian has our report from the white house. >> cold beer, diplomacy at the white house. president obama, professor gates, and sergeant crowley trying to get rid of a nasty hangover from a controversial and racially charged arrest. >> this is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. and that's really all it is. >> reporter: while the president has called this controversy a teachable moment, aides say no formal agenda, no afteraction report is on tap. just a dialogue around a rose garden table, on issues like racial profiling. >> this is not a university seminar, it is not a summit, it's an attempt to have some personal interaction when an issue has become so hyped and so symbolic that you lose sight of just the fact that these are people involved, including myself, all of whom are imperfect. >> reporter: the white house says president obama chose to drink a bud lite. crowley, a blue moon, and gates, a red stripe. >> hey, can we get y'all to call the white house tonight? >> this man protesting alon

they thought within the white house, they had come up with a formula to do that. f health care in general is a separate issue. there are many who advocate health care benefits, among them, the cbo director. house democrats say it's a nonstarter. house democrats say they campaigned against it when it was made by john mccain. so a lot of the different things tugging these members of congress and the president in different directions and a lot of hand-holding required. clearly, the white house is very eager as our house democrats, to get out ahead of this new cbo revelation and change the conversation. >> david was flying in today from d.c. he saw max baucus who seemed confident. david described him as cool and pretty assured that something would happen with health care reform. this president, some say he perhaps will not be reelected if something does not happen with health care. give us, from your perspective, will this happen this year? how in peril is health care reform? >> reporter: this will potentially affect how the 300 million american citizens will receive h

the white house p.r. push is the hard nuts and bolts work underway behind the scenes at the capital. harry reid admitted he would miss the president's first deadline to get a bill passed before the summer recess. but why did congress then seem to hit the brakes? it felt this week they could hear the rubber hitting the road, as everybody said, wait a minute. what happened? >> they did hit the brakes. but this is no surprise to many people. this is part of the natural political cycle of a big piece of legislation. people expected this would happen. until now or recently we've had many of the stakeholders coming at this very easy. they wanted to sit at the table and keep their seat at the table, whether we're talking about the republicans or moderates or conservatives or the insurance industry, they wanted a seat at the table. so we didn't hear a whole lot of complaining. now we're making the big decisions and it's bound to happen that once you start making the big decisions, that everyone is going to start

you know, earlier just late last week we heard the white house and every administration official say s, both the house and senate, needs to pass bills by before the august recess coming up in just a few weeks, but then over on the weekend shows we heard the white house kind of talking about, well, we just need a health care bill passed, and we would hope, hope being the keyword, that actually a bill comes through before the august recess. this he realize it will be some tough sledding right now in the senate. they want a deal. they want everything that they can, and that's exactly why we're seeing the president talk, talk, talk, and talk about health care. >> mark, it's so complex, so many pieces, and so many different committees, but, again, everyone is waiting for the senate finance committee version to come out. a lot of attention on max baucus. it's such an inside the beltway thing to say that people are focusing on a committee chair, but this is really a big deal, right? >> it's a big deal because, one, they kind of have to placate and at least please the people on the left that

jeff zellny joins us from the white house north lawn. here's the president. >> i need to help give that a little bit. >> are you the new press secretary? >> you've got to do a job, do it yourself. i wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half, obviously, there's been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened at cambridge with professor gates and the police department there. i just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley and i have to tell you that as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he is a outstanding police officer and good man and that was confirmed in the phone conversation and i told him that. and i -- because this has been ratcheting up and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically and i could have calibrated those words differently. i continue to believe based on what i have heard,

nbc white house correspondent savannah guthrie joins us now from the white house.pitol. in new york, dr. nancy snyderman is with us. she's the most of msnbc "dr. nancy." i want to to to savannah guthrie, is there a sense from you all watching this at the white house that the president laid out a compelling chase why we need to change the health care system. >> it's clear that's what the president felt his mission was is, to explain to ordinary americans why health care reform is a good thing. i think they rise here is part of the messaging is a little bit off. it could be a little sharper on that other. expectly when you have new

haps used to be worn in the white house by reporters. there was one special reporter who worked for gannett who used to wear the crazy hats. she was a tiny woman running around. she used to ask president kennedy in center questions which he used to like to answer. he liked to diffuse some of the tensions in the white house press corps, and as a matter of fact, she used them to great effect. perhaps had flowers all over them, so i'm thinking maybe this is some way i could get a question to president obama. i will wear this hat, put a lot of flowers on it and make my questions is centered and maybe i will get one in. what do you think? anyway, we will be back right after the titles with my very egocentric against. >> "white house chronicle" is pollute -- produced in collaboration with the va is beauty, however city television. now the program host, national syndicated columnist llewellyn king and co-host, linda gasparello. >> hello, welcome back to "white house chronicle." i'm linda gasparello, co-host, and my center at -- east centric gas

also at the white house, the white house is confirming that vice-president joe biden is in iraq.e ap writes that he is there to meet with iraqi leaders and u.s. troops. it is his first trip to iraq as u.s. vice president. while we wait to take you to the briefing, we will take you to today's state department briefing, which just wrapped up. >> good afternoon, i do apologize forwxq delaying the briefing on the afternoon before a 3 day holiday. at any rate, let me give you a quick update on some schedules. i think you saw the secretary did not have any public appointments, but she did work from home this morning. ambassador goldberg concluded his meetings in beijing today with representatives of the ministry of foreign affairs and other ministries involved in the inclination of the u.n. security council 1874 hail to park beijing over this weekend for kuala lumpur. gyythere will be meetings with officials on monday, july 6. as we look to the fourth of july, our national holiday, i'm very cognizant of the fact that my counterparts -- not my counterparts. my colleagues, my fellow citi

at the white house, fox news.ret: congress seems to be running out of ways to pay for the president's healthcare reform. we'll find out what the >> folks, reform is coming. it is on track. it is coming. we have tried for decades, for decades to fix a broken system, and we have never in my entire tenure in public life been this close. >> we need to know more about the cost. 70% of the people that have insurance are happy with their insurance. we have to be worried about that 70 p% as well as the ones that are run insured at the moment. bret: healthcare reform legislation is making its way across capitol hill. various different types of it percolating across the house and the senate. the big question, how much does it cost? how will it be paid for? will there be a public option? here is what a.m. emanuel told the white street journal, quote, the goal is to have a means, a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest. the goal is non-negotiable. the path is negotiable. how about that? let's bring in our panel, ste

nbc news is live at the white house.ike, time for the white house to get worried or is the famously no drama obama team, saying, hey, come on, it's summer time? many is still possible. >> i think a drop in the polls, i think the white house would say this is pretty much to be expected they're very mindful of the fact that the first year of this presidency is the time to get things done. to really push forward your initiatives. perhaps that's part of the reason the president was so adamant up until last week, getting health care votes in both the house and senate. if you like, carlos, make hay when the sun shines. it's taken its toll in this new poll. 42% now say the president's plan is a bad idea. that's 10-point increase from last month. now, just 36% of americans say it's a good idea. last month, 33% said. now 42% say that is a bad idea. the next element on president obama's handling of the economy -- >> mike, i want to jump in here for a quick second, it's interesting to me, while i get that the white house says that

we're joined from the white house by press secretary robert gibbs. robert, thank you for your time tonight. >> happy to be here, richard. how are you? >> i'm good. does the president walking out to your podium this afternoon means that he said and did the wrong thing on wednesday night? >> well, look, richard, i think he wanted to make sure that everybody knew the full context and understood what he was trying to say on wednesday. and i think as he said out there, we had a situation that was becoming wildly overheated. he described it yesterday as two individuals that probably needed to step back and i think he believed the situation needed that today and felt it important to go out and tell the country that. >> the cambridge police came out this morning with some pretty strong criticism of your boss. did he feel he had to respond personally and publicly to that? >> well, again, richard, he didn't see the press conference, but i think he felt, again, like the situation was one that he needed to step into. he said in the press room today that he had c

at the white house, fox news.ret: congress seems to be running out of ways to pay for the president's healthcare reform. we'll find out what the the m fox all-stars think after the break. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. a heart attack at 53. i had felt fine. but turns out... my cholesterol and other risk factors... increased my chance of a heart attack. i should've done something. now, i trust my heart to lipitor. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. unlike some other cholesterol lowering medications, lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk... of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries... in patients with several common risk factors... or heart disease. lipitor has been extensively studied... with over 16 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems... and

chris: a cheney white house. >> yes, there was a cheney white house and the bush white house. the cheney white house was substantially in control and only after his presidency is george w. bush trying to get his presidency back. and kudos to "time" for being there and helping examine that process because george w. bush is trying to show that he had independence from a guy that we all know really was running things. chris: wow. you guys -- we're coming this from washington. dick cheney is a presence in this city now. george bush has left. he's gone back to texas to write his memoires. dick cheney has unusually for a vice president stuck around. he's playing rear guard. >> i think in a sense both bush and cheney are thinking about their legacies and the history writing that east taking place right now. and they're aiming for somewhat different histories to be written. and that's what's going to be the fascinating thing to study and to have a better understanding of that period in our history. chris: this the ladder days, the president dodged the question of scooter libby. he nev

meeting, and she ended up being at the white house for seven hours, met with obama for an hour.he was already at that point predisposed to -- chris: what happened in the room, do you know? >> they really clicked. but he wanted her to click. i think it was hers to lose at that point. chris: how many times have we been through these things, these supreme court fights? always a surprise, jack-in-the-box issue. but it seems like her empathy has been the bell-ringer here. >> if you look at her biography, this is the reason she's getting this appointment, aside from the political considerations, a woman of hispanic heritage. but in her background, it indicates to me as time goes along she may very well -- m not suggesting she's going to throw things at scalia, but she's highly capable of taking him on. and i suspect that's one of the things that obama may have had in his mind, president obama may have had in his mind. listen, this woman is smart. say what you want to about her, but everything in her background, th wom did not go to school just to eat her lunch. she's really smart, and

savannah guthrie, good to see you and have a terrific weekend. >> you, too. >>> the white house is guaranteeing the clack for clunkers program through this weekend and senator karl levin of michigan says the house plans to pass $2 billion to people the program running. a week after taking effect the cash for clunkers program has run through a billion allocated to it. that program al indicates money to people who turn in old cars for more fuel-efficient cars. michigan senator debbie stabenow joins me now. good to see you. >> great to be with you. >> senator, i assume in michigan where unemployment is north of 15% and, obviously, there have been tough woes this comes as good news. >> yes. >> that the billion dollar program has run through so quickly. do you have a sense of where we go from here? >> sure. i have to say when i authored this in the senate, i had no idea that it would be as fast as it's been. i knew it would be successful because there are all kinds of people that want to get back into showrooms and want to buy new great cars and i'm hoping they will all be american-made when they ar

this morning the white house is scrambling to keep the program funded. tara mergener is in washington with the latest. tara, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, michelle. this program was supposed to run through november 1st. however, there are too many clunkers and just not enough cash. americans are turning their clunkers into cash much quicker than anyone expected. the $1 billion program has been so popular there's concern it will run out of money less than a week after it began. >> kind of like renigging on the deal, i think. >> reporter: but in a white house statement, the white house tried to calm fears, saying its evaluating all options to keep the program covered and all transactions will be honored. consumers like michelle say the government needs to pump more cash into the program and keep it running until november as planned. >> in the long run, i think they should find the money somewhere and do it. they're already in debt. what's another $1 billion? >> reporter: congress approved the cash for clunkers program last month to boost sagging

and some breaking news from tonight's white house beer summit.reactions from professor gates after the break. >>> also ahead, william shatner's first. sarah palin's farewell address at governor. now turned a tweet into -- kind of. also, the latest from the bertha conspiracy. some wanted them to stop. others are signing on for future presidents to prove citizenship. details on the big births divide in the gop next on "countdown." at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick has the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. so i've come to this court to challenge his speed. ...on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than andy roddick. (announcer) "switch to the nations fastest 3g network" "and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free". ♪ once you've dealt with the things that come between you... don't let erectile dysfunction get in the way. ♪ viva ♪ viagra! viagra...america's most prescribed ed treat

. >>> on our broadcast tonight -- the gathering at the white house. the president, the professor and the police officer. what will come out of it? >>> boiling point in iran as a day of mourning ends in a police crackdown. >>> cash for clunkers, making deals, driving them off the lot. is there any downside? >>> "making a difference" for the heroes of the tragedy we all saw play out on tv. >>> and we are hearing it yet again from baseball fans. "say it ain't so." again from baseball fans. "say it ain't so." "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television ain't so. "nightly news" begins now >>> good evening. at first members of the white house press corps thought the president was kidding. you could hear them laughing when he said a few days ago there was talk of having two men come over to the white house for a beer. the harvard professor who was arrested in his own home and the arresting officer. time has passed since then. the charges were dropped. but feelings are still raw. the national conversation on race has taken a bit o

at the white house, fox news. bret: stocks were mixed today. the dow jumped 17. s&p 500 rose 3/4 of a point and nasdaq gave back 5. the house has approve add bill putting new curves on new executive pay for corporations, giving shareholders of publicly traded companies the right to a non-binding vote on salaries, golden parachutes and other compensation issues t would empower federal regulators to prohibit incentive-based arrangements that encourage what are called inappropriate risks. now to healthcare reform. congress has one foot out the door for its august vacation, but the last-minute push to get some agreement on health overhaul bill continued to provoke a lot of emotion on capitol hill. correspondent james rose subpoena following the action. -- james rosen is following the action. >> the problem is you're such a pessimist. you have a notion that what we have out there is doomed to failure. don't take it down with this pessimistic attitude of this amendment. >> i'm an optimist, but i look at the c.b.o. score on the public option in the current bill, and i se

we worked in the white house, never let the president wade into an ongoing investigation. you can have these kinds of errors, in terms of capitalizing politically, i think it is an error to do that. >> doesn't listen to press secretaries, not told go out and say the police acted stupidly? >> pretty certain they are practiced that question. >> not that the police acted stupidly.. >> maybe realizing on that point, the fact is the white house decided to take the question, decided he should answer in kind of the way that he did maybe didn't choose the word stupidly that was a block and tackle mistake on the part of the white house which they quickly realized. >> steve a fundamental business mistake or what you would

because the white house and bully pulpit is is what everyone is watching we assume that is the white house is great advantage. in my view, the greatest power of the executive is not selling, it is doing. the president has the ability to take action that back up his policies and that some of his policies better than any speech or any press secretary or any spin operation can do. it took us awhile to realize that. after the '94 elections, when we did not exactly have a complaint congress, we realized that they were not going to do anything we wanted them to do, unless we forced them to pay attention. we developed an aggressive strategy, doing executive orders and other types of actions to force their hands. one that i worked on the most, welfare remarks, we did about half a dozen executive orders on child enforcement and welfare reform. about the middle of 1996, republicans who had been trying to stop us for welfare reform, finally said if the you are doing it anyway we might as well go along so we can share some of the credit. >> let me explore this idea with you on president clinton d

does the white house have to other leaders in latin america? >> let me get guidance on that. i do not know except to say that we are working in order to prevent what happened from happening, and i think -- i do not want to stray too far from the notion that there is an interim government -- enter american charter -- inter- american charter that establishes rights and rules relating to democratic governments. that is obviously relating to the oas. >> did you ask president zelaya to not proceed? >> to clarify, a person said he is going to send representatives to washington to talk with the u.s. government. is the white house or the department planning to talk with them? >> not that i am aware of. >> zelaya, if he returns to honduras, is going to be put in jail. comments? >> i would reiterate that oas has laid down conditions in the timeline in order to support the democratic rule awful lot. -- rule of law. >> with regard to health care, this is going to be controlled more by congress than the white house, but the white house sound on the basis of

. >> so, now, the white house is scrambling to come up with more money. and to reassure dealers and buyers that all deals will be honored. >> emily schmidt is in washington with the latest on this. >> reporter: good morning. cash for clunkers was funded until november, or until that $1 billion in government funding ran out. whichever came first. now, it seems they may be out of cash three months before expected. car lots across america tell the story. plenty of just traded in clunkers reflect a program that may have run out of cash. >> there's a feeding frenzy out there. >> reporter: the deal kicked off one week ago. trade in a gas guzzler from 1984 or later, buy something more fuel-efficient, get up to $4,500 from the government. >> we made a decision within -- really 12 hours. >> reporter: so did thousands of others. >> there's no doubt about it. there's an increase in floor traffic in itself, just translates into -- at least the 20% increase in sales. >> reporter: the government had hoped the financial incentive program would lure buyers to 16,000 deal

is the white house back backing away? >> i don't think the white house is backing away.i know what the president said publicly, that he needed a strong public auction to keep strong rules to rate the community system and pre-existing conditions. all of that. but we still need to keep the insurance companies honest. we're going to insist on it in the senate and we're going to get it in the senate. they are going to do it in the house and we'll have a strong public auction. >> now, public auction would offer up insurance to those who can't afford it in the private sector. how does a co-open come into play that would stand suffice for something like that? >> first of all, they took many, many years to develop. some areas and some more sparsely populated areas. there's no real record that they know how to work. plus, they don't have the market ability to compete directly with insurance industry. and and in the industry and it's clear if that's what the huge majority of the american people and keep and i'm playing devil's advocates. and dolled something out and what we do see

white house correspondent mike emanuel reports mr.bama came to the rescue today of the state's struggling democratic governor. >> i'm proud to stand with a man who wakes up every day thinking about your future and the future of jersey and that's your governor, jon corzine. at a campaign rally in holmdel, president obama tried to support john corzine's re-election and corzine was up 12 points up from a month ago. in one expert opinion, they said corzine is in trouble even with the president's help. >> i think he is going to need a lot more help than that. part of the drag on corzine is that he had a $29 billion cut that increased taxes and it is a 60% favorable rating on corzine. it is the worst he has had since taking office. in that case, it is with the rank and file that is supporting him. >> they think that the republicans have some fun with mr. obama's visit, releasing this video on his campaign website. >> >> the republicans say that mr. obama's talk of change in their state. we talked to voters who acknowledgeed it may be an uph

it's the big story today at the white house.ews white house correspondent savannah guthrie joins us now. savannah, what leverage does he have in these individual meetings? he met with ben nelson, democrat, olympia snowe. what are you hearing out of those meetings? >> reporter: we just saw senator snowe. she came out and talked to reporters after her meeting this afternoon with the president. what's interesting about it, as we all know, the president really wants both houses of congress to pass out a version of a bill before the august recess. yet, senator snowe having just sat down with the president came out and said she didn't think that's doable. she's confident health care reform can get done. she agrees with her broader timetable of getting health care reform done this year. but as for this issue that is very near and dear to the president of getting something out before the august recess, she's not on board. so there's the personal salesmanship is only getting her so far. at least on that one narrow issue. >> and, in fact,

there kate bolduan at the white house in washington, d.c. with administration reaction to the events in alaska and the latest on the battle over health care. >>> first there is some political fallout today from outside the box comments from vice president joe biden, ones he made about the russian government. in a developing story we first told but last night, biden told the "wall street journal" in very blunt terms that russia faces big problems in the future. he says their economy is "withering." in his words they're clinging to something in the past that's not sustainable. the white house has issued a statement pledging cooperation with russia and today secretary of state hillary clinton was asked if the obama administration is sending mixed signals on russia. >> no, i don't. as i just said, the vice president was the first person to call for resetting our relationship with russia and that's what we're in the process of doing. obviously it's going to take time and effort but the president's summit in moscow a few weeks ago was a great star

got the white house, they've got the house, the senate. you've been talking about the idea is to push this through both chambers before the august break, then you come back in september, work out differences in the conference committee. that's the normal process. but i've been hearing, in private, white house aides floating the idea maybe we'll have the house pass one version, the senate pass one version, the senate, just make the house pass that version later instead of a conference committee where everything will get pulled apart. the problem is the house democrats on record supporting the surtax that could be unpopular and then voting for a second version that doesn't have the surtax and is more popular, and they're going to get blasted in the election year. so, the bottom line is that shows you, i've had other people say no, way, we're not going to do that, there will be a conference committee, because there's too much confusion what the process is going to be. the process often becomes policy. democrats are not sure which way out. and

white house, is a very real one. on the other hand, we're all of a sudden hearing senators up on the hill saying wait a minute. gwen: of both parties. >> that's right. >> we also heard something odd today off the hill. and that was speaker pelosi who can pretty much work her will in her chamber given her majority say she may wait and let the senate go first. now, what's that all about? >> well, the fear in a a lot of house members -- fear that a lot of house members are going to have is they are going to take a big and dangerous vot on this gigantic health care bill, one that has a lot of new taxes in it and a controversial government-run health plan as an option. only to see it bargained away in the more conservative senate. we've seen this happen before. in 1993. in washington, the word b.t.u. is a verb because the house got b.t.u.ed for voting for an unpopular energy tax only to see it be given away in the senate. so nancy pelosi is listening to her members and she realizes they are very nervous about getting out

good step for the white house.t policing and racial profiling. two important subjects in the country. the white house is hoping this started an important conversation. >> see if it did. school starts in a month's time. maybe some teachers will take it upon themselves to look back on this and say what did we learn over the course of the summer. >> that's right. it was a teachable moment. you're right. >> ed henry at the white house this morning. great to see you. thanks. >> good to see you. >>> so, we were wondering, if the president's meeting with the police officer and the professor wasn't a summit as the president insisted, exactly what was it? >> oh, yes, it could be called a number of things. >> it could. in the blog, the late-night comedy shows and members of the press have had a little fun coming up with some of the favorites. bartender in chief, audacity of hops, ale, to the chief, beer and loathing, and brew-ha-ha. >> mea gulpa. of malt and men. and brewing discontent and touch of glass and obama's beer bus

white house chief of staff rahm emanuel today went to capitol hill. he went up there trying to break a deadlock but looked highly unlikely that the house will pass health care legislation by the president's date of august 1st, a date the president had called the people's deadline d dena bash reports from capitol hill. >> reporter: one after another conservative house democrats from a strategy session not to let up on the party's health care plan. >> we're not there yet. our biggest concern is making sure we control costs. we're not ready to support a bill yet. >> reporter: that was the refrain of many in the 52-member conservative blue dog coalition, a democratic group big enough to dash their party leaders hopes for a health care vote this week. >> the members of the blue dog coalition are more united than i've ever seen because health care reform goes to the heart of fiscal responsibility. >> reporter: meanwhile democratic senators who already gave up hope of passing a health care bill before summer recess are still struggling to find compromise but

this is a very white house centered white house, with the cabinet departments having less power. >> she doesn't want to be in the situation where colin powell was where everybody knew he and bush and cheney didn't agree, so overseas diplomats said, hey, who do you talk to? powell, ain't the go-to guy. it is hillary's interests for her to have a seamless relationship with the president. their disagreement has been over timing and iran and that statement of indignation but at the same time she came out forcefully and talked about how, don't think because we want to talk that we're going to be weak. that was the obama position during the debates you'll remember. she has signed on wholeheartedly. she's a worker. she's never a show horse compared to a workhorse, just unlike the speech making and -- chris: that's because -- kelly, this speech she gave this week a starter up of a higher profile. >> it wants to lay the groundwork for her. chris: so she can move bigger on the stage in the future than she's been. >> i think though, you're not going to see that much difference between him and her

but i would caution the white house not to be too cute by half about this stuff.y think they can do a controlled burn about this, to mix my metaphors. >> do they have a document to trump this in the end if this does become -- >> the document they already have trumps it in the sense that the certification of birth is a valid document that proves his -- >> we're looking at it. >> that's what you have been showing on the air. now, there's a dispute over something called the certification of live birth. does it still exist or not? were they all put on microfilm after 2001? were they destroyed after 2001? it doesn't matter. he was born in hawaii, and there's legal proof to show so, but what i'm saying is if the white house really wanted to shut it off in a forceful manner, you know, they could, number one, not answer the questions anymore. the fact gibb was willing to talk about it in the press room today is interesting in and of itself. or they can do something in hawaii if they wanted to. but the democrats see an opportunity in this now which is why neil abercrombie

and some breaking news from tonight's white house beer summit. we'll have reactions from professor gates after the break. >>> also ahead, william shatner's first. sarah palin's farewell address at governor. now turned a tweet into -- kind of. also, the latest from the bertha conspiracy. some wanted them to stop. others are signing on for future presidents to prove citizenship. details on the big births divide in the gop next on "countdown." ♪ (announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds and lasts for hours. all day or night. new tums dual action. bring it on. >>> breaking news. professor henry louis gates just release add statement tonight after hi meeting over beers at the white house. it's long but reads in part, "i would like to applaud president obama for bringing sergeant crowley, me and our families together. sergeant crowley and i through an accident of time and place have been cast together inex-priply as characters. over race which he and i have absolutely no control. narrative about race are as old as

your rate of decent has to go slower than stopped. >>> christina romer is at the white house. chrystia freeland is here. i'm delighted to have you here. what is your perspective on the slowing rate of decent. whether in the housing market getting bad as a less fast rate than the economy which is deteriorating at a less worse rate, that we are coming potentially to a point of deceleration, if you will? how do you see it? >> i think you characterized exactly right, that we had -- one of the things that came out of the new gdp numbers, we revised a lot of the numbers going back. one of the things we learned is that this recession is each worse than the original numbers had led us to ble. and so the fact that we have gone from minus 6.4% fallen gdp to minus 1 is, obviously, the right direction but a long way to go. no doubt there. >> that is the 16 trillion dollar question. you are very familiar what we did as a country to do this and understandably so in pulling a lot of the risk in the financial system and for that matter, other parts of our economy out and assuming it on taxpay

in the back-yard of the white house, a race around the white house with a picnic table, perhaps.the right way for the president to try to get himself out of a sticky situation? >> it is stupid. to use one of barack obama's words from last week, i feel like, yes, we have all agreed all these people might have acted better under certain circumstances, but, you know, we have heard from barack obama the last two days say health care is the most pressing concern, yet we are all going to turn our attention to this ridiculous story that there's a keg gar on the lawn of the white house. i think as the distraction from the big issues that are, frankly, much more important in this country. i don't know that solving henrygates' problem or trying to call this cop down on the carpet is going to get at true race relation issues in the country. it is all about pr, i'm afraid. >> i'm not sure the president is trying to call the police sergeant down on the carpet. >> but if you look at the situation, andrea, the first thing he did was blame the cop. and for everybody who is in uniform in this cou

their families are also here and got a tour of the white house. and i'm told that the interaction between the two men was actually quite warm. as you know the president has said this is not going to be something about an apology but an opportunity to listen, a teachable moment. and he said earlier today he is frankly fascinated by the fascination with all of this. he doesn't much care for the way the media has been referring to this meeting. listen -- >> i know this has been called the beer summit. it's a clever term. this is not a summit, this is three folks having, having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. and as i said, the families got to tour the east wing and the west wing while this is all going on. and with this the president hopes to put this issue behind him. aides here as well as the president acknowledges he fans the flames when he stepped into this, remarking on it at a news conference last week. he is hoping they can move forward, brian. >> reporter: of all the participan

white house staffs have made very clear from white house counsel are not operational. that means they don't direct operations out of the west wing of the white house. and so the idea was i would coordinate policy, and i would assess performance here but i was not directing operations inside of federal agencies. for those of you who haven't worked in the white house, i should tell you that that's a little bit term of art because when you report directly to the president and you are in proximity to the president, cabinet secretary will understand that once policy has been agreed upon and it has been signed by the president as being implemented, you have a good deal of moral suasion to be able to say you're playing is inadequate or it's insufficient in this way and you need to redirect resources. in addition, as you well know, the power of the purse is important and you will find in the directive the director of omb working with the person in my position were to accept on annual basis budgeting, funding and performance for these continuity programs. so while you couldn't

let's get to the white house and mike emanuel. what is the latest at the white house between the cambridge police and professor gates? >> robert gives this morning told reporters that president obama has great respect for law enforcement officers, but he also said he thinks that the president has said what he has to say on this subject. the president was somewhat surprised and may have some regrets. "i think he would regret if you realize how much of an overall distraction and obsession it would be. i think he probably would regret distracting you guys with your obsessions. in other words, reporters are focusing on this story rather than some of the other topics such as health care reform. basically, this has taken the white house of message because they are fielding questions about racial issues and whether the president should apologize. trace: while we have you, we want to get your take on the other thing. what is the white house saying about the senate's plan not to vote on health care before the august recess? >> robert gibbs

the white house now says it's going to be delayed. they say it's just that they haven't gotten it all together yet. do you see a different scenario here? what are you suggesting? >> well, the midyear review is supposed to be out by july 15th, basically supposed to tell us where you are, and you need those numbers in order to make intelligent policy decisions. certainly, we shouldn't make a decision as big as the health care decision without having the numbers of where we're going in the country with deficit and debt. and those numbers aren't going to come out until the congress goes on a break here in august i think is a little interesting that that's the situation. if that's the case, let's get the numbers out before we move forward on health care, at least. >> and what is your reaction to the vote? you and your colleagues just voted to strip the f-22 from the defense budget. >> well, i voted for that position. i believe it's the right position. it's a plan that was designed to fight a different scenario, basically, to beat the sovie

and you see a lot of democrats who are frustrated who say wait a minute, we have the white house, the house, the senate, why can't we get stuff done? and republicans say maybe a month ago i would have been inclined to deal with the president, but he's on the ropes right now. his poll numbers are down. maybe there's a political opening here. so it's some policy and increasingly politics. >> and also, not just talking about the president this morning, but vice president joe biden. we saw the president in moscow a couple of weeks ago speaking with medvedev and trying to improve relations and now the vice president talking about a shrinking population base, withering economy, a bit of a candid comment from joe biden. >> is that tough love or joe biden off the reservation? and you guys played -- had the sound bite or the quote from robert gibbs saying, look, we want to reset relationships from a position of strength and want a strong russia going forward, the vice president saying they're withering and banking system's near collapse and all of those things. there's no question that is what

because all othe executives both in t bush white house and th obama wite house who have been leading up thes recoveries have been rom goldman shs. and so in terms of a ppulist argument there, pieces there thatsomeone could seize pon. but those are t little bright spots that are out here. les face it. if we're goingo recover, then those guys are going tstart getting bonuses again. bu i still thik from what ecomists tell me, we re on a rollcoaster. anso some of those profits are based on the fat that previsly, they had writn down the value of thir assets because theyexpected the and the recession to drw down those assetsvalue petty substantially. it wasn't as bad as they thought. so they revalued th. and so nothing reallychanged. but their umbers ent up. so the wil be little brght spots and maybe this i a sign of wall street comng back. t it may not be, to. it may bejust one bright ment and what is liky to be a mu longer recover >> and o what we're seeing now is a last fall, e heard about was the bas and the banks are going o fail. and now the baks are doin bett. and clearly it's no ha

office downtown to the white house. called for human rights in iran and an end to the violence following the june 12th presidential election. >>> in new york city crowds gathered around the building to investigate the fate of the detainees. they are also demanding the immediate release of all political prisoners and journalists. >>> in london protesters waved green flags and wore green wrist bands the color of the opposition party in iran. they also blindfolded, gagged and chained themselves together to protest the silence in iran after the election. >>> when the president said police acted stupidly in cambridge, massachusetts, its time for officers to call for backup. >> not only sergeant crowley, but the men and the women, the officers of the cambridge police department who were good outstanding officers did not deserve this, did not deserve this negative attention, didn't deserve it at all. >> the police, the professor and the president. the story you have been talking about. so what next? a frank and honest conversa