"wall street journal" columnist peggy noonan. democratic congressman from california, and deficit cutting super committee member, javier becerra. and "washington post" columnist e.j. dionne. >>> good morning. it's been a full weekend of political positioning. last night, president obama, in a speech to the human rights campaign, rallied his base and pushed again for a jobs bill. >> i'm counting on you to have my back. go out there. and get them to pass this bill. >> and fresh off another national security victory, the killing of a u.s.-born al qaeda cleric anwar all awlaki, the president challenged after a gay soldier was heckled at a gop debate. >> -- it's okay for a stage full of political leaders, one of whom could end up being the president of the united states, being silenced when an american soldier is booed. >> meantime, republican candidates texas governor rick perry campaigned at five events in new hampshire this weekend, and trying to deflect criticism over his more moderate immigration stance, suggested that u.s. troop

"wall street journal" columnist peggy noonan.can strategist and "time" magazine columnist mike murphy, and democratic congressman from california and deficit cutting super committee member, xavier becerra whose district includes chavez ravine which is where dodger stadium is. more on that later. welcome to all of you. i want to start with republicans, the republican field and republican politics. chris christie, is he in or is he out? he is being covered by everyone, including your source for news and information, weekend update on "saturday night live." here it is. >> after claiming for months that he did not want to run for president, insiders are now saying that new jersey governor chris christie is reconsidering that decision. promising to do one thing, then doing the opposite? sounds pretty presidential to me. >> mike murphy, christie is on record saying, short of suicide, i don't know how to tell all of you that i'm not in the race. that was then. this is now. what's he going to do? >> you know, i have no idea. i do know we

and mika, rush limbaugh and peggy noonan are right. he is not a conservative. >> but you know you're hurting him terribly -- >> by saying he's not a conservative? >> why is that hurting him if we get to general election, by the way. that helps him. >> at this point, that's the hurdle, isn't it? >> there's no alternative at this point. he's betting that, you know what? i can play this game because basically by default i'm going to win. and then he's set up for all of those independent voters and all the swing states come next november. >> it's okay he's not a conservative? >> but it explains, though, mike why herman cain, michele bauchmann, republicans, conservative republicans who endured a eight years of big spending under george w. bush are desperate to try a true conservative, fiscal conservative out there that can win in the general. and right now they can't find it. >> well, underlying can win in the general. and going back to rush limbaugh's statement. given his blow torch rhetoric, that's nearly an endorsement of mitt romney. he

george will, democratic stragest donna brazile, peggy noonan and matthew dowd.eorge s president obama going to rue the day he said that comment about not being better off four years ago? >> i think he will. he's missed some obvious things. one year ago, in the 2010 elections, if you saw barack obama in an ad, you knew it was a republican ad. he's threatening to go around the country, demanding pass this jobs bill now. republicans said, fine, let's vote. harry reid said, not so fast. we don't have democratic votes for the democratic president's own jobs bill. >> let's put up the graphic where we got some of these numbers. the new washington post/abc news poll, shows by a 15% margin that americans now trust president obama more than the congressional republicans to handle jobs. that's a huge jump. >> the best thing that barack obama has going for him is congressional republicans right now, the only place worst than him. the problem is, he's not going to be running against congressional republicans next year in these elections. he'll be running against a new republ

so former republican speech writer peggy noonan wrote a column that's getting a lot of attention on thisl street journal". and in it she says, quote, there's a broad fear out there that we are coming apart, or rather living through the moment we will look back on as the beginning of the great coming apart. and it is that suggestion that there are politics that are striving all of this or at least making it worse. joined now by brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to president bush, and dick harpootlian, south carolina dem crangt party chair. gentlemen, welcome. it's a very disturbing thought, suspect it? brad? >> it is disturbing, and unfortunately, it's coming from our president. the president in 2008 decided that george bush was to blame for everything, he got elected as our president. and now in a time of crisis when he has to run on his record and his leadership, who does he turn to? he turns to the american people to believe that it's not his problem, it's not his fault, it's the fault of the rich who aren't paying enough. and what he's not telling the american people is his robin

the president's numbers as peggy noonan points out keep creeping up.nd you look head-to-head match-up in ohio and other swing states the president is looking much better today than he did a month ago. >> yeah. they got to be feeling a whole lot better over at the white house. the numbers are creeping up. not yet into safe territory, but out of disaster territory. down in the low 40s, high 30s and they are creeping up to high 40s now. look what's happened on the republican side. the president gets to go out and solidify his base and take these executive actions and essentially do these little mini campaign tours even though they are not supposed to be campaign tours while the republicans are, you saw karl rove in that clip, the veins throbbing in his temple. >> that's because karl rove knows how to win elections. he does. and remember karl rove at about the same time i was critical a little after i started saying sarah palin could not win a general election, karl rove got in trouble for telling the truth about sarah palin, she can't win a general electi

. >> dana: peggy noonan is a great person to read every week. not mired in washington, d.c.in new york. she has for many years. she writes in a way that says let me look across america and explain what is going on. often i identify with her. i know not everybody does. something interesting about that, what divides us. i think in a way the white house thinks they're trying to pull people together. her point is that while they are doing that, they have the blinders on and they don't realize they're causing a further division. whether or not it's intentional could be debated. but the outcome what she is saying better for republicans that president obama continues to -- >> bob: peggy is a great writer but what she fails to recognize here is demographics of the country are changing dramatically. number of white people are falling dramatically and around the world we're no longer the superpower. a lot of major countries -- >> eric: you like to do this and throw the numbers out. what do you mean the number of white people in the country are falling? >> bob: percentage of electorate

. >> dana: peggy noonan is a great person to read every week. not mired in washington, d.c. york. she has for many years. she writes in a way that says let me look across america and explain what is going on. often i identify with her. i know not everybody does. something interesting about that, what divides us. i think in a way the white house thinks they're trying to pull people together. her point is that while they are doing that, they have the blinders on and they don't realize they're causing a further division. whether or not it's intentional could be debated. but the outcome what she is saying better for republicans that president obama continues to -- >> bob: peggy is a great writer but what she fails to recognize here is demographics of the country are changing dramatically. number of white people are falling dramatically and around the world we're no longer the superpower. a lot of major countries -- >> eric: you like to do this and throw the numbers out. what do you mean the number of white people in the country are falling? >> bob: percentage of electorate. >> e

. >> dana: peggy noonan is a great person to read every week. not mired in washington, d.c. new york. she has for many years. she writes in a way that says let me look across america and explain what is going on. often i identify with her. i know not everybody does. something interesting about that, what divides us. i think in a way the white house thinks they're trying to pull people together. her point is that while they are doing that, they have the blinders on and they don't realize they're causing a further division. whether or not it's intentional could be debated. but the outcome what she is saying better for republicans that president obama continues to -- >> bob: peggy is a great writer but what she fails to recognize here is demographics of the country are changing dramatically. number of white people are falling dramatically and around the world we're no longer the superpower. a lot of major countries -- >> eric: you like to do this and throw the numbers out. what do you mean the number of white people in the country are falling? >> bob: percentage of electorate.

stories is where they're going to have to be effected from this park or not, but, david chalian, peggy noonan this. you may not know what it's ffr but this is bigger because of the doom and gloom. >> and you've seen the stockage from eric cantor's talking point. you don't hear republicans saying what he said, to dismiss it, because you don't know where the energy is. you heard john larson, the chairman really trying to embrace this, echoing the sounds of how they were trying to harness this. i think they're very different groups but i tell you if you watch these politicians right now, no one is dissing this group because they don't know where it's going. >> 28% of the country thinks it's federal government. there's no wonder there are people in the streets. >> i feel good about it. >> how come it didn't happen sooner. >> but you realize, okay, america's not going to accept us no longer having an american dream or not going to accept this inequality, that people are going to fight back and i think the political system at some point will react. >> even mitt romney is starting to embrace these g

peggy noonan who is a friend of mine has on occasion come along and written the reagan speech for someone who is not reagan. and i remember in your lens, i was crying like everybody else when bush gave that wonderful speech about being in an articulate guy, but rarely american. if she could give mitt romney a heart for 45 minutes. >> an implant. >> and it will work because the republicans want to believe he is one of them. it will take a transplant with this guy. he is not one of them. are they going to outsource their nomination to a guy that is not one of them? i do not think they want him. rick perry, they will route for. rick perry wins one debate and there will be ready to crown him. >> so welcome. so, chuck todd, nbc. jake, abc. the best. so, we've come up with one theory is mitt romney too happy a guy? >> to get elected? >> it gets his theory that was? who can get that angry vote. chuck? >> i think his challenge -- i have this theory about the election. when we change presidents, we want more of a stylistic change then sometimes a substantive change. and if you looked recent histor

now peggy noonan who's a real trooper hozz come along and written a reagan speech for somebody's not reagan. when senior bush gave a speech about being an inarticulate guy, she could give mitt romney a heart for 45 minutes. it will work because republicans want to believe he's one of them. i'm telling you it will take a transplant with this guy. he's not one of them. they're going to outsource their nomination to a guy that's not one of them, the first time a party does that. i really don't think they want him. perry they will root for. perry wins one debate and they're going to be ready to crown him. that's what i'll say. the geniuses are here so i'll get out of the way. >> chuck todd nbc, jake tapper abc. >> we have a good excuse. >> yes, the best, the best. we've come up with one theory, is mitt romney too happy a guy -- [laughter] >> to get elected or just in general? >> guess who's theory that was. too happy a guy to be a tea party hero. >> doesn't share their mood. >> to get that angry vote. chuck? >> well, i think his challenge is this i have this theory about the election. wh