and andrew ross sorkin covers wall street. for "the new york times." first up, right now, maybe all about getting health care passed but what happens next? number one, unemployment will stay very high for quite a while. number two, that means there may be a move for a second stimulus. and more federal spending to fund jobs. number three, taxes may go up to pay for all of this. but can president obama get more, especially after he's pushed health care through? he may have exhausted his political capital at a crucial time when he needs the second wind. a "washington post," abc news poll, obama has lost huge ground. in february obama was trusted to handle the economy by a big margin over republicans. 61-26. but now that number is much closer. 48-37. trish, i look at the high unemployment rate and it's coming out next week with more bad news probably. now is he going to deal with that big fact in front of him? double digit unemployment. as far as the eye can see. >> well, unfortunately there's not a whole lot he can do right now. the reality is we're comin

andrew ross sorkin of the "new york times." he's an editor of the times daily financial report, has been reporting on the financial crisis and has a book coming up in the near future. also, james stewart of the "new yorker" magazine. he chronicles the government's response to the collapse of lehman brothers in the magazine's most recent issue, eight days last year as the financial system stood on the brink, government officials and c.e.o.s fought to save capitalism and themselves, revealing interviews with principle figures involved and panic deal making behind the scenes brought about unprecedented and controversial government intervention. one year later, the question remains, did they make the right choices? yes? >> well, let's work backwards. >> rose: all right. >> they brought us back from the brink and they deserve, i think tremendous credit for that. >> rose: the brink... >> the wednesday after the lehman brothers failed, they deserve tremendous praise for that. they also brought us to the brink. and i think they do not

that's his problem. >> and andrew ross sorkin, boxes that he can check on the economic crisis.>> yeah, and hopefully we will get to some of them this fall. frankly, i don't think that he will check the boxes this fall. i think it's something that will move into the spring and then the worry becomes the other issues get over and you do not get to some of the financial reform issues that a lot of americans would like to see. health care is one concern. and what i don't understand if you are out there every day still on the stump effectively, what happens next year when truly the box is not checked. there is a tipping point and then have you lost the influence and do people care whether you are on television talking about this stuff. >> he has enormous charisma, and he keeps spinning it down. >> what do you do then? do you disappear for a little bit? the other thing is, some people are worried he is not working, and he is out there talking but is he working? >> funny you mention that. i was talking to a major figure in the american economy, and he likes president obama and seen hi

just talking to andrew ross sorkin earlier, and i said, what's been done to change our system? what have we learned? he said zero. nothing's been done. >> i kind of disagree with that. i think several things have been done. whether they've taken effect yet, that remains to be seen. individual savings rates are way up. i think there's a lot more awareness of the fact that regulators are not doing the job. they're going to have to do the job better than they've been doing it. this is going to be a long haul. we're a very impatient culture. we have to hang in there, like you will. you're very impatient. >> speaking of impatient, a new audiotape. terrorist leader osama bin laden says president obama is "powerless" to stop the war in afghanistan. the record be comes days after the eighth anniversary of the september 11th attacks. bin laden accuses the white house of following bush administration policy, and he blames the war on the pro-israel lobby. >> kanye west. anything to say about that tape? >> more from kanye a little bit later in the show. this is a terrible story right here.

and andrew ross sorkin rights -- and a flurry of big merger deals, signs of restored confidence.he writes that as a signal of confidence and that executive swagger may be returning, at two large mergers were announced monday, adding to the flurry of deals in the last month. he goes on to say taken into the context of what is a merger drought, dealmaking is still off by more than 50% from last year, the transaction suggest the most senior ranks of corporate america may have the most optimistic outlook on the economy. right thing this morning in "the new york times." in "the washington post" there is a column by jeff colgan, time to plan for the next recession. he is a senior editor at large for fortune magazine. we want to get your thoughts. you see signs of economic recovery? here are the phone numbers. host: a little bit from goeff colvin's piece. the end of a recession seems so close that you could almost smell it. stock market is surging, china and india -- india firing on all cylinders and no one would be surprised if in the next one of the u.s. economy shows signs of growth,