so joining me now are bruce bartlett, who is now an economics columnist and author and historian andwho is the executive editor of the national review and also a cnn contributor. so, bruce, start us out by explaining why obama has governed as a republican. >> well, i think if you just step back and ignore the partisan attacks and look at the actual substance of his policies, he's kept foreign policy basically on the same track that it was on from the bush administration, even kept on gates as the secretary of defense and appointed hillary clinton as secretary of state even though he ran well to his right. i think an honest assessment of the health care reform would show it's essentially based on republican ideas that came out of the heritage foundation that were implemented by mitt romney himself up in massachusetts. i think he has shown a very great willingness to go along with republicans on cutting the deficit. i could go on and on, but i really think if you just step back and are honest about it, he's been what i would call essentially a liberal republican as far as his governing