but things seem to change with the clinton administration. are you really do have a democratic president and administration that sort of commits to liberalism, the few market principles, welfare reform and aims of this nature. i think that's a good way of framing it that potentially the economic outlook is a casualty of the social, cultural transformation, which is not to minimize the transformation. >> yeah, so from what i heard, what do you think are the primary accomplishments for the long term accomplishment of the book? >> yeah, boy, so, you know, i could go through group by group. maybe i should talk about some of -- maybe i should talk about some of the ones that i haven't mentioned. like for instance, the nuclear freeze, which is the first chapter that has the big sort of exclusion, this grassroots social movement in the early 80s, only can be sort of co-opted by democratic allies in congress and passed in a very watered down version, but it does get issues of arms control onto the map and into the public debate. and you know, even tho

the clinton administration also authorized cruise missile strike against there are some of bin laden camps in afghanistan which failed but president obama change his policy change his stance by calling for change calling for the end of these wars and yet showing that he can continue the rhetoric of the bush administration but the point here it doesn't matter which administration initiated the one the most important thing is that obama specific authorized we actually already have a vis a chief proved it was not to kill or capture the oil life like of the previous administration kuwait was specific. to kill there was no where there or there was no alternative moments ago moments ago you said the issue of proving something let's talk about that of proof because the cia promised to show a photograph of a corpse of bin ladin now question obama's backtracking saying no we're not going to show the photograph it could only worsen matters what's your take on that will obama completely has lost the momentum the initiative that he could regain from from this u.s. seals operation problem of the

clinton administration also authorized the cruise missile strike against there are some of bin laden's camps in afghanistan which failed. so but so the whole thing it was a democratic venture to fight for to hunt for osama bin laden did president obama change his policy change his stance by calling for change calling for the end of these wars and yet showing that he can continue the rhetoric of the bush administration but the point here it doesn't matter which administration initiated the hunt for obama who are the most important thing is that obama specific arthur ised be chilly on crimea to say proved it was not to kill or capture dead or alive like the previous administration claimed it was specific. to kill there was no weather or there was no turn in a moment ago a moment ago you said the issue of proving something let's talk about that of proof because the cia promised to show a photograph of the corpse of bin laden our person obama is but tracking saying no we're not going to show the photograph it could only worsen matters what's your take on that will obama completely has lost

clinton administration officials defended the decision to hold back. >> if we're going to kill peoplenocent people, as well as carrying out this operation, let's be as sure as we can that we've got the right target, the right information and minimize, if we can, killing innocent people. >> reporter: during this period the u.s. repeatedly slipped cia agents and military special operations teams into afghanistan. agents set up electronic surveillance of roads and villages which was still active just days before september 11th. but al qaeda members stayed one step ahead and used technology to their advantage. monitoring internet chat rooms and anonymous e-mails became part of an ongoing, highly sensitive intelligence operation. >> what we have to strive is to be as innovative and as creative as the terrorists are. almost to think out of the box. >> reporter: the hunt for bin laden became america's top priority the day after 9/11. >> there is an old poster out west, as i recall, that said "wanted, dead or alive." >> reporter: u.s.-led forces began months of withering air and ground assaul

policy since the clinton administration. the bonds between israel and united states are unbreakable and -- will face a growing -- without a credible peace process. >> with mutually agreed swaps so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. >> mr. obama said -- netanyahu says israel cannot go back to the old boundaries. president and mrs. obama leave tonight to go to ireland and poland. >>> gas prices are dropped nearly a dime. the national average is 3.97 for a gallon of unleaded. here in the bay area it's 4.17. it's 4.09 in oakland. the prices might fall another dime before the memorial day weekend. so what's behind the drop? analysts say gas prices and the floods in the southeast are curbing demand. got to give them hope. the slogan used for supervisor. tonight, a new calling for an old camera shop in san francisco, how it will help young people seeking hope about their future. >>> a mixture of sunshine and the winds continue to blow around the bay area. got some clouds too, but maybe some rain on

the bush administration deserves credit the clinton administration deserves credit. this is an infrastructure that grow over time. the president made some spectacular and got s -- and gugusty choices including to bring an extra helicopter and that turned out to be important. >> mark? >> no more professor-in-chief instead of commander in chief no more nuanced and cerebral. norman schwarzkopf said that it does not take courage to order men into battle, it takes courage to go into battle. but it was a bold decision on the part of the president to do so. a commander in chief decion. the presidential decision up the week was to not make available the photographs despite the demands of so many people. that is where he showed real leadership. >> even al qaeda admitted he is dead. what is the operation had failed colby? >> think of jimmy carter and the rest of attempted they made -- rescue attempt and they made. it is hard to imagine the consequences being anything other than disastrous for him. that is another reason he deserves a real credit because they took a real risk t

. >> we picked up items that had been collected during the clinton administration and worked those aggressivelyor eight years, and passed that onto the obama administration. >> marsinko said rather than bomb it from the air increased the degree of difficulty. to get out of a 40-minute firefight with the man behind 9/11 dead and no loss of life to u.s. forces, priceless, he says. >> they got invited to the world series and they won. nobody got hurt, so they won the oscar too. >> the men involved in this operation will likely never receive public recognition and the inside story of what happened inside bin laden's compound may never be told. admiral winters, the head of the s.e.a.l.s, sent an e-mail congratulating him and warned them not to talk of the raid. it is not over. the team gave away hundreds of free tickets to active and retired service members for last night's game. some said they had the work of the navy s.e.a.l.s in mind as they watched the game. >> well, i knew it would just be a matter of time. clearly, you know, you can run but you can't hide. >> it's a good feeling to know good t

august 1998, the clinton administration sencruise missiles to attack afghan terrorist training campswo days after two u.s. embassies were in bombed in africa. but it took the ship-fired missiles hours to strike the training camps. and by the time they did, bin laden had already left. the attack had an unintended side effect. escaping the u.s. onslaught only enhanced bin laden's reputation among terrorists. february 1999, bin laden is sighted at a desert training camp in helmand province, afghanistan. he remained there for more than a week. but there was a hunting camp nearby used by officials of united arab emirates, a u.s. ally. >> policymakers were concerned about the danger that a strike might kill an emirati prince or other senior officials who might be with bin laden or close by. >> reporter: there was another sighting and another missed opportunity that spring. clinton administration officials defended the decision to hold back. >> if we're going to kill people, innocent people, as well as carrying out this operation, let's be as sure as we can that we've got the right target,

the bush administration deserves credit, the clinton administration deserves credit. this infrastructure grow over time, but the president made a spectacular and gutsy choices, including to bring an extra helicopter so it would not turn now like carter. that turned out to be important. >> mark? >> no more professor-in-chief instead of commander in chief, no more nuanced and cerebral. norman schwarzkopf said it not the courage to -- it does not take courage to send troops into battle. the decision of the week was to not make available the photographs, despite the demands and importuning out a so many people. that is where he showed real leadership. >> even al qaeda admitted he is dead. what if the operation had failed, colby? >> think of jimmy carter and rescue attempt at they made. it is hard to imagine the consequences being anything other than disastrous for him. that is another reason he deserves great credit, because they took a real risk of their. they were not 100% certain that bin laden was there, according to leon panetta. 60-80% sure, but they did not have an

university, she signed on at ibm, then did a stint on the white house economic council during the clinton administrationbut losing her leg hasn't been bonnie's only challenge. there was a tragic childhood experience that she tried to forget. >> actually, i was sexually abused from the age of 2 to the age of 7 by my stepfather in my own home, and it was very difficult to deal with emotionally. that's probably one of the hardest things i ever had to deal with. i just blocked out the memories for years. >> reporter: this single mom's life experiences have inspired several of her books, including how strong women pray. >> i want to share a story with you about one of the hardest things i ever did. you can see i've done a lot of har things. >> reporter: bonnie travels the world as a motivational speaker and makes a special effort to inspire kids like these from reach prep, a program that identifies and grooms black and latino scholars. >> bonnie st. john i believe represents for us determination, a woman who has obviously overcome enormous odds to be where she is, to accomplish what she has, and so we like t

and say had you no interest whatsoever it is not an issue that we care about because the clinton administration is obsessing on this you know and berger implied that the that the clinton ministration had actually been negotiating with afghanistan to take possession of bin laden particularly after the time when he tried to kill him with the with the cruise missiles in there and and newt gingrich were on the floor of the house and said he's just trying to deflect attention from monica lewinsky this is right the dog and then afterwards of course and he went off to work it up with his girlfriend though we don't know we know that this was a serious offer that in fact i interviewed the former taliban foreign minister to work kill him in kabul last year for the first time he laid out exactly what their proposal was it was reported in vague terms in the press at the time so the russian pows were similar firms and he finally confirmed to me last year so and this was specific to the bush administration did that go back to the clinton was this was this was a new proposal that had a new second of the secon

. >> we picked up on items that had been collected during the clinton administration. we worked those aggressively for eight years. we passed that on to the obama administration. they picked it up and have been working with it. >> they decided to go physically into bin laden's compound rather than bombing it. to get in and no u.s. forces dead, priceless, he says. >> they got invited to the world series and they won and nobody got hurt, so they won the oscar, too. >> the men involved in this operation will most likely never receive public recognition, and we're told they're okay with that. jim and doreen, back to you. >> thanks, jackie. >> following the president's announcement last night, impromptu celebrations sprung up around the country. at the white house, hundreds gathered, chanting and shouting, usa! sochl waved flags and had a moment of silence, and 100 students splashed in mirror lake. for those in the washington area who lost friends and relatives in 9/11, the killing of osama brought a flood of emotion. some opened champagne, others had prayers. craig is cove

economy played in killing the last major attempt to reform the health care system with the clinton administration posing a new tobacco tax to help pay for their plan to back a company philip morris funded a major grassroots effort by the group. citizens for a sound economy also with hand in hand with the health insurance industry reforms are running a few from the clinton plan was soviet style socialized medicine that would lead to a denial of bottles of kid freedman's they said they supported scott down democrats including first lady. as they attempted to explain the reform and love there isn't all. that yours. was yeah like god was. trying to was that it was her that of the majority of america. al-ghamdi part to make sure every single american and. one person who has worked on coalitions with citizens for a sand economy is wendell potter a former health insurance industry spin doctor turned whistleblower about these deceptive practices. they have insurance industry is very much like the tobacco industry it's held in a very low regard by the public and they know that they have very little credib

economy played in killing the last major attempt to reform the health care system with the clinton administration closing a new tobacco tax to help pay for their plan to record company philip morris funded i major grassroots effort by the group. citizens for a sound economy also with hand in hand with the health insurance industry the reforms are running a few cameras from the clinton plan to soviet style socialized medicine that would lead to denial of vital health kid treatments they said this supports democrats including first lady. as they tend to explain the reforms and above there is little . doubt that york. was yeah i was there i was. trying to crowd out that in. order to. carry firearms to make sure everything the american in. one person who was working on coalitions with citizens for santa corner me is wendell potter a former health insurance industry spin doctor turned whistleblower about these deceptive practices. they have insurance industry is very much like that back over history and it's held in very low regard by the public and they know that they have very little credibility and

want a different date to work off of have been the basis of negotiations since at least the clinton administration. everybody involved in this knows that. president obama wasn't saying israel has to go back to those borders, he said, you start with those borders and make adjustments to them. ok. that's been de facto u.s. policy. but no president had explicitly said it before as u.s. policy, as the starting point that was sort of written in gold and netanyahu didn't like that because he wanted to hang onto that as kind of a bargaining chip. even though it's a bargaining chip that he's given away with, that his predecessors have given away, he wants the right to take it back. he wasn't happy about that phrase. on the other side, obama had to sit there and listen to not one but several lectures about basic realities on the ground. you heard prime minister netanyahu say that. well with, realities on the ground is code language for the israeli settlements in the west bank and the israeli view that they cannot realistically be asked to give all of them up, that giving up any of them, that moving any of

and there was no patriot act in the clinton administration before that in crime in the bush admin is when he said that and then he said and in the administration before that but the important point to make here is if they're going case by case and going to a telecommunications company saying we have the records of this person and they say sure of that then they can say sure but that's it's light years away from what eric holder's justice department is doing which is keep records of everybody and will be back for the waiter that's a little different than case by case going we need this guy tracked ok now we need this guy to act vs the obama administration which is a keep everybody keep everybody's records for us will be back for him later do you think that attention gates energy think it's a slippery slope. well i think we have warrants for a reason and if a warrant is brought to a judge in which you're able to tap into somebody's cellular communications their e-mails their internet activity that's fine but when these agencies go beyond the law and just openly do it agai

i think that the fact that the clinton administration failed to deal with the first 9/11 attacks as a bin laden pursue his mass murder. >> do you feel better about how the obama administration has handled this? >> not really. i mean, here's an administration that once has insisted on prosecuting ksm and the rest of those people in civilian courts in the united states. again, they just don't get it. and i think that the failures of our government, not just the democratic administrations of clinton and obama, but the bush administration as well. what we see here is that people in the federal government can escape responsibility for their malfeasance. i think the fact that secretary clinton is now secretary of state, that this woman has been named secretary of state is a reward for the malfeasance of her husband's administrations is a perfect example of the incompetence and the cover your tail mentality of our government. i want to make sure it's clear to people that this has to do with the bush administration just as completely. we have wide open borders -- >> sir, i understand where yo

and so as we see this tension within the administration about how specific to get from the hillary clintontration to be more specific, versus the national security camp who says, you know what? now is not the right time, which is what netanyahu feels. it really is very much a matter of domestic politics. >> he is guided by history, wolf. you remember late in the clinton administration we were covering the camp david accords, the closest this has ever come. there was a peace process then. the israelis were talking to the palestinians. we use the term "peace process" now. there is no bro ses. they're not talking. conversations now are about trying to restart the process. mr. yetten netanyahu says if h too much, his government will collapse. how will the split between fatah and hamas work out? we don't know. mr. there's no american magic wand. he can't say let's make peace. president bush tried for years and said i can't get too deeply involved in this because look how hard bill clinton tried and he couldn't get it done. there's been frustration across administrations. if mr. netanyahu won't

in the death of the word's number one -- world's number one most wanted man began in the clinton administrationword where the detainees were held. guantanamo? perhaps. maybe somewhere more insidious, the kind of place you find in the rendition program that bill clinton started. you know, the ghost plane that picked people up. egypt? no, wait. i'll talk! that one. one of the people waterboarded provided a key detail. identity of a trusted bin laden courier as someone who was protecting and even living with him. in 2007, they confirmed the identity of the courier in 2009,, investigators pinpointed areas where the courier could be living in pakistan. then this summer in august of 2010, the exact residence of the courier was located. in february this year, president met with the u.s. officials and said there is enough intelligence to assume that bin laden was there. over the last two months a plan to take bin laden out was crafted. on friday, president obama gave the order to send in the seals. or whoever he may have sent in. in the early hours of sunday morning, our guys made history. before we mo

individuals earning more than to under $50,000 a year, to the level that prevailed during the clinton administration, returning the estate tax to 2009 rates and by scaling back tax expenditures, the plan would generate additional revenue without putting at risk future incentives for economic growth. the reforms in must adopt have to be grounded in realistic assumptions about the path of future policies, the impact of legislation, and economic changes. neither congress the administration should be able to use on realistic assumptions about future growth or political corrector other forms of magical thinking to minimize the magnitude of the reforms that are necessary. these changes will be difficult, but in a balanced remarks like this, with the burden of adjustment shared broadly, and phased in over an appropriate period of time, the overall economic impact would manageable. to make this spring were credible, we need a mechanism that forces reform. the president has proposed that congress imposed on itself a debt cap that would lock in the necessary reductions and deficits over the next several years

we saw with two very different types of dealing with the war on terror from the clinton administration and the bush administration. it was a very much more diplomatic approach during clinton's term, a very military approach during bush's term and the synthesis to realize fighting terrorism is like weeding a garden. you wouldn't go to something growing and cut at it, you need to get at the root of it. the combat and terrorism is getting the infrastructure, the bin ladens, the money and stopping that and there is also trying to realize that our actions sometimes no matter how well intentioned have a back blow and we have to get at the root ideology of the stick and the carrot method or else you're playing whack a mole and not paying attention. >> we have to leave it there. we appreciate your in sight this morning. >> we are going to go to break. we'll take a live look outside the pentagon this morning. the news that u.s. military forces have killed osama bin laden bringing some comfort perhaps for those who lost loved ones in the attacks there and at the world trade center on september 1

. >> we picked up items that had been collected during the clinton administration. worked those aggressively for eight years. we passed that on to the obama administration. they picked it up and they've been working with it. >> marsenko says they chose to enter officials into the compound rather than bomb it from the air and increase the difficulty to get out of a fire fight of a man with 3,000 dead. priceless, he says. >> they won the world series and nobody got hurt, so they won the oscar, too. >> jackie bensen, news4. >>> the men who carried out the mission will likely get no public recognition. and the story that went on inside the compound will probably never be told. he sent an e-mail congratulating his forces and warned them not to talk about the raid, saying the fight is not over. >>> the washington nationals honored men and women for their work in the war on terror. the team gave away hundreds of tickets to active and retired service workers. some said they wanted to thank the navy s.e.a.l.s as they watched them. >> i knew it would just be a matter of time.

. >> we picked up items that had been collected during the clinton administration and worked those aggressivelyd that onto the obama administration. they picked it up and they've been working on. >> marsinko said rather than bomb it from the air increased the degree of difficulty. to get out of a 40-minute firefight with the man behind 9/11 dead and no loss of life to u.s. forces, priceless, he says. >> they got invited to the world series and they won. nobody got hurt, so they won the oscar too. >> reporter: jkie benson, news 4 today. >> the men involved in this operation will likely never receive public recognition and the inside story of what happened inside bin laden's compound may never be told. admiral winters, the head of the s.e.a.l.s, sent an e-mail congratulating his forces and warning them not to talk about the raid saying the fight is not over. the team gave away hundreds of free tickets to active and retired service members for last night's game. some said they had the work of the navy s.e.a.l.s in mind as they watched the game. >> well, i knew it would just be a matter of time. cl

have never beat that since, and may not. [ laughter ] after he left the administration, the clinton administration, he went to nyu, where he was vice president for operations of nyu and also taught at nyu. later joined city corps and became the coo of its alternative investment management business, and then at the beginning of the obama administration came in as deputy secretary of state for operations and management. and then he took the position recently of being the director of omb again. so he's the only person in history who has held that job twice. so, jack, my first question is the obvious one. if you went from having the highest budget surplus in history and a record not likely to be topped any time soon, what made you think it would be a good idea to come back and be the head of omb again and preside over very large deficits? >> thanks for having me here tonight, david. [ laughter ] i like challenges. and this is certainly a challenge. when the president asks you to take a job, that you had before, your instinctive answer is why would i want to do it again. and when the president makes a

william cohen was defense secretary in the second term of the clinton administration and he joins us now. secretary cohen, you were involved, you were in the room the first time an american president tried to kill osama bin laden back in 1997. tell us about that moment and then your observations of what we saw today nearly 15 years later. >> well, it's oddly enough, you know, it also involved pakistan at the time. we had intelligence that bin laden was going to be at a gathering of terrorists in afghanistan. and we had no way to get to afghanistan but over the airspace of pakistan. and that's when we asked general joe ralston to go to pakistan, to be with his counter part, to be with him at the time that long range missiles were going to be flying over the territory of pakistan to make sure that if they detected them that general ralston would be and i position to say it's okay, they are ours and not coming from your enemy india. it was a difficult choice because tension between india and pakistan was very high. ran the risk pofly setting off a conflict. we had to conduct this in ver

that has been negotiations going back to the clinton administration. to have it said so publicly appears to have pressed a nerve. i spoke with the president's deputy dennis mcdonough and asked about this extraordinary statement that prime minister netanyahu expects president obama to back away from what the president said just today in his speech. >> john, the president looks very much forward to the meeting with prime minister netanyahu. it will be the seventh meeting and opportunity to discuss this matter and our ongoing cooperation with the israelis across a range of issues, to include our effort, historic, to fight back against efforts and also working together against our shared concern about iran's nuclear program. >> it's a very diplomatic statement. forgive me for interrupting. this is one of the most sensitive relationships for the president of the united states. within moments of the president's speech, for the prime minister to say, no the central thing you outlined is unacceptable, it speaks volume yous, didn't it? >> i didn't hear you read

david goodfriend is democratic strategist during the clinton administration and brent is an republicansident of middle field consulting. good morning. >> good morning. >> i want to start with these numbers here. is there a consensus among republicans that there is a temporary spike and that the guys prices and unemployment situation that will in all likelihood bring them back down quickly, the positive poll numbers? or do you think it's something the prident can sustain? >> well, alex, i think almost all of us is american so the problem made a right decision, did a great job. what happened on sunday and he has seen about a nine-point bump in the polls. the problem for the president is, tracking his numbers in the economy, he has dropped on that measure. i think with all of the excitement over sunday dies down, americans are going to start thinking about their wallets again and about the state of our economy. worries and concerns are going the rise. i think that's going to put tremendous pressure on the poll numbers and i think they will likely drop. >> david, what about the optics. we

american administrations have bet everything on trying to get peace, most notably in the clinton administration probably the most we can get, from a standpoint of american interests, forget israelis and palestinians for the minute, a peace process is extremely helpful to the united states and can also help prevent further conflict. and if the white house were to think much harder, not so much about let's get a final agreement in six months or a year or any of these artificial deadlines, but let's see if we want put together some kind of framework for negotiations and discussions that can reduce the chance of new conflict on the ground and over time offer some hope for peace as various things may change or new ideas come forward. we may have more success. i think like some of his predecessors, president obama reaches for that tantalizing prize of final solution. as always is just a little bit out of reach. very jeffrey, put the hamasish hue in con-- >> charlie: put the hamas issue in context and what some american officials have been saying that perhaps they ought to be some conversation with ha

swoop in with helicopters that we didn't have before, for example, when you worked at the clinton administration? >> no, it's tough to compare the two. joint special operations command is some of our most experienced and trained fighters, but what's important to understand is what phil said, you put together a mosaic of information to paint an intelligence picture. then when you have as high degree as possible in the accuracy of that information, you then task the military operators to come up with a operational plan to go in there. . the ecpart of it is we've had years of experience in operating in the afghan theater and then the adjacent pakistan theater. they did the degree of comfort we now have in that region is the highest it's ever been. that helps as well. the third thing is you have a group of military leaders now with so much on the ground experience, the civilian leadership and the national command authority trust them explicitly when it comes to planning this kind of operation. all that said, there's enormous risk associated, and the fact of the matter is they pulled it off brilliant

for discussions between the united states, israel and the palestinians since at least the clinton administration. i know that stating these principles on the issues of territory and security generated some controversy over the past few days. i wasn't surprised. i know very well that the easy thing to do, particularly for a president preparing for re-election, is to avoid any controver controversy. i don't rahm to tell me that. i don't need axelrod to tell me that. but i said to prime minister netanya netanyahu, i believe that the current situation in the middle east does not allow for procrastination. i also believe that real friends talk openly and honestly with one another. so i want to share with you some of what i said to the prime minister. here are the facts we all must confront. first, the number of palestinians living west of the jordan river is growing rapidly. and fundamentally reshaping the demographic realities of both israel and the palestinian territories. this will make it harder and harder without a peace deal to maintain israel as both a jewish state and a democratic state. seco

however, he did say and clarified it in the apec speech, just as they had a plan in the clinton administration7, then negotiate land swaps. >> john, you can defend, you can stand here and defend the president's remarks. i will not defend the president's remarks. the president's remarks are amplified across the middle east. don't think this was a tremendous insult to benjamin neganyahu. that symbolism wasn't lost on israel's opponent. israel is what's working in the middle east region now. the united states should do everything they can and not cast any aspergss on this process at this particular time. the president's moves in a statement last week were dangerous in a volatile region. >> you say dangerous in a volatile region. the white house would disagree. let's shift to politics. is there any doubt, should anyone have doubt that michele bachmann will be a candidate for republican nomination for president? >> i will let people know in june. i said in the beginning that's when we'll let people know. we're working, putting a plan into place we believe will be an effective plan, but we aren't gi

this is similar to the rationale used by the clinton administration for the haiti and kosovo operations. i don't think the constitution draw that distinction between small wars and big wars. it doesn't draw a distinction between ground troops and air wars. it would be a great surprise to muammar gadhafi who is trying to hide from the mysterious flying object which we can't confirm the existence of that we are not at war with libya. we attacked another sovereign country illegally and we are bombing civilian leadership and providing aid to people who rebuild from that leadership. seems to me it is a war. and still about the military incentive this creates which is if you have the constitution present you are going to over use air power even when it doesn't make sense. and forced to use ground troops like what happened in rwanda. there is disagreement, i want to point out two or three, i quite agree with americans who wrote the constitution who were anti monarchical who rebelled against king george remark -- canes george iii. there was a few that had it had gone too far. only the legislatu

we created 22 million jobs in the clinton administration. the clinton administration handed over a 10-year surplus of a $5.50 trillion. the next eight years produced the worst job creation record of any president since herbert hoover and resulted in the trillion dollar deficits that we are looking at right now. the congressional budget office estimated the deficit for fiscal 2009 when president obama took office -- on the day he took office, a deficit of $1.30 trillion. this administration inherited an economy in free fall, two wars, and a great many other problems. the party has been working through those problems despite monolithic opposition from the republican party. we need to come together and try to solve the problems that the american people sent us here to solve and hopefully the kind of process that is going on right now led by vice president joe biden to bring some closure to the issue of raising the debt limit to what kind of policies we need to put in place -- that is the kind of process that we need to move this country forward

we saw it in the reagan administration, the bush administration, the clinton administration. what sets this apart a little bit is that the size of the debt keeps getting birg bigger and bigger and bigger and so the consequences of playing this game become larger and the wiggle room gets smaller because all of these emergency measures that we're now taking which useded to buy months and months of additional time now buy just a couple months. >> suarez: on one side of the argument people from the administration are promising calamity if august 2 comes and goes with no settlement for this. while some on the other side are saying, well, it's a detail. we'll miss a couple of payments for a couple of days or a couple of weeks but then eventually this will get settled. is the truth somewhere in the middle? >> we don't know. you know, i think robert rubin, the former treasury secretary said it best. he said we don't know what will happen. why would you want to find out? that seems to be, you know, a perspective that certainly all of our former treasury secretaries have. you're wander