dan pfeiffer is the white house communications director. he joins me now from the white house briefinging room. dan, let me start with this question. >> sure. >> why did -- why did you consul -- wait until yesterday morning to consult with the speaker's office on a date and time? and then why did you send out the tweet you sent out about an hour and a half later before you got the official letter inviting you to address the joint session of congress? >> well, we had a conversation yesterday morning with the speaker's office at a high level here in the white house and proposed the date of wednesday and the time. and they didn't raise an objection. the they raised an objection, we wouldn't have gone forward with that date. if there had been some concerns they needed more time to work through the logistics and said that to us, we would have held off. this is all sort of a silly thing. if they said we can't do wednesday, we'll do thursday, we would have gone after thursday. so wednesday would have been preferable because it was the first day con

communications director dan pfeiffer bluntly told the new york times, we were in a position of legislative compromise by necessity. that phase is behind us. but what's really kept the west wing busy this week is a damaging narrative in a new book "confidence men" by journalist ron suskind. an unflattering picture of the entire obama team in its first two years. the white house has questioned several anecdotes, including one in which suskind quotes larry summers as telling peter orszag, you know, peter, we're alone. there's no adult in charge. clinton would never have made these mistakes. analysts say there's a larger reason why the white house is working this hard to discredit this narrative. >> once there tends to be a cartoon of a president, especially a president where the nation's got awfully big problems and it's an election year, that tends to take hold and is very hard to get rid of. >> reporter: the white house has drawn blood even for sus does kind on the "today" show to admit larry summers, in the quote we had in our peace, that summers had denied it, but then said he still meant

white house communications director dan pfeiffer on the daily rundown this morning tried to diffuse the talk. >> the whole thing is silly. it's probably fitting it's the last day of august, sort of washington, d.c. august obsession. we'll always look at this and figure out how we can do things better. >> but is the damage already done? at a time when voters are fed up with gridlock in washington, could this possibly be the message the white house and congress really wanted to send? and what about job creation? what does president obama have to say in his speech next week? >>> and the disaster zone. new jersey in the midst of intense cleanup and recovery from hurricane irene. president obama heads there this weekend. new jersey governor chris christie fires off about the standoff over fema disaster aid. >> we don't have time to wait for folks in congress to figure out how they want to offset this stuff with other budget cuts. our people are suffering now. they need support now. >> there's only one person that mentioned the word offset, eric cantor. there you go. chris christie versus eri

an illegal block in the back against president obama but a white house communications director dan pfeiffer acknowledged today that not even the president would dream of competing with football. what everyone in america should be rest assured is that we will be done before kickoff in the. thursday night so no worries there. that he's going to have some serious competition the pregame show any of it's scripted no the some things are still sacred you know we seem to be entering the season of solutions the president is unveiling a jobs plan that the white house says will definitely get bipartisan support jon huntsman has unveiled his jobs plan mitt romney will be unveiling his jobs plan and on tuesday an hour after president obama asked for a joint session of congress yesterday john boehner said he'll give his own speech on the economy and jobs on september fifteenth let's hope that our elected leaders put all of this talk into action and cast partisanship aside long enough to put people back to work people's lives depend on on the other hand if republicans can block president obama from doing

. >> dan pfeiffer, white house communications director, dan, thanks very much. >> thank you. >>> presidentma says nothing in his jobs plan is controversial, and everything should have bipartisan support. up next we'll ask a republican. senator bob corker of tennessee, how much of this proposal his party is really prepared to embrace. >>> and remembering 9/11, ten years of a the worst attack on this country, in this country's history. we're going to be live at ground zero. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. heading to richmond right now. got to be motorcading because of the weather to andrews then fly to richmond. you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc.woma ] j. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free

in the pres conversation we do each week on the blog, we oke to the communications director, dan pfeifferhe said about the front-runners on the republican side. >> what i do know, at least of the two front-runners that are running, governor perry and governorromney, they are both tremendous candidates. they have adopted positions. they have -- governor perry is someone who led the tea party. governor romney is being led by the tea party. >> donna shalala, you worked for bill clinton. where do you see president obama now. is he still a front-runner? >> i think he's a front-runner, there's no question about that. forhose of us who teach politics, it's a lot of fun except it's a serious business. the president has a real race ahead, no matter who the candidate is because of the economy, but i think he's the front-runner. >> is leadership tough at the moment? >> this is the 50th anniversary of the peace corps this week. the goal of pop ticks is to make a difference. i hope they see this election as a challenge to inspire the american people to take some ownership themselves of their future. a

. >> something that dan pfeiffer, white house communications said it was a quote in the "new york timesesident wants to work with republicans and democrats to create jobs and grow the economy. if nothing happens, it will be because republicans in congress made a conscious sdegs to do nothing. that struck me as setting the political plate here. >> there is, in fact, a desire here not just for a substantive proposal which he will along the lines that mike said in terms of the payroll tax credit and infrastructure thing but to frame the debate. it is the only way he can explain to the public going in to next year that unemployment is still 9%. that's what the review predicted the other day because the other side won't do something about it. they are responsible for hamstringing our ability to get out of these economic doldrums. >> it escapes the the idea it will be paid for. yes, we will have a new stimulus plan, they won't call it stimulus plan, but spend more money to prime the pump and try to get jobs out there but pay with it with the following cuts and it seems the republicans say can

the speech was publicly announced on white house spokesman dan pfeiffer's twitter account at 5:00 a.mpeaker only changed his mind after rush limbaugh beat up boehner. >> speaker boehner must say no to this request.ç he can say no to this. it's up to the speaker of the house. the president can't just say, i'm showing up. put everybody in the audience there, i'm coming over to make a speech. boehner can say no to this. you do not let this happen! this is intended not only to disrupt the reagan library debate but to make obama look bigger than the republicans, bigger than politics, and the republicans can't, if they have any hope of winning the 2012 election, are got to put this guy in his place and use this as their opportunity to do it. boehner has to say no. whether he will, i have no clue. >> let's bring in dr. james peterson, director of africana studies and professor of lehigh college. doctor, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> rush limbaugh telling the speaker openly on american airwaves, this is what you need to do and then he does it. what do you think of that?

i ask because white house communications director dan pfeiffer went on "the daily rundown" with chucktodd and tried to clean it up. >> so did speaker boehner -- we reported, did he tell bill, yes, september 7, 8:00, i'll make it work? >> they raised no objections to the date or time.ç >> what does that mean, raise no objection? what does that mean? meaning he said, boehner saying, ah -- all right, bill. >> no reason to believe actually in the conversation there was any reason wednesday could not work for logistical or other reasons for the speaker. >> sounds like a lot of hummina, hummina. what do you make of it? >> i don't know why they would want to be on the same night as republican candidates. compare, contrast, okay. you're stepping on your message, and i've seen president obama do that several times during his administration which is remarkable for a man who was so effective at messaging during his campaign. i think this is going to take a little while. i just hope whatever method he's going to deliver next week is going to be worth it. >> sam, my view, they're all now so pre-c

. >> well, white house communication director dan pfeiffer makes clear the days of compromise are over. he's quoted in "the new york times" today saying, "we were in a position of legislative compromise by necessity. that phase is behind us." bob shrum, again starting with you, this question of a turn in the road. here we are, it's september 20th. yesterday was the 19th. i think it will be march as the time the president decided that we're beyond politics, we're all in this together ain't here yet. that there isn't a country that we can find here in washington where republicans and democrats will sit down the way tip and reagan did years ago and actually iron out differences. now you've got to take it to the people. >> well, i think you have no choice. because the fact is, republicans want a bad economy next year. they don't want this economy to get better. >> how do you know that? >> listen, first of all, they say their highest priority, mitch mcconnell says, is to defeat the president. they then oppose measures in the jobs bill, because he's proposed them, that they, in fact, have fa

if you say dan pfeiffer was deputy press secretary, that's a little bit troubling.y own writing, that would put me in a cold sweat. >> but everybody on the progressive side loved ron suskind's book when he wrote about the bush white house. >> of course they did. it gels with what i wrote in "revival". >> dysfunctional? >> extremely dysfunctiiysfunctd. that's the old economic team. it rings true -- >> you say old news? >> i haven't read the whole book. >> here's what larry summers supposedly said to one of his colleagues, peter orszag -- we're home alone, there's no adult in charge, clinton would never have made these mistakes. summers told politico it's an account of fiction, distortion and words taken out of context. paul volcker said obama is smart but smart is not enough, leadership is another thing entirely, about knowing your mind enough to make real situations, ones that last. that's a profound criticism of the president, nia. that's a profound charge about the need for a president to have a firm grip on his own thinking or her own thinking, an ability to stay

chuck todd spoke with dan pfeiffer, one of the top officials here at the white house, earlier today. here's that conversation. take a listen. >> speaker boehner tell i believe we reported it was chief of staff bill daly. did specifically tell bill daly yes, september 7th, 8:00, i'll make it work? >> they raised no objections to the date or time. >> i guess what does that mean when they say they raised no objection? what does that mean? meaning they said it was sort of boehner saying oh, all right, bill? >> we had no reason to believe after that conversation that there was any reason that wednesday could not work for logistical or other reasons for the speaker. >> reporter: of course, there is a lot riding on this speech, veronica, whenever it takes place, which will be next thursday. we're waiting to hear about an exact time. of course, the unemployment rate has been stuck above 9%. the president's approval rating has seen some of their lowest numbers this summer, hovering around 40% right now. we don't really know what specifically will be in the plan, but white house officials say

so yesterday's front page of "the new york times" had dan pfeiffer saying that phase is over when ittiating with republicans. and he didn't like our interpretation, and he sort of pushed back and said no, what he said was is that the idea of compromise, a difference between this debt plan released and the one he almost agreed to with john boehner was sort of, look, they had the ability to hold the country hostage -- we were forced to do a compromise situation. we're not forced into that situation now. that doesn't mean we're not willing to compromise. they just don't believe the other side is. >> i think they are playing basic base politics with this plan. i think that's what you're seeing. i think there is going to have to be compromise at some point, and this is not a full plan. but i think to the extent they can kind of turn hard left because they have to, because going the course they were going, which would be the general election strategy you would expect from an incumbent was not working. >> joy ann, is she right? politics based by necessity? had he come out with the compromis

white house communications director dan pfeiffer will comment on the administration policies.president obama has his own twitter site run by his election campaign on which his policies and appeals can be conveyed. if followers don't want reports from journalists they can get partisan reports from a multitude of government and political twitter sight. the white house has many and an official digital strategist at the white house who is a twitter site is available for that kind of twitter if that is what you were looking for. every presidential candidate on twitter or facebook which have more followers than my 80,000. that is the new media. i consider myself as old media. i still enjoy writing in 140 characters of breaking news and providing new insight into being a longtime radio reporter. i noted that being a radio reporter has helped me crafting each of the tweets that i write. you have to write 35 seconds is usually the limit for wrote radio report. writing tight is an important ability. are will continue to tweet and followers can respond. bring it on and on will do the sam

disaster relief was a big sticking point here and to that point, white house communications director dan pfeiffer. "we are pleased that the house of representatives today rejected efforts to put politics above the needs of communities impacted by disasters." and to avoid a shutdown, the house and the senate are going to need to agree on something by next friday. back to you guys. >> all right, thanks very much, peter, for being on top of that story for us. we appreciate it. well, guess what? we've talked a on this show about unions and pensions and some of those payouts that have been happening. and now it turns out that in the city of chicago, i believe it is, there are going to be 23 city workers who had modest incomes during the time that they served the city. well, now, they're going to end up making millions in their pensions and nobody is taking the responsibility for this. i'm wondering when they make those millions if they'll be in favor of the buffet rule now. if they make over a million bucks, they'll have to pay a little bit more. >> that would be if they made a million dollars in a ye