. >> joining me now, dana milbank, opinion writer for "the washington post," thanks for joining me.ing that clip, i realized there is no way michele bachmann can scare american more than by beginning a statement with "if i were president today." there's nothing scarier than that. >> no, this is true, and you say she will never be the president. i think 99% likelihood you're correct in that, but she's more plausible -- >> you're a scientist about this, leaving the 1%. that's what i mean by political scientist. >> she's no rick santorum, but she's more plausible than i ever thought she would be and she's hired top-flight campaign people. she's actually listening to them, and they are very deliberately positioning her as sarah palin with gray matter and sarah palin with self control. the discipline is extraordinary. >> what we're seeing is ed rollins, who's running the campaign has set her down and said look, here's how it works, you do this, this, and this, and she's following the advice, which is really simple to follow and what makes it so fascinating, her predecessor, sarah palin,

and dana milbank, national political reporter for the washington post.ernor rendell, you have run a state, been chief executive of a state, what is your take on the antigovernment rhetoric in the middle of this crisis, unprecedent crisis, for people on the east coast? >> it is absolutely stunning, al. it reminds me of saying the inmates are running -- it's lunacy. government has a role in our lives. and the republicans have got to understand that. and they've got to understand that people do want effective government. rick perry said in his announcement for president that he promised to do everything he could, everyday he is president, to make government inconsequential in your lives. well, do you think the people who are perhaps desperately going to need police or national guard to help them get out of their homes and get to safety in the next day or two? they are going to want inconsequent inconsequential government. do you think the business owner whose place of business gets levelled, he will want inconsequential government when that happens? of cour

. >> take from "the washington post," dana milbank, this is obama trying to calm a child who has been bullied. they called for new ideas on the table. >> if i were the president, i would call the congress back in and say you're not having a summer vacation. let's have tax credits for r & d and hiring new pemployees. we need manufacturing jobs. we're the greatest nation in the world. we got to act like we're number one. we have to lead the world out of economic troubles. we are the world leader. we have to act like it. >> terry isn't alone on this, jon corzine, former new jersey governor, former head of goldman sachs, he called on the president to call congress back. privately, we know the president is getting a lot of this free advice on this idea of bringing congress back. either focusing them on trying to pass the five or six job creating goals that both parties seem to agree on, free trade agreements, repatriating money, girch ideas like that. we know the white house instinct on this, when the chattering class of washington speaks in one voice, they move in the other direction, hun

president comes out and doesn't have a plan and he handled the downgrade limply and they accused him, dana milbank of not attempting to try to do anything to fix it. >> drew weston wrote a piece to: what happened to obama. he questioned . he said we are a nation held hostage not just by extremist republican party but also by a president who either does not know what he believes or willing to take whatever position he thinks will lead to his reelection. judy? >> i was struck by this and wrote about that. but they said silly argument and unfair argument. but you know, i think it is an argument that resonated among the supporters of obama. the economist magazine which has though dog in the fight pointed out his handling of the debt ceiling crisis really did hurt him. even though obama has the in box from hell when he came in to office and opposition from hell, he still didn't handle it well. >> ellen how about the fellow liberals. bill mauer was asking if hillary would be doing a better job? has the president lost the liberal media. >> oh, i wish it should be hillary. who knows if hillary would do be

also with me is national political reporter for the washington post, dana milbank. bob, are people fining finally coming together to deal with the economy? >> i think that is very difficult. i think there is tremendous resistance with the republicans, as you just said, even tax reform from raising rates that would raise a lot of additional revenue. the president doesn't have a lot he can do on list own at this point. the federal reserve may be able to do something. but i think the president has to lead. if i were him, i would consider calling offer my vacation in august. calling congress back in. saying it's time to put country first. and going out there with a program, a, to sustain the recovery and b to cut the debt over the medium and long-term. >> if we could, bob, we are assuming that some of these people in their discussion want to put country first pf some of them have said in no uncertain term is that priority is the defeat of president obama. it seems that they don't care if they break the economy. in fact some of them feel downgrading the aaa status may wo

let's bring in "the washington post" opinion writer dana milbank and bill press. the headline today is "a test for obama's view of a one-term presidency." you'll remember he said he would rather be a one-term good president. is it too late? >> well, yeah, i'm not sure you get the choice of a good one term or lousy two terms. you have to be good in the first term to get the second term. the president is in more trouble than i or i think anybody expected he would be at this point. a lot of it is beyond his control. this is just what's going to happen when you're in this kind of awful economy. you can expect his nim bers to be low. he's even irritating many in his own political base. they think he's just not presenting himself in a message way. he's not negotiating hard enough with the republicans. i think he's making a bad situation much worse. i think this is a real low point for this president. >> this is a surprise, isn't it, bill? he was elected because of his great communication skills, somebody who really built a lot of good relationships, good inclusion coali

at the "washington post" liberal dana milbank writes: >> sean: "wall street journal" has an explanation the lack of leadership: >> sean: it is a water shed moment when chris matthews fed up with the president's antics. >> seems like a couple steps missed. when he went to the tea party crowd pushing boehner around all day, he could have say we have differences of opinion. here's my plan damn it! i think we can cuts the world will recognize. i want spending cuts in here also revenue from the rich. here's my spending cuts. i'm sticking my neck out boys and girls. here are the cuts. i want to go after medicare. put means testing in have co-pays in here. i'm going to stick my neck out. i want you guys to do your part and tax the freaking rich. >> sean: joining me author of courage and consequence karl rove is here. welcome back, sir. >> thank you sir. >> sean: it seems to me that sometimes there's this tipping point. moment in history, events happen. i gotta tell you, i think this downgrade, along with the debt negotiations, between the two of them. really shows the damage economically that

and dana milbank's writes in the washington post, the most powerful man in world is powerless and resolutees bring down the country and his presidency. is that true? >> larger forces? i never would think that a small number of people who don't mind dying, who don't mind taking the country down in the fiscal integrity tells the president that they will not allow the debt ceiling to increase. >> you are talking about the tea party? >> well, i'm not. i'm really talking about the korngs becau congress, because people get elected and they are elected, and they have to decide if they are going to recapitulate or goal a long with the majority or go along with people who everyone agrees they have their own agenda that has nothing to do with the economy of the united states of america and let the president come in to lay it on the line and tell us that we have a responsibility not to get re-elected, but to have the american people have confidence in ourselves. we don't have it, you don't expect foreigners who invest in this country to have it. >> critics have said, they come from both sides the rep

joining me now, democratic strategist, current professor at nyu and dana milbank, political reporter for "the washington post." bob, before going to the tea party side, progressives, some progressives are on the war path. are these complaints justified in your opinion? >> not in my opinion. look, the president i think got the best possible deal of all the deals that were possible, and i haven't seen anybody give me a plausible scenario how we could have done this differently. if he had stood up there, insisted it was his way or the highway, that any of this could have happened and come out any better than it has. you're absolutely right, al. this now pushed this thing to 2013, which is a good idea, and by the way, taxes are not off the table, because the bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012. and that can be a big issue in the next election. we now have the possibility of a real progressive platform for obama to fight on in terms of protecting medicare and social security and making the wealthy pay their fair share. >> dana, i said every night last week on the show that i wanted to