on the "state of the union" david axelrod and bill richardson. kenneth feinberg, the administration of the bp compensation fund. you can listen to all five of the sunday morning talk shows starting at noon eastern on c- span radio. that is 90.1 fm in the washington, d.c., area. also on the web at cspanradio.com. i can follow us on facebook and twitter. host: coming up, leslie sanchez, a new spinoff, the dean resurgent republic. we will learn more about that in a few minutes. geopolitics coming up on "newsmakers." there is not a morning hearing because of our live coverage of the nj summer meeting. in our conversation with darrell issa, this came up. >> michael steele, the head of your party -- the head of the national republican national committee. >> is this someone who should remain as the top executive of the rnc? >> michael steele is supposed to reflect a consensus of republican platforms and policy. if he does that, he certainly can remain. if he is not willing to do that and he wants to be a political leader on his own, there are plenty of

they've lost that war stephen was an implementor david's a terrific implementor and for a long time david axelrod was the storyteller understands the political campaigns are narratives i think the challenge isn't that he doesn't have the people but the problem is they don't know how to govern they're going to be going around saying they're not tell me that they don't figure it out soon enough then want to do are they out there want to done you know maybe not in sort of a clever phrase a great way to get around that they actually passed health care reform and they passed the stimulus bill that they have been so successful when it comes to legislative not as not that's not a story right what is passing health care for financial regulatory reform the tax extenders package has passed us today are there elements it's reason he talked of what he's doing is throwing up policies and hoping that all of us assemble them in ways to go well what if you have to sell them into a movie script writers like that or a series of save obama i think that with that we're getting better i think with the image that play

." >> woodruff: david axelrod, senior adviser to president obama, says he wants democrats to know, despite the economic crisis, much has been accomplished. >> so, while we were handling that, we were passing comprehensive health insurance reform that we've been fighting for for a century. while we were doing that, we passed the credit card bill of rights and other financial reforms. you know, we've done myriad things that will make a difference. we haven't completed all our work in all these areas, but we've made progress in all these areas, and we're going to keep working at that progress. >> woodruff: representative grijalva makes it clear the disappointment is still tangible. >> we all knew it was going to be contentious. we all knew it was going to be difficult. we knew health care was going to be difficult. we knew passing the stimulus bill was going to be difficult. we know reforming education is going to be difficult. there is nothing easy about these big issues. so, you know, by avoiding them, doesn't make them go away. when you avoid them, they become worse. >> woodruff: with the

white house senior aide david axelrod told the "newshour" that the president spoke to her this afternoon. >> he called her simply because he wanted to express his regret over what happened. she was done a great disservice by the admin, by the naacp, by the news media, by everyone involved. there was a rush to judgment that was unfair and maligned a good person. the president felt strongly that he wanted to say that to her personally, and they had a good conversation. >> sreenivasan: earlier, sherrod said the president had not experienced some of things she has had to contend with in life. she has not said if she will accept a new position with the a.g. department. a nato helicopter went down in southern afghanistan today-- killing two u.s. troops. the taliban claimed it shot down the helicopter in helmand province. nato said the cause was still under investigation. at least 50 americans have died in afghanistan this month. in iraq, four prisoners linked to al-qaeda have escaped from a prison outside baghdad. the u.s. handed over the site-- "camp cropper"-- to the iraqis last week. the co

. >> chris: but senator -- and we had david axelrod right here on the set. >> sure. >> chris: exactly a week ago and i asked him this very question and he said look, this is the worst environment environmental catastrophe in the history of the country and we can't start drilling until we are sure the companies want fail-safe mechanisms and then if everything goes wrong they can stop another disaster. it does have a certain logic to it, doesn't it? >> it is the worst environmental disaster. that doesn't mean we have to make it doubly bad economic disaster. i agree with billy. we can do things right now that dramatically increase the safety measures. that will absolutely prevent what b.p. did, which was reckless to begin with, from ever happening again. if we put our minds to it and come together, we can do it now, not in six months or a year or 18 months. for the good of jobs, for the good of the nation's energy and national security, i think we need to do that. now, chris, when an airliner goes down, and potentially in some cases, hundreds of people are killed, that's horrible, that's

more from the article, "white house adviser, david axelrod, said that the president's decision to give a recess appointment to the chief of the medicare program was needed to lift the issue above politics, blaming republicans for stalling nominees." we will talk more about what is in store for congress with susan ferrechio of "the washington examiner," she will be here at about 7:45. tony, go ahead. caller: rudolph had a good comment. the refrigerator was what he was referring to. we have got to cut spending and get unemployment down. i believe that the spending is completely out of control. if you look at mr. bush and the deficits that he had, and then if you look at the deficits we have created, i think it is pretty much black and white. the refrigerator is one of the industrial inventions rudolph was talking about. caller: -- host: tony, who is your representative in texas? caller: [no audio] host: all right, tony is gone. "democrats are facing a final window for legislative accomplishment and little chance that they can get more than a handful of bills approved before election seas

and jumping to the next column, david axelrod said -- newlan merritt island, fla., james who says heis a tea party member, good morning. caller: i want to thank c-span for allowing everyone to say what they want to express this morning. that is a first amendment right and 80 party -- and up to a party and a tea party relief. and what i am for is returning to the roots of what the constitution -- root of the constitution, and is to bring down the bureaucracy. -- stripping down the bureaucracy. you have to go through so much paperwork to get anything done. i am not an anarchist either. i just want to get back to having a smaller, leaner, more efficient government that does not drain our resources. as far as those who say do not touch my social security and medicare, i know that those things are not sustainable and need to be phased out. one reason they do need to be phased out is because over the last several decades, the government has rated the trust fund that we all paid into and out they are all the phone. the harsh reality is, even though they are good programs, we cannot afford t

i made this pint, so did david axelrod, and will have been a pretty to think about whawhethee will go back to where we came from, or move for it. >> many folks are wondering why nobody from the former m.m.s. or the interior department have been held accountable for their part in the bp disaster? is there anything happening? >> both the director of mms and director of permits within mms no longer work for the federal government. they no longer work in the federal government. >> last week you said you would check on -- >> yes, i will get that done right after this. [laughter] >> checking on the notion of the sanctuary cities. >> si theis there -- >> wow. please note that in the transcript. i'm just saying, that is remarkable. >> [inaudible] immigration reform, lame-duck session. >> i don't think the calendar determines this, but the support of those in both parties. the president is confident he can bring most people in his party in the house and senate to the table. as we have discussed on many occasions, there are those who have supported comprehensive reform in the past the do not ap