. >> and david gergen is with us now, cnn senior political analyst. david, according to a new cnn poll, 87% of americans say they don't want to cut spending for medicare and social security, but they do want the deficit to disappear. so, david, i guess the question is, does the american public want to have it all without giving up anything? >> absolutely. right now it does. and it wants to keep all the entitlement programs in place. these huge majorities, as you pointed out, on keeping entitlements just the same and not cutting them. but also very large majorities against any tax increases except on the wealthy. but the general public is not willing to accept any tax increases either. now, that's the reason why the democratic and republican leaders in congress are so unwilling to compromise, because they have the public looking down at them saying, don't do these things. when the republicans won the house this year, it was partly because in their districts, they promised not to raise taxes. and people voted for them. so it's understandable that we now

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anyway, thank you, robert reich, david gergen. as always, great to have you. >> thanks, eliot. >> thank you. >>> now that we've seen the current crop of candidates all together, who jumped out as the winner or loser in the crowd? here now to delve deeper is our own e.d. hill and cnn's senior political analyst jeffrey toppin. thank you both for being here. e.d., all right, winners and losers. who's up, who's down in this game? >> i think it's pretty early in the game. i didn't really see a whole lot of winners. i think you looked for more of the losers. the people who lost the base that they really were going to go after. santorum i think was swept by bachmann. pawlenty by romney. and cain by paul. so i think you sort of saw people move farther back in the park, not necessarily farther forward. >> if somebody's going back, somebody's going forward. the way i used to run a race. but i hear your point. in every one of those you had two people vying for the same -- >> in the mind of the average american did somebody really push ahead?

david gergen, thanks so much. >> follow those turtles! those turtles in the negotiations that are moving at a very slow pace. david, thanks. >> okay. eye jay leno heads across the pond to london to talk about american politics. >> bill clinton was the golden age of comedy. doesn't get any better than that. george bush, pretty good there! oh, boy, fantastic! >> what about leno have to say about president obama? hear what he told our zain verjee and how zain fired back. (screams) when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. oh, just booked a summer vaycay. ooo. sounds pricey? nah, with the hotels.com summer sale, you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%. and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smar

david gergen served four presidents.vid, if you put yourself in the obama inner circle for a moment and were you advising him right now, what is the first thing he should say as he steps up to the microphone today? >> especially after you haven't had a press conference in three months, it is important that the president and advisors know what is the headline they want on your show after it is over. what is the headline you want in the papers tomorrow morning? they need to focus on what message they are trying to get out to the american people. i trust on this particular issue he wants to come out and talk about the deficit and debt. either begin putting the blame on republicans because he thinks there will be a very bad outcome or prepare the country for deeper cuts ahead. >> so, what do you think the one thing is that the white house wants americans to take away from today's q and a? >> we are not privy to the talks. there has been a zone of silence around this. we don't know where the deficit talks are going. it appear

those words caught the ear of senior political analyst david gergen as well. david joins me now. david, what do you think? was this the right tone for the president to take on a day when the job numbers are pretty bleak at best? >> i was surprised about this, eliot. basically the president and his chief economic adviser aufrten goolsbee earlier in the day who both called it a bump in the road. for most americans what they've seen is a flood of bad numbers not only on jobs, but in manufacturing, housing, consumer confidence is down and the economists are lowering their growth projection for the second quarter, and what this number seemed to do today was to confirm that there is a sharp deceleration in the economy. there's a softening in the economy and i would have assumed there are alarm bells to go off in the economy, and i want to tell you that we're concerned. we're listening closely and we are ready to act if we see that this is definitely softening and we're treating it as a one-month number and we're on top of this, and we believe if there's deceleration, we'll move and mov

so david gergen, let me go to you with this.win four more years with unemployment sort of in the 8 to 9% range? >> i think a lot depends gloria or whether it's coming down -- it seems to be coming down at that point in a way that builds confidence or whether it's still stuck the way it is right now. if it's stuck, i think he's going to be a very tough fight. if it's coming down as we saw with ragen, he was about 7.5 but come down from basically 10 and people thought -- people said, you know, the confidence came back, came surging back. >> mark, what can the president do? what does he have have left right now to make people feel things are going in the right direction? there's some talk about further payroll tax cuts for example? what would you recommend? >> first and foremost raise the debt ceiling is key. >> we got that. >> on the other side of that. there are a few things that can be done that would mark a difference in the short term if we need it. extending the payroll tax holiday for another year seems like a reasonable thi

david gergen, thanks so much. appreciate it. read david's article about the debate on cnn.com called candidates may win the gop but lose america. >>> tea party has known about michelle bachmann a long time. we will get their reckaction on her performance coming up well. >>> hey, the woman involved in this they say shouldn't be left off the hook. we will talk about what he has to say in his latest op-ed. on c, yet an instant classic." with sports car styling and power, plus the refinement and space of a luxury sedan, the jaguar xf is a timeless blend of performance and craftsmanship. see how jaguar outperforms the competition at jaguarperforms.com or visit your local jaguar dealer. can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. [ man ]in can replenish itself. ♪ trouble ♪ trouble, trouble trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been doggin' my soul ♪ since the day i was

i want to bring in dana bash and david gergen. whatever the argument was, there's a real debate over the war power's resolution. what's the latest in terms of the votes in the house and the votes on capitol hill about this? >> well, house gop sources, anderson, tell us they'll try to limit u.s. involvement in the libya mission by using congress's power to limit funding. we're told according to republican leadership sources, something this week -- leadership hadn't settled on a strategy yet. but we're told to look for a voter or a series of votes on thursday. one example, one potential option i'm told, is to say no funding may be used for ground troops in libya. anyone watching who knows about the libyan mission will say, there aren't any ground troops in libyan but republican sources say that would be one way to prevent things to escalate. and provide a way tore lawmakers to channel their frustration with the way the president has handled this, not coming to congress for authorization, for example. they're looking for a middle gro

those words caught the ear of senior political analyst david gergen as well. david joins me now. david, what do you think? was this the right tone for the president to take on a day when the job numbers are pretty bleak at beast? >> i was surprised about this, eliot. basically the president and his chief economic adviser aufrten goolsbee earlier in the day who both called it a bump in the road. for most americans what they've seen is a flood of bad numbers not only on jobs, but in manufacturing, housing, consumer confidence is down and the economists are lowering their growth projection for the second quarter, and what this number seemed to do today was to confirm that there is a sharp deceleration in the economy. thery ie's a softening in the economy and i would have assumed there are alarm bells to go off in the economy, and i want to tell you that we're concerned. we're listening closely and we are ready to act if we see that this is definitely softening and we're treating it as a one-month number and we're on top of this, and we believe if there's deceleration, we'll move and

and john king, wolf blitzer, david gergen and chief of staff and 2008 obama pollster, political crib on the cornell belcher. and dana lash. as i said, joining us also, congressman ron paul and obama campaign surrogate, robert good. wolf, as you watched tonight what was the key moment or key exchange or one of them that stuck out? >> i thought that tim pawlenty had a real chance to differentiate himself between the frontrunner mitt romney on the issue of health care reform. yesterday tim pawlenty took a swipe at mitt romney because mitt romney supported mandates and massachusetts when he was governor for universal health care in that state. and, yesterday, took a swipe at him and today, he had an opportunity to really go further on that and he backed off and he was very polite. a missed opportunity for him. >> i know a number of our analysts point out moments -- i want to play that moment for the viewers in case you missed it. watch. >> you don't want to address why you called governor romney "obama care?" into the issue was what are the similarities between the two and i cited presid

. >> david gergen, let me bring you in. be a seismic shift or is it more about money and once we get out of the financial situation in the country, we'll go back to the way the parties were before? >> i worry that it's a shift. in the short term, it is very much driven by money and war weariness, but the republican party as you well know, joe, was for a long time the isolationist party in the country, did not want to go into world war ii, held back on that, really wanted to hold back after some of the war, then it became the internationalist party, and really had kept that banner up for a decade after decade, especially after vietnam, and it is i think very concerning. there was a part of that party that was also way hawkish, and i think more than the neocon, but the party has been internationalist party. it is the recent traditions, i think it will be a loss for the country. >> gloria, i read your article, you talk about how the white house is going to emphasize consistency, but out of the country, it is chaotic. >> the wh

joining me now from cambridge is senior political analyst david gergen and from washington, chief political analyst gloria borger. gloria, let me start with you. you wrote a column on cnn.com today that was scathing. you basically said there are no grownups in the room and took some hard shots at the president. why? >> well, because the president was calling for leadership, and i think he's right to call for leadership from republicans and democrats in congress. that's easy. but also he's got to lead, eliot. i mean i think we're heading into that 11th hour, as he put it, the yellow light is flashing. and it seemed to me that today was a political performance. it was a good political performance, if you're a democrat and you want to accuse republicans of being for the rich and democrats of wanting to save medicare and all the rest. but i think that what worried me, quite honestly, was when a president goes out this way and really attacks the other party, it gives you a sense of how the deal inside the room could really be in the process of collapsing. i mean this doesn't help house speaker j

. >> joining me now from harvard, cnn's david gergen and from los angeles, former labor secretary robertf the book "after shock." welcome to you both. david, let me start with you. isn't this getting untenable at a political level for the white house not to have a specific, articulate clarion voice saying here is what the answer is goinging to going i to be to the economic problems? >> i think austan goolsbee departure leaves that void and tim geithner, in fairness, not everybody has left. tim geithner is there as treasury secretary. he was there from the beginning. gene sperling moved up. he's been there since the beginning and ben bernanke has been there since the beginning, from the fed. i don't think everybody has jump shipped or left them. i think the goolsbee departure has left a void on the spokesman side. and i really think that it signals that maybe this administration is not going to rethink its economic policy. they're going to ride this out. and as we discussed last week, i think both bob reich and i would argue, you've really got to think about putting more steam back in thi

. >> reaganomics which you brought up, do you remember what at was david gergen's voodoo economics.ut you're right, john -- >> you peach the speech righter. >> yes. he has a basic point. what he is talking about growth, jobs. he's breaking out of this terrible box obama is in, where obama has run out of options what to do, and there's no program to get the economy moving, which you've got to do! so he's selling a huge national vacuum. >> sock. the pawlenty plan this week drew the support of a major american leader, chairman of general electric jack welch. >> everything i see tim pawlenty say in the last month appeals to me. if you hear what he says in his vision for america, and plan he put out in the last 48 hours, every time i see him on an interview, your show or someone else's, the guy makes sense! >> question, is jack welch's jockeying for a cabinet position pawlenty presidency? [laughter] >> can't ask with a straight face. >> i think not. and when president reagan was in the white house, marginal taxes were at 70%. it's lowest point since 1950 today. there's a plan that elimin

. >> let's discuss this with david gergen. david, i want to start with something you wrote on cnn.com. you have been on this program. you've been critical of the administration essentially taking a back seat, letting others in the nato alliance be on the front lines of the fighting. you wrote this, i was among those who would have preferred stronger, more a certificative american leadership. but iffed good deaf fall, obama will have brags rights that his way worked better than critics like me thought. >> well, john, i think there have been a lot of signs in recent days gadhafi is coming toward his end. i think we've entered -- remember when nixon's final days in that famous book by woodward and bernstein? i think we've entered gadhafi's final days. don't know how long they're going to last. i think it could end quickly. despite his sort of ragings. the intensification of the air strike on tripoli, they've basically destroyed much of his compound. he's essentially a fugitive in his own capital now, trying to get away from any pl

i want to bring in david gergen and paul, our democratic strategist. david, to you, what an amazing turn of events. when i sat with him for 20 minutes the other day, he seemed so convincing. he seemed to make the case, there may be photos out there but i did not send that photo on twitter to that young college student in washington state. now he admits that was a flat out lie. here's the question, david. can politicians survive this kind of embarrassment? >> wolf, it's hard to know. it's so bizarre. listen, had he come clean immediately after the first photo, even if more photos had come through, because there was no physical relationship, apparently no physical relationship, according to his version now, i think he would have survived. but having lied as blatantly as he d. i think he's finished. once he came to you and others as flat out as he did, you and i go back all the way to watergate and we know that often the cover-up is worse than the crime. >> it certainly is. a huge embarrassment. paul, he says he was embarrassed by his own behavior and that

so does paul begala and senior political analyst david gergen. what's the latest on the ethics investigation? >> they're a secretive institution and committee but it's impossible to imagine they won't be looking into this given the fact that there have been calls to do so. i talked to several experts on ethics rules today, people who had worked on this committee and they say it's not that cut and dry, given what we know now, that anthony wiener can be punished for violating any laws. you talked about the most common one that he seems to have violated the fact that members of congress should act in respectable ways. nobody has been punished for that in and of itself. even the whole concept of sending these pictures or sending texts on official computers or phones, that is not necessarily a cut and dry, clear violation. there are loopholes allowing for personal use. and technology has surpassed the actual rules laid out. i'm told by many, many sources that this is much more of a political issue for him at this point than a legal one, especially sin

our senior political analyst david gergen is joining us now with more on what's going on.c adviser getting out of the white house so quickly relatively speaking. what's going on there? >> well, i had a chance to speak to austan goolsbee this afternoon. one of the things that troubled about some of the itemses he is jumping ship. as he recalled, he and i had a conversation many months ago in which he was asking how does one gracefully and graciously leave the white house and had to leave before the end of next year and i told him at the time that look, there are windows when you can leave and that window shuts as you get into an election campaign. if you are planning to leave you need to leave before the election campaign gets under way. seriously, he talked to a number of others and came to the conclusion he needed to get back by this september. and he reached a deal with an agreement with the president of the university of chicago. what had -- unexpected was that that deal he hoped to announce this in august. i don't think it is fair to say he is jumping ship. do i think

joining us is david gergen and ron brownstein. us this morning frommer. ron, who do you think stood out the most last night to you, david? >> well, it was -- it was like a spring training feel to it. it was a warm-up game, very important. because, suddenly, barack obama looked much more vulnerable than he did only a few months ago. this is a nomination worth taking. i think governor romney came in, he was much more relaxed as a candidate than he was four years ago. i think, generally speaking, he seemed the experience is working well for him. and very importantly, i think, ron, a lot of people who saw this, tim pawlenty was expected to go out and take a couple hard swipes at him when he ducked and romney was able to pivot off of that and turn health care into a positive story for himself, i think all of us thought, wow, he walked away from this unscathed. the surprise for those who haven't followed her because she is doing very well out in iowa, was michelle bachmann. she was interesting and self-revealing and she wound in owner b

before the debate starts, our chief political analyst gloria borger, our senior political analyst david gergenight be the most nervous right to you? >> i think it might be newt gingrich, to tell you the truth. because he's the only one who's really got to come back this early in the campaign, because he had his campaign staff quit last week, he has to prove that in fact he has a campaign, and that he intends to continue, and that he has something to say. i would say newt. >> essentially, rick davis, executive cnn pointed out to me earlier tonight, he lives in atlanta. he says newt has never been on stage or in a debate like this before. sew may be nervous. i would also think tim pawlenty might be nervous. he's got to show some real muscle tonight. if he wants to become the alternative to mitt romney, this is an evening in which he has to shine. >> i think mitt romney might be the most nervous tonight because he's the front-runner. everybody is going to be going after him and hayes to defend himself in the face of potentially six proponents. >> but sometimes it is easier to be light when the ot

david gergen has serious questions about the speech. in a nutshell, why is everyone so unhappy? >> well, it really is strange, isn't it? the president and his people felt they were splitting the difference. this will be the goldilocks speech. not too hot or too cold, just right. they are all piling on here. i'm not surprised by the republican side. particularly john mccain. what surprised me about the democrats, they normally try to swallow their differences and say, he got bin laden. he's been a great president. >> why did they do it? couldn't they see it coming? >> i think they must have seen it -- yeah, they briefed people, so they must have known it was coming. i think they feel it will play better in the long run. we have not heard public opinion. it may be stronger in favor of the president than people in washington. i will tell you i think the way the chem.s piled on this way is likely to lower the approval rating in the public. >> this looked for a lot of people like a political decision. seems it's one of the kegs of dynamite here to negotiate. >> sure. >> because in th

david gergen, fareed zakaria, gloria borger as well. i'll be tweeting tonight @anderson cooper. late word on a vote in new york state on same-sex marriage. there has not been a vote tonight. we're going to talk about the likelihood of it. there had been some talk late tonight or maybe tomorrow and the following day. details on where things actually stand. and the big question, why are lawmakers taking so long to say yes or no on a vote on the floor? also to the trial of casey anthony in a "320" exclusive. find out what casey anthony's mom and dad actually think about their daughter's guilt or innocence. do they believe she is innocent? we have the answer for the first time on that tonight. details of that just ahead. at bayer, we've been relieving pain for over 100 years. and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. ex

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joining us is political analyst david gergen, tea party strategist dana lesh and -- >> is it fair to claim congressional party leaders aren't working as hard as he is? he has enjoyed a golf game or two in his time. >> they're certainly not making enough progress. that's where i would take it. there's reports that the democrats, the president, is willing to accept as much as $2 trillion in cuts that the republicans won't even accept like $400 billion in revenue. and i thought the president was exactly right. his party, my party, is going to have to agree to cut -- make painful cuts in constituencies we care about. the republican party is going to have to agree to new revenue. they're just going to have to. it should be focused on the rich. he pointed out tax breaks for corporate jets and oil companies, there's low-hang fruit that republicans for reasons i can't understand are defending. so i thought he made a very good point about the republican intransjens here. >> the private jet thing though as paul said that's kind of low-hanging fruit. if the president's really serious about cutt

peter bergen from washington and gloria borger and here with me is david gergen. i saw you nod your head when lindsey graham say joe biden won and petraeus lost. >> i think he's right. it was a good speech. he summarized very well what he believes. you know, i thought he was concise and made his points. >> for those not following closely, why is this a joe biden win and petraeus loss in your opinion? >> well, back in 2009 when the president went to west point and announced the surge, that was widely interpreted and understood that joe biden had argued for a small surge and not a big surge of 30,000. and general petraeus and bob gates and secretary clinton all argued for the larger number and they would have gone larger. that was seen as a victory for petraeus. >> larger number which was essential in their opinion for a counterinsurgency program allowing to move in troops, clear an area and hold that area. >> the taliban who had been giving protection to al qaeda and allowed them sanctuary and brought on 9/11 had the momentum in 2009 and president obama to his cred

joining us from cambridge, massachusetts, david gergen. there is a new launch of a web video.nt to show our viewers a little bit of the ad. >> there's always going to be bumps on the road to recovery. >> i'm an american, not a bump in the road. >> it has a feel of some of the reagan ads in the past. and the theme is believe in america. do you get a sense the voters don't have the same kind of optimism. do you think this is a message that will resonate with voters this go around? >> suzanne, i think the country is demoralized, and they would like to believe again. we saw that with the bin laden episode, that great adventure, which college students poured out of their dorm rooms and chanted usa, usa. and clearly there is an underneath disspirited public. there is a desire to come back and believe in america again. i think barack obama, frankly, touched on that on the yes we can theme four or three years ago, and romney is trying to revive it. and just a few weeks ago it doesn't seem much difference who was going to win, because barack obama seemed destined to go on to victory. b

. >>> let's continue the conversation with our senior political analyst david gergen. d, on the romney issue, you are often in massachusetts. cambridge. harvard. this whole business, announcing a big day like today in his race important the white house, sarah palin by coincidence shows up in new hampshire. rudy giuliani by coincidence shows up in new hampshire. what's happening? >> reporter: it must be very frustrating to mitt romney and his team. here he is, as you well know, as the front-runner in the republican sxak ahead in the polls and way ahead in the money. a much stronger sxorgs has the name recognition and state like new hampshire next door to massachusetts, lawn everyone his campaign in. yet, here he is. it was sarah palin and -- giuliani getting the publicity on this day. i think it -- beyond the fact he has all these advantages, he -- still remains to a lot of people in the press in particular as predictable, dull. as scripted. and he has to overcome that. he has to become the candidate who surprises you occasionally with something he has as opposed to that

david gergen, nice to see you.bviously it was fascinating to see all of these candidate on stage to interviews themselves to the public. who do you think made the best presentation last night? >> i think there were three winner, suzanne. first of all and most importantly, mitt romney came in. he left as a front-runner, unscathed and well. being on the trail four years ago, it has really helped him p. he's a better candidate than he was then. second newt gingrich, very substantive, had the most substantive draft there. the surprise was michele bachmann, he's shown voters but not well known on the east coast. she was very pithy last night. had a lot of energy. i think a lot of people came away feeling, wow, she's a more serious candidate than you thought. we also wonder, why do you need sarah palin if you already have michelle bauschman in the race. >> i wanted to ask you, does that make it less likely that sarah palin jumped in the ace that she's a kingmaker this go-around? >> i never thought she would get in. i thi

david gergen thank you and others as well. i'll be tweeting tonight @ anderson cooper. late word on a vote in new york state on same sex marge. there has not been a vote tonight. wei going to talk about the likelihood of it. there had been some talk late tonight or maybe tomorrow and the following day. details on where things actually stand. and the big question, why are lawmakers taking so long to say yes or no on a vote on the floor? also to the trial of casey anthony in a 360 exclusive. find out what casey anthony's mom and dad actually think about their daughter's guilt or innocence. do they believe she is incent? we have the answer for the first time on that tonight. detail ahead. and how can you talk to me about fiber while you are eating a candy bar? you enjoy that. i am. [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of