joining me, let's bring in "washington post" reporter david nakamura.e you, good morning. we're listening to kristen talk about the affordable care act and how the president said he fumbled the ball here. but new numbers out, more than 1 million people have signed up for the exchanges. has the tide turned here? >> well, the white house certainly hopes so. but it's still a long time to go before the march 31st final deadline to get this new insurance for those who are uninsured. i think the white house is trying to ride the momentum. they're not where they expected to be when they first started to envision where they would be at the end of the year. i think they hoped more than 3 million people would have signed up. if you include the states about 2 million have done so. their goal is 7 million by the end of march. and that's when people are going to judge them. they're hoping to ride this momentum, use success stories to build on it, hope to avoid more republican criticism. >> coverage kicks in for those millions on the 1st. so things might actually cha

joining me from washington for our first look at politics is washington post reporter david nakamura.t with joe biden and his trip to asia. i know you were a pool reporter on that so welcome home. >> thank you. good trip. >> what exactly was the vice president able to accomplish? >> well, i think there were two things that really were foremost for the obama administration. one there is a stirmish between china and japan over islands in the east china sea. a big problem for international security. joe biden met with both the prime minister of japan and the president of china and said he made clear to china he wanted them to sort of roll back an air defense zone that china established unilaterally and is threatening japanese and even american commercial aircraft that you have to announce before you enter that space that you have to announce to china you're doing so. it's caused a lot of turmoil and headaches and so the vice president really made that clear. the other big thing in the trip was for the obama administration to make clear their so-called pivot to asia is still a viable prio

david nakamura from the "washington post." lynn sweet. let me start you.es the president have any push on gun control? >> as big a push as he had, sorry to say, he has the new year coming in p p i don't see any momentum for him to get anything done this year. if the newtown massacre couldn't move people, there's nothing out there that will that i see anything developing on that front. >> dafna, that's unfortunate. if 20 babies getting killed in their own classroom doesn't push washington to do something, i don't know what it will take. also as we know there's this urban/rural divide. how much is that always in play when we talk about gun control? >> i think that that is one of the biggest things that has impacted congress. its sort of inability to do anything. i think this is the great tragedy of this presidency. he has talked about standing at me moimorials reading names of people shot in theater, people killed at a religious temple. this has really been so much about this presidency. >> immigration reform. there's still time, i suppose. but a lot of peop

joining us for our first look at politics, is "washington post" reporter david nakamura. 38 media organizationste this letter to the white house last week claiming that this administration is blocking the public from having an independent view of the executive branch of government. now david, of course, you cover the white house for "the washington post." i want to get your take on this. do you think this is a fair assessment? >> i think so. this has been a long standing issue for the press association and its grown more of a concern over time with the obama administration. this is an era, of course in, which everybody is able to access social media and publish their own photos. the swhous very good at that. they have a good robust website. facebook page and they're able to then take that and use their own photographs to sort of put out an image they sthi problthi burnished and edited and the press association might like. this is an issue on anything from private meetings to when the president went out and played golf with tiger woods. they kept the media in the van. people say that is superfic

joining me white house reporter for "the washington post" david nakamura. i'm glad you're here. the president covered a lot. what struck you the most? >> this is a tough year for the president, obviously. that was one of the big themes of this conference. the president in the clip you played on health care took a lot of his lumps. the but the question is looking forward after such a tough year. he didn't enact much of his agenda at all. what kind of signals is he going to accepted to the press conference how he might do that in 2014. he didn't reveal a lot of new strategies and if anything gave lip service to trying to work with congress on immigration. even yesterday, the president says if we can't work with congress, we've got to find ways to move our agenda as best we can, executive actions and orders. he he's brought in new white house counsel to work on that strategy. even as they try to work with congress i think you'll see this white house push forward. these are smaller actions, not going to give him the sweep he wants. they're going to try to put congress on its heels o

joining me now reporter for politico rachel baid and white house reporter for the "washington post" david nakamurakidding you. good to have you both. so funny that reaction then. david, you know, we're seeing a lot of republican infighting on this budget deal about the house voted 322-94 to pass it. 169 republicans voting yes. what was it that made speaker boehner finally lash out at the right wing of his own party? because some are going to argue he certainly has appeased them before. >> i know. it's been a three-year process in which congress and the white house have been engaged in this budgeting by bringsmanship. speaker boehner has taken a lot of heat within his own party in negotiating with the white house, that he hasn't done enough, he's not holding a line, he's narrowly will managed this divide between his party. i think he finally felt like this was a successful process led by paul ryan in the house to garner the votes. i think he felt em boltdened by that and said look, this will be in place for two years. we're going to get over the paralysis that's engaged washington for a few years n