nbc's tom brokaw, historian and author doris kearns goodwin, "the wall street journal's" peggy noonan and "the washington post's" bob woodward. we know why we're here. to chart a greener path in the air and in our factories. ♪ to find cleaner, more efficient ways to power flight. ♪ and harness our technology for new energy solutions. [ female announcer ] around the globe, the people of boeing are working together, to build a better tomorrow. that's why we're here. ♪ ♪ i was young and i was stupid ♪ i had just turned 17 ♪ a harmonica and a box guitar ♪ ♪ in a canvas-covered wagon stuffed... ♪ [ male announcer ] while the world's been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this... the wattstation from ge. it's going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. ♪ i didn't think much of it till i took it apart ♪ >>> coming up, where 2010 has left our country politically. n om it be possible for the twoc parties to find any common ground in 2011? you are a busine. princess of the powerpoint. your core competency... is competency. an

historian and author doris kearns goodwin.gton post" associate editor bob woodward, columnist for "the wall street journal" peggy noonan and our own nbc news special correspondent tom brokaw. welcome to all of you and happy holidays. there is so much to go through. tom brokaw you think about the lame duck session, how this year ends for president obama, and all these people are talking about the comeback kid and look what he accomplished. you know, on november 3rd in the shellacking of the mid term it wasn't supposed to work out this way. what happened? >> well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. we have a long way to go and a lot of big problems are still out there. i do think he has had a good month obviously. i think that it's due in large part to the fact that he seemed to be in charge. he was leading from the front and not from the back as the guy who was kind of consulting with everybody on the hill before he made a decision. he stepped up and the country was ready for this kind of action and the republicans i think

it is for doris kearns goodwin. but it's something that washington just doesn't have to think about. let's stay another year or two because we don't want to be blamed for losing a war -- >> it's a line item, joe, a line item in the budget for people voting in the house and senate. for hundreds of thousands of americans, not a whole lot, it's a family member. it's a line item. >> one of the most depressing parts about that report in "the new york times," something we already knew but pointed to in the intelligence report which is we can't do anything without the help of pakistan which we don't have. you stay in afghanistan for years and years and decades to come. unless you can get the help of pakistan, nothing happens. >> who were our two partners in this war without end? pakistan and karzai. let's think about that again. who are our two allies? pakistan and karzai. young american men and women are dieing all the time, six died this week in one attack, to prop up karzai and to somehow stabilize pakistan. >> joe, you