eugene robinson, this is our list of who's in, who's out, who's on the fence.oard here is moving around a lot. so, you see who's now out. you see who's in, including, as of tomorrow, tim pawlenty and herman cain got in over the weekend. then that additional list of who's kind of out there but not officially in. mitt romney's going to be in, but is just not official. jon huntsman, santorum, rudy giuliani, michele bachmann and sarah palin. look at the polling now, so we have context around this. romney still at 20%, palin at 12%. she said this week she's got fire in the belly. gingrich at 9:00 a% and so on a forth. where does it stand? >> it's very confusing. mitt romney, anything that's happened the last two weeks has been very good for mitt romney. he is sort of the default option, i think, for the republican party. chris christie has made sherman-like statements about not running this time. i think, i personally think he's serious about that. and i think one reason is that he can look ahead to 2016. >> yeah. >> and see that as a better chance. >> what about th

joining us now, eugene robinson. msnbc political analyst and pulitzer prize winning columnist for "washington post." thank you for being here. >> it's good to be here, rachel. >> is there a political opportunity post-bin laden, to shift priorities, to shift our security priority to include economic security and economic strength? >> there should be that opening. and maybe there will be, rachel. it's, you know, it will take a while i think to absorb the death of bin laden and to kind of figure out what page we have turned. i was at the -- in front of the white house the other night on sunday night after the announcement had been made. everybody talked about turning a page, but not about to what. and so let's see. that's one thing that i think this ought to represent, an opportunity to redirect some of the resources to where they're desperately needed. >> did the way though -- the way that we have spent money on security particularly on defense contracting and intelligence contracting in the past decade have we over te

msnbc political analyst eugene robinson -- boy, are you raring to go columnist for the "washington post" and joan walsh is editor at large for salon.com. since gene really wants to do this, go ahead why do we have to show for the prurient out there, for the bar fly out there sitting out there who can't wait to sit out there and look at this thing, who would have gained by a picture of the dead guy? >> i would have shown the pictures, gruesome though it may be and not to do with the conspiracy theorists who will believe what they want to believe anyhow. why this would have inflamed some people, think it would do have disillusioned some people, deflated some, destroyed finally the myth of invulnerability that surrounded bin laden. there is a whole mythology around him, that he fought the russians and stood tall as the bullets whizzed past him, cornered by the americans at tora bora -- >> i believe -- believe i have seen picture of the dead che guevera and just as on the west bank -- east jerusalem a couple weeks ago, and there's pictures of him in stores, kids still have are t-shirts, che

eugene robinson, columnist for "the washington post," both msnbc political analysts. gentlemen, let me ask you about this whole week and at it says about the authority of the president. i'm one that believes power comes from the office but power has to be earned separately, the power that comes from the way people look at you. >> i think a president first gets the job by winning an election but still has to prove himself by the way he performs. barack obama has been making tough calls from the get go, a lot about economic matters and health care and so on. but this was really a tough national security call and it was a gutsy call. can you imagine what would have happened from a global perspective if this did not go well. this was desert one again. it would be jimmy carter, jimmy carter, jimmy carter for the next 18 months. you remember those days. i know you're old enough. >> i was there as a speechwriter. i remember the hell of desert one. >> he had a lot of other choices. he could have tried to bomb. then you don't get the intelligence bonanza they are working off o

one book is by eugene robinson. it is "disintegration." heed the call of your heart. you can't follow other people's directives. they say, "you don't know what my doctors sacrificed -- my daughter sacrificed." answer your calling. if you do not, the thing you were created to give to life is missing in the world. we need you to bring that. quiet time is the most important time in your life. the time when nothing is beeping, buzzing, and trading, and you are just listening into that still, small voice that is always calling you, listen to the holy spirit trying to encourage you. always. relationships -- choose wisely. take inventory, don't be desperate. when i come to your town, talk to me. i am not going to speak to you about sexuality. your parents are here. they are looking at me. but we know aids is the number- one killer of young black woman. and we know there are women who are looking for the brothers who have college degrees because they are looking for a paycheck. know what that person is going to be in the rest of your life. know th