israel declared their sovereignty in may of 1948. 11 minutes later, harry truman did the biggest favor he ever did for israel. he recognized israel's sovereignty. every president since has had israel's back until may of this year when the president made that indefensible statement of his. likewise, i will stand up against america's animes like an iran that seeks to have a nuclear weapon. i will stand against a nuclear iran and i will stand against a nuclear syria. [applause] the president has taken his eye off of the main events in the middle east, which is the buildup of a nuclear iran. the president of iran, ahmadinejad, has said that he would use a nuclear weapon to what israel off the map. he has said he would use it against the united states. if history has told us anything, it is to take the threats of madman seriously. i take them seriously. as president of the united states, this court -- this country will be respected in this world. [applause] so you see, we have a team that is absolutely -- that absolutely cannot be beat. when you bring together fiscal conservatives, social c

the late 40s, prime minutester, he called harry truman and said, look, i'm facing a terrible economic crisis postwar. i cannot continue the inter international efforts to maintain the british remnants of empire. if you want to do it, fine. the time has come to recognize the crisis, withdraw from iraq, afghanistan, tell our good friends in europe that the cold war is long since over. they're well able to defend themselves. it's time to substantially reduce the worldwide military commitment, put some of that to deficit reduction. but save some immediately. to help save local governments to get some of the employment they lost. the notion that they've come in the situation, and the same time the president talked about taying in iraq longer than bush wanted, it appalls me. the time has come. people say, you have to get real. you have to understand the cop strains. we can cut $200 billion a year on the military expenditures that go not for our own security but for our worldwide policemen. the wealthy allies spent far less as a percentage of that product that we do on the military. the time

put up a big harry truman-type plan. big and democratic.lots of jobs, lots of spending, borrowing, but do it the democratic way. put people to work. dare the republicans to vote against it. number two, compromise a little of this, a little of that or roll over and give them what they want, more business tax cuts. the options. where should he go? >> b and c are about the same, chris. compromising with republicans is rolling over. that's virtually what happened in the debt ceiling debate. there were absolutely no tax increases, because the republicans wouldn't give in at all, and the president did.ç he absolutely needs is to be harry truman. >> you have to choke him. >> you have got to -- even if he proposes small things, they're not going to vote for it. they're going to say no. why not be big, be bold, be imaginative and hang it around the republicans' necks. >> my big question. why wouldn't the president tell them what to do if he didn't have opposition? let him know what he stands for and thet lem vote against him? what do you think? >>

a lot of the democrats have been praying to little statues of harry truman and of course, harry truman in 1948 got re-elected running against the do-nothing republican congress and he sent up a bunch of proposal proposals, and they rejected them and he used the rejection as a campaign issue. you heard that today in holland, michigan, at the company when you heard of them promoting technology and innovation, he said we didn't go through congress to do it. then he talked about the things that congress needs to do and talked about road construction and the cut in the payroll tax, and so i think that you saw the beginning of obama turning the page, if you will, and he is sensitive to the attacks over the last week over leadership, and i think that the speech was a response to that. >> well, what specifically can the president do, because when all is said and done the congress controls the purse string, and the republicans are holding that purse string with a clinched fist right now? >> well, they are looking very carefully at what can government agencies do through executive order. to pump

but the person that obama has to become is harry truman in 1948, running against congress and all of this thing that seems so alien. he wants to make them alien. chris: are the republican right, the people of the tea party world, more afraid of eight years of mitt romney than four more years of obama? they can kick the hell out of obama for four more years but imagine having to defend mitt romney for eight years? >> that's a hard one to call. in the end they still want to be the party in power which is probably why they'll end up nominating romney because they think he is more electable. there seems to be a meanness of spirit now. it's hard to imagine ronald reagan coming in and saying the kind of things that rick perry has said about bernanke this week. chris: imagine talking about treating bernanke ugly if he goes to texas. >> it's very much the mood of the republican party. this is what's so interesting, is that we are about to see what the republican party is now. as you've seen in this last week, a lot of the republican establishment who thought that perry might be acceptable to

. >> chuck, it sound to me as though he's campaigning as though he were harry truman. this is out of the old play book running against congress. let's talk about the divide that you said in the folks you were talking to out there, that is mirrored by the divide inside the campaign and the white house. people wanting him to be more of a compromiser. perhaps led by bill daly and others wanting him to be more aggressive and go after the republicans and just forget about trying to come up with a negotiated solution. >> that's exactly right. when you hear the we know that there was for instance, disagreement on the idea, you know, of inside the democratic party at least disagreement on the idea do you call congress back. that's why i perked up when it's something that congress can do right now. no, they couldn't. they're in recess. he could have asked them to come back. he decided not to do that because he thought they needed to get out and listen to what folks were saying. and it's clear that everybody's getting hit hard when you see these town halls and you see members of

whether it's fdr or harry truman or john f.y or bill clinton or ronald reagan, when you've had these great recoveries from difficult time, they've come through great government and big ideas. >> that's not -- the way it feels to me is that when you wait for a decision to be made from someone in power above you and you give up your personal responsibility, you give up your own power, that's where the danger comes. >> right now, small business people, for example, they have absolutely no mechanism out there to get their businesses going again. they just don't. it's just not there. >> right. >> so what do you say to those people? how do they -- how do they operate? this government -- >> give them government money. >> i think the solution is probably to do a better job. probably to raise taxes, to cut spending, to do special incentive for business people. >> you think they're raising taxes not on the small business people. >> get the revenue from the higher earners in my view. people have to pay for this. >> it's always going to be

whoever that turns out to be, but he is also railing against congress along the lines of maybe harry truman the way he did, the buck stops with him. as well as you recall. so it's going to be a long struggle. the president minced no words, though, in going after the republicans and making it clear that there is a real difference on so many issues between where he and the democrats stand and where the republican candidates and the republican members of congress stand as well, piers. >> well, let's have another listen to that. that was a pretty lively exchange. >> when i saw our republican presidential primary candidates suggesting that they would not be willing to close a single loophole or close a single special interest tax break even if they were going to get $10 of savings for every $1 of revenue that raised, that is no longer thinking in a common sense way. at that point, what you're saying is ideological rigidity that is preventing us from solving problems. >> i mean income summary, wolf, i think what we reached with this last few days is a fully engaged and pumped up president and a f

and if the president blocks those proposals, he needs to make a harry truman-style block against the. the millions of american who is should have jobs, but don't. my fear about the president, who i really do respect, is getting on that bus, gus, he's going to be riding around the midwest, for what purpose? he's not pawlenty. he's not some politician running for the presidency. he's got the job. >> i think we've got to go out to where those roads and bridges are. you don't have to drive to richmond. can you go outside washington, d.c. or in washington, d.c. and find the roads that are in repair. we had a water main break in my district right across the washington beltway. it held up traffic up and down the eastern seaboard. we can do these things. this is not rocket science, i mean it was done, after the great depression so that we could get people back to work. spend $1 billion. a lousy $1 billion on infrastructure and get 30,000 jobs out of that. >> why aren't we doing that? >> we need to. >> why aren't leaders proposing a big jobs bill? why don't they do it? >> wait a second, chris

>> go back to what harry truman did, take on congress fourcc1: square, full. for him it's go big or go home. if he's got fight in him, this is the time he's asked to do it. face the congress down. say we're going to have a major jobs program. take it to the people. debt is a problem but debt reduction is not nearly as important as job creation. he and his administration have been talking about job creation since they came in but they haven't done it.cc1: >> the jobs report was ok but not as bad as it was. still above 9%. he will not get re-elected above 9%. doesn't he have to do something to deal with that? >> i think he does and that's a conversation going on in the white house right now. don't forget, the president is walking a fine line. he opted for fiscal restraint on the whole debt ceiling compromise. on the other hand, he is somebody who has spoke in a state of the union speech, remember that? winning the future, spending money on innovation, on education. can he get payroll tax cutcc1: holiday, extended unemployment insurance. but that's just working a

harry truman used to have what was it, the sign at his desk that says the buck stops here. this administration's sign should be, the buck stops somewhere else. >> for the first time in the history of america, the united states lost our top aaa rating. it didn't happen in the great depression, it didn't happen in world war ii, it didn't happen when we were engaged in korea or vietnam or in the middle east or even during 911. but it happened under president barack obama. >> the downgrade in the market conditions are a reflection of a much deeper and bigger problems facing the country. and again, we've had a president who is asleep at the switch on the most pressing financial challenges of our country. >> the tim paw lenti there. in today's trading session, losses extended into a second day for asian and european stocks. while futures indicate another rough session for wall street. let's take an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business this morning. we turn to cnbc's steve sedgewick, live in london for us. what's the latest on the markets? >> the latest is a

to cup up with real job proposals and if republicans block those proposals, he needs to make a harry truman-stylempaign against the do-nothing gop. this might or might not work. but we already know what's not working, the economic policy of the past two years has been working, and the millions of americans who should have jobs, but don't. my fear about the president getting on that bus, gus, he's going to be riding around the midwest for what purpose? he's not pawlenty. he's not some politician running for the presidency. he's got the job. >> well, i think we have to go to where the roads and bridges are. you don't have to drive to richmond. you could go right outside washington, d.c. or in washington, d.c. and find the roads that in are disrepair. we actually had a water main break, held up had traffic up and down the each eastern seaboard. we can do this. it's not rocket science. it was done after the great depression to get people back to work. spend $1 billion, a lousy $1 billion on infrastructure and get 35,000 jobs out of that. >> well, why are we not doing that? >> we need to. >> why isn't

i think he sees himself as harry truman ii, and you remember the famous book on harry truman by david mccolla was published 40 yeared after the truman presidency. so bush thinks of himself, i suppose he may say it in his own words, as misunderappreciated. now as scholars, when we get to bush's foreign policy, i think one the very interesting things is to dig into his decision making process. and as we do so, i think we find that it was very uneven, and it is still quite puzzling. it's very necessary that we gutted and continued the scholarship. it was uneven. now bush was often over confident and over determined. but that's not necessarily a liability. provided you have a good process, indecisiveness which is the problem with other presidents can be just as much of a problem as over determination. if you study bush's foreign policy decisions all the way from the one on north korea, the one you might remember in march 2001 when the american airplane and of chinese fighter jet collided and all the way after 9/11 into iraq. some of his decisions were carefully done. they had a lengthy pr

um, harry truman famously said ike's going to be miserable as president, he's used to being in the armyhere they, you know, do this, do that, and he expects everyone to jump. that was really not true. truman was one of the most -- eisenhower was one of the most politically experienced people to enter the presidency. he had, he had been, worked for the chief of staff in the 1920s, he'd been in paris in the 1920s working for general pershing at the battle monument's commission, he was the war office -- war department, rather, in the early 1930s. he spent the late 1930s as macarthur's deputy in the philippines, building up the philippine army as, prior to independence. general marshall brought him back prior to pearl harbor because he had recognized in eisenhower a gifted junior officer. he brought him into the war plans division. he actually tasked eisenhower who was barely at that point a brigadier general with the plans for the defense of the philippines. he did the same thing with, when it was decided after pearl harbor to, um, mount an invasion of north africa from the west. the briti

unfortunately he's on the verge of being neither and if president obama doesn't start acting like harry truman soon and taking on the republicans in congress rather than appeasing them then he will not just be a one termer like jimmy carter will be the nation's next herbert hoover which would be a disaster for all of us let's hope he gets the message. our next comment comes from the message boards of tom hartman dot com spent a good chunk of both my radio show and this television show ranting about the supreme court now they've become kings above and beyond our democracy so great white had this question for me since the us supreme court was never supposed to make laws a veto of laws that exist then what is the role of the us supreme court supposed to be the only educated guesses to advise the executive and legislative branches maybe by telling them what is unconstitutional and constitutional by their understanding of what the usa constitution says. here's the role of the supreme court as the founding fathers envisioned it first of all there are some specific responsibilities that the supreme c

and we're used to having presidents having doctrines when it comes to foreign policy and we had harry truman we had a universal policy you know you do universal doctrine that is if you support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation ok john f. kennedy pay any price bear any burden to assure the survival and success of liberty we all remember that one and we should it's a good saying george w. bush had his own to the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in the world now mr obama a few days ago had the following to say let's discuss of this is his doctrine. america should not be expected to police the world particularly when we have so many pressing concerns here at home is that a doctrine should it be a doctrine should it be embrace and is it being acted out philis well i don't think that's a doctrine i think it's a statement of lowering expectations i also think that one of the problems with all of these doctrines is that it bases the whole of u.s. foreign policy on the military so if we say should we intervene should we help it's assumed to mean should we send troops in my analysis

economy and his presidency are going to be in big trouble so i suggest you take a look at what harry truman did did back in one nine hundred forty eight the year before nine hundred forty seven republicans swept into office session election forty six forty seven they came into office and seized control of both the senate and the house for the first time in years and the republican plan was all too familiar to do nothing and sabotage president truman this was their strategy so president truman kicked their asses calling the eighth eighty of congress the do nothing congress instead of negotiating with a republican hostage takers in one hundred forty eight truman fought them take a look at his famous nine hundred forty eight democratic convention speech. the benefits have been spread to all the people because it's the business of the democratic party to see to the people get affairs there and they say this last word a.d.'s congress proved just the opposite for the republicans. and i say a word or two now. but i think republican a lot of years. ever since this inception that party has been unde

want to see tens of millions of americans working and collecting good paychecks and that's what harry truman did in the republican congress in one nine hundred forty eight and he not only won the presidency but the republicans didn't control the house of representatives again for forty six years mr president there are millions of people who work their butts off to get you elected and haven't given up on you and are ready to stand behind you but you have to leave right now you have to be the loud voice for progressive change that you were in two thousand and eight if you do that if you fight and fight hard then we will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and turn this nation around and put an end to the tea party and the republican hostage takers once and for all. but if you don't then one of these guys will get elected president that's the choice drastic times require bold measures we've done our part in showing up to get you elected and even taking back parts of wisconsin and a lot of efforts and a lot of other states it's time mr president for the need for you to do your part in a big w

william calley during the vietnam war well what happened here was no different in principle and harry truman targeted innocent civilians in these two cities and so hopefully we've learned that whether it's an imp sixteen that shoots an innocent person or a pilot that drops a bomb on innocent people the principle is the same it's wrong and that's what we need to acknowledge it's so interesting to see some of that old footage and hear some of these old you know sound bites from president truman about the net you know the necessary evil and the need to save so many american lives and therefore you know so many other lives had to be taken why now that attitude i mean do you see any similarities with that attitude and where we are today in the three wars that we're involved in well for one thing the evidence has come out since the atomic bombing of hiroshima nagasaki that that simply was not the case the japanese were ready to surrender they were already signaling to the soviets that they were ready to surrender all they were asking for was to let the emperor stay in power and our side was saying

new nation for the jewish people in pal stein and eventually in may of 1948 it comes to be, and harry truman, 12 minutes after midnight when it happens, we're the first country to recognize the state of israel. actually norris by that time had become a little bit of an expert on middle east politics and history, certainly from a biblical standpoint, and had a exchange on correspondence with president truman on this. also in the 1930s -- this is a cool story i found out later, not in the book. pretty boy floyd, gangster, and you can see this in bur -- burrows' book about john dillinger, the mother of pretty boy floyd was a fan of norris, and norris played intermediary between the floyd family and j. edgar hoover, trying to evict wait the surrender of pretty boy floyd. i thought that was an interesting post script about norris and always finding a way to get involved in public events. he had a series of health issues in the late '40s, couple of strokes, and a lot of the stuff he had built he sort of splintered off. he alienated a lot of peep around hem. by the time he died in 1952, several var

> and 1948 the was almost 75 years of age a great debate on israel her employer it comes to be harry truman 12 minutes after midnight is the first country to recognize the state of israel. norris was inexpert of politics and history and had an exchange of correspondence with president truman. an interesting footnote to a local story is pretty boy floyd who was a gangster that was made into the movie, apparently they were a fan of j. frank norris on the radio and took her other son jackie to be baptized by norris and for a brief time played intermediary to effectuate the pretty boy i bet that what is the interest dain post script and finding our way but had a series of health issues and a lot of this stuff he have built an alienated people around him by the time he died, the group known as independent fundamental baptist called the isp is the first of that group splintered into different ways he was speaking at a youth camp in florida 1952 and the body was flown back to ft. worth and not buried not far from where d.e. chips is buried as well. interesting closure to this story. >> carter is a

. >> it sounds like when harry truman was blaming the congress as a do nothing congress.t democrats control three-thirds of the congress and three-thirds of government. it's a little bit hard for the president to blame congress, if you will, by calling the them obstructionists. they control the senate and the white house. >> okay. they did obstruct when democrats had control, republicans did everything they could to filibuster in the senate. we did get health care passed. you've seen the shenanigans that we saw from the republicans in the last several weeks when john boehner couldn't get his own bill passed. the man has lost control of his caucus. >> but you and i both know that the real person that really got this debt reduction thing through, or the debt ceiling thing through was mish mcconnell, the republican leader. we also know that john boehner along with speaker -- we know that along with pelosi shepherded through on both sides of the aisle putting through the debt ceiling. for the president to blame congress, i don't think it's going to work with the american peop

i think his at -- i know he wants to be harry truman and run against the do-nothing congress, but he needs a specific, visit popular plan to complain they're not doing anything about. to have an abstract philosophical view doesn't cut it. you have to have something specific and say we dare you to stop it. we dare you to stop it. he can be sharper. you made the point while we were listening to that, dwight eisenhower couldn't exist in the he couldn't get from lubbock to dallas, you know, without the federal government. someone's got to tell him there's an interstate highway system. >> eisenhower brought troops in. do you think he should desegregate the troops in little rock? >> i think reagan would be kicked out. >> i totally agree with howard on this point about drawing the lines, but that's what i heard him doing. he may not be as dramatic as you like it, but that's who he is. >> what is he talking about deals making? >> he's running against a guy who probably will be the front-runner that's talking about secession from the union. he's talking about putting a deal together? they don

a big, major jobs package and then defy the republican house to the to pass it and run against harry truman and say, i compromised a lot. why won't they pass it? and then you have the fight that the people want to see. >> paul begala, appreciate your time. candy crowley, thank you. >>> michele bachmann will be candy crowley's guest on this sunday's "state of the union." >>> still ahead, more turmoil in the stock markets. another day of wild swings. this time swinging upward. what is driving all of the volatility. we'll talk to ali velshi. >>> and a young american woman vanishes in the same town that natalee holloway disappeared six years ago. an update on that. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of th

no president, this late into their first term has had those numbers, but for harry truman, and gotten reelected. what does it mean for the president? >> well, he's engaged right now in a zero sum game, with leaders of congress. his plus is their minus. their plus is his minus. in the meantime, they are all going down together. because they are incumbents perceived as not doing their job. his advisers can only play against the player that is on the field, the gop congress. it doesn't do them any good to do that, because he sinks further and further. his real opponents, the republican presidential candidates, are so diverse, such a big field, so many possible new entrants he can run against them. all he can do is be a good president. that's impossible for him. he's got an economy that he can't possibly get his way out of. look, let's understand why he can't do that. what he needs right now is a trillion or two trillion dollar tax cut. he can do that, because he spent that money in a wasteful stimulus package, 2 1/2 years ago. as a result, there's nothing he can do. his ratings are going

you have to go back to 1948 and harry truman when he ran against the congress.emocratic senate, but he's got to come up with a program, send it up. right now he bears the responsibility for voters of what is on the ground. he may not have caused it, but he has not fixed pit. right now they don't see solutions coming out. >> i will let you advise him as i know you still do. i mean, what is the president's pitch to voters when they are looking at currently 9.1% unemployment, all of these houses under water, and things that really matter to people when they sit around their kitchen table are bad? >> that's exactly right. the president's pitch to voters, and the choice that voters are going to have in 2012 is going to be who actually is going to have a solution to this. and what you have seen from the republican candidates across the board, the people who would be president right now, the men and women who are running, are people who will not stand up to the most extreme elements of their own political party, who this week alone -- people like mitt romney, who likes