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is joe lockhart, former white house press secretary under the republican before george bush, bill clinton, joe, former vp -- but we know what a democrat is now i think a little bit better, and he's head of global communications. what do you make of everything that's happening as far as the cliff goes and what was said and done? i look at what the fix the debt commission said that judd gregg is part of. it's hard for me to find anyone who says this is really, even an average deal for the economy. >> yeah, well i mean i think that the biggest message of all of this is just how dysfunctional congress has become. you've got a system where compromise, making a deal, there are huge disincentives. you have very conference members of congress who reach across the aisle to try to get a deal, and the next thing you know they have a primary opponent popping up. the system is broken and we have to get to the root of that. which oddly is not really in washington. my view is it's out in the state houses. we have drawn these districts in such a way, democrats and republicans, where ideological extremes

. >> joe lockhart, good to see you. >> in 2011 he says he thinks the pentagon is bloated or was in favorf an 80% reduction in u.s. nuclear weapons. other than that, this is not somebody who offered a lot of specifics. is that where the real battle is going to be fought? >> sure. as the paper also reports, the president and congress have ordered $500 billion of cuts from the pentagon over next ten years. where those cuts come from is going to be part -- where they are going to come from is going to be part of the battle between hagel and members of congress to figure out how will the pentagon be reshaped? how will be the pentagon move forward in a world where the united states is no longer fighting a war on two fronts and two countries but is still fighting a war with drones and going after terror cells around the world that would do us harm. even though senator hagel, you know, says that the pentagon is bloated, yes, it's bloated but how do you squeeze out the bloat and make the pentagon more efficient. >> to your point, david brooks writes, chuck hagel has been nominated to supervise th

. >> joe lockhart served under bill clinton, and he said to achieve his policy goals he has to build public support, a strategy he had more before his second term. >> he has to layout a political game plan on how he is selling it and hit the road. go city on city, and create an environment where it's, very, very difficult for republicans to oppose him. >> reporter: now also on the horizon according to multiple sources, president obama could announce his pick for secretary of defense as early as the start of next week. those who are familiar with the decision making process say, former nebraska senator, chuck hagel is at the top of the list but the president has not yet made his final decision. >> safe travels back to d.c., thank you. >> thank you, my friend. >> congressman paul ryan, catching a lot of flack for voting no on the superstorm sandy relief money, in a statement, he said unfortunately washington's legislative response fails on both counts, it refuses to distinguish or even prioritize disaster relief over pork spending. dave, good to see you. that scaled down bill, it passe

buzz feed reporter broke the story and joe lockhart joins me, a former bush secretary and former vp ofides of this. mckay, your reporting, what brought this marriage about? >> well, you know, they met in 2010, chris christie and mark zuckerberg, when zuckerberg donated $100 million to newark's school system. and they've kind of worked together on education reform since then. and that's kind of the issue that brought them together, but it's interesting, the facebook spokesperson that i talked to says that mark doesn't just support his efforts on education reform, he supports him on a broad array of issues, which is really interesting, especially since you said, a lot of people believe that silicon valley and the tech world is very liberal. >> right, right. it's interesting. and i believe they met at that big media mogul conference in sun valley. i think i recall that. all right. joe, you know mark zuckerberg. you also know politics. were you surprised at all when you heard this? i mean, i've seen those two men together. they clearly get along, although they are very, very different, in

joe lockhart, and tom davis, a republican congressman from the state of virginia who was in the congresscond clinton term and the second term of president george w. bush. gentlemen, let's start with a simple question. joe, to you, is there a second-term curse that all second-term presidents face or is that mythology? >> i think it's mythology. it's circumstances. i think this second term is starting with a little wind at his back. remember, the president came in in a terrible economic crisis. you know, if you listen to a lot of the economists, things are turning around. that's a significant difference and, you know, in politics, you face head winds and sometimes the wind behind your back. it really feels like this could be a very positive time. >> i don't think it's a myth. second terms have been tough, traditionally, but no magic to it. getting the economy under "control" will be very, very important. the president faces one problem, though, and we become almost a parliamentary system in the actions of legislative bodies and he's got a republican house that he's got to find a rhythm to

. >> reporter: joe lockhart served as press secretary to former president bill clinton. lockhart says in order to achieve his other policy goals, president obama should focus on building public support, a tactic he more heavily employed toward the end of his first term. >> the president has to lay out a program and a political game plan for how he's going to sell this and then hit the road and go city to city, talk to republicans, talk to democrats, create an environment where it's very, very difficult for republicans to oppose him. >> reporter: now also on the horizon, according to multiple sources, president obama could announce his pick for secretary of defense as early as the beginning of next week. those who are close to the nominating process say former nebraska senator chuck hagel is the leading candidate. but white house officials stress the president has not yet made his final decision. lester? >> kristen welker thank you very much, thanks. >>> mark halprin is a senior analyst for msnbc and "time" magazine. good morning, it's great that they're all getting along