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m john dickerson. be sure to jon us around the table next week on "washington we" the good night. >> "washgton week" was oduced by weta,hich is soly responsible for its content. >> corporate funding for ashington week" is provide by -- boing and the natonal mining assiation. major funding is also provided by te annenbe, the corporation for public broadcasting, anby contributions to ur pbs stion from viewers like you. tha you. > for over 4 yrs "washington wee has provided the most intesting political conversationf the week. helloi'm paul anthy along with patrice pasquale ashington week" is the longe runningublic affairs proam on pbs and one we are very pud of. in that it ha continued a these years thas to supporters from viewers who have invested in the program. when you call nownd make an investment to weta, you can count yrself asne of the supportersfwashington week." >> hello, i'm gwen ifill. for more than four decades "washington weekhas provided washingtonions and vwers from around theountry with t

john dickerson says the president made a gamble, it hasn't paid off. >> the president seized control of congress, that means he gave up control of the message and also gave up control of the clock. he wanted the senate and house to be done by the august recess and now they're not and that's because of the original strategy the white house picked. >> reporter: the president has two more town halls on health care reform later this week, in colorado and montana. the white house says tickets will be available to the public, which means the president might finally see that information roche us anger over health care reform face to face. >> couric: to be continued. thanks, chip. now at that town meeting president obama accused critics of making false claims about health care reform. for one thing, he said it would not, quote, pull the plug on grandma because we decided it's too expensive to let her live any more. so where did that idea come from? here's cheryl atkinson. >> reporter: at town hall meetings around the country, accusations are flying about so-called end of life care for senior

cbs's john dickerson has more. >> reporter: with members of congress hearing firsthand from their constituents, president obama says he thinks the khans for health care reform will improve, but he may be the only one. >> when people are out of washington, that is the most precarious time for this legislation. and so the president's going to have to stay connected. he can't afford to lose one day. >> reporter: former senator tom daschle would know. he tried to get president clinton's health care bill through congress in the early 90s. so did pollster stan greenburg. >> we're at a tipping point. we're at a moment where we have finally reached a point where there's some progress in the congress but the public's right at the edge. >> reporter: that's because there are five bills, thousands of pages of different policies. the public is, understandably, confused, but the president may have no one to blame but himself. >> you will pass and i will sign >> reporter: mr. clinton dictated terms to congress and failed. mr. obama took the opposite approach. >> one of the approaches that i've tried to take

john dickerson joins us with more on the numbers. good to have you. there is talk about whether or not the president should be seeing a bump in his ratings because of this economic news. does he deserve that increase in his approval rating. is he responsible for the good news? >> in this good news that came out for the white house yesterday, independent economists said the numbers would have been worse if it was not for the recovery act. the president can turn to that and say here's my program and it is helping. so those poll numbers that came in before the good news about the gross domestic product may change because of that and the cash for clunkers program looks like it work and something people can point to that is paying off. maybe those will help him. the big question is what happens next quarter. >> we saw the numbers too and comparison down 10% since april. if there is maybe a little bit on the horizon that could help him, but we need to be cautious where is he losing the people that the numbers are dropping like this? >> he had a lot of troub