. >> and "time" magazine contributing editor john pea meacham. hello, john. >> he's our chief dressage correspondent. >> and willie is looking so handsome in london. how are you, willie? >> i'm doing great. you know what i've been watching in my hotel room? katty kay on the bbc. >> willie consideration you understand me better now? you've had about two weeks in london. >> i do speak the language. there are some turns of phrase i'm going to bring home, see if i can make them stick. >> we'll practice them together. >> call they was wringing her hands because the british are so aloof and this cool detachment but they've turned into americans, doing everything but chatting "usa, usa." the british are winning and they don't like it because they're becoming more american. like they're really -- >> that is not what i said. >> you don't like it. i said we have to develop a whole new persona. we're going to have to go through national therapy together, be confident of our winningness. >> willie, a big day yesterday, huh? >> it was, it was. the clip you sho

and john meacham, it was that debate. in 1980, it was just -- you talked about a defining moment, a remarkably defining moment where americans collectively said, okay, reagan's not crazy. i thought he was crazy and going to start world war iii. ford was saying governor reagan won't start world war iii but president reagan could. there was that moment. do you see mitt romney -- i don't see mitt romney having that moment. >> with due respect and love for al, to use another analogy, we all knew ronald reagan and ronald reagan was our president and mitt romney is no ronald reagan. and i just don't see that analogy of this being -- this may be a late breaking campaign but it doesn't feel as though this race has that kind of freight and level of gravity. joe, you've talked about this a lot, in terms of '80 versus where we are now. however profound the choices are we're facing, it just does not seem romney is an historical actor on that scale. the other thing you all are saying is exactly right. when you talk to republicans in p

. >> and "time" magazine contributing editor john pea meacham. hello, john. >> he's our

john meacham. paul ryan, vp pick, what do you think? >> i agree with you.emerged and beat really perry challenge, to have been the most plausible. i think that it's a conversation i agree when it started, one that requires a lot of care and feeding. it's going to be really easy for r democrats to demagogue and for romney to waiver. and wobble on what it really means. so, there's a responsibility at this point. and i think it's one the race itself will have to come up with some kind of dynamic to keep it from falling into predictable and therefore counterproductive terms. you don't want the democrats saying he's going to throw your grandmother in the snow. >> and that requires mitt romney to come up with his medicare plan so he can say that was paul's plan in congress. this is my plan. when i become president of the united states. >> and so the president has a responsibility not to make reform a dem gocic issue. romney has to do something he doesn't like doing in his presidential phase of his life, which is be specific. >> al hunt, what's your reaction? >> w

>> what did you learn, john meacham? >> that willie geist spent most of the olympics at the churchill -- >> amazing. yeah. yeah. what did you learn? >> nothing. just gone. >> a new poll out. politico, battleground poll has this race deadlocked and mark halperin, you believe this is closer than reality than some of the other polls? >> president's got a small lead. in this poll, we should say pre the ryan pick. >> willie, we have missed you. >> really good to be back. >> three weeks for fun, but it's time to get back to business. >> what time is it? here's chuck. >>> the paul ryan pick has injected a shot of energy to the paul ryan campaign, energized the the debate, and given mitt romney himself a clearly visible burst of enthusiasm. is the high here to stay and if not, how long will it last? bobby jindal speaks to us for the romney campaign. but republicans aren't the only ones smiling. team obama has been eager to run against congressman ryan and his unpopular budget plan for two years. is the ryan choice a gift to demo

. >> if i may say, john meacham is the author of the forthcoming book "thomas jefferson, the art of power." >> good book. i was reading it on the plane two days ago. >> were you really? >> it's amazing. >> wait a minute, you giving him advanced copies? >> no, i gave you one, you foisted it off on him. >> maybe i did that. >> i'm surprised. i was surprised. >> well -- >> do you think mark halpern knows why? because i don't get it. >> i don't get it either. i'm obviously in the tank desperately. maniacally in the tank, deeply in the tank for paul ryan but i'm surprised. are you surprised he's upside down? mark halpern, what's that about? let's get a snapshot. >> i think most people don't know him yet and the democrats have done a pretty good job as being part of defining him. >> i don't think mitt romney has helped him. i have a sound bite to show him. >> you don't know, you don't like him -- >> me? i think he's adorable. he's adorable. >> new polls offer a snapshot of how americans are reacting to mitt romney's choice of paul ryan as running mate. according to a vaughn/abc news poll, 38% s