joining us now from washington is john podesta, former white house chief of staff under president clintona, it is an honor and a pleasure to have you on the program. >> nice to be on with you, alex. >> so, john, you know, the press is a fickle bunch, but of late, the news has seemed quite positive for the president and his re-election efforts. a cbs/"new york times" poll yesterday shows his approval rating at 50%, his disapproval at 43, which is certainly better than it has been. frank rich in "the new york times" saying, "he is for the first time in a while exuding sunny confidence. his pivot into populism, while slow in coming, has been pitch perfect ever since he rolled it out in his december speech, but his surging in 2008 were often followed by damaging lapses." john, do you think there's a risk here of democrats in the white house getting overconfident? >> i doubt it. i think they've been through a lot of hard times and it's unimaginable to me that they'd get overconfident. but i think we have had a spate of good news. i think that rich mentions the speech that he gave in kansas in

who is john podesta and the podesta family, the brother, tony podesta and his wife are big lobbyists what kind of role did they play in this town in the last 20 years? >> john was chief of staff to bill clinton and then a few years after the end of the clinton administration started center for american progress and has been with the center throughout. he took a leave to be the head of president obama's transition team and then came back to the center and was the president before i elevated. his brother tony and sister-in-law heather, tony has a long history of people for the american way and worked on the cue cawkiss campaign as chairman of the california dukakis campaign and worked a fair amount in pennsylvania and now is a lobbyist. and has a thriving lobbying practice. >> had john podesta been up on the hill for a while? >> in the early 1990's and 1980's worked for senator leahy on the agriculture committee and worked, i believe, for chuck culver or chuck culver's dad, john culver. senator from iowa. and he worked for tom daschle at one point. >> and tom daschle is now with you all

at that time, though, who is john podesta? what kind of role of the plate in may -- in this town in the last few years? >> he was chief of staff to bill clinton. and then a few years after the clinton administration started, the center for american progress. he has been with the center throughout. he took a leave to be the head of president obama's transition team. then he came back to the center and was president before i elevated. his brother and sister-in-law are involved in progressive politics. they worked on the dukakis campaign in california. they also worked a fair amount in pennsylvania. and now they are a lobbyist -- and now is a lobbyist and has a thriving lobbyist company. >> has he been on the hill for a while? >> yes. in the early 1990's and in the arly 1980's he worked for senator on the agriculture committee. senator culver. and he worked for,. >> and he is now with you all? >> yes. >> who are some of the other fellows you have that we might recognize? >> matt miller is a senior. he writes on "the washington ."

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he also works for the center for american progress which is, basically, an organization run by john podesta, the former clinton white house official, that was founded, in essence, to justify and defend whatever the obama white house does. with some exceptions here and there if you search hard enough but, basically, that's its function. and the fact that people who write for them do things and say things to mitigate or defend things like assassinating an american citizen with no due process, probably the most radical act that you can think of, really underscores an important point about the way the obama legacy is being defined and the way that lawlessness has become normalized. so if, you know, three years ago, and i say this as somebody who was doing it, if you were to go to an event and fill the room with 50% republicans and 50% democrats and you were to condemn things like wild assertions of executive authority, the idea that the president can't act against anyone he wants including killing him, that he can do so in total secrecy ask with to -- and with no transparency. two weeks later h