jonathan martin is politico's senior political writer. gentlemen, let's start with you, chuck.now better than most, chuck, i've been around a long time. i've got to tell you, this furor over the president's school speech to students, the continuing jam over which democrats are with him on health care, which aren't and the continuing prognostications about all the different polls out there, is the obama presidency at an end? what is going on here? >> reporter: well, i think, you know, i talked to one outside democratic adviser to this white house and it was put to me this way, that, look, they are aware that in many ways this fall and how -- and frankly, it starts tomorrow, that the white house and the president, himself, is taking a character and leadership test. that this is a moment in time for him to show he can take control of a debate, he can take control of his party. he can figure out a way to cut through some of the problems of sausage making inside of his own party and maybe not about figuring out how to stop polarization among the two political parties. i don't think

jonathan martin. thank you for joining us. tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for more "hardball." right now it's time for "the ed show" with ed schultz. >>> good evening, americans, welcome to "the ed show" on msnbc tonight. here's some new material. the public option is now responsible for unemployment and the never-ending war in afghanistan. that's the newest righty talking point. here's minority whip eric cantor this afternoon on that. >> health care in this building has now made it so that we cannot seem to get anything else done. we have burning issues out there in this country. first and mooforemost is the americans want to see job security return. they want to see economic security return, but somehow we're unable to deliver on that because of the intrang jens on the majority's part, even discussing ways for us to agree on health care. we have serious, serious challenges as far as afghanistan is concerned. that's being clouded by the ridge jidty by which the majority hangs on to hr 3200 and imposition of a public

jonathan martin. thank you for joining us.omorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for more "hardball." "countdown" is keith olbermann starts right now. >>> which of these storiy iey i you be talking about tomorrow? one amendment, two hours of debate. 500 amendments to go. >>> our job is to sit here and do it as long as it takes. >> i've got plenty of questions. >> senator sherrod brown of ohio on the need for speet on capitol hill. >>> from delay to distrackation. eric cantor believes there's more important issues on health care in this country. he tells a woman pressing for the public option to turn to charity for help. >>> yes, we can, at the u.n. general assembly. >> the time has come for the world to move in a new direction. we must engage in an era of mutual interest and mutual respect. >> our special guest, majesty queen noor. >>> where will gadhafi get to pitch his traveling tent? >>> and going global, sarah from alaska takes her show on the road, all the way to hong kong. >> i'm going to call it like i see it and i'm go

and jonathan martin. and you are still here, pat.market conversation and "morning joe" over the past year and a half. what is your sense of the best road forward for the conservative movement in this country? are they well suited to remain seated when there is a corruption of fair market and fair play in banking and health care and other places? >> in my father's house there are many mansions. the value voters this weekends are social conservatives and they are concerned about things like right to life and gay marriage and end of life issues. and mike huckabee that does come out of them as an even evangelical christian, he is strong with them. but you are correct. you not only need the social and evangelical christians, but you need the foreign policy and the economic conservatives, and all of the different groups. i think huckabee, and sarah palin, if she chooses to run, would be stronger with the group. that's only part of the hand. have you to fill out to get a full house. >> and america, it's so obvious to people, that we don't h

and jonathan martin. weren't you on some type of skype today?ike you were incarcerated. >> that's the look i was going for, chris. >> let me start with you, chris. this thing about race. we all grew up in america. we know it as part of our history and it's not always been a good part but it's there. it colors some of our politics to be honest. but does the white house not want this to be a topic? >> yes, they don't want it to be a topic, chris. look, it is a continuation from the campaign. barack obama ran very much as a sort of post racial candidate. obviously, everyone knew if he was elected, he would be the first african-american president. but he very rarely put that piece of his history out front. he did when pressed, when he had to, obviously, the jeremiah wright situation. remember, they downplayed that for quite some time until it became clear he could not downplay it. he addressed it in a very eloquent speech. but he did not want to talk about this. they see it as a no-win situation. they know they're in a very difficult fight about hea

jonathan martin, senior political reporter from politico. mike huckabee, what's the draw?l among a certain kind of voters. socially conservative, born-again christians, and especially those who are politically active. and i just defined for you the exact nature of who was at this meeting. look, this is less than a thousand people, and the kind of people who are motivated enough to come to a washington, d.c., three-day political event. so let's not say too much conservation about one week event three years before the primary. >> but since we are analyzing, and since you're here. >> since we have, to savannah. >> should mitt romney have done better? and one other thing, how about mike pence, he is getting 11.9% of the vote, and every other person is a national figure. >> you're right on both counts. first, romney probably should have done better, given his name i.d. and given his standing in the party. and there is no question about, mike pence, the career republican in the house, even the ardent political activist would have a sense of who that is. he is definitely with rom

jonathan said. whether or not we can get people to watch the programming. >> i respectfully disagree to the point that we cannot get people to watch. we have failed. martin luther keen jr. was not the first moral leader. he was the first moral leader who understated -- understood the marketing and framing an issue. quincy jones has told me it takes 20 years to change a culture. over the last 20 years we have made dumb sexy. what we have set now over the next 20 years we need to make smart sexy. quincy jones and us out of the other, 5 million kids to break the back of the high-school dropout generation. why do kids drop out of high school? they do not believe that education is relevant to their future. that is financial literacy. all of a sudden you have people glued to education, focusing on what they want to learn, interested in math and science. it is not the kid's fault. the kids are our customers. we're not giving them a reason to be compelled. we need to reshape it, and so quincy and them are going to south central l.a. next week and part of this is to make smart sexy again. also being an economist sexy. we can do this and i refuse to accept that it