karen tumulty, another exclusive interview with the president.> up next, the state of race in america. how far have we come as a post-racial nation? the answers may be disturbed. president obama has tried to diffuse the controversy and he will again today by sharing b r beers at the white house. this is "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. i never thought it could happen to me... a heart attack at 53. i had felt fine. but turns out... my cholesterol and other risk factors... increased my chance of a heart attack. i should've done something. now, i trust my heart to lipitor. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. unlike some other cholesterol lowering medications, lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk... of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries... in patients with several common risk factors... or heart disease. lipitor has been extensively studied... with over 16 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems... and women who are nursing, pregnant, or ma

karen tumulty fro "time" mazi, thank you very much. when we come back, more on the president's overtes to e russians and what happened in moscow todayfrom a former ambassador, u.s. ambassador to russia, tom pickering. the great american holidays here. and here's something to celebrate - the gmc 72-hr sale. you only have 72 hourso declare your indendence from interest paents for 6 full yrs, with 0apfinancing for 72 months on all 2009ierra 1500s and yukon xl's... 0% apr for 72 months going on n... during the gmc 72-hour sale. visit cdealer.com! you hungry yeah. t too (d(dr crashes in) (broadew alarm) asp and scream) go! go! go! go! go! go! (pho rings) heo? th is mark with broaoadvw w serity. is everything okay? . . meone just trieied to bre in. i'm sending helphtow. ank you. (announcer) brk's home security is nobroadview security. call now to ininstall e standardrd system r just $99. the proven technology y of a broadview securiri syste delivers r rid resnse from highghly traed professionals, 24 hours a day.. callow to get the $99 stalla

we have an interview that our national political correspondent karen tumulty did with the president theay and it is a story about the challenges that he's having, not only rhetorical challenges which he talks about in the interview but the fact that he's still trying to figure out what to actually do about health care and how to get it passed. we, too, have a poll. it shows the contradictions that are inherent in the american public in dealing with health care because more than 80% of people are actually satisfied with their coverage. at the same time, about 56% think it needs to change. for so many americans, as joe klein writes in one of the parts of the cover story, the health care crisis is theoretical, it is not real, because people are actually happy with their health care. one reason that obama has had such a challenge in trying to explain it to the american public, because a lot of people are pretty content with their health care coverage. >> look at this number -- 62% thinking that reform will raise costs, something that we've been questioning, joe especially, from the get-go.