joining me this evening from new york, mark halperin of "time" phaog scene, john heilemann of "new york" magazine, author jon meacham, from lang los california's attorney general kamala harris, with me gwen ifill and john sununu and al hunt of bloomberg news. i'm pleased to have all of them with me this evening to look at this important speech to see what the president was saying and where he wants to take the country. i begin with al hunt, the speech? >> very good speech. he captured the tone of civility. he fully embraces the concept of american exceptionalism tonight. it was challenging, at times eloquent, maybe a tad long and a few voids -- gaps rather but a a minus bordering on a speech. >> rose: gwen? >> i wouldn't give it that high a grade. sometimes when you read a speech, it reads better than on delivery. in the room, everyone crossed party lines and sat together. as a result in draining the partisanship from the room, it drained some of the energy from the room. some of the lines written for big applause kind of fell flat. some of the emphasis you would have expected didn't co

with me in new york is mark halperin, editor at large for "time" magazine. they are co-authors of the popular political book about the campaign in 2008 called "game change." >> happy new year, charlie, and to your viewers. >> thank you very much on their behalf. so tell me why daley. >> i'm a huge fan of this selection in a bill daley. i'm a journalist and i'm objective but i'll tell you, on theively this is one of the most talented guys in the country. and for what barack obama wants to do-- which is get things done not win reelection, he cares about that, but in the next year plus he cares about getting things done he promised the american people he would do-- i didn't think of a better person he would have picked in the country than bill daley. >> rose: why? there >> there's different models for the role of chief of staff. the classic role, the most effective role for any president is the one james baker did, probably the best chief of staff in modern history. you want someone who can do a lot of different things and daley can do almost all of them at a w

here with the political side of things is mark halperin, senior political analyst for msnbc, and also "time" magazine. mark, good morning. >> hey, amy. >> the unemployment number, elections have been won and lost over this number. are we going to see now this new focus of this new congress specifically be about the jobs and the economy? >> there's no question. look, the president, all presidents, you say, deal with unemployment. it's a huge indicator. this president has now tied the unemployment number like nothing else. gdp, all sorts of other economic numbers are going to be out there but he has to find a way to create jobs. the opportunity he has now is republicans, because they control the house, they've got to be involved in governing, too. they've got to hope, the president has to hope, the country has to hope, that even though they're at odds, they're political foes, they've got to find a way to work to the to create jobs. there's no other priority now that matters. >> a new congress and also some new staff changes for president obama. many people are calling this a move to the

you're going on tour to try to change the world and i thought mark halperin depressing and sad. i don't like journalists acting like it was so serious and so depressing at the time. i have pictures of me and journalists doing karaoke in iowa. >> megan also writes for the daily beast and one of your recent articles was about you beingn' -- you said yes, i'm a true republican. >> yes. >> so tell me a little bit about that because obviously there are some issues that you don't agree with, with the republican party on? >> i was challenged to take a purity test, which anyone can do online to see if you're a real republican. and i nopassed. [laughter] >> which a lot of people were pissed off about that i actually passed. but i think we live in a weird time where i know that i get harassed on a daily basis for not being pure enough or conservative enough. people telling me why don't i just become a democrat because i really believe in the core ideals of the republican party. but i'm for gay marriage and i wrote a column about how people can come to the defense of carrie prejean who has

. >> we are the national press club talking to mark halperin and john heilemann about best seller "game change: obama and the clintons, mccain and palin, and the race of a lifetime". is there another book in the works for the two of you? >> we are working on a sequel as we say and hollywood. hbo is making a movie about this one and we are working on a book about the next presidential campaign. >> will there be in the paperback edition any update? >> the paperback just came out and we have a new after word that takes into account everything that happened over the course of the last 22 months between the last election and this one. >> what was the most fascinating thing about doing this book for the two of view? >> that our original goal when we had our first conversation we had a goal about what book we wanted it to be and what we thought might succeed and executed what we wanted to do which was pretty rewarding in any aspect of life. >> had you worked together before? >> we had written not so much as a shopping list. we had a meal and a few drinks but never written to get there. there a

. >> we are at the national press club talking with mark halperin and john about a best seller, "gamechange." can you tell us is another book in the works for the two of you? >> there is. we're working on a sequel as was in hollywood. it's the always making a movie about this one and at the same time we're working on a book about the next presidential campaign. >> will there be, it's probably the paperback edition come in an update to this one? >> the paper book has just come out and we have a new transfer

. >> we are at the national press club talking with mark halperin and john hileman. is there another book in the works for the two of you? >> there is. we are working on a sequel as we say in hollywood. hbo is making a movie about this one and at the same time we are working on a book about the next presidential candidate. >> will there be improbably the paperback edition any kind of update to this one? >> the paperback is just come out and we have a new after words taking into account that everything is happened over the past 22 months between the last election and this one. >> and what was probably the most fascinating thing about doing this book are the two of you? >> that our original goal when we had our first conversation about doing the book with a goal about what kind of book we wanted to be and what we thought might succeed and we executed exactly what we wanted to do which is ready were warning in any aspect of life. >> how did you two -- had you to work together before? >> we have have to mills together and we had a few things together but never actually w

my colleague mark halperin mentioned recently in "the wall street journal," if there is a wasteful expendituretagon we should cut it. absolutely. on the other hand if there is something we need we must absolutely fund back-to-back. , should be spent on a national defense as a percentage? some people throw around numbers. 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, what's the number? i would say it could be 100%. it could do but ever it takes to keep us a free people. it will have to be 100%. that's ridiculous, right? but we should figure out whatever it takes to make sure that the russians, the chinese and the islamic world believes that it would be a bad idea to try to destroy the united states and if we do that either way, don't think we will have to spend as much. they will be discouraged. they don't want to fight a war with the united states. that is a bad idea. we simply need to tell the people of the united states what will be required for their national defense. i want to thank you for listening to me. i want to thank thank hillsdale college for inviting me and there is a lot to do. i thank you for your attention.

my colleague mark halperin mentioned recently in "the wall street journal," if there is a wasteful expenditure in the pentagon we should cut it. absolutely. on the other hand if there is something we need we must absolutely fund back-to-back. , should be spent on a national defense as a percentage? some people throw around numbers. 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, what's the number? i would say it could be 100%. it could do but ever it takes to keep us a free people. it will have to be 100%. that's ridiculous, right? but we should figure out whatever it takes to make sure that the russians, the chinese and the islamic world believes that it would be a bad idea to try to destroy the united states and if we do that either way, don't think we will have to spend as much. they will be discouraged. they don't want to fight a war with the united states. that is a bad idea. we simply need to tell the people of the united states what will be required for their national defense. i want to thank you for listening to me. i want to thank thank hillsdale college for inviting me and there is a lot to do. i thank you for your