democrats nominated massachusetts governor michael dukakis.resident reagan visited the soviet union. gorbachev visited the united states. barack obama began his studies at harvard law school, hired on as a summer intern in chicago, anmet young lawyer named michelle robinson whom he later married. before he announced his candidacy, mark shields said this on "iide washington." >> i will say this about obama. he is genuine and spontaneous in the e field of teleprompter candidates. >> he has had not take --had to take a position. when he becomes a cacandidate, they will go after him and take him down. he ought to enjoy this while he can. >> hillary has money and all the organization. he has something nobody else has had, the excitement factor. people go wow. >> that was about three mths before barack obama announced. as he ends is on the job, his poll numbers are plummeting. record numbers of americans disapprove of the way he's doing his job. the affordable care act is apparently in deep trouble. let's begin with our resident presidential histori

bill clinton, michael dukakis, he's not jimmy carter. he's a man on the left. a law professor. i live with law professors. we get the debates, we go out a h academics, no it with great deal of world experience. property d use with prospectors, they don't have an idea of what they're talking about. the planning of parks and streets. obama is esident really professor obama. and as a result politics has polarized, not as bad as it's opinion in the 20s were fore, the terrible. civil wars, the federalist papers. throwing, name calling, terrible times. the segregation years, the effort.gation the country has gone through worse than this. this is as vigorous as it's ever been. much. cared so >> the question isn't what your opinion is of the president. but why is it that these talk hosts and maybe you're one of them. although i listen to you. doing this mber you exactly this way. burr they start at the beginning hours. goes on for three it's a constant negative. bored by that. that would boar me. >> does it work? >> it does work. say there's at to market for it. msnbc programmed the wa

this is how it is -- >> michael dukakis. >> and this is better than the insanity.s your poll shows a lot of the country would agree with that because there's such a distaste for the way they have been running and that is such a small step. we have another guest with us, thomas frank, a contributor to harper's magazine and writes in next month's issue how democrats should share some of the blame for all of this power that republicans are yielding. you've given a lot of thought to economic politics. what do you make of this miniature budget supposed breakthrough? >> you know, i think it's pretty unremarkable. this is the sort of thing if it had happened ten years ago, it certainly wouldn't be on the front page of the newspaper. but you got to consider paul ryan, this is a man who we all know has his eyes on a larger role in politics, ran for vice president years ago, last year. and by doing this he gets to both be very responsible and play the maverick at the same time. and distance himself from the right wing of his party. >> chuck, i want to go to you a little bit

>> michael dukakis, presidential candidate in 1988, got in a tank, put on a helmet and looked silly.here city officials try to look less oppressive. there, apparently, they want to be more oppressive. >> since becoming an internet sensation, the mayor continues to combat parking violators in new and unique ways. >> so they printed this special sticker and they distribute this for free for the citizens in vilnius. >> his latest innovation is a three-step sticker system. >> step one, if you see a car parked in bad way, you just put the sticker on the glass. step two, if you will see the same car, you will put much bigger sticker. and if you will see for the third time, please call to me and i will come. ♪ >>> coming up, a black belt black bear. >> it's, like, always on the verge of going out of control. >> but is he a master of kung fu or a master of trickery? >> how the hell did it do that? that's crazy. >> it does look really fake. it's just so fast. >> when "caught on camera: viral videos, fact or fiction?" continues. an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that

issues are headed in 2014, dave said anybody that lives through the willie horton campaign and michael dukakise triumph of tough on crime politics from the republican party. congressman, i wonder, when we look at what's happening at the federal level now. we look at jerry brown in california with 127 pardons. pat quinn governor of illinois, hundreds. he's had a ton of pardons. you look at andrew cuomo, a guy that refuses to pardon anybody, do you see, does he represent a certain type of democrat still haunted by that tough on crime? i keep saying tough on politics here. tough on crime era? >> it's not clear to me why the governor has been economical in terms of his issuance of pardons and commutations. his father wasn't particularly judicious either as it relates to the pardon power. i think the broader point which is an important one, the war on drugs widely acknowledged as a failure right now violated a basic tenant of american justice is that the punishment should fit the crime. with these mandatory minimum, particularly with crack cocaine offenses that clearly was not the case, as evidence

my first campaign was michael dukakis. another former massachusetts governor. a liberal democrat.on mitt romney? he was too stiff. what about al gore? he was too stiff. that's why politicians like bill clinton, like george w. bush, like barack obama, and now we're looking at the rise of chris christie. we'll see if there's a fall, but politicians who seem more authentic, anyway. some are acting a bit. that's part of the job performance. governor romney, some is his mormon faith. some of it, forget his faith, he's a reserved, private person. some of it is a lot of these politicians, governor dukakis was the same way. that's my life, this is a serious job. i'm supposed to be serious. like your parish priest on your minister or rabbi. you see him in a barbecue, he's as loose as could be. some politicians can't merge the two. >> seeing teachers wear jeans. don't you remember that back in the day? that seemed odd, right? let me switch topics since i have you. there are two senators proposed sangszs for iran over its nuclear program. didn't we just close a deal over the program? what is