chris christie became the country's most closely watched governor, we turn to stu rothenberg and michael scherershington bureau chief for the "time" magazine, he wrote the magazine's november cover story on christie. so was this two hour tour de force today, michael, vintage chris christie. >> it was, i think he did very well. he did what he had to do which was to company out, be con trait, take responsibility. but also to distance himself from what is clearly horrific acts of public service that took place. the question now is whether the facts as they continue to come out, we don't know the full story now. match what christie told the people of new jersey and the people of the republican party who will decide the 2016 nominee. and if they don't, if they continue to be drips and drips of information that come out, christie is going to continue to have a big problem. >> ifill: what do you think, stu, what do you think his performance today and the whole run raveling of the-- unraveling of the scandal tell about his gopher-- governing skill. >> i think his performance was quite good, he was contr

joining me now is michael scherer. it's always great to you see.ion. i want to bring up an interesting point that sam stein writes about. in 2009, the president was folkfolk -- focused on inequality. he quotes peter saying, looking back, i remain disappointed we were not able to embrace with gusto and remain committed to the barbell approach. i thought that was really interesting and very telling that the president's own advisers felt like he caught got up in this debt reduction. we're seeing a strong pivot back to fairness and inequality in the country. >> this issue of inequality has always been at the center of their message. both parties look at the polls and the country and they see the defining issue is the median household income that goes from 2000 until today. the middle part of america is not improving and has not seen improvement for a decade. it's what everybody wants to address. obama feels that on the issues and on the politics, he will win this argument. it's what helped him win in 2012. as he pivoted to a more embat e embattled year