mr. axelrod. >> thanks, david. good to be here. >> what about this news from iran? when will she be released and will it happen this time? >> obviously we're hopeful and encouraged by these news but there have been starts and stops in this before and until that actually happens, you know, we're on a wait and see basis. >> as far as bower and fattal and their release, is there any progress there? >> you know, david, i won't comment on any of that right now because we're in a sensitive stage here. obviously we're hopeful that we can get these folks out. they should never have been in jail in the first place. they are being held under false pretenses and they should be released. we're working very hard to see that that happens. >> let me turn to politics and the domestic agenda particularly the economy. the president announced plans for some additional infrastructure spending to stimulate the economy. he also would like to give business tax breaks that the corporate world has responded favorably too. should these become law and be passed, what impact could they have by

mr. axelrod. how is the president, how are you going to jazz your electorate, your base ahead of these election. >> first of all let's understand that we've gone through a terrible time in this country. i understand what she was saying the middle class took a terrible beating not just in the last two years of this recession but over the last ten years we learned in the last few days that the middle class lost 5% of their income from 2001 to 2009 and, of course, that period ended with the worst economic crisis since the great depression. the key here is to keep moving forward to keep doing things that have at its core that has at its core the economic security of the middle class which is key to our economic growth. not to go back to the policies that created the crisis in the first place. >> but really a lot of people, i mean people from all over the world frankly say to me here comes a president with a huge mandate. a huge rest record of good will, huge promises to change and with all of that, hi

mr. axelrod out there responding to william jefferson clinton. >> clinton is a great politician and i'm not with him. i think people in 2012 will vote on this and i don't think they need an invitation to do so. >> they're going to vote on him in 2012. don't you think they're going to vote on it in 2010? >> they are. i think in some ways yesterday, overall on the sunday shows, i felt like the democrats had basically cried uncle. they're just mailing it in, giving up and they just want to focus on 2012. they know 2010 will be so bad but i don't -- i have yet to see how that turns out. yesterday, it felt with clinton trying to give president obama campaign advice, david axelrod thought, thanks, we appreciate it. but we'll go our own way. >> but the problem is you have two rock stars in the democratic party right now. it's michelle obama, the first lady of the united states and bill clinton. if you don't like what bill clinton is going to say, you need him too much to actually contradict him but he also -- >> don't want to disrespect a former president. i mean, the truth is president clinton ha

david axelrod will return to chicago to run mr. obama's reelection campaign. in health news, the f.d.a. today announced tough new restrictions on the once-popular diabetes drug avandia. studies have linked it to an increased risk of heart attack, and now doctors will have to document that patients have tried other diabetes medications before giving them avandia. doctors must also warn parties of the risks. the risk of whooping cough may sound like something from the past, but it's still very real. today, california reported more than 4200 cases so far this year, putting the state on track to break a 55-year record for infections. nine people have died, all of them infants. other states are seeing more cases as well. dr. jon lapook tells us what's behind the new outbreaks. >> reporter: today, kids in los angeles lined up for booster shot, hoping to slow down the outbreak of whooping cough that's affecting babies. >> more than 50% of the cases, they were exposed to whooping cough through their family members. >> reporter: that's what happened in mariah bianchi's

mr. with something that david axelrod said. it said that there is a crime of court pathology in washington, which is why he looks forward to decamping in chicago. what -- how you deal with the group pathology and change what is covered in washington and it does not reflect what is happening or what is being talked about in real america? >> i live in new york and there is no policy there at all. [laughter] -- no pathology there at all. its net not a lot easier to do in washington, but the joke that ed was making about reading the daily kos, it's important to readblogs on all sides of the spectrum. that seems so essential, watch fox news and in a speed -- in his n -- msnbc. maybe people who are not online to not have as much as a voice. but you can know what the local paper in topeka is saying about a house race, and should make things a lot easier. >> i employ the mother-in-law role. if i cannot explain it to her, then whichever side is making that argument is not winning. i found that on health care. she kept saying -- and i wi

mr. obama's security staff, which he calls a disaster. the current commander in afghanistan, general david petraeus is quoted as telling an aide he doesn't like talking to david axelrod. in the book, it describes axelrod as a complete spin doctor. and it talks about a cia 3,000-man covert army. and it has intelligence in a afghan president hamid karzai suffers from manic depression. president obama also takes politics into account, as he sets that withdrawal deadline for next july. he says in the book, a deadline is needed because, quote, he can't lose the whole democratic party. this is all based on "new york times" reporting on that advanced copy of the book. all this just breaking this morning. so far, no comment from the white house. rob and vinita? >> interesting details. emily schmidt in washington this morning. thank you. >>> and more shakeup at the white house. president obama's top economic adviser is now stepping down. larry summers plans to leave the white house and return to harvard at the end of the year. summers is the third high economic adviser to leave in recent months. his departure gives the president a chance to reshape the economic team. >>> and

mr. obama also told students hard work pays off and, of course, stay out of trouble. >>> meantime schools in this country have been in big trouble for years compared to others around the world. jim axelrodlains this morning. >> reporter: in every town in america, the back-to-school rush is on. in croton, new york, the arturo brothers are already cracking the books. >> for three children for the amount of taxes we pay i think we get a very good deal. >> reporter: the public schools have done right by the arturos, but that's not the case across the board said this education consu consultant. >> our top students are not world-class anymore. >> reporter: that's right. of 30 comparable countries, we rank near the bottom. take math, finland is first, followed by south korea. and there we are, number 25. same story in science. finland, number one again. the u.s., number 21. where do we out-rank the other countries? the amount we spend per student. just over $129,000 from k to 12. the others averaged $95,000. >> we have world-class expenditures and not world-class results. >> reporter: for instance, when it comes to high school graduation rates, the u.s. is 20th on the list, germany, japan, sou