president obama today chose the republican for nebraska for that job. ite having been fine with mr. hagel even as a possible vice president for george w. bush in 2000, bill kristol is now leading the opposition to chuck hagel at defense. bill kristol, the same guy who said iraq would take two months, who said the only consequences of us bombing iran already would be good consequences, the man who thought up the sarah palin vice presidency, the one man in america who can least be the arbiter of what is reasonable in national security. that same one guy bill kristol now bought chuckhagel.com where you can go to learn that bill kristol believes that chuck hagel is not a responsible option. oh, senator hagel, may you always be blessed with comically nonself-aware enemies. it is not every nominee for secretary of defense whose foes are their own punch lines. the character of the opposition to senator hagel is now so laugh out loud ridiculous in some quarters, including most especially mr. kristol's corner, that is it now driving some of mr. hagel's would-be c

>> i think this is a speech that's clearly unlike any other, and it may well be that president obama ng of what they want to do, but rarely will every line be scrutinized in a way that an inaugural address will be. >> you had some favorites and you mentioned roosevelt as one of them. let's take a listen. >> nameless unreasoning, unjustified terror which parolizes needed efforts to convert retreats. >> you mentioned how important the lines are. jfk had a line. ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country. what might be the line or the idea or the context of the line in obama's speech president obama's speech. >> maybe i'll talk about the context. if i had the laptop and a cup of coffee, i might be able to work something out. with respect to the tone in this moment, i think president obama needs to be strong. i don't think he needs to be sharp in tone. you should never be sharp or divisive in the way that you speak at an inaugural address, but i think he needs to be clear that he's willing to stand up for what he believes and that he's willing to stand

the resources and the attention is really turning to more so is the asia pacific region we saw president obama get together with the australian president we are talking about shifting importance in that region i think that we're going to see a big shift away from the middle east but still with our lead from the behind kind of strategy not necessarily intervening like we saw in syria you know kind of letting that play out but also using diplomatic rights we have to to kind of influence the change that we want to see we're seeing actual military ships into the asia pacific region some could argue that it's even worse i mean yes you're not having ground troops there really but when you're shifting to two purely these drone wars completely counterintuitive completely counterproductive ninety eight percent failure rate according to a harvard joint harvard n.y.u. study eight months extensive study in pakistan show that these are an enormous failure they do more harm than good. i have dubbed obama the drone king because he's really taken this and ran with it so hard and now you're like you said expan

see you soon. >> all right. >>> is president obama a man of destiny? at sounds pretty huge, prevented to be president -- predestined to be president, i should say. deepak chopra joins me next to talk about that. ♪ let's go. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new cadillac xts... another big night on the town, eh? ...and the return of life lived large. ♪ >>> i think those guys like being here. they like being on television. i think they do. i think they are enjoying themselves a lot more people tomorrow. you know, the movie "lincoln" is based in part on the book "team of rivals" by doris kerns good win, a story of how abraham lincoln worked with some of the most powerful rivals to abolish slavery and the end of the civil war. while the issues are different, 145 years later, the tensions between congress and the president are the same. president obama's often cited the late president's legacy. >> in face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. that's what abraham lincoln understood. he had his doubts. he had his defeats.

>> my advice to president obama is, mr. t, whatever happens in the second term, you're going to bear the consequences of. our country is in sick shape financially. economically, we're really in bad shape. if we didn't have the dollar, the de facto reserve we would be greece. it's not going to be fixed without leadership from you. the republicans maintain control of the house. and we have divided government, he has to take the lead. he may score some short term victories over the republicans. in the meaning of long term, it's his enchilada. >> president clinton, secretary of the treasury, robert rubin. >> when people look at what president obama should do. there are a number of people who say, well, he's got to get the fiscal house in order, he's got to deal with the deficit. why is that important? >> i think it's important to design a sound fiscal program that both contributes to job creation and recovery in the short term, i absolutely believe programs do that by creating confidence and creating fiscal room for a moderate s

president and mrs. obama attended services with their daughters at the metropolitan african methodist episcopal church. they celebrated slain civil rights leader, reverend martin luther king jr. at one of the most historic churches in washington. and tomorrow is of course, the main event. some 800,000 people expected to pack the west front of the capitol to watch president obama publicly take his oath of office. the president has already started his second term, he took the oath earlier today in an intimate swearing-in ceremony in the blue room of the white house. i want you to take a look. >> please raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> i, barack hussein obama, do solemnly swear. >> that i will execute the office of president to the united states faithfully. >> that i will execute -- >> faithfully the office of president of the united states faithfully. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states.

the philosophy president obama promoted when he ran for president in 2008 is now mainstream political thinking in this country. >> that's the promise of america. the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation. the fundamental belief that i am my brother's keeper, i am my sister's keeper. that's the promise we need to keep. that's the change we need right now. >> if president obama has anything to say about it, we will remain our brother's keeper for the next four years. it is not only the way things ought to be, it's the way things are. let me go back into the trash can here and tell a story about rush limbaugh. oh, let's get it correctly. not upside down, of course. this was hot 20 years ago. and since then, they got the microphone. the telecommunications bill came down, and now you can have 500 people across the country saying the same things rush limbaugh says every day. how come they didn't win the presidency? how come they don't own the senate? why did they have to gerrymander all these districts to have to hang on to the house? and wh

so far, president obama has put two justices on high court, both women, both considered progressives, left of center, and tonight, we look at what is ahead. >> in the event there is a vacancy the president is going do come under immense political pressure to swing. >> after initial g.o.p. resistance successfully placed two nominees on the high of the court during his first term. justices sotomayor and justice kagan but he will not have to answer to voters again and many believe he is under pressure to go with a more progressive pick. >> you will hear a lot of the base and the activist groups pushing him hard, a home run appointment. >> the court is split with justice kennedy often serving as a swing vote. with four justices now well if their 70's including ginsburg who will be 80 in march, it is likely the president will have additional opportunity to shape the court but he will have to go through the senate. the democrats with the help of two independents have a 10-vote advantage, 55-45 it take only 40 votes to filibuster the nominee. >> it should be an extraordinary step to filibust

hundreds of thousands packed into the national mall on monday for president obama's second term inauguration. in an address many saw as a blueprint for a more progressive second term domestic agenda than his first, obama vowed to continue to fight to seek equality for the rights of women and of payment and lesbians. >> our journey is not complete until our wives, mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. [applause] our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. >> in making those comments, obama became the first u.s. president ever to use the word "gay" in an inaugural address. he also give a nod to voting rights, immigration reform and his recent push for gun control. >> our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. [applause] our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see america as th

that's the risk president obama -- >> interesting in this cnn poll that just come out, how is president handling his job as president, approve 53%, disapprove 42%. but when they are asked how is the country headed, right direction 35%, wrong direction, 57%. they approve of the president but think he's going completely in the wrong direction. he's a lucky boy, many would argue, that he's gotten a second term, given the state of the economy, given the fact that most americans think the country is going in the wrong direction. he's been given that lucky second chance. and he campaigned well. you have to give him that. what are his challenges in the second term? >> the first thing every president has to be careful of in a second term, as margaret alluded to is overreach. there's a period after you win. your first-term policies seem to have been validated, that you look at those results and you think you're all powerful. the famous example in recent history is george w. bush. in 2005, remember he came out and did that press conference and said he had political capital and meant to spend it a

it is the adopted, president obama but also the adopted home of president lincoln. t he was going to run for president of the united states which seemed like a sensible move at the time and it came to fruition. her point about modern slavery is well taken. i'm sure she is pleased that the president is attempting to work on that issue as well. guest: i think that's right, there is a significant issue around modern-day slavery. the state department has taken this issue up in a number of different ways. certainly, there is a lot more education that needs to be done around this concern. it is not only in the developing world where we think of places like latin america and africa but often in what we call the developed world, western europe and even the united states with people who are trafficking and an up essentially in a slavery- like situation. host: thank you both very much for spending the last hour and a half hour program discussing inauguration day 2013. the house of representatives is about to come in and lee universe as he is performing on the west front. the p

the hearings are coming in the first week of president obama's second term. nghazi cop trntroversy is the only issue to dog the president's second term. we will talk to richard goodstein and roger tram is here, and the former communications drirector for rik santorum. let's start with the benghazi investigation here as we talked about carrying over into the second term, can republicans use this at all, richard, to discredit the president on foreign policy? >> i have to say that i think that benghazi is largely a function of people who suffer from obama-derangement syndrome, because i think that people who are kind of looking at the facts, does this trace to the white house, and does it trace to the president or the secretary of the state, and i h think that every bit of information that we have so far the answer to all of the questions so far is no. might they keep hammering it? of course, but at the end of the day, i don't believe we will look back in the second term and said, man, they should have gotten that benghazi behind them, because they have. >> and d

president obama faces as president clinton and george w.re him the challenge of giving a second inaugural message to the american people. what advice would you give him? >> i would say be very conciliatory. that is what -- whether he feels it or not, that is what i think he has to do. if he is not it will be an insight whether or not he is experiencing that second term malady that many presidents experience, hubris, there are too many rhetorical flourishes, these is thinking about his lebanon si after gibes that he wants to do battled in 2014 and take complete power and move this country further down the road he wants it to go. i would watch for that. is it conciliatory. >> heather: i want to take a look at favorability ratings. president obama is down as he heads into second term, it's 48% compared to president bush who was 57% as he entered second term. president clinton down slightly and president reagan who was up 51 to 64%. so brad, does president obama face an uphill battle from here? >> he does. all the more reason to be conciliatory

theme music ♪ ] >> michael: well despite what donnie fowler may have thought of the address, president obamaesponse to the address. >> obama: we, the people still believe that endureing security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. we'll renew institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad. for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than the most powerful nation. >> michael: what clues can we glean of how president obama will conduct foreign policy in his second term. we go go to jeanine a visiting professor, we welcome you back inside "the war room," jeannine. >> thanks, michael. >> michael: is it fair to say that the bush era of foreign policy one where the united states went into war without provocation is over. >> it's clear from president obama's address that we won't be searching for new conflicts to take the end of. he stressed the need for alliances and to resolve differences peacefully. that may be a key line that is not receiving much attention domestically but in iran's nuclear program i think he's looking to step back and take an auxiliary role o

president obama has tried. ink presidents have to change, try to change the culture in which they are placed. in this case, this division that we have in the country isn't going to be healed. it wasn't healed by president clinton. it wasn't healed by president bush. it has not been healed by president obama be . >> you're saying it doesn't matter what he says tomorrow. he should just be ruthless. >> i think he's got to pursue his agenda with way president lincoln did. yes, with relentless commitment. i think the central political miscalculation of his first term is he thought his mere presence would bank those partisan. >> you're going to be saying yada, yada in his head. >> i think the more elegant way to say this -- >> what my client meant to say. >> i think he needs to say he wants unity but not unity at all costs. there's something more important that be just people getting along in this town. they deserve a better economy. he's got to show the willingness to work with anybody but also the willingness to wor

final one classic president obama, and what he emphasizeed throughout the campaign, for better or forords. let's see if he follows through on action. here he is again. >> obama: fidelity to our found founding principles requires new responses to our new challenges, preserveing individual freedom ultimately requires collective action. now more than ever we must do these things together as one nation, one people. my fellow americans we are made for this moment, and we will see so long as we seize it together. >> cenk: this moment, i hope so. i hope we can seize it together. the republicans, of course, have not always been willing to work together. that's not how president obama deals with it. that's an interesting topic one that we'll discuss not only today but throughout, and the president on a good-news front has a new strategy which is not to rely on the republicans so much. here, here on that. we'll bring in a couple of experts, michael shure, our own epics politics man and joe williams dc reporter and commentator, it's great to have both of you guys on. joe, let me start with you f

pass laws by popular vote and it's really becoming the issue of the day you know we have the president obama's inauguration is today but it's still the same president we still kind of have the same makeup in congress so and that way a lot of people are saying we haven't seen a lot of change in terms of the politics but i think some of the big changes are in these ballots course these states are big victories for gay marriage also big victories for marijuana two states voted to legalize it for recreational use so this is really i mean abbi what do you think how does this kind of shift. i think. there's a point in this administration has been really fulfilling the promises that he set forth in two thousand and eight that's really amazing and it's really giving me hope more than anything else to see these states really take initiative take it upon themselves legalizing gay marriage having these referendums to really allow marijuana for recreational use i mean that is precedented what i am worried about however is seeing the same kind of federal crackdowns and blockage of the state referendums lik

president obama is en route to nevada at this hour. a state that has come to symbolize the power and importance of the growing latino vote. the president is expected to lay out his own vision for immigration reform and show his public support for the bipartisan senate plan that was announced only yesterday. >> joining me now for our daily fix chris cali sfwl sxwl a, managing editor of post politics.com, and susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today. chris, what we are told is contrary to some reports that there is not a great deal of distance between what the president is going to say tow today and what the senate announced, at least as far as it goes, if the senate were to collapse, the senate plan were to collapse, then he might come out with perhaps a more liberal plan, but he is pretty much in sync on the advice of the congressional hispanic caucus to stay in line with what they're doing on the hill? >> that's incredibly meaningful because what that means is that it's not two tracks that this is running on. it's one track. t

would president obama have nominated hagel if president obama truly believed that hagel was anti-israel? pat. >> no, he would not. and hagel is not anti-israel. what he is, he puts his own country first, and he's tired of these resolutions the israeli lobby brings up and tells him to sign on. this is a gay, john, who has fought for his country and bled for his country and puts his own country first. he does believe in this. like nixon, like ike, like reagan, like bush i, he believes in talking to our adversaries and enemies. that includes cuba, iran, hezbollah, and i don't know how you prevent a war unless you talk to both sides. >> that's what candidate obama said in 2008. these two men are very much in sync. i'm not the first to say this, this is really a band of brothers. the president, vice president biden, john kerry secretary of state is and chuck hagel, if they're all confirmed, they all served together on the senate foreign relations committee. so they really know each other, and they are in sync in a way that i don't think we've seen a team like this before. this isn't a team o

president obama taking the oath of office for the final time. all along where i'm standing there are big screens to help people get as close a view as possible, even as they are prodded several blocks back from where the ceremony is actually taking place. the president won't be sworn in until just before noon. the ceremony does begin much sooner, closer to 9:30. people are going to need to dress warm because it is chilly out here this morning. security force this event is tight. up to 150 blocks around where i'm standing are shut down. thousands of servicemen and officers are here dealing with crowd control and also security. there's also a 30 mile no fly zone. after the ceremony will be the parade. one of the highlights are going to be eight floats dedicated to the first and second families and then also civil rights, one specifically dedicated to martin luther king jr. of course, the first lady and president obama will round out all these festivities and an entire weekend full of celebration with the two balls, up to 40,000 people are expected

president obama knows this. he proved it before, and he is not going to play games with economic stability. >> so we have to pay our bills. and republicans in congress have two choices here, they can act responsibly and pay america's bills. or they can act irresponsibly and put america through another economic crisis. but they will not collect a ransom in exchange for crashing the american economy. the financial well being of the american people is not leverage to be used. the full faith and credit of the united states of america is not a bargaining chip. and they had better choose quickly, because time is running short. >> the president, simple and direct, everybody on the same page now? naturally the republican leaders decided to confuse and distract one more time. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell decided to link the debt to spending, saying the president and his allies need to get serious about spending, the debate is the perfect time for it. house speaker john boehner also ignored the obligation to p

now how would you compare president obama has administration to the bush administration with the exception of the formal ban on torture i'm honestly not seeing a lot of difference between the obama administration in the bush administration except maybe that the obama administration has killed far more people using drones than the bush administration ever did but i've believed from just about the beginning of the obama presidency that this was really an extension of the bush counterterrorism policy there was nothing new and gentle and i know that you've worked with with whistleblowers what do you think how do you turn view president obama and compare that to the bush administration especially in light of him saying that his administration is going to be one that is transparent well first of all i should say that both john and i have voted for obama so this is not being an anti obama thing but obama took the bush secrecy regime and expanded that by an order of magnitude everything including classification numbers have gone up the number of people being targeted for assassination has gone up

hagel as his message to these really hard liners we actually heard president obama say there is toomuch war talk going on and maybe nominating chuck hagel is his way of bringing down the tension and not not everybody here in washington likes that message but what's interesting since the beginning of the attack campaign against chuck hagel over these two months or so many of the attackers have sort of withdrawn their objections over chuck hagel nomination some say could be because they were see behind closed doors that as defense secretary chuck hagel is not going to make any drastic moves to really challenge washington's foreign policy with the doxies. well gary is government doris' of the energy independence it's just best to block a russian finance nuclear power plant after a invalidating and national referendum that backed the construction plan. wealthy british study done. time to. go to. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports on our. sigrid laborat

something i do have to ask you is that this leak on seems to be conveniently timed to actually help president obama and the democrats in to win the election really so shivery really expect to see somebody prosecuted for this stuxnet leak. but it's true that this makes the obama administration look good it's the same thing you can say about the selective leaking mexican used to go on around the drone program i don't know if anybody will be held it responsible but i think what is remarkable is that we have seen an investigation like this this blanket investigation happened back in two thousand and ten at the federal drug administration and they were going after critics of the medical review process and going and targeting f.d.a. scientists that were outspoken so what is clear is that the nature of this investigation is intended to clamp down on people who are talking about the government and how it is operating now one thing i do have to ask you what's going to come to about to the journalists or is there anything that can come to the journalists that actually came upon this information should we exp

president obama. >> barack obama is a socialist. iscating hard-earned dollars. >> four years of that garbage plastering the air waves. and what did they get for it? four more years of president barack obama. joinli i joining me now, secretary of labor. even before she was on the job, no stranger to right wing attacks. >>> now, you're stepping down and you've seen this right wing machine up close. are you going to miss this group? >> you know what, i'm going to fight even harder back home and where ever i am, i'm going to be there to support the president's agenda whether it's immigration reform or economic development in our poor communities. coal miners that are suffering and folks in the middle class that have been the target of the tea party and the republican right that doesn't seem to notice that people paf taxes. no matter what, everyone here should be paying their fair share. i don't know why these folks want to defend the very wealthy who haven't paid their fair share. we need fairness. we need a balance. and that's what this

at this time my wife diana and i invite president and mrs. obama and vice president and dr. ul vases. [ applause ] >> okay, i am now pleased to invite my colleague, house democratic leader nancy pelosi to the podium to present the memento, is that you all will receive as you leave stat ware hall. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman schumer and cochair, vice chair alexander for a wonderful, wonderful inauguration. mr. president, mr. president, mr. president, first lady, first lady, first lady -- dr. biden to all of our distinguished guests. so far you've heard of gifts to the president and the vice president, i'll tell you about the gift for you. freedom now stands on the dome of the capitol of the united states. may she stand there forever not only in form but in spirit. those were the words that were expressed 150 years ago by the commissioner of public buildings as the statue of freedom was placed atop the capitol during the presidency of lincoln. that expression of the spirit of freedom is what we want to you take with you today and is contained in this portfolio that you

president's list. analysts say in order to get his agenda through, mr. obama will have to act quickly. >> but i think most experts in washington believe that realistically, if the president wants to accomplish big things in his second term, he's got about two years to do it. >> reporter: white house officials say president obama is putting the final touches on his inauguration address, even reading the speeches of past two-term presidents. lester? >> kristen welker tonight, thank you. for more i'm joined by david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." david, four years ago we were talking about the honeymoon period, that clearly isn't happening this time, but is there a reset here? >> the president was popular in the re-election. he wanted tax increases for the wealthy, he got those. his party is united but he faces a very difficult environment in washington and immediately after this inauguration, he is back in the brew of a fight over the debt and the fight over the gun legislation that he wants so it's a pretty toxic atmosphere here. >> you covered both te