richard stengel is the editor of "time" magazine. kathleen parker is a "washington post" columnist and john heilemann covers politics for new york magazine. first up, president obama struggling. had i numbers are right on the 50-yard right now but the resistance to him is concentrated in a few groups. take a look inside the latest nbc-"wall street journal" poll. overall, 40% say they disapprove of the job he's doing. but in this -- in the south, that's 48% who disapprove. with older men, it's 51%. and with white evangelicals it's way up. 75% against him. during august, the anti-obama rhetoric is heating up. opponents are hitting him over professor gates, the sotomayor nomination. and this birther stuff. those opponents tend to be southerners. the birthers are spreading the rumor that obama was born in a muslim area of kenya. here's a louisiana congressman who didn't want to tamp it down. >> it's being looked at. >> what do you personally believe? do you think there's a question here? >> i think there are questions. we have to see. ch

and richard stengel, the editor of "time" magazine. kathleen parker is a columnist. and then we have john heilemann. the president seems stalled. he doesn't like gettinged blame. >> when i walked in, we had a $1.3 trillion deficit. >> ronald reagan dealt with almost the same thing trying to get going in the midst of a recession. reagan's downturn started in july of his first year and it took 14 months to get to morning in america. here's reagan at the same point obama is at now. >> we're starting down a rd that i believe will lead us out of the economic swamp we've been in. it'll take time for the effective tax rate reductions to be felt in increased savings, and productivity and new jobs. it'll take time for the budget cuts to reduce deficits. the thing to do is to hold to a firm steady course. >> here's what is left over from george bush. first the bailouts last fall. the housing bubble. the spending on iraq. but critics say obama's problems are partly his own making. first, a lack of a stiff punch. and now his health care plan that some say could be too big. wike,

>> richard stengel with "cops" following him. richard stengel, thanks so much.h about exercise." we'll be right back on "morning joe" when we return. tools are uncomplicated? nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose cla pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping is easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. come on. how about...a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. is if you run into a friend and you want to share a photo one, with a flick, there's an app for that. if you want to share contact info with a bump, there's an app for that. or if you just want to share some down time, well, there's an app for that too, because there's an app for just about anything. only on the iphone. >>> welcome back to "morning joe." 8:00 in the morning here on east coast, but we start out west, the home of one lawrence o'donnell. 5:00 in the mornin

editor rick stengel here to unveil this week's new cover and of course through the decades "time" magazine has had so many iconic cover stories, neil armstrong walking on the moon, richardweek's "time" magazine cover may be the greatest ever. >> i will not -- i will let willie make that claim. i won't make that claim. it's a terrific story about what's going on in a part of the country representative of a whole rest of the country. less vegas. the great joel stein went there like hunter thompson did many years ago and wrote a piece about what's going on there. the poster child for the excesses of the housing boom and then took a big bet on that and lost. they have the highest foreclosure rate in the country and now they're making a big bet on coming back. it's a fantastic, fun story into the heart of the american we sa cover. >> willie geist has been for years doing investigative reports behind the scenes, gritty, gumshoe human interest stories, and he's gone where few reporters have gone. willie, i turn this interview over to you. >> up close and personal. >> very close. some of us still believe in the promise of the american dream and that lives right there in las veg