than the ousting of president obama? i think you're close to the truth, john. president obama is in serious trouble as a president and a candidate, partly because of a lot of news on the economic front looks like it's even getting worse, but what these polls show us is that as charlie cook said, this race is becoming the republican party's to lose in 2012. the polls also show that the entire republican field it looks like including the controversial ones like michele bachmann may be acceptable to the american people, more importantly acceptable to the independents. everything, though, depends on the -- depends on what happens in the economy, john, because obama is still well liked by the amamican people and they still want him to succeed. >> i don't know how you -- his extraordinary weaknesses demonstrated in the polls. >> the american people have not given up on him. but in talking to various democratic operatives this week, they're close to despair about whether he will be able to turn this around. now, he's had low po

>> the obama campaign thinks mitt romney is weird. >> mitt romney, get the phone. >> they plan an aggressive counter attack. >> assault on mitt romney's personality and also his business background. americans think he's awkward, they mention his love of skinny jeans. >> the other guy looks weird in skinny jeans. >> weird. >> shiny balls. >> weird. >> and "newsweek" cannot knock michele bachmann off message. >> an unflattering "newsweek" cover. >> ah-ha. >> what's the power behind your campaign in. >> i'm an iowan and i was born here. >> i can call this napkin a paper towel, but it is a napkin. >>> good evening from washington, we are now just one hour away from polls closing in wisconsin where democrats are trying to take back control of the state senate through a recall election and make history in the process. when republican governor scott walker signed a budget bill in march stripping employees of their bargaining rights, democrats vowed to continue the fight through the recall process, but republicans used the recall process too. petitions were filed to recall six republican senators an

of getting something through the republicans in congress. obama administration has announced plans to suspend deportation proceedings on immigrants. the department of homeland security will undergo a review of 300,000 people and will allow those deemed a low priority to apply for work permits to stay in the country temporarily. this policy chachk has two impacts, one is political. when he was sworn into office in january 2009, president obama held a 74% approval rating in the hispanic community, after he was sworn in, that went up to 85%. now this week according to the latest gallup poll it's down to 49%. protestors turned up this week across the country at democratic party offices, not to cheer president obama on, but to protest his deportation policies, so this sort of change in policy on this issue does have the potential help president obama with a community he does need help with that gives latino voters a nice, stark choice between the two parties more importantly, this policy shift has the potential to have a very large and very practical i

but the obama family does not own a vacation home. which means that when they go on vacation, they rent a place. starting today, they are renting a place in martha's vineyard in massachusetts. now the massachusetts republican party responded to this news of president obama and his family visiting their state with as much furious snark as they could muster. they released a sarcastic welcome message that starts, dear prez-o, and bashes him for talking about the economy and for having the tamarity to visit massachusetts. it is signed by the people of the massachusetts. the republican party of the state of massachusetts claiming they could sign for the whole state is a bit of an overexcited stretch. but in the massachusetts republican party's we wish the president wouldn't vacation here sarcastic letter, it ends with this ps. ps, aerosmith wants their tour bus back. oh, touche! the aerosmith tour bus. the massachusetts republican party just nailed the obama administration for using the aerosmith tour bus, except the aerosmith tour bus was

>> i like the response, but to a point, the barack obama point, remember, part of the reason barack obama a list of reasons, but if you attack someone and angle them in the wrong way, it's just human instinct, people are going to come to her defense. megyn: protect the person being attacked. >> you have to be careful. if you really open up -- >> megyn: fire in. >> i'm letting you know, byron! megyn: okay, so let's move on. speaking of michele bachmann, she came under fire this week or actually, people came to her defense, newsweek came under fire after putting this cover of her on it and she's got the eyes going and it says queen of rage at the bottom. we'll, well get it up in a second. queen of rage. you can see she's not directly looking into the camera and newsweek basically said we couldn't find a good picture of her, this is 'thunderstorms -- this is it! it captured her intense fe and -- intensity and michele bachmann spoke to it on the today show. >> it really didn't impact me that much because over this last week, the united states has received a punch to the gut. we've seen the st

at the very beginning of the obama presidency. i was there on the mall when the president was inaugurated. you thought that perhaps all of america was there. there were a million and a half people there. but it wasn't all of america. it was barack obama's people. the corporate leaders for the most part decided from day one that that crowd and that president they saw taking oath was not their president. >> it was like the secessionists. you know the way you phrase that because ofour history sense, it was almost like he was being inaugurated. right? and divide. >> well, that's my view of it. i think the president made some efforts to reach out. i don't know how wholeheartedly because i think he felt from the beginning that his overtures would be rejected. the way the things started here in washington from the very beginning was quite icy and quite distant from the get-go in the beginning of the obama presidency. >> and the positive side of that day is the first time that real washington, urban washington, a city we both lived in for

ray of hope that at least there was somebody out there like that who had the guts to stand up to the obama administration he was standing his ground and he realized that this would let the banks get away without justice being due. that's what we thought yesterday and then came this piece of news has been kicked off of the executive committee it was made up of thirteen attorneys general who were involved in the direct negotiations with the banks but you guys hear that the one man who was opposed to this bogus deal has now just been booted from the committee that's what you get for having a mind of your own these days for daring to stand up to corruption the powers that be just kick you off and remove you from the entire process that is a big deal i have got something of the mainstream media is content to miss. now as the search for moammar gadhafi continues as well as the fighting between rebel and broke off the forces in tripoli we got another reminder today about how quickly things to change and a massive jump of fifty five thousand more state department cables by wiki leaks we saw the fi

the economy. that's an idea. obamald come up with one. >> bill: republicans are never going to vote for income tax rise because of the economic situation. do i believe they would plug loopholes like trillions of dollars being stashed overseas. maybe i'm wrong. mary katharine and juan, thank you. what should do you with your money? assuming you have any. wayne rodgers a very astute investor will be here. bernie goldberg furious about some of the media coverage of the debacle. we hope you stay tuned to those reports. [ male announcer imagine all of your missed opportunities in one place. ♪ the front-row tickets you never bought. the lucrative investment you never made. the exotic vacation you never took. but there's one opportunity that's too good to miss. the lexus golden opportunity sales event, with exceptional values on the lexus rx. but only until september 6th. see your lexus dealer. >> bill: personal story segment tonight as mentioned the dow lost more than 630 points today. nasdaq lost for thatly 175 points. mill

and that includes the budget of the united states government. neither mr. obama nor congressional democrats can repeal this law of mathematics. the federal budget of the united states government will eventually balance. as all of them do. either -- whether it's a person or a government or a business. when they continue to spend money that they don't have, someone sooner or later has to make up the difference. the question with our federal budget is whether the white house and those of us in this body will balance this budget ourselves by wise policy or national bankruptcy and financial ruin will do it for us. from the day barack obama walked into the white house he has with breathtaking arrogance, mr. speaker, absolutely ignored economic and financial reality. it took america the first 216 years of its existence to accumulate the debt that barack obama has accumulated in the short 2 1/2-year span of his presidency. during his short time in office he has increased our federal debt by nearly $4 trillion, mr. speaker. and just to put that nearly $4 trillion in new d

is it a surprise congress is in the dark and is this good for obama? look, i think from the very beginning congress has completely abdicated their role in all of this. they should have either authorized it or not. frankly, president obama should have gone to congress and asked for that type of authorization. is it good for obama? i guess we'll know in six months what happens on the ground there. maybe it'll be a year. maybe we won't. i think that it's better than if we were to continue on this -- on this path without any type of results. >> how do you assess both the -- how the politics of this play for obama and in your own home country, david cameron was among the first to release some of the assets to the new transitional council. how do you see this shaping zblup we had a six-hour debate in parliament about libya early on. david cameron didn't need to do that. i am finding it very extraordinary where here in america, many he should have gone to congress, he didn't. i don't know. there are massive problems at the moment facing especially sarkozy and

the question isn't whether president obama should or how. i'm telling him how. show the bridge, the rotten roads, the broken down sewer and water systems. put it in their faces. the question, is when. political fallout. americans are angered at everything from the president on down but voters have thrown out just one party. not both. if there's another wave election next year, who's going to get drowned? plus, is president obama about to run a bush-style swift vote campaign? politico reports that the president's team has decided mr. romney's numbers are so weak, mr. obama's numbers are so weak, the only way to win next time, to destroy the likely challenger, who they believe is mitt romney. has hope been changed and replaced by dig up and destroy? and on wisconsin -- in fact, on wisconsin, democrats get their chance to get even with anti-labor republican leader scott walker today. six republicans face recall tonight, and if the democrats can pick up three seats out there out of six, they will regain control of the state senate in wisconsin. this is more than a lo

the whole world knew. it is stomach turning. obama had to sort of -- he mastered legislation in that case, and it killed him. >> what lyndon johnson would have said is the important thing is -- lyndon johnson was always trying to say the important thing is to get the bill passed. we can always go back and fix it. once they lose their virginity, it will be easier next time. that is the guide. he has a lot of phrases like that. he would say we got it through. my feeling is that obama could say the same thing. we have a health care bill. it will be easier to fix it then to pass a bill -- i am not saying i do not think it is a bad bill. it is a bad bill. it will be easier to fix it then to start over again. >> is all about politics? is it all about whether he can govern, and not living up to campaign promises? how much of what we are seeing has to do with personality? is there, historically, a president who has withstood so much comment about is he too aloof, is he not down and dirty enough, is he to down and dirty, is he not part of the

the race. here is rick perry with obama's policies. tional telegraph today, perry says quote this president is trying to engage in class warfare and shooting high-powered bullets -- don't use these references -- at people who have corporate jets, but the bullets hit those wealthy individuals who risk capital to create the jobs. don't they know in texas to stop using bullets as reference point for presidential candidates? i'm sorry. stop it. >> it bothers me as well. i tell you, the kind of rhetoric, that kind of rhetoric, as you said, is the rhetoric that will win the primary -- could win, the nomination, next year for the republicans. rick perry has run a primary race. all these things whether it appeals to christian conservatives or rhetoric against obama, all a dog whis toelt constituencies that name the nominee. then he will worry about the general. >> yeah. you think? >> do you think he has the message that sells on the right? >> i think he -- the far right absolutely for right now. the question is, if he gets anywhere -- if he can

i mean when the obama did it the obama's are not now nor were they before and they were in the white house middle class average people they have always been successful they've worked hard why would they go to myrtle beach you know which from what i know is strip clubs and trailer parks you know maybe three nice beach areas. you know why would they go there when it's things like that would be a harder area as well to secure with all the you know security detail they have to bring it down well because put it you only have to go back a couple of years in the obama's were not in fact wealthy they were in fact middle class in their upper middle class but when they were. in living in chicago presumably they occasionally went to you know maybe perhaps american america or a back in exile or places that were a little closer the problem with this particular location martha's vineyard is it is known as just the hot bed of the wealthiest people the biggest celebrities and hey you could say i'm jealous because i didn't get invited to go this summer but still it is not good symbolism when you are

the president's team has decided mr. romney's numbers are so weak, mr. obama's numbers are so weak, the only way to win next time, to destroy the likely challenger, who they believe is mitt romney. has hope been changed and replaced by dig up and destroy? >>> and on wisconsin -- in fact, on wisconsin, democrats get their chance to get even with anti-labor republican leader scott walker today. six republican state senators face recall tonight, and if the democrats can pick up three seats out there out of six, they will regain control of the state senate in wisconsin. this is more than a local fight. this is the first big fight politically of the 2012 electoral cycle. on a day president obama was at dover air force base as the bodies of the navy s.e.a.l.s were brought home, let me finish tonight with some big questions about our mission in afghanistan. i can't think of a better time to ask what exactly is it? >>> we start with what the president should be doing about jobs. howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and a huffington post media group editorial dir

the obama administration is strangling it. we will present a rock solid case. ion, you are about to enter the no spin zone. the factor begins right now. captions by closed captioning services >> bill: hi, i'm bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. why america is losing power. that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. the united states remains the most powerful nation in the world. but we are losing steam. our power is not based on the military, which is the best in the world. our economic prosperity makes us strong. but here we are in decline. the debt deal this week accomplished one big thing. it kept u.s. bonds from being downgraded and that's huge. as we predicted here, moody's and other agencies now say they will keep america's a.a.a. rating intact at least for the moment. but there is little else good about the debt deal and the stock market knows it. it has almost 700 points in nine days. that's because wall street has little confidence that the obama administration and congress will do what's necessary to improve the economy. let

and welcome back all right so basically since the first week since president obama took office there have been popularity polls on attacks on his record on his citizenship calls for his resignation comparisons to hitler but now it looks like the real attacks have started the first major battle in what will no doubt be a long and vicious war the attack is actually on the first lady michelle obama in the form of a string of articles and criticisms on her lifestyle the most notable perhaps the daily mail a british tabloid and the u.s. tabloid the national enquirer they reported that michelle obama is quote a vacation junkie that she's been indulging in five star hotels where she splashes out on expensive massages and i'll call spending ten million dollars of u.s. taxpayers money according to these us how boids and that she's been going on wild shopping sprees that much to the distress of her husband who sources reveal is serious that his life out of control spending well earlier i spoke to t.j. walker the daily national managing editor of daily national dot com here's what he had to say.

did it the obama's art. not now nor were they before they were in the white house middle class average people they have always been successful they've worked hard why would they go to myrtle beach you know which from what i know is strip clubs and trailer parks you know maybe the nice beach areas. you know why would they go there when things like that would be a harder area as well to secure with all the you know security detail they have to bring with them well but put your only article back a couple of years in the obama's were not as wealthy they were in fact middle class or upper middle class but when they were in you know living in chicago presumably the occasional he went to you know maybe perhaps or i back in ireland or places that were a little closer the problem with this particular location martha's vineyard is it is it's just the hotbed of the wilt the ist people the biggest celebrities and you can say i'm jealous because i didn't get invited to go this summer but still it is good symbolism when y

>> tonight on c-span, historians and evaluate the obama presidency. the co-founders of twitter talk about the future of the internet and how the u.s. can assist the pro-democracy movement. >> recently, presidential biographer's met to evaluate barack obama's presidency. brands, alter, and packer l sat down andynn sherr. >> i found myself behind a car with an obama 2008 a bumper sticker on it. my initial reaction was, thank goodness there is someone that keeps a car as long as i do. then i looked closely. i realized that the bumper sticker was worn, abused by the elements. it was still quite legible. it was very red, white, and blue. not to be too silly, i wondered if that was some kind of metaphor for what this president is now going through. how successful is he? how bruised is he? how is he doing? i want to start out by saying that if i were president obama, i'm not sure i would want to be here this afternoon to hear the answer. with all due respect, the idea of being discussed and dissected by the biographer's of lyndon baines johnson and franklin a

simply put, average americans are getting clobbered in the obama economy. there was also more bad news on jobless front. claims are up to 408,000, the highest in a month. despite the dire situation, president obama isn't worried about another recession. >> i don't think we're in danger of another recession, but we are in danger of not having a recovery that's fast enough to deal with what is a genuine unemployment crisis for a whole lot of folks out there. that's why we need to be doing more. >> laura: however, today morgan stanley said that the united states was, quote, dangerously close to a recession and you are calling whom to believe. joining us now from washington fox news business analyst tobin smith and here in new york kelly evan, a columnist for the "wall street journal." >> kelly, my first question to you morgan stanley comes out with this report in these series of comments. it was pretty ugly, pretty dire. the market went down further when this was released. why is morgan stanley coming out with this now. >> what is interesting is that morgan sta

white voters prefer the republican but in 2008, barack obama didn't do too badly with whites. what about next time? will the racial divide grow wide and nasty? and finally, dick cheney and the tea party. does his hawkishness sell the republican voters? do they have a champion in the fight this time? so far you have to say no. welcome to the show. with us today, new york magazine's john holman, cynthia tucker, the "new york times's" helene cooper and "time" magazine's richard sten gal. the very fact of president barack obama is a resounding affirmation. two generations later of dr. martin luther king's dream. it was 42 years ago today that dr. king talked about america as a shining city on the hill. that seemed to be coming true two years ago today when barack obama wove that into his speech. >> that promise 45 years ago today brought americans from every corner of the land to stand together on the mall in washington before lincoln's memorial and hear a young preacher from georgia speak of his dream. >> he went on to win 43% of white votes in that election and that may sound low

i think the unemployment rate is what it comes down to for president obama. i think. d the white house. the white house officials, that's what they come back to. >> is it color blind or is the focus on his background? >> i think if you look at it through the prizm of class, not race, you see something going on in an interesting way in this country. down market voters, many of whom are white, making under $30,000 a year, who don't have high school educations, migrating to the g.o.p. what you had in the last election, one out of five voters made over $100,000 a year. obama won them by an overwhelming margin. that's an interesting class divide, not so much a race divide. >> that's pretty traditional, the white working class feels threatened by change. what do you say when you hear republicans like reck perry say, we're going to take our country back, not the white house back, what does that mean if it doesn't have a racial ting to it? >> i think it absolutely has a racial ting. that's not the same thing as calling, saying that they're racist. but they are using what activ

but first let's see what russians think about the libyan intervention. obama doctrine is a doctrine or an interventionist strategy in his speech at the national defense university barack obama articulated the grounds for the intervention in libya and now many say into reveals the beginnings of a million regarding league use of u.s. military supports the russian public opinion research center all citizens if this support the international military operation in libya sixty four percent said they do not and then the other twenty percent of the respondents expressed their support still the obama doctrine has yet to be declared but presidential dr have an impact on american policy and as a result of the entire world. and its i'd like to go back to you in paris here a lot of people will say and i want to talk about george w. bush in this part of the program but obama had a sudden attack of stupid idealism. do you think that's a fair thing to say because again if we look at interventions in the past a lot of people can say you know what panama was except successful y

and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture president obama is considering a new idea to finally get the wheels turning in the american economy so will his new plan aimed at helping homeowners bring some much needed stimulus to main street or will wall street seven tell you this idea too and new york's attorney general is leading the fight to hold banks toure's accountable for their high crimes so why is president obama stopping and trying to sweep wall streets this in deeds under the rug. you need to know this a new congressional budget office report brings bad news for president obama according to the report unemployment will likely be at or above eight point five percent through next year's elections reason cited for persistent unemployment is weakness in demand as in not enough people have enough money in their pockets to spend and stimulate the economy and republicans have done one heck of a job keeping it that way by making sure any programs put forward by democrats to help the unemployed and get people collecting paycheck. so. as resorting to desperate measures get money b

>> you can do the right thing and have it turn out to be good politics. barack obama, good day. >> we'll see you back here tomorrow. much more on libya and all the 2012 politics happening before. stick around right now for "the daily rundown." we'll see you tomorrow. >>> tripoli is falling. rebels reach gadhafi's doorstep after six months of fighting. a fierce battle reported this morning outside gadhafi's compound. but where is the libyan leader and what comes next? >>> president obama says gadhafi's rule has come to an end. is this a vindication for the white house's handling of the war? the 2012 republican field may not agree. it's monday, august 22nd, 2011 and this is "the daily rundown." we'll have all the morning's top political news ahead this hour. but we begin with the fight for libya. unfolding in the country's capital today, rebels mount a charge against moammar gadhafi. there are reports of resistance from gadhafi loyalists. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engle is in tripoli. richard. >> there is an incredible feeling of optimism now in tripo

the dream act. so, what does obama do? epartment of homeland security issues regulations under the excuse of prosecutorial discretion which essentially enacts the dream act through regulation, meaning of the 300,000 cases out there of the people waiting to be deported, the regulation is now the instructions are now meets the criteria of the dream act is to be let off and even given a work permit. and that's a pretty radical in your face at the constitutional testimony system. >> there is a document people in the field how to handle. >> it's under homeland security. >> napolitano what what is it the attorney general? who signed that. >> it wasn't a secret. everybody in the administration knows about it. >> bill: ill know that's the policy essentially obama. it's not as if all of this was hidden from his view. >> the idea is they had said it's because of lack of resources. $3.7 trillion a year and it can't define the resources to actually look at all these cases individually. and this is a farce. you get $6 billion for exampl

the out-of-control spending. again, i disagree. president obama is the leader of his party and democrats control both houses of congress for the first two years of his administration. clearly mr. obama sets the tone for how the american economy is presented to the world and the stats are grim; since barack obama took office the national debt has increased by $4 trillion. that's in just two and a half years. in 8 years. under president bush, a big spender, the national dent increased 4. trillion. so doing the math, if mr. obama's spending jag continues as is, he would run up almost $13 trillion in debt if he serves two terms that's nearly three times what bush did and far more than any president in american history. now, we like wayne rogers and ben stein. they are smart and honest guys. they are missing the big picture here. the president of the united states sets the agenda. mr. obama's party tried to get out of the recession by spending tax dollars the nation didn't have. not only did unemployment get worse, but the massive debt is now a crisis.

the house. he ran through obama care but he couldn't deal with immigration. now he has republicans in the house in charge and he descends to a level of attack, which i think is very sad for a president of the united states on an issue like that. >> that, eric, i am certificate former speaker on immigration and also had very sharp criticism on the president's economic leadership in the supercommittee as well. pretty strong performance. will it make a difference? >> no. newt gingrich's problem has never been his debate performance. he's had fantastic debate performances the entire time. but his problems are organizational, managerial, financial. no one can deny newt gingrich is not an excellent debater or speaker. they don't get anyone to the white house. >> at the top, we played governor pawlenty actually turning to mitt romney and using the term obama care. they were couple feet apart. michele bachmann in the middle tonight. he said obama care. he stood by it. that was a redo of this moment from our debate. >> why would you chose -- choose those words maybe in

most people still blame george bush for the economy, not barack obama. number two, rick perry hasn't answered questions nationally and is going to try to run away from the national press corps, i don't know if he can do it. there are questions about his record people haven't explored. some people, especially the bush people, think that rick perry is shallow. they say he's only in for the sound bites. you know, when proponents of george bush -- chris: when supporters of george w. bush accuse perry of being shallow, we've hit the mother load. >> i think democrats and the cast of "saturday night live" want to see perry as the nominee. chris: and a lot of focus on that guy. six months from now, david you pick this up here, who is going to be the hot hand in the republican fight? who will be the big name out of iowa? >> the big noise officially will be rick perry and the country will learn about him, look at his personality and his leadership skills and then we'll see. that's the great thing about a campaign, people look strong at the outset, sometimes have tr

who extended the bush tax cuts? obama just before we go off the air, you are now in favor of us doing away with the bush tax cuts? >> i'm in favor. >> thank you sean. >> thanks for joining us. >> i'm normal. >> sean: when i come back a final thought. your show starts? >> september 19th. >> watch his show he is not crazy like this. >> it is baggage, a dating show every night at 7:30. you will love it. frankly, you get tax breaks if you watch. >> sean: next our great, great, great american panel. hi...do you happen to have any brilliant silver altimas? yea, right over here. look t 'em all. what about a black frontier with utilitrack? absolutely. oh, great, that's awesome. what about a platinum graphite rogue with touch-screen nav, bluetooth, and...a moonroof? with or without leather? we got 'em both. [ sighs ] i gotta get back. [ male announcer ] the most innovative cars are also the most available cars. nissan. innovation for all. are also the most available cars. at exxon and mobil, we engineer smart gasoline that works a

and in the past, mr. obama has almost reveled in the criticism. >> i'm always amused when the pundits in washington, you know, say boy, you know, obama hasn't gotten this passed yet. some of his supporters are disappointed about this. you know, the campaign, it was so smooth. you know. and i'm thinking, what campaign were they watching? >> look, there's agreement among supporters and advisers that they know they have a perception problem. they may not agree on the depth of this issue when it comes to the idea of leadership, the idea of running washington, is he in control? but the division comes to, does he need to do something big like bring congress back? as you heard terry mcauliffe say earlier this week on this show. or is it an august swoon, the typical story since he was candidate obama going all the way back to august '07. only time will tell. harry reid announced his three picks to serve on the so-called super committee charged with coming up with $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction this fall. the three

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the right strategy as of now. he directs everything against barack obama. the winner of the last round in 2008, makes you the presumptive candidate if you are a republican. he stays out there, lets perry and bachmann compete for largely the same constituency. and now i yield my time to call the king. >> -- colby king. >> perry has to show he is a reasonable candidate. tom cole, republican from oklahoma, head of the national republican congressional committee, put it best about rick perry -- there is only one race, and that is the presidency. up to now, perry has been playing aaa bal pr. now it is another game altogether. >> there is a factor about perry, and that is a cultural one . the country had severe bush fatigue and a 2008 it still has a bit of it. i think that 2016 will be over in the country will be a nostalgic and jeb bush will be a viable and it. -- a viable candidate. when people look at perry, there is bush in him, the dress and manner and the swagger and the boots. look, it is not a liability in the sense that he did wrong. it is simply a fact a

here it is. >> the strategy's confusing to the american people only 21% believe president obama has a how to handle libya. it's demoralizing to our allies, particularly people often the ground we're trying to help. i think it's encouraging to our enemies. this strategy is going to lead to a stalemate. >> where do they stand tonight? >> they want to criticize obama for leading a successful campaign, with a minimum of blood and treasure. it's baffling to me you couldn't embrace this as a good outcome. >> tim dickinson, rolling stone magazine, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. >>> consistency is not one of mitt romney's strengths, but this time his flip-flopping went too far. psycho talk is next. r livingsocial, i started getting hooked up with deals all over the place. ♪ now i get the star treatment everywhere i go. ♪ surprise yourself at livingsocial.com. sign up for free to save at least 50% on the best of your town. >>> while many along the east coast brace for a visit from irene, residents of the gulf coast are still dealing with impact of hurricane katrina six years

the obama doctrine seems to be developed over the last two years.terally drop bombs on any country when ever we want to drop bombs on them, whether we declared war or not. >> cheney was a relentless liar and misuser of intelligence. it's important, obviously, it's important because it got us into the biggest disaster this country has been into. with obama, it's drift. incredible drift. it's the same doctrine in a way. we are in regime change mode. we are saying to assad you have to go. we are thinking we are going to determine who leads middle eastern countries. we don't have the means to do it or the finances to do it. we are breaking apart with this foreign policy. to that, i agree with you. with cheney, you have to put him in a category. >> it makes you feel better to call dick cheney a liar. >> miserable. >> it makes you feel better to call him a liar and easier to admit that barack obama is actually more accessive on some fronts as far as unilateralism goes. the things that made him so low -- for instance, having cia guys going in and kicking d

the question is, what has president obama learned about politics? [laughter] >> sorry you asked me that. i think that so what -- so far, the things george and bill said, the difficulties of doing this, were really very well. but part of the problem is, senator obama was only a senator for three years and for part of that three years, and large part, he was out campaigning. it is very hard -- hard to learn the senate. it is really another world. so, when you come in -- i would like to think he was on and learning curve. >> but on the job learning is not what we want for our president, is it? >> can i say something about -- your great story about how lbj got the civil rights bill passed. the equivalent would be the healthcare bill. obama really needed every last vote. i studied that pretty carefully. i was in the senate allot during the last vote. he did it, got it done against great odds but i remember when scott brown was elected in massachusetts. many democrats said, forget it, we will never get it done. obama was the one who basically said, we are,