>> mike viqueira tonight, thanks. >>> overseas to se s ts to syri president finds himself increasingly isolated and under siege by the international community. we are following the latest developments from cairo. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. in the face of that international pressure, president bashar al assad said today extended an amnesty covering political prisoners and anyone who may have taken up arms against the state in a ten-month uprising, saying it is also going to be applied against anyone who has defected from the army in those ten months. activists say that comes on a day that 27 people were killed, the united nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed so far in that ten-month uprising. that international condemnation you're talking about coming from the united nations secretary-general saying the era of one man rule in the middle east has come to an end. and that the syrian president must stop killing his own people. all of this coming as an arab league observer mission that has been here in syria for more than a month now is wrapping up its

i have mike viqueira at the white house and i have colonel jack jacobs here on set with me. i want to talk to you you mike, this is a presidential election year and we are tipping off the new year a few days fresh into this, talking about the economy and the president reminding us of foreign policy, obviously highlighting the fact that al qaeda has been diminished, osama bin laden has been captured and killed, moammar gadhafi has been killed, afghanistan is making progress. i mean, it's boom, boom, boom, one, two, three after the other, obviously now trying to highlight where he can shake things up when it comes to the fiscal responsibility, the economy and this government. >> clearly, you have to look at everything through a political prince prism once we head into a presidential election year and it was an unusual if not extraordinary appearance by the president down there at the pentagon in the pentagon press briefing room. you heard the president himself allude to the fact that no president himself has ever gone down there and appeared in that venue and for that reason a

mike viqueira, thank you very much. we want to talk more about the state of the union and bring in our company, daily news conservative column s.e. cup and msnbc news contributor karen hunter. good morning to both of you. >> gooed mornin ee eed -- good . >> president didn't mention mitt romney but listen to this. >> we don't bedrudge financial success in this country, we admire it. when americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of tacks, it's not because they envy the rich. it's because they understand that when i get a tax break i don't need and the country0lonú afford, it either adds to the deficit or somebody else has to make up the difference. >> somebody else has to make up the difference. do you get the sense that he might have been talking about someone in particular? >> no, i think he was answering a larger question, which was about this whole class warfare issue that the republicans seem to have laid out, and i think he answered it very well. it is true. you know, when we talk about warren buffet

for more on this, let's go to mike viqueira who is live at the white house and adjusting himself and i'll give you five seconds to do that. >> i like the way that sounds. >> the president announcing richard cordray is unlikely to draw praise from either capitol hill or wall street. is this the president, mike, simply taking action? he knows that republicans will oppose him on everything from i guess whether the sun rises in the east or whether consumers should be protected from predatory lenders? >> reporter: i think this is essentially the president daring republicans to do something about it. there are members of his own party. particularly members of the democratic base on the left that said the president needs to stand up to republicans and do something really bold. and by the definition, by the standards of washington, this is certainly it. this has never been done before. we call the house historian. you go back to the administration of teddy roosevelt and even then, there is no direct comparison. what he's done is made a recess appointment when the congress is not in recess. a

. >> nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house. obviously, mike, the white house expected this kind of response from the republicans. what are they saying? >> i think they actually welcomed that kind of response from republicans. what they want republicans to and do i think part of the plan here is for people like the presidential candidates, rick santorum and mitt romney as well as the congressional leaders here in washington, john boehner and mitch mcconnell who called it an illegitimate power grab they want them to raise their hands and fuss about process because every minute your opposition, this is an axiom in washington, is fussing about process, you are wing the argument because people tune that out. the president is looking bold. i think the lead story in the "washington post" today said in a bold move. that is exactly what the white house want, this is an unprecedented move, no question about that the congress is not technically in recess. they come in every three days, they drop the gavel, they wave their happeneds a litt

mike viqueira. we invite all of to you watch live coverage of the state of the union address tuesday night on msnbc. >>> new today, rescuers found a 13th victim of a costa concordia disaster. the woman was wearing a life jacket and has yet to be identified. meanwhile, there is new complications for the crew because officials say the ship was carrying unregistered passengers. the search is continuing among rough seas in the watt off of giglio, italy. what's going on, duncan? what's the latest there? >> reporter: hi, alex. yes. today a 13th body came off the costa concordia. like yesterday, it was a woman, she was wearing a life jacket. she was found a few floors above most of the other bodies have been found. authorities speculating that perhaps she was trying to run away as the waters rose as the costa concordia flipped over. finally, the costa concordia is opening up to rescuers. maybe divers have been blasting their way in to search for the missing. yesterday they pulled out the body of a woman we

we have mike viqueira, who is not, unfortunately, going to be riding the pirates of the caribbean ridebut is life with us at the white house. mike, we heard that that audience was not filled with folks in goofy sun hats, but actually men in suits and glasses, which leads me to think that president obama had a specific audience in mind, which is to say, business leaders. >> certainly. that is the theme he's trying to strike. you remember the obama administration around the time that bill daley came here to be chief of staff, the soon to be departed bill daley, of course, and the idea was to mend fences with the business community. didn't work out so well as it turns out, and bill daley's on his way out, but that doesn't mean that the president has given up hope of trying to build bridges with the business community. and today you saw him, or you heard him, talk about the need to expand tourism, to expedite, to do what he can through executive order, to expedite and expand the number of tourists from those emerging economies like china, india, and brazil to spend here, come here end and

i'm joined now by mike viqueira at the white house.e, a pretty bold move by the president to turn this down. and just as congress comes back to town. >> reporter: it was almost a foregone conclusion and a great point you make about congress coming back to town yesterday. one wonders why the president didn't get this out of the way before they had everybody together and were able to gather for a press conference and be carried live. it was the republicans who essentially forced the president's hand a point that the president went out of his way to make in a statement he just released. he called it the arbitrary nature of the deadline. just to take you back to last month and than fight about extending the payroll tax cuts, you remember republicans threw in this provision forcing the president to make a decision on the keystone pipeline. you recall his administration said it needed more time to study the environmental effects particularly on the sensitive area known as the sandhills in nebraska. coincidentally that decision was going to b

. >> nbc news white house correspondent mike viqueira joining me live from the white house. it looks like he's picking up right where he left off last night. >> the yeah, echoing a lot of the themes we heard last night. you're absolutely right, craig. he talked a lot about that tax. he's trying to end the tax deduction that encourages companies to actually outsource, open up plants and manufacture in other corruuntries. he wants to eliminatenality deduction and bring those jobs back home. he talked a lot about the millionaire's tax. the president reprising the line about common sense about having billionaires pay as much in taxes as their secretaries do. a lot of this, craig, really is larger than the individual issues because let's be honest, any objective analysis of where any of this stuff is going in an election with congress so badly divided, that prognosis is fairly grim. so the president is laying down some campaign themes. he's expected to do that. he's lunching with the staff now at that plant conveyor engineering and manufacturing where he gave that address. je jus

nbc news white house correspondent mike viqueira joins me to talk about this. mike, the president is going to be calling on congress to give him the power for this reorganization, the authority. exactly what is the president want to propose here and is congress going to get behind him on this one if they have been defined as this obstructionist movement? >> reporter: that's a great question, thomas. there is both more and less than meets the eye here. very interesting. the white house is calling for the elimination, wait for it, one, two, one of them, the congress department. they're essentially calling for the elimination of that department. half of the budget of the commerce department is the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, the fine folks that help us predict the weather. they want to move that out to the department of interior, take the core functions of the commerce department and move them together with a whole bunch of alphabet agencies, the sba, opic, xm bank, ostr, all dealing with trade and commerce overseas. put them together in a new

mike viqueira thank you very much.ll of you stay with us all day tuesday. we'll have coverage of the president's state of the union address. you're watching weekends alex witt. we'll be right back. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. >>> we are following this breaking news this morning. penn state college football coach joe paterno has died. paterno died this morning after suffering a series of complications related to treatment for lung cancer. nbc's michelle franzen has the latest from state college. michelle, with a good sunday morning to you. what's the reaction to this news around the campus? >> certainly, as soon as the news, alex, came around in the last few days that joe paterno's health was deteriorating, many of the students gathered around that statue at the stadium of joe paterno leaving flowers and certainly praying in that area. tonight they're expected to hold a vigil in that very spot. of course, joe paternos, the heart and so

for a look back at the week, let's talk to nbc's michael viqueira. >> reporter: the week that was. >>dating ourselves. the president literally just got back to the white house. paint the picture. how was his week and how is he feeling about the week? >> reporter: the president just did land on the south lawn. you see him walking solo back to the oval office. behind him is the congresswoman from south florida. jack lew as of 10:00 a.m. this morning is now the white house chief of staff. bill daley bid good-bye. the president spent three days traveling. today in detroit the major speech. there was one just after that. he spoke of the american promise and this is what the race is boiling down to. it's two competing narratives and two competing definitions of that promise that the president is talking about. on the gop side as the president is trying to characterize it as this unbridled capitalism where people get left behind. be rich get richer, the poor get poorer. first the the image that the president is presenting of his program encouraging fair play, a level playing field and a shot

mike viqueira thank you very much.of you stay with us all day tuesday. we'll have coverage of the president's state of the union address. you're watching weekends alex witt. we'll be right back. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. what's he looking for? i think he's looking for savings. ♪ i can't watch this anymore. stop! there's an easier way! we compare your progressive direct rate to other top companies so you get a great price. no more running around. ha ha ha! wouldn't you love to see the world through his eyes? i bet i look like the strongest man in the world. the best place to find a great deal. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> we are following this breaking news this morning. penn state college football coach joe paterno has died. paterno died this morning after suffering a series of complications related to treatment for lung cancer. nbc's michelle franzen has the latest from state college. michelle, with a good sund

. >> mike viqueira, thanks so much. >>> when we come back, money for nothing.r free in today's top lines. >> he is completely detached from the reality of what's happening in america. and his prescription that somehow we need to find someone to blame whether it's the ban r bankers or people who make a lot of money. >>> in a world where president obama will face the millionaire or the professor, here are your top lines this film has not yet been rated. >> the state of our union is getting stronger. there are no americans fighting in iraq. osama bin laden is not a threat to this country. >> the gap between president obama's words and his deeds to be sort of astounding. >> these achievements are a testament of america's armed forces. imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. >> last night he seemed to be setting up an entire year of divisiveness. >> trying to divide america and try and say that republicans are all about the rich people. >> none of this can happen. unless we also lower the temperature in in town. >> when i was in congress, i wa

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. >> nbc's mike viqueira is live for us.nday morning you. >> good morning, alex. >> what else did david axelrod had to say. >> he distilled the theme of the campaign into a simple phrase. a fair shake. every citizen in the country deserves a fair shake and more than that. everybody should be paying their fair share. that is essentially the theme and that is the preview of the kind of campaign they'll be running against the presumptive nominee. to hear the white house say it, people like david ak elrod, out of that campaign office in chicago, mitt romney, assuming he'll be the nominee. two schools of thought when it comes to the primary fights on the republican side. they get it out of the way early, voters get used to hearing the negative charges and they're inoculated. the general campaign, in the general election. what the obama campaign is hoping the second school of thought. they tear each other down so much, they expose vul vulnerabilities exploited later. here's more of what axelrod had to say about mitt romney. >> i'm

. >> nbc's mike viqueira joins us live.ly yesterday that there was some doubt this would take place, that the president would take this step and he has proven the doubters wrong this time. >> absolutely. and he did it in ohio. the home of richard cordray. he was the attorney general. remember the senate led by republicans had blocked the confirmation of richard cordray to head that consumer financial protection bure officially many on the left hoped that elizabeth, the bureau itself is a brain child of warren's, there was too much opposition there. she did not, the president did not appoint elizabeth warren. she is of course running for senate in massachusetts. he stepped forward richard cordray but no go there as well. now the president has done something that has enraged republicans today, tamron. they're calling it an illegitimate abuse of power. but what they're calling it in democratic circles, or at least how they're portraying it, the president standing up for what he believes is right, procedure and nice at thises o

nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house. >> i'm not getting in anyone's nova. me. >> good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. the president is really riding in a role here ticking down yet again, there was a dramatic sink in november. creating 212 private sector jobs, the most private sector jobs that have been created since 2005 and the unemployment is down to where it was during the president's first year at 8.5%. yesterday the president made a visit across the street here. he was sort of taking a victory lap for that -- after that controversial recess appointment of mr. cordray. at the top of his remarks he mentioned the economic numbers cautioning that there's still a lot of work to do. >> after losing more than 8 million jobs in the recession, we've added more than three million private sector jobs over the past 22 months. and we're starting 2012 with manufacturing on the rise and the american auto industry on the mend. >> reporter: so the president continuing his economic message next week. he's got something planned called an in-sourcing event. yo

mike viqueira is at the white house with us. >> they are quite happy with it. you to learn yesterday you saw the last clip the president was at the university of michigan. he talked about something he calls the american promise and that is exactly the way the white house and the obama campaign wants this campaign coming up in the fall of this year to shape up. the way they portray this is the republican side of trust funds of unbridled capitalism of creative sdrux this dog eat dog world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and widening income disparities between the rich and the pair and where everybody gets a shot to grab at that brass ring and essentially what the president, the themes he hit through those states that he traveled to and nobody needs to be reminded that many of those states are in play. those are swing states. iowa, nevada, colorado, and, of course, michigan which is vital. he even went to arizona which a lot of people consider to be a solidly red state but democrats will tell you that it is trending blue because of the burgeoning