barack obama faces a cosmic choice. either he's gonna lose in 2012 because he's too radical or because he's too weak. >> sean: interesting you bring up this clinton analogy. some people writing me saying, hannity wait a second, you this wrong. you won and give the president as he moves to the center. my argument is, he just had the biggest loss in 70 years in a midterm election number one. and number two, he didn't have the votes. he didn't have the votes in the senate. he was literally dragged kicking and screaming into a compromise where frankly i would argue he got too much. >> i agree with everything you just said. i did believe that he campaigned for president, primarily on the pledge of raising taxes on making -- >> sean: we played the montage last book he said it constantly. >> now he's lost that today he lost his health care reform on constitutionality. it will be relitigated. in supreme court you can bet that will be a 5-4 -- >> sean: i want to get to that in a second. the president a little unhinged. republica

administration and that discussion between president obama and. president medvedev on w t o started in the context of their discussions over start so what i think we're really talking about here is not an old cold war issue but process a new opportunity after all the expectations and disappointments in the u.s. russia relationship before a decade or more to really move this relationship to a win win situation rather than the kind of. contrarian problems that we've had in the past that's what's at stake here i mean time what do you think and then add one thing it's not just the republicans yes there are enemies of an improved u.s. russia relationship in the united states but the point also has to be made that there are enemies of an improved u.s. russia relationship also in russia and and i think this agreement by getting this agreement ratified we will open the doors for greater cooperation in the future ok if i go to you i mean i would like to repeat the question the republicans willing to throw away all of the improvements that we've seen in thi

obama? brit hume and i will analyze. >> we need to create a real crisis here so the republicans will have to answer. >> bill: far left wants to create more economic turmoil in order to punish the gop. >> i will see you next week in tampa, florida when i join glenn beck and bill o'reilly as part of our bold fresh tour. pill bill "saturday night live" mocking president obama by using beck and me. >> it was a terrifying experience. i don't think i will ever get over it, really. >> bill: you are about to enter the no spin zone. the factor bins -- begins right now. >> bill: hi, i'm bill o'reilly thanks for watching us tonight. who is looking out for your ? the subject of this evening talking points memo. stripping away all the bs, which is what we do here. it is clear the american economy needs you to spend more. american consumer drives the economy, the more confident folks are the more money in their pockets, the more they will spend. don't have to be a ph.d to figure that out. president obama

the pressure they have been trying to put on president obama. >> president obama. >> president obama. >> i am not money. >> stand tough and you don't extend the tax cuts to the richest americans. >> we voted before you because for the first time in our lifetime a politician was actually laying out a plan that reinforced the values we have come to believe that as americans. >> i would is a thank you for all the hard work you do. >> but we the people want you back and read you back. >> what happened to the bold, progressive man in the 2008? >> stands for all the people and he is not going to let themselves be pushed around. >> mr. president, please do not compromise with republicans about extending the bush tax cut? >> i am in the highest tax bracket. we don't need the money. the country does. >> is said in your campaign speech that enough is enough and it is time to fight. please fight. i am willing to fight with you. >> political action responsible for the content. >> a piece in "the new york times" about a possible primary challenge to president obama. clearwater, florida. arlene. ca

and that's why i was pushing you to see what you think obama -- president obama would say in his state of the union. how he gets people to face the harsh raelts of what we've got before us and how we're going to tackle it as a united country? >> exactly right. and look. it's something like 17% of the gdp in taxes in 24 in spending. hour numbers could be somewhat off but not by that much. the gap will have to close on both sides. so it's going to be interesting to see how he does and how the republicans react to this. it's going to be some fascinating times coming up in american politics because you got a lot of invigorated people out there. you have some tough choices on both sides. >> james, hold that thought. we've got to take a quick break. we're back in a minute. and if you can find a lower published price anywhere else we'll match it and pay you $25. book now and save up to 60% on hotels. only at priceline. >>> we're back with james carville. i've got a question. the bizarrest thing happened last night when harry reid, who was the senate majority leader of the democratic party, of

obama is no fool. while getting republicans to boost his own re-election chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound second chance post bush tea party this time we're serious persona of debt averse fiscal responsibility. governor endel, what do you make of that political reading of the obama deal? >> i think it's crete and in cite if -- insightful. that means pivoting off this. he has to do a good education bill. forget cap and trade, a renewal energy bill in it, something with nuclear and natural gas. lastly, deficit reduction. if the president can demonstrate to the american people he's for those things and can move the ball towards deficit reduction, then i think he's a huge winner. he looks like a strong leader, looks like he understands the message and looks like he's pointing the country in the right direction, no ifs, ands or buts about it. >> is charles krauthammer right? >> sure. if the economy really gets geared up, and if it's roaring back by the summer of 2012 and this the rea

camera he has only bashed obama and many say that he'll be obama's worst nightmare over the next two years so now that we know the personalities involved it's a little hard to believe that the meeting was as hunky dory as the president says it was in the press conference following it so what we really think went on behind closed doors or join me to discuss it is dave. news political reporter for politico today thanks so much for being here good to be here i want to start with what happened perceiving the summit right because it was announced for one date then they had to postpone it but it turns out that it wasn't even really a summit it's just one meeting of many more to come and it only lasted a little more than an hour i mean can't we operate that sounds doomed from the start you sort of have to like him is to the junior prom right boys are on one side of the room the girls are on the other sort of looking at each other feeling each other around was from going to come forward that's what happened here they had this meeting scheduled they postponed it i don't think the republicans

when president obama failed, he spent enough time make his points he

obama credit, too. i think the question is, why did the democrats do this before the midterms? i think there's a very interesting question here. >> i agree with that. >> a lot of people in the white house are saying -- >> i agree. >> robert, tell the guys who lost and the women who lost, like dahlcamper. if they went home and said -- who's the guy from staten island? tell them. >> or saying we had the largest middle class tax cut in history the democrats passed, that we saved the economy, how about with the stimulus money we're going to end up -- >> i want to take on robert reich. i love to argue with you. you're smarter than me on most of this. let's go. suppose it doesn't get passed. taxes go up january 1st for at least a couple weeks, unploipt benefits get cut off, the payroll tax does not get cut. accelerated depreciation does not happen. as an economist, isn't that bad news for obama, bad news for america? if you're a real republican partisan, real hawk on the other side, good news for you because

with his stunning tax deal obama is back. holding his high cards he's nonetheless managed to resurface suddenly not just as a player but as an orchestrator, dealmaker and central actor in a high $1 trillion drama. obama pulled this off at his lowest political ebb. joining me now is democratic strategist, bob shrum, he's also professor at new york university. bob, you and i were opposites on this, but the deal's done, we've got to move forward. i'm all about that. but i'm curious the two gentlemen that i just interviewed senator brown and congressman clyburn they cannot tell me for sure or our audience tonight that this will create jobs. they hope it will. isn't this a real leap of faith to give the republicans what they want? a political hot potato? because if we don't create jobs it'll be awfully hard on the sflooez oh if we don't create the jobs it'll be very tough on the president but if you believe the principle of keynesian economics of economics 101 and then you have to believe that a good deal of this bill is going to

but president obama used it. and he made the point very clearly that this is the kind of vote that the american public is asking for. so, yes, you're going to run into trouble in the house, particularly on that estate tax issue, but in the end, i spoke with a senior white house adviser today who seems pretty confident that they're going to be able to get this through the house, as well. >> david gergen, the magic number in the house of representatives is 208. the president will be able to get 218 in order to see this passed, signed. and one of the issues there is a lot of these members simply want to get out of town and get ready for christmas and new year's and they want to end this session of congress. how serious of a factor is this calendar, do you think playing? >> well, christmas is a part of it, but the other part, of course, is they don't act and taxes do go up on january 1. i think that is what has moved this whole debate. and now the president has the wind at his back and not only the 80 votes plus in t

which became barack obama's katrina moment. and brought him down to a point, when he has never yet come back. >> eleanor? >> oh, i don't think it was anywhere near the katrina level. we got to keep moving. defining moment. the passage of health care. this year, universal health care, it is the president's biggest accomplishment, and it is also put the biggest target on his back, but it will survive. >> monica? >> the passage of obama care led to my most defining political moment, which was november 2, 2010. the midterm elections. which gave -- shifted the whole balance of power in washington, d.c. and gave the house of representatives in a stunning and historic way the republicans. >> it was heaven. >> i think the moment that will etch this year in my memory is obama getting a busted lip while playing basketball. i mean -- 11 stitches. >> and this is his game. and when that happened, i said oh, superfluous. >> it never hurts to get the sympathy. >> with the 12 stitches. >>> and most defining most. mitch mcconnell in a televised

because obama quote dr. king so often. what kind of response have you gotten from other people inside of king's circle? >> i have not yet had any response. as i said in the article, lyndon johnson on many social justice, economic issues, was one of the greatest presidents we've ever had. it was not easy in 1968 for those of us are around dr. king. to break wisconsin. we knew that once he publicly opposed johnson it would create a firestorm. tavis: on the vietnam question. not expedientght, or popular or plays to one's vanity, but if it is right, you have to do it. maybe someone will say, mr. jones, being president, you have to be pragmatic. pragmatism has some limits. do you know what they are? morality. tavis: i could do this for hours. i still feel like i have not done justice to the article. if you go to "the huffington post," you can read the article that clarence b. jones wrote. found its way from the internet onto the pages of the new york times. people are talking about what will happen with progressives in 2012, gi

obama get his tax hike? joining us from now from charlesville, virginia the purveyor of dick morris.com mr. morris. prediction time, morris, what's going to happen in the tax room? >> i think that obama is going to try to pass the raising the taxes for the wealthy for people making more than 250. and i think he will probably pass it in the lame duck house and then it will go to the lame duck senate. but it's not quite the lame duck senate. it's the 41 senators, the 40 plus scott of massachusetts. scott brown and then the 42nd who is mark kirk from illinois who took office immediately. republican. i think those 42 republicans are going to hold firm and i think he is not going to get. >> bill: that means they will filibuster and not even going to vote on it. >> what's going to happen then is that he is going to confront the situation where either he let's taxes go up for everybody or taxes go up for nobody. and i think once that's the choice obama is going to blink, is he going to cave, in and he is not going

obama has put it forward. why hasn't it moved? the very same republicans who supported when it was george bush's plan, john mccain, lindsay graeme and others now say we're against it because it's a bama is planned. that's the problem. we are not being honest about our support. people say it's about ideas. they're so principled. but frequently they will support based on the party's the president belongs to. as not being serious. it's stopping as from solving problems. the back to what the other lady said. redistricting reform and open primaries are good place to start. >> who's next? >> we have time for one more. >> i have a quick comment. for mr. sean to suggest that there is this moral equivalence and there is this back and forth. democrats doing the same spirit is totally not true. what i see going on is that the tea party, yeah, it sounds real nice. there's they're real extreme part of the tea party and then there's kind of the common american tea party people. if that's true then why are the tea party candidates so radically e

it was with bush, it is under obama. fundamentally obama has done a lot for america's -- >> sean: dictators apologizes for america, saying america is arrogant? >> he's popular outside of america. >> sean: not america. your leaders are upset at his economic policies, which are failing. it's hurting the rest of the world's economy. america needs a recovery, and that will help europe, that will help the entire world. >> well, fundamentally the american economy is doing pretty well. >> sean: fundamentally it's in -- >> it's been up. >> sean: can i give you one copy of the "wall street journal"? i disagree. >> if we stipulate her argument that president obama is popular in europe and elsewhere in the world, the reason that he is popular is he's because perceived as weak and these countries can run circles around him. it comes in different forms, right? it comes in the forms of being dissed for the olympics or the world cup soccer match 12 years from now, but comes in more dangerous forms like aggression. weakness begets aggre

obama says, no big deal. rough issues always get a rough ride. >> that's the nature of these things. when social security was passed, there were all kinds of lawsuits. when the civil rights act was passed aned, there were all kinds of lawsuits. >> question is this case now on the bullet train to the supreme court, pat? >> certainly. frankly, i think it ought to be expedited, because it's going to the supreme court, it's a critical issue. cuccinelli has latched on to this one issue, john that individual mandate requiring people to buy something that they don't want to buy, and he said this is really outside the reel volume the constitution of the unitededtates. i think that's the strongest point. if this goes down on that point, i think the whole obamacare goes down, and i think cuccinelli stepped outside the group of other attorneys general to do this, john, and he is a former graduate, or he is a graduate of gonza gh school, hn, and the attorney general of virginia, and he's on the fast track to higher offic

obama and the clintons. hillary and bill both have forged a political bond that's working for the country, the political party and them. it was forged initially in denver in the summer of '08, the rousing festival of unity and excitement. was upgraded with obama asking hillary clinton to be his secretary much state. an offer backed up by bill clinton's strong endorsement. he wanted her to accept, seeing the duty and global stature she would obtain. the president's people wanted help in three vital states for 2012, florida, ohio and colorado. they asked bill to hit those states and he did. he spent his additional time on the stump traveling for candidates who helped hillary in 2008. >>> then came this past friday, bill clinton arrived at the white house, met with the president. from there the two men met with the presidential briefing room to meet the press. bill clinton gave a full throated endorsement on the bipartisan compromise on taxes president obama had struck. when president obama felt he spent enough

so this is one opinion that we strongly disagree with. >> bill: president obama may lose obama care in the courts the federal judge says forcing americans to buy health insurance sun constitutional. crowley and colmes on that. >> i held it together as long as i could and i'm done now. i'm hungry. >> bill: and what is kate gosselin doing in the alaskan wilderness with sarah palin? this is beyond bizarre. >> come on, it wasn't that bad. >> bill: caution. you are about to enter the no spin zone. the factor begins right now. ♪ >> bill: hi, i'm bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. the bell is tolling for the far left. that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. it is now just about certain that the obama tax compromise will be passed in congress. yesterday just 15 senators opposed bringing the compromise up for a vote. five of those are republicans. coburn, sessions, demint and senator voinovich. the other 10 are liberal democrats the usual suspects like bernie sanders and patrick leahy of vermont. the opposition comes of course from the far left. and with yet ano

the relationship between karzai and obama is poison. the general can find statistics that makes you think this is doable. but when you look at the statistics they begin to fade. he said, more americans are diing from i.e.d. blasts, but there are fewer americans flying in the impled e.d. blasts. if you look at the number of u.s. deaths, number of u.s. casualties, it's all off the tcharts. >> what was today's visit all about? was it a rally? it's only the second time he's been there. was it just a holiday trip? >> i think it was a rally. the substance of it are just a little bit strange. it's not a thanksgiving trip, it's not a christmas trip. he only went to back gram. -- bagram. he didn't really see karzai except by video teleconference. it was a strange trip that i don't entirely know what he was trying to demonstrate. fundamentally if you're trying to say to a war-weary people, spend time under most heavily protected camp. i don't understand the purpose. >> earlier this year, the administration was saying this is either 2 make our bre

not close. >> what's interesting is you're talking clinton/bush and not bush/obama. >> obama, the stock market is much better under obama than bush, much better. >> here is what is really clear is that under clinton, you did have a peace and prosperity that was broader to more americans. right now under george bush -- sorry, but under george bush you've got prosperity that was fairly concentrated on a very few individuals and this was part of the problem with the country right now. the middle class -- you're in a class warfare. you just don't know it yet. you better start shooting. >> i appreciate the two against one but the bush record speaks for itself. you are so interested in blaming bush as opposed to looking at it now. the unemployment under bush was a low number. you had massive amount of people employed. >> i can't believe you're defending eight years of bush. i'm shocked. >> i mean, the fact that you guys prefer to ignore it and ignore obama's record as well. >> i can't -- it's breathtaking. we live on two different planets. >> james, the 2012 election, though, does it then bec

one of the few things obama regretted. one of the other things is that he didn't champion transparency as much as he promised. passing this with days to go before the government shuts down is so violently in the face of the spirit of transparency you would think obama, as part of his triangulation, would get on the other side of this monstrosity. >> if the omnibus goes under. they would have to do a continuing resolution that keeps funding for some period of time, likely into february or something like that. what are the chance this all comes together? look at this calendar. >> the things he wants to do after this, first this has to get done. you have to finish the tax cuts, do this. start. don't ask, don't tell, the dream act a tremendous amount of things he plans to do before friday. >> senator demint of south carolina wants to insist this entire thing be read on the senate floor, which he can do. >> sound like a good idea. the calendar was created by senator reed. they could have had votes on a lot of these before. you

caller: president obama obama showed good leadership. they both have good idea. we can watch ourselves continue to spiral down. somebody had to be the adult in the room he's trying to step forward and lead us. china, russia, they are out there pushing hard. my brother came from a work study in japan the kids over there, all they do is study, study, study. if we zont do the same, we are not going to move forward. tax cuts may help or not. if we all get it together, everybody kind of steps up and pushes their part and stop crying aun all the time, we might make it somewhere. host: that was ohio on the democrat line. that's the train station where folks come in and out of d.c. as you look at that. we go to north carolina. it will stay that way until about the first of april. >> is this is part of one of the things i enjoy. how do you think that relates caller: when clinton was in office. we got a lot done. it seems like now, it almost seems obama has a refreshed appearance that maybe now that there is a majority in the house, he might be able to get something done.

or start back with a new strategic arms reduction treaty between russia and the us ever become law obama is putting all his political weight behind senate ratification while many see opponents playing politics in danger and global security. can. discuss ratification of the new start treaty i'm joined by my guests in washington richard burt he's a managing director mclarty associates and a former u.s. ambassador to germany amitai etzioni he's a professor at george washington university and daryl kimball he is the executive director of the arms control association and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunger all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect and that means you can jump in anytime you want richard byrd i can like to go to you are should i call you when bassett or because you are one of the chief negotiators of not the chief negotiator for the u.s. side first the first start agreement so looking at the at the debate that is going on we can talk about in the about this the lengthy process on this program but do you give it your household approval is this a good treaty an

is this going to be barack obama's the income? > -- hog barack obama's to vietnam? >> it is heading in that general direction. it is fragile, and if you start withdrawing troops, it could break. it will be obama a versus the defense establishment, because they don't want to withdraw the troops the public will say, hey, let's start getting out, and the military will say, we cannot get out. >> the secretary of state says we have a different story to tell in this administration. what is their story? >> basically, we should have done this back when we invaded afghanistan and not when we invaded iraq. i am struck, whenever i hear experts talk about this, at the different ways they can weigh every factor. you heard the points that evan just made, and in a country where people say that if you don't actually said a withdrawal time, the pakistanis will rely on us for ever and ever commit enough to -- and never commit enough to do something about afghanistan, on every single like the -- every single thing like that there is a yin and yang. i don't know the right answer and i

obama is back. he managed to resurface suddenly not just as a player, but an orchestrater and deal maker and central actor in a high $1 trillion drama. it is friday. to make sense of this is the red eye tax law expert, burt burt son. >> oh yeah. >> so easily distracted these days. governor, try to erase what you just saw from your brain. >> i will be trying for the rest of my life. >> i forgot what we were even talking about. everybody associated with the tax bill is claiming victory. how can it be a good bill if everybody thinks they won? or is that the sign of a good bill? >> the sign of a good bill is when most everybody is unhappy, but everybody claims victory. that's what we have here. we have a bill in which both of the extremes of both sides hate. it the people who have actually crafted it, have accepted it and are celebrating it because they voted for it. but they say it is full of flaw scpiz don't like. it but i had to go with it, and that's generally what governing is all about. >> here is

not barack obama. and i think that her staying on was an act of hubris. >> i think the democrats loss the house for other reasons than just nancy pelosi. crs what did you think about what joe just said? >> i think joe's absolutely right. but i would say that the biggest mistake of the year was sharon engle, who was running against harry reid in nevada, putting on a frankly racist ad about immigration against hispanics. what planet is she on, if the republicans are going to have anchance of being a true majority party, they're going to need a huge percentage of the hispanic vote. george w. bush in 2004 got 40% of it. she got less than 30% of it out there, way down below. and hry reid won that race going away because of what sharon engle did. that is the exact huge mistake that all republicans in the future have to somehow figure out how to come to grips with and avoid if they want to go forward. chris: a disease that party is suffering from. >> those opposing the dream act which would enable latino kids

they will never have a president as left as obama is and they know it. >> is president obama negotiating with the congress? >> trying to reposition himself. it started with the tax cut deal. i think he will stand firm on obama care. if there is an attempt at repeal, but if he wants re-election he needs center which he lost in midterm election. he knows that. smart guy. he'll go for it. >> bret: who do you think is most responsible for the passage of the tax rate compromise? go to the home page at foxnews.com/specialreport. vote in the online poll. friday lightning round is next. >> bret: every week on the home page viewers vote on the topic to discuss this on the friday lightning round. the winner is the third war, u.s. border that won with 61% of the vote. take a listen. >> when you have drug traffickers afraid of other drug traffickers and things are getting bad. >> they use what i call terrorist tactic. they're not terrorist organizations and they're not jihadist. but they use tactics to intimidate the police. >> look at the stats just out. in mexico in 2010, 30,000 deaths. 3,000 in j

president obama is new. you go to the person with experience and you take from their experience because they have been there and done that. i do not expect everyone to get everything they want, but in by compromise and make sacrifices. i think it was that wise decision for him to go to president clinton to seek advice on things that need to be done host: from "-- need to be done. host: from "washington journal" this morning -- host: back to the phones. nevada, kenneth, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to be brief. first of all, there is no such thing as a compromise when once i get everything they want, namely the republicans. this is a continuation of the wholesale sellout of the progressive base that started under clinton. the 2% cut is just an attempt to push social security. the president is going to come out in june or july and is going to say that there are austerity measures for things that never happened around the world. i think that people need to be aware of this. you never h

moments of obama's foreign policy and a key element in resetting russian u.s. relations but they're ready to kiesha in the u.s. senate is now in danger since republicans are threatening to derail it the russian public opinion research asked russians who would benefit more by signing the start treaty thirty three percent of the respondents said both russia and u.s. twenty seven percent believe the entire international community will gain twenty two percent cited the u.s. to profit more in case taught is son and another four percent think it will profit russia only back to peter. ok i want to talk about why the republicans are poses but i will tell you made a very interesting point at the end of the first part of the program about the demonstration effect here and so can i reiterate here russia the united states can set a good example for the world for being for in terms of transparency in dealing with nuclear weapons and be a demonstration to other countries to take the n.p.t. seriously you mentioned ok like india but him even israel could be thrown in that cate

obama realized, she loves to talk. [laughter] first she read them a classic. >> he shucked while it laughed like a bowlful of jelly. >> then she answered questions. what is bo getting for christmas? what is she getting the president for christmas? >> look. the press is all like -- i have to figure out if he has been naughty or nice. i am trying to figure that out. what do you think i should get him? >> the new suit. [laughter] >> good idea. >> a new suit, a hot tub, a rooftop president dome. >> we will think that through. these children and battling broken bones and brain tumors, cancer, were all able to forget why they were there which is exactly what the doctor ordered. before this celebration, mrs. obama spent time visiting the children in the pediatric intensive care unit, a true gift for many kids who will spend their christmas here in the hospital. abc7 news. >> that is it for abc7 news at 5:00. coming up tonight at 6:00 -- >> this is not about health care. it is about liberty. >> a major win for opponents of the

perspiration time for president barack obama as he makes a last ditch effort to the senate to ratify a new arms reduction treaty with russia to cut the nuclear arsenals of russia and us those signed by obama and medvedev in prague in april. and the last whistle blows for bids to host the new the next to football world cup since competing nations await the decision from the sport's governing body russia is up against joint bids from spain in portugal in the netherlands and belgium those are the first to hold its first world cup if executive committee will announce the winners thursday. for more fiery debate on cross talk as president obama urges the senate to pass start agreement with russia his guess if domestic u.s. policies are interviewing are interfering with the country's foreign policy stay with us. if you can. follow and welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle start forward or start back with a new strategic arms reduction treaty between russia and the u.s. ever become law obama is putting all his political weight behind senate ratification while many see opponents playing pol

for all we know president obama is for it. this was a huge embarrassment for him, just as it was for senate majority leader harry reid. harry reid has sort of come out as this dead man walking now. he cannot keep together any sort of coalition now that his party has been defeated in november. as for republicans having the opportunity to manage the budget for the federal government as soon as they come in, fine, you know, i think that's fine. they will probably welcome that opportunity, and sure x they could probably screw it up, but it's a wonderful opportunity to showcase how serious they are when it comes to dealing with tea party partiers. you see it with how they dealt with the omnibus. you see how they dealt with it when it came to being able to reach a compromise with the p president. they would have been fine with any conservative as far as i'm aware. >> are jp's statements on point about the president's feelings about the omnibus? >> the president dirs like the first omnibus he had to sign with 9,000 earmarks. his advi

this is common ground with obama. but also give people a sense that they can climb the ladder of upward mobility and we should not be punishing people who are about innovation and invention. we have to take care to make sure that we remain an innovation economy. what else have we got? host: juan williams is our guest until the end of the program. the numbers are on the screen. you can also reach us on twitter. tim is on the democrats' line. caller: i would like to get the speaker's opinion on the attack on labor recently. this country was built on the backs of labor. our industry and manufacturers have strived on the progress we made on the infrastructure with strong labor. for some reason, they think that turning around and giving more money to our corporate giants who are not reinvesting in the infrastructure in this country and continue to want to attack labor -- we cannot compete globally with economies that did not use labor for years to build the infrastructure. now we have to equally compete with these people.

the liberals saying obama got a bad deal. conservatives are saying obama got a good deal. the public is saying obama got a good deal. >> what do you say? >> 69% support him. a week ago when i heard this deal outlined just before the president announced it, i was amazed at how good a deal the president got. every single person i know who had to negotiate with republicans on a tax deal thinks this is a good deal. every critic -- every liberal critic is someone who has never negotiated a tax deal with the republican. i've been in that room when i looked in the senate trying to negotiate tax deals with republicans. i know what this president achieved here. it is a major accomplishment. yes, it has things he doesn't like. >> i have to ask you about don't ask, don't tell. i can't tell you how many deadlines have said it. it's dead. apparently not. >> last night on my show steny hoyer said he wasn't willing to announce he was ready to go with the stand-alone bill. it now looks like they will go with the stand alone bill in the house. a stand-alone bill in the senate will have muc

president obama negotiated with republicans. the deal would extend all the bush era tax cuts for two years and continue long-term unemployment benefits for 13 months. despite lingering reservations from some democrats, the senate's number two democrat, majority whip dick durbin says the compromise should clear the chamber with relative ease. >>> we're counting votes in the senate. harry reid and i have been on the phone over the weekend. i can say we have a good cross section of the senate democratic caucus from left to right who are prepared to accept this. most of us believe as painful as some of the provisions are, this is absolutely essential so that our economy doesn't slump and that we provide the kind of benefits that unemployed people in the middle class income folks need across america. >> today's procedural vote paves the way for a later count then on to the house where the incoming ranking democrat chris van holland insists his party will not block the measure. >> we're not going to hold this thing up at the end of th

president obama has used his last opportunity to push for u.s. legislators to ratify the nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia before the holidays as republicans continue to stall the process. once the senate to put aside political squabbles and focus on security. following the meeting in washington. obama basically has two weeks or so to have his arguably major foreign policy achievement passed by the senate and his pushing really hard the christmas break is coming up and after the holidays if by then the treaty is still not ratified there will be some dark days awaiting obama started more republican senators will come will take office than many of them are skeptical about the treaty but it seems the substance of the start treaty its content has long stopped being the focus of discussions here in washington on partisan games sort of scoring a political point seem to be more important to some politicians don't that was actually at stake and that's the point obama's been making for weeks we've heard him call for republican senators to step awa

obama basically has two weeks or so to have his arguably major foreign policy achievement passed by the senate and his pushing really hard the christmas break is coming up and after the holidays if by then the treaty is still not ratified there will be some dark days awaiting obama started more republican senators will come will take office than many of them are skeptical about the treaty where this is the substance of the start treaty its content has long stopped being the focus of discussions here in washington or in partisan games sort of scoring a political point seem to be more important to some politicians don't that was actually at stake and that's the point obama's been making for weeks what heard him call for republican senators to step away from this all while being desired to undermine his presidency and really look at the treaty itself and how important it is for the u.s. national security to take a listen are reminded that the room the the street has been vetted for seven months now it's gone through eighteen hearings it has support from senators of both parties it has broa

obama had an extremely weak hand. the republicans are going to take control of the house in a couple of weeks. this tax bill was running out. they were about to be tax increases on everybody. there were a bunch of senate democrats from red state was wanted to extend all the tax cuts. so the hand was very weak. and so it was pretty much inevitable he was going to have to cave in and raise tacks on the rich, which he didn't want to do, and everybody else. yet in exchange for that i think his negotiators a the budget director and tim geithner i think struck a physically good deal given the circumstances. they got the extension of the unemployment insurance, or income tax, they got college scholarships, they got a payroll tax. they got a lot of things which they wanted and so what we end up with, economically, is a budgette busting stimulus package which we hope works and politically something strange in washington, a bipartisan deal. i'm not sure it will hold but we actually had a negotiation. and nobody's quite happy wi

basketball, i'd give it to obama, but no, it's no, not close. arthel: all right. >> they should put a repeal of obamacare on a golf game! arthel: guys, talk to you soon. bill: double or nothing on hoops! >>> arthel, it might be the mother of all reality tv shows, sarah palin meets kate gosselin, true story. the former governor, meeting kate and her # kids, together for tlc's latest episode of sarah palin's alaska. here is a portion of that. watch for yourself: >> can i try one? >> oh yeah. >> it doesn't touch the bear? >> nothing hits the bear. it's just a firecracker. it stays at the end of the barrel. pop that off. there you go. >> whoa! >> holy -- [laughter] >> that felt good. it does! and it smells good! >> want to give it a try? okay, i'm going to push the safety off for you. the safety is now off. it's ready to go. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> whoa, that was a good shot! >> what did i hit? >> bill: how about that recoil? it's a 12 gauge, huh? arthel: looks like it may be. >> palin saying she and gosselin have a lot in common, both putting their childr

as soon as obama got elected the left went into decline because obama was doing what they wanted and the left is a protest movement. that's its nature. >> bill: they attacked fox news. >> targets but the wind went out of their sales. the tea party had all the momentum. now that obama is no longer leading them, they are going to be attacking them. >> bill: who is they know? >> media matters, soros. the far left. >> bill: there is no face to it though. >> no face to the tea party either. >> bill: sarah palin is a face. >> no face to the antiwar movement, cindy whatever her name was, but not really. michael moore kind of. there will be a few faces like that. >> bill: there are a few celebrities. >> the point is they will now spend full time attacking barack obama from moving to the center. >> bill: so they do that and i'm not convinced that that's going to happen. i don't know if the huffington post and media matters is going to attack barack obama. i don't think they are going to. i think you are wrong there. but say they do. that gets them, what? it's a small circle. >> gets them mone

the election really got traction with obama supporters. i don't think the polls indicate that it got much useful political traction outside of obama supporters. but they definitely bought into the obama theory about why the top tax bracket should go up. and their disappointment on this is really strong in any kind of one-on-one communication you get about it. and is there something that the white house needs to know inside these polls that these polls might not indicate in their aggregates? >> well, look, they know how much heat they're taking for it. luckily for democrats, they're going to have this whole debate for the next two years. this whole thing is going to be played oit in the general election. it's hardly a lost cause for people who feel passionately about it. the president knows he's going to be making exactly the same case again for the next election. the surprising thing here is that a plurality of democrats, in fact, whatever it is, 50% of democrats say this tax deal is the right thin to do. the interesting point, i feel, goi