he called up and asked obama what he come? obama said i am too busy. i am getting phone calls from warren buffett and steve jobs and bill gates and all these important people and rogers said you promised and obama told him you are not supposed to believe promises made by politicians, are you? rogers got very a angry, and demanded that he show up and eventually he did show up. the point of the story is so many african-american leaders, businessmen and political people i have spoken to for this book told me similar stories in which they were there for him, for obama on day one. they were when they called day one people supporting him, organizing, contributing and once he was elected to the senate and eventually the presidency they never heard from him again. it wasn't only african-americans but jewish-american donors who gave him back some of the money and never got their phone calls returned. it was oprah winfrey who worked hard for him and then frozen out of the white house and caroline kennedy and on and on and on. the portrait that i derive from this

obama won in a landslide. but everywhere in the world, there is some controversy about any politician. so there are some questions about it. but not everyone understands. >> what was his lifelike in jakarta? >> guest: he is perfectly immersed. imagine a six-year-old child being immersed in the culture. sort of a lower middle class action. the exotic smells of jakarta. his father riding a motorbike to his job. his mother was there as well. that was his wife, life, he adapted. he had to adapt. but he did the best he could. >> host: why did he leave jakarta in 1971? >> guest: his mother couldn't afford to send them there. those 3.5 years, he is in indonesia, immersed in the language. the mother is waking up at 4:00 a.m. to teach him with english schoolbooks to supplement his learning. it is very difficult. and the whole process was something that she realized that she loved indonesia, she was still married, she wanted to stay. but it was coming to a point where she had to make a key decision. it turned out that h

what thewas e ke to the obama victory? >> the obama campaign was a brilliant, disciplined campaign. it had a very narrow route to victory, and it proceeded to follow it with incredible discipline and a sense of direction, and they raced to a different level the organizational imperative in politics. but remember this -- five of the last six elections, the republicans have failed to win the popular vote. mittomneis i a succession. he is not an anomaly. >> the main reason for mitt romney's defeat, given the problems the president had. >> if you ask people at the end of 2011, middle of 2011, to look like a slam dunk for republicans. one of the reasons we are at the fiscal cliff is the republican resolution was under the tacit assumption that they would control the white house, so who cared about everything stacked against them. the main proble w obama ran an absolutely brilliant campaign. republicans had a very weak field, and romney was the best of a very weak field. he himself was a very odd candidate. after the financial crisis, a man essentially of wall street, and a man whose esse

he was on the campaign trail insisting that after obama became president obama had closed a plant, a g.m. plant. and people said, was actually closed in december. george bush was president. he kept saying it. now, that really takes something. >> i'm going to go with an italian but not that italian. silvio berlusconi. convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison decides this is the perfect platform to run for prime minister again. chris: that's how he got there in the first place prorblee. that's chutzpah. next category, the hard to -- hardest to figure out, nominees for 2012 mysteries. what president obama was thinking in that first debate and a muge mystery predicting -- and a huge mystery predicting the plot and david petraeus, his mystery and the email she fired off to the woman in florida who is a big friend of all the generals. or is the biggest mystery of the year what made romney think he had it? katty. >> i'm going to go with the first debate. we still don't really know what happened. and nor the people advising him were furious the day after about it. where w

>> obama. >> obama. definitely not obama. >> go ahead with it. >> but that -- i don't think romney did this with anticipation that it might suddenly come out. but when it came out, it was the worst political moment of his career. >> you think so. >> you can tell this is not rehearsed because i picked the 47% moment, too. it said so much about where the debate has gone. i think it's a turning point now. >> i will give you the true turning point. take this down. clarence, use it in your column. the most defining moment mitt romney's no show after the shore after it was hit hard by hurricane sandy. romney left the headlines to obama, who looked great, by the way. and chris christie creating romney's momentum which he never recovered from. that ec he's something that occurred previously here but i think it's been stated. okay. >> stated at greater length. chief justice john roberts. great can conservative goes south on obamacare breaking the hearts of conservatives all over america. >> what did he do. >> ? h

he made a better case for barack obama and joe biden and barack obama and joe biden had ever made. the other thing about bill clinton's speech is he had the ultimate line in it -- "this economy was so bad even i could not have fixed it." >> i think you pointed out in the opening of the show what was the worst political moment, which was the clink east would wasting 12 minutes of prime time when just before, you have had these truly heart rending stories -- heartwarming stories about the humanity of the republican challenger, and also a bio which was not shown. that was a terrible tactical error. >> the reason why clinton's speech worked was because clinton is a force larger the nature and people knew it was bill clinton giving that speech. so many political speeches are written by someone else, and they read that way. "inside washington finally -- >> finally, predictions for the year ahead in the supreme court. it will be a gun so year involving the supreme court possibly striking down the voting rights act, the subject of gay marriage, and even weather you can patent a gene. anywa

. >> obama appeases, not true. obama won on a policy term, not true. obama wants to cut $500 billion out of medicare. not true. a lot of his key arguments, and, of course, the jeep ad at the end. >> the one that offends me the most is the apology tour. it's foundational. he's putting that down in the ground. and i want to get joan in here. he puts that down and says sort of his takeoff platform. he's apologizing but i'll be a robust patriot. i'll defend america against anything foe or friend because i'm a real american. and this guy because he recognizes we live in a world of other countries that are decent countries. they're not all the enemy out there. this right wing attitude it's just us or just us and israel against all these evil third world people and they're just crazy about that. it's so dangerous. >> to finish this point for one second. the thing is -- and this is what ornstein was saying too. that his campaign was based on a lot of major big sweeping lies. now, you can look at obama and point out that he made a mistake, misrepresented obama'

gravesite of obama his great-grandfather, the person for whom the obama name derived. just kind of amazing stuff all day. >> host: you spend a lot of time in interviews talking about the tribal situation in kenya. >> guest: it explains a lot about barack obama senior. this book is more than just a biography of barack obama who became president of the united states. it's about the places they created him come the people that created and starred in two generations back and moving through to obama himself. and his father in some ways represented the promise and the frustrations of africa and of kenya and on a more personal level of the sudden brilliance in flawless. and some of that have to do with tribalism. the luo are the second largest tribe in kenya in the colonial period when the british dominated kenya really created the sort of tribalism putting all the different tribes into the reserves in different parts of the country. and so when they got independence in god power, there was this unfortunate sort of conflict for power in the luo were basically, ever since 1963

you have not answered the question why obama -- why you are supporting obama's reckless spending. he refuses to cut spending, he refuses to reform entitlements. if he is it, we go back up -- >> sean has been -- let me say, i'm not supporting anybody's reckless spending. i want to make a note for the audience sean hannity has been an honest man. he said he condemned when the prescription drug benefit was pass bid republicans without funding. when we had two wars on the books without funding. so now you build up the terrific debt and you want to blame obama. how crazy is that? >> stop with the blame bush game, juan. >> no, no. >> i'm tired of it. >> the deficit under bush with two wars raging in 2007 was $161 billion. if we hadn't -- if bush hadn't done his prescription drug entitlement then it was much more -- >> juan, juan, we've got to go. >> republicans never said yes to continuous spinning and baling out wall street here. >> coming up -- thank you going. frightening youtube video you have to see to believe. anarchists calling for violence against american institutions and later

not because i didn't like obama. i argued for obama in 2008, feverishly. i want him to win in thought he was more progressive than hillary clinton. he did this over and over again because he's right wing in his bones. how about the case of the journal i have the in yemen. he happened to find out that we did tomahawk cruise missile strike that killed women and children. they locked him up for that. the former president of yemen was going to let him go. he served years in prison, unjustly. president obama called and said no, i want you to keep calling that guy a terrorist, and keep him in jail, and today this journalist in yemen is still in prison, because president obama made that call. now which progressive would do that? he's not a progressive. when you're not looking at every opportunity he has he goes right he goes right he goes right and then he says it to you. he says i would be a moderate republican. i am a blue dog, i am a conservative democratic. the minute he has a chance to do the grand bargain he helps the republicans in a grand larceny. that's

the city voted for obama. now obama must bail out mo-town, next. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! n we need a little bit more... [ male announcer ] at humana, we understand the value of quality time and personal attention. which is why we are proud to partner with health care professionals who understand the difference that quality time with our members can make... that's a very nice cake! ohh! [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] humana thanks the physicians, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists and other health professionals who helped achieve the highest average star rating among national medicare companies... and become the first and only national medicare advantage company to achieve a 5-star rating for a medica plan... your effortresult in the quality of care and service we're able to provide... which means better health outcomes... and more quality time to share with the ones who matter most. i love you, gndma! [ male announcer ] humana. ♪ lou: treasury secretary today said the obama administration is now willing to go over the fiscal cliff. moody's chi

it's clear obama wants to go in that direction. he's talking about this big -- doing a fiscal solution whether now or later some time this year. he's talking about immigration reform. has another set of agenda items. let's think about this for the state of the union. you can hear in his voice some different things already. he's drawing firmer red lines. in public, even tonight when he talked, there's a little more steel, a little more firmness than what he said. zpwoin that because he has this mandate he talks about. he said his mandate wasn't his mandate. it was the american people. he also said in the last few days that he didn't want to surrender to the status quo. does he have the ump to follow that? >> you can see he has more leverage. where it starts and stops, i don't think they know yet. he's reading about other presidents an then overread their mandate. he didn't want to make that mistake either because that can happen. because even if obama has changed as a result of this, it's not clear that a lot else has changed or tha

it may be obama's arrogance. watch this. >> when you talk about the feeling at the white house, there's a palpable difference now compared to 2011, the summer of 2011. they are so much cockier at the white house a year and a half ago. you know, you come to us, we're not going to negotiate. we're not going to keep putting out more proposals. >> sean: my next guest argues that it's time for republicans to stop trying to cut through the president's arrogance, walk away from the negotiating table. i've been saying that on this program. in fact, congressman allen west recently told the great one, mark levin, that it's silly to work with someone that's a marksist socialist ideolog. colonel, i don't remember that you said marksist socialist before. >> when you sit down and look at the policies that have emanated from president obama, his administration, this entire class warfare rhetoric that we continue to hear is definitely a marxist theory, the nationalizing the healthcare industry, the dodd-frank with the financial

in the end, obama beat romney by ten points. on the economic values question that was this, which candidate is more in touch with people like you? 53% said romney's policies would favor the rich. 10% said that the about the president's policies and romney, first republican nominee in the history of our nbc sls "wall street journal" poll and ended with a painful number, 47% of the voters viewing him positively. the obama campaign was also able to get more bang for the buck because they bought ads early and they were very careful about where to buy the ads. in the last week of the election, the obama campaign paid $550 for a single ad in raleigh, north carolina. the romney campaign had to sell out $2,665. the obama campaign bought it way ahead of time. lesson two, the republican brand needs a hard look. the gop favorable rating underwater for two years. it's been nearly five years and the final poll, full poll before the election, just 36% of registered voters said they had a positive view of the republican party. 43% held a negat

in reality obama beat romney by about 6 points. in colorado romney's team thought they were up by 2.5. they actually wound up losing by 5.5. in new hampshire, romney's polls had him up by 3. the new repep luck showed his numbers were off in wisconsin, pennsylvania, and minnesota. a closer look shows more clearly why their confidence peaked right before the vote. over the last weekend there, the romney numbers showed romney gaining strong momentum in these key states. in wisconsin, obama lost 4 points in the polling just as romney gained 4 tying up the race. in new hampshire, obama lost 4 while romney gained 3. giving him a decisive lead. the magazine quotes a romney aide on election night talking to romney's son tagg as the results were coming in. he looked like he was in a complete state of shock, as if these numbers cannot be real. to make matters worse, their polling told them florida and virginia, two states that romney lost, were in the bag. the republican party is left asking itself what went wrong and how they fix it. john b

betting an obama victory. nate had a model with obama with a 91% chance of victory. on the eve, entre gave obama a 2-1 chance of winning. that's a lot of wizards. how could mitt romney have got in it so very, very wrong and his campaign people got it so very wrong? this is a guy who made a fortune as super analytical private equity manager who once told the wall street journal editorial board, quote, i love data. i used to call it wallowing in the data. let me see the data. i want it see the client's data. competitor data. i wanted it see all of the data. on election day, mitt romney was looking at the data. the data was off. it was a bit, well, you might call it skewed. today we learned how skewed it was. there is some of romney's final poll numbers. this is a two-day average from six key swing states. in new hampshire, the poll had romney up 3.5 points. obama won the state by 5.6 points. romney poll is off by over 9. ouch. in colorado within romney poll had romney up 2.5 points. obama won by 5.4. romney poll

and i think they have been out manufactured by obama. they need to get past that and make clear, we don't want taxes for the middle class to go up. second, they need to make sure that we have a big fight over our children and grandchildren and that starts january 3. >> sean: we will be back after our christmas vacation and we will be back fighting on the same thing. mr. speaker, good to see you, thank you. coming up, they were cute cam remarks drinking, smoking pot on their lunch break. guess what? they were quickly fired. but now they have their jobs back. what happened? where did they work? why did they get rehired? and harry belafonte has last and sound advice for the president. you are not going to believe what he thinks obama should do with the dissenters and meet the family of a brave marine, iraq/afghanistan war hero, in jail in mexico and has been since august. and the obama administration hasn't helped him yet. why? i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff yo

documents reveal about the agency's surveillance on the occupy wall street movement also president obama cut short his hawaiian vacation to get back to fiscal cliff negotiations but given that he and democrats have put everything they can on the table and republicans still won't compromise what hope is there in striking a deal that doesn't leave the middle class high and dry and later the funerals for newtown connecticut victims may have finally ended but unfortunately funerals for gun victims in america never truly stop another story of a mass shooting and how the n.r.a. is more interested in saving profits than saving lives. and we did tonight with occupy wall street during the heyday of the occupy movement last year if you were lucky enough to walk through one of the encampments says i was frequently here at occupy d.c. good to see a community built as an example of what our nation should be striving for you would've seen hell. care provided for free no for profit health insurance leeches looking to squeeze as much money as they can out of the family caring for a sick child you also w

how long will obama have? is he aware that a second term domestically only lasts about a year to 18 months? political junkies know we don't have to wait until 2016 or 2014 for our next fix. next year we have blockbuster races for governor in two big states, virginia and new jersey. in virginia, it's the clintons versus the tea party. as former democratic national committee chairman and clinton loyalist terry mcauliffe takes on couchinelli, who is a tea party favorite. mcauliffe last time around lost badly when he tried for governor. the question this time is which supposedly flawed candidate will win this race. since 1976, the party that wins the presidency loses the state's gubernatorial election next year. it's never wavered. 2001 after president bush was elected, mark warner defeated mark earley. in 2005 after bush's re-election, tim cain beat jerry kilgore by six points. and then last year, mb donal beat deeds. moving on to new jersey, speaking of the terry mcauliffe campai campaign, if you're thinking of

to which obama replied damn, infinity. you win for now, boehner. >> bill: "the o'reilly factor" is on. tonight violence breaks out in michigan over the state giving workers the option not to join unions. we'll show you how the networks covered this intense story. >> are you going to be able to raise taxes, yes or no? >> taxes are going to go up one with acor the other. >> bill: miss walters will be here and dennis miller will have some thoughts on the situation. >> we're young -- >> bill: anger growing over new tv program that mocks white people in west virginia. >> whatever happens happens. >> 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. violence in michigan. that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. last night i opined that hate speech is a vie lint act because it incites people to harm the target of the speech. now we're seeing speech leading to actual physical violence in michigan. the issue is a new state la

president obama calls for compromise. he has an urgent plea to extend the tax cuts in the next ten days. he's basically calling for a stopgap bill that will avoid tax hikes on 98% of americans. he's willing to waiten o the rest. >>> meanwhile, stocks had a fiscal cliff selloff. but even a deal in january for the cliff is going to be all right if you ask me. and today's economic numbers pretty darn good. and the gun control debate heats up again today after a controversial nra news conference in washington. the "kudlow report" begins right now. >>> all right. let's first look at the market reaction to this fiscal cliff stuff. jackie joins us with the details. good evening, jackie. >> good evening to you, larry. while markets finished lower on the day, they were higher on the week. the dow up about .5%, the nasdaq higher by 1.7%, and the s&p 500 up by roughly 1.2% over the last five days. meantime in terms of sector performance, the financials, they had a rough day. the plan "b" proposal for the fiscal cliff. up more than 3

do you agree president obama's ultimatum on higher taxes are actually the cause? make him responsible for driving us off the fiscal cliff? go to our to be page at facebook facebook.com/loudobbs. we'll have results at the end. chris and steven joining us here next to address th question and more. you know, from our 4,000 television commercials. yep, there i am with flo. hoo-hoo! watch it! [chuckles] anyhoo, 3 million people switched to me last year, saving an average of $475. yeah, i'm kind of a big deal. [sigh] it feels good to help people save... with great discounts like safe driver, multicar, and multipolicy. 731, 732... you want my number, don't you? call 1-800-progressive right now. or visit progressive.com for an extra $50 online savings. thirsty? 'cause i got a six-pack right here. oh, yeah... [voice shaking] you don't even have to wait for your policy to expire to switch. oh, svetlana, that's so good! and, with every policy, you get great service. a-down the hizz-atch. [slurp!] so call me today. you'll be glad you did. cannonbox! [splash!] lou: house minor

obama at the whitehouse last week. i must admit, it came out pretty good. >> looking good. >> festive. my column up with justice scalia and why he should recuse himself from the same-sex marriage case in front of the supreme court. >> that's posted on our website at billpressshow.com and soon be on twitter and faulkner facebook as well. now, on a friday. ♪ >> oh, yeah. >> here we go. we like to take a look back at our favorite sound bytes of the week and bring them up to date to you. our top five, favorite five, talk about them and work our way up to the top on the five on fox the other day, you know, the new movie zero dark 30 comes out in selected theaters next week, all about the osama bin laden raid. bill says he loves waterboarding. >> like i say waterboarding more like awesome boarding. the unspeakable truth is everybody wants -- they will never say this but everybody wants torture on the table. >> bill: yeah. yeah. everybody. i would like to water board him water board him off of that show. i just mentioned my

of president obama. do these books sell well? >> guest: they do sell well because they are rightly or wrongly a counter point. readers wish to buy that that, and as a result, these books have an an active audience. now that he's re-elected, i'm serve publishers who are conservatively inclined will continue to produce books that sell well because they will continue to appeal to an audience that demands these books. >> host: now, bob, have you interviewed any of the critical authors? >> guest: no -- well, let's see, glenn beck, but he's not recently taken on exactly president obama. sort of interesting. i think this is generally true, who whoever -- whoever is in the power in the white house, the opposite political slant on books does better. when a liberal democrat is in the white house, conservatives tend to do belter. when there's a conservative in the white house like bush, books critical of the president tend to do better. in fact, i remember bush, at one point, during the -- questioned about jobs or

i could have gotten an obama phone, obama bucks. all right. mr. speaker, great to see you. >> good to be with you. >> sean: congratulations on the success of the book. good to see you in studio. >>> coming up, we'll continue to monitor the perilous situation in syria. there are reports that at any moment the government may release sarin gas on its own people. stay with us as we continue to follow those stories. coming up next, ann coulter is here. what are her thoughts about the fiscal cliff gloarkses and are republicans handling it correctly? last night we played the cartoon vilifying successful americans. our cameras confronted the man who narrated this, ed asner. we'll get his take on whether he's still in favor of this anti-rich people agenda. i'm doing my own sleep study. advil pm® or tylenol pm. the advil pm® guy is spending less time lying awake with annoying aches and pains and more time asleep. advil pm®. the difference is a better night's sleep. sven gets great rewards for his small business! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [

they are becoming enablering of obama -- they are becoming enablers obama is spending us into oblivion. stuart: if john boehner takes any questions, we will go back to it. we're going to concentrate on speaker boehner because he's the principal negotiator. i didn't make much of that and i don't think you did either. >> i was disappointed he didn't make a counteroffer or didn't say here's what we will do, here's what we will never do. stuart: should he be negotiating in front of the cameras? >> the president does it. stuart: what you are saying is do not cave on anything. right? i mean that's your position. >> not anything substantial. obviously you can compromise on things that are not substantial, but new taxes, new borrowing and new spending, that's substantial. stuart: would you be prepared to see republicans take the blame and they will get the blame if we fail to get an agreement and we go into recession? >> well, if they know how to deal with this properly, they so-called fiscal cliff is a piece of legislation, enacted by a republican house, a democratic senate and signed by a de

the obama administration has tried to find a compromise. so far they hadn't found one that made people happy but there are a couple of deadlines this year and so they're gonna have to revisit this issue and so that's something that is going to be argued out. >> right. >> go ahead, kevin. >> i was going to say, the courts are really the place to watch this because i think, as kim said, there's more than 30 lawsuits that have been filed about this and the very early ones that have come back, the courts seem to be fairly skeptical about the administration's ability to force a catholic institution, for example, to provide contraception. >> the bishops fought hard on this one. how does that leave their relationship with the white house? >> well, that's exactly where i was going to go, because i think that in the wake of the election there were, i mean, first of all, the catholic church has been divided in its attitude toward president obama. the catholic vote split almost down the middle, very slight lead for obama largely because of his overwhe

>> the minority re-elected president obama but i'm going can katty. it's the tea party and thinks of the tea party that are driving the republicans out of contention as a national party. you cannot win nationally if you don't know something about the way the country's changed and the tea party seems to think the country can go back 20 or 30 years. the greatest slogan i hated was we want to take back our country. it's not your country anymore. it's our country and you're part of it but that thinking will defeat republicans if they don't get rid of it. chris: our next category, worst moments of the campaign year. clint eastwood's empty chair number, mitt romney's disastrous overseas trip to london, suggesting that the brits weren't up to hosting the olympics. next, it was the uproar when the white house went to war with the catholic bishops by insisting religious organizations cover employees for contraception and barack obama's frozen performance in the first debate? >> i'm going with london. i was there at the time and it was not only the worst moment

and one of the things that i found out is the obama team, probably with the exception of obama himself were really ticked off at team romney for taking 70, 80 minutes to wait. valerie jarrett was angry. axlerod was angry. and jim messina had to call matt rhodes, mitt romney's campaign messenger and had to send a text before romney called. >> i think he conceded in fine time. we did it while we were all there awake. john, quickly. >> two fast things. that is on election night, the romney campaign drafted remarks and considered having paul ryan go down to the podium to send everybody home until the next morning. that was a possibility considered until it became obvious that romney was going to lose. the second thing. in '08, there was a mormon documentarian. he cut a documentary made in 2010. the romney advisers spiked it. it's never seen the light of day because the romney high command thought it showed romney talking about his faith in a way that may be politically damaging for them. >> "called the end of the line" written by two great writers, jonathan martin and glenn thrush. we'll b

the article% of the population, 50% of the obama -- they are called% of the publishing, 15% of the obama vote. >> colby king said on this program at that that is because they felt threatened. >> romney, a great manager, had a badly run campaign. they wasted a lot of money, they allowed obama to define romney early as this out of touch rich guy, their ground game got killed. it was really not a well-run campaign. >> the reason they got the polling august that some people on the right figh the electorate -- some people the right thought that the electorate would look like the electorate of 2004, not 2008, that 2008 was an exceptional year, the excitement over the first african-american. they assumed that the elector would be +2 democrats rather than the +6 it turned out to be. in the end it was +6 -- >> in fairness to the romney people, nobody knew what the vaunted ground game was going to be like from the obama people. that it was going to be as good as it turned out to be. >> mark, about the lunch, what do you suppose they talked about? >> you know, there is such natural chemistry betwee

obama, we didn't know what obama '08 had meant because the economy had tanked and the war. now with this election in 2012, it looks look barack obama, we're living now in the age of obama, which is a

obama wants to play hardball. but i think they'll have a different argument later in the year. >> i guess both believe it's better to go over the falls than cut a deal that's going to hurt them at home. tea party people don't respond to boehner or to cantor or mccarthy or any of them. somebody in the next tea party is going to be yelling from the back, you sold us out. i think that's why the tea party is never going to be functional. they don't really respond to getting things done. they respond to anger back home. >> i think 2014 democrats are also aware of these tax increases. they don't want to run in a state like pennsylvania with state like pennsylvania with these tax increases. these tax increases. that's why they want to run -- >> republicans. >> no democrats. that's why they want to run -- >> republicans. >> no democrats. if you're running 2014, you if you're running 2014, you don't want all these hikes on your shoulders. >> with the farmers and ranchers there paying more when it's a million dollars -- >>

president obama faces the prospect of assembling a whole new national security team. a closer look who could fill the top post and a preview of the controversies to come next. and we can save you 10% on ground shipping over the ups store. look this isn't my first christmas. these deals all seem great at the time... but later, not so much. this isn't that kind of deal. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. . . >> jamie: susan rice has done a great job as our be ambassador to the united nations. and of course, this decision about my successor is up to the president. >> paul: and the secretary of state hillary clinton reacting to talk to president obama may nominate u.n. ambassador susan rice to replace her. rice made the rounds on capitol hill on tuesday in a

>> it would not be a defeat for obama in any way. we go over the cliff, a stop because republicans sent over the cliff. -- it is because republicans send us over the cliff, not doing what americans want us to do. the american people think we ought to increase the rates. there is a principle there. they give on that, then the president has to do something on entitlements and put something on the table that is tangible, and we will have to deal. but if it they don't rely on those rates, we will go over the cliff and will be their fault. >> nina? >> everybody can see the outlines of a deal. the reason that president obama won't, i think, just be totally recalcitrant about this is that if we get this deal done, according to a number of top financial people i talk to this week, and the economy is likely to take off and save a lot of grief and make everybody feel a lot better, and congress will benefit from that as well as the president. that is why he needs to get it done. deal.'s are begging for a who is likely to move on this in the sen

they blame obama. if you brought up a number should rich people get tax increases overwhelmingly they yes. >> eric: let's talk about what is going on. president obama came out and said i want 1.6 trillion in new revenues. john boehner says we will give you $800 example in new revenue. obama came down to $1.4 trillion. boehner hasn't come back yet. if boehner offers $1 trillion new revenues can it pass the house? >> andrea: great question. we are sitting around the table sitting about deal that boehner brokers. he has to go back to the members to get the deal through the house. i'm not so sure about it. i know what he won't get through the house, raising taxes. he is not going to get some tax raising compromise together. there is no house member when they know they have to run for re-election every two years, that is going to vote for a tax increase. how would they get through a primary? >> bob: they will vote on cutting taxes on everybody but the 2%. that is politically sellable. >> dana: no. extending

because obama overplayed his hand. he's doing it again. just as he did in 2008. he thought the country had given him a blank sheet of paper to work on. he did the stimulus spending. he went from 70% support down to below 50% and lost the house. now he gets re-elected with less strength, not against a war hero but a guy from massachusetts, and the republicans have the house and he thinks somebody made him king and he's going to have more taxes, more spending, and more regulations. it's a real problem for him. he doesn't have the mandate he thinks he does. so i think he takes us over the cliff because he doesn't -- he's got blinders on. he doesn't see where he stands in the universe. >> okay. there are a couple things to unpack here. i want to go back to this question -- i think what i'm confused about is this kind of game of smoke and mirrors that seems to be playing out on the right. and i ask you again, is closing a loophole and ending a deduction the same thing as raising taxes? >> you have to look at the whole package. i mean i would think if you're going to -

obama says no. i will give you another one. number five, obama wants new stimulus money, the g.o.p. says no. >> okay, which one, what do you want me to address? >> i want to know whether those are all resolvable before the new year? >> yes, this re resolvable. on the debt limit, it was a republican idea when president bush was in the power to raise the debt limit, which is to pay bills that have already been accrued, and that the congress could override it. the congress could object. and mitch mcconnell put that bill forward on the floor this week, thinking he was going to embarrass democratic leader reed, and reed said let's go ahead and vote. it and so then mcconnell filibustered his own bill because he got afraid the democrats had the votes for it. so that's the kind of maneuvering that is going on. childish. >> yes, childish. very childish. former republican majority leader trent lott told cnn's anderson cooper how he had a working relationship with his democratic counterpart tom daschle. the two did something called compromise. a concept that facilitates law foreign in today's

. ♪ ♪ obama is a hawaii guy. is he vacationing here. >> i think there is pride. i like him. is he like let's get down. let's do it. like no worries. >> i don't give a [bleep] >> the obamas are vacationing at this estate. secret service occupy the homes to the left and the right. usually a typical day for the president during vacation go work out in the morning at the marine base, then golf and shave ice. the area he is staying at what's the reputation there. >> really high class. good security they have down there. >> president obama is vacationing just a few houses down. >> if you want to go in and out of the neighborhood. what does that mean for you guys? >> we have to be searched. >> none of your crazy friends can come? >> i think they can. but they are just going to have to be put through the ringer, i guess. growing up in hawaii president obama known by barry. he was abandoned by african-american father. you went to school with president bromple. >> yes. i was lucky enough to be one of his classmates from fi

caller: obama. host: what makes him your hero? caller: we were on a major slide when he came into office. he save the automobile and got osama bin laden. he did everything even though the gop did nothing but filibuster. every proposal he has made. the economy is still growing even though everything that has been put against him. host: are there other heroes you look to beside the president? caller: this year i believe he should be the star for what he has gone up against. he was trying to do a reasonable -- get a compromise and the gop was saying their way or nothing . it is costing the nation. host: thank you very much. this comes from twitter. host: i next call is on the independent line. good morning. caller: the bartender that took the videotape of mr. romney talking about the 47%. he showed an insight into the candidate. host: why is he a hero? caller: he had the courage to share with others. host: anybody else in congress or in texas? caller: i thought that mr. paul was a class act. host: that was tom from texas. tell us abo

for the obama award, runners up, pierce morgan, andrew sullivan important asking why are obama's critics so dumb. diane sawyer for her report on barack obama's love letters. the winner of the obamagasm award. >> he has raised his family right. in a blind test, becomes head. top editor. he has not broken a law, perfect father, perfect american and all they do is trash the guy. >> jon: next the you a das it for the analysis of the year. runners up, "new york times," andrew liptak for his piece on constitution. shapiro for refusing to stand and say the pledge allegiance at a romney political rally and "washington pos

. >>> first lady michelle obama is in the christmas spirit. the white house just released this picture of the first lady answering calls from children who called norad santa tracker control center to ask about old saint nick's big trip around the globe. mrs. obama watched the progress along with children nationwide last night. with the obama family home for the holidays in hawaii we couldn't help but wish everybody a hawaiian merry christmas h morning. ♪ here we know christmas is green and bright ♪ ♪ sunshines by day and all the stars at night ♪ >> you know what's next, don't you? i this movie. >>> brianna is in hawaii right now traveling with the obama family. so merry christmas, brianna. what are the obamas doing today, i wonder. >> to you as well, carol. there's nothing on the president's public schedule so we don't know exactly what they're doing but presumably they're doing what most -- many americans will be doing on this christmas. still very early, of course, here on a oahu. it's about 4:00 a.m. local time. they will be presuma

we'll take a look back over the past four years and draw some interesting comparisons between president obama and predecessor. one journalist pick up their press badges they accept the risks that come with the job but one journalist in california is suing the l a u for the abuse he suffered while covering the occupy wall street protests his story ahead. in the construction of the keystone x.l. pipeline is experiencing get another road block this time coming from a texas judge we'll tell you the latest in this saga and show you who's stands to gain the most from it. it's wednesday december twelfth eight pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching r.t. we begin with the international uproar after north korea test launched a long range rocket and the greater foreign policy implications north korea says it's an experiment to put a satellite into space but the u.s. japan and south korea are among the nations of fear that this is a step toward the secretive country launching a long range nuclear weapon north korea of course is part of what's been infamously dubbed the axis of evil i