obama was elected to the u.s. senate. >> thank you so much, gentlemen. >> cassandra west was a "chicago tribune" reporter who interviewed mrs. obama in this time of transition. >> at that point, how important was her career? >> i think her career was still important to her. the candidate's wife part was new to her. that -- when i talked to her later, that was never part of her plan. >> and just three years later, another curve ball. mr. obama planned to run for the white house. she was stunned. >> no. you can't be serious. because we had just come off of a few years ago, a tough u.s. senate race. we're going to press the easy button for a little while, right? >> wrong. the campaign hit full swing and sacrifices had to be made. one of those sacrifices? mrs. obama's own burgeoning career. >> it was not an easy decision. >> jane newton-small covered mrs. obama for "time" magazine. >> it was something they obviously spoke a lot about. and they used to have these sort of kitchen table sessions where, you know, they wou

"michelle obama turns 50." >> please welcome the first lady of the united states, michelle obama. >> december 16th, 2013. michelle obama shares the stage with santa claus at a washington, d.c. children's hospital. one 13-year-old patient has a very important question. >> i know your birthday is coming up. and i just wanted to know what you're going to be doing. >> you know, i'm going to be 50. yeah. 50. 50 and fabulous. january 17th. and i'm not exactly sure yet what i'm going to do. but it might involve some dancing. >> it's all about dancing. the guests have been told to wear comfortable shoes. >> "people" magazine reporter sandra soberi westphal scored an exclusive interview with the first lady about her milestone birthday. >> she had a girls week with her girlfriends from chicago, oprah winfrey, gayle king. they spent a week in hawaii. now she's coming back for a dance party being thrown by her husband. michelle had thrown him an epic 50th birthday party. and they are so competitive that he really wants to one-up her. >> mrs. obama was extremely candid about ageing and fitness. >

my name is michelle obama. i'm married to this guy, barack obama. >> and she came under fire for this controversial statement. >> for the first time in my adult lifetime, i'm really proud of my country. >> and it caused this enormous firestorm, and it was one example of several that the campaign cringed over. >> after some polish, and some practise, mrs. obama's campaign skills would culminate here. >> you see, that is why i love this country. >> as soon as the american people could see her and judge her for themselves, she was a hit. and it's been that way ever since. >> the sacrifices, travel and hard work would pay off, in an historic election result. >> the nation's next first lady, michelle obama. first lady. hey guys! sorry we're late. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster

as obama stops -- lisa stop being nice and call republicans out -- to stopt obama needs being nice and call republicans out. john boehner would not even bring it up for a vote. you have a jobs bill. john boehner would not bring it up for a vote. it is a huge opposition to obama. i think it is personal. i think obama needs to acknowledge it and call it out for what it is. >> thank you. independent line. because i amalling concerned about the unemployment as well, especially extended benefits. i want to see what president obama has to say about that. >> and you have been out of work since? caller: may 2013. i'm a veteran. i'm 60 years old. is they income we have money she gets from social security. >> what have you been doing when the unemployment benefits are cut off? caller: living off the money i have saved up. right now that is pretty much gone. >> thank you for the call. the president will address the long-term unemployment issue and extending the benefits for americans who lost their benefits as of december 28. this is the scene outside the white house. we will continue to watch as

ok sam i'd like to go back to you what what president does barack obama. remind you of can you name one one that he is the mutilating of successfully or unsuccessfully . i think he's aspiring to be a democratic reagan i think he's someone who has had a number of bold policies particularly with obamacare he's inherited a great recession he's had to face two wars that he inherited so i think that is probably the present that he wishes to be and he mentioned this in his initial campaign in two thousand and eight really got under the skin of the clintons when he made that comparison to ronald reagan it's very interesting doug it seems like any president now that wants to be successful as to be one variant of ronald reagan one way or another because we saw the clintons you know bill clinton tried very much the same thing and even george w. bush did and it least imagery in language maybe not necessarily in policy but perception and in politics perception is about ninety nine percent of the job that's true and particularly they like to copy reagan's lack of guile

she supports obama care, i'm against obama care. i'm for energy production, she's for embracing the obama style epa practices in texas. so she's a dead loser on the issues that matter most to texans and so her only hope is to get caught up in all these kind of ridiculous a arguments that are taking place right now. >> it is disheartening when a race gets to that point, but anyway, attorney general nice to see you, sir. >> you too, greta, thanks. >>> joining us a panel jason riley from "the wall street journal," a. bmt stoddard. am i being too sensitive of this use of standing in so much literature or is this sort of a covert way to mock greg abbott because he's in a wheelchair? >> i wouldn't put it past some of these activists to go there. but i think it's the davis campaign that's desperate. it's interesting that they're calling abbott desperate. but if you look at the polling, in november, there was a poll that showed abbott 15 points ahead. davis got caught in a lie and it's brought her this national attention, and a lot of ameri

and the inner obama doesn't like war. >> well, the inner obama went out. when the military said we need this many troops to do the mission, he gave them considerably less. >> and bob gates' recommendation. that is gates' number. >> and, again, i repeat. he told people out in the middle of the fighting season. if you really didn't believe in policies, if he didn't think it was important to inflict maximum damage on the taliban and extremist elements and then why did we even have the surge to begin with? >> george, 30 seconds left. where do you think the biggest impact is going to fall? >> i think it will fall on the general assess. of the obama presidency. that is particularly the statements of hillary clinton and barack obama saying that they opposed the iraq war surge for purely political reasons. >> we have to take a break. when we come back, more on the legacy of former israeli prime minister aerial sharon. stay with us. >>> a live look in jerusalem as the body of aerial sharon who passed away at the age of 85 lies-in-state. the body will travel later t

>> i think it comes down to ma michelle obama brings eyeballs. michelle obama is more than a political figure, she's a pop culture phenom and that's why she's getting all this etension. i have interviewed her twice over the year, she is a rock star, if you travel with her, people come out in droves in the street. i have seen it in pennsylvania and i have seen it in south africa. she's bigger than a political figure. >> the news media has made her a rock star. laura bush was an incredibly popular first lady, i don't remember them celebrating her like they celebrated michelle obama. >> she's very media savvy. >> dynamic character. >> she goes on jimmy fallon or elon and she dances and she does a lot of stick, but just because she's popular and drives ratings and we're all sensitive to that, it does raise questions of fairness, that if we're in a position of celebrating her and she's a democrat and a republican first lady didn't get the same treatment, that trouble mels a little bit. >> where's the agenda, the high turnover in the east wing, some of

i'll be interviewing president obama there on thursday. in an interview that's going to air friday on cnn. i believe that the democratic candidate who is running against the incumbent republican governor scott walker, i believe she is not going to be appearing with president obama in wisconsin. that also happened when president obama went to north carolina and your colleague senator hagan did not appear with him. if president obama wanted to go to alaska to campaign with you, would you want him? >> first i'll tell you when i ran and won was the same year he ran for his first election for the presidency. he lost alaska by 22 points. i still won my election. if he wants to come up, i'm not really interested in campaigning. what i'd like him to do is see why his policies are wrong on anwar for example. he opposes oil and gas development. i'd like to show him why we need to create jobs in oil and gas. he talked about energy a little bit tonight. we have it right there, a store house of energy. i'd like to be able to show him some of the issues

i did not see president obama do that. >> and president obama had a chance to respond to some of the comments in the book. >> secretary gates did an outstanding job for me as secretary of defense. as he notes, he and i and the rest of my national security team came up with a strategy for afghanistan that was the right strategy, and we are continuing to execute it. and i think that what's important is that we got the policy right. whenever you've got men and women that you're sending into harm's way, after having already made enormous investments of blood and treasure in another country, then part of your job as commander in chief is to sweat the details on it. war is never easy. and i think that all of us who have been involved in that process understand that. >>> okay, he had a lot more to say and a lot more coming out about the book. we got a first glimpse last week. now the book will be on sale tomorrow, and both gates and president obama have been able to comment. amongst many other people. one of the things i wanted to ask is that robert gates for a long time has always been pra

the republicans want obama to go further than the nsa is already going. the parameters of the debate in washington are, should we figure out a way to streamline this and sell it to the american people or do more surveillance? nsa, one issue of the this issue being debated even within the white house, the attorney general eric holder question whether edward snowden should be pardoned. talk more about what is happening inside and then what he is demanding. >> first of all, mike rogers, the chair of the house intelligence committee, made a public allegation that edward snowden is an agent for the russian government and that the russian intelligence services may have been involved with snowden prior to snowden taking the documents and giving them to glenn greenwald and laura poitras. my understanding, and i work with glenn and laura, edward snowden did not take a single document with him to moscow. and that he is not cooperating at all with any aspects of the russian intelligence apparatus. so these are unfounded, unproven allegations being made by the head o

obama's psyche and state of mind. just when you thought the polar vortexas a thing of the past, another round of bitterly cold air sweeping across the nation, temperatures near zero in upper midwest, expected to hit northeast torrow, experts believe this will last a week or more not just a few days, freezing temperatures also brings with them, snow. 4 to 8 inches forecast for the east coast from washington to new york, news d, last month's polar vortex helped make it coldest december on record since 2009. >> directv whether or no weathel blocked out, second biggest pay tv operator wants to reduce fees it pays to weather channel by more than 20%, channel wants a slight increase. directv, which accounts for 50% of the weather channel's poll revenue has replaced the channel with weather nation. on wall street, markets closed for the martin luther king holiday, police arrested two mexican citizens in connection with a target security breach, the man and woman were arrested at the texas border, nearly 100 fraudulent credit

are you an obama supporter? >> i'm an obama supporter. i hope he'll take a big pen with a lot of ink in it and start doing the things that need to be done to get the country moving, get jobs out here. if the congress doesn't want to work, fine. we'll do it another way. >> i think that's a reference to the executive orders he promises he's going to do to work around congress to try to get the agenda done. all right. thank you. sir, what are you hoping to hear tonight? >> i'm hoping to hear more about student indebtedness, getting students where they can be able to afford to pay their loans. and also more information about background checks in the field of mental health because the people with mental health disabilities. >> thank you very much. wolf, getting a good cross-section here. we're going to get back to you, get those dials going. people are going to tell us what they like, what they don't like. we'll be here all night. >> suzanne with a focus group in des moines. we'll get back to you as well. you can also follow the president's st

we are now more than five years of the obama presidency and despite the big legislative successes of his first year in office has for years have been very difficult for those for president republicans have done their best to sabotage and obstruct his every move and at times he has seemed all too willing to compromise with his opponents on the right according to pew research center poll numbers on the eve of last night's state of the union address show that the president had an approval rating of forty three percent just two points higher than his all time low forty one percent last november last night's state of the union was no doubt an important speech for. obama needed to both redefine his own agenda heading into the second year of his second term and at the same time as the effective head of his party give democrats campaigning in this year's midterm elections a message to run on so how did he succeed joining me now for more on this is shanna bellows democratic candidate for the u.s. senate in maine and adam green co-founder bolpur resins and the progressive change campaign commi

but president obama is forcing this debate. he wants this year to be about his inequality agenda and we know what happens when republicans do not have an answer for that. look at mitt romney in 2012. so it is good news that you have a newer and younger generation of republicans who are coming out. and i disagree. i think the fees are innovative ideas. what you are seeing, republicans acknowledging, yes, we need some sort of safety net for some of these programs. some of the ideas are great. returning to the states, control over how you administer a lot of these programs allowing for a lot more innovation. getting rid of some terrible things like the earned income tax credit. these are not tweaks. these are important changes. and they're overdue coming from the republican party. >> i would say an economic, excuse me, education reform as a tool of economic upward mobility is crucial. so take on kim's argument. i'm all for that and i'm all for republicans and conservatives discussing that. the problem with debating income inequali

i mean obama's been saying it. sebelius has said it, hillary clinton said it, harry reid said it, that, you know, socialism, which is what single payer health care is, is their explicit goal. they've essentially established it, eric, because in obama care they've made health care a right. the gop to their great detriment never challenged that. you got obama care, we've talked about for weeks is essentially fascist. privatelied only owned in name only controlled by the government. just like student loans obama will say we have to cut out the middle man, the private sector, and make it completely government controlled, that's next. >> now, like rats off a sinking ship, michael moore's bailing on the obama care. how long before the rest of them, rest of the liberals start saying this wasn't such a good idea after all? >> i'm pretty sure that michael moore never liked obama care to begin with. now, i think if you look at where senior citizens are with medicare, which is a single payer system, most americans want a litt

i did not see president obama do that. and i said, as i write in the book, it was this absence of passion. this absence of a conviction of the importance of success that disturbed me. >> one democratic senator points out, despite any disputes, the president did send a surge of troop as gates wanted. >> very interesting in his book, he gives high praise to president obama making decisive decisions. and just about every decision he made, secretary gates agreed with. so the bottom line was that there was more harmony than you would think the headlines on the critique of his book. >> gates also asserts that former secretary of state hillary clinton said she voted against president bush's surge of troops into iraq for political reasons. here's what one gop senator said about that. >> i think that for her to say that she, of course, she may deny it. i haven't heard any response from her. the fact that i hnl heard anything from her leads me to believe she probably won't. but to be politically motivated to make those very signific

>>> michelle obama turned 50 on friday. she had perfected a mean forehand working on her yoga poses, dishes with girlfriendes and bruzel sprouts and dirty martinis. people magazine has a first spread in which the first lady doesn't rule out using botox and cnn made it a special titled extraordinary first lady turns 50. joining us now, julia mason in washington who hosts the press pool on sirius/xm radio. isn't the tone of some of this a little over the top? >> howie, she's turned 50. this is a huge milestone. and let's face it, michelle obama attracts eyeballs. if you want to sell people, if you want people to click on your site, put michelle obama up there and your page is looking fabulous at 50 and you're going to move product. maybe that's why everyone is doing it. the first lady is popular, she's a mom. not taking anything away from her. there wasn't even skepticism. >> no. and there's plenty to say about michelle obama. she's much more complex than that. sure, should he she's not an elected official, but she's an impor

now obama-- (laughter) i think obama must do this. ladies and gentlemen, it is important obama has to do this because once you've been at war in a place, you are always responsible for anything that ever happened there. that is why-- and i've said this before, that is why you must never end wars. think about this. if you think about it, they're never, ever would have been a world war ii if we hadn't stopped fighting world war i. that's just math. or are you a a fan of hitler, president wilson. or take that, or take that pussy napoleon, he retreats from moscow, pretty soon rasputin, the commies move in, crush chef bangs his shoes, the next thing you know putin is topless and johnny weir can't go to the olympics. and soon what's happening-- i ware this is going to happen what is happening in iraq will happen in afghanistan. and there's only one person to blame for that, alexander the great. in 323 he cuts and runs and a thousand years later islam is founded boom, muslim extremists. i am going to say t i'm going to say it, macedonia's be

the hispanics are a group that is crucial for obama care. what happens if not enough people sign up? a fair and balanced debate is ahead. snks an intense manhunt underway for a serial arsonist. >> and a deal with the iranians. >> and gates claiming when it comes to the military, the president lacked the passion. our military analyst weighs in and reacts to this. >> it is one thing to tell the troops that you support them, it is another to work at making them believe that you believe as president that they are sacrifices is worth it. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition inharge™. how did edward jones get so big? t me just put this away. ♪ could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. >>> a california community on edge after police say a do

president barack obama. and he's actually the president and i've seen nothing like the kind of passion and intensity that we've seen -- >> about obama on tv? >> about obama in terms of potential wrongdoing and investigation from any network certainly like msnbc other than fox. >> we can get boo a whole obama discussion, but the media keeps talking about was this obama's worst year ever. but let's get back to christie. i mean, i think what is interesting here is not putting aside the criminality because i think it matters, lauren, but because he's running for president, just saying that people have this temperament in new jersey doesn't mean that temperament works nationally. and i think the media has honed in on something which is does this guy have the temperament to be president? is he too nasty? and now we're finding out does the nastiness move to -- >> i agree with you and i agree that it was overhyped and this is the fall that comes from being overhyped. at the same time, i think one of the lessons all

but now president obama has something to say about it. in a new interview, he slams the talkers on the right, saying, quote, i'm not the caricature that you see on fox news or rush limbaugh. so what does the leader of the republican party have to say about that? >> the subtext of this is that you, if it weren't for me or fox news, you'd love obama. but you are nothing but sponges. you are incapable of other words, of seeing the truth. you believe the lies about obama that you hear from me and on fox news. now who is delusional? who is absent reality? you or obama? >> delusional? huh? so the president hasn't been distorted or attacked from day one? really? >> barack obama does not have his hand on the bible. >> is he really president? >> i still don't know what the man is going to do. >> he is not going to succeed. socialism has failed. >> deep seated hatred for white people. >> in obama's america, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, yay, right on, right on, right on, right on. >> to these muslim terrorists some wo

we are going to see a profound change in obama care. model doesn't work and exchange doesn't work and system doesn't work and the taxpayer is on the hook for 1.8 trillion. this will not travel well with the voters in november. >> great to see you. >> strong statement and lou, great look with the book "upheaval". >> her finances may be on the rocks. does the queen need a loan? and stranded in the frozen tunedra. cutting off a town of 4,000 americans. wow. wow. that is my initial wow. that is crazy. and that a va lafrn comes down every year but not like that. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition inharge™. >>> the royal family is reportedly royally strapped. new report by british law makers show that queen elizabeth is down to the the last million pounds in available reserve funds and an alarming number of palaces are

you blame liberals on a sore foot. >> i blame president obama. >> okay, fine, you blame obama. okay. all the liberals. but let me say this about hillary clinton. i think she's comes out of this great. everything i have said about her, she's been an exceptional secretary of state, gates backs it up 100%. i think hume is right. gates could have waited. he decided not to, and the other thing that, what brit said was, why didn't you say something about it? where is the courage to stand up and say this is wrong? he didability have the guts to do it then. >> i don't think it's about bravery or guts. i think it was about respect. one of the things he says is he was so surprised as he was sitting there in the oval office and obama -- or it might have been, i don't know if it was the oval os, but in a white house meeting, that both obama and hillary clinton are talking about very openly how they made political decisions to oppose president bush's surge strategy in 2008. maybe you can paper that over as oh, well, that's politics, but people who oppose hillary clinton say that's one of th

seattle, clouds today, a high of 49. >>> first lady michelle obama turns 50 today. she started celebrating last week with friends in hawaii, and the white house plans a big bash saturday. as chip reid reports, mrs. obama is embracing the mid-life milestone. >> reporter: add an education event at the white house president obama made sure nobody forgot about friday's big event. >> it's her birthday tomorrow. >> reporter: not just any birthday. the big 5-0. in an interview in "people" magazine mrs. obama describes her life as ever evolving. robin, a "washington poswashin" contributor covered mrs. obama firsthand. >> i also had the sense that she was choosing her words so carefully and now it seems she is more comfortable expressing herself. >> reporter: mrs. obama was asked by "people" whether she would ever consider plastic surgery or botox. >> she said i don't imagine i would go that route but i have also learned to never say never. >> i think that was pure unadulterated honesty. >> reporter: with a focus on healthful foods, exercise, and education, she's a big part

then president obama became there was tremendous change. people in the pentagon realized here was the guy that did not like the military, not supportive, things that he said talking about guantanamo like it was shameful and that was insulting. talking by repealing don't ask don't tell that is what he was the most energized about. he had a whole different set of priorities to usher in all these cuts over the next decade so people knew president obama was going to make the military smaller and weaker in bow progressive and people in the pentagon understood that lori: so what was the white house response to his comments? >> it was bin to say they established a team of rifles? that sounds like what they said about benghazi. oh ya. the video after 12 versions of talking points. is seems like damage control the white house is very concerned about obama is a legacy because this is very hard-hitting talking about how obama was making decisions based on politics like in 2007 a purge -- oppose the search also hillary clinton is damaging for purchases

same thing with president obama. he's gone through a series of difficult times during his presidency. this, the one thing that really has dented his popularity, more than anyone else was obamacare, and it was dented for the first time because what voters saw was which was somebody that they felt like they could no longer trust in the way they once did. >> i think that all presidents are loyal to a fault. this president is no exception. we had that with bush and rumsfeld. waited until after the election to fire him. i agree with amy, christie had to fire those aides. he just had to. there was no choice about it. did he do okay in that press conference? >> yes, if his story holds up. but to this point, it has. i think that a lot of democrats on capitol hill wanted at least one head to roll, and it didn't happen. >> i want to credit christie, but i want to observe, doing better than obama in scandal management isn't really the highest bar to clear. it's become this very cliched textbook of what happens when you got caug

so is president obama does do that. i keep coming up with president obama because he's president now of course tgs terrific pollsters. if anything, he probably should listen to them more. i gather they saw some of this with the health care love it president obama's other advisers were not telling him about. so you talk about the bubble. i think they gave him a disservice in an effort to protect her and a sense of hubris. it didn't work out that way. >> one of the contacts that a president inevitably has outside of his elbow as leaders of other foreign countries. she went to korea said it could check and balance? >> it's a very good question. presidents tend as everybody does to have more of a relationship for some people than others. sometimes it can be surprising with the president's bond with. if you look at president reagan and president bush the father in president clinton, somehow it was one world leader they would all call during the crisis and just because this person may didn't feel good that things would work o

obama, he didn't even fire lois lerner. he allowed her to go on paid leave. >> you're 100% right, michelle. thank you to michelle and bob. happy birthday, michelle fields. coming up. >> thank you. >> we made this congressman an offer he couldn't refuse. but he did refuse. >>> time for what we need to know for next week. wayne, you're up. quickly, please. >> i like something called aaon. it's a gradual straight up chart. recovering economy, this is going to do very well. >> john, yours quick? >>'m building a position in base metals like nickel. nini is an exchange traded note tied to nickel price is. i like it at these levels. >> very good. that's it for the cost of freedom block. thanks for joining us. before we go, last week senator randpaul, a good friend of this program announced he was suing president obama over his nsa policies that prompted representative peter king to say this. >> we listen to rand paul and follow his policies, americans could die. maybe it wouldn't bother him. i don't know. >> we tried to get repres

quote, i believe obama was right, unquote. question, so gates has some positive things to say about those he criticizes harshly. how do you account for that? i ask you, pat. >> if what gates says is true, the president of the united states did not believe in the success of his mission in afghanistan, there is a real question of morality whether you send 33,000 guys to fight and bleed and die in a cause in which you believe. >> did lyndon johnson do that in vietnam? >> i believe lyndon johnson believed in the war. >> you do? have you read the history of the war? >> later on, many people i think came to disbelieve in it and some people argue they should have good night out out then. >> he did not believe at the time he sent them. >> we are all operating on excerpts from this book. the entire book is more newance. he was appropriately skeptical and questioning of the military every step along the way and that's exactly what he should be doing. >> that's your reading of it. okay, here's former secretary gates on the then secretary

chooses a obama donor for the investigation. we'll have a debate. >> we were astonished that they would be so tone deaf to have a major figure in the investigation being somebody obviously close to the president politically. óqoqúúÑ@ >>> time now for a quick check of your headlines. massive search for a missing member on board of a helicopter. two of the five on board died. >> president obama expects to talk about the tax incentives and job training programs. here on hq you watched the launch of a rocket ship. it is carrying provisioneds. if could send one thing in space, what would it be? send me a tweet at greg jarret. >> we are getting the favorite mother-in-law. up your game people. >> the justice department defending the obama donor to lead the irs targeting scandal. poll teches did not play a role. darril issa said it is another example of stone walling. this administration took a lot of time and sent false statements that somehow there was targeting withstand conservative and when the facts come out it was a one- si

president obama relies on his good counsel every day. you can tell from that statement that this book is going to have major reverberations around here. >> definitely. for at least a few days. ed henry live on the north lawn. thank you. >> thank you. >>> now the first in a series of reports on income politics. unemployment is perhaps the most important measure of economic health. we'll get the december numbers friday. but it may surprise you to know there are a lot more jobs out there than there are qualified people to fill them. of course, molly looks tonight at the sometimes fuzzy math of the job market. >> for americans trying to get into or back into the job market, there seems to be a disconnect in the numbers. the last time we got unemployment numbers for november, they were 10.9 million americans out of work. but there were also about 4 million unfilled private and government jobs. the last time those numbers came out in october. according to the bureau of labor statistics. why so many unfilled jobs? part of the problem, some anal

you said the obama economy, as if obama is somehow directly able to direct this economy. the last time president obama i saw him at a signing ceremony, he had black hair and he looked like tiger woods. okay? it's been three years since you guys have been able to work with him or willing to work with him to get anything done. it's not the obama economy, it's the obstruction economy. at what point will you find something you can work with this president on. it seems to me people are just waiting him out. >> there are bipartisan things that republicans and democrats agree and one is the pipeline. the president looked me in the eye and said by january 1st i'll make a decision and you will know what it is. republicans and democrats overwhelmingly support this. he has done nothing. republicans and democrats agree with repealing the health -- the tax on medical devices. republicans and democrats agree on sanctions against iran. these are being blocked from votes in the united states senate. but what we're seeing are additional regulations coming out of this president that are ma

i can understand why the obama piece is damning. hillary clinton, every politician makes political decisions when they're running. >> obama after i sent 30,000 troops in, i'm not sure. >> i said that was damning. >> highlight. >> he wants to not bury the lead. >> what about it? should they have covered both of them equally or did they do it right? >> that's fantasy land. when you're a conservative politician, that will never happen to you. if you're not the target to it, it's fun to sit back and watch the media lose its mind for a while over it over any topic. also in this situation you have a sitting governor who has just won re-election in a big way and you have been a private citizen, hillary clinton, although everybody assumes she's going to run, she's not right now. this is why i think it's good for the christie administration, state governor, to go through this right now, because this is just the beginning of what will -- you know romney. romney's dog on top of the car? this will be christie's dog on top of the car. imagine du

obama and mr. harper have signed an agreement that suggests that they be at the ready for each other. so obama and mr. harper to send into america to help quell the rioting and vice versa. >> you heard that. the president's secret canadian army will try to crush the uprising. beware the mounties. they're coming for you. and listen to another conservative explain why this uprising is necessary. >> we don't have another great awakening, we're going to experience a tyranny and a totalitarian. oppression far worse than anything experienced in the 20th century. >> these are the kinds of extremist ideas making their way into mainstream gop talking points where they can actually do real damage to the country. joining me now is dana milbank from the "washington post" and drew courtney, director of communications at people for the american way. whose blog right wing watch monitors this activity. thank you both for being here. >> hi, reverend. >> thanks for having us. >> drew, you see this kind of talk on a

obama, he didn't even fire lois lerner. he allowed her to go on paid leave. >> you're 100% right, michelle. thank you to michelle and bob. happy birthday, michelle fields. coming up. >> thank you. >> we made this congressman an offer he couldn't refuse. but he did refuse. is his stance on the nsa putting your privacy at risk and viol e violating your constitutional rights? joe doesn't know it yet, t he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game om the great northwest. he'll stt investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, ich isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. of the dusty basement at 06 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall f roble avenue. ♪ this magic momt it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those o believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be par

president obama, quote, i am haunted by what's happened. i am not haunted by my decision not to engage in another middle eastern war. it is very difficult to imagine a scenario in which our involvement in syria would have led to a better outcome, short of us being willing to undertake an effort in size and scope similar to what we did in iraq. we'll start there, as peace talks will start soon in geneva. iran being disinvited to those talks late this afternoon by the united nations. let's bring in our panel, syndicated columnist, george will, juan williams, and charles krauthammer. charles? >> i don't think the president is right about that. iran and russia have demonstrated that you can sway, you can change the course of the war without an invasion of the size and scope which we had in iraq. they have decisively altered the course of the war with weaponry, financial support, and essentially by keeping out all the powers. so i think this is sort of obama's explanation for syria. he says, i couldn't have done anything. i think he's quite wron

i mean, that's just not what president obama ran to do. and i think we saw that reflected in this new yorker article that juan talked about. >> and his excuse is, as juan says, the obstructionist republicans. if obama wanted to do something large, the largest piece of legislation regan had passed, he did with tip o'neal, tax reform that gave us a quarter century of economic expansion, increased our economy, and was extremely fair, increased fairness, appeals to the left and right. obama could stand up there tonight and say this is the year of tax reform. we're going to cut out all of the corporate loopholes, lower rates. it would be a triumph and help america. you won't hear a word about that. >> if he had tip o'neal to work with. >> next, republicans are pushing very hard for tax reform, and obama has never responded. >> let's see it happen. >> next up, direction of the country. more on the state of the union. we have three panel segments. stick around. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? t

when obama came to power. he wanted what he called a reset with russia and maybe it failed maybe it succeeded but it ended and there is a debate who caused this reset or what you and i larry used to call detente they got all these new words but it's the same thing who caused it and moscow blames washington washington blames moscow but here's what's interesting and katrina made the point and the point was made to us to katrina and i me when we were in moscow last week by some of our friends that were before putin came forward with this plan that syria would turn its chemical weapons over to the united nations for total destruction. and that was putin's doing he compelled syria is partial ally to do this at that moment we were on the verge of a i have a reward against syria or as you remember obama was begging congress to authorize a military strike and it looked like congress even the democratic party was not going to give it to him which would have been the collapse of obama's presidency i mean it would have b