rhetoric now because there's a federal balance sheet that he'll be judged against, and i think the problem, if he's too obviously and blatantly cynical about this and doesn't have enough details and doesn't genuinely seek a deal and people snip that about him it's really going to erode his leadership quality. bill: doug, why does he trail so badly in that poll you pointed out? >> because until yesterday, there was no long term plan to balance the budget, to get the debt and decifit under control. bottom line, the president, to get back the independents who are 38 percent of the electorate, largest group, has to commit himself seriously to decifit reduction, hasn't done it. yesterday hopefully was a step in the right direction. bill: i think everybody watching this, yesterday, and we have yet to hear from ryan, are saying what next! these guys are east coast-west coast down there. i mentioned doug's piece, a reminder, doug frequently writes for the op-ed section for fox news.com, our