then we're not going to have influenced the day that assad falls, with the people who will succeed him, and most people, andrea, as you know, now think that we're not going to see an easy transition at all. in fact, it may be that the violence gets worse after assad leaves, so i do think the united states needs to go back to the drawing board. we need to be more assertive. 70,000 people dead and that total is going to mount. hundreds of thousands of people now outside the country as refugees. hundreds of more thousands people on the roads. they've left their villages. they can't live where they had lived before. this is a desperate situation, and it requires much greater american leadership. >> nicolas burns, ambassador, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> for being with us today. >> and up next, the political briefing. the simpson-bowles reboot. you're watching andrea mitchell reports. only on msnbc.