care got stalled. if you recall, when he was overseas in july, and he had the g-8 in italy and went to moscow, there was all this hand wringing by democrats on capitol hill. president needs to engage more on health care. he came back, spent, i think, 11 straight days in some form or another talking about health care. of course, they didn't make the august recess deadline. here we are again. hand wringing again by democrats. pushing to get the president to come out once again and take control of the health care message. so we'll see. when you start looking at the to-do list for september, when i say september, obviously we're in it now. but this is after labor day. a lot of stuff going on in september. on the issue of health care, i think it's definitely going to dominate the first 10 to 15 days. after that, what the president can get done in those first 10 or 15 days is going to tell us how quickly actually something can get done. because a lot of other issues are going to start creeping on to the agenda. >> no doubt. of course, the timetable is important. that's why this speech will probably come next week. smart by the white house, because they want to grab control of the debate early on and set the tone as they want congress to do this. i know we're hearing maybe an oval office address or before a joint session of congress. chuck, what are you hearing? there's a lot of talk about whether or not the president is going to insist on this public option or not. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, look. you know, he has been -- they have been hinting that that was always on the negotiating table. and that the insistence on the public option was always debatable, always part of the deal. i think that that still is the case. he hasn't changed his position in months. it's never been a, it has to be the public option. in fact, i had white house aides privately say during the last dust-up when there was coverage at the president at a town hall a couple weeks ago saying whether we have it or not, that it is not the be all, end off of health care reform. and a lot of folks who really say that without the public option, there's no reform, they got up in arms. the white house says, hey, this has been our stance for months. so there's no change as far as that's concerned. that's always been on the table. so, no, public option is -- whether it's included or not is not going to be new as far as what we're going to hear from him next week. you're certainly not going to see him say the public option has to be in there or he's not going to sign it. that has never been his stance. it's not going to be next week. >> we'i have one other questionr you, chuck. a political question. this has to do deal with the poll numbers and just about how many months in office, in history it looks like when a president's approval rating drops below 50%, we've got a graphic. 37 months for bush, 13 for carter, 10 for reagan, 4 for clinton, 3 for ford. is the white house worried about this? should they be? >> reporter: of course, they should be. i think the question is going to be do they think health care is -- figures out health care and the health care debate itself, do they think it can ever be an asset of improving these numbers or will the belief be, no, getting health care in the rear-view mirror, then focus on fixing your numbers? what is their mind-set going to be for september, october, november? get health care out of the way. then concentrate on getting the middle back or then concentrate on independence. then figure out how to hit the reset button when it comes to bipartisanship or the whole polarization issue. or do they use the health care debate itself to try to fix their numbers with independents? there's an argument to be said, the health care debate is too far along. there's nothing you can do about it to fix your numbers. so it could be hurry up and get it out of the way. then fix your numbers. >> all right, chuck "todatodd a white house, we appreciate it. the nation's largest labor union says democrats are going to pay a hefty political price if they pass an overhaul bill that does not include the public option. secretary treasurer of the flcio. why are you making the public option such a make or break issue? why aren't you helping the president in terms of helping him to compromise and craft some kind of reform deal, for instance, that doesn't help insure more americans, that makes sure that insurance can't exclude someone from getting coverage? >> we are helping the president. if you're looking for health insurance reform, right now insurance companies have a strangle hold on the market. 94% of the insurance markets out there are highly concentrated. that means just a few insurance companies have a hold on them. prices are never going to go down and quality's never going to go up as long as insurance companies have that strangle hold. the public option will force them to compete. it'll give competition. it'll make them more efficient, and it'll give people a place to walk to so that if their insurance carrier isn't doing right by them or the costs keep going up or the quality keeps going down, they can actually leave and go to some place that will help us. >> but as you know, the president's going to have to salvage something. it may not be this public option he's able to get out of this congress. because that's the part of legislating. sometimes it's not pretty in order to get some reform done. if there's not a public option, what does the afl-cio going to do. >> first of all, i'm not going to go there. i think there's got to be a pub loings. if you're going to have health insurance reform, you have to have a public option to break the strangle hold of the insurance companies. i think we're going to get it. >> you outlined three absolute musts. you call them that have to be in this reform. you said they have to have a public option, an employer mandate and no tax on employer provided health benefits. with all due respect, that's never going to happen. there's got to be a tax on at least some of the benefits. there's probably got to be some room when it comes to employer mandate. because democrats in the senate won't agree to this even. >> you're pessimistic about the american people. >> i'm realistic about democrats in the united states senate and what they've said publicly. >> i think we're going to help them. we're going to come up with the reform. it's the difference between coming up with a bill that you call reform and actually have health insurance reform. those three things are needed if you're going to have real -- >> you gotten any -- >> we're going to fight for all three of those. >> have you gotten any assurances from the white house that when the president tries to take control once again of this debate next week, lays out once again in his clear principles what he wants to do, that he's going to insist as you're insisting on a public option? >> no, we haven't. >> do you want one? >> oh, we'd love to have it. we're going to insist what the american public tells us and what our workers are saying. i'm saying the american worker and the american public says they want health insurance reform. they want to break the strangle hold of insurance companies. you won't do that by wishing and hope ing. the republicans' answer to all of this is, trust us and everything will be okay. that doesn't work. it hasn't worked for the last 20 years. if you want to break the strangle hold, have a public option so you can break 94% of control over the insurance market and actually make this a system that works for everybody. >> you warned yesterday that democrats will play a political price if they don't have if the public option in the bill. are you suggesting that the democrats could lose 20, 30 seats in the house if they vote for a plan that doesn't have a public option? >> first of all, i don't know how many people aren't going to vote for them. >> how many liberal, progressive, union members are going to sit at home. >> we're going to do our best to pass a bill that will break the strangle hold insurance companies have over the health care industry. that's what we're going to try to do. those that don't, we'll tell our members. our members have said they want it. our members have said one american declares bankruptcy every 30 seconds because of medical costs. we can't wait any longer. both par tis promised in this election they would take care of the health -- they would give us health insurance reform. we take them at their word. if they don't, i think the voters will understand that and vote accordingly. >> let the battle be joined, right? this is heating up even before labor day. it's going to be tough next week as we see all this. thanks again, we appreciate it gl thanks for having me on. back to the breaking news out of california we've been following. of course the wildfires there. we were reporting a u.s. forest service official now says the southern california wildfire was human caused. but we're not getting any additional information. let's go now to los angeles. what more do we know about the potential cause of this fire? >> reporter: we don't know anything, norah. frankly we just don't know anything here on the ground. some of that information is just coming out in the very last moments. up to this point it's been nothing but very good news. the firefighters have been talking about the fact they've got a major assist from mother nature. they were talking about the fact that there were lighter temperatures here, higher humidity. the fact that the winds were very temperate. as a result of all of those conditions, they were able to get much more aggressive on the ground and lighting some backfires in some of the key spots around various flanks of this wildfire, including mainly in southeastern section where they're able to get some bulldozers in. and that's really key to create fire breaks there. because that is a steep, rugged area. the toughest part about this fire. what one fire official called some of the steepest, most dangerous territory in the united states in terms of fighting fires. >> all right. thank you so much. and coming up, how could a congressman forget to disclose a checking account worth at least a quarter of a million dollars? the tax trouble is building for new york congressman charlie rangel. plus, dissd sarah palin tryo get yet another big secret under wraps? levi johnston is making new allegations just out today. most for headaches. for arthritis pain... in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers.. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body... in a way other pain relievers don't... so you feel better... knowing doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand of pain reliever. more money questions about one of the most powerful men in congress. veteran new york congressman charlie rangel. at issue, what he paid or didn't pay uncle sam. nbc's chief investigative correspondent lisa myers is following the latest developments. lisa? >> as you know, norah, the house ethics committee has been investigating rangel for a year now. one of the reasons it's taking so long is there has been a great deal to go over. his finances are a bit of a mess. one of the latest questions is how could rangel forget to disclose a checking account containing a quarter of a million dollars? >> reporter: democratic congressman charlie rangel. chairman of the powerful house ways and means committee writes highly complicated tax laws. so it raised quite a few eyebrows when he recently revised six years of financial disclosure statements, revealing more than $600,000 in previously unreported assets. and thousands of dollars in income. a checking account value at least $250,000. an investment account, at least a quarter of a million. pepsi co stock at least $15,000. $30,000 to $100,000 of rental income from this new york brown stone. some republicans were quick to pounce. saying the omissions are significant since rangel's congressional salary is $174,000. >> the pattern of not reporting begs the question of what is he hiding either from us or from the irs? >> reporter: a rangel spokesman says the congressman has paid all federal income taxes. he has said any errors were inadverte inadvertent. an ethics expert says the filings bolstered rangel's defense before the ethics committee. >> by disclosing it he's able to say he had no intent to conceal this information or hide it from public view. >> reporter: the ethics committee is looking into a long list of allegations. including rangel's failure to report and pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income on a villa in the dominican republic. his use of four rent stabilized apartments in manhattan. and what critics say are below market rates. initially the 38-year veteran of congress defended himself. >> i personally feel that i've done nothing morally wrong. >> reporter: but as the headlines have piled up over the months, rangel has declined to answer any media questions, even when accosted by a blogger. kr critics say at a minimum, rangel should step aside as chairman until the investigation is complete. >> if it's too hard to get the financial disclosure forms right, how can we trust him with something as vast as the tax code? >> reporter: democratic sources say speaker pelosi and the leadership have agreed not to make any decision until the investigation is complete. a big factor working in rangel's favor, norah, as you know, pete stark is next in line on the house ways and means committee. and old mind liberal not particularly popular with either political party. he recently referred to the blue dog conservative democrats as brain dead. >> with all these headlines piling up that you've reported, this new stuff, the old stuff that was out there, the fact yur of disclosure, how much trouble is he in? >> there's clearly a great deal of smoke. and clearly some democrats are quite distressed about the scope of the investigation. i think the line is likely to be, was there an intent to deceive or was there any fraud involved? and i think short of that, charlie rangel is a fairly popular guy. and congress has a history of being fairly gentle with their own as long as they say, i made a mistake. i won't do it again. >> just because the house ethics committee, and of course run by democrats, gives him the all clear, does that mean he might not still face other problems with the irs or someone else? >> his people say he has paid all federal income taxes. now, when i asked them whether they were paid in the year they were due or whether they were paid in the last six months, i did not get an answer. >> right. and that happens sometimes, too, with taxes. there'll be more questions about this. thanks so much. we appreciate it. and other big news today in the media world, diane sawyer will replace charles gibson as the anchor of abc's world news in january. charlie gibson, who has been the anchor at world news since may 2006 announced today he is going to retire another the end of this year. sawyer will leave "good morning america" to become the second woman to solo anchor the evening news. it's the first time in history there are going to be two women anchoring the three broadcast evening newscast. abc news president says sawyer is the right person to succeed charlie and build on what he's accomplished. all right. coming up, president obama tries to retool and restart the fight for health care reform. but after a bruising august, is the damage already too far done? 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try and reclaim the debate? >> i think he has no choice but to try and reclaim the debate. because i think he lost control of the debate in august if you look back at the coverage both on cable and in the newspapers. it was very much about the anger at these town hall meetings and opposition to his plans and also dissecting of his poll numbers which have dropped. he needs to figure out a way to more forcefully take control of the debate and show he can still get a health care bill through that democrats can tolerate and he's happy to sign into law. you can only do that by giving more details. he couldn't provide less specifici specificity. he hasn't provided much at all. he's basically said to congress, you provide the details. i'll help shape it. let's give me something i can sign. it's clear he's going to have to give more specific details. we're hearing he's not going to demand a public option, for instance. we're hearing he's going to call for the price tag to go below a trillion dollars. does he start to give specific legislative language or specific numbers or how many uninsured need to be covered and what kind of subsidies you might get or not get? >> you guys talked to david axelrod who said this, quote, we're going to approach it in a different way. the president is going to be very active. we're in the eighth or ninth inning here so there's not a lot of time to waste. that's exactly right. they want to get this done by september 15. there's a lot that the president has to do the rest of this month in september. >> right. >> so how specific will the president get and will that work, or are they going to have to start banging some heads together in order to get this legislation done? >> what i know, i don't think they've decided definitively how specific they're going to get. it would be very hard for him to get up there next week and say, this is exactly what that final bill should look like. because you know from being up on capitol hill, there's four or five or six different committees that are playing with this bill right now and that they've been told to write the language. if all of the sudden he says, you know what, i told you i was going to take the lead, i made you do all this work, i don't care bt it, i'm going to tell you what to do, that would cause a backlash. what he can do is try to shape with a little more specificity what that compromised bill looks like and whether or not he's going to demand republican support for the bill at tend of the day. sounds like they're not going to call for republican support. they feel like enzi, grassley and others have made it clear they don't really want to compromise. i think they're going to say republicans don't want to compromise with us. we're going to have a democratic only bill. this is what that democratic only bill should look like. >> how much of the health care debate do you think will be overshadowed by the news that's coming about afghanistan. >> right. >> and also with the 9/11 anniversary approaching? >> i mean, those are big problems. in some ways i think -- we've talked so much about how health care will be the definitive issue of the obama presidency in the early years. i think it'll be afghanistan. there's a huge fight in the democratic party about whether they should continue to fund the war, whether or not a surge in troops is wise and whether afghanistan at the end of the day is winnable. i think as casualties mount, we've had back to back months with record high casualties in afghanistan, as uncertainty mounts, i think there's going to be a much bigger public debate over afghanistan. i think that's a good thing. because obama's not talked that much about afghanistan. this is an extraordinarily important issue. i think it's going to probably be clashing with health care throughout the month as far as what dominates the public conversation. i think it only complicates things. there's only so many things you can do simultaneously. it's one of the reasons i think obama's having problems. he's tried to do a lot of things simultaneously. clamp down on wall street. cap and trade. health care reform. manage a war. it's difficult stuff. >> it's not an easy job being commander in chief. >> there you go. >> the chief of politico, one of the chiefs, jim, thanks so much. we appreciate it. >> take care. see you later. still to come this hour on msnbc, guards gone wild in afghanistan. see those pictures? the bizarre and shocking photos of near naked security contractors misbehaving like a bunch of frat boys. plus we're following the latest out west where firefighters are gaining grounds on flames burning north of los angeles. you were right. these healthy choice fresh mixer thingys, they taste fresh... say it again! they taste fresh. wait. what are you doing? got it. you're secretly taping me? cook it fresh, strain it fresh, mix it fresh, healthy choice fresh mixers, look for it in the soup or pasta aisle. you weren't always my favorite day. with all the pet hair in the air, i'd spend class preoccupied, bothered by itchy eyes. but now i have new zyrtec® itchy eye drops. it works fast, with just one drop, to relieve my itchy eyes from allergies for up to 12 hours. no other allergy itchy eye drop works faster or longer. which is good, 'cause there's a lotta paws to shake. with new zyrtec® itchy eye drops i can love the air™. 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[ female announcer ] and that charmin softness. new charmin ultra strong. look for it in the new red package. for those who prefer moist wipes, try new charmin freshmates for a cleaner clean. i'm norah o donl in for andrea mitchell. here are the top news headlines we're following at this hour. u.s. forest service officials say the massive california wildfire was human caused according to the associated press. but it's not known specifically how it started. the fire has scorched more than 140,000 acres ands burned at least 62 homes to the ground. moist weather is helping firefighters to battle the blaze. now about 22% contained. hurricane jimena has made landfall on mexico's baja, california, peninsula. thousands of tourists evacuated ritzy resorts as the area gets pounded with heavy winds and rain. the hurricane has dropped to a category category 2 storm. the two american journalists imprezzed in north korea for over four months are speaking out about the events leading up to that capture. in an online post laura ling and euna lee said they followed a guide. they ran back into chinese territory. the father of sarah palin's granddaughter is speaking out again. he's making some shocking new allegation against the former vice presidential candidate. in october's "vanity fair" the father of palin's first grandchild telling editors about the sarah palin he knew in an article entitled "me and mrs. palin." "vanity fair" also released this video of the johnston interview. we'll play more as we're talking to bruce marcus from the "washington post." good to see you. thanks so much for joining us. >> hi, norah. >> let's start going through a couple of things that levi johnston has said about sarah and todd palin. first what he says what life was like inside the palin house. he says this. quote, there wasn't much parenting in that house. sarah doesn't cook. todd doesn't cook. the kids would do it all themselves. cook, clean, do the laundry and get ready for school. most of the time bristol would help the youngest with her home work and i'd barbecue chicken or steak on the grill. he's got a beef with palin, doesn't he? >> he's not a huge palin fan. i have to say i have not been the hugest fan over exgovernor palin over the next year. i haven't exactly been charitable in some of the things i've written or said about her. but i have finally found the moment to be on sarah palin's side. because i just think that what he's doing here is about as scummy as you can get. i mean, you live in her house. i would not want somebody who lived in my house to be -- i'm not sure kiss and tell is the right phrase. but to be telling about what exactly life was like there. it's just -- it's so uncalled for. >> not only that, if you look at him, we can show some of the video while we're talking, we're showing sarah palin when she announced she was stepping down. but "vanity fair" actually filmed this photo shoot levi johnston wanted to do. of course, he has said he wants to be an actor and model and it's pretty humorous to watch him posing for all these cameras. he clearly is enjoying the limelight. one other thing he said, sarah palin was worried about what the grandchild, of course, would do to her political career. so he says this, quote, sarah palin told me she had a great idea. we would keep it a secret. nobody would know that britle was pregnant. she told me once bristol had the baby she and todd would adopt him. i have to tell you, we went back and looked. and in the ""larry king live"" interview that levi johnston said, larry king asked him was there ever any talk about abortion, no, giving up for adoption, and levi johnston said, oh no. is it possible levi johnston's story is changing through all this? >> it's possible. i haven't gone back and figured out the month. it seems to me it would have been very hard for sarah palin to have given birth to trig, her own baby, and then this one. maybe she was worried about the impact having an infant would have on her daughter. can i just say this? levi johnston, to sort of think of him as getting the limelight here, his only claim to fame is getting his teenage girlfriend pregnant. and now he wants to be an actor and a model? i really wish he would just go away. but i guess that's kind of not to be fulfilled wish. >> it's an interesting point you make, ruth, about his only claim to fame being that he got sarah palin's daughter pregnant. you're right. because they are no longer together. let me read about what he says about how sarah palin changed after the campaign. he says this. sarah was sad for a while. she walked around the house pouting. i'd assumed she was going to go back to her job as governor. a week or two after she got back she started talking about how nice it would be to quit and write a book or do a show and make triple the money. >> well, sure. and i was very critical of her decision to quit. i wrote a column that i think was called "big girls don't quit." but, on the other hand, i think it's fairly common for failed candidates after they lose an election to go through a period of moping and depression and figuring out sort of what the rest of their political and professional life is going to be like. and, you know, if you're sarah palin, that money probably looks awfully tempting. and of all the people to criticize her for being tempted by money to do things or switch jobs or tell things, i think levi might be the last one to talk. >> well said. ruth marcus with the "washington post." and the latest in the continuing palin chronicles. >> never ending. >> never ending. i'm sure you'll be able to get some copy out of this one. ruth marcus, thanks so much. we're awaiting reaction from the state department to shocking government report that exposed really disturbing behavior by security personnel at the u.s. embassy in kabul. take a look at these photos which show the guards nearly naked and engaging in really lewd conduct. nbc news pentagon correspondent jim mickle chef ski has been following the story. this has been bad on a lot of levels. what's likely to be the fallout for the company in charge of these private contractors? >> you know, the state department which hired armor group, a subsidiary of whackenhut for whom these employees, private security guards worked at the u.s. embassy in kabul, you know, the state department's in kind of a bind. because there is nobody else really to take over those positions. nobody in the u.s. government can very readily step in. the u.s. military doesn't want to do it. they're already stretched thin by the wars in iraq and afghanistan. but the problem here is oversite. now, look. you know, if you put a lot of -- as somebody told us today, you combine booze and guns and a bunch of young guys with a lot of built up testosterone, stuff like this is going to happen. but this is definitely a failure in leadership. and this lack of discipline could actually, actually erode the kind of security around the u.s. embassy that is needed. >> yeah. i mean, there was some talk this morning, too, of people writing in on "morning joe" this is what happens in those sort of situations. it doesn't make it right. nor does it make it right when you're certainly in the middle of a war zone, right? >> and particularly after the blackwater incident in iraq where blackwater guards are accused of unnecessarily opening fire on a crowd in baghdad and killing innocent civilians. you would think that the state department would be even more aggressive in oversight of the private security guards that they're hiring. apparently that was not the case, at least there in kabul. because in testimony, i believe it was june or july, state department officials say that, oh, all the problems there with our security guards in kabul have been fixed. and in august, then, the state department renewed that contract for those private security guards for another year. one more point. not only is the armored group under fire there in kabul, but just last month they had one of their private security guards in the green zone in iraq allegedly in a drunken fit open fire and kill two other security guards. he's in custody. and that case is under investigation. by the way, whackenhut and armored group have decided not to comment yet. but we expect some dikind of reaction from them later today. >> that's right. and the state department at 2:00. thanks so much. >> you bet. back to the -- president obama has his work cut out for him if he intends to tell congress and the public specifically what he wants included in the overhaul. there's a new cbs news poll that shows 60% of americans say president obama has not clearly explained his plan for the overhall. another 67% say the proposals are too confusing for anyone to understand. let's bring in democratic strategist karen cheney and republican strategist ron christy. all right, karen, the president is known as a communique tor in chief. he has given town halls. he's given speeches. he's had a prime time news conference on this. why isn't it that the white house can't specifically lay out exactly what they want in a bill and get people to rally behind it? >> well, look. i think the president's been pretty clear from the beginning in terms of laying out the principles that he wants. most of those print pls exist in the various bills that we've seen in congress. and i think we've gotten farther than ever before. we've had legislation pass four out of five committees. now we're really in a different phase of the game here. now is the time to really pull all of this together and, you know, focus on, you know, making sure that the american people understand exactly what health insurance reform would mean for them. and i think that's what you're going to see. we've seen earlier reports that the president, and i'm told that the president's considering his options for next week, and the best way to bring this together and move it forward. >> let's read from "the washington post" op-ed called health reform's plan b. he writes this. democrats have a political interest in the passage of less frightening, more incremental reform. the failure to do so would prove them incapable of governing a serious senate plan with only limited republican support could quickly transform the health debate. ron, are republicans even willing to do that? get on board an incremental reform bill? >> i think we are, norah. >> what would it do? >> i think there's several steps you can take right now. i think you can provide individuals the ability to purchase insurance across state lines. current federal dictates don't allow you to do so. i think you could do a lot of making sure you would have people with pre-existing conditions covered. but also at the same time looking at some sort of medical malpractice liability reform. there are a lot of things that could be done. >> none of those, ron, none of those, while those are all good and important reforms, none of those allow those without health insurance an option for getting health insurance. >> that's right. well, norah, i would say to you that i think the big mistake that i was going to say a moment ago that the president made when he unveiled this health care debate, is he didn't put it in writing. president bush back in 2001 put out his principles for no child left behind and he put out his principles for his tax cut. he explained to the congress and the american people specifically what he wanted passed. i think the president in order right now to move something through the congress in a bipartisan manner has to lay it out in writing, norah, and be very clear and specific what his expectations are. >> karen -- >> you know, norah, this raises an important point. i think the one thing that i certainly hope every member of congress learned over the summer is that doing nothing is simply not an option. what you've seen is the republicans trying to defend the status quo. frankly, i don't think that they're interested in a bipartisan bill. but regardless, i think the key thing all the members of congress have to remember is they're going to need to get on board and work with the president to pass meaningful reform. because i think if they don't, voters are going to hold them accountable. we heard -- >> karen, you don't think some -- we have video from even the house majority leader's town hall yesterday. you don't think a number of these democrats after coming home from these town hams are a little bit spooked about what's going on? >> well, they better not be. i'll tell you. what you did not hear at those town halls was people saying that they didn't want some kind of health insurance reform. they maybe had criticisms about how it was going to be done obviously based on just a despicable misinformation campaign that we saw coming out over the recess period. i mean, you know, death panels and now today they're talking about women with breast cancer, you know, more likely to die. i mean, that's just ridiculous. unfortunately we've gotten away from having a real discussion about the need for health insurance reform. and the criticism i would have of the principles ron laid out, to your point, it doesn't actually address the problem, a, of getting people uninsured into the system and, b, the stranglehold that insurance companies actually now have in that monopoly. >> karen, let me just say this. that's not the republican's fault. that's the president's president. i didn't interrupt you. the president should have nonstrano demonstrated real leadership from the get-go. that's why the -- let me finish one last point. you notice very carefully that you now call it health snumpinse reform? the president came out and said he wanted health reform that would cover all american people. now the democrats are talking about health insurance reform. that's why this is failing. >> look, ron. i don't think republicans are going to continue to be able to hide behind, you know, this party of no, it's not our fault. republicans have got to step up to the plate, too, and make it clear that they're willing to work with the president and work with democrats to pass something. >> hey, you guys control the congress, karen. you control the congress. we'll go back to norah. you control the congress. let's see some legislation in a bipartisan manner. >> karen finny, ron christi, this will heat up next week as the president tries to make clear exactly what he wants to do and whether congress will follow up on that. thanks to both of you. coming up, the decision many parents are actually struggling with. should you have your child vaccinated for the swine flu? the white house issues an urgent call to get ready as flu season fast approaches. 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[ announcer ] beneful prepared meals. another healthful, flavorful beneful. president obama is urging americans to take common sense steps to help contain the spread of the swine flu as public health officials are braising for a possible outbreak. preparations, of course, are already under way as students now head back to schools all across this country. already wake forest university is reporting 100 students are sick with swine flu. nbc's tom costello joins us now. tom, when are we supposed to get these shots if people are already getting swine flu now? >> reporter: the vaccinations won't be available until late october or even november. the government has already ordered 195 million doses of that. they expected about $45 million doses will be available towards mid to late october and will go out to state health departments who will then start vaccinating the most vulnerable. those are the very young, children really under the age of 2, and adults with asthma, diabetes, people at risk, then the elderly as well. but for the rest of us, they are expecting that perhaps half of the u.s. population will at some point come down with this h1n1 virus, which we would hasten to add is really being described as kind of a moderate flu. i will tell you that a family member of mine came down with it. and she had a bad case of the flu or moderate case of the flu. but it was over in about three to five days. >> so what about that? now that we're hearing 100 students at wake forest, your own family member got a case of it, is there some discussion out there that the government was a little bit too late with this flu preparation, this actual swine flu vaccination? how many people will get it before the vaccine is ready? >> it's hard to know that. listen, there are always going to be critics. i think the general feeling is the administration is moving as quickly as it can what big political story is going to dominate headlines in the next 24 hours? bring in ann cornblue, reporter for the "washington post." what will be the next big story? >> we are back to health care h a few days' break there, last week, we'd few days off from health care but the question everyone is now asking and the white house is trying to answer is what president obama is going to do. congress comes back next week, so he really only got a couple of days here, even though he is going up to camp david, he is obviously heading up there today, going to be taking some time off, back -- sort of on vacation but they are going to have to be planning, figuring out how much are they going to negotiate with republicans? is the president going to put his own stamp on some kind of health care plan and give some kind of big speech? questions being raised, not entirely answered. the white house is debating them and got to figure it out very soon. >> how much is this the president trying to sort of seize the agenda and sort of jumpstart work on this health care bill as everybody be gets took work next week? >> we haven't seen him do it yet. i think expectation is he will. he will travel next monday to cincinnati, going to go to a labor picnic, certainly talking to people but not doing anything sort of official yet. that is the big question and no one knows, everyone believes he has to, because it stalls, the ground has shifted from beneath him over the last month when everyone has been out on recess. everyone is expecting he will seize the initiative when congress gets back. no doubt it will be interest, anne kornblut with the "washington post." thank you so much. i'm norah o'done until washington for andrea mitchell. contessa brewer will pick up our coverage next. contessa what do you have coming up? >> i am curious are are you putting anne in a corner? like "dirty dancing" no one puts bay any a corner. >> poor anne. >> talk to the "washington post" about that cardboard thing they got going on. bless her heart. >> coming from you, not from me. >> right. >> next hour here, norah, more on the wildfires, turns out the associated press, commanders are saying they think these fires were caused by human or humans, whether it was accidental or intentional, they still don't know. we will have more on that. plus, going to talk to this guy who put his parents up for sale on craigslist. and get this, he says he wasn't doing it for the money. toll you all about that after a quick break. um bill-- why is dick butkus here? i hired him to speak. a lot of fortune 500 companies use him. but-- i'm your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-- that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! you know business is a lot like football... i just don't understand... i'm sorry dick butkus. 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