edition of "hardball" with chris matthews. barack obama, the score at halftime. let's play "hardball." >> this is a special "hardball" presentation. obama's america. . here is chris matthews use. >> good evening. i'm chris mathews up in new york. leading off tonight, a special "hardball" obama's america. martin luther king was born 82 years ago. this is also the anniversary of the president's inauguration. tonight, we look coldly at the first half. how is he doing? has the president moved us toward a post racial society? if so, how? and how is he doing on that acid test of any president? the jobless number. how about african-american unemployment and how about the country's political tone? is it better now since tucson? does politics in america still mean naming villains? we look at the obama's presidency, the politics two years into his term. joining me now, michael steele, who just served a two-year term as chairman of the republican committee, eugene robinson, a pulitzer prize-winning columnist with "the washington post" and an msnbc political am list. i have to start with michael steele. the president is up two points. he now has an approval um in bertha exceeds his disapproval. what is the state of the obama presidency viewed from the republican national committee that recently you led? >> it has been an interesting week. i think the way you look at the administration right now, going into the new realities of a speaker boehner, republican-controlled house, the administration really is in transition. it's an opportunity for the administration to lay out an agenda with the state of the union in a week or so that says how he will woithin this new environment and what kind of partnership he looks to establish with speaker boehner. he doesn't have nancy pelosi driving the agenda the way she did the last two years. now it's a different drum beat. and the real question is important the president has the mindset to be the kind of leader that people are looking for. >> you force me to ask you a question in return. for me, it's a sack rice. one republican leg in, one democratic leg in. do the republicans intend to race in a sack race with the president or stand still? will they run with him? >> i believe they will run with him on certain issues. the congresswoman can tell you, the dynamics are going to be such that there are going to be issues where folks will stand still. >> do you think the president will get in that sack race and run with his new parter, republican john boehner? >> the question there is it depends. right off the bat the republicans are starting off when we get back on health care. i don't think that's the great message for running in a sack race together. >> your happy that they changed the name from the job killing health care bill to the job destroying health care bill? is that progress? >> it doesn't change the bad critique they have on health care. >> okay. >> gene, you always have a wise view. halftime report. you're in the halftime. you're sitting here. we should be wearing blazers. it's truly a halftime event and my question is does he still have the potential for historic greatness? >> i think he does. halftime report, look at three components of his presidency. look at accomplishments. he managed to keep the economy from falling off the cliff into something like a depression. i think most americans applaud that. he managed to get through comprehensive health care. many americans applaud that but not all. many don't like the way it was done and an increase number like the result. i think in the end that's going to be a positive for him. and a raft of other progressive legislation that there's solid accomplishments. look at the political realm. the record is much more mixed. the focus on health care clearly cost political support among some segments of the population to the extent that the democrats got creamed in the mid-term elections because it was perceived there was not enough focus on jobs. so, politically he could do better. if you look at the intangibles, i think there's one thing that's really important not talked about a lot. first african-american president, every time he walks out to that helicopter to go to camp david with the first lady, michelle obama, and with the daughters, and the mother-in-law, and you see that family, that african-american family in that role, i think that has an impact. >> you grew up in south carolina. you're about my age. you feel it. don't you? still? >> i do feel it. i still feel it. sometimes, you know, that image hits you out of the corner of your eye and you look at it and it's riveting, touching and moving. in a way. >> i want to get a hard nosed republican on that. to me i think this president has been successful with his legislative agenda. he got his progressive legislation. also on that list is repeal of don't-ask, don't-tell, financial regulatory reform, the auto industry, saving it, basically. water boarding. dick cheney doesn't like that. most americans do. and s.t.a.r.t. which everybody likes. this nonpolitical thing he's done what you're talking about this historic development, i think when i got in trouble for saying he caused a thrill up my leg because he was talking back in 2004 and 2008 about america. i know republicans get thrills when their guy talks about america and when a progressive that i like and i also like some things about reagan, the progressive way of saying that is saying only in this country is my story possible. this man does accept and love american exceptionalism. i don't know what the right thinks he thinks. don't you agree that barack obama exemplifies american exceptionalism? >> well, you talk about america in a way that americans don't see us as being exceptional. when you go europe and you say well america is about as exceptional as the british are. that's not a good thing for americans to hear by their president on foreign soil. so how that translates back to people is where the president oftentimes gets in trouble with his ideas on exceptionalism and other issues. >> if we go through his most important thing -- we'll get to this post-racial society, i think that's an extraordinary ambition myself. post-racial meaning it never matters it doesn't influence. do you think it's too much? >> it's a nice good feel thing but i can tell you right now the reality is very different. and so people need to come to the table whether it's in business, politics or whatever, understanding that there are some things about us as a country and a culture where those things are inherent and it will take more than a generational shift from jimmy carter to barack obama. >> donna, you're a practicing politician and you have to get real every two years in a suburban district. you're washington, right? >> that's right. >> how is he doing as head of state? >> i think people actually make a distinction, people in my district love the president. no question about it. they are also very protective of the president. they understand the historical place that he plays and the role that he plays. they make distinctions on policy so people do want to see movement on employment especially among young african-american. they like health care but they think the president needed to go further. and we still have more work to do. these are important policy distinctions that are quite apart from the president himself. if you look coming out of tucson, what you see is even though the president wasn't engaged in a political message, he actually had the ability to thread and build that american story you talked about. >> let me ask you about the party that you served all these years and i think nobly. i always thought you did a breath job over there and won these special elections, you beat the band in the mid-term. you didn't raise enough money over there. >> we raised $192 million. >> i'm an expert on watching politics. like gene, this is what we do. i go to republican conventions and democratic conventions. as a white guy one thing i notice about the difference, one thing i notice about black people at conventions. you go to democratic convention black people are enjoying themselves. they feel very much at home. you go to a republican convention, you get the feeling that they're told, now, don't bunch up. don't get together, you'll scare these people. is that true in the republican party? did you fear if you got together with some other african-americans white guys might get scare of you? >> no. what your talking about? we could have used a few more brothers in the house, no doubt about that. >> is there a difference about how you feel? >> is there what? >> a difference ethnically how you feel at home? >> i don't know miami you feel. what i try to do. my two years as chairman -- i try to broaden the landscape. it made a difference. till scott, alan west. >> good district vikt victories there. african-american in south carolina. >> so broadening the party's base is going to be very important. i made it very clear -- >> are you happy with what you got done? >> i'm very happy. >> donna edwards the democrat says you got a raw deal. >> the president talked from the campaign about getting past our old divisions, our old battle lines that were laid do in the '60s. he talked about it but never really defined the new battle lines he wants us to finalize. i think now after that speech in tucson he has the opportunity once again, a new opportunity to define a new way of looking at our divisions and our disagreements. and i think that would be a very significant -- >> let's talk more about that. you and i we should talk more about that. >> i think eugene hit a real point. you'll watch the president with his state of the union bring tucson to washington and he's going to do it in a way in which he'll wrap his policies around this idea of a better america with less noise and less dissension. >> we'll have david axelrod speaking for the white house in just a moment. michael steele, i would have voted four. eugene robinson, thank you. and one of my favorite members of congress donna edwards from maryland. david axelrod joins us and talk about the political climate on politics with an expert . it's martin luther king day. obama's america is the name of the show only on . 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>> well, i think the state of the union is good because of the people of this country, chris. the strength of this country are the people of this country, the hardest-working most industrious people. there's so many assets to this country. that's why we're beginning to show progress in our economy and that's why we're going to ultimately overcome the difficulties we've had and prevail in the future and the goal here is to let everybody live out their lives and live out their dreams and get them as far as their talents will allow them. >> i'm struck by that term humility. it does suggest all of us humility is another word for wisdom. you learn things. one of the things he hasn't learned is that government can't do a lot. businesses sitting on that $2 billion, the resentment of handling in the last two years, this refusal to go out and invest and create american jobs is the number one hammer over this administration right now and if he meets with these guys he goes the chamber he meets with these people, bring in billy dailey, sends these signals on tack cuts for everybody, is that to try to loosen the hearts, warm the hearts of business so they will start spending and he gets the jobless number down? is that what it's about? >> i don't think those businesses are sitting on $2 trillion to make a political statement. they are sitting on them because they are waiting for the right time to invest and looking for good opportunities. as this economy strengthens and gains momentum you'll see them get off the sidelines. we'll encourage them to do that, but that's what drives them. their bottom line oriented and the bottom line is the demand there? do these investments make sense. you're beginning to see more and more of that. you're seeing manufacturing growing. you're seeing different signs happening. we want to accelerate that and the president will talk about that later this week and certainly in the state of the union. >> is he going to appeal to business to have more confidence in america or is he going to give them something next week that triggers more economic activity so that his jobless rate guess below nine then eight so he can get re-elected. >> we've gone through a very difficult time. we're focused on that. we shouldn't forget the tremendous assets that we have as a country, we're the world's largest economy. as i said, we got the most productive workforce. we got the most ingenuity. we got a lot of assets that have sustained us for two centuries. there's a lot of things we can do to help. doing things that assist that growth. but ultimately the strength of this country lies with its people and we have faith -- the business community should have faith in the american people as well. >> do you in your mind's eye, let's take the issue that was circulating around what happened in tucson not what caused the horror but what circulates around that society, the fight over illegal immigration. do you have in your mind the deal maker that could unite left, right and center and really change and legitimize the people across the border and fix this problem so right, left and center can agree on a deal? is it in your mind somewhere? >> look, it is certainly in our mind that that is a major challenge that we have to -- >> you don't see a solution? >> we're going to continue -- i'm not sure. we're going to probe. i think that, you know, it wasn't just this terrible tragedy in tucson but you saw it in the lame duck session. i think people understand now the american people have given us republicans and democrats shared responsibilities here and more than anything they want us to work together to solve problems. this is a problem that deserves an answer and we're going to be looking for willing partners and i think we may find more than you think. >> john f. kennedy said problems are manmade. this is a manmade problem. i hope we have a solution. thank you so much david axelrod. when we return the number one issue facing americans, jobs right now. let's talk about president obama, what he has done handling the economy and what he hasn't done. you're watching a special edition of hardball. obama's america is the name of it. only on msnbc. 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are they hiring again? >> ford just made an announcement they will hire another 7,000 people over the next couple of years but that's miniscule to what will happen in the supply industry. as they continue to build inventory and to build for 14 million units, there's going be a lot of employment opportunities in the supply base. >> is that going to reach the inner-city people in detroit itself or is that a suburban opportunity. >> absolutely. a positive impact in detroit. >> how about the other two, gm and chrysler? how are they doing? >> gm is doing very well. chrysler is still iffy but coming along. there's a lot of positive movement in the automotive industry. >> 20 years from now will it be the motor city? >> it will be because the technology that's centered around the city of detroit, with the r&d, universities. engineers are coming out and it's going to be very positive. >> there's a new movie coming out. i got to preview it. middle age white guys. kevin costner, tommy lee jones, these guys and chris cooper, the cowboy looking guys. they're all out of work, they had jobs for 30, 40 years, thrown out of work. as part of downsizing. you're attitude about this whole thing. what do we know? >> what i've learned and what i know in the four months since i've been on television with the president is that things aren't always what they seem. the thing that's been very troubling to me and i was thrilled that you invited us here for this program today, especially on such an important day, martin luther king's birthday and our recognition of that is that there's still a gap. there's a huge gap in race relations, in how we view this president's administration, in how the congress and the classes of people in the congress will advance -- >> how do you put it together? 16% unemployment. among african-americans. overall the unemployment rate compared to african-americans and latinos the rate is 9%. latinos 13, african-americans 16. most people know this. americans know. african-americans get hurt more than others. >> aknow it intuitively, but the data matters because that validates it. i did a piece a coup of months ago in the grio on this issue. it's a troubling outcome. one of the things i've done as a finance professional and diversity professional in my own career is i believe that if you're going change things from a race relationship standpoint it has to be very deliberate, it has to be absolute. you have to go after it like you're going after a car. and i don't see that type of effort. i don't see that deliberate nature. we're still talking about unemployment, the economic disadvantages from a race standpoint. from a very generic standpoint. >> your honor, the question is the old democratic way of creating jobs, they created public employment. they come up with something for people to do. demand driven. right? they would find work for people. put a lot of people on the payroll. is that the way obama should go the old liberal way? >> absolutely not. it's about value and the value of proposition. if you don't bring value to the table you ought not be there. quite frankly. so, i was an independent entrepreneur for 29 years, and now that i'm into politics, i even believe in the municipal area, people have to bring value to the table. you cannot just create jobs and give people employment when they are not bringing value. >> absolutely. i just would like to add on to that, the whole objective for all of us is to have meaningful work. not just a job. >> the divide between the kid who comes out of high schools the kid with a b average or c average. real smart kids are going to find their way to michigan state and then get jobs. what do we do for the young man who is 18 coming out of school with a b or c average, got through all right, not a troublemaker, was for him today. >> there's lots of things. one of the strategies and my daughter is pretty well -- pretty strong academically. but what i will say to you is she considered the community college road for her first two years as an easy way to kind of mainstream herself into the college environment and then to go university. it looks like it will be different for her but i think that's a pathway. the military being a veteran myself, that's a pathway. there are great opportunities. >> your honor, what do you say when you look at kids coming out of your high school in detroit, not the genius, the regular kids. where are they going to end up? where could they end up? >> they got to forget about the history of the automotive history and manufacturing, quite frankly. because that industry has changed dramatically. it's downsized, it's global, and if you don't have some technology in your education, it's going to be very difficult to get a job. i have a grandson who just finished his first two years in community college and he's trying to figure out what he needs do as a next step because even with a degree from a community college he's not going get a really good job. education is going to be paramount as we think about where he are to where we have to go to be a competitor on the global marketplace. >> the mayor of philadelphia is a friend of mine. he said before he went into office because of the terrible fall of wealth you can teach young men and women really sophisticated state-of-the-art mechanics. not a job with pliers and a screwdriver. are we educating kids with that type of technical knowledge? >> no we're not and that's a problem because once again even though the industry has shrunk in the united states it's a major player from a global standpoint, and once again coming out of high school or dropping out of high school without a degree where you could get a job historically making $80,000 to $100,000 that day is over. you need to have the extra fwoilt add value and be employable. >> can you go to gm or chrysler or ford and say to the ceos why don't you send around teachers to teach mechanics in our high schools so our kids coming out of detroit high schools will have a chance to work in your companies? >> that is starting to happen. the conversation is under way. >> i love that. i want to cover that story. >> why just mechanics? >> motor city let's start with that. >> right? >> not every kid wants to do liberal arts. i'm talking about regular people. the "a" kids will make it. >> regular kids can have administrative functions. sorry. >> you getting mad at me. i'll take it. you got mad at the president. thank you. when we return the villainization of president obama, is it finally coming to an end? you're watching a special edition of hardball. obama's america only on msnbc. [ steam hissing ] an accident doesn't have to slow you down. from accident forgiveness and 24-hour claims assistance to a lifetime repair guarantee, we help you move on. to learn more, visit us today. liberty mutual auto insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? nothing starts your day like honey roasted, honey bunches of oats. the perfect balance of crunchy flakes and clusters, with a kiss of golden honey. delicious. and the same calories per serving as special k original. so, try honey roasted, honey bunches of oats! heck try 'em all. welcome back to this special edition of hardball. tonight i want to thank personally liberty mutual. what a great company to give us this opportunity to examine the obama presidency. in the past two years language and images against president obama have been more critical. they will delegitimze him. >> barack obama has one thing in common with god. you know what it is? god doesn't have a birth certificate either. >> why can't the president of the united states produce a birth certificate. >> do you believe barack obama is a legitimate native born american or not? >> this is not what this bill is about? >> what do you believe? >> as far as i know yes. >> as far as you know? i'm showing you his birth certificate. >> joining me right now is msnbc political analyst michelle berna bernard, who is president of bernard scepter for women. and also our princeton professor. let me start with this -- what you just saw. michelle, this starting with this seed of doubt they keep pushing which he's not really legitimate, he shouldn't be there. in fact he's not born in this country. >> actually looking at the video clips, it's pretty embarrassing. two years ago we were sitting on the set talking excitedly about living in a post-racial america. i really wanted to believe at that point in time we were truly on the verge of becoming a colorblind society but when you look at these things, when you look at people who make statements i want to take my country back. as a african-american you have to say who do you want to take it back from. who stole it from you. it's embarrassing. it's been a very difficult president is in that perspective. >> you didn't expect his birth thing. >> absolutely not. >> melissa, thank you for joining us. i've seen you earlier today. is this birther thing essentially an ethnic charge against the president, somebody named barack obama couldn't be an american he has an african name, therefore, let's work with this thing, let's play with this thing that he wasn't born here? >> it's partly that. the fact that it coincides with immigration, about changing the ways in what we count as an american citizen, this discourse on anchor babies, these things are clearly connected but let's be clear they are also connected to economic anxiety. part of what happens typically in the american political history is that whenever the economic pie shrinks, we do an ethnic balkanization. we move to our own corners and start to claim who doesn't have a claim on the american pie and that's part of what's going on here. >> as bad as the economy got under reagan nobody never said he wasn't an american. you laugh. it's so absurd. this is the thing. michael this, is what's different. no one would say george w. if they thought he had an i.q. of 4 would say he was a 4 i.q. american. they wouldn't question his legitimacy to be here. although his i.q. was arguably higher. he went to harvard business. even if you didn't like the guy you wouldn't deny his legitimacy. 27% of respondents say president obama was born in some other country. among republicans it's almost half. 41% walk around with what they say is a doubt about whether it's legitimate north. i don't trust that. i think they do believe he was born here but don't wish he wasn't. your thoughts, michael? >> the climate was too vicious in the final two years of what went on under the bush administration. i never liked that heated rhetoric. what wasn't mentioned was the financial aspects. if the true issue is motivating this hostility towards the president is economy alone and spending which is the purported basis then where were all of those folks in those last two years of the bush administration when by all accounts the spending was out of control. they were no part ivt. what i don't like the cheap shots are taken towards president as there's this self congratulatory, you're a great american, no you're a great american. you're patriot. how can any of them be patriots with a vicious attack job against the commander-in-chief? by all means have a disagreement about the man but don't cheap shot him to the extent it's going on. >> let's talk about african-americans because it's an irony. i'm a third generation american. my grandparents came from england and ireland. i know where i came from. i'm lucky to be here. i had grandmother grew up with a foreign accent. african-americans, most african-americans were born ten generations ago. they came in the 1600s, 1700s. their americanism is manifest. what do you feel when you hear the word patriot used by somebody against you? >> you know, what i think of is i always want to remind people that large parts of this country were built on the backs of african-americans. >> for free. >> absolutely free. people were brought here in chains and absolutely horrible. when in the history of this country have you ever heard anyone go on the radio or on television and say ronald reagan is only president of the united states because he's white. but people have said barack obama is only president because he's black. if that is true al sharpton and jesse jackson and alan kooes would be president of the united states. when does somebody feel it's proper to yell out to the president of the united states from congress you're a liar. you know -- >> let me go back to the professor because this is an academic point. i never heard how beautifully what america is about until i heard it from barack obama. he was on his way to the presidency after that speech in boston. when he said only in this country is my story possible, it showed people like me wow he finally said what i love about this place. nobody asks who your grandfather is, nobody asks what pedigree you have. they ask can you hit the mark? can you do the job? this is still that kind of a country. barack obama said that. that was so inspiring. so when people say he doesn't understand american exceptionalism, what your guys talking about? >> there's no question here we are on the king holiday and part of what king and president obama share is a unique a built to capture the american narrative. it's often been those at the bottom of the american racial hierarchy who in certain ways most table articulate it, most able to see its failures and yet speak to its grandness. i want to point out this is hardly the first time we allowed a revision of history and people who were, in fact, traitors to call themselves patriots. this is what happened at the end of reconstruction. >> you heard my commentary. >> it's the redemption moment. the 1877 moment when we decided what to do was to allow the confederacy to rewrite history to fly the confederate flag. >> thank you liberty mutual for letting us talk about this tonight. i wish i had more time. we're all hear the evening busy. up next the role of race in american life. are we moving towards dr. king's dream where we are judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. how close are we getting. i'm opening the question wide. this is special edition hardball. obama's america, we're calling it. only on msnbc. 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>> i think our biggest challenge is to recognize we have to include in this -- i notice the poll doesn't include american latinos and they are the second largest population in this country. i can tell you that they are hurting hard. i think the image of barack obama as president does definitely inspire possibility. as jeff mentioned. but at the same time 43% of latinos experience close to 43% increase of hate crimes since 2003. rhetoric and legislation such as sb 1070, the idea of gutting birth right citizenship from americans is a problem. american latinos are feeling beaten up. we need to stop this idea of racial fatigue in this country. >> john, i want to get back to some things i think about all the time. there is a glass ceiling on black elected officials. they have done very well representing the inner-city, black areas, of course, some areas where you have black officials representing white areas. statewide, a disaster. it hasn't happened yet. it hasn't happened. we don't have black u.s. senators. we don't have a lot of black governors. the senate thing bothers me. does it bother you? >> certainly it bothers me because i think any group that has the history that it has in this country should be represented in the u.s. senate. why more african-americans can't seem to break that ceiling as you call it, i think is -- >> your rural white -- >> you can't represent just one group. you have to walk a tight rope. >>it's not rocket science. you're not seeing support from the party to build young african-americans to be prepared for office whether they are running in black or white districts. >> thank you. when we return let me finish with a correction to the history of this country that some of us were taught about what was mentioned earlier about reconstruction. you're watching a special edition of hardball, obama's america only on msnbc. to stay fit, you might also want to try lifting one of these. a unique sea salt added to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ ♪ work, work all week long ♪ punching that clock from dusk till dawn ♪ ♪ countin' the days till friday night ♪ ♪ that's when all the conditions are right for a good time ♪ [ male announcer ] advanced technology that helps provide cleaner air, cleaner water, and helps make all of us more energy efficient is something the whole world can get in step with. [ static ] ♪ i need a good time [ male announcer ] ecomagination from ge. it's technology that makes the world work. ♪ let me finish tonight with a correction of history. remember how we were taught in school what happened right after the civil war. remember the picture we got of the evil carpet baggers that came down from the north. remember how we were told the freed slaves were elected to office. how great the white southerners were who ridded them from office. this is the picture we got from hollywood how great the south was before the civil war with great mansions and how noble scarlet o'hara's and ashley wilks were. president kennedy wondered out loud whether this history we were taught in school and at the movies was a sham. maybe it was the radical republicans who fought for reconstruction, who insisted the civil war lead to a better life. today's "the washington post" raises the same question and answers it. that history we were all given the post argues was not the real history. the truth, the hard truth is reconstruction was a worthy attempt to build a new south after the horror of civil war, a south in which the freed slave would have a real opportunity to build an economic life for himself, not just be dumped off the plantation and brought back as a servant or share cropper. imagine if the freed slave got the 40 acres and free mule that was prosed. that might have made a difference in millions of cases. might have