Transcripts For MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt 20120505

wants to send today, that here they are in the two arguably most important swing media markets in the presidential election, columbus, ohio, and richmond, virginia. those who voted bush '04 and obama '08. he gets the two largest rallies on either side. that's one of the messages. the other thing we're hearing is we're going to hear the president use some more pointed language on mitt romney using his name in a way that the themes will be familiar to folks following the campaign. hearing the president say it and using mitt romney and using those comparisons are going to be new to a lot of people. >> you know, chuck, they say this is a different tenor to things right now with this rally today. this is the official kickoff, that it's more intense. do you get that sense? >> well, it's interesting. the reason that the campaign need today do some rallies is that this is how a field program, this is how your on the ground get out the vote efforts work because you're trying to figure out a way to get contact with people. bush in '04, the bush campaign, they used their political rally particularly with the president at the time for what was called then the 72 hour program. and obama '08 copied a lot of those things and took it to another level and they're trying to do some things here, signing people up with ipads. trying to get folks that attend this rally to then volunteer to knock on doors, make phone calls. it's a pretty intensive effort that you're seeing as far as the hand-to-hand part of this. again, it's not that the president's message is secondary, but what they're trying to do here in these rallies is recruit the folks that are going to be the volunteers and the folks going around door to door. >> yeah. we have a split screen right now. to the other side of you we're looking at the open door of air force one. they expect to see the president there. we hope to get him live before we leave your live shot. my question to you with regard to the youth vote. there are many that would say it is -- many would say, rather, it's one of the most important things that propelled him to that sweeping victory four years ago. how important is the youth vote today and how much is this president going to court that vote over the next six months? >> reporter: well, you know, there's two parts. he's been courting it over the last two weeks in particular, the student loan issue. there's two parts to the president's turnout operation and path to victory. one is not just winning by a big margin among younger voters. we're seeing in poles he's winning by the same margin. the issue is intensity and the enthusiasm and already, for instance, our own nbc wall street journal poll, we saw a 20 point drop in interest in the election among those 18 to 29. now in some ways that shouldn't be surprising. the primary campaign hasn't really been pointed at younger voters. republican campaign hasn't been doing that that much, but that is an issue for the president's re-elect. they've got to be able to get the same level of enthusiasm or almost among certain voting groups. one is younger voters. the second is african-americans and the third is latinos. >> well, nicely put as always, chuck todd. it's getting a little loud there behind you with the band so we will let you go for now. thank you so much for that. and, everyone again, we're looking at the president and first lady having just embarked from the plane. they are greeting with young people there in ohio. he'll be whisked away in the motorcade. we'll take you right where chuck was and take you there live once the first lady, who is scheduled to introduce her husband, takes that podium there on the stage. in the meantime, let's talk a bit more about the campaign kickoff. the washington reporter for the cleveland dealer. the washington bureau chief for "usa today." sarah page. welcome to you both. >> thank you. >> nice to be with you. >> talk about the latest polls from the two swing states right now. ohio and virginia. the president is ahead of mitt romney in ohio by just about two points. in virginia he's got a seven point lead. is a breen in a, do you think ohio is a toss up at this point? >> yes, and i think that's why you can call it a swing state. that's why both candidates are paying so much attention to ohio and that's why the president is having his kickoff at ohio state. >> okay. susan, how about your take on the polls in both ohio and virginia? what's your read? >> i think they're both definitely in a swing state category. ohio's a quintessential state. no republican has ever won the presidency without carrying ohio. definitely a targeted state for mitt romney. virginia is a new swing state. until president obama carried it in 2008, no republican -- no democrat had carried it since 1964 i think. so a long -- very traditionally republican state. it has become a swing state because of the influx of new voters in virginia. >> we're going to switch gears a bit and talk about the april jobless rate. it does relate directly to the re-election campaign. the numbers drop slightly. the number of jobs that were added. that was a disappointment. let's listen to what the president said about it. here he is. okay. that's not exactly what we were looking for right now. let me just paraphrase what the president said or quote him. our businesses have now created more than 4.2 million new jobs over the last 26 months. more than 1 million jobs in the last six months alone. that is the good news. this is according to the president. there are still a lot of folks out of work which means we have got to do more. let's take a look at what mitt romney said reacting to the jobs report. do we have that? if so, let's roll it. let's go. >> this is a sad time in america. when people who want work can't find jobs. this is a time when america wants to have someone who knows what it takes to create jobs and get people working again. >> so, sabrina, the slow economy here, its uptick, is this going to make it hard for the president to keep his job? >> well, yes, i think. i think the economy has improved somewhat over the past few months, and i think that they're hoping that it -- you know, that this is just a momentary downtick. in ohio the unemployment rate is actually somewhat lower than the national rate. while mitt romney is highlighting the growth of jobs, we have governor casic in ohio highlighting that things are better in ohio than they were and that our unemployment rate has been about 7.5%. a lot of that has to do with things with the auto industry doing better than it has been doing, with natural gas drilling boosting in the eastern part of the state. so i think that the obama people are really going to be hitting romney over his opposition to the auto bailout because a lot of the jobs in ohio that we're seeing are because of the auto industry. >> susan, i'm curious about a conversation that you had relative to dropping out of the race with newt gingrich. he said good-bye this week. tell me what you think about his potential to officially endorse mitt romney. will that happen? do you get a sense he intends to do that? >> in the interview i had with him he said he was going to endorse mitt romney. he was going to first have some meetings with his staff and then they would do a joint appearance in a couple of weeks. i don't think that's in question. another question would be how much difference does it make whether he does. you know, the only two states that newt gingrich won were georgia and south carolina. both safely republican states. so i think newt gingrich was one of the more interesting characters in the republican field. a guy with big ideas, some of them good, some of them, you know, a little bit out there, but in terms of his roll going forward, i think it's pretty minimal in this year's campaign. >> you don't think he has the wherewithal to get a high position there at the convention? >> well, we'll see. there are lots of former primary rivalries of mitt romney who would like great speaking spots at the convention, and i think that he stayed in the race pretty long. that makes it a little harder for him to command maybe a big speaking spot because that will all be under mitt romney's control. rick santorum, another candidate we're waiting to see formally endorse mitt romney. i think he would probably like a big speaking spot there as well. and he has some potential, i think, rick santorum, to do romney more good in this election. >> we'll see if that comes through given that the other two gentlemen were in pennsylvania. >> okay. susan page, sabrina eaton, we'll see you ladies. we will continue to monitor the president's trip to ohio. we'll continue to bring it to you live. he's getting into his motorcade. he'll be whisked over to the campus of ohio state university. he's scheduled to talk about 45 minutes from now. looks like he's on time. either way, we will bring that to you live. developing right now, a rocky start to the arraignment of the admitted 911 mastermind and his co con spiritors. he refused to answer a judge's question and officials briefly restrained one suspect to a chair. the hearing took place at the u.s. naval station in guantanamo bay. michael isakoff is there for us. we spoke about five hours ago. you predicted a potential rocky start. you were not wrong. tell us what happened. >> reporter: exactly, alex. this has been quite a contentious morning for the arraignment of these 9/11 suspects. just moments ago one of the key accused plotters, ben al shid stood up in the cord saying for the first time that maybe they will kill us, maybe we will commit suicide. there have been threats against them. this is the first time any of the co-defendants here have spoken out in court because this followed a few rocky hours in which the 9/11 conspirators refused to speak. ka lid shake mohammed chanted versus and denounced the united states refused to apes any of the judge's questions today. the judge got quite frustrated and said, you do not have the right to sit silent and frustrate these proceedings. he was just trying to establish whether they accepted the lawyers that have been appointed to him. one of his lawyers got up, david nevin, and said the reason he's taken off his ear phones refusing to even listen to the judge is because of the torture that has been done to him. these protests and others by the lawyers and the defendants essentially have tied up this proceeding this morning in knots and got this off to a very slow and raucous start. >> it certainly sounds like it. going to different points, times where some of the defendants dropped to their knees and began praying, putting on a very dramatic display? >> reporter: exactly. ben al shid just got up and disrupted the court with that outburst, previously stood up and dropped to his knees and started praying. another of the co-defendants was placed in restraints apparently because of the dispute with guards before he came in and his lawyer said he was in pain. that was one reason he could not participate. by and large all of these tactics appear designed to frustrate the proceedings clearly and also underscore what the defendants and their lawyers say is the unfairness of these proceedings in a military commission saying that they haven't been given the right to communicate with their lawyers, that their mail is being infected. they object to the way they're proceeding. and, remember, some of the 9/11 families are sitting in the courtroom. they're also listening in on closed circuit tv in seven sites around the country. i don't think many of them are going to be very happy watching the way this courtroom has effectively been tied up in knots this morning. >> once again, i think you're precisely right. michael, many thanks. office politics with author and war correspondent see bastion younger. how he got the phone numbers of taliban members and then what he did with that information. 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[ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! and giving you a live look at the ohio state university band. they are getting ready to play once the president comes on board there at the stadium on that campus. of course, the president kicking off his re-election campaign officially. it may seem like he's been in that campaign mode but he is officially doing things today. he will be both in the swing state of ohio and then following up with a visit later on this afternoon to virginia, virginia commonwealth university in richmond. we're going to take you live to ohio state university campus once the president or the first lady takes the podium. she'll be introducing her husband. meantime, a new treasure trove of documents is giving us a look inside the mind of osama bin laden. they released the largest amount of material ever contained. his continuing plans to attack the u.s., even president obama. the documents also show bin laden not as an active leader, more like an exhausted figure head. joining me now former cia officer, jack rice. thanks for being here. so why release these documents? was it appropriate to do so? >> well, i think the purpose now is to clarify a lot of things. one fascinating piece of the information that came out was that this was just a human being. i mean, i think over the years we've almost myth thol will he guised this guy. what this really highlights is this was in many ways a broken man who was very isolated, didn't have the ability to reach out. and that is a fascinating aspect of this. and i think it's important. >> is there anything from this information that you think might inspire al qaeda wanna bes? something they can say this is the ideology of the master mind bin laden and we want to take it and run with it? >> there are always some that will try to find that. what i do think it highlights is in some ways the success of the u.s. to isolate him. this is the disturbing fact of it is that there was no real way to simply cut off the head of the beast, which i think he was, and simply stop the entire set of operations. these are all very, as we've always suspected, very, very isolated in their own right. they were doing very many things independently. that makes it very, very hard to stop them sort of overall. >> yeah. bin laden had this hit list. it included president obama and other u.s. leaders, but it did not include vice president biden, because according to bin lad laden, he was totally unprepared to become president and if by becoming president would then lead the u.s. into disaster. what is your reaction to that calculation? >> that is a fascinating piece of this. he realizes the politics of it. sometimes people realize the approach that you're seeing from al qaeda, from osama bin laden was very narrow. now we're talking about the politics of it, about the ability to say if we can kill this president and this vice president steps in, we believe he's going to mess things up so much that it will actually benefit us even more. that's an interesting aspect of this, especially when you take a look at who joe biden was. he was the foreign policy guy. that's an interesting angle. >> you always bring us interesting stuff as well. thank you, jack rice. see you again. >> thank you so much. frightening moments at a political rally in armenia. hundreds of balloons going up in flames. good heavens. more than 140 people injured. no deaths. not clear yet why those balloons exploded. the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. ♪ tech watch now here on "weekends with alex witt." samsung has unveiled a new souped up smartphone. faceal recognition that allows you to keep the phone on while you're looking at it. word is that the next iphone will include that. the galaxy xe goes on sale this summer. what's new on the web? dead social. that's where you store secret facebook messages that will be sent to your friends and family after you die. can't make it up, it's true. well, the start of the summer movie season kicks off in a major way with the highly anticipated blockbuster movie, the "avengers." check out this clip. >> are you ready for another bout? >> i'm like, come on, get up. amy palmer is going to join me and say what we must see and must avoid at the box office this weekend. >> hello, thomas roberts cameo in the film. i'm a thomas lover. >> he makes a cameo. this is a must see. chris evans, captain america. the breakout character is the hulk played by the irresistible mark rusalo. scarlet johansson plays the black widow. so good. >> it's going to appeal to everybody? >> seven years old to 75 and above. >> why? >> i'm telling you this is a must see. >> we're going to see a few super hero movies. we have "the amazing spider man." , "dark knight rising." >> these movies have grossed over $1 billion worldwide. the trailer for the "dark knight rising" just released. we get to see ann hathaway. then the amazing spider man which has andrew garfield and emma stone whom i love. huge girl crush on her. she's going to be amazing. while people are saying do we have to sit through these again? don't we know the story? it's a modern take. it appeals to a different audience. when you have billions of dollars at the box office, hollywood says, let's keep making them until it doesn't work anymore. >> that certainly makes sense. how about let's talk about judy den much's new film? >> that title is a mouth full. this movie, it's a must avoid unfortunately. the stars in this film am, judi dench, bill naghy. it's love meets sex in the city. it's great performances but it's very slow, alex. we were talking before, maybe something you see on hbo, stars. >> when it gets released. >> it is a little bit of a downer type of movie. it's not an uplifting film that you might want to spend your money on this weekend. >> amy palmer, we always appreciate your advice. it's time for a look at today's number ones. kip lingers best cities for cheap skates. low cost of living and high income. the best is st. louis missouri. they earn about the national average. the cost of living is 9% less than the norm. el paso, texas, is second. springfield, illinois, is third. you have to go to kansas city to find the best deals on foreclosed homes. homes there cost about half of the market value. boston homes second. pittsburgh homes are third. realty track says it's more expensive to rent than own. the website 24/7 wall street says the biggest threats are new jersey towns of edison and new brunswick. they've gone up 15% and more than second place san francisco and third place, miami. >> back from the dead, man. yeah. hey, man. this is a world class smuggler here. >> mark wallberg is working for the bad guys. contraband. those are your number ones. taking a look right now at sherrod brown. he's at ohio state university. he's warming up the crowd, if you will. we've also had former governor ted strickland. former senator john glenn. we are making our way to the president. he's expected to take to the podium. we will take you there live once again when the first lady takes to the podium. stay with us here on "weekends with alex witt." 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[ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. do you read in bed? do you read out loud or in your head? do you need a lamp to see? and does it leave your bedmate be? don't you wish there was a light that wouldn't keep them up all night? if so, you'll be happy to know, our newest nook now comes with glow. introducing nook simple touch with glowlight, the only e-reader made for bedtime reading. find your nook at your neighborhood barnes & noble. joolt at 32 past the hour we are now just minutes away from the campaign event of 2012. you're looking at a live picture at the university. governor sherrod brown is warming up the act while first lady michelle obama will be joining the president at the rally. she'll be introducing her husband. later on today they're traveling to virginia to richmond at virginia commonwealth university. with me, margie owe marrow. kirs continue kulkowski. welcome, ladies. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> i'll begin with you kirsten. take a listen to the president's message on the economy. here it is. >> our businesses have now created more than 4.2 million new jobs over the last 26 months. more than 1 million jobs in the last six months alone. next week i'm going to urge congress, as they start getting back to work, to take some action on some common sense ideas right now that can accelerate even more job growth. >> so more than 4 million jobs in 26 months. using the word common sense, isn't that the kind of progress that could resonate with americans? >> well, unfortunately for the president and for america i think yesterday's jobs numbers showed a different story. there are millions of americans leaching the jobs force. it's the lowest participation rate since 1981. we have a lot more work to do as a country and the president, he promised that we would be in a lot better shape from an economic perspective than we are right now. >> okay. how about this. why don't you take a look at a poll from gallop. support among gop voters stands at 35%. let's check out a similar point in 2008. the number for john mccain was at 47% and then listen, kirsten, to the rather lukewarm support that romney is getting from fellow republicans, even those who have endorsed him like newt gingrich. >> do you believe mitt romney is a liar? >> i still believe that the romney campaign said things that weren't true. >> forget about the romney campaign. is mitt romney a liar? >> the governor said things at times that weren't true. >> this reminds me of going to a surgeon. if i've got a terrible cancer or something to be operated on, if i'm going to be operated on for prostate cancer, i didn't go to the nicest doctor. he's not a perfect candidate. it's hard for him for blue collar families like mine to identify with him and economic conservatives to identify with him. he needs to do more to reach out to the latinos. >> these aren't exactly ringing endorsements. what do you have to say to people who suggest that, fellow republicans? >> alex, there's no doubt we got out of a primary but we are all banning together as republicans. there's no doubt that we are all going to be on the same team as we move forward over the next seven months. i think we're all united around one thing. that is barack obama and the need to replace him in the white house. he certainly is struggling himself. i think you see that the white house as a campaign is unveiling yet another slogan forward today. i think that they're having a really hard time trying to figure out how they're going to run this president and try to convince voters that he deserves another four years. so in that regard i think all republicans are going to be behind mitt romney. i think that we have a real uniting message against this president. >> they call them swing states for a reason. the latest poll numbers show that in the state of ohio they're only separated by two points. barack obama besting mitt romney by two points. that's within the margin of error. you take a look at virginia, there he's up by seven. what's going on in virginia? >> well, i think all of those swing states we've seen the gap close over the last couple of weeks. i think over the next seven months we're going to see it close even more. i think the more that mitt romney and the more republicans have an opportunity to travel to these states and get our message across, i think the better off we're going to be. like i was saying before, i think we're really united in support of mitt romney but also by the fact that the president has really failed to lead. he's failed to bring about the hope and change that he once promised us. the rnc came up this week with what we think is a very appropriate slogan for the president for the election. that is hype and blame. i think we're going to hear more of that today in ohio and virginia. >> kirsten, thank you for that. let's turn to margie. as we talked to her about the lukewarm support mitt romney has been getting, let's remember how hillary clinton attacked barack obama in 2007. let's head down memory lane. here it is. >> shame on you, barack obama. it is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. >> so in the end you heard kirsten talking about it. aren't they going to rally around mitt romney the way hillary clinton rallied around barack obama? >> i don't think so. we haven't seen it yet. mitt romney has a few difficult tasks ahead of him. not only does he have to consolidate republican enthusiasm. he's let go a staffer that he really wanted out of pressure from the extreme right wing of his party and appeal to swing voters in the middle. right now romney can't do either and he has to do both in order to win. right now he's unable to do either. i think saying this partisan language of whatever obama is for i'm for the opposite, people are getting sick of that. >> mitt romney talked about where we are in this economy right now. he said we should be creating jobs about 500,000 a month, that we should have an unemployment rate of about 4%. is that not going to resonate with the millions of americans who are still out of work? >> well, you're absolutely right that there is more work to be done. people are still looking for work and are struggling. in this case, though, we've seen 26 months of -- straight months of private sector job growth and mitt romney is supporting the failed policies that got us into this mess in the first place. he would turn the clock back to tax breaks for millions airs and billionaires without helping middle class folks get by while the president has cut taxes for 95% of americans and had real record job growth. is it where we all want to be right now? no. there's still more work to be done. i think that americans see that -- are beginning to feel the pressure has come off and see that really obama is putting the country on the right track. >> margie, thank you for weighing in. we appreciate that. let's talk about what we should expect when the president takes the stage in ohio. joining me with the obama campaign national president secretary, ben labolt. >> thanks for having me. >> the president has already been out there pushing his message. what is different about today, ben? >> well, you know, this is the first rally of the 2012 campaign. we've got thousands of enthusiastic ohioans here. the title of the speech is moving america forward. he's going to talk about the journey that the nation has been on over the past three years. when the president took office we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. the manufacturing sector was in decline. the auto industry was on the edge. we were in the midst of a severe crisis and we've reversed that. over 200,000 private sector jobs have been created. g.m. is the number one automaker in the world. manufacturing is resurgent. exports are on track for doubling. we need to continue to move america forward. the last thing we should do is go back to the policies that mitt romney has proposed. more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and letting wall street write its own rules. >> the romney aids who are going to be there in columbus today, richmond, virginia. they're trying to steal your thunder. how much does it concern you that the tit-for-tat is going to get negative and the fact that we don't have a lot of people getting back to work. it's a slowup tick. how much of that is going to be an albatross around the press's neck? >> the fact that it's mitt romney has run a relentlessly negative campaign. he hasn't outlined a vision for america and he's proposed the same policies that we've tried in 2001 and 2003. match-up tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires that straps the middle class and led to the economic crisis in the first place. the president has a vision to build an economy that lasts, where everybody from man street to wall street plays by the same rules. mitt romney can run that relentlessly negative campaign. the president has a record and vision and that's what he's going to run on. >> i'm going to do this so you don't have to shout because the obama campaign national press secretary, you have a lot of talking to do. thanks for talking with us. >> thanks for having me jool office politics with sebastian younger. he talks about the warning that went ignored that might have prevented the 9/11 attacks. ♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions. get two miracles in one product. new tone rehab 2-in-1 foundation. covers spots, lines... and wrinkles. and helps improve skin tone over time. new tone rehab from easy... breezy... beautiful... covergirl! covergir constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... thanks. pull on those gardening gloves. and let's see how colorful an afternoon can be. is carfirmation. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. . we are continuing to keep an eye on that rally going on in ohio. as soon as the president shows up we're going to bring you his comments live. meantime, in office politics, on the one year anniversary of the death of osama bin laden, we talk with is he baasen younger. he spoke with people in afghanistan's northern alliance two days before the attacks. >> i was in sudan in the fall of 2000 and i was -- he was with the northern a lie yans. he was fighting the taliban and al qaeda. i was received incredibly warmly. the u.s., i believe, was supplying weapons and support. >> we were al yies. >> we were allys. and when kabul fell masoud was killed on the 9th of september 2001. two days later was 9/11. when kabul fell a couple days later i was with the northern alliance when they rolled into kabul. we were just greeted as liberators. people had they found out i was american, they would come up and hug me and thank me for liberating kabul from the taliban. the taliban were absolutely hated. a lot of that goodwill has been squandered. the bush administration seemed to have really lost their focus on afghanistan. in some ways the taliban defeat was too easy. i think they moved right on to iraq. they left 15,000 soldiers in afghanistan. there's 40,000 cops in new york city. 15,000 american soldiers wasn't going to work. the afghans knew it wasn't going to work. it made every afghan who wanted to sort of cooperate with the nato effort to rebuild the country, it made them hesitate. if this doesn't work the taliban will come back and i'm going to get my throat cut. it made everyone sort of hesitate about this grand project and, you know, year after year the taliban gained traction. it didn't have to be that way. i think if we had devoted the resources we put into iraq, if we devoted them to afghanistan, i don't think there would be a war there now. >> do you think masoud new a large scale attack could happen like that? >> he went to paris his first trip out of that region, he went to paris april 2001 and he addressed the french government publicly and he said, there he is a a cancer in my country. it is al qaeda and the taliban. and soon the west will be attack attacked. you have to help us. you have to help me defeat the taliban militarily. i need weapons. i need help. these attacks are coming. he was ignored. he knew that something was coming, and as did many western intelligence. many people in western intelligence. it was an open secret. >> talk about your relationship with members of the taliban. i read about a question that was asked to you. you were quoted as saying, look, i have the names and phone numbers of taliban members. how is it that pakistani officials could not have had that as well, meaning they knew he was there. >> yeah, that was actually in 2005 and i was in kandahar. i was offered by a top official in the town of kalat in afghanistan the cell phone numbers and the addresses of prominent taliban leaders. he said, you're there. you can call them. this is common knowledge. and the pakistani government absolutely knows where these people are and they're not doing anything about it. he was sort of offering it as proof that our supposed allies in pakistan are not entirely allies. i debated calling the numbers and then -- >> did you? >> a friend of mine in the u.s. military said, that might get complicated for you. clearly they were on these numbers too. and -- you know, but nothing ever happened. those houses are still there. those leaders are still in their homes and i think the pakistani government is just sort of co-existing with them in a dangerous way. dangerous for them too. the pakistani government is under a certain amount of threat because of this. >> i read that you grew up wanting to be a lawyer because you idolized abraham lincoln, a republican. my question is, are you a conservative or are you a liberal? >> all of the wars that i've covered, bosnia, kosovo, they've all been stopped by military action. in other words, sometimes war is required to end a larger course war. the classic example is world war ii. it's very hard to say you're anti-war because sometimes that means agreeing to allow things like rwanda unfold without the world intervening. >> our conversation continues tomorrow and he talks about his friend tim who died last year while covering the conflict in libya. he'll tell us why he won't ever go to the front lines to cover a war again. what to expect when president obama takes the stage in ohio. he makes his case for re-election as soon as he arrives. we're here on "weekends with alex witt." and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. 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[ male announcer ] the all-new subaru impreza. experience love that lasts. ♪ [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. ♪ but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs. even plant food that feeds them for up to 6 months. you get bigger, more beautiful plants. guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? uh, this gal. boom! everyone grows with miracle-gro. and welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." it's a little bit before 1:00 p.m. on the east and 10:00 a.m. on the west. we're at ohio state university. at the rally that is underway if things go according to plan, in just about 1 1/2 minutes we'll hear from michelle obama introducing her husband. this is the first of two obama campaign rallies in two key battleground states. after ohio the president heads to richmond, virginia, for a rally this afternoon at virginia commonwealth university. we'll go to nbc's chuck todd. he's at ohio state university. the band has played. we've had all the warmup speakers. give me a sense of how exciting it is there. >> reporter: if you have heard the warmup crowd, there has been some -- governor strickland, he probably had the most pointed remarks against mitt romney even used the swiss bank account shot at mitt romney. you heard from john clen who you can't believe the man is 90 years old. he looked great out here. he got a great welcome. he stayed above the fray. didn't engage in the bare knuckles part of the campaign. we'll hear the president today. the campaign soul mate will engage in some banter with mitt romney in a way we haven't heard him before. sometimes he's done that at fundraisers. he usually refers to my opponent. it will be a little more pointed. you heard some of that. the crowd is definitely getting fired up. they had the big seven minute david gugenheim movie played. >> we know he's coming shortly. the first lady, chuck, there's so much behind putting her in the position of introducing her husband. her popularity really goes across both parties. how much do you think she's going to be a weapon out on the campaign trail? >> reporter: she is. she's their best fundraiser at events. she raises more than vice president biden. she is enormously popular particularly around women in the democratic party. her remark at fundraisers has been interesting. they've taughted all of the things that she believed and the campaign believed will fire up women voters, from the appointment of two women supreme court justices. she regularly talks about the signing of the lily led better act. i would be surprised if her remarks didn't stick to the same script she's used at a lot of fundraisers. she talks to suburban women. the swing vote that's not -- it used to be a swing vote. in polls this year we've seen a wider and wider growing gender gap in a way that obviously the obama campaign thinks that's one of their keys to re-election is winning women by a bigger margin than perhaps any democrat's ever won them before. >> yeah. chuck, look behind you. is that the campaign video? i'm hearing the president's voice. we're not looking at the podium. >> reporter: that's one of the campaign videos that's been airing. this is an organizing video a little bit. yes, they've been doing a few of them intermediately with live speakers as well. >> okay. all right. chuck, we'll let you go and keep your eyes on what's happening front and center behind you. we'll talk with you again. thank you very much. nbc's chuck todd. with me now for the next hour, our political panel. aaron, reporter for real clear politics. mia-malika henderson, national post. and karen finney, former dnc communications director. tell us what you expect to hear from the president. we talked about the cool technology that karen shared with us that they're going to be using ipads going through the crowd, getting people to tweet, putting it up on huge screens there. but with you, mia-malika, is this all going to be about the economy? will the president bring in other issues? he's talking with a young crowd here at ohio state university, kids that want to get out of college and get a job. >> that's right. i think you've seen so far if you look back over this past week what you've seen and heard, what has he been talking about? he's been talking about student loans, women's issues, contraception, abortion. those sorts of issues. obviously this week celebrating or marking the first anniversary of osama bin laden's death. i think 124 this is a president who thinks this is about other things as well. he'll taut his other accomplishments. he'll talk about 4.1 million jobs, the death of bin laden, maybe all the repeal of don't ask don't tell. that's something that young people especially favored. i think on the one hand you have mitt romney saying this isn't a president who is talking about his record and a president who has failed in his running away from his record. i think you'll hear the president today really lay out a case for his re-election and highlight some of the things that will, you know, make a pretty compelling argument that he should be re-elected. >> aaron, mia-malika is making great points. you talked about this megajob creation for a certain segment of society, people who have gotten jobs, that's fine. there's a vast number of people still out there who don't have jobs. and to those people it may seem like if this president's running on his record, it's not good enough for them. >> exactly. and that is the point that mitt romney continues to make. in these remarks from the president today, what i'm looking for is how directly the president takes on mitt romney. to this point, president obama has been targeting republicans, congressional republicans, making the point that they're intransigent, they're standing in his way. but when mitt romney campaigns he campaigns specifically on the president's leadership style. he's not talking about the democratic party. he wants to take over as a chief executive. so they're kind of talking around each other and it will be interesting to see how much president obama really talks about mitt romney specifically as his equal as an opponent. >> which means, karen, we should bring you into the conversation. how nasty does this have the potential to get? when you're talking about generalities, you put out concepts but you don't look at somebody else and take them to task for what they have said or what they have accomplished. >> right. i think what's going to happen is it's going to be a tough conversation between mitt romney and barack obama that err would' going to hear over the next several months. i think it will be for the outside groups and super pacs. that's where it's really going to get ugly and nasty. i see our first lady heading up to the podium now. yeah, so i think obama will be very pointed in his criticism, but i also think today he's going to lay out in this framework forward what that really meanings. that also means, by the way, the criticism and the contrast between what the republicans would do, which would be to take us back. >> all right. well, our vastly popular first lady now addressing the crowd, everyone. let's go to ohio state university as well. >> oh, wow. well, it sounds like you all are already fired up and ready to go. this is amazing. it is truly amazing. and you know what, being here with all of you today, let me tell ya, i'm feeling pretty fired up and ready to go myself. i really am. but there is a reason why we're here today, and -- and we love you, too. it's not just because we support one extraordinary man, although i'll admit, i'm a little biased because i think our president is awesome. and it's not just because we want to win an election. we are here -- we're here because of the values we believe in. we're here because of the vision for this country that we all share. we're here because we want all our children to have a good education, right? schools that push them and inspire them, prepare them for good jobs. we want our parents and our grandparents to retire with dignity. because we believe that after a lifetime of hard work, they should enjoy their golden years. we want to restore that basic middle class security for our families because we believe that folks shouldn't go bankrupt because they get sick. they shouldn't lose their home because someone loses a job. we believe that responsibility should be rewarded and hard work should pay off. and, truly, these are basic american values. they're the same values that so many of us were raised with, including myself. you see, my father was a blue collar city worker at the city water plant. my family lived in a little bitty apartment on the south side of chicago. and neither of my parents had the chance to go to college, but let me tell you what my parents did do. they saved. they sacrificed. i mean, they poured everything they had into me and my brother. they wanted us to have the kind of education they could only dream of, and while pretty much all of my college tuition came from student loans and grants, my dad still paid a little bitty portion of that tuition himself. and let me tell you, every semester my dad was determined to pay that bill right on time because he was so proud to be sending his kids to college. and he couldn't bear the thought of me or my brother missing that registration deadline because his check was late. like so many people in this country, my father took great pride in being able to earn a living that allowed him to handle his responsibilities to his family, to pay all of his bills, and to pay them on time. and truly more than anything else that is what's at stake. it's that fundamental promise that no matter who you are or how you started out, if you work hard, you can build a decent life for yourself and, yes, an even better life for your kids. and it is that promise that binds us together as americans. it's what makes us who we are, and whether it's equal pay for women or health care for our kids, whether it's tax cuts for middle class families or student loans for our young people, that is what my husband has been fighting for every single day as president. every single day. and let me tell you something. as first lady, i have had the chance to see up close and personal what being president looks like, right? i have seen how the issues that come across the president's desk are always the hard ones. >> you're beautiful, michelle. [ cheers and applause ] but in all seriousness, these problems, they're always the hard ones. the problems with no clear solutions. the judgment calls where the stakes are so high and there's no margin for error, and as president you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people, but at the end of the day when it comes time to make that decision, all you have to guide you are your life experiences. your values, and your vision for this country. that's all you have. in the end, when you're making those impossible choices, it all boils down to who you are and what you stand for. and we all know what barack obama is, who he is. we all know what our president stands for, right? he is the son of a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills. that's who he is. he's the grandson of a woman who woke up before dawn every day to catch a bus to her job at the bank, and even though barack's grandmother worked hard to help support her family, she was good at her job. like so many women, she hit that glass ceiling and men no more qualified than she was were promoted up the ladder ahead of her. so, believe me, barack knows what it means when a family struggles. he knows what it means when someone doesn't have a chance to fulfill their potential. and what you need to know, america, those are the experiences that have made him the man and the president he is today. but i have said this before and i will say it again and again, barack cannot do this alone. and fortunately, he never has. we have always moved this country forward together, and today more than ever before barack needs your help. he needs your help. he needs your help. he needs every single one of you, every single one of you to give just a little part of your life each week to this campaign. he needs you to register those voters, right? and for all of the college students out there, all of you, if you're going to be moving over the summer, remember to register at your new address in the fall. you got that? get that done. barack needs you to join one of our neighborhood teams and start organizing in your community. and just let me say, if there has ever been any doubt about t the difference that you can make, i just want you to remember that in the end this all could come down to those few thousand people who register to vote. think about it. it could all come down to those last few thousand folks who get out to the polls on november the 6th. and when you average that out over this entire state, it might mean registering just one more person in your town. it might mean helping just one more person in your community get out and vote on election day. so know this. with every door you knock on, with every call you make, with every conversation you have, i want you to remember that this could be the one that makes the difference. this could be the someone. remember that. that is exactly the kind of impact that each of you can have. now i am not going to kid you. this journey is going to be long and it is going to be hard. but know that that is how change always happens in this country. and if we keep showing up, if we keep fighting the good fight, then eventually we get there. we always do. maybe not in our lifetime but maybe in our children's lifetime. maybe in our grandchildren's lifetimes because in the end, that's what this is all about. that is what i think about when i tuck my girls in at night. i think about the world i want to leave for them and for all of our sons and our daughters. i think about how i want to do for them what my dad did for me. i want to give them a foundation for their dreams. i want to give them opportunities worthy of their promise. i want to give them that sense of limitless possibility that at least here in america there is always something better out there if you're willing to work for it. so we just cannot turn back now, right? we have come so far. but we have so much more to do. and if we want to keep on moving forward, then we need to work our hearts out for the man that i have the pleasure of introducing here today. are you ready? it is my privilege to introduce my husband and our president, president barack obama! [ cheers and applause ] hello, ohio! it is good to be back in ohio. you know, right before i came out somebody happened to give me a buckeye for good luck. i love you back. before i begin, i want to say thank you to a few people who are joining us here today. your mayor, michael coleman is here. former governor, ted strickland is here. senator sherrod brown is in the house. an american hero, john glen is with us. and i want to thank so many of our neighborhood team leaders for being here today. you guys will be the back bobonf this campaign. i want the rest of you to join the team or become a leader yourself because we are going to win this thing the old-fashioned way, door by door, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. you know, ohio four years ago, you and i began a journey together. i didn't run and you didn't work your hearts out just to win an election. we came together to reclaim the basic barring gains that built the largest middle class and the most prosperous nation on earth. we came together because we believe that in america your profession will be determined by the circumstances of your birth. if you are willing to work hard, you should be able to find a good job. if you're willing to meet your responsibility, you should be able to own a home, maybe start a business. give your children the chance to do even better. no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what your last name is. we believe the free market is one of the greatest forces for progress in human history. businesses are the engine of growth. that risk takers and innovators should be rewarded. but we also believe that the free market has never been a license to take whatever you want however you can get it. that alongside of entrepreneurial spirit and a rugged individualism america only prospers when we meet our obligations to one another and to future generations. we came together in 2008 because our country has strayed from these basic values. tax cuts were squandered on people who didn't need them and weren't asking for them. two wars were being done on a credit card. we made bets with other people's money. manufacturers left our shores. a shrinking number of americans did fantastically well while most people struggled with falling incomes, rising costs, the slowest job growth in half a century. it was a house of cards that collapsed in the most destructive crisis since the great depression. in the last six months of 2008 even as we were campaigning nearly 3 million of our neighbors lost their jobs. over 800,000 more were lost in the month i took office alone. it was tough. but i tell you what, ohio, the american people are tougher. all across the country people like you dug in. some of you retrained. some of you went back to school. small business owners cut back on expenses but did everything they could to keep their employees. yes, there were setbacks. yes, there were disappointments. but we didn't quit. we don't quit. together we're fighting our way back. when someone wanted to let detroit go bankrupt, we made a bet on the innigenuity of the companies and today we're back on top of the world. manufacturers started investing again, adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. businesses got back to the basics. exports surged. over 4 million jobs were created in the last two years. more than 1 million of those in the last six months alone. are we satisfied? >> no. >> of course not. too many of our friends and family are still out there looking for work. the housing market's still weak. deficits are still too high. states are still laying off teachers, first responders. this crisis took years to develop and the economy is still facing headwinds, and it will take sustained, persistent efforts, yours and mine, for america to fully recover. that's the truth. we all know it. but we are making progress. and now we face a choice. now we face a choice, ohio. >> we love you, barack obama. >> thank you. now we face a choice. for the last few years the republicans who run this congress have insisted that we go right back to the policies that created this mess. but to borrow a line from my friend, bill clinton, now their agenda's on steroids. this time they want even bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. this time they want even deeper cuts for things like education and medicare and research and technology. this time they want to give banks and insurance companies even more power to do as they please. now after a long and spirited primary, republicans and congress have found a nominee for president who's promised to rubber stamp this agenda if he gets the chance. ohio, i tell you what, we cannot give him that chance. not now. not with so much at stake. this is not just another election. this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and we've been through too much to turn back now. we have come too far to abandon the change we fought for these past few years. we have to move forward to the future we imagined in 2008 where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules. that's the choice in this election and that's why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states! governor romney is a patriotic american who's raised a wonderful family, and he has much to be proud of. he's run a large financial firm and he's run a state, but i think he has learned the wrong lessons from those experiences. he sincerely believes that if wealthy investors like him make money, the rest of us will automatically prosper as well. when a woman in iowa shared the story of her financial struggles, he responded with economic theory. he told her, our productivity equals our income. well, let me tell you something. the problem with our economy isn't that the american people aren't productive enough. you've been working harder than ever. the challenge we face right now, the challenge we face for over a decade is that harder work hasn't led to higher income. bigger profits haven't led to better jobs. governor romney doesn't seem to get that. he doesn't seem to understand that maximizing profits by whatever means ned, whether it's through layoffs, outsourcing, tax avoidance, union busting might not always be good for the average american or for the american economy. why else would he want to spend trillions more on tax cuts for the wealthy americans. why else would he propose cutting his own taxes while raising them for 18 million families? why else would he want to slash the investments that have always helped the economy grow? but at the same time stop regulating the reckless behavior on wall street that helped the economy crash. somehow he and his friends in congress think that the same bad ideas will lead to a different result or they're just hoping you won't remember what happened the last time we tried it their way. well, ohio, i'm here to say that we were there, we remember, and we are not going back. we are moving this country forward! look, we want businesses to succeed. we want entrepreneurs and incompetent vestors rewarded when they take risks, when they create jobs and grow our economy. but the true measure of our prosperity is more than just a running tally of every balance sheet and quarterly profit report. i don't care how many ways you try to explain it. corporations aren't people. people are people. we measure prosperity not just by our total gdp, not just by how many billionaires we produce, but howell the typical family is doing, whether they can go as far as their dreams and hard work will take them. and we understand that in this country people succeed when they have a chance to get a decent education and learn new skills and, by the way, so do the businesses that hire them or the companies that they start. we know that our economy grows when we support research and the medical break throughs, the new technologies that lead to the next internet app or life saving drugs. we know that our country is stronger when we can count on affordable health insurance, and medicare, and social security. when we protect our kids from toxic dumping and mercury pollution, when there are rules to make sure we aren't taken advantage of by credit card companies and mortgage lenders and financial institutions. and we know these rules aren't just good for seniors, or kids, or consumers, they're good for business too. they're part of what makes the market work. look, we don't expect government to solve all of our problems and it shouldn't try. i learned from my mom that no education policy can take the place of a parent's love and affection. as a young man, i worked with a group of catholic churches who taught me that no poverty program can make as much of a difference as the kindness and commitment of a caring soul. not every regulation is smart. not every tax dollar is spent wisely. not every person can be helped who refuses to help themselves. that's not an excuse to tell the vast majority of responsible, hard working americans, you're on your own. that unless you're lucky enough to have parents who can lend you money, you may not be able to go to college. that even if you pay your premiums every month, you're out of luck if an insurance company decides to drop your coverage when you need it most. that's not how we built america. that's not who we are. we built this country together! we built this country together! we built railroads and highways, the hoover dam, the golden gate bridge together. we sent my grandfather's generation to college on the gi bill together. we instituted a minimum wage and worker's safety laws together. together we touched the surface of the moon, unlocked the mystery of the atom, connected the world through our own science and imagination. we did these things together, not because they benefitted any particular individual or group but because they made us all richer, because they gave us all opportunity, because they moved us forward together as one people, as one nation. that's the true lesson of our past. that's the right vision for our future. and that's why i'm running for president. i am running to make sure that by the end of the decade more of our citizens hold a college degree than any other nation on earth. i want to help our schools tire and reward the best teachers, especially in math and science. i want to give 2 million more americans a chance to go to community colleges and lirn the skills that local businesses are looking for right now, in the 21st century higher education can't be a luxury. it is an imperative that every american should be able to afford. that's the choice in this election, that's why i'm running for president. i'm running to make sure the next generation of high tech manufacturing takes root in places like columbus, cleveland, and pittsburgh, and richmond. i want to stop rewarding businesses that shift jobs and profits overseas and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in the united states of america. that's the choice in this election. i'm running so that we can keep moving towards a future where we control our own energy. our dependence on foreign oil is at its lowest point in 16 years. by the middle of the next decade our cars will average nearly 55 miles per gallon. thousands of americans have jobs right now because the production of renewable energy in this country has nearly doubled in just three years. so now is not the time to cut these investments to pay for another $4 billion give away to the oil companies. now is time to end the subsidies for an industry that's rarely been more profitable. let's double down on a clean energy future that's never been more promising for our economy, for our security, and for the safety of our planet. that's why i'm running for president! that's the choice in this election, ohio! >> four more years. >> for mower years, four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. for the first time in nine years there are no americans fighting in iraq. osama bin laden is no longer a threat to this country. al qaeda is on the path to defeat. and by 2014 the war in afghanistan will be over. america's safer and more respected because of the courage and selflessness of the united states armed forces. and as long as i'm commander in chief, this country will care for our veterans and serve our veterans as well as they've served us because nobody who fights for this country should have to fight for a job or a roof over their heads when they come home! my opponent said it was tragic to end the war in iraq. he said he won't set a time line for ending the war in afghanistan. i have. and i intend to keep it. after a decade of war that's cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, the nation we need to build is our own. i will use half of what we're no longer spending on war to pay down the deficit and the other half to repair our roads and our bridges, our runways, and our wireless networks. that's the choice in this election to rebuild america. i'm running to pay down our debt in a way that's balanced and responsible. after inheriting a trillion dollar deficit, i signed $2 trillion of spending cuts into law and now i want to finish the job by streamlining government and cutting more waste and reforming our tax code so that it is simpler and fairer and ask the wealthiest americans to pay a little bit more. my opponent won't tell us how he paid for his new $5 trillion tax cut, a tax cut that gives an average of $260,000 to every millionaire in this country. but we know the bill for that tax cut will either be passed on to our children or it will be paid for by a whole lot of ordinary americans. that's what we know. and i refuse to let that happen again. i refuse to pay for another millionaire's tax cut by eliminating medical research projects into things like cancer, alzheimer's disease. i refuse to pay for another tax cut by kicking children off of head start programs or asking students to pay more for college or eliminating health insurance for millions of poor and elderly and disabled americans on medicaid! as long as i'm president of the united states, i will never allow medicare to be turned into a voucher that would end the program as we know it. we will not go back to the days when our citizens spent their golden years at the mercy of private insurance companies. we will reform medicare not by shifting the costs of care to seniors but by reducing the spending that isn't making people healthier. that's what's at stake in this election. that's what's at stake, ohio. on issue after issue we can't afford to spend the next four years going backwards. you know, america doesn't need to refight the battles we just had over wall street reform and health care reform. on health care reform, here's what i know. allowing 2.5 million young people to stay on their parents' health insurance plan, that was the right thing to do. cutting prescription drug costs for seniors, that was the right thing to do. i will not go back to the days when insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, or deny your coverage, or charge women differently from men. we're not going back there. we're going forward. we don't need another political fight about ending a woman's right to choose or getting rid of planned parenthood. or taking away access to affordable birth control. i want women to control their own health choices just like i want my daughters to have the same opportunity as your sons. we are not turning back the clock. we are moving forward! we're not returning to the days when you could be kicked out of the united states military just because of who you are, who you love. that would be wrong for our national security and it would be a betrayal of our values. this should be the last election where multi-million dollar donations speak louder than the voices of ordinary citizens. we need more checks on lobbyists and special interests, not less. we're not going to eliminate the epa, we're not going to roll back the bargaining rights that generations of workers fought for. it's time to stop denying citizenship to responsible young people just because they're the children of undocumented immigrants. this country is at its best when we harness the god given talents of every individual, when we hear every voice, when we come together as one american family striving for the same dream. that's what we're fighting for. that's what we're fighting for, ohio, a bold america, a competitive america, a generous america, a forward-looking america where everybody has a chance to make of their life what they will! that's what made us the envy of the world, that's what makes us great, that's why i'm running again for president of the united states! and that is why i need your help. ohio, this election will be even closer than the last. you know, too many of our friends, too many of our neighbors are still hurting because of this crisis. i've heard from too many people wondering why they haven't been able to get one of the jobs that have been created, why their home is still underwater, why their family hasn't yet been touched by the recovery. the other side won't be offering these americans a real answer to these questions. they won't offer a better vision or new set of ideas, but they will be spending more money than we've ever seen before on negative ads, on tv, on radio, in the mail, on the internet. ads that exploit people's frustrations for my opponent's political gain. over and over again, they'll tell you that america's down and out. and they'll tell you who to blame and ask if you're better off than you were before our worst crisis in our lifetime. we've seen that play before. but you know what? the real question, the question that will make a difference in your life and the lives of your children, it's not just about how we're doing today, but how we'll be doing tomorrow. will we be better off if more americans get a better education? that's the question. will we be better off if we depend lesson foreign oil and more on our own ingenuity, that's the question. will we be better off if we start doing nation building right here at home? that's the question. will we be better off if we bring down our deficit without gutting the very things we need to grow? when we look back four years from now or ten years from now or 20 years from now, won't we be better off if we have the courage to keep moving forward? that's the question in this election. that's the question in this election. the outcome is entirely up to you. sure, we'll have to contend with even more negative ads, with even more cynicism and nastiness and sometimes just plain foolishness. there will be more than that we saw in the last campaign. if there is one thing we learned in 2008, it's that nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. when enough of you knock on doors, when you pick up phones, when you talk to your friends, when you decide that it's time for change to happen, guess what? change happens. change comes to america. and that's the spirit we need again. if people ask you what this campaign is about, you tell them it's still about hope. you tell them it's still about change. you tell them it's still about ordinary people who believe that in the face of great odds, we can make a difference in the life of this country. because i still believe, ohio! i still believe that we are not as divided as our politics suggest. i still believe that we have more in common than the pundits tell us. we're not democrats or republicans, but americans first and foremost. i still believe in you and i'm asking for you to keep believing in me. i told new 2008 i was not a perfect man and would never be a perfect president, but i promised i would always tell you what i thought. i would always tell you where i stood. and i would wake up every single day fighting for you as hard as i know now. and i have kept that promise. i have kept that promise, ohio, and i will keep it so long as i have the honor of being your president. so if you're willing to stick with me, if you're willing to fight with me and press on with me, if you're willing to work even harder in this election than you did in the last election, i guarantee you, we will move this country forward. we will finish what we started. we are still fired up. we are still ready to go. and we are going to remind the world once more just why it is that the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. thank you! god bless you. god bless the united states of america. >> and we are off, everyone. that is the official kick-off to president barack obama's re-election campaign. you see him there with the first lady who did a nice job introducing him some 35, 40 minutes ago. a rousing speech delivered on the campus of ohio state university in front of a crowd of about 14,000 people. i'm joined by erin, liam and karen. karen, you go over each little detail of this speech and you're here in studio with me. you pars through etch and every word. there is a tenor of things, but also an analysis. one thing i found so fascinating. when he was talking about mitt romney, giving him kudos as a man who had run a large financial firm and run a state. he did not say he had run a business. >> yes. i thought that was a very interesting choice of words. having run a financial firm which makes people think of wall street, companies about restructuring, firing, stripping assets, not necessarily a manufacturing company. i think that was very intentional language. some of the language to try to reframe the arguments being made against him like saying, do we want to relitigate health care? do we want to have to relitigate wall street reform? putting it in the frame of moving forward and not backward. >> erin, the president did not just stick with the economy. he talked about a bunch of things i noticed all began with "e" important topics, energy, environment, economy, education. do you think he hit all the points he needed to? >> i did. this was a very long speech. it was to preview what the next six months are going to look like in the election. it was largely about this idea of moving forward. the big theme he was trying to strike was do you want to go back and tying mitt romney to the policies of president bush without bringing up president bush and congressional republicans. i do think he did treat mitt romney as an equal in many ways when he was going through that portion of his speech about mitt romney. he said, as you mentioned, running a financial firm. running a state. he said he drew the wrong lessons which i thought was very interesting. i was painting all issues with broad-brush strokes. >> fired up, ready to go. looks like that will be trotted out again. the slogan moving forward, how effective do you think that will be going forward? >> i think it will be somewhat effective. they are going to try to tie mitt romney to george bush of the policies of george bush. you see mitt romney doesn't say the name bush. he doesn't refer to either of them. i think this is what we'll see them talk about. they are on a course. barack obama set out a particular course in why would they want to change course at this point? one thing interesting, it was workman like, soaring at times, somber. in the end when he talked about a people still struggling. there was a moment he talked to the crowd and said, are you satisfied? everyone yelled no. that is mitt romney's opening to make a compelling argument this president hasn't done a good job over the last four years. i think we'll obviously see him lay out a compelling case. >> thank you very much, ladies. that's a wrap, i'll look for you tomorrow at noon eastern time. see you then. have a great day. once you get one, you can't stop. >> they see their bodies as human canvases. >> i don't buy paintings to hang on my walls at home.

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