Transcripts For MSNBCW Up WSteve Kornacki 20150118

These people have the best seats and best roles in the proceedings. And what has Hillary Clinton been up to lately . Shes been flying under the radar. She has been up to a lot. Well have all the details ahead on the show. We begin with the message that president obama will deliver to the nation on tuesday night. Details of a major tax proposal that hell offer in his state of the Union Address leaking out overnight. Basic idea is one that the president and his party have been stressing for years, asking the wealthiest americans to pay more using that money to help working and middle class americans. Tax reform is also something republicans talk about. Though their idea of reform may be very different from what the president is about to sell. With all of the details on the president s plan what he will be saying on tuesday night, we turn to nbc News White House correspondent kristinen welker. A lot coming out this morning. Take us through it. Just to reiterate the point, you made the president s plan boils down to something we have heard from this administration increasing taxes onmiddle class americans to help with housing, child care. The president is hoping to raise 320 billion over the next ten years. Lets break down the numbers. The proposal includes a number of increases including increasing the Capital Gains and dividend tax rates to 28 for high income earners. Imposing a fee on the liabilities of about 100 big financial institutions. The idea is to dissuade them from excessive borrowing. And closing the trust Fund Loophole. The administration saying hundreds of billions of dollars escape taxation because the wealthy pass money on to their heirs tax free. They hope the money will go towards a 500 tax credit steam lining child care tax incentives up to 3,000 per child. And funding his plan to pay for the first two years of Community College for every student. Republicans have traditionally opposed all increases to Capital Gains taxes. So the reaction was swift. It was sharp. The spokesperson for paul ryan saying this is not a serious proposal. We lift families up grow the economy with a simpler, flatter tax code not big tax increases to pay for more washington spending. But the white house pushing back saying that 99 of the impact of the tax increase will fall on the top 1 of earners. Thats an argument we have already consistently heard from the administration. The white house does have backing. If you look at polls, they show that Many Americans favor increasing taxes on the wealthy. I will make an interesting political point to all of this. Despite republicans taking control of congress the president feels emboldened now, in part because of the economy, which is showing renewed signs of strength. Thats one of the reasons that youre seeing this somewhat bold proposal from the president. Steve . Kristen welker thanks for that information. President obamas picking a big political fight here as politicos writing this morning. The message, wage stagnation obama is on it. If republicans say no to catchy ideas like getting out of the trust Fund Loophole they can explain it to voters in 2016. For more on this plan how it could be received well bring in our panel, we have lynn sweet, Washington Bureau chief from the chicago sun times. And we have the senior fellow from the heartland institute, and my old cohost, on the cycle, i have his name her somewhere, toure. Lets talk about this i look at this and i say this is a new front on a battle we have been watching for years, maybe decades. The president , the white house, democrats saying we want to raise taxes on the wealthy people. Support that. Use it to help the middle class. Republicans saying no, focus on businesses fairer simpler flatter taxes. Anything new here . Not really. The class war which is how this will be portrayed is nothing new. Interestingly, a little insight for our listeners and viewers, the white house rolled this out after 8 00 eastern time last night because they wanted to dominate what were doing now on the sunday shows, try to get the conversation going. Good job. Thats what they did. Thats part of the strategy of what theyre trying to do in the run up to the state of the union. Its true they have this bully pulpit and get us talking, but they will not raise the tax rate to 28. You could say that was the rate under reagan. You could say that from here to whenever, it wont work. Like many things the Obama Administration has done i see this as an opening bid to see what happens. I think thats right. Its an opening bid. It sets the notioning ingnegotiating point to a certain place, but also not new. We talk about immigration, cuba climate, hes going super progressive which makes progressives happy. Like, if we can just talk about raising taxes on the wealthy. Thats not some sort of political bugaboo, that begins the conversation at a place that makes me comfortable. I think lowering taxes on the wealthy has been a huge detriment to the economy for a long time. Lets flip the question to ben on the right. When you look at the next two years, the republican house, republican senate, a proposal like this, do you see any grounds in what the white house is putting forward right now for a compromise . Republicans wont take most of this. Is there middle ground . Absolutely not. You see in obama right now reminds me what we have seen over the last couple weeks from romney. He wants to invent a time machine to go backwards. I think the president is looking at this hey, im hearing all these democrats who have been saying we should have been talking about wage stagnation this cycle, we have been targeting that. The problem for obama is with something this big and grand, yes, it starts a conversation but it wont go anywhere. The only thing he will be able to get out of this congress are rifle shots that are specific policies where hes trading it for something on the other hand when it comes to business taxation or other things of that nature. The sad thing is these are problems. This congress will end up in a situation where what they will able to get through is corporate focused tax reform what we dont need. A lot of this has to do with 2016. This is an issue a topic where democrats will always when you bring this up and say you wont get anything through here people say people like hearing us say this. This is something they want to talk about in 2016. Its like talking about the minimum wage. It wont happen. Getting a federal hike in the minimum wage wont happen. You will hear a lot about that. I think part of that may be that people are less with all this class warfare rhetoric, people are less motivated maybe by the envy of something somebody else has and looking at their own challenges and feeling theyre not being helped out. Which is why things like the child care tax credit may get more reaction from people. We have to remember in the early obama years we got extra money from the administration in a tax roll back. But because they gave it to you in the formt of of less withholding, you never you never got a check saying here is a rebate. The story behind that is they decided it would be more stimulative if they secretly inserted it into your paycheck. No one noticed it. My favorite kind of question to people i would go to the the most strident obama critics, they would say have you looked at your paycheck lately . You look like youre doing well. Do you know that if youre on the top earner you have between you and your spouse you have 3,000 a year more to spend . Did you know that . No. How do you get that was another problem. So, this is something you support. You like. If you dont have the votes in congress to do this weve seen theres no way they had that fiscal cliff deadline. They got some modest tax increases. Otherwise what is the way for democrats to get this through . Im not sure there is a way to get Something Like this through. Though when we talk about 2016 were talking about an era in politics where we talk about motivation, not persuasion. Theres no centers. Back when you were on the cycle there is no center you can pull people to. Its about motivating the edges of your party to come out and vote. If were talking about raising taxes on the wealthy in 2016 thats a good place for democrats to be. That pulls them out to want to vote. Do you think Hillary Clinton will be making this case in 2016 . Its a great mystery, isnt it . I dont know. I think its an easy almost mandatory argument for democratics to talk about income disparity. Thats part of what the party is about and what you can do about it. This goes to the other big democratic obama issue of corporate responsiblespobs responsibility and paychecks. So how do you the wall street argument. When you look at the popular appeal of that. If Hillary Clinton or whoever it is out there on the democratic side they say the rich is doing well. The recovery has not hit the middle class, im asking the rich to give a bit more to boost everybody up. That polls well. The last six years have been great times for wall street, great times for corporate america. They benefited from this boom. But agreeing with you that this has not trickled down to the middle class. Why is that . Most people on the right believe that its because of the crushing force of the regulation and increasing benefits have sucked up a lot of the wage increases. Talking about deregulation after what we have seen really . Absolutely. When it comes to the kind of Small Business starts that you see, gallop coming out this week saying were actually at the point now where more companies are dying and fewer are getting created in america for the First Time Since theyve been tracking it. Theres a reason for that its harder to start a business. Those are the things that impact people who are in the middle and working class to a much greater degree than i think some of these steps you might be considering in washington. That is what well be hearing as the president will give this speech tuesday. Republicans will respond. This will play out over weeks, months years. Republicans will make the case were talking tax reform. Well see if theres a compromise. Again, probably not. Some big news also overnight about the Obama Library. Speaking of the obama postpresidency. Big competition when a couple of cities and big news on that from somebody on this panel. Thats after this. Technology thats with you always. This is our promise. Its never been better to wander because wherever you go, youll find us doing everything we can, so you can. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. Wow [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbells chunky soup. Its new chunky beerncheese with beef and bacon soup. I love it. And mama loves you. President obamas adopted hometown of chicago is contending with this this morning. A report that the citys bid to build the obama president ial library is no longer a sure thing. Many people had been presuming it would be. The New York Times reporting that it found that the foundation overseeing plans for the library has manger concerns with the chicago bid, which means things are looking up this morning for the other two finalists, that would be honolulu, where the president was born and raised and new york city, where he went to college at columbia, spent his early 20s. Lynn sweet, the New York Times is reporting that you broke this story two weeks ago. Take us through whats happening here. Ill do this quickly for history. Out of the three cities hawaii is going to get a satellite center. The library will be in either new york or chicago. Just a small branch. It might be flashy but theyll get something. Obamas half sister is one of the four members of the Obama Foundation board. I cant imagine she will come up empty handed. She had a hand in creating the group that put in the bid. Chicago botched the bid. As you know i write for a newspaper in the city where youre supposed to if youre going to grease things youre supposed to grease the pan before you put it in the oven. They didnt do that. They didnt do it. Thats a mistake. The university of chicago had been the frontrunner. Its an elite private school. The other school in chicago the university of illinois the Public University has a bid, too. Both bids are in the historically africanamerican parts of the city west side and south side. The money and the oomph thought was with the usc. The controversy now is the sites they found are on cityowned parks. Columbia, which has a site. I went there friday to see it. It borders the south end of the 125th if you take the 1 train by the hudson river. Thats land they have shovel ready. The Obama Library proposal from the university of chicago, which they kept secret i wrote about it but they would never confess to it is on a public park. Can you imagine if columbia came to new york and said we have a great site we only need 20 acres of central park. Thats the controversy. Also legally the Park District has to say its okay which, as of december 11th, when the bids were due, they never did that. Thats when i talk about youre supposed to pregrease this. The Park District board is rubber stamped. The president is the commerce secretarys husband, he recused himself, but its a friendly border. So they didnt get their ducks in order, and city council run by rahm emanuel didnt realize you realize the republican line for all these years was chicago politics. This is chicago politics. They didnt pregrease the pan. Yeah. So this source close to the foundation, when the source said Major Concerns they dont have the land the university of chicago was forced to finally reveal their sites thats why the mayor swooped in, who had been working behind the scenes and forced these two two there were two public hearings. Now Columbia University in new york is the frontrunner. For the moment. Between columbia and the university of chicago, give it to the state school at least. No, you need a lot of money behind it. They have that thats for sure. Other headline making news from the New York Times, the relationship between jeb and george w. Bush. While loving and supporting of each other, the brothers do not talk that often, seven years apart in age they travel in different circles and have distinct political networks. The former president confided to associates privately i may be the last one to know. Baker cites a source saying bush wants jeb to run. Jeb was like i could use your money, but if you could just hide that would be helpful. Thats my question about jebs viability as a candidate. I think back to george w. Bush and how the party embraced him from the beginning of the 2000 campaign. Im not seeing that about jeb. Are republicans thinking pragmatically and saying they may have no problem with jeb, but does the country want another bush . Two things there. One is this is a different Republican Party and Republican Coalition than in 2000 and 2004. You see the difference in terms of how much the 2004 cycle was dominated by social conservatives. Today the party is far more libertarian. In addition with jeb you see a realization from a lot of people who may be more supportive of him that this is a guy who not only has to defend just one record but three. Thats challenging for someone they might respect or like. Jeb is viewed as intelligent. Not necessarily viewed as personable in the same way his brother was. Hes certainly respected. This is them looking at it realistically. You talk about a change for the Republican Party that is true for immigration. George w. Bush was fairly progressive on immigration for the Republican Party. Jeb is also that way. But that doesnt get you anywhere in the current republican be party. Theres one thing that i think most important when you compare and contrast. When george w. Bush ran, he was the governor of texas. Jeb bush was long ago. And last was on the ballot in 2002. Thats why when you look at the big money, with all respect to these important and weighty issues, they want to know are you rusty . Good word. Can he do it . I dont think hes rusty at all. He is someone who is very engaged. Very detail oriented. One thing i think on the immigration point, its going to be a really interesting issue this time around particularly because of how it played last time. Mitt romney used it as a sledgehammer against rick perry effectively. This time around you will end up with a group of people on stage where, you know 8 out of 10 guys could be viewed as squishes by someone like mitt romney. What is a squish . Thats not the direction that the Republican Party might want to move. Mike huckabee rand paul is sort of iffy on the issues. Perry himself. Jindal has been someone who has talked more openly about the need for reform. You may end up with a group on stage where ted cruz and mitt romney are the ones saying closed border. We found out where those stages will be. A debate schedule was released. The fun will start if you consider these fun, i do qush t will start in ohio and end in ohio with the convention. Still ahead, the popes controversial comments on express that opened a debate about how far free speech should go. And next donald trump is getting ready to speak at a high profile tea party convention. Theres another speaker overshadowing the donald, though. The world is filled with air. But for people with copd sometimes breathing air can be difficult. If you have copd, ask your doctor about oncedaily anoro ellipta. It helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. Anoro ellipta is the first fdaapproved product containing two longacting bronchodilators in one inhaler. Anoro is not for asthma. Anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. It is not known if this risk is increased in copd. Anoro wont replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, or high blood pressure. 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This has become a bit of a tradition. The calendar creeps up on a president ial election cycle, temperatures drop and donald trump starts talking about running for president. It seems whenever a new season of the apprentice is underway. Right now donald trump is saying he might run in 2016. He will be one of the speakers at what is being billed as the Tea Party Coalition convention, a National Tea Party gathering being held in the early primary state of South Carolina as we speak. The convention is already underway. But the candidates or possible candidates wont be speaking until today and tomorrow. Rick santorum ben carson and ted cruz are all planning to address the crowd. Cruz made it to hershey, pennsylvania this week for the republican congressional retreat, an event that fellow conservatives in the senate with president ial ambitions managed to skip. Cruz may be the biggest star on the right who will be speaking in South Carolina. Paul rubio, Walker Bobby Jindal they all declined invitations. Mitt romney, jeb bush and Chris Christie wont be there either. Ted cruz can he consolidate the tea party . If he does how much of a threat does that make him in 2016 . Benji sarland is in myrtle beach. You drew the short straw ending up in myrtle beach in the winter. We go through a long list there of names who are not there. The sort of established favorites, romney Bush Christie not there. Some of the sort of more Tea Party Darlings are not there. Is this an opportunity for ted cruz . Ted cruz has a case to make a case here. Theres some competition. Theres ben carson rick santorum. The big thing is they really want someone, not necessarily cruz but someone to consolidate Tea Party Support and do it early this time to give them a better chance of overcomering whoever comes out of the establishment side of the party as the primary nears. We say tea party, tea party can be a broad term. Who are these people gathered there . What binds them together in terms of is there specific issues animating them . Why do they view themselves as so different from the republican establishment . Theres always a lot of different flavors to the tea party. In South Carolina theres a much more socially conservative bent compared to New Hampshire. The issue getting the biggest applause, big the Standing Ovations and shoutouts is immigration today. This is where they really hope to separate themselves from the establishment side which is more open to the idea of allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States if they go through a background check or long process. Here, it is no amnesty all the time. You hear that in speech after speech. I would say thats the most pressing symbolic issue as the candidates start to fire up their campaigns. What do you hear from people there if you talk to them about Jeb Bush Chris Christie mitt romney. You can see a scenario coming at some point during the primaries next year, it will be one of them against the tea party candidate. What do they have to say about those establishment candidates . Heres the funny thing. They dont like any of them individually, so far everyone i talked to. They dont want them to run for president or be the nominee. If they are going to run for president , they want as many to run as possible. They want bush bashing Romney Romney bashing christie all of them putting the huge super pacs with those big money donations against each other instead of against the tea party. That would give them a chance to sneak through. So the more the merrier as far as theyre concerned. All right. Benjy sarlin live in myrtle beach. Have a good time there. Good job. Still ahead, making the case for mitt romney what may have convinced him to go for another round at the white house. And remember when Hillary Clinton invited to you chat on the internet . We do. 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It couldve been brenda. Hillary clinton has gone missing. She has been out of few for over a month now. December 16th was her last public event. The next one will be in canada this coming wednesday. This is a far cry from what she was up to eight years ago this week. I announce today im forming a president ial exploratory committee. Im not just starting a campaign, though, im beginning a conversation with you, with america. So lets talk. Lets chat. Lets start a dialogue. Despite her recent public silence, there is a lot happening on hillarys behalf right now to cement her position as the overwhelming democratic favorite for 2016. The Washington Post first reported this week that Joel Benenson has been hired as a pollster and gene margolis hired on the senior campaign. They are part of the team that beat the lintclinton operation in 2008. And ron podesta is leaving the white house next month to join the hillary campaign. So Hillary Clinton making saying nothing publicly, but all of this speaks volumes about what shes up to. Im joined by anne lewis, a former Communications Director for president bill clinton. Thanks for joining us. Welcome. It seems to me these are we go through some of the hires, people who will be coming on board the hillary operation. They are accomplished political professionals, but theres a statement here this is a Democratic Party that maybe eight years ago had its greatest public fight. The Obama Clinton battle. That that party is now united. The obama camp has moved into the hillary camp. This is a Party Together now. Is there a symbolism intended here . Absolutely. Let me start by saying about john podesta, that was one of the names you mentioned. We would say in your old neighborhood, steve, that john podesta is wicked smack. Hes a really bright accomplished guy, he knows politics policy he has worked on the hill and has good relations with the senate. In my experience with him, he cares about the environment, about Climate Change deeply. So you have john podesta with Hillary Clinton in 08, and you have jim margolis who did the media for barack obama in 08. You have robby mook who could be a campaign manager, he was with hillary in 08, and then beninson who was the pollster for obama in 08. This is some of the best of the Democratic Party and the message sent is if theres a campaign, it will be smart, well run and inclusive of the party. In terms of Hillary Clinton and where that campaign ended in 2008, i think if you had gone back in time and said this is where things would end up after two terms of barack obama and the 2016 campaign heating up she would be in the position shes in now. When in the last eight years exactly did this happen . When do you think she realized i might get another chance at this . First if you go back and look at the speech she gave in june of 2008 and then the convention she called on everyone that was supporting her, to support and do all they could for barack obama and they traveled together to New Hampshire and they said for all the issues we care about, for all we value, lets Work Together for our democratic nominee and elect barack obama for president. She began by sending that message clearly. Once she agreed to be secretary of state she did two things she gave up her own Political Office and joined somebody elses team. Thats a big step. And not many elected officials do that. They worked together for four years. She comes to the end of that term were now looking at, oh, december of 2012 january of 2013 what you start hearing almost immediately, as soon as the 2012 election over is spontaneously people saying to her, hillary, hillary, will you think about running now . I will tell you from the conversations i have heard about, this was not what she was immediately this is not what she was thinking about then but that this was something she would do or that it would have this response. It came from people in the party. Which ever candidate they had been for in 2008 who are now saying, wow, will you look at doing it again . I want to play were starting to come into focus a bit what a republican attack on Hillary Clinton would look like in the fall of 2016. So the walker, who seems interested in being the republican nominee had this to say this week. The reason Hillary Clinton was the big loser is because she embodies washington. She lives in washington. She worked in washington for this president and his administration. She worked in washington when she was part of the United States senate. She lived in washington when she was a part of the white house along with her husband when he was president of the United States. You look at everything that peoples did like about washington, she embodies it. I think about that. Its true. Washington as a concept polls terribly with people. Bill clinton himself was the outsider when he won in 1992. There is a liability for hillary in terms of being in the capitol for so long. People want somebody who gets something done. Its not the geography, its the dysfunction. I would point to hillarys record when she was a senator. Look at her record for fighting for middle class families for tax reform that would give breaks to middle class families and not those who have so much. Look at her record as secretary of state. And the kind of difference she made. Yeah. I can understand that will be coming at us. But, again, im going to repeat once again, if there is a campaign, if thats the kind of example of negative then i think the strongest answer may be to say heres who Hillary Clinton is here is what she has achieved, here is the way she reached across the aisle in the senate. Here is how she worked with partners around the world. My money is still on there will be a campaign but well see what happens on that front. My thanks to ann lewis for getting up and talking with us this morning. Still ahead, we have seen president obamas tax reform plan, will that be part of his president ial legacy . A look at how the president may be remembered and the impact his presidency will have on your life in years to come. First new developments overnight in france in the wake of the attacks and the arrests that followed. Expected wait time 55 minutes. Your call is important to us. Thank you for your patience. Waiter vo in the nation, we know how it feels when you arent treated like a priority. We do things differently. Well take care of it. Vo we put members first. Join the nation. Thank you. Nationwide is on your side [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. Wow [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbells chunky soup. Its new chunky beerncheese with beef and bacon soup. I love it. And mama loves you. I make a lot of purchases for my business. And i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. Like 50,000 bonus points when i spent 5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. And i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at Office Supply stores. With ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. Travel, gift cards even cash back. And my rewards points wont expire. So you can make owning a business even more rewarding. Ink from chase. So you can. Constipated . Yea dulcolax tablets can cause cramps but not phillips. It has magnesium and works more naturally than stimulant laxatives. For gentle cramp free relief of occasional constipation that works mmm mmm live the regular life. Can this decadent, fruit topped pastry. With indulgent streusel crumble, be from. Fiber one. Fiber one streusel. Youre only young once. Unless you have a subaru. announcer the subaru xv crosstrek. Symmetrical allwheel drive plus 34 mpg. Love. Its what makes a subaru a subaru. We will get back to the world of politics in a minute first we wanted to update you on the raised terror alert levels in europe. Prosecutors paris confirmed to nbc news that 3 of the 12 people rounded up during fridays raids, that 9 remain in custody for questioning. Ron allen has been on the ground since the beginning and joins us now with the latest. Theres still nine people in custody. The three released were female companions of some of the men who are still in custody. Authorities are trying to figure out what ties they have if any, to the gunmen who pulled off the attacks last week. How did they get their money . How did they get weapons . How Logistical Support may have been provided and what is the extent of this network. Still questions that french authorities have. Across europe several dozen people have been rounded up in belgium, greece, germany as well as france as authorities continue to take this threat seriously. One indication of that is in germany there was a march planned tomorrow, that was billed as a proeuropean or antiislamic march that attracted 25,000 people a week ago, it was canceled because of death threats. Authorities are concerned about more attacks coming. And theres still a lot of antiCharlie Hebdo and antifrance marches taking place in mali. As many as ten people have been killed in those protests. One last note there was a poll taken by a french newspaper, an unofficial poll that asked the question whether the newspaper should continue printing pictures of the prophet muhammad, 57 pfrs said yes, 42 said no. So theres a significant number of people here who are perhaps having second thoughts or saying there should be some limits to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Thats interesting. It might have been closer that margin than people expected. Lou do you get the best seat at the state of the union . We have a genuine expert coming up to tell us about it. But next we go mixed headlines from mitt romneys prospective third president ial campaign. The bold nissan rogue, with intuitive allwheel drive. Because winter needs a hero. Now save up to 1,000 when you finance the 2015 nissan rogue. Introducing. A pm pain reliever that dares to work all the way until. The am. New aleve pm the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. Were in seattle to see which 100 calorie black cherry greek yogurt tastes best. Definitely that one. That ones delicious. Its yoplait what . I love yoplait the other one is chobani. Really. I like this one better. Yoplait wins again take the tasteoff for yourself. Does a freshly printed presentation fill you with optimism . Then you might be gearcentric. Right now, get this case of paper for only 24. 99 and save even more after rewards. Office depot officemax. Gear up for great. You show up. You stay up. You listen. You laugh. You worry. You do whatever it takes to take care of your family. And when its time to plan for your familys future were here for you. Were legalzoom, and for over 10 years weve helped families just like yours with wills, Living Trusts and more. Visit us today for legal help you can count on. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. Now that mitt romney has given his big speech on friday night, what happens next . He says he is interested in a third run at the presidency, now he will find out if enough of his fellow republicans feel the same way. Based on what one republican congressman told us yesterday, that may be a tough sell. The third time is not a charm. And i give as much respect and admiration as i have to governor romney. Im not one of those who is encouraging him to enter the race now. I dont think theres much to be gained by a third kick here. I dont think it will work out for him. Charlie dent represents a swing district in pennsylvania. He has occasionally broke with his partys wing, and he backed romney most strongly three years ago. For romney to make it out of the invisible primary, the period were in now where campaigns are made or broken by how many big money donors they can attract, how many influential backers they can line up to make it out of that invisible primary, mitt romney will need some big names to stand with him. He is said to be taken aback by the cold water some of his allies have been throwing on the idea of another run. While Party Leaders may not be flocking to romney now, he may be getting a different message from the polling. A new poll fromcy corps, their poll shows him outperforming jeb bush and hill Hillary Clinton. So far every time romney and bush have both been included in republican primary trial heats, romney has outpoled bush and often by a wide margin. What will give here . Will the gop establishment eventually come around to romney or keep giving him the Cold Shoulder until he takes the hint and walks away . Joining us this morning to talk about mitts game plan are two people at his speech friday night, james evans, chairman of the utah Republican Party and he started a draft mitt campaign in the spring of last year. And casey hunt msnbc Political Correspondent is with us from d. C. Casey you were out there reporting on this. All of that skepticism we were hearing in the run up to the speech. What were you hearing . Did you hear anything different after than you were hearing before from the republicans out there . Steve, those skeptics were loud, if mostly anonymous in the hallways of the rnc winter meeting. There were questions going into the speech about how far romney would go. In particular there were questions about whether or not he could recognize the mistakes he made. I asked the rnc chairman if he could correct those mistakes. Its going to be up to them to figure that out. Im not going to that a no . No im not going to sit around and worry about his campaign tactics. What we heard from romney in that speech shows what were his main issues were. Last time the big problems were the 47 and a lot of people questioned whether or not we got to know about mitt romney the man. He didnt talk about his mormon faith. And a lot of people who saw that Netflix Documentary mitt that came out afterwards were surprised by who they saw. In the speech you saw him trying to reinvent himself as an advocate for people in poverty, he wanted to raise people up out of middle class. He talked about raising wages, a phrasing he didnt use in 2012 and he talked about his wife and how she knew what kind of man he was as a pastor in the mormon church. Whether or not that will have credibility with voters is the question going forward. James evans, the case for another romney president ial campaign. What do you think would be different in 2016 from 2012 . The easiest way to look at this weve seen mitt romney the politician mitt romney the businessman but we have not seen mitt romney the man. Frankly i think in 2012 he was illadvised by not showing himself, you know in his own skin. Anyone that knows mitt romney who had been around mitt romney and seen him as a person as the Netflix Documentary showed t is obvious he should be president. For me the thing i recall more than anything is when politicians are not allowed to be themselves. That always is what gets them in trouble. Mitt romney is just an extraordinary person and he is starting to demonstrate that and he started it in a speech. I can give you story after story, but i do want to just make one give one example where we he has to do beginning, middle and end to demonstrate who he is. For instance you might i dont know i think it was on this network when there was a photo shown of his christmas picture, you know Christmas Card i think in 2013 and it showed his entire family his children grandchildren, and one of his sons and daughterinlaw adopted an africanamerican child. If you think its not a coincidence that now mitt romney is talking about lifting people out of poverty, this is the way to i think i take your point. Going off topic there, not this show we were talking about it but looking for the dufrnss between 2012 and 2016 in terms of who mitt would be. Kasie, we put the polling up there at the start of the segment. This strikes me there might ab disconnect between where republican elites are, the people were hearing publicly saying things about three times is too much versus were the rank and file in the Republican Party. It is striking when you look at every poll showing jeb bush and mitt romney matched up with each other, mitt romney is ahead of him. Is there a disconnect were missing now . Thats the information that a lot of people close to romney are looking at as theyre trying to advise him as to what to do next. Theyre saying hey, even if these people who were not encouraging of you last time around republicans want you to run. Is he the best known of those people theyre polling . He was the republican nominee in 2012. That means a lot. He stepped into this role of elder statesman in the Republican Party. You have seen a lot of nostalgia for him. Im not sure that stands up over the course of the next year. Im wondering, too, if the voices keep speaking out, prominent voices does that trickle down and those numbers start to move. I could see, if youre mitt romney looking at those numbers, i can see how that would be encouraging. Why the rush to jeb when im still ahead in the polling. Any way, my thanks to james evans, chair of the utah gop and kasie hunt. Up next what will it say when you look up barack obama in an encyclopedia some day . With soy ginger sauce, and make room for creamy shrimp scampi linguini. Yeah, were gonna need a bigger fork. Unless i eat those spicy sriracha grilled shrimp right off the skewer. Dont judge me. Join me. But hurry, because the big shrimp festival ends soon. Introducing. A pm pain reliever that dares to work all the way until. The am. New aleve pm the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. Why do i take metamucil everyday . Because it helps me skip the bad stuff. Im good. 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Just as soon as im available. Thank you for your patience at this busy time. Join us for stargazing with discovery at sea. Enjoy cruises from four ninetynine during our 50th anniversary sale. Call your travel consultant or 1800princess. Princess cruises. Come back new. President obamas appointment with history. All right. Thanks for staying with us this sunday morning. A lot to come this hour. Well preview tuesday nights big state of the Union Address including an exciting new opportunity for you to weigh in from home on what the president is saying as he is saying it. The details on that in a bit. Plus the race to visit cuba begins this weekend with congress. Illness once thought to be a thing of the past are making a resurgence in places like disneyland. The renewed debate over immunization. We begin with the big news overnight. President obama will take on tax reform in this years state of the Union Address in a big way. He will ask the wealthiest americans to pay more proposing to use that money in part to help middle class americans pay less. The republicans who control congress they have a different way of looking at tax reform. So for all the details on what the president is going to be offering to republicans and to the country on tuesday night, we turn to nbc News White House correspondent Kristen Welker live on the northern lawn. Good morning. Youre right. The president s plan boils down to one principal, increasing taxes on the wealthy toamericans with housing, child care savings. The president hopes to earn 320 billion over the next ten years. The proposal includes increasing the Capital Gains up to 28 for high income earners. Thats what it was at under the reagan administration. Imposing a fee on liabilities for 100 big institutions. The idea is to dissuade them from excessive borrowing and closing the trust Fund Loophole. An Administration Official says hundreds of billions of dollars escape taxation but the wealthy pass money on to their heirs. Thats all tax free. Where will that money go . The president wants it to go to a 500 tracksax credit for couples, and streamlining child care tax incentives up to 3,000 per person and to pay for Community College for the first two years for most students. Republicans have opposed increases to Capital Gains taxes, so the reaction from the gop is what you would imagine. It was swift and sharp. Orrin hatch released this statement, slapping american Small Businesses savers and investors with more tax hikes only negates the benefits of the tax policies that have been successful in helping to expand the economy. The white house says this plan impacts 99 of the people and it would fall im sorry, only 99 of the impact of this would fall on the top 1 of earners. The white house feels emboldened by polls which shows Many Americans favor increasing taxes on the wealthy. The president is of course facing his final two years in office, he has his eye on his legacy. What he will unveil on tuesday in many ways is an attempt to try to start the debate over taxes, the economy and what his legacy will look like on these issues. One white house official telling me while that debate continues, expect the president to continue to enact policies without Congress Wherever he can. Hes acutely aware his time in office is entering its final stretch. Im told the president has spent much of this weekend working on his state of the Union Address. A little last minute studying up. Thank you. Asthe latest issue of new York Magazine has multiple views on how president obamas legacy will be remembered. Keep in mind where president obama is now in his presidency where president clinton was when this happened. Tonight president clintons legacy in American History has been ensured, and not the way he hoped. He has become the third president on a short list of chief executives to be the recipient to the most sweeping powers granted by Congress Today the fourth and final article of impeachment was approved. 16 years later, impeachment probably is not the first thing we think of when we think of bill clinton. When it comes to barack obama these days and for the past few years we probably think first of record partisan gridlock washington paralyzed, total inaction, which makes it easy to forget how different the first two years in office were with some truly historic achievements. He has a lot in common with another president in the news Lyndon Johnson, after the assassination of john f. Kennedy, johnson used the wave of public support and huge majorities in congress to past a raft of major legislation, civil rights medicare Voting Rights immigration, the great society. Then there was a massive midterm backlash in 1966. It reduced his numbers in congress, and then the vietnam war ground down his political capital. In obamas case it was the wall street meltdown before his election and the historic nature of his own victory that gave him incredible early momentum to do things that democrats had been waiting for generations to do Health Care Reform the stimulus, lily leadbeater dont ask dont tell repeal. So how is history to remember the history of president obama . Im joined by julian zelizer, author of the fierce urgency of now. And lynn sweet with the chicago suntimes, the president s hometown paper back at the table with us. Julian using lbj as an example here. A lot of people will think of vietnam when they think of lbj, a lot of people may think more of the great society, a lot of people think of both. The end of his presidency was so different tomcompared to the beginning. In the early years of Lyndon Johnson, it reminds me so much of the president Obama Presidency. The first few years, Lyndon Johnson had the zil rightcivil rights movement, the Union Movement driving the legislation, after 1964, johnson has huge liberal majorities ready to push through legislation. The second part of his presidency is for familiar. From 66 to 68, congress is dominated by dominated, and Foreign Policy swamps his agenda. The final years where congress was onbstructionists is rezlike obama in 2010. The first two years where he has huge majorities, a momentum because of an economic meltdown and you take Health Care Reform all these democratic president s before him couldnt do it nobody could get it done. These periods where that stuff is possible are sort of the exceptions to history. We look at an eightyear presidency we say six years were lost to gridlock, but those two years are special in the scope of history. We often have a nostalgia for the moments when washington works, the reality is washington rarely works. Lbj understood this more than ever. He used to tell his advisers that congress would get the best of every president and it would get the best of him. One of the reasons he moved so fast is he realized his power was limited and the window was limited. And we saw that in the first year of president obamas term in office. Lynn, youve been covering the Obama Presidency from the beginning. When you step back and say what is the essence of this presidency 10 20 years from now . The first thing that will come to mind is the Affordable Care act. Theres no way republicans could totally dismantle it now. As the administration hoped, its saturated into the system. Depending on what is lasting in immigration, this last chapter, its still being written as we speak. I think unless he closes guantanamo you know there are things that are a part of the history that never happened thats important, too. Did he will he ever fulfill the promise of closing guantanamo the prison there . There are things that i think are femoral, like his pie in the sky plan for free Community College for everybody in the nation. Those things i think, will be lost to history. But ill tell you two things that are a big legacy. Sonia salt sotomayor and alana kagan. I worry about the climate of the era, how that gets reflected in history. We talk about we have never seen washington so broken so dysfunctional, partisan polarization. In obamas case is especially pronounced because the promise of candidate obama was to break through that be transformational, bring the two parties together. The fact that those were the expectations he set in the campaign in 2008 and that this is the reality of american politics now does that affects his legacy . I think we tend to forget it as part of the legacy. We focus on the great man idea of american politics. We look at what the president did, didnt do what was fleeting or lasting, but the environment is really what matters. I do think it shapes what a president can do. Obamas presidency is in part about the republicans on capitol hill. That will be a big legacy, the right shift to the party, the party to obstruct a lot of policies in 2010. We talk about president johnson as a villain with vietnam or a hero with the great society, but what was it about congress or the nation that allowed a transformative period to tack place. When you look at recent president s or not so recent president s, can we put into perspective, especially looking back at the first two years, obama care, the big ticket items that got through, the size and scope of achievement how the Obama Presidency stacks up against predecessors . I dont think its fdr, or lbj in terms of domestic policy but the Affordable Care act f it lasts and survives is a huge transformative piece of domestic legislation. And the recovery of the economy, if it does continue t will never be great. Its a halfhearted recovery inequality is a problem. It will still be an achievement linked to stimulus. There is a record there. We will see how people evaluate it reinterpret it. I want to thank jewelulian zelizer for coming on and lynn, well see you in a bit. Msnbc will hair the president s state of the Union Address live tuesday night at 8 00 p. M. Time. Ill be part of that at the big board. An exciting opportunity for you to weigh in on what the president is saying as hes saying it from your home computer or device. Dont miss that. Well tell you more about that. Still ahead, why this may no longer be the happiest place on earth. The debate over immunizations meets realworld consequences. And next the right to speak out both for and against Charlie Hebdo, are there shades of gray and double standards when it comes to free speech . Why did a panel of 11 automotive experts. Name the Volkswagen Golf motor trends 2015 car of the year . Well give you four good reasons the allnew Volkswagen Golf starting at 17,995. 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I took tylenol but i had to take six pills to get through the day. So my daughter brought over some aleve. Its just two pills, all day and now, im back aleve. Two pills. All day strong, all day long. And now introducing aleve pm for a better am. Stamps. Com is the best. 7 million, thats the latest figure on how many copies of the new issue of Charlie Hebdo have been printed in the wake of the attack on the magazine. A 3 million copy initial run sold out within hours and two additional printings of 2 million each for 7 million copies out there in circulation. Huge numbers of support like that have been balanced out by the massive crowds that have been assembling to protest Charlie Hebdo. We reported this week on the demonstration that turned violent in pakistan as well as similar scenes in nigeria jordan. Noteworthy are the men and women declaring that they are muslim which is not the same thing as defending the attacks. The french president yesterday stood up for freedom of speech saying france has principles and values, in particular freedom of expression. But europe is a place where governments will sometimes demand that google take down information if it violates someones policy. The eus right to be forgotten law. Some are questioning whether theres a double standard in france. Authorities have been cracking down in the name of hate speech on how some have been commenting on the attacks. A french comedian was detained because they thought his comment on facebook offered a gesture of solidarity with the supermarket attacker. In the u. S. , free speech allows he or she to say whatever they want without limits. Theres no shouting fire in a movie fire you cannot burn a flag but you can burn a draft card. The pope this week said there are limits to free speech. Pope francis says just because you can Say Something about another persons religion doesnt mean you should. The vatican had to walk his remarks back a bit and said the popes message does not justify the attack on Charlie Hebdo. So how do you bridge the Cultural Divide and decide who gets to decide what is and what isnt free speech . Here to discuss this we have toure back on the set with us so is ben domenech with the heartland institute. At the top of the hour we had a live report it might have been earlier in the show, our correspondent in paris was saying theres a new poll in france about the new cover of Charlie Hebdo. 7 million copies out there. In france Public Opinion divided on whether they should have done this. 57 saying yes, 42 saying no. Sounds like a landslide to me. I would have thought 70 30. A lot more divided than i thought. I think what you see reflected in that is europes history. In terms of the conversation in america going back historically there was that initial debate in the 1790s between the federalists and democratic republicans about whether you would have all speech be okay where there was a lot liebel going on or only truth, and the thats why we have the perception of free speech that we have. Europe doesnt have that they have a history of genocide war. Because of that they have that attitude of error has no freedom or right. The pope talked about one cannot make fun of religion i cringe. One should not make fun of religion, but the cannot imposes a rule from who . From government . From the pope . From some body on down to the people saying what you cant say. If we dont have a free flow of ideas in a society then the society is impoverished. We see that in societies that are pore tolltalitarian. At least in america and other places, theres a rich history of the comedic space having a free flow of idea and things that you cannot say in other spaces. In the black community, we had richard pryor, dick gregory and others who said things on stage that couldnt be said by politicians and later were said by politicians if we cant say things in a funny way, in a hebdo way, you can never say them in a serious way. This is from meet the press this morning. The new editor of meet the press was asked about the popes criticism. How do you respond to the popes criticism . Translator every time we draw a cartoon of muhammad a cartoon of a prophet, every time we draw a cartoon of god, we defend the freedom of religion. We say god must not be a political figure he must be a private figure. We defend the freedom of religion. Yes, its also the freedom of speech, but it is the freedom of religion. Religion should not be a political argument. Im interested in sort of the practical question here though of so the can versus should. So, in a case of Charlie Hebdo, in just the possibility for more backlash for more attacks, on the question of should, where would you come down on that . In america we have the concept of fighting words, that you cant say things designed to insight violence. You have seen crackdowns that have gone overboard in america, the crackdown in abolitionists, trying to keep them from being in the u. S. Mail because they were designed to incite violence. In terms of the can and should beyond the talk of getting rid of all the priests and rabbi jokes, this is very serious. A country that can ban things that are said that insult muhammad can also ban things that muslims would like to say about christians and goos and sjews. In terms of the government stepping in, but in terms of editors of the magazine, they want to make a definitive statement in light of what happened, but should they in light of the risk . I think they should take the risk theyre comfortable taking. No one should die for these sorts of things. Part of what is being used here steve, is this idea of i know god. I read the koran, i read the bible, i know god. Thus i can speak for god. We should reject that impulse at every turn. Nobody can say they know god better than anybody else. Dont we all get to define our own relationship with god . Perhaps with some guidance from figures who have studied more than us. But i can speak to god in a different way than you can. We can both be right. I think in terms of things we made the decision at the federalist to republic establish the car republish the cartoons, but its part of society to say things that may offend our deepest held beliefs, but that comes within the context of freedom and a society where truth and respect can win out. Im glad you guys reprinted it. I respect all the organizations that did reprint them. I thought about and i looked at tons of hebdo cartoons wanting to put them on our air. The standard discussion aside, i found it hard to find any that were actually funny. I would agree with you actually. A few killed me that were beyond the boundaries of msnbc standards, television standards. I was either i just dind find them funny or they were so wrapped in a nuance that you had to be from france to understand them at all. It made me say, well you know what i dont actually like the vast majority of what they do. It gets to the question of is the intent humor or is the intent more to make a statement that we can do this and all the other stuff comes into that. People laugh a clumsy laugh for me. Toure and ben, you will be sticking around. Still ahead, a familiar voice to millions of americans, you probably dont know his name. We will talk to the man who introduces the president to the country just before the state of the union. And next an update on the teenage teenage fugitives. R. My dad went and turned in his lexus and got the exact same car as me. 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We will return to the big political news of the morning in a moment. First we want to bring you up to speed on those two kentucky teenages who have been on the run for weeks. They are 13yearold Cheyenne Phillips and 18yearold dolton hayes. Kristin dahlgren has more on the story. These are the teens that the media dramatically dubbed bonnie and clyde. They are in custody this morning. He is with police. She is in the custody of the Florida Department of child and family services, and the extradition process is underway to bring them back to kentucky after what police call a two week multi state crime spree that includes three stolen trucks, three stolen guns property damage. They were spotted in places like South Carolina, georgia, and finally in florida. There was a fear they might use those guns if they were cornered. But in the end, this ended peacefully. Panama city beach, Florida Police were able to surround their stolen truck as they were sleeping inside. They took them into custody peacefully. You can imagine their familys relief this morning. Very peculiar story. My thanks to kristin dahlgren. Still ahead what do you have to do to make sure you always get the best seat in the house for the state of the union and to get a handshake with the president and a spot on National Television . A congressional expert is here to tell us how he does it every year. Before that the American Travel rush to cuba begins with congress. To start and run your business. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. Alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours, but aleve can last 12 hours. And aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. So why am i still thinking about this . How are you . Aleve, proven better on pain. son oh no. Can you fix it, dad . Yeah, i can fix that. dad i wanted a car that could handle anything. I fixed it dad thats why i got a subaru legacy. vo symmetrical allwheel drive plus 36 mpg. I gotta break more toys. vo introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. Next. Expected wait time 55 minutes. Your call is important to us. Thank you for your patience. Waiter vo in the nation, we know how it feels when you arent treated like a priority. We do things differently. Well take care of it. Vo we put members first. Join the nation. Thank you. Nationwide is on your side all right. Back here on the set, we have our panel, Ben Domenech Toure and lynn sweet. We will do our catching up cycle. We try to get through a bunch of stories that people are talking about this week in america, this morning in america. Well get through these and see what you have to say. The first one, the congressional delegation headedinging to cuba. Senator Patrick Leahy leading the delegation they will discuss normalizing regulations, and andrew cuomo announcing he will plan a travel trip to cuba for a trade mission. This is starting to the wheels are in motion. The relationship will be different. Especially in the wintertime. I want to know the details on what is legal travel. Im happy to see cuba opening up for the people of cuba and for us. I cant wait to visit cuba i hope theres some moment where we make the castros reckon for the Human Rights Violations they have been doing for decades. That is the other side of this. Another headline. Measles outbreak that began in disneyland is spreading. There are 51 confirmed cases across california, three other states and mexico. Officials had hoped to contain the virus. Turns out most of those infected did not receive measles shots or were only partly immunized. This is another example of the ramifications of this ongoing and ridiculous opposition to vaccination that has gone on far too long without being decried more publicly and prominently. I think its ridiculous that folks go to disneyland rather than legoland. Disneyland what was the vacation movie . Wally world . Yeah. Think in binary. You think of that because of a 80s movie. Before your time. Thats a classic, toure. Thats from your era. Really . Nfl playoff predictions. Today, nfc championships, afc championships. By the end of tonight well know who is playing in the super bowl. On the nfc side the seahawks host the packers. The seahawks sevenpoint favorites. Im going with the packers. Big upset if they do that. They dont have to be playing home in order to win. Ill the seahawks are the best home team in the league. I know. Aaron rodgers a little injured. They are credible on both sides of the ball. I like the seahawks even against the spread minus 7. You will lay the floor. Ben . Were doing spreads . Chicago styles. Ill be rooting for the packers, but i think the seahawks will win. The one im interested in the colts and the patriots. Ill be cheering for the patriots, but im not sure they can cover the spread. They definitely can. The colts have been terrible against teams over. 500 except denver. Peyton manning has been injured for over a month. Couldnt really drive with that leg. I think the patriots are definitely going to cover today. Only twice in the last 20 years have both number one seeds ended up in the super bowl. I think this might be andrew lucks coming out moment. You are giving me thats my worst nightmare. Im going with the patriots on this. Thank you. Now im confident all over again. I want belichick against carroll, the guy that drove the pats into the ground and the guy that resurrected them and created the dynasty. Ruth Bader Ginsburg tattoo goes viral. A 23yearold university of maryland student has gotten a tattoo of ruth Bader Ginsburg. Shes a role model she says for womens rights. She is promoting a feminist sleeve. Sleeve. I just think the idea of tattoos in general, its kind of cool but to its an amazing choice to want to live with for the rest of your life. You have to live with somebody. With all respect of all the Supreme Court justices. I would pick thurogood marshall marshall. With respect to any justice, especially ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a tattoo . I will put it this way, there were a lot of people who had to get their tattoos of john roberts removed. There you go. At least shes picking someone on the downside of her career. You want me to roll up my sleeve . Ill show you some david suitor. We had to get kornacki tattoos. Oh. You dont want me okay. There we go. The last one, this is always interesting. I call it the king ralph scenario. You probably have not seen this theres a movie with john goodman, king ralph, the entire royal family comes out to get their pictures taken, they are electrocuted because of a freak rain storm, they have to find the next person in the throne its a lounge act from vegas, john goodman. This is the scenario. This is the reallife planning that the United States has to do every year for the state of the Union Address. Everybody is there. Everybody in line of succession. They designate one cabinet secretary every year to be flown to a hidden location. Heres my question who is it going to be . It was Energy Secretary last year who will it be this year . Any guesses . My guess is its going to be the relatively new hud secretary, castro. Why . Because he has a twin brother who is a member of congress so youll have a castro in the picture. I think its going to be john kerry. He skipped the million frenchman march, why show up to this. Ben . I would like to see sally jewel, she would be good in the survival episode. The only problem is she has a birth certificate issue. I am going with anthony fox, transportation secretary to nor reason. Its 59 hours and count together president s state of the Union Address. Still ahead this morning, the people we look forward to seeing the most every year at the state of the union. Theyre here on this show next. Name the Volkswagen Golf motor trends 2015 car of the year . 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Ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts at bausch lomb. Ocuvite has a unique formula thats just not found in any leading multivitamin. Your eyes are unique so help protect your eye health with ocuvite. We are back at the big board with a segment ive been looking forward to all morning. Before we get into the fun, i want to point out tuesday night, two days from now, the state of the union, msnbc will have live coverage starting at 8 00. We have some interesting stuff planned for you that night. Put that date in your calendar the time in your calendar. Coverage starting at 8 00 p. M. , tuesday night. To go back to the big board, the state of the union there are so many different story lines, theres the president s speech the republican response but also for people who watch these things every year, the characters in the House Chamber. Theres Something Interesting about all this. We know the congress the house and the senate all members show up. They sit in the House Chamber to watch this speech. The thing you may not know is seating for members of congress at this event, at the state of the union every year are given out on a first come first serve basis. Every year the president enters from the same place. Comes down the same aisle between the seats on his way to the front of the room. All the cameras are there. And every year if you look closely, you end up seeing a lot of familiar faces along the aisles. A lot of members of congo out of their way to get that place so they can meet the president on his way. Heres an example. This is Sheila Jackson lee from texas, you will probably see her on tuesday night, 2007 2008 2011, 2012 with bush and obama. She is always there. This is al green from texas. Youll probably see him on tuesday night. Dennis kucinich would do this every year. Hes no longer in congress. Thats him with george w. Bush in 2007. This is todd platt, he was there every year he left congress. These are regular characters in the show. Gene jean schmidt from ohio. And there is Elliott Engle. We think no one has been doing this longer than Elliott Engle. Democratic congressman from new york. Thats him in 2000 with bill clinton coming in for his state of the union speech. This is in 2008 george w. Bush. Thats Elliott Engle there. Thats a screen capture from the live coverage. 2011 with barmack obama. In 2012 again, barack obama and Elliott Engle. You can see Elliott Engle there in action greeting the last three president s as they enter the House Chamber. Engle told the New York Daily News in 2013 that his constituents expect him to be there. He said if they didnt see me they would think im sick or something. Here he is democratic congressman Elliott Engle of new york. Well talk to him on the other side of the break. Hell tell us the secrets of getting there. The nissan rogue, with safety shield technologies. The only thing left to fear is your imagination. Now save up to 1,000 when you finance the 2015 nissan rogue. Nissan. Innovation that excites. At ally bank no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like mute buttons equal danger. That sound good . Not being on this phone call sounds good. Its not muted. Was that you jason . It was geoffrey it was jason. It couldve been brenda. Searching with devotion for a snack that isnt lame but this. Takes my breath away Stouffers Mac and cheese with real aged cheddar now in a convenient cup. New Stouffers Mac cups. Made for you to love. Stamps. Com is the best. We just introduced you to the state of the unions best enthusiast, the members of congress who stake out the best seat in the house. Here with me now is democratic congressman, eliot engel of new york who greeted the last three president s as they made their way into the chamber. Thank you for joining us. Im interested in this, in terms of its first come first serve. What is state of the union day like . What do you have to do to get a seat like that . Its very exciting to be part of it. I grew up in a works class family in the bronx, new york. For me to be there is just unbelievable. So many years later for me to be doing this every single year i just think its a great celebration of american democracy and im honored to really be a part of it. It started with me really just happened. I got elected to congress back in 1988. My first state of the union was 1989. And i had a colleague of mine named mike parker of mississippi. He said to me that sonny montgomery, from mississippi, the chairman knew president george h. W. Bush giving his first state of the union, and that he would shake his hand. He promised he would pull mike parker over to shake his hand as well. He said to me im taking the second seat on the aisle. If you take the third seat, im sure the chairman would pull you over. I went and said is this true . He said, yes, meet me a few hours beforehand and ill get grab the seat before somebody else does. Ive grabbed it and been there ever since. A tradition was born. So youre in prime position when the president comes in. You get a word in with him it seems most years. What do you say in that moment . Whats that conversation like . Well it varies. I dont really think about it beforehand. Sometimes i just welcome the president. Sometimes if there is an issue thats pending, ill talk to the president about it. Ive always had an interest in Foreign Affairs. Im now ranking moent foreignember on the Foreign Affairs committee. Ive told the president s so in that moment everybody is clapping and you get a policy point in there . If you want to. So do they Say Something back to you . Well president bush george w. Bush would say absolutely. And its usually like that. You cant really have a long conversation with him, but they they respond. Usually its just welcome, mr. President. And when they come out, its the same thing. If theres something in the speech that i liked, i would tell the president good proposal on whatever it is. And do your constituents have they learned to recognize you . Do you hear from them . Oh yes. This is really why i do it. It started, as i said very innocently. And more and more of my constituents, you know when you go about your district people say they saw you on tv. And this could be six months after the state of the union. And im on a lot of these shows, so ill think it was something brilliant that i said on some interview on tv and ill say what was i saying . And they said, no you were shaking the president s hand. I noticed that more and more the more it happened the more people liked it. Of course if my constituents like it i like it. So i think now if i wasnt there, theyd wonder what happened. People tell me over time they look for me. When they see me they think that their state of the union watching is complete because they have seen their congressman. Now that ive been looking into this, i kind of feel the same way. In addition to the applause and handshakes, theres another regular feature at the state of the union. One of the greatest and most comforting bits its before the president enters the chamber when this happens. Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States. Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States. Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States. And the man who gave that oneofakind introduction from 1995 through 2011 was bill livengood and he joins us from washington. Bill, thank you for joining us. It is, the ceremony of the state of the union is so fascinating and that was always one of my favorite moments. Its sort of formal its sort of a throwback maybe to a different era. Can you just tell us what that was like, maybe in the moemgtsments before we would see you on tv and what its like to actually deliver that line . Well, steve, thank you for having me today on your show. When i first started, i was there 17 years. When i first started, it was sort of a terrifying moment. I was apprehensive. Im not used to the cameras. And i was thinking just those few words that i was going to say, make sure i didnt flub on those words. As the time went on i became much more comfortable and the whole evening was an exciting day and evening. And just prior to introducing the president , i felt a sense of pride. I felt this is america and im proud to be a part of it. And would you before the camera would pick you up would you have a moment of any interaction with the president . What was it like sort of behind the stage at that moment . Earlier the Senate Sergeant in arms and myself as they will do tuesday, would meet the president at the house door and wed escort him up to the Speakers Ceremonial Office thats on the second floor. There would be some time escorting, taking him up there. And occasionally obviously the president would say hello and make a few comments so we would have some interaction with him. And that is very mind boggling. Its just a tremendous opportunity. Never said anything political or tried to interfere with his thinking process while to make him nervous before he went out. But it was quite an experience. I imagine. And so you are retired from the job right now, but what is the advice to your successor . What is the key to hitting a home run in that moment . I just say that be yourself have a smile and dont take the situation take it very seriously, but keep your cool and just be friendly to everyone, because thats what its very important so that people see that youre enjoying yourself and they know you have a job to do and they respect it. Congressman engle back here at the table. Youve said sometimes its just good luck or sometimes its a policy message. Lets say youre on the aisle tuesday night, president obama comes down and he stops, congressman engle, nice to see you. Do you have any idea what youre going to say to him this year . No i never decide until im there beforehand. I once saw the president a couple of days before and he said to me how come youre not on the aisle seat yet . I said dont you worry, mr. President , when youre marching down that aisle, ill be on that aisle seat. I love it. I love talking to both of you this morning, bill and congressman engle, because youre in sort of these esteemed positions and both of you in talking to you, you still feel sort of the chills that i think all of us would feel being in that chamber, being in that building or such a place like that. Its a wonderful celebration of american democracy and i feel honored and privileged to do it. Its good to see bill. Hes really a nice guy and made us all feel comfortable and warm and always conducted himself with class. But the electricity, the buzz in the air is really terrific. You know we live in the greatest democracy in the world and were proud of it. So to be a part of that for me is really something special. Congressman engle, look for him on tuesday night. Bill livingood, really appreciate you joining us as well. As i mentioned, ill be covering state of the union on tuesday night as part of msnbcs live special coverage. Ill be over at the big board with an exciting new opportunity for you to weigh in on what the president is saying while hes saying it from home. Live coverage starts at 8 00 p. M. Before we go a quick update on the weather here in the northeast this morning. Freezing rain creating Hazardous Conditions on roads. Many major bridges are closed in the northeast, especially in and around new york and philadelphia. Mass Transportation Services also suspended. Coming up next, melissa harrisperry. R years. You named it brad. You loved brad. And then you totaled him. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends. Three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. If you sign up for better car replacement, well pay for a car thats a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. See Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Can this decadent, fruit topped pastry. 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