over jobs and taxes, what s in a name. the president has been saying he s a warrior for the middle class. which may be part of the reason he s being attacked for class warfare by opponents. joining me from washington, eleanor clift of newsweek and the daily beast. eleanor, good to see you. good morning, alex. what s the problem here? what should the president be doing that he s not doing? is it all about this word class? middle class is a state of mind. a lot of people who make more money than would technically qualify them to be in the middle class as we define it think of them as middle class. the better phrase is middle income. inherited wealth, country clubs is another caricature of high class. nobody wants to be called lower class. middle income, lower income, upper income would help us confront the inequities that
big government, about how they feel that there s social inequality going on and grabbed the attention of activists, including michael moore. so when you look at the message, though, what is it the protesters are trying to get across? it doesn t seem a very cohesive one. the platforms are diverse. mostly centered on speaking out against corporate greed and social inequality. they also said they re trying to let people come together and speak their minds and find a way to how to get their message out. they re still developing exactly what they want over this time. but they re also getting union leaders behind the movement. that could give them more resources in the backing alex needed to keep this movement going for months. okay. nbc s michelle franzen, many thanks for that. let s go to 2012 politic. americans clamoring for another candidate. may get their wish. new jersey governor chris christie is seriously considering running for president. his advisers are analyzing if
memphis up towards indianapolis. the other thing we ll have to watch aught for, the potential for a few stronger storms on the southern edge here from northern louisiana into portions of the mid south. watching out for some damaging winds and even some hail and can t rule out even a chance for a tornado. alex in. okay, alex walls. if you say so. thanks. will he or won t he? new talk about new jersey governor chris christie and the race for 2012. our education nation week kicks off with new challenges for a new generation. how high school students are staying optimistic despite the difficult economic times. but first, boom town rats, the city where the rat population is getting bigger and bolder. you re watching weekends with alex witt. every time a local business opens its doors
good morning, kristen. reporter: good morning, alex. houston s death came on the eve of music s biggest night the grammy. she was supposed to be here to attend clive davis famous pre-grammy party last night. instead, this is where she died and where some of music s biggest names gathered last night to mourn. the stars arrived at the beverly hilton hours after pop legend whitney houston s death. we ll miss her. we ll miss the sound and her presence. we re very sad. as they comforted each other, police continue their investigation. approximately 3:43 p.m. this afternoon a 911 call was placed to the beverly hills police department by hotel security. it was a medical emergency call. firefighters in the hotel rushed to houston s room on the fourth floor and tried to resuscitate the 48-year-old. minute later, she was pronounced dead. around the world houston s death brought shock. but in recent years her singing
i ve been enjoying watching you work. you have a tough job. i love my job. let get to the job that you want to get to. you ve said that politics is corrupted. especially by dig donors. is this realistic to only accept small individual donations, a hundred bucks at a time rather than huge sums of cash? i need a million people. i need a million people who are looking for decent work who think trade with china is unfair the way it s practiced who want to grow america and who don t think wall street should own washington. i need a million people at a hundred dollars. you know, we have contributions from all 50 states, alex. we re the only guy running who has been a governor and a congressman. i grow jobs. that s what i do. small business, drilling for oil, safely and freely. we can do this. i ve got a catch on. i need to be on a debate. i watch the people debate. it s often frivolous.