president obama s phoning it in when it comes to the debt and budget matter. marco rubio is a rookie senator from florida, also. and he says senate democrats haven t bothered to pass a budget of their own in more than two years. that s true. bill: is this becoming strictly a partisan battle, or do you believe what the vice president is doing, behind closed doors, will give america hope that we can cut our costs? well, i m always i always try to be optimistic and i always want to have hope, but so far, the rhetoric, the public pronouncements of what the vice president is doing as of february doesn t go in the right direction. doesn t go where the american public. the american public, in a bipartisan approach, if you look at polls numbers on this as far as the debt limit is concerned, it s not d or r, a democrat or republican issue, the vast majority are saying don t raise the debt limit at all because they know we can t keep using that credit card. bill: do you agree with senator
will win the nomination. the most important thing is for the president to lead, to ensure the economy will continue to roll and to reach out to independents, that s the key to winning in 2012. what is the president s problem right now politically. the jobs thing is good. doesn t settle it. there are other issues on the horizon. price of gas, inflation, other things that can happen. this business around the world in the middle east, precarious, and our commitments and what else will happen. he s not doing badly. those numbers aren t terrible. republicans can win if we get the right candidate and message. what i most agree with donna about is for the president to lead. lead in the way your last two panelists talked about. take a lead on the all-important budget matter. step in and say he s in with what the gang of six is recommending. in my lifetime, i have not seen the public recognition so deep.
doesn t settle it. there are other issues on the horizon. price of gas, inflation, other things that can happen. this business around the world in the middle east, precarious, and our commitments and what else will happen. he s not doing badly. those numbers aren t terrible. republicans can win if we get the right candidate and message. what i most agree with donna about is for the president to lead. lead in the way your last two panelists talked about. take a lead on the all-important budget matter. step in and say he s in with what the gang of six is recommending. in my lifetime, i have not seen the public recognition so deep. i think is deep. democrats and republicans, we are facing a very serious tidal wave here, economic tidal wave and a catastrophe has to be avoided and you can t step away from that if you are president. ten years ago, only 35% of american people said the economy was number one. today, 71%. the focus has to be on job creation.
muammar qaddafi s compound has been hit in the latest missile strikes. but putting that aside for the moment as crazy as that is, in scream of things, i wonder what the fixation on this in general if it is legal or not, or constitutional or not, that this becomes the focus and not cutting spending. guest: well, that is certainly one of my fears. so, it compounds to the overseas military spending but, more importantly, it takes attention away from other things that we need to focus on right now including getting our fiscal house in order and the fact that we have a national debt of $15 trillion and we are adding to that at a rate of $1.65 trillion a year and we need to get that under control. neil: the talk is you are closer to getting at least the budget matter under control to extend the government s funding through the end of the year, and that would call for middle ground between the $10 billion or so the administration is looking at and the $50 billion
government from ordering every american to purchase a car from government motors in the next recession. greta: explain why you had this hearing and asked those questions about health care since the house has voted to repeal the health care bill? the president would veto it. what is the point of that hearing today in asking those questions in light of the fact the house has repealed it? because it is a critical budget matter that affects the long term solvency of our nation. really affects the short term solvency of our nation. even though the has has passed it the senate has not yet acted and the president has vowed he would veto it. greta: do you think the senate is likely to take note of those questions and answers and will that impact what the senate does or does not do? what the senate does and what the white house does is beyond the control of the house of representatives. but it is not control of the