today on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. nbc s bill neely is joining me from south korea. what is the latest on the search and rescue efforts there? reporter: yes, good morning, alex. from a place of, well, deep frustration and sadness as the parents begin to feel that hopes of finding their children alive inside that ship are fading fast. they did, however, get to see and hear from in detail for the first time from the captain of the ship who is, of course, now under arrest and facing charges of criminal negligence. they heard him apologize to them and explain what he had done. he said he didn t order an early evacuation because he feared that some of the people in the life jackets might simply drift away on the sea because no rescue boats had arrived at the time. alongside him was the 26-year-old woman who was steering the ship at the time.
he s clearly making the point there is a way out diplomatically, but in the meantime the u.s. will start using sanctions as a way to get involved and make sure that russia does not formally take over part of sovereign ukraine which would be crimea. let s bring in nicholas burns, former u.s. diplomat, who s been watching from harvard university. nick, this looks like a stand up for all practical purposes, i think this referendum they ve scheduled in the coming days in crimea to become part formally part of russia, it seems that train is leaving the station although the president says flatly that would be a violation of international law. well, the president s correct about that. and, wolf, i think you re hearing from the president of the united states deep frustration over the unwillingness of the russian government to meet anybody halfway here. a referendum in crimea on march 16th would be farcical because
get what he wants. no one on capitol hill is scared of him. you know, i share maureen s frustration, deep, deep frustration. and there really was 90% public opinion on the side of gun legislation. this was the mildest of gun legislation and the mildest imaginable and it failed. in public, president obama was eloquent and in the final analysis, angry and convincing yet again. i think the hope and maybe the fantasy is that barack obama is somehow going to become lyndon johnson and he is going to bend over one legislator after another with both persuasion and threat and all of the levers of power. i just don t know if that politics obtains at all in washington any more, that the independence of senators and the lack of party discipline and all that does not seem to be the same in 2013 as it is. i m not speaking in defense of him. i share her frustration. i share her frustration too.
briefing because i was at my own politico briefing, but what he didn t say but it s palpable among republicans here, deep frustration. this should be a winnable race. the major issue is the economy. president obama does not have confidence among the electorate in his leadership skills. that sounds like a recipe for a losing election but at best it s tied and probably in reality, president obama is ahead. it s precisely because of this issue we re talking about, mitt romney s failure to establish a compelling personal connection for his leadership. just a brief round the table here, chris cillizza, the biggest moment is the speech but what about the ann romney speech? that is the opportunity to narrow the gender gap and fill in personal details. we talk a lot about narrative and how these three, four days fill the narrative. i think ann romney mitt romney has to round himself out. in the the washington post /abc poll, you saw that 60% of people said that mitt romney, his policies
in a new behind the scenes book on american forces in afghanistan, called the operators, michael hastings details deep frustration among america s troops and commanders, michael, we know, i think a lot of us, you first came to the national stage with the rolling stone article on stanley mcchristal. i want to talk about the subject of the book and the frustration that is there is regarding rules of engagement and the hatred that the troops have for the avenue fw afghans. this is really about the run away military and it s kind of the not safe for work version of your book about afghanistan. the strategy is with the rules of engagement, you are talking about american servicemen who feel like they are not allowed to defend themselves.