this president. it s always somebody else s problem. let me make a prediction. the few in a the president in a few minutes is going to come to the american people. he sot going to lead and say we have a deal, he s not cloistered trying to get a deal with the congressional leaders. what he s what he s going to do, he s going lecture us, tell us it s the hill s problem. it s the president s problem. it s his failure to lead and get a deal together. he should be announce ago deal with the leaders behind him and what s he going to dork tell the american people it s not his fault, it s congress fault. mig last word, dick. let me say this, to get the congressional leadership, republicans standing behind him, i d be afraid i d get a shim in the back. these guys aren t going to give anything this president wants because they re concerned about the next election. nonsense. wait a minute. to say the president has not attempted to broker a deal isn t consistent with the facts. he s tal
see the u.s. as a great opportunity, our stability, our openness, our innovative free market culture. but we ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. we ve kind of taken it for granted people want to come here and we aren t out there hungry, selling america. we ve lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the golden gate bridge and hoover dam and unleashed all the potential in this country. megyn: and of course, also said that america has gone soft. what do you think, brad? the president has said some of that. is it unfair for him to say it s others who are saying he s the defender of america? he is hard will i m sorry, that was for dick. i m sorry, is it me? you, dick. okay, thank you. two things. first of all, i think the president is being critical of the american corporate society that has not done a
hungry, selling america. we ve been a little bit lazy i think over the last couple of decades. the symptoms of this crisis of the american spirit are all around us. we ve lost our ambition, our imagination. megyn: well, now, president obama is striking back. joining me mou now, brad blakeman, former assistant to george w. bush and dick harpoutlan, democratic chair. apparently the hoopla has gotten a little loud because the president came out as a fund-raiser last week, and quote, sometimes the pundits and newspapers and tv commentators like to talk about how america is slipping and america is in decline. that s not what you feel when you re in asia and he goes on to talk about why, then talks about how we are special and we are exception al. is this a reversal for the president brad and does he state it right when he says it s pundits, newspapers, tv
about, patience, the american people need to realize it took us a long time to get into that mess, are the american people that patient when they re out of work? they are not patient and there s no more bush to blame. this guy had all the answers as a candidate and none of the solutions as president. unemployment is at 9 percent, ticking up, and how about the housing news we got today? the largest decline in housing values, 3 percent loss, since 2008 under this president. inflation is kicking up ticking up, gas prices are over 100 percent above what it was when this president took office. the president has a record that is dismal on the economy, no accomplishment, and if this continues, the only way he wins is by default. alisyn: and dick, what about that? the housing news is abysmal that has recently come out. these are the things, even though usama bin laden has been done away with, these are the things that people will vote on in 2012. killed. killed. alisyn: killed. no, what
no, we re for them. if the president were smart he could oh, absolutely you re for him. and he can reup them. alisyn: here s what i dick, here s the thing. you re looking backwards, and saying here s what s got us into this mess, that s valid, that s fair, but we re now two years into it and on 2012, don t voters want the president to look forward as to what the solution is? not just what got us into the mess. no, absolutely. and are you better off today than you were the day george bush left office? absolutely. no, when obama took office. no, but when when george bush left us this mess, are you better off now? yes. will you be better off by next november? yes. this president but you can t do it by giving donald trump tax cuts. we ve got to make people like donald trump, the billionaires that aren t paying any taxes, pay up. i got news for you, dick. there aren t enough rich people in america for you guys to tax! there simply isn t.