We begin this afternoon with the clash of two statements, one delivered by a man whos enjoying some of the high he is Approval Ratings of his career. The other delivered by a thirdrate actor who is trying desperately to put a new phase on some tired old policies. The subject, a socalled sequester that will trigger is trillion dollars in spending cuts in less than four weeks. But weve also seen the effects that political dysfunction can have on our economic progress. That, of course, was the president seeking to protect a fragile recovery from falling back into recession if the sequester is allowed to occur. And then there was Speaker Boehner. The house on two occasions has passed a plan to replace the sequester. Its time for the Senate Democrats to do their work. Its time for the president to offer his ideas. Its hardly surprising that the speaker sounds bored by the very words coming from his very own mouth because it is the selfsame rhetoric that republicans have been spouting for ag
Behind it today, thursday january 31, 2013. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a thursday morning. Im savannah guthrie. Im matt lauer. We didnt have anywhere near the weather they had in the south. Here in the north, it was howling last night. The wind and rain were crazy. Some intense downpours and whipping winds. We will have more on this weather system with al in a couple minutes. Now to newdown, connecticut where it was an emotional scene last night. Parents of the young victims spoke out at meeting on gun violence. We will hear from some of them and also from capitol hill coming up. On a much different note. Remember when the blackberry was the cool device to have. After years of falling behind the iphone and the droid, blackberry is unveiling two new smartphones, including the ones we have here. A lot of reviews of these good but people are asking whether this can be cool enough to get blackberry into the smartphone game. We have the companys ceo live and will ask hi
Automatic spending cuts known as sequester, the remarks hours after Speaker Boehner called on the white house and Senate Democrats for a plan to avoid the deep across the board cuts. The house on two occasions has passed a plan to replace the sequester. Its time for the Senate Democrats to do their work. Its time for the president to offer his ideas about how to replace the sequester. There is no reason that the jobs of thousands of americans who work in National Security or education or clean energy not to mention the growth of the entire economy should be put in jeopardy just because folks in washington couldnt come together to eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes or Government Programs that we agree need some reform. Our First Read Team notes that while republicans want to solely talk about the budget the white house does not want to be bogged down on one issue that in the past cost hem political capital. Quote, the Obama White House wants to overled was political circuits
Historic demographic shift to do it . Can he combine the new American Power of hispanics with the immediate aspirations of women to lob himself into the highest level of president ial greatness . This is what his adversaries fear. They look at his working of the gun safety crusade. His distancing of himself from triumphing over the hard, often bizarre right wing of this country toe do it. Ive got to msnbc political analysts to answer the question. Howard fineman and joy reid. First of all, i want to ask you both about these numbers here. These are numbers for the next election, 2014. Right now the democrats are about 17 votes shy of taking over the house of representatives. Theyre about five votes ahead of where they have to be to hold the senate. Can they do it . Can barack Obama Leave Office having won back the United States congress and then, of course, aiming toward the second goal of his greatness, getting the democrat to replace him, hillary or joe biden. On the congressional sid
This is what his adversaries fear. They look at his working of the gun safety crusade. His distancing of himself from triumphing over the hard, often bizarre right wing of this country toe do it. Ive got to msnbc political analysts to answer the question. Howard fineman and joy reid. First of all, i want to ask you both about these numbers here. These are numbers for the next election, 2014. Right now the democrats are about 17 votes shy of taking over the house of representatives. Theyre about five votes ahead of where they have to be to hold the senate. Can they do it . Can barack Obama Leave Office having won back the United States congress and then, of course, aiming toward the second goal of his greatness, getting the democrat to replace him, hillary or joe biden. On the congressional side, history generally tends to be against president s in midterm elections. They dont tend to do so well. They tend to lose seats historically, but i think clinton didnt. I think there are exceptio