my colleague chris matthews is going to anchor our coverage at the top of the hour as we wait for an announcement. we do not expect a formal statement from the president if one of those landmark decisions comes down. we ll keep you posted on that as it takes place. we want to bring in our monday gaggle right now. deputy editor of the rothenburg political report and contributing writer for roll call, nathan gonzalez. editorial writer for the washington post ruth markus. and washington, d.c. editor for the national review, robert coaster. i ll start with you quickly. the g-8s are not traditionally known for being the most productive summits. what do we leave with at the end of the trip? i think the president will have to make more statements on syria but it s really an assertion of his second term foreign policy. where is he going to take the country in his second term? what are the key strategic
the obamas have been delivering commencements all weekend long. the president addressed morehouse in atlanta. sometimes i wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. i had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. but one. things that all of you have learned over the last four years is there s no longer any room for excuses. let s bring in the the monday gaggle, nathan gonzalez, dan balt, the chief political correspondent for the washington post. actually, you re just the chief correspondent, flight. whatever. dan, the president using his bully pulpit to predominantly talk to african-american males. he s done this before on father s day, this time using a commencement.
gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the name your price tool. only from progressive. some live pictures here, special relationship watch. we re expecting british prime minister david cameron to arrive any minute now. just four months into his second term, president obama is having one of those rough weeks keeping the focus on his legislative agenda is hard for him. he find himself in the middle of two brewing controversies. friday s revelation that the irs targeted political groups. the question, can obama avoid curse of second term? let s bring in our monday gaggle, former communication aide to president george w. bush, democratic consultant and former executive director for the and welcome all. dan, it was a pretty bold headline by washington post on
himself at the correspondents dinner but also gave a short lecture to the media that covers him. he is days, i look in the mirror and i have to admit i m not the strapping young muslim socialist i used to be. some things are beyond my control. for example, this whole controversy about jay-z going to cuba. it is unbelievable. i have 99 probably sxlems now jay-z is one of them. those of us in this room tonight, we are incredibly lucky. and the fact is we can do better. all of us. let s bring in our monday gaggle.
gun debate with manchin-toomey. it s time for the monday gaggle. perry bacon jr., susan page and dan balls is back. you look good. thank you. did you well. you know, everybody should try it once. absolutely. well, dan, let me start with you. when you left did you think that you d be coming back and in the same week we d have immigration and guns being the primary two topics and the budget is off to the side. watching this gun debate unfold, where does this head? in the senate we re going to have a very interesting moment, which is we ve had this effort to try to reach some kind of a compromise and now it you know, the rubber hits the road, as the cliche goes. we ll see this week whether there really is support for some of these compromises. this bill, as everybody knows, is up and down and up and down. late last week there was optimism because of the manchin-toomey compromise. we ll see this week whether they can actually get over the finish