but after january 1st, 2014, president obama will become a lame duck president and people will already start thinking and acting like 2016 is right around the corner. does that mean, robert, that you think that republicans are going to play obstructionists? do you think they will? i don t think politically they can afford to do this this time around because president obama won with such big numbers. i think they will work with him on immigration reform and comprehensive tax reform and comprehensive climate change reform. other than that, after 2014, i can t imagine them working with him, unfortunately. what about the up preem court justices? if so, what potential challenge could that pose for him? he will certainly appoint one justice and likely two. the challenge is going to be
get any worse. how long does the president have? robert mentioned lame duck. how long until that phrase becomes present? i don t know. i think the pressure is on all sides to get something done now because of the fiscal cliff. so i think he s got the upper hand to get people to the table if he gets the message right about getting this, the tax code in balance so we can have the prosperity that we had back in the 90s when it was more in balance. but i don t know, i think people will want to work to get these things done. i don t know if he ll have too much of a lame duck problem. can i ask all three of you about the fiscal cliff prospects, in terms of the timeliness of them getting it done before the end of the year and in a fashion that has a sense of permanency to it you can make an argument as to why you think one way might be better than the other. we re already in the religious holidays with hanukkah coming up. i can t see the president, with congress divided as it is, to
the number has tripled in eight years with no end in sight. there are catalogs and circulation that has fallen due to increase in postage. it s time now for the big three and today s topics, second term, part one. second term, part two. let s bring in my big three panel. doug haddaway, erin mcpike, and robert traynum. i ve had my coffee and i m ready to go. erin, what do you think in terms of the president s top three goals in the second term? i don t know about three but i think aside from the very obvious, which is to strike some sort of big deal on the fiscal cliff and get some sort of
what s your must-read? there s a great profile today in the washington post of patty murray, the fourth-ranking democrat in the senate. she just led the democrats to a bigger majority in the senate. she is the incoming chair of the senate budget committee. i don t mean to gush, but for people who are interested in washington, what s going to be happening with the fiscal cliff and next year, you want to read this story about patty murray. a lot of people are tired about hearing about mitch mcconnell and harry reid and some of these other leaders this is one you want to read this profile. we ll get to that. how but, robert? what s your must-read? my good friend, sheryl gay stollberg has a piece in the new york times, about the historic nature of president obama s second inaugural. it will be on a second and the following day, the public ceremony on martin luther king jr. day and how fitting and how folks are lowering expectations given the fact they don t think they re going to
santorum, robert traynum and shira it uplet. i m going to begin with you, robert, david axelrod was on meet the press, and he slammed mitt romney on the economy. let s listen to what he said. this is the same case he made in the state of massachusetts, he said i m going to get the economy moving again. i m a businessman, i know how to create jobs. they went from 37th in nation in job creation. to 47th in the nation in job creation. so we ve tested the romney acumen when it comes to create jobs and he s found wanting. that massachusetts line of attack, is it going to work? he s looking back as opposed to looking forward. as you know, elections are all about the future and all about what you re going to do for me in the future. i think it s very interesting that david axelrod is talking about what the candidate promised in the past. if you take a look at that rhett rix. you could make the argument, okay, well president obama said when he was a senator and running for president, h