you kind of do research, you see where the majority is, and then you position a product accordingly. i look at chris christie, okay? a guy who is in a blue a state as there can be. it s dark blue. he s got a 70%-plus approval rating. by the way, 69% approval rating among people of color. yes, okay. thank you. even better said. i don t get why where the hostage is, where the gun to the head horrible, horrible pun that republicans don t make the move. why who s holding them prisoner? it is very clear. the numbers say you don t have to be a hero right now to let go of some of these archaic issues and move over, particularly on assault weapons. so i don t get it. i don t get it. what s so frustrating to me is that by arguing these side issues, we leave the great issues on the table. the democratic senate now has
san santa, i understand you don t like to say happy holidays. i can t find any reference that santa has said anything other than merry christmas. what do you make of the political correctness of our culture? you have got the biggest belt buckle i ve ever seen. i d like to say that the el vs got the idea from elvis. so they re in denial. they re arguing about side issues. i mean, it is amazing. yeah, look. ultimately, they want to see their elected officials in washington get to work and not really engage in the side shows. republicans are likely to pay a larger political price if we go over the fiscal cliff. poll after poll after poll shows a majority of americans were playing rather than the president.
that, jake, so making sure they got decent health care and making sure they got a good education, making sure that their parents have jobs, those are all relevant as well. those aren t just sort of side issues, but there s no doubt that this has to be a central issue, and that s exactly why i m confident that joe is going to take this so seriously over the next couple months. thank you, everybody. that was president obama speaking from the james s. brady press briefing room about gun violence and reform, and, of course, the fiscal cliff. joining me now from capitol hill is democratic senator from california barbara boxer. senator boxer, thanks for hanging with us. oh, yes, yes. a lot to talk about. let s first, of course, talk with the gun question. i think the headline out of that was the fact the president said i want this commissi i want rec january. this is not your typical
we decide that there are a few people, powerful people, good people, but powerful people, economically, politically in every other way who are the ones enlightened to make the decisions about the country. or do you have any faith in the people that we grew up with? i really mean it. that is the fundamental difference. they don t think education it s an afterthought to them. the middle class is built on education and the country is built on ingenuity. they really don t think that s necessary. they really think they are side issues. they think as long as you give massive tax cuts to the wealthy, that will generate an environment which look, it s how they are about offshoring and all those issues. they look at it, when you talk to them privately, it s a global economy, so it doesn t matter where you make money, as long as your shareholders do well,
the more we debate these side issues, the more we take away stuff that we re better at, we re screaming at every poll. the voeters are not confused. this is the election they want and i think the traditional kickoff, is now. the conventions. i think the president is trying to turn this into a value selection. there s some people that argue, and i think mike might be one of them. i think the democrats have turned this in a segmented way. how do they take his economic argument and turn it into a value s argument rather than just a business lead on the economy.