george w. bush. that, of course, was msnbc s rachel maddow last night. you can see her show 9:00 p.m. eastern time. michael smerconish, also an msnbc contributor. you also spoke with congressman ron paul. a lot going on. i want to talk to you, first, michael, about the poll, 50% approve of president obama s handling of libya. you heard the dwlash rachel had to say on her show comparing the president to others in the past. what do you make of her numbers and the thoughts? i think the mixed read is similar to what i m getting from telephone callers on my radio program today. to rachel s point about the president not canceling his trip i would say it suits the objective of the white house that he is away and that if he were at home i would thinkç i would be suspicious on their part of scheduling a quick trip to send him out of the oval office. here s why, it fits with the
for example? it s a great question. i can tell you that among telephone callers, when these sort of things have arisen in the past, there s an isolationist mentality that comes out of the woodwork of people who say, look, there s no up side. we shouldn t be involved in these sort of squabbles. but then the response is to say take a look at the location of the suez canal. we have no choice because of our oil dependencycanal, we have no choice because of our oil dependency because we haven t achieved independence as far as our own energy supply. and as far as the suez canal, for everything to get everything from food to oil, if that were blocked to us, but having to arm the egyptian military, are americans aware of the egyptians role in the very volatile middle east? do they see the proximity to these other countries that are hot beds of unrest.
america is on it. michael smerconish joins us, with 58% of americans on track, you get to talk to americans live every day on your radio show, does this gel with you? it totally comports with what i hear from telephone callers. nobody comes out a winner in this, not the republicans, not the democrats, not the congress as an institution, not the president, not the tea party activists. people are sour and i think there s one figure that leaps off the page, 64% of americans believe that the economy has yet to bottom out. and i think it s the economy, stupid, noç reference to you, obviously, but that s that clintonian era line where money is driving everything. i don t take any offense at that, i m with you 100%, it is about the economy, when it comes to our pocket books, that what we ware care about.