intended to harm president bush or laura bush. he actually was just trying to show off the car. he told investigators he was like revving up the muscle car. do they call it muscle cars? the gas pedal was stuck and then veered off on to the lawn of george w. bush. any time somebody is in a car and says watch this, you know it s never going to go well. president obama savoring a sense of victory this morning in hawaii for the holidays just hours after notching up big accomplishments with congress. it is a political turnaround for the white house after the president called a midterm shellacking last month. and instead, this has been a season of progress for the american people. that progress is a reflection of the message that voters sent in november. a message that said, it is time to find common ground on challenges facing our country. 9/11 health bill, the s.t.a.r.t. treaty and the end of the don t ask, don t tell down
during the lame duck session? right at the top, 56% a thumb s up to the president. a majority of the people we questioned disapprove of how the democrats and republicans acted in the lame duck session so it seems americans thought the president did a very good job getting things done in the lame duck session, kyra. all right. paul, thanks. next political update in an hour and for political news go to cnnpolitics.com. after a self described shellacking in the midterm elections, president obama ended the political year on a pretty high note as we mentioned working with the gridlocked congress to pass the tax cut bill, s.t.a.r.t. treaty and repeal of don t ask, don t tell. does the president have his groove back? here s former presidential adviser david gergen on last night s parker spitzer. the president and his current team deserve an awful lot of credit for this. they did i think they played it very smartly with this. harry reid was smartd.
committee process. there is an opportunity to discuss the bill. and we didn t do that. now, we will. i don t know what we re going to do and to be able to undo that social security. and there is some that can be fixed. legislatures legislating on bills. that is if you can holt holtd hold that. thanks. coming up democrats were up in arms when the president pushed to extend bush tax cuts but just would weeks later singing praises over repealing don t ask, don t tell. and today, dems and president back in line. you might also want
the time of year for it. back over to you. thanks, rob. turning to politics, president obama concedes that the party took a self-described shellacking in the midterm elections but just one month later some key congressional victories suggest the president recaptured momentum. extending the bush era tax cuts, winning the congressional repeal of the don t ask, don t tell policy, adoption of the s.t.a.r.t. nuclear arms pact with russia awaiting his cig signature and the 9/11 health care bill. it will provide free medical treatment to workers exposed to the toxic dangers of ground zero. cnn s senior white house correspondent ed henry in honolulu where the president is beginning the vacation. reporter: well, the president landed here in hawaii in the middle of the night after the long flight from washington. this hawaiian vacation delayed by the lame duck session of congress and before leaving washington, he had a news
this is done. if you are wondering why there are subtitles on the president who is speaking very clear english, it s to make things work for the live audience here at the 92nd street y. they also accounted for some of the applause you were hearing. the whole psychology of the newsmaker thing, what makes that guy tick thing, it s not really the way that i approach the news. i am usually interested more in what people do than what people are like. that said, it seems important to me that the president was freaking elated to sign the don t ask, don t tell repeal bill today. so that s one. that s thing one, the historic thing today. thing two, the thing that happened that i can t believe it did was this. this happened in july, net roots nation, which is the big progressive conference held in vegas this year. check this out.