they bear the name of his predecessor. president obama is seizing the bush tax cutted and calling for them to be extend, but not for everyone. the president wants to let them expire for the wealthiest americans. that puts him at odds with congressional republicans, as well as his rival mitt romney and sets the stage for a very heated battle with less than four months to go before the election. our white house correspondent brianna keilar is covering this for us. first of all, why is the president doing this today? reporter: well, wolf, this is certainly part of his narrative that he s trying to put out there as he runs for re-election. this is very much happening through that political prism. he tried to portray himself as really the one fighting for the middle class. now he s trying to portray his opponent mitt romney and congressional republicans as being defenders of the wealthy. so what he s calling for is for an extension of the bush-era tax cuts only for american fami
i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. captions by vitac www.vitac.com wisconsin residents are voting right now on an extraordinary move to recall the governor scott walker and replace him with tom barrett. this election might be a sneak preview of the november press connection. the effort to get rid of walker was sparked by his move to get rid of collective bargaining rights for public employees. the state is split down the middle, the nasty battle against the tea party movement that has made vast amounts of money. dana bash reports. reporter: at a labor headquarters in madison, a frenzied final push to get out the vote. checking and re-checking lists, last-minute phone calls upon. the climax of a lengthy union effort of the republican governor scott walker. this is about mobilizing our people and the base and connecting with our voters. reporter: it s a similar scene in a walker war room. gop officials claim to have made 4 million calls and all of thi
her way to a degree. that s why anybody who feels sorry for pat will find themselves on the receiving end of the receiving glare where she might punch you. she s still getting up every day and doing what she does best which is teaching. the players, she says, are my best medicine. our final honoree is not here. shimon peres, the president of israel, who has done more for the cause of peace in the middle east than just about anybody alive. i ll be hosting president peres for a dinner here at the white house next month and we ll be presenting him with his medal and honoring his incredible contributions to the state of israel and the world at that time. i m looking forward to welcoming him and i ll save my best lines for him for that occasion. so these are the recipients of the 2012 medals of freedom, and just on a personal note, i had a chance to see everybody in the back. what s wonderful about these events for me is so many of these people are my heroes individually. you know
the united states. we talk about his personal relationship with president obama and even his personal relationship with mitt romney. stand by for that as well. and the man sometimes nicknamed america s supermayor, has made a super gaffe. i m wolf blitzer in chicago. you re in the situation room. but first, through my exclusive far reaching interview, i just completed only a few minutes ago with the afghan president hamid karzai, it s his only interview while here in the united states. we sat down only moments ago, and he spoke of president obama just minutes before the interview. the three leaders are here for a meeting in chicago. listen to this. no, we didn t have a three-way meeting, we had a three-way photograph taking. just a photo opportunity? why not a meeting? why not have a three-way meeting and discuss the most important issues facing afghanistan, pakistan and the united states. it wasn t for us to decide on the three-way meeting. the united states was
i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. what s the latest on the fight between the front-runners. reporter: wolf, it s pretty clear last night s debate touched off a very personal tone in the race for the gop nomination. that s because there s a lot riding on the next several days. i hope you watched the debate last night. it was kind of fun. reporter: the morning after the debate, mitt romney had a smile on his face, swinging away at rick santorum. i don t know that i ve ever seen a politics explain why he voted against his you re entitled to your opinions, but not entitled to misrepresenting the facts. i took that at aim. romney took aim at his performance. when le tried to justify his vote for the no child left behind law sometimes you take one for the team for the leader, and i made a mistake. politics is a team sport, folks. in front of a big crow, romney knocked that one into the blea bleachers. i wonder what team he was taking it for