coming to an end, and a peace dividend to be reaped, the president decided reform minded hagel was the right choice for the job. as we complete your mission in afghanistan reporter: guiding the pentagon through tough budget cuts and restructuring. but it was rough out the gate. gaffes at the confirmation hearing. i ve just been handed a note that i misspoke. reporter: and then the deluge of world crises. hagel veering way off administration talking points and hitting the panic button. they are an imminent threat turnover interest we have. reporter: by last month he sounded a bit awestruck about it
and he is truly a hero. heather, thank you very much. five minutes after the top of the hour. it s incredible, the velocity of stories coming through. major world crises. you heard heather open up the show we know what s happening in gaza and israel. we know what happened last thursday as a malaysian jet airplane was shot out of the sky. 298 lives ended, and yet the russian leader continues to point fingers at the west and say it s not our fault. you can blame ukraine. back and forth. people more and more are looking to the president of the united states to take the lead, get nato involved, get western europe mobilized and finally come down on russia with the condemnation they deserve. but the president seems to have a different agenda publicly. where is he going? he s heading west. west coast that is. by noon today he s set to arrive in seattle for a
much done for at least the rest of this year and we ll see what happens after the midterm elections but it s going to be a grim year i think. it s a very reactive presidency on the world stage, not setting agendas, not the pivot to asia they promised, a new middle east. seems to be reacting to events. what is the impact in washington? john mccain was at a cnn national journal event this past year. he says because of this, and this always gets me, why can t they walk and chew gum. you have a president and entire cabinet, you have 535 member of congress. you have armed services and foreign affairs committee that look at world crises. aren t there other committees willing to do other things. because of the focus on the plane crash he doesn t think washington can get anything else done. it s going to suck all the oxygen out of the room, now that issue on the border is still with us for quite a while but right now, i can t imagine anything else entreating on this. can you? why?
upset about the governor s proposal to give emergency managers the power to void union contracts. a little bit more about conservative critics now jumping on barack obama s interest. carol costello is back here with some of your responses because you ve been quite chatty about it all. yes, you have been quite chatty. and i ve enjoyed reading some of your comments. our critics talk about president obama making ncaa picks during world crises. how many of them spend 24/7 to focus on stupid stuff to gripe about? oh, i guess they all do in order to focus on this. give me a break. this from christine, i like president obama. i voted for him, in fact. however, i saw him on espn and it did make me rather uncomfortable. granted, he began the broadcast
tournament. so talkback today. are critics fair about president obama making ncaa picks during world crises? write to me facebook.com/carolcnn and i will read your responses later on this hour. all right. thanks so much, carol. sure. meantime, sheer a look at what s ahead on the rundown. japan s dark days, atomic bomb survivors reflecting on the current nuclear crisis. and they re being hailed as heroes. a look at conditions facing the workers at japan s crippled nuclear plant. plus, a reality check before you go out and buy those iodine tablets. we ll talk with elizabeth cohen. and chad meyers explains why you should not be alarmed about radiation reaching the u.s. plus this an entire town stripped away to the elaborate foundations of thousands designed to survive