back on the republicans. mitch mcconnell is making them look like a fool vowing to block everything. john boehner's not compromising. for more let's bring in robert reich, former secretary of labor under the clinton administration, and of course professor at uc-berkeley and also the author of the book "after-sho "after-shock: the next economy in america's future." i tell you what that's got to be a good book. a lot of material to write about there. >> certainly. i hope that you read it. >> i will do it. robert, what's the president's best play right now in the midst of what's unfolded today with the hardline stand of mitch mcconnell? >> well i think he's got to take it's president's got to take a very harline in response and i think that mitch mb connell and in fact opens up the door for the president to take a very hard line and showing who's side he's on. the president should simply say look i'm not going to extend the bush tax cuts for very wealthiest americans. they don't deserve it. they're already take home a quarter of all national income. they're going to break the bank. it's going to cost huge amounts