he's spent a lo of years as a rhetorical deficit hawk also making a claim to the need to bring down the deficit, and let's say, actually bringing down the deficit. >> yes, exactly. >> has he seeded too much ground there? like, in other words, we still hear republicans pushing on this deficit question, despite the fact that it is shrinking. >> there is a long-term issue we have to deal with. when you look at the campaign he ran in 2008 and the campaign he ran in 2012, it was scary focused on these issues. that's what's so stunning about the republican response to all of this, because the president ran on these issues about the investments we have to make in the middle class, in our economy, to secure a better future to make sure that we're true to the creed of our country, to the history of our