news. mission over, but hardly mission accomplished in iraq. >> so today i can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in iraq will come home by the end of the year. >> now president bush began the war in march 2003 with a dose of what the pentagon called shock and awe. in announcing its end, president obama used the term success, not victory, and said it was time america focused less on wars overseas and more on economic problems here at home. >> i would note that the end of war in iraq reflects the larger transition. the tide of war is receding. >> there is no doubt public opinion is on the president's side. nearly 7 in 10 americans oppose the war in iraq. but a number of conservatives, including the leading republican candidates for president tonight say, president obama is weakening america and emboldening iran. the former massachusetts governor, mitt romney, said the unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the iraqi government. jessica yellin was in the briefing room for the dramatic announcement. the point governor romney was making while the president called it a success it's not exactly what he wanted, right? >> it's clear from a security perspective the pentagon wanted to keep more troops in iraq, that much is indisputable now. but from a political -- and they couldn't agree to this bottom line because they couldn't grant -- the u.s. and iraq couldn't agree to get immunity to u.s. troops who moit stay there. the president by withdrawing troop is able to say he made good on a campaign promise and this is important to the white house because the president began remarks by saying his very first sentence, i'm making good on a campaign promise. >> striking that he did that, right out of the box. they think this is a win despite the incoming, governor romney, governor perry, all the republican candidates for president except ron paul saying bad idea, mr. president. we've heard that from john mccain and lindsay graham. does the president think that criticism's fine, he can handle the politics of this one? >> reporter: the campaign aides would say bring it on. for two reasons. one, in their view the president's foreign policy is his strength because of success with bin laden, promises on the campaign trail to go after al qaeda which he has done with drone attacks, success with gadhafi and bringing troops home as promised in their view speaks to strength of leadership. contrasting that with the republican contenders, they say is a great contrast in their view. but the bottom line, john, is how much does foreign policy matters to voters now? consider the small bump when the president got when he killed bin laden. it's temporary, it's gone. foreign policy doesn't seem to be foremost on voters' minds so it's hard to imagine this will play large in the campaign. >> jessica yellin, thanks. the cost of the iraq war in both american blood and american treasure, are numbing. nearly 4500 u.s. servicemen and women killed plus 32,000 wounded. and the cost to taxpayers more than $823 billion. there are roughly 39,000 u.s. troops if iraq tonight. chris lawrence is here with the latest on now the giant logistical challenge of moving them out. chris, 39,000, is it feesable to get that down to zero by the new year in. >> they've got ten weeks, john. so it's not going to be easy, by any stretch of the imagination. but in any given week the pentagon is running 400 convoys involving about 14,000 trucks. so they are hauling equipment out of there at a very rapid rate. so it's possible. also i spoke with a senior pentagon official who said, look, we would have loved to have a standing military presence in iraq, but we don't want to walk away from our military relationship with the iraqi military. he said some of the fallback options that they're considering are maybe having newer iraqi officers come to the united states to be trained at u.s. war colleges, or even conducting combined u.s./iraqi training in a third host country. >> as we watch that play out, chris, negotiations still to come, explain to our viewers why it is so important. the president's catching the political arrows. to the point they could not negotiate a new status of forces agreement that gave u.s. troops immu immunity from prosecution, whether in a car accident and hit civilians or whether there's collateral damage in some military operation, right? >> reporter: exactly right. i talked to a senior pentagon official about this as well. he said, look, u.s. forces, you know, do fall under local laws and courts in a lot of places but he said in some place like germany or japan where they have an established legal system that's not a problem. they had a real issue with the possibility of american troops being tried in iraqi courts under iraqi law with the state of the country there right now. so when you look and say a governor romney making the statement about the president's decision being naked political consideration when mccain says no military commander recommended this, you also have to look at the question of, if the only question is to go forward without this legal protection, would you be willing to put american troops in that position. >> chris lawrence, thank you. iran is central to those critical of the president's announcement. mccain says this decision will be viewed as a strategic victory for enemies in the middle east especially the iranian regime which has worked rerentsly to ensure a full withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq. perspective from fareed zakaria, in tehran, preparing for an interview with the president of iran, ahmadinejad. a simple question up front, u.s. troops leaving iraq by the end of the year. iran has to view this as a victory. >> iran's views, whether happening in iraq from a geopolitical prism. the u.s. and iran are competing for influence in iraq. they have viewed it that way from the start of the fall of the regime and they have had -- iran has long ties to many groups in iraq. many of the kurdish leaders including the current president of iraq was in iran. many of them speak fluent persian. as he fines things get dit for him in iraq he head backs to iran. so all of these political officials have been sustained by iran and as american troops draw down, iran's influence can only increase. >> and this sounds incredibly crass, but is this a fair bottom line? that after almost nine years, billions of of dollars in u.s. money and 4500 lives lost of brave u.s. servicemen and women, that iran wins? >> one of the things, they look on the idea of dealing with hussein favorably is whatever benefits we have gotten out of the operation in iraq, the costs have been staggering, as you described. and those costs really seem to far outweigh benefits right now. >> at the white house today the deputy national security adviser said they're not that worried about iranness influence. he says iran is isolated, weakened in recent years. >> mcdonough pointed out iran's having a bad few months and i think that's entirely true. iranians have had trouble internally, trouble abroad. the whole image of iran in the wake of the arab spring has been tarnished and now new allegations about the assassination. iran's not in great shape. on this specific issue i'm not sure i would agree. i think that iran has maintained contacts with iraq very successfully and very aggressively. look, this is why the americans couldn't get a deal done. >> fareed zakaria. thanks for your insights. nine iraq war veterans serving in congress, all republicans, one a senator, the other eight serve in the house including florida republican congressman allen west who joins us live from los angeles. good to see you. you did serve in iraq. you think the president's making a bad call here tonight, why? >> well, i think that you have to be very circumspect about a near-term decision, hopefully this is not a campaign or in chief decision, not a commander in chief decision. one of the things that i go back to and remember serving in operation desert shield, desert storm. when we did not complete the operation in which we could have had the resounding tactical success and victory we knew at some point we'd have to return back to iraq. you have to be concerned about the influence that iran will continue to try to spread, across iraq into, syria and lebanon, where they have hezbollah, but also will they have some type of influence with egypt and into gaza also. we have to look at this long term and not be celebratory in the short term. >> as someone who wore the uniform, the president was unable to negotiate with the iraqi government a status of force agreement that would give the men and women of the united states military immunity, if they had issues to deal with, deal with the u.s. military system not an iraqi system, which i'm sure you would not trust. is it the right call for the president? would you want to serve there without that agreement? >> you're absolutely right. one of the things i have to look at where was the failure in leadership where we could not negotiate from a position of strength. now we look like we're in a position of weakness where we could not negotiate a solid status of forces agreement which would protect men and women in uniform serving there which will continue to make sure the army, which we know is supported by iran, we know that the arrogance of iran is increasing. we have to look at this through the prism of the eyes of the opposition from our enemi. we know that when we withdrew from somalia many saw that as a sense of weakness. as a matter of fact, bin laden said the united states was a paper tiger. so again, what is the perception that will be long term from this withdrawal? our men and women have fought bravery there. in 2003 i was there as commander and i look forward to once again shaking the hands of those who have served there and who have, you know be given their limbs. but i want to make sure that just the same in '91 when i had to return 12 years later we don't set our military up for going back into an even worse situation. >> you just heard fareed zakaria in favor of dealing with hussein years ago but he says dow do the costs outweigh the benefits. you knew where hussein stood when it came to iran. will the operation turn to be foe, not friend? >> you have to have that concern where they will align themselves, as far as their interests, if you don't have any type of u.s. presence there that can be the honest broker. i'll be the foirsedirst to admi have gone about the nation building occupation building warfare in the wrong means. we should have been focused on the enemy and conducting a strike operations. i think you see us getting to that 4 in last two, three years but i don't want to see us becoming so quick and hasteful that now the next thing is we're going to set ourselves up for a tougher situation later on, because you have an iran seeking to expand its influence in the region. i'm concerned about the cuddish people to the north if they see us as abandoning them as they saw after desert shield, desert storm. >> there could be an agreement down the road to leave several hundred troops there. among the proposals, maybe naval exercise, maybe finding a third country, maybe kuwait to train maybe in their country. do you see the possibility of working something out that make this acceptable to you? >> well, i think that that's something that when i get back to washington, d.c., we and the house armed services committee would potentially have a hearing about that, find out what are the courses of action going forward. what is very interesting to me, not too long ago commanders on the ground asked for 10,000 troops as a residual force, that got taken down to 3,000. now it's at zero. so you know you have to ask, what is the criteria? of course that status of forces agreement has a lot to do with it but i don't think that we see an iraqi force ready to assume that responsibility and we know that iran is just waiting for the moddy army to have that opportunity and they're very patient and i think they see this ace victory where they waited us out. >> as someone who has worn the uniform, not as a politician, the president used the term success, not victory, the security adviser used the term success, not victory. how do you view the war in iraq, and the fact that people don't use the term victory, the fact that public opinion has turned so vociferously against it? how does it impact the legacy of 1 million americans who have served in iraq over the past nine years? >> those of who have worn the uniform understood the mission. we had great victory. at strategic level, that's where the united states of america has had problems every since world war ii, we saw that in korea, veet et nam. it's important to get men and women on the modern 21st battlefield in uniform that can be in washington, d.c., on capitol hill and other places, so we make sure that we make those right strategy ic level decisions as we go forward and committing those in uniform so they can have victory. success, we have to wait and see how that come out. i'd like at what happens since mubarak was deposed in egypt i don't want to see things go in the wrong direction in iraq and iran. >> appreciate your insights. thanks very much. tonight's truth revisits how the iraq war was sold to the american people and includes a flashback. >> as we watch daybreak in baghdad and as we have a lull in the military activities i between bring back some of the words the president did speak earlier tonight. >> and herman cain aggressively rebuts those who say his signature tax plan would punish the poor, there's 9-9-9 and then 9-0-9. that's next. ♪ for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ ♪ for purple mountain [ male announcer ] for the first 100 years and for generations to come, thanks for making us a part of your life. ♪ whoa new fiber one 80 calories... ...with its sweet honey taste, 40% daily value of fiber... ...and 80 calories per serving... ...you may want to tell a few friends. ♪ or all of them. ♪ i'll go get my bowl. [ female announcer ] new fiber one 80 calories. yes, you can actually love breakfast. ♪ i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits... and you will be hearing from us... today and on election day. ♪ today and on election day. ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card -- "buy books, not beer!" ♪ but the second that she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for her whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. today herman cain tried to clarify some parts of his 9-9-9 tax plan. he addressed concerns this his plan's 9% corporate tax, 9% income tax, 9% national sales tax would hurt poor people. >> how do we deal with the poor, those at or below the poverty level? we already had this provision in there, and we still raise the same amount of money. you at or below the poverty level your plan isn't 9-9-9, it's 9-0-9. say amen, y'all. 9-0-9. >> while cain's getting hammered from the left and right for his 9-9-9 plan, this week he gained support of reagan era economyist arthur laugher. he joins us now. let me ask you, first, on the fairness of the argument, mr. cain felt like he needed to get out in public because he had been pummeled from his rivals and from left the plan as presented was unfair to the poor. do you think he has made the correct explanation now? >> i don't know if he's made the correct one now. i always thought they were exempt from the poor, below the poverty level exempt from the tax. i thought it was on all three taxes, to be honest with you. i saw detailed construction of the program that had 9-9-9 exempting 2.5 trillion from the base of the business tax, the income tax, and also the sales tax, which exactly equal the 9-9-9 number, if you score it correctly. i think he's made it very clear publicly, and the plan itself is very clear on exempting those below the poverty level. >> you care this, a new proposal, compared in some ways to jerry brown and the flat tax, he brought that up running against clinton, steve forbes campaign in 1996. if flat tax is a good idea and the sales tax part of mr. cain's plan is so controversy, why not just have a flat tax and not that sales tax? >> that would be fine. i mean that would be just as good. i mean i think people are focusing too much on the specifics of the plan. herman cain is not even a nominee for the republican party, let alone the president, let alone getting something through congress. what he's described is an ideal plan, a star, if you will, that people should shoot at and obviously when you get these specifics of the plan, they're going to be all sorts of compromises as we go through. i think it's wonderful that he's described a plan as good as he has which would create jobs, output and employment which is what the poor need. a good, high paying job. and to create jobs is the key of any good tax reform, and that cain's plan really does. >> you came to fame during the reagan era and president reagan was an optimistic person. >> he sure was. >> cain talking about one way those in the working class could avoid higher classes. listen to this. >> when you get to the third nine, the national sales tax it depends whether or not they buy used goods or whether or not they buy new goods. >> you did concede some people would pay more, by your calculations who would pay more? >> the people that would pay more are the people who would buy mostly new goods. >> as an optimist, as someone who came out of reagan's morning in america era, is it optimistic, is it consistent with the american dream to say, well, if you want lower taxes buy used goods, done buy a new car, a new washing machine? >> i don't think he said it the way i would say it, john. what i would say is that i any everyone's going to pay more in taxes because they're going to have jobs, they're going to have higher incomes, more employment. you know that's really the dream here is to raise everyone's taxes, not by raising tax rates but lowering tax rates and creating more jobs output and employment. that's exactly what we did in the '86 tax act and what we tried to do in the '81 tax act. back then it and was all bipartisan. the '86 tax act passed with 97-3 votes. three democrats voted against. we dropped the highest tax rate from 50% to 28%. kennedy, biden, all of -- al gore all voted for cutting that tax rate in 1986 because we all understood it created jobs and prosperity. that's what a tax code needs to do. so i want a lot more taxes but i don't want to do it by raising tax rates. i want to do it by creating jobs and more income. that's as simple as that. >> as you know one of the criticisms of mr. cain has been is he ready? it's a question any candidate faces and he's been the ceo of some corporations but some ask is that enough to be president of the news listen to his explanation here of people who question his ability to handle economics. >> some people have asked me, how did you come up with this? what do you know about economics? i oversaw economic analysis for the pillsbury company. some people think that's just pepperoni between these two years. but i used to work doing econo metric analyses. >> the united states of america is the world's biggest nuclear enterprise, sir. is that a comparable thing? i crunched the numbers for pillsbu pillsbury, i can do it for the country? >> i don't know if that is or not. some of the most educated people in the world who have become president of the united states have done the worst jobs ever. i mean we have one now who is a professor at the university of chicago, where i taught and i think he's doing an abysmal job. others have done a great job with little education. jack kennedy, look at him when he took the role of white house you would not be impressed with his economic credentials or any credentials yet he became one of the greatest presidents this country's ever seen. i think we're playing way too much on whether the person has the specific skills necessary. herman cain is perfectly well qualified to be president of the united states, as are all of the other candidates, to be very honest. they fit very well into a presidential structure. >> arthur laffer, appreciate your insights. next, tonight's truth about how the iraq war was sold to the american people. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. plus veggie nutrition. so if i didn't know better i'd say you're having some sort of big tire sale. yes we are. yeah. how many tires does ford buy every year? 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[ male announcer ] it has an hd webcam, killer audio, and lids that switch to start every semester fresh. but mostly it helps me try new moves on and off the court. ♪ [ male announcer ] powered by the 2nd gen intel core processor family. not just smart. visibly smart. get an inspiron 15r with 6 gig memory and 640 gig hard drive for $599.99 at dell.com. tonight's truth is painful, but indisputable. every major promise the bush administration made in selling the war to ira to the american people and the world turned out to be wrong. we were told there was no doubt, dear re, that hussein had weapons of mass destruction. >> the time for denying, deceiving and delaying has come to an end. saddam hussein must disarm himself, or for the sake of peace we will need a coalition to disarm him. >> the most popular member of the bush cabinet back then, made the wmd case to the united nations. >> the united states will not, and cannot, run that risk to the american people. leaving saddam hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option. not in a post-september 11th world. >> but what then cia director george tenet called a slam dunk case turned out to be dead wrong. we were also told this -- >> i think things have gotten so bad inside iraq from the standpoint of the iraqi people, my belief is we will be greeted as liberators. >> and this -- >> i think it will go relatively quickly. but we can't. >> week, months? >> -- we can't count on that. weeks rather than months. >> that was not a one-time estimate. >> it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. if could last, you know, six days, six weeks, i doubt six months. >> now some iraqis did greet american troops as liberators but many came to view them as unwelcomed occupiers. to be fair, the president himself was usually more careful than his deputies. i was cnn's senior white house correspondent when the war began. >> reporter: as we watched daybreak in baghdad and as we have a lull in the military activityize want to bring back some of the words the president did speak earlier tonight. he said that a selected target had been attacked tonight but the president warned the american people in his words that this could go long somewhere could be a longer and more dangerous operation than many predicted. >> in the first gulf war the first president bush employed the powell doctrine of using overwhelming force. in the second, the second president bush accepted the rumsfeld doctrine of lean somewhere meaner. it took a giant troop surge to make iraq secure. history will record that more troops at the outset would have helped. also told not to worry about the costs. >> we'll dealing with a couldn't that can finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon. >> president bush also promised a democratic iraq would be a beacon in the middle east. the jury still out on that one. iraq has had elections and while so far its democracy isn't pretty, even a fragile democracy beats a dictatorship. on the bigger promised used to sell the war politically and gl gl globally, the truth is clear new york weapons of mass destruction. not a penny from iraq's oil riches. instead more than $800 billion in u.s. tax dollars. not weeks or months of war, but nine years. and in that time more than 1 million americans have served in iraq, of those nearly 4,500 paid the ultimate price. up next, bloody, new video raises questions about the libyan government story about how moammar gadhafi died.tr sfor. it's the second career you always wanted. today's the day! and i've been looking forward to this for a long time. it's gonna be a big change. you ready? wow! just what i hoped for! just what you planned for. thanks! [ male announcer ] we're making people the tomorrows they always dreamed of. what can we make with you? transamerica. transform tomorrow. ♪ oh, beautiful ♪ for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ ♪ for purple mountain [ male announcer ] for the first 100 years and for generations to come, thanks for making us a part of your life. ♪ whoa where they grow america's favorite wpotatoes. idaho, everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they're good for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart association for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. so they're good for my family, and for yours. heart smart idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. welcome back. the laft news you need to know now and it comes waite warning. bloody, new images of gadhafi's last moments. we're about to show them to you, even though gruesome. gadhafi died in a cross fire between his loyalists and revolutionary fighters. the video shows gadhafi alive after capture, bloodstreams from a head wound as captures push, shove, slap him. a begun is held to his head. later video shows gadhafi's body in a refrigerated meat locker. today gadhafi's family asked the united nations and international organizations to force libya's transitional council to give the body to gadhafi's tribe for a proper burial. nato announced it would monitor the situation in libya until the end of the month and will retech civilians, if necessary. in other news, potentially significant development in the sent for a missing 11-month-old girl in missouri. an affidavit obtained by cnn states a cadaver dog indicated a positive hit for the scent of a deceased human on the floor near her bed. the girl's parents say she was kidnapped. wall street ended the week with stocks at the highest level in ghomonths. the dow industrials gained 207 points. james carville and mary matalin. would he be president if that war had not been launched?r ptog or hires another employee, it's not just good for business. it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $7.8 billion to small businesses across the country so far this year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. 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[ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. if your booking's not right, we'll help make it right, right away. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. on this important day when president obama announced he would end the war this year, here's an irony to consider. does he owe his success in presidential politics to the iraq war he fiercely opposed? a good question for exclusive political duo. live from their home in new orleans. mr. carville, you're the democrat. would barack obama have defeated hillary clinton if state senator barack obama had not opposed the g war if iraq when clinton was voting in favor of giving the president authority to go to war? >> unequivocally no. literally, that vote made it possible for barack obama to be a major contend for the democratic nomination and things started breaking his way. without the vote i'm not sure he could run for president, if you go back. i can remember most of it, that was the thing that got him started, got his fund-raising, his energy and everything else started. >> it was so important, mary, at the beginning of his presidential political history, and listen to the first words out the president's mouth when he walks into the briefing room to make this adramatic announcement. >> as a candidate for president i pledge to bring the war in iraq to a responsible end for the sake of national security and around the world. so today i can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in iraq will come home by the end of the year. >> i know he made that promise, mary, and i'm aware of it but i was stunned to have the commander in chief the first words out of his mouth on a big announcement be political, as a candidate for president. >> because he obviously is -- has very tough political terrain out there, starting with his own base, and this is a -- but to make a politically ex-ppedient decision as opposed to long-term and military decision is i can't believe that's going to be politically helpful. military commanders on the ground are livid about this. they said a minimum of, a minimum, absolute bare minimum of 10,000 just to do basic counterterrorism, to support the iraqi security forces, and to qua quazi secure the region between the kurds and the iraq border up there. the word he used was responsible. this is not responsible by any military assessment which i've got to guess over the course of this campaign, and we will see how this plays out over the course of the campaign. it can in the be politically helpful in the end. >> i think it's my understanding that iraq government told us to leave, that we were willing to keep the people there in the iranians have so much control so much influence on the government of iraq that they wanted us out. so if they want us out, not much will for us to stay there, that's what i understand from my report. >> mr. diplomacy, mr. everybody loves him, barack obama, bush's sofa, forces agreement, was that after 2011 we could negotiate and the negotiate set to take place in such a way that the iraqis would have political cover. as soon as obama telegraphed he was cutting and running they were not going to take the political risk but anybody could have maneuvered a diplomatic face-saving solution that the parliament would not have to vote on reducing the prosecution issues for soldiers who acted in a combat situation or in a military situation. so it just -- it's complete political expediency. i'm just praying it doesn't turn out badly. >> let's -- this beautiful couple we're watching on television right no here, i remember it all too well, on very different sides back in 1992, mary you were trying to help president george h.w. bush get re-elected and mr. carville you were beating that president to a pulp. working for governor clinton. i was struck, mary, i want to go to you first by the parallel. i know you don't want to compare barack obama to bush. here's a president in the white house, in last five months killed bin laden, anwar al awlaki, can claim some success in libya, and now is saying he's ending a war and bringing troops home from iraq and yet, and yet, next november, just like george h.w. bush whohood a 90% approval rating after the first gulf war, come next november it will be worth diddley squat, right? >> exactly right, as you well remember we were at 91% approval after the first persian gulf. i do commend, as do other conservatives, that president's decision making and execution of everything from ubl to today's events in libya, all which were predicated on the policies that george bush, the son, put in place. but this is not going to be a cycle that is fought over anything other than the economy, the role of government, reducing our structural debt and all of those things. he has no record to run on. this is not going to supplant or make up for that negativity in this record. >> jamess, if we needed any prof, to borrow your line, it's the economy, stupid, extremely important on the economy, 93%, foreign policy, 56%. the president will have foreign policy achievements but when it comes to the election november, how much do you think they're worth? >> it didn't help churchill after world war ii. we know what democrats lost the first congressional election. you know, look, he's doing better than you would think in this economy, and if things -- he's able to show some progress in 2012, which is certainly not a given, he'll have a case to make. as i pointed out on the blog, this the weakest field any party forward for any nomination in modern american history. he has some things going for him and you know, the foreign policy successes are real as a result of decisions he's made and policies he's had, the world started with osama bin laden and gadhafi and it's going to end without him and that can't be but a good thing for the world. >> mary, if iraq and foreign policy matters won't mat tort president come november, will they matter at all that you have conservative, rick perry, i'm deeply concerned president obama's putting political expediency ahead of military security judgment. mitt romney, the result of a political calculation or sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the iraqi government. if this won't matter to the president does it matter what republicans are saying snoen. >> yes it does because the same republicans worked quick to commend the president for those successes in our various conflicts and interventions around the world. but this is a stark contrast, one of many, between the republican field and the democratic incumbent. and it is not a weak field. james forgets that his president clinton, our president clinton, was spawned of the field called the seven dwarfs. there's a clear difference in governing philosophies and policies coming from the eventual republican nominee. you don't make military and security decisions for political expediency. >> i remember a night in new hampshire when your future husband, mary, he said that he was pointing to bill clinton he said he's a horse, the other guys are dogs. stay put. we'll continue our conversation in a moment and frame it around tonight's number. and tonight's number is this. it is 4, the late steve jobs here, he's the focus of the new book, why is four our number? steve jobs told president obama this, you're headed for a one-term presidency. why did he tell him that? is he a good political analyst? we'll debate that when we return. remember that number, four, nas just four years. ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ i just signed the whole family up for unlimited mobile to mobile minutes. you're kidding. no. where's that money coming from, steve? did it even cross your mind to ask your wife before signing us up for something so expensive? my mother was right; i should have married john clarke. they were free. i got them when i signed us up for unlimited messaging. 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we all know steve jobs is a pioneer in changing our technology and our culture, but was he also an astute political prognosticator. back to james carville and mary matalin on the biography of the late apple computer icon. here's what he says. steve jobs told obama this, you're headed for a one-term presidency he told obama at the start of the meeting. insisting it needed to be more business friendly. he described with ease with which companies can build factories in china compared to the united states where unnecessary costs make it difficult for them. should steve jobs maybe have been a political consultant? >> i don't know. we'll see. obviously, he was a great innovator and a lot of people have political opinions. the one thing you know is he got the quote right. not many people realize this, but michael and walton lewis went to high school together and he'll sell a bucket load of books. >> he's a tulane graduate. he's on the tulane board. >> the louisiana, new orleans chamber of commerce here. that's right. >> so, mary, the book also says this before you get to pile on saying steve jobs was right. he also says this, jobs was not that impressed by obama later telling isaacson that they focus on the reasons things can't get done infuriates him and they kept in touch by phone a few more times. >> right. the reason to go back to the previous conversation, he said he'd be a one-termer because he's not business friendly and all of the regulations he was perpetrating was strangling business. there was one thing that steve jobs knew in terms of being an innovator. he also said that teacher's unions had a stranglehold on education and he was worried about the workforce that would being entering into the future and the kind of education system and the teacher's unions are dismantling and he made some really good point, and i -- i can't wait to read the whole book. we're excited for walter, but there's nothing in there that surprises me that any honest business person and thinker would say about this president. >> i think we didn't know, though, janes, or i didn't know how much he wanted to get involved in your business. listen to this from the book as well. jobs even offered to help create obama's political ads for the 2012 campaign. he made the same offer in 2008, but he'd become annoyed when david axelrod wasn't differential. jobs later told the author he wanted to do for obama what the legendary morning in america ads did for ronald reagan. i don't think he's ever run a campaign, but he did okay with the ipod and the ipad and the iphone thing. maybe i'd say yes. >> i guess so. >> look, a lot of times having been in politics and to defend david a bit here, you have people that come in and they're billiant people and they're absolutely brilliant at what they do, but sometimes that sort of brilliance doesn't necessarily transfer into the political arena. i don't know the exact circumstances of the story, i do know this guy was the henry ford of our generation, but i also have some sympathy with david because steve jobs offered to do television commercials. >> can i echo that. between the two of us we've had a lot of jobs outside of politics. i've never had a job like politics where everybody thinks they know thou do your job better than you do. everybody thinks they're a political analyst because they're possibly a political junkie. there's some mod company skill that's required. >> i can make a cell phone or ipad, what the heck. >> there are people who think they can do my job better than me. >> no, you're great. >> opening a meeting with 50 washington insiders on friday, "the national journal" reports, by telling the first few weeks of his campaign was a lovefest followed by a, quote, ass kicking, to quote his campaign. the national journal reports that candidates do fall down. president obama did not have a great start to the campaign. is it good for governor perry to be conceding, his word, not mine, folks, ass-kicking in the beginning of his campaign? >> it's not about falling down. it sh it's about getting back up. you hope your kids learn from adversity. he did not get out of the gate good and this is what those conservatives who are looking for a true conservative were hoping for that he'd get back up on the saddle and he did, you know, and generally in politics that was one of the keys to president clinton and candidate clinton's success. it's how you respond to stumbling that says something about your character and your stamina and your resilience and how you could perform in a very difficult job. >> mary makes a good point. >> think he was smart to do that. >> he makes a good point and remember in the early clinton campaign whether it was jennifer with a g or the draft controversy. and the whole establishment world said clinton's got to get out. he's done and he's toast. >> what are you learning about rick perry? >> he's a gut shot confederate so soldier. i think perry, that's one of the few smart things. that's what he needed to do. he needed to get a good joke writer. the first step in fixing something is acknowledging something's wrong. he's done that. politically, i think that and the flat tax politically was smart for him so maybe he's got a chance. >> you get a big hug and you get a loving hug. i want to show you guys a picture. you're both very familiar with the white house briefing room. here's a guy that you don't see that often in the white house briefing room. there he is. is that president will ferrell? will ferrell is in town to get an

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