Is losing putins dangerous game. Is it time for the u. S. To step up and take charge . Secretary kerry and president obama think that we already are. The facts could not be more clear. The United States of america has never been more engaged in helping to lead in more places than we are now. We live in a complex world. And at a challenging time. None of these challenges lend themselves to quick or easy solutions, but all of them require american leadership. Former defense secretary robert gates thinks the u. S. Appears to be disengaging from the world. Listen to him. I think that there is a perception around the world of the u. S. Disengaging. I know that the administration makes the case of its diplomatic involvement and how busy it is, how involved it is around the world. But look, the reality is, withdrawing, or disengaging from two wars, both of which end without a clearcut victory, is a tricky business to avoid giving the impression youre disengaging from the rest of the world. Our attempt here is not to get too specific on tactics and try to look at the bigger picture. Greg, do you think america is having a National Identity crisis . Maybe. Next . America i think is falling victim to a number of things. Entitlement plus distractions. Which leads to, i think, a steep decline in making us vulnerable to outside threat. As the government buys off a population, who are distracted by incredible technologies, and endless faucets of pop culture, we no longer are paying attention to the threats around us. As the patient is medicated, by these painkillers, which make it happy, and indulge our senses, we lose sight of the fact that the world is pretty threatening. There are people who do not respond to reason. We think that we can somehow convince our enemies to listen to us, when actually the only way to get into their thick skulls anything is with a bullet. Extremists do not listen to us. Another type of bullet is an economic one. Eric, i wondered what you thought about americas economic position in the world. Is that having an effect on other decisions that were making or not making . So, the three conflicts that were talking about. Ukraine and russia, we talked about it quite a bit. Yet we need to step up sanctions against russia. The way to do that would be with the oil industry, you know, in no Uncertain Terms well do what we have to do to drill more here, not rely on any russian oil or middle eastern oil. And if we need to help out trading partners, maybe well do that, too, in the form of sending them crude oil, heating oil and all those types of things. Not necessarily natural gas. Israel, send them military support in the form of intel and technology. We did that with the iron dome, things like that. With the middle east, i think thats one where we need to wait and see what happens. We probably disagree on how to handle the middle east, but my take on it is, the way to really hurt the middle east the most is, again, frac drill and keep out of the middle east completely. Bob, you are wanting to comment on the Time Magazine cover. Heres how i wanted to frame the question to you. You can answer it however you want, of course. Before it was called the cold war, in the middle of those first several years, people didnt know exactly what they were in, but they knew they were having a fight without weapons against the soviet union. Are we in some sort of a new phase now that will be named later, that we cant exactly pin down at the moment . Let me start by saying, mr. Gates secretary gates. Secretary gates who criticized the administration, greg made the point about cutting back on the military, it was the Gates Program to cut back on the military. The Time Magazine cover is one of the most illinformed pieces of crap ive ever seen. It was the ussr versus the United States. It was clearcut. The ussr was big, powerful, had a number of countries that it controls. It does not now have that. All it has is oil and gas. Its basically a third world country. In terms of the economics, the world has changed. A lot of countries like india and brazil have become very strong economically. We cant expect to control that. But the idea that somehow were going into a second cold war, i dont know who did that for Time Magazine. They ought to be fired. Do you think were entering something, that well name and brand later on . Theres no question that areas that russia used to control, its moving its way back in. Theres a perception around the world that u. S. Power is receding. And whether you agree with the last two wars or not, right now, it appears that we are losing them. And we have a president thats not interested in continuing fighting them. Thats a fact. When it comes to ukraine, i dont want american blood and treasure to die in ukraine. Im not sure our National Interests are over there. Our nato allies are fectless, theyre unreliable. Eric mentioned great ways to cripple sanctions. I go back to what i said before. We have a president that would be better if he didnt draw any red lines, than draw them and not enforce them. A message has been sent that the president cares more about food stamps than fighter jets. Thats why any bad man living in a hard country somewhere around the world is saying, okay, its time to flex my muscles because the u. S. Wont do anything. I think he should stick to the Standard Press conferences. Ive said this time and time again, president obama stumbling into a nuclear war that he doesnt have the guts to fight. Do you want to respond . The idea, nuclears will annihilate this world, so nobody would be around to fight. We give israel the most hightech technology we have. When i was in the white house, we sold them the best military equipment we could, and we continue to do that. And we give them the best intelligence we can. Beyond that, the question is, do we get involved ourselves on the ground. The answer is clearly no. Let me ask go ahead. Well, everybody says no boots on the ground as if theres a group of people yelling, boots on the ground, boots on the ground its like telling a misbehaving child that no matter what you do, youll never get spanked. Daddy and mommy will still give you dessert, we still love you. The world is besieged by a number of really horrible children who rape, who mutilate the innocent. Saying no boots is no comfort to the worlds victims. We are here not to wage war, we are here to offer the possibilities that we will wage war. If you offer the wage war, you will not have a war. Thats how it works. The idea that we say, were out of this. Weve got some problems at home. Weve got to deal with, you know, these social ills. You guys take care of it. Thats not a message you send around the world when there are people who are dying for freedom. The message you just said is exactly what were not sending. We have 600 military bases around the world. We are everywhere we could possibly be. We are not receding. Were cutting back certain things we should be. I wish we would rebuild another air carrier. I cant i would like to see the evidence that somehow i think they should go back and get the missile bases, maybe in eastern europe, pulled. I think we should stop saying no boots on the ground. Even if we believe were not going to do it. The president made the argument to disarm the missile bases in eastern europe. Hes drawing down our military right now. And saying theres no war as an option on the table. Why wouldnt you its sad to watch somebody like putin push around somebody like ukraine. But its not our fight. If you keep saying its not our fight to every fight, youre going to not every fight. The policy needs to be, if our allies, or if the United States is directly threatened, if it is a National Security interest to us or our allies, perhaps jordan, then we consider it, then we get involved and flatten them and leave. No inky fingers, no democracy building, no, yes, we stand with you, and this orgy of ideological democracy promotion and nation building. Enough of that. Yes, if you tell your kids youre not going to spank them, theyll misbehave. Try telling your kid youre going to take their iphone away and theyll get right in line. So maybe there are other forms of spanking them. I know. And, yeah right. Sanction spanking. I think were probably in the same ballpark. I think greg is right about not saying no boots on the ground. The fact is, we do have boots on the ground in a lot of places, we just dont make that point enough. By the way, it was not a missile base in eastern europe. But nonetheless, it was taken away and that was very controversial, i understand that. But the reality is, there are complex geopolitical issues going on around the world that were not there during the cold war. Thats something that any country, particularly the United States, is going to have to deal with in a multifaceted way in 20, 30 different areas of the world. I dont know how you do that with weve spent as much money as we can in the military on intelligence, what more can we do. I agree with everything but the last part. We spend as much money as we can on intelligence in the military. A ton more. We can spend a lot more. We could be a lot smarter, and we can win any war through our technology and intel. I think thats probably, in my opinion anyone else alarmed by the 9 11 Commission Report . They havent done a report in a decade and their first one is basically all the lessons weve learned, youve forgotten. It is the product of a short attention span. The fact that we are now living in a world where everything is happening so quickly. The world may be more peaceful than it has been, but the amount of atrocities might have decreased but the reporting of it has increased. Bad things are happening every day. Maybe were wrong. However, the desire to pull back, the desire for open borders, hating the nsa, that creates a recipe for terror. And you cant have all three at the same time. Youve got to be for intelligence, youve got to be for borders, and youve got to be for president s. I think the 9 11 report is something to Pay Attention to. Look, before we were dealing with al qaeda, which was much bigger, and centralized and had a leadership structure. Now its in 20 Different Countries by franchise. That by definition presents potential problems. Not only that, but in syria theyve had up to 20,000 foreign fighters that they actually hold western passports. They have gone for training and they can show up in any one of our countries and we are ham strung on our intelligence to try to track them. The other thing on jordan, i havent had a chance to speak a lot on here, i wanted to make a point on the humanitarian side of things. For the last two years, 13 million refugees have entered into jordan. Theyve doubled their population and theyre all poor, helpless People Living in camps. We do not have a strategy to try to deal with that problem, which will be one that your children, our grandchildren, are going to have to deal with. The United States media has been terrible trying to cover that. And it probably leads to the downfall of jordan as we know it. Lets hope not. We can do better than that, right, america . A chance to insult republicans, but in his mind hes not all that partisan. Plus, the president may have just lost one of his staunchest supporters. Who is that . Coming up. Really. So our business can be on at ts network for 175 dollars a month . Yup. All five of you for 175. Our clients need a lot of attention. Theres unlimited talk and text. Were working deals all day. You get 10 gigabytes of data to share. What about expansion potential . Add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. Low dues. Great terms. Lets close. Introducing at t mobile share value plans. With our bestever pricing for business. There we go again. On monday, president obama attended the irs hearings to condemn the corruption that infests the agency. I kid again, he was at a fundraiser. No press was allowed, no biggy, not like theyd report anything. When obama talks, they glisten. But there the president claimed hes not very partisan. Perhaps, but compared to what, the red army . Then i realized hes right. Hes not a partisan, because for him, democrats are too moderate and too fearful of the change hes unleashed like a bag of gremlins in a crowded theater. Obama succeeded where other progressives have failed making the next democratic president ial candidate seem like a republican. Its true, after obama, everyone looks right because theres nowhere left to go. But obama is partisan if you mean any party where George Clooney is a guest. Where leftists meet in rarified air in a country that created their opportunities for wealth. Obama is a partisan to an ideology, a dogma where all calamity serves a higher purpose, where a goal is never reached, only suffered. As successful traditions are subverted, the replacement is never spelled out, because theres no alphabet grim enough. It truly is obamas world. And were just gagging in it. Um all right. Andrea, lets be honest. Isnt he really bigger than any party . Is that what he really thinks . Hes not part of the Democratic Party either. Hes just beyond oh, i think hes part of a wing of the Democratic Party. But i think when he says im not a partisan, that means if you agree with him. So if you see things his way, like for example, when Speaker Boehner came out and spoke in favor of immigration reform, president obama had nice things to say about him. If it goes his way and if you agree with him, then hes not a partisan. And he likes you. If you disagree with him, he will attack you, like i guess our producer said he did moments ago in a fundraiser he was just giving. I actually think the best thing for him, and i know hes fundraising to keep the senate, i personally think if i was sitting next to him advising him is to lose the senate. The same way bill clinton had to deal with an all republican congress, that would be a dream for him. Hes not going to get anything through with a Republican House anyway. For the next two years he can demonize republicans, blame him for everything he cant get done. Bill clinton did it, but still said, i feel your pain. Thats what obamas missing. He doesnt even pretend to care about the crises. Bob, isnt everybody a partisan . Except for like a joe lieberman. But if youre in a party, youre partisan. Lets look at it historica y historically. The left used to be much more powerful. Clinton took it much more to the center. Dealing with the Republican Party today, when you used to be able to deal with people like howard baker and bob dole and big people, then you could actually sit down and work out deals. In the house of representatives, they have refused to go to conference on anything. 80 have refused to go to conference, which is where most of this gets done. The problem is the Republican Party has elected a group of, i hate to say it, but theyre midgets. And there is no big standing republican left that i can see, with the exception maybe being theyre called little people, bob. Sorry. I want you to apologize to dana. I apologize. Seriously, i try to look across the democrats, i would say the same thing about for the most part. When republicans came to the table on immigration reform, the president demonized those who didnt. Even when theyre willing to compromise, it doesnt matter because they get name called and thrown in the mud anyway, so whats the point . They never got to conference for immigration reform, thats the point. I still say the point is that there are no big players in either house that what . Youre making arguments that all of a sudden by the time you walk back around, you actually nullified the point you made. I dont consider harry reid at the level of a Lyndon Johnson or somebody who was putting together deals. I cant find anybody in the Republican Party in either house that stands up to that that stands up to the Everett Dirksen level or howard baker level. Are you texting . No, the reason this is relevant to the conversation, were talking about president obama being disengaged. Weve talked about that before. At 2 57 this afternoon, we get this news breaking on our blackberries that said marie harp from the state Department Said they have confirmation, they believe, the state department believes that russians were firing at into ukraine territory. Not russian separatists, actual Russian Military is firing. Weve been going back and forth. Yes, russians themselves are firing. Now 2 57, two and a half hours since then, has president obama or anyone come out denouncing the russian government for firing into ukraine territory . No. Hold on. But he did talk about his basketball he said 80 of his free throws give or take a few, his arm is tired. But nothing denouncing putin. Isnt this silly to talk about his i think heres what i think, bob. I think this news that came out at 3 00 today by the state department. By the state department is massive. And no one is talking about. We should be talking about it, and they should be talking about it. The issue here, dana, essentially the president belongs to the party of obama. Which is a singular god. That we all aspire to but can never achieve. Whoever the president is, that is the head of the party. So, yes, the democrats have to dance with the ones that won. And that happened to be president obama this time around. Who knows who it will be next time. I do find partisan wasnt necessarily a bad word. It wasnt a negative word. You can be a partisan and not be a jerk, that is possible. It doesnt necessarily mean people are like that. But you can still go to conference, and have a bill and say, im for these principles, these are my principles. What are your principles . Can we make a deal . You give that, ill take this, done. Its not being partisan, just figuring out a way to compromise. To merge the partisanship issues. I dont think theres an issue in front of the congress with the exception of abortion that cant be resolved by reasonable people they went to conference over the debt ceiling and budget bill. And republicans caved. On the payroll tax and a number of other t