of the president s jobs plan? obviously, the effort to get all of it passed in one big package failed. are any of these provisions likely to get through the congress? i still think, savannah, at the end of the day, and this is why it s sequenced last in the progress, is that the payroll cut, which is the bulk of the dollars the president has proposed, is likely to get through, but democrats want to string out the fight a little bit longer, take a few more shots at the republicans before they get to that point. john harwood, thank you. president obama made at least 10 stops on his west coast trip, everywhere from the tonight show to roscoe s chicken and waffles. kristen welker has been traveling with the president and is joining me from denver. in terms of what the white house was hoping to accomplish from this western swing, what are you hearing? well, savannah, you know, this trip was really a mixture of policy and politics, if you will. it was book ended with these two big
to fail because they see this as the first time to get substantial cuts to defense. cuts for democrats would be more on the benefits side of certain social programs. but all that being said, the most underreported story about all of this, congress has this november 23rd deadline. if they really want to, they can kick that down the road. they can report out something, report out a new deadline. remember, none of these cuts that would occur if they fail happen until 2013 i have to spoken to numerous numbers that said, we could agree to something and then fix it in that year s time. no republican will allow massive defense cuts to go forward, savannah. it would be much too burdensome not only on constituents but on their ideology. you re saying it s a faux deadline? reporter: all i m saying that in washington, d.c., there is a tendency of deadlines being able to be moved magically or a different interpretation to kick it down the line. yeah, we ve noticed that. reporter: great see
savannah, this is a response to the thousands, the millions of students, we have been hearing from since day one. we have been encouraging people to go to school and to get a higher education because we knee that many of the jobs that are coming online over the next five, 10 years, over the next year or so, are jobs that require some kind of post secondary credential. at the same time, people are afraid to do this because they know debt will be high or they go to school and they have these heavy burdens and they aren t able to take jobs that may be lower paying. so we re responsive to that. you know, we ve got this we the people website. over 30,000, 30,000 individuals sent a petition to us saying, we ve got a crushing debt burden. please help us. please do something about it. so we ve expanded an initiative that congress passed about a year and a half ago. we ve pulled the date forward so students will be able to benefit from it by the year 2012. and we re also encouraging people wh
i ll start by opening american oil and gas fields. i m eliminate president obama s regulations that hurt other sources of domestic energy. like coal and natural gas. that will create jobs and reduce our reliance on oil from countries that hate america. with the texas governor losing support in the polls, what will it take to turn it around? politico s national political reporter alex burns is joining us now. and looking at the latest poll numbers, there s rick perry at the bottom of the heap with just 6% now. he s going up with a positive ad in iowa as we just saw, but also seems to really be going after romney hard. is he trying to create the illusion of a two-man race? well, savannah, if i think if rick perry is knocked out of this race, somebody forgot to tell rick perry. his ad he s up with in iowa is trying to reclaim some of the market space he had in the race to begin with, that sort of conservative job creator candidate. and as you say, we is going after mitt romney more ag
which you were just talking about. the one that took place a few moments ago. the president offering relief for students, repaying their loans. and then remember on monday, he made this announcement about helping homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages. so the white house certainly trying to show that the president is taking action on the economy, given the fact that congress hasn t acted on his jobs bill. the president has continued to give congress a real tongue lashing for that, by the way. but certainly there was a mix of politics involved in this trip. six different fundraisers. three different states, including some celebrity packed fundraisers in los angeles. and it s also worth noting the geography of this trip, savan h savannah. nevada, his first stop, a major swing state of course. and colorado is as well. and then you have california in the middle, which is a big donor state. he also did have a little bit of fun on this trip, stopping by and talking to jay leno. the