alisyn, the conventional wisdom of the last generation is now in doubt, the man-made global warming theory has been seriously challenged. you mentioned professor jones. he s the man who created and organized much of the data that went into the u.n. s climate panel in copenhagen. three things on that issue there: number one, he now says that the middle ages were warmer than they are than the climate now, the temperature now. how did that happen? way before industrialization? number two, as you said, alisyn, there s been no appreciable warming in the last 15 years. why not? it was supposed to happen. number three, professor jones acknowledges that it s very difficult to measure temperature 300 years ago to within 1/10 of a degree. so the data is not that reliable. now, that s the backdrop to what s going on here. and it means that cap and trade, climate change legislation, is very seriously in doubt in congress. and the idea that the epa should regulate co2
what are the experts saying about that? is that going to be effective? reporter: an associate professor at george mason university outside of washington says it might work. he says, in part because no matter how unpopular the president is and his signature issues, health care reform, congress is even less popular. it basically gave republicans an opening in the first of the year, he says other presidents have done similar regrouping when they needed to regain the initiative. hirs harris interesting. congress not only what you see in the second year of the obama presidency is something a lot like what you saw in the third year of the clinton presidency or the fourth year of the bush presidency when this white house becomes much more aggressive in trying to shape the public debate, much more visible. reporter: fansworth says it is a more partisan time and with the senate so evenly divided, there s no downside to opposing
clear it was rejecting the bush-cheney policies, embracing a new approach, and over 18 months later, there s a wholesale rejection going on of the obama agenda and centrist democrats are basically retiring, like chris dodd, byron dorgan, so those democrats who were centered left are taking leave and heading for the hills. jon: you saw president clinton, after two years in office, after, you know, the 94 elections, handed control of congress to the republicans. he moved more to the middle. is this a signal that the obama administration should do the same? they have to, job. it s that simple. jon. it s that simple. i worked with president clinton, we ushered in what we called an era of small government, we said big government was done, we did welfare reform, decifit reduction, spending cuts, and progrowth economic policies. the obama administration
the president. if republicans make gains in the midterm elections this fall, he says there may be, ironically, more attempts to compromise because as republicans begin to have the prospect of passing some of their own initiatives instead of just blocking the democrats both parties may be more inclined to compromise. harris: wendall goler outside the white house, thank you. jon: will a change in communications be enough to stem voter anger about things like unemployment, spending and a log jam in congress? a fair and balanced debate on that just ahead. plus, retiring indiana senator evan bayh s new warning for lawmakers, his brethren on capitol hill, and more fallout from his bombshell announcement. [applause] also never-before-seen video of president john f. kennedy in dallas just hours before his assassination. all of this and more returning in just three minutes. in or
amazingly positive development on the war in afghanistan. and more on the alabama university shooting, wait tell you hear what the lead suspect in the shootings did before the shootings happened, her husband is talking and we ll see you at the top of the hour. alisyn: a french judge issuing an arrest warrant for american cyclist floyd lan dis who won the 2006 tour de france and stripped of the title after testing positive to have testosterone and now accused of breaking into the doping agency and he denies the charges and says no one contacted him about the warrant and the judge issued the warrant after he failed to testify in france about the hacking case. bill: we know evan byah what s the big story and the talk of the political world yesterday and what does the resignation mean for congress come november? there are at least 12 toss-up states including 8 different senate seats for democrats. and the senator s decision, does it signal a trend among democrats, larry sabato is