David Axelrod..Guest on this morning's "Meet the Press!"

[KoKo]

November 14, 2010
My wrap-up of Axelrod, McCain and an Economic Round Table

The economy was the story this week as the president wrapped up his ten-day trip to Asia where he faced international resistance to some of his biggest goals of the visit . He now returns home to deal with domestic opposition as Republicans push for an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts.

Axelrod

This morning I sat down with President Obama’s top advisor, David Axelrod, in his first interview since the Democrats midterm losses. The president's trip abroad has been ripe for criticism after the U.S. failed to secure a free trade agreement with South Korea and a G 20 document that has been criticized for being weak and vague.

I asked Axelrod about how the two failed trade deals will affect the U.S. economy and the Obama agenda in the coming months. Could the Dems midterm loses have hurt the president's influence abroad? He told me that was not the case and cited that American companies will get $10 billion in business and 50,000 jobs as a result of the president's trip.



Mr. Axelrod was also in the news recently for an interview with The Huffington Post titled, “White House Gives in on Bush Tax Cuts.” President Obama later downplayed the story, but we discussed just how much the Obama administration is ready to negotiate with the Republicans when they come into power in the House in January. He said the president stands strong in his belief of extending the tax cuts for middle class Americans.

"The middle class has taken a beating in this last decade. They’ve seen their incomes decline. And-- they’ve born the brunt of this recession." He continued, " But we can’t afford to borrow another $700 billion to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires."

Though, when I asked him to comment on whether or not the administration would cut a deal with Congressional republicans to extend the upper-class tax cuts temporarily so middle-class tax breaks could be passed before the January deadline, he would not comment. He told me, "David, we’re looking forward to sitting down with leaders of both parties and talking about those issues. I’m not gonna negotiate that with you here." See our exchange below.

FULL INTERVIEW HERE: CAVEAT...NBC forces you to watch many Commercials from BOEING about ENGINES to Complet the whole view...If you care deeply about DEM POLITICS...you can suffer through it to hear Obama's Campaign Manager and Chief Advisor answer QUESTIONS.

THE LINK FOR FULL INTERVIEW:

http://www.davidgregorytv.com/blog/2010/11/the-economy-was-the-story-this-week-as-the-presidentwrapped-up-histen-day-trip-to-asiawhere-he-faced-international-resistance.html