19 of the 20 cities tracked, they are barely above reinvestigation from the 06 peak and this dire report comes the same day the house will consider ending the president s troubled homeowner assistance program which has helped the banks space out the foreclosures but has helped very few homeowners. in fact it has been widely criticized for failing to help keep the millions in their homes it was supposed to, simply help smooth out the earnings for the banks who could roll out the foreclosures over the period of a few quarters. the program was created with about $50 billion from the highly unpopular t.a.r.p. program which bailed out the banks at taxpayers expense. ironically some of the biggest critics of the t.a.r.p. program were the one who say oversaw it, which includes outgoing special inspector general neil barofsky. he joins us from washington, d.c. from what we will call his exit interview. the man so critical of the bailouts is bailing out.
and, also, perhaps, a supreme court battle over health care around the time of the election. it is interesting to look at the landscape of the 2012 election, the incumbents have a tremendous advantage going into an election like this but the issues are difficult for him, the president will be on defense on health care as long as it remains unpopular and there is no indication it is likely to get more popular now after a couple years of talk about it and will remain on defense, and you have projections, unemployment is supposed to be only down to 8.2% in the fall of 2012. the stimulus, most people think it didn t work and you have the president playing defense on a whole host of issues that republicans will be looking to exploit and that is why they are starting early trying to tailor their entire approach to 2012 now. martha: they ll argue the economy is turning around and things they did are starting to work and i ll hear about that, first thing this afternoon. thank you very much,
here s jake tapper with his exit interview. reporter: it s been a whirlwind ride for david axelrod. i m beginning my life as a kibbitzer tomorrow. reporter: the white house senior adviser is headed back to chicago. i actually have a meeting tomorrow morning. even though i m officially ending my tenure today. reporter: after two years devoted to electing then-senator obama and two years working as the president s closest aide, he s heading home. but there was little time at the white house for cupcakes and punch. with unrest in egypt leading to clashes in the streets and demonstrators killed and wounded. the president has strong feelings about this. reporter: we sat with axelrod for an exit interview. so, i guess it wouldn t be normal if your last day was a normal, quiet day that you didn t have to worry about anything major going on? right. yes, that s life in the white house. so, no, it isn t surprising to me that something somewhere in the world is happening today t
power in government and so much access from big companies, big corporations, if we didn t have that, we wouldn t have a revolving door, because it wouldn t make any difference for them. well, it s enough to make anyone s head spin as we head into the new year. thanks always for your astute observations, jonathan capehart and mark tapscott. just ahead, our exit interview with the man in charge of the country s largest school system. new york school chancellor john klein leaving his job after eight years of reforming education for more than a million school kids every day.
saying. well now the pentagon is warning gay service members not to come out of the closet just yet. jennifer griffin live at the pentagon tonight. jennifer, a top general saying they should stay there for good. well, general james conway sat down for an exit interview. it was the last interview he is going to do before he retires next week. he has long said and he was consistent today in saying that he does not think that gays should be allowed to openly serve in the military. and today he also said that most marines fill the same way. they say that they are concerned that it will cause potential problems with regard to good order and discipline. i think that the current system is functional. that it from vidz for better unit provides for better unit cohesion. and especially so at a time when we are at war. what percentage are we talking about? what are the polls that you have done. 90, 95% of the marines. these are informal polls that he was referring to done at town