of these three victories he got was he formed an alliance outside the democratic caucus that really helped to bring public opinion his way and sway votes in the congress. on the big tax bill, he worked with the republican leadership, got it done. on don't ask, don't tell, he had secretary gates, who is a very influential figure in washington these days, along with the head of the joint chiefs, who lined up with him, they helped to really drive home the point. that don't ask, don't tell repeal was sound policy. on this final one, on the start treaty, this really turned around when he brought in the former secretaries of state, republicans, and that reversed the momentum. >> so david, you know, it takes every president a year or two to kind of come into his own and sort of figure out how to do, how to do the job really. do you feel like this is partly barack obama kind of figuring out who he is and how he wants to operate?