in that effort. i'm not accustomed to seeing political leaders, particularly the president, put on the same pedestal independents with rs and ds. that told me something. it told me that he thinks and probably accurately so that's what's going on with this negotiation is going to play very well with independents. what do you think? >> absolutely. that was a very political piece. it was his homage to what's happened over the last couple of weeks that has given him really the kind of lepg up in this debate. in the last 24 hours or so, you've seen sort of a chipping away at that among democrat leadership who are concerned about exactly what is the president negotiating. i think republicans still have some high ground to stand on as well but for the republican's insistence that we focus on spending and focus on those programs that need to be cut. we would be spending much more