They can be overcomed and mr. Mr. Obama has never shied from a crisis. However the usually handson president seemed unaware of problems, and in one case just plain left out of the loop. What is a leader looking towards a legacy to do about it . As Software Glitches on the Affordable Care act website persist, and allied nation phone following comes to line. The president was on a high seen as above that particular political fray, but it didnt last long. According to a journal pol poll just 42 of americans approve of the president s job performance, an alltime low for president obama, indicating frustration with how hes leading the country. The signature policy the affordable air act launched. Frustrated users and members of congress are pushing for answers. Healthcare reform in this state was a success. It doesnt mean that it was perfect right away. There were early problems to solve. There were changes that had to be made. Anybody here who is involved in it can tell that you. And by the way all the parade of horribles, the worst predictions about healthcare reform in massachusetts never came true. They are the same arguments that youre hearing now. Reporter as if the week went bad enough revelations of secret spying tactics are creating an uproar here and abroad. Tureous though the nsa tracked the conversations of millions of citizens and some leaders. German chancellor Angela Merkel had her phone tapped as far back as 2002. Obama personally apologized to merkel, but there are still questions about whether he knew about the eavesdropping. Welcome to the white house. Reporter when things go wrong president obama often grabs hold of the situation and works to correct it in a big public way. Nobody is matter than me about the fact that the website is not working as well as it should, which means its going to get fixed. Reporter but this week he seemed overshadowed by the generals and leaders in his cabinet who instead took the heat. Hold me accountable for the debacle. Im responsible. Reporter kathleen is h sebelius endured nearly four house of questions in the white house. Nothing that has been released has shown that were trying to do something illegal. Reporter and it was a director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper and nsa chief general Keith Alexander fielding the tough questions about surveillance and spying in another congressional meeting this week. Some of this reminds me a lot of the classic movie casa bank can, my god, there is gamble going on here. Its the same kind of thin thing{ l }. Reporter does the president know as much as he should, and is he in control of his administration. As he reaches for the legacy of a successful second term, is he staying above the fray. Here to discuss president obamas second term and the rosenberg. He was an adviser to former president bill clinton. In new york, Jeff Lefkowitz isnt to president obama, and served as Bush Administration envoy to north korea. And author of recent book jockeying for the american presidency the political opportunism. You worked in the white house, how bad was this past week . I would say this is as bad as its been for president obama. Coming off the heels having stared down john boehner the Government Shutdown and debt limit issue, i think he got a coldish with the nsa wiretapping and more serious for him at home, the obamacare fiascoes. I think hes in for rocky waters ahead. We saw the president doing well compared to how badly the republicans were doing in the polls and in the public perception, is it timing or just a bad week generally . I think there are a lot of issues as jay said that are going to be resolved over the next few months that will determine what happens in the next few terms. You have obamacare, the turmoil in the middle east. You have general manager and the relations between the republican and democratic party. These things coming together or not coming together will determine his success over the next three years. Are you taking this as a sign of things to come. I think it was a single week. It was not a great week. But keep in mind as tough as it was for the president the republicans are in historically bad place. Weve never seen a Political Party where the poll numbers that the republicans have right now. He is doing relatively much better than them. But hes got to do even better, i think, to make sure that he has a strong second term. Laura, weigh in on this and give us context. Well, i would like to because i think there is something important to say about the shutdown argument. Yes it is true that the president was doing better than the republicans, but i dont think that we can say that he was doing well. He also lost support during that shutdown debate. While the American People do blame the republicans for the shutdown, what we also see is that they are arent all that impressed with the president s leadership to bring together some sort of compromise ordeal or resolution more quickly than he had. I also think an historic perspective, you realize that all president s lose support over the course of their terms, the only exception is Ronald Reagan and bill clinton. To see the president in all fairness, hes more the norm than the exception. Is the problem perception the American Public saying who is in control . Who is unking things . Or is it fundamental in terms of the nsa, the spying, also healthcare, is it fundamental in terms of who actually is in control . I think its a combination. President s really have to show leadership and be in control. As much as you want to deflect to a recalcitrant or unpopular group of congressmen, at the end of the day people look to their president for leadership. There is a question about leadership. One of the magazines just commented that Vladimir Putin is now more powerful than president obama. Obviously thats silly, but its part of the right now. The second terms are challenging for president. All president s have tough second terms. Were seeing now the beginning of this very difficult secondterm curse. Lara, so many articles are coming out discussing the president s leadership style, is he hands off . Is he cold . Why does that matter. Everyone who advises you quite frankly is a competitor, opponent, or theyre hopeful to receive some graces or benefits from your presidency itself. I think one of the more fascinating rattles, realities, president s unless theyre deeply engaged on what is going on them, theyre able to be fooled by their advisers. When you look at president obama and president george w. Bush, when you look at their Approval Ratings mirror each other. They show this. Both these president s had visionary styles, and then they like to delegate. By being out of the loop on many the details its not surprising to me that we see policy failures in both administration. We need to take a break. Well pick back up on this when we return to inside story. A senator under investigation and only Al Jazeera America is there. Uncovering the corruption opening the files. Are you going to resign if yourre indicted . Breaking the story real reporting, this is what we do. Al Jazeera America [[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. And with them, a storm of views. How can you fully understand the impact unless youve heard angles you hadnt considered . Antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. Including yours. Determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesnt contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. They may consider it offensive. And in that case they just recommend that you block that person. I dont want to minimise this, because i mean, theres some really horrible things that are on line, and its not its not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hatefilled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. There has been a huge number of those that exist as well. They say they did it because they were trying to protect my children. They didnt protect my children, they traumatized them. Fault lines examines why so many native American Kids are caught in the Child Welfare system. Any time they see a social worker its like seeing a police officer. The Immediate Response is, theyre here to take my kids. From the Indian Perspective who sees this in terms of history, this is as about as adversarial as it gets. vo Al Jazeera America we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. The efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. vo we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. Thousands of riot Police Deployed across the capitol. vo we put all of our Global Resources behind every story. It is a scene of utter devastation. vo and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. Al Jazeera America. Take a new look at news. Welcome back to inside story. Were continuing our discussion about president obamas second term. With us is simon rosenberg. From new york, jay lefkowitz, and lara brown of George Washington universities political management program. Simon rosenberg, the president has a vision of what he wants, then he hits reality. How does president obama get on track to try to get back to smooth the main things that he wants to accomplish before this term runs out . In the short term obamacare and the implementation of obamacare simply has to get better. This could be an enormous millstone around his neck. There is a lot of work that has to get done. Im optimistic that they can get it done. We still have enormous issues around the budget, around the economy not producing enough jobs and increasing wages. I think the president will have to pivot back to the middle east. I think if these three big ones can continue to show improvement, i think hell have a strong second term. I dont know that well see him be diminished in the public eye. How do you take control . Well, i think this is wit onf those issues that the only thing that will make this better is competency not stubbornness. The president keeps articulating that he believes in the Health Reform plan, and unless they can get on top of it theyre not going to be able to change that perception. There is a reality of promises made and promises broken. You served in two administrations, both president president sbush. How do you keep promises kept. The first president obama never recovered from the no new tax pledge that was, in fact, broken. And the president president obama had a missed opportunity with the Supreme Court nominee, and then Hurricane Katrina did not work out in the way we would have wanted it to work out from a response perspective. But he doubled down on iraq and bucked the popular trend and the advice of his advisers by going for the surge and it was quite successful. President obama will really have to decide where hes going to focus his attention. I think it has to be obamacare because thats his real legacy if hes going to have one. As laura said its about competence. He has the law passed. Now he needs to implement it in a way that gains peoples confidence, and he needs head winds because people dont like the mandate. There is the daytoday, the big picture. I think he has to show himself leading on these things. The i would not be doing campaignstyle speeches around the countries. I would be having meeting with the top people who are sitting there getting down to work. A lot of opeds are continuously incorrect, and really poor when it comes to this president because every time hes criticized he goes out to the people rather than digging in to washington. Simon, things happen. Natural disasters happen. Geopolitics sometimes take front and center, but what about self selfinflicted wounds. I think weve seen a few. In washington right now thats the most important observation, the thing people are talking about the most. Its not just that obamacare was a selfinflicted wound but what happened in syria. The way the president managed the syrian fiasco before the Government Shutdown has raised real questions about whether the Current White House team is up to the job. My gut is that youre going to see changes made in the arrangements, not that people are going to be fired or reorganization but it will be shaken up. People will be moved around to put a better team in place compared to what they have right now. Who you surround yourself with could have big repercussions especially if theyre worried about their own career. I think its critical. Second terms often suffer from a personnel perspective because there is self promotion involved. Its critical that the president surround himself with a team of people who are not looking to promote their own careers but will help him with his agenda. Coming after the fiascoes in bengahzi, syria, and now the obamacare implementation he does not have a lot of time left to get it right. At the end of the year everybo everybodys eyes in washington are going to be focused on the next president ial election. I think he does have a personnel shape up coming soon. How much of that is just washington, and how many can someone like president obama control that . Were about to see a new book come out talking about the 2012 campaign. Its barely over and there is a lot of he saidshe said behind the scenes. Look, the buck stops are the president. He has to take responsibility. The economy is his. The policies in the middle east are his. He has to take responsibility. I dont reallyive been here for 20 years. Youve heard a lot of democrats talk about, well, the republicans are the worst that theyve ever had to deal with. Its the hand thats been dealt. He has to make it work. His legacy, will suffer, and frankly so will the rest of the country. We dont have a failed president , but he has to take responsibility to end strong, make this stuff work. What does that look like . What does that feel like . Obamacare has to work. Does that mean that president obama shaking up who is in charge of that . No, theyve got to stay focused on fixes whats been put in place. I dont think i think the technology and computer stuff will be fixed, but making a better case to the American People of how their healthcare is changing. So many people were unaware that their healthcare was going to change, and the president really didnt the changes that are going to take place. Let me add this. I think one of the things that is starting to show up is president obamas personal approval numbers are actually going down. And that right now h he has lost support in terms of how much the people sort of trust him and approve of him. Its not just the job that he is doing. This is something that has happened to president bush as well, so its difficult to rewin over people who feel as though they have been let down by you an they dont want to listen to you any more. We go back to what is perception. Thats right. Thanks so much to all of our guests on this topic. When we come back to inside story well change gears and tell you about a special event that is taking place tonight. Stay with us. Al Jazeera America a new voice in american journalism introduces america tonight. In egypt, police fired teargas at supporters of the. A fresh take on the stories that connect to you. [[voiceover]] they risk never returning to the united states. Grounded. Real. Unconventional. [[voiceover]] we spent time with some members of the gangster disciples. An escape from the expected. Im a cancer survivor. Not only cancer, but brain cancer. America tonight 9 eastern on Al Jazeera America audiences are intelligent welcome book insid back to e story. Americas tonight has been reporting on the problem of rape on College Campuses across the u. S. It has been a hard look at campus culture, the look of alcohol and how theyre handling sex complaints. Here is laura dunn. So my freshman year in the Spring Semester i was at a party. I was drinking. It was my second time drinking ever in my life. I ended up having a lot of shots, over seven. I was getting very, very drunk. It was about that time that two men from my team started paying attention to me. They started walking me the wrong way. I remember saying, thats not the direction of the party. They started walking me into an apartment that was very close. I fell face first on their stairs. They both just picked me up and carried me up. It was almost like it wasnt happening to my body. At one point one of them got on top of me and started suppressing himsel pressingmyself into me. I remember putting my hands up saying no, im a virgin, please stop. I remember walking into my kitchen. My mom was kind of sitting in the living room. I said, mom, ive been assaulted. She just, you know, went into shock. She walked out of the house. She didnt even have a reaction. She just left. I forget how my dad came in, but i had to tell him. He sat down on the couch with me, and the very first thing he said was, what were you wearing . I couldnt believe my father would ask me have. Every reaction they had, it wasnt, are you okay . We still love you. You grew up, and people warn you and they say theyll protect you, fathers, brothers. Theyll throw down and kill someone if they hurt you. But the reality is when they hurt you people shrug, well, you were drunk. What do you want us to do . With us is joie chen host of america tonight. Such raw stories your team has been reporting on. What have you learned from this week . It really is a very emotional ride to hear the survivors stories, and when you look at statistics, talk to researchers, you realize how widespread the p