Speaker boehner kept his job. Not everyone is happy. And a columnist suggests that president obama is a disappointment. And when police would be able to confiscate your guns. Lets go outfront. Good evening, everyone. Im erin burnett. The last time the first round of voting was too close was 1983. He got only six more than the bare minimum to keep his job. As for the tears they did come from none other than john bainer in boehner to his Party Members after the narrow victory. If you come here humbled by the opportunity to serve, if youve come here to be the determined voice of the people, if youve come here to carry the standard of leadership, demanded not by our constituents, but by the times, then youve come to the right place. Outfront tonight, one republican who did not support john boehner today was not moved by those tears. Freshman congressman, ted yoho of florida. Today was your first day in congress and you came out with a strong statement. Let me just play for you how your vote for speaker went down. Here it is. You voted for majority leader eric cantor, not john boehner. That took some guts on your first day. How come . Erin, what we did is we are challenging leadership to let him know were going to hold him accountable, just like i get held accountable in my district by our constituents. We want to let him know were watching. Were willing to work with leadership and i look forward to doing that. Thats why i stuck with the Republican Party with mr. Cantor. You were quoted in the National Journal as saying, career politicians created this mess, or at least they didnt do anything to prevent it. Right. So you term limited yourself, you said, to eight years. So should everyone face that limit, even those already in office . Well, i think people ought to limit themselves. You know, i set that limit of eight years, because i figured that was good enough for george washington, its good enough for me. You know, the founders didnt intend for us to make a living out of this or that long of a career. Thats for each person to decide. Me, personally, i decided for eight years. It goes back to what i said there. You know, our message that got us here was that the career politicians did get us here. And they either led us to where we were at or they failed to prevent it. Neither is acceptable. This is a time we need to put america first, not so much a political party, the parties are important, but its more important to put our country first. And i look forward to doing that and i let leadership know that im willing to work for them, work with them, but yet, im also willing to stand up against them. And, let me ask you, though, in terms of john boehner. You know, now hes won, you didnt vote for him, but hes going to be leading your party, hes the speaker of the house. So the bill that he allowed to come to the floor, the fiscal cliff bill that is now law, that the president has signed, would you have supported the speaker and voted for that, or would you, like eric cantor, have gone against the speaker . I would have gone against that. You know, with what ive read. And then how can you then vote for john boehner i know you voted for eric cantor, but how can you say youre going to work with john boehner and go along with him when you totally disagreed with what he did . Well, what we have to do is be able to stand up and willing to challenge them on the tough decisions and hopefully be a part of that decision making, to where you can say, i dont think thats the right direction or maybe the right messaging that we need to get out. And being willing to stand up and do that, i think, is more important that they know where you come from, from the very beginning, but yet, let them know that youre going to work with leadership, because he is our leader. And im 100 behind him, just like mr. Obama, president obama is our president. And, you know, they are the people in charge right now. And so weve got to do the best we can. And again, this goes back to do the best we can for the country. And thats what im up here for. Let me ask you, some people might listen to you right now and say, all right, youre going to be one of those people whos never going to vote for taxes to go up. Youre going to be on the more right wing of your party. You know, a lot of others like you have been causing problems for john boehner. But yet, those people might be surprised that you said you will not sign Grover Norquists pledge on taxes. So, it sounds like youre saying, look, im willing for taxes to go up in the right situation. Well, again, you know, if you look over the course of the past 30 to 40 years, the republicans have been in charge and the democrats have been in charge. And our country is falling its going in the wrong direction. And this is a time, again, not to put a party first, but put the country first. And if we put the country first, we take the focus off of ourselves in a party, and we put the focus on whats best for this country. And thats what we have to do. And its going to take a give and take from both sides. Do you think that republican lawmakers, who supported the fiscal cliff deal, the bill you said you would have voted against, should face primary challenges in 2014 . And obviously, that doesnt just include people like john boehner, it includes people like paul ryan. Well, i think that most of them are going to face challenges, just the way that our electoral process works. But should they . Because they voted that way . Thats for their constituents to decide, not me. And their constituents will let them know. All right, well, congressman yoho, nice to meet you, although virtually, thanks. Erin, appreciate it. Same here. Well see you again soon. Now lets bring in john avalon, cnn contributor of newsweek and the daily beast. What do you make of that . Come in on day one and make a stand against boehner . But youre not signing the Grover Norquist tax pledge. Its hard to read that. A bold move on day one to go against speaker boehner. He clearly did it from a position of principle. He took on a republican congressman, ran a great ad, depicting politicians as pigs at the trough. Hes got a very antiestablishment message. And to his credit, he says, look, we need to find a way to work against party lines and hes not signing any pledges. Thats a hopeful pledge. But i was really struck, not just by his vote, but the dozen or so folks that voted against boehner and how close this came. Six votes . Yeah. Thats pretty incredible. Erin, we discussed, sources on the hill have been saying for weeks, boehners safe, boehners safe, this turned out to be a real nail biter. It does show that boehners got a real problem Holding Together his conference. The lessons he takes from it will be fascinating. But the vote revealed the fault lines beneath the Republican Party. I mean, when you see, paul brewnan and Louie Gohmert voting for alan west, thats one segment of the Republican Party. And it really does show that john boehner there were some interesting writeins there. I personally kind of dug the colin powell writein, but it is a significant thing, because boehners a deal maker. And to some extent, hes being punished for it by the far right of his own party. And thats one possible outcome. Around 50 votes, he cant count on if he does anything with democrats. Thats the reality of divided country. Right, when he put forth the socalled plan b, it got shot down, because there were some republicans that wouldnt allow taxes to go up on anybody. And they ended up getting a worse deal. If those 50 or so folks saying were fiscal conservative absolutists had backed boehner, they probably would have got a better deal on taxes and maybe even a grand bargain that dealt with entitlement reform as well. Of course, the bill that passed didnt have anything of it. People like congressman yoho will be some very interesting ones to watch. By the way, fascinating man. Large animal veterinarian. Large animal vet. We need more of those in congress. And theres a reindeer farmer, also. Yes, there is. In congress. This will be fun. Outfront next, a prominent newspaper columnist slams president obama. It caught our eye. Thats next. And an update on Hillary Clinton and her condition, and what she says shes going to do about that benghazi testimony weve all been waiting for. And a new report from the pentagon reveals some, well, totally new details about irans spies. Power down your little word game. I think your friends will understand. Oh no, its actually my geico app. See . I just uh paid my bill. Did you really . From the plane . Yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24 7. Sounds a little too good to be true sir. Ill believe that when pigs fly. Ok, did she seriously just say that . Geico. Just click away with our free mobile app. Everything you can fit vo in this bag is 20 off. Saving 20 on everything your company needs. Its a big deal. Check your december 30th sunday paper or print the coupon at officemax. Com. I have a cold, and i took nyquil, but im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . [ male announcer ] it doesnt have a decongestant. No way. [ male announcer ] sorry. Alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ sighs ] thanks [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Thats the cold truth [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus. Oh what a relief it is [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save 1 visit alkaseltzer on facebook. Our second story outfront, slamming the president. Washington post reporter and columnist David Ignatius, who has covered six american president s, suggests president obama is a disappointment. Heres ignatius. Outfront tonight, former White House Deputy press secretary, bill burton. Great to see both of you. Bill, there were some pretty harsh words here, tough words. Obviously, David Ignatius saying, heres how the president could turn it around, but pretty frustrated with his leadership on fiscal issues. And of course, we just had a deal that ended up boosting spending and slashing revenue, which is not sort of the whole goal, right . So what do you think about David Ignatius point . The president needs to be bigger and come up with a plan . Well, its hard for me to see how somebody on the left, anybody who supports the president , could be disappointed with the deal that the president just got. Think of what just happened. He got republicans to vote for a tax increase for the First Time Since 1990. He saved unemployment insurance, extended it, without having payfors in it. Extended the earned income tax credit, extended the Wind Energy Tax credit. And even got the rates back to where he wanted to get the rates. Now, were in a divided government. Youre not going to get every single thing that you want, but the president got some really big things, made some real progress. And if you look at the base line that everybody compares, you know, where the budget is to everything else, actually, this does cut the deficit by 737 billion. So i think the president made big progress here and were going to have to see Going Forward how were going to be able to deal with the looming crisis that we face in the next couple of months. Bill burton has just shown why he was the deputy press secretary. And i mean that, bill, as a compliment. But, in all seriousness, hes giving the spin on that. So what do you say . Well, i think that when you look at president obamas priorities, its important to keep in mind that deficit reduction isnt necessarily his biggest priority right now, for the simple reason that theres a lot of anxiety among folks in the white house that if you have too fast of fiscal contraction, it can be really bad for the economy. So i think from his perspective, hes not necessarily prioritizing reforming medicare and what have you over the longterm. He wants to be sure to have a successful presidency and to protect his legacy. And the core of his legacy is actually his health care reform. So if he has that in place, i think he believes so he doesnt care about this stuff, is what youre saying . Im not going to say that he doesnt care, but i think what he would like is a deal in which he gets some credit for a very modest tweak to Social Security and get republican buyin in on that. That way he feels like a bipartisan leader. But fundamentally, i dont think he really cares about nearterm deficits all that much. Bill, is that fair, or should the president be stepping up and saying, look, here is my vision on reforming entitlements. We cant afford the promises that weve made. I am now done after this term, so ill give you the tough love and put that plan forward and give you a major legacy . I dont think that necessarily stands up to where youve seen the president. The president , first of all, in health care reform, there is some medicare reform. Secondly, what he was attacked for, relentlessly for republicans all through this last cycle. Second of all, the president has said repeatedly in his public remarks that he is very committed to medicare reform. The problem is youve got Mitch Mcconnell out there saying that he doesnt have a dance partner on the dance floor, but the president doesnt have somebody he can work with in the house. When john boehner comes to the table and he cant even bring his deputy or his third in command to vote for the deal that he is agreeing to, i think youve got a real crisis of leadership in the house. And so the president showed that even in that case, he can get a deal that moves the ball forward for the country, but Going Forward, you just wonder, how much control does boehner have over the folks in the house and what kind of deals are we going to be able to get . Reihan, just to the point, he could say, i am going to set a vision for what america must be. Thats what David Ignatius is saying hes not doing. Is that charge fair . I think thats absolutely fair, but the mistake is this, president obama doesnt really care about this kind of grand bargain approach. He wants to be sure that his expansion of the welfare state and Health Reform is there, is durable, that it lasts beyond his presidency. And i think thats why its really a waiting game, rather than about getting a big deficit bargain. Well, he got a few taxes. A lot of little sneaky medicare taxes. A lot more tax on the Health Reform. David ignatius goes on, though, to talk about the president s strategy in terms of filling his cabinet. Also critical on that. He says, he floated the names of susan rice and chuck hagel out there for secretary of defense and secretary of state. Ignatius then says, obama has been backing into the second term in his cabinet choices, too. These are unnecessary, selfinflicted wounds for the administration. Also criticizing how he handles that. So making small decisions, not big ones. Well, im sort of surprised to see that from David Ignatius, frankly. Because this isnt the first time hes seen a nomination process where names leak out, people rise to the top, fall to the bottom. Yeah. For starters, susan rice is one of the most talented people in this administration and would have been an awesome secretary of state. But she pulled out because it was her decision to stop all the distractions that she was causing. So to criticize the president for the noise that republicans make or the noise that anybody else is making from the outside on people who havent even been chosen for cabinet posts is silly on its face. Its washington and thats the washington game that people play. Bill has a fair point. Something leaks out, it gets tested and then the president doesnt have to waste his Political Capital on defend being susan rice. Well, there are folks who are defenders of susan rice and chuck hagel would put it somewhat differently. Their view is, they dont have the white houses opposition team. They dont have formidable folks like bill burton who are arguing on their behalf. Their names were floated, put out there pretty much on their own. And then allowed the slings and arrows to come their way. If you have the formal backing of the white house, then you can make it more of a fight. My own view is that both of those names that were floated were not necessarily the best choices for the country. But regardless, if you actually are going to back them, you ought to back them 100 . All right. Well, thanks very much to both of you. We appreciate it, both very formidable. Chris lawrence is outfront reporter the options are on the table. At the low end, a little more than 6,000 troops, mostly special Operations Forces hunting terrorists, with a small amount of training for afghan forces. The 10,000 option would still focus on al qaeda, but would add conventional troops to expand afghan training. A 15,000 option would include even more conventional troops to go on limited patrols and give the afghans even more support. Some experts say forget that last option, 15,000. Its not politically tenable within congress. Its not doable from a budget execution perspective. Reporter analyst stephanie sanok worked in baghdad and developed options for the iraq drawdown. She says between war fatigue and spending cuts, even the middle option may be a reach. My guess is you will end up closer to the 6,000 person option than the 10,000 person option. Reporter analyst Jeff Dressler argues the u. S. Will still have to keep helicopter crews, medical teams, and other backup for whatever troops are left. Just keeping 6,000 probably isnt that much cheaper than just keeping 15,000, because theres basic things that you need to have there just for the 6. Reporter dressler says lowball options are minimizing the danger any remaining troops could face. I would argue that even with 20,000 troops, youre still assuming quite a bit of risk. Its by no means a lowrisk option. General john alan presented these options in one of his last acts as commander. But general joseph dunfer, the man taking alans place next month, admits he wasnt included in the talks over options. That could signal some tense fights with members of congress, who are skeptical of the drawdown plan. Senator, i have not been included in those conversations. Boy, thats interesting to me. A guy thats going to take over the command has not even bee