we want to kel come our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer you're in "the situation room". ment obama sounding an urgent note about the u.s. economy and the new risks it faces from europe's growing cries. he warns that so-called head winds from europe can setback the recover in the united states. he says the u.s. businesses are improving and creating jobs but he's pressing congress to take action on the public sector. >> the big challenge we have in our economy right now is state and local government hiring has been going in the wrong direction. you've seen teacher layoffs, police officers, cops, firefighters being laid off. the other sector that's still weak has been the construction industry. those two areas we've directly addressed with our jobs plan. the problem is that it requires congress to take action and we're going to keep pushing them to see if they can move in that direction. the truth of the matter is as i said we've created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months. over 800,000 just this year alone. the private sector is doing fine. where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy had to do with state and local government. >> the president of the united states speaking at a news conference on friday. now my indepth interview with former president bill clinton. i sat down with him at the clinton global initiative in chicago and he began by repeatedly apologizing for comments he made about the so-called bush tax cuts that seemingly contradicted the president. >> mr. president, thanks very much for allowing us to come here to your cgi, the clinton global initiative. we're going to talk about that. i know you've got major initiatives, you want to help four million americans. we'll talk specifically about what you have in mind. but let's get to the issues right now, the economy, jobs. you've caused a stir, as you know, by appearing to suggest that you would be open to temporarily extending the bush tax cuts even for the wealthiest americans in that cnbc interview. you backed off of it a little later, but where do you stand right now, if necessary, to keep the economy robust? >> well, first of all, i don't think it's necessary to keep the economy robust. what i was saying yesterday, which is apparently not accurate, is that if this fiscal cliff comes through the president and the congress and the country before the elicks, he can't afford to give up his position, and he shouldn't, that we're going to have to have some new revenues to deal with this debt long term and we ought to begin to ask those in high income groups to pay taxes. i support that position, i always have. but the republicans may not feel they can afford to indirectly ratify it. i was talking about whether they needed to put it off after the election, but they still have until the first of the year. if they had until the first of the year in any case to deal with this, there's no problem. they both have their positions. and they'll have to decide how to resolve it by the first of the year, but the election won't intervene and therefore i regret that all this stirring up is happening, because that's what i was thinking about. i was under the impression somebody had to be done before the election. >> the president has flatly said he would veto any extension of the bush tax cuts for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and families making more than $250,000 a year. he's extended it a few times now, but that was the last time. he says he won't do it again. >> i support his position, and i think on the merits upper income people are going to have to contribute to the long-term debt reduction. you get the debt down with three things. economic growth, appropriate spending restraint and adequate revenue stream. and what he's trying to say is that we've got to have all three. and so, i support his position. but we really -- i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. it was what i thought something had to be done on a fiscal cliff before the election. apparently nothing has to be done until the first of the year. so i think he should just stick with his position. >> during the lame duck session, after the election if he's re-elected or if romney wins, that's when they'll have to deal with the bush tax cuts, all of them, including the middle class, will go back to the rates that existed during your admission. >> and those rates, the problem with that is, and why i think they should be extended for the bottom 98%, is that median income after inflation is lower than it was the day i left office. so those people who would be affected by that, many, many of them have had know income increases in a decade while their costs have gone up. you would have an economic impact. it would be bad for the economy if those folks in the bottom 98% had to shoulder a tax increase now. it would be difficult. >> i want to be precise. what you're saying is that you would not extend the tax cuts for the welliest americans, even though some economists say that could slow down economic growth during these troubled times. >> yes because i think it would precipitate a long-term debt reduction deal. i think if we phase it in slowly, you don't have too much bite on the front end, that will actually help us long term. and keep in mind, the congress in saying this has to account for the fact that we have, in the last 27 months, 4.3 million more private sector jobs, but we've lost 600,000 public sector jobs in part because they declined to pass the president's jobs plan so they wouldn't have to layoff. >> there's no daylight between you and the president? >> no. i really was under the impression that they would have to do something before the election. and i was trying to figure out how they would kick it to last the election. once i realized nothing had to be done until the first of the year, i support his position. i supported him last year, but i think his position is the right one and necessary if we're ever going to get a exrensive deal. >> the other issue was when you told harvey weinstein that mitt romney was qualified to be president, this coming after all the ads going after him. >> that's two different things. you can be a successful business person. and if you're governor of a state and you're 35 years old and you're born in a america, you're by definition qualified to be president. >> you suggested his qualifications were good. >> yes. but in the same sentence, very cleverly, i said he shouldn't be elected because his ideas and policies i don't think are good for america. >> and you later said it would be clam tus if he were elected. >> if he were elected and implemented the policies that he's advocated. keep in mind, from my point of view, the best thing he did when he was governor was sign that health care bill that he's now renounced. >> he has renounced the president's health care bill. >> with the same idea in it. if you look at it, it's splitting a pretty thin hair. and the experience of massachusetts proves that if you have an individual mandate and you take the sand out of the gears of people shifting cost, it will slow down inflation and we can get ahold of health care costs better. but i think that it's not what he's running on. he's running on repeeling the president's bill, on repealing the commitment energy, which is a big part of why we're getting manufacturing jobs back today. basically that budget that every person says add 1tor $2 trillion to the debt over the next decade. and having austerity now and bigger deficits in the odd years which is exactly what he should be doing. if he implemented what he says, it would be bad for the american economy. that's what i think. >> we're going to have much more of my interview with the former president of the under bill clinton, i'll ask him what he thinks about mitt romney. stand by for that. also, david axelrod is in the situation. the white house deliberately leaked classified information for political gain. then it's the romney's campaign turn to respond is to all of this. my interview with eric furnish strum. that's come up this hour as well. my bad. tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... 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[ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ ask an allstate agent about the value plan. are you in good hands? it's the travelocity spring into summer sale. you can save up to 50% on select hotels and vacation packages. so book your summer vacation now and save up to 50%. offer ends soon. book right now at travelocity.com. former president bill clinton is never afraid to say what's on his mind. we talked about that and more in my interview. >> some of your critics have said you know, the former president is undermining the current president for whatever reason. >> well, look. in 2008, when he ran for president, and defeated hilary in the primaries, i did 40 events for him. 40 in the election. in 2012 i have done these major fund raisers. i have spoken up for him whenever i could. i have told people repeatedly. i think he's done a good job, a really good job under very trying circumstances. and better than some people give him credit for. and i strongly committed to his re-election. and i just regret that i -- you know, my instinct. you know me, i don't think i should have to say bad things about governor romney personally to disagree with him politically. the fact that i was complementary of his success as a business person doesn't mean that i think that he should be elected and president obama shouldn't. if you look at this book i wrote, "the american economy," it's the one reason we're here, you can be successful in business and this has been true for 35 years, if your shareholders do will. you can only be successful as president if the shareholders, the employees, the customers and the communities do well. all the constituencies of market economics. >> i covered your presidency for eight years, and you worked with business business. you're doing that here at the cgi. you've got a lot of representatives, major fortune 500 companies. but the criticism of a president is that he's alienated some of these big business types, wall street saying things that weren't favorable, many of them who supported him in 2008 are running away from him now. >> but if you look at what he's actually done, if you look at the tax policies, the regulatory policies he's actually pursued, they were either necessary -- we had to have higher capital requirements on bank lending after that financial meltdown. you can't have people taking the kind of risks that were taken. but he has -- even now he's got another small business tax cut pending before congress as part of his economic plan for people that are hiring new employees. >> i don't think much is going to happen between now and the election. >> no. but he's had this out there for more than a year. it's just if you look at his record as opposed to what people say, what the republicans say about him, i think he has been, you know, quite moderate and very interested in getting business input. look at the business counsel he's got. i'm quite impressed by the range of businesspeople on this council. he's obviously interested in their opinions, their input and what their policies' suggestions are. i don't buy that he's anti-business. he's, he has some differences from people who believe that the financial crisis we went through, and the burdens the american people still bear because of it, these things don't justify any increased requirements of oversight. i think they do. i think that we know, about the capitalism tendency to implode. this will be good for the economy to minimize the kind of risks that cause the meltdown last time. >> what do you think about mitt romney? >> i told you what i thought. i've said many times i had a good encounter with him when he tried to save the amer corp. program. i listen very carefully to what these republicans said in the primary and to the antitax activist when he said it would be fine with him if govern or romney got elected because all he needed to do was sign his name. they were going to run things out of the tea party house. it's troubling to me, because i think if you look at greece, if you look at the united kingdom, where the world is today, the people who say austerity and unemployment now and then will balloon the debt later and have higher interest rates and will never recover, that's basically the republican platform. it's the same platform. euro zone which the europeans are now trying to get out of. >> more later, bill clinton gets personal about his daughter saying she has her father's energy and her mother's brains and character. and is the white house allowing leaks of sensitive classified information in order to score political points to try and help the president get re-elected? i'll ask the chief strategist for the obama campaign, david axelrod. computer attacks on iran, a presidential hit list of terror targets and a foiled bomb plot. the fbi investigating a series of leaks about covert. the white house strongly denies claims that it was behind the leaks. the house intelligence committee chairman says the media have been allowed in classified briefings. i spoke about that with david axelrod. >> mike rogers the chairman of the intelligence committee, the congressman, he's suggesting very pointedly, like other republicans, that the obama administration is leaking classified information to help the president get re-elected. i'll play a clip for you. >> the committee has material suggesting that the agencies were directed to expand the scope of classified information they gave to the press. we know in some cases someone from a segment of the media was present in a classified setting. >> all right. that's a pretty sharp statement. what do you say? >> i say that's nonsense. this administration has no interest in leaking classified information. we don't want to see it leaked from capitol hill, we don't want to see it leaked from the administration. it's not helpful. so now the fact is that there are leaks. and sometimes we're confronted with those leaks and we're asked about those leaks. that's a different situation. but i wholly discount that. >> and you totally reject this notion that there have been authorized leaks of classified information in order to help bolster the president's chances, to make him look strong -- >> i would reject that, but the inti mags is the story has been helpful to the president. we're not the source of those stories. >> and this notion that john mccain wants a special council to come in and start investing. >> i think that nobody benefits from leaks of classified material, and, you know, it shouldn't happen. and you know, we would welcome anybody to look at anything. >> let's talk about the former president of the united states, bill clinton. he's now apologized. he's expressed regret. said he didn't fully understand the nature of the question when he said the bush tax cuts maybe should be temporarily extended even though the president says they shouldn't be. >> i'm not asking for an apology. i have deep add miration for him. they should listen to bill clinton. he was the president in the early '90s who said we have to do something about the deficits and it's going to mean the well think will have to pay more. not one republican supported him he went and got it down and we had a decade of growth and expansion. two unfunded wars an unfunded tax cuts and they left for this president a huge deficits and an economic crisis. so they should listen to president clinton. he was right back in the '90s. he's right now. we should be investing in education and research and development and energy and the kinds of things that will grow our economy, not going back to the policies of the last decade. >> but did he cause your campaign, the re-election campaign some heartburn by suggesting that mitt romney's sterling reputation at ban capital coming off the heels of the ads. >> the question he answered, wolf, is he qualified. no one is doubting that mitt romney is qualified to be president. the question is, is he qualified himself to call himself a job creator, is he qualified to call himself the economic oracle that he does when he ran a business that doesn't reflect that and his record in massachusetts was so poor in terms of job creation. that's what we're questioning. not whether he has the technical qualifications. >> but you're not suggesting that he did have a sterling reputation. >> i think he had a great record for making money for himself and his paernts. he did not have a great record on job kree yaitsation, when you take companies to bankruptcy while the workers and creditors are left holding the bag, it's not good economic policy and it's not right. >> in fairness, there were some companies that he helped establish, sports authority -- >> he made minor investments in these companies, and walked away from them with a profit and then later they created jobs. but here are companies that he went in, his group took over, loaded them with debt and in several cases took them to bankruptcy, and yes, he profited from that. but certainly the work certifications didn't, the community didn't, the economy didn't. >> david axelrod from the obama campaign. we're going to get reaction to what we just heard from eric fern strom. our chief political coespondent is standing by. what was mitt romney like as governor of massachusetts? we'll hear from some of his former colleagues. ♪ i wish my patients could see what i see. ♪ that over time, having high cholesterol plus diabetes... or family history of early heart disease... can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup. and they'd see that it's more important to get their cholesterol where their doctor wants. and why for these patients, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and is also proven to slow plaque buildup. 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[ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. my in depth interviews with former bill clinton but also with david axelrod. the romney campaign is joining us with a reaction. i spoke about both interviews with senior advisor eric fehrnstrom. >> thanks for coming in. i want to give you a chance to respond first of all to what david axelrod said here in the situation a little while ago. >> i think he had a great record for making money for himself and his partners. he did not have a great record on job creation. when you take companies to bankruptcy, load them with debt, walk away with millions of dollars while the workers and creditors are left holding the bag, that may look good in terms of your balance sheet but it's not good economic policy and it's not right. >> he was talking about mitt romney. let me give you a chance to respond to axelrod. >> sure, wolf. thank you for having me on. i can tell you that governor romney is proud of his business record. and by the way, so is bill clinton. bill clinton called mitt r