Up the middle. To the end zone. And a touchdown unstoppable. The new England Patriots leave little doubt tonight. They are the afc champions. Okay. Good morning. Its monday january 19th. Martin luther king day. Welcome to morning joe. With us onset, managing editor of Bloomberg PoliticsMark Halperin, visiting professor at nyu, former Democratic Congressman, heard ford jr. Cnbc sarah iseman is with us this morning. And in atlanta, msnbc contributor and associate professor at Columbia University dorian warren. And in washington senior contributor for the daily columnist at the week matt lewis and columnist and associate editor at the Washington Post, dave ignatius. My goodness. Thats a lot of you. Good morning, everybody. Anybody see the games . Sure. Yeah. Were going as a show so i started to read in. This seattle team if you walked out of the room you might not have known that they won. My daughter was freaking out. Some people wandered out. Five minutes of the game you would not this here the whole game was unbelievable. The last five minutes was a metaphor for their season. Started out tough. Ended strong. Everyone thought that 5 00 left in the game it was over the they come back and force it into overtime. Russell wilson does Russell Wilson. A lot of seahawks fans had left. They gave up on their team. They left the stadium. They werent allowed back . Nothing more exciting in all of sports than a successful onside kick you see there. Thats exciting. All right. That was the key. Are they going to win the super bowl again . Second time. I dont know. I might be well see. Patriots. Patriots. Well, stay tuned. Well be doing a lot on this, actually. Were doing a prime time special. Are you doing a prime sometime special on football . Yes. I cant wait for katy perrys halftime show. You are very rangy. When is your prime time show on the super bowl on . When is that . Isnt prime time . I know what day . February. The friday before. Im not sure. Countdown clock. Were going out there. Well get to meet everybody. Youre going to go to phoenix . Yes. You think im joking. I believe you. Where is the signup sheet for that. Would you like me to sign you up . Put me up for that. I would like to go. Lets get to the news. We have a lot of people here. President obama is expected to announce higher tax rates for wealthiest americans. Proposal unlikely to draw applause from the Republicanled Senate and house at tomorrows state of the union. Hes going to have quite a
chilly audience i think. The white house is branding it as an infusion for the middle class. The president is expected to propose a tax increase that would bring in 320 billion over the next decade. He will call for raising the Capital Gains tax and eliminating breaks on inheritance. The plan also adds new fees for the biggest financial institutions. The Capital Gains tax has gone up once on top earners under president obama after bush era tax breaks were allowed to expire. Most of the money raised from the taxes and fees goes to tax credits for middle class famryes with two earners and triples the Child Tax Credit. But already Top Republicans are penning the plan. This is a 20th century out dated model the president is following. The notion that in order for some people to do better someone has to do worse is just not true. Raising taxes on people that are successful is not going to make people that are struggling more successful. On the eve of president
obamas address a new nbc wall street journal poll examines the publics perspective on this. When presented with a list of options 40 say the wordy vided best sums up the state of the nation. It was followed by recovering troubled deteriorating. Overall, 38 chose positive descriptions while 48 chose negative ones. There is plenty of blame to go around. 45 believe president obama has been too stubborn with republicans in congress while 30 feel he has struck the right balance. Even more americans, 55 , believe it is the gop which is too stubborn only 15 believe republicans struck the right balance between stubbornness and compromise. Lets go around the table. David ignatius ill start with you. What do you think the president s strategy is here . How much does this tax proposal have to do with legacy especially given the state of where the nation is in terms of how they feel about washington . Mika im struck by how ive
since he got blown out in the midterm elections obama has been saying announcing what he really would like to do almost oblivious of the affects on democratic members of congress. These tax increases can be justified, one of the most striking facts about the American Economy over the last several decades is how much more unequal the distribution of income has become. Its really a striking fact. And this proposal sticks together. But it will be very unpopular with democrats as well as republicans. In the same way as the president S Immigration unilateral moves. Its a statement, im in this remaining two years. Im going to announce policies i believe are right and i almost dont care what you think about it. Thats my take. You hear republicans like mitt romney focusing in on the concept of poverty and disparity. What other options are there . I think this is a shrewd move because its not going to go
anywhere in congress. I think the old days where if a democrat used to just raise the idea of raising taxes, then everybody assumed that taxes were going to go up for everybody across the board. I think its a little more nuanced now. And look, i think there are issues like carried interest where people pay a lower rate than folks who earn ordinary income. And that does seem unfair to a lot of americans. So im not saying that this is good policy but i actually think for president obama to propose this its probably good politics. I think it probably helps him and its a populous message right now. The key will be can he really make the case that this is targeted toward middle class tax cut and raising taxes om on eses only on the very ruch. Politics aside, sarah eisen, in terms of what the president is proposing, has the chance of seeing the light of day . What strikes you . Not much. Not much . What strikes me is that you talk to so many ceos, republicans, democrats, everyone agrees you need tax reform. The president is is the president killing this by making the rhetoric about taxing the wealthy and going after the wealthy because everybody agrees theres so much within the tax system that is broken and that could really help our economy and help the middle class, which is the point of this entire legislation that hes proposing if they just get it fixing the tax code. Thats going to be the republicans rebuttal to this which is why its unlikely to see the light of day. The economy is improving. His economy under his term has improved. Wages has not gone up. That would be the key to focus on, probably more productive as far as economic point of view and as far as both sides can get on both page. Harold ford jr. , wages flat and going nowhere. I agree with everybody thats been said. To sarahs point youre going to get resistance not only from republicans but businesspeople who will argue that the tax code
and regulatory structure, that this administration has imposed on them has made it difficult to produce jobs and increase wages. Two, if youre going to raise taxes why not raise what matt said, the carried Interest Rate which i believe is probably one of the more unfair aspects of the code where people who had Investment Income oftentimes not their own mop any are enjoying the tax break that regular hardworking income earning americans dont receive. For some reason five or six years now the president has not propose and i think its travesty. Raising the minimum wage is an important thing to do but in the long term youre not going to increase middle class wages by taking from one group and making and distributing to another group. There was an article in the Washington Post over the weekend that said for the first time in 60 years more than half of American Children in our Public Schools from prek to 12th grade are living below the poverty level. If the president were to craft a plan to feed kids and ensure hygiene for kids and k12 i
think you would find a majority of americans earning over a certain amount say i want to give a little bit more. The am by getity of the president s plan is going to cause republicans to say no. Youre going to get pushback from the community to raise wage which is the business community. Mark halperin big picture. Pullback at 20,000 feet. Is this good politics . Hes going to have this is going to be a very tough audience. I think its the first president since 1939 in his seventh year to have an opposition in the audience. I hope the white house doesnt mock what im about to say for being too idealistic. I think this is properly explained, great politics. I beg you everything the president proposed 70, 30 or better in terms of Public Opinion about it. The moment will come hes not going to get this entire thing passed but he could make a deal with republicans to get 65 or so of what hes proposing and give them something in return and there would be tax reform and it would tax wealthy
americans. Explain this well, but hes proposing to make the wealthiest corporations and individuals pay a little bit more in order to expand the Child Tax Credit and College Opportunity. I think thats something republicans could potentially be onboard for but not an increase in the Capital Gains. Theres no way theyll pass that. Dorian, what do you think in terms of missed opportunities . Im thinking of the minimum wanl and other key issues that seems like it should be done by now. This is really a bold effort by the president , especially after getting you know the losses in the midterm elections, you wouldnt expect this kind of proposal from the president in the state of the union. One, it benefits him in terms of setting the terms of the debate. As mark just said Public Opinion around the range of the po prosposal, especially the tax on banks, will be off the chart. But secondly this sets up Hillary Clinton very well for a run in 2016 because if he makes the argument to go back to the capital gain tax of the clinton
90s, who is going to argue against that . Remember the clinton economy of the 90s versus when we cut the Capital Gains tax in 2001 2003 . I think this is actually a great setup for Hillary Clinton in terms of running for president as well as good policy. Well, while were on the topic of 2016 lets turn to president ial politics and new polls on what voters would like to see make a running. 59 of republicans would like to see mitt romney run for president for a third time while just 26 believe he should not. 50 say jeb bush should jump in. And 40 think Mike Huckabee should run again. Hes going to be on tomorrow here onset. Those polled were less enthusiastic with a Chris Christie bid saying he should run and 44 saying he should not. On the democratic side a whoing 85 of democrats think Hillary Clinton should run in 2016 with
11 disagreeing. Vice President Joe Biden is her closest competition with 40 saying he should run. 23 of democrats want Elizabeth Warren to jump into the race with 20 saying she should not. Mark halperin should she . Elizabeth warren . Yes. What do you think about first of all, i mean, it does seem like a setup between president obama and Hillary Clinton a passing of the torch with this speech on tuesday. Certainly this posture is very clintonesque of saying you know, a little bit more from the wealthy to create opportunity for the middle class. On the republican side the romney numbers are interesting and his folks are encouraged by all the polls that show that people want him to run and hes doing well. The Chris Christie number is interesting. One thing i picked up last week in san diego is theres a lot of skepticism about Chris Christie and whether hes not the temperament and other things to be the nominee. There are a lot of republicans dont want him to run is fascinating. Hes a stronger candidate, i think, than people think of him being right now. Romney and bush in the race
certainly does complicate things for him. It really complicates things. Matt lewis, youve been covering the mitt romney story. Youre finding some interesting things like right. Well, look mika i was on here in august with pat buchanan talking about how making a case for why romney should consider making himself available. And there are a lot of good reasons. Hes right about a lot of things during the election. He was mocked by barack obama by several things he ended up being right about. But look i think the problem that romney has is that his running was always premissed on the motion that he would be the sort of republican states man who could come to the rescue right . If there were a brokered convention he would be the comp compromised accident. Or if we got to labor day and jeb bush didnt run or flamed out and the establishment was lacking a serious candidate, that mitt romney could ride in on a white horse and be the savior. Instead it now looks like mitt
romney is elbowing his way in pushing his way in. It plays into the worst stereotypes of mitt romney as being too eager. The kid who sits in the front of the class and raises his hand at every question. I think that romney is in worse shape today than he was a couple weeks ago. The polling i think reflects miami id. People know who he is. I dont think it holds up. Isnt there a argument David Ignatius, to be made. About to move on to the Terror Threat in europe. Isnt there an argument to be made that romney was right about russia . And you look at whats happening in ukraine right now and he seemed to be right on the forefront of where things were going in terms of the threats. Absolutely. Even more so on the question of al qaeda and islamic extremists which were now focused on so intently with the attacks in paris and moves in belgium. Mitt romney can look back to the debates of 2012 and take out the
highlights where he warned that the al qaeda problem had not been rolled up as the president was implying. Obama went through that campaign saying this is a problem weve solved, folks. We went after them hard and we really took them up. Thats why the benghazi issue really had resonance for all these months because romney was right about what he said during the campaign. I think going in thats one reason why hes going to be a plausible candidate. And look the numbers that you showed show such a substantial number of republicans wanting him in the race. Those are the same numbers that mitt romney is looking at. And he sees that i dont think hes elbowing his way in. He sees a desire. Rchs republicans want to win this time and they have a candidate in romney who a lot of republicans obviously feel comfortable with and hes going with it. Mark halperin seems like Foreign Policy is opening and, sarah eisen quickly after, his pivot to poverty is another opening as well because as many
gaffes as hes had, his life represents a real service toward those who are in need. Youre right. And cynics say this is romney trying to reinvent himself. Also jeb bushs message. When we talk about romney were losing sight of the fact that quietly very few public it rer rans jeb bush is positioning himself to be a strong frontrunner. Sarah can he get over 47 by showing himself . Maybe. I think whoever is the republican nominee is going to have to hone their economic message of how theyre going to help the middle class. What is the republican strategy on that . Its sort of wishy washy on whether they can actually come to an agreement on what their Immigration Reform is. That could help business on what they will do for wages and for the middle class, which has really been left behind in this recovery and not just stand for big business because obviously that backfired for romney in the past. Lets go to europe now. Lets start in belgium where the search is on for suspects
following last weeks raid that police say foiled an imminent terror plot. Officials say the mastermind of theal lenled plot on Police Officers is still on the loose. Several people who were detained last week have been released. Four people are also now in custody in greece in connection to the investigation. One of the suspects a 33yearold algerian is due in court today to comply with belgiums request for extradition. And eight israeli arab men are also facing charges for allegedly forming their own Islamic State cell. Officials say they tried to secure weapons for attacks and killed sheep to prepare for possible executions. It comes as british Prime MinisterDavid Cameron warning of a long battle to defeat islamic extimists. We face a very Severe Threat. Thats who were calling it, severe, because we believe an attack is highly likely. But frankly, weve been in this struggle against extremists
islamists terrorism now for well over a decadend a half. So we know what it takes to win but its going to take a lot of perseverance perseverance. This threat keeps morphing because its the same fundamental problem, extremist islamist terror. The threat has changed and altered but its still based on the fundamental problem of a poisonous death cult narrative of one of the worlds major religion religions. David ignatius, talk about europes new reality and our relation