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What is the talk behind the scenes about getting a measure through this time because i know, i imagine, that folks back home are listening tonight and saying we've been here before. show me why this is different. >> well, i think individual members are ready to vote for change. i think the real question is whether or not, and this sounds partisan, but it's really not. you understand whether the republican leadership is willing to allow these votes to be cast on the floor of the house and senate. if they do, i think the commitment is there to get something done and get something really meaningf...

That -- the midterm election is going to be nationalized. and that means that both parties will have to have a message. and no or a blank sheet of paper, as we have heard about, right, is not going to be a message. and when you have primaries where you're all fighting each other, it makes it much harder to make an argument to the american people as to why republicans should be in charge. >> well, and let me push back a little bit on that. and go to you, professor. what republicans would say is, hey, no is a message. no to the iraq war was a message that democrats carried against george w. bush...

That it doesn't matter who is in power because -- i am of the belief, the american public will choose who they want to be in power. i think it's everybody together who will get the decisions made. it is not one person. i don't think the person can force anybody to get out of the gridlock. >> we need leadership. we need leadership. i don't get the feeling that obama and boehner or clinton and gingrich did. but not reagan and tip o'neill. >> one of the thins to take heart is a consensus is emerging. the simpson-bowles commission to reduce the deficit came out with proposals for reforming social ...