Fact-checking conservative criticism of Obama

>>> is going to be a big segment for everybody watching this show. in the past couple weeks, we pointed out some of the criticism of president obama from republicans is not rooted in fact. criticism he's bungling the economy and expanding the government and that he's an appeaser. when the current issue takes on obama 's critics on the right and left and points out that president obama 's strategy is to take the long view, play the long game, and ultimately, he will outsmart his critics. but it requires obama a second term. andrew sullivan has the piece. he's the editor of the dish and a columnist at "newsweek." on the same day the statistics were released, new numbers showing 200,000 jobs were added to the economy, mitt romney criticized the president's economic policy . i want you to respond to this.

>> he not only wasted government money, he made it more difficult for entrepreneurs to come up with new ideas of the future. this president doesn't understand how this economy wor works. it's time to get a president who does.

>> as this charge shows, the u.s. economy was well into a huge job loss. this started under president bush . we all know that. people keep forgetting it. our economy was losing 750 jobs a month. he halted the collapse and the unemployment rate has been dropping since august. your thoughts about what really happened. i want you to take on the right here.

>> well, i think that obama has governed as he said he would as a civil pragmatic sent ris. he's grappled with the key issue of the economy. and he's taken the most sensible course to correct it. if you look at the way it's killing some countries in europe, he's managed to sustain steady recovery and growth with some clear strategy. as stimulus package , lower taxes, you'll never hear republicans point out he's cut taxes. and a sensible right of center approach to running the economy. as for obama care, that hasn't come into effect yet. even when it does, it will cost a fracture of what bush's medicare prescription drug coverage did and it also helps the economy. it's important that people go to jobs for the jobs, not because they need the health care or can quit a job for the right reasons. not because they can't lose their health care . so health care helps the economy as well. i just got frustrated hearing all these people tell untruths about the record. the record is that he has done something perfectly sensible. he's fulfilled the promises that he made to turn this country around slowly. everybody acknowledges that this financial crisis was the worst since the '30s and would take time to recover from. people need patience and need to look at the record and realize things are going in the right direction.

>> let's take a look at the list of accomplishments. it includes depression averted. we did avert a great depression. auto industry . bailout successful. it's worked. the iraq war ended. he said he would. bin laden dead. he didn't promise he would, but he did. and supreme court appointees. you write, the liberal holy grail that eluded johnson and carter and clinton, nearly health care has been set into law. let's talk about from the left. how do you respond to those, i don't think they are practical, but they say we still have guantanamo. what is your response?

>> you have to look and see what was he able to do. in the national defense authorization act , he had 100 votes in the senate. what was he supposed to do with that? the same with guantanamo. he wanted to close it, but the congress stopped him. he's not a magician. nor is he a dictator. he's part of a process. one of the things he's had to deal with is an unusually obstructionist republican party who will not cooperate on anything. that gave him in the worst depression downturn, 0 votes for a pretty modest stimulus package . that's what he's been dealing with. one of the great things about his possibly being reelected is we might for the first time get through to republicans. you can compromise with him when you want to. if you want to. and maybe if you stop obstructing him, you will get a better deal and the public will little to you better in the future.

>> run through what a second term would look like. it's not really about the past. in terms of government activism, health care . is that the last step he's going to take? something on the immigration front? what's he going to do in terms of economic growth ? what's the second term?

>> i see it in which the americans of the tax cuts and having some sort of rise in the tax rates for the rich will be an attempt to tackle the debt. that's a huge problem. i think he offers the possibility of a fair and balanced way of cutting the debt than the republican approach, which is to do it on the backs of the middle class and the poor. having some sacrifice from the wealthy is important. i also think immigration reform is possible, necessary, and important. and i think he has a chance to do that. if the republicans are prepared to be reasonable and come back to the negotiating table in a way that isn't completely determined by a fantasy about who this guy is. he's not a big old lefty. as for the left, he's a compromise in the middle. what he's done is set out carefully where he wants to go and he's waiting for them to come to the table to get there. if he does it long-term, his achievement will be durable.

>> why do i not hear this kind of clarity talking about the future and where he's taking us from his team in chicago?

>> i wish we did. i think this case could be made. in reporting this piece, i was frustrated in talking to them about their inability to present the record. just the record of this moderate, successful, and transformative president. his foreign policy alone, not just bin laden . and by the way, bush did take the eye off bin laden . but most of the leadership of al qaeda destroyed. he finally won the war against the worst attack on this country.

>> let's mix it up here a little. that's brilliant. everybody is going to read this article. i agree with you. but there's something indemic about the liberals. whatever you think about clinton, it was irrelevant to al gore . the economy was fantastic under the democrats yet when gore ran for president, he never once drag bragged. what is this about the loserism? is it the fear if you brag about economic success, they are afraid poor people will lash out?

>> i think it's partly because they invested into obama a bunch of fantasies that he was some kind of radical who is going to transform the world. he never was. he never said he was going to be. and there's a sort of murism on the left if you're not that, therefore, we must stay home. if i hear another person in their 50s with a pony tail tell me they are not going to vote, i will scream. they need to join the real world .

>> that class is not limited to the people in their 50s. there's a lot of young bloggers who are always whipping themselves this isn't exactly the great transformation that was promised.

>> i just asked them to grow up a little and look at history. and understand in reagan's term it was not clear he would be the transformative figure he was supposed to be. and the right attacking him from the get go. it's a different era than the '80s. obama is to this era which reagan is in the '80s. we need his correction and his calm and his leadership. his temperament alone is enough to keep him in the oval office .

>> who should the people write letters of angry at? i'm kidding. both sides have tails.

>> i support them in general. i apologize.

>> you're a genius.