Van Jones: There will be less enthusiasm in ‘12

>> dan jones , president of rebuild the dream. good to see you. good morning.

>> i want to play a clip from the president yesterday. he was in toledo, ohio.

>> they know that everybody if you don't buy into their plan, even if you don't vote for them, they're thinking, well, maybe we'll discourage people, we'll get folks so disillusioned by all these negative ads that you'll just decide to sit this one out.

>> but he also went on to sort of suggest it's not just the negative ads. he understands that people still have some lingering concerns. are you concerned about enthusiasm? a lot has been written about how different this is than 2008 . and is there a chance to sort of recapture that do you think over these next several days?

>> well, it's definitely a different election. but the last time it was a big hope election. this time it fears more like a fear election. both sides afraid of what the other side will do. but i think what's going to happen, and you're seeing it happen already, people are starting to rally back to the president. i think what they realize, here's a president that at least tried. here's a president, the republican party says look at all the failures of brarack obama . they sound like lose ciucy holding the ball and every time she moves it, they say charlie brown can't kick. they took bad for four yama has tried to rescue the country, they're just watching the bodies pile up on the beach hoping that america will fire the lifeguard. this that is the problem with the republicans. and people are beginning to remember, hey, wait, this guy's on our side. he's trying to cut his own taxes rpgs, romney trying to cut his own taxes, obama is trying to cut our taxes. so i think you'll see, people will remember why they like obama , they'll remember that he was sabotaged and give him a second chance.

>> i think about what carolyn kennedied told the "new york times"s. they may not be as exi will rated as they were the last time, but i think they are just as committed.

>> yes, i think that's well said.

>> to be committed, does that mean that you're going to knock on doors, does that mean you'll go to phone banks, does that mean you'll talk to your neighbors some do you need to have that sense of exhilaration i guess is what i'm really asking.

>> everybody knows that you'll see less of that this year than before partly because last time he was a young outsider coming in. this time he's a president, he's been forthere for a while.

>> but do you sense a level disappointment?

>> of course. listens, people are hurting. you got people sitting on a white hot stove economically. and they want to holler to the pea tarty, with occupy wall street . the pain is there. but when you get down to it, who do you you believe is actually going to do something to resolve the pain and who is trying to make the pain worse so they can can gain politically? i think what you'll see as people begin to look at these options after labor day , people will say, listen, i don't believe the guy who is basically running for office promising to cut his own taxes will help me. that will be the bottom line on it.

>> you told the huffington "post" we thought we had everything fwheneeded to govern. obama , pelosi, 60 votes in the senate. turns out we had a third of what we needed. you need media on the side like republicans have with fox, you need a movement in the street like they have with the tea party . it turns out if you don't have the media or the movement, you'll get beat to butter on the government level. and i guess the question a lot of people are asking including many progressives is maybe the reason you might feel beat to butter is because maybe he could have gone bigger with financial reform. more outreach to labor. more troops back from afghanistan. would that have energized the base more and does he have to address those things over the next three days?

>> i absolutely think that there were mistakes made by the white house that left the base feeling they brought somebody to the ball and they ever got a chance to dance with them. that's true. you're beginning to see that change over the past six month, you've seen obama realize lucy will keep moving that ball. so i think that's important. but it was never supposed to be, yes, he can. it was supposed to be yes, we can. too many of us, not everybody, but too many of us after we came back from the inauguration, we were all happy and honeymooning. we sat down and some other people stood up. i'm not mad at the tea party for being so loud. i'm mad at the rest of us for having been so quiet for the past several years. that changes now. we got to win politically in november. stop this this tea party takeover of our country and then we got to turn right back around in december and insist that we win economically on the budget battle. and this time, it's but you win and you continue to build you power, hold the president accountable. you've got to have a plan in the white house or a woman in the white house who can be moved, but you got to have a movement to do the moving. that means protests. that means buying ads, being tough on the white house to make sure they do the right thing for the country. but it will take 100 times more work to get a romney to do half of the right thing than it will too get obama to do 100% of the right thing. so i think americans are smart enough to know a guy running for office, his only plan so far is to cut his own taxes, is for tthe not going to make america better.

>> van jones , thanks so much.