Congress determined to fix fiscal cliff

>>> petraeus controversy has almost overshadowed the business of congress and the white house . republicans facing post-election blues. the white house trying to come up with its own playbook for the lame duck session and the second term that lies ahead. here with me, steve elmdorf and michael steele , former republican chairman, both joining me now. first of all, what are we hearing from the speaker and bill kristol saying, well, you can maybe raise taxes on the rich. some of them live in hollywood anyway.

>> it's like a new day in washington, right?

>> this like the cement cracking around ronald reagan 's feet, the first time he raised taxes. i remember when he said that.

>> yes, exactly. well, i think the speaker, i think, is setting the tone, as you saw on the front page , above the fold in "the washington post ," you know. call his caucus to task, saying he's got to get the nation's business done. and i think what he said implicitly and probably directly behind the door is, trust me on this. you know, i get it. i understand what we need to do. we're not going to sacrifice our principles and values, but we've got to get the nation's business done. and then when we have a bill kristol coming out and saying, you know, they're all rich guys who live out in hollywood. we can raise their taxes. what an 180-degree turn.

>> they're not the small business men.

>> you'll probably note this, what an election will do. winning and losing has a consequence. and i think for a lot of republicans right now, given where we were two years ago versus where we are right now, you realize, hey, we're going to have to deal. we're going to have to deal.

>> what about the president? is he ready to deal? is he ready to be more proactive?

>> i think you're going to see --

>> in getting to know members of congress and getting to sort of --

>> i think he's going to be very proactive about getting a deal. i think he realizes that he needs this deal before he can do anything else. we have some other big issues on the table like immigration reform , and he can't get to those until he gets these fiscal issues off the table. they were so close last time to a deal. we've had an election, people made a choice, and i think he thinks the time is very rife to do it. and you'll see. he'll meet with business leaders and congressional leaders. i think he'll be very active and out on the road and will be selling this message.

>> is it an inside game or outside game? is it working with congress or going out there and saying, i got burned?

>> i don't think he's going out of the country to beat up on congress. i think he's going out to remind them of the discussion we just had and the choices we made and ask them to remind their members of congress what they want to do. the polling is very clear about what the american people think we ought to do here.

>> and michael steele , florida . we've got the results. now it's clear that, you know, not only is florida in the president's corner, but importantly, he won the cuban american vote, not just the puerto rican , you know, other hispanic communities in central florida . but he won the cuban american vote.

>> that was solidly republican for generations.

>> since the bay of pigs .

>> since the bay of pigs . talk about that crack around reagan's feet. and i think that this campaign in so many respects is an eye opener about the broadening of our party. and as i said when i was national chairman, the republican party has to get outside of its comfort zone . we can no longer sit in spaces and meet with people that we like and are comfortable or who will, you know, toe the line for us. we need to go out into the world and realize how much of it has changed. and if you don't think we're in a changing environment, as you just noeted, when you're losing the cuban vote in florida , that's a brand-new day in american politics for the gop.

>> they should have been listening to you. michael steele and steve elmendorf , thank you very much.