Presidential historian: Obama first term has strong accomplishments

>>> time now to take a look at the --

>> hold on. i've got to stop. we have breaking news here. willie geist and i, we're going to get to the papers in a second.

>> i'm trying to count the times i've been interrupted today. i think we're at 32, and it's only 27 past the hour. congratulations.

>> this is big.

>> you just interrupted me four times. will you not let somebody else talk? listen, willie geist and i are journalists first. i think you have to put a capital "j."

>> i'm trying to hear what you have to say.

>> there's a recount going on in florida . let me tell you something, there are millions of people in florida who don't know whether their vote has been counted or not. willie geist and i as journalists feel like we have a responsibility to our people. our flock. willie, tell them where we're going to be " morning joe " for the next month or so.

>> much like there was 12 years ago, there's a recount perhaps about to go under way in the state of florida .

>> yeah.

>> we need to be there. and we need to be there until the last vote is counted perhaps for months afterward.

>> i think we have to set up shop in a pool.

>> a pool maybe for the first week.

>> delano. then go on up to palm beach .

>> yes.

>> because this buchanan thing, you don't know. you know, right now there are over 8 million american citizens whose vote does not matter. as you guys know, i've been a champion fighting against this voter suppression thing. i have. it matters to me. what? it matters to me greatly. we've got to go down to palm beach .

>> i actually think the voter suppression story is important.

>> it is. why do you think there are 8 million floridians?

>> as soon as possible.

>> who else will cover the disenfranchised?

>> we'll be as long as it takes.

>> idiots, stop.

>> we're going to set a hard deadline.

>> a lot of people are concerned about the old black panthers in philadelphia, the one guy with the walker. i'm concerned about 8 million-plus voters.

>> it is now too old, your joke. it's time.

>> i'm going to palm beach .

>> wrap it up. i'm tired of it. " usa today ," airlines are expected to carry nearly 24 million passengers over the thanksgiving holiday period. up to 150,000 passengers from last year, but travelers will also be playing more for the flight. the cost of round-trip tickets expected to rise nearly 9% from the same time last year.

>> and "the denver post ," colorado officials prepare to square off with marijuana enthusiasts over the new measure legalizing pot for recreational use. more than 50% of colorado voters said yes to amendment 64 which lets individuals over the age of 21 possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow their own.

>> okay.

>> according to federal law , marijuana is still an illegal drug . with us now, we've got presidential historian --

>> yea!

>> -- and author of "team of rivals," doris kearns goodwin .

>> the women in the senate, isn't it exciting?

>> i think we're on the way. on the way!

>> on the way to where?

>> out of all the messes that you make of this country.

>> so barack obama not only got re-elected, democrats made gains in the senate when they were expecting to lose. was this second election confirmation of an obama realignment?

>> it looks that way. i think it does look like the coalition has been tightened up. nobody thought it was all going to come out in the same degrees that it did before. and i think it shows that despite everybody claiming there wasn't that much enthusiasm, there really was. he has done a lot in this first four years. i mean, this means obamacare is now there.

>> that's it.

>> it means we're not going to go back on contraception and abortion. it means that gay rights is going forward. whatever he does in the second term to solidify his historic legacy, he's already got something.

>> the reagan majority ma dominated american politics from 1980 through 2008 , while a lot of its ideas will continue to influence conservatives and ind independe independents, that majority is dead, isn't it?

>> i remember when he was elected the first time, obama , i really thought we were ushering in a progressive era . it seemed like even before he was elected, people were feeling better about government doing more to equalize things in the society. but then with that midterm election --

>> by the way, she's writing a biography of george w. bush .

>> it's called more better.

>> she's getting into it.

>> but anyway, it did seem like --

>> are our children more better? go ahead.

>> may i continue?

>> no. apparently not.

>> i'm sorry. but anyway.

>> wait till there's five women sitting here.

>> i know. we're getting there.

>> it does seem like there has been a greater sense of what government needs to do to equalize things in society, to help get jobs going forth. and then it got sort of stymies by that midterm election . but i think it's back out there now. now the question is he's got to build on that mandate. and i think there are things he's got to do. i mean, i think he's got to make that white house a political asset. i would bring every single republican and democrat, have them sleep there just like lbj. they come for breakfast, lunch, dinner. he's also got to mobilize that base and keep it going.

>> that is so important. willie, lbj did it. of course, reagan did it. bill clinton . you could impeach him one day, he'd be inviting you to play golf with him the next. and this president, over the past four years, has not done it. it certainly sounds like yesterday was a tipoff that he's ready -- he's ready to go. he's ready to engage.

>> he spent a lot of time with bill clinton over the past couple months. maybe some of it rubbed off on him. we heard words from john boehner . we'll see if it's followed by action. we're talking about we're ready to sit down and make a deal. we'll follow your lead, mr. president. we want to bring in mike allen down in "politico's" newsroom. good morning.

>> good morning, guys.

>> there have been a lot of grand claims and proclamations over the past 36 hours . the republican party 's dead. they can't recover. they've lost latinos forever. texas is a swing state now. put it in a little perspective for us. how bad are things at this moment?

>> well, republicans recognize that things are really bad, as we've heard from the conversation here. they think that it's in freefall, and there's so many different parts that all have problems. you've talked about the demographic problems, this problem with the donors who gave a billion dollars, the outside group structure is clearly broken.

>> that didn't work well.

>> no, and i'll tell that you donors are angry about it. and somebody told me yesterday, donors -- and joe, you'll appreciate this -- donors are scorekeepers. and for the people who gave the billion dollars to republicans, they're very unhappy. and there's a real vacuum now in washington for republican power. it's on the hill. where i think you're going to see younger leaders --

>> mike, and the argument is by some that, well, it would have been a lot worse if they hadn't given us a billion dollars to spend of their money. i can tell you, i've raised money from guys and women that have made a lot of money. that don't work. i mean, republicans got wiped out. and it couldn't have been much worse.

>> right. and do you really want to spend a billion dollars to keep romney from falling off a cliff in august as opposed to falling off a cliff in november, which he did? but here's a whole another piece of the republican party that's broken. and that is the machinery in addition to the appeal to these broad array of demographic groups that democrats clearly had. look at the mechanical problems that republicans have. luke franz of resurgent republican group started in part by eddie gillespie had an amazing analysis of the ohio exit polls that showed the power of the obama machinery. we are all used to people who talk big and don't deliver. the obama machinery delivered. and look at this little sliver. in ohio .

>> right.

>> the african-american vote is 12% of the population. they turned out 11% in 2008 . they turned out 15%, more than the population on tuesday. and if the number of african-americans in ohio was the -- who voted was the same as in '08, romney would have won ohio . that's a mechanical turnout operation.

>> i mean, the most stunning part of this is barack obama 's turnout operation and his political team, what they did was nothing short of extraordinary. extraordinary. but mike, look at these numbers. 2006 . democrats won independents by 16 points. in 2010 , republicans won independents by 16 points in the off-year election. two years later, republicans are wiped out. you have parties that rise and parties that fall. not in 40-year increments like we were used to. in two, in four-year increments.

>> yeah. and you have to think that part of that must be rooted in the rhetoric, the language that so many americans heard for so many months in the republican primaries . you know, that scared some people among us, a lot of people among us, clearly. so my question to you, doris , in terms of history, the language of this campaign sometimes verging on the abusive to us, the voters, it's not new in history. it's not new in campaigns. i mean, lincoln heard it running for office.

>> no. in fact, we sometimes we look like we're wimps now when we get upset if somebody calls somebody a bad name. in the 1850s , they had revolvers on the floor of the senate. they're telling people, you're traitors. but the thing that's happening differently now i think is that parties used to be a part of who you were in the 19th century . you were a catholic or a protestant, you were a republican or a wig or a democrat, your neighborhood, it was a part of your identity. that's not true anymore. i think that's what allows you to sway every two years from one to another because it's not as much a part of who you are. it used to be entertainment. we didn't have sports back then. the games were people getting out on rallies and going to big parties and talking. that identity has gone from us. so it's going to happen this way continually.

>> and by the way, the hispanic vote which we lost, you get the right candidate, you'll be back up to 35%, 40%. people as always act -- and we were talking about 1980 when it was all over for the democratic party . in 1988 when it was really all over for the democratic party . and then 1994 when it was really, really, really all over.

>> really, really, really.

>> for the democratic party . then in 2020 when it was really, really, really, really all over for the democratic party . it's never over, but the parties have to adjust.

>> but the big challenge i think for the leadership for the president now is that bases out there, they have to keep mobilized. he said to them that night, your work is not done. you're not just voting as citizens because the only way he's going to get change in washington -- he can play the inside game for a while, maybe boehner will do something, maybe they'll make a deal, but to really make it happen, he has to mobilize pressure from the outside in. teddy roosevelt was out there mobilizing the people against his own conservative party , the republican party , to get regulation passed, and that's what he's going to have to do, too.

>> thank you, doris .

>> by the way, doris is headed out to the " lincoln " premiere. it was all because of her that this movie came together. you're happy with the movie?

>> i love it. daniel day -lewis is lincoln . it's unbelievable.

>> i can't wait to see it. great to see you. thanks so much.

>> thank you.

>> mike allen , thank you very much.

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