Boehner, fiscal cliff and why the "door is open" for Obama

>> boehner yesterday remained steadfast in his opization to raising taxes . but for the first time seemed optimistic about a deal. take a look.

>> i remain optimistic that we're going to be able to find common ground to avoid this fiscal cliff and find a way to work together.

>> but by when? by january 1st ?

>> i would hope so.

>> the president is talking about specific increases. he campaigned on specific increases in tax rates from 35% to 39% for those making more than $250,000. so is that on the table right now?

>> raising taxes on small businesspeople is the wrong prescription given where our economy is.

>> is it on the table to talk about the wealthier americans pitch in here.

>> i said yesterday that raising tax rates is unacceptable and, frankly, it couldn't even pass the house.

>> you will talk about it even if you believe it's the wrong approach, you'll talk about it?

>> of course we'll talk about it. we can talk about all kinds of things we may disagree on. i'm the most reasonable, responsible person here in washington. the president knows this. he knows that he and i can work together. the election's over. now it's time to get to work.

>> and ato prove his point, listen to what he had to say about the repeal of the president's health care plan which really has been the goal, it really has. it's been the goal -- it's been the holy grail of conservatives over the past two years. listen to what he said when asked whether he would keep trying to repeal obamacare.

>> well, i think the election changes that. it's pretty clear that the president was re-elected. obamacare is the law of the land .

>> but you won't be spending the time next year trying to repeal obamacare?

>> there certainly may be parts of it that we believe need to be changed. we may do that. no decisions at this point.

>> okay.

>> it's a new era.

>> it's a new era. by the way, first of all, it is a new era. it's okay to call it obamacare now, right? since the president said he's proud of that, right?

>> he's proud of it.

>> so i can do that without people on the left saying that i'm racist.

>> right. yes, you're allowed.

>> hate all democrats.

>> i grant you permission.

>> you remember well what president reagan used to say about reaganomics. they stopped calling it that when it started working.

>> when it started working. exactly. well, if the president says it's okay to call it obamacare, that's a lot easier than the affordable health act. what do you take out of everything you heard from mr. boehner , speaker boehner ?

>> well, i take -- you know, you can flip around what andrea said and turn it on its head. it's a huge challenge but also a huge opportunity. we were talking about legacy before. what a hinge this re-election is. you know, if he had lost in a very practical way, if he had lost, the republicans probably would have repealed obamacare. so his great achievement would have been reduced to rubble, right? instead, it's now up there on the mantel as a great trophy, the great democratic achievement of his first term. you know, him getting re-elected makes the stimulus okay.

>> not just of his first term, i mean, that's the great democratic achievement of the last generation.

>> yeah, absolutely. so he's got that now, right? and he's now had his vision of having saved the country from the second great depression, ratifying. now he turns to the second term, and he has this opportunity to deal with fiscal cliff. it's a huge problem. if he fails, it could destroy his second term. but if he achieves it -- and this is what you see in john boehner , you know, everything that boehner has been doing so far since the election is signaling, you know, a willingness to work. he's saying i'll accept new revenue. you know, i don't want to see tax rates go up, but we'll accept new revenue. that was not the republican position 18 months ago. the president now, if he can get a deal done, which on boehner who seems very open at this moment, very conciliatory to getting a deal done, much more so than mitch mcconnell , if he can get a deal done in the first six months, he's got health reform and putting the nation's fiscal house in order for the next three, four, five generations as the signature achievement already of his second term, that puts you in the league of some of the most successful presidents in our history. those are huge, big-time -- those are big-time accomplishments.

>> he's got the opportunity.

>> yes, that's what i'm saying. the door is open for him.

>> he is going to have to strike some deals.

>> he is.

>> and he's going to have to make some grand alliances.

>> i don't know anyone who knows speaker boehner who doesn't say a couple of things about him. one, pretty good guy.

>> handsome. handsome.

>> two, can cut a deal. knows how to cut a deal. and three, from that clip, joe, a guy who knows that he is one of the point people in leading a renewal of the republican party . he's got to cut a deal. he's got to cut a deal.

>> but he doesn't have to cut a deal. that's the point and that's what the president and that's what the white house needs to understand right now, that the republican party -- and i don't want to upset anybody because this is a great moment for the president and for democrats. it was a great election for him. i don't want to upset anybody, but jon meacham , the republicans regained the majority -- they regained the majority by running against the president, running against the bailout, running against obamacare, running against tax increases, running against all the things the president ran for. this should not engage anybody. this is divided government .

>> yeah.

>> this is the genius of james madison . this is the genius of our constitution. this is the genius of our founding fathers . it frustrates republicans when democrats do it. it frustrates democrats when republicans do it. we're going to have to figure out how to work together. and i do believe the president and john boehner are more likely to do that the second term than the first.

>> yes. and in a divided government , you're really talking about two, three, maybe four votes where you're giving the other side the benefit of the doubt . i mean, we're not talking about some kind of, you know, brookings institution kingdom of god , warren rugdon is going to come and say we're all going to get along. the rodney king doctrine is not applicable here. we're talking about a couple of votes. and one is clearly --

>> by the way, do you talk about the rodney king doctrine in the new "jefferson" book in.

>> i do. he helped draft it.

>> big jefferson.

>> he used his quill pen on that. historically practically, you need the vote on some kind of bargain real quick on the lame duck. you're going to need it to make sure you ratify that deal going forward. and then you're going to need it on a couple of things that you want -- if you're the president -- that you want to invest on, right? whether it's education or whatever it is. and you're not going to get a whole lot more. there are not going to be a lot of 60% votes here. where democrats and republicans are coming together. and so practically, the president has a couple of chances here where he can pull this together, use this kind of historical feeling which is very effervesce effervescent. it will stay with us for a long time. if you've got a district to run in in 23 months, not long.

>> fleeting.

>> it's so fleeting. such a tiny moment.

>> the era of good feeling passed in 24 hours .

>> i was thinking thursday lunch.

>> andrea , obviously the players there, can they make a deal? can they come together? can they avert the fiscal cliff? can they even go beyond that and help grow the economy?

>> you saw some signs -- chuck schumer yesterday said that he would accept a 35% top rate, not insist on it staying -- going back to 39.6%, which was --

>> that's significant.

>> that's significant. and so if they're now talking about how high the top rate could be, whether it's 35% or a little bit less, as john boehner would argue, then you're talking about the outlines of a deal. i thought i heard a lot of flexibility in boehner . the kwereal question's going to be mitch mcconnell and whether senate democrats can get enough republicans -- bob corker , a key player and some of the other republicans already on the senate side have been talking. there's the gang of eight. olympia snowe working really hard on doing this before she retires. kent conrad on the democratic side. i think there is a deal. but as we've seen with the grand bargain, it can slip away very, very closely. the fact is there was a house gop caucus conference call , and they said they wanted to give the leadership some running room. so boehner may have more running room than we thought.

>> jon?

>> what andrea raises to me is the key question here is how much influence does boehner have? "a," in the lame-talk caucus and "b" in the new caucus.

>> he's got a lot more. he doesn't have to do the deal, but he's going back to a lot of people that stood in his way before and said, listen, guys. we're next. so if you want to lay down on the tracks, that's fine, but i'm going to get out of the way. you can get run over if you want to.

>> say that again. talk about why boehner has that influence.

>> because the world is closing in -- listen. everybody expected the republicans to do a deal with the president over the past two years. if you were a republican that got swept in in 2010 and you were part of the largest legislative landslide in modern american history , would you immediately come in and go, you know what? i'm going to make a deal with the guy that got me elected, in the negative. no. that's the thing that the media did not report on over the past two years. they never tried to get into, you know, the shoes of the men and women that got elected in that historic class. the biggest class to get swept into power since 1946 for the republican party . why would republicans , after winning 700 state legislative seats across the country, after having the largest majority swept in since 1946 , why would they all, on the power of negative feelings about barack obama , make a deal with barack obama ? and because a lot of people in the mainstream media never wanted to admit that obamacare had been so thoroughly rejected in 2010 . they never reasoned that out. now john boehner can go back and say okay, great. well, that was 2010 , wasn't it? well, this is 2012 .

>> '13.

>> and it's going to be 2013 . and soon it's going to be 2014 . and if you want to have happen to you what happened to mitt romney and what happened to the republicans in the senate, go ahead. but i'm stepping out of the way. eric cantor , good luck with that.

>> timing is everything.

>> timing is everything.

>> that's important to understand.

>> i think eric cantor will be more cooperative with john boehner . and again, because eric cantor comes from -- and i'm not knocking eric . eric represented the feelings of a caucus that had been swept in by an historic landslide. but eric now lives in a state that has gone blue two times in a row.

>>> coming up, senator chuck schumer 's going to be here. his suggestion that a 35% top rate would be okay, would be significant if he's willing to talk about that. also, we've got the assistant managing editor for "fortune" magazine, leigh gallagher. also nbc political news director, chuck todd . and former 007 star, roger moore . sir roger moore to you.

>>> coming up next, mike allen with the topster steste steste stester top stories in the "politico playbook." first bill karins with the forecast and gas rationing continuing in new york city .

>> amazing, joe. 11 days since sandy struck, and now new york city and surrounding areas are now having gas rations. every other day you can get gas depending on the last digit of your license plate. this is because of supply and distribution issues. the power is going back on in a lot of those gas stations , but these lines continue. just to give you an example in brooklyn where i live, at 2:00 a.m . when i come to work, it was still a two-hour-long line. people sitting there with gas cans waiting to get it. it's incredible that it continues now almost two weeks since sandy struck. gas rationing because of shortages in new york city . this morning temperatures continue to be very cold on the heels of that nor'easter. the snow is still on the ground. bundle up. windchills in the 20s in new england. even down to the 30s all the way down to washington, d.c. so this is it, though. n this region of the country. we desperately need it. it's been rough out there. it's going to be in the 50s today instead of the 40s. we should melt a lot of that snow. as we go through the weekend, a big pattern change. the warm air in the middle of the country's headed to the east coast . so we should see all of that snow gone. and the people without power should not be suffering so bad at night if they're still in their houses. the worst weather in the country today, by the way, a huge storm up in idaho, north dakota and montana. that's the travel trouble spots. the forecast as we go throughout the week, that storm gives up wet weather in the middle of the country. but watch as the east coast warms up by sunday into the 60s in areas in new england. so it's about time we get a break after those two epic storms. new york city , gas rationing now 11 days after the storm hit. you're watching " morning joe " brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] if someone asks what it