Are Americans ready for a more liberal White House agenda?

>>> the times, they are changing apparently. new gallup analysis shows america is becoming slightly more liberal and slightly less conservative than it was in 2011 . does that americans are ready for a more liberal white house agenda? i want to bring in a brain trust here. aisha, based on the latest gallup analysis showing americans are slightly more liberal, do we think this this country has had some sort of tech on t techtonic shift or is it more incremental than that?

>> i think it's more incremental than that, but i think what we're really seeing is a demographic shift . we're realizing that the values and principles of millennials, people of color are actually resonating now in our political possess in a way that they didn't before. i think that's why we're seeing this move towards liberal ideas and values.

>> this is something that's near and dear to you specifically as well. the president has seemed to go from a candidate who was a little uncomfortable with same-sex civil unions . he went from that to he supports same-sex marriage. he mentioned gay rights in his inaugural address , first president ever to do that. now we're talking about that being a part of comprehensive immigration reform . does president obama -- does he very much want to be considered the gay president? does he want that to be a major part of his legacy?

>> i think he wants his legacy to be one where he worked and fought for all people who were not being treated leaguefully this country. this is a final frontier , when you think about who is being discriminated against en masse, it's going to be lgbt people . more than half the states in this country, i can get fired from my job because i'm gay. my marriage is not treated equally. wha what i think he wants his legacy to be is the opportunity to be the same as neighbors. be it around immigration quality or around lgbt equality, that's what his legacy is going to be.

>> according to this analysis, moderates have pretty much stayed the same. will the president have the hardest time convincing them of his second-term agenda?

>> well, there are only about five left. this country has become divided poll after poll after poll shows that. here you have barack obama , who would fancy himself the inclusive president. an opposition that has really made him turn out to be the divisive president. i think we this real polarization in the united states . i really question the staying power of this trend toward liberalism right now. i think the voters are very, very quickle and i think what happened is the conservative clause was represented in a republican party that basically put forth a bunch of bozos this time, to put it bluntly. i think if they come up with a palatable candidate, i think you'll see a switch.

>> we just got some sound here. president obama sat down before the super bowl , the traditional pre- super bowl interview. we'll talk about it on the other side. but this is the president speaking specifically -- this goes to what you were talking about. he was talking about the situation with the boy scouts . take a listen to what the president said and then we'll talk about it, guys. here he is.

>> next week, the board of the boy scouts of america is going to vote on whether to end their national ban on gays and scouting. should scouting be open to gays?

>> yes.

>> why so?

>> well, because i think that my attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does. in every institution and walk of life .

>> there you have it.

>> it's that simple. it's that simple. everybody should have the same access, the same opportunities, be treated equally. and that's exactly what the president is talking about. and i think that most americans would agree. so to be able to create institutions in this day and age that say we don't want a certain type of person to be a member, it's just plain flat-out discrimination and i don't think we should accept that in the united states and neither does he.

>> did the president say anything that surprised you at all, robert?

>> the one hesitation i have about calling president obama the champion of gay rights is that if you look at his record politically speak, it took him until 2012 to have his evolution on gay marriage . perhaps in the second term he's making a lot of positions and statements that show him to be a champion of gay rights but it took him a long time to get to this place. so i don't think it's appropriate to immediately say he's the leader. there are a lot of leaders in the gay rights movement . i don't think president obama has a spotless record on that.

>> are you implying, robert costa , that the president may have seen a political opportunity with that particular community? is that the implications?

>> i'm not a psychologist, i can't read the president's mind, but i know politically speaking it took him until 2012 late into his first term to come to this --

>> the record speaks for itself. i don't want to say that the president has been the most friendly --

>> let me say briefly, i appreciate your point and i appreciate, for instance, the fact that the president mentioned this --

>> has done more than any other president, actually.

>> my whole point is that it took him a while to get to this position, and even people in the gay rights community have raised questions about why it took him so many years.

>> first of all, he's inherently a leader because he's president of the united states , point number one. number two, it's important to note that i had the suspicion that that entire interview we were just watching was lip-synched.