Obama victory dazes GOP

>> two days later and republicans are still dazed and confused .

>> back to business and back on the brink.

>> president obama is dealing with the looming fiscal cliff .

>> that could send the country into a recession.

>> that is the issue.

>> people are sick of the gridlock.

>> we are not as divided as our politics suggest.

>> we can seize the feature together.

>> you have speaker boehner.

>> let's do the right thing together for our country.

>> you have to do this.

>> i have never been more hopeful about our future.

>> i know a lot of you are already on my side.

>> i have two strong words for you.

>> fiscal cliff .

>> come on.

>> oh, okay. all right.

>> the fiscal cliff clock ticks on.

>> it was the most expensive political election in history.

>> i big, fat, zero.

>> some soul searching about the featu future of the party.

>> you think i do this night after night for your amusement?

>> how do you repay me?

>> four more years of hope and change.

>> today republican ares battled with republicaned over why they lost an election they were sure they were supposed to win. we know they will never figure it out. today was the president's first full day at the white house .

>> in the coming weeks and months i am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together reducing our deficit reforming our tax code fixing our immigration system and freeing ourselves from foreign oil we have more work to do.

>> this morning the president's senior campaign strategist told the morning joe crew this.

>> on this issue of particularly the fiscal cliff , presidents always say i had a mandate, that is a foolish word and it is generally untrue. but the president did campaign all over this country he talked about it in debates and speeches on the need for balance deficit reduction that included new revenues and he was re-elected in a significant way.

>> eer yerl today republican house speaker said this.

>> raising tax rates is unacceptable and it couldn't pass the house. i laid out a reasonable way forward to avoid the fiscal cliff . that is putting in, increased revenues on the table and through reforming our tax code . it is time for the house to lay this out.

>> you h talk about it even if you believe it is the wrong approach.

>> of course we will talk about it.

>> talk about it. that is enough for rush limbaugh to think that john boehner is a traitor to a noble cause .

>> the night of the election, we are the fire wall . we are the last stand. there would be no tax increases that is out the window now. they are making a huge error if they think that demography did them in. they didn't get their base out. this is not insignificant.

>> i felt there wasn't enough of you in our opening video. that is why i need you here as a guest tonight.

>> i will hog the camera for a long as you like.

>> the camera loves you. that is why you are in there every night.

>> rush is in a panic. he feels there is going to be more bite on his $50 million he takes home every year.

>> this fiscal cliff thing, he can talk all he wants, but those rates go up if they do nothing.

>> they don't have many cards to play. poor john boehner who has the worst job is forced to do this fan dance . the day after the election is intimate that is they can come to the table and strike a bargain but has to shuffle back and keep him in the house and whipped by the gop which is to s say, chastised that this may be tax increased i am of the mibd that there is a big conversation as to where they go from here. and i have a hope that they understand if they are going to survive past 2016 they need to make serious changes not just in terms of having a brown person on stage but really a cultural shift within the party and that includes being able to bargain and putting a plan on the table.

>> it couldn't have gotten worse in january there will be more democratic members of the house of representatives . i don't see any reason for the president and the democrats not to wait until january on doing anything on this. i'm with you 1,000 percent on the off the cliff strategy. we have to get chris an off the cliff button

>> here are two things that i would say. it is very interesting. fiscal cliff was a term coined by ben bernanke . and he was doing it to try to kick congress's butt to do something stimulative. but what has happened is if people think about it as a cliff , they don't understand that you can go off it. it is not just a slope. it is a little driveway, i think the rhetoric that has come out around it is bad for the negotiating position for the president because it makes seeming go off the cliff worse than what it is.

>> down the slope a little bit. what will happen is if they do it on january 1st , congress will go into action in the first week of january and anything they legislate can be rote tetro active to that day so no one ends up paying more taxes anyway. the fiscal reality of going off the curve, stepping off the curb.

>> new buttons. i think he learned something during the tax hike you want to get the republican ares to the table. you do not go play golf with them and take them to camp david , you take to the road and say all right this is what the gop is going to do. and that is greater than anything else. we know what the public is thinking. 13 percent are in favor of an increase of all of the tax brackets . increase has support of 37%. 60% say go ahead and pull them up on the income earnings at the top. if this election was about anything. there was one thing that was clear that was at stake in this election it was the top rates for individuals. even if you just watch a little of the debate. there is no question that was probably the central policy issue that was debaited and one side one and one side lost. no one can pretend there is a clear democratic judgement on that policy. the thing about single voters, reproductive vite rights is your single issue and you are a republican woman in new jersey and you are going to vote for the president on this. you are accepting that package with that vote. you are saying rights are important enough to me that i will take the risk of my taxes going up. this was a weird election in so far as we knew there was going to be a big budget conversation. george w. bush doesn't mention security on the campaign trail. that is not what is going on here. this is all we talked about.

>> well, he did have a sentence about it in his convention speech. you know, obama 's pollster argues, i happen to have it here.

>> do you you, quote it, i will tell you if you are right. he said this election was not just about democratics.

>> he said it was a triumph of vision.

>> while americans said mitt romney had a technical understanding of the economy, this was about trusting someone. someone who would fight for a better economic future for your children and that is a huge take away. that is buying into the vision of obama . he said that 52% agreed with president obama 's views and 44% agreed with romney's views.

>> you can't sell people nothing. you may win over latinos and women and latin americans . you can't say they are brown and they are brown

>> this is a key point. i think the discussion has gotten reducktive. people who are latino or asian think about policy and whether they want their taxes to go up or down. there is no question there was ideal logical ratification that happened in this election.

>> what i love about this, they are never going to turn to policy and say what about pro-choice?

>> maybe we should open up to that.

>> it is amazing that rush is saying that less than 48 hours after what is termed a whomping in this race. they cannot take a few days to think about where they want to go.

>> rush never ceases to amaze, alex wagner at 12:00 noon. and chris haze saturday and sunday morning at 8:00 am .

>> thank you for joining me tonight.

>> coming up karl rove saying that democrats expressed the vote.

>> david corn and rob beardert reich will join me on that one. how team obama actually dit. and a last word exclusive the woman responsible for fired up and ready to go. i don't want you to watch unless you have been elected to the senate. i want to have words with newly elected senators secrets that they need to know right now. had to