Republicans continue to oppose Obama

>> one of the questions that the republican party is going to have to ask itself is can they say yes to anything? can they say yes to anything?

>> well, the short answer is not anything that comes from president obama .

>> a chain of fierce politicking is under way.

>> leaks don't happen in washington by accident.

>> there is no leadership on the other side of the aisle.

>> the president really doesn't want immigration reform .

>> with the president in the republican's cross hairs over immigration.

>> the obama plan, a backup plan.

>> with the level of hostility from the president, i think it is very hard to imagine that his bill is going to pass the house.

>> the president has never really had great luck in congress.

>> if the president proposes legislation, do you think it will fail?

>> of course, of course it will.

>> with no other explanation given?

>> of course it will.

>> congress has not been very productive in the last couple of terms.

>> they do wait until the last couple of minutes.

>> the so-called sequester. the blame game is under way.

>> the president who designed the sequester.

>> everybody is blaming everybody.

>> here is my belief, let's take obama care and put it on the table. obama care is destroying health care in the country.

>> he needs cameras and likes to be on tv.

>> let's don't cut military.

>> these cuts are a really bad idea.

>> the president has never really had great luck in congress.

>> there is no leadership on the other side of the aisle.

>> he is really not serious, and therefore no agreement.

>> if the president proposes legislation, do you think it will fail?

>> of course.

>> this is just not cool anymore.

>> it is just ridiculous.

>>> the obama white house has drafted an immigration proposal which got leaked over the weekend, provoking barack obama first responders, marco rubio staff to issue this less than half-baked press release. the president's bill repeats the failures of past legislation. it is half-baked and seriouslily fl -- seriously flawed, a factual proposal of the president's bill would be dead on arrival in congress. so what version of an obama bill would not be dead on arrival in congress?

>> an obama plan led and driven by obama , in this atmosphere with the level of hostility towards the president and the way he goads the hostility, i think it is very hard to imagine his bill will pass the house.

>> the president obviously has some thoughts about immigration reform which he has drafted and gotten his agencies to comment on. if the president proposes legislation do you think it will fail?

>> of course. of course it will.

>> steve kornacki, in the "we hate obama world" of republican congressional politics, i guess it does make sense to me if the president gets his name on something those guys will try to kill it. so why the leak of an obama plan?

>> yeah, well, first of all i think this is something that is worth keeping in mind through all the big policy debates coming up. for instance, look at sequester and potentially another grand bargain where obama says he wants to balance the approach, more tax revenue and the republican response to that is always okay, now be specific, put a plan forward. this is what is going to happen if obama puts a plan forward on the entitlements and everything else. they're going to immediately reject it. that said, i think there is a dance here. it is a really messed up, screwed up dance that will ultimately get us to a kind of immigration reform . basically, if the psychology of the republican party , can't be obama -led or obama 's bill, it can't be obama leading the republicans around. it could be obama putting the plan out, republicans talking about how it is tyranny, king obama , everything they're doing now. eventually, maybe a week or month from now, whatever it is, they come back with something very similar to the framework that obama is laying out right now. but the republicans get to convince everybody they laid it out. it is essential in the republican world that it is seen arre as something they forced on obama and fought him.

>> can they do that now that there is an obama plan out there?

>> they can do that. i agree they don't like him --

>> how long did it conclude take you to conclude the particular point?

>> that is why i'm here, the big ideas , it goes to the critics and haters, critics may disagree for a reason, usually just a point or alternative, haters are just going to hate. and what we have in the republican caucus , a dominate hater strain. there are not a lot of people that want to do anything. that is what chuck hagel has in common, you could be the most conservative senator, john mccain 's pick for the cabinet. as soon as you get a little bit of obama on you they can't work with you. and it is their problem, a lot of us have to deal with it but it is fundamentally a failure of the republican party and it is why they're going to continue to lose elections in and perhaps past the obama era.

>> paul ryan wanted a piece of this anti-immigration obama stuff, so let's listen to him.

>> leaking it out does set things in the wrong direction. the things we have to ask ourselves, particularly with the white house is president obama looking for a bipartisan law? and without addressing future flow, by giving advantage who cut in front of line for immigrants who came here legally, not dealing with border security adequately, that tells us he is looking for a bipartisan advantage, and not a solution.

>> steve , it tells us it is not actually a complete legislative proposal.

>> it is a starting point, and again, one of the republican's favorite lines in attacking it. they switch back and forth. a favorite line against obama , is that he has not been specific. he said things that sound good, but never puts the proposal out first. why won't the president lead or step forward ? you could say if the lead came from the white house , it is a little weird it leaked. if it comes from the white house , this is the president taking the initiative here and saying here are the basic principles that i will insist on. instead of taking it and saying okay, this is where we disagree, this is tyranny, the white house only interested in pleasing the base. it shows that the argument will work back, as far as the republicans are concerned, it does go back ward.

>> i am sick of paul ryan , people saying that we don't know. we had the dream act , it had the majority of senators behind it. it was filibusters by people like rand and we have the record, we know it was about governing. not just politicking. and not just a lie, so they make it look like it was all a machination, they have had support since 2010 .

>> it is not just me who thought that the response was half baked . let's listen to george will on this.

>> were you struck on how over the top marco rubio 's response was to this? i mean it was a draft, the white house was not putting it out. he came out blazing on this.

>> i would like to see the details on what he finds in it that is offensive or left out or that is important to add to it. in that sense, it strikes me as this may tell us something about the many conflicting pressures on marco rubio , he has been on the cover of time, called the savior of the republican party . i am sure he has heard from some in the republican party that don't want to be saved with the kind of immigration reform he has in mind.

>> i think it does show the pressure, the nature of it, oh, we have to get something out right away.

>> rubio is in a weird position, he has been given leeway by some of the republicans, made the rounds on the cable shows. he got positive response, saying we do need to move in a direction of immigration reform , you are the guy to deliver this. but at the same time, you have enormous resistance, a number of republican house members who will probably never vote against it. who are going to demagogue it, and again, obama dictating terms to rubio.

>> you can't have the president dictating.

>> well, it is grandstanding to the base. he can't be seen as cooperating with obama , he has to be seen as forcing obama , and lindsey graham , that is the same thing --

>> i have been waiting for this one, this one i have been waiting for since the day obama care passed. the proposals now to cut obama care. let's listen to what lindsey graham said? let's take obama care and put it on the table, if you want to look at 10.2 trillion savings in the next decade, let's look at obama care.

>> ari, when budget strains come along, there is always a look at medicare, democrats have done cost savings over the years, medicaid-cut cost savings. why wouldn't they also look at obama care which actually benefits the population with more resources than the medicaid population?

>> well, i think the main reason is that it will be seen as obama cost saving, rather than increasing device. you look at lindsey graham , how is he getting to work? is he taking a delorean, did he come to work three years ago? this guy is living in the past . they have gone nowhere. again, i don't mean to be so negative and worked up tonight. but we are just watching something frozen in time, full of amber and anger. it may be the first time clinton picked up seats, obama may be on the way to that. this may be good for democrats in return. it is not good for the country to be so frozen and reflexively anti- obama .

>> steve kornacki, and ari melber.