Transcript from CNN's The Situation Room Aired on March 8,2010
BLITZER: The time for debate is now over. When it comes to health care reform, President Obama is keeping Washington and the news media right in the crosshairs. Let's listen to the president -- he was all fired up talking outside Philadelphia today.
OBAMA: Who won the news cycle? That's jut how Washington is. They can't help it. They are obsessed with the sport of politics. And so that's the environment in which elected officials are operating. And you've seen all the pundits pontificating and talking over each other on the cable shows and they're yelling and shouting and they can't help themselves. That's what they do.
BLITZER: Let's discuss what the president is saying with David Gergen, our senior political analyst and our CNN political contributors James Carville and Ed Rollins. James, you're smiling like that. In my many years here in Washington, whenever a politician goes after the news media like that, it's a sign of trouble for the politicians.
JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: It is and maybe the president was surprised to find pundits when he came to Washington. But we've been around for quite a while. I don't know if we -- we're probably not deserving of very much. But I don't know if we deserve all the attention we're getting from the president.
BLITZER: Yes.
CARVILLE: But we're here, and been here for quite a while and probably be around for a while.
BLITZER: He doesn't like that cable chatter, Ed, of which you're a part of that cable chatter.
ED ROLLINS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I've been -- I've been -- I was in the White House when we didn't -- when cable was in its infancy. But it certainly has had an impact. The bottom line is he's the 44th man to serve in the Oval Office. Every single president at some point in time has complained about the media, whether it's pamphlets in the early days of George Washington or whether it's cable television today. I have found that presidents usually have two great days in the White House, one, the day they get inaugurated, and the second day is when they're out having their library dedicated.
And everything else between is trench warfare. And I think if things are going well, there's no staff dissent. When things are not going well, which they're not going well for this president, then there's a lot of staff dissent and they start a lot of finger pointing. I think this president comes off very whiney and I think it's beneath him. And I think at the end of the day he needs to toughen up. He picked the agenda, he ran with the agenda. He's had a year to try and sell his health care. He's not made the case to the American public and at the end of the day he can't whine about it.
BLITZER: And David, if there was ever a president who had favorable media attention over the past year or two, it was this president. He really did have a nice honeymoon as far as I can recall.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: He had an extraordinary honeymoon as a candidate and in the early days of his presidency. And listen, I think some of the points he's making are well taken. I think he and a number of his aides have been making these points now incessantly for a period of weeks. But I think Ed Rollins has got the bigger point, when you're president, you don't whine about these things.
You learn to play the game well and you master the game so that you get your things done. Everybody inherits politics in Washington that is imperfect and this is -- you know it's terrible politics in Washington today. We all agree the political culture is poisonous. But the point of being president is to learn how to master it so that you -- so it responds to you. And that's what -- you know I think they ought to stop talking about these things and just get on with leading.
BLITZER: I think that's an excellent point, James, because isn't that why there are David Axelrod's or Robert Gibbs in the White House so they can whine about the media coverage, but is it beneath the president to do so? CARVILLE: Well, he's got the North Koreans to deal with. He's got the Iranians to deal with. He's got the Congress to deal with. He's got you know unemployment and collapse in housing market. He's got enough (INAUDIBLE) about a bunch of us flapping our jaws. But the truth of the matter is, is he's in a pretty good position to succeed here.
I mean I think they're awfully close to having the votes on this health care thing, which is going to be utterly historic and for all of our carping and everything, if he gets this thing to his desk, it will cover this thing like you've never seen. I think the economy, a lot of people think (INAUDIBLE) start creating jobs here before long and so look, Mr. President, if you coming in September and you've got health care legislation, and the economy is on the mend again, then you'll be doing pretty good. Don't -- just give it a little time. Maybe this thing will play out your way, but we're not your problem.
BLITZER: Yes and you know what, there's a lot of focus right now, Ed --
BLITZER: -- on Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. Some people are saying the president should have listened more to him, others are saying he's you know way out on the sides right now. How do you read? What do you interpret this little battle over Rahm Emanuel right now?
ROLLINS: I've been on the opposite side of Rahm for a long, long time and he's one of the most able guys I've ever opposed. He has great skill. They're lucky to have him. At the end of the day, when you're the chief of staff, no matter how able you are, whether you're Dick Cheney, was Ford's chief of staff, or Jim Baker, who was Ronald Reagan's chief of staff, you get beat up.
He's getting beat up today. Part of it is there's a little bit of profile problem here, and when you start getting front-page stories saying how great you are, how smart you are, then there's a bunch of people in the background who want to make sure that they know you're not quite so smart. And David and I have both fallen victim to this and probably did a little bit of it. At the end of the day, Rahm has got a tough job and I think he's been a real asset to this president.
BLITZER: David, you worked with him in the Clinton White House?
GERGEN: I agree with Ed Rollins' assessment. I do think these profiles are damaging in part not because they're building up Rahm, but because they're doing so at the expense of the president. You know if the president had only been smart enough to listen to Rahm Emanuel, so goes the argument, he would be a much more effective leader right now.
Well that clearly is not helpful. I think what the president did the other day apparently was to call in his aides and say stop this. I think he has to be -- slam the gate shut on this kind of conversation coming out of the White House and then put his arm around Rahm Emanuel and his other aides and say you're my guys, you're my team, let's go.
BLITZER: All right. Wrap this up for us, James. And I say that --
BLITZER: -- you're one of his best friends, we know that.
CARVILLE: Right, right, right and you know what, he doesn't like these stories any more than other people in the White House like them. I mean (INAUDIBLE) in the morning. You know he can't eat breakfast. He knows they're not any good. I don't know how you stop them. They've taken on a life of their own.
And the truth of the matter is that Rahm is a compelling guy and people like to read about him, write about him and talk about him. And that's just the way it is. You know just get -- just win, baby. Get the health bill through and get this economy on the mend. And you'll be a genius again and everybody will love everybody.
BLITZER: And more articles are on the way, we're told, including --
next Sunday's "New York Times" magazine has a major article on Rahm Emanuel by Peter Baker (ph). All right guys, thanks very much.