David Gergen

I thought there was a very subtle shift, Anderson, because coming out of this debate, the conservatives have really been fired up.

Bob Gates, our outgoing defense secretary, has been in government over 30 years, told me before he left this Iranian problem is the most difficult problem he'd seen in government in over 30 years. The hardest problem to solve. There are no…

The Obama administration deserves credit. They have done a lot of work with the Israelis on defense, you know, protection, on missile protection and that sort of thing.

There's a great deal of distrust on both sides of the other side and on the Israeli side, they just don't trust President Obama whether he's going to use force or not.

The United States really does not want to get into a conflict with Iran.

The Israelis are telling the United States look, the red line is when the Iranians get the technological capability to build a bomb, we then feel we have to attack.

It's almost inexplicable, except this White House has been focused on this campaign for a long time and it's paying off at the polls, but it's not paying off in terms of foreign policy.

At a time like this, as you say, with so much turmoil in the Middle East, to refuse to meet Middle Eastern leaders, the president of Egypt wanted a meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel.

It's almost inexplicable except this White House has been focused on this campaign for a long time and it's paying off at the polls but it's not paying off in terms of foreign policy.

They matter enormously. And one of the models that President Obama has and President George H.W. Bush, President Bush senior.

At a time like this as you say with so much turmoil in the Middle East, to refuse to meet Middle Eastern leaders, the president of Asia, Egypt wanted a meeting, you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel...

This is very consistent I think with Romney as someone -- you know, he wavered back and forth in his statements but... the Palestinians just don't believe in it, and therefore it's not going to happen.

This is very consistent I think with Romney, someone -- he wavers back and forth in his statements.

Mitt Romney still has a very reasonable chance to take this. It is putting more and more pressure on him, not only to tie the first debate, but to win the first debate.

If two-thirds of the people in the country already think that we are going to be in better shape a year from now, why change horses in midstream?

If people -- if two-thirds of the people in the country think that we're going to be in better shape a year from now why change horses in mid-stream?

I think it can have a dampening effect in fact, Anderson. I mean, there's no question that Democrats leaving Charlotte this morning, the euphoria of just a couple nights ago after the Clinton speech when they really thought they could get…

You know, what the president laid out last night was we have two paths. One goes in the Republican direction. One goes in the Democratic direction. He laid out a strong case for why follow me. But with the jobs report today, the…

If we still know where the belt line is in politics anymore.

I think they're working more for President Obama than they are for Mitt Romney.

That's not right. That's not true.

The Obama campaign thinks they can put this Romney/Ryan ticket away on this issue.

This is good for the country to have a conversation about Medicare now, to see if we can't get to the bottom of this.

I think it's a case of the best defense is a good offense.

It's good for the country to have a conversation about Medicare now.