David Gergen

I think we're in a 'three strikes and you're out.' I think this is just the first strike.

I think we expect the director of national intelligence to know when some big operation is going down against al Qaeda by one of our closest friends in the world.

I do think it's going to -- an embarrassment. He doesn't want another one like this, because I think that really will be damaging.

He was very tough. President Obama said today at the State Department he was one tough son of a gun. And that's exactly right.

I think he actually made what I think is a problem for Obama is that Bill Clinton makes a better argument for the compromise than President Obama did the other day.

It should have been accompanied by a commitment on -- a hard commitment on spending cuts down the road.

I think President Obama has a self-confidence and inner security, that this wouldn't faze him at all. And I think he thinks that, you know, well, what's the big deal?

I think the Republicans are -- I understand that they made terrible mistakes in the Bush years letting the deficit, letting spending get as much out of control as they did.

If this Congress is going to be serious, the next Congress is going to be serious, we're going to have to turn this whole thing -- we're going to have to do a U-turn in what we're -- the kind of policies we have been seeing coming out of…

It's going to be the middle class. A lot of the mortgage deductions are going to get trimmed back. A lot of other things are going to get trimmed back.

When we get serious about deficit reduction, you know who's really going to get hit hard? It's going to be the middle class.

It reeks of hypocrisy.

The sooner the president and the Congress level with the American people, the better.

I think it's very wise, in time, particularly in these -- when we're so tight on the budget, to cut this stuff out.

If they get this 1 percent, OK, let's go for the next 3 percent, let's go for the next 5 percent.

The press actually did uncover some of this. Now, let's be clear about this. We didn't know about this housing business and 17 years of unpaid taxes, had the press not gotten into it.

I think it's very wise in time, particularly in these -- when -- when we're so tight on the budget, to cut this stuff out.

If they get this one percent, ok, let's go for the three percent -- let's go for the next five percent.

I think it was partially correct and partially incorrect.

I do think that the larger significance is that Sarah Palin has gone after the Federal Reserve.

The working conventional wisdom in politics is, Barack Obama's going to win in part because it's a weak field running against him.

If President Obama says, 'I am serious about Social Security reform, and I'm even willing to look at Medicare reform', then I think, in taking on his base on those issues, it would -- you cannot cut this deficit sufficiently unless you --

To have someone like Rubio out there -- getting Christine O'Donnell off the screen and getting Rubio on the screen is a big step forward for the Republicans.

Getting unemployment down -- I think Ari is absolutely right. It's way too early to talk about 2012 until you know what happens in 2011.

I don't think he made a sufficient pivot to the center today. He has to do that, I think, through policies and through personnel.