David Gergen

I think he's addled by all of this. In some ways, you know, he's become a political corpse. The best thing we can do is draw -- put a sheet over him and move on.

It's sort of looking that way, Anderson, I must say. And, tonight, there -- there are signs that, under pressure from the left, the president is reconsidering and may not just flip and then flop, but may flip back and may wind up where he…

I would advise, don't let this thing dangle in the wind much longer. Get it resolved. Get all your people in and get it resolved.

Get it resolved. Get all your people in and get it resolved.

We want to get the folks back on what's most important in this country right now, and that is this weakened, deteriorating, and painful economy.

And to come at this last minute with essentially a 2,000-page- plus bill and say we would like to add a few amendments for Republicans, it's just not going to fly.

Republicans believe that this is a fundamentally flawed plan. And I think he mischaracterized the Republican opposition today.

I'm deeply troubled by what it means for the country.

It's going to be -- clearly, the Republicans are going to call foul and say it's yet another deal by the Democrats.

The president seems to be in a tight spot here. If he doesn't get something passed this year, his base is going to be furious.

I think it came out to be a draw. I don't think the president probably got the momentum he hoped in order to get over this reconciliation mountain.

Yes, I think it can happen. He's going to have to scramble to get the votes for -- to move this bill through the Senate and the House with the reconciliation process.

But there's also this question, is it wise to pass a bill, major landmark social legislation with only one party voting for it and the other party completely opposed?

I think it came out to be a draw. And I don't think the president probably got the momentum he hoped in order to -- to get over this reconciliation mountain.

Is it wise to pass major social legislation when the polls show, on a consistent basis, that the public is basically, you know, 15 points against it?

Mr. President, basically this is going very well, militarily. This is a big offensive. We will be seeing some more offensives at other districts but they are likely to be smaller. This is likely to be the biggest one.

He finally had encouraging news today when he met with his top national security people.

The military option is going to remain on the table. They will not take that off the table.

There is a view in the administration that many things happen in the Middle East, but Iran getting nuclear weapons would be a game-changer.

They are getting traction, the United States is getting traction with the Pakistanis. That is very encouraging.

Iran still doesn't seem to be getting the message. They are dragging their heels. They are trying to play games.

They think that they can -- they are making progress in Pakistan, and they think that the offensive, the biggest offensive since 2001, really, in Afghanistan is working as well as could be expected.

The main option is sanctions.

This is one more seat that is now very much in play this fall. And it's -- there is a growing possibility that goes beyond mathematics now that the Republicans could actually pull off a huge upset and take back the Senate.

Evan Bayh had a voting record -- he had the highest record -- highest amount of opposition of any Democratic senator to President Obama.