David Gergen

There are some hotheads in each party who would like to destroy the other party and see it as war.

He's certainly in danger of being the only person who seems to carry the ball publicly for them.

The lesson is, it's going to be very hard to get things through Congress. There's going to be no rubber-stamp up there.

I think he's in great shape with the American people. I think he may be in deeper economic trouble.

Absolutely not. And I think that he's in danger of being over-exposed and he's certainly in danger of being the only person who seems to carry the ball publicly for them.

Well, the lesson is it's going to be very hard to get things through Congress. There will be no rubber stamp up there. These three Republicans had the whip hand on this negotiation.

It's important not only to have a plan. But this administration needs an economic spokesman who can speak with authority and be respected for what he says or she says.

Nancy Pelosi seems to be sending messages that she's willing to compromise, realizes that necessity requires that. Wants to get the bill done and is trying to be loyal.

This stimulus package was going to jolt the economy. It may not do that for a long time for many Americans.

Now we've become the biggest debtors in the world. It does give China more power vis-a-vis the United States.

I think in the next few years we're going to be spending a lot of time, Ali, not only worried about how do we restore ourselves internally. But this question of America within the world is also very important.

We stepped back too far. You need to get the SEC and we need better people to go into the SEC.

What the administration is planning is just after they get this stimulus package passed, which they will get -- they will be disappointed about the number of Republican votes, obviously.

I think there's a remarkable consensus actually among economists on both left and right. Including many strong pre-market economists are saying the government should stimulate now, the government should inject money into the system now and…

But politically, we haven't seen a President come in with this deep a reservoir of support, of trust, of confidence as Barack Obama has.

Yes, it's just a spoonful of bipartisanship, Anderson. It's not a bucket.

The White House has got to play a very forceful role of negotiations to get this done.

And I think there's going to be a fairly forceful clash next week.

Ultimately they need to get the House to vote again in favor and the Senate to vote again in favor.

I think there's going to be a fairly forceful clash next week after all the House Democrats voted unanimously for their bill.

I do not think the stimulus bill is out of reach for him.

Had they brought the Republicans in on the House side and had more of a bipartisan bill coming out of the House to begin with and the president had forced that through, he'd be in a stronger position with the country now.

It's all about getting this thing passed, getting the 60 votes, Anderson, so they can shut off any possibility of a filibuster.

I feel very strongly that way, that, if he's going to make this bipartisan, he's going to have to say no to some of these marginal Democratic programs.

I think they're backsliding some. I did not agree with Ed Henry's assessment that he has an uphill battle.