David Gergen

I think that they always felt that they would work it out as the process went along.

The crisis is urgent. And he has a lot of popular support. So, I think he has the presidential authority, the clout, so to speak, to get this done.

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.

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.

I just fundamentally disagree that the Securities and Exchange Commission wasn't set up to police and enforce a set of rules about transparency and honesty and fraud.

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…

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

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 need better people to go into the SEC. We've denigrated government jobs so much we don't have the kind of talented people that once went in there.

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.

It's now apparent that this is going to be -- we're back to, maybe not politics as usual. We have still got a lot of partisanship in Washington.

The sense of euphoria that the country had just after the inauguration that a new day has arrived evaporated yesterday with this vote.

It's important to remember that Bill Clinton, when he was president -- and Paul Begala will remember this -- he didn't get a single Republican vote on his budget plan in the beginning.

I think both sides are approaching this with some qualms, but they also feel, especially Democrats feel they have no choice.

It's important to remember that Bill Clinton when he was president -- and Paul Begala will remember this -- he didn't get a single Republican vote on his budget plan in the beginning.

It says, Anderson, he's doing today what he did last night with that Arab television interview. And that is, he is trying to set a new tone in Washington and in the way Washington deals with the world.

There are deep philosophical differences which, in some cases, are non-negotiable.

What Barack Obama very much needs now is a Jack Welch-type figure to come in and to run this stimulus program and especially to oversee the spending side.

I think the White House response has not been adequate in this area.

It says Anderson, he's doing today what he did last night with that Arab television interview, and that is he's trying to set a new tone in Washington in the way Washington deals with the world.

This is a man who has very, very large ambitions to change the world, to remake America, remake the world.

He's trying to appeal to the moderates in the Arab and Muslim world. He's trying to rally them and then isolate Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda as best he can so that he can overwhelm them politically.