Announcer: This is THE CHRIS MATTHEWS SHOW.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, host:
America's new look. Barack Obama vowed to be a new face of America, and the
world likes what it sees. But can even a new, exciting leader avoid the toxic
inheritance of bad banking and "anything goes" governance? Can the United
States of Obama steam past the wreckage of a sloppy ship?
La belle Michelle. Is the continent's love affair with the new first lady a
huge boost to the president?
And finally: next stop, chop shop? In pressuring big auto, has President
Obama endangered himself? If Detroit falls, will he be the fall guy?
Hi, I'm Chris Matthews. Welcome to the show.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Profile: Norah O'Donnell from MSNBC, Dan Rather from HDNet, Anne
Kornblut from The Washington Post and John Heilemann from New York
magazine discuss Europe's love of President Obama and Michelle,
Detroit's future; Tell Me Something I Don't Know
CHRIS MATTHEWS, host:
Norah O'Donnell's chief Washington correspondent for MSNBC. Dan Rather's
global correspondent for HDNet. Anne Kornblut covers the Obama White House
for The Washington Post. And John Heilemann covers politics for New York
Magazine.
First up: With the world craving a new American leadership, Barack Obama took
his presidency on tour this week. The optics of the G20 were sparkling for
the new president and for Michelle Obama. When JFK made his first trip in
1961, the image was just as glowing. Those pictures of Kennedy and Jackie
charming the old guard on the continent, they live on. But the reality, as
Kennedy quietly confessed, was that staggering meeting with Nikita Khrushchev.
Barack Obama has to hope that the world's fascination with him produces real
impact. His message to Europe was his trademark: change.
President BARACK OBAMA: (Friday) It is a revolutionary world that we live in,
and history shows us that we can do improbable, sometimes impossible, things.
In a new century we must hold firm to our common values, hold firm to our
faith in one another. Together I am confident that we can achieve the promise
of a new day. Thank you very much.
MATTHEWS: Dan, there's appearance, there's reality, there's something in the
middle. And this trip that Kennedy took back in '61, I remember it. He came
across as glowing and beautiful, and Jackie was dazzling. But only a couple
days later he--we found out Khrushchev was frightening in those meetings about
a possible third world war. In this case, how do you measure the picture and
the reality?
Mr. DAN RATHER (HDNet Global Correspondent): Well, first of all, even more
today than was the case with President John Kennedy, the picture is part of
the reality. Can't separate the two. The pictures were good, the sound was
good. The president and the first lady came across well. That's good news
for the States overseas; it's also good news for President Obama at home.
Something to worry about and something I think the Obama team is worried
about, and that is the anti-Bush feeling, rightly or wrongly, that existed
around the world--and particularly in Europe, places like some parts of South
America--morphing into a new anti-Americanism.
MATTHEWS: Right.
Mr. RATHER: And they'll be working to keep that from happening. And in the
background of all the good pictures and sounds out of Europe there is that
concern in the Obama circle.
MATTHEWS: John, ingenue or heavyweight? How'd he come across?
Mr. JOHN HEILEMANN (New York): Well, I think, you know, there's style and
there's substance. And as Dan said, you can't totally extricate the two. On
style, I mean, he looked like he was every bit the equal of everyone else on
that stage, and I think he wins on that front. I mean, obviously he's
glamorous and he's charismatic and all that stuff. And like I say, he looked
like he had the gravitas to stand up there with any of those people.
On the substance, the G20 summit, at least, didn't get everything that America
wanted. Obama wanted to get this big stimulus package through; it didn't
happen. But it's interesting. You know, in the context of the--of the
Kennedy-Khrushchev thing, we're at the 20-year anniversary of the end of the
Cold War. And that period, the Kennedy/Khrushchev period, you had two big
countries that were threatening to annihilate each other constantly.
MATTHEWS: Right.
Mr. HEILEMANN: Now you have 20 countries, you got to get them all to agree
to get anything done. And that's the world we wanted, but it's a much more
complicated world to deal with in the face of this financial crisis. And in
that context, it's hard, hard work. And Obama did pretty well in that
context, I think.
Ms. NORAH O'DONNELL (MSBNC Chief Washington Correspondent): But this is also
about President Obama debuting on the world stage and getting his first face
to face with these other world leaders. And you can bet they size each other
up; `Is this man the leader of the free world?' And so he had a very long
meeting with the Russian President Medvedev, and, strikingly, they came out
and said this was a serious meeting, a substantive meeting.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Ms. O'DONNELL: This was not the same first meeting that President Bush and
President Putin had when President Bush said, "I looked into his eyes and saw
his soul." That was sort of more this more personal comfort, joking thing.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Ms. O'DONNELL: This was much more serious, and they made that clear. And
also, White House officials also made clear that at the end of this summit
that the president broke up a fight between the Chinese and between the
French, like he was the one creating compromise.
MATTHEWS: With the muscle.
Ms. O'DONNELL: So in some way, looks like the world leader there.
MATTHEWS: Dan?
Ms. ANNE KORNBLUT (White House Correspondent, The Washington Post): And I
would--and I would add to that, if you compare it with President Bush's first
trips abroad, President Obama has seemed really engaged in this trip.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Mm-hmm.
Ms. KORNBLUT: He has been working around the clock, talking to the reporters
who are on this trip. They have been exhausted and run ragged. He wants to
be there. Unlike President Bush on a couple of those first early trips,
wanted to get home early, wasn't really engaged, so.
MATTHEWS: Oh, yeah. I--the relish--he relished this trip.
Ms. KORNBLUT: He...
MATTHEWS: Anne, what struck me was--and I'm a Churchill buff, like a lot of
us. But when he said it isn't the old world where Roosevelt and Churchill
could have a--sit over a sifter of--sifter--whatever you call that stuff.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Brandy.
Ms. KORNBLUT: Sip of brandy.
MATTHEWS: Sifter***(as spoken)***of brandy and decide the world. And it
shouldn't be like that. He was relishing this multiplicity of nations.
Ms. KORNBLUT: Exactly. And he was quick to say, after he said that, `We are
happy to have China here as an emerging, you know, market.' And so I think his
sense of history actually was pretty striking. I mean, he was the one...
MATTHEWS: OK.
Ms. KORNBLUT: ...who brought up the comparison to Bretton Woods, not
somebody else.
MATTHEWS: Dan, you raised a point which I've been thinking about.
Mr. RATHER: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: There is an anti-Americanism that's just not personal. It's not
against the Southern president from Texas...
Mr. RATHER: Exactly.
MATTHEWS: ...Bush. What's this anger about us, about our banking system,
about our derivatives market and all that? Is that going to linger? You
suggested it might.
Mr. RATHER: I think it might. I think the Obama people have to be a bit
worried about that. And you put your finger right on it. It isn't personal,
as it was with President Bush. Again, rightly or wrongly, a lot of it was
personal style with President Bush, just didn't like him as a person. Here,
talking about, listen, America was supposed to be the economic leader, and
look what their banking system, total disaster. So it's a new kind of
anti-Americanism that's alive, and not just in Europe. If you listen to what
the Brazilian president has been saying, for example, it's out there alive and
working. And what the Obama people--they recognize it's toxic, and they don't
want it to be affixed to him.
Ms. O'DONNELL: I--the way it's been described to me is that there...
MATTHEWS: I think so.
Ms. O'DONNELL: ...was so much arrogance in the Bush administration, that
then when we saw America in some ways collapse, its financial system in some
ways start to collapse, there was chuckling around the world.
Mr. HEILEMANN: This global animus isn't just towards America. I think
there's actually--it's a populist moment around the world.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Mm.
Mr. HEILEMANN: And people are actually angry at all pol--at the political
class. I was actually on my own private state visit to Europe a couple weeks
ago, and I heard about it from all the Italians that I talked to, that they
talk about the political class with great anger. It actually helps Obama,
because he doesn't seem like he's part of that.
MATTHEWS: Who do they hate?
Mr. HEILEMANN: He's--they hate all politicians. They hate all of these
leaders. There's an anti-establishment feeling. Obama doesn't look like the
rest of those leaders.
MATTHEWS: His very finesse-ful handling of GM by whacking them, basically,
saying, `Your head's off'...
Mr. HEILEMANN: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: Can he do some--again, does he have to do something like that with
Wall Street? Has he got to take on Geithner, take on these Wall Street guys
and say, `Look, I'm the boss. I'm with the people. You're part of the bad
problem.'
Mr. HEILEMANN: I like your idea that finesse is cutting a guy's head off.
But--says a lot--says a lot about you. But I'm...
MATTHEWS: Subtle.
Mr. HEILEMANN: You know, look, I think he needs to be--as I just said, I
think he needs to be in the right place. He can't--he does not want to have
Wall Street hating him and not on board, because he needs them. He needs the
financial sector to win.
MATTHEWS: Anne, at the White House do they know this conundrum they face,
that the more they have to deal with guys like these guys on Wall Street, the
more they look like--to the world--the bad guys?
Ms. KORNBLUT: Well, I'm not sure there are any heads left to cut off at this
point. I mean, I think the problem, they don't have a GM equivalent on Wall
Street left. But I do think he's tried to keep that distance so far.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Mr. RATHER: Well, I respectfully disagree. The head of Citibank is out
there, there are any number of these banking people out there. I think--and
again, with all respect--I think he does have to whack somebody in the banking
business. And here's part of the reason why. Taking on GM, it's the Midwest.
It's a company that employs people that--someone said guys who take a shower
when they get home from work.
Ms. O'DONNELL: (Unintelligible) Yeah.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Mr. RATHER: He has to whack a head--he has to do the same thing he did with
GM on some East Coast banking head.
Mr. HEILEMANN: Right.
MATTHEWS: Now you're talking like a Texan.
Mr. RATHER: Get the message down--you bet--to the guys who take showers
before they go to work.
MATTHEWS: Right. Let me ask you about--now that we've gotten through the
dirty part of our job, let's talk about the fun part, Michelle Obama.
You first.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, she stunned the world, and there's no doubt she is
incredibly glamorous. But I also was so struck about when she choked up...
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Ms. O'DONNELL: ...talking to these schoolgirls who are mostly minority in
London. And I got the sense that she's now fully understanding the power of
first lady; that she can in some ways be a positive force around the world.
There are many economists and experts who say the best way to begin to change
the world in developing countries is to start with girls and women.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Because they are the main purchasers of goods and...
MATTHEWS: Princess Diana there, I felt, something of that. Do you...
Ms. O'DONNELL: I think so, and I think--but a little bit more substance in
terms of...
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Ms. O'DONNELL: ...Michelle Obama, she can use both the glamour and the
style, she knows how to use that. Not be resentful of it, but use it as a way
to create a rock star quality...
MATTHEWS: Oh, God.
Ms. KORNBLUT: Princess Diana, but who showed up at the--at--to visit the
queen wearing a J.Crew sweater that everyone made notice of. So she was able
to both bridge that gap and also be in the presence of the queen.
MATTHEWS: Wow. It's an amazing story. Can you imagine when they go to--she
goes--Michelle Obama, the first lady, goes to Nairobi?
So what's the bottom line about the president's impact this week? We put that
to The Matthews Meter, 12 of our regulars. Was the president's trip more
successful because of his personal appeal or for concrete policy achievements?
Well, no surprise here, nine say it was about personal appeal, three say it
was about policy.
John, you and Norah say personal. How deep do you go with that?
Mr. HEILEMANN: Well, I think the substance--I think the substantive
accomplishments were pretty modest, and so the personal stuff matter--has
mattered the most. And I think it's not--but it's--really is important in
the--in the financial sense, right? The markets care about the perception of
confidence. And so even though Obama didn't achieve that much...
MATTHEWS: Right.
Mr. HEILEMANN: ...he looked like he was achieving a lot. And you saw the
markets go up on Thursday and Friday last week...
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Mr. HEILEMANN: ...as a response.
MATTHEWS: He's got a big agenda when he gets home: health, education,
energy. Will this help him?
Ms. O'DONNELL: Yes. I think he called this a turning point. If he can look
like he's encouraging or has confidence in the global market, he can then turn
his attention here at home. He's definitely still got a battle with his own
party. But if he looks like the global leader on the economy, that only
enhances his political power here at home.
MATTHEWS: Will this help him with the conservative Democrats?
Mr. RATHER: It certainly will help him with conservative Democrats. The
combination of what it does for him in public opinion polls--and do not
underestimate what it does from public opinion polls to the first lady. And
what she does--you mentioned Princess Diana. She has a more earthy appeal to
her.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Mr. RATHER: And to--single biggest public relations plus for them so far, I
think, is Michelle Obama out planting in the back of the White House.
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I saw it.
Mr. RATHER: Planting the seeds. All of the rest of the stuff pales by
comparison.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Yeah.
Mr. RATHER: I'd like to be in the household when they discuss--it won't be
far coming down the line--Michelle Obama goes up to, say, 70 percent approval
rating, and the president goes down to maybe 57 to 59 percent. I'd love to be
a fly on the wall when they discuss that.
MATTHEWS: Well, maybe she can carry him.
Mr. HEILEMANN: She's ahead of him now. She's ahead of him now.
MATTHEWS: OK, let's get--let's get Anne the question. How's it help with the
domestic agenda you cover?
Ms. KORNBLUT: Oh, well, I mean, immeasurably, I think, because in the poll
numbers that Dan referenced--one of the things people wanted in this last
election was for America's standing around the world to be restored, or at
least for us to perceive that it's been restored. And I think what we're
going to see coming out of this trip is a lot of foreign headlines, a lot of
praise from foreign leaders...
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Ms. KORNBLUT: ...that make people feel like that actually has happened.
MATTHEWS: I'm with you on that. John:
Mr. HEILEMANN: Anything that gives him--that makes him look like he has
momentum, and certainly anything that makes the markets go up helps him
enormously politically at home.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Right.
MATTHEWS: Well, we'll see. They're looking good.
Before we break, it was the week of the European trip, but it began with
Barack Obama's big move on Detroit. Now that he's got General Motors under
his wing, a lot hangs in the balance, especially in the Midwest politically.
Exactly 20 years ago, General Motors was in the sights of filmmaker Michael
Moore. In "Roger & Me" Moore, a child of Flint, Michigan, went after GM
chairman Roger Smith and the company that was already beginning its fall.
(Clip from "Roger & Me")
MATTHEWS: What a documentary that was, 20 years ago. When we come back, was
it smart for Barack Obama to take charge of GM? Is there a real pitfall, a
hazard here for him? Plus, scoops and predictions right out of the notebooks
of these top reporters, TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW. Be right back.
(Announcements)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back.
President Obama may have made one of the most consequential decisions of his
already consequential presidency when he fired General Motors chairman Rick
Wagoner last week. We asked The Matthews Meter, 12 of our regulars, did
Barack Obama take ownership, in doing so, of the auto industry? Well, eight
say yes, four say no.
John said yes. You're with the majority, he's really responsible now for the
future of GM, Chrysler, the whole big Motown situation.
Mr. HEILEMANN: I think that's right. And I think it--look, I think this is
a prelude to an--to a orderly, structured bankruptcy. I think that's what
this is. I think that's where we're going to get to. And if that's where
we're going to get to, the question then becomes, how orderly? How
structured? What are the impacts? Because in the Midwest, if that--if that
bankruptcy happens and there's mass unemployment, and the dealers are all...
MATTHEWS: Mm-hmm.
Mr. HEILEMANN: ...the dealer networks are all hammered, he's going to have
a--be in a very precarious political situation. Because he's going to be seen
as the guy who pulled the pin.
MATTHEWS: Hm.
Mr. HEILEMANN: And he's going to have to be the one who bears the burden
politically if that ends up having terrible fallout across the region.
MATTHEWS: It reminded me of PATCO, when Reagan fired the traffic controllers.
Big stick.
Mr. RATHER: It's one of those things, if you break it, you bought it. He's
bought it, in effect, and I agree that this looks like the prelude to a
restructuring of--after bankruptcy. And when that happens, remember, that'll
happen just before we get into the next election cycle.
MATTHEWS: Right.
Mr. RATHER: Which I know no one wants to hear about.
MATTHEWS: OK, when those layoffs come, Norah, will people like Jennifer
Granholm, the governor of Michigan, will the congresspeople out there, will
they point their finger and say, `Wasn't my decision. I disagree with the
president on this one'?
Ms. O'DONNELL: Yeah, they will. I think there'll be some pointing fingers
back in Washington. What's remarkable is that the president has now become
the most powerful businessman in America. He's America's CEO. Somebody said
to me the other day the financial capital of the world is not New York
anymore, it's Washington, DC, which is pretty crazy when you think about--when
you think about that.
MATTHEWS: Isn't it crazy when the president says, `I guarantee the warranty
on the GM products'?
Ms. O'DONNELL: Yeah!
MATTHEWS: Like he's going to get your tailpipe fixed or whatever.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, exactly. So what's the number we call at the White
House when it doesn't work?
MATTHEWS: Right.
Ms. O'DONNELL: And so that's the question that many people are asking. If
you get that involved, then how responsible are you for the failures? And
it's a real difficult question for this White House.
MATTHEWS: Was this thought through?
Ms. KORNBLUT: I--well, I think--I think the cautionary note on all the
predictions that he's going to own it would be that all the polling so far
shows that people blame the industry.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Right.
Ms. KORNBLUT: They blame the financial industry, they blame--they blame
government.
Mr. RATHER: True.
Ms. KORNBLUT: I mean, the don't blame government, they--so so far he has not
taken any blame for it. So if there is a reversal, it'll be a real one. But
I'm not sure it'll happen within six months.
MATTHEWS: OK.
Ms. KORNBLUT: I think it might take longer.
MATTHEWS: Will this put a thumb on the scale? Will he now be--feel
politically responsible to make sure GM makes it? In other words, will he get
involved in saving them from bankruptcy because his name is on it now?
Ms. O'DONNELL: I actually think the move that the White House took suggested
that they think they can't save it, by firing the head of GM and by saying,
`Look, we're going to give you another 30 days to try one more time, your
final chance.'
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Ms. O'DONNELL: And if they can't come back, then maybe that's the signal.
But I thought that that was such a dramatic move and an unprecedented move
that it suggested he may have come to the realization, `I don't want to own
this.'
MATTHEWS: Dan?
Mr. RATHER: I think whether he wants to or not, the perception's going to be
he owns it. It may take longer than three or four months, but as we move into
the next election cycle there will be those in labor who say, `Look, our guys
didn't do it. They worked hard.' Management will say, `We didn't do it,
we--the president took it over.'
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Mr. RATHER: He's going to have to live with that.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, my--right.
MATTHEWS: Yeah. Anne?
Ms. KORNBLUT: I mean, he wanted to own the economy. I mean, let's not
forget that last October when the election was at a crossroads, he said, `I'm
the one who can handle the economy. John McCain can't.'
MATTHEWS: OK.
Ms. KORNBLUT: So he's, I think, has set his up--has said on his trip that he
wanted to be remembered for the economy. Well, he's going to get his wish,
clearly.
MATTHEWS: John?
Mr. HEILEMANN: Well, the place where his thumb is going to be on the scale
is in how this restructuring happens, because it's not like GM's just going to
be thrown to some bankruptcy court in Delaware and that's--some judge is going
to set this up. The government is now going to be involved in restructuring
GM, in figuring out how it emerges.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Mr. HEILEMANN: That's where he's going to get judged, not--you know, if he
can manage that process through and it comes out successful on the other side,
then that's fine. I do find it amazingly weird, though, the whole thing; I
mean, the idea of the government coming in and saying to Chrysler, which is
clearly doomed, saying, `Well, you must do this deal with Fiat or we will, you
know, force you into bankruptcy.' It is a weird kind of--there's one of the
rare moments when I actually agree with the conservatives who say that the
Obama administration seems very European, it seems very status.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
Mr. HEILEMANN: This is stuff from the '70s and '80s of France and Germany.
MATTHEWS: OK, we'll be right back with scoops and predictions right out of
the notebooks of these top reporters. TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW. Be
right back.
(Announcements)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back.
Norah, TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW.
Ms. O'DONNELL: The presidential pooch is on the way. It's going to be
delivered to the girls very soon. And I'm told it will be a gift from someone
very close to the president. Because it's not--it's not a mutt, it is a nice
pooch.
MATTHEWS: It is going to be a...
Mr. RATHER: What breed?
Ms. O'DONNELL: I can't tell.
MATTHEWS: It is going to be a thoroughbred dog.
Ms. O'DONNELL: I can't tell. I cannot--I think it's going to be a
thoroughbred dog, yes.
MATTHEWS: Well...
Ms. KORNBLUT: Will there be a prime time news conference with the dog, do we
think?
Ms. O'DONNELL: Probably not a prime time...
MATTHEWS: And Norah learned from her dad the lyrics to...
MATTHEWS and Ms. O'DONNELL: (Singing in unison) How much is that doggy in
the window?
Ms. O'DONNELL: Oh, no.
MATTHEWS: Dan?
Mr. RATHER: Check please, waiter.
MATTHEWS: Your prediction. What do you know? TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T
KNOW.
Mr. RATHER: Nothing to match that. Snow's melting in Afghanistan, things
about to heat up there. Watch particularly Helmand province in the deep
southeast, right next to Kandahar; and the road running from Quetta in
Pakistan into Kandahar, major Taliban supply route. The US, NATO forces
mounting a big offensive for the summer. It--I think it'll be successful, and
that'll give something--President Obama something to talk about going into the
fall when the snow comes again if, indeed, it is successful. But the stage is
set for a lot more operations, which also means casualties'll go up.
MATTHEWS: Wow. Anne?
Ms. KORNBLUT: Well, we've haven't talked about her at all on this trip, but
Secretary of State Clinton is on the foreign trip, and I have been told that
she's spending a lot of time with the president. All the predictions that
there would be a lot of warfare and team of rivals between these two really
just haven't come to pass. And she's spent a lot of time at the White House
as secretary of state in recent months. More than any of us have reported, I
think.
MATTHEWS: What's been the trick to this coalition? Why has it worked so
well?
Ms. KORNBLUT: It--I--that's a good question. It's not clear to me, except
that she's doing what I think he thought she would do, which is work really
hard. He summoned her back from Mexico to the White House to prepare the
Afghanistan and Pakistan announcement when she wasn't planning on being there,
and she's been really responsive. And on her end, she seems to have been
enjoying really working that hard, like she said she would.
Mr. HEILEMANN: So she's happy?
Ms. KORNBLUT: Believe it or not, right? All the jokes, Jay Leno's jokes
that she wanted to run the country while he was away aside.
MATTHEWS: It's so powerful, this coalition. It's almost like one of those
European coalitions. John?
Mr. HEILEMANN: Well, I think, you know, Tim Geithner, the secretary of the
Treasury, had a very difficult start. Part of it was because the markets
didn't like his uncertainty and lack of clarity on the banking. But a lot of
it had to do with his public performance, his television performances, not
very good. They have improved pretty dramatically. He did the double header
on the Sunday shows, he did all three network news last week. He looks a lot
better on TV. And there's a reason...
MATTHEWS: You think?
Mr. HEILEMANN: And there's a--and there's a reason for that. The White
House has brought in Michael Sheehan...
MATTHEWS: Oh!
Mr. HEILEMANN: ...the legendary Democratic...
MATTHEWS: He's great!
Mr. HEILEMANN: ...messaging guru and media trainer, Obama's speech coach and
debate coach, to work with Geithner. And they've been working together for
the past couple of weeks, and it seems to be having some effect.
MATTHEWS: He used to run a Shakespeare theater, Mike Sheehan, and he also
used to--he does things like stand on your chest while you're talking, to get
you...
Mr. RATHER: Sounds like you have personal experience with this.
MATTHEWS: No, not me. But he really gets your voice, your timbre up. Maybe
he'll make him speak in big words, not those little comic book words he speaks
in, Geithner.
Mr. HEILEMANN: He also talks--he also teaches them about the Wimbledon
analogy, which is the thing that keeps them from doing this when they go back
and forth to the teleprompters.
Ms. O'DONNELL: Yeah.
Mr. HEILEMANN: Geithner's not doing that anymore when he speaks in public.
MATTHEWS: We'll be watching.
When we come back, a thought about this week, what I take away from this show.
What a show it's been. Be right back.
(Announcements)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back.
What stunned me about today's conversation was the new economic power of our
president. Never before has an American president, certainly since the Great
Depression, taken such a hold over our economic future. We'll see how it
works out.
Thanks to a great roundtable: Norah O'Donnell, Dan Rather--and I know you
have this Tuesday a big HDNet program about the threat to the beef industry in
this country--Anne Kornblut, thank you, John Heilemann.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sign-off: The Chris Matthews Show
CHRIS MATTHEWS, host:
That's the show. Thanks for watching. Happy Passover and see you all here
next week.
Print this page |