-- and Joe was left basically speechless. Or at least whine-less.
[...]
Mika:
>> i spoke to valerie as well. we'll show that later. we had a couple of questions. we want to start with this one. we interviewed the president backstage and asked him about the controversy surrounding the attack on the u.s. compound in benghazi.
Mika:
>> why has it been so easy for critics to say the administration does not have its story straight on benghazi?
President Obama:
>> the fact of the matter is, this is a tragedy. there's all kinds of legitimate questions to ask because any time a u.s. ambassador and three other americans who are serving our country get killed, you know, we've got to figure out what happened and fix it. and most importantly, we've got to bring those folks who carried that out to justice. that's exactly what we're going to do. but i do take offense, as i've said during one of the debates, with some suggestion that, you know, in any way we haven't tried to make sure that the american people knew as information was coming in what we believed happened.
Joe:
>> was it the intel community giving you bad information early?
>> that's what --
Joe:
>> the stories keep changing.
President Obama:
>> that's what we're going to find out from the investigation. the truth is is across the board, when this happened, my number one priority was secure americans, figure out what happened, bring those folks to justice. we are in the process of doing that right now. congress has been getting the flow of information continuously from day one. and what my attitude on this is is if we find out that there was a big breakdown and somebody didn't do their job, they'll be held accountable. ultimately as commander in chief, i'm responsible, and i don't shy away from that responsibility. my number one responsibility is to go after folks who did this and we're going to make sure that we get them. i've got a pretty good track record doing that.
Mika:
>> there's a lot more to the interview. we also asked the president about the final days of the race. you can really kind of feel it inside the campaign. it's coming down to the wire. and if it was at all bittersweet knowing this would be his final campaign.
President Obama:
>> well, i mean, you get a little nostalgic. you start thinking about your first -- i was thinking about my first campaign when i was running for state senate.
>> right.
President Obama:
>> we had, like, four volunteers around a kitchen table and designing our own flyer and taking it over to kinko's. and now, you know, i'm not going to be doing this much longer. you know, the nice thing is, though, the energy, the crowds that we've seen makes me feel as if we're running this campaign in the right way. we're ending strong. and i think we're going to do well.
Mika:
>> so let's talk about the next four years and try and get as specific as possible. what is -- how would you define your mandate for the next four years, and what is -- i'd like to know the sacrifice that will not be asked of just the 1% but of the 99% as well.
President Obama:
>> well, there's no doubt that our first order of business is going to be to get our deficits and debt under control. and the good thing is is that there's a forcing mechanism. the bush tax cuts end at the end of the year. we know that we've got the sequester looming that's taking a machete to something as opposed to a scalpel. and after the election, i think that both democrats and republicans have to step back and say, you know what? this is something that the country wants to solve. if i've won, then i believe that's a mandate for doing it in a balanced way. we've already made a tril dolllion dollars worth of cuts. we can make cuts. look at how to deal with health care cots under medicare and medicare in a speeerious way, but we're going to also need revenue. we kind of settle on the big question, how much government are we going to have, and how are we going to pay for it, then a lot of the other stuff falls into place.
Joe:
>> can you get medicare done?
>> i think we can.
Joe:
>> because republicans demagogue it. democrats demagogue it. everybody's demagogued it through the years. can you go to the republicans and say, guys, we've got to do this together.
President Obama:
>> well, here's what we can do. look, i'm on record, i think turning it into a voucher is a bad idea. i do think, though, that anybody realistically looks at it and says, if we're spending 17% of our gdp on health care and every other country's spending 11% and their outcomes are better, that difference is 6%, that's our deficit and our debt. and so let's find good ideas -- now, i stole a whole bunch of ideas from a massachusetts governor that i think over time is going to save us money. the $716 billion that governor romney suggests i stole from medicare actually is money that we are saving in the system and extending the life of medicare. so i think there are ways we can do this in a creative way. but if we get that piece done, then immigration reform, i think, is there to get done. and i think your side is going to need to get it done because you can't continue to alienate the fastest growing segment of the country, and it's the right thing to do. i think that infrastructure, joe, when you were in congress, since when did roads and bridges become democratic issues? those have historically been democratic and republican issues.
Joe:
>> a guy named ike kind of liked infrastructure, didn't he?
President Obama:
>> the thing is is that we've got a whole bunch of deferred maintenance. interest rates are low. contractors are begging for work. putting folks back to work right now as part of an overall package that has also got long-term deficit reduction can jump start the economy at the same time that housing is starting to recover. and the education agenda that i've got is one that even jeb bush has occasionally complimented because we have said, you can't just give more money into a system without reforming it, and there's got to be more accountability. so there are a whole range of issues, i think, where we can actually bring the country together with a nonideological agenda. the question's going to be how do republicans in congress react post-election. because there's going to be a war going on inside that party. it just hasn't broken out.en unified in op position to me.
Joe:
>> let's say you win. boehner is still speaker and the house goes either democratic or republican by one, you're still in the same situation the next four years, so what's going to make the difference? we talked to you about this one on one before. what makes the difference? what is there for americans to believe that democrats and republicans can work together?
President Obama:
>> i truly believe that if we can get the deficit and debt issues solved, which i believe we can get done, you know, in the lame duck or in the immediate aftermath of the lame duck, then that clears away a lot of the ideological underbrush. and then, you know, now we can start looking at a whole bunch of other issues that, as i said, historically have not been that ideological. let's take an example. republicans say that i've overregulated. now, the truth is i've put out fewer regulations than george bush did. some were significant. obviously, dodd/frank, welfare -- wall street reform is a big example of that. but i have actually initiated a whole process to look back at all the old regulations to see, are there ones that don't work? that should be a project republicans are happy to work with me on. because if we're going to streamline government, we should do it smartly. i've said that i want to consolidate a whole bunch of government agencies. we should have one secretary of business instead of nine different departments that are dealing with things like getting loans to sba or helping companies with exports. there should be a one-stop shop. now, the reason we haven't done that is not because of some big ideological difference. it has to do with congress talking a good game about wanting to streamline government but being very protective about not giving up their jurisdiction over various pieces of government. so there are going to be a whole bunch of things i think we can work on. the first thing, though, is let's go ahead and get settled. how big a government. how do we pay for it? if we solve that problem, and i think we can solve it and we have to solve it, then i think we'll be in a position to make some progress.
>> so how did you think the president was --
>> he seemed to be in good form. the rally was -- it was great to go and be on the rope line and see it from that vantage point, which maybe we'll show some video of later, and to hear from people and to monitor the crowd. it didn't feel like four years ago.
>> right.
>> but it definitely -- i mean, you know where i stand from my perspective, i think that he's learned a lot over the past four years and will probably apply it to the next four. it seems to me that the campaign is hanging on. they seem confident. but not completely sure.
>> and that's what we picked up, mike, not only with romney people but also with the president's people. there is confidence.
>> yeah.
>> but it's sort of this quiet confidence that hey, if we keep our head down, valerie was going to virginia and working hard in virginia.
>> we have her interview coming up.
>> we have her interview coming up. but, you know, nate silver said this is a 73.6% chance that the president's going to win. nobody in that campaign thinks they have a 73 -- they think they have a 50.1% chance of winning. and you talk to the romney people, it's the same thing. both sides understand, it is close, and it could go either way. and anybody that thinks that this race is anything but a toss-up right now is such an ideologue, they should be kept away from typewriters, computers, laptops and microphones for the next ten days because they're jokes.
>> well, you know, i think mark shares part of what i feel and what i have found from talking to people over this past weekend. democrats especially is that there is a level of confidence, but it's laced with a level of anxiety that reduces the confidence that this is still 50/50. and you're absolutely right. anybody who says, you know, this thing is in the tank for one candidate or another, huh-uh. it's not there. i think you found the same thing.
>> democrats who think they're going to win believe as they have all along romney is unelectable, he's just not an acceptable choice and will win because we've done enough to disqualify him. i spent friday night and friday day with romney. he's performing well in those battleground states. democrats who aren't seeing him may be overestimating the extent to which summer and early fall attacks on him really did disqualify him.
>> there were lots of screaming women who wanted you out of the rope line.
>> it was terrible.
>> wanted you out?
>> he was too tall and in the way.
>> in the way. no, i'll tell you what --
>> it was fun.
>> a lot of democrats, a lot of people there wanting pictures, willie. it was sort of like, you know, i'm thinking, dogs and cats living together.
>> they liked joe.
>> we can all get along.
>> no rs it w, it was fun. it was a beautiful day. much more coming up including white house senior adviser valerie jarrett, connecticut governor danell malloy, governor bob mcdonnell and political director chuck todd. up next, harold ford jr. and mike allen with the "politico playbook."
>>> and the latest with morning. we're back with more " morning joe" in just a moment.