jen psaki, former communications director for the obama white house and would bein wright from are the woodrow wilson center and mike rog remembers, former republican chairman of the house intelligence committee. what are you hearing from syrians in the wake of not only this attack but the u.s. strike agence the assad regime in response, clarissa? >> well, jake, i think for people in opposition-held areas there was a moment of optimism or excitement even when president trump took the decision to strike the air base which is where the air strike was launched from. there are two questions. what the does this mean for the future? what is the syria policy going to look like in a more long-term way in the u.s. may have shown it has some leverage now at the negotiating table, but what does it actually go ahead and do with the leverage in the second question that i hear over and over again from syrians is, okay, why is it okay to kill us by the thousands with chemical weapons or -- rather, why is it not okay to kill us by the thousands with chemical weapons, but it is okay to kill us by the h

oh, it's jen psaki's fault or josh earnest's fault when in actuality it's the product being sold, not the ad pitch. >> yes, we used to joke we would get t-shirts made that says it's a communications problem. this are times when it is a communications problem and anybody who has ever served in that job say i wish i could have done this better, this differently, but it's almost indicative of a larger problem, and whether that is not having policy to sell or accomplishments on the hill to sell and oftentimes it's a problem with the person at the top, so i hope for them and for america that they take a look at the larger problems in here. i don't know mike dubke, but from looking at the outside, it seems unlikely this is a mike dubke problem. it seems like it's a much larger internal issue. >> do you have sympathy for people who have your job but in the trump administration? >> absolutely. i hope i just sort of expressed that. >> you seem to be. >> yeah, and i think that you're only as good as the product you have to sell, and, yes, you can come up with wonderful tactics and events and la