congressman frank and thanks for coming on "hardball" and cynthia tucker, thanks as always. by the way, politics is always a learning profession. i think the president has learned a lot from this thing. we all have. tonight at 8:00 eastern, join msnbc for a special telethon, of course, for the victims of the hurricane featuring the boss, bruce springsteen and bon jovi. when we return, it's a simple question. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. @ñ >>> let me finish tonight with this. the good president. isn't that the question? is he a good president? if he is, keep him there. if not, look elsewhere. are you personally proud that barack obama is our president? does he measure up to the mystery books? ended our rely generals on the emergency room for people's health care, ended up unpopular and wise war in iraq, cut the jobless rate from 10% where w. had it skyrocketing and doubled the stock market and your 401(k). is he a good president? he brought us through clean four years of scandalless government. you have the weekend to think about it and then vote like

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>> no, it's hard to imagine. >> it's unbelievable. >> governor ed rendell and cynthia tucker, thank you for your time tonight. >>> coming up, mitt romney is coming to lunch tomorrow. will he be eating humble pie? >>> and the first dog bo stole the show today unveiling the official crystal ball holiday pra digs. and there's another tradition going on today and it's coming from the right wing media. stay with us. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later. >>> president obama makes good on a promise. mitt romney is coming to lunch. that's next. ♪ [ male announcer ] lifts to clear obstacles. ♪ lowers to cut drag. rises to every challenge.

. >> joining me now a proud member of the progressive cause tuesday, and cynthia tucker, visiting professor of journalism at the university of georgia. thank you both for joining me. >> good to be here. >> thank you, reverend al. >> let me start with you, congresswoman. do you think republicans are feeling the pressure when it comes to raising taxes on the rich? >> there's no question about it. john boehner was sounding, you know, like there might be some way to compromise on that issue. and i love bill crystal, what he had to say about it. who is somewhat of a leader of the more conservative branch of the republican party. so i'm optimistic. but we don't need all the republicans to go along. we need enough rational republicans and then the democrats can provide the rest of of the votes in we get a fair compromise. but anything less than fair that protects the middle class, the president has said he's not going to sign it. >> cynthia, the "new york times" reported on a conference call john boehner the speaker had and it's very interesting what tone he set and a gop senator. let me give you

. >> well, cynthia tucker, visiting professor of journalism at university of georgia and joan walsh, editor-at-large by salon. author of "what's the matter with white people"? that question seems apt. the l.a. times just posted a report on mitt romney's conference call today with top donors. it says romney, quote, attributed his rival's victory to, quote, the gifts the obama administration had given to blacks, hispanics and young voters during obama's first term. obama, romney argued, had been very generous, quotes around it, to blacks, hispanics and young voters. i once heard a canadian election saying they lost election to people that wanted to stay as part of canada because of ethnic voters. that means not french, not english. this guy, paul ryan who i don't think is right for prime time yet by any means talking about the urban vote. now, they won the other side because they got the most votes. because they won fair and square, which is the first thing ryan said. why do you have to step on his own headline. they won fair and square by saying, oh, it was the black vote. basically,