Fox News host Bill O'Reilly writing 2 more books

Video: O’Reilly: ‘We need leadership in this country’

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   >>> on monday it the obama unveiled his plan to fix the housing crisis. here to talk about that and the gop field is bill o 'reilly, host of "the o'reilly factor" on fox news and author. president obama unveiled this new slogan yesterday, "we can't wait." when you consider the economy right now and what president obama is facing, couldn't that also be a republican bumper sticker, we can't wait until november?

   >> i can't wait until the debates are over.

   >> you've had enough of the debates?

   >> 97 defwats. i debates.

   >> it's going to be a new cable channel , all republican debates . they have their slogans and rallies and they've been doing this forever so it's nothing new.

   >> ten days after he took the oath of office , sat down with barack obama he said look if i can't fix this economy in three years it's going to be a one-term proposition. you look, there's 9.1% unemployment, 2 million homes fell into foreclosure this year, 10 million are underwater. is there any reason right now in this snapshot in time that the republicans should not be able to beat barack obama ?

   >> no.

   >> in the election?

   >> if the election were held tomorrow the president would probably lose but you know, a year is a long time and the economy could get better, things could rise up and president obama is a nimble guy, a smart guy , so the republicans would be foolish to count him out but of course they have the advantage. the president's going in very weakened.

   >> over the last 20 years or so, bill, it seems republicans have run on a perception that they are tougher on national security , that they're the ones who can keep americans safe. we've seen that in campaign ad after campaign ad . when you consider over the last several months barack obama oversaw the killing of osama bin laden and awlaki and gadhafi is now out of power and in fact dead, has barack obama done a lot to erase that perception, that idea that republicans have run on for so long?

   >> yeah. it's all about the economy. i don't think foreign affairs is going to be much next year although iran is a wild card . if iran causes trouble in iraq because the president is withdrawing all of the troops at the end of the year that could become a campaign issue but right now it's all about the wallet.

   >> right now you're saying republicans have no right to claim the mantle of we are the party that's tough on national security .

   >> they can claim whatever they want, lauer , but i think president obama has done a good job on the war on terror with the exception of iran .

   >> how do you think he played libya?

   >> played it well. we didn't lose anybody, cost us between $30 million and $50 million to bomb -- you know, look, all it is is nitpicking. american is on the decline of power, there's no doubt about that but it's all economically based.

   >> last friday president obama announced he pull all u.s. troops out of iraq by the end of the year, fulfilling a campaign promise from 2008 .

   >> right.

   >> when you heard him say it, bill, did you think wow that is great military strategy or pure political strategy?

   >> look, the reason he had to do it is because the iraqi government wouldn't give the united states troops a pathway to be tried by the usa. they wanted to try them in iraq if somebody misbehaves over there. no commander in chief could agree for that. the iraqis made it possible to keep his force there is. he should have kept 20,000 there to make sure iran doesn't misbehave and turkey doesn't brutalize the kurds in the north. he had to do what he did.

   >> let's talk about the gop field. if you look at a lot of the polls right now, herman cain is leading the republican pack by a couple of percentage points. he's a guy who has basically turned his back on the early primary states, new hampshire and iowa. he does not have an infrastructure to speak of. he's outselling a book. is he a serious candidate?

   >> he's serious but he's doing it in an unorthodox way. if the election were held tomorrow mr. cain would not be the nominee

   >> serious in terms do you think he really wants to be president?

   >> yeah.

   >> 27% of the people polled on the fwop sigop side say we would vote for this guy.

   >> herman cain what you see is what you get. who wouldn't want to be president? you get a jet, live in a great house, but cain is running a populous campaign. i don't think can he win but i was wrong last year. i didn't think obama can beat hillary.

   >> can mitt romney win?

   >> of course he wican win.

   >> is he a true conservative?

   >> if he's smart he's america's ceo that will restore the economy and put people back to work. that's all he's got to do. guys like you and me make a living out of it but the folks don't really care. they want somebody to get the economy back on track.

   >> that's the question, say he goes on and wins the white house .

   >> yeah.

   >> is he as a moderate republican , going to face an incredibly uphill battle against conservatives? is it going to make the john boehner tea party look like child's play?

   >> romney's been around for a long time. he makes deals, okay? he governed massachusetts and he had to make deals with those pinheads there.

   >> it's not a particularly deal-making period in our history.

   >> it doesn't matter. could he govern? yes. can he win? yes.

   >> rick perry in the last eight weeks has lost about half of his popularity according to the polls. what happened to him?

   >> he was in inarticulate in the debates and perception is reality. i got perry coming on "the factor" tonight for the first time. we tried to book him for months and he stayed away from the venue so we'll see what he's got tonight. can he make a comeback yes. he's got a lot of money. he's much more conservative than money.

   >> do you think his flat tax --

   >> i don't know.

   >> do you think that's the kind of thing that can help him claw back?

   >> flat tax is what people want. tax code has to be revised. if he's decent, he'll get some currency, pardon the pun.

   >> you get the new book --

   >> you didn't read it, lauer , because you're in bed at 5:00 in the afternoon.

   >> i'm reading things for other guests.

   >> you're not reading things for other guests.

   >> it's a best seller , i know you haven't mentioned it on your show yet. "killing lincoln the shocking assassination that changed america forever."

   >> right. we need leadership in this country and abraham lincoln is the gold standard , the best american president ever. we need to find somebody with that kind of fiber to bring us back and this was a departure for me, i took less money for this book but i wanted people to know in an accessible way, not some pinheady book, i'll send you an audio so you can listen to it, lauer .

   >> on my commute in.

   >> he goes to bed at 5:00, he's old. 5:00 in the afternoon he's in bed but that's why i wrote it. i wanted people to really understand what good leadership is. it's not a knock on obama , bush or clinton. we need somebody special to bring us back because we're on the decline, there's no question.

   >> bill o 'reilly good to see you.

   >> all right, matt, good to see you man.

   >> you called me matt, you slipped.

   >> lauer sounds good.

   >> 7:15, now here's savannah.

   >> all right, lauer , thanks.

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