he'll be found. that's all for now. i'm lester holt, thanks for joining us. this sunday on "meet the press," president obama makes it clear this country is in for the long haul. >> we will degrade and ultimately destroy isis. >> but suggests this isn't a war the u.s. can win alone. >> a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. >> james baker, the man who built the alliance that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if he thinks president obama's plan will work. hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit more liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? the nfl in crisis. growing calls for roger goodell to resign over his handling of the ray rice case. how big a problem is domestic

violence in this country? what everyone in washington knows but is afraid to say. i'm chuck todd. joining me to provide insight and analysis are mike murphy, helene cooper, nia-malika henders henderson and jim vandehei. welcome to "meet the press." good sunday morning. isis response to president obama was savage and depressingly predictable. yesterday they released a video showing the killing of british aid worker david haines. earlier this week the president used a prime time address to reassure a fearful american public that he is taking this threat posed by isis as seriously as they are. he has promised not to commit american troops to fight in syria or iraq. he is calling for air strikes and providing weaponry and training to forces on the ground who are fighting isis.

by the way, it's striking that president obama sounded a lot like george w. bush despite their differences on iraq. when it comes to taking on terrorist, their rhetoric and policy is strikingly similar. >> trained and battle hardened, they could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks. >> they are sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction. >> the united states of america will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. >> we will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect americans. >> isil is not islamic. >> these acts of violence against innocence violate the fundamental tenants of the islamic fate. >> it will take time to eradicate isis. >> americans should not expect one battle but a lengthy campaign. >> if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. >> we continue to pursue the

terrorists in cities and camps and caves across the earth. >> fact is, they are pursuing similar policies now. secretary of state john kerry has been putting the hard sell tore help in the middle east over the last few days. it's not clear how many countries will help and how much they will contribute. check this out. we have poll numbers out this morning that show that the american people support president obama's plan to attack isis and at the same time are deeply skeptical that the plan will actually work. for all this i'm joined by richard engel who is inner bill and bill neely who is in damasc damascus. richard, let me start with you. i want to get to this killing of the british aid worker here. the message that isis is trying to send, i saw your report last night. you believe they're trying to send a message to another country, not britain, not the united states. who is it? >> reporter: it's a message to the world. it's a propaganda message. but it's very special to turkey.

isis is holding more than 40 turkish diplomats hostage. turkey has been sensitive about this issue. it's illegal in turkey to talk about the subject. turkey has been reluctant to join the coalition with the united states. turkey would be essential. it's right on the border if the u.s. wants to organize an effective campaign to build the free syrian army, it probably has to be done through turkey. this is one way for isis to say, if turkey joins, its diplomats are at risk. >> they have the best military in the region. let's talk about where you are in iraq. the iraqi military, president obwbama is relying on the iraqi military to step up to avoid sending american combat troops. what are you seeing? >> reporter: we are seeing the iraqi military not stepping up. this is an enormous military trained by the united states to the tune of $25 billion.

i remember so many times speaking to american generals who were here saying, the iraqi army is ready. the iraqi army was not ready. they have not been able to push out isis. it hasn't been able to take back one province in this country. many people are questioning the loyalty of the iraqi army. they say it's deeply influenced by iran. so now the americans are flying overhead dropping bombs, doing american air strikes. you have the iraqi army in effective and guided by iran. >> richard engel inn erbil. >> bill, is asaud happy with the president's plan. does he see it as an opportunity to win the civil war? >> his men welcome u.s. air strikes but they say they want the strikes coordinated with them so that u.s. warplanes

aren't shot out of the sky by syrian warplanes. the syrian warplanes have been in action on the edge of damascus this morning attacking not isis positions but another rebel group allied to al qaeda. we have had the rhetoric from president obama. now comes the reality of those difficult choices, the killing of a hostage is designed to put pressure on president obama. and he does face some hard choices now. when does he take action here in syria? and where does he strike isis? who are the moderate rebels who might retake the ground after u.s. air strikes? pressure on president obama now to deliver on intentions here in syria. >> bill neely in damascus for us. thanks very much. stay safe as you travel in that country. you heard live reports in iraq and syria. earlier i spoke to denis

mcdonough. welcome back. >> thanks for having me. >> let me start with this issue of terminology. i asked the president last week about whether he was preparing the country for war. he pushed back, said this is not a war. he has not used the terminology war. and yet there seem to be this debate about semantics between the pentagon, josh earnest. why are you calling a war on isis and why has the president been hesitant to call it a war. >> you asked if he was preparing the country for war. he was preparing for this against isil. that's what we are doing. there was no debate between the white house and pentagon. you heard kerry, the pentagon and josh on friday under score that inasmuch as we have been at war with al qaeda, we are at war are isis. >> the democrats in general, you don't like to refer to these -- to this attack on al qaeda as a war. you didn't like the phrase war

on terror. is that what this is about? >> well, no, chuck. you're confusing our position with a againization. this effort against isil we will undertake with a broad coalition. it's not like the war in iraq. but rather this is something that is targeted and it's a war we have to win. >> we have polling that we're just releasing this more than. 62% of the country supports what the president wants to do. 68% don't believe it will work. why do you think that the public is supportive but skeptical that this will work? >> this is obviously a complicated effort. that's why the president is going about this in a very painstaking and very prudent fashion. that's why the secretary of state is now just continuing his efforts to travel throughout the

region to get others to join us in this effort. and that's what we're going to do. we're going to lead an international effort. this is not going to be easy. >> what does success look like? >> success looks like an isil that no longer threatenso s our frie friends, can't accumulate followers and threaten muslims in syria, iraq or otherwise. and that's exactly what success looks like. >> he held up yemen and say that's a good example. >> he held up yemen and somalia as how we carry this out. we will do this using our precise airborne capabilities, supporting non-u.s., that is to say syrian opposition or iraqi soldiers on the ground taking the fight to isil. he is holding them up as examples of how we will do this. >> is there a single country that has pledged combat troops on the ground in syria?

>> you will hear from kerry on this over the coming days. what he has said is others have suggested they are will doing that. we are looking for -- >> wait a minute. why the no. >> we are trying to put together specifics of what we will get. that's what the president will talk to john allen about on tuesday. as we begin to put this coalition together in very concrete fashion. >> there's not a single military adviser that has come to you and said you can defeat isis in syria without combat troops? that's a fact. >> that's a fact. that's the president's view. that's what we need congress to do. we're seeing very good progress on this is to put together support for what the president calls a title 10 program to train and equip the syrian opposition on the ground fighting isil. >> you bring that up. the president very skeptical of this opposition a month ago in an interview. now, suddenly, this is the great hope? >> i think you overstate that.

i don't think anybody called it the great hope. we all recognize we need a ground force of syrians, of a sunni force fighting isil in syria, the same way we will have iraqi forces on the ground in iraq. this is backed up by u.s. air power. >> i'm going to ask this another way. if you know you need combat troops on the ground. you don't have any countries that have pledged to do it yet. i understand you are saying some will come in. >> i didn't say that. i said -- >> there are countries that have pledged? >> you will hear from secretary kerry that countries are saying that they're ready to do that and they're ready to fly with us. we're going to get to that in due time. >> can you pledge for sure that there will never be american combat troops on the ground in syria? >> you heard what the president said, including his address to the country. this is an effort that like in yemen and somalia, we will take to the fight to the enemy without putting ground troops into the effort. we need ground troops.

that's why we want to program to train the opposition. that's currently pending in congress. >> let's talk about the vote in congress. the president has said about his plan for isis, he wouldn't mind if congress weighs in but that he has the authority. >> he didn't say he wouldn't mind. he said he would welcome it. >> fair enough. different way of phrasing, i think the same way. but a year ago, he needed -- he said he needed congress behind him before he took any action in syria. this time he just simply welcomes it. but if they don't do it, he's going to it anyway. why the change ? >> i came on the show to warn about the threat of syrian chemical weapons. earlier this summer, we succeeded in destroying the declared syrian chemical weapons stockpile which had been one the world's biggest of the that's one point. point two, when i came on the show a year ago, we did not have any statutory authorization that would under score our effort to

take the fight to syria because of the chemical weapons. that's why we -- and by the way, would have brought us into the middle of a is civil war in syria. we decided we needed congress to help with us that. now we have a situation with the 2001 authorization, we have sta statutory authorization. >> you want to change the authorization. are you still going to pursue rescinding it and having a new one? >> this has always -- this is something we were talking to congress about. we will continue to talk to them about it. that's something -- >> this is in the back seat in you're -- >> this is something we have been working with congress. we will continue to work with congress on. >> you have spoken with the congress? have you talked about the ray rice situation in the nfl? >> we have talked generally about the situation in the nfl. the president was shocked by what he saw. let's put it that way. >> how does he think the nfl has handled this? >> i don't want to get into characterization of that. we all know that ray rice, being

suspended indefinitely, seems to be exactly the right thing. >> denis mcdonough, thanks for coming on "meet the press." >> thanks for having me. >> let's get reaction from our panel. helene, let me start with you. you said something interesting when i told you about the poll numbers. basically, 62% in favor and 68% skeptical. you said something else had the same feeling. >> president obama, i think, is -- this interview with denis was interesting. he seems like he's trying to thread this needle so finally. i think when we saw president obama come out last week talking about the coalition and talking about this plan to somehow train these syrian moderates here in opposition on the ground, i think he believes in the core coalition and believes in what he's doing. i'm not -- i think there's

skepticism. there's some believe that some -- >> some traded americans to isis. >> so the idea that suddenly the free syrian army is going to turn into the kurdish pashmarga is far fetched. >> they wish if it wasn't for iraq, we would have a more robust military plan. we wouldn't be rolling out combat troops. there would be no support in congress for it. no support in the public for it. they don't know how to do it without it. >> i'm going to call vegas and get the line on the moderate war fighting. >> the president said they're dentists. they are trying. >> i think his problem is that the premise of his campaign in 2008 where he took on hillary clinton had naive assumptions.

caution is a good thing but too much turns into paralysis. there was an opportunity to act earlier. now he is lurching in the right direction. it could take a generation to fix. defining victory with this with limited american arms is very difficult. >> it is sort of collective washington seems to be in the same place as the public. supportive, they want to do something but nobody thinks this plan is the best plan. >> no wonder the president is conflicted. if you look at the poll, that's what the president thinks. the tooruth is, he can't say wh he thinks. even if you play it out 5and thy purnl t purge the islamic state. you are left with assad who

videotaped rolling over heads of victims and you have created a state where it's an untenable refugee camp. that's why you see this con fli there are boots on the ground. what do you think the military advisers are, sanitation specialists? no. they are the elite forces, the hardest to find, to keep alive, the hardest to train. they are there. i think that's where you get frustration. >> that's the issue here is that we just don't know, even if we win here, there's going to be something else that fills this back in which the public is being so skeptical about. after isis it will be something else. >> that's what we have seen. the iraq war, there are promises about what the outcome would be over that. and guess what, there's a new al qaeda, it's bigger, badder, more well funded and it's isis. you see this public that has watched over these last 13 years

in the wake of 9/11 see people on television making promises that just haven't come to pass. no wonder they're skeptical. >> rational for me for the public to react that way. all of us have that feeling. you don't know how this ends. you will stick with me. more to come. more from you later. coming up, the president's plan to defeat isis. can it work? i'm joined by the architect of the u.s.-led coalition that liberate liberated iraq, none other than jim baker. [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts, ♪ 800,000 hours of supercomputing time, 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. at boeing, one thing never changes.

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welcome back. joining me now to discuss president obama's strategy to combat isis is james baker. baker was secretary of state under president george h.w. bush during the first gulf war in the early 1990s and played a key role putting together the coalition to take on iraq's saddam hussein and liberate kuwait. he has one of the deepest government resumes ever. he served as white house chief of staff under ronald reagan going on to serve as reaganan's second term, and after serving as secretary of state for bush 41, he finished up that term becoming his chief of staff. and this is james baker's 28th appearance on the program, and

remarkably, i'm apparently the 11th "meet the press" moderator to interview you. secretary baker, thank you for coming on this morning. >> pleasure to be with you, chuck. >> the president's plan, is it the right plan? >> well, it's the president's plan, so it better be the right plan. it's got -- it's got some problems with it, and your panel was just talking about some of those. the biggest, of course, is who are our "partners on the ground" that the president referred to in his speech. i don't know where they come from. when we did this in 1991, that is built the coalition to accomplish something in the middle east, we -- >> 200,000 troops. >> 500,000. we had 500,000 u.s. troops. >> and an additional -- >> in desert storm, and we had an additional 1,000 troops from other countries. there wasn't any question about our resolve on the part of those people we were trying to bring into the coalition, but everybody tells me and i'm not -- i wasn't marine corps,

but i'm not a military man, a military expert. you got to have some people on the ground. you can't do this just with airpower, and so we've got to have special ops forces or we've got to have some people who can advise this ground force if it's the iraqi army who can collect intelligence, who can guide air strikes, and if they're not going to be americans, who are they going to be? we're going to have to have some people on the ground, but we're also going to have to have some people to take territory after the air strike. >> that's the whole hope. the president himself was skeptical of this moderate syrian opposition, so the other idea is you hope that sunni countries -- other sunni countries will provide the boots, the combat troops. where is saudi arabia? obviously it's not coming. obviously the jordanians, turks. all of those military forces, all of those who built their militaries with u.s. money, by the way, where are they? >> well, they're not here sxshs they may not be here because we're not on the ground now. >> do you think that's the issue? >> well, i'm not suggesting that

we need to get into another ground war in the middle east, but i'm just saying we cannot do this without having some forces on the ground that can help our air campaign. you have to have that. i'm afraid to say what i think it's going to be. it's going to be u.s. special ops forces and people like that on the ground because we don't have any other forces being offered. >> you know, when you built your coalition, i guess one of the things i read was talking about the controversy surrounding you wanted to bring syria into your coalition or some that were skeptical of bringing in syria. today that country that there is a debate about, do you bring in a coalition, is iran? >> that's right. >> if you were secretary of state right now because you were adamant saying, you know what, they're with us on this, we need you in the coalition. would you be feeling the same way with iran? >> they not only joined the coalition, they sent troops. some of those troops fought. i would not do that today with

respect to iran for one purpose -- for one reason. we've got to -- we've got to prove that we're not jumping in on the side of the shia in this fight between the shia and the sunni. we need to have sunni support. if we bring iran in at this point, we will lose that sunni support. >> so the coalition focus should be all sunni? >> for this purpose. for this purpose. in the long-term -- in the long-term, the middle east is mired in turmoil everywhere you look, and in the long-term somebody is going to have to organize a negotiation or a congress or something to deal with these conflicts because these conflicts foment terrorism, and everybody in the region, every country in the region or in the world for that matter would like to see us take out isis. after that is over, there's going to be more coming if we don't do this. we need to pull all the countries in the region together. we need to add the e.u., russia,

china, and, of course, ourselves, and have a discussion and a conference and negotiation over how we empower the moderate forces in the region, how we limit the extremists in the region, and how we do all of this without further inflaming the shia-sunni conflict. >> the cloud of the iraq war seems to color everything. it's the reason why the president isn't committing any combat troops into this right now. i know you've been asked this before. you chose -- bush 41 administration chose not to take out saddam hussein. do you believe if you had that basically the 1990s would look like what we're seeing today? >> well, we were afraid of that. that's where for two years after we left office why didn't you guys take care of saddam when you had the chance? every time i would go out and give a speech or something, i would get the question. well now people see why we didn't because we were worried about this very thing happening. that there would be ethnic

divisions and that the country would split apart. >> that's exactly what happened. i take it you don't agree with vice president cheney who said this week again if he had to do it over again, he would do the iraq war again. >> i don't agree with this. i don't agree that because they did the iraq war is why we're where we are. i think you can make the same argument about obama's decision to arm the syrian opposition. you can argue all those things about the past. the problem is we have a huge issue here. what do we do about it going forward? there's no country in the world that could pull together the kind of conference or negotiation i'm talking about except the united states of america. we need to do that. whether we can still do that or not, i don't know. when we put our coalition together, we had 500,000 u.s. troops on the ground, we had a specific goal within a limit

time frame -- kick iraq out of kuwait -- and america was respective of its allies and feared by its enemies. we're not there anymore. >> by the way, you got the war paid for. >> we have other ways to pay for the war. that's correct. >> thank you for coming on. >> thanks, chuck. coming up, hillary clinton is making a big splash today in iowa. our own nbc news's andrea mitchell, though, finds she may not be the sure thing again that her supporters are imaging. >> meet the press is brought to her supporters are imaging. >> meet the press is brought to you by the when folks think about what they get from alaska, her supporters are imaging. >> meet the press is brought to ythey think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country,

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welcome back. let's turn now to the race for 2016. hillary clinton is making us. she's done everything a potential candidate can be expected to do, book tour, paid speeches before you start running. she's done nothing to stop the rumor mill. you could argue that once she steps foot in iowa later today for the annual tom harkin steak friday, there is no turning back. hillary is finding that once again, being the most prepared candidate with the best resume may not be enough for many a democratic party that is tilting

to the left. >> reporter: for the candidate in waiting, supporters are flooding the state. they are ready for hillary's first appearance in iowa in 2,446 days. yes, they keep track of details like that here. a key strategy targeting young people. at this coffee house in des moines, clinton has her work cut out for her with some of the 20-somethings we caught up with. >> someone a little more liberal. >> reporter: this law student. >> more onts edge of pushing important issues like climate change and campaign finance reform and income equality. i'm not sure hill have i that candidate. >> reporter: this woman works for a non-profit. what do you see first, a politician, a woman, a president? >> i think people see kind of the cronyism on wall street.

her biggest supporters is wall street. she's currently on the circuit giving speeches to goldman sachs. i feel like regular people might see that as something that they're not looking for anymore. >> reporter: this college sophomore thinks clinton would get things done. >> she actually wants to work across the aisle and make sure that something would happen if she were to be president. rather than the gridlock we have currently. >> reporter: last time team clinton was stunned by the owe ma be a forces. she even finished third in iowa behind john edwards. >> i am so ready for the rest of this campaign. >> reporter: it still hurts. here is how he had describes it in her new book "hard choices." the night when i placed third was exkroocruciateexcruci. >> reporter: this time clinton support rers are trying to watc up and enlisting celebrities.

i told her i would write her a theme song if she needs it. there's the vision thing. >> i feel like i don't know who she is. and i do feel like maybe she's a little malable in a mitt romney way. >> reporter: especially with women voters. >> i would love to see the first woman president. but it doesn't matter more to me than my progressive values. >> reporter: just in a few hours, this field behind me is going to be filled with more than 5,000 very enthusiastic democrats. the hillary clinton skeptics, they want elizabeth warren, bernie sanders. bernie sanders will be here at a separate event. >> there you go. the scene of the crime if you are a clinton supporter back in '08. senator bernie sanders of new york, he is a democratic

socialist. he was the mayor of burlington. he was in the house of representatives. in '06 he was elected to the senate. he has spent time in mississippi, new hampshire in recent weeks talking about the fight for economic justice. by the way, unlike jim baker, this is senator sanders' first appearance on "meet the press." joining me now is senator bernie sanders, the independent. let me start with that. are you about to switch party snz as? >> i am the longest serving independent in the history of the united states congress. that's how i have won in the state of vermont. i am thinking about running for president. the issue whether you run as an independent with the necessity of setting up a 50-state infrastructure, that's something i'm looking at. >> you have ruled out running as enindependent? >> no. >> you could do it that way?

>> that's why i'm going to iowa, to see how people feel about it. the truth is, profound anger at both political parties, more and more people are becoming independent. the negative is, how do you set up a 50-state infrastructure as an independent. >> i want to read something paraphrases to it. it essential to have someone in the 2016 presidential campaign who is willing to take on wall street, address the collapse of the middle class, take lthe spread of poverty. if you think hillary were doing that, you wouldn't consider this? >> i don't know that hillary is running. i don't know what she's running on. i know that the middle class in this country is collapsing. i know that the gap between the very, very rich and everybody else is growing wider. there's profound anger at the greed on wall street. anger at the media establishment. the american people want real change. have i been taking on the big money and specialist all of my political life. >> you say you are separating

out -- are you separating out hillary from this? if she were speaking more robustly would you be thinking -- >> the issue is not hillary. i have known hillary for many years. i have a lot of respect for hillary clinton. at a time when so many people have seen a decline in their standard of live, when the wealthiest and largest corporations are doing well, the american people want change. they want congress, candidates to stand up to the big money interest. let hillary speak for herself. i know where i'm coming from. >> i hear you. you rail against this. you must be unhappy with the president. >> i think president obama has done good things. the level of obstructionist that he has had to face sis unprecedented. he should have understood that the republicans were not going to cooperate. he should have gone to the people in a more aggressive way and say, the american people want to raise the minimum wage. we need millions of people to come to washington to demand us

to do that. you can't sit and negotiate with people who choose not to negotiation. >> you believe he's right. you don't believe he is pushed them hard enough? >> i think he has been right on some of his ideas. i was on the floor of the senate for 8 1/2 hours because i disagreed with his tax breaks for the rich. i have a lot of disagreements with him. he has not tapped the anger and the frustration that the american people feel on many, many issues. the only way we bring about change is when the american people become mobilized. this many couldi icoming electie americans are not going to vote. that is not a way you bring about change. we have to mobilize the american people. >> let me ask you on the billionaire front, is there -- if a billionaire agrees with you on issues, are you okay with them participating in the process? do you think this process, whether it's tom stier or michael bloomberg or the coke brothers. >> citizens united will be one of the worst supreme court decisions ever.

it's opening up the road to -- >> left or right? >> but it's mostly right. let's be clear. it's not fair to give. >> this year they have are expecting more money. >> it will always be. the coke brothers will spend $400 million. do you know what they believe in? this is what they told us. they want to end social security, medicare, medicaid, more tax breaks for the rich. nobody in america wants that except the billionaire class. they are able to put money into the political process. this is a danger to political democracy. >> i'm going to ask it this way about the democratic party today. do you think the democratic party is open to a progressive like you? do you think the democratic party is closer to where you are or closer to where the clintons are? >> i don't democratic party. there's a profound anger understanding the middle class is disappearing. 95% of all knew income has gone

to the top 1%. in vermont i get republican votes. >> i'm going to ask you, where is the democratic party today? >> i think anybody who speaks the needs of the working class and middle class of this country and shows the courage to take on the billionaire class. sg we will watch you. stay safe on the trail in iowa over the weekend. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. murphy, cooper, henderson, vandehei still here. are they closer to hillary or bernie? >> let's talk about hillary. there's talk about her inevitable. there's three big problems that people are not paying enough attention to. one is what andrea mitchell hit on. i don't know her theology is where the democratic party is. she's been running for three months. that has not been a smooth operating machine. she looked disconnected on her wealth issue. in her trying to break away from obama. three, elections are about the

future. look at my record. the next election given what we talked about the beginning of the program and what's happening in the world is going to be way different than everyone is imagining. it's the future. >> that's a -- >> it's a grim case. but the problem is, it looks like it's a field -- hillary and not hillary. so far the not hillarys, maybe bernie sanders will be one, he said the issue is not hillary. that's not willing to take her on right now. elizabeth warren doesn't seem to be ready to take hillary on either. so, you know, you say she's been running for three months. she's been running for eight, ten, 12 years or so. the rest of the field, o'malley, does he look like he's ready to run? he has operatives in iowa this go around. >> take the fight -- bernie didn't have the fight. i thought he was going to have a little more fight. he has the passion for the issues, but he's not ready to take on hillary. that tells you a lot. >> i'm not going to bet my

house -- he has the vermont. i'm with jim. hillary clinton is very impressive. she's not that impressive a candidate. it's going to be a very bumpy -- i'm throwing out the old ed musky. establishment -- >> bernie sanders is george mcgovern. >> in an anti establishment year, you are going to hear more of that candidate from the goldman sachs swing. bernie's message in a democratic primary in this turbulence is going to be powerful. she has to be the favorite if she runs. i don't think there's a lock. >> helene, i will get you in after the break on this. >> goodie. >> her eyebrows lifted. you're going ed musky? i'm going to my poll next. our poll, some numbers.

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♪ while it's true collective washington is obsessed with 2016, i should remind you we have an election day in 51 days. our newest poll did not have some good news for the democrats. what had republicans smiling this week? it starts at the president's dismall job approval rating. it's one of the indicators of which party will do well in the mid terms. president obama's approval sits at 40% this month. look at this. it was higher in september of 2010. bad year for democrats. 45%, that's when his party lost 63 seats in the house and six in the senate. check this out. in the same month in 2006, when a wave of blue washed over

congress, president george w. bush's rating was 42%. here is one more example. the 1994 republican tsunami, clinton's approval rate hg dropped over the course of the year to 44%. then his party lost 53 seats. again, this year, that approval rating of president obama worse than the last three big mid term elections. let's move on. you want something else? a majority of the country thinks republicans will do a better job when it comes to immigration, handling the economy, foreign policy and national defense. here is what our pollsters said about that. >> these numbers are so positive to the republican that among likely voters they say republicans by five points, that's a big number that has huge meaning across lots of races. >> in this poll, first time republicans moving up and democrats moving down. >> that was -- i saudi arabia that, too. pet peter's use is about the republican positive rating going

down while the democratic's positive rating is going down. this is a full-on republican wave? maybe not. here are three potential yellow flags. there's a female fire wall for the democrats. women favor the democratic party by four more points than they did in 2010. primarily because they believe the democrats handle women's issues and healthcare issues better than the gop. number two, voters aren't feeling this election. only 44% of respondents say they are very interested in the mid terms. that number was at 50% at the same point in time in 2010. finally, there's this. 53%, a majority believe this election is going to change nothing here in washington. zip. zilch. not a surprise. the voters probably are on to something. bottom line, from this poll, democrats are at a knife's edge. they have a few weeks to right their ship against what is building to become potentially

another republican win. building to become potentially another republican win. right back w bsome cool things to pass onto ayour kids: your super heroes. right back w your fashion sense. your love of reading. your uncanny ability to find parking spots. your fear of people who are different? not so much, the more you know. it's the second week of the

nfl season. analysts would usually be talking manning and rodgers today. instead it's rice and goodell. >> reporter: it's led the nightly news almost every day this week. >> in the wake of the ray rice domestic violence scandal editorials from football town calling for nfl commissioner roger goodell to step down are rolling in, and a damning tmz sports video of ray rice isn't the only thing goodell may have tripped up on. >> we certainly didn't know what was on the tape. >> it's just the most visible. >> greg hardy was convicted of assaulting a woman back in may. he has appealed the decision and is scheduled to play today. his ex-girlfriend's protective order is chilling. hardy choked me with both hands around my throat. hardy picked me up over his head and threw me on a couch covered in assault rifles." whether goodell steps down or not, rice has taken the country to take a closer look at domestic violence.

according to a cdc survey one in four women will experience severe physical violence in their lifetime. when you add rape and stalking into the mix, more than one in three american women will experience these types of violence. that's 42 million women. >> i'm joined by hbo "real sports" bryant gumble. you have covered politicians. you have covered sports figures. watching the nfl, they're hablgzing this worse than any politician in recent memory. should roger goodell have his job today? >> i don't know if he should. it's not for me to say. i think there's no evidence to suggest that his job is on the line. his fate is controlled by billionaires who care most about him making them money. not whether he lied or not and not how he bungled this or not. unless and until they're prepared to say we care more about a social issue than they do about money, i don't think there's any reason to suspect he'll be fired. >> what should they be doing to

prove that, you know what, they take domestic violence seriously? look, we have -- they do october. you do breast cancer awareness. if they do that again this coming october, it's going to scream out of touch to me. >> yeah, i agree with you. but they're going to pink wash once again. they're going to wrap themselves -- it's what they do best. they sell their image very, very well. they sell themselves to women and wrap themselves in pink. yet, they don't punish domestic violence. they suggest they care about players' safety, but only a team of lawyers force them to confront it. they wrap themselves in the flag, and yet they act as a tax exempt nonprofit. the mfl is very good at masquerading. >> it's funny. is it us? i look at the problems in washington, and i always say we have to look in the mirror. we elect these folks. if you don't like what's going on, it's us and the fans. we love the sport, and so it allows them carte blanche? >> the parallel is perfect,

chuck. just as people say they hate congress, but they love their congressman and send them back in record numbers every time. people say they hate the way the nfl operates, but they love their team. so as a result this afternoon in carolina people will be cheering hardy and in san francisco they'll be cheering ray mcdonald, and thursday night there were fans showing up in baltimore wearing ray rice jerseys. >> should the owners take some responsibility here? he serves at the pleasure of the owners, and i assume if the owners start losing money, then suddenly they might act. >> bingo. bingo. you saw as i did that the female senators sent a letter the other day to roger goodell complaining. i would suggest that anybody who really wants to complain should instead complain to gatorade, anheuser-busch, ford motor company because until and unless you start hitting the nfl in a language it understands, which is money, very little will change. >> bryant gumble, hbo "real sports" thank you for doing this. how do you feel about the nfl

today versus two weeks ago? >> i never thought that highly to the nfl to begin with. i'm more of a sock are person. that said, i think this whole -- i think this whole thing has been -- it says a lot more about -- it says a lot more about the people that watch football, and that's where you are going to see. if there's going to be any impact going forward, i think it's going to come from that. when you are also talking about an issue that is so preflent throughout society. this is not -- this is not -- domestic violence isn't something that's only in the nfl. it's something -- i think if you can get some sort of discussion, wider discussion going. >> october better be purple because purple is -- it is a domestic violence awareness month. it better be purple. if the nfl blows this, i think a lot of us might -- >> you wonder. if they go purple in october, will people scream hypocrisy. does that even say hypocrisy more than the pink washing that we expect to happen.

>> interesting line by bryant. >> there is a discussion about the future of football. we have these cases where all these ex-players are having brain damage and disorders. i think one of the underlying questions is the nfl become boxing. people turned away from boxing, because of the brutality partly, but also a sense that it's corrupt. >> we've been talking about that. >> we end with politics. i'll give you a shot at that. what everybody in washington knows but won't say, and that is secretly i'm convinced i think we know this, hillary clinton would love to see the senate and republican hands going into the -- >> i think a lot of democrats would. they never say it in public because everybody knows virtually nothing is going to happen over the next two years, and democrats, hillary clinton in particular, would love republicans, rubio, rand paul to have to take ownership of some of the dysfunction. >> secretly, there are a whole bunch of republicans who are thinking to themselves, boy, if we come up a seat short, maybe a lot of democrats will share in the dysfunction. >> there's a huge opportunity

for us to win the majority, and i think the odds are better we do than we don't to grab a microphone and talk about middle class economics. >> oh, yeah, uh-huh. >> there's also a fear that it will just be "american idol" of grievance, and if we do that with the bad calendar we have in 2016, the best states in the senate, it could read really bad. harry made it through the senate. >> i wonder if some republicans think they would love to win the six seats and think maybe mcconnell is not the face too. >> if you are marco rube wroe, if are you any of these guys, ted cruz who is thinking about running in 2016, you'll have to run on that dysfunction. you'll need to run away from it as well. you know, it's -- >> a lot ease wrer for hillary clinton to run against -- >> i believe that hillary clinton is not going to put politics over her wish for a better life for all of us as americans. >> you say that with -- you're not supposed to smirk.

>> you guys are great. that's it for today. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." pennsylvania state lawmakers are returning from their summer break today. one of the first items on their agenda, the cigarette tax that may impact your child's education. a pregnant woman killed in a hail of gunfire on a street as police look for her killer. hospital officials say her baby is clinging to life. a live look this morning from center city. 56 degrees. that is not a typo. there is a chill in the air as you walk out the door this morning. very fall-like. in fact, we're looking at below-average temperatures all this week. good morning. welcome to "nbc 10 news today" on this early monday morning. i'm chris cato, and let's