'Meet the Press' transcript for August 23, 2009

MR. DAVID GREGORY:  This Sunday:  the fight over healthcare reform.  The president's approval ratings fall as opposition to his plan grows, and Democrats question whether the White House is now backing away from a public plan.

(Videotape)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA:  What we've said is we think that's a good idea.  But we haven't said that that's the only aspect of health insurance.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  Can there be a compromise, or will Democrats try to go it alone?  This morning, the debate.  We'll hear from both sides of the aisle with two key members of the Senate Finance Committee:  Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, and Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York.

Then, selling the plan.  Has the president lost the PR war and political support from his base?

And what about the biggest question of all:  How will reform impact you?  PBS' Tavis Smiley and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough weigh in.

Finally, our MEET THE PRESS minute:  Remembering noted political columnist Robert Novak.  A look back at some highlights from his more than 200 appearances on this program over the past 45 years.

But first, in addition to waging political battles at home, the president is faced with two ongoing wars abroad.  This week Afghans went to the polls as Americans expressed fresh skepticism about the U.S. war there now entering its ninth year.  And in Iraq, new threats of sectarian violence after bombers strike inside Baghdad's green zone.  Two men charged with coordinating the U.S. military and diplomatic mission in that region join us now:  Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and from Afghanistan this morning, our U.S. ambassador, retired Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry.

Welcome to both of you.

Let me start with you, Admiral Mullen on the question of U.S. resolve.  This was a poll taken by The Washington Post and ABC News this week, and these were the results.  Is the war in Afghanistan worth the fight?  No, 51 percent.  Has American--have the American people lost that will to fight this war?

ADM. MIKE MULLEN:  Well, I'm, I'm a Vietnam veteran myself.  I'm certainly aware of the criticality of support of the American people for, for this war and in, in fact, any war.  And so certainly the numbers are of concern.  That said, the president's given me and the American military a mission, and, and that focuses on a new strategy, new leadership, and we're moving very much in that direction.  I am very mindful and concerned about the threat that's there.  The strategy really focuses on defeating al-Qaeda and their extremist allies.  That's where the original 911 attacks came from, that region. They've now moved to Pakistan.  Afghanistan is very vulnerable in terms of Taliban and extremists taking over again, and I don't think that threat's going to go away.  They still plot against us, see us as somebody they want to, to, to kill in terms of as many American lives as possible.  And in that regard, we're very focused on executing that mission.

MR. GREGORY:  Well, let's talk about that focus.  General McChrystal, our commander on the ground, is expected to release his report, his assessment of what's happening on the ground.  Will he request of this president more troops to fight in Afghanistan?

ADM. MULLEN:  Well, McChrystal's assessment will come in here in I think the next two weeks.  And his guidance was go out as a new commander, put a new team together and come back and tell us exactly how you assess conditions on the ground, take into consideration the president's strategy.  He's going to do that.  The--his assessment will come in and won't speak specifically to resources.  There's an expectation we'll deal with resources after that assessment.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.  Well, but Senator McCain is saying in an interview this morning it will deal with resources, that he'll come back with high, medium and, and low threat assessments in terms of how many more troops you need, whether you need 15,000, 25,000 or 45,000 additional troops.  Will he come in with a specific troop request, and will that increase in troop request meet skepticism from the White House?

ADM. MULLEN:  The assessment that he will submit here in the next couple of weeks won't specifically deal with requirements for additional resources. We'll deal with the--with whatever additional resources might be required subsequent to that in the normal process.

MR. GREGORY:  But this question that Senator McCain raises, which is he's afraid that there's going to be skepticism in the White House about any request for more troops and that more troops are vital if you're going to carry out this mission, where do you fall down on that?

ADM. MULLEN:  Well, I think when we look at the strategy the president's laid out, look what General McChrystal says he needs to--in order to carry out that strategy, my recommendation to the president will be based on getting the resource strategy matched absolutely correct.  And so we'll see where that goes once the assessment is in here.  And I've had this conversation with the president, who understands that whatever the mission is, it needs to be resourced correctly.  That said, it'll be the initial assessment that will be important, and then the risks that are associated with that assessment, and then we'll figure out where we go from there.

MR. GREGORY:  But can you carry out this mission with the troops you've got?

ADM. MULLEN:  That's really something that we will evaluate over the next few weeks after we get the assessment from General McChrystal.

MR. GREGORY:  Ambassador Eikenberry, let me bring you in here and talk about the elections this week.  Already there are claims of irregularities and fraud, voter turnout much lower than expected in the south, particularly low among women.  And we don't have a clear result yet of the election.  To what extent does this election, this presidential election in Afghanistan highlight the challenges that the U.S. faces there?

MR. KARL EIKENBERRY:  Well, David, let's talk about what we do know about the election.  First of all, it's a very historic election.  It's the first presidential provincial council election led by the Afghan people that's taken place in this country in over 30 years.  And the second point, it's a very important election.  This is an election in which, as in all democracies at this point in time now with the, with the presidential election, with the provincial council election, which the people are going to the polls and it's an opportunity them--for them to renew their ties with their government.  And that's important to this process to remember.  If we look back over the history of Afghanistan over the last 30 years, we have civil war, we have occupation, we've got a complete collapse of governance and rule of law which sets the conditions then for Afghanistan to be a state controlled by international terrorism.  Those were the conditions that led to 11 September of 2001.  So this election that's just been completed, yes, it's, it was a very difficult election, but it's an opportunity then for renewal of the trust in the bonds...

MR. GREGORY:  All right.  Well, let me...

MR. EIKENBERRY:  ...between the people of Afghanistan and their government.

MR. GREGORY:  Let me jump in here.  There's the question of the Taliban.  The Taliban is really enemy one for U.S. forces there.  It's stronger, it's resurgent from the period after 9/11.  What does this election show, the level of intimidation by the Taliban about the Taliban's strength and the challenge to U.S. forces?

MR. EIKENBERRY:  Well, I think it shows, David, that there's great excitement within this country for the Afghans to regain control of their country, for sovereignty.  We had a two-month extraordinary election campaign that we just got through, a very exciting time in which there was unprecedented political activity that occurred, TV debates, rallies throughout the country.  It was a very civil kind of debate that occurred.  And it was all national candidates, for the first time in Afghanistan's history crossing ethnic lines and campaigning around the country.

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