On the syndicated Chris Matthews show over the weekend, Chris Matthews praised Barack Obama for earning another "big feather" in his cap for getting his Wall Street reform bill passed and then went on to ask his panel if all of the other overbearing, big government laws signed in his term would lead to victory for the Democratic Party in the fall. Just before closing his show Matthews posed the following big question to HDNet's Dan Rather, the BBC's Katty Kay, CNN's Gloria Borger and the Politico's John Harris: "Will the President's legislative success with the stimulus, with health care, with Wall Street reform and maybe even an energy bill be a net positive or negative for his party this fall?"
The following are their individual responses as aired on the June 27 Chris Matthews Show:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Welcome back. This week another big feather in Barack Obama's cap - Wall Street reform. Which brings us to our big question. Will the President's legislative success with the stimulus, with health care, with Wall Street reform and maybe even an energy bill be a net positive or negative for his party this fall? Dan Rather?
DAN RATHER, HDNET: Slight positive.
MATTHEWS: Katty?
KATTY KAY, BBC: Net positive.
MATTHEWS: Gloria?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN: I'm with Dan, slight positive.
JOHN HARRIS, POLITICO: Positive. Takes away the Jimmy Carter ineffectual argument.
MATTHEWS: Wow! Slight positive. Maybe just solid positive.