Arianna visited "The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell" Wednesday evening to discuss Obama's recent bump in polling and where she hopes to see the president take his agenda following the upcoming State of the Union address.
Arianna explained that the president's speech responding to the Tucson shootings helped unite Americans in a time of crisis and remind us of our core values. "The poll really captures the mood of the country," she said. "This is a good country, an optimistic country, and we all came together."
Arianna continued by saying she doesn't think Obama will maintain his newfound rise in favorability. "There's no way this is sustainable when you look at the underlying facts about the economy," she said. "And the fundamentals of our economy are not good, period."
When asked how she hopes the president will lay out his agenda in the upcoming State of the Union address, Arianna responded that instead of fighting for his own interests or those of the Democratic party, she hopes the president "pushes the right agenda for the country" as a whole.
Invoking a concept first developed by author and historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Arianna suggested it might be time to stray from party rhetoric as usual. "We all talk about the middle," she said. "What about talking about what Arthur Schlesinger called the 'vital center'? Which is very different from the middle...it's really about a shared agenda which brings out the best in people and which recognizes our responsibility to those left behind."
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