Joe Klein: “I’ve never seen anything like this before”

Joe Klein of TIME magazine tells CNN and TIME magazine’s Fareed Zakaria: “…we’re at a position now in this country that is the exact opposite of where we were when I began as a journalist 40 years ago.  In those days, there were real divisions in the country.  We were still in the midst of the civil rights movement.  People were getting killed.  There were huge riots in the country.  The anti-war movement had taken a turn toward the irrational…But the political system worked…Now, we have the exact opposite.  It seems that, the way I read the polls, 60 percent of the people are in favor of the kind of policies that President Obama and the Gang of Six wanted: To deal with this long-term deficit through a mix of revenues and budget cutting.  And yet, that national consensus was thwarted by the minority of a minority in the Congress.  And so, no, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

This interview will air in its entirety as part of a political panel on FAREED ZAKARIA GPS on Sunday, August 7 at 10:00am ET and PT.