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American Morning
Rice Confirmation Hearing to Begin; Who are Twixters?
Aired January 18, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Condoleezza Rice facing confirmation as secretary of state in one hour. How far will senators go grilling her about Iraq and 9/11?
A winter of extremes in America. Fifty degrees below in northern Minnesota. Will they warm up today?
Also, Airbus says get a load of this. A wild celebration introducing a truly huge passenger plane.
And something is definitely going to get broken in Antarctica. The iceberg and the glacier are about to fight it out on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome, everybody.
The inauguration two days away. Right now, though, that can wait. Condoleezza Rice is the focus of the day in Washington. Her Senate confirmation hearing starts in just about one hour. We're going to, of course, bring that to you live when it happens.
Before that, though, we've got some excerpts now of what she's going to say in her opening statement. We'll bring those to you just ahead.
HEMMER: Also this hour, the generation of the undecided. They call them the twixters, mid-20s, wracking up debt, many living with mom and dad still. We'll take a look today at what is driving this generation, the twixters.
O'BRIEN: I never heard that phrase, that term before. I heard the tweeners, which is like...
HEMMER: The tweeners.
O'BRIEN: ... the 12 year olds.
HEMMER: In between, yes.
O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.
HEMMER: Twixters.
O'BRIEN: We're so way past that age. Tsar -- Jack, good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How you doing, Soledad?
Coming up in the "Cafferty File," fear of the FCC squarely focused on the bare bottom of a cartoon character. We'll show you the rage that Trump's fiancee will wear to the wedding. And Cabbage Patch dolls with familiar faces.
O'BRIEN: That's an expensive rag, I believe.
All right, Jack, thank you very much.
Headlines now with Heidi Collins -- good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys.
And good morning to you once again, everybody.
Now in the news this morning, Vatican officials in Baghdad say they are grateful for the release of an abducted Catholic archbishop. The church official was apparently freed without the $200,000 ransom demanded earlier. Vatican officials say the archbishop is doing well and is now heading home. It is still not clear why he was taken in the first place.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in the process of announcing some staff changes. Among them, Annan says he is recommending U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to be named the head of UNICEF. She would replace outgoing Carol Bellamy.
And in sports, reigning U.S. Open tennis champ Svetlana Kuznetsova is apparently considering legal action. Belgian officials say she tested positive for a banned stimulant. But a Woman's Tennis Association official says the announcement was premature and that Kuznetsova tested positive for ephedrine, which could be traced back to cold medicine. We have heard that happen before, so we'll see what happens in the end.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
HEMMER: Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing for secretary of state begins in just about an hour.
Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning -- hey, Suzanne, good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The White House certainly hopes that she'll be confirmed by the full Senate, perhaps as early as Thursday, the president, the day of the president's inauguration. Now, she's going to start off today with an opening statement and really following the two wars of Iraq and Afghanistan in the first administration. She is going to talk about her vision of moving diplomatic forward.
She's going to say in the beginning of her speech, she's going to say that we must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom, and the time for diplomacy is now.
She also takes on the criticism that the United States acted on its own when it came to Iraq. She says in terms of alliances and institutions, "As President Bush said in our national security strategy, America is guided by the conviction that no nation can build a safer, better world alone. Alliances and multilateral institutions can multiply the strength of freedom loving nations, that core conviction will guide by actions."
And, finally, she puts the responsibility on Americans, saying we will increase our exchanges with the rest of the world and Americans should make a serious effort to understand other cultures and learn foreign languages. "Our interaction with the rest of the world must be a conversation, not a monologue."
So clearly taking on some of that criticism that sounds very much like what some of those allies and not allies were actually saying in the lead up to the Iraq war -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne, clearly a bit to do list for her.
What do you think comes first? What is the very first more importantly step, do you think, for Condi Rice, because, frankly, everybody thinks she's going to get confirmed.
MALVEAUX: Well, that's right. I mean, first she's got to establish relationships with the State Department. She has to learn how to go from managing the National Security Council to really thousands and thousands, this huge bureaucracy in the State Department. She follows, as you know, many people see Colin Powell as a rock star in the State Department, who really boosts morale. She's got to establish those relationships and then she also has to work on relationships with our allies, with the European allies, really trying to restore the credibility and some of those relations that were damaged before the Iraq war.
O'BRIEN: All right, a big task ahead for her, obviously.
Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning.
Suzanne, of course, we will continue to chat all morning as the confirmation hearings get underway in a little bit less than an hour from now -- Bill.
HEMMER: From the professional side, a bit of a personal side now of Condoleezza Rice.
Kiron Skinner is a friend and colleague of Dr. Rice. She's also a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and coauthor of "Reagan's Path To Victory."
She's live in San Francisco.
Good morning and welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING.
KIRON SKINNER, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine, thanks.
How do you believe she will go about this job, if confirmed on Thursday?
SKINNER: Well, I think the clip you just played gives you an indication of what her priorities will be. I think she will reach out to the rest of the world. She, as an academic, a student of international relations, will bring much more of a focus on the role of culture, of politics, markets, how all of these things work together.
I heard her speak recently at Carnegie Mellon about the role of interdisciplinary research and thinking in trying to solve international problems. And I think she's committed to that point of view.
HEMMER: There is an awful lot of pressure going in today. On the outside, some people might think it might be too much of a burden at this point. People on the inside have been used to it before.
How do you believe she approaches the pressure aspect of today's testimony?
SKINNER: You know, when I looked at her give her testimony during the 9/11 hearings, and she was quite calm and collected. I think this situation is not as intense. And I think she will do just fine. She understands the issues. She's fully prepared. If you look at her track record and her professional career, in a way, she's been preparing for this position, to be the chief diplomat of the United States, for a very long time.
Early in her career, while still in her 30s, her mid-30s, she helped to reunify Germany as an American participant in that diplomatic activity that marked the ending of the cold war.
So she's been on a path of diplomatic, honing diplomatic skills for a long time.
HEMMER: The last time you were with her was at her 50th birthday party in Washington, I believe, the 14th of November.
SKINNER: Yes.
HEMMER: She is a woman, an African-American, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, a deeply segregated Southern city at the time.
How has that shaped her into the woman she is today?
SKINNER: That's an important question as we fight the war on global terror. She's talked about in some of her speeches having grown up in the segregated South and having witnessed homegrown terrorism. I think that has informed the way that she has understood international terrorism, violence against individuals because of difference. It deepens her commitment to making the world safer, to combating terrorism and to getting at the root causes of terrorist activities as the administration has understood it, the lack of opportunity, the lack of education, despair, disease.
So she will be very committed to going to the social and economic sources that breed hatred and violence.
HEMMER: Kiron Skinner is a friend and a colleague from San Francisco.
Thanks for your time today for the personal side of Condoleezza Rice.
SKINNER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Live coverage next hour, 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Those hearings get underway right about then, or shortly thereafter. We'll be there live when it happens.
Also, Thursday morning we're live in Washington for an AMERICAN MORNING version of the inauguration day, starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time live on Capitol Hill -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: A bitter cold inaugural, it promises to be, with much of America held in the grip of Mr. Freeze. Take a look at these pictures and these numbers, more importantly. Embarrass, Minnesota, possibly the coldest spot yesterday, minus 54 degrees. Some other cold spots, Babbitt, Minnesota, minus 51; Grand Forks, North Dakota, minus 37; Upson, Wisconsin, 33 below.
Pictures coming into CNN are also enough to chill your bone. Look at this one. That's what it looks like in Duluth, Minnesota, four below zero there. It's minus 40, though, with the wind chill. Champagne, Illinois, a viaduct sporting some huge icicles dangling over the roadway there. In North Kingsville, Ohio, snow blowers getting quite a bit of a workout there. And anything for a little warmth down in Birmingham, Alabama. A little old sweater on that cute little dog. Low temperatures there dropped to the teens.
Even in Florida, getting out the ski jackets. This is Jacksonville, Florida, 32 degrees. It was 28 in Tallahassee.
Any relief on the way?
Let's check back in with Chad Myers.
He's at the CNN Center for us this morning with the latest forecast.
Hey, Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Here is a blast from the election past. Remember Jib Jab, the folks from California?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I wish our winning were a bit more certain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better call my friends at Halliburton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We won't pay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we stay, rule the day, D.C. Land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Are the Jib Jab brothers at it again? Putting together a new video for the inauguration. Once again, Washington in the crosshairs of their humor. Some images of the new video now. And tomorrow we'll see the whole thing when the Jib Jab brothers come back to AMERICAN MORNING. You'll hear them here in our 7:00 a.m. hour tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: Here's a question for you.
HEMMER: Yes?
O'BRIEN: Are those little tuxedos in trouble down in Antarctica? Two giant mountains of ice are on a collision course and some well dressed birds could also be in trouble.
HEMMER: Also, more and more 20-somethings said to be returning back to the nest. But is that actually a step in the right direction?
O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess no, if you're moving back in with mom and dad.
HEMMER: Stay tuned.
O'BRIEN: Also, the consequences of the tsunami disaster. A bad joke sends thousands into a panic. It's not funny. It's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A massive iceberg the size of Long Island, New York could smash into a glacier near the McMurdo U.S. Research Station in Antarctica very soon. NASA's satellite cameras are monitoring the situation. The iceberg, which is called B15A, has moved steadily toward the tip of the glacier, which is called the Dryglaski Ice Tongue, for about five years now. Scientists think a collision is going to happen any day now.
Joining us, Denton Ebel, he's with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, to shed a little light on this.
Good morning.
Nice to see you.
DENTON EBEL, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Good to be here.
O'BRIEN: It's been happening for five years.
What makes them think it's going to happen any day now? I mean is there a targeted time?
EBEL: Well, in your graphic, to the upper corner, you could see part of the Ross ice shelf. This is the biggest ice shelf in the world. And this piece, B15A, it's A because B15 was the size of Connecticut or Jamaica. Massive, the biggest piece of ice ever to come off an ice shelf that we know of ever.
And this piece is right now the biggest piece of floating ice on the planet in the past.
O'BRIEN: So it's on a collision course.
What, I mean is it expected to ram into the bigger of the glacier...
EBEL: It's expected -- it's about three miles away. It's moving approximately a mile a day. But, you know, tides and currents, winds, and also the fact that it can hit the ground. It's got a lot of ice below the water, so it can hit the ground even far off the shore. So those are factors that aren't well known what's going to happen.
But if it hits this tongue of ice -- this tongue of ice is the seaward part, floating part of a glacier that goes way up on land.
O'BRIEN: Right.
EBEL: And it's been going very fast out to sea. So it's probably very weak. So it should break off if it gets hit. And this would free up the ice in that area in the McMurdo Sound that's behind the iceberg, which would open up the water for penguins to get their food and for humans to get their supply ships...
O'BRIEN: Well, so you make it, then, sound like it's great. If this piece breaks off, all good news.
EBEL: This might be good news.
O'BRIEN: What's the down scenario? What if it does not, in fact, break off, that piece? EBEL: Well, if it sticks to the ice tongue and locks in, that could cause everything to just lock up. And I think what's more important is that we free up this area, nature frees up this area so that next year nature can take its course without this big iceberg in the way and the penguins' life cycle will be less interrupted, as it really has been this year.
O'BRIEN: Is there an impact outside of locally and outside of just to the penguins in Antarctica when this collision happens? And what kind of force will it hit with? Is it like a car hitting another car or is it...
EBEL: It's nothing like this, for example, 500 mile section of the Earth's crust dropping and causing a tsunami. It's not that kind of thing. It's a nudge of two monstrous objects, one of which, or both of which, will crack, break, hopefully, in that scenario.
But it's not the huge energy of a Krakatow or Pele volcano. It's a -- it's not that kind of thing.
O'BRIEN: It's nothing that, then, anybody is going to feel outside of exactly where it's happening.
Any other, though, long range impact?
EBEL: Well, the -- one of the interesting long range impacts is that this ice tongue, if it breaks off, then the glacier behind it will move even faster. And when glaciers on land move into the ocean and melt, it does raise the sea level.
The ice shelf glacier, the big thing the size of Long Island, when it melts, it just melts into the ocean. It doesn't change because it's already floating on the ocean. But when the landward glaciers move into the ocean, that is something that concerns us all, because, of course, rising sea levels are sort of a slow motion tsunami.
O'BRIEN: Well, it could happen any day now and I'm sure we'll have you back to talk about it when it finally does happen.
EBEL: That's very interesting.
O'BRIEN: Denton Ebel, nice to see you, as always.
Thanks a lot.
EBEL: Nice to be here.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.
Thank you -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, this story from Chile. A tsunami scare sending thousands into a panic. A mass exodus touched off when some fishermen reported seeing the sea pull back from the shoreline. That apparently triggered memories of the Asian tsunami disaster. Emergency officials say they registered no unusual ocean activity overnight. And the area's governor called the warning a bad joke.
A break here.
Somebody fears the wrath of the SCC. It covers its own rear-end by covering the cartoons. Jack has that in "The File" right after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: We're at 22 minutes now past the hour.
They are no longer kids, but not quite grown adults, either. 20- somethings returning to the nest, and for a number of reasons, finding themselves now betwixt and between the real world.
Adaora Udoji has more this morning for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeff Delamater isn't married. He has a girlfriend, Stephanie. At 27, he has no children, as he jumped from job to job in Atlanta with a psychology degree and thousands in school debt. In search of better prospects, he moved home and went back to school.
JEFF DELAMATER, "TWIXTER": We're not out there just driving around, partying not really -- like, shirking responsibility. We're out there looking for jobs.
UDOJI: Delamater is part of a dramatic trend, say researchers. Call them twixters, thresholders or boomerangers, 20-somethings putting off marriage, procreating and settling down.
PROF. FRANK FURSTENBERG, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: We have seen an enormous shift in the timing of adulthood. The costs of housing and the cost of schooling has skyrocketed.
UDOJI: The result, they're taking longer to finish college, racking up more debt and moving home. A "Time" magazine survey says 66 percent owe more than $10,000, 5 percent more than $100,000.
Those costs, say Shaniqwa Jarvis, led her to half a dozen jobs in New York City the past five years, including swimming instructor. But her eye was always on finding a meaningful career, not just a paycheck. Today, she believes it's photography.
SHANIQWA JARVIS, "TWIXTER": All the imagery, though, I could tell, it's from the same photographer, which is exciting.
UDOJI: Also strapped with school debt living in her mother's home to save money. Marriage and children are not a priority.
JARVIS: I think about it, but it's not something that drives me at all.
UDOJI: In the '60s, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had left home and started a family by the end of their 20s. Today, it's half that.
But don't accuse twixters of holding onto adolescence. They consider themselves grown up, their journey necessary.
JARVIS: I have worked a lot and done -- I worked with a myriad of people and come to the conclusion of where I don't want to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here you go.
UDOJI: As twixters search, they're changing the definition of adulthood into something that works for them.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: So you've got a whole new demographic now. Go after them.
O'BRIEN: They used to just call you lazy if you moved back home with your mom and dad. But, you know, I'm old now. That's what we used to call.
You liked that one, huh, Jack?
CAFFERTY: You have four of them to look forward to returning after college.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Like my parents said, you're gone.
CAFFERTY: Here's "The File" for this day
Donald Trump hoping the third time is a charm. He will we'd Slovenian supermodel Melania Knauss this Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. And here's a look at what the blushing bride will be wearing. Hand-embroidered from Christian Dior, this little frock carries a price tag of $100,000. It took 1,000 hours to make it. It contains 300 feet of material and it's adorned with 1,600 rhinestone crystals.
Trump says Melania is the one, saying, "She understands me better than anyone ever has." It's a very short list.
Fox says it's covered up the naked rear-end of a cartoon character recently because of nervousness over what the FCC might find objectionable. The decision was made a few weeks ago during a rerun of a "Family Guy" cartoon. Fox electronically blurred a character's tush even though it was seen in all its wrinkled glory five years earlier when the episode originally aired. The move follows the FCC's decision in October to fine 169 Fox stations $7,000 each for airing an episode of "Married By America," which showed people licking whipped cream from strippers. The next wave in celebrity pop culture, becoming a Cabbage Patch Kid. "Good Morning America" co-host Diane Sawyer -- that's her there -- will be auctioned off on eBay tomorrow morning. Others in the not so long line are TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Donald Trump. Diane Sawyer as a Cabbage Patch Kid. But no Larry King. Something's wrong.
HEMMER: Something is wrong. Seriously wrong.
O'BRIEN: I'd like to see the kid who goes out and buys a Larry King Cabbage Patch Kid. That would be kind of funny. Again, cracking myself up.
Jack, thank you very much.
Well, she is a close friend and a confidante of President Bush. But is she really the right choice for secretary of state? Find out why some experts are concerned about Condoleezza Rice's background. Don't forget, CNN is going to bring you live coverage of Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing in about 30 minutes from now.
AMERICAN MORNING is back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: And good morning.
Welcome, everybody.
Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
We're just about a half hour away from the Senate confirmation hearing for Condoleezza Rice. In just a few minutes, we're going to take a look at her record these last four years, her strengths and her weaknesses and what they tell us about the job that she might do as secretary of state.
HEMMER: Also in a few moments, Sanjay is back here in New York, the "New You Revolution comes your way for the second day today.
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Aired January 18, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Condoleezza Rice facing confirmation as secretary of state in one hour. How far will senators go grilling her about Iraq and 9/11?
A winter of extremes in America. Fifty degrees below in northern Minnesota. Will they warm up today?
Also, Airbus says get a load of this. A wild celebration introducing a truly huge passenger plane.
And something is definitely going to get broken in Antarctica. The iceberg and the glacier are about to fight it out on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome, everybody.
The inauguration two days away. Right now, though, that can wait. Condoleezza Rice is the focus of the day in Washington. Her Senate confirmation hearing starts in just about one hour. We're going to, of course, bring that to you live when it happens.
Before that, though, we've got some excerpts now of what she's going to say in her opening statement. We'll bring those to you just ahead.
HEMMER: Also this hour, the generation of the undecided. They call them the twixters, mid-20s, wracking up debt, many living with mom and dad still. We'll take a look today at what is driving this generation, the twixters.
O'BRIEN: I never heard that phrase, that term before. I heard the tweeners, which is like...
HEMMER: The tweeners.
O'BRIEN: ... the 12 year olds.
HEMMER: In between, yes.
O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.
HEMMER: Twixters.
O'BRIEN: We're so way past that age. Tsar -- Jack, good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How you doing, Soledad?
Coming up in the "Cafferty File," fear of the FCC squarely focused on the bare bottom of a cartoon character. We'll show you the rage that Trump's fiancee will wear to the wedding. And Cabbage Patch dolls with familiar faces.
O'BRIEN: That's an expensive rag, I believe.
All right, Jack, thank you very much.
Headlines now with Heidi Collins -- good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys.
And good morning to you once again, everybody.
Now in the news this morning, Vatican officials in Baghdad say they are grateful for the release of an abducted Catholic archbishop. The church official was apparently freed without the $200,000 ransom demanded earlier. Vatican officials say the archbishop is doing well and is now heading home. It is still not clear why he was taken in the first place.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in the process of announcing some staff changes. Among them, Annan says he is recommending U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to be named the head of UNICEF. She would replace outgoing Carol Bellamy.
And in sports, reigning U.S. Open tennis champ Svetlana Kuznetsova is apparently considering legal action. Belgian officials say she tested positive for a banned stimulant. But a Woman's Tennis Association official says the announcement was premature and that Kuznetsova tested positive for ephedrine, which could be traced back to cold medicine. We have heard that happen before, so we'll see what happens in the end.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
HEMMER: Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing for secretary of state begins in just about an hour.
Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning -- hey, Suzanne, good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The White House certainly hopes that she'll be confirmed by the full Senate, perhaps as early as Thursday, the president, the day of the president's inauguration. Now, she's going to start off today with an opening statement and really following the two wars of Iraq and Afghanistan in the first administration. She is going to talk about her vision of moving diplomatic forward.
She's going to say in the beginning of her speech, she's going to say that we must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom, and the time for diplomacy is now.
She also takes on the criticism that the United States acted on its own when it came to Iraq. She says in terms of alliances and institutions, "As President Bush said in our national security strategy, America is guided by the conviction that no nation can build a safer, better world alone. Alliances and multilateral institutions can multiply the strength of freedom loving nations, that core conviction will guide by actions."
And, finally, she puts the responsibility on Americans, saying we will increase our exchanges with the rest of the world and Americans should make a serious effort to understand other cultures and learn foreign languages. "Our interaction with the rest of the world must be a conversation, not a monologue."
So clearly taking on some of that criticism that sounds very much like what some of those allies and not allies were actually saying in the lead up to the Iraq war -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne, clearly a bit to do list for her.
What do you think comes first? What is the very first more importantly step, do you think, for Condi Rice, because, frankly, everybody thinks she's going to get confirmed.
MALVEAUX: Well, that's right. I mean, first she's got to establish relationships with the State Department. She has to learn how to go from managing the National Security Council to really thousands and thousands, this huge bureaucracy in the State Department. She follows, as you know, many people see Colin Powell as a rock star in the State Department, who really boosts morale. She's got to establish those relationships and then she also has to work on relationships with our allies, with the European allies, really trying to restore the credibility and some of those relations that were damaged before the Iraq war.
O'BRIEN: All right, a big task ahead for her, obviously.
Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning.
Suzanne, of course, we will continue to chat all morning as the confirmation hearings get underway in a little bit less than an hour from now -- Bill.
HEMMER: From the professional side, a bit of a personal side now of Condoleezza Rice.
Kiron Skinner is a friend and colleague of Dr. Rice. She's also a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and coauthor of "Reagan's Path To Victory."
She's live in San Francisco.
Good morning and welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING.
KIRON SKINNER, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine, thanks.
How do you believe she will go about this job, if confirmed on Thursday?
SKINNER: Well, I think the clip you just played gives you an indication of what her priorities will be. I think she will reach out to the rest of the world. She, as an academic, a student of international relations, will bring much more of a focus on the role of culture, of politics, markets, how all of these things work together.
I heard her speak recently at Carnegie Mellon about the role of interdisciplinary research and thinking in trying to solve international problems. And I think she's committed to that point of view.
HEMMER: There is an awful lot of pressure going in today. On the outside, some people might think it might be too much of a burden at this point. People on the inside have been used to it before.
How do you believe she approaches the pressure aspect of today's testimony?
SKINNER: You know, when I looked at her give her testimony during the 9/11 hearings, and she was quite calm and collected. I think this situation is not as intense. And I think she will do just fine. She understands the issues. She's fully prepared. If you look at her track record and her professional career, in a way, she's been preparing for this position, to be the chief diplomat of the United States, for a very long time.
Early in her career, while still in her 30s, her mid-30s, she helped to reunify Germany as an American participant in that diplomatic activity that marked the ending of the cold war.
So she's been on a path of diplomatic, honing diplomatic skills for a long time.
HEMMER: The last time you were with her was at her 50th birthday party in Washington, I believe, the 14th of November.
SKINNER: Yes.
HEMMER: She is a woman, an African-American, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, a deeply segregated Southern city at the time.
How has that shaped her into the woman she is today?
SKINNER: That's an important question as we fight the war on global terror. She's talked about in some of her speeches having grown up in the segregated South and having witnessed homegrown terrorism. I think that has informed the way that she has understood international terrorism, violence against individuals because of difference. It deepens her commitment to making the world safer, to combating terrorism and to getting at the root causes of terrorist activities as the administration has understood it, the lack of opportunity, the lack of education, despair, disease.
So she will be very committed to going to the social and economic sources that breed hatred and violence.
HEMMER: Kiron Skinner is a friend and a colleague from San Francisco.
Thanks for your time today for the personal side of Condoleezza Rice.
SKINNER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Live coverage next hour, 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Those hearings get underway right about then, or shortly thereafter. We'll be there live when it happens.
Also, Thursday morning we're live in Washington for an AMERICAN MORNING version of the inauguration day, starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time live on Capitol Hill -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: A bitter cold inaugural, it promises to be, with much of America held in the grip of Mr. Freeze. Take a look at these pictures and these numbers, more importantly. Embarrass, Minnesota, possibly the coldest spot yesterday, minus 54 degrees. Some other cold spots, Babbitt, Minnesota, minus 51; Grand Forks, North Dakota, minus 37; Upson, Wisconsin, 33 below.
Pictures coming into CNN are also enough to chill your bone. Look at this one. That's what it looks like in Duluth, Minnesota, four below zero there. It's minus 40, though, with the wind chill. Champagne, Illinois, a viaduct sporting some huge icicles dangling over the roadway there. In North Kingsville, Ohio, snow blowers getting quite a bit of a workout there. And anything for a little warmth down in Birmingham, Alabama. A little old sweater on that cute little dog. Low temperatures there dropped to the teens.
Even in Florida, getting out the ski jackets. This is Jacksonville, Florida, 32 degrees. It was 28 in Tallahassee.
Any relief on the way?
Let's check back in with Chad Myers.
He's at the CNN Center for us this morning with the latest forecast.
Hey, Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Here is a blast from the election past. Remember Jib Jab, the folks from California?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I wish our winning were a bit more certain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better call my friends at Halliburton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We won't pay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we stay, rule the day, D.C. Land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Are the Jib Jab brothers at it again? Putting together a new video for the inauguration. Once again, Washington in the crosshairs of their humor. Some images of the new video now. And tomorrow we'll see the whole thing when the Jib Jab brothers come back to AMERICAN MORNING. You'll hear them here in our 7:00 a.m. hour tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: Here's a question for you.
HEMMER: Yes?
O'BRIEN: Are those little tuxedos in trouble down in Antarctica? Two giant mountains of ice are on a collision course and some well dressed birds could also be in trouble.
HEMMER: Also, more and more 20-somethings said to be returning back to the nest. But is that actually a step in the right direction?
O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess no, if you're moving back in with mom and dad.
HEMMER: Stay tuned.
O'BRIEN: Also, the consequences of the tsunami disaster. A bad joke sends thousands into a panic. It's not funny. It's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A massive iceberg the size of Long Island, New York could smash into a glacier near the McMurdo U.S. Research Station in Antarctica very soon. NASA's satellite cameras are monitoring the situation. The iceberg, which is called B15A, has moved steadily toward the tip of the glacier, which is called the Dryglaski Ice Tongue, for about five years now. Scientists think a collision is going to happen any day now.
Joining us, Denton Ebel, he's with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, to shed a little light on this.
Good morning.
Nice to see you.
DENTON EBEL, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Good to be here.
O'BRIEN: It's been happening for five years.
What makes them think it's going to happen any day now? I mean is there a targeted time?
EBEL: Well, in your graphic, to the upper corner, you could see part of the Ross ice shelf. This is the biggest ice shelf in the world. And this piece, B15A, it's A because B15 was the size of Connecticut or Jamaica. Massive, the biggest piece of ice ever to come off an ice shelf that we know of ever.
And this piece is right now the biggest piece of floating ice on the planet in the past.
O'BRIEN: So it's on a collision course.
What, I mean is it expected to ram into the bigger of the glacier...
EBEL: It's expected -- it's about three miles away. It's moving approximately a mile a day. But, you know, tides and currents, winds, and also the fact that it can hit the ground. It's got a lot of ice below the water, so it can hit the ground even far off the shore. So those are factors that aren't well known what's going to happen.
But if it hits this tongue of ice -- this tongue of ice is the seaward part, floating part of a glacier that goes way up on land.
O'BRIEN: Right.
EBEL: And it's been going very fast out to sea. So it's probably very weak. So it should break off if it gets hit. And this would free up the ice in that area in the McMurdo Sound that's behind the iceberg, which would open up the water for penguins to get their food and for humans to get their supply ships...
O'BRIEN: Well, so you make it, then, sound like it's great. If this piece breaks off, all good news.
EBEL: This might be good news.
O'BRIEN: What's the down scenario? What if it does not, in fact, break off, that piece? EBEL: Well, if it sticks to the ice tongue and locks in, that could cause everything to just lock up. And I think what's more important is that we free up this area, nature frees up this area so that next year nature can take its course without this big iceberg in the way and the penguins' life cycle will be less interrupted, as it really has been this year.
O'BRIEN: Is there an impact outside of locally and outside of just to the penguins in Antarctica when this collision happens? And what kind of force will it hit with? Is it like a car hitting another car or is it...
EBEL: It's nothing like this, for example, 500 mile section of the Earth's crust dropping and causing a tsunami. It's not that kind of thing. It's a nudge of two monstrous objects, one of which, or both of which, will crack, break, hopefully, in that scenario.
But it's not the huge energy of a Krakatow or Pele volcano. It's a -- it's not that kind of thing.
O'BRIEN: It's nothing that, then, anybody is going to feel outside of exactly where it's happening.
Any other, though, long range impact?
EBEL: Well, the -- one of the interesting long range impacts is that this ice tongue, if it breaks off, then the glacier behind it will move even faster. And when glaciers on land move into the ocean and melt, it does raise the sea level.
The ice shelf glacier, the big thing the size of Long Island, when it melts, it just melts into the ocean. It doesn't change because it's already floating on the ocean. But when the landward glaciers move into the ocean, that is something that concerns us all, because, of course, rising sea levels are sort of a slow motion tsunami.
O'BRIEN: Well, it could happen any day now and I'm sure we'll have you back to talk about it when it finally does happen.
EBEL: That's very interesting.
O'BRIEN: Denton Ebel, nice to see you, as always.
Thanks a lot.
EBEL: Nice to be here.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.
Thank you -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, this story from Chile. A tsunami scare sending thousands into a panic. A mass exodus touched off when some fishermen reported seeing the sea pull back from the shoreline. That apparently triggered memories of the Asian tsunami disaster. Emergency officials say they registered no unusual ocean activity overnight. And the area's governor called the warning a bad joke.
A break here.
Somebody fears the wrath of the SCC. It covers its own rear-end by covering the cartoons. Jack has that in "The File" right after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: We're at 22 minutes now past the hour.
They are no longer kids, but not quite grown adults, either. 20- somethings returning to the nest, and for a number of reasons, finding themselves now betwixt and between the real world.
Adaora Udoji has more this morning for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeff Delamater isn't married. He has a girlfriend, Stephanie. At 27, he has no children, as he jumped from job to job in Atlanta with a psychology degree and thousands in school debt. In search of better prospects, he moved home and went back to school.
JEFF DELAMATER, "TWIXTER": We're not out there just driving around, partying not really -- like, shirking responsibility. We're out there looking for jobs.
UDOJI: Delamater is part of a dramatic trend, say researchers. Call them twixters, thresholders or boomerangers, 20-somethings putting off marriage, procreating and settling down.
PROF. FRANK FURSTENBERG, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: We have seen an enormous shift in the timing of adulthood. The costs of housing and the cost of schooling has skyrocketed.
UDOJI: The result, they're taking longer to finish college, racking up more debt and moving home. A "Time" magazine survey says 66 percent owe more than $10,000, 5 percent more than $100,000.
Those costs, say Shaniqwa Jarvis, led her to half a dozen jobs in New York City the past five years, including swimming instructor. But her eye was always on finding a meaningful career, not just a paycheck. Today, she believes it's photography.
SHANIQWA JARVIS, "TWIXTER": All the imagery, though, I could tell, it's from the same photographer, which is exciting.
UDOJI: Also strapped with school debt living in her mother's home to save money. Marriage and children are not a priority.
JARVIS: I think about it, but it's not something that drives me at all.
UDOJI: In the '60s, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had left home and started a family by the end of their 20s. Today, it's half that.
But don't accuse twixters of holding onto adolescence. They consider themselves grown up, their journey necessary.
JARVIS: I have worked a lot and done -- I worked with a myriad of people and come to the conclusion of where I don't want to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here you go.
UDOJI: As twixters search, they're changing the definition of adulthood into something that works for them.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: So you've got a whole new demographic now. Go after them.
O'BRIEN: They used to just call you lazy if you moved back home with your mom and dad. But, you know, I'm old now. That's what we used to call.
You liked that one, huh, Jack?
CAFFERTY: You have four of them to look forward to returning after college.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Like my parents said, you're gone.
CAFFERTY: Here's "The File" for this day
Donald Trump hoping the third time is a charm. He will we'd Slovenian supermodel Melania Knauss this Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. And here's a look at what the blushing bride will be wearing. Hand-embroidered from Christian Dior, this little frock carries a price tag of $100,000. It took 1,000 hours to make it. It contains 300 feet of material and it's adorned with 1,600 rhinestone crystals.
Trump says Melania is the one, saying, "She understands me better than anyone ever has." It's a very short list.
Fox says it's covered up the naked rear-end of a cartoon character recently because of nervousness over what the FCC might find objectionable. The decision was made a few weeks ago during a rerun of a "Family Guy" cartoon. Fox electronically blurred a character's tush even though it was seen in all its wrinkled glory five years earlier when the episode originally aired. The move follows the FCC's decision in October to fine 169 Fox stations $7,000 each for airing an episode of "Married By America," which showed people licking whipped cream from strippers. The next wave in celebrity pop culture, becoming a Cabbage Patch Kid. "Good Morning America" co-host Diane Sawyer -- that's her there -- will be auctioned off on eBay tomorrow morning. Others in the not so long line are TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Donald Trump. Diane Sawyer as a Cabbage Patch Kid. But no Larry King. Something's wrong.
HEMMER: Something is wrong. Seriously wrong.
O'BRIEN: I'd like to see the kid who goes out and buys a Larry King Cabbage Patch Kid. That would be kind of funny. Again, cracking myself up.
Jack, thank you very much.
Well, she is a close friend and a confidante of President Bush. But is she really the right choice for secretary of state? Find out why some experts are concerned about Condoleezza Rice's background. Don't forget, CNN is going to bring you live coverage of Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing in about 30 minutes from now.
AMERICAN MORNING is back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: And good morning.
Welcome, everybody.
Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
We're just about a half hour away from the Senate confirmation hearing for Condoleezza Rice. In just a few minutes, we're going to take a look at her record these last four years, her strengths and her weaknesses and what they tell us about the job that she might do as secretary of state.
HEMMER: Also in a few moments, Sanjay is back here in New York, the "New You Revolution comes your way for the second day today.
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