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American Morning
Reid Asks Super Delegates to Decide; Unemployment Rate Jumps to 5.5 Percent; Top 2 Air Force Officials Fired; Clinton Jokes on Sale; Clinton & Obama Meet; New York Backs Obama; Who Killed RFK?
Aired June 06, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GLENN BECK, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: Me personally, I don't think -- I don't think we got a candidate here that I could be happy about -- but let's just listen to them.
People said this week this was a big, big week for African Americans. And it was. But I think the media actually minimized this. You have Bobby Jindal, who is the governor of Louisiana, who is being talked about as a vice presidential candidate for John McCain. I believe he's Indian. It doesn't matter. This week was a watershed for America. It should point out that there are many Americans like myself where color and ethnicity doesn't matter at all. We've come even farther than the media has been telling us we have.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Glenn, it's good to talk to you. Good luck on your tour. We'll be listening. Thank you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton sit down in a possible first step toward peace in the Democratic Party. It happened earlier than most expected and the Obama campaign went all out to keep it a secret. Obama even ditched his traveling press corps after a rally in northern Virginia. Reporters took the flight to Chicago while he met privately with his former rival. This happened after Clinton's home state delegation officially threw its support behind the presumptive nominee.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live in Washington.
Good morning Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kyra.
Remember when Barack Obama used to say, the American people were bamboozled? Well, we were bamboozled last night. The campaigns played a very effective cat and mouse game locking the traveling press up on the campaign plane before telling them that Obama was not with them. He was off at a private meeting at an undisclosed location in Washington with Senator Clinton and the campaigns are quite mum who was in the room, what was said, simply saying the candidates wanted a private meeting. Now, that meeting comes after some Democrats have complained that Clinton had still not endorsed Obama. Those Democrats are afraid that they've revealed a weakness and now they're singing on the same page.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: In the lead up to Hillary Clinton's endorsement of Barack Obama, Clinton's most loyal supporters, her New York delegation, got behind her rival.
REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: Outstanding candidate and in our collective opinion he has won the nomination.
MALVEAUX: Thursday's event is part of a highly orchestrated public effort to make the best of what some saw as a serious Clinton blunder, her decision not to concede the race Tuesday night.
RANGEL: The New York congressional delegation were with her to the end but we thought the end was the end.
MALVEAUX: Clinton loyalists Congressman Charlie Rangel helped negotiate where that end would be. Wednesday in a series of conference calls with Hillary Clinton Rangel expressed lawmakers 'private frustrations that some were ready to endorse Obama.
Clintons aides tried to convince them to wait until after Clinton herself gave Obama the nod. The compromise this tortured announcement.
RANGEL: We've come here collectively to endorse our fearless leader who comes as the state of New York that makes us so proud --
MALVEAUX: Friday New York State officials will hold a similar event in Manhattan. In the meantime Clinton designated two top advisers to negotiate with the Obama camp over such things as how she'd campaign, her role at the convention, how to wipe out her debt and whether she'd get an official campaign title. Her campaign sent out a statement distancing Clinton from reports she's actively seeking vice presidency. However, sources close to the Clintons say she would not only accept the offer if it came and not pushing her staff to discourage.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: So Kyra, tonight Clinton's going to have the staff over for dinner to her house and all eyes tomorrow when she publicly goes before her supporters and calls for the party to unite around Barack Obama.
PHILLIPS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: The Democratic Party now adopting presumptive nominee's Barack Obama's policies on special interest money. The party will no longer take money from federal lobbyists or political action committees.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today as the Democratic nominee for president, I am announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard. We will not take a dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest packs. We're going to change how Washington works. They will not fund my party. They will not run our White House. And they will not drown out the voice of the American people when I'm president of the United States of America.
ROBERTS: Howard Dean, by the way, is going to stay on at the helm of the Democratic National Committee and one of Obama's top cam pain advisers will now help with the fund raising operations.
John McCain says he's going to do everything in his power to keep race out of the general election campaign. He told a group of journalists in Florida the focus will be on policy differences and the tone of the campaign will be respectful.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will do everything I can to keep anything that may be that kind of ugliness out of this political campaign. And the best way you do that, I think, is to show always respect for your opponent, no matter who that opponent is.
ROBERTS: McCain says that he has a record of doing just that in his previous campaigns.
Meantime, top Democratic Party leaders are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by the end of the day. Senator Harry Reid joins us at 8:25 eastern time to talk about that and a whole lot more including trying to unite the Democratic Party.
PHILLIPS: We're following extreme weather this morning. Violent tornadoes across the plains; at least four twisters touched down in western and central Kansas, heavy rains causing major flooding, hail and 80 mile winds reported. In Nebraska, at least two twisters north of Lincoln, flooding causing a shut down of a number of highways. And a wildfire burning in eastern North Carolina. Firefighters say that fire jumped containment lines and could actually double in size. So far 29,000 acres burned and 70 homes were evacuated.
ROBERTS: New job numbers come out in a little more than 30 minutes from now, 20 from now actually with some numbers predicting more job losses for American workers at 8:30 eastern.
How do you unite a party behind one historic candidate? Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid joins us with his message to undecided super delegates as the Democrats try to move forward.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Kennedy has been shot.
ROBERTS: ... the assassination of RFK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know exactly what happens.
ROBERTS: The new tapes that could prove there was a second gunman. And the man on the mission to make the case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eight minutes after the hour. It was 40 years ago today that Robert F. Kennedy died after being gunned down in California. Much like his brother's death, the assassination remains a source of intrigue. As we mark the anniversary of this tragic event, a new documentary is raising questions about who may have been involved in RFK's murder. Here's CNN's Kareen Wynter.
SEN. ROBERT F. KENNEDY: Now it's on to Chicago and let's win there.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It's a day still fresh in many Americans' minds, the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god, Senator Kennedy has been shot.
WYNTER: Kennedy's former legislative assistant, Peter Edelman.
PETER EDELMAN, RFK LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT: We don't know exactly what happened still. There are so many mysteries in history.
WYNTER: Even now on the 40th anniversary of the senator's killing in a Los Angeles hotel kitchen, questions still linger. His mysterious murder is the subject of a new documentary, "RFK Must Die, the Assassination of Bobby Kennedy."
SHANE O'SULLIVAN, "RFK MUST DIE" FILMMAKER: There hasn't really been a serious investigation of the ballistics in this case since 1975.
WYNTER: Filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan says he's uncovered new evidence suggests the lone gunman Sirhan Sirhan now serving a life sentence didn't act alone.
O'SULLIVAN: There's new audio evidence of the only audio recording of shooting suggesting 13 shots were fired, eight from the front, Sirhan's position and five from the back, which is where this mysterious gunman seems to have been.
WYNTER: O'Sullivan discovered rare footage and interviewed witnesses for the film.
EVEN FREED, PHOTOGRAPHER: I have serious downtown Sirhan Sirhan fired the fatal shot.
WYNTER: Witness like this press photographer who says while he saw Sirhan Sirhan shooting that day, the ballistic evidence doesn't add up. The Los Angeles police wouldn't comment on the documentary's conclusions. Programs the biggest question this film examines, why anyone would want him dead.
O'SULLIVAN: If he got into the White House, he would have pulled out of Vietnam, stopped the defense spending, perhaps divert that money to the poverty. And perhaps the establishment didn't like that direction.
WYNTER: Kennedy's daughter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, says her father's case is a closed chapter. KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND, DAUGHTER OF RFK: You can't recreate the past. You have to create your future. So focus on what my father's legacy is.
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: We continue to follow up on the breaking news this morning, Barack Obama's surprise sit-down with Hillary Clinton. And he pulled some switch-a-roo on the press as well as. While he took off for the meeting his communications director was left behind to handle the fallout from the entire traveling press corps. Robert Gibbs joins us live next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All morning we've been talking about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and this private sit-down that they had. What did they talk about? Is it about unifying the Democratic Party? Is it about Hillary Clinton joining the ticket, becoming the second in command with Barack Obama? Well, we're going to join -- we're joined now by Obama's campaign communications director Robert Gibbs.
Obviously, there's been a lot of questions through the evening since you pulled the old switch with the press corps where they thought they might be with the senator and ended up talking with you. Thanks for being with us this morning. Tell us about this private meeting. Great to have you.
ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I have not spoken directly with Senator Obama about it since last evening. But I know that having talked to others that they had a cordial meeting. And as you mentioned in the lead-in there, they talked about how to come together and how to unify this party and move forward because what we have at stake in November is so important. And what unites us as a party far exceeds what might divide either of these two candidates. That was the main topic.
PHILLIPS: Why a private meeting? Why sort of at the last minute, kind of throwing everybody for a loop there? Why did it have to happen exactly at that moment?
GIBBS: Look, I think you guys may be broadcasting from Washington. I saw people broadcasting last night from outside her house, even though the meeting wasn't there, or outside of her house even this morning. Obviously, it's very -- there was a desire, first of all, to do this in a very private way and in a private location. Obviously, it would have been hard to have done that with 100 of our best friends with their video cameras and tape recorders. Again, it was -- this was a meeting that both candidates had wanted to do and both candidates wanted to do in a very private way and that's -- you know, that's what we had to do last night.
PHILLIPS: Is it just about unifying the party? Or is it more about, okay, let's talk about the vice presidency here or is it both? GIBBS: Again, I think the main topic last night -- I know the main topic last night was unifying this party. As Senator Obama said yesterday on the plane when he was on the plane in a more coaching way was the next time he was going to speak about the vice presidential selection was when he named his vice president. Obviously, a very important decision, a very serious decision he's going to have to make between now and the convention. He's going to do that in a very methodical way. It's not something we'll talk a lot about or any about in public between now and then.
PHILLIPS: Is she number one on the short list? Don't laugh, Robert Gibbs. Look, he's not meeting with anybody else. He's meeting with Hillary Clinton. So I'm going to take it she's number one on the short list.
GIBBS: Well, look, again, this is not a selection process that we're going to talk publicly about.
PHILLIPS: Where did they meet?
GIBBS: It wasn't at her house and it was not at Dick Cheney's undisclosed location.
PHILLIPS: Wasn't down in the bunker?
GIBBS: No. That was full.
PHILLIPS: All right. So I think we can try and read between the lines here. He's meeting with Hillary Clinton. We are talking about a short list that's out there for the VP part of this ticket. We're talking about unifying the party. But number one, you say you haven't talked to the senator since last night?
GIBBS: Yeah, he -- I don't know -- he got back obviously pretty late last night, later even than we did.
PHILLIPS: But he did say this is what is on the agenda, this is what we're going to talk about. Can you give me specifics when they talked about unifying the party what was it they discussed?
GIBBS: Kyra, I really don't have a lot more than I've given you, again. Obviously, the number one thing for them to talk about was to talk about coming together and bringing this party together. You had two candidates who ran great races, who ran historical races, both of whom brought millions of voters into this new process. Now as we go forward we have to devise a plan to get both voters for both candidates out unified in a way that puts the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama over the top in November and elects him president of the United States.
There are too many issues that are at stake, too many important decisions that are going to be made over the next four years that can't be left, quite frankly, to George Bush's third term with John McCain. We think that Barack Obama has an agenda that will bring about change in this country and help people's lives. That was certainly what was talked about last night. PHILLIPS: Final question, can we just expect the two of them to hold any type of news conference today?
GIBBS: No, there will -- not today. That's certainly not on the --
PHILLIPS: Tomorrow, possibly the next day?
GIBBS: No. We've -- we don't have any events scheduled in the very near term obviously. She's got a very important event tomorrow, a celebration of her candidacy that's richly deserved and we'll see down the line where these two meet again.
PHILLIPS: Robert Gibbs, appreciate your time this morning.
GIBBS: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: John?
ROBERTS: Coming up on 19 minutes after the hour. You're watching the most news in the morning. Taking on your credit card company and the losing. Coming up, why a system that's supposed to be fair is stacked against the little guy.
A one-on-one interview with Prince Andrew. He'll talk about his famous nephews and a whole lot more when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 20 minutes after the hour. If you have a problem with your credit card company, you might have to take it up with an arbitrator. But get this, arbitrators rule in favor of the credit card companies more than 99.99 percent of the time. Geri Willis joins us to explain this seemingly unfair system.
What's going on that they're giving it to the credit card companies almost 100 percent of the time?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: John, this is maddening, I have to tell you. Credit card defaults are increasing across the country. If you have a dispute with your credit card company, guess what, you can't go to a court of law to resolve the dispute. You're going to go to an arbitrator because you agreed to do it in the fine print of your credit card agreement.
Here's what you need to know. These arbitrators make their decisions in mere minutes. They have very little information at their fingertips and are typically paid with credit card industry. The debtor is rarely in the room when these happen. As a result, as you said at the top of this, the credit card win an overwhelming number of the cases.
According to "Business Week," they have a big article that they're releasing on this, the National Arbitration Forum, sounds like a nice group of folks, they are the folks who are the worst actors in this industry and they work for Chase, JP Morgan, Bank of America, really big companies. Now, I think that folks out there are probably very frustrated with this, John.
ROBERTS: What can a consumer do, then, if you say the way to solve it is you go to arbitration, you can't go to a court of law, yet the arbitrators rule on behalf of the credit card companies.
WILLIS: Let me give you a little more detail on the dispute out there. At the end of the day you think they should collect what they're owed but I spoke to a former justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court. He says, guess what, at the end of the day, NAF, the company we talked about, is an arm of the collection industry. He said it's a scam and they ask for fees and charges that would never be allowed in a court of law. He's very frustrated. Last night we spoke with NAF who says over 80 years arbitration administrators have been committed to the fair and neutral process of out of court resolution.
Two year question though John, what do you do if you're a consumer? If you do have a problem go to the account retention department. Don't ask for a customer service representative if you're having a problem. These account retention folks are the people who will help you out, give you time, extra time if you need it if you're late paying your bill. You have to play hard ball. You want to threaten to move your account if you're having problems you're not happy with. Make a stink. This is the kind of time right now I have to tell you where these folks are in the crosshairs, the financial service industry, taking a lot of criticism in the marketplace, in the public, in the media. You have power out there but don't go in front of an arbitrator because the odds just aren't with you.
ROBERTS: But it's okay to play hardball with them outside the arbitration process.
WILLIS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Good tip. Gerri, thanks very much.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: You're watching the most news in the morning. Mending the wounds from a grueling campaign, Harry Reid live on his efforts to unite the Democrats. That's all next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 26 minutes after the hour. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton met last night in Washington to talk about uniting the Democratic Party. Tomorrow Senator Clinton is expected to suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama for president. Joining us now from Capitol Hill is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Senator, it's good to see you. You have been undeclared up until this morning. Do you want to take this opportunity to say who you're going to support for president and why?
SEN. HARRY REID (D), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Yes, I talked to Hillary yesterday, told her I was going to support Barack Obama. There's been an interesting thing in my life because it started out -- a year ago I had four senators running for president and I had two other friends, Edwards and Richardson, of course, so it made my life a little more complicated trying to figure out who the votes were going to be, who was going to be there. It made it difficult but it turned out just fine. This primary has been so great for the country, great for the state of Nevada. I'm so looking forward to John McCain coming back to the senate.
ROBERTS: This meeting that happened between Senators Obama and Clinton?
REID: No, I'm glad they did. I think symbolically it means so much to the country and the party. I think people need to understand the primary is over. We have candidate named Barack Obama and the Republicans have had a candidate for a couple of months and his name is John McCain.
ROBERTS: Are you concerned, Senator, that these two campaigns may not be able to work together? We heard that the Obama campaign was a little bit put off by the tone of Senator Clinton's speech Tuesday night. They thought she was a little ungracious.
REID: Hillary Clinton, first woman to run for president that has had a chance of winning. Of course she came very close. Hillary is going to endorse Barack tomorrow. She's a very good woman. She's been a great senator. And she's going to be a great help to us in this primary, no matter what role she has in the campaign.
ROBERTS: You said, Senator, that this was a great primary season. But the fact that it was so long and so fractious and some of the rhetoric that was going back and forth between these two campaigns would appear to have given the Republican Party some pretty rich talking points here. Do you think, in fact, this was good for the party? Or would you have liked to have seen it wrapped up a couple of months ago?
REID: Without question, I think it's been tremendous. Look what happened. We had 3.5 million people in the process that weren't before. The state of Nevada, Republicans have been for more than a generation majority party in Nevada. That's not the way it is anymore. It's not even close. There's tens of thousands of more Democrats in Nevada, than Republicans. The first time in the history of our country, Pennsylvania, more than 4 million Democrats. We've had all over the country tremendous participation by Democrats.
This is a campaign that has been good for the country. It's been, I think, been able to show what we can do as pointing out good candidates. Think of the candidates we had. We had Dodd, we had Biden, we had Richardson, we had Edwards. We had Chris Dodd. We wound up with Barack Obama. Tremendous for the country and I think if you look at the general election already the polls show Barack far ahead of John McCain. John has a bad temperament. He's wrong on the war and wrong on the economy.
ROBERTS: Our latest poll of polls has Barack Obama two points ahead of John McCain. It's not -- wouldn't speak to a landslide.
REID: Well, I don't know what poll you're looking at but the poll we saw earlier in the week he was six points ahead.
ROBERTS: The one we have, it's a poll of polls so we're averaging polls. 47/45 is what we're seeing.
Speaking to the issue of the general election campaign, senator McCain has hammered Obama over his foreign policy particularly the idea meeting with the leaders of rogue nations. We had Mitt Romney on yesterday. Here's what he said about Barack Obama.
MITT ROMNEY: I think there are a lot of people who like Barack Obama and find him to be well spoken and a handsome man but just don't think that he's ready to lead the strongest nation on the planet. They're concerned about his experience in foreign affairs, particularly as it relates to the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, during the primary campaign, it wasn't just Senator McCain and the Republican Party that were hammering Senator Obama on this. Senator Clinton added in as well calling his policies the meeting with leaders of rogue nations "naive and irresponsible." How does he recover from that when members of his own party were being critical of him?
SEN. HARRY REID (D), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Listen, he has nothing to recover from. He's running against a man who was in Florida touring the Everglades and he voted against everything for the Everglades. Here's a man who came out today supporting the unconstitutional illegal program that the president initiated dealing with wiretapping on Americans.
John McCain is a flawed candidate. He is bad temperamentally, bad on the war, wrong on economy. This will be an interesting campaign but certainly interesting in watching Barack Obama become president.
ROBERTS: Senator Harry Reid, majority leader, thanks for being with us this morning.
REID: You bet.
ROBERTS: Good to see you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's the bottom of the hour. Here's some of the top stories we're following.
Everyone just needs to settle down. That's what Senator Barack Obama said when our Candy Crowley asked him about the search for a vice presidential candidate and the pressure to pick Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRES. NOMINEE: The vice presidency is the most important decision that I'll make before I'm president. And it's something that I take very seriously. I know Bill Clinton took it very seriously when he had to go through this process. Senator Clinton, I'm sure, would take it very seriously if she were going through this process. So we've got a committee that's made of some wonderful people. They are going to go through the procedure, vet and talk to people and make recommendations. I will meet with a range of people and I'll ultimately make a decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And Obama's campaign has announced that Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of former President Kennedy, will take part in that vice presidential search team.
Extreme weather to tell you about across the Midwest. Here's a look at flooding in Kansas that got the worst of the storms. In some parts of Kansas there were reports of hail three inches in diameter. All told, about 30 tornadoes actually touched down in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
Startling new figures on the mortgage crisis. A new report shows that 1 in 11 loans is either late or already in foreclosure. That's about 4.8 million loans.
Breaking news just in here. The new jobs numbers are out for the month of May. Ali Velshi, joining us there from his desk in the "CNN NEWSROOM."
Ali, what's coming across the screen?
ALI VELSHI, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's pretty dramatic. The unemployment rate has surged to 5.5 percent. It jumped from 5 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May. That is a dramatic jump in the unemployment rate. 49,000 jobs were lost in the United States in May. That's 49,000 jobs. The United States has now lost 305,000 jobs since the beginning of this year.
So for all of those indications that things are looking a little better than we may have thought for the economy, the number one concern for people, believe it or not, as much as we think it's gasoline and inflation, it's a job because gasoline doesn't mean anything to you if you don't have an income. 305,000 people have now lost their jobs since the beginning of the year all the typical sectors, construction, manufacturing, even retail trade. We've seen losses in all those areas and we now have an unemployment rate of 5.5 percent in the United States.
PHILLIPS: It's killing us. Ali Velshi. Can't afford to buy a home, you lose your home, the gas prices.
VELSHI: It all piles on.
PHILLIPS: What else is happening this morning? Hopefully some good news somewhere.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, somewhere toward the end but two more people losing their jobs. That tops our headlines. New this morning, a rare double firing at the top ranks of the U.S. military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ousted the air force's top two officials after a scathing report came out on nuclear oversight. Here's what happened. Back in August, a B-52 bomber took flight mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. And it was recently made public that back in 2006 parts of nuclear warheads were actually shipped to Taiwan.
Two sky-high stunts just hours apart at the 52-story New York Times building, in New York Times Square. Have you seen this yet? One daredevil known as the French spider-man scaled the building. Then he unfurled a banner saying global warming kills more people than 9/11 every week. He was arrested once he got to the top. That didn't stop another man from making the climb. 32-year-old New Yorker Clark did it because he was trying to raise awareness about the dangers of malaria. How do you get -- how are these people brave enough to do that? I don't understand. He was arrested too. Brave enough, stupid enough, stupid might be more apt. He was arresting, too, hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation.
Hot summer day, dying for something cold to eat? How much would you pay to get your hands on a watermelon? Try four figures. Believe it or not, a jumbo black watermelon weighing nearly 18 pounds sold for a record $6,100 at an auction in Japan. That's right, we're talking $6100. The black skinned watermelon is rare. It's rare and grown only on one Japanese island. A marine products dealer bought it saying he did it to support local agriculture. Apparently they go normally for about 300 bucks or the equivalent of in yen. Anyway, they're so special they're sold in department stores. They're not even sold in grocery stores.
ROBERTS: A $6,000 watermelon, what do you do with it?
CHO: You cut it up in very small pieces and freeze it. You eat it over several years.
PHILLIPS: What kind of a department store sells that? You have to go to Haired's in London to buy that.
CHO: It's not in grocery stores. These are special melons, apparently very good.
ROBERTS: Speaking of London, Britain's Prince William soon is going to be heading to the Caribbean as part of his stint in the Royal Navy. Our Becky Anderson sat down with their uncle Prince Andrew to talk about his famous nephews and other things. She joins us this morning from London.
Becky, not every day one gets to sit down with a prince. What did he have to say?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Call him what you will. Haven't the tabloids had fun with this member of the royal family over the years? Randy Andy, caught him the playboy prince. But when you're born into a life of privilege and opportunity and you're the second son -- of course his brother is Prince Charles -- then you generally either join the church, they tell us, or join the armed forces. That is exactly what of course Prince Andrew did famously flying helicopters during the Falklands war. He was in the navy, of course. So he's had a good career and he's actually worked for his money, which we like here in the UK. And he's been watching his nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry with interest as they join the forces. This is what he had to say to me.
PRINCE ANDREW: Harry I know thoroughly enjoys his time with the army. I think he was extremely proud to be able to go and serve his country in active war conditions in Afghanistan. But those are very, very difficult conditions.
William of course is in a different position. And he's learning about all three services because of his eventual position. I commend that absolutely.
ANDERSON: Let's remind ourselves what Prince William is up to. He joined the Royal Navy just this week, John. He's on training at the moment down in the south of England. What he'll be doing, effectively, is join the navy on their ships out in the Caribbean, to fight the drug wars. That's effectively what he's doing. He can't go out to the gulf. It's too dangerous.
I put that to Prince Andrew. I said, what's it like to know you're a member of the royal family as was Prince Harry when he wanted to go to Iraq last year and the problem being that you put others in harm's way if indeed you go out and do a tour of duty. He said it's a very difficult thing to do, which is the reason Prince William is going out to the Caribbean. Tough old job.
He was on the boat the other day and one of the first things you do in the navy is you have to pull out the anchor. He blew it. He didn't get it right. So it ended up that he had to buy the drinks in the round for the rest of the boys on the ship. So he's having some fun in the navy and his uncle as he tells us he's very proud of what both are doing.
ROBERTS: You need to know the right way to hoist an anchor. You also asked him which I thought was a bit of a sensitive question about Fergie.
ANDERSON: Yeah, it was interesting. Sarah Ferguson of course stateside, I know is very famous for lots of reasons. Here in the UK, she was given a bit of a tough ride after they got divorced. There were headlines saying things like princess of pork and very sort of derogatory things but she's gone to the states and given it a run and earning good money. Prince Andrew, I said to him or put it to him that she's probably better known than you are, which probably doesn't sit very well with the member of the British royal family. This is what he said.
PRINCE ANDREW: I was with Sarah in the United States about two years ago. And coming out of one building about half a dozen people said, oh, oh, can we have your autograph and pushed past me. I'm quite happy with letting her get on with it. She's been very successful in the United States.
ANDERSON: He's a very grounded member of the royal family, really prepared to have a bit of a giggle. I did put it to him as well is that he has a reputation as a bit of an international playboy and would he like to put that to rest and John, he just said no. Back to you.
ROBERTS: There you go. Becky Anderson for us this morning from London as always. A little cheek in there. Becky, thank you.
PHILLIPS: For more than 200 years white men have headed up to the White House. Now Barack Obama could change all that. Our Lola Ogunnaike looks at whether he has Hollywood to thank next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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PHILLIPS: From George Washington to George W. Bush, all the American presidents have had two things in common. They've all been white and they've all been men. Hollywood, however, doesn't play by the rules. Our Lola Ogunnaike reports on whether life might imitate art come November.
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LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sammy Davis Jr. was barely out of knickers when he played one of Hollywood's first black presidents in the 1933 film, "Rufus Jones for President." The film was supposed to be a fantasy, but the stereotypes were a complete nightmare, promises of pork chops and chicken for the masses? Hard to believe, but back then many people found that funny.
PROF. DONALD BOGLE, UNIV. PENNSYLVANIA AFRICAN STUDIES DEPT.: Rufus Jones for President is telling us if a black man comes to power, one, he'll be a child-like figure and that nothing really is going to get done in the country, nothing of substance.
OGUNNAIKE: Now, let's fast forward a few decades and you have comedians like Dave Chapel and Chris Rock playing with the idea of a black president again but this time completely mining it for laughs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd like you to run for president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of what?
OGUNNAIKE: Morgan Freeman was all business when he played the president in the 1998 film "Deep Impact."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If she knows, how long can it be before CNN or "The Post" breaks the story?
OGUNNAIKE: By the time "24" arrived, the president's race had become a non-issue, at least for Hollywood. In fact President David Palmer's color is rarely addressed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most patriotic thing we can do today is to keep living our lives.
BOGLE: He's ready to govern. He's on top of things. He's quite intelligent and we can believe in him.
OGUNNAIKE: But do you think that the American public became more comfortable with the idea of a black president because of "24"?
BOGLE: I'll put it this way. I don't think it hurt. And, again, with the new generation, I don't think it hurt.
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PHILLIPS: And what's your first -- we were talking through that piece.
OGUNNAIKE: Yeah, we were.
PHILLIPS: I want to go back to Sammy Davis playing Rufus. How cute was he? I would have voted for him.
OGUNNAIKE: I know, adorable.
PHILLIPS: But Hollywood also has had women in these roles as well. Geena Davis played the first female president.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes she played one of the first female presidents in "Commander In Chief." And Polly Bergen in 1964 "Kisses for My President." This goes way back. Next season on "24" there will be a new president, too. John should be happy because he's a huge "24" fan.
PHILLIPS: His phone ringer is the "24" -- maybe the new president giving him a call.
OGUNNAIKE: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: But we talked about when Geena Davis played commander in chief, it did so well. But then --
OGUNNAIKE: It did well initially, but then it started to tank. The show only lasted a little over a year. The viewing audience wasn't comfortable.
PHILLIPS: Art imitating life. Hollywood played with all these options.
OGUNNAIKE: Hillary supporters will be happy next season.
PHILLIPS: There you go. They have something to look forward to. John.
ROBERTS: There you go. Let's see if I can --
PHILLIPS: Can you get it to ring? Here I'll call you.
ROBERTS: Just call me. Here we go. There we go.
That's great.
PHILLIPS: Tell Kiefer I said hi.
ROBERTS: President Palmer was such a great president, too.
PHILLIPS: That took him to a whole other level.
ROBERTS: Totally believable.
Schools are taking some important steps to help students make healthy food choices. Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us what they're doing in his "Fit Nation" report.
Educating young people on the importance of healthy eating. Schools are trying to do their part to prevent obesity and promote good health. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on this week's "Fit Nation" report coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Educating young people on the importance of healthy eating. Schools are trying to do their part to prevent obesity and promote good health. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on this week's "Fit Nation" report.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: With the economy in a downturn, the burden is falling on schools in many areas to provide nutritious and affordable meals for kids.
EDWARD KOCH, PRINCIPAL, FAIRHILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Nutrition is critical for children's success. If children are well fed, well balanced, our children achieve well.
GUPTA: But just getting enough food can be an issue for some families. So getting healthy and often more expensive food is often an afterthought. The end result of those decisions can be devastating.
CARLA HARRIS, TEACHER: We do have several children that are obese. We do have several children with diabetes. We have children with rotting and decaying teeth.
GUPTA: But there is some good news. A recent study in the Journal of Pediatrics shows small steps can make a huge difference.
SANDY SHERMAN, THE FOOD TRUST: We reduced the incidence of students becoming overweight by 50 percent just by making small changes.
GUPTA: And like any good education, it starts in the classroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a question?
SHERMAN: We did training of teachers. We did classroom education. And then we just helped to make some alterations in the lunch room.
GUPTA: Changes like replacing soda with water and skim milk. Taking candy out of vending machines and teaching kids how to make better choices. It's a program that makes teachers, parents and students alike very happy.
KOCH: I have seen an increase in test scores and a decrease in behavioral issues.
HARRIS: They love it. I don't know if you saw them attacking the fruit. They actually like it. I think if it were more accessible, they would be more willing to try it.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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ROBERTS: Of course you can catch Dr. Gupta this weekend on "House Call" Saturday and Sunday mornings 8:30 eastern right here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, turning a real life nightmare into a life-saving mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robbie ran past me. I remember thinking about how I never saw him run so fast before. Then a few seconds later he was laying on home plate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I walked in and they said he died. I started screaming. This is a healthy 9-year-old kid. How in the world could his heart just stop?
PHILLIPS: Now the heartbroken mother is trying to protect the hearts of children on the little league field. Her powerful story coming up next.
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PHILLIPS: A mother's heartbreak has turned into a heroic act of kindness. She's working tirelessly to get out this message on the little league field. You're going to meet her right now.
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JILL LEVINE: Robbie was a great kid. He was fun. He was energetic. And he was very athletic. He loved all sports but baseball was really his passion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was standing at first base. Robbie ran past me. I remember thinking about how I never saw him run so fast before. Then a few seconds later, he was laying on home plate and I started to try to do CPR. LEVINE: Someone came banging on my door, you have to come to the hospital right now, something happened to Robbie. We get there. They walked in and they said he died. I started screaming. This is a healthy 9-year-old kid. How in the world could his heart just stop? Robbie really could have had a chance if there was a defibrillator. I just knew that we needed to do something.
My name is Jill Levine and I help coaches save lives. My goal is to make them mandatory in sports in the same way you have to wear a batting helmet.
My first priority is to raise awareness of about the need. You definitely won't regret it. We've donated dozens of AEDs. They're easy to use but you have to be trained. Coaches are prepared, lives can be saved.
In some way, I'm still parenting Robbie. I'm still his mom. I feel like I'm helping people because of him. And that helps me.
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ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton's supporters weren't the only ones sorry to see her leave the race.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The pool cleaning guy came to the Clintons' house to service their pool Thursday. Now that Hillary is dropping out of the race she may actually have time to swim. But woe is me contemplating life after Hillary.
JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: Final clearance, all Hillary Clinton jokes must go tonight. Everything must go.
MOOS: Please, please don't go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear Hillary, do not stop until all is blood and ash.
MOOS: We're left with two guys in suits but no pant suits.
DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: Hillary lost and she said today, I'm not going anywhere, I've already purchased my inaugural pant suit.
MOOS: In honor of her departure, Conan retired a pant suit into the rafters. But Hillary will get the last laugh.
Where oh, where are we going to get laughs?
CLINTON: Do I really laugh like that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, well, well.
MOOS: What are Hillary impersonators going to do?
This Chilean performance artist have legs without Hillary? It is more fun when it is a woman tossing back shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Testicular fortitude.
MOOS: We're going to need testicular fortitude to go on. What about our Hillary toys? The stories we have done. It is unthinkable. No more cracking jokes about the Hillary nutcracker. They sold 230,000.
I broke a nail.
Critics call them offensive. Hillary autographed at least one. She's a nutcracker
Suspicious packages containing the nutcrackers have even caused several bomb scares. The inventor revamped the web site what will be next. Will the vise president become the vice president? If she doesn't we will miss her pointed gestures. Exaggerated pointing comedians love to point out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clap, clap, point, point. Clap, clap, point, point.
MOOS: If we don't have Hillary, we don't have Bill.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You always follow me around and play these little games.
MOOS: Maybe the presidency was the one nut Hillary couldn't crack. But we're sure she'll pop up again. This is one politician you can't just put back in the box.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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ROBERTS: Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. Have a great weekend. We will see you again Monday.
PHILLIPS: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins, begins right now.
