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American Morning
President Bush Issues Clear Warning to Iran; Defense Secretary Robert Gates Touring Air Force Bases Across the Country; Air Strike Inside Pakistan Kills 11 Pakistani Soldiers; Closer Look at Women Behind the Candidates
Aired June 11, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, how can you convince Americans that the Republican Party is the way to go to solve this problems?
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think people have to look at the policies that are being proposed by both people who are running for president. It's not Republican versus Democrats. It's John McCain versus Barack Obama.
Barack Obama in the last several days had said he wants to raise taxes on corporations, on individuals, income tax, capital gains, social security taxes and now a tax on coal and a tax on national gas.
PHILLIPS: But what about the similarities --
ROMNEY: And then when --
PHILLIPS: What about the similarities with John McCain and the President? I mean, they coincide on so many levels?
ROMNEY: Well, actually they don't coincide at all levels, and particularly with regards to the economy. I think you have to recognize that the principles of economics, those don't change. Raising taxes always slows down the economy. And Barack Obama said as much yesterday when he said, look, he'd have to hold off his tax increases until the economy is stronger. That's because the tax increases would hurt the economy.
And frankly, as I look at Barack Obama, what he's proposing is very much like what Jimmy Carter proposed. And that, of course, led to a disastrous economy. Raising taxes in tough times, particularly taxes on energy, about the worst thing you could do.
PHILLIPS: So, where do you disagree with the President?
ROMNEY: You know, the President had his own positions. I think there were places where I see failure in Washington. I don't know that I'm blaming that on one party or the other, but we should have had an energy policy over the last decade.
We should have said it's time for America to become energy independent, to develop nuclear power. We have no new nuclear power plants in this country. We needed some. We needed to be drilling for oil offshore when states said it was a good idea. We should be doing those things. And that's something which Republicans and, I think, Senator McCain agree with.
PHILLIPS: Well, Barack Obama says that his plan for Americans is the one to go with. Let's take a listen to part of what he said within his speech on tax.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: My tax plan will cut taxes for 95 percent of workers, because we need to put money back into the pockets of struggling middle-class families and close the egregious tax loopholes that have exploded over the last eight years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, McCain is saying Obama's tax plan is a threat to all Americans.
ROMNEY: Well, Senator McCain is not raising taxes. Senator McCain does not propose raising any taxes. Senator Obama has said he wants to raise corporate taxes, income taxes, capital gains taxes, and taxes on coal and natural gas.
That's raising taxes. That's going to hurt the American family. It's also going to hurt the economy. It's the wrong way to go. I know that he has great ideas for how he's going to spend that money. There's always an option for government to spend money for people.
But that's not something that John McCain wants to do. He wants to pull back government spending, particularly the wasteful earmarked spending and hold down taxes for the American consumer and get the cost of energy down. And that's the kind of policy we need. I don't care whether it's Republican or Democrat. Is this good economics?
PHILLIPS: Governor Mitt Romney, good to see you this morning, sir.
ROMNEY: Thanks, Kyra. Good to be with you.
PHILLIPS: John?
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush issuing a clear warning to Iran today. All options, he says, are on the table, including new sanctions if Iran does not end its disputed nuclear program. The President is in Germany this morning -- the second stop of his farewell European tour on his way to Italy.
And President Bush also commenting on an interview that he gave to the "Times of London." In that interview, he said that he regrets some of the language that he used in the run-up to the war like, quote, "bring them on," and "dead or alive." When asked if he regrets going to war, this is what he told reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't regret it at all. Losing Saddam Hussein made the world a safer place. And, yes, I told the guy (INAUDIBLE). Now, what could you do over? First of all, you don't get to do things over in my line of work, but I could have used better rhetoric to indicate that, one, we tried to exhaust the diplomacy in Iraq.
Two, that I don't like war. But, you know, the decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Defense Secretary Robert Gates touring Air Force bases across the country and CNN has the only television correspondent traveling with him. Our Jamie McIntyre caught up with Gates for this exclusive interview about the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Secretary Gates was on his way to give another pep talk to airmen about nuclear weapons security in the failure of Air Force leadership when he agreed to take a few questions from CNN on another hot button issue -- America's long-term intentions in Iraq and what the new president will face.
MCINTYRE (on camera): What do you think is going to happen in Iraq?
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I think either the person who is elected president is going to come in and take a close look at it. I've said repeatedly we can't get the end game wrong.
MCINTYRE: Are you ever going to be able to answer this question about permanent bases?
GATES: We have no desire for permanent bases in Iraq.
MCINTYRE (voice-over): Gates' standard answer isn't satisfying to many on Capitol Hill where there is bipartisan concern the new U.S.-Iraq security accord may go well beyond the boilerplate Status of Forces Agreement the U.S. has with more than 80 other countries.
MCINTYRE (on camera): I guess the question becomes, what's a permanent base?
GATES: This is a permanent base.
MCINTYRE: This is permanent.
Are the bases we have in Korea or Germany, are those permanent bases or they're just bases that have been there for --
GATES: I think you would have to look at them as permanent bases. They've been there for 50 years. They are U.S. facilities in the sense that they are U.S. only in many instances.
MCINTYRE: And that's not what's going to happen -- GATES: It's not what we have in mind.
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The negotiations, by some account, are dragging and may not be complete by the end of the Bush administration. Some Iraqi leaders complain the U.S. wants too many bases, too much control of the airspace and too much immunity from Iraqi law.
Any chance you'd consider serving in another administration, either Democratic or Republican?
GATES: I've learned a long time ago never to say never. So, my answer is, the circumstances under which I would do that are inconceivable to me.
MCINTYRE (on camera): Gates believes whoever is elected the next president is going to want to get the end game right in Iraq. So, whether it's Obama or McCain, he believes they're likely to chart a more moderate course than their campaign rhetoric might indicate.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And this just in CNN, we're now hearing from a U.S. official about that air strike inside Pakistan. It says that fighter jets were targeting militants who crossed the border from Afghanistan, but Pakistan is furious blaming the U.S. for killing 11 of its soldiers.
A statement now from the Pakistani Army called it an unprovoked and cowardly act. The Pentagon is reviewing and investigating that incident.
And new overnight, outrage in South Korea over plans to lift restrictions on U.S. beef imports. 21,000 riot police face off, as you can see right here, against demonstrators blocking the streets of Seoul. South Korea stopped importing U.S. beef back in 2003 amid concerns of mad cow disease. The South Korean Cabinet even offered to resign in hopes of diffusing that situation.
ROBERTS: Well, just minutes ago the shuttle Discovery undocked with the International Space Station. New video for you just in to CNN. Discovery scheduled to land Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, weather permitting, of course.
PHILLIPS: And the desperate effort to hold back rising rivers in the Midwest. Rob Marciano is tracking the extreme weather for us.
ROBERTS: An unexpected benefit for people who are driving less because of high gas prices. CNN Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis will explain.
And Senator Jim Webb joins us live. He's a decorated war hero with some big ideas on issue number one and he could be your next vice president. PHILLIPS: And the first wives' club. Either Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama will join this exclusive group. We're going to learn a little bit more about them and what they'll do as first lady. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center tracking all types of extreme weather for us across country.
Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Backing big oil. Senate Republicans have derailed a bill that would have levied taxes on the windfall profits earned by the five major oil companies. Kansas Senator Sam Brownback was part of the GOP opposition. And earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, I asked him why he came down on the side of big oil?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R) KANSAS: If you raise a tax on something, it's not going to make it cheaper. Right now, the American public is struggling. Struggling mightily with these high prices of gasoline. We need to get those down, not raise them. The way to do that is through more production and what we need to do is work in a bipartisan fashion on this.
This isn't working bipartisan. This is just trying to make cheap shots across the ballot, oil company, on things that aren't going to happen when we need to work together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The five biggest oil companies, by the way, earned $36 billion in profits in the first quarter of this year.
Well, there's a new sheriff in town today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I took it off.
ROBERTS: Oh, why did you took it off?
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Yes. Bring us the badge.
VELSHI: I've been wearing a sheriff's badge around.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: But you'll have more done around town when you wear that.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. So what's the sheriff going after today with these passes?
VELSHI: Well, I got to tell you, Sam Brownback was right. I'm going to take it off so it doesn't get distracting. Sam Brownback was half right. You know the answer to this problem is not taxing big oil.
The Democratic bill was misguided in that fashion, because oil companies can work anywhere in the world. And if you tax them the way this bill proposed, they'll work somewhere else.
ROBERTS: Your inbox is aflame already.
VELSHI: Well, but the other side of that is what the Democratic bill would have done is that it would have taken the money that was used from those windfall taxes and applied it to alternative energy -- alternative energy, because that has to be funded.
We have to provide incentives for people to use more efficient energy sources. We have to provide incentives very specifically for people to use more efficient cars, use nuclear power, use solar power, use wind power. Figure out how much coal we're going to use and how much ethanol we're going to use. So he's right. It has to be bipartisan. But the Republicans are doing nothing to advance that ball. Everybody's not being bipartisan.
So in fact, the bottom line is, this is what the presidential candidates can do. They can actually sit down and say, in five years this is what our energy situation is going to look like. In ten years, in 15 years, in 25 years and you're not getting a gas price break this year.
Senator McCain's proposal to take the 18 cent tax off -- the federal tax off of gases doesn't make any sense either. So I think it's time the American people sort of sit there and say, this is a tough situation. What are we looking at? $4.05 now for a gallon of gas? This is the reality. And if you start to do things that artificially push the price of oil down again and gas down again, we are not going to conserve.
And by the way, all the conservation that we can do in the United States is not going to be made up for. It's not going to make up for all of the increase in demand from India and China so conspiracy problem.
ROBERTS: The conspiracy theorists are really working themselves overtime in this. Some people thinking that the price of gas is being run up just so the people will fold and say -- OK, go drill wherever you need to.
VELSHI: And some of them are out there, by the way. And our viewers -- we have a brand new poll that just indicates that. Let me just show you this. The new opinion research poll by CNN Opinion Research says that 62 percent of you think that recent price increases for gasoline are due mostly to unethical behavior. Only 32 percent --
PHILLIPS: Define unethical behavior. VELSHI: Well, that's I think the question might be a little bit broad. If you think all speculation is unethical behavior, then you may be right, because we know there are some speculations in the oil market. There is speculation in every market.
Speculation means buying oil because you're not the end user. You're buying it because you think it will go up. It's a good investment. That's the same reason we buy stock and some people buy art and some people buy wine. If you think there is manipulation of the oil market -- well, that also falls into the unethical behavior. But only 32 percent of you, less than one-third of you actually think this is just straight supply and demand.
ROBERTS: The best one I heard was that OPEC is running up the price of oil to encourage all of this alternative energy development. Then they're going to slash the price of oil and collapse all of those organizations that been going after alternative energy saying -- we dodged a bullet on this one and then they wanted the infrastructure to build back up again.
Machiavelli would be impressed.
VELSHI: Oil is up 100 percent in a year. That's the kind of thing that leads to all of the speculation, about the speculation.
PHILLIPS: Then you got a guy that drove cross country with a vegetable oil in his gas tank, and he said it works.
VELSHI: There's an idea.
PHILLIPS: Smelled really bad.
VELSHI: But what do you think -- do you think I should keep the sheriff badge?
ROBERTS: I like that.
PHILLIPS: Do me a favor, lose the gun. It's making me nervous.
With those high gas prices, have you parking your car instead of driving it? You're going to be saving money in two ways. We're going to explain.
ROBERTS: And a senator and a war vet, backing Barack Obama. Find out why Jim Webb says Obama is the right leader at the right time.
PHILLIPS: Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain, one of them will be the next first lady. A closer look at the women behind the candidates.
ROBERTS: Coming up, the other Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHELSEA CLINTON: Jordan makes me (INAUDIBLE). (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Hillary isn't the only one packing it in and heading home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
C. CLINTON: I have a little apartment, a dog, a job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: But could the younger Clinton be looking for more? Gary Tuchman looks at Chelsea's next move, ahead on the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inventor Dean Kamen took me to the river, drop the bucket down and left the grim facts flow. More than a billion people do not have access to decent water.
DEAN KAMEN, INVENTOR: Their choice is drink bad water or die of thirst.
O'BRIEN: The Segway inventor has spent the past decade trying to make that awful choice a thing of the past.
KAMEN: Let's take this water back.
O'BRIEN: Carrying a bucket of Merrimac River water, he segwayed his way to his lab, where he has built an amazing water purifying device he calls Slingshot.
KAMEN: We call this slingshot because as you might recall from the old story it was this little guy, David.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
KAMEN: Who had a really big problem, a goliath of a problem.
O'BRIEN: Slingshot distills the dirty water, which is the best way to purify it. But distillation normally requires a lot of power. Slingshot recaptures nearly all the heat used in the first place and reuses it and it needs less juice than a blow dryer.
KAMEN: And we have a very realistic solution here.
O'BRIEN: It was delicious and it can produce enough water for 100 people a day. But getting these $2,000 devices to places where they are need will take a whole new level of inventiveness.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well even though you're spending more on gas these days, you may be able to save money on your car insurance if you drive less.
ROBERTS: CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins us now to explain. Good morning to you.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, good morning, guys.
ROBERTS: So how does this all work?
WILLIS: Well, you can save money if you drive less. And, look, we're looking for savings anywhere we can find it, right? If you no longer drive --let's say you lost your job. Let say you're jobless. Maybe you're not driving to work anymore. Well, you can save 10 to 15 percent on your premiums. Remember, the premiums are averaging about $948 every year for folks.
In places like Jersey, they're far higher. D.C. has the highest in the country at $1,300 in change. So saving any money here is big. Let's say you're not, you're still working, but you're just commuting by train, by bus, you can also reduce your costs as much as 5 percent to 10 percent.
And if you just simply curtail trips -- let say you're bundling together all of your errands that you do on the weekends, you can save 5 percent to 10 percent as well, because there's this key break point that the insurance company use of 10,000 miles for you.
If you drive under that, you consider -- you know, someone who does that drive off. Doesn't need to pay lower rates. So this makes a big difference to folks out there particularly in those states that have high insurance cost. High premiums. I know some folks out there are really, really up and arms about this. So it's good news for some people.
PHILLIPS: So you get on the phone, you call your auto insurance.
WILLIS: Get on the phone. Remember, some people have direct insurance sellers like the GEICO consumers of the world. And others are actually using an old fashion insurance agent. Either way, you want to call the 800 number or you want to call your insurance agent. Ask for these reduction and premiums directly. You want to ask -- negotiate hard here because this isn't an automatic thing.
You want to make sure that they know that you're informed and know how to do this. This information came from the Consumer Federation of America. They are the folks who put together the numbers. And they're telling folks -- ask for the savings, because you may not be awarded on your own.
ROBERTS: What's to prevent fraud here? Anybody could call up their insurance company and say -- I'm only driving 5,000 miles a year when they're really driving 15 or 20,000?
WILLIS: Well, that's not my problem. I'm the consumer advocate here. I want you to get those savings.
ROBERTS: Insurance companies look at them themselves. Gerri, thanks so much.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Gerri.
ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
Barack Obama-Jim Webb ticket? Senator Jim Webb joins us live just minutes from now. We'll ask him what he can bring to the ticket for issue no. 1.
PHILLIPS: And their husbands get the job but the first lady gets to share the spotlight, too. We're going to take a closer look at Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama to find out what type of first lady they might be.
Coming up, feeding frenzy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey! Wait!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Hollywood moves to crack down on the swarming paparazzi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine you're a motorist driving down the street and Britney Spears parks next to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Meet the unlikely sheriff brought in to run them out of town, ahead on the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Cindy McCain says that she'll be perfectly happy being the first lady and nothing more. She ruled out taking an official position in a McCain administration. But if her husband is elected, she says she wants to be active.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY MCCAIN, JOHN MCCAIN'S WIFE: I do a lot of international charitable work and I would continue to do that and some more of that, and education being my other issue. I would like to take an active role in just being an advocate. And I do not ever envision myself as being, you know, involved in the McCain administration as it's been put at all. But my husband and I do talk and I certainly want to be a party to listening to what his ideas are, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So kind of first lady would Cindy McCain be if she got elected. And what about Michelle Obama? The closer look at the two women aiming to join the first wives club.
Jill Dougherty joining us live from Washington.
Good morning, Jill. Great to see you.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.
Well, you know, when Americans vote for a president one of the key things is -- they look at is -- how does he or she make decisions? And of course, one of the biggest decisions in many presidents lives is who do they choose to marry?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY (voice-over): First ladies in the United States can wield enormous influence -- in politics and in society. The two women currently poised for the job -- 54-year-old Cindy McCain, wife of Republican John McCain, 44-year-old Michelle Obama, wife of Democrat Barack Obama -- come from strikingly different backgrounds.
McCain, the only child of a wealthy beer distributor from Arizona. Her stake in the business is estimated to be at least $100 million. Cindy McCain has a master's degree in special education. She met John McCain in 1979. He was 18 years older than she was. They have four children, including a daughter adopted from an orphanage in Bangladesh.
Cindy McCain has had health issues. A near fatal stroke in 2004. A battle with prescription drugs now behind her, she says. Charity is her priority.
C. MCCAIN: While I've been internationally involved in many, many things -- land mine removal, children's health care, poverty around the world and I will continue that.
DOUGHERTY: On the campaign trail always dress impeccably, she stays on message, but did take a swipe at Michelle Obama.
C. MCCAIN: I'm proud of my country. I don't know about you. If you heard those words earlier, I'm very proud my country.
DOUGHERTY: It was a reference to Michelle Obama's controversial statement --
MICHELLE OBAMA, BARACK OBAMA'S WIFE: For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.
DOUGHERTY: Michelle Obama was raised in a working-class family in Chicago, yet educated in America's elite universities -- Princeton and Harvard Law School. She started working at a top-flight law firm and met Barack Obama when she was assigned to mentor him. They married in 1992 and have two young daughters.
Their husbands offer starkly different views of what they would do in office, and so did they.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So Jill Dougherty, let's talk about why first ladies are so influential and why Americans pay attention to them.
DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, I think historically, even going way back to the beginning they were, in a sense, in the limelight as they got more education. You had this issue of what were their views? What were they going to do?
Cindy McCain alluded to that just a minute ago. Would she be part of the administration? And so, there's also I think Americans look for a reflection of what kind of person is the president through the eyes of their wives or their spouses.
PHILLIPS: Well, we know the whole saying, right? Behind every great man is an even better woman?
DOUGHERTY: Oh, yes.
PHILLIPS: Yes, there we go. Do you think Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain have anything in common?
DOUGHERTY: You know, I read and understand that they both tried to discourage their husbands from running for office. So that's one thing. They also, I guess, you'd have to say, they have style issue. They both are interested in designer clothes. That's another thing.
But they also -- they come at charity in a different ways. Cindy McCain, a more traditional type of approach to charitable endeavors. And Michelle Obama, in her way, looking into education, health care, et cetera.
PHILLIPS: Jill Dougherty, great to see you this morning. Great piece.
DOUGHERTY: OK. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Just crossing the half hour and here are some of the top stories that we're following right now. Rain swollen rivers continue to rise across the Midwest wiping out bridges and dams. More rain is in the forecast. Towns around this Mississippi River threatened with what could be the worst flooding since 1993.
And exposing a hole in software security that could shut down an entire city. Experts from a Boston based security firm tell the Associated Press, that attackers could gain control of water treatment plants, natural gas pipelines, even cause a nuclear power plant malfunction through the Internet because the software is vulnerable. The firm says there's no evidence someone tried to hack in. The company that makes one of the programs in the reports says it is patched the hole.
The two presumptive nominees, four points apart. The latest poll of polls shows Barack Obama leading John McCain 47 percent to 43 percent. 10 percent of voters still are not sure who they're going to vote for.
The economy is issue number one in this presidential race, and this week both candidates are trying to convince voters they have the best plan to get things back on track.
Joining us from Washington to talk more about that is Democratic Senator Jim Webb of Virginia. He's also the author of a new book "A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America."
Senator Webb, it's good to see you. Thanks for coming on this morning.
SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: Good morning.
ROBERTS: In the battle over the economy and who is best to address the problems facing America, John McCain is charging that an Obama presidency would be like Jimmy Carter's second term. Let's listen to what he said at small business summit there in Washington yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRES. NOMINEE: Under Senator Obama's tax plan Americans of every background would see their taxes rise, seniors, parents, small business owners, and just about everyone who has even a modest investment in the market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That's what Senator McCain said yesterday. Factcheck.org says that Senator Obama is proposing the fifth largest tax increase since World War II. Senator, is this the time to be raising taxes on anybody or anything?
WEBB: Well I think if you look at what's happened during the George Bush terms, you'll see the problems that are facing this country. First we've seen an enormous transfer of wealth inside this country up to the top 1 percent, where when I graduated from college in 1968, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what's the average worker makes. Today they make 400 times. And we've also seen, because of our trade policies and the situation with oil and a second transfer of wealth out to countries like China and the oil-producing countries which is going to affect us long term. We have to find a formula where we can create better economic quality here at home and have better policies so that we can continue to build infrastructure and do things here. That's not going to be done by listening to John McCain give us the same old mantra.
ROBERTS: How would Senator Obama's tax plan address the concerns that you and have those concerns are laid out in a lot of company that your new book?
WEBB: Well, I'm here as a senator. Senator Obama can explain the details of his tax plans, but there are certain things that I think really --
ROBERTS: You're also here -- also a member of the Democratic Party.
WEBB: Well I am, but he's running for president. He has an administration policy he'll probably be proposing. I can tell you right now here's some things we should be proposing. We tried yesterday to put some sort of a windfall profits tax on the oil companies that was widely panned. But when you see oil go from $24 a barrel when we went into Iraq to $139 a barrel yesterday, they're not working any harder, and that money is going away from American workers every day when they drive to work.
I personally believe we should be looking at the capital gains tax. The capital gains tax is a flat 15 percent tax. 1 percent of the people in this country own more than half of the stocks, when you look at individual ownership. We could get a graduated capital gains tax in the same way we have a graduated income tax and I think that would be fair. Warn Buffett the billionaire says he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary does because he pays a 15 percent rate and the secretary pays taxes on her salary. There are things that can be done that are fair to Americans and that will help balance this unequal playing field right now.
ROBERTS: Senator, you also say in "A Time to Fight" that the system in Washington is broken. You say "the United States is at more risk strategically, economic and culturally than at any time since the combination of the Great Depression and World War II. We cannot solve our problems by petty obstructionism or by manufacturing silly gotcha votes that amount to nothing more than emotional distractions. Both sides are guilty of this, and the Bush administration is guiltier still." You also say in and around that same paragraph that there's a failure of leadership at all levels of government. You're relatively new to the senate. Do you include yourself in that failure of leadership?
WEBB: No, I wouldn't. And there are a lot of other people up here that I wouldn't include in that category, but take a look at some of these votes, the people who are really concerned about where the country is heading in terms of foreign policy, in terms of domestic policy. Take a look at the vote yesterday and let people make up their own minds.
ROBERTS: Are you disappointed Senator Obama did not return for that vote?
WEBB: Well, Senator Obama wasn't here. Senator McCain wasn't here. We would hope to have further votes beginning this week. We understand the realities of what both of them are going through. It would be nice have them here.
ROBERTS: Right. Do people, just going back to the point we made a second ago, do people have reasonable hope things are going to change after the November election? Because the Democrats were elected on this idea of changing things in Washington in 2006 and even many Democrats admit that their track record on that isn't exactly stellar?
WEBB: Well, when you have a 51-49 majority in the senate, and that's on a good day, because Senator Lieberman never votes with us on foreign policy, and when you need 60 votes to break any filibuster and when you have had more filibusters in one year than in the entire history since they've ever had in two years you see what has happened to the ability of us to get things done, and we need more Democrats.
ROBERTS: Senator, last question here. You're being touted as a possible running mate to Senator Obama. There's an article in "Politico" today that points to a potential complicating factors the way this article characterizes it and that's your writings about the Civil War and the confederacy in which you suggest that the confederacy in the Civil War was more about defending the right of states sovereignty than right to own slaves. Can you explain what you meant by that? Because some people are reading this as a potential problem with African-American voters.
WEBB: First of all, I'm not seeking the vice presidency. Secondly, I'm a historian. I wrote two pretty complicated essays, one a book and one an essay on this subject. The comment that came from a speech I made at the Confederate War Memorial, by the way, is inside Arlington National Cemetery, designed by Jewish American confederate veteran who's buried underneath it and I had one of my great friends who was an African-American marine with me when I made the speech. The point in historical terms is that only 5 percent of the whites owned slaves in the height of slavery, that the people in the north were never asked to devote their slaves even with the emancipation proclamation. So if you're looking at service, military service as a citizen during that time, the issue was loyalty to your community, the same way it is when people are being sent to Iraq today. And that's a complicated issue. It's being obviously simplified in some form but I'm happy to discuss it and I'm comfortable with my views on it.
ROBERTS: Senator Webb, thanks for being with us this morning. Good to see you.
WEBB: Good to be with you.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: You're watching the most news in the morning. Star- struck, why the man who made Monica Lewinsky's blue dress famous is now the man trying to squish the swarming paparazzi.
ROBERTS: Coming up, candidate Clinton.
CHELSEA CLINTON, HILLARY CLINTON'S DAUGHTER: Thank you so much for all of your support.
ROBERTS: Now that life on the road is over --
CLINTON: Thank you, Jordan. ROBERTS: Could the other Clinton be plotting a run? Gary Tuchman checks in on Chelsea's plan, ahead on the most news in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: New video just in to CNN. The space shuttle "Discovery" scheduled to land Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
ROBERTS: 19 minutes now to the top of the hour. Time was that Chelsea Clinton was only seen and not heard. Well, she has certainly come a long way from her first daughter days, becoming visible, even vocal, during her mother's presidential campaign. And what stood out to many was her passion, her poise and the possibility she could follow in her parents' political footsteps.
Gary Tuchman has more.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kyra, when it came to Hillary Clinton's campaign surrogates, Bill Clinton got most of the attention. But Chelsea Clinton got most of the positive attention.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: You'll always find me on the front lines of democracy fighting for the future.
TUCHMAN: The day before Hillary Clinton officially suspended her campaign, Chelsea Clinton gave a sneak preview of what her mother would say.
CLINTON: My mom will be making a speech tomorrow supporting Senator Obama.
TUCHMAN: Former first daughter addressed 15,000 people at Texas State Democratic Convention.
CLINTON: Thank you so much for all of your support.
TUCHMAN: It was one of more than 400 events.
CLINTON: Thank you, Jordan.
TUCHMAN: In 40 states.
CLINTON: With your help.
TUCHMAN: Where she spoke out for her mother.
CLINTON: I am passionately supporting my mom. She is my mom.
TUCHMAN: We've known Chelsea Clinton since she was 12 years old, but most had never even heard her voice and knew nothing about her wit before this campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are your thoughts on the Bush/Clinton -- CLINTON: Well one, I wish we hadn't had a second Bush.
TUCHMAN: Hillary and Bill Clinton have the career politicians but Chelsea seemed to get the highest percentage of positive campaign accolades.
AMIE PARNES, POLITICO.COM: I expected to see this 28-year-old girl winging it on the trail and instead what I saw was this girl who was very articulate, knew her stuff in and out. I mean she talked about the war in Iraq, talked about the economy, and it kind of blew me away.
TUCHMAN: Chelsea Clinton would not take any questions from reporters. Only from the mostly college students at rallies.
CLINTON: Yes, sir?
TUCHMAN: At least twice, though, questions came that aides feared reporters would ask. Like about her father's personal controversies in the white house.
CLINTON: It's none of your business.
TUCHMAN: Then Chelsea kind of answered the question.
CLINTON: I don't think you should vote for or against my mother because of my father.
TUCHMAN: Even when Clinton aides clumsily told the New York City restaurant owner he had to take down a picture of Chelsea Clinton visiting his restaurant, it couldn't reduce the adoration he still has for her.
NINO SELIMAJ, RESTAURANT OWNER: I'm proud of meeting Chelsea and having taken picture with her is wonderful.
TUCHMAN: By the way, the picture still remains.
PARNES: I think this was like a trial period for her and she knows what the campaign trail is all about now. I think we can expect to see her out campaigning maybe to be a congresswoman in the next 10, 20 years. Maybe sooner.
TUCHMAN: But in March she told University of Mississippi students this.
CLINTON: I have a little apartment, a dog, a job, and at some point that is what I will return to.
TUCHMAN: Her job inside this Manhattan skyscraper where she works for a hedge fund. It's not clear if she's back at work yet, this especially noisy neighborhood in Manhattan, she's back at her apartment with her Yorkshire terrier. No word whatsoever whether she might be a politician some day.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TUCHMAN: No denials from Chelsea Clinton about a political future but no analysis of that either. Chelsea Clinton has been publicly quiet for most of her life and for the time being she will likely be back in that mode. John, Kyra?
ROBERTS: Central makings of a political dynasty there.
PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to follow.
Well, he uncovered a lot of dirty details about President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Now Ken Starr is in the privacy business. That's right. Guess who he's taking on? The paparazzi.
ROBERTS: He just edged out Hillary Clinton, now Barack Obama campaign is starting to look and sound more like hers. His new working class message. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Senator Barack Obama reaching out to the working class, just like Hillary Clinton did and John Edwards before them. The question is, will it work? CNN Jessica Yellin live in Washington for us.
Hi, Jessica.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.
Barack Obama sure is banking on the idea that this will work trying out the "I feel your pain "message reaching out to Clinton's base of blue collar and women voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN: Barack Obama spent the morning touring a Missouri hospital with a hard-working nurse. Remind you of something? Maybe Hillary Clinton's tour with a hard-working nurse?
CLINTON: She's getting excellent care.
YELLIN: Or Hillary's ad about hard-working women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Work the night shift at the local hospital. Overworked, underpaid. And sometimes overlooked.
YELLIN: Obama's message is familiar, too.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRES. NOMINEE: It's time to stop saying that you are on your own, to uninsured Americans and struggling families and small businesses. It's time to reclaim the ideas we all have mutual obligations to one another.
YELLIN: Sound a bit like the populace things Clinton adopted late in her campaign.
CLINTON: Are we going to elect-something somebody who's going to fight for you? That is the choice.
YELLIN: Which sounds a bit like John Edwards at the beginning of this race.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How long are we going to let drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists run this country? America doesn't belong to them. America belongs to us.
YELLIN: Clinton's overt appeal too working Americans helped her win over the blue collar vote. Her outreach to working women, helped her steam up the female vote. Both are constituencies Barack Obama is now trying to woo. So he's honing in on health care, with a proposal that would guarantee every American to access health insurance at lower costs and he's picking a fight with John McCain.
OBAMA: Offering a tax cut that won't ensure that health care is affordable for hard-working families who need help the most.
YELLIN: McCain says Obama's plan is just more big government.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRES. NOMINEE: I believe the best way to help small businesses and employers afford health care is not to increase government control of health care, but to bring the rising costs of care under control.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN: So, Kyra, Barack Obama took on health care. Today he's going to go after the banking industry, credit card companies and predatory lenders. His message to working-class voters is that he will do a better job for them. The challenge he faces is to take on this issue without sounding like an angry populist which could alienate those independents and Republicans who are already attracted to his more neutral bipartisan message.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: We'll be tracking it. Jessica Yellin, thanks.
ROBERTS: 49 minutes after the hour. It was a big speech for John McCain, but he appeared to be slightly overshadows by a very green backdrop. A look at what everyone is saying about big green. You're watching the most news in the morning.
PHILLIPS: Coming up, shuttering the shutterbug. Hollywood looks to kick the cameramen to the curb.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to protect our celebrities.
PHILLIPS: Meet the unlikely ally brought in to push back against the paparazzi, ahead on the most news in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: You remember Ken Starr, the special counsel who introduced America to an intern named Monica Lewinsky? Well, he's back in an unlikely place, Hollywood. His mission, kicking the paparazzi to the curb.
CNN's Carol Costello has got that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The paparazzi have gone wild in Los Angeles. Hollywood TV captured this speeding frenzy when fashion model Kate Moss and her small daughter arrived in LAX. It's the kind of scene that California lawmakers say want to stop.
DENNIS ZINE, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL: Just imagine you're a motorist driving down the street and Britney Spears parks next to you. All of a sudden you're swarmed by these people. They got cameras, jumping on the hood of my car. What are they doing? You don't know if you're getting carjacked or what's happening.
COSTELLO: How do you stop a photographer hot for tabloid dollars from taking pictures of Britney Spears whose every move, every reported bout with mental illness is shot not on her property but on a public street which is perfectly legal?
If anyone can find a solution, it would be Ken Starr. Yes. That Ken Starr, a man who once bitterly complained about the press himself, the independent counsel who brought us Monica Lewinsky and the stained blue dress. He's seen at the law school at Pepperdine and the city of Malibu along with L.A. and West Hollywood have asked him to craft legislation to restrict these packs.
DAVID MARK, POLITICO.COM: The irony is that he was so criticized even vilified by Hollywood, liberals, Democrats, ten years ago during the Monica Lewinsky impeachment saga, now he's kind of aligned himself with the resident who probably disagree with him politically.
COSTELLO: But Starr has already contacted Malibu's mayor although he's not ready to publicly comment on whether there is a plan. L.A. Councilman Zine welcomed Starr's help
ZINE: I have a lot of respect for Ken Starr. We don't want to violate rules, violate the constitution. We believe that the constitution needs to be upheld. And at the same time we need to protect our celebrities.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: One idea, create a buffer zone around celebrities. The problem is how you define who a celebrity is and who is not. It's a tough problem to solve, but lawmakers are willing to try. John, Kyra?
ROBERTS: Carol Costello this morning.
PHILLIPS: Well, it may not be "ISSUE NUMBER ONE" but it's getting a lot of attention and it now has McCain doing a back flip, flip-flop. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: If you missed scripted speeches, John McCain is returning to more familiar territory today. He's saying forget the teleprompter. We're going to do this address in Philadelphia a different way.
ROBERTS: In a town hall.
PHILLIPS: That's right.
ROBERTS: Very good at those. The critics aren't soon to forget the lime green backdrop turning the green screen into a mean screen. It's the most news in the morning for you now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a bad drop that left nobody green with envy.
MCCAIN: That's not change we can believe in.
MOOS: Change you can believe in is that back drop is being dropped. Never has a color been so mailed (ph), called the lime green monster by the left and dumb green puke background even by the right all on a night when McCain's speech is being compared to Obama's.
JON STEWART, DAILY SHOW: In a room ten times as green.
MOOS: But it was Stephen Colbert who colored the whole debate.
STEPHEN COLBERT, TALK SHOW HOST: Jimmy, let's spice him up!
MCCAIN: Some of these changes have to --
COLBERT: There's a lion right behind you, get outta there! Ole, ole!
MOOS: Then invited them to go to his Web site and make their own alterations.
COLBERT: Waiting for your imagination.
MOOS: And imagine they did. Highlighting the age issue by showing McCain way horseless carriage backdrop, showing him with puppet strings.
MCCAIN: As if it is completely unaware of the change.
MOOS: And President Bush portrayed at Dr. Evil, showing the mission accomplished behind him, even the Macarena. Watch your backs, candidates. You have to have eyes in the back of your head to run for president these days. There was nothing balanced about this exercise. One critic showed McCain saying nice thing answer Hillary with a back drop of an infamous moment when a word that rhymes with witch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we beat the [ bleep ].
MOOS: And showering and shampooing with a cup of coffee, and how about a guy doing the polka in his undies?
A senior McCain adviser says the green screen will not be returning. The campaign realizes it was a horrible visual. Look what the senator stood in front of Tuesday.
MCCAIN: I will veto every single beer -- bill.
MOOS: If only they could get him to read teleprompters better. And perhaps the ultimate insult, white haired candidate, green background, make you look the cottage green and lime jell-o salad. That's not a very nice thing to say.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: He won't be threatening to veto any beers today.
PHILLIPS: Combine the two. Green beer. That will work.
ROBERTS: Perfect in the middle of March.
We'll see you again tomorrow. Thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
