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American Morning
Obama to Hold First Press Conference; Obama Picks Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff; Eliot Spitzer Cleared of Criminal Charges; Palin Denies Rumor on Campaign Rift; Italy's Prime Minister's Obama Remark
Aired November 07, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking news. A critical jobs report due out this morning that could spell disaster for the economy with stocks already in a post-Election Day tailspin.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We are in the economic doldrums.
ROBERTS: Plus, the blame game.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We have come to the end of a long journey.
ROBERTS: Infighting and backbiting.
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: Too many of media folks decided not to correct something on the record when they could have easily done. That left me with a little bit of disappointment in the whole vocation here.
ROBERTS: Governor Sarah Palin responds to explosive new charges on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Good morning, to you. It is Friday. It's the 7th of November and what a week this has been as we close it out.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Very exciting. And we also begin again with politics this morning.
Just 74 days now until he's sworn in, President-Elect Barack Obama getting down to business. Today he meets with his top economic advisers and then this afternoon at 12:30 Eastern, he's going to be taking questions from reporters for the first time since being elected. He may also announce more appointments. And you can see the news conference live right here on CNN as well as CNN.com.
They may not get there, but Democrats are inching closer to a filibuster-proof majority of 60 seats in the Senate. They now have 57 after Oregon's Republican incumbent Gordon Smith conceded defeat to Democrat Jeff Merkley. Three Senate races are still undecided. GOP incumbents in Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota are still trying to hang on to their seats. Federal prosecutors decided not to bring criminal charges against disgraced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer was caught on a wiretap arranging payments for a high price call girl. The sex scandal forced Spitzer to resign back in March, but prosecutors found no evidence that he misused public or campaign funds. Spitzer issued a statement apologizing for his actions and applauding the "impartiality and thoroughness of the investigation."
ROBERTS: Back to our top story this morning. And the global financial crisis is deepening today after another dive on Wall Street more than 400 points. Right now, markets around the world feeling Wall Street's pain.
All of this a grim reminder of the challenges that lie ahead for President-Elect Barack Obama, who today after meeting with his top economic advisers, will hold his first news conference since the election. And there are certain to be no shortage of questions about his plans to tackle this financial crisis.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live for us this morning in Chicago.
Suzanne, is this going to be a full blown news conference in an hour, hour and 15 minutes in length, or just an opportunity for him to sort of touch base?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be a full blown news conference. There are obviously going to be a lot of questions about the economy.
Barack Obama is likely to get some pretty bad news today with those jobs numbers as well as the report on the health of GM and Ford. But what he's trying to do is show the American people that he is serious about the financial crisis and that is why he's meeting with his economic team this morning, and then later he's going to be taking some questions from us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: From campaign mode to power mode, Barack Obama's transition is happening at lightning speed. This morning he sits down with his economic team to address the global financial crisis. Yesterday, he was behind closed doors, the country's top intelligence officials to get his first presidential daily brief, a detailed assessment of all dangers threatening the U.S.
He also returned calls to nine world leaders including those from England, Japan, France, Israel and South Korea. Obama's top priority now to select his cabinet.
REP. RAHM EMANUEL (D), ILLINOIS: Hey, guys, how's everybody doing?
MALVEAUX: His pick for chief of staff, Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel.
EMANUEL: My parents are alive to see their middle son have a choice in his career between being a congressman with one good chance, one opportunity down the road to maybe rising in leadership and being the chief of staff to a historic presidency and a history time.
MALVEAUX: The former Clinton White House strategist is widely credited with helping the Democrats seize control of Congress two years ago. He's a Washington insider who Obama says knows how to get things done. Some Republicans worry Emanuel will set a partisan tone.
KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The big question is going to be whether on not Barack -- whether or not Barack Obama can sort of reign in some of the partisan instincts that Rahm Emanuel have when he's trying to forge bipartisan coalitions.
MALVEAUX: Also very likely to follow Obama to Washington he's closest associates. Top campaign strategist David Axelrod as his national adviser and communications director Robert Gibbs as the likely press secretary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And, John, I'm told obviously his economic team that's going to accompany him to the White House is also a top priority. Some of the people that he's meeting with actually on the short list for treasury secretary including the former Fed Chair Paul Volcker, as well as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers -- John.
ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning. Suzanne, thanks very much for that.
Here's more on Congressman Rahm Emanuel in an "AM Extra." His role as chief of staff is a powerful position that will help drive the president's agenda and develop administration policies. Emanuel known for being tough and considered by some opponents as hyper partisan was a key strategist in the Clinton White House. He left the administration to become an investment banker. He had no background in finance but managed to rake in $16.2 million in just 2 1/2 years.
In 2003, he was elected to Congress, the fifth district of Illinois, and is currently the number four leader in the House. Senator Hillary Clinton, who once tried to get Emanuel fired back in 1993, is now praising Obama's choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: President-Elect Obama made an excellent choice. Rahm Emanuel understands both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. He understands the private sector where he was very successful for a number of years. He gets things done. You know, Rahm is determined and effective, and I think he will serve President-Elect Obama and our country very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: He's not nicknamed Rahmbo for nothing. Other top posts in the incoming administration could be filled as early as today.
CHETRY: Economy is really job number one for the president- elect, an issue number one for all Americans.
There's a lot of anxiety in Wall Street this morning after two days of massive losses. The Dow has dropped more than 900 points or nearly 10 percent since Election Day, and we're expecting more bad economic news before the opening bell rings in a few hours.
The Labor Department releases its unemployment report for October. It's expected to show the economy lost another 200,000 jobs last month. Nearly a million jobs lost since the beginning of the year.
And Asian financial markets were mixed overnight. Japan's Nikkei losing 3.5 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng up more than percent. In London, the FTSE trading in positive territory. We also have Dow futures higher.
Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business" today. It's been a tough week for the Dow.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It really has. There has been a historic runup for stocks before this presidential election was completed and then another historic decline for stocks after it was over. The two day decline for the Dow, 929 points, the biggest two-day point drop ever, the biggest two-day percentage drop for the Dow since the crash of 1987.
Those numbers yesterday were pretty ugly. The market started kind of bleeding early in the morning, and then by the end of the day, the Dow was down 443 points. The Nasdaq down 72. The S&P 500 down 47.
You know, for the year you got a damage report here that is just really hard to shake for stocks. The Dow down 34 percent. The Nasdaq down 39 percent. The S&P 500 down 38 percent.
This is the new normal, folks. These big, huge swings. A lot of volatility, anxiety, a lack of confidence in the marketplace. That's the new normal at this point. And the reason is because we are getting a steady drumbeat of negative economic news, and we're expecting to get the same sort of news today with this monthly jobs report for October.
This report comes out in about 2 1/2 hours and is expected to show some 200,000 more jobs have been shed from this economy. And this is the beginning. A lot of folks say that there's a trend going into next year that will be big job losses, sort of across the board in a lot of different industries.
I want to give you a quick look at what the country looks like for the jobs market, because this green states are where you've got the best kind of jobs situation.
The red states are the worse, and the other -- the orange is kind of the middle. But in places like Michigan, Rhode Island, you've got -- you've got the worst jobless rates topping eight percent. South Dakota and Wyoming are the best. If you live in those states, you have the best jobs market, about three percent unemployment.
But we'll watch very closely later on to see just what's going to happen, where the jobs were lost, what kind of industries, was there job creation anywhere and what does it mean for stocks when they open today.
Dow futures are higher. That's the unpredictability that we've seen in the market. You've got two big down days and then suddenly you get a lot of optimism. So, you know, we'll see how it goes. But this is the new normal. This wild unpredictable market is definitely the new normal.
CHETRY: Christine, thanks.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: New revelations about the Sarah Palin phone prank to tell you about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. PALIN PRANK CALL: You know I see you as president one day too.
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: Maybe in eight years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Was it the final straw in the reported strained relationship between both camps? The explosive new charges and reaction.
And a prostitution scandal drove his from office, but former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer will not face any criminal charges. Legal analyst Sunny Hostin takes a look at how Spitzer took a walk.
It's eight minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: We have nothing but good things to say about each other. It's not just political. It's sincere admiration that I have for him and I honor him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Sarah Palin there praising her former running mate John McCain, but behind-the-scenes apparently a far uglier scene. And this morning it's being played out in public. Here's CNN's Dana Bash following for us.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, it's not unusual for losing campaigns to ends with recriminations but we heard about McCain campaign tension well before Election Day and since it's exploded, especially when it comes to Sarah Palin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We have come to the end of a long journey.
BASH (voice-over): As John McCain conceded the election, Sarah Palin stood silently behind him but that's apparently not the way she wanted it. A source close to Palin tells CNN she expected to address the crowd and had prepared two brief speeches one for either outcome. But several sources tell CNN, McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt told Palin no, in part because of built up anger among some McCain aides who say Palin had become more interested in her own future than McCain's election something Palin denies.
Still, since Election Day behind the scenes battles between some key aides have turned into a public nasty war. For example, two McCain sources tell CNN they were furious about Palin's supposed call with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, which turned out to be a prank by two radio DJs.
GOV. PALIN PRANK CALL: You know I see you as a president one day too.
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: Maybe in eight years.
BASH: A McCain source tells CNN Palin's aides, interested in building her profile, agreed to set up the call without telling McCain headquarters. A Palin source responded to CNN that it was on her schedule for three days and they were hiding nothing.
But perhaps the most direct blows are about Palin's readiness. One source involved in preparing her for her interviews and debates saying, "She had not paid attention to a single policy debate that's gone on in this country for 10 years."
In response, Randy Scheunemann, an aide assigned to Pain, called her "brilliant" saying she has a photographic memory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: A spokeswoman for Palin called this "unfortunate and quite honestly, sickening." And many McCain aides we talked to also tell us they're sad the campaign devolved so fast after McCain's crushing loss -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Dana Bash for us this morning, and the back and forth showing no signs of letting up. Last night on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" with John King filling in for Larry, a spokeswoman for the McCain/Palin ticket and a long-time Palin aide slammed one of the wild allegations that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")
MEG STAPLETON, SPOKESPERSON FOR MCCAIN/PALIN: She certainly does know that Africa is a continent. Those who are creating these anonymous allegations perhaps walked in and out of meetings, perhaps are taking thing out of context, perhaps are spinning things and are completely making things up at this point.
But, John, if you speak to those around her and her foreign policy advisers and those who worked and prepped her, they felt and continue to say that her questions were serious, that her questions were well thought out, very detailed and went far beyond what continents exist or who is within NAFTA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Meg Stapleton went on to say that Sarah Palin looks forward to working with President-Elect Barack Obama on energy independence.
It's now 14 minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: Spitzer spared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIOT SPITZER, EX-NEW YORK GOVERNOR: I'm deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: A look at how New York's ex-governor beat charges in the prosecution scandal that forced him out of office.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Seventeen minutes past 6:00 here in New York. Let's fast forward to some stories that are going to be making news later today.
President-Elect Barack Obama will be meeting with his economic advisers. Then at 2:30 Eastern, he's going to be holding his first press conference. You can see that live here on CNN and CNN.com.
Right now, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the West Bank meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The two will hold a press conference this morning just about an hour and 15 minutes, 7:30 Eastern. Yesterday, Rice said it's unlikely that a Mideast peace deal can be achieved by the end of this year.
And a transfer, O.J. Simpson head back to court. They're planning to file a motion for a retrial. Simpson faces life in prison after being convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping.
ROBERTS: Well, prostitution scandal forced him to resign eight months ago, but the former New York governor, Eliot Spitzer, is getting some good news this morning. Federal prosecutors have decided not to bring criminal charges against him.
AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst, Sunny Hostin, is here to tell us why. Good morning to you.
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, John.
ROBERTS: So the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York issued this statement saying, "This office has uncovered no evidence of misuse of public or campaign funds. In light of Mr. Spitzer's acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges."
So they were looking at this misuse of public or campaign funds. But what about this idea of engaging the services of a prostitute? Here's a guy who as an organized crime prosecutor, went after at least a couple of prostitution rings.
HOSTIN: Went after a prostitution ring but more importantly, one of his theories was that you should go after the customers of prostitution rings and that's exactly who he was here. I have to say it has been a long time policy for the Justice Department and for many prosecutors' offices all over the country that you do not prosecute the Johns primarily because they feel that prostitution is a victimless crime.
And I have to say this is shocking. I think it's inappropriate. I think the policy certainly needs to be changed. There is no question that he should not, in my view, have gotten a pass on this.
What kind of message does it send that this is still the policy? However, we had an elected official who not only, John, hired a prostitute but also moved monies into shell companies to try to sort of fool bank regulators, hired a prostitute across state lines, met her in Washington although he lived in New York. I can't imagine that the U.S. attorney's office said that they found no evidence of a crime here. I think that it is ridiculous. He should not have gotten a pass this time.
ROBERTS: I mean, there are plenty of Johns who are prosecuted. It's typically at a local or state level.
HOSTIN: They're misdemeanors.
ROBERTS: But the federal government is basically saying this isn't our job to do this.
HOSTIN: Exactly. They're saying it's not in the public interest. But why isn't it in the public interest? This was a public official. And as a prosecutor, you certainly have the ability to decide, to make an example of someone, to take that into consideration the person's oath. And I have to say that he not only got a pass, he got a free pass. He retains his legal license here.
ROBERTS: And we should -- we should point out too that four people involved in the prostitution ring, the guy who's allegedly running it and three of the bookers all pled out.
HOSTIN: All pled. And I have to say one was a college student and these are people now that have federal convictions. Their lives are ruined forever. Most of them did not vote in this historic election.
I have to say why did he get a pass? Shame on you. The U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York.
ROBERTS: Strong words from Sunny Hostin this morning. Thanks so much for that, Sunny.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now after the hour.
CHETRY: The first daughters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG WEAD, AUTHOR, "ALL THE PRESIDENT'S CHILDREN: One of the negatives of the White House is that it's very much a fish bowl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It may have a swimming pool and its own bowling alley but life inside the White House isn't always easy for kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG WEAD, AUTHOR, "ALL THE PRESIDENT'S CHILDREN": There's something that Sasha will say and something Malia will say or do, and they'll be remembered for the rest of their life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The pressure of living in the political spotlight.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Barack Obama wasting no time. He has chosen Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel. Apparently Barack's first order of business no guys with regular names. OK, that's it. No Larrys, no Bobs.
That's Barack and Rahm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Actually maybe there will be a Larry, but you never know.
Welcome back to the "Most Politics in the Morning." President-Elect Barack Obama names Rahm Emanuel as his chief staff. Now, Emanuel is known by some as a political pit bull and his appointment is getting mixed reaction from Democrats and Republicans.
Joining us now from Washington, CNN political contributors Tara Wall and Dana Milbank. Great to see both of you this morning.
TARA WALL, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
CHETRY: I want to start with you, Dana. House Republican Leader John Boehner called Rahm Emanuel's appointment "an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center."
Why is he saying that? And what type of message does Rahm Emanuel's appointment send?
DANA MILBANK, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Rahm's nickname is "Rahmbo" and he is a, you know, a jungle fighter here in this jungle that is Washington, D.C. So if the appointment is very much at odds with Obama's promise to bring change and sort of an outside influence into Washington, on the other hand, it's really because you need a partisan fighter if you're going to get anything done in this town.
So basically, Obama has sacrificed a bit of the campaign rhetoric for reality here in Washington which is probably good news that he's not going down the path of some sort of Jimmy Carter kind of idealism that winds up getting nothing done.
CHETRY: Tara?
WALL: Yes, you know, even -- I know John Boehner came out but even conservatives. One conservative watchdog group actually called him troubling, you know, because of his kind of slash and burn political style. He was the one that managed the whole Whitewater Lewinsky affair during the Clinton years. So he is seen as pretty aggressive, even CNN's own Paul Begala reportedly at one time called his aggressive-style somewhere between having hemorrhoids and a toothache. So --- but, again, many would say that for what he brings has been very effective and he's gotten a lot of things done including things like NAFTA and for Democrats the assault weapons ban and things like that.
CHETRY: All right.
WALL: So he could be very effective.
CHETRY: Let me ask you this, Dana. What about the possibility that he's a changed man? He reached out to his Republican colleagues in a statement saying, "We often disagree, but I respect their motives. Now is a time for unity, and Mr. President-elect, I will do everything in my power to help you stitch together the frayed fabric of our politics." He also went on to talk about uniting to a common purpose.
Do you think that he is changed and that he will work with Republicans more in an Obama administration?
MILBANK: Well, he'll have to, to some extent but a lot of that is sort of the boiler plate and same thing that President Bush said in 2000, and ultimately amounted to nothing. But the fact of the matter is if Obama wants to achieve this change in policy, if he wants to get his legislative agenda through, he has to build a coalition now.
They have a huge majority there now so they don't need to reach out to a number of Republicans. But Rahm is a very good nose counter and he'll know exactly how many Republican votes he needs to know.
CHETRY: All right. Tara, so we talked about the winner. Let's talk a little bit about the loser. Some really nasty things being said about Sarah Palin. They are now going public with apparently some of these behind the scenes battles. One source involved in prepping her for interviews saying, "She'd not paid attention to a single policy debate that's gone on in the country for ten years." And then another, though, said that she was brilliant and had a photographic memory. But what are these types of public battles say about the pick and then also her future in the GOP?
WALL: Well, I think, first of all, what it says about the folks that are saying it is sour grapes and these folks don't have jobs and nothing better to do, quite frankly. I mean, it's point fingers and try to cast blame and find new jobs and in doing so bring her down with them, so to speak.
But you know, look, this woman is very, very popular within the Republican Party. She actually has higher ratings. About 70 percent of Republicans favor here, even over John McCain. So I think she's got -- she does have a very bright future in the party. Sure, she's got some tweaking to do along the way as far as working on the national scale.
CHETRY: Right.
WALL: But she does have -- I think she's got a career and it may be the Senate. It may be, who knows down the line.
CHETRY: Dana, she had to go through this at warp speed. She had, you know, about 10 weeks on the national stage. If she's going to come back in 2012, your advice to her, what does she need to hone?
MILBANK: Well, definitely want to get down the whole globe thing and the whole Africa situation. But, you know, I mean, we have -- you know the question has so damaged that she becomes sort of Dan Quayle figure who can never recover. But she's got a lot of time and very clearly, the 2012 campaign for Sarah Palin has already begun.
CHETRY: Tara Wall, Dana Milbank, great to talk to you both today. Thanks.
MILBANK: Thanks, Kiran.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: Kiran, thanks so much.
Just about 30 minutes past the hour now, and a check of our top stories happening in just a few hours time.
President-Elect Barack Obama will speak to reporters for the first time since being elected. He may also name other members of his administration. The news conference takes place this afternoon, 2:30 Eastern time, of course. We'll have full coverage of it right here on CNN.
The White House sending Iraq a "final text of a draft security agreement." It says the ball is now in Baghdad's court. The deal would keep U.S. troops in Iraq for another three years. Iraqi lawmakers have said the changes are essential to winning parliament's approval before the December 31st deadline when the United Nations mandate for the U.S.-led coalition expires. Without a new security agreement in place, the U.S. would have to suspend all military operations in Iraq.
And the battle over same-sex marriage in California spilling into the streets of Los Angeles. More than 2,000 people clogged rush hour traffic last night protesting the ban that was enacted, the Proposition 8 that passed on election night. Police say at least two people were arrested. Organizers in Los Angeles say another protest is planned for this weekend.
So 30 minutes past the hour. It seems every time you turn on the television you're getting more and more bad news about the economy.
The Dow is down. Markets overseas are down. We're expecting a big jobless report today that is not going to be good. So you need some information to help you get through all of this.
And for that let's turn now to Christine Romans. She's here with a lot of good tips for you.
Good morning, Christine.
ROMANS: Hi, John. You know, what can you control? You can't control the Dow. You can't control all these job losses. We're going to learn more about how many jobs were lost in October in just a couple of hours, and it's probably going to be a pretty ugly number.
That's not a controversial statement. A lot of economists are expecting another half a million jobs to be lost before the inauguration. So what can you do about it? How can you sort of recession proof your job and your life? Because your job is the only thing you can control if you can and it is the backbone of your own personal economy.
We've talked to a lot of workplace experts and clear gurus who say, first of all, don't panic. Second of all, make sure that you are carrying the company flag at the office. Make sure that you are working on important projects at the office. Make sure that you have a good relationship with your boss even if you don't like him or her. Make sure that your boss/bosses know who you are and that you are still having successes at the job.
Keep in mind people who have a head count, they know what their bottom 10 percent, bottom 20 percent might be that they might have to cut, even just for budget reasons.
If you lose your job, it might not be your fault. It might be simply because your company has to lay off a lot of people.
ROBERTS: And there's got to be a lot of people who were lay off in the next couple of months or so, so you want to make sure that you're -- you said that there were tiers...
ROMANS: That's right.
ROBERTS: ...that managers, human resources, I guess, have already identified certain brackets of people.
ROMANS: That's absolutely right. And you want to make sure that you're on the right side of that bracket and that your boss knows what you have done and what you have contributed very short term to the profits of your company.
I want to talk about some recession-proof jobs, first of all here. Plumbing, electricians, some of these skilled trades. I'm not kidding. These are jobs that lead also. They're called ladder jobs. They can lead to owning your own business.
Health care. There are a lot of recession-proof jobs in health care. But be careful here. There's a really quick growing segment of health care -- that janitorial services, that health home aides, that are some things that don't carry their own health insurance for example. But anything that touches a piece of machinery, it takes a couple of years of training. Those are very highly-skilled, highly- paid job.
Education and security. There's a lot of growth in security jobs.
Now, the recession-sensitive jobs. There's no big surprise here. Factories, manufacturing, skilled labor jobs -- there's been some trouble there, retail -- anything related to the mall, finance and technology.
So, those are where you're going to be seeing some more job losses. But what you can do, network right now. Start networking right now. If you've lost your job and you got a pink slip, start working for a professional organization if you can just so that you can sort of stay out there.
And one workplace expert named Ben Dattner. He says, don't call yourself unemployed. When you're out there looking, don't say I'm unemployed. He recommends, I think...
ROBERTS: You're in between jobs or...
ROMANS: Between jobs or... (CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: ...looking for something -- something different.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: ...looking for something, taking the next step.
ROBERTS: Right.
ROMANS: You know, this is -- there's a lot of people in the market.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Moving ahead into the next phase --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Looking for the next thing. Yes, don't say unemployed.
ROBERTS: Interesting to note that even though Joe the Plumber's 15 minutes of fame or 15 hours or 15 days or whatever fame are up, he'll still be gainfully employed because they need plumbers, right?
ROMANS: That's right. That's absolutely right.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much for that -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi under fire for what he says was a joke about President-elect Barack Obama. While speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Berlusconi was commenting on the youth vote, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when he made this remark. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SILVIO BERLUSCONI, ITALY'S PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Obama has everything needed in order to reach an agreement with him. He's young, handsome and even tanned. So I think this will lead to a good cooperation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Now, Berlusconi has a history of making some eyebrow- raising remarks. He defended the comment, saying it was meant to be cute.
And Barack Obama wasting no time getting to know the world leaders. Yesterday, he returned phone calls to nine of them, including those from England, Japan, France and Israel.
And with the transition of power underway this morning, one of the crucial positions is that of secretary of state. With two wars overseas, Obama's pick for the State Department's lead post will undoubtedly play a central role in the first months of Obama's administration.
CNN's Zain Verjee is live in Washington with more on that potential pick.
Hi there, Zain. Good to see you this morning.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, too, Kiran. Well, there are four prominent names out there. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's a Vietnam veteran. He traveled recently with President-Elect Obama to Iraq.
And Democratic Senator John Kerry. He was the 2004 presidential candidate. He's also on the Foreign Relations Committee. He's a Vietnam veteran and also played a role in helping normalize relations with Vietnam.
Then there's Republican Senator Richard Lugar. He's a former chairman of the Foreign Relations and Agriculture committees. The Lugar-Nunn Program also destroyed something like 7,000 Soviet nuclear warheads. So, he knows a lot about Russia. That's key.
And also Governor Bill Richardson, the former Secretary of Energy and a former ambassador to the U.N. He's been a general global trouble-shooter, going to places like Sudan and Iraq.
Also mentioned, Kiran, people like Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. But, you know what, there could be a dark horse emerging in all of this. General Jim Jones is someone who's being mentioned, too, for secretary of state. He was the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. Just a lot of jockeying, angling behind-the-scenes, as you can well imagine.
The Vice President-elect Joe Biden, though, is a foreign policy heavyweight. And you can bet that he's likely going to want some kind of a role in shaping foreign policy and what comes out of the State Department.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Now, what are some of the challenges, Zain, facing the new secretary of state? Where's the priority list, if you will?
VERJEE: Well, they're really huge. I mean, the Obama election created a big reservoir of goodwill. Some people even compared it to after 9/11. And it offers a lot of opportunities, but real challenges. I mean, you got two wars, nuclear threats from Iran, North Korea, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, Russia's antagonism.
The thing, too, Kiran, is that the U.S. is also redefining its role in the world to some extent. It's going to have to co-exist with new economic powers like India, China, Brazil because the global financial crisis is going to come along with a new set of rules and a new group of powers for the U.S., and the new secretary of state is going to have to navigate. CHETRY: Zain Verjee for us. A lot going on as you said. You know, wonder who really wants the job. I mean, I'm sure they do, but, boy, they have a lot to navigate. Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: In just 11 weeks' time, Barack Obama's two daughters, Sasha and Malia, head to the White House. They would be the youngest kids there since Amy Carter moved in at the age of 9. So what will life be like for them in Washington? We're looking at the lives of past White House offspring for answers.
And Hurricane Paloma picking up strength over the warm waters of the Caribbean. Hurricane warnings now in effect. We'll tell you where the storm is headed and just how strong it is predicted to become. Rob is with us in New York this morning. 36 minutes now after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Well, the weather is here, kind of up and down the East Coast. Look at the fog this morning. A shot of the Capital building. Don't worry, though, they're in Washington. Even though it's 59, a little foggy right now. It's going to clear up and be a beautiful 72 degrees today.
CHETRY: You love it. It's 39 minutes after 6:00. And you know, we said the weather is beautiful? Well, Rob Marciano --
ROBERTS: No, no, we said the weather is here. Wish you were beautiful.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You guys are working way too much this week. You know, I figured with all the people you've had in this studio...
CHETRY: Well, Rob is here and beautiful. So, there you have it.
MARCIANO: Thank you. I appreciate it. Nice to see you, guys.
CHETRY: Where have you been?
MARCIANO: You know, I've just been waiting for you guys to figure out who's going to be the next president. And now that we've got that under our belt, you know, I figured you'd be lonely up here.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: 41 minutes after the hour. The first daughters.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the negatives of the White House is that it's very much a fish bowl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It may have a swimming pool and its own bowling ally, but life inside the White House isn't always easy for kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's something Sasha will say and something Malia will say or do, and they'll be remembered for the rest of their life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The pressure of living in the political spotlight. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: 45 minutes after the hour. One of the first campaign promises that Barack Obama will have to make good on is that new puppy to his daughters, Sasha and Malia. It's been a while since children called the White House home. At least, young children. So, what is life going to be like for two girls? Here's CNN's Randy Kaye.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. Talk about an extreme home makeover, the Obamas are moving into a new house, the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUG WEAD, AUTHOR, "ALL THE PRESIDENT'S CHILDREN": One of the negatives of the White House is that it's very much a fish bowl.
KAYE: A fish bowl presidential historian Dough Wead says that can feel like a trap for the president's children. For the most part, Sasha and Malia, 7 and 10, have been shielded from the public, limited appearances and one interview which their dad says he regrets.
SASHA OBAMA, PRES. BARACK OBAMA'S DAUGHTER: When you come home, you know, you have your big gigantic bag and you leave it them under. Sometimes I tripped over it.
KAYE: The Obamas' daughters will have round the clock secret service protection, but not even that can fend off unwanted attention.
WEAD: There's something that Sasha will say and something Malia will say or do, and they'll be remembered for the rest of their life.
KAYE: Wead says the Roosevelt kids were famous for dropping water balloons onto foreign dignitaries, and unleashing their pet snake in the dining room.
John F. Kennedy Jr. was known for hiding under his father's desk. The Bush twins, Wead says, will be remembered for underage drinking.
13-year-old Noah McCullough interviewed dozens of first kids for his books by the same name.
NOAH MCCULLOUGH, AUTHOR, "FIRST KIDS": If you flunk that huge math test, then it's on the front page of the newspaper the next day.
KAYE: One of the first big decisions, will it be public or private schools?
WEAD: If they send their child to a private school, they will be called elitist and hypocritical for betraying the public school system.
KAYE (on camera): There are advantages to living in the White House, too. It has a bowling alley, a swimming pool and its own movie theater. World leaders and celebrity stop by all the time. And the biggest Easter egg hunt in the country takes place right on the front lawn. What child wouldn't love that?
(voice-over): But like those before them, Sasha and Malia will have to endure their father's critics. And they're may be pressure as they grow up to do something as important as their father did.
MCCULLOUGH: John Quincy Adam's kids mostly went through alcoholism and addictions to different things to kind of soothe the pain of not being able to live up to their father's expectations.
My best advise to Sasha and Malia Obama is to just have fun. Be a kid.
KAYE: Michelle Obama is determined to keep things real for her daughters.
MICHELLE OBAMA, WIFE OF SEN. BARACK OBAMA: I'm a mother first and I'm going to be at parent-teacher conferences, in where I'm going to be the things that they want me to attend. I'm not going to miss a ballet recital.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: So much attention. What all Sasha and Malia wanted out of this election was a new puppy promised to them, win or lose.
John?
Kiran?
ROBERTS: Randi Kaye reporting for us this morning. What kind of dog do you think the Obamas should get? E-mail us, am@cnn.com. Should it be a bulldog, or a spaniel, or a lab, or a ship dog, or one of the new hybrid dogs like goldendoodle or cavapoo. Tell us, am@cnn.com. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: Mystery man.
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OBAMA: She saw a nation conquer fear itself.
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CHETRY: Who was Oprah leaning on at Obama's Election Day victory rally? Jeanne Moos goes online to hunt him down.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Then we spied these five words. His name is Sam Perry.
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CHETRY: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
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CHETRY: "And who are you?" -- was the question Oprah Winfrey must have been asking herself. While she was using this guy's shoulder to cry on, during Barack Obama's victory speech. Now, he wasn't Oprah's friend. In fact, he was a perfect stranger. So leave it to Jeanne Moos to track down her human hanky.
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MOOS (voice-over): No one present at the Obama victory speech is likely to forget it, but the guy Oprah Winfrey was leaning on really won't forget.
(on camera): You know when you're on a plane or a train or somewhere, and some stranger falls asleep on your shoulder. Well, that's kind of what happened to the mystery man, he became Oprah's hanky.
OBAMA: When there was despair in the dust bowling, depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself --
MOOS (voice-over): Now, lots of TV personalities cried over Obama's victory.
SHERRI SHEPHERD, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": To look at my son and say, "No limitation."
MOOS: From Sherri Shepherd on "The View" to political pundits.
JEAN WILLIAMS, NPR CORRESPONDENT: You know, I don't care how you feel about him, politically.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother's people are watching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take you time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
MOOS: Even funny man Steven Colbert seemed to wipe away a tear or two.
But Oprah really let go on a stranger.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: I don't know who this guy is. You know, friends called me around the country, who was with you? I go, I don't know him.
MOOS: Neither did Jesse Jackson. But at least Jesse cried from a distance, not Oprah.
WINFREY: At one point, I was just sobbing on his shoulder, mascara everywhere. Anyway, thank you, Mr. Man, for letting me cry on your shoulder.
MOOS: So naturally, everybody started asking who was Oprah leaning on? One person posted, "I'd send that phony, meaning Oprah, a bill for my dry cleaning." Others called it, touching. And then we spied these five words. His name is Sam Perry. End of mystery.
Sam Perry is an investor and was a communications director at Silicon Valley for Obama. But he wouldn't communicate with us when we left messages. He's donated thousands of dollars to Obama and other Democrats. No wonder he got primo position along with Oprah.
JON STEWART, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART: Who had actually purchased this white man to lean on during the speech.
MOOS: For at least one night, Sam the Hanky belonged to Oprah.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Rush to judgment.
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RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: He is good old-fashioned Chicago thug.
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ROBERTS: Barack Obama's first appointment and the backlash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You might hire Rahm to blow off the bridge. I don't know if you would hire him to build it.
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ROBERTS: Why Rahm Emanuel is taking so much heat? You're watching the "Most Politics in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most Politics in the Morning." Somewhere in rural Virginia top conservatives got together to discuss the future of the Republican Party. I'm joined now by two men who attended that meeting. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. And Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
Gentleman, good morning. Good to see you.
Tony, let me start by asking the reason for -- I guess, we're calling a conservative conclave here. How far off the rails is the Republican Party from where you really want it to be?
TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Well, John, I think, the discussion was really about the conservative movement and the desire for conservatives to retake the conservative movement. I think there has been too many that have kind of sat back as the Republicans emerged into the majority that just took control of the movement and it's been moderates primarily that had been in charge and they derailed the conservative movement.
I think, enough is enough. We've seen a clear history here, when we've had candidates that had been more moderate, they have not been successful. And it's a desire to return to basic conservative principles.
ROBERTS: Grover Norquist, the Republican leadership is now basically down to John Boehner and Mitch McConnell. Are they the ones to lead the way back?
GROVER NORQUIST, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FOR TAX REFORM: Well, the Republican Party is a national party. There's some great governors out there. I mean, starting with Sarah Palin, with the governor of Texas and Florida and South Carolina. So, as a national movement, conservative movement, as a national Republican Party, it was certainly a mistake to focus just on the presidency. It would be a mistake just to focus on the elected politicians in Washington. So, we rebuilt not just in Washington but in all 50 states.
ROBERTS: Right. So, what is this? I mean, we had heard going into this. That this was going to be a meeting to try to figure out a way to build a new grassroots coalition. Similar to the one that was built in the out-years, the Reagan out-years during the Carter presidency. How do you envision, Grover Norquist, this new grassroots movement? Where does it start and who leads that?
NORQUIST: Well, there's no one leader. There are many leaders. One of the things that the meeting decided was that they wouldn't decide something. They weren't going to endorse a candidate or put out some manifesto. But it was the first meeting of a series of meetings of how do we structure, how do we increase building. There going to be a number of different meetings -- The Republican Governors Association getting together this coming weekend. The Council for National Policy will be meeting. So, there's an awful lot of thinking going on and I'm really encouraged.
ROBERTS: Tony, go ahead. PERKINS: Well, I was just going to say, John, primarily what this was a conversation between various elements of the conservative movement that have not always been talking in recent years, and I think that is what has made the conservative movement strong is that when you have social conservatives, fiscal conservatives and foreign policy conservatives working together. And so, this was the first step I think in what is going to be a fairly long journey in rebuilding that communication and that common vision.
ROBERTS: Tony, there are also some conservatives who believe that the conservative movement is kind of out of touch with where America is now. David Frum is one of those people. He wrote a book called "Conservatism That Could Win." He thinks you need to make a lot of modifications, even to the abortion platform. Some people who think that the --
(CROSSTALK)
PERKINS: I think that's --
ROBERTS: Some people who think that the Republican Party is basically just old, white and out of touch.
PERKINS: Well, I don't consider myself too old. But what I think is -- it doesn't matter what I think. Let's look at what happened on Tuesday. Yes, Barack Obama was elected. But let's look at where the states -- people in the states took position on key conservative issues like marriage. California and Florida, two states that voted for Barack Obama overwhelmingly passed marriage amendments. Arizona passed it.
So, there was clearly no mandate to shift the country to the left on social issues. I think what Tuesday was, was a fact that people wanted change, and it's a rejection of kind of a moderate view. Moderates never beat conservatives. We've seen that in past elections, going back to the first George Bush and his re-election attempt.
He approved taxes, was weak on social issues. Bob Dole, same thing. So, I think, it's a return to fundamental conservative principles that Ronald Reagan showed work, with something people can be attracted to.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll keep watching it. See how you folks do. Tony Perkins and Grover Norquist, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.
NORQUIST OK, John.
