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American Morning
Obama Expected to Name Clinton as Secretary of State; Holiday Shoppers Seek Bargains Online; Legal Clause Could Prevent Clinton Appointment; $40 Million Mission to Make "Contact"
Aired December 01, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Kiran, it's coming up on the top of the hour. Here are this morning's top stories. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be traveling to India on Wednesday. It's the latest sign the U.S. plans to be closely involved with the investigation into the deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 180 people, including six Americans.
And this morning, authorities in Mumbai say they've removed all the bodies from the charred Taj Mahal Hotel. Over the weekend, security forces scoured the 565-room hotel for traps and other victims.
Chicago's O'Hare International, back on schedule this morning after snow and ice forced the airport to cancel more than 50 flights yesterday. But there may be trouble for passengers in Michigan later today. Some places there could see up to six inches of snow. We're also starting to see some reports of delays in and around New York City.
And start your search engines. It's cyber Monday, the day when shoppers hit the web for steals on holiday gifts and it looks like the deep discounts helped retailers over the weekend according to one trade group. Shoppers spent $41 billion in stores or on-line, that's up more than seven percent from last year.
And a little more than two hours time, President-elect Barack Obama will unveil his national security team, an A-list team charged with instilling great confidence here at home and abroad. The key appointments, Senator Hillary Clinton as the nation's next Secretary of State, President Bush's Defense Secretary Robert Gates will remain at the Pentagon. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano will head the Homeland Security.
Obama's foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice as U.N. ambassador and, rounding out the security team, four-star General James Jones will be named Obama's national security adviser and former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder will be tapped as attorney general.
CNN's State Department correspondent Zain Verjee is live in Washington.
So, Zain, what is this administration up against?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hillary Clinton and the U.S. are up against a lot. So many challenges. It's just mind boggling when you think about it. You've got Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, India, the rise of China, Russia, Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. It's endless and all amid a recession.
Hillary Clinton is going to need to limit her personal priorities to just a few of those to focus on where the State Department has a really unique role and focus on taking the lead on a few key initiatives of everyone in the Obama administration. So, Joe, she really has to be seen as the most complete team player.
There's going to be a lot of focus on how she works with people that were critical of her during the campaign, people like Greg Craig, Susan Rice, and she's got to make sure that she has a seamless, close relationship with the president and make sure nobody distracts it or comes between that -- Joe.
JOHNS: And you compare that to this administration, Condoleezza Rice was very close with President Bush. Everybody knew it. It's a much different relationship between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And that certainly could be, could it not, a challenge for Senator Clinton.
VERJEE: Absolutely. I mean, nothing hurts the secretary of state as much as the perception in the world that they don't speak for the president or they can't deliver any message at any time. Just ask Colin Powell. I mean, Hillary Clinton has to have access to the president, bottom line. But more than that, she, Obama and the entire national security-foreign policy team need to build a real partnership based on mutual trust. And Hillary, Jim Jones, Robert Gates, all of them are going to have to define their roles and how they're going to work together.
When you look at James Baker and Brent Scowcroft, when they came in, they formed one of the best secretary of state-national security adviser relationships ever. That started with clear orders from the president, defined roles and understanding that the secretary of state spoke for the president in the world and the national security adviser was the honest broker communicating effectively to everyone.
So, Joe, this team is going to have to work really hard on that during the transition. But, you know, these are big personalities. There are a lot of power plays that may go on behind the scenes, competing agendas and President-elect Obama is going to be the critical factor here starting right now.
JOHNS: Zain Verjee in Washington. So good to see you this morning.
VERJEE: You, too.
JOHNS: And make sure to catch the president-elect's news conference this morning at 10:40 Eastern time. You can see it right here on CNN and cnn.com.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're three minutes after 8:00 here in New York. Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business." She joins us now.
Everyone is supposed to be cyber shopping today, right?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: But you lost your credit card. So, Kiran is the only one not cyber shopping right now.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: I couldn't participate in Black Friday or this day.
ROMANS: Well, it's good for you. It's good for your personal finances, right? Save it, save it. No, this is cyber Monday, they call it. It's a term that has been actually coined by the industry to kind of extend on this black Friday and the Thanksgiving weekend and all of this time when we're supposed to be out there shopping and spending our hard-earned cash for holiday gifts.
Cyber Monday, when you go to work, you sit down and you log on, you find all of these great deals, free shipping, and you continue, they hope, to keep shopping right into the holiday season.
And there's a -- Careerbuilder.com survey defines how many of us will sit down at work and log on and actually zap our productivity by doing our holiday shopping. 29 percent of people plan to shop online at work. 43 percent of those who are shopping online say they're going to spend an hour or more to do it, 23 percent will spend a couple hours, 13 percent will spend three hours or more.
I've spent some time this morning trying to navigate through the cyber Monday deals and see what's out there. There are quite a few deals out there. A lot of places have free shipping on any kind of -- any kind of -- you don't have to have a minimum order for most. JC Penney, you have to have a $25 minimum order. But some of these places have holiday gift baskets that are like 33 percent off here today.
I mean, you have to just go around and hunt around if you have the time and you have the inclination to do it. The thing about it, too, is that the free shipping, I think, they know that they need to get your cash and they know that a lot of people spent a lot of money over the weekend and they might be done.
That's why one reason why we saw over the weekend such great sales, some people are thinking that might be the end of it for a lot of folks. $41 billion spent over the weekend. That's $373 on average per shopper. So, the holiday shopping season kicking off better than a lot of people had expected. But look at this, more than half of those were people shopping at discount stores.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: So, you know, they're going to Wal-Mart. They're going to Target. They're going to the places where they can buy the real cheap toys. Some of these places are having loss leaders on the toys. You know, they figure, if they can get you in and they could lose the money on some of the toys, they're going to make money on some of the other things.
Some of the surveys have found that parents are going to pull back on what they give each other. Adults are going to pull back on their spending so they can make sure their kids get what they want this year, which is kind of a sad, sad state of affairs, which is why there's free shipping and all of these door buster sales and a lot of -- a lot of discounts will continue, I'm sure, through the month.
JOHNS: I don't know how many times I heard my grandma say, Christmas is too commercial.
CHETRY: It's true.
ROMANS: I know.
JOHNS: Now it's all changing, isn't it?
CHETRY: And my dad always says the same thing every year. I don't want anything. I just want you to write me a poem. So, you know...
ROMANS: Oh, that's nice.
CHETRY: Sometimes, it's easier to buy cologne than to think of something witty to say.
ROMANS: I know. He doesn't know -- he doesn't know how hard it is.
CHETRY: Darn it.
ROMANS: Can you a buy a poem? We should start writing them and selling them for Christmas.
So, look, $41 billion spent over the weekend. I mean, that's a lot -- that's bigger than the GDP of some countries. What we spend just on the extras, the gifts. They're coming up. The gifts are coming up.
CHETRY: Well, we have 12 things to get Joe Johns this year.
JOHNS: Oh, yes, right.
CHETRY: We have to dig a little deep.
JOHNS: The pipers piping, ladies leaping.
CHETRY: That's exactly right.
ROMANS: I want the five gold rings.
CHETRY: Right.
JOHNS: Maids a-milking, right?
CHETRY: Well, that's going to cost you. JOHNS: I want it all.
CHETRY: You're going to have to dig a little deeper, actually, for that partridge in a pear tree. They do this every year. They take a look at what it would cost if you actually were to buy the 12 days of Christmas -- to buy the items in the 12 days of Christmas.
PNC Wealth Management, which measures the cost to celebrate them, says the price tag to buy all of the gifts in the well-known carol, $86,609. That's up more than $8,000 or 10 percent from last year.
Christine thinks it's the golden ring.
ROMANS: I think it is.
CHETRY: Joe thinks it's the maids a-milking.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: The gold ring. The gold has had a good year.
JOHNS: That's right. You've got 12 choices.
Senator Hillary Clinton may face a major roadblock when she's tapped to become secretary of state. Find out why the Constitution may bar the New York senator from the key post. It is seven minutes past the hour.
Is there anybody out there?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're listening for something that we don't think can be produced by Mother Nature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: She's sort of a phone operator for callers from another world. CNN goes "In Search of Aliens."
You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: This morning, President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Senator Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state. But can he? Could the former constitutional law professor actually be violating the Constitution if he picks Clinton for the top diplomatic post? CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin explains -- joins me now to explain.
And as our producer Janelle Rodriguez called it, this is constitutional fun.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Constitutional fun, exactly. It's a little like John McCain being born in the Canal Zone. Does that make him a native-born American?
JOHNS: Exactly. Let me read this thing right out of the Constitution and we'll talk about it, all right. "No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding office under the United States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office."
But what we're talking about is the part about the emoluments.
TOOBIN: The famous emoluments clause, which, frankly -- I mean, I've read the Constitution many times. I missed this completely. I didn't know until, of course, bloggers pointed this out. But the gist of the provision is, if a senator has voted to increase the pay of a cabinet post, he or she can't be appointed to that. Last year, Congress voted a raise for members of the cabinet so was Hillary Clinton ineligible to be in the cabinet? Answer, no. I mean, don't be ridiculous. Well, personally, this is not going to be a problem.
JOHNS: Well, it sounds good.
TOOBIN: Well, it does. I mean, this has actually come up several times in the past. The first time was during the Ford administration when President Ford appointed William Saxbe to be attorney general from the Senate. And what the Senate did and the House, actually kind of clever, is they voted a slight pay decrease for the attorney general so that the salary would not have been greater than when Saxbe was appointed.
JOHNS: Right. So how did Saxbe like that?
TOOBIN: I think it was a couple hundred bucks. So I don't think it really mattered. He liked to be attorney general. There also other reasons why it can't be a problem for Hillary Clinton. The question is, how would this be enforced? Who would file the lawsuit to stop this from going into effect? Stop her from being secretary of state.
JOHNS: Judicial watch.
TOOBIN: Well, that's right. Judicial watch undoubtedly would. Very good '90s memory there. Judicial watch was a very active anti- Clinton organization among other things. They filed a lot of lawsuits. But the courts almost certainly would say, judicial watch, a taxpayer, a voter, didn't have standing, didn't have the right to sue. So even if this is technically in violation of the emoluments clause, there might not be any way of enforcing it.
JOHNS: So, basically what they do, probably, is they go back and just slash the secretary of state's pay, $5,000 bucks or --
TOOBIN: A few thousand dollars to put it back to the old salary. Or they might not even do that at all because there is no remedy to enforce it. JOHNS: But I don't understand. So, who would have the right to sue? It would have to be another member of Congress, or --
TOOBIN: Well, this is an interesting question. It's, again, similar with the McCain situation of who would sue to stop him from being president because they would say the Canal Zone doesn't count as being a native-born American. It's not clear that anyone could. I mean, there are some times when the law is not self-executing and, frankly, the courts don't want to mess with situations like this. So, they are looking for excuses not to get involved.
JOHNS: You kind of wonder why that's in the constitution anyway.
TOOBIN: Well, you know, it was written in 1787 -- '89. It's a long time ago.
JOHNS: You bet. All right, thanks so much.
TOOBIN: '87, '87, not '89. That's the French revolution '89, anyway.
JOHNS: Jeff Toobin, as always, good to see you -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And still ahead, we're asking you these questions. What could Bill Clinton's role be? Can he even have one? We're going to talk about what the former president could do to help or hurt the Obama administration if his wife becomes secretary of state. It's 13 minutes after the hour.
Also ahead, hear aliens? Well, who are you going to call if you do? We will introduce you to the woman who's been eavesdropping on the heavens hoping for contact.
It's 13 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is it, Paul?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like an airplane, without wings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out. Get down.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Is it a terrorist?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now what do we do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Address the nation. We've got a lot of frightened people out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, a group of UFO enthusiasts want Barack Obama to open up the X-files they wrote requesting the new administration come clean about America's contact with UFOs and hold congressional hearings, and they may actually have a guy on the inside for this one. John Podesta, the man leading Obama's transition team once said it is time to open those books. Well, what a way to get into our special series that we've been bringing you "In Search of Aliens." And, today, we're talking to a woman who has made contact, her life's mission. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien is here.
She's made contact, her life's mission, but she has not yet made contact.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The pause is important there. Is that? Yes. Welcome back, Kiran.
Here's the basic premise in all of this. If there's another intelligence civilization in the universe somewhere, it would undoubtedly be on the air, so to speak. Using various frequencies to communicate as we are here right now. So if we look in the right place in theory, we could listen in on alien transmissions and finally get some proof we're not alone. But this makes finding a needle in a haystack seem like a cinch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL TARTER, DIRECTOR, SETI INSTITUTE: So think of these as Bombay doors. They're going to swing down.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): If E.T. should ever try to phone our home in the universe, you can bet Jill Tarter will be there to take the call.
TARTER: This is a feed, all right? And it is like the one on your car.
O'BRIEN: Or a flash Gordon ray gun. Jill is director of the search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and I am under the hood of one of her cool, new radio telescopes.
TARTER: What are we listening for? We're listening for something that we don't think can be produced by Mother Nature. Something that looks artificial, something that's obviously engineered.
O'BRIEN: Something alien and smart. Jill has spent three decades, her entire career, on this all or nothing needle in a star stack quest to tune in to WUFO, it's a signal that may or may not exist.
TARTER: If you put a transmitter up there and there is a radar transmitter in there.
O'BRIEN: When I first met her, she was still making brief annual pilgrimages to Arecibo, Puerto Rico, to the world's largest radio telescope hoping to make contact there.
(on camera): Now this is starting to ring a bell, isn't it? Jill is the inspiration for Ellie Arroway, played by Jodie Foster in the movie "Contact." But now, the real action has moved here, to Hat Creek, California, an isolated spot 300 miles north of San Francisco. The $40 million ray is funded by private donations, $25 million came from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. It will allow us to keep our ears on them 24/7, 365.
TARTER: This is an exciting time. We're doing something now we couldn't do when we started. We couldn't do five years ago. We just got the capability. This technological capability a few years ago and we're now taking advantage of it.
O'BRIEN (on camera): This is the electronic intergalactic version of cupping your ear so you can hear a little better. Right now, they have 42 of these dishes. Eventually they would like to have 350 here, which would greatly increase their sensitivity and their ability to hear the heavens.
TARTER: This is how the Silicon Intelligence concentrates.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): But listening in this case means watching. They hunt for radio signals with a galactic police scanner by pointing at stars and dialing in some likely frequencies.
But those lines are what contact will look like, probably?
TARTER: That will probably be the first key that something is out there.
O'BRIEN: Just like in the movie with the "Wang, Wang" (ph). It's not going to do that, right? It's not going to do the "Wang, Wang."
TARTER: I won't say it's going to do this or it's going to do that.
O'BRIEN: Jill, always keeps a bottle of chilled bubbly handy in case her cosmic crap shoot pays off. Over the years, she's had a few spine tingling moments, when she heard a signal but from a spacecraft launched here on earth. But the stars may be in alignment, if you will, for this to happen for real before too long. NASA is working on a space telescope designed specifically to look for other earth-like planets in our galaxy.
WILLIAM BORUCKI, NASA'S KEPLER MISSION: Basically, at the end of the mission, we will know. Are there lots of earth or are there very few? If there are lots of earth, there probably is a lot of life in our galaxy waiting for us to contact them.
O'BRIEN: So, Jill Tarter may soon have some better clues on where to aim her dishes and maybe this will be the place where we finally get an answer.
TARTER: I am extremely excited about the potential of living in this first generation of human beings that can try and answer this question by doing an experiment, rather than asking the priest and the philosophers what they believed.
(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: Now you would think a project like this would be supported by NASA. It's a goal which, after all, they spent a lot of time and effort on trying to unlock the riddle of life outside our planet. But in '93, the project drew the ire of some members of Congress, the space agency was forced to abruptly cancel it support for SETI. So these days, SETI relies on private donations to conduct its radio scans. The cost is about $6 million a year to tune in and listen.
CHETRY: Yes. And she says it's a cosmic crap shooter. You called it that. But where do they know even where to tune these signals, where to point them in the skies?
O'BRIEN: That's just it. The sky is pretty big. And then, we're talking billions and billions, to use the Sagan expression here. What they look for are stars like our sun, sort of averaged, middle- aged kind of mediocre stars. You know, the bright stars you see at night are not good places to live nearby. Ours is kind of a slow cooker. And if you find the slow cookers, then you start thinking, well, there might be some solar systems around it.
CHETRY: Fascinating. Fascinating. As you said, Paul Allen threw in $25 million, right?
O'BRIEN: Yes. That's what I'm saying for example. I'm glad he did.
CHETRY: Sure is. Well, thanks, Miles. And Miles, this series is creating a lot of buzz, by the way, on our Web site, cnn.com/ireport, and we want to share a few of them with you. We got -- we got some people who --
O'BRIEN: And there are some interesting ones. This one came from Juan Ramirez in Fort Lauderdale, who said he saw several UFOs off the beach in Fort Lauderdale. He described them as changing from a powerful bright spot of light to a clearly defined aircraft. One of them switched shapes and transformed into a translucent orange light before shooting up into the sky and disappearing.
CHETRY: Hey, that sounds like the one you described.
O'BRIEN: Yes, kind of similar. Isn't it?
CHETRY: You were on the beach.
O'BRIEN: And then this, you can see the UFO's yellow lights on top and a single white light on the bottom of I guess a spacecraft.
And take a look at this video. You got to check this one out. This comes from Brad Drenning (ph). He filmed four red dots hovering above Arizona, kind of reminds me of the Phoenix light story, which we talked about a few days ago. This is over the course of seven minutes. This thing was really weird. And I watched the whole thing and it just kind of hovers there. The lights kind of flicker and then eventually they disappear. This went on for about 30 seconds and finally the last light was gone. I have no explanation for that one. So, who knows?
CHETRY: There's no way that could have been an aircraft.
O'BRIEN: Could have been. You can't say no way, but you know, you also can't say no way it's not an alien, right? Right?
CHETRY: Joe was over there laughing. Yes, you're right.
O'BRIEN: We've founded the parameters there, aircraft or alien? Maybe it's somewhere in between. Who knows?
CHETRY: All right. Well, if you have something that you've seen in the sky that's funny or your convinced that aliens exist, please, send us an iReport, because we love looking at them. Very cool. And we want to know about them. Send us your pictures or video, cnn.com/am and click on the iReport link.
Miles, thanks.
Coming up, by the way, tomorrow, the Mars Worm. We're going to meet a NASA contractor who says there is life on Mars and proof. A fossil from the red planet, perhaps?
O'BRIEN: Perhaps.
CHETRY: All right. Miles, thanks -- Joe.
JOHNS: Send us those alien pictures.
CHETRY: A former president and a future administration. With Hillary Clinton, the likely pick for secretary of state, how her husband could help or hurt the Obama presidency.
Buying lots of stuff no one needs. It's the spirit of Christmas. But coming up, we'll meet the good reverend who's trying to change that and stop the shopocalypse.
It is 23 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning and the Most Politics now.
In a little more than two hours, President-elect Barack Obama will be unveiling his national security team, and the headliner of course is Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. And some are asking, where does that leave Bill?
Well, here with some political insight, Karl Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac, freelance journalists and authors of "King Makers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East." Thanks to both of you for joining us this morning.
Great to see you. So as we're asking, what happens to our former president, you guys have a very interesting theory that he could perhaps be appointed to the Senate seat that his wife will be vacating. How likely is that? Why would it be a good move for him?
Let me start with you, Shareen?
SHAREEN BLAIR BRYSAC, CO-AUTHOR, "KINGMAKERS": Well, there's a precedence for this. There have been other wives who have filled in for their husbands, most recently Lindy Boggs, the mother of Cokie Roberts, filled in for her husband, Hale Boggs, when he died in a plane crash.
Margaret Chase Smith, senator from Maine, filled in for her husband. So there haven't been any husbands filling in for wives, but there have been wives filling in for husbands, so that's one reason it would be a good idea. But it solves a lot of problems for David Patterson, the governor of New York.
He's had a dozen people phoning him, wanting to fill in for that seat. All of whom are going to be angry, political opponents of his eventually. Bill Clinton would solve that.
CHETRY: Karl, the interesting thing was he is part of this elite club of ex-presidents, so why would he then want to, if you will, become a senator?
KARL MEYER, CO-AUTHOR, "KINGMAKERS": Well, there's a precedent for that. John Quincy Adams lost his bid for a second term in 1828, he was then sent to the Senate, to the House of Representatives two years later, where he served for 18 years, and he did a lot of good things there including sponsoring the legislation that created this Smithsonian Institution that we know today.
Why not use the talents of our former presidents in the Congress. Why not do what the British do? And when you're a former prime minister in Britain, you get appointed to the House of Lords, so you have a forum and a place where you can speak out.
CHETRY: What can he get accomplished, I guess, in the Senate different than the vast influence he has in the private sector?
BRYSAC: Well, I think being a senator is quite influential, and even though he would be a junior senator, he has a lot of political skills, he knows Washington well, he knows his way around, he's a good arm twister, and I think that would be a good job for him. And in terms of David Patterson and how it would help him, Bill Clinton would have no further political ambitions.
MEYER: Yes.
CHETRY: Could you really think, Karl, that he would take this?
MEYER: Well, I don't know but it would be good for New York if he did. Because New York -- he would be the most senior junior senator in history. CHETRY: I guess you could say that safely.
MEYER: Listen now, I can't speak for him, but my intuition is yes, he would take it.
BRYSAC: It's a very expensive seat. You have to be a very good money raiser, and nobody raises money better than Bill Clinton.
MEYER: And also, if the governor appoints any member of Congress and you see you have the competing claims of gender, ethnicity, regions upstate versus downstate, if he points a city member of Congress and there are six that are likely candidates, then they have to have a special election to fill that seat. With Bill Clinton, that's not a problem.
CHETRY: All right. Well, maybe he's listening this morning and we'll see whether or not he thinks that's a good idea. Of course, today, the news is dominated by his wife. But very, very interesting proposal from both of you, and you have a great article about it as well.
Karl Meyer, as well as Shareen Brysac, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
BRYSAC: Thank you.
CHETRY: Joe?
JOHNS: Kiran, it's just about half past the hour. Here are some of the top stories.
Research on mice is linking fast food to Alzheimer's Disease. A Swedish study found mice who were fed junk food for nine months had a chemical change similar to that found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The researchers say it shows how a diet rich in fat, sugar and cholesterol could increase the risk of dementia.
Porsche and other German automakers are cutting production in response to slumping year-end car sales. Porsche announcing plans to hold operations at its main plant for eight days. Volkswagen says it may stop production and its main assembly plant for three weeks. Germany's car industry accounts for one in eight jobs in the country.
It appears Donald Trump isn't immune from the economic crisis. Trump Entertainment will miss a $53 million interest payment due today on notes related to its Atlantic City casinos. The company is totally separate from Donald Trump's private holdings. Last month, Trump Entertainment reported a third quarter loss of $139 million.
And Sarah Palin is campaigning in Georgia this morning for Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss. You're looking there at live pictures of the rally in Augusta right now. Palin, who drew huge crowds during the presidential campaign, is scheduled to attend four events for the Georgia senator today. Chambliss faces Democrat Jim Martin in a crucial runoff election tomorrow. If Democrats win Georgia and Minnesota they'll have a filibuster-proof majority. In just a couple of hours, team Obama will expand its roster. The president-elect's national security team includes some familiar faces led by his one-time bitter rival, the headline nominee, of course, is Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Obama wants current Defense Secretary Robert Gates to stay on at the pentagon. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is his pick to head Homeland Security. And foreign policy adviser Susan Rice, as U.N. ambassador. Four-star general James Jones is Obama's choice for national security adviser and he's tapped former deputy attorney general Eric Holder as attorney general.
As we just mentioned, President-elect Obama wants the man President Bush installed at the Pentagon, Robert Gates, to stay there when he takes office next month. CNN's Michael Ware is live in Baghdad for us.
Michael, what does the Gates' reappointment mean?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, what this primarily is, is a reassuring and savvy active, ongoing stewardship at a time where America is waging two wars. Now, if, indeed, it's confirmed as we expect that President-elect Obama will continue in office Secretary of Defense Robert gates, Gates himself is a politically nonaligned individual who's seen as something of a moderate. Now in many ways, Secretary Gates' presence has been important in rehabilitating the relationship between those in uniform in Washington and the civilians who command them. A relationship that's been so badly damaged under the current administration.
Also, as a former director of Central Intelligence, Secretary Gates is a good bridge between the intelligence community and the Pentagon, and finally, of course, as one of the stewards of the so- called surge strategy here in Iraq that's been considered so successful, Secretary Gates could also be a tempering influence on the pace of an Obama administration's withdrawal from Iraq, Joe.
JOHNS: So Michael, given the points you've made here, should Obama have gone with a fresh face or is Gates moving in the right direction?
WARE: I think it's a move in the right direction. Certainly you couldn't have reappointed a Donald Rumsfeld, for example, but Secretary Gates is by no means, by no stretch of the imagination, a Secretary Rumsfeld. Secretary Gates is a pro. I mean a careerist in the CIA, he rose to the level of director of the CIA, and with the military, certainly here on the ground that I've seen? In Baghdad, he's much more consultative. I mean, we're not seeing a civilian political agenda, jammed down the throats of military commanders who are preparing or are actually waging war and we saw that under Secretary Rumsfeld.
So it's a much better atmosphere within the military community in D.C. and here on the front lines. So I think that bodes well, particularly with President-elect Obama moving into office with his promise to reduce the number of U.S. troops, bring them home, in a timetable that does not consider what's happening here on the ground. So America needs to protect its interests here in Iraq and Secretary Gates may be a good form of continuity to make sure that that protection is in place, Joe.
JOHNS: So speaking of on the ground, Gates gets pretty good marks there, I take it, among the military leaders?
WARE: Yes, he does. I mean as I said, he's not seen as forcing issues upon the military commanders. He's not telling them how many troops they must have. He's much more consultative than listening to what they're saying about what they need and what's the situation that confronts them here in this war that's still going on, even though it might not be in the headlines back home. We saw the 297 Iraqis died here last month and, indeed, at least 35 have died just today alone.
So this war is still going, and we know that from some reports, indeed, Secretary Gates, unlike other secretaries, attends the weekly meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I mean, in one way, it's a small thing, in another way it's a very big thing. And given that we have such progressive administration coming in, having someone from the past to provide continuity could be a very good play especially to commanders, Joe.
JOHNS: Michael Ware, thanks for that. Good talking to you.
And make sure to catch the president-elect's news conference this morning at 10:40 Eastern time. You can see it live right here on CNN and cnn.com.
CHETRY: It's 36 minutes past the hour.
We're going to fast forward to see what other stories are making news later today. Around 3:00 p.m. Eastern this afternoon, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will give an update on the economy and the markets on Wall Street. Secretary Paulson will speak at the Fortune 500 forum in Washington.
Every December 1st it's World AIDS Day and for 20 years now people have marked the day by wearing a red ribbon just like the one that you see here at the White House. President Bush will begin the observance with a statement on the north lawn. This is at about 10:20 Eastern this morning and from there he and the First Lady Laura Bush will be attending a Washington forum on global health.
Also known to Democrats as the lion of the Senate, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy will receive an honorary degree from Harvard University at a special convocation this afternoon. Other recipients of such degree, Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill and even George Washington. That's what we're following for you today -- Joe.
JOHNS: He already has gold, frankincense and myrrh. So what would Jesus buy? Today, we'll talk to the reverend who thinks he knows.
It's 37 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had my life threatened of people trying to beat me up. I had a woman who was about 60 years old cuss me out and spit on me for not having a PS3 for her six-year-old grandson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leading the fight is Reverend Billy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reverend Billy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Billy, you call it the shopapocolypse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like an apocalypse in shopping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drive the demons out of those cash registers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well he led crusades to tell shoppers to check out of the consumer culture. This holiday season he wants you to ask the question, what would Jesus buy? Let's welcome the reverend Billy Talen of the Church of Stop shopping.
Reverend Billy, thanks for being with us.
REV. BILLY TALEN, PREACHES AGAINST CONSUMERISM: Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: This is -- I go to tell. We have you on this year and this year, we saw probably the worst of human nature at this Wal- Mart in Long Island where people literally knocked down the doors, ended up trampling and killing a store worker to get a deal on a plasma TV, what do you think when you see things like that?
TALEN: Well, we went to the Valley Stream Wal-Mart last night, Kiran, in Long Island. My choir and I, about 40 of us, we had a prayer vigil, we lit candles and sang songs and talked to some of the workers and we talked to some of the people who were there and witnesses.
CHETRY: And what were they telling you?
TALEN: People are gathering around the spot. There's a feeling of disbelief. People are asking basic questions about the shopping culture.
CHETRY: Right.
TALEN: What have we done here?
CHETRY: And what have we done? That's worse case example, but this type of feeling that sort of grows in your stomach starting at the beginning of November thinking oh, my goodness, I got to buy. I got to shop, I have to buy.
TALEN: All the anxiety. CHETRY: Right. It just seems we sort of lost the true spirit of why we celebrate or we give around this time of year and instead, it's a obsession with shopping.
TALEN: Well, we say you don't have to buy a give to give a gift, Kiran. We've been saying that for years.
CHETRY: All right. So what do you do if you're not -- especially this time of year and this year hasn't been that kind to you, seen a lot of layoffs, what do you do? What do you tell your kids? What do you tell your family and friends, if you just either don't have the money or you think it's time to do something different?
TALEN: Well, we have a flood of testimonies, pledges, coming in to us here in New York. People are saying this year, Reverend, our Christmas is going to be celebrated in a different way. Our families sitting around the table, we have a budget, we're going to live within our means. We're going to actually save money. We're not going to go and shop because we think it's some idea of patriotism or owe it to somebody. We're going to spend time together, promise each other experiences together, spend time with our loved ones.
CHETRY: We're taking a look at this documentary, sort of like a mock-commentary or docu-comedy, I guess is what would Jesus buy. Are you serious when you talk about exorcizing the cash registers and things like that or is it just to bring about this point to people that we've really lost control when it comes to spending?
TALEN: Well just ask the Church of Stop Shopping is on some level comic after 9/11 and after Christmas became more commodified. It felt increasingly like a church and it becomes finally serious. That's also happening with our exorcizing cash registers. And last night here we blessed the front door of the Valley Stream Wal-Mart where Jdmytai Damour was killed on Friday morning, it does finally feel yes we have a spiritual life inside of ourselves that wants to do something besides just buy, buy, buy. Spend, spend, spend.
CHETRY: And what do you do for the holidays? I mean what do you not buy presents?
TALEN: I'm trying to follow my own advice here. My wife and I and our loved ones are spending time together, keeping track of our experiences through journals and making movies out of it as we take little trips together and the people in the American culture need to get back to real experience. You don't have to have a Magnavox flat screen DVD player to have an experience. You can just spend time. That's what's complex. That's what's fun, and ultimately that's what's memorable. People spending time together.
CHETRY: Very interesting. Well, I'm glad you joined us this morning, Reverend Billy Talen. The Church of Stop Shopping. Thanks for being with us.
TALEN: My pleasure. Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: Sarah Palin's new campaign. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to close any doors of opportunity that perhaps are open out there in the future.
CHETRY: Why the former candidate left Alaska to pump up the base in the south. You're watching the most news in the morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: A little Eminem there. Welcome back to the most politics in the morning. She may be far from home but surrounded by plenty of supporters Sarah Palin is feeling right at home this morning. The Alaska governor is back on the campaign trail today, across the state of Georgia which is in the middle of a crucial Senate runoff. Sandra Endo is live in Augusta, Georgia, for this morning.
Sandra, this is an appearance that is really all about the Senate or does it have a lot more to do with politics in general?
SARAH ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has to do with both, Joe, because Republicans really need to keep the seat if they want to prevent the Democrats from having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. For Governor Sarah Palin, the more favors she does for fellow colleagues in trying to help her party. the more favors she'll have to cash in down the road.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PALIN: Govern with strong executive experiences.
ENDO: If there was any doubt that Alaska governor Sarah Palin remains popular with conservatives, just look where she's been and where she's headed. Palin was called in as the closer for Georgia's incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss who's facing a tough runoff against Democrat Jim Martin. It's a race that has potentially huge implications for the balance of power in the Senate. If Chambliss loses and the Democrats win the still to be decided Minnesota Senate race, the Democrats would have a filibuster-proof majority. If Palin is successful helping her colleague in a red state like Georgia it could help pave the way for a future presidential run in 2012.
PALIN: I'm not going to close any doors of opportunity that perhaps are open out there in the future.
ENDO: She has already revved up the conservative base.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just wanted to say --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you Sarah Palin.
ENDO: And is generating an early buzz.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think she has a very bright future in the leadership position in the Republican Party.
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: As fast as she has learned to become a great governor, that's as fast as she would have learned to become a great vice president and also if there's an emergency, to become president. I think she's a fast learner.
ENDO: But is it much too soon to be talking about Palin? The future Republican nominee?
JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: She's got to get a more experience and some more things under her belt if she's going to be a leader of this party.
ENDO: Palin's popularity could help Chambliss defeat Martin here in Georgia. She attended a private fund-raiser for Chambliss in Atlanta and has several campaign stops with him today before voters head to the polls tomorrow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENDO: Now Palin and Chambliss have more three rallies throughout Georgia later this afternoon. Now traditionally there's lower voter turnout in a runoff so now it's all about energizing supporters to come out to vote. Joe.
JOHNS: Thanks, Sandra and we will be coming back to you once Governor Sarah Palin gets out there on the stage. Thanks.
CHETRY: CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead.
Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Kiran.
That's right. Here's a check of what we're working on now in the NEWSROOM. From speculation to confirmation, Barack Obama set to announce his nomination of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State this morning.
He suffered shrapnel wounds in the Mumbai attacks and now a teenager's pain will go deeper when he learns about his family.
Plus a surprise in the slow economy. What pumped up post- Thanksgiving sales? You might be surprised as we get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.
Back to you.
CHETRY: Heidi, thanks. It's 50 minutes after the hour.
Dear Santa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANTA CLAUS, FATHER OF CHRISTMAS: What should Santa bring you this year for Christmas?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything that's at Target.
CLAUS: Everything that's at Target.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Preparing kids for a Christmas where Santa can't afford everything on their list.
You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well mother nature left a lot of holiday travelers searching their maps for alternate routes yesterday. A snowstorm that's now threatening to dump several inches in Chicago closed parts of interstate 70 in Colorado Sunday. That cold blast could mean more travel delays at Chicago's airports today as well. Our Reynolds Wolf tracking it all for us.
When we checked in with you earlier in the show there were no delays. How about now?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST:: I think things have changed more than just a little bit. We're going to show you those coming up in just a moment. Right now one of the places we're having some serious issues would be back into parts of Michigan along I-75, we not only have the snow that's beginning to fall and getting quite heavy at times, we also have a lot of that wind which is going to really cause whiteout conditions for many places specially along 75, six to eight inches of snowfall certainly possible. As we zoom in a bit, some of the heaviest falling near Burton back over to Grand Rapids, Muskegon.
Over in Chicago, we're seeing a little bit of snowfall this time. Some of the heaviest forming just to the north of Evanson and back towards Buffalo Grove. St. Louis, pretty much the same story, sporadic snow showers that should last through the mid-day hours. And then into Nashville, we're seeing a little bit of mix, so some rain, sleet, some snow. It is going to be something we're seeing through the good part of the day and something else we're going to be seeing more of the delays. This is what we're talking about, San Francisco, I'm going to step out of the way, so you can see this.
San Francisco the wait is about an hour with your grand delays. Chicago about 45 minutes. 50 minutes in La Guardia in New York and Boston 30 minutes. But we're expecting more of the arrival delays to increase. So again, folks, you got to be patient. So many of you heading home from the holidays, you decided to stay the extra day. Some of you heading up to work. Either way, everyone is going to be a little bit impatient and you'll get where you need to go it's going to take some time. Let's send it back to you.
CHETRY: All right. Reynolds Wolf, thanks so much.
WOLF: Absolutely. CHETRY: Joe.
JOHNS: The economic crisis hitting home for many families this holiday season. So, how do parents tell their young children that Santa can't deliver on their wish list?
It's 55 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. A live look now at Governor Sarah Palin. She's in Augusta, Georgia, campaigning for Senator Saxby Chambliss who's in a runoff election.
Let's listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
PALIN: ... Georgia, you took good care of my son and now he and our soldiers are taking good care of you. So I thank you. I thank you for that. And I honor you and I honor you and respect you because you have that strong tradition of the respect that you show for our military here, Georgia, and the eyes of the nation are on you, Georgia, and the eyes of the nation are on what happens here tomorrow, what direction our country will go, much depends on the vote that is taken here in Georgia.
Now a very good friend of ours also was here recently, wasn't he, to support Saxby, and that was a true American hero John McCain, who was here to support Saxby. And it was just like Senator McCain to put defeat behind him and see what more he can do for the United States Senate and to see what more he can do to progress this great nation. That's why he came back, because more than two million of you here in Georgia gave us your vote on November 4th. We were honored to carry the state of Georgia. Thank you.
So now we need you to do it again tomorrow, Georgia. Senator McCain came back here because he understands that losing an election does not mean we have to lose our ways. He is ready to carry on the good fight in Washington, but he needs Saxby to help him do it. Now we've got a lot of hard work, got our work cut out for us, if we are to lead again to changing Washington for the better and put government back on your side. It takes rebuilding, and I say let that begin here in Georgia tomorrow. In the months --
CHETRY: There you go, a little bit of Governor Sarah Palin speaking there in Augusta, Georgia. She is trying to help Saxby Chambliss, who's in the tight runoff, who is the incumbent, claims his seat, make sure that he still gets it.
JOHNS: Very popular among social conservatives certainly in the south and they are glad she's there.
CHETRY: Absolutely. We'll make sure to catch President-elect Barack Obama's news conference this morning at 10:40 Eastern time, you can see it here on CNN or on cnn.com and thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.
JOHNS: Right now, here's CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins.
