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American Morning
Nuke or Bio Attack on U.S.?; Coverage Gave Terrorist Global Exposure; Automakers Present Detailed Plans to Congress; Obama's Cabinet Surprising Conservatives
Aired December 02, 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, we are coming up on the top of the hour.
I'm Joe Johns in for John Roberts this morning.
And we are following breaking news. An urgent warning that the U.S. could be hit by a nuclear or biological weapons attack in the next five years. Vice president elect Joe Biden will be briefed on that report today. And while the panel acknowledges terrorists still lack the know-how to make these types of weapons, it warns that the gap can be easily overcome. We will have more on this story shortly.
This morning with the end of President Bush's term in sight, he's opening up and reflecting on his eight years in office. And when he sat down for an interview with ABC's Charles Gibson he made a pretty astonishing admission. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE GIBSON, ABC NEWS HOST: What were you most unprepared for?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn't campaign that please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack. In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Tension this morning rising between Pakistan and India after last week's deadly attacks in Mumbai. This morning, India called on Islamabad to hand over dozens of suspected terrorists. Pakistan's government denies any wrongdoing and has offered to help investigators. Nearly 180 people were killed including six Americans.
Tonight, Pakistan's president sits down exclusively with CNN's Larry King. That's at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.
And we are tracking breaking news for you this morning. A bipartisan report. Commissioned by Congress has new details about terrorists targeting America. The report says terror cells are actively plotting a biological or nuclear attack on U.S. cities and it's likely to happen before the year 2013. We are getting the details before the report hits the desk of Vice President-elect Joe Biden today. Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington with the latest.
Good morning, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Joe.
The report says that it's more likely than not that terrorist will use some kind of weapon of mass destruction in the next five years. And they particularly raised the alarm about biological weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): Mr. President, anthrax, small box, Ebola. A report being issued this week says the risk of an attack with a weapon like this is great and growing.
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), CHAIRMAN, WMD COMMISSION: We assess that it was more likely that the United States and the world will be attacked with a biological weapon than a nuclear weapon.
MESERVE: Almost 15,000 scientists in the U.S. work with dangerous pathogens to develop vaccines and other counter measures. There is security.
DR. BILL BENTLEY, CHAIR, UNIV. OF MARYLAND BIOENGINEERING PROG: We need to continually push the knowledge front but also recognize that we have a duty to society to make sure that we deal with the regulatory agencies.
MESERVE: But many experts are sounding an alarm. In 1918, a virulent strain of influenza killed an estimated 20-to-40 million people worldwide. That virus has been re-created from scratch in a laboratory, so has the polio virus.
The capability and technology to do this science is spreading across the globe to places like Indonesia, Pakistan and Iran, increasing the odds that a deadly virus or bacteria could fall into the wrong hands and be used as a weapon. It's already happened here with anthrax.
BRIAN FINDLAY, STIMPSON CENTER: We cannot -- we cannot in this world preclude a biological attack. It's simply impossible.
MESERVE: But the congressionally mandated Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction in a report this week says there are steps that could make a biological attack less likely. Tighter security at U.S. labs handling dangerous pathogens, a strengthening of international treaties, enhance disease surveillance to detect an attack and better forensics to trap where it came from.
GRAHAM: Leadership of this country and the world will have to decide how much of a priority that they place on avoiding the worse weapons in the world getting in the hands of the worse people in the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: The panel says the U.S. has paid much more attention to the proliferation of nuclear weapons than biological weapons. It says the risks are growing and our margin of safety is shrinking -- Joe.
JOHNS: So, Jeanne, there are a lot of different places threats like this could come from. You have the possibility of say stray nukes coming out of Russia. You have the issue of the labs and securing those. What are the priorities for authorities? Where would they start to try to secure the country better?
MESERVE: Well, one of the key recommendations here is that there be one individual to coordinate across the federal government, the response to weapons of mass destruction. The feeling is that a lot of money has been spent. A lot of it has been ill-spent. Agencies have worked across purposes and there needs to be coherence to the process. So one of the key recommendations, put it in the hands of one individual. They aren't dictating who that should be. They say that would be up to the incoming president -- Joe.
JOHNS: Jeanne Meserve talking about a go-to-guy or gal in Washington. Thanks so much.
Kiran --
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, in the days after the terrorist's siege and massacre in Mumbai, we are all left with a vivid images that we saw on television. The sounds of gunfire and the explosions. But is the constant coverage actually part of the problem?
International security correspondent Paula Newton is looking into celebrity terrorism -- Paula.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kiran and Joe, many of us were watching all that coverage from Mumbai and we were horrified. But others may have been savoring every minute.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON (voice-over): From the first gunshot to the last explosions, wall-to-wall coverage of the Mumbai attacks may have given the terrorists exactly what they wanted. A riveting, blow-by-blow of their so-called "War on Mumbai." Not just spreading terror in an instant with a high-powered explosion --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is the CCTV footage.
NEWTON: But casting themselves as stars in a long, torturous drama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the goals of this hostage taking was to have a long period of media coverage so people will see and take example and be impressed by their operation. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Clearly, you see that two terrorists (INAUDIBLE).
NEWTON: Coverage saturated not just India, but airwaves around the world. Within hours, these images of baby faced shooters calmly and coldly cutting people down were plastered on TV and the Internet. In fact, a new term was coined during Mumbai, celebrity terrorism. It comes with the sobering question, does this coverage invite more attacks?
From one of the first televised attacks, the murder of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich in 1972 to 9/11. To London's 77 train bombings and now to this. Just the coverage of these events could prove to go beyond copycat attacks, but instead more subtly help to radicalize an entire generation of terrorists in the making.
Some analysts point out the attackers could smuggle enough explosives to blow up targets. But, instead, chose a prolonged approach, hostage taking with no explicit demands, more air time, more celebrity.
GARETH PRICE, CHATHAM HOUSE: Presumably, there was a decision made to do something different, to get more attention, more publicity.
NEWTON: And they got it, creating a new India-Pakistan crisis gives even more voice to radicals in those countries.
PRICE: That's good to be the fundamental thing to determine our relations between India and Pakistan.
NEWTON: While few suggest this kind of coverage should be censored, in this age of celebrity, the terrorist may be finding more ways to manipulate that coverage in a new cause.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: All of this raises some tough questions, and there aren't necessarily any easy answers -- Joe, Kiran.
JOHNS: Thanks, Paula.
Today is the deadline for Detroit's Big Three to submit a plan if they want a penny of that $25 billion bailout. The car makers are expected to present very detailed reports as to how they will restructure their businesses to become more competitive.
CNN's Kate Bolduan is "Minding Your Business" on capitol hill.
Kate, we are hearing part of their plan includes big pay cuts for top executives. What details have you heard this morning?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, many of the details right now, Joe, are being held pretty tightly at the moment, but they could start streaming out early today. We're keeping an eye on that. But as you said, today is the deadline. The Big Three set to expected to present their detailed business plans, their proposals, trying once again to make the case why they should get an emergency loan, a bailout from Washington.
This comes just about two weeks since Democratic congressional leaders push off making a decision on to bailout or not. And sending letters to the big three demanding some answers. They're laying out the answers that they are looking for. And these answers include how much money they have, how much money they need to continue operations and also how a loan will ensure long-term viability.
Lawmakers also want the automakers to provide specific measures to protect taxpayer dollars. And they are also looking for the companies to offer a plan of how they are going to -- how they are going to address health care and pension obligations to their workers.
Now, each company will be presenting their own individual plan. But CNN has learned from one Ford executive that Ford is expecting to submit their plan via e-mail. It will be about 20 to 30 pages, we are told, with a heavy emphasis on plans for advanced technology. Looking into the future.
And this speaks to the viability that lawmakers are really focused on. As lawmakers say, they don't just want to throw money at a problem. They want a plan. But this board executive does say that the company is a bit worried that even if -- this executive says, quote, "They do a bang of job in their report, that the dynamics are working against them."
This executive says that the environment on Capitol Hill before Thanksgiving was tense. Even going as far to say that the automakers have, quote, become the whipping boy in the wake of the financial industry bailout. So as you see, Joe, it's not a done deal yet.
JOHNS: Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill. Thanks for that.
CHETRY: Well, for the big three CEOs, it appears to be a lesson learned when the head of Ford returns to Washington for more hearings that we just heard about from Kate. Is he going to be trading in his private jet for a Ford Hybrid? Both GM and Chrysler also say that their bosses are going to travel on the cheap as well.
Well, it may have taken Axl Rose more than a decade to complete his latest album, but took him just days to file suit after Dr. Pepper's promise of a free soda went flat. We'll explain. It's 10 minutes after the hour.
JOHNS: The tiny image that could change the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We both just looked at each other like this. And then on our minds, I think we were saying, wow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: And what it could mean to proving there is life on Mars. We will go "In Search of Aliens."
You are watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": During our confirmation hearings, Republicans could force to answer a lot of embarrassing questions about Bill Clinton's financial affairs to which Hillary said, "What kind of affairs? Financial. No problem. Yes. Bring it on!"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The day after Barack Obama unveiled his high-power national security team, the focus shifting back to your money. The nation's governors are hitting up the next president this morning as states try to stay afloat without raising your taxes or slashing your jobs.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live for us in Philadelphia this morning. Suzanne, what is it the governors want?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, we've heard Obama, we've heard congressional Democrats talk about that economic stimulus package. About $500 billion that they hope to put on his desk in January that they hope to pass. Well, the governors simply want a piece of the pie. They want a piece of the action here. They are asking for about a third of it -- a $176 billion. And they say here is what we are going to do with it. We are going to build roads and bridges. We have water and sewer projects. These type of things. This will create jobs.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is saying, look, for every $1 billion, they will create some 40,000 jobs. And the governors, the state governors as you know, unlike the federal government, they have to balance their budgets. So they are looking at some really tough choices. If they are going to raise taxes or further cuts in social services -- these are the kinds of things that they are looking at. So they are turning to Obama and say give us a little bit of this money.
JOHNS: And then the next question, obviously, is how likely are they going to get what they want.
MALVEAUX: Well, something else, Joe, that they want is more federal money and Medicaid to help out the poor with their health costs. That kind of thing. The last economic stimulus package that had that component in it for an increase essentially died in Congress. They are hoping that they've got a better shot at this in January. But it's still an unanswered question. Just what kind of funds that these governors are going to get -- Joe.
JOHNS: Suzanne Malveaux in Philadelphia. Thank you so much for that. And we will be watching. Don't missed Barack Obama's remarks to the National Governors Association meeting. See it live at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on CNN and cnn.com. CHETRY: Guns N Roses' new album turning out to be a thorn in Dr. Pepper's side. We are going to find out why Axl Rose is taking a company to test after its free drink giveaway went bust.
16 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Break out your best air guitar for that story. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Axl Rose is taking Dr. Pepper to test after the soft drink maker announced that it would give everyone a free soda if the reclusive rocker finally released his album years in the making. Well, Axl says he delivered but Dr. Pepper has not. Leaving some of his fans unserved.
Here's Kareen Wynter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Joe, Kiran, it's not quite what the doctor ordered but a popular soft drink company is now feuding with the famous rock group.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER (voice-over): It's a jungle out there, all right for Guns N Roses front man Axl Rose, now in the midst of a legal fight with soft drink giant Dr. Pepper. In March, the manufacturer rolled out a marketing campaign promising a free soda to everyone in America on one condition, Axl Rose had to finally release his 17 year in the making belabored masterpiece, "Chinese Democracy" in 2008. Axl and the band did that just last week.
Dr. Pepper fans then had 24 hours to go to its Web site to get a coupon for a can of soda, but heavy traffic caused the site to crash. The company extended the deadline another day, but Axl Rose's attorney say the damage was done.
LAURIE SORIANO, ATTORNEY FOR AXL ROSE: We've gone public with the fact that we were not involved but are trying to clean up the mess.
WYNTER: And Rose's attorney say they've gotten no response from a complaint letter they sent Dr. Pepper last week requesting that the company make good on their free soda promise.
SORIANO: When you go on the blogs and you read the responses of the fans, they associate Axl with this promotion and blame him for the fact that they didn't get their free soda.
WYNTER: But Dr. Pepper told CNN they have kept up their end of the bargain. A company spokesman says they're disappointed that GNR's lawyers are turning a fun giveaway into a legal dispute, and say they're still offering free coupons to anyone who encountered difficulties. That may be the case, but Rose's camp still wants an apology. (END VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER: Axl Rose's attorneys say the door to a lawsuit being filed is always open until the fans are taken care of, and Dr. Pepper does the right thing -- Joe, Kiran.
CHETRY: Doesn't sound like much of a controversy. They're handing out the coupons and --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNS: Yes, but if you're Axl Rose, I mean, you've got to be very concerned about image.
CHETRY: Yes, to drum up publicity.
JOHNS: Yes. OK. Also, on the musical news front, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, that's right, showing off her skills on the piano for Queen Elizabeth.
And during her stopover in London yesterday, Rice played for the Queen of England. She was joined by the wife of Britain's foreign secretary and three members of the London Symphony Orchestra.
CHETRY: Wow. Wonderful.
JOHNS: Yes, that's pretty impressive.
CHETRY: She is so talented and such a nice lady.
JOHNS: I know. After winning the election, Barack Obama promised to govern from the center. Now, his cabinet picks have some Republicans asking, was he actually telling the truth? We'll talk to a former first son, Michael Reagan, just ahead.
Mrs. Popularity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her surge popularity is record breaking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Famous or infamous? Political heavyweight or B-list celebrity? Figuring out a future for Sarah Palin.
You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, HOST, "THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SHOW": Feel the old phrase, you keep your friends close and your enemies closer? He puts her over at secretary of state. How can she run for president in 2012? No matter how badly he does, he's -- I mean, sure, he's figuring that if she goes over there, she's going to have to quit in 2010, running for president is a two-year job. Then, she's got to run against the incumbent and be critical of him -- the one who made her secretary of state.
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CHETRY: Even Rush Limbaugh giving Barack Obama some praise, I guess you could say, for choosing Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. And there certainly have been reaction from both sides of the aisle. Some Republicans saying that Obama's choices aren't as left- leaning as expected and also a little bit of pushback from some of the liberal Web sites as well.
But joining me now about this is Michael Reagan, eldest son of former President Ronald Reagan, a conservative radio talk show host.
So, do you buy into Rush Limbaugh's argument that this is really a Machiavellian move by Barack Obama that by bringing her into the fold, she can't run against him if she wanted to in 2012?
MICHAEL REAGAN, SON OF FMR. PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I didn't know it was Rush Limbaugh's idea. Seems everything is his idea sometimes. But the reality of it is, it is a good choice. It does keep her close. It puts her as part of a team working on foreign policy. She is not going to be on the Senate of the United States possibly working against him for 2012. So, it is a brilliant move by Barack Obama, and you have to applaud him on making that move.
Robert Gates, another great move for him. Keeping continuity at the Defense Department. In the midst of a war in Afghanistan and, of course, in Iraq, having that continuity is really a good thing. And Barack Obama, I think, made a very good choice there. Remember, he won the election. He has to choose who he wants to have around him for the next four years.
CHETRY: Michael, but what you're saying is that's making people -- for example, the Daily Kos Web site, people from MoveOn.org., very nervous that you're liking how Barack Obama is stacking his cabinet and who he is choosing around him.
In fact, this is interesting. Max Boot, the foreign policy adviser of John McCain, said last week that most of these appointments could just have easily come from President McCain. Are you surprised by that?
REAGAN: Well, they probably could have come from President McCain, you're absolutely right. But again, I mean, these appointments are his appointments. We have said for a long time -- in conservative talk radio, the problems that Barack Obama is going to have are going to be coming from the Daily Kos, coming from the MoveOn.org and the left. Those people want to get out of the war tomorrow afternoon. And also, they'll find out, maybe they're not going to get out of the war tomorrow afternoon.
You have Hillary Clinton who voted for the war and never would come off of that during the whole campaign. She never would back down, where Barack Obama wanted her.
Robert Gates, who's the one fighting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's another man that's going to keep us there until we win the war and come out with pride and we come out a winner. So, MoveOn.org, Daily Kos are going to go nuts over this. And his problems are going to come from the left, not from the right, at this point in time.
CHETRY: You say at this point in time. So, I mean, he has these appointments. Some that are very acceptable to many high-profile Republicans -- Newt Gingrich giving praise; Richard Perle, the architect of the Iraq war; George Shultz, who was your father's secretary of state. A lot of people sort of giving a nod that you wouldn't have expected before we knew what his cabinet appointments are. So, where does that leave Republicans?
REAGANS: And the Republicans -- they have to regroup, find out who they are and what they are, find out what they're going to stand for in the future. Remember, they gave up the whole spending issue when they went out, went crazy on spending during the first six years of the Bush administration, when he refused to veto.
So, they lost the very issues that made them strong and basically turned them over to the Democrats. They have to regroup, get back together, find out who they are, find a leader and move this country forward and keep an eye on Barack Obama.
Our biggest problem is not going to be with Robert Gates, probably not with the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Biggest problem we're going to have is going to be with Harry Reid and with, of course, Nancy Pelosi.
CHETRY: Is your biggest problem going to be to prove -- if things start to go well, and he's appointed his national security team, we'll see more information about the financial team and others, is your -- is the hardest challenge for you, guys, to prove that you could do a better job than he can in 2012?
REAGAN: Hey, listen, I hope he does a great job. I pray for the president of the United States of America no matter who it is. I hope he does a great job. And I will support him when he does something right. When, in fact, he doesn't do something right, I will not support him. I would be the same with John McCain. I'll be the same way with Barack Obama.
CHETRY: I got you. Michael Reagan, great to get your take this morning. Thanks for being with us.
REAGAN: Thank you.
CHETRY: Joe?
JOHNS: Kiran, it's 29 minutes after the hour. And we are following breaking news this morning. The chances are higher than ever that America will be hit with a biological or nuclear weapons attack by the year 2013. That's the opinion of a new bipartisan task force created by Congress. The main threats, aggressive rogue states, nuclear smuggling networks and the spread of weapons knowledge.
Overseas markets reacting to Wall Street's almost 700-point plunge. Japan's Nikkei closed down more than 6 percent. Hong Kong was off more than 5 percent. The sell-off triggered by word the U.S. has been in a recession for the past year.
And last night on ABC's "World News," President Bush deflected blame for the economic meltdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I mean, the president during this period of time but I think when the history of this period is written people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over, you know, a decade or so before I arrived as president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Fallout from the biggest bank failure in U.S. history. JPMorgan Chase says it is cutting close to 10,000 jobs at Washington Mutual Bank. That's about a fifth of its work force. Chase took over WaMu in September after it collapsed in the mortgage crisis.
Rent a video and see a show. Blockbuster says it will start selling concert tickets at 500 stores. It will become the primary sales outlet for concerts in the U.S. from promoter Live Nation.
She may have stepped off the national stage but Sarah Palin is never too far from the spotlight. The Alaska governor was closer for the Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss, thrilling the crowds at rallies on the eve of Chambliss' runoff election. The former Republican vice presidential candidate is fielding more than a dozen book offers and hundreds of requests for interviews and appearances.
But as CNN's Deborah Feyerick tells us, that is nothing compared to Palin's popularity on the Internet.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, Joe, you know the saying that even bad publicity is good? Well perhaps nowhere is that more true than on the internet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears, they have nothing on Sarah Palin.
TINA FEY, ACTOR/COMEDIAN, AS SARAH PALIN: Good evening, my fellow Americans.
FEYERICK: The former VP pick topped the Lycos Internet search engine for 12 straight weeks.
KATHY O'REILLY, LYCOS: Her search popularity is record breaking.
FEYERICK: It started the moment John McCain nominated her as his running mate. Millions and millions of Internet searches. Everything from the CBS interview with Katie Couric to the live demise of the turkey behind the governor as she answered questions.
AMY POEHLER, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: All the mavericks in the house, put your hands up...
FEYERICK: Not to mention all those "Saturday Night Live" parodies.
O'REILLY: It doesn't matter if you are pro or con, it is really just she is doing a great job keeping herself in the limelight.
FEYERICK: But is that a good thing? Especially some of the most popular videos are not flattering.
FEY: Available now. A bunch of these.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The best advice to give Governor Palin right now is to stand down. She needs to go back to Alaska, establish credentials. Establish a platform to run on should she choose to in 2012.
FEYERICK: A recent Gallup poll of Republicans and Republican leaning independent put Governor Palin ahead of Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee as a favorite candidate in 2012. But former GOP heavyweight Newt Gingrich was more skeptical, describing her only as "one of 20 or 30 significant players." Still Palin's online popularity has not gone unnoticed by the publishers and Hollywood agents. Some of them mulling a possible talk show for her.
KEN WHEATON, EDITOR, AD AGE: I'm sure the ratings would be strong for the first week or two. Sort of like that turkey video. A lot of people would tune in to see what sort of train wreck. Hoping for a train wreck on one side and hoping for salvation on the other side.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Last week Paris Hilton did rally and replaced Governor Palin at the top of the Lycos search list. As did bash bark who managed to squeak past the popular Alaskan. Palin also ranked high on other search engines like AOL and Yahoo and as well as the Web site politico.com -- Kiran, Joe.
CHETRY: Deb Feyerick. Well, black or biracial. Debate over Barack Obama, should it matter, does it matter? A look at the question and certainly generated a lot of debate.
And we've got company. Maybe. The tiny fossil that could be proof of life on Mars. It's 34 minutes after the hour.
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JOHNS: Take a look at that. That is the "Washington Post" from over the weekend. Talking about racial identity. I'm not post racial, he's not black. Of course, form the moment Barack Obama announced for president nearly two years ago his racial identity has been the subject of debate. Is he black? Is he biracial? And why is it or isn't it important to the country at large?
Joining us right now from Princeton, New Jersey, Melissa Harris- Lacewell, as professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton.
And professor, thank you so much for hanging in there and talking to us this morning.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL, PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Certainly.
JOHNS: Whenever this issue comes up, it came up before with Tiger Woods, you -- you sense a real emotion out there. Why is it that people get so worked up when you talk about racial identity in the way we have been talking about it with Barack Obama?
HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well I think it is complicated because racial identity is really a two-part system. It is both how you identify yourself. What you think of yourself as. But it is also how the world receives you and how the world sees you. So it is tough because sometime your self identification is really quite different than how the world identifies you. And that sort of friction can create a lot of anxiety for people.
I think the other thing is that we live in a country where race has had very real public policy consequences. To be black meant you were enslavable and to be black meant that you could be Jim Crowe. To be black meant that you have fewer rights as a citizen for most of our countries history. So for many Americans they have a lot of anxiety about the notion of being defined solely as black because it had very real policy consequences.
JOHNS: So Barack Obama describes himself as biracial, a black man. What do you think of that description? It is some of this and some of that. But none of one thing.
HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well, makes perfect sense to me. I'm an African-American woman. But my mother is white. And that makes perfect sense to me. In the sense that when I go out into the world, the way that I am received is as a black woman.
On the other hand, it would be wrong or you would misunderstand me if you also didn't understand that I had a parent who is white. I think that's similar for Barack Obama. He is an African-American. He made a choice to become a community organizer on the south side of Chicago. He married a black woman and is raising African-American children.
On the other hand, his mother is white. And the grandparents who raised him for most of his young life were white. We would misunderstand him if we misunderstood what they contributed to who Barack Obama is.
JOHNS: I want to bring in now Smokey Fontaine. He is the chief content officer for Interactive One which is the largest online African-American network. Thanks for hustling in to talk to us this morning. We really do appreciate it on short notice. I suppose when you look at Barack Obama and this issue of being biracial or being black or as some people have said half white, there is that question of just how this whole business of racial identity is going to affect the presidency and what is going to change the presidency as well as the country.
What's your view of that, Smokey?
SMOKEY FONTAINE, FORMER CEO AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GIANT MAGAZINE: I think one of the things that Obama has always represented to people is a modernist. That he is symbolizing the best of what America is and I believe that the best of what America is represented by an interracial person.
He represents the American dream. He represents the way that we feel about ourselves, and the best identity is often forged by the combination of cultures and the combination of experiences and Obama embodies that. He is more purely African-American than many African- American of us walking around because of the fact that his father is actually African and you know is directly from Kenya.
JOHNS: I just want to ask you both and we only have a little bit of time that sort of million dollar question in the communities of color is when a person calls himself or herself biracial or multiracial or whatever, are they distancing themselves from being just one thing?
For example, in Barack Obama's case, black. Is he distancing himself from being black? Just real fast.
FONTAINE: No. I don't believe there is any distance at all. I mean look, there is no lane for an interracial person to really be interracial without choosing a side. If you don't choose a side you have to check other on your application to college, for example. And that's not something that gives one a positive identity. So Barack has always been honest and said he's interracial that in no way devalues him as an African-American man.
JOHNS: Professor, what's your view?
HARRIS-LACEWELL: That's right. He is a black man. But I think we do have to be careful about this notion that you are choosing sides. Black and whites are not necessarily fighting one another all the time. There is blackness has always been a multiracial identity. Black Americans are people who have in us Asians and Latinos and native Americans and whites. So that is the African-American identity. It is to be multiracial.
JOHNS: Thank you both so much for coming in this morning. I know it was a bit of a challenge. But we do appreciate it a lot.
FONTAINE: Thank you so much.
HARRIS-LACEWELL: Thank you.
JOHNS: Kiran, the tiny image that could change the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We both just looked at each other like this. In our minds, I think they were saying wow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: And what it could mean to proving there is life on Mars. We will go in search of aliens.
You are watching the Most News in the Morning.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, this is a flying saucer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They did all kinds of experiments on me! They have been studying me for years. They know our weaknesses. We got to stop them!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now there's much we can learn from each other. If we can negotiate a truce. We can find a way to co-exist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night, Darth Vader came down from Planet Vulcan (ph) and said if I don't take Lorraine out that he'll melt my brain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Today in our special series in search of aliens, possible proof that we didn't have to look far to find life in our own universe. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien is here.
You brought the photo.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: I brought the worm. We'll talk about it in just a moment. Most of us of course believe we are not alone in the universe. But there has to be life on other planets out there somewhere. That's a belief. That's not science. But we are lucky enough to be alive at a time when the evidence could come in. Or has it already?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE GOREVAN, HONEYBEE ROBOTICS: It is about a millimeter long.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Welcome to Steve Gorevan's wall of fame. Pictures of the first holes made by humans on Mars. It is a big deal to him because his company designed the drill bits that made them on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. But there's one picture here that could be a big deal for all of us.
GOREVAN: I came into the science room and there was only one other person from NASA Headquarters there.
O'BRIEN: He was at NASA's jet propulsion lab a few days after Opportunity landed in 2004.
GOREVAN: She comes over and takes a look at this. The next thing we did was we both just looked at each other like this. And in our minds, I think we were saying wow.
O'BRIEN: Now I'm not a scientist. I just play one on TV. But that sure looks like a little worm to me. Or is it a rotini?
GOREVAN: Look what occurred to me, of course because I'm an engineer, I could say this, we were looking at a fossil.
O'BRIEN: The last Opportunity is not equipped to study fossils. Lacking any other options the science team ordered the rover to move on to the next rock. So it -- could have stumbled -- dumb luck or whatever, stumbled on literally the holy grail, the holy grail on Mars With a key question about life. And could do nothing about it.
GOREVAN: Yes. That's -- I think that's a fair statement. We could do nothing about it.
O'BRIEN: Bummer.
CHRIS MCKAY, NASA SCIENTIST: Pictures by themselves at that sort of scale will never be really convincing evidence. We need more direct chemical and biological tests.
O'BRIEN: Astrobiologist Chris Mckay would kill for the chance to conduct tests like that on Mars. He spends much of his time in some of the more life forsaken places on our planet. I find him in Chile's Atacama desert a few years ago. The idea, draw the boundaries of life on earth so we can better understand where to look for it out there.
So let's assume for a moment that Steve's rotini worm is indeed a fossil. And is proof of a unique strain of Martian life. Then what?
MCKAY: Leads me to the conclusion that life is common in the universe. If right here in our own little solar system, life started twice. Well that means life is a natural phenomenon. It's happening everywhere. What we see on earth is not a cosmic fluke.
O'BRIEN: If that's true, where are the aliens hiding in our galaxy? Astronomer Jeff Marcy is hot on the trail. He is the world's leading planet hunter.
JEFF MARCY, ASTRONOMER: We are really searching for our own roots out there in the galaxy.
O'BRIEN: He and his team had found about half of the 300-plus planets we know of beyond our solar system. Right now technology only allows them to locate gas giants like Jupiter. But that will change next spring when NASA launches a space telescope designed to find other earths.
MARCY: You know, you think about our Milky Way galaxy and look at the night sky. Our galaxy contains 200 billion stars. There are, in fact, hundreds of billions of galaxies within our entire universe. So if each of the stars within our galaxy has say one earth, that means there are hundreds of billions of earth just within our galaxy alone.
O'BRIEN: But here's the rub. Our galaxy is 100,000 light years from stem to star. Let's say we found another cushy birth for life halfway across. It would take 50,000 years to send the alien civilization a signal. Another 50,000 for a response.
MARCY: You wouldn't be able to tell a joke and have the punch line be given at the right timing.
O'BRIEN: So for now, the scientific hunt for aliens is focused at the pond scum level in our celestial neighborhood. But it is a start. Perhaps we should send another robot to the site of Steve Gorevan's worm. And take another look.
GOREVAN: We got to have a lot more than just one little image from a hole that we dug a couple of years ago. But having said that, it could be it. I will admit that I often say what the hell is that thing? Wow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Wow indeed. The scientists on the Mars rover team believe the rotini worm is likely just an odd pattern created by the drill bit. But Steve Gorevan says he has never seen a pattern like that before or after that hole was drilled either on Mars or in testing of a drill -- drilled a lot of holes right here on earth.
So maybe, we should go back and take another look. What do you think?
CHETRY: It does look like a worm. We were talking as your piece was running we well, too bad they didn't have a different piece of equipment they could have snatched that thing up and brought it back.
O'BRIEN: I know.
CHETRY: To find out for sure.
O'BRIEN: Well they would like to have a sample return mission one day. And maybe that would be exactly the perfect thing. So maybe they will go back there and see what it is.
CHETRY: In the meantime, what do you think?
O'BRIEN: Well I don't know. I mean, I think it will be a terrible waste of space if the universe was vacant except for us. Wouldn't it? I think it stands to reason out there.
CHETRY: It's probably probable. O'BRIEN: Yes. It stands to reason that there are life forms out there. We just -- it's just hard to communicate and see them.
CHETRY: It's endlessly fascinating. That's what we know for sure. So thank you so much for this series. We really enjoyed it. I'm sure you guys did out there, too. And for those of you who missed any of it you can watch the whole thing on cnn.com/am. Thanks Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you.
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BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: She sounded like she's Annie Oakley.
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CHETRY: That was then.
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OBAMA: She has supposedly all this vast foreign policy experience.
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CHETRY: This is now.
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OBAMA: I am proud that she will be our next secretary of state.
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CHETRY: From talking trash to a team of rivals. Jeanne Moos breaks down the history of the most unusual alliance.
You are watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: 53 minutes past the hour. Jacqui Jeras, we are hearing about snow in the midwest and the northwest.
Hey wait, that's where we are.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not New York though but your weather problem is what you don't see, Joe. And that's the strong winds. Still out there at this time. There you can see the snow showers and most of this is just a result of that cold air blowing over the warmer lakes. That we are going to see some hefty snow bands south of Buffalo again. Another three to five inches on top of what you already have. Those winds, you know, stiff at this time.
We are talking in the teens in terms of your sustained winds for miles. We are going to get some gusts, 20, maybe 30 miles an hour. And that's going to cause some problems at the airports. So the later in the day that we get, the worse off you are going to be. In the west, your problems are going to be the low clouds and fog. San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles. The New York metros also expecting to see some travel delays from Dallas all the way up to Chicago because of these windy conditions here.
Most of the snow overall today is going to stay relatively light. OK. Hopefully it took one hot minute last night to take a quick look at a beautiful celestial display. It was a triangle of the planets and the moon last night. Our i-Reporter Michael Black from (INAUDIBLE) Township, New Jersey took the pictures. That is Venus and Jupiter and the Moon. Look at that perfect triangle. Isn't that cool, guys? If you didn't get to see it last night, it is not going to be nearly as perfect tonight as they start to spread apart a little bit. Over the next couple of days.
You have to love that music. Thank you, Michelle. Age of Aquarius. Age of Aquarius.
CHETRY: We just -- hold hands. Kumbaya. I got to tell you, we saw that, our producer Janelle and myself, we all saw that last night. That crescent moon. It was just beautiful. I thought about taking the i-report. I'm glad you got one.
JERAS: I'm glad as well. Thank you, Michael.
CHETRY: Come up and dance with us any time. OK, Jacqui.
JERAS: I will.
CHETRY: Take care. It's all fun and games. You can't fly back. You're stranded. Because of the snow.
JOHNS: I'll stick around.
CHETRY: Well Hillary Clinton's new job has implications that stretch far beyond the state department. Jeanne Moos tells us who is happy now.
It's 55 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, talk about change you can believe in, how about the relationship between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It has gone from some attitude in the primaries to gratitude.
And as Jeanne Moos shows us, it's not just the president-elect who is thankful for the nominee, madam secretary.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Everybody keeps calling them -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Team of rivals. MOOS: Yes, well their first rival was the microphone that kept overshadowing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am deeply honored.
MOOS: Shorter nominees.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the American people.
MOOS: But nothing could overshadow the that was then.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: So shame on you, Barack Obama.
MOOS: This is now angle.
CLINTON: Well, Mr. President-elect, I am proud to join you.
MOOS: That was then.
OBAMA: She's talking like she is Annie Oakley.
MOOS: This is now.
OBAMA: My dear friend Hillary Clinton.
MOOS: Then.
OBAMA: And she has supposedly all this vast foreign policy experience.
MOOS: Now.
OBAMA: I am proud that she will be our next secretary of state.
MOOS: No more elephant rides as a mere tourist. And all those naysayers from months back -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A dream ticket. I'm dreaming this. Are you kidding? If I ever had a dream of this, like this, I'd run to the psychiatrist, I think quick, something has to be done because I'm hallucinating.
MOOS: Well, hallucinate this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can call me madam secretary.
MOOS: Wait a minute, that's an impostor. Drinking wine. And filling her feet in the tub. Praying for god to please make Barack go away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's too young. Barely out of juice boxes.
MOOS: Hillary impersonators are the beneficiaries of Mrs. Clinton becoming secretary of state.
It means another few years of potential gigs for Rosemary Watson, a struggling San Diego performer who discovered Hillary's voice.
ROSEMARY WATSON, IMPERSONATOR: I had no idea she was living in me.
MOOS: And then what happened?
WATSON: The flood gates open.
CLINTON: The sky will open.
MOOS: Just like the real Hillary, Rosemary will have to change her tune about Barack Obama.
WATSON: Barack I'm coming for you.
MOOS: Impersonators like Rosemary will have to learn a strange new language.
Diplomatee.
WATSON: I have no idea where that came from.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: That's just --
CHETRY: Uncanny impersonation. Her voice.
JOHNS: You close your eyes. And it sounds just like her.
CHETRY: Exactly.
JOHNS: Juice boxes.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Yes, right. I feel like -- there is still an opportunity to get rich by inventing a juice box that a child can hold and then it doesn't squirt out of their laps.
JOHNS: Unbelievable.
Thanks so much for joining us in this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back tomorrow. Actually, I won't be here.
CHETRY: John Roberts is back. It was great having you, Joe.
JOHNS: Thanks.
CHETRY: You're welcome any time.
JOHNS: It was a real pleasure.
CHETRY: You, too. Well, right now, here's "CNN NEWSROOM" with T.J. Holmes.
