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Explosives Found in Paris Store; Secret Service Faced With Daunting Security Task on Inauguration Day; Caroline Kennedy Seeks Senate Seat
Aired December 16, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It's 7:00 on the nose here in New York -- a look at the top stories this morning. President-elect Barack Obama is meeting with his economic team today. And they'll likely discuss an economic stimulus package. Obama is also holding a news conference. It will take place at 11:45 Eastern time this morning, expected to announce Arne Duncan as his nominee to head the Department of Education. Duncan has run Chicago's public school system, the nation's third largest school district for the past seven years.
The journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush has been turned over to the prime minister security guards for further investigation. That's according to an Iraqi government official. Thousands in Iraq protested against the man's arrest. He could face charges of insulting a foreign leader and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who was standing next to Mr. Bush at the time.
Breaking news out of Paris this morning where police say they found and diffused five sticks of dynamite in Printemps. That's a major department store in central Paris.
Police immediately evacuated the building. International security correspondent Paula Newton has the very latest for us this morning.
Paula, what else are you hearing about who may be behind this planting of dynamite.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now they're saying it's a group formally unknown, the Afghan Revolutionary Front. Very interesting, Kiran. They sent a letter, a warning by mail to a French press agency that opened it this morning as a matter of course and alerted the police. Very interesting here and a point to made.
The interior minister in France, Michele Alliot-Marie, saying that from what she knows right now, the devices were not designed to actually detonate and they say they continue to figure out who is behind this kind of a hoax attack. That is very good news if indeed the interior minister is right. And so far those are the indications we get from police.
Right now, they continue to scour the building. They believe that the explosives that were found were in toilets on the first, second and third floors. But they continue to look for more evidence in the building. Kiran, very controversial right now is France's presence in Afghanistan. Certainly any Taliban elements will be looking to intimidate the French, heightening anxiety in this pre-Christmas shopping time to make their case known. They want the French and other NATO troops out of Afghanistan.
CHETRY: And the group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front. The scary part, the fact they're in the country, clearly. You know, they were able to do this and hit a soft target like this or at least attempt to by planting these sticks of dynamite. What else do we know about this group?
NEWTON: Certainly, there are hundreds of sympathizers and France and certainly the French intelligence services have been keeping track of them. I have to say that in terms of this, it does take it down a notch if they were not diffused. But this is an important warning, Kiran, that at any point in time we have so many vulnerable spaces in so many of our cities.
Europe has been the more likely target of an attack especially from elements in Afghanistan. And as they say, they want the NATO troops out of Afghanistan and they think (ph) they can do to put that grain of doubt into the European population to say hey, you know, this is going to cost you. This is what the French authorities are afraid of. And right now, a lot of sense of anxiety in central Paris wondering are we going to get more of these attacks throughout the day or the coming weeks.
CHETRY: All right. We'll be following this throughout the morning with our international security correspondent, Paula Newton. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Well, after years of avoiding the limelight, Caroline Kennedy is saying that she is clearly interested in filling Hillary Clinton's empty Senate seat. Kennedy expressed that to New York Senator Chuck Schumer, New York Governor David Paterson and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Some critics say that she has little relevant experience, but her cousin, Kerry Kennedy, spoke about that just a short time ago here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY KENNEDY, DAUGHTER OF SEN. ROBERT F. KENNEDY: This is an incredibly important moment in our history, and for all the issues that are important to Caroline, number one, she's raised $70 million -- Over $70 million for New York public schools. There are very few women in the Senate and very few mothers, and we really need someone with that experience. And I think Caroline will be great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Mary Snow following this developing story for us this morning. She's here now with the very latest. And certainly, it would appear that Caroline Kennedy is pushing very hard for this.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she certainly is, John. You know, Caroline Kennedy has been reaching out to power brokers in New York. She has a record of public service but has never held public office. And now, she needs to make her case that she trumps the list of other contenders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Caroline Kennedy is ready to step into the public eye that she's worked to avoid for most of her life. The 51-year-old daughter of the late president, John F. Kennedy, told Democratic officials she's interested in filling the Senate seat now held by Senator Hillary Clinton, assuming her nomination as secretary of state is confirmed. New York Governor David Paterson has the power to appoint a replacement and says he's spoken with Kennedy.
GOV. DAVID PATERSON (D), NEW YORK: She told me she was interested in the position. She realized that it was not a campaign, but she was talking to other people because she thought that a number of people she felt should know that she's interested in the position.
SNOW: Kennedy has largely stayed out of the public eye until this year when she endorsed Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries and even campaigned for him.
CAROLINE KENNEDY, OBAMA SUPPORTER: I have never had a candidate who inspires me the way people tell me my father inspired them. But I do now.
SNOW: Kennedy is an attorney, author and mother of three. She oversees her father's presidential library. And in New York, she's worked to raise money for private partnerships for New York City public schools. The school's chancellor, Joel Klein, supports her. And so does New York Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, who endorsed Kennedy crediting her skills and intellect. But some Democrats in New York have questioned her qualifications, and New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer was asked whether he thought she was qualified.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: I think there are 12 candidates whose names have been mentioned. I think every one of them is qualified.
SNOW: One of the candidates whose name has been thrown out, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who was once married to Kennedy's cousin, Kerry. One Democratic strategist says one thing is certain, this will be a hotly contested seat.
HANK SHEINKOPF, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: What you do know is Caroline Kennedy has no public profile, has never served in a legislative office. Frankly, nobody knows much about her. And the Kennedy name? Well, this is not 1960 anymore. This is 2008.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And in 2010, whoever replaces Senator Clinton will face a special election. New York Republican Congressman Peter King is interested, and he wasted no time taking a jab at his possible challenger saying he's more determined than ever to run and says, in his words, no one has a hereditary right to a Senate seat -- John.
ROBERTS: Mary, thanks very much for that. Good report this morning.
CHETRY: Well, today's announcement from the Federal Reserve is one of the most highly anticipated in recent memory. The fed has been meeting since yesterday to discuss slashing a key interest rate, perhaps to an all time low, in a desperate bid to try to stem the country's economic slide.
Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning. And you and I were talking in the break...
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHETRY: ... as close as we may come that this happens to zero interest rate?
ROMANS: Can you imagine how close we are to zero interest rates? I mean the fed has been lowering interest rates with this massive rate cuts for more than a year now. More than four percentage points, four and a quarter percentage points of interest rate cuts. That technically is supposed to help the economy but it hasn't. Even if the fed has been cutting interest rates, the economy has been worsening.
So what will they do today? Well, rate cuts are the traditional way the fed stimulates the economy. What we're really be looking for is what they say about so-called quantitative easing. What in the world is that?
Well, that's fed speak for what other things are they doing to try to really goose the economy. And one of the things a lot of experts are predicting is that they're going to be talking about buying up treasury assets, buying up assets to drive down your home loan rate.
Policymakers have been signaling that they want to push those rates down. We're hearing people talk about 4.5 percent on a mortgage rate. Maybe next year is what they're really trying to target into thinking that would help really -- I mean, when you look at Jennifer Westhoven, my colleague, we're just looking at the calculators online, you can even -- you can even use a calculator for a 4.5 percent mortgage rate really to figure out the monthly payment. That's how low that is.
So we'll talk about that a little bit. So here's what the fed has already done. So many extraordinary measures to try to calm the economy.
They have cut interest rates already. They have injected funds into the system, trillions of dollars. They bought up short term debt. They bailed out financial firms. They've actually restored the commercial paper market. That's the loans that companies get for their daily operations.
Why do the cut matter? Well, a fed decision makes money cheaper to borrow. This is an imperfect world, right? It makes money cheaper to borrow. Businesses can expand and hire more. People can save on those lower rates and the consumers are able to spend more. But it hasn't been working.
Those massive rate cuts have not been stimulating the economy, so it's the other things that we want to hear what the fed is going to do. The fed fund target stands right now, Kiran, at one percent. That is the level we're expecting, when I talked to all these economists, they're expecting maybe half a percentage point decline. So it would be 0.5 percent will be the fed fund target. Something we have seen. I mean, it's as close to zero. Essentially making it free to borrow money is what they're talking about.
CHETRY: And so what is the, I guess, what's the fly in the ointment still when you talk about all the massive things that the fed has done. Are banks still not lending?
ROMANS: The banks are still not lending the way they want to. We know that what the fed has done with the commercial paper market has worked. The fly in the ointment really for a lot of people is when you look out beyond this. How we're paying for all this?
The fed is printing money to do this. That in the end can be hard on the American dollar and it can make our treasury less valuable to foreign investors. So it's the long term things. Getting us out of the short term, what kind of problem is that going to be in the longer term? That's what some economists are worrying about. But you got to put out this fire here first.
CHETRY: All right. Christine Romans, thanks.
ROBERTS: Breaking news to tell you about this morning, explosives found in a Paris department store. We are following that developing story for you. We'll have the latest on it coming just up.
It's nine minutes after the hour.
Protecting the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. RICHARD J. HOWE JR., (UNREADABLE) FORCE HEADQUARTERS, NATIONAL (UNREADABLE): We've had 91 exercises as of last Friday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Unprecedented security for Obama. Inside the plan to keep millions of Americans and the man they've come to see safe at the biggest inauguration in history.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most Politics in the Morning." Even with the economy in recession, contributions are rolling in to pay for Barack Obama's inauguration. The biggest bucks coming from Hollywood. Already giving the maximum 50,000, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx and Sharon Stone. President-elect Obama is following the tracks of past presidents including Abraham Lincoln when he heads to the inauguration. He's going to be traveling by train starting in Philadelphia with stops in Wilmington, Delaware where he'll pick up Vice President-elect Joe Biden in Baltimore. But the biggest operation for inauguration day clearly security.
The Secret Service faced with the daunting task, millions of people, a swearing in ceremony out in the open and protecting a history-making president and first family. Jim Acosta is taking an in-depth look. He joins us now from Washington.
Are they expecting more people to gather than ever in the history of, you know, Washington, D.C.?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran, there is no doubt about it. And the Secret Service has the lead on protecting the president but military officials also involved, and security planning are expecting a record turnout. Higher than the 1.2 million who attended LBJ's swearing in back in 1965. So safety would be a historic challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Barack Obama should have an easy time getting to the inauguration with plans to travel by railroad as he did during the campaign through Pennsylvania. But the incoming president will arrive in a nation's capital that's become a fortress in recent years, a fortress that will scratched by an avalanche of people.
MAJ. GEN. RICHARD J. HOWE JR., (UNREADABLE) FORCE HEADQUARTERS, NATIONAL (UNREADABLE): I think we will have the best attended inauguration in the history of our great country.
ACOSTA: The man in charge of the military task force responsible for protecting the nation's capital says the Secret Service along with a slew of federal and local agencies are preparing for the unexpected.
How is the communication between the different agencies?
HOWE: Great question. We've had 91 exercises as of last Friday.
ACOSTA: Going through different scenarios?
HOWE: Different scenarios, different possibilities, getting people safely to the events and helping get them safely back home.
ACOSTA: Just how to evacuate what's expected to be a jam-packed national mall in an emergency is one such scenario. The city is planning widespread road closures. The district's metro system will be overwhelmed.
STEVEN TAUBENKIBEL, D.C. METRO SPOKESPERSON: We've never seen anything like this at all in this region for us.
ACOSTA: Transit police are weighing whether to conduct random checks of backpacks and subway escalators could be shut down if too many people are crowing in the stations.
(on camera): So if there are too many people, you have to turn these off?
TAUBENKIBEL: Yes. We said that. We will do that.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Then there's the matter of protecting the new president. Former Secret Service agent, Reginald Bald, says Mr. Obama may want to avoid any long walks down the parade route.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure the Secret Service has done a really good job on briefing him about threats and what precautions that they need to take to protect him. He wants to be out in the open, but he also understands what's at stake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: The Secret Service is now dismissing early estimates of four million people at the inaugural. It maybe more like 1.5. Still, inauguration watchers may want to wear their best walking shoes. People from D.C. and nearby parts of northern Virginia -- yes, parts of northern Virginia are being urged to travel on foot -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. I mean, you know, they do extraordinary things when they know it's going to be crowded. Fourth of July, for example, on the mall gets really crowded. I remember as a kid they used to just -- you were able to bypass buying the fare cards and sort of just throw money into like this big bin and move on through to get it to go faster. I mean, if everybody has to stop and buy a fare card you just can't imagine what the metro system is going to be like there.
ACOSTA: Yes. They're saying at 5:00 a.m. before the inauguration, people will not be able to get into metro stations. That's how bad it's going to be. And if you try to drive into the district, officials are saying you ought to have your head examine. That is why you're seeing Barack Obama and Joe Biden do this whistle stop tour across the northeast. They're hoping that people will gather in those cities instead of coming here, Kiran.
CHETRY: Good luck. We'll see how it goes.
ACOSTA: Yes, exactly.
CHETRY: Jim, thanks.
ACOSTA: You bet.
ROBERTS: Well, the first day of winter isn't here just yet but all across the country it certainly feels like winter. A look at the severe winter just ahead from our Rob Marciano.
And few things are scarier than losing your job. But if it happens to you, what should you do immediately? Gerri Willis has some answers in her special series "Layoff a survival guide." We'll have those for you coming up.
Seventeen and a half minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour. Time for Tuesday's "Political Ticker."
In a new interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney says the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba should stay open as long as the so-called war on terror is being fought. Cheney also said that he helped authorize interrogation tactics used against the detained al- Qaeda operative, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, defending the use of waterboarding as an appropriate means of getting information.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin now says she is suspicious of a fire that almost completely destroyed her church over the weekend. Authorities are already investigating the blaze as a possible case of arson. Palin told FOX News it was pretty obvious the fire was suspicious because there were so many things taking place at the church that evening.
Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin tops this year's quote list in "The Yale Book of Quotations." "I can see Russia from my house" is number one. Palin herself came in at number two for her answer to Katie Couric about the newspapers that she reads. We'll remind you of that quote. "All of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years."
And don't forget that you can get all the updates from our political ticker any time day or night. Even if you're away from your television, just go to CNN.com/ticker.
CHETRY: Well, there are winter storm warnings all across the country from New Jersey to Nevada. An arctic blast first made its way across the west and the plain states and is now setting its sights on the south and the northeast. Highway bridges are closed as far south as Texas because of icy conditions.
Our Rob Marciano is watching things for us this morning. So get ready to be cold no matter where you live.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That warm air is starting to be squeezed out on the East Coast. It's been very mild there. Another mild day this morning, but everywhere else you see on this map is just a big old mess. A lot of colors, a lot of arrows. That's never a good thing when we're talking weather.
All right. Let's zoom to the East Coast. Here you go.
Forty-five, New York; 42 degrees in New York; 31 in Albany; 19 Buffalo; six in Chicago. Obviously this is all moving a little bit farther to the east.
So we've got wintry advisories up for some of these spots. A quick check on some of the action that's going on from Boston back to all the way to Kansas City. So a large moisture plume out of this. And the northeast does not need it. They're still cleaning up from the power outages from the ice storm that happened last week.
And a quick check on -- all right, just outside of Boston, northwest of Boston, still over 70,000 people without power. You can imagine the task at hand trying to clear the roadways from all the debris and obviously the power lines to get things rewired.
All right. Let's go to the Ohio River Valley. A live shot from Cincinnati where they got temperatures in the lower 20s. WLWT, thanks for that shot.
You will see a little bit of light snow throughout the day today and maybe turning into some sleet later on tonight and tomorrow. Here are some of the advisories that Kiran mentioned.
Generally speaking, two to four inches mostly north of the I-95 corridor. So away from larger cities but in spots it will be very slick especially if you get a little bit of a coating of some sleet.
And across the Tennessee/Ohio River Valley looking at the potential for more on the way of some ice today. And we've seen some problems the last few hours.
Forty-three in Vegas, they had some snow yesterday. As a matter of fact, the road from L.A. to Vegas was closed over the mountains because of heavy snow there. Eight in Minneapolis, 25 in Chicago, 42 degrees temporarily in New York City.
Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Wow, what a mess everywhere pretty much. Go Miami, 80 degrees and sunny as always.
MARCIANO: Yes.
CHETRY: Hey, Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: OK.
CHETRY: Well, right now, Caroline Kennedy is making a run for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. But she's not the only one with a famous last name seeking the job. So when it comes to getting elected, what role does your name play?
ROBERTS: "Memo to the President."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Obama administration is going to confront a dysfunctional, angry, conflict-ridden Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Bringing peace to the Middle East. Why some say now it could be easier than ever.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most Politics in the Morning." Right now, Caroline Kennedy is going for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat throwing her hat in the ring. Kennedy is the daughter of the late president, John F. Kennedy. But just because she has a famous family last name is she really up to the job?
Joining me now is John Avlon. He's a columnist for thedailybeast.com. He's also the author of "Independent Nation."
Thanks for being with us this morning.
JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR, "INDEPENDENT NATION": Good to be with you.
CHETRY: So, you know, she does have a distinguished track record of caring about public education, caring about issues, women's issues, raising millions of dollars and she's from New York.
AVLON: Sure.
CHETRY: There are some who say, wait a minute. Why do we seem to have this dynasty that takes place in American politics whether it's the Clintons or the Kennedys?
AVLON: Yes. And there's something very unAmerican about the idea of a political aristocracy. But what's interesting to me is the arguments being used against her that she's coasting on her family name, that she's got a career in public service but not public office are the same arguments that were used against Hillary Clinton in 2000. And she turned out to be a pretty strong senator.
CHETRY: Yes. And, you know, very popular and now people are saying there's big shoes to fill if you're going to take Hillary Clinton's role.
AVLON: Sure.
CHETRY: So this is interesting. Also the dynamic which is that Caroline Kennedy came out in the primaries supporting Barack Obama and said this is the first time I've ever felt compelled to, you know, throw my weight behind somebody. Now she wants to get the seat of the person who she wasn't supporting. So how -- you know, what's the entanglement there?
(CROSSTALK)
AVLON: Yes. This starts to look like the "War of the Roses." I mean, sort of warring families. And it does sort of show how our politics become to be dominated by a couple of big families and how Barack Obama really coming from nowhere, being a part of the American story in that respect, breaks through that tradition.
But you know, we're looking at the scandals of Blagojevich and why not David Paterson, the constituency of one gets to select who fills the Senate seat. Sometimes we lose a sense of perspective so here's something to keep in mind.
When John F. Kennedy was elected president, the man who selected to fill his Senate seat was Kennedy's college roommate who held it for two years until his brother, Teddy, turned 30 and could run for the seat in his own right. So a little bit of political perspective.
CHETRY: Right.
AVLON: This may all seem wizzly (ph) now, but it hasn't been exactly, Kiran, in the past.
CHETRY: You know, unfortunately, it is the amount of money, the sheer amount of money that you have to raise. I mean, another thing in support of Caroline Kennedy is look, she's able to raise the $70 million it may cost to try to run for reelection in 2010 even if she is appointed and again in 2012.
AVLON: Sure. Sure.
CHETRY: You need so much money these days. What happened to just being able to accomplish something, having a vision? How did the independent voter feel about the fact that you have to either know somebody or have a ton of money to get in politics?
AVLON: That's something that's disgusted independents and most Americans about politics for a long time.
Senators spend far too much time raising money to get reelected rather than focusing on the big issues that the founding fathers want them to focus on. A guy like Pat Moynihan was much more in that mold. But David Paterson understands that when he runs for election in 2010, he would be benefited by having a big ticket, big item name like Caroline Kennedy help raise some money and bring some profile to that seat. But it's a constituency of one he gets to pick.
CHETRY: At least for now until the election, right, in 2010.
AVLON: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, great to talk to you, John. Thanks.
AVLON: Great to talk to you.
ROBERTS: It is now about 30 1/2 minutes after the hour. We got breaking news out of Paris this morning. Police say they found and diffused five sticks of dynamite in Printemps, a major department store in central Paris. It's about half a mile north of the Louvre. French News agency AFP said it received a note that there was a bomb in the store and immediately told police and the building was evacuated. The explosives were found about two hours ago.
He is still hanging on. The pressure intensifies for disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to resign today. But his attorney says the governor has no plans to leave because he's done nothing wrong. State lawmakers are taking steps to start the impeachment process. And it maybe Wall Street's biggest scam ever. Yesterday, a federal judge issued an order that could allow investors to recoup some of their losses from a $50 billion, yes that's billion dollar swindle. The scheme was allegedly run by broker Bernard Madoff.
When the new administration takes over next month, the president will face the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. But in our series "Memo to the President, CNN's state department correspondent Zain Verjee reports a surprising development.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mr. President, the Middle East might seem to be a land of diplomatic opportunity, but it's filled with mine fields and traps.
The Obama administration is going to confront a dysfunctional angry conflict ridden Middle East in which there are huge problems without easy or quick solution.
VERJEE: From withdrawing troops from Iraq to solving the Arab-Israeli conflict to curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions, you've inherited a host of burning issues all fueling each other.
We do need a strategy that looks at the region as a whole. But you're not going to be able to cookie cut this strategy into one conceptual piece conveniently labeled by some slogan.
VERJEE: Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which started last year in Annapolis have not produced a deal. Israelis are about to elect a new prime minister who could retreat. And Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is still locked in a standoff with the militant group Hamas. Still Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says you have a foundation to build on.
CONDOLEEZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Many of the pieces are in place. Obviously, the political circumstances in the region and in the countries have made it difficult, but I don't think that there is any doubt that there is so much further along, really, than it's ever been.
VERJEE: Talks between Israel and Syria show promise. A deal could free Lebanon from the hold of Hezbollah, a group on the state department's list of terrorist organizations, and weaken Iran's influence in the region. Experts say the U.S. can have a positive impact by shifting from crisis management to crisis resolution.
EDWARD DJEREJIAN, DIRECTOR, BAKER INSTITUTE, RICE UNIVERSITY: Not just putting out fires that erupt all the time in the Middle East but really making an effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the Israeli-Syrian peace treaty, the Israeli-Lebanese peace treaty.
VERJEE: Mr. President, a former U.S. mid East negotiator offers you this piece of advice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be smart, be tough, be fair but above all be careful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: A month before she passes the file to the Obama team, Rice is calling U.S. peace efforts in the Middle East the best chance yet. John. Kiran.
ROBERTS: Zain Verjee reporting this morning. Zain, thanks so much for that. Tomorrow in our ongoing series "Memo to the President," see why young veterans are getting hit even harder by the bad economy and what President-elect Obama may need to do about it. And we want to hear from you. Send us your "Memo to the President," go to cnn.com/am and click on the i-report link. Give the president-elect your ideas or maybe even just simply a piece of your mind.
CHETRY: Well we know that colonoscopies - people don't always like to talk about them but they are certainly an important tool in detecting cancer. Well there's new concern though about a potential blind spot in the test. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" with more details.
And "Time" magazine releasing the end of the year best, including best awkward moments, best video, best viral video. Did that little impromptu jig by the president makes the cut? We're going to find out after the break. It's 34 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to "the most news in the morning." If the year is coming to a close well that can only mean one thing that it's time for the best of lists. They are going to start pouring out every year. "Time" magazine puts out its definitive list and the editor at large Belinda Luscombe is here now with a preview. Good morning to you.
BELINDA LUSCOMBE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
ROBERTS: We've got five that we're going to talk about here. The first one is best viral video. And this one I love because I watched this. I love this guy so much we got to get him on TV.
LUSCOMBE: Yes. He's a great guy. Matt (INAUDIBLE). He does this little dance all around the world. and it's kind of addictive. He does little hand moments and then he goes to lots of different countries. In the video, he goes to 42 countries. There's a fantastic kind of sound track that runs over the top and he goes - he dances in the DMZ in Korea. He dances with some Humu tribesman. These places you've never heard of that he's gone to dance. And then he gets a whole bunch of other people to dance with him. So sometimes it's kids and sometimes he's just in a field of flowers.
ROBERTS: Great to have him in and talk about it in terms of the music. Apparently it was some type of Bengali prayer that he got a young woman from Minneapolis to sing for him and put to a soundtrack.
LUSCOMBE: It's kind of a viral song so it fits.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's really infectious too.
LUSCOMBE: It actually really makes you want to travel. I don't know why. No travel agencies picked it up. Oh, I really want to go to Timbuktu now.
ROBERTS: And I'll tell you, just the happiness that comes out this video is infectious as well. What about the best awkward moment? We got two awards here that involved dancing.
LUSCOMBE: Right. This wasn't awkward. You know, I mean, maybe it happened to you. You cut to somebody and they are not there yet. Well President Bush was endorsing McCain and that's not the happiest of marriages because McCain has campaigning on running away from Bush. And so he turns up to endorse McCain and you know drum roll please. Here I endorse McCain but he's not there. So Bush has to stretch, you know, and he decides a little dance might work. A little soft shoe. The reporters are waiting. Where is McCain?
ROBERTS: So why did you see that as being an awkward moment as opposed to just a little comical moment as the president was trying to make.
LUSCOMBE: I think it's awkward because you're throwing your support to some guy and he's not there to receive it. Then I'm the president I have to dance.
ROBERTS: I guess there was a similar experience that John McCain had too, when he said Joe the plumber, stand up. Oh, he's not here?
LUSCOMBE: Joe the plumber. He's on our list as well. Fleeting celebrity.
ROBERTS: Best scientific discover, according to "Time" magazine. The large hydron collider.
LUSCOMEB: The large hydron collider. Now this one is kind of risky. What it does is it spins particles around super, super fast at 17 miles long. And that they are trying to do is recreate the conditions that took place straight after the big bang. Now the good thing is -
ROBERTS: Which many scientists hold was the creation theory.
LUSCOMBE: Right. And the good thing is you can see how the world was maybe made. And the bad thing about that is it's possible that you could create a black hole and suck up much of Europe and possibly the rest of the world into it. So as it turns out they did not create a black hole nor did the collider work that well. They have to do repairs now.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, they still have plenty of opportunity to try to create this black hole. What about the best medical break through, the first manmade neurons.
LUSCOMBE: This is actually exciting. What they did is they took the skin cells of Lou Gehrig's disease victims, of sufferers and the made them think it was stem cells. So the stem cells then turned into neurons and then they watched them decay and figure out what would be the causes of Lou Gehrig's disease. Also known as ALS which of course, could be an enormous breakthrough. But if you can make stem cells from other sorts of cells then you're avoiding all sorts of political problems which is also very exciting.
ROBERTS: Yes. Absolutely. As opposed to using embryonic stem cells which is very controversial, using you know -
LUSCOMBE: Right. That's the big one.
ROBERTS: Stem cells from an adult which is called the somatic cell which is an adult cell.
LUSCOMBE: Look at you, with the science knowledge.
ROBERTS: Learned this stuff a long time ago. Still fascinated by it.
Our best underreported story. We can tell you what it is because it was underreported. The best underreported story was that nuclear snafu where the Pentagon accidentally stuck a bunch of cruise missile -
LUSCOMBE: That actually happened in 2007. In 2008 what the Pentagon did was they thought they were shipping a bunch of batteries to Taiwan -
ROBERTS: Oh, the Taiwanese one.
LUSCOMBE: And then it turns out they were nuclear fuses. Which you know, just nothing that big, just to set off bombs, really. The sort of technology you want to export. And then you ship them to Taiwan, you know, the Chinese probably had a lot of things to say about that. Took a dim view, I think we can say of that particular -
ROBERTS: So overall in 2008 compared to 2007, what were your choices like? Were they richer? Were they not as rich?
LUSCOMBE: What you find, I think, every year when you look at lists as a way of summing up the year, is that we do not learn from our mistakes. We continue to -
ROBERTS: Hence the 2007, 2008 nuclear snafu.
LUSCOMBE: Exactly. Yes, you know there's always plenty of fantastic human fallibility and human genius to report on the year's list. It's always a really interesting thing.
ROBERTS: Well, it's good to have you here this morning to talk about it. Belinda Luscombe from "Time" magazine, thanks for coming in.
LUSCOMBE: Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: Good to see you. Kiran.
CHETRY: We're going to talk to a guy who quit his day job, now makes six figures basically sitting around in his boxer shorts, something like that. Well, he has the video to prove it. He tells us how he does it.
Also the V.P.'s new puppy. Why Joe Biden picked a German Shepherd to take to Washington. And what breed America overwhelmingly selected as the perfect dog for the Obamas. It's 43 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up at 45 minutes after the hour. The top videos right now on cnn.com, most popular protests against Australia's prime minister calling his announcement to cut carbon emission levels by five percent by 2020, not nearly enough. Environmental groups called for a minimum of 25 percent reduction.
Also a model from Argentina raising some eyebrows with the pose on the cover of a Mexican "Playboy" magazine. The cover was released to coincide with the Virgin of Guadalupe festival. Religious groups are seething about it. "Playboy" says the image is supposed to portray a Renaissance-like mood and not the Virgin Mary. The magazine is now apologizing for that.
And which would you rather have? Internet access or sex? Well, depends I guess what gender you are. New survey says 46 percent of women would give up sex for two weeks if they could just logon. Only 30 percent of men agree with that. That's what's most popular on cnn.com.
CHETRY: Why are we showing somebody getting a back rub, by the way? What does that have to do with either one?
ROBERTS: Just one of those incongruities they throw out there to make people think.
CHETRY: All right. There is -
ROBERTS: We could have shown horse racing.
CHETRY: You know exactly. All right. Well some big news this morning about battling cancer. This time it's about the important detection tool that maybe not everybody wants to talk about but is vital, a colonoscopy. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta," CNN's chief medical correspondent in Atlanta with the story. Hey there, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kiran. Yes, we are talking about colonoscopy, specifically which remain the gold standard for detecting colon cancer. It's going to be (inaudible) at the end of the segment too. But you know in the spirit of everything trying to be even better than it is, people are trying to figure out are there some qualities of colonoscopies that might be able to get better.
Overall colonoscopies reduce colon cancer death by about 90 percent. But new studies show it may depend where in the colon the cancer is specifically located. Take a look at this animation, specifically here. Zoom in overall to the intestines. And get rid of the small polyps. Just look at the colon overall, you have the ascending and the descending part. This is call the left side of the colon, the right side of the color. Take a look at the types of polyps that are located on the left side. They're kind of mushroom shape. Easier to find. On the right side of the colon, much flatter and a little bit more difficult to detect. So that maybe one reason why left-sided colon cancers are much easier to find. Also, when you're doing a colonoscopy, you get to the left side of the colon, faster than to get to the right side of colon as well, which is easier to find those types of cancers. Again, it remains the gold standard test but left- sided colon cancers overall going to be a little bit easier to find. Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow, interesting. There's also some bad news about the rates of colon cancer among minorities, right?
GUPTA: Hey, you know, what's interesting, we crunched these numbers over the last day. Overall colon cancer deaths have gone down. But something started to emerge overall from that. If you look specifically at minority deaths from colon cancer they have actually gone up a little bit 45 percent higher chance of dying from colo- rectal cancer as compared to their white counterparts. And if you look at those numbers even a little bit more specifically compare, for example, 2005 to now, you had per 100,000, 63 white men versus 73 black men dying from colon cancer. Those numbers have actually gone up a little bit over he last three years.
So for some reason despite the fact that the technology has gotten better, access has gotten better, take a look at the numbers there, within certain groups the numbers have gone actually a little bit in the other direction. But again, having said all this as I said at the beginning, for now colonoscopy remains the gold standard in terms of trying to find these colon cancers and find them early.
CHETRY: Yes. Very treatable when found early and much more difficult if it has progressed. Sanjay, thank you.
Well explosives found in a Paris department store. We're following breaking news at 48 1/2 minutes after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): $50 billion investment scam. So, who got swindled. Steven Spielberg? The owner of the Mets and regular Americans, the little guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 100 percent of their liquid assets. They are now wiped out, penniless.
CHETRY: Duped and desperate and talking to AMERICAN MORNING. Plus, he quit his day job and now makes a six figure income in his boxers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: and then my favorite product really - OK. I'll do it.
CHETRY: Plus, dog deal.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENT ELECT: I'll make you a deal. He said take the vice presidency you get be elected get a dog.
CHETRY: Meet the V.P.'s prized puppy. You're watching "the most news in the morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 52 1/2 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to "the most news in the morning." It's a disturbing signs of the times, more Americans getting laid off. Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis has got some advice to help you survive a layoff in this special series. Today, she's got a checklist for surviving the day of the layoff. She joins us now. You've also been talking to people on the blog this morning during the break.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right. We're getting a lot of questions, particularly from people looking for jobs. Charlie from Tennessee writes, "I'm a college graduate. I've been looking for jobs for the last three months and have not been able to find one. I present my resume to many firms, calling them everyday, leaving them messages but nobody's returning calls. What should I do?"
Well, Charlie, I got to tell you, there are jobs out there going begging, jobs that cannot find enough folks to apply for them, even though this economy is generally contracting. Nurses, for example, we'll have demand for about half a million nurses between now and 2016. Home health aides. Again, another health care field. Teachers, auditors. Auditors, money people of any sort. If you're a bookkeeper, if you're an accountant, there are jobs out there, computer software engineers. There's a whole group of boomers who are retiring and leaving jobs, particularly technical, engineering jobs open. So if you have the right training and the right experience, you are in luck.
Christine from Florida writes, I was laid off in July. My unemployment benefits would run out in February. I heard the government may be extending benefits. Is this true?
Yes, it is. And you're particularly lucky because you live in one of those states with a really high jobless rate. Those benefits are particularly being expanded by another 20 weeks. Go to your states department of labor web site to find out details about jobless claims. But there are additional weeks out there for you.
Charles in Miami asks "I'm a license contractor in Florida. And I've been working on and off for the last six months. I've been sending my resume out to employers and I've been getting responses saying hey, you are overqualified. Would you suggest I downgrade my resume. I tough being honest is the best policy."
Well Charles, I want to say, they may see some of these gaps in your unemployment recently as a problem. And that may be something you may want to address. We were saying yesterday, and I think it's important to say again, you know you might want to volunteer to do some work. In your field, you might want to go to habitat for humanity, do some work for them. This fills out your resume. And believe me, anybody who is working for, you know, in a voluntary capacity can always get some kind of you know, recommendation from them, if you're trying to fill that out. But some folks do have too much experience for the jobs, you got to make sure you're writing a resume that response to that.
ROBERTS: What's your sense of that, if you have a labor pool out there, you want to have somebody who's got like the most experienced, if they're willing to work for the wages you're offering, why wouldn't you choose somebody who's got the most experience? Is that just sort of a nice way of them saying, like we really don't want you, you're overqualified?
WILLIS: Your overqualified or could be a veil for age discrimination. You just don't know. One thing that people should do if you're 50 and older, and one thing that you might want to think about, don't laundry list every job you've ever had since you know were 21 years old. You might want to leave some of those off of the resume, consider making your resume just a little shorter, you really want to keep it to a single page.
You know a lot of us have not been unemployed for a long time. You know most folks out there have been able to find jobs. It's a learned skill to write a good resume.
ROBERTS: Absolutely.
WILLIS: And folks need to be sure that you're selling yourself with that resume and not just listing your experience.
ROBERTS: Learn how to promote yourself, it's like a press release.
WILLIS: That's right.
ROBERTS: Thanks very much, Gerri. Good tips this morning.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
ROBERTS: Tomorrow, the third part of our series, what happens to your benefits when you're laid off. Gerri is going to be here to tell you how to protect yourself.
CHETRY: Well, as we speak, Russia is sending Washington a not so subtle warning, trespass in our backyard, and we'll trespass in yours. Angry over Washington's missile defense plans in European, Moscow now sending warships to Cuba. This is the first time it has been 90 miles from the coast of Florida since the collapse of the Soviet Union back in 1991. CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour joins me now with more on this. So what does this signify, that these Russian warships are docking in Havana?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, we should say they're going for scheduled exercises and not for military offensive. Sending warships sounds very inflammatory. There are many people who say that perhaps Russia is sending a signal about interest and spheres of interest. You know back in the summer after the Georgia-Russia incident where the U.S. was sending humanitarian aid to Georgia, they send NATO warships to the Black Sea and Russians apparently have been expecting hospital ships and the other. Anyway, they got very nervous.
But the point is though there are many officials, former secretaries of states say there is not going to be another Cold War between the United States and Russia. It should be understood that Russia has interests, that the United States has interests and that these should be worked together. Russia has concerns about what it calls its near broad expansion of NATO, the idea that they think the U.S. and the west is trying to grab hold of what used to be the former Soviet Republic but the point is to engage in a reasonable relationship with Russia based on mutual interest.
CHETRY: Will this be more of an irritant to the United States or the signal of maybe something more dangerous down the road? And what implications does that have for the incoming Obama administration?
AMANPOUR: Well you remember when President-elect Obama won the election November 4th, the very next day, the Russian President Meade made a very inflammatory speech. In fact, saying that they would install missiles potentially on the western border. This is all in response to the U.S. missile defense shield. The next few days, he spent walking that back because obviously it was totally out of tune with the tone of congratulations to Obama after his election. What they're saying is hey want to and they hope for a constructive relationship on the road ahead. But they are, of course, concerned about the missile defense shield and about the NATO expansion.
CHETRY: I'd like to get your thoughts on this because you've been to the region and know so much about the Arab world and the reaction to this Iraqi journalist who threw, who hurdled his shoes at President Bush. He's being hailed as a hero in many parts of the Arab world. Apparently there is a Facebook web site of text messages of support coming through. Why is that?
AMANPOUR: You know, I heard a lot of people, including in the United States, television anchors and the others sort of having a good old laugh about this. and I thought that this was kind of inappropriate. Because this is not just a shoe that's being thrown at the person of President Bush, it's a shoe that's being thrown at the presidency and at the American people.
And I think one has to be very very concerned about that. It shows obviously some of the lingering anti-Americanism and particularly the lingering sort of problems people around the world, including in the Arab world have had with President Bush over the last eight years. It shows that there is a lot of work to be done on the Arab street despite the fact that the U.S. has good relations with most of the Arab leadership.
Certainly, there has been a lot of hero worship in the aftermath of this journalist, who is under arrest, perhaps a lot of it is trying to get him released. I certainly read some reports where some of his colleagues straight after this account was saying this was not the appropriate way to behave despite the incredible reaction and feelings obviously about how many tens of thousands have been killed in Iraq since the war.
CHETRY: The other Iraqis who said you know one mark of us is hospitality toward our guests even if we don't agree with them and so there were some who were upset.
AMANPOUR: But of course, it does show the challenge ahead and President-elect Obama is going to have to do a huge amount to restore America's position in the world, quite apart from the shoe throwing incident, but there's obviously a lot of heavy lifting in foreign policy to be done over the next several years.
CHETRY: Christiane Amanpour, great to talk to you as always. Thanks for being with us this morning.
