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American Morning
Barack Obama on Capitol Hill to Make His Case on Bailout Money; Obama Prepares Executive Order to Close Guantanamo Bay; Hillary Clinton's Confirmation Hearing Set Today
Aired January 13, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): One week away. Barack Obama already acting presidential, asking Congress for the checkbook and $350 billion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There'll be many, many discussions.
CHETRY: Plus, writing history. Searching for an inaugural that will inspire.
ANDREI CHERNY, FORMER CLINTON-GORE SPEECHWRITER: They'll have schoolchildren reading this speech hundreds of years from now.
CHETRY: How to find the lasting words to usher in an era of change on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And good morning. Thanks for being with us on this Tuesday, January 13th. We're just a week away from inauguration day.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: No pressure on the president-elect either for the inauguration speech.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: It's something that people will be reading centuries from now in school. Better make it good!
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Wow. All that pressure on him. Could be Barack Obama's first order of business as president, listen to this one, closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Advisers say Obama is preparing to issue an executive order during his first week in office, perhaps on his first day. Officials say the order would begin the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 terror suspects being held there. Obama has called Gitmo a sad chapter in American history.
The president-elect heads back to Capitol Hill today for a meeting with Senate Democrats. He's making his case for how he wants to spend the remaining $350 billion from the financial industry bailout and to push his other economic stimulus package. President Bush made a formal request to Congress on Monday for the bailout money on Obama's behalf.
Confirmation hearings begin today for a number of Obama's cabinet nominees, most notably New York Senator Hillary Clinton as the next secretary of state. Clinton will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She is expected to face some tough questions specifically about her husband and his foundation, and fund-raising. But Mrs. Clinton is expected to be confirmed.
Israel tightening its grip on Gaza, launching attacks on Hamas targets by air, ground and sea. You're looking at live pictures right now and the smoke still rising over Gaza city. The troops moving into suburbs of Gaza city for the first time since that offensive began 18 days ago.
Meantime, the Israeli military says troops that are border crossing with Jordan came under fire today. United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon is headed for the Mideast for meetings aimed at bringing about a cease-fire.
CHETRY: Well, just one week now until Barack Obama's historic inauguration and we are counting it down, seven days, five hours and 58 minutes away. The economy, of course, will be President Obama's top priority. But new this morning, his first act as president could be shutting down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live for us. And, Suzanne, why is the president making this a priority right now? And what about the time line for making it happen?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kiran, this is one of those campaign promises along with ending the war in Iraq that got so much attention and really early on generated a lot of support for Barack Obama among those who really wanted to end the war. This is seen as some who have criticized the Bush administration as being a real stain on the administration, as well as the United States when it comes to its moral standing, that's what the critics are saying and obviously so Barack Obama is addressing this.
He talked about a lot in the campaign, and he's essentially going to, by executive order, actually pursue shutting this down. It's going to be a difficult thing. There are a lot of legal hurdles obviously that he has to get through but the first week, this is one of his priorities. This is something that he believes will signal a clear split with the Bush administration, a very dramatic move, a very dramatic change from President Bush.
President Bush just yesterday his last press conference, Kiran, I was there. He was asked about this and he was very defensive. You know, he said look, he does not agree that this is some sort of moral stain on the United States. He believes it's necessary. Barack Obama does not -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And Barack Obama has also said, though, that even though it may be the first order of business to at least move toward that, that Guantanamo Bay may not be shut down within the first 100 days of him taking office. MALVEAUX: It's very difficult when you think about what has to take place. You've got to take these detainees. You've got to put them somewhere else. There are already some leaders, some countries who have actually suggested that they'd be more willing under an Obama administration to take some of these folks as opposed to under President Bush, really a sense of goodwill. But the concern is, how do you move these folks back to their home countries or other places where they're not going to be tortured, where they're not going to be in harm's way? And that's really one of the things, it's a political thing, it's a legal thing. It's very much involved.
CHETRY: We also know that Obama is going to be on Capitol Hill today meeting with Senate Democrats. What are we expecting to come out of that meeting?
MALVEAUX: It's all about that, you know, it's all about that money. You know, the $350 billion that obviously they're going to be looking at releasing, for members of Congress to help out the economy, this financial mess that we're in. And he's trying to convince people as, you know, over the weekend. His top economic adviser, Larry Summers, was doing the same.
"Look, we're going to be responsible," that's the argument, the case that they're making about this money, this bailout money. We're going to be more transparent, more accountable. A lot of folks are very confused about where the last $350 billion went. So he's going to be talking about that, and it's also a chance to, you know, to say good-bye as the last time before he becomes president to his colleagues, you know, to his fellow senators.
CHETRY: Exactly. All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning, thanks.
All this week, by the way, we're looking at the top issues that Barack Obama will face as president. We're breaking them down with our experts. If you have a question that you want to ask, go to CNN.com/am and send it to us.
ROBERTS: Today's topic, by the way, education, very important.
It will be a role reversal for Senator Hillary Clinton on Capitol Hill this morning. She will not be asking the questions. She'll be answering them at her confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of state. Clinton will be grilled by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in just a few hours.
CNN's Jill Dougherty is following it all for us. She joins us live from Washington this morning.
How are things expected to go, Jill? Will this be a relatively easy confirmation for her?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, partially, John, because after all she is a senator and there is a certain, as they say, committee (ph) among senators. So they will probably be good to her on that sense but there is the question of Bill Clinton and his international connections, his charities, et cetera. So you're going to see two things.
Number one will be policy issues, how she looks at the world, how she/the president look at the world. And essentially there are two themes emerging: the renewal of American leadership and the revitalization of U.S. diplomacy and that's the diplomacy part is where you're hearing a difference from the previous administration.
What the Obama administration is calling smart power, using foreign policy, all the tools of foreign policy, as they would say, putting diplomacy at the forefront and buttressing or balancing military power. And you're also hearing themes of talking with the allies, working in a cooperative agreement with the allies -- John.
ROBERTS: You know, I guess senators are usually collegial about one of their own that has been nominated for a cabinet position with the exception of John Tower back in the first Bush administration as secretary of defense. They denied him. But what about the elephant in the room is going to be Bill Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, his fund-raising activities with the Clinton Global Initiative. How much of a role is that expected to play in these confirmation hearings?
DOUGHERTY: You know, so far we're being told that they haven't found anything that really would be of serious concern, but they want some clarification. For instance, the Clinton people have agreed with the White House that should Senator Clinton be confirmed as secretary, any of the overseas contributions to his charity, his speaking engagements, his consulting, all of that would be vetted, looked at very carefully by ethics officials at the state department.
Now, that's one thing. That's how it works in principle. But people want to know how will it work in actual practice, how frequently, for instance, would they tell who were the latest contributors. Technically, how is it going to work? And that's probably where you're going to hear those questions.
ROBERTS: These will be interesting questions that we have never heard before, I think. All right, we're looking forward to it. Jill thanks very much.
And a reminder that you can see Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearing this morning live on CNN at CNN.com/live. It all starts at 9:30 Eastern.
And Hillary Clinton is not the only person facing confirmation hearings today. Also expected on the Hill, Arne Duncan, Barack Obama's choice for education secretary, Steven Chu -- he is the energy secretary nominee. Shaun Donovan is the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Peter Orszag, Obama's choice to be White House chief of Office of Management and Budget, president's budget director. But it is Obama's nominee for attorney general who seems to face the rockiest road coming up on Thursday.
Eric Holder is expected to be challenged by Republicans on his career in private practice and for his role in President Clinton's pardons, most notably the pardon of Marc Rich as he was literally going out the door on January 20th, 2001.
CHETRY: Well, in just seven days President Bush will no longer call the White House home. And he spoke frankly about his eight years in office in the final news conference of his presidency. He defended his legacy, admitted mistakes and also talked about what life will be like when he goes back to Texas full time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm a type "A" personality. You know, I just -- I just can't envision myself, you know the big straw hat and Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach. So -- particularly since I quit drinking.
And so I wake up in Crawford on Tuesday morning, I mean Wednesday morning, and I suspect I'll make Laura coffee and you know, go get it for her, and it's going to be a different feeling, and I guess it's going to be like -- I'll report back after I feel it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: At least he knows one thing that he's going to do, make his wife coffee and bring it to her. There you go. He's got a plan.
ROBERTS: I wonder when the last time he made coffee was?
CHETRY: I know. They talk about rising pretty early and reading through the papers together at 5:00 in the morning in bed, so.
ROBERTS: Typically you know, the White House staff brings you coffee.
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: I'm sure he makes it on the ranch. I wonder what he will do, though, post-presidency?
CHETRY: Remains to be seen.
ROBERTS: Boards of corporations, foundation, presidential library obviously will be a big part of it. It will be interesting to find out.
CHETRY: That's what Laura Bush said in some of the interviews.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: Big focus on the presidential library.
Well, the president and Mrs. Bush are going to be guests tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE." It's at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: Right. OK. So looking forward to that tonight.
New twist in the phrase "financial bailout." The pilot accused of hitting eject, crashing his plane and faking his own death to escape a pile of legal, financial and personal troubles. A judge now freezing his assets. We'll have the latest on the military just ahead.
And catching a flight today could be a rough travel day. Rob Marciano tracking it all in the CNN weather center.
Rob, I guess you don't want to be flying out of Chicago today.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, and not tomorrow either. A couple of storms coming in. Blizzard conditions overnight in Chicago. Flights canceled there and across the Mideast. Snow is heading east and a winter cold blast that we haven't seen yet this season heading south.
It's all coming up, ten minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
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ROBERTS: Fifteen minutes after the hour. As they say in "South Park," blame Canada. Chicago experiencing blizzard conditions overnight with the coldest air of the season, blasting in from north of the 49th. Temperatures dropping to 20 degrees below. Hundreds of flights in Chicago's two airports have been canceled. Meantime, conditions in parts of North Dakota made driving almost impossible.
Rob Marciano is tracking it all from the CNN weather center for us this morning. Rob, if you live in the northern plains or the Chicago area, good day to just kind of stay snuggled up under the covers I guess.
MARCIANO: Yes, yes. You know, these people are definitely weather tough. But I don't care how tough you are, when you're talking about some temperatures like this when it's minus 12 in Chicago and Minneapolis and that doesn't even include the wind chill, you couple it with that, the snow that's blowing sideways in some cases, winds gusting 30, 40 miles an hour, it makes driving difficult.
So even though in Chicago they didn't have, you know, a foot of snow but they had enough to cover the roadways, the plows were out and with the winds blowing that made visibility horrendous there.
Guess what? Blizzard warning that was in effect last night, that's been dropped but a blizzard watch has been reissued for tomorrow afternoon. So same thing is going to happen, looks like could possibly be worse.
Here's the snow on the radar east of Chicago now moving through Detroit and through Cleveland and we expect more of this action mostly north of the Ohio River today. Winds kicking up behind this front, sustained anywhere from 15 to 25 miles an hour. They will increase so wind chills will become dangerous and as mentioned a blizzard watch in effect again for Chicago.
Probably two to six inches of snow expected but the main threat is going to be the cold air that will be dropping down in dangerously cold wind chills. Right now, it feels like minus 42 in Duluth, minus 26 in Chicago. And as John mentioned, this is all moving in up from Canada. It's all been bottled up in Alaska where they had record- breaking cold last week. Now, it's been allowed to release south.
Look how far south it gets. That cold front is going to get all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico and then north -- northern tier into the Great Lakes and eventually into the northeast. Just take a couple of days to get there but it will get there Thursday, Friday. Subzero temperatures a good bet.
Check out our four, five-day forecast for Chicago. High temperature of seven, overnight low of minus five. That's pretty nasty stuff but definitely the coldest air of the season, John. In some cases, we'll see how it pans out but this could be the coldest air that we've seen in five or ten years in many spots.
Back up to you.
ROBERTS: So, Rob, the cold is going to sweep into the northeast. What about the snow? Will that be arriving here, too?
MARCIANO: Well, typically, when you get these cold blasts, they move fairly rapidly and you don't get the big windup of a monster storm. So that's probably the silver lining in this. We're definitely getting a lot of cold. We'll get some snow, but it won't be, you know, a nasty nor'easter that we could see if the thing was moving a little bit slower and the atmosphere was turned upside down a little bit more.
ROBERTS: Better go get the long Johns. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right now.
CHETRY: The missing pilot and his elaborate plan to fake his own death. Why police say he ejected and tried to disappear moments before his plane crashed in the Florida Panhandle.
Also, Barack Obama's inaugural address may be one for the ages if he can rise to the occasion. We're going to look at the challenges facing him.
It's 16 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, the search is on for an Indiana businessman and pilot who may not want to be found. His plane went down Sunday in the Florida Panhandle, moments after police say he made a fake distress call then bailed out of the plane. Marcus Schrenker may have wanted to disappear because of a mounting list of legal, financial and personal problems. But someone may have spot him in Alabama yesterday.
This morning there were some new details in this mystery. CNN's Brooke Baldwin joins us live from Harpersville, Alabama with the very latest and very bizarre story, Brooke.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, can you believe this story? It just keeps getting more bizarre it seems. Good morning. We are learning this morning that Marcus Schrenker might have stashed a motorcycle in his storage unit here in Harpersville, Alabama, a day before he disappeared. That is according to "Birmingham News." They are also reporting that when authorities went looking for the motorcycle last night, it was gone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN (voice-over): 38-year-old Marcus Schrenker, seen in this YouTube video, likes to perform tricks from the cockpit. But Sunday night this Indiana businessman allegedly pulled off the biggest stunt of his life.
Police say Schrenker was alone, flying to Florida in his single engine prop plane when he radioed for help near Huntsville, Alabama. Schrenker told air traffic controllers his windshield had imploded and he was bleeding severely. When they radioed back, no response. A little later according to the FAA, his plane crashed in a Florida swamp barely missing nearby homes.
SGT. SCOTT HAINES, SANTA ROSA SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Our belief is now that it was put on autopilot somewhere around the Birmingham area, and the pilot parachuted out of the plane and landed in the Harpersville, Alabama, area.
BALDWIN: Later that night, Richard Ferguson says Schrenker showed up on his property. The Alabama man who wouldn't go on camera claims the pilot told him what he now thinks is a tall tale, the same story Schrenker later told police, who took him to a motel.
VOICE OF RICHARD FERGUSON, WITNESS: He just told me that him and two of his buddies was canoeing, turned the canoe over I heard in the (INAUDIBLE) river.
BALDWIN (on camera): Schrenker was last seen here at the Harpersville Motel in Alabama. According to police Sunday night, he checked into that room, paid in cash and faked his name on this receipt, before taking off into the woods. But the question still remains, who is Marcus Schrenker and why would he be on the run?
(voice-over): Perhaps one reason, the state of Indiana is investigating securities violations and a string of bankruptcies related to Schrenker's three financial management companies. Tom Brit is a colleague.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why someone would jump out of an airplane, leave it on autopilot with his training and his background is beyond me? There's just no -- there's no reason for him to do that, other than trying to stave something.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: The "Associated Press" is reporting this morning that Schrenker e-mailed Tom Brit, you just heard from last night, claiming the crash was an accident, and also saying he wanted his financial companies to succeed. He also claims to have alluded to suicide. The authenticity of that e-mail has yet to be verified, Kiran. But CNN's attempts to reach out to a representative of the Schrenkers have been unsuccessful. We also tried reaching out, calling some of the phone numbers listed for his businesses. Those numbers have been disconnected.
CHETRY: Well, you're right, the case just gets bizarre by the day. Brooke, for us --
BALDWIN: It does.
CHETRY: ... in Alabama this morning. Brooke Baldwin, thanks so much.
Twenty-three minutes after the hour.
ROBERTS: Lines for the history books.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ask not what your country can do for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now Barack Obama prepares to make his mark on the inaugural stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREI CHERNY, FORMER CLINTON-GORE SPEECHWRITER: You'll have schoolchildren reading this speech hundreds of years from now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Inside into the speech the world will be watching ahead on the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm truly honored to be on the front row of history when President-elect Obama gets sworn in. It's going to be an amazing moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One week.
BUSH: And I hope -- I hope the best for him. I genuinely do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Just one week now until Barack Obama's inauguration and we are counting it down. Here's the clock -- seven days, five hours and 34 minutes and 14 seconds away.
And there's great anticipation about the inaugural address. Many people expect it to stand with some of the greatest ever presidential inaugural speeches. That's a tall order, even for a gifted orator like Barack Obama.
CNN's Jim Acosta is live for us in Washington. Jim, we don't know if, you know, the actual text of the speech will go down in history as one of the greatest addresses ever, but certainly from a significant standpoint, it will stand among them.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. Barack Obama has some big shoes to fill, roughly the size of the ones up on the Lincoln Memorial. And I have to tell you that I did reach out to some aides for Barack Obama yesterday, trying to get some hints as to what this inaugural address may include, and I got nothing.
But one thing we can tell you is that Barack Obama's inaugural address may be more than the speech of his lifetime. Historians and speechwriters say it could be one for the ages, if he can rise to the occasion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is not a liberal America, and a conservative America. There is the United States of America.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Barack Obama's path to the presidency started with a speech, and ended in triumph.
OBAMA: Change has come to America.
ACOSTA: Now the stage is being set for an address that's destined for the history books.
ANDREI CHERNY, FORMER CLINTON-GORE SPEECHWRITER: There's a pretty good certainty that you'll have schoolchildren reading this speech hundreds of years from now because of this moment in American history.
ACOSTA: Former Clinton-Gore speechwriter, Andrei Cherny, expects to hear echoes of FDR.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
ACOSTA: Who also waged an epic economic battle against the Great Depression. Cherny gave the young man who's helping craft Mr. Obama's inaugural address, Jon Favreau, his first speechwriting gig.
CHERNY: I think you are going to hear hope, but it's going to be a hope that is tempered by the reality of the situation and that's actually a more honest kind of hope.
ACOSTA: The incoming president has also studied his Lincoln. OBAMA: There's a genius to Lincoln that is not going to be matched. People then point to Kennedy's inauguration speech.
JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
ACOSTA: Kennedy, to many the gold standard of the television age.
KENNEDY: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
LARRY SABATO, PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLAR: In all of American history, we probably have a dozen lines that are remembered from all those addresses by all those presidents.
ACOSTA: Presidential scholar Larry Sabato says Barack Obama's challenge is to measure up to the moment, the nation's first African- American president in the midst of a national crisis.
SABATO: When you consider it's the day after Martin Luther King Day, that inevitably, he will echo John F. Kennedy, that it's almost impossible for Obama to fail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: One question is whether Mr. Obama will use the occasion to detail a laundry list of proposals for the nation. But historians caution inaugurals are meant to inspire even during difficult times and there will be plenty of time for detail in the State of the Union and in press conferences and evening addresses to the nation, John.
And one thing we can say about this inaugural speech, he still has one week to go. That's plenty of time to get this thing right. It's sort of like when we have two minutes before a live shot, that's a lifetime in TV. One week is a lifetime in speechwriting, John.
ROBERTS: It certainly is. But, you know, they've been working on themes for a long time so I expect that this will be a very moving and interesting speech.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Jim, thanks very much, appreciate that.
ACOSTA: Sure.
ROBERTS: And CNN is teaming up, by the way, with Facebook for the inauguration. Watch it on CNN.com and share the historic event with your friends and family on Facebook. View comments and update your Facebook status all in one place. Go to facebook.com/CNN to RSVP and be a part of history.
CHETRY: Well, time now is 29 minutes after 6:00 here in New York, and we're following breaking news out of North Korea this morning. Pyongyang saying it refuses to give up its nuclear weapons unless the U.S. atomic threat is removed. That's according to the "Associated Press" this morning. The news comes as the United States and South Korea have been trying to check North Korea's progress in keeping to a disarmament deal.
Echoing a campaign pledge, advisers say Barack Obama is preparing to issue an executive order that would close the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It could come as early as his first day in office next week. Some 250 terror suspects are detained at Gitmo.
The alleged victim in a 1977 sexual assault case against director Roman Polanski wants the charges against him dropped. Polanski lived in exile in France since fleeing the country after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old.
While Samantha Geimer filed papers in Los Angeles, Monday, declaring that she's overcome the difficulties of being a victim and says every time this case is brought to the attention of the court, great focus is made of me, my family, and my mother and others.
"Deal or No Deal" host Howie Mandel is expected to be released from the hospital today after experiencing an irregular heartbeat. It happened in Toronto while the comedian was filming segments for his new NBC prank show "Howie Do It." His publicist says the 53-year-old did not have a heart attack.
Well, Barack Obama's first act as president could be issuing an executive order to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Joining us to talk about that and all the day's political headlines in Washington, Tara Wall, CNN contributor and deputy editorial page editor for "The Washington Times." And in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, this morning, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, associate professor of politics in African-American studies at Princeton University.
Great to talk to you, both, this morning.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL, ASSOC. PROF., POLITICS & AFRICAN- AMERICAN STUDIES, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
TARA WALL, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
CHETRY: Well, Guantanamo Bay, of course, a constant source of criticism for the Bush administration, and for many, closing Guantanamo Bay is going to be a psychological milestone as well. And Melissa, I want to ask you about this. Even though he wants to make this the first order of business or one of the first orders of business, he himself says it could take months, perhaps even a year to actually empty the prison. How does Barack Obama manage expectations about such a contentious issue?
HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well, I think by starting with this as his first order of business, it actually serves a lot of different publics. One, he takes a position as a kind of commander-in-chief right away, addressing these questions of national security. But the other thing is, it's also quite a nice nod to the left, that has had some anxiety about the ways in which he appears to not be likely to pursue anyone from the Bush administration about questions of war crimes.
So it's a way of kind of threading that needle, closing Guantanamo, allows him to look strong, give a nod to the left without having to go after anyone in the former administration about war crimes, which I think is what he wants to avoid doing.
CHETRY: Yes, and I want to ask you about this, Tara, because there was a public outcry about Guantanamo Bay and even Secretary Gates in this current administration said that it should be closed. But obviously there are concerns. How do you safely resettle the remaining prisoners? How do you decide these legal challenges? It certainly is going to be a difficult challenge moving ahead.
WALL: Sure, and it doesn't answer national security. I think it opens a whole another can of worms about national security. Certainly, there have been arguments on both sides about whether to close it or whether to keep it open. Look the point is, first and foremost, you have to look at it from the standpoint of what are these people in here for?
These are suspected terrorists who would do the country harm. What are you going to do with them -- put them in a regular court, open court, open up some of our secrets? How we go about getting Intelligence? Those are some things. Those are some very serious questions that have yet to be answered. And it will -- I mean, these are individual cases that certainly should be answered in an individual way.
But I think there are many more questions that closing this are going to open before we see any real -- that's why I think it will take about a year to close because before we see any real solutions as to what to do with these guys.
You have to answer the questions on how to deal with them on an individual basis, and what this is going to mean for our Intelligence community and for those who would do us harm. They have given liberties quite frankly as well, more so than many of our own prisoners.
CHETRY: Well, there are reports that Hillary Clinton is cramming for her confirmation hearing today in the Senate, intend on downplaying some of her old disagreements with Barack Obama on foreign policy. And also, Melissa, this will be interesting. She's going to have to answer questions I'm assuming about her husband's overseas involvement through his foundation et cetera. How does this not turn into a referendum on the former president for her?
HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well, it won't turn into that, because these are her colleagues in the Senate. I mean, it's not even clear to me there's anyone left in the Senate to ask questions, because so much of the Senate has now been brought into the administration. But those who are left, particularly the Democrats who are in a majority, their goal is not to embarrass the new secretary of state.
If anything, what this is going to be is probably a bit too much of a love feast. In fact, what I wish they would do is ask her some tough questions about the situation in Gaza, her understanding of the U.S. relationship with the state of Israel, how we're going to address going forward, questions of peace in the Middle East, and fundamentally, sort of what does it mean that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had major disagreements on foreign policy in the primaries, more in foreign policy than in domestic policy, and now she is going to implement the Obama foreign policy.
CHETRY: Right. And Tara, before we go, I want to ask you, quickly. It looks like there's been some backtracking about Roland Burris. It looks like after all he will be seated in the Democratic -- sort of doing an about-face here. What about the political implications of going ahead with the pick that was made by this embattled Governor Rod Blagojevich.
WALL: You know, aside from the phew, you know, it's over with kind of mentality. I'm sure that's going on right now with Senate Democrats. Look, it was a political mumble, stumble on the part of the president-elect and Democrats. I'm sure they're glad that it's over. It was a circus, all would agree. It's time to move forward. They're going to have to bury those hurt feelings. I'm sure he'll be quick to forgive them and they'll move on and carry on the business of the Senate.
CHETRY: Yes. Certainly shows his tenacity, right? Roland Burris wouldn't give up. He showed up to Washington, and now --
WALL: That's right, a lot can be said for that stick to-it- iveness.
CHETRY: Exactly. Well, great to talk to you, both of you this morning. Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Tara Wall, thanks.
WALL: Sure.
ROBERTS: Yes, we'll talk to Roland Burris, himself, about that stick-to-it-iveness in our third hour here this morning.
Just seven days now until Barack Obama is sworn in, and already the president-elect is getting an icy greeting on Capitol Hill. It's not just the weather either. And it might surprise you which side of the aisle that chill is coming from. We'll talk about it. It's 36 minutes after the hour.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kyung Lah in Tokyo where it has been a rough day for the world's second largest economy. Stocks in Tokyo tumbled nearly five percent after the government reported that the global economic slowdown is taking a huge bite out of demand for Japan's cars and electronics. Media reports also say that Sony will fall into the red for the first time in 14 years. Across the Asia-Pacific region, most markets down. Hong Kong, Australia, Shanghai, all down. Seoul was up but only very slightly.
John --
Kiran --
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CHETRY: Kyung Lah, thanks so much.
Well, Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning. You've been doing a lot of reporting about the victims of the Bernard Madoff alleged Ponzi scheme. A lot of anger out there. I got this for you.
(CROSSTALK)
This was -- this is -- this is --, "Bernie in Hell," it's hot sauce.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Nice.
CHETRY: And it was made by a local artist actually in New York, and he wanted some way to express the anger that many are feeling at Bernard Madoff. So I thought what the heck?
ROMANS: I don't know if you can see that says, "Made off with your money."
CHETRY: Yes, and it's super hot.
ROMANS: "You're going to Bernie in hell." Yes, I mean, I'm telling you this is a guy, who is -- his name is now -- he hasn't had a trial yet, but his name is synonymous with greed and corruption and scandal now.
CHETRY: And perhaps now omelets and hot sauce.
ROMANS: And perhaps omelets --
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: And so nice it burns twice.
ROMANS: Exactly, exactly. And she knows that I like a little hot sauce on the omelets here in this very early morning. We know too many things about each other in the early morning.
I'm talking about Obama and his stimulus this morning. Good morning, everybody. Talking about making jobs, creating jobs, how many jobs can the president-elect create? He's promised some 3.7 million. A lot of those jobs will be construction jobs, but it all hinges on what the government can do to create policies that are conducive to companies creating jobs.
Is it enough? If he creates -- if he can create 3.7 million jobs, is that enough to help this economy? We've done a little bit of stimulus math for you. And we'll tell you, it will ease the pain as one of my colleagues put it, but it won't fix things.
So, take a look here. 3.7 million jobs over two years is what the Obama plan would like to accomplish. But look at population growth and how many people are entering the workforce. About 1.2 million to 1.8 million jobs every year are needed just to match labor force growth.
So, we're talking about the president's plan basically keeping us steady with new people coming into the labor market, not actually growing the labor market, or growing the economy. And that would be an improvement, quite frankly.
Because we know the last few months of last year, jobs really, really were hemorrhaging from this economy and they're expected to continue like that for the next few months.
Companies are nervous. The stimulus plan has to help create a feeling of confidence overall because companies aren't hiring. They're just hunkering down trying to survive at this point.
ROBERTS: First thing you've got to do there is stop the bleeding.
ROMANS: That's absolutely right. And that's what -- and he's got a tough job here because he can't over-promise on what he's going to do. He also has to be sufficiently dire so that people can pass his stimulus and get the money available. So, he's walking a tight rope.
CHETRY: We're hearing the phrase "managing expectations" a lot as we head up to the inauguration.
ROMANS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
ROBERTS: It's 42 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
The farewell tour.
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GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Obviously, some of my rhetoric has been a mistake.
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ROBERTS: President Bush opens up in his last news conference.
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BUSH: Sometimes you mis-underestimated me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Jeanne Moos and a look back at some of his most famous "Bushisms."
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BUSH: Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch?
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ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning"
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Just seven hours, five minutes -- seven days, rather, five hours, 15 minutes and about two seconds until Barack Obama takes the historic oath of office to become the 44th president of the United States, and he's going to count heavily on his fellow Democrats in Congress as president to get things done. But as CNN's Jessica Yellin reports, right now, the majority party just can't seem to get on the same page.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, John, since Barack Obama has gotten to town, he has faced some tough resistance on his agenda, not from Republicans, but from members of his own party.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: How are you?
YELLIN (voice-over): Democrats promise to move quickly on President-elect Obama's agenda.
REP.NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: Tomorrow we will swear in a new Congress. We'll be hitting the ground running on the initiatives that you -- some of which you described.
YELLIN: But so far, it's been anything but a smooth ride. When team Obama made it clear they'd like Congress to release the rest of the funds from the Wall Street bailout, Democrats immediately bristled.
REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We intend to trust but verify, and we're going to verify in advance.
YELLIN: When they learn the details of Obama's stimulus plan, leading senators started tearing it apart.
SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), MONTANA: I must say that there will be many, many discussions with the administration and among senators, so we get a better sense of how to improve on this package. YELLIN: All that, after team Obama selected a new CIA chief, but forgot to tell the head of the Senate intelligence committee. And of course, there is the bizarre distraction Democrats created by first refusing to seat Roland Burris and changing their mind.
So, what's behind it all? Senate majority leader Harry Reid told reporters, "I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him."
On CNN's "LATE EDITION," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained to Wolf Blitzer she's not going to rubber stamp Obama's decisions.
PELOSI: And I don't think the Obama White House wants that either.
YELLIN: And in conversation with CNN, one of the more outspoken Democratic critics of Obama's stimulus package explains, his colleagues are cautious after years of Bush fiscal policy and what Democrats perceive as broken promises. He says, "The Obama team has inherited a very skeptical group of us because we've been burned."
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YELLIN: A top Obama official tells me he's been on the phone with Democrats in Congress reminding them that, quote, "We're all on the same team." This person insists these disagreements among Democrats are in the past.
Kiran --
John --
CHETRY: Jessica Yellin for us, thanks.
Well, out with the old, in with the new. As President Bush's term comes to an end, our Jeanne Moos is looking back at some of the classic "Bushisms" that made us laugh and some that made us scratch our heads.
It's 47-1/2 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, President Bush is saying his good-byes and during his final White House press conference Monday, he was both reflective and a bit combative. It's the "Most News in the Morning" with Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stretch you neck. You know it's going to be a long good-bye when they bring out two glasses of water to keep the hydrated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two minutes, guys.
MOOS: The babble rose as reporters simultaneously went live. And then for the last time, all rise. There was finger pointing.
BUSH: Or face serious consequences.
MOOS: There was chop-chop.
BUSH: Don't tell me the federal response was slow.
MOOS: The president even mimicked self-pity.
BUSH: Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch?
MOOS: Soon the press won't have President Bush around to misunderestimate.
BUSH: Sometimes you misunderestimated me.
MOOS: It was just over eight years ago that "W" the candidate first uttered that Bushism.
BUSH: But they under -- they misunder -- they misunderestimated what our campaign is about.
MOOS: A few months later, he caught himself saying it again.
BUSH: Misunderestimate -- excuse me -- underestimate. Just making sure you're paying attention.
MOOS: Everyone was paying attention back in 2004, when President Bush was asked --
QUESTION: What would your biggest mistake be?
BUSH: Ah, you know, I just, ah, I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, all of the pressure of trying to come on one answer, but I haven't yet.
MOOS: Finally it did, more than four years later at his farewell press conference.
BUSH: Clearly putting a "Mission Accomplished" on an aircraft carrier was a mistake. Obviously some of my rhetoric has been a mistake.
MOOS: From his last press conference to his first.
BUSH: You don't want to see me once a week. You'll run out of questions. Oh, twice? I'll be running out of ties.
MOOS: The comedians never ran out of material.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: Number two.
MOOS: Top ten favorite George Bush moments.
BUSH: The left hand now knows what the right hand is doing. MOOS: When his ancient nemesis Helen Thomas raised her hand, the president skipped her at his goodbye press, but he joked with those he did call on.
BUSH: Suzanne? I finally got your name right after how many years -- six years?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Eight years.
BUSH: Eight years. You used to be known as Suzanne, now you're Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Suzanne, thank you.
MOOS: Which makes his first name?
BUSH: I'm George.
MOOS (on camera): Some of us can't even being to estimate how much we're going to miss all that misunderestimating.
BUSH: But they under -- they misunder -- misunderestimated.
Misunderestimate.
Misunderestimate.
MOOS: I miss it already. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: It's your world now, Barack Obama. Finding Bin Laden, mapping out common ground in the Middle East and keeping Iran in line. What will the next president inherit in just seven days?
Plus, the real financial bailout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was put on autopilot, and the pilot parachuted out of the plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The dare devil accused of faking his own death to get out of debt. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." When Barack Obama takes office in just one week, he is facing some daunting issues both here, at home and abroad. In his new book "The Inheritance," Pulitzer Price-winner David Sanger is honing in on the overseas hot spots that the Bush administration will be leaving to Barack Obama, and he joins me now in the studio.
David, it's good to see you.
DAVID SANGER, AUTHOR, "THE INHERITANCE": Good to see you, John.
ROBERTS: You made some news over the weekend breaking the story that Israel had asked for bunker-busting bombs for potential strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. The United States denied that saying that they were engaging in covert action to try to disrupt place. But the peace also raised the question did Israel really have a plan to really go ahead and do that? Did the administration know that or not?
SANGER: John, they had a plan. The question is whether or not they had made the decision to go ahead. And I don't think anybody in the White House, even the very senior levels of the White House could quite figure that out.
But remember, just six months before the Israelis came to the U.S., which was early 2008, they had shown up, the head of the Mossad, the intelligence agency for Israel had shown up in Stephen Hadley's office, the national security adviser with photographs of the nuclear reactor in Syria. And they said we can't tolerate this.
The Bush administration tried to dissuade them from taking military action for fear it would start a Mideast war. And in September of 2007, they bombed that reactor. So I think the White House came to this thinking they may well be willing to go ahead.
ROBERTS: So there was all this speculation that in the waiting days of the Bush administration, Israel might take some action against Iran, and it turns out that all the action is aimed toward Gaza at this point. But is this something the Obama administration will inherit. Israel's desire, as they did in Syria, to get rid of Iran's nuclear program?
SANGER: You know, Gaza is a huge issue and a threat to Israel, but in the minds of the Israelis, it is nowhere near the existential threat of a nuclear Iran. And as Barack Obama takes office, he's got a year or two, maybe at the outside, to get this solved, before the Iranians can declare that they have a nuclear capability. And frankly, John, declaring the capability may be all they need. They may not actually need a weapon all screwed together.
ROBERTS: Right. So you say, well, Barack Obama has said, has said over the weekend, that he wants to commit to a policy of engagement with Iran. That will be his administration's policy. But you say in the book that Iran is determined to become the overarching power in the Middle East. And to do that, they need to go nuclear. So can a policy of engagement stop them from doing that? Can it forestall their plans?
SANGER: It's certainly worth trying is the sense I got from many of the people who I interviewed for the book. In the book, you'll hear the story of Nick Burns, who you remember we used to cover when we were doing the White House together, John.
ROBERTS: Yes. SANGER: And he went to Condoleezza Rice, who was undersecretary of state, several times before he left the State Department to say, you know, we need to do the engagement with Iran even if they don't stop, agree to suspend making nuclear fuel. And he could never win that argument. I think the answer to this is, you have to try engagement, but you have to be awake for the fact that it may well not work.
ROBERTS: And you know, Iran is one issue that he's going to inherit. Another is Pakistan, a couple of policies there. The U.S. going after al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents in the tribal areas and this wildest idea of nuclear security. What does he inherit in that front?
SANGER: Well, there are sort of two separate issues in Pakistan. One of them is, does President-elect Obama continue President Bush's policy of going over into Pakistan, on the ground, after not only al Qaeda, but the president issued secret orders in July that became public shortly thereafter, to go after all these other groups of insurgents.
The second problem with Pakistan, and it's one I go through at fairly great length in the book is that Pakistan's where insurgency, a weak government and 100 nuclear weapons all meet. And the question is, how good is their nuclear security? I came away from my work in Pakistan thinking the weapons are pretty secure. The laboratories that developed them we're not quite so sure about.
ROBERTS: There's a lot of other issues, of course, including North Korea and China. We don't have time to get to them this morning, David, but a great book that details it all. Congratulations on the publication, by the way.
SANGER: Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: I know it's a lot of hard work. Good to see you, my friend.
SANGER: Good to see you.
ROBERTS: We're looking forward to the inauguration and this next administration.
SANGER: Going to be a wild month.
ROBERTS: Right. David, good to see you, thanks.
SANGER: Good to see you.
ROBERTS: Kiran --
