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American Morning
Senate to Vote on Release of Bailout Money; Apple Founder Takes Medical Leave; U.N. Compound in Gaza Hit with Artillery Shells; New Jersey Takes Custody of Children with Nazi-Themed Names; A Look Back at Civil Rights Movement Pioneers; Obama's Second Challenge Will Be Health Care
Aired January 15, 2009 - 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: All right, we're coming up on a minute before the top of the hour. And thick black smoke is blanketing Gaza City. It's coming from an inferno at a United Nations relief compound. One U.N. official telling CNN that it was hit with white phosphorus artillery shells. International law forbids using them in densely populated civilian areas. A U.N. spokesman says 700 Palestinians were taking shelter there. Hundreds more could be affected as food and fuel and medicine is burning inside.
Meanwhile, a regional effort is under way to stop the war in Gaza. Gulf nations holding a summit in Saudi Arabia today, and that's separate from talks in Cairo between Egypt and Hamas.
Back in this country, the historic Blair House is finally ready for the Obama family. This is the traditional place where the president-elect stays before moving into the White House. The Obamas moved to Washington a little early so that the kids could start their school. They've been staying at the Hay-Adams Hotel since the Blair House was already booked.
Well, just five days now until there's a new president. And already, Barack Obama is facing his first battle with Congress over the bailout. Lawmakers could release the remaining $350 billion today. President-elect Obama wants the money and is threatening to veto any bill that keeps him from getting it. And he's also facing some resistance from fellow Democrats on his economic stimulus package that could cost $1 trillion. The economic stimulus is something that he defended last night on the "CBS Evening News."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a package that I think is going to make sense. I have every confidence that it's going to work, but it's going to take some time and we've got to do it with some speed. So my main message to Congress right now is, get it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux live for us this morning. OK, so that's Barack Obama weighing in about the stimulus. Meantime, he's facing an uphill battle on the bailout, the rest of the bailout money, trying to woo both sides of the aisle. How is he tackling that today? SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kiran, the stakes are really high when it comes to this. It's a real test of leadership, his first test for Barack Obama. Is he going to be able at least, at the very least get the Senate Democrats on board? And that is far from certain. All eyes are going to be on this vote today.
The leadership of the Democrats, they say OK, they believe they can get this money through this. They're not going to block it but it's far from certain when you look at the blue dog Democrats, those fiscally conservatives. They're not necessarily on board. Many of the Republican senators not necessarily on board. So we're going to be taking a look at whether or not they're going to block that funding. It's going to very important.
Another thing that you should watch, Kiran, today, is what happens on the House side? There's another bill, Congressman Barney Frank who's put it out there. And he says, look, I want this to be an accountable, transparent system. Tell us where this money is going to go? Show us where the money is going to go? If that bill passes, if there's a sense that that's going to pass on the House side, maybe these senators in the other chamber will say OK, let's not block this money, let's give it a chance.
CHETRY: And it's interesting because even those who support Barack Obama, some fellow Democrats are saying they're really between a rock and a hard place. They want to give him his first political victory. At the same time, they're saying their constituents are furious and really want more accountability.
MALVEAUX: It's a really tough place for a lot of lawmakers to be right now because yes, a lot of people they don't necessarily want their money, taxpayer dollars, our money essentially out there if there's no accountability. Now what Barack Obama has been doing and it's really familiar from the campaign, is the idea that he's going to reach out personally. He's going to see people face-to-face.
He's been working the phones with moderate Republicans to try to convince them to at least give him a chance here, using kind of that charm offensive, if you will, his own personal appeal so that people will sit down, take a listen and perhaps be convinced. He is a fairly convincing salesman, but there's a lot of lawmakers, Kiran, you bring up a very good point who need a little bit more convincing -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us in Washington today, thank you.
And all this week, we're looking at the top five issues Barack Obama will face as president and today we're down to number two. Health care. If you have questions for our panel of experts about health care in the United States, send them in. Go to CNN.com/am.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the cost of attending college is going up possibly more than ever. The economic slump causing tuitions to rise more than the average annual increase. By how much? Well, budget woes in California may see a 10 percent increase at state schools. College costs typically go up during recessions but this could be the highest increase in years.
Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper company also feeling the economic pinch, giving some of its workers a week off with no pay. The company says it's necessary in order to avoid layoffs. No word on just how many would be given the mandatory week. Gannett papers include "USA Today" and the "Detroit Free Press."
So while the economy is causing salary freezes in some areas, the New York Yankees spent nearly half a billion dollars on free agents just this year, causing some baseball owners to wonder if it's time for a salary cap for baseball players, currently the only major sport without a cap.
CHETRY: Well, a major announcement from a man who can influence the markets with a single syllable. Apple founder Steve Jobs says he's going on medical leave. Senior correspondent, medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Atlanta this morning looking into this one.
So, Elizabeth, originally he described the weight loss, the marked weight loss that you could really see as a hormone imbalance. Now he says that actually there could be more to it than that. What else is going on with him?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he still uses that term "hormone imbalance." What he's saying now is that it's gotten bad enough that he is taking a medical leave. He said he wants people to focus on Apple's products, not on his health.
We ran this by several experts, Kiran. We said what could cause a hormone imbalance. And really there are many different things. Let's take a look at three of them.
Cancer can cause a hormone imbalance, as can diabetes, as can liver problems, as can problems with the gastrointestinal system. What we do know is that Steve Jobs has become thinner over the years. Take a look at these two photos.
One of them is from 2005, and the other is from 2008. The 2005 one is to the right. The 2008 one is to the left, and you can see in his face that he has lost weight. And let me read a little excerpt from an e-mail that he sent to Apple employees. He wrote, "My health- related issues are more complex than I originally thought." And he said that's why he is taking a leave of absence until the end of June -- Kiran.
CHETRY: He also had pancreatic cancer a few years ago, right, and pancreatic cancer can be deadly, I mean, for many people. Is this a reoccurrence or a complication based on that?
COHEN: He has not said that the pancreatic cancer has come back. He had pancreatic cancer in 2003, but there is no question that pancreatic cancer, like other cancers, can throw your hormones off balance.
CHETRY: And the survival rate, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 20 percent. That doesn't sound very -- like very good odds.
COHEN: It is particularly low. I mean, it is a very -- it is a tough cancer, there is no question but he has survived. He had it in 2003. We're now in 2009, so he has -- he has done better than most people, there's no question.
CHETRY: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Well, six minutes after the hour and Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" for us this morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And Apple shares yesterday fell eight percent.
ROBERTS: Yes.
ROMANS: They're down again overnight. The bloggers and the investor Web sites and investors and shareholders for months have been speculating about his health and seemed to put it to rest really recently when he said that there was a simple dietary change he could make for this hormone imbalance and now, clearly, it's something that's a little more complicated so investors are shaken by this.
They've been saying for a long time, look, this is the guy who's the face of the company. He's as much as the face of the company as the actual iPod music player and the company has been very quiet. He's been very quiet for months and months, while that weight loss quite dramatic.
ROBERTS: Yes. He's not just the face of the company, but he's the brains of the company.
ROMANS: He is. Now he does have a deep bench of talent. Analysts will say he has a very deep bench of talent, but he and his mock turtleneck with his jeans and his tennis shoes at Macworld, I mean, this is -- this is sort of the face of their company and people like to know that there is a clear plan when there's a CEO who has a health issue. They want to know what those health issues are.
I mean, we've seen this in other companies before. You know, we have one person that the whole company is hanging on. Wall Street investors can get very worried. There's a lot to be nervous about out there, but they've been very nervous about his health.
CHETRY: How did they handle his pancreatic cancer diagnosis?
ROMANS: Well, the stock has done quite well actually but that was back in 2003.
CHETRY: That was years ago.
ROMANS: But that was back in 2003 and he had actually stepped away for awhile after being founder for the past 10 years. It's taken more and more of a role and everything. But it was just this idea that nobody really knew what was up and it was very clear something was happening. And there would be all these rumors on the blogs that he's very sick, he's very ill. And then you call the company and they say when we have something to report, we will report it to you. And then it just kind of said (ph) that way.
So the stock was down eight percent yesterday, down again this morning. So we'll see how investors feel about him taking a leave of absence until June. You know, he said this is what he said. I want to really make sure we're very clear about what his exact wording is about his own illness.
"In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I've decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June." Again, analysts say they've got a very deep bench but he is seen as the face for this company.
ROBERTS: Right. And he said he'd still be involved in critical decisions so we'll see.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: All right. Christine, thanks so much.
Want to own a piece of history but the Barack Obama commemorative light just isn't your thing? Well, how about his old ride? Obama's old car, Chrysler 300c is for sale on eBay. You can place a bid or buy it now for a mere -- cha-cha-ching -- $1 million. Obama traded it in during the campaign for a more fuel-efficient Ford hybrid.
Wow. I remember we sold our Hummer for $1 million at CNN. That went to charity, too.
CHETRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: A bitter cold plunging south this morning. Temperatures in the single digits, wind chills even lower and we're tracking it all for you this morning. We're going to check in Rob in a few minutes time.
CHETRY: And Osama bin Laden making some new threats in a new terror tape. But does he even matter anymore in terms of relevance. Why the terror mastermind may be losing some of the sway.
ROBERTS: And first, a couple of names, two of their kids Aryan Nation and Adolf Hitler. Now the state of New Jersey is taking the kids into custody. Details of this very, very odd case straight ahead.
It's nine minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Here are the most popular stories on CNN.com right now. Bitter cold sweeping across the United States today, with temperatures in Michigan dipping to 19 degrees below zero, while snowy conditions are causing traffic nightmares in the Midwest.
Actor Ricardo Montalban, star of the show "Fantasy Island" died in his home yesterday. He was 88 years old. Montalban was one of the most prolific Latino actors of his era that will likely be remembered most for his role on the show with "De Plane" although he also played Khan in the "Star Trek" movie The Wrath of Khan."
And the Kellogg Company putting out a warning that some of its peanut butter crackers may contain salmonella. No reports of illness yet but Kellogg is pulling the snacks from store shelves.
CHETRY: All right. Adolf Hitler, the mere mention of the name conjures up images of war, hate and genocide. So why would a couple actually give that name to their son? They even named their daughter Aryan Nation. Well now the state of New Jersey has intervened. Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This 3-year-old has a lot in common with other toddlers his age, except one thing. Heath and Deborah Campbell decided to name their son Adolf Hitler. The New Jersey parents have two other young children, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie.
In this picture, you see a black Nazi banner on the wall, in the center a large Swastika. But in an interview with a local newspaper, Heath Campbell said he is not a racist, stating, "A name doesn't make a person. The person makes the person. My son is going to learn to love. None of my kids are going to have a bone of hate in their body."
That may be true but what is also accurate is that right now, according to police, all three of his children have been taken from the home by New Jersey child welfare workers. But why?
KAYE (on camera): We contacted the New Jersey Department of Children and Families and while the agency will not comment on the specific case, it told us that children are removed from their homes only if there's an eminent danger to the child, and only after an allegation of abuse or neglect is made. The department stressed that a child is never removed from the home simply because of his or her name.
(voice-over): This is not the first time the name has created controversy for the Campbells. Last month, a supermarket refused to write "Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler" on a cake for the boy. Despite the firestorm that continues to grow, the Campbells are refusing to change their son's name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is America. They say it's free. You have a right to name your child what you want to name your child.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Now Heath Campbell also told a local paper that his children were not removed from his home. There are other published reports saying the children were. So far we've been unable to reach the family for a comment.
ROBERTS: The events that paved the way for Barack Obama, CNN is looking at the people and the places that define the civil rights movement. Today, what one pioneer would say if he had lived to see this Tuesday.
Street art legend with a sordid past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm an artist with a somewhat sordid past in terms of doing street art that some people consider illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And he just got picked to create the official Obama inauguration poster. The artist behind the image talks.
You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes after the hour as we look at New York City with a little bit of snow coming down. But taking you out of the snow, there's someplace a little warmer or at least warmer thoughts. She's blonde, she's got beer and she's looking at you.
Meet the new St. Pauli girl, a Slovakian model Katarina Van Derham. Bunch of guys way out of her league voted for her -- wait a minute, no, no.
Well, a bunch of guys for whom she is way out of their league voted for her on maxim.com. According to the St. Pauli girl's Web site, she's not modeling. Katarina is developing her own makeup line and works on architectural graphic design and she speaks five languages.
Which bring us, of course, now to Rob Marciano. What do you think, Rob? Good choice?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I don't speak five languages but yes. I would say yes, si, oui. That's three. At least that's a good choice.
ROBERTS: I wasn't talking about the languages, Rob. I was talking about the new St. Pauli girl. Did you vote?
MARCIANO: I guess I did because she's totally out of my league.
I would say this, gentlemen, kids, ogle and drink responsibly.
ROBERTS: Well, there you go. You know, the St. Pauli girl to warm us up on a cold day. What do you think?
MARCIANO: Oh, I tell you they need it just about everywhere, John. Check out some of these numbers.
Current temps in the teens across the I-95 corridor. It's only going to get colder. Zero in Cleveland. Minus nine in Chicago, so we're looking at some nasty stuff. Some of these overnight lows last night, these don't include the wind chill.
In Minnesota minus 14. In International Falls, minus 42, so you get the idea and this cold air all the way down into the Deep South.
Got a live picture from Nashville, with the lively country music thing. You better believe it they're going to do all they can to stay warm today. Temps right around 14. We'll get up to 22, thanks, WKRN.
Hey, I want to throw an i-Report. We're getting all sorts in. Well, first off, these are the expected delays. New York City will see some delays today because of the snow that's moving across the area. Light for the most part. Wind in Philly. Atlanta will see some wind as well. A lot of north wind today with the proverbial frozen thermometer.
It will be warm out west. The pattern is just completely shifted to where we've got this trough and cold air just pouring down from Canada, east of the Rockies and then everything is warm west of the Rockies. So if you want to warm up, that's where you want to go where temperatures have been on the rise for sure with record-breaking heat out to that way. It won't be record-breaking heat in L.A. today or tonight but it could be record-breaking cold in places like Atlanta. 14 for the overnight low. Five in Nashville, minus 12 in Chicago come around this time tomorrow morning. Everybody try to stay warm, that's for sure.
ROBERTS: How long is this going to hang around, Rob?
MARCIANO: Right through the weekend for the most part. It will moderate a little bit when you guys are in D.C. next week. It will be only seasonably cold, temperatures right around freezing.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: You bet.
CHETRY: Breaking this morning, a U.N. compound hit by fire in Gaza. The controversy over the chemical allegedly used on the battlefield. A full update from the Middle East ahead.
He's at it again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN: (speaking in foreign language) (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Voice from the cave, but is anyone even listening? Has America tuned out terror threats?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He got us once, but he's not going to do it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Fear and loathing of Osama bin Laden. Has America lost interest?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't personally think of him as a threat, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: As America's first black president gets ready to move into the White House, we're looking back at the pioneers who made that possible.
Today, a man who made the ultimate sacrifice for equal rights, a man who was murdered in his own driveway a few hours after President Kennedy gave a nationally televised speech supporting civil rights.
CNN's John Zarrella joins us live from Jackson, Mississippi, this morning with more on this.
Hi, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. Well, the man who lived in this house was rapidly making a name for himself in the civil rights movement when he was murdered, right here where I'm standing. I had an opportunity to sit down with some of the people who knew him and we talked about what he meant and what Barack Obama means.
Now let me warn our viewers, there is language you may find objectionable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just going out eating our what?
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Sitting around the dining room table.
CORA HART CATCHINGS, FRIEND OF MEDGAR EVERS: They told us that they didn't serve niggers and we had to move on. So we just sit there. We didn't move and they called the police, and the police came and so they carried and hauled us off to jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We spent a week or so in the city jail and then to the county jail where they threatened to hang us.
ZARRELLA: They all survived to tell their personal stories. But not the man whose house, now a museum we sit in. Not the man they called friend, they called neighbor, Medgar Evers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just could not figure out how he had the courage to do what he was doing.
ZARRELLA: Evers worked tirelessly registering African-Americans to vote in Mississippi.
MINNIE WATSON, MEDGAR EVERS HOME MUSEUM: Medgar did more for the state of Mississippi than any other civil rights advocate.
ZARRELLA: The house had no front door. Evers believed it was safer to enter from the side under the carport. But in June, 1963, an assassin's bullet still found him. Evers's friends says he can rest easier now. The change he died for has produced a president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Medgar would say as to Obama, "well done, brother."
ZARRELLA: Evers's friends say the Obama presidency can be a pivotal moment in history for young African-Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For our boys, our boys to see Obama as president of the United States of America, that's an incentive. That is an incentive.
WATSON: You know, and give them hope to see that, you know, this man made it to the White House. Surely, I can make it to a decent job.
ZARRELLA: They know hope along is not enough to ensure jobs, education.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to have a plan to help. We can't just say we've got hope. We've got the president. We need to do something!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not going to have things solved just because he was elected. Like she said, there's a long road that we have to hoe.
ZARRELLA: But it's a road filled, they say, with optimism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: The key these former civil -- foot soldiers of the civil rights movement say is for the people to turn that optimism into opportunity -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Certainly come a long way. Wow. John Zarrella, thanks. It's 26 and a half minutes after the hour. A look at the top stories now.
Senators Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton expected to give their farewell speeches on the Senate floor today. Clinton is expected to get a near unanimous endorsement from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee later this morning. That will pave the way for a full Senate vote on Barack Obama's pick for secretary of state after the president-elect takes office on Tuesday.
Troubling study about race in America as the first black president gets ready to take the oath. There's a new report saying school segregation is on the rise. Many black and Latino students stuck in poverty. It blames neglected civil rights policy and increasing housing discrimination, which is illegal.
And happening right now, an inferno in Gaza city, coming from a United Nations relief compound. One U.N. official telling CNN it was hit with white phosphorous artillery shells. International law forbids using them in densely populated civilian areas. The U.N. spokesman says 700 Palestinians were taking shelter there. Hundreds more could be affected as food, fuel and medicine is burning inside.
Israel's defense minister called the shelling "a grave mistake," according to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who is in Jerusalem. And an Israeli government spokesman also says it's not clear who's responsible.
ROBERTS: All this week we are looking at the top five challenges facing Barack Obama. Today is number two, health care. With skyrocketing costs and more Americans going without insurance, where do you even start when you're trying to fix this huge problem?
Today at our panel, former Senate majority leader and heart-lung transplant surgeon, Dr. Bill Frist is with us, as well as Dr. Bernadine Healy. She's the health editor for "U.S. News and World Report" and also Dr. Christina Johns. She's an emergency room specialist at the Children's National Hospital in Washington.
Thanks all for joining us this morning. We'll call you Dr. Frist this morning as opposed to Senator Frist because of the panel. Where do you believe is the biggest health care challenge facing America right now?
DR. BILL FRIST (R), FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: John, it's a great question, good question to start with because there really are three answers. One is quality. We have huge gaps in quality with lots of medical errors being made. The whole issue of access, the call for universal access, 45, almost 46 million people uninsured.
But people listening to us right now if you asked them, it would be cost. The fact that health care premiums have historically gone up two to three times faster than wages, it simply can't be sustained by the average American family.
ROBERTS: Do you agree with that? Do you agree with that, Dr. Healy, cost is the number one issue?
DR. BERNADINE HEALY, FMR. HEAD OF AMERICAN RED CROSS: I think cost is the number one issue. And I think all you have to think about, now that we're thinking in trillions is that the federal budget is $3 trillion and the expenditures on health care in this country are $2 trillion. So there's no way that the federal government could take over health care, and there's no way that individual families could manage that kind of expenditure.
ROBERTS: Now I think when you look at the overall price tag, as you say it's in the $2 trillion to $3 trillion range. It represents 17 percent of gross domestic product in this country. That's a huge burden to bear.
Dr. Johns, you're right there on the emergency room where the rubber meets the road. What kind of effect are health care costs having in the real world?
DR. CHRISTINA JOHNS, PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE SPECIALIST: Well, I'll tell you the hard thing for me as an emergency physician is that I see folks who come in who have lost their jobs and subsequently their insurance. The E.R. is the only place, the last place that they can go that will not turn them away, and they tend to come in sicker because they've waited longer to go and seek medical care. So we're seeking -- we see a huge burden of sick patients who have waited too long who need to be seen with better access to care as Dr. Frist describes.
ROBERTS: Yes, just to throw another statistic out there, emergency room visits have increased 32 percent, while at the same time, the number of emergency rooms is actually decreased by about 200 or so.
Let me throw this topic out there and get you to kick it around between you and Dr. Frist. Maybe you could start this off again. One of the criticisms of many of the health care plans out there during the presidential campaigns is while it might give more people access to health insurance, may reduce the number of people on the uninsured roles it does nothing to reign in the cost of service. How do you get the cost of service in line?
FRIST: You know, John, it's a great question and it's a debate that goes on in this country. Because some people think of health care as a commodity and consumer good and other people think of it as a social good and that everybody deserves about the same sort of health care.
So people such as myself believe that you have to have, if you're going to restrain the growth in cost, not just lower them but the growth in cost, which is the real problem, you have to have some element of market-based principles that you have to have some element of competition. You have a resource out there that's increasingly scarce, and the only way to control the growth of that cost over time is to have a consumer-directed, provider-friendly system, where you can make choices every day, smart choices based on the information available. ROBERTS: Dr. Healy, agree?
DR. BERNARDINE HEALY, FMR. HEAD OF AMERICAN RED CROSS: Well, the big issue though - I do agree but I think the big issue is that information is not available. And we talk about a consumer-directed system but people don't know prices. How can you possibly be making choices about what you want or whether you want that scan, whether you need that scan unless you know what the prices are. Quite honestly if the public knew the prices of technology and of drugs the shear outrage would help to bring the price down.
ROBERTS: Something I want to talk about coming up in the next segment with this panel is about prescription drugs. But let me just finish off with you, Dr. Johns on this. Looking at what Dr. Frist and Dr. Healy just said, I mean, when somebody comes into the emergency room, you don't sit there and say well we could give you the CAT scan which is going to cost you $800 or if you want we got to spend we got a special on MRIs today. You don't go over the costs like that. How could you possibly keep the costs down?
JOHNS: Well, I think that it is for me in a grassroots perspective it comes down to thinking about, hey, what's the right thing for the patient? We don't want to cause increased risk. We don't try to do tests just to do tests. It becomes somewhat of an individual responsibility for everybody and that includes physicians as well.
ROBERTS: All right. Stay with us, folks. Because a lot more issues that I want to tackle, including as I said prescription drugs, this whole idea of preventive medicine and wellness training and all of that. So stay with us. Fascinating stuff. We'll be back in just a minute. It's 33 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We're talking about the number two challenge facing Barack Obama, America's broken health care system. Our panel is back with us. Former Senate majority leader and heart and lung transplant surgeon, Dr. Bill Frist, the health editor for "U.S News & World Report, also the former head of Red Cross and the former head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Bernardine Healy and from Children's National Hospital in Washington, emergency room specialist Dr. Christina Johns.
Let me throw this out there and you can kick this topic around - prescription drugs. And Dr. Healy, why don't you start us off here, how to bring down the cost of prescription drugs for the average American, do you allow in negotiation, do you allow people to import from Canada, do you let them go on the Internet and bring them in from anywhere around the world? How would you do it?
HEALY: Well, I'd first say we have to get the prices out there. It's hard to find them and find them accurately. It's very hard to be a shopper. I think going up to Canada was a symptom of that, and the fact that other countries can get their drugs cheaper is outrageous. We have to be a good negotiator. The biggest negotiator is the federal government and in Medicare part D, they said the government would not negotiate. That is something that has to be addressed.
We have to be hard negotiators for our people, for the private insurers, as well as the public insured, and I think most importantly, we have to have, again, some outrage.
ROBERTS: Right.
HEALY: I mean there are drugs that come on the market for $100,000 a year for cancer patients. Unacceptable.
ROBERTS: Yes.
JOHNS: Absolutely true. I think the other thing that we need to do is we need to get generics out there much earlier in the game and we need to, again, as Dr. Healy says get the public outrage out there. Medicine's there. We need to give it to our people.
ROBERTS: All right. Dr. Frist?
FRIST: I'd say the same thing, basically. If we knew what the prices of drugs were, we make that apparent to people and that comes back to supporting information technology, something we grossly under invested in, in this country, then we will allow people to shift and have them choose to shift from high cost prescription drugs to generic drugs when they're available. That's where the big cost savings is.
ROBERTS: But let me ask you this question now. As a republican piece of legislation in enacting Medicare part D, why didn't you want to allow the government to negotiate with drug companies?
FRIST: Well, initially it was because the Congressional Budget Office said there's absolutely no savings. Because what you want to have are people in there competing, two million against five million against four million, against three million people. Get them around the table and that would bring the cost down.
And indeed, we were right. Right now, there's about 30 percent savings. This year, 20 percent savings last year by having competition in competing for prescription drugs instead of having government come in and have a mandated price undercut, in which nobody's going to come to the table.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Do you buy that, Dr. Healy?
HEALY: No, I don't think it's the government having a mandated price. It's the government pays for half of the health care in this country. It is the biggest, strongest, the most powerful negotiator. It has clout, and what it does, which is very unfair, it will negotiate for itself. It will get good prices for the V.A.. It will get good prices for the health service, but it will not get good prices that it transfers to the private sector.
So as other countries do, by the way, where they negotiate for the whole country, and it makes it fairer for the public. Why shouldn't you get the same price that Medicare can get?
ROBERTS: I've got one more topic that I want to get to, folks. Right now our medical system seems to be sort of targeting toward the end users, when people get sick, they go to the doctor, they go to the hospital. What about this whole push toward preventive medicine, wellness programs, smoking bans being enacted in cities across America.
You know, New York City has banned trans-fats in fast food restaurants. Dr. Johns, is this a good way to save money on health care or is this sort of, you know, the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to the nanny state?
JOHNS: Oh, I think this is the greatest idea. This is what we've got to do, we've got to get out there and prevent problems that we can prevent. A great example is childhood obesity. It breaks my heart when I go into work and yet another seven-year-old who is 120 pounds, comes through, to see me who I know is going to have a ton of problems later on in life. And in their young life as well.
ROBERTS: Right.
JOHNS: So what we need to do is get better access to primary care, have regular well child care and well adult care. We all need to see our doctors regularly so that we can have health maintenance and increase our wellness.
ROBERTS: A couple of quick comments, Dr. Frist first and then Dr. Healy.
FRIST: Yes. Let me say if you look at how long somebody is going to live, you look at health in this country, it's not health services, who your doctor is, universal care, single payer. The number one sort of impact is behavior and behavior means nutrition. We have an obesity epidemic. It means an activity day. We need to get people out, getting people to stop smoking and lower stress. That is 40 percent of the impact of health and health care costs. It's not necessarily just the health care system.
ROBERTS: But Dr. Healy, you don't believe that the government can regulate good health?
HEALY: No, I think that ultimately when we're talking about preventive health which involves not smoking, watching your diet, it involves not using bad things, it involves some sexual responsibility, all of those things, they come from the individual.
You have to give them information. You have to help them but ultimately there's no magic pill, no vaccine for obesity. There's no magic pill for many of the problems that are causing or abusing preventive health. So I think that when the government comes in and tries to legislate it, there was some state that was saying that they would regulate what people ate, who were obese in restaurants. That's not going to work. And I think that would lead to a backlash on the part of the public, who would say the government is turning into a super Dr. Nanny. ROBERTS: Yes. Certainly, I mean personal responsibility is a big component in all of this. Dr. Bernardine Healy, Dr. Christina Johns, Dr. Bill Frist, thanks very much for being with us this morning and we'll bring you back in our next hour because there's a lot more issues to talk about as well.
JOHNS: Great, thank you.
ROBERTS: Good to see you.
CHETRY: OK. He was once known as a protester and a graffiti artist who has been arrested at least a dozen times. Now Shepard Fairey, the man behind the iconic image of President-elect Obama, as been seen on campaign posters, cover of "Time" Magazine. Well, now behind he is behind the official poster of Obama's inauguration. Ted Rowlands has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEPARD FAIREY, ARTIST: This is the official inauguration poster.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On one hand, it makes perfect sense that Shepard Fairey was chosen to create the official Obama inauguration poster. After all he's the artist behind this image of the President-elect that became synonymous with the Obama campaign. On the other hand, picking Shepard Fairey could be seen as controversial.
FAIREY: I'm an artist with a somewhat sordid past in terms of doing street art that some people consider illegal.
ROWLANDS: Fairey is a street art legend. If you live in an urban area chances are you've seen his work and there's a good chance it was put up illegally. By his own account Fairey has been arrested more than a dozen times. Go to YouTube and you can find videos of him in action. So how did this guy get hooked up with Obama?
FAIREY: When we announced he was running for president, I thought, I would love to lend my talents in support of his campaign in any way possible.
ROWLANDS: He says he contacted the campaign. They gave him an unofficial go ahead to submit work, and he came up with this.
FAIREY: The original image that I did said "progress," and the campaign got in touch with me after that, had been out for about a week and said do you mind using hope? We like the word hope.
ROWLANDS: The "hope" poster was an instant hit. After that, he made "change," and then "vote."
FAIREY: I received a letter from Barack Obama thanking me, only a month after creating the "hope" poster, saying thank you for lending your support, your artistic support to my campaign. ROWLANDS: The Smithsonian is adding his Obama art to the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery and "Time" magazine commissioned Fairey to create its "person of the year" cover.
FAIREY: A lot of people feel like they're spectators in a democracy for big business and power brokers, and that's just not the case. This proves that's just not the case.
ROWLANDS: Fairey's latest work, the inauguration poster will be featured at several official inaugural events and who knows it may end up on a few street corners as well. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, a touching letter to his daughters, the world will refer to him as Mr. President but for Sasha and Malia, he's just dad. We're going to see what Barack Obama wrote in his heartfelt open letter. 44 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I think that we have to so weaken his infrastructure that, whether he is technically alive or not, he is so pinned down, that he cannot function. My preference, obviously, would be to capture or kill him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: President-elect Obama renewing the calls who capture or kill Osama Bin Laden. It comes after the Al Qaeda leader broke his eight-month silence and challenged the next president in a new terror message. But after years of hunting for him, some are actually starting to ask, does Bin Laden even matter? Carol Costello is live in Washington this morning for us. Hi, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. Isn't that astounding that we can even pose that question? Does Osama Bin Laden matter? Well, let me tell Osama Bin Laden something, he can release all the tapes he wants, but most Americans are not listening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Osama Bin Laden is talking, but many in America are no longer listening. Seven years after 9/11, and 48 audio videotaped messages later -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking in foreign language)
COSTELLO: Even New Yorkers no longer fear the most wanted terrorist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does this make you afraid at all or scared?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot bigger things happening than this little guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't personally think of him as a threat. No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he got us once but he's not going to do it again.
COSTELLO: The absence of fear after such a catastrophic event is a victory of sorts. The point of terrorism is terrorizing, and polls clearly show Americans no longer feel terrorized by Osama Bin Laden or anyone else.
Experts say Bin Laden has lost on other fronts, too. The Saudi royal family still rules. America still supports Israel, and Bin Laden is responsible for tens of thousands of Muslim deaths. Still, one of America's top priorities, even with a new administration is to get Bin Laden.
OBAMA: We will go after him. We will kill him or we will capture him, try him, apply the death penalty to him, whereas necessary, but that is the threat that we should have stayed focused on and that is the threat that I will focus on when I'm president.
COSTELLO: Most experts say it's the right sentiment, even though bin laden no longer directly plans Al Qaeda's movements.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Bin Laden is one of the very few people that you can really say changed history. Americans may have tuned him out. But don't forget Americans as a general proposition have very short attention spans and if Al Qaeda was able to do another attack 10 years from now, Bin Laden would loom very large again.
COSTELLO: And in Bin Laden's mind, that's triumphal. It's why he pops up now and again, to taunt America, and it's why America will never stop looking for him.
SETH JONES, RAND POLITICAL SCIENTIST: He's important symbolically because the U.S.' inability to capture him demonstrates quite clearly that it is incapable of targeting Bin Laden. In other words it makes the United States look incompetent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And of course that is the big reason many Americans want the United States to keep looking for Osama Bin Laden, not because they fear him but because he killed so many Americans and make no mistake, Kiran, all of the people we talked with want the man dead.
CHETRY: It's also interesting, Carol. There are some who say you know, they are finding comfort in the fact that he still has to speak from the cave, so to speak, that he can't even appear on video because he is so hunted. COSTELLO: And the number of video and audiotapes he has released has actually gone down since 2001. So apparently, maybe, he's finding difficulty even doing that.
CHETRY: Carol Costello for us this morning, thanks. It's 50 minutes after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): Ms. Barack Obama?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't need Superman to lead for us. The women of this country lead it for themselves.
CHETRY: From Wonder Woman to Superman. Big controversy over this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think people have overreacted.
CHETRY: You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Just five days now until Barack Obama is sworn in. And the hottest ticket in Washington becoming even hotter this morning. Bidding wars are now breaking out for the chance to witness the historic inauguration. Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington. Jim, just how hot are these tickets?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I've got one for your right here. It's right inside my inside pocket here.
ROBERTS: I can pry it from your cold dead fingers.
ACOSTA: That's right. We know all the tailgaters will be there on Tuesday and we don't think Pastor Rick Warren is going to open up the inauguration by asking are you ready for some football but it is the hottest ticket in Washington. And people in this town are pulling out all the stops to get their hands on one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: Unprecedented numbers of Americans are planning to join us in Washington.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Welcome to Washington. Home of Super Bowl XLIV, as in the inauguration of the 44th president. Tickets are going fast, in all sorts of ways.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We have a lot of interest in this inauguration.
ACOSTA: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid picked seven lucky winners out of a hat. And what was your first reaction when you heard that you got a ticket?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of that facial expression right there.
ACOSTA: Jenny Hero (ph) got her ticket from a friend, like a lottery winner, she is all of sudden very popular.
JENNY HERO (ph): I have had some offers. I had people saying I could make a killing but the money's not worth it.
ACOSTA: Not everyone shares that opinion. On the Web site Craigslist, scalpers are selling the tickets to the swearing in for thousands of dollars. How did they end up there? Don't blame them. Each inaugural, members of Congress are given hundreds of tickets to pass out to employees and friends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once the offices give away these tickets, you know you can't really control what happens after that.
ACOSTA: A handful of congressional offices have confirmed to CNN and other media outlets, they've uncovered a variety of schemes to auction off their tickets. Technically, it's not against the law.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a huge gray area. Don't you love it? Of course, in Washington, everything is a gray area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The really rock star status of President- elect Obama has kind of made these events a can't-miss event.
ACOSTA: The online ticket service, Stub Hub, decided against the selling of swearing in tickets and instead offering up pricey passes to the parade and inaugural balls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And for some of the galas, as well as the parade, they've actually exceeded this week's NFL championship game.
ACOSTA: Jenny Hero (ph) says you can't put a price tag on history.
JENNY HERO (ph): Money comes and it goes. I mean, experiences like this are once in a lifetime. So I couldn't pass it up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Now the Senate just passed a bill to make inaugural scalping a crime, but with less than one week to the transfer of power, it's doubtful that bill is going to become a law soon enough to count this time. John.
ROBERTS: It really is like the super bowl of politics but with only one participant, right?
ACOSTA: It's amazing that these tickets, especially for the parades and balls, are going for more than the NFC championship game. Now we have to keep in mind it is the Cardinals playing in the NFC championship game and we're talking about Barack Obama here, but that is an amazing fact.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's going to be great to be there in Washington next week. Jim, thanks so much. And on that note, be sure to join Kiran and me live from Washington. On Monday, we'll be up bright and early, beginning at 5:00 a.m. Eastern for a special coverage of the inauguration.
And not going to be near a television set on Tuesday, you can watch the inauguration on-line. CNN.com is teaming up with Facebook for a special in-depth coverage. Be a part of history by logging on to facebook.com/CNN.
