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Campbell Brown
The New Abortion Order; President Obama Criticizes Corporate Indulgence; The Obama Effect on African-Americans and Education; Former New Jersey Mayor Hounded Out by Hate; Obama Checks Out Air Force One
Aired January 23, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody.
The Obama White House just keeps unraveling the Bush White House.
Bullet point number one tonight: President Obama reverses another policy from the Bush era. But, unlike yesterday and the day before, the administration didn't want you to see this one being signed. It deals with abortion. We're going to tell you what it means. We will also look at how his staff is already trying to craft the image of a new leader.
And bullet point number two: The president takes a shot at corporate greed, as he prepares to spend more money bailing out Wall Street. He speaks out, just as we hear outrageous stories of lavish spending by the former head of Merrill Lynch.
And bullet point number three: He will never get bumped from this flight, at least while in office -- an amazing up-close view as the president gets his first look at the world's most sophisticated aircraft, Air Force One.
And bullet point number four: Does the president have the power to change more than government? Why some people are looking at what he could mean for a generation of African-American children when it comes to education. We will talk about that, too.
But, first, tonight, "Cutting Through The Bull."
Just a couple of nights ago, we heaped praise on the new president for announcing what he called a new era of openness, where in his administration transparency would rule the day and the lobbyists that he was so critical of during the campaign, well, he told us they will now face even tougher new restrictions.
Here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any -- under any other administration in history.
If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Now, that's what he said two days ago.
But, as we first told you last night -- and, sadly, we are learning more about this today -- President Obama already wants an exception to his own rule. You see, what happened is, there is this former lobbyist for a big defense contractor called Raytheon. His name is William Lynn. And President Obama wants him to be deputy defense secretary.
So, the Obama administration now wants a waiver to its own rule, which basically means it is saying, we will mostly put tough new restrictions on lobbyists, except when we won't.
Really? Is this how it's going to be? Please, please don't make us all any more cynical than we already are, Mr. President. If you have no intention of abiding by your new rules, then don't make new rules. That would be actual transparency.
We turn now to the very latest out of the White House. President Obama has made no secret that the economy is job one for his administration today. He was selling his stimulus plan to top Republicans and Democrats in a West Wing meeting.
The president confirmed he's added a daily briefing from a top economic adviser, as he looks for a way out of what he called an unprecedented crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I have asked Larry Summers to give me a daily economic intelligence briefing so that we are monitoring what's happening and, frankly, the news has not been good.
Each day brings, I think, greater focus on the problems that we're having, not only in terms of job loss but also in terms of some of the instabilities in the financial system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And, today, we learned that the president will head to Capitol Hill next week to make an in-person push for his stimulus plan, clearly, this White House wanting us to think it is all business with the economy as issue number one. But what is actually going on behind the scenes now?
Senior White House correspondent Ed Henry has been talking to his sources for us.
Ed, President Obama's message of the day couldn't be more clear, focused on the economy like a laser beam. He's ready and willing to work hard with Republicans. What came out of the meeting today? ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Campbell, it's interesting.
I just got off the phone with a couple of my sources, and we have got some new information this hour, which is that there was sort of a contentious moment in this behind-the-closed-door meeting. the president was trying to end the week on sort of a bipartisan tone, for the first time bringing in leaders of both parties, saying, look, we're going to work together on the economy.
He had a very optimistic tone, saying he thinks this will get done by mid-February and start helping consumers, this whole recovery package. And Republicans started raising some objections behind closed doors, saying they want to change some things.
And I'm told the president looked at their little checklist and said, look, I can agree with a lot of this. A lot of this is going to wind up in the bill, but other parts of it won't.
And you know why. He said -- quote -- "I won." And this is coming from Democratic and Republican officials in the room. The president said, "I won." Basically, "I won the election. So, at the end of the day, when it come down to these contentious provisions, I'm going get my way." I'm paraphrasing that part of it, obviously.
So, it is interesting that the president is trying to show this bipartisanship, but, at the same time, behind closed doors, he's playing a little bit of hardball to get his way, Campbell.
BROWN: And, Ed, the president took care of another really significant piece of business today. And it has to do with a fairly touchy issue, abortion, this time, though, no fanfare, no cameras. It is almost as if the White House didn't want attention on this. Explain what was going on there.
HENRY: Offers a very interesting window on how the White House, very early here, in the first week, is trying to control the message, trying to show him as a bipartisan figure.
This was a more partisan move, if you will. Basically, he signed a presidential memorandum that reversed a Bush policy that prohibited international family planning groups from using taxpayer money to promote abortion as an option. And so rather than bring in the TV cameras -- initially, told the media would come in and witness him signing this. But at the end, they said, no, actually, the media is not coming in.
He signed it behind closed doors, without the media, without any fanfare. And that's a sharp contrast to what he did earlier in the week. He made a big show about signing various executive orders, closing down Guantanamo Bay, the prison there, having this pay freeze on his high-paid White House staff.
He brought in the cameras for all that, but not this time. What's going on is, they realize this was a more contentious issue. It really frustrates a lot of conservatives on this issue of abortion, that he's coming out more liberal on it.
And so it is interesting because it shows that they're also doing it on a late Friday afternoon, when it will just be buried in sort of the Saturday morning newspapers. They want to control this message. And when it is something that makes him look more liberal, they want to bury it. When it is something that makes him look more bipartisan, like getting together with these Hill leaders on the economy, they put it front and center.
And that's the picture of the day they want to present to the American people -- Campbell.
BROWN: Sure is.
Ed Henry for us tonight on the stagecraft of what's happening at the White House -- Ed, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
HENRY: Thank you.
BROWN: Is it an ominous sign of things to come in the war on terror? As President Obama orders the prison at Gitmo to close, we're going to look at how at least one former detainee is already back in the fight.
Plus, is this the newest example of what's wrong with Wall Street? The behavior of CEOs like the man who ran Merrill Lynch is not going unnoticed by President Obama.
And, later, more secrets revealed. We're going to watch the new first passenger come face to face with his new plane. Fasten your seat belts.
We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Today in Washington, Senate Republicans pushed back against President Obama's new policy on Guantanamo Bay.
The resistance comes one day after the president signed an executive order to close the detention center within a year. Tonight, people are asking what will happen to the roughly 245 Gitmo prisoners if they're set free? Is there any way to guarantee they won't go straight back to the battlefield?
At least one former prisoner has done just that and gone on to become a top member of al Qaeda.
Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has been following his tracks. He's in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Qaeda is thumbing their nose at us with this video. Two of these guys spent time at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo and are now out and back at work. One of them, this guy, former prisoner 372, is probably the best example of why so many worry about what happens to the prisoners at Gitmo. His name is Abu Sayyaf Asdi Saeed Shihiri (ph). This deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen occurred a year after he was released.
The U.S. is certain he was the mastermind. There is a paper trail detailing his release from Guantanamo. The Gitmo gates opened for him because he claimed he was a Muslim, not a terrorist, and that he wanted to return to Saudi to work with his family, in their furniture business.
He was freed in November 2007.
(on camera): Once he got here to Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry put him in what's called a jihadi rehabilitation program. He would have attended classes with other jihadis, been lectured by government imams telling him it's wrong to kill, been screened by government psychiatrists to make sure he was safe for release. I know because I met a jihadi at the terror reeducation program.
(voice-over): He tried to blow himself up and kill Americans in Iraq. He failed, was patched up, medevaced home to Saudi Arabia. At the time, I wanted to know how he and the thousand others like him who have been through the program could be trusted to change. The answer from the government psychologist:
TURKI AL-OTAYAN, SAUDI GOVERNMENT PSYCHOLOGIST: We make sure that he understand the dialogue. We make sure that he's responding, not just lying. So, it is not easy job.
ROBERTSON: But prisoner number 372, Saeed Shihiri (ph), apparently lying. Soon after he finished his rehab here, he slipped into neighboring Yemen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: That was Nic Robertson reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
So, NO BIAS, NO BULL, is President Obama making a dangerous mistake by closing Guantanamo? Or is it more dangerous for the U.S. to keep it open?
It is a question for our experts tonight.
We have Jed Babbin, former undersecretary of defense for the first President Bush, CNN national security officer Peter Bergen with once again, and Daily Beast Web site columnist Reza Aslan, who is also the author of "No god But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future Of Islam."
Welcome, everybody.
Peter, let me start with you, because you actually have been to the rehabilitation camps in Saudi Arabia where some of the Gitmo detainees go once they're released. Give us your perspective here. Can a jihadist be rehabilitated? It seems like an awfully big risk to take.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Certainly, the Saudi government feels that way. You can't really accuse the Saudi government of being soft on terrorism. They have killed something like 150 terrorists since 2003. They have incarcerated thousands of them.
But they also believe that some people can be rehabilitated. And so this kind of rehabilitation program, hundreds of people have gone through it. The Saudis say the recidivism rate is low. They have had 75 Guantanamo detainees who have gone through the program and been released. Obviously, this guy al-Shiri is an example of somebody who wasn't, who was lying essentially.
But the enemy of the perfect is not the reasonably OK. And I think that this rehabilitation program, as a general proposition, which is also going on, by the way, in countries like Indonesia and Singapore, not only in Saudi Arabia, is a way to migrate people from violence to becoming members of the community. It's not perfect.
BROWN: And just give us a little sense for what it entails, actually, Peter.
BERGEN: Well, surprisingly, you know, it is art therapy, which you don't normally think of in the same sentence as terrorism.
But, you know, it's sitting down with psychologists. It's sitting down with clerics. You're in a prison, but it is a very comfortable prison. The people who go into the program are already out of a high- security prison into something more like a campus situation, where they have spent a lot of time talking to clerics, who say, you know, your ideas about jihad are wrong, et cetera.
It is experimental. This program is not perfect. But it is one way to migrate people out of this jihadi path.
BROWN: Jed, what do you make of this?
JED BABBIN, FORMER DEPUTY UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, I think it is a very optimistic and quite frankly not very reliable way to go.
Mr. al-Shiri is, according to my Pentagon sources, probably the 62nd person to be released from Guantanamo Bay to go back into the war. And we know at least 18 of them have been captured or killed since they went back to the battlefield.
You have people who have to be kept in confinement for the rest of their lives because they're dead-enders. There are some who can be rehabilitated. That's why we have released so many hundreds from Guantanamo Bay.
But what we're seeing now with Barack Obama is the great disparity between campaign rhetoric and reality. He has an executive order that leaves all sorts of flexible room. He's going to make changes. He's going to change his mind, I hope, because I don't believe deep down he wants to hurt America. Closing that camp and letting these guys go is exactly the way to do that. BROWN: Reza, what do you think?
REZA ASLAN, AUTHOR, "NO GOD BUT GOD: THE ORIGINS, EVOLUTION, AND FUTURE OF ISLAM": I think Jed is making the same argument that has been made for the last eight years and that has proven woefully inadequate.
The issue here isn't about what kind of possible short-term security gains we may or may not have by maintaining these prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. The issue is, is what kind of long-term security are we looking towards?
And the fact of the matter is, is that the possibility of having a handful of these people go back to the battlefield and I and I would say a lot of people in the intelligence community would question and have some skepticism about that number of 67.
BABBIN: Well...
ASLAN: But, regardless, having a number of these people out on the battlefield in and of itself is by no means, as Peter mentioned, an excuse to continue to absolutely damage, perhaps irreparably so, any hope of a long-term solution to a stable and secure relationship with the larger Arab world and the Middle East.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: And, Jed, you have certainly heard the arguments that these people can be tried and held prisoner indefinitely in the United States. They don't have to be at Gitmo, and, of course, the argument that it does more damage than good in terms of our reputation overseas.
(CROSSTALK)
BABBIN: What Aslan is saying is absolute nonsense.
The people in the Pentagon who know about this stuff know these guys, some of them, are dead-enders. The issue is not creating some short- term or long-term issue here. The issue is the long-term problem that these guys are a danger, and we know that they're a danger, and we know they go back to the battlefield and kill people.
I would like to know who wants to stand next to the mother of a dead Marine who was killed by one of these guys?
BROWN: But, Jed, with all due respect, I don't think anybody disagrees with you on that point.
BABBIN: Well, apparently, Aslan does.
BROWN: I think the question is, is, why do you think Guantanamo is the only place that they could possibly be kept safe?
BABBIN: Well, I'm saying...
BROWN: Or safe from everybody else?
BABBIN: Well, what I'm saying is two things.
Number one, if you bring them into the United States, they're going to end up in the civilian criminal courts. They are unable to handle situations like this, because the classified information on which conviction of these guys relies can't be let out in a civilian court, or you end up having our intelligence sources killed.
BROWN: Peter...
BERGEN: That is nonsensical. We have had...
(CROSSTALK)
BABBIN: Oh, it is absolutely true.
BERGEN: Hold on a second.
We had many, many terrorist trials in this country. Terrorists, when they're tried in this country, they go away forever.
BABBIN: Not foreign terrorists.
(CROSSTALK)
BERGEN: Yes, the embassy bombing trial, four people convicted, life without parole, the first World Trade Center attack, Ramzi Yousef, 240 years in prison.
BABBIN: Those people were not captured...
BROWN: But let Peter make his point. Let Peter make his point.
Go ahead.
BERGEN: The second point on the Pentagon -- the number of people who the Pentagon say have returned to the battlefield, they use the number 61.
Well, if you actually look at the names that they have released, there are now seven named terrorists who could possibly be construed to have gone back to the battlefield. The Pentagon returning to the battlefield things like getting involved in propaganda activities against the United States.
Well, if I had been incarcerated in Guantanamo for eight years, I might have a negative view of the United States. So, the actual recidivism rate of the Guantanamo releasees in reality is about 1 percent.
Of course, that's too much. But the previous policies have been a moral catastrophe for the United States and its reputation around the world. We can either choose to be a sort of totalitarian regime that locks up people forever or...
BABBIN: Oh, please.
(CROSSTALK)
BABBIN: If I can get a word in here, Campbell...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Very quickly, Jed. We're out of time, but go ahead.
BABBIN: The law of war since the founding of the United States permits us -- and the Supreme Court has said in the Hamdan case we can keep these guys in administrative detention indefinitely. As long as they're an identified threat, we have to.
BROWN: Well, the president disagrees with you, Jed.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: So, unfortunately, you're not going to get your way, at Well, for the foreseeable future.
But it was a great discussion. Many thanks, gentlemen. We have got to end it there.
BABBIN: Thank you.
BROWN: Coming up: from the white knight of Wall Street to the face of corporate greed, the spectacular fall of John Thain.
And then later:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: He sounded so wonderful at the inauguration, so why are some people comparing Yo-Yo Ma to Milli Vanilli?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Now a man closer look at the man who reportedly burned through more than a million dollars in company funds to decorate his office while Merrill Lynch itself was on fire.
The reported extravagance of former Merrill CEO John Thain, who was forced out of his new job at Bank of America yesterday, is only the latest outrageous example of corporate ignorance, arrogance, and, well, just plain greed. This kind of behavior is not illegal, but clearly it irritates a lot of us, including President Obama.
He spoke out about this in the context of how to spend the rest of the Wall Street bailout money. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: Some of the reports that we've seen over the last couple of days about companies that have received taxpayer assistance then going out and renovating bathrooms or offices or in other ways not managing those dollars appropriately, the lack of accountability and transparency in how we are managing some of these programs to stabilize the financial system. And a recent GAO report that speaks to some of the problems of waste in our government -- those all have to be part and parcel of a reform package if we're going to be responsible in dealing with this economic crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Now, we should point out that Thain's office makeover did occur before any bailout money was released, but it took billions of federal dollars for Bank of America to buy out what was left of Merrill Lynch and prevent its total collapse.
We want to bring in chief business correspondent Ali Velshi on this right now.
And, Ali, Thain would be the latest in a long list of corporate greed CEOs, I guess, but he wasn't always looked at that way, right?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. And that's the sad part, because John Thain was thought of as a white knight. This is -- he was thought to be one of the smartest guys around.
He was the chief operating officer, the president and the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs, the gold standard of investment banks on Wall Street. Then he went over to the New York Stock Exchange, what had been reeling because of Dick Grasso and a pay package scandal at the New York Stock Exchange.
He came in to clean that place up. He automated it. He brought it into the 21st century. And then, when the banks were in trouble, when Merrill Lynch was in trouble, he was on the short list for Merrill Lynch. He was on the short list to head Citigroup. They brought him into Merrill Lynch. In 2007, this man earned $83 million in total compensation, because it was thought he was the guy who was going to save the operation.
He sold Merrill Lynch to Bank of America to save it from heading into bankruptcy. He was really the white knight, Campbell.
BROWN: So, Ali, how does a guy like this become then the latest poster boy for Wall Street greed? How did the downturn take place?
VELSHI: I don't know where greed sets in, whether it started early with him. I think, if I got $83 million, I would be OK with not pushing for all that much more. But I suppose you always want more.
It was interesting to see what happened, if you look at the pattern. He moves into Merrill Lynch. I would assume the CEO's office at Merrill Lynch was pretty nicely appointed, but he goes ahead with $1.2 million reportedly of renovations to that office, some outrageous expenditures. Then -- we reported on this -- that day that he wanted a $10 bonus from Merrill Lynch for saving it from going into bankruptcy and selling it to Bank of America. And then it is reported now that just days before the official takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, he pushed through what might be three to four million dollars -- I'm sorry -- billion dollars worth of bonuses, just so that it would get through and those executives would be paid. It's a bad story, Campbell.
BROWN: Wow.
Ali Velshi with all the details for us -- Ali, thanks.
Coming up: a fascinating study that we're all talking about. It's called, I guess, the Obama effect. Is President Obama so inspiring that he could close the black-white achievement gap for students? We're going to look at the provocative new study that suggests exactly that.
And then later, what do Milli Vanilli, Ashlee Simpson and Yo-Yo Ma have in common? Wait until you hear this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It is called the Obama effect, the theory that the election of the first African-American president could actually cause black students to do better in school, get better grades, score higher on tests.
Well, today, a new study suggests the Obama effect may already be happening. Should we believe it? There's a lot of questions swirling around about this.
So, we asked Tom Foreman to put it to the NO BULL test.
Tom, what did you find out?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Campbell, it's an intriguing situation.
Black students as a group tend to perform worse than white students on tests. The puzzling thing is, this happens even when the African- American students know as much as the whites, have been taught the material, teachers have verified that they understand it, but some still can't deliver it well on tests.
Sociologists say one reason is the stereotype threat. They say some black students are so worried about making their race look bad, they get distracted and their test scores suffer. The same thing happens with women on math tests. That's what they call the stereotype threat.
So, the question, can an Obama effect counter that? When Obama won the presidency, African-American students proclaimed a new age of confidence. Just listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me personally, I think we are little Obamas, because, like he made change, we are making change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Well, little did they know that researchers from San Diego State, Northwestern and Vanderbilt were measuring the Obama effect.
They lined up almost 500 adults of equal education levels, a mix of blacks and whites, and gave them four online tests on four different days.
On two of those days, when Obama was just generally in the news, campaigning, that sort of thing, the blacks scored lower than the whites.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY FRIEDMAN, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: But, in conditions where Obama was very, very prominent, right after the convention speech, right after his election, things changed for black respondents. Their performance increased, to the point where there was no difference between black and white respondents on the tests we gave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: So was this a short-term thing or did researchers see any sort of lasting effect here, Tom? Or do we know?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems to be short term, in fact, Campbell, very short term. There doesn't seem to be any kind of lasting effect that they can measure so far. Without the intense spotlight shining on Obama, the old worries about stereotypes seem to take over again. And the scores fail again, Campbell.
BROWN: And Tom, this was a fairly small number of people, limited numbers of tests. Can you really draw these sorts of conclusions from it?
FOREMAN: Conclusions, no. Remember, we're talking in generalities here. Anyway, any given person, black or white, may be brilliant. We know that and they may be unaffected by all of this. But, Friedman says his sample was big enough that we should look at it that there is something here worth examining, a little bit more closely, as a possible key to solving a long-standing general problem for educators -- Campbell.
BROWN: Tom Foreman for us tonight. Tom, thanks.
So we want to dig a little deeper into this. We've got two guests who were on the front lines of education reform to talk about this. Jabali Sawicki is the founder and principal of a charter school for boys in Brooklyn, and most of his students are African-American. Kevin Chavous helped start the charter school movement in the District of Columbia and he is a former D.C. city councilman and was on the Obama campaign to education policy committee. Chavous is also the author of "Serving Our Children: Charter Schools and the Reform of American Public Education."
Welcome gentlemen.
KEVIN CHAVOUS, CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM: Good evening.
BROWN: Jabali, let me start with you here. You're a principal and you say you've seen the Obama effect firsthand. Give us some examples. I know it's anecdotal but tell us what you mean.
JABALI SAWICKI, CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDING PRINCIPAL: So the -- what Obama represents for children across this country is hope. And a definition of hope that all of us as educators need to be focused on is this notion of optimism and self-identity and understanding that with a black president, our scholars can achieve at the highest levels.
Jonathan Mayor is a kindergarten scholar and our dart (ph) in this classroom. In a small reading group on the eve of Obama being inaugurated, he raised his hand and said his skin color is the same as mine, I can be president. And optimism has been proven via studies as a number one indicator of success in life, and Obama is a face of concrete and tangible example of this hope and optimism that we have to make sure we get across to our scholars.
BROWN: Kevin, is there a danger here that people will see this, hear this, a study like this and think, OK, there we go, the problem is solved. Obama is president. Black students are excelling. Let's move on to other issues.
CHAVOUS: Well, Campbell, first of all, I want to congratulate Jabali for his work with our children. And there's no question that the president is a transformative figure. He inspires many people particularly African-Americans, but the danger is when we overstate the significance of his presence in the White House. I mean, keep in mind that the black/white achievement gap didn't get here overnight. And as the president said when he gave his inaugural address, we are the change that we're looking for and it's going to take all of us, assuming personal responsibility for all of the problems of this country to make a difference.
And in education, frankly, it's going to take hard work. I mean, we have to do the tough duty to make sure that there's change in public education. We have to explode this one size fits all paradigm, and we have to meet parents where they are.
BROWN: Right. Kevin, does a study like this, though, does it make you question I guess what's really behind the black/white achievement gap in terms of what role everything plays? Does confidence play a bigger role versus economics, versus resources and quality of teachers? I mean, how do you to make that determination?
CHAVOUS: Well, the study, you know, it is too early to draw any measured conclusions. I will say, though, that it is clear that, you know, confidence is an issue. We can't ignore that. But you know, just downright hard work and a change in the culture of many of these schools so that, you know, in neighborhoods where there is the most need, you have the best teachers, the best resources, you have school autonomy, parents have choices in terms of where they send their kids to school. I mean, these are issues that have largely been ignored by many major school districts.
And I can tell you, if we put too much significance in these preliminary findings, what it will do is will overblow the significance of the president being there as oppose to us rolling up our sleeves and fixing schools.
BROWN: And doing the work.
Jabali, clearly, though, there is this burst of excitement, hope and optimism as you say surrounding the election of Obama. It will fade with time inevitably.
SAWICKI: Absolutely.
BROWN: So how do you capitalize on this moment to take advantage of that over the long term?
SAWICKI: The reality is at a school like Excellence Charter School which is taking a population of African-American males, which have historically been the lowest performing population in the country, for the past five years, we as a school have been able to have our scholars consistently outperform the city average, the district average, the state average, and the white student average. And the reality is we at excellence have 40 Obamas in the classroom, and he is the symbol of great teaching and inspiration. So every teacher at our school has the ability to get kids excited about reading, to believe that college is a matter of when and not if, and we need to find ways to seize the momentum. But I agree with Kevin, there's a lot of work to be done and there are schools out there that have replicated the Obama effect.
We have to understand what is happening in the classrooms. Whatever the Obama effect is, scholars have that in them. He brought it out of them.
BROWN: Right.
SAWICKI: We as teachers, educators need to figure out exactly what it is and find a way to nurture it and bring it out every single day.
BROWN: Well, interesting stuff to ponder here and a lot of work to do as you said.
Jabali Sawicki and Kevin Chavous, thanks so much, guys. Appreciate your time tonight.
CHAVOUS: Thank you.
SAWICKI: Thank you, Campbell. Thank you, Kevin.
BROWN: In just a moment, a predator swooping in with an extortion scheme aimed at John Travolta. This is just as his son had died. As for the plotters, you're not going to believe what they're accused of trying to do. We'll have that story when we come back.
First, though, an African-American mayor in a small New Jersey town steps down. Why? Too dangerous. He and his family are the targets of racial hatred, vandalism, even death threats.
It's a story you're going to be hearing a lot more about. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Americans would like to think that this week's inauguration signaled the end of racial barriers in this country. Well, it did not. In fact, a disturbing case in one small town proves that racism can still have a chilling effect.
Our David Mattingly has a stark example of hate and we want to warn you in order to tell the full story, you're going to hear language that many consider deeply offensive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT: Congratulations, Mr. President.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One year before Barack Obama's historic inauguration, Charles Tyson was making some history of his own. He was quietly sworn in as the first African-American mayor of tiny South Harrison, New Jersey, a big moment in a very white small town.
CHARLES TYSON, FORMER MAYOR: And my family was beside me, we all hugged. It was a great moment.
MATTINGLY (on camera): How long did those good feelings last?
TYSON: Not that long.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Before Tyson could do anything in office, he was hit with something he never knew existed here, hate. A defaced campaign sign appeared in front of his home with an unmistakable message.
TYSON: They painted in red KKK and one in the other side is painted nigger.
MATTINGLY: South Harrison rallied around its mayor. They put up a $20,000 reward for the person who planted the sign. But no one came forward and then things got worse.
Bill White, one of the country's most notorious white supremacists, whose Web site once displayed a picture of Barack Obama in the cross hairs, allegedly contacted Tyson.
(on camera): He knew where you lived. TYSON: Right.
MATTINGLY: He knew your wife's name.
TYSON: Right.
MATTINGLY: He knew your phone number.
TYSON: Right.
MATTINGLY: Your Internet address.
TYSON: Absolutely.
MATTINGLY: He knew everything about you.
TYSON: Yes, he did.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): A federal indictment says White called Tyson's wife and e-mailed him, calling him unworthy to govern over any white man, and hoping to see the day when white men could run black officials out with tar and feathers.
MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: There are many people who have been badly frightened by Bill White and the New Jersey mayor is not the only one of them.
MATTINGLY (on camera): White is also accused of posting the address of a federal juror, allegedly attempting to encourage someone to do the juror harm.
(voice-over): White is now in federal custody and his lawyer defends his words to Charles Tyson and others with the First Amendment.
NISHAY SANAN, ATTORNEY FOR BILL WHITE: There is no threat in the communication that he sends to the mayor. They're trying to pick and choose Mr. White's words to make it look like a threat.
MATTINGLY: But White's words did have an effect on Tyson. Fearing for himself and his family, Tyson quit as mayor, to take a lower profile town council position. And he's now worried about another history maker.
Are you concerned about what might happen to Barack Obama?
TYSON: Very much so. Very much so.
MATTINGLY: Because of your experience?
TYSON: Very much. Racism was here yesterday, it's here today and it's going to be here tomorrow.
MATTINGLY: Tyson plans to testify in a federal case against White, but says he no longer has the ambition for higher office.
David Mattingly, CNN, South Harrison, New Jersey. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And still ahead tonight, the oath of office wasn't the only do-over from the inauguration. We'll explain whether or not the famed Yo-Yo Ma may have faked out a worldwide audience. We'll tell you about that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A lot more ahead. First, though, Joe Johns has tonight's "Briefing" -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Campbell, an ugly twist in the death of John Travolta's son. Two people are under arrest in the Bahamas accused of trying to extort money from Travolta after 16-year- old Jett Travolta died there three weeks ago. The suspects are a local lawmaker and a paramedic who claims he tried to revive the teenager.
And after more than a week under water, the missing engine from US Airways Flight 1549 was lifted out of New York's Hudson River this afternoon. NTSB investigators have already found evidence of birds hitting the other engine.
BROWN: All right, Joe Johns for us tonight. Joe, thanks.
And coming up next, watch what happens as President Obama checks out the ultimate first class ride.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: As we head into the first weekend of the Obama presidency, it is time to reveal yet another secret of the White House. Tonight, Air Force One, the mythical jet of the commander in chief. There are two Air Force Ones in service right now, both Boeing 747s. And our Randi Kaye gives us a very rare look inside, using video from an upcoming special on the National Geographic Channel. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's as tall as a six- story building and longer than a hockey rink. It's also President Barack Obama's newest means of transportation, Air Force One.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, sir. Good afternoon. Nice to meet you.
OBAMA: Good to see you. You're the pilot of Air Force One.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. It will be my pleasure to serve you as the pilot.
OBAMA: You know, I got to say you're out of central Kansas. You're exactly what I want a pilot of Air Force One to look like.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you sir.
OBAMA: You look like you know how to fly. Like Sam Shepherd (ph) and the right stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much, sir.
KAYE: That's Mr. Obama stepping inside the plane for the first time. He was flying from Chicago to Washington before the inauguration. National Geographic's documentary about Air Force One captured the moment.
PETER SCHNALL, PRODUCER: He was as excited as his staff who had already boarded the plane and were sort of like kids in a candy shop in a sense.
KAYE (on camera): The documentary focuses on Air Force One, who and what it takes to move the president around the world. Obama's flight took place in the final days of shooting, so the film crew witnessed the on board transition too. Every new president gets a new pilot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Air Force One can't eject.
KAYE (voice-over): Colonel Mark Tillman flew President Bush on Air Force One for eight years.
COL. MARK TILLMAN, FMR. AIR FORCE ONE PILOT: He has the ability to run the country from Air Force One, so he has everything that's available in the White House that's available to him in 45,000 feet.
KAYE: Including a gourmet meal though Obama, stuck with the basics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to serve dinner tonight. Not sure if you had dinner already. This is the menu we have available for you.
OBAMA: See how you guys do it for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By all means.
OBAMA: And cheddar cheese if you got cheddar cheese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, you know I got --
OBAMA: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheddar cheese?
OBAMA: Cheddar cheese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have it.
OBAMA: And I think if you have some Dijon mustard, that's what I'm going to take.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Dijon or Grey Poupon?
OBAMA: That's fine. And lettuce and tomato. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
OBAMA: All right. That's it. If you have like salad or vegetables or something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. No fries or anything like that.
OBAMA: I'll still take the fries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
KAYE (on camera): Will President Obama be able to exercise on board?
TILLMAN: The president has the capability to exercise on the aircraft. He can watch football games, sporting events. He's big on watching sporting events. We've got that capability.
KAYE: No basketball court for Obama.
TILLMAN: No basketball court. But he'll have the ability to ride a bike or something, something small up in his office, for sure.
KAYE (voice-over): An hour and a half later, when Obama touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, he said his goodbyes to the crew, told them he'd see them in a couple of weeks after he was sworn in.
SCHNALL: You could sort of feel this sort of air of awe I think even in him, because he was very quiet as he walked out and his face kind of very quiet.
KAYE: A rare moment of peace, perhaps, to soak up the wonder of it all.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: That is fascinating stuff. "On Board Air Force One" airs this Sunday, January 25th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on National Geographic Channel.
Tonight, new items on store shelves that have Michelle Obama pretty angry. These dolls. She is way unhappy about the manufacturer cashing in on her daughters.
The first mom protecting her children. That's coming up, part of the "Political Daily Briefing" right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: What would Friday be without another blustering news conference with disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. You remember him.
The feds say he tried to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. Well, his impeachment trial gets under way on Monday, which gave the governor the excuse he needed to gather reporters today and complain that the rules aren't fair. Actually the analogy he used is a whole lot more colorful than that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS: There was an old saying in the old west. There was a cowboy who was charged with stealing a horse in town and some of the other cowboys, especially the guy whose horse was stolen were very unhappy with that guy. One of the cowboys said let's hang him. And the other cowboy said, hold on. Before we hang him, let's first give him a fair trial, then we'll hang him.
Under these rules, I'm not even getting a fair trial. They're just hanging me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: As if the governor doesn't have enough problems, CNN has confirmed that his lead defense attorney in the criminal case is quitting. As we said, his impeachment trial starts on Monday.
And they've had almost as much fun filling the U.S. Senate vacancy in New York. And to tell us who finally got the job, Erica Hill is here with the "Political Daily Briefing."
Hi, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This very famous Senate seat at this point across the country, it has been a long time coming. And we can tell you while it is not Caroline Kennedy, Governor Paterson's choice still has managed to ruffle some feathers in the Empire State.
Give way to conservative Upstate Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Several prominent Democrats are backing this appointment, but Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy called it a very bad choice.
Now, of course, we should point out here McCarthy did push to get the job for herself. One major sticking point for her, Gillibrand has the backing of the NRA. McCarthy is a strong advocate for gun control.
There were though some nice light moments at today's announcement, especially when we learned that the president had apparently been burning out the soon-to-be senator's cell phone. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DAVID PATERSON (D), NEW YORK: President Obama is trying to reach our senator in waiting and --
REP. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), NEW YORK: Sorry.
PATERSON: That was what I was -- I hope someone else talked to him in the interim. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The two did eventually. She wasn't ignoring the president, Campbell. Just a little busy.
BROWN: He's got a load on her plate.
New information on the inauguration too, yet new secrets revealed about what we didn't hear on Tuesday. Apparently some lip synching, although not quite the right word.
HILL: It's not really lip synching but I'm not sure what else you call it when it's a string instrument. So we'll call string lip synching perhaps.
It turns out it was just too cold for those string instruments and even for the clarinet to stay in tune. So the "New York Times" now reporting that a recording was made earlier in the week in case the mercury dipped too low. This was not a total Ashley Simpson event here though, folks. The musicians were actually playing, but it turns out only the people right next to them could hear it. Everybody else in the stands and on the mall heard the recording.
That's one reason, by the way, Campbell, I don't know if you noticed during the concert on Sunday, the musicians were playing black violins and cellos...
BROWN: Right.
HILL: ... because they're made of carbon and those instruments can withstand these temperature changes although they don't sound exactly the same as a wooden instrument.
BROWN: Who knew?
HILL: Fascinating stuff.
BROWN: Other big news on Chachkis (ph), I mean everything Obama was for sale when we were down there for inauguration. Everything. But apparently, there is something that has emerged, Obama-inspired, that has Mrs. Obama, the first lady, very upset.
HILL: Absolutely. She's not happy about it at all which is what we hear. Ty, which is the company behind those beanie babies from the '90s that you might remember, well, they have two new dolls on the market.
Marvelous Malia and Sweet Sasha. Interesting name choices. Also, we should point out these two dolls are the only two African-American dolls out of a collection of 30.
Don't jump to any conclusions here, though. A Ty exec told CNN the names are beautiful and "worked very well with the dolls we were making." Asked for whether the Obama girls were the inspiration for these dolls, that same executive hesitated when speaking with one of our colleagues for several seconds before saying the company's development process was considered "proprietary."
Mrs. Obama, however, doesn't seem to be buying those answers. In a statement released by the first lady's spokeswoman, she said, "We believe it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes," something, Campbell, that probably most mothers would agree with.
BROWN: I'm with her on this.
HILL: Me too.
BROWN: Erica Hill for us tonight. Have a good weekend. Nice to see you.
HILL: Thank you.
BROWN: Tonight's "Cutting Through the Bull" looked at exceptions to the new administration's ethics rules, but the new president says everyone in his administration needs to take an ethics class. Coming up, a "NO BIAS, NO BULL" preview of Ethics 101, what it really means. We'll have that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: President Obama said this week "the way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable." Now we have talked about holding the new administration accountable on ethics rules but tonight the Obama White House does get our "Bull's-Eye" for actually requiring staffers to go to ethics school. So we wanted to know just what that means, how it works.
And national political correspondent Jessica Yellin has been digging into this for us all day. So Jessica, what exactly does one learn in ethics school?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Campbell, if you are a White House staffer working for Obama, you would have gone to a multi-hour question and answer session in their ethics class where you would have learned a lot of the rules that have been the same for administrations for years. For example, one of the rules is you cannot accept gifts that are worth more than $20.
There are no political calls allowed from your office phones. You got to do that on a separate phone. But there are also some new rules that the Obama team put in place. For example, his staffers also had to agree not to accept any gifts from lobbyists, that they'll hire people based on their ability, not just because they're loyal. And also if you leave, you can't lobby your old White House buddies for the entire time Obama is in office -- Campbell.
BROWN: And Jessica, we know President Obama has taken this class. Who else has to do it?
YELLIN: Well, everyone in every position from the top to the bottom. In fact, we're told that anyone who didn't take the class last week has been buttonholed corner by the White House lawyers who are walking around the White House talking to anyone who hasn't already taken it. They all have to pass. And the last thing is, I'm told, the general rule is in the White House, they're saying if it's fun, you can't do it -- Campbell.
BROWN: Jessica Yellin, that is it for us tonight.
"LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now. Have a good weekend.
