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American Morning
President Obama to Meet with Republicans to Discuss His Economic Stimulus Package; Obama Sends a Message to Muslims Around the World; Gates to Discuss Pentagon's Challenges and Priorities; Israel May Have Failed Its Objectives on Hamas; The West Wing Revealed; Blagojevich's Big Day with the News Media
Aired January 27, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking news. The president directly addressing the Muslim world.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.
CHETRY: An exclusive interview with Arab television as his new Mideast envoy faces an old problem head-on.
OBAMA: What I told him is start by listening.
CHETRY: Plus, super mom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a truly, truly amazing delivery.
CHETRY: A woman gives birth to eight babies stunning doctors who only expected seven on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Just after six, who's counting, right? They're seven. We got eight.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Except with you, you only have one at a time.
CHETRY: Yes. And that's how I hope to keep it. God bless her. Eight babies and I guess this would be the first surviving if all eight of them make it through that we've had.
ROBERTS: Yes. So far they look like they're pretty good. Two of them are on ventilators, one receiving oxygen. They all weigh between I think one pound, eight ounces, and three pounds four ounces. But so far, it seems so good, you know.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: So we'll see how it goes from here on.
CHETRY: Congratulations. Eight car seats. I don't know where you fit them in. Anyway, it's Tuesday, January 27. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: Thanks for being with us. Let's get right to it.
Americans are not your enemy. President Barack Obama delivering that message directly to the Muslim world in his first television interview from the White House. The interview was not with an American network, but with a correspondent from Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite network.
The president telling his Muslim audience that the United States will continue its vigorous pursuit of terrorists, but will do so while respecting the rule of law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You will, I think, see our administration be very clear in distinguishing between organizations like al-Qaeda that espouse violence, espouse terror and act on it, and people who may disagree with my administration and certain actions or may have a particular viewpoint in terms of how their countries should develop. We can have legitimate disagreements but still be respectful. I cannot respect terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians, and we will hunt them down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: During the campaign, the president pledged to improve relations with the Muslim world. He also said that he would give a speech from the Muslim capital within the first 100 days of his administration. No word on where that might be yet. We'll have much more on his interview with Al-Arabiya coming up this morning.
This morning federal investigators looking in to claims that a man from New Zealand bought a used MP3 player containing confidential U.S. military files. The man says he bought the device last year in Oklahoma for $9, but a few weeks ago, he plugged it into his computer to download a song and discovered that it contains cell phone numbers of U.S. soldiers, home addresses and Social Security numbers.
Pentagon officials tell CNN that they are aware of the story. Coming up this morning, why some experts say protecting sensitive information is a growing problem in this nation.
A deadly winter storm right now barreling across much of the Midwest disrupting travel plans, ice coating roadways and runways from Arkansas to Missouri, grounding flights and making roads pretty much impassible. So far at least five deaths have been blamed on slick conditions. Tonight, the storm marches east. New York's major airports now bracing for up to five inches of snow.
CHETRY: Turning now to breaking news, and President Obama calling for quick action on his economic stimulus plan. In just a few hours, the president will be meeting with Republican lawmakers hoping to narrow political differences on the eve of the critical House vote. His dire push not a moment too soon.
Yesterday, we saw just a rash of pink slips. Some of America's biggest employers eliminating more than 70,000 jobs. And right now, Mr. Obama is anxious to put his man at the treasury to work. Timothy Geithner sworn in yesterday and his job, fix the economy and fix it fast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congratulations, Tim. You've got your work cut out for you as I think everybody knows. But you also have my full confidence, my deepest trust, my unyielding belief that we can rise to achieve what is required of us at this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House for us. Tell us more about the meeting today between Mr. -- President Obama as well as the House lawmakers. Is it to show or at least put forth the appearance of bipartisanship, or is there the possibility he could sway some minds?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, you know, on the House side, you have Republican John Boehner and on the Senate side, you've got John McCain. And obviously what he's trying to do is he's got to sit down and convince the Republicans that this is a good idea.
It's a really tough sell, Kiran, but he's very good when it comes to behind the scenes, when it comes to turning on kind of the charm offensive. He has done it before. He was successful before.
The idea here is that even if he doesn't get their support, at least he's showing that he's trying. He's including the Republicans. And at the very least, they want to at least have a number that it looks like there are some Republicans on board, that it's not completely partisan. They don't want to have this passed and have it just be the Democrats on board. So he's trying to chip away just a little bit if he can for some of those Republicans.
And Tim Geithner, as you mentioned before, the treasury secretary, he's going to be rolling out something today, some new rules, accountability when it comes to the economic stimulus package, the money and how the dollars are going to be followed and tracked. That's the kind of thing that the Republicans want to see.
CHETRY: You know, we're also hearing some of the Republicans saying, look, you know, Barack Obama promises to be a pork free stimulus and we're looking at things like $21 million for sod on the National Mall. How will they be able to be convinced and what may we see fall by the wayside if it is, indeed, passed?
MALVEAUX: There are a couple of things that are already starting to happen. You see some pressure that are being put on the Democrats to take a look at some of those pork items, take a look at what's in this big, big package. And one thing that they took away was the $200 million that were going towards contraceptives, family planning. The government money was going to be used for that. That's something that Republicans were already crying foul.
They're going to take that out of the stimulus package. And so that's one of the things that they're looking at what are these areas, kind of these hot button areas that we can actually accommodate the Republicans and without actually taking a look at some of the bigger issues like deeper tax cuts, things like that.
But Kiran, I have to tell you last Friday, Barack Obama when he was in that meeting with Republicans here at the White House, they said we want deeper tax cuts. He said, well, you know, I won. You know, he's the president, I won. Joking a little bit but also pretty serious here that he's pushing for with the main things, the major things that he believes are going to be good for the economy in this $825 billion economic stimulus package.
CHETRY: We're going through the motion, but technically he doesn't need the Republicans on board to make it happen, right?
MALVEAUX: Well, that's right. I mean, he's going to try as much as possible to get them on board, but, yes, you know, with the Democratic support already, I mean, this is something that they believe that he's going to have on his desk in a couple of weeks. But wouldn't it be nice is the thinking to have both Republicans and Democrats, at least a respectable number, signing on to this, as well.
CHETRY: All right. Suzanne Malveaux out for us early and in the snow this morning. Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business" this morning and dressed appropriately in black as we talk about the potential for more job cuts today. But first of all, the stimulus package.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
ROBERTS: With the way that it's written now, how long does it take to kick start the economy because there's some dispute on that?
ROMANS: There's absolutely some dispute and there are some really important goals the White House has set that critics would say are too optimistic. The CBO says that maybe 65 percent of the stimulus would be spent by the end of fiscal 2010. What we know is that what people would feel first if this thing goes through is whatever is going to be the tax cut in your paycheck, if they can get a tax cut as a gradual tax cut that every paycheck you feel a little bit more money in there, that's something that could get into the economy right away. That would be the first thing you would feel.
And then there would be some noticeable job creation probably right away, a lot of economists are telling me, with the bulk of job creation coming over a couple of years. So you would notice right away some hiring. And the Democrats say addressing their critics that this is slow moving, big government stimulus. You know, Democrats that they are shovel-ready infrastructure programs right now, things that are projects ready to go on the books right now. So you would start to see things right away.
You know, how well it works, Ken Rogoff (ph) at Harvard, somebody who actually predicted the demise of a big investment bank right before it happened, he told me some people, look, they believe we need more tax cuts and that's the best way. Some people really believe more spending. I know we don't know, and we won't know until it's done.
ROBERTS: On the job front, yesterday is being dubbed Black Monday because of the number of jobs that we lost.
ROMANS: Yes, of course. 75,000.
ROBERTS: Is today going to be a Black Tuesday as well?
ROMANS: I think and everyone that I talked to says that these companies are going to use their earnings reports to announce big job cuts. American Express announced job cuts when it reported its earnings after the bell, after this program had completed, after the closing bell. We'll see this for the next couple of weeks.
I don't know if we're going to see 71,000. I don't know if that was just an anomaly, but it was a pretty horrible day yesterday. I think people should be prepared that as those earnings reports come out, you're going to hear more job cuts.
CHETRY: A little tiny bright spot...
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: We're going to be talking about a little bit later in our show some of the areas that are not shedding jobs and in fact the opposite, that there are possibilities for you to enter a new workforce and not even necessarily to go to college.
ROMANS: And there are some things you can do in your job or if you just job lost your job, there are some really important first steps to take, too. So we'll have that.
ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to that.
ROMANS: Great.
ROBERTS: Thanks. Some good news for a change.
The downturn of the economy is affecting so many of us and we want to hear how you're dealing with it. Record a message and send it to us. Just head to CNN.com/am and click on iReport.
And stick around, coming up at 50 minutes after the hour, we're looking at the emotional impact of companies downsizing. We're going to be talking with psychologist Jeff Gardere about how to handle the stress and anxieties you or someone in your family braces for a layoff or is dealing with one right now -- Kiran. CHETRY: Well, also new this morning, one of the country's elite universities feeling the effects of the recession. Brandeis University in Massachusetts closing its renowned Rose Art Museum and auctioning off its entire collection of modern art, some 6,000 pieces. The president says that the decision was painful but necessary for the school's survival. The collection's estimated value could top $350 million. The 48-year-old museum is expected to close this summer.
The Senate voting to postpone the changeover from analog to digital TV. Lawmakers approving a four month delay until June 12th. It's estimated more than six million American households still are not ready for the currently scheduled changeover that was supposed to happen in three weeks.
You may have seen a lot of those commercials on television saying the change was going to happen in January. Well, the House is considering similar legislation and a bill could come out of Congress as early as today.
Also, just a remarkable delivery in Southern California. A woman giving birth to octuplets. Eight babies, six boys and two girls. The babies were born nine weeks premature. The hospital scheduled a C- section for seven babies, but doctors say they were surprised by the eighth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All live born, very vigorous. It was a truly, truly amazing delivery. The babies are currently in stable condition. All the babies' weights were from 1 1/2 pounds up to three pounds and four ounces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, this is not the first time a mother has delivered octuplets. The first bundle born in Houston back in 1998. One of the infants did die about a week later. The surviving siblings, the seven of them just celebrated their 10th birthday in December, John.
ROBERTS: You know what's really incredible about all of this? She says that she's going to breastfeed all of them.
ROMANS: No.
ROBERTS: Yes, yes.
ROMANS: Well, she's not going to be sleeping, I know that. I have one baby and I can't sleep.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: I cannot imagine that.
ROMANS: Wow.
ROBERTS: My goodness. President Obama giving his first television interview on Arab TV sending a message to Muslims around the world. Hear what the president said and how his message is being received.
And two former presidents reflect on their time in office and reveal their greatest regrets.
It's 11 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." President Obama's new Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, is headed to the region on an eight-day peace making mission. Mitchell will try to solidify the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. There are reports of new fighting in Gaza overnight, the first since the cease fire was declared earlier this month.
Meantime, President Obama gives his first television interview since taking office and he give it is to the Arab cable network Al-Arabiya based in Dubai. Mr. Obama talking in effect directly to the Muslim world telling his audience that Americans are not the enemy and pledging his administration will offer a hand of friendship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the world being in the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The largest one.
OBAMA: The largest one, Indonesia. And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith, and America is a country of Muslim, Jews, Christian, nonbelievers, regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams. And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.
My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Suzanne Malveaux is live at the White House for us again this morning. And Suzanne, the president sending a message that improving relations with the Arab world is going to be a top priority of his administration. Some people might say wait a minute, shouldn't the economy be your top priority. Is he just trying to show here that he can do more than one thing at one time?
MALVEAUX: John, you actually heard that during the campaign. He often said this is really a perfect time to do this because he really is trying to set a different type of tone. He's trying to convey the sense that, look, language matters, words matter here. You're not going to hear things like war and terror or Islam fascism coming out of this White House. What you'll hear from President Obama is really kind of seizing an opportunity here and setting a new tone.
They feel like there is this window of opportunity. It may not be a big window, but it certainly is a window of opportunity right now to at least set the stage, set the tone, and see how far they can go, see how ambitious they can be in Middle East peace. It's something that others failed to do, were not able to do. But you take a look at the symbolism, John, and it's pretty clear here, the first call he made to a world leader as president was Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas. I mean, then he went to Ehud Olmert from Israel. He is setting the stage here.
George Mitchell off to the Middle East. And then a major speech in the city capital of a Muslim country. This is going to be something, an administration that is really going to focus on this and is going to try right out of the gate, not like the Bush administration but right out of the gate, to be ambitious about setting the agenda.
ROBERTS: Any early information, Suzanne, on which city he may give that speech in?
MALVEAUX: Not yet, no. I mean, there's a lot of speculation it might be Indonesia because he has spent some time there growing up. That might be a possibility.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll see. Look forward to that. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
CHETRY: Still ahead, inside the West Wing, it's the most coveted office space this Washington. We'll take on you a tour of Obama's new digs and show you who sits closest to the president. Also, who has the biggest office.
And America's latest nuclear showdown. This time it doesn't involve a foreign nation. It's a look at a battle here at home.
Seventeen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 20 minutes after the hour now. Time to fast forward to see what stories will be making news later today.
Newly sworn in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is about to put his stamp on the Treasury Department. Today he'll announce tough new rules to crack down on lobbyists who were benefiting from government bailouts. The administration insisting that changes will add more accountability and transparency to the $700 billion bailout program.
Well, today the Federal Reserve kicks off a new two day meeting while further rate cuts are unlikely. Investors will be listening to the committee's views on the economy and also their ideas to kick start the credit markets.
And this morning, Defense Chief Robert Gates testifies before the Senate and House Armed Services Committee. He'll be discussing the Pentagon's challenges and priorities, and one of the challenges he'll face in the new administration is a potential showdown with President Obama over the nation's nuclear weapons and whether America need a new generation of warheads. Here's CNN's Chris Lawrence.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, the issue of building nuclear weapons has divided the world and it may just split the Obama administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): President Obama prepares for his first visit to the Pentagon with what sounds like a clear policy. His administration promises to stop the development of new nuclear weapons. But here's the problem. The man who runs Mr. Obama's defense department has said new weapons are exactly what the country needs.
ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There is absolutely no way we can maintain a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile without either resorting to testing our stockpile or pursuing a modernization program.
LAWRENCE: Secretary Robert Gates is only talking about replacing warheads he says are getting old and unreliable, but it still means building new nuclear weapons.
OBAMA: As long as nuclear weapons exist, we'll retain a strong deterrent. But we will make the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons a central element in our nuclear policy.
LAWRENCE: So how to reconcile these points.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clearly President Obama has the upper hand here. It will be his policy decision. I don't know how much Secretary Gates will push for this.
LAWRENCE: A group working to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons says it comes down to what the two men believe about the nation's nukes, which are now 30 to 40 years old.
GATES: At a certain point, it will become impossible to keep extending the life of our arsenal.
LAWRENCE: Secretary Gates says we can't keep replacing parts piece by piece. And current technology can make the nukes better and safer. Others say the warheads still have a long life and are very precise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even a weapon that is considered unreliable on the part of the Pentagon could, in fact -- would likely explode and destroy its target.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: And with President Obama publicly urging other nations like Iran to give up their nuclear programs, it may be hard to sell the idea of building new weapons to other countries around the world -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence reporting for us this morning. Chris, thanks so much.
Presidential regets. Hear what Bill Clinton and Bush 41, wish what they could have done while they were in the White House.
And President Obama tried to win Republican support ahead of tomorrow's critical vote on his stimulus plan. We'll take a look at what he needs to do to get that bipartisan support.
It's 23 and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." We are following a developing story for you today.
Reports of the first major breach in a week-long cease fire along the Israeli-Gaza border. Sources say Palestinians detonated a bomb that was targeting Israeli troops and that the Israelis returned fire. Israel's recent military campaign was aimed at crippling Hamas' operations in Gaza, but as our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr tells us this morning, the campaign may have failed to achieve its objective.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, Israel continues to say it was successful in its war against Hamas, but some U.S. officials say maybe not that successful.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Despite weeks of Israeli bombing, the U.S. Defense Department now believes Hamas' basic weapons capability and leadership remains largely intact, CNN has learned. The U.S. estimates Israel destroyed thousands of buildings and killed more than 1,200 people, nearly half women and children.
This latest assessment comes from two U.S. defense officials with direct responsibility for assessing the Israeli campaign in Gaza. Israel says the war was a success. A top commander telling reporters, "There was nearly not one weapon storage facility, smuggling tunnel and terror operative house that was not hit in the Gaza Strip."
But the U.S. officials who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive assessment say Israel failed in some key objectives. The assessment concludes these underground tunnels used to smuggle weapons remain largely undamaged. While tunnel entrances are being repaired, the network, some 80 feet below the surface, is intact. Tunnels under Gaza city hiding munitions and communications gear also remain in place, the officials say. American manufactured bombs couldn't reach deep enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The targets are tunnels. So even if a deep underground bomb works, all it's going to do is collapse a part of the tunnel.
STARR: The U.S. also believes Hamas still has up to 200 Iranian long- range rockets that could fire deep into Israel. Hamas rocket experts are now training outside of Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best analysis I've seen of the Israeli campaign in Gaza is actually by an Israeli military officer who described it as cutting the grass. So this was something that had to be done, but it's something that, frankly, is going to have to be done again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Israel continues to insist its campaign was successful, but from the U.S. point of view, it still looks like Hamas remains in power -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, thanks.
It's coming up on 29 minutes after the hour and here's a check of the top stories this Tuesday morning.
President Obama making an urgent and personal appeal for his estimated $825 billion economic stimulus package. Today, he is meeting with skeptical House and Senate Republicans separately to try to get them behind his plan.
Tomorrow, the full House votes on a version of the president's stimulus package. Democrats say they have enough votes to pass the bill, but the president wants enough Republican support so that can call it truly bipartisan.
The disgraced former chief of Merrill Lynch, John Thain, tried to repair his reputation. Yesterday, he apologized for spending $1.2 million to redecorate his office. Thain said the renovations were done during a "different economic environment." He also promised to reimburse the company for all of the costs.
In September, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America for $50 billion.
And former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush are reflecting on their time in the White House. Appearing together in New Orleans on Monday, the presidents were asked about their biggest regrets since leaving office. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we had tried to get Saddam Hussein to come and literally surrender, lay his sword on the table, I think it might have been -- avoided some of the problems we've had -- that we did have in the future from him.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My number one regret is that we didn't get -- I was not able to persuade Yasser Arafat to accept the peace plan I offered at the end of my presidency that the Israelis accepted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The former presidents took part in the question and answer session at the National Automobile Dealers convention.
Kiran?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, today, President Obama meets with Republicans to push his stimulus plan. The meeting comes amid a backdrop of record job cuts. In fact, more than 70,000 yesterday alone, seeming to come from every sector of the economy. Home Depot announcing job cuts, construction equipment maker Caterpillar, as well as Sprint Nextel. And with the recession deepening, the pressure's even greater for the president to do something and to do it quickly.
Joining us now, Republican strategist Ron Christie. He's in Philadelphia this morning. And Democratic strategist Jamie Harrison in Washington.
Good morning to both of you. Thanks for being with us.
JAIME HARRISON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.
RON CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Ron, I want to start with you because we're hearing hints that Republicans are not comfortable with this package, feeling that there's too much pork in it. When you take a look at the job losses that we just talked about, the worsening economy, how much can Republicans really push back against some sort of stimulus package?
CHRISTIE: Well, I think in the House of Representatives, Kiran, the Democrats have the majority and they have the votes. They are able to pass this package. It's likely to pass without any real Republican opposition.
The Senate is going to be where the real difference is, where, I think, the Republicans can have an influence and try to shape this package. Republicans, frankly speaking, are very concerned about the size of this package. $825 billion.
But when you hear that there are millions of dollars for contraception reform, when you hear there are millions of dollars to re-sod the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Republicans are saying, is this the best way to stimulate the economy?
And I think Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republican leadership are going to push back on the president and on the Democrats, and say, let's make sure that to the best extent possible, that those tax dollars are being spent wisely to prime-pump the economy.
CHETRY: And, Jamie, Barack Obama in his past has been given praise for being able to be a consensus builder. Is there room to eliminate some of those programs that some view as pork -- the $50 million to fund the National Endowment of the Arts, $21 million to sod the National Mall, $650 million in digital TV coupons. How will that impact the Democrats?
HARRISON: Well, you know, a lot of this is all about jobs. And its -- many of the Republicans, they want to pass more tax cuts. And to be quite honest, if you don't have a job, then a tax cut won't help you right now.
And so basically, this package is a package of a lot of different things -- of tax cuts and also investments and infrastructure of this country. And so it's all about employing folks and then giving tax breaks to the hardworking American folks.
So, I think that's going to be the president's focus. He's going to go in and he's going to talk to the Republicans and get their ideas and try to integrate some of those. And I think even with a tax cut, that was an integration, an olive branch out to the Republicans.
CHETRY: It also helped to support, at least according to our CNN research, when you added the tax cuts in, nearly 3/4 of the people polled support some form of stimulus.
But, Ron, I want to ask you. What is the Republican alternative to this bill? You know, there may be some disagreement about just how helpful tax cuts may or may not be, but most economists agree that some sort of stimulus, a large amount of federal spending, is needed.
CHRISTIE: I think that is right, Kiran. And I think there is certainly a role for the federal government here. I think that we need to make sure that people who have been displaced, unemployment, that the states are able to compensate for that.
But Republicans are very concerned, and I want to reiterate what I said earlier. Republicans are very concerned about the size of this spending. What we've learned in Japan in the 1990s and what we learned in America here during the 1930s is that increasing the size of the deficit, while increasing spending and increasing taxes, makes more prolonged recession.
So what Republicans are trying to do and looking to the lessons of the past, we don't want to make the same mistakes in the future. We want to make sure that we're stimulated as possible, but the government doesn't prolong this recession by increasing spending, raising taxes and otherwise hindering economic development.
CHETRY: And Jamie, I want to get your thoughts, before we leave, on President Obama sitting down with Al Arabiya, the TV network. That was his first formal interview. Let's listen to what he said about communications and relationships with the Arab world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.
My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Is this the right message right now?
HARRISON: I think it is. You know, President Obama said at the inauguration that he was a citizen of the world. And as Americans, that's what we are. And, you know, when you travel all around this world and you meet so many people of different faiths and cultures, they love America, they love what America stands for. And I think, you know, having a president who reflects that and who is reaching out his hand to different countries and different leaders, it's an important thing.
CHETRY: And, Ron, you were in the Bush White House when we heard terms like Islamic fascism, war on terror. It seems like Barack Obama is really trying to turn the page away from that. Do you think that's a smart move?
CHRISTIE: Well, I think, obviously, any new president, any new administration wants to set a different tone. This administration is obviously trying to do that.
But I would say that President Bush recognized similar to what President Obama has said, we are citizens of the world. But we also have to recognize, Kiran, we were attacked by people who were Islamic fascists and those people who were trying to change our sense of democracy. I think it was an accurate term. But I also understand what the president is trying to do now by turning the page and offering a different tone coming from Washington.
CHETRY: Ron Christie as well as Jamie Harrison, great to have you both with us this morning. Thanks.
CHRISTIE AND HARRISON: Thank you.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: The West Wing revealed. A look at how the president's team is dispersed throughout the White House, who is next to the president and who got stuck near the stairs.
An mp3 player filled with military secrets instead of music. How the confidential information ended up in the hands of a man from New Zealand of all places. It's 36 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, we're tracking breaking news this morning. A deadly winter storm gripping much of the nation right now. There's snow, sleet and ice snarling air traffic in Missouri as well as Oklahoma. It is also being blamed for at least five traffic deaths. And the headache for travelers expected to get worse as the storm zeros in on the busy Northeast Corridor. Our Rob Marciano is in the weather center in Atlanta this morning tracking all of this for us.
Boy, what a mess out there -- on the roads especially.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Yes. Never good to see all those pinks and purple on your map.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The more colors, typically the worst weather in our department.
CHETRY: Plan to stay home if you can. Boy, all right, thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: You got it.
ROBERTS: Rush Limbaugh takes on Barack Obama again. He says the president is more frightened of him than Republicans in Congress. Is the radio talk show host just trying to get attention?
And Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich facing impeachment at home, but defending himself in a series of television interviews. We look at Blagojevich's big day with the news media. It's 41-1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." A live look at the White House in Washington, D.C. Where it's 30 degrees right now and some light snow has been falling there. And more expected throughout the day as the storm moves in from the Midwest.
You know, we see exterior shots of the White House nearly every day. What you don't get, though, is a look inside and how it's set up. So here's a glimpse this morning of how President Obama's West Wing will be set up.
And, you know, when we talk about the West Wing here, just to give you a little orientation, the residence, of course, is over in that area, the Oval Office where the president sits up there, his outer office, this is the cabinet room, this is the West Wing lobby entrance. The Roosevelt Room is that one right in the center. And then the offices are spread around on the outside. And proximity really is power here.
So, first of all, let's check to see who is in the outer office of the president. Reggie Love, who is his personal assistant, who you're going to see a lot of. He'll be the one who puts the president's speeches and notes on the lectern, on the podium every time he gives an address. Katie Johnson is his personal secretary.
Now moving down here to the press office operation. Robert Gibbs occupies what is one of the largest offices in the West Wing. Large enough that in the earlier days of the White House, and this is just goes back to pre-September 11th, the press would actually come in there every morning for what was called the gaggle. It was big enough to fit probably 20 or 30 people in there. It's also got a fireplace. His two deputies will be in the offices beside them. There's also what's called the lower press office operation. Two more deputies sit down there.
National security advisers over here, General James Jones occupies the same office that Condoleezza Rice, (INAUDIBLE) before him. His deputy will be in the office over here. Vice President Joe Biden has got the office next to General Jim Jones as we start to move again back closer to the Oval Office. Up there in the top right hand corner, that will be Rahm Emanuel's office. And his two deputies will occupy these two offices in the center there.
Then as we start to get even closer to the president, this is where it really starts, the rubber really starts to meet the road. Pete Rouse, who is Tom Daschle's former chief-of-staff, now his senior adviser has got two offices over from the Oval Office. The guy who's right next to the president, David Axelrod, his most trusted adviser. The guy who really was the mastermind of his campaign, helped to get him elected. His right beside the president's study, which connects to the kitchen and then to the Oval Office. So you can see the proximity there. David Axelrod is the guy who has got the instant access to the president.
Kiran, and that's where you want to be in the White House. You want to be not down the hall, not near the stairs, not near the elevator, not on the second floor, you want to be in the office right beside the president.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Axelrod is the power broker.
CHETRY: Yes, you get the first word and you get the last word.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
CHETRY: All right. Well, with so many companies cutting jobs, how do you stop from worrying about your own situation? We're going to show you how to stay sane when it feels like everything and everyone around you is getting laid off.
Also, he was MIA at his own impeachment trial, but it wasn't hard to find Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He was busy making his case on national TV. Jeanne Moos looks at Blagojevich's media blitz. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN": Earlier today, this is a quote Governor Blagojevich did of his interviews, and in one of them he compared himself to Martin Luther King.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Yes, Blagojevich said I have a dream and for 100 bucks, I'll tell you about it.
(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
O'BRIEN: You got this over here, over there.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS: Snippets of conversations taken out of full context is unfair and at the full context and all the tapes are heard, you'll hear a story of someone who is trying to make decisions and trying to maneuver for the best interests of the people of Illinois.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, that's embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich talking to Larry King last night. It capped off a whirlwind day of TV appearances for the governor who is facing impeachment back home.
CNN's Jeanne Moos watched as Blagojevich opened up to everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blah, blah, blah, Blagojevich.
BLAGOJEVICH: The answer is this --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Camera is over here.
BLAGOJEVICH: Oh, so who am I talking to?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Over here.
MOOS: You're talking to everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Governor, open the window.
MOOS: He didn't just open the window for Geraldo, he came out the door. He let Joy Behar on "The View" mess up his hair. Then fix it up for him. He rescued a camera person who almost got pushed off her perch trying to get a better angle.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hey, hey, hey!
BLAGOJEVICH: Be careful. Are you all right? I'm holding you.
MOOS (on camera): No matter what reporters wanted to ask, there are things the governor wanted to say over and over about the impeachment proceedings against him.
BLAGOJEVICH: The fix is in. I think the fix is in.
I know the fix is in.
MOOS (voice-over): But the fix wasn't in for Senator Oprah Winfrey. Governor Blagojevich confessed he considered Oprah to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I've heard Oprah.
BLAGOJEVICH: That is true.
MOOS: Oprah hadn't heard it, then expressed bemused shock.
OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST: I think I could be senator, too. I'm just not interested.
MOOS: What were interesting were all the coo-coo questions.
RICHARD DALEY (D), MAYOR OF CHICAGO: I said coo-coo. Once, I'll say it again, coo-coo. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I have to ask what it's like to hear Mayor Daley call you coo-coo.
JOY BEHAR, HOST, THE VIEW: You and your wife are potty mouths.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Those tapes sound so tacky.
BARBARA WALTERS, HOST, THE VIEW: Your wife's family doesn't seem to be crazy about you. For your own dignity, wouldn't it be better if you resigned?
BLAGOJEVICH: No, that would be the worst thing that I could do.
MOOS (on camera): Now those were great questions, but they don't compare to the grilling the governor got as he left a Manhattan restaurant.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How was dinner? How was dinner, good?
BLAGOJEVICH: It was good. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What did you have? What did you have for dinner?
MOOS (voice-over): For the record, it was pork loin with spinach and mashed potatoes, and we're told the governor had his table mates in stitches doing an impression.
BEHAR: Wait a minute, he does a fabulous Nixon impression. Do it for us.
BLAGOJEVICH: Who said that?
BEHAR: Somebody told me, come on. Just say, I am not a crook. Do it.
MOOS: Governor Blagojevich declined. He did say --
BLAGOJEVICH: Let me make this perfectly clear, I didn't do anything wrong.
MOOS: To paraphrase Nixon --
RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not a crook.
MOOS: Blagojevich is not a bleeping crook. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Shocking security breach. How did secret military data end up on a used mp3 player?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more I look at, the more I see. And the less I think I should be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: He tried downloading a song and up popped top secret military files. Soldiers' names, cell phone numbers, social security numbers, mp3 confidential. How can this be? You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Five minutes down to the top of the hour. Job loss panic. You hear it just about everywhere and with good reason. Analysts say the number of people losing their jobs could sky rocket to 2 million by the end of the year. We all know how bad just yesterday alone was.
The fallout from being laid off isn't simply financial. Just the possibility of being let go can take a huge emotional toll. Here now with advice on how to deal with job loss anxiety is our clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere.
Jeff, good to have you in this morning.
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Great to be here, John.
ROBERTS: So what sort of psychological effect does losing a job, getting laid off, whatever, have on?
GARDERE: Well, first of all, it's a tremendous blow to the ego because a lot of people define themselves on being able to provide for themselves, but most importantly, providing to their families, providing for them. So to lose that job, it tears apart their self- esteem, and of course comes the panic as to whether they'll be able to pay their bills and really stay above water.
ROBERTS: Yes. I mean, there's so many people who wake up at 2:00 in the morning in a cold sweat thinking how am I going to make it through this.
GARDERE: Yes.
ROBERTS: How am I ever going to get another job? And there's a lot of other people out there, too, who are looking at all of these layoffs thinking, oh, my goodness, am I next. A tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in the workplace.
How can those people deal with that stress and anxiety?
GARDERE: Well, the most important thing is they need to talk about it. They need to debrief. They need to talk with other people as to what that feels. And it's important for them to have some sort of a support group. It can be informal. Other people perhaps who are in the same position, which is a whole lot of us these days, but the most important thing is to know that they're not alone.
The other thing that they can do, of course, is to look for the resources that are out there. If they do lose their jobs, what are the subsidy programs that are there? What are some of the insurance programs that will still like Cobra that will still cover them? What can they do as far as being a retread, in other words, being retrained to find other things?
But the most important thing is to be empowered and not to be a victim as to what's going on. Listen, let's not mince words here. People are in trouble. They're going to be in trouble. There's a lot of free floating anxiety out there because if that (INAUDIBLE) jobs and to see all these layoffs, they're thinking, oh my God, am I next.
ROBERTS: Right.
GARDERE: But the most important thing is to think forward, to be empowered, to budget --
ROBERTS: Have some sort of plan.
GARDERE: Have a plan and have the family work with you, a team effort.
ROBERTS: And what about these hundreds of thousands of people who have already lost their jobs, and they're coping with the stress and anxiety. But as you said, trying to provide for their family, put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads. What suggestions would you have for them?
GARDERE: Well, I tell them to just keep moving forward. Just keep looking at strategies so that they're empowered instead of being victims. Look, it is bad out there, but you can't give in to the point of where you do nothing, where there's a psychological paralysis. You have to find a way to be able to get back on your feet. Adversity is part of life. It takes you to the next level as far as your character.
ROBERTS: If you're hiding under the sheets, it's not good. You've got to get out there. You got to be proactive. You got to try to --
GARDERE: Absolutely. You have to keep moving forward. Necessity is the mother of invention, so you have to find a way to reinvent yourself.
ROBERTS: And almost every one of us knows somebody who's suffered a job loss.
GARDERE: Sure.
ROBERTS: And we sometimes -- how do you approach that person? How should do you that?
GARDERE: Well, I think one of the most important things you can do is to be an ear for them. Allow them to vent, because this is such a psychological trauma that they've lost their jobs. Allow them to talk about their anger; they feel that in some ways they've been abandoned by their jobs. So it's important to be that ear for them and let them talk about it, but also redirect them towards looking for more strategic ways to be able to get through that situation.
ROBERTS: Good tips. Jeff Gardere, it's always great to see you.
GARDERE: Always a pleasure, John.
ROBERTS: Thanks for dropping by.
GARDERE: All right.
ROBERTS: Here's another reason to be optimistic, because some folks are actually hiring. Here are a few in am "AM Extra". Edward Jones has 1040 job openings at last count. They are looking for financial advisers and branch office administrators. Whole Foods has 800 job openings in positions ranging from accountants to I.T. And Microsoft, despite some recent job cuts has thousands of opening including software engineers, financial analysts and marketing employees.
Gerri Willis joins us in our next hour here on the "Most News in the Morning." with a closer look at who else is hiring. This is something you're going to want to make sure that you stay around for.
CHETRY: Absolutely. And whether or not you have some of the skills that will fit in to these jobs that you happen unfortunately be laid off. So we look forward to that.
