Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Nissan Cutting 20,000 Jobs; Tough Stimulus Negotiations; Chris Brown Arrested for Felony Charges; Who Rocked the Grammys?; Porn Star Might Run for Senate
Aired February 09, 2009 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It is a minute and a half after the top of the hour now, and here are this morning's top stories. Japanese car maker Nissan says it's cutting jobs and executive salaries as U.S. and global demand continues to slip. 20,000 employees will be slashed from its ranks worldwide. It's unclear how many of those jobs will be lost here in the United States. Nissan is also eliminating board member bonuses and cutting their salaries by 10 percent.
Hitting your wallet this morning -- your commute. The price of gas is up again for the 12th straight day, getting closer to $2 a gallon. Today, the price went up by 3/10 of a penny. That's the national average for regular unleaded now, $1.92 a gallon.
And last night's Grammy Awards. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant took home top honors, winning Album and Record of the Year. Coldplay took home three awards including Song of the Year for their hit Viva la Vida. The award for R&B Album of the Year went to Jennifer Hudson for her self-titled debut.
Also grabbing Grammy headlines -- singers Chris Brown and his girlfriend Rihanna. Both were scheduled to perform but were no-shows. Instead, police slapped Brown with a felony domestic violence charge. He later posted $50,000 bond. A source close to Rihanna says she was checked out by a doctor, but we cannot confirm that Brown attacked the singer.
Those 20,000 job cuts announced by Nissan could be a sign of things to come later on this week. Corporate earnings are expected from some really big names including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Viacom and a slew of others. Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business" this morning.
A lot of these companies looks like -- are preemptively shedding a lot of employees to try to improve the bottom line for Wall Street.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They are. And some of these companies actually have been giving their earnings reports a week early or a little bit earlier, giving guidance earlier, because they're trying to just say, look, we know the global economy is really horrible and this is what we're trying to do.
What Carlos Ghosn said from Nissan, the Japanese automaker, but what he said about the global economy, what their assumptions are, is really -- is really kind of chilling. He said our worst assumptions on the state of the global economy are worst assumptions have been met or exceeded with a continuing grip on credit and declining consumer confidence being the most damaging factor.
So, we're hearing this from company after company in industry after industry that they had a worst-case scenario. It's been met or it's even worse than that. They are doing all kinds of things to try to tighten the belt and that they look out six months and they can't really see anything getting better.
At the same time here, we have foreclosures spiking. We have layoffs spiking. We have all of these issues and all of these discussions in Washington about the stimulus. Tomorrow, the treasury secretary is expected to tell us what kind of overhaul there will be of the banking bailout. We're expecting to see maybe some movement on foreclosures, some foreclosure mitigation, something from the administration, but a lot of moving parts here.
ROBERTS: "The Wall Street Journal" also suggested, and I think there's a similar reporting in "The New York Times" about a creation of the so-called aggregator or bad bank where Geithner would ask private equity firms, hedge funds, maybe some insurance companies to participate to say, OK, let's all get together, put money in here, buy up some of these toxic assets, you know, clean them up and then later sell them at a profit. Do you expect the private enterprise expected to jump on board this?
ROMANS: There's intense debate about what is going to be the mix of things that they're going to try to do and what it's going to look like. And there are pros and cons of all of them. And what I'm told is that there's an awful lot of arguing in Washington about what to do. We will know for sure tomorrow what that plan is going to look like.
We were supposed to hear that plan today. Got pushed off by a day. We know that conditions on the ground, too, are changing. You know, every day, there's kind of a new set of factors that they're having to deal with. So, it's really a frightening situation.
COSTELLO: You know -- you know, all we ever hear about is -- we hear the word catastrophic. We hear the words slipping into depression and we're supposed to be positive and going out and spending our money, but that's not really happening because we keep hearing these same things. It's all gloom and doom. I don't hear hope from anyone, including President Obama.
ROMANS: Well, we'll see if they can -- he's saying that we've got to get the stimulus done.
COSTELLO: But the word's going to be catastrophic.
ROMANS: I know, Carol. Carol, I'm sorry. I can't -- Carol, you go on and spend your money.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: She can't. She is worried about the coming catastrophe.
COSTELLO: That's right. I'm worried about -- you know, if you would listen to the Republicans, it's going to be catastrophic if the stimulus bill's passed. If you listen to the president, it's going to be catastrophic if the stimulus bill fails. It's like, whatever happened to Roosevelt and the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
ROMANS: There's a healthy doze of reality going on, all right. People don't know what is going to happen next, and that's what we're all...
ROBERTS: Now politics is all about fears, so...
COSTELLO: That's right.
ROMANS: Christine, thanks.
COSTELLO: OK. I'm done ranting.
President Obama scrambling to bring the battle over the stimulus bill to an end. In just a few hours, he will hold a town hall-style meeting in Elkhart, Indiana. And then tonight, his first prime time news conference. The p.r. offensive comes as lawmakers make their case for and against the spending bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BARNEY FRANK, CHRMN., FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE: We talk about this wasteful spending. Let me talk about it. I'll be flying out here this afternoon to go to Bedford, Massachusetts, where they are about to lay off cops and firefighters. That's the wasteful spending that my colleagues are talking about. Money to go to the states to stop them from laying off cops and firefighters. Money to help keep teachers going. Those are jobs. There seems to be this notion that if you hire someone to do something useful, that somehow becomes social spending that doesn't count.
SEN. JOHN ENSIGN (R), NEBRASKA: So we have to be concerned about the amount of spending that is in this bill. It has to be responsible. I believe in infrastructure spending if it's done and it's done right. But what we shouldn't do is just spend money for the sake of spending money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, live at the White House.
Suzanne, you're already talking to the White House this morning, getting some details of the president's trip today. Any word on what he will say?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I spoke with Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, and he put it this way. He said we aren't in Elkhart to explain Washington's process to them, but instead to highlight for Washington the problems and pain that faces ordinary Americans. Simply saying, look, we get it, we're going out of Washington, out of D.C. Obviously, using a different backdrop, speaking to folks, trying to get back control of the bully pulpit here and the message that this economic stimulus package is right way to go.
But, Carol, I agree with you. You bring up a good point. And that is a lot of Americans are really hunkering down. They are not spending. They decide, OK, I'm not going to get my nails done. I'm going to do my hair on my own. We're not going out to dinner. That this is the way that I'm going to do my part for the economy. You hear it across the board all the time.
President Obama teased President Bush about the fact that after the 9/11 attacks, in a crisis situation, he called for people to go shopping, but that is exactly what the Obama administration is looking for and needs for people to do is actually have that kind of faith to invest in the economy and to spend money.
So it will be very interesting to see -- what does he say to ordinary folks and when they ask those questions at the town hall meeting, what does he say to change their behavior to get them to have that kind of confidence and faith back in the system.
Carol?
COSTELLO: Yes. That word catastrophic, I don't think, fits in with that but I could be wrong. I don't know. Maybe Americans need a heavy duty dose of reality but, you know, it's hard to -- it's hard to determine whether that is the reality when you hear all the talk out there.
MALVEAUX: Well, one thing that, obviously, has to be very careful of is that he doesn't desensitize Americans with that kind of language, with that kind of talk when you talk about catastrophic consequences, crisis, these type of things. President Bush used that language and people thought perhaps, you know, it was Chicken Little, the sky was falling, and became desensitized when they thought about a national threat.
This is an economic threat. The one thing about Elkhart, Indiana, is that it has a 15 percent unemployment rate. Obviously, tough, tough times for those people in the community. So they are feeling it, but they want know from this president, is this plan really going to work, how is this going to help us create those jobs.
COSTELLO: Suzanne Malveaux, live at the White House this morning. Thanks.
Tomorrow, we're going to talk with the mayor of Elkhart, Indiana, Dick Moore, and find out what he thinks about the president's stimulus plan, and whether or not he believes it can turn around a city hard hit by the economic crisis.
And tonight, President Obama will hold his first formal news conference since taking office. You heard Suzanne talking about that. He'll make remarks and take reporters' questions. That's tonight at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: It's good to have the mayor on tomorrow because we like to get information from people on the front lines here.
Senator David Vitter weathered the D.C. Madam scandal only to be hit with a new storm. Actually a new Stormy -- Stormy, the porn queen. She said that she may run against the senator. This is a story you just don't want to miss. Ten minutes after the hour.
COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE) relating to the economy.
ROBERTS: Carol.
COSTELLO: Sorry.
ROBERTS: Behind the scenes at the Grammys. Rihanna is a no-show as her boyfriend Chris Brown is charged with a felony. We're live in L.A. You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It was bluegrass artist Alison Krauss and rock n' roll legend Robert Plant taking top honors at last night's Grammy Awards. The duo won Album of the Year for their release "Raising Sand." Krauss and Plant also won Record of the Year for their song "Please Read the Letter."
Rapper Lil Wayne who went into the award show with eight nominations and a strong showing, notching four wins including Best Rap Album. And British rockers Coldplay also sharing in the Grammy night glory. They took home three trophies, including Best Rock Album and Song of the Year for their hit "Viva La Vida."
R&B singer Chris Brown was a no-show last night. He was scheduled to perform, but instead turned himself into police after an alleged assault. Brown's girlfriend Rihanna also missing at last night's Grammys.
CNN's Kareen Wynter is live in Hollywood with the latest details.
A lot of people are wondering if there is an association between these two happenings.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, John, at this point, we just don't know. But what I can tell you this morning, Chris Brown, he's out of jail after posting bond. He was charged Sunday with a felony from an incident over the weekend.
Now police say Brown and a woman were in a vehicle near Hollywood early yesterday morning when they began to argue. Officers arrived at the scene following a 911 call and found a woman. But say Brown had already taken off. Police haven't identified the victim, but say she suffered visible injuries and identified Brown as her attacker. Rihanna reps aren't saying much, but as sources close to her camp told us the singer has been checked out by a doctor and is going to be OK. Now, John, this wasn't the evening's only headline, although, it had a lot of people talking. The 51st Annual Grammy Awards delivered some show-stopping performances on music's biggest night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to celebrate the music.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Grammys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels so amazing.
WYNTER (voice-over): U2 kicked off the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, but they were far from the only stars. Justin Timberlake, Al Green, Radiohead, Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, and Jennifer Hudson were just some of the big names who took the stage.
Hudson made just her second public appearance since her family tragedy last October. Then the Oscar winner took home her first Grammy for Best R&B album.
JENNIFER HUDSON, SINGER: I would like to thank my family in heaven.
WYNTER: This year's show sizzled with two dozen on-stage collaborations, including Jay-Z rapping with Coldplay and the Jonas Brothers crooning with Stevie Wonder. The teen sensation went home empty-handed losing the Best New Artist Title to British (INAUDIBLE) Adele. John Mayer won two Grammys, including Best Male Pop Vocal Performances bringing his career total to eight.
JOHN MAYER, SINGER: It's the best thing in the world.
WYNTER: You can say that again. Sir Paul McCartney and the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl conjured up Beatlemania.
Rapper Lil Wayne proved he had the coolest swagger with four wins including the Best Rap Album for the "The Carter III". Song of the Year went to rockers Coldplay who also won Best Rock Album and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
But the night belonged to Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. The duo swept their categories winning five Grammys, including Record of the Year, Pop Collaboration with Vocals and the coveted Album of the Year for "Raising Sand."
ROBERT PLANT, SINGER: It's a good way to spend a Sunday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER: And John, many artists I spoke with last night say they are truly shocked by Chris Brown's arrest, especially given the fact that he has such a clean image, no record here. The singer, by the way, has an upcoming court appearance scheduled for March 5th -- John?
ROBERTS: Really is disturbing news. You know, I wanted to ask you about Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. I mean, I'm a huge Bluegrass fan. I love Alison Krauss. I was a huge Led Zeppelin fan but "Raising Sand" Album of the Year, and "Read the Letters" Record of the Year? It just seems to defy expectations at the very least.
WYNTER: It really does. And I'm so glad you brought up that point. Because I had a chance to interview Herbie Hancock in our 101 Room last night. Days have just blended together. A few hours ago, actually. And he won last year Album of the Year, when there were so many other favorites.
For example, Bruce Springsteen. And he commented on that and said, you know what, with the recording academy, there are different genres that are being recognized every year. And that this is something that's so great about the Grammys. There are always so many expectations. But again a popular album, hit with the fans so, you know, good for them, but interesting point that you raise there.
ROBERTS: All right. Kareen Wynter for us this morning. Kareen, thanks so much -- Carol.
WYNTER: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Congratulations going out this morning to Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin. Woods's Web site confirming the birth of their son, Charlie Axel Woods, on Sunday. The world's top golfer says mother and child are doing great. It is their second child. Daughter Sam Alexis is 20 months old.
President Obama hitting the road to sell the stimulus plan as thousands of workers wonder if today is the day they could get the bad news. So what do companies need -- what do companies need to keep their workers? We'll ask one of the most powerful women in the business, in business, I should say, Playboy's former CEO.
A there is a new storm brewing for the senator linked to the D.C. Madam, and her name is Stormy the Porn Star. I don't really think that's actually her last name, but her name is Stormy. Could Vitter really lose his Senate seat to Stormy? It's 17 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Louisiana Senator David Vitter infamous shall we say for his spot in the D.C. Madam's little black book, and may face some pretty tough competition next election. That's because a porn star is now being pumped to replace him. Sean Callebs is following this one for us, and --
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where do you start? Where do you start, right?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
CALLEBS: Well, you know, she was actually drafted into this. It wasn't really her idea. It actually began as a Web site thing, Draft Stormy. Well, she found out about it, now she is basically on board. But the big question is, look, what is this going to do to David Vitter? This is Republican who has a lot of money to spend for his re-election and critics say if you really want to challenge this guy, you need a serious candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS (voice-over): After being linked to the D.C. Madam, Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter said his wife had forgiven him for what he called a serious sin. Up for re-election next year, the question is have the state's voters? Enter a Web site trying to lure porn star and Baton Rouge native Stormy Daniels into the race.
STORMY DANIELS, ADULT ENTERTAINER: Originally, the focus wasn't even about making me as a candidate. I think it was about bringing attention to the Senate race in general. And then the response was overwhelmingly positive and, you know, I think everyone is just running with it.
CALLEBS: Vitter's office didn't return numerous calls by CNN. The spokesman for the state GOP said, "Voters here are concerned with real issues that affect their everyday lives and not with political or publicity stunts."
Draft Stormy was started by New Orleanian Zach Hudson, who says he's a fan of Stormy's and that it's a serious effort. If it's meant to remind voters of Vitter's link to the D.C. Madam, some say it could backfire.
CLANCY DUBOS, POLITICAL EDITOR, "THE GAMBIT": You're going to need somebody better than a porn star or a lap dancer or a sex worker to nail David Vitter on this.
CALLEBS: Clancy Dubos, the political director of the New Orleans alternative newspaper "Gambit," says Vitter is a brilliant politician with a $2 million war chest.
DUBOS: You need a serious opponent, who is himself or herself not guilty of something like that to say, let's talk about family values, shall we? And let's talk about criminal behavior because that's what this is.
CALLEBS: As for Stormy, she's not affiliated with the Democratic Party, but is embracing the idea of a possible candidacy and says she's planning a listening tour around Louisiana to talk about the economy and other issues. And when told Vitter can be a tough opponent --
DANIELS: Oh, I'm always up for a good fight. And I think anybody that knows me is more than aware of that. Politics can't be any dirtier of a job than the one I'm already in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: And she is from Baton Rouge and says she plans on holding a number of listening tours come through the state to hear what folks have to say about the issues. Meanwhile, Carol, there are no other candidates that have announced, but there are a lot waiting in the wings, both Democrat and Republican.
COSTELLO: Well, I was just going to ask you. I mean, she's on the Republican ticket, so to speak. I mean, where are the Democrats? Shouldn't they be the ones challenging Vitter and kind of beating him in the general?
CALLEBS: Well, there are a lot of qualified Democrats that are out there. There is one, a Cajun congressman from -- the way that state breaks up, it's in three basic voting groups. There are whites, there are blacks and Cajuns. Traditionally, the whites vote Republican, the blacks vote democratic and Cajuns vote Republican. However, if one of their own is in, then they support their own. So, he, Charlie Maloso (ph) could be a very serious challenger to Vitter if this happens.
But, you know, everybody is going to be talking about Stormy for a while, and that's either good or bad news, depending on how you want to look at it.
COSTELLO: I can't wait to see, you know. I'm sure polls will come out soon and maybe she will be right at the top there over Vitter. We'll see.
CALLEBS: We'll see.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Sean.
ROBERTS: I'm going to leave all that alone. I don't want to go there.
What's big business looking for in the president's stimulus plan? Too many companies are being forced to lay off workers by the thousands. We'll ask Playboy's former boss what CEOs need to save their employees.
The giant music merger in the works that could cause jobs and raise concert ticket prices, even Bruce Springsteen weighs in. Hear what he has to say. It's 24 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." President Obama hitting the road today selling his plan to save the economy to people who desperately need work and need it now. He is visiting a town in Indiana that has 15 percent unemployment rate, twice the national rate.
Joining us now is former playboy CEO Christie Hefner, who helps us out from time to time here on economic issues.
Christie, it's great to see you this morning. So when President Obama appears in Elkhart, Indiana, today, a town hit hard by any measure, what will business be waiting to hear from him?
CHRISTIE HEFNER, FORMER CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PLAYBOY ENTERPRISES: Well, I think business lays off people for three reasons. First, when there's increased productivity and that's a necessary and normal part of, you know, improving business performance. The second is when demand is soft, and I think, obviously, we're seeing a lot of that right now rippling through the service sector particularly. But the third I think is a lack of confidence in terms of growth prospects.
And to the extent that what the president himself can say and the passage of this bill can do is to restore a sense of confidence and, indeed, some increased access to capital for growth, I think we might begin to see a little bit of a slowing of the layoffs.
ROBERTS: You know, Democrats want to spend a lot of money in this bill and many of them complain that the bill is not big enough. Republicans say the bill is too big. Let's listen to what Republican Senator Richard Shelby said about this the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: We're going down a road to disaster. We've never seen this kind of spending ever and there's a lot more to come. There's got to be some other way better than what we're doing. Not the socialist way, but to try to get our free markets working again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Richard Shelby talking to our John King yesterday on his state of the union program.
Christie, we should point out that you are an Obama supporter. Do you think there is a better way, other than what's out there now?
HEFNER: Well, I think what this bill reflects is actually a thoughtful attempt to put into play a number of different theories from tax cuts to investment spending. From job creation in terms of shovel-ready projects to aids to the state. And frankly, economics is fundamentally a theory. And, therefore, we're going to have to try a variety of things and then monitor closely with transparency and make adjustments as we see what is effective.
ROBERTS: But do you think this could be a road to disaster? If this isn't crafted just right, if it's not the right size, the right combination of spending and tax cuts, could it make things worse?
HEFNER: I don't see very many economists thinking that. I mean, you can look across the spectrum. When Jack Welch says that he thinks it's necessary to get this bill passed, I don't think we're talking about some narrow partisan view of what's need. I think as the "Washington Post" headline said yesterday, what's needed is action now.
ROBERTS: Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner tomorrow is going to be unveiling his plans for this second trench of money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the so-called TARP program. And what we're hearing this morning is one of the proposals will be the so called bad bank, an aggregator bank that will take all of these toxic assets, and that Geithner will be looking for participation from private enterprise, equity funds, hedge funds, maybe some insurance companies to buy into this idea that you can, you know, collect all of these toxic assets, clean them up and then sell them later at a profit.
From a position as somebody who is involved in private enterprise all her life, is that something that these firms would buy into?
HEFNER: Well, I think it's critical that they find a model where there is a private-public partnership. Because I think if you've got the government itself trying to value these assets, the risk that taxpayers are going to either wind up overpaying or that they will buy at such a deep discount that it doesn't really help the banks is too great to take.
So, if it's not a straightforward insurance kind of approach but rather this partnership I think that's what is a worthy goal, because by injecting the necessity of private capital, there will have to be kind of a market setting for these assets that will both get them off the books in order to increase liquidity from the banks but then get them off at a value that is reasonable for the shareholders' risk.
ROBERTS: This is the so-called mark to market ideas that we talked about in months past?
HEFNER: Well, at least in concept. In other words, in effect, it creates a necessity for a market to be formed in order to attract private capital.
ROBERTS: Christie Hefner, always great to catch up with you. Thanks for coming in this morning. We'll see you soon.
HEFNER: Thanks, John.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-one minutes past the hour.
Developing news this morning. A small plane with six Americans on board has crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard says it searched the area seven times since yesterday, found debris, but no survivors so far. The private plane reportedly took off from the Dominican Republic overnight.
Deadly wildfires, the worst in Australia's history still out of control this morning. Officials believe some were set deliberately. The country's prime minister calling it mass murder. So far, at least 130 people have been killed. Thousands are homeless and many barely escaped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDDIE GIACOMETTI, SURVIVOR: We saw the floorboards that was on fire and the windows smashed and thought it was coming in the windows and the door caught on fire so we sort of had to make a call to leave, but it was hard to open the door. So the thing was a million degrees in your face but we put a blanket all four of us and headed up towards the back and ran through the fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Firefighters say parts of the fire could burn for weeks.
The story everyone is likely talking about, well, they will be talking about it on sports radio and certainly around the water cooler today. Will Alex Rodriguez respond to a report that he used steroids? "Sports Illustrated" says baseball's $275 million man tested positive for steroids back in 2003 when he played for the Texas Rangers. A-Rod became the youngest player to hit 500 home runs two years ago and has the best shot to break Barry Bonds already tainted record.
Also developing right now. News that will affect U.S. troops on two fronts and impact two of Barack Obama's campaign promises. Pentagon officials say decisions on timetables for withdrawing troops from Iraq and sending more troops to Afghanistan could take a lot longer. CNN's Barbara Starr is working her sources at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, what have you found out?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, nobody is taking any bets on when those decisions will be made and announced now. Let's go to Iraq first. Of course, Mr. Obama campaigning on a 16-month withdrawal pledge but, now, the Pentagon, at the president's request, is looking at other options.
Pentagon officials confirming they are looking not just at a 16- month withdrawal plan but also 19 months and 23 months, trying to flush all of that out to be able to go back to the president and tell him what the risks would be of any one of these decisions he might make about withdrawals.
All of that very crucial because of part two of this, Afghanistan. You have to get troops out of Iraq to send more troops to the very troubled war in Afghanistan. By all accounts, the Pentagon was ready to make an announcement last week about sending another 15,000 troops. That's now delayed. The president wanting to see more from his advisers on a new Afghan strategy. There could be an announcement about some marines going to Afghanistan, but the bulk of that force, no one is saying when that will now be announced.
And, of course, this is very serious because the clock is ticking and commanders saying the security in Afghanistan is deteriorating every day. Carol.
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon this morning, thanks.
ROBERTS: Well, if you are going to get stuck, it's certainly a nice place to do. But the U.S.S. Port Royal, one of the Navy's most advanced missile cruisers ran aground in Hawaii. The Navy will try to move the billion-dollar ship again this morning. It is unloading about 800 tons of water and 40 tons of anchors and chains in hopes that the ship will just raise itself up a little bit and get moving again.
The music merger that doesn't sound good to Bruce Springsteen. The potential for higher ticket prices and lost jobs has the boss taking matters into his own hands.
And change in the White House also means change in terminology. Not just the war on terror and whatever happened to the evil doers? Presidential phrases that seem to have been taken out along with the Bushes. It's 35 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
A developing story to tell you about now. Two corporate music giants are talking about a merger. And as our Kareen Wynter reports, some music heavyweights including the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, not too happy about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER (voice-over): From the Boss to artists like BoyZ II Men.
NATHAN MORRIS, BOYZ II MEN: It wouldn't be the first thing that went south in the music business.
WYNTER: Some stars in the music business are speaking out about a potential megamerger that would rock the industry.
JIMMY JAM: If it makes tickets more accessible to more people to go see more music, then that's probably a good thing.
WYNTER: Live Nation, the country's biggest concert promoter, and Ticketmaster, the largest live entertainment ticket seller, are reported to be close to striking a deal. One that would put them in control of some of the industry's most lucrative revenue streams, from ticket sales to live event promotions, and give independent concert promoters like Greg Perloff a smaller slice of the pie.
GREGG PERLOFF, ANOTHER PLANET ENTERTAINMENT: So when these companies merge, what do they do? They cost jobs. It raises ticket prices. It has the exact opposite effect.
BILL WERDE, "BILLBOARD MAGAZINE": A lot of people have been speculating as to whether or not this merger would pass the sniff test, particularly the Obama administration which has said it is going to come out strong on anti-competitive measures.
WYNTER: "Billboard Magazine's" Bill Werde says Live Nation currently manages more than 50 percent of the touring industry and that a merger would place it in an even more dominant position, especially with artist management.
WERDE: Plenty of people in the touring space have, you know, have complained that Live Nation has been responsible for paying artists very, very generous upfront fees and, of course, those costs then gets passed along to the fans. WYNTER: Live Nation and Ticketmaster wouldn't comment to CNN for the story, including the potential impact on ticket buyers who often must shoulder hefty surcharges but rocker Bruce Springsteen recently sounded off on his Web site. Furious, his fans has been re-routed to Ticketmaster's higher priced re-selling site tickets now when regularly priced seats for his upcoming tour were still available.
Ticketmaster apologized but maintains, "this redirection only occurred as a choice when we could not satisfy fans' specific search request for primary ticket inventory."
Apology accepted? Not exactly. Springsteen also fired off, "One thing that would make the current ticket situation even more worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system." That, he says, would trigger a monopoly in music ticketing.
WYNTER (on-camera): While the terms of this possible deal haven't been disclosed, industry insiders say an announcement of some kind could come this week. John, Carol.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Thanks, Kareen.
A new president means new ways of doing and saying things. Big changes to the White House vernacular. It's 41 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: President Obama campaigned on the theme of hope and change, but one of the most drastic recent changes we've seen is in his tone. His words have taken on dramatic urgency. Here to take a look at the role language is playing in the Obama White House is communications and research strategist Michael Maslansky. He's also the CEO of Maslansky Strategic Research.
It's great to have you with us this morning.
MICHAEL MASLANSKY, COMMUNICATIONS & RESEARCH STRATEGIST: Nice to be here.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about Obama's words, President Obama's words -- he's going to travel to Indiana to a town with 15 percent employment. What do you think he should say while he is there?
MASLANSKY: Well, I think Obama has a brand. There was a reason why he was elected. It was about hope, it was about change, it was about a positive vision for the future. Everything that he says about the economy needs to be connected with that overall brand. If he wants people to believe him and get behind him.
COSTELLO: Let me just play you a little snip of what he said a few days ago about the economy, about if these stimulus plans fails, this is what President Obama said. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So does this kind of rhetoric say to the American people hope, change? You know, the economy will get better?
MASLANSKY: No. It sounds a lot like George W. Bush and Hank Paulson and the reasons that they used to try and get us to pass the bailout plan to begin with. And I think he is really missing the point. I think that first, I'm not sure that Americans are worried or that they don't know about what is going to happen to the economy.
It's terrible out there. They feel it every day. They want to know that there is a solution and I think the problem is that Obama is not making a case for why this is a good plan. He's making a case for why we need to do something and I think most Americans believe something needs to be done.
COSTELLO: Well, you know, Americans on the other side -- Republican Richard Shelby said you know if the stimulus plan passes we're on the road to disaster. So it seems like the politics of fear all over again.
MASLANSKY: It is. And that is what most Americans voted against and so I think it really is a big mistake for Obama. I think he has lost his discipline of his message, that he has lost the focus that he had during the campaign and staying consistent with who he is supposed to be and what Americans want him to be.
COSTELLO: And you know, I know he is really trying because you know he talked with our Anderson Cooper last week and he talked about how we shouldn't use the war on terror anymore because that connotes something negative to the Muslim world. But then when you think about well what else do we call that war on terror, I mean, I'm stumped.
MASLANSKY: Well, I'm not sure that he needs another name. I don't think that President Obama needs to brand the war on terror. I think he does need to move away from the terms because I think he wants to put his own stamp on his policy and it shouldn't use the same name. There are a couple of things that I would tell him if I were going to give him advice on that.
The first is he can't just rename it. Coming up with a new name for the war on terror isn't going to work. It's going to sound really trite and pushed. The second is he has got to be really careful about watering down his message. If he changes a war on terror to something like a struggle or a long-term battle, it's going to seem like he is being dovish against the terrorists and that's a big problem and the last is he's got to stay away from acronyms. So often when we try and rename things, we want to come up with a clever acronym and that is a disaster waiting to happen.
COSTELLO: Oh, you know what, you know, going back to the stimulus plan for just a second. He always calls it the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And when I think whenever most Americans hear him say that, they go what? So what -- how should he term this? Is it a stimulus plan? The Republicans are calling it the spending plan. I mean everyone has their own brand and, frankly, the Republicans have been very effective in branding this stimulus plan as a spending plan.
MASLANSKY: You know who was most effective was Nancy Pelosi. But unfortunately she did it for the wrong team. Because it was she and the Democrats who started talking about this as a stimulus plan way back in the beginning. Really, what she should be trying to do is inject the terms tax relief into the title as much as possible. There are a lot of tax cuts in this plan and they are not getting the credit that even he wants them to get because he is talking about it only as a stimulus plan. I wouldn't try calling it a recovery or reinvestment. I would talk about tax relief and stimulus plan.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what he says in Indiana today. Michael Maslansky, thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
MASLANSKY: Thanks for having me.
COSTELLO: John.
ROBERTS: The man who caused an international uproar for hurling his shoes at former President Bush will have his day in court. The Iraqi journalist who threw the shoes will stand trial in two weeks' time. He is facing charges of assaulting a foreign head of state, although his attorney is trying to have that charge changed to insulting a head of state. The shoe-thrower has been detained for nearly two months.
Australia's prime minister is calling the out of control wildfires, "mass murder." We'll have the latest from the scene as they search for arsonists and race to save lives.
And our only and only rather, our Lola Ogunnaike was invited to interview the first African-American White House social secretary. Lola's exclusive interview and White House tour is straight ahead. 49 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ROBERTS: And breaking news out of Australia to tell you about this morning, where the country is facing its worst wildfires in history. So far, the flames have killed at least 130 people and burned through more than 800 homes. Crews are on the front lines and describing the destruction in southeast Victoria as, "something of a holocaust." Officials believe that some of the fires may have been deliberately set. Our Rob Marciano is tracking all of the action down there in the extreme weather center in Atlanta. And Rob, you think 130 people dead in these wildfires, that's just extraordinary.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is. Obviously, evacuation an issue there. But there has been a long-term drought down across that part of Australia and a pretty long heat wave that they have the past couple of weeks that peaked just a few days ago. And the eastern part of the continent certainly dry. The northern part under the influences of a bit of a flood. So, certainly tales of two stories there. Cooler weather although a little bit windy today and tomorrow to maybe knock down those fires just a little bit with higher humidity.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: It's pretty incredible that the Australian government says to people who are out there in the areas of the wildfires you got a choice, you can either evacuate and it's all voluntary or you can stay and defend your home. And as you know, from seeing wildfires out in California, those winds get whipping and that fire starts, it's almost a tornado ahead of it, there's no way you can defend your home.
MARCIANO: Yes, you know, at some point, we are all adults and we all have to make the right decision and let common sense prevail. Obviously, that doesn't always work. Hopefully things will calm down over the next few days.
ROBERTS: What a shame. Rob, thanks so much. Carol.
MARCIANO: You got it.
COSTELLO: One-on-one with the woman responsible for setting up every ceremony and social event at the Obama White House. An exclusive interview with the first African-American White House social secretary and a tour of the first family's new home. It's 53 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's hard to imagine a Super Bowl party at the White House, but the first family watched the big game with friends just like tens of millions of ordinary Americans. It's one of many different events that fall on the desk of the White House social secretary. And like the new first family, Desiree Rogers is adjusting to life under America's busiest roof. Here is part two of Lola Ogunnaike's exclusive interview with Desiree Rogers, America's first African-American White House social secretary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Talk to me about your first day here.
DESIREE ROGERS, WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY: Well...
OGUNNAIKE: Take me back. Walk me through it.
ROGERS: I got lost a lot. I absolutely got lost a lot. And...
OGUNNAIKE: But what went through your mind? You walk into the White House and you say, "I actually work here?"
ROGERS: Well, you know, I think what went into my mind is, "OK. Let's get -- let's get going." I tried to like save that so that I could just focus at the beginning. And -- but, I do have a walk. I do have a walk that I take each day between the East and West wing that I do say, "Oh, my goodness. I really am here."
OGUNNAIKE: The Reagans had a state dinner nearly every month and the Bush's had less than ten events, State events, in eight years. Whose record are you going to try and break?
ROGERS: Our own. We're going to have our own record. We have to be respectful of the time that we're in, but at the same time, be celebratory. We did a Super Bowl party where we not only had people on both sides of the aisle, we had veterans that attended that event. We had young children, in fact.
OGUNNAIKE: So what does the Super Bowl party at the White House look like? I mean you can't have Chex mix and popcorn here, can you?
ROGERS: Why not? We had..
OGUNNAIKE: It's the White House.
ROGERS: We had -- but it's America. And so we really did celebrate America. We did have popcorn. We had lots of cookies. We had chicken. We had all the regular things that you would expect that you would have at Super Bowl party.
OGUNNAIKE: Can we go back there and peek into the Super Bowl room really quickly?
ROGERS: Sure.
OGUNNAIKE: Hi. Hi, ladies.
Everyone was just yelling at the screen yelling, like, "Go, Steelers, go! Let's go, Steelers. Go!"
ROGERS: Yes. And we have -- like I said, we have another big television there, so we had people back and forth all in this area.
OGUNNAIKE: Like, "Did you see that tackle? Did you see that hit?"
ROGERS: Right. Very -- you know, kind of informal.
OGUNNAIKE: So I know that you've spoke past secretaries, what did they have to tell you. Letitia Baldrige, what did she have to say? Any like... ROGERS: They told me a number of things. I think one of the most important was how important seating is. You know, and sometimes just how difficult that can be, to figure out the seating. And so, one of the things is, we have this big computer screen that helps us move people around very easily.
OGUNNAIKE: Is it like John King's magic board?
ROGERS: Kind of like -- kind of.
Well, thank you so much for being here.
OGUNNAIKE: And I'll be looking in the mail for my invite. Ogunnaike with two "N"s, just so you know.
ROGERS: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Lola, thanks so much for that.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Just a reminder, the president is going to hold his first White House news conference since taking office tonight during primetime. CNN is the only place to watch for the best political team on television. That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. And if you happen to be away from your television set but you got your laptop with you, you can watch it online at cnn.com/live.
COSTELLO: Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back here tomorrow.
ROBERTS: And thank you for pitching in for Kiran this morning.
COSTELLO: It's been fun.
ROBERTS: It's great to see you.
Right now, here's CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins.
