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Campbell Brown
President Obama Prepares to Address Nation
Aired February 24, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody.
Tonight, anticipation is building, as President Obama prepares for his first prime-time address to a joint session of Congress and to the world.
That is bullet point number one tonight. We are live all across Washington. The president will be leaving the White House shortly for his motorcade to Capitol Hill. Already, we know the president will deliver a message of hope. Despite the economic turmoil, he will call on the nation to pull together, and he will promise that the nation will rebuild and recover.
But his hopes come amid new warnings that total recovery from this recession could be years off.
Bullet point number two tonight: the Republican response from one of the GOP's rising stars. That is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Tonight, he's going to take an indirect swipe at the president, and direct aim at the Democratic-controlled Congress. You will hear from him live.
And bullet point number three: Here in the studio and in Washington, I'm joined by not only the best political team on television, but also the CNNMoney team. They are going to help us make sense of what all of this means to you.
First tonight, though, a brand-new prediction that the recession may end this year. That's right. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel, but Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke coupled that with a warning that a complete economic turnaround could be three years away. It is a vitally important prediction that serves as a backdrop for everything President Obama wants to tell Congress and the nation tonight.
Let's kick things off with chief business correspondent Ali Velshi.
And, Ali, let's first listen to Ben Bernanke sounding somewhat optimistic. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: If actions taken by the administration, the Congress and federal government are successful in restoring some measure of financial stability, and only if that is the case, in my view, there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, Ali, what do you make of that? Could the recession really be ending this year?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to him, if the right things all happen and fall into place, they could.
But right now, we're so desperate for somebody who actually knows something about this to say, hey, if things happen in the right way, they could. So, what you have got is an administration that has spent a couple of months saying this is very serious if we don't do the right things.
This is the other side of that coin, saying if we do the right things, it could work.
Let me show you the effect that just a little positive news had on the markets today. Take a look the Dow today. Yesterday, we talked about how it was down at 11.5-year lows or 11-year lows. Let's take a look at what happened today. You had this Dow sort of meandering through the afternoon. And as this testimony started to sink in, look what happened.
You had a substantial gain of 236 points on the Dow. Now, here's what President Obama has to deal with. This nation feels like it's in trouble. Now, here at CNN, we have taken five measures of the economy that actually touch individuals, the ones that would actually make you feel like things aren't going that well.
And we have called it the economic real feel index. And I want to show that to you on the wall. The first one that we have talked to has been about unemployment. I'm going to actually show you that a little later, Campbell, but we're going to measure five different things that go on in this economy that touch you, and understand why people feel like things are tough.
This economy, more than any other in the Western world, depends on consumers feeling like things will be better for them in the future. And that means that your house price may go up, your income may go up, or your investments may go up. Something has to feel like it's happening.
And President Obama's job tonight is to say, we have got a handle on this situation. We know it's serious, but we have got the people to do it.
BROWN: Well, let's go from that, Ali, to the president's own words, or what we know of them so far.
We know from our first look at the president's speech that he will tell the nation that America has been through worse, and he vows the nation will recover this time, too.
As the president prepares to leave for Capitol Hill, let's check in right now with senior White House correspondent Ed Henry.
And, Ed, give us your sense. What can we expect from the president tonight?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Campbell, let's go through the style, substance and tone of this big speech.
First of all, on the style, I have just learned from senior officials here at the White House that the president has only done one full dress rehearsal of this speech. It happened about 6:00 p.m. Eastern time here in the Map Room at the White House. What's significant about that is, his predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, both liked to do several, many of these full dress rehearsals to just get everything right, get the feel for it.
The fact that this president only did one dress rehearsal, despite all the pressure of this setting so early in his presidency, suggests he has a lot of confidence, despite all of the challenges ahead.
On the substance, he will focus very little on foreign policy, we're told by top aides, but he will focus almost entirely on the financial crisis in four specific areas, education, energy independence, health care reform, and financial stability.
Now, the president will say that, across the board, the nation has been prizing short-term gain over long-term prosperity. And in the words of a top aide, just told me a short time ago, the nation should not let this serious crisis go to waste, that the president will try to say this crisis is actually an opportunity to come together and tackle big challenges.
A top aide read me a passage in which the president which talk about how Lincoln during the Civil War built the Transcontinental Railroad, World War II led to the G.I. Bill, Kennedy during the Cold War talked about putting a man on the moon. Now it's this generation's moment to rise up.
And that brings us to the tone, that basically top aides insist that the president has been, despite the criticism, sprinkling optimism, along with some of the tough rhetoric about how bad this economy is. But they nevertheless say, look, we have heard the criticism from Bill Clinton and others and the president is really going to step up the upbeat tone tonight.
Even though, at one point, according to an excerpt, he's going to say, right now, America's experiencing a day of reckoning. He is also going to say that we will recover, we will come back, and that America will be stronger than ever before. So, taking a page from FDR, but also maybe from Ronald Reagan -- Campbell.
BROWN: All right. We are going to know for sure in just a few minutes.
Ed Henry for us tonight. And on this big night, a big team of experts. Ali is back, along with senior political analyst David Gergen, who has advised four U.S. presidents, BET Network senior political analyst Pamela Gentry. Also with us, "Fortune" magazine editor Andy Serwer, our senior political analyst Gloria Borger, CNN contributor and Republican strategist Ed Rollins, and CNN political analyst Roland Martin with us as well.
Gloria, let me start with you.
What do you think he needs to accomplish tonight?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he has got a very tough job here tonight, Campbell, because, first of all, he has to convince people that the expanded role of government is the right way to go.
And then he's got to take a turn and say to the American public, it's not this way forever, that I do care about deficits and I do care about getting them down in the future.
He also has to tell people, Campbell, that he's doing the right thing for them by bailing out people they don't like very much, by bailing out the Wall Street bankers, by bailing out the car companies, by bailing out irresponsible homeowners. So, that's a heavy load.
It is a heavy load.
High expectations, Roland. How does he live up?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, again, I think what he has to do is be straight with the American people, be extremely clear as to exactly the situation that we're in, but also give them the confidence that we are indeed making progress and can get beyond exactly where we are.
Sure, people are freaking out. They're talking about job losses, foreclosures. But this is a matter of instilling confidence. I think what the White House is saying is, he is going to have some tough love tonight, but also give them a sense of inspiration, that we can indeed overcome whatever odds we face right now.
BROWN: All right, a lot more with the panel, big panel, coming up shortly, but, first, some new poll numbers on President Obama just out today, what Americans have to say, as he spells out his hopes for turning the nation around.
We're giving you a front-row seat tonight, as we follow the president's every move. In a few minutes, his motorcade will leave the White House to make its way up to the Capitol. His address to a joint session of Congress is live, right here, 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.
And we want to hear what you have to say about tonight's speech. Send us your videos. It's easy. You just record your comment and then go to CNN.com/Campbell, and look for the I-Report link.
We will be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We are just about 50 minutes away from President Barack Obama's address to the joint session of Congress, our new poll today showing Americans are hoping that the president will give them hope on the economy, and hopefully provide confidence the country is moving in the right direction.
For a closer look at these great expectations, Tom Foreman over at the magic wall for us tonight -- Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Campbell, the public overwhelmingly expects the president's speech tonight will go well.
Look at these numbers in our latest CNN/Opinion Research poll. How many think this will be an excellent speech? Look at this, 28 percent. How many say it will be good? Forty-four percent. Now, 19 percent think he's just going to do OK, but that's not really bad. Eight percent say he will do badly, but that's a very small number -- big expectations for the new president, though a little bit down from his inaugural address, which had slightly better numbers.
But let's look beyond his skills as a speaker and look at the real nuts and bolts of his policies. As the president lays out his plans tonight, do you expect to feel more confident about the economy? Sixty-two percent say they do. Will his policies move this country in the right direction? Sixty-seven percent say yes.
Is he doing a good job as president? This is the big one. Again, 67 percent say, yes, he is, and more than seven out of 10 Americans say right now, he is meeting or exceeding their expectations -- Campbell.
BROWN: Great numbers, Tom, for the president, of course, but isn't anybody unhappy with him? I have no doubt there are a few Republicans who are.
(LAUGHTER)
FOREMAN: That's exactly, right, Campbell. The Republicans are. Look at this.
Basically, what's happened is, the Democrats are holding very much firmly behind him as they did. If their start level was somewhat up here, they're pretty much still there. When you get to the independents, it's dropped a little bit in the polls, but not a whole lot. It's when you get to the Republicans over here, that's where it starts cratering, even among some Republicans who early on wanted to support him.
They're looking at his policies now. They don't like it. This really is what's driving his numbers down, this a little bit, but, as you can see from those earlier numbers, Campbell, still not enough to make them look bad. He's going into this speech with a very strong backing-- Campbell.
BROWN: All right, Tom Foreman for us tonight -- Tom, thanks very much.
And while we wait to hear from President Obama, as we do every night, we're "Cutting Through The Bull."
So far, the president has been willing to at least listen to Republicans and to stand up to fellow Democrats, but the battles to come will only be more difficult. Spending money, pretty easy. Making choices to cut spending, a lot harder.
The president wants to slash our trillion-dollar deficit by half over the next four years. If he truly means it, that's going to involve real cuts to entitlements and a real battle with his own party.
President Obama has yet to explain where those cuts will lie. Drawing down troops in Iraq and letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire won't fill that yawning hole, which will only expand if the president calls for another stimulus package, as many are expecting. Something will have to give. Something's going to have to go.
So, we ask the president the same thing we asked from the beginning. Just be straight with us. We are prepared to sacrifice. Just tell us what we need to do, or do without, and be equally up front with members of your own party. This is not a time for politics or ideology. It's a time to get this country back on track.
And everybody needs to get on board.
And, with that, we want to bring back our political panel, our great political minds tonight, David Gergen sitting right here.
David, people are scared, not a lot of patience right now for partisan politics. And that is good for the president in a way, yes?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think so.
I think that the president goes into this speech with the wind at his back, very, very high approval ratings, at least three polls out now showing his approval ratings is in the 60s.
And, Campbell, in truth, this speech is a glorious opportunity for the president. He's got the whole country tuning in for an hour. He is going to be in a chamber where people are going to be cheering, standing up, and the Republicans give him a politely warm reception. But the Democrats are going to give him a -- they're going to be just applauding intensively.
So, it's a perfect setting to lay out his thoughts and plans. I would imagine the president has thought about -- he has only rehearsed once, but I bet he gets a lot of mileage out of this. It's the best opportunity he is going to have in a long time to lay out, how did this all fit together?
I was checking into the hotel and the guy asked me as we went up to the room, are they going to fix this ? Will they fix it? That's the issue he has to answer tonight. Will they fix it? Will his plan fix it?
BROWN: Pamela, let me ask you to respond to this. I want to play a bit of an I-Report. This is coming from someone out in California. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I just feel that the American dream is really at stake here. And for people to be losing their homes, their jobs, and see communities being torn apart, and just -- you just feel that people have no hope in their eyes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: How much is this a confidence game, keeping people's morale up now?
PAMELA GENTRY, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, BET: I think it's a huge confidence game.
And I think something else about in I-Report is just the age. And this is a very young person who feels hopeless. And I think that that's a critical constituency that this president has. And, so, not only is he looking for those people who are on Medicare and want to see their programs and their Social Security protected.
But he's got young people who are just starting out in their lives, and they really want to say, do they have that American dream? And is hope there? I think he is going to give a speech that will build that type of confidence, but that's something that I think is his forte.
Andy Serwer, the Dow up 200 points today after a rough week here.
ANDY SERWER, MANAGING EDITOR, "FORTUNE": Right.
BROWN: What's Wall Street looking to hear from him tonight?
SERWER: Well, I think what Wall Street wants to hear, Campbell, is balance.
First of all, they need to understand, they need to hear the president explain that we are in dire circumstances, but also that there's optimism, that there's hope. And then he has to spell that out. And there he needs to have balance as well. He needs to spell out and give some specifics when it comes to a stimulus program, his housing programs, and all the other billions and hundreds of billions of dollars that's being spent.
On the other hand, he can't have a laundry list. Republicans are keen on that. They don't want to hear list after list after item after item. So Wall Street needs to see something very modulated, and they also don't want to be surprised.
BORGER: Don't you think they also don't want to hear him say, "I'm going to nationalize the banks"? SERWER: I think that's true, but that's probably going to happen. And we can talk about that, how that's going to happen, a little bit as well.
BROWN: All right, guys, stand by.
We're going to take another quick break. We will be coming back to the panel in just a few minutes.
While we wait for the president's address to this joint session of Congress beginning about 45 minutes from now, when we come back, our NO BIAS, NO BULL insider's guide to some of the secrets of the speech, who and what influenced the president and his speechwriters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We are standing by for tonight's presidential address to Congress, President Obama getting ready to leave the White House and head up to Capitol Hill, where he will speak at the top of the hour.
CNN will, of course, carry it live.
National political correspondent Jessica Yellin has been talking to her sources, getting the secrets of tonight's speech.
Jessica, take us behind the scenes. Talk us through what went in to writing this address.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Campbell, the speech was supposed to go to the printer at 3:00 this afternoon. So, it's been locked in and final for a few hours now.
The speech was written by chief speechwriter Jon Favreau primarily. And my source say that Favreau has been studying FDR's fireside chats for some time. It's because we're told President Obama wants to do what Roosevelt did so well, which was lay out the nation's problems, not with lofty rhetoric, but in plain English, to sort of play professor in chief.
And I'm told that, in part, the president sees this as an opportunity to explain, for example, to Americans who are frustrated about bailouts for the financial industry why exactly, step by step, those bailouts would help the whole country. So, the goal here is to break it all down.
And I'm also told, Campbell, the White House had a call with some supporters and surrogate types this morning and said to them, look, we got the message about optimism. We will be optimistic. We don't need to hear it anymore -- Campbell.
BROWN: And, Jessica, every president invites special guests to these things. So talk to us about who is going to be sitting with the first lady in her box tonight.
YELLIN: Right. And, on that message, the pressure on the White House to exude optimism and stay positive, a lot of the guests in the first lady's box reflect the can-do American spirit. There's an eighth-grader who wrote Congress asking help for her decrepit school. There's Lilly Ledbetter, the woman who sued her employers for discrimination, and she got a law passed giving women pay protection at work.
And then there's a CEO who the president will single out. He sold his stake in a bank for $60 million and then distributed his earnings to his employees. The White House says that CEO is an example of the kind of responsible leadership the president is looking for.
And finally, Campbell, there will be another group of very familiar heroes in the audience. Captain Sully Sullenberger will be there, with two members of his U.S. Airways crew. They will be seated in the front row of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's box -- Campbell.
BROWN: All right, Jessica.
And, as Jessica wraps up there, you're looking at live pictures of the Capitol, as -- as there is Speaker Nancy Pelosi arriving and the press gathered around, everyone getting ready for the entourage that will make its way into the chamber, as, of course, everyone tries to get those good seats to be able to greet the president as he arrives.
We want to bring our panel back in right now, the best political team on television, who has their own inside info on what the president will talk about tonight.
Let me go to Ed Rollins, who is with us first.
And, Ed, we have heard the president's aides say that they expect a Reaganesque speech. You worked for Reagan. What does that really mean? What are they getting at with that?
ED ROLLINS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think Reagan was very clear in his message and he kept his message very consistent and very simple.
And I think one of the things this president has to do tonight, it's almost like a lifeguard who has got someone drowning 300 yards offshore. He's got to convince them that he has the talent to bring them in.
He has a dual task tonight. One is talking to the country and reassuring the country, but equally as important, the Democrats in the Congress, who in front of him are the ones who are going to have to carry this bill or whatever legislation that he has, some of which is going to be cutting, some of which is going to be changing the parameters.
And it's one thing to get a stimulus bill, where there's a lot being spent. It's another thing to basically advocate cutting special programs. BROWN: And let me bring Ali in, because, Ali, you have also got some exclusive new research that's sort of a real window into what the public is going through right now.
VELSHI: Yes, it's not emotion.
When we talk -- I want to take you over to the wall to see this. It's not -- when we say that this economy is dependent upon how people feel, we're not making this up. We have -- we have come up with this economic real feel index for CNN, based on conversations with a lot of economists about the economic measures that actually affect people.
Now, today, we heard that consumer confidence is at 27. It's a scale of zero to 100, and it's the lowest it's ever been. But let's take the things that really matter to people. We have gone from 1980 to 2009, and we have taken the worst and the best on five measures in that 31-year time period, because that's a time period in which we can measure things.
Let's look at unemployment. We discuss this a great deal. We talk about this as being one of the most important things. The unemployment rate is 7.6 percent. It's increased from about 4.9 percent at the beginning.
The worst unemployment we have had since 1980 was, in fact, in 1980, where it was 10.8 percent. The best unemployment, the lowest we have had, was in the year 2000, where it was 3.9 percent. Right now, the 7.6 percent puts us below the halfway mark on this scale.
Let's move to the next one, and that is personal income. Now, we have done this -- we have done this in terms of inflation-adjusted numbers. In 1993, the average male was making about $32,600, in 1980, $39,000. Today, they're making $34,600, less than they were. That's a three on the scale.
And let's move to the third measure, and that's personal savings. Ed Rollins worked in the Reagan administration. Back in 1993 -- I'm sorry -- personal -- let's take a look at personal savings next.
In 1982, Americans banked 12 percent, more than 12 percent of their savings, the amount of money that they took home. So, if there was a recession, we were able to work through it. I'm going to just show you all five of these measures together.
When it comes to personal savings, we're near the bottom. When it comes to industrial production, we are at the bottom. And when it comes to home price appreciation, we're also at zero.
So, take a look at this. On a scale of zero to 10 over the last 31 years, there's no measure that touches you at which we're more than halfway down the scale. And in two of these measures, we have worsened since -- since President Obama took office.
So, these are the real things that make people feel that things are not great. This is the kind of stuff that President Obama is going to have to tackle in his speech. He's going to have to say, we can handle this issue. We can push forward.
But there are real measures that have to change before people start spending again.
BROWN: All right, stand by, panel -- a lot more with the panel when we come back.
We are going to take a quick break. We have been reading and watching what you, the viewers, are telling us about tonight's speech. And that includes our many friends at Facebook tonight. As we wait for the president's address at the top of the hour, why not join the conversation? You can record a question or a comment and get it to us by following the I-Report link on CNN.com/Campbell.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We are just about a half-an-hour away from President Obama's speech to the joint session of Congress, but the conversation already going strong on our CNN.com Facebook page.
We found out some pretty interesting stuff about what you want to hear from the president tonight.
And Erica Hill is over at the magic wall to break it all down for us -- Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Campbell.
And -- and, right here, we have the CNN.com homepage, which you know, and which I hope is your homepage at home, too, as well, when you launch your Internet browser. When you get here, the easiest way to be a part of this partnership that we set up between CNN and Facebook is simply to click on the link. You see it right here and this will take you to the page where you can then access a number of things.
This is my first time in the magic wall so I'm no John King, just a warning to you here. But that's where you can not only watch it but also when you get on that page, look at this, you have the live chat here that's happening on Facebook. So you can scroll through, see a few of the comments people are saying.
Eric is -- he's there (ph) ready to listen to President Obama speak. A lot of people eager. This one guy says, "He's eager to hear my president."
Now, here's the thing. You're thinking I'm not on Facebook, don't worry. You can do this all right at CNN.com. You can connect if you're already a member or sign up. All you're going to need to do to sign up, a few simple pieces of information, your name, your e-mail address, your birth date, that's really it.
Why they look at some of that information? Well, because it helps us with some of the questions that we're going to be asking you. We've been sending out what's called a Facebook poll to all the folks who have signed, who have RSVP'd to be a part of this event.
Now I have to show you, tell you that just before 8:00 tonight, I checked the numbers here; 295,000 people at 8:00 had already said they were going to be tuning in tonight. Those are some of the people we've been sending these pulses out to all day long.
So look, here's one of the questions we wanted answered. What is your top priority President Obama needs to address tonight in his speech to Congress?
As you can see, right here, here's a look at some of the numbers. "My job" consistently since that polls went out, Campbell, has been one of or the, I should say, top priorities for folks at home. So it will be interesting to see what the president has to say about that tonight -- Campbell.
BROWN: All right, Erica Hill for us tonight. And as we told you a moment ago, a little more or a little less than half an hour away from the start of the president's much-anticipated speech to a joint session of Congress. You're looking at a live picture right now of the White House as the president gets ready to leave the White House to head up to Capitol Hill where he will be greeted by members of Congress. We'll be bringing that to you live shortly.
Lots of stagecraft, too, on display tonight. Tom Foreman is going to give us the heads up on that front, what to look for tonight. And, of course, we're bringing you all of it as well as the GOP response, a Republican rising star, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana will deliver it and give us a better sense of how much or how little Republicans support the president's plan.
All that coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: And you are looking right now at a live picture of the president's motorcade pulling away from the White House. That's the south entrance to the White House. President Obama leaving right now for Capitol Hill, as the presidential address scheduled to begin in just about 25 minutes, at the top of the hour.
This is more than a message to Congress, a chance to also see all the important players who are going to gather there to listen to his speech. And let me bring in now to join us also Wolf Blitzer, who will be with us throughout the night, introducing the speech, and Anderson Cooper, who are joining me, along with the best political team on television.
Hi, guys.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Campbell. You know, it's really interesting that the president, based on everything that we saw today, when we were over at the White House, we had a chance to have lunch with the president today, he seems very confident, Anderson, that this economic crisis, while it's enormous and he certainly doesn't want to belittle what's going on, he seems very confident that when the dust settles and he thinks it will be sooner rather than later although it will be an enormous challenge, there's going to be light at the end of this tunnel.
COOPER: There's been a lot of criticism of the president, even from -- I don't know -- the criticisms were from former President Bill Clinton, the suggestions that he should be at least more optimistic or expressing optimism ultimately in some of his speeches. We'll see how much he does that tonight. He's anticipated to speak for about an hour, we believe.
BLITZER: Right. I spoke, in fact, with the speechwriter when I was over at the White House and he said with applause basically about an hour, maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less.
By the way, we're getting the first pictures coming in right now of the chamber itself. There you see some of the members are already there on the floor. You see Congressman Levin of Michigan. It looks like he's speaking with Congressman John Dingell of Michigan as well. They've got a lot of problems in the state of Michigan. I think the highest unemployment rate of any state in the country. So we're going to be watching what's happening on the floor.
It's going to be fascinating, Anderson, to see the dynamics of what's going on because there will be the president of the United States speaking, and sitting right behind him will be the vice president, Joe Biden, the former senator, and Nancy Pelosi, the speaker, so it's going to be a different shot of what we're used to in the past when former President Bush was speaking up there.
COOPER: We should also point out, of course, we're going to bring you the entire remarks made by President Obama. We're also going to bring you the Republican response which will occur just shortly after. That's going to be given by Governor Bobby Jindal from the state of Louisiana. He's been in the news a lot, of course, because he has said that he wants to reject part of the stimulus money that's been offered to the state of Louisiana.
BLITZER: And like the president, the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, who's a son of immigrants from India, he has an incredible personal story that he's going to share with the American public and the world tonight as well. So it's going to be an interesting dynamic. The person selected to give the Republican response has got a very compelling story just like the president of the United States.
COOPER: And then we'll have a complete two-hour edition of "AC 360" after both the president's speech and the Republican response, so lots to look forward to tonight.
BLITZER: Yes, and we'll watch what's going on. I think you're going to go over here.
COOPER: I'm going to go over there.
BLITZER: I'm going to go over here.
COOPER: All right. You go.
BLITZER: Campbell Brown is over there with the best political team on television. We have a lot going on throughout this night.
Campbell, I got to tell you, you know, I covered a lot, and so have you, a lot of these kinds of addresses. It's not a formal State of the Union address. It's an address before a joint session of the Congress, but it's always exciting a day like this, to see how a president of the United States crafts his speech, designed to hit those target audiences that he so desperately needs.
BROWN: Absolutely. And there's a real balancing act I think in terms of what we're going to hear from him tonight, too, as well, John King. I mean, in terms of the guidance we've been given from many of his aides, you've got him up here making the case for big government spending, but then at the same time, talking about slashing the federal deficit. How do you do that?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they do seem at odds. It seems a direct contradiction to what he has done in the first month and what he says he will now do from here on out. And the way the president will describe it in the speech tonight and the way he and his top aides describe it if you ask them is that they needed to urgently address the patient.
They say the patient is sick and the patient is the American economy. The patient needed urgent care and that includes the stimulus plan. It could include billions more to bail out the financial institutions, could include billions more in another round of automaker bailouts. They say this is urgent care the patient needs and then he says he'll get about the long-term prognosis of fixing the patient, including bringing down these dangerously high deficits.
It does seem a bit of a contradiction. You'll get the speech tonight, Campbell, and then on Thursday we'll have to look at the president's budget because he promises not only will he say we're going to take away some of the Bush tax cuts, save money by not spending as much in Iraq as we bring the troops home, they promise that the White House "Democratic sacred cows" will get the knife in that budget and we need to hold them accountable, too.
BROWN: Go ahead, Roland, quickly.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You have the president who's going to be telling the American people it's time for you to sacrifice. Also, we're going to look at economists and say you know what, when it comes to spending you as well, the budgets have to be slashed. We have to deal with it because we can't let regular folks go home with a checkbook. You got to balance it. You can't live above your means.
BROWN: All right. About 20 minutes away now, Wolf. BLITZER: You know, we're getting these pictures, Campbell, coming in from the floor of the House of Representatives. That's where the president is going to be speaking, and we've been told that people have been lining up members of the House and Senate for awhile now, to make sure that they're in the aisles so when the president of the United States is walking down, they'll get into one of those shots. They'll shake the president's hand, congratulate him, wish him well, whether Democrat or Republican.
And there you see some shots of Statuary Hall just outside the chamber of the House of Representatives. The members will be walking through there. Journalists are in there as well. So our coverage, which is only just beginning, will resume right after this.
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BLITZER: Now you're looking at these live pictures from inside the chamber. You see the vice president, Joe Biden, he's there. He's going to be sitting atop of the House of Representatives with Nancy Pelosi. There she is. She just gaveled this special meeting of the joint, of the House and Senate session.
What's going to be interesting, Anderson and Campbell, as we listen, once the president is formally introduced and once he walks down those aisles, we're going to have microphones throughout that aisle and we're going to be listening carefully to hear what the president says to his former colleagues in the House and Senate and what they say to him. It's something unusual that I think people are going to enjoy as we continue our coverage.
Anderson, this is one of those moments where everyone in Washington, Democrat and Republican, and independent, liberals and conservatives, middle of the roaders, Blue Dogs, whatever, they all get together and it's a special day of not only listening to the president, but it's a tribute to the new president as well.
COOPER: Ed Rollins, you've seen a lot of this. This is not a State of the Union speech.
ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: This is not a State of the Union. The new president doesn't have to tell what the State of the Union is. But for all practical purposes, it's going to be his agenda.
I've watched I think 40 of these and I think this one is probably the most anticipated of any, because I think there needs to be real clarity. There's been some mixed signals, multibillion-dollar stimulus bill and then talk about deficit reduction. So I think a lot of people are waiting today to see how is he going to get there.
COOPER: Pamela Gentry, a political analyst from BET, what are you expecting the president to say tonight? We've seen some of his remarks already. Clearly, he's going to be at some point trying to strike kind of an optimistic tone.
PAMELA GENTRY, BET SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think he will, but I think he's going to say this is what I'm offering. I'm saying that I'm going to make sure that we make some cuts and let it go to this budget line by line. All of us are going to have to make a sacrifice. All of us are going to have to get in line. And I think he's going to try and sell the American people on the fact that he can do this and that if they work with him inclusive of the Republican Party, he can get it done.
COOPER: We saw some optimistic news today from Ben Bernanke and certainly the markets responded.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not very much optimistic news. Ben Bernanke says that if everything starts to work the way it's supposed to work, if we can get these credit markets unfrozen, this recession could end in 2009, this year. He said it will still take two to three years to fully recover, but it's the first time line anyone associated with the administration or the Federal Reserve has given us as to when this might end.
That was good news. The market surged up on that, that this recession could be over in 2009. That's how low our expectations had become that we're happy that this might be fully done and we might be recovered in three years. So, the president and this administration have done a good job of lowering expectations. His job tonight, I think, is going to bring some more hope into this and say we can make it back. This is how we're going to do it.
COOPER: And Andy Serwer of "Fortune" magazine, he also talked about perhaps, or gave the greatest signal so far that nationalizing banks is the last resort.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes. I mean, really no one is for nationalizing banks, Anderson. Banks are certainly aren't for it. The president is not for it. A few economists are. It is a lot resort, but you know, two of the nation's largest banks, Citicorp and Bank of America are in very, very bad shape.
The government is looking at a plan with Citibank to increase its ownership, which actually wouldn't be putting more money into that particular institution but it's such an unusual time right now. Even business leaders acknowledge things like this have to happen. I mean, the nation's largest insurance company, AIG, is in the tank, the largest automakers. Your newspapers across the country, just to take one specific industry, are in terrible shape so jobs are still being shed and that's the bad thing. Right now, it's undeniable, the economy is still getting worse, so that's a really tough road for the president.
COOPER: Financial stocks leading the rallies today though on Wall Street.
SERWER: A little bit of a bounce.
COOPER: A little bit of bounce, a little bit. We'll see if, Campbell, the president's speech gives even more of a bounce tomorrow.
BROWN: That's right. And we've been watching, looking at these live pictures inside the Capitol, where members of Congress has been schmoozing, catching up a little bit. And Dana Bash is there. She's in the hall.
And, Dana, give us a sense for the mood, what's happening in the room right now?
VOICE OF DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think schmoozing is a very good word, Campbell. The senators are actually still making their way in. They formally walk across the Capitol from the Senate chamber as a group into the House chamber, and that is still happening as we speak. But I want to quickly just pull back the curtain a little bit and tell you what's been going on all day here.
You may see a couple of congressmen on the aisle. That is because they came here hours and hours and hours ago to literally stake out seats because aside from the leadership, seats are not assigned. For example, Eliot Engel of New York, Campbell, he got here at 8:30 this morning -- 8:30 this morning -- and he's just been hanging around here, using his cell phone, reading the newspaper, because he knew that being on that aisle meant he would probably be one of the people that we will hear greeting Barack Obama and his constituents and really the world will see that.
Jesse Jackson Jr. is another one who got here hours ago for that very reason. He is also going to be on the aisle, so that just kind of gives you a sense of the theater that, frankly, is going on here in addition to the very important business and message that Barack Obama is going to give to these members of Congress.
BROWN: Theater the right word, indeed. Dana Bash for us down there in the thick of it, giving us that sense from the floor -- Wolf.
BLITZER: It's only what? A little bit more than ten minutes from the top of the hour and the president will be walking in. He'll be introduced. Let's not forget that after the president concludes his remarks and we expect he'll be speaking for about an hour, he'll walk out and then five minutes exactly after he leaves the chamber, the Republicans will have a chance to respond and the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, will be delivering the Republican response.
Candy Crowley is joining us now.
Candy, you've had a sense, you've had an opportunity to check in to hear what we're likely to hear from Governor Jindal.
VOICE OF CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is going to be a speech that if you think that President Obama has a balancing act, try being Governor Jindal, because the fact of the matter is that he fully understands how they've been framed by Democrats and critics, and that is the party of no. So, he has to both embrace the issues that the president is talking about, to say, listen, we want to work with the president, too, and we want to be productive, and we want to be included, and we will reach our hand across the aisle.
On the other hand, this is Governor Jindal, who was perhaps the most outspoken critic of the stimulus plan, and you will hear some of that. Because in the end, while Jindal was chosen because he is a fresh, young face in the Republican Party, that the party was interested in introducing to the nation as a whole, in the end, no matter how fresh, how young, how many new ideas he brings from the governorship in Louisiana, he is still a bedrock conservative. So you will hear him criticize the stimulus plan as too much spending, as not -- as giving debt to our children, that they are going to have to turn out and pay at some point in their lives.
So you'll hear a little criticism but you will also hear a willingness to work. You'll hear a little bit about Jindal's background, which is also diverse, which certainly is compelling in its own way as that of the president. So, you will see a new face tonight. You will hear some bedrock conservatism and you'll also hear a bit of a mea culpa. We will hear Governor Jindal say we know that we strayed, we, Republicans, from our conservative principles, and you turned away from us and rightly so.
BLITZER: And it's interesting, Candy, that of all the Republicans out there who could have been delivered -- delivering the Republican response to President Obama, they selected this very young governor, he still in his 30s, the governor of Louisiana, himself a former member of Congress, to deliver the speech, and that immediately propels him not only to national prominence but potentially as a 2012 Republican presidential candidate.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. He was already up there. Certainly, his name had been tossed about, even as perhaps a vice presidential pick for John McCain. So he has always sort of been seen within Republican circles as an up-and-comer. But you're right. This is his national debut here. But it is also a part of the party's interest in not being seen as a party of rich, old white men, so you put this new, young, the youngest governor we have, out there to speak for the party, and I believe that begins to transform the way people view the Republican Party.
BLITZER: All right. We're still about seven minutes away from the top of the hour, Candy, stand by.
We heard earlier, Anderson, over at the White House that since this is not a formal State of the Union address, the president will not offer his opinion what the State of the Union is right now. It doesn't have to do it, so he won't because that would in and of itself be a difficult answer right now given the enormous economic problems, two wars. Even though the president's almost always say the State of the Union is good or excellent or whatever, he's not going to have to say what the State of the Union is tonight, because it's just an address before a joint session of Congress.
COOPER: It will certainly have some of the hallmarks, though, that we've come to expect from State of the Unions that we all, as we know, Ronald Reagan was such a master at, singling out individuals in telling their personal stories, and then having them present, often sitting next to the first lady. We're going to see a lot of that tonight as well. ROLLINS: Whether it's a real State of the Union or not, he's going to define the State of the Union by the kinds of programs that he wants. And I think -- I think it's got to be inspiring and I think people are going to walk away with a very significant impression of this president in action as opposed to a candidate or inaugural address.
COOPER: As a Republican strategist, how concerned are you that the Republicans have painted themselves as the party of no right now? Or is that a good thing?
ROLLINS: Well, it's the only thing we could do at this point in time. I mean, obviously, we've got a rebuilding effort. The governor may be able to do a little of that tonight but this is a long-term rebuilding project on our part.
We've got to get young people. We've got to take people away from the Democrats. We've got to get independents to look back at us again. And as long as this guy is popular and basically offering answers, it's going to be hard to do.
COOPER: Pamela Gentry, getting hard to do for Republicans, though? I mean, there is a huge division within the Republican Party about what direction they should go into.
GENTRY: I think there's a huge division but I can't ignore the big elephant in the room and that is the fact that they've chosen another person of color to represent them this evening.
I mean, they've had just recently elected Michael Steele as the party's leader. They had 37 black Republicans at the convention this year but they have two, and I don't know what the percentage of that is, I'm not good with math, but in two of the highest things, we're going to see people of color. So, I think that's interesting to bring to light.
COOPER: Ali Velshi, in terms of markets and how closely the markets are watching what the president says tonight, I mean, are they, will they respond to it tomorrow?
VELSHI: For several weeks now, the markets have not been working on fundamentals. There used to be days, Anderson, where you and I would talk about why the market was off so much and I'd be able to give you real reasons. There are no real reasons right now. This is entirely about confidence, so world markets will react immediately after the speech.
If it looks like there is a message in there that says this is how we are going to get back on track particularly in the financial sector, you will you see an immediate reaction to this. At this point, confidence has eroded to the levels that we have seen in September and October, when nobody knew what was going on. We're almost back to that stage again, so the president's got a good task in front of him. The good news for the president is if he can instill confidence, you will see a reaction very quickly in markets. COOPER: One of the things we've been talking about, Andy Serwer with David Gergen, the last couple of weeks, really is the need for this president, this White House to get other people out in front of the cameras and shouldering the burden of this in terms of selling the stimulus. Right now, it is only President Obama. Certainly, tonight is the night where he will be doing that again. What about Tim Geithner? When are we expecting to hear details, the fleshed out details of his plan?
SERWER: Well, you know, Tim Geithner, when he introduced his plan, it was actually kind of bombed, didn't it? I mean because he didn't have the specifics and we talk about a market reaction. Well, the stock market tanked right after he gave his presentation.
COOPER: Yes.
SERWER: That's correct, and we haven't heard that much from. He acknowledged that he needed to have more specifics. That's something to really look for tonight, Anderson, from the president. He needs to spell out some specifics when it comes to the stimulus program, when it comes to the housing program. And also, he does need to be able to count to other members on his team, count on them, I should say, people like Tim Geithner and also Larry Summers. And I think they will become more visible over the next coming days and weeks.
COOPER: Interesting, Ali, because in advance of Tim Geithner's speech two weeks ago, tonight, as you rightly point out, we had heard from this president, well, I don't want to give specifics. I don't want to steal Tim Geithner's thunder then it turns out, you know, Tim Geithner didn't have much thunder.
VELSHI: The president actually set that up by saying I'm not going to steal his thunder. None of us had expected it, so the hopes for Tim Geithner are very high. The hopes for this economic team, we were calling them an all-star team. We are going to have to see them emerge in the course of the next few days. Whatever the president does tonight we've got to see them, we were calling them an all-star team. We are going to have to see them emerge in the course of the next few days. So whatever the president does tonight, we've got to see them in the next few days as we get details about this housing bill, as we get details about what they're doing with the banks, and this discussion of nationalization. We are going to have to see that there are others involved who are in charge of their departments and their areas.
SERWER: It's incredibly difficult. I mean, no one's ever been before. You can't tell how the markets are going to react. It's just an incredible balancing act.
ROLLINS: The only thing I would say is he's the only one right now with credibility on this issue. Larry Summers and the others, they obviously are talented people and insiders know them.
COOPER: You're saying President Obama?
SERWER: The president needs to lead. ROLLINS: But the country looks to him at this point in time.
COOPER: Right and certainly, Campbell, we're going to be looking at him tonight as are people around the world watching CNN right now.
BROWN: Indeed, and Gloria and David, just to follow up on Anderson's point, and sort of going back to what Candy was talking about earlier, Republicans in an interesting position here as we will hear Bobby Jindal speak after the president in terms of how they do, what Candy described is change this view that many Americans have, that they are the party of no.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, they've clearly decided at least in Congress and some of the governors like Bobby Jindal, to take this opportunity to differentiate themselves from President Obama. It is, however, risky strategy.
If you look at the polls, the approval ratings for President Obama are still good. They've gone down a little, but approval ratings for congressional Democrats have gone up and approval rating for congressional Republicans has gone down. And so, they have taken a stand and Bobby Jindal is one of the governors, who's gone along with congressional Republicans in saying I'm not going to take some of the stimulus money because there are too many strings attached.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Coming back, Campbell, my view, again, is that this is a marvelous opportunity for Bobby Jindal. This is his national debut. He's going to have a chance to hold a national audience five, six, seven minutes. That comes only once in a lifetime for a young aspiring politician. He can make his name, so I think it's a terrific opportunity.
I want to say one other thing -- a little footnote. It's an interesting thing. The speech, we just got a copy of the president's speech is marked "draft."
BROWN: Right.
GERGEN: 2:24:12 p.m., Favreau wrote (ph). It's got the name of the speechwriters and their telephone number.
BORGER: Don't give them out.
BROWN: On that note, we're going to kick it back to Wolf -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Campbell, thank you. I want to just make note. There's always one member of the cabinet who is not going to be on Capitol Hill tonight. They always have someone away from the scene, God forbid if something awful were to happen. The person who will not be attending from the president's speech tonight from the cabinet is Eric Holder, the attorney general. He volunteered for that responsibility, so Eric Holder will not be there. He's at a different location, dare I say, a secure, undisclosed location elsewhere in the nation's capitol as we get ready for this event. There you see "Sully" Sullenberger, the hero of the Hudson River from the US Airways flight that went down. This is going to be quite a night.
