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American Morning
Obama to Reverse Bush's Policy on Embryonic Stem Cell Research; Illinois Police Reviewing Church Audiotapes From Shooting; War Zone Troops to Reduce by 12,000 Within Six Months; Renters Loosing Way of Life When Owners End Up in Foreclosure; Clinton's Global Charm Offensive
Aired March 09, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome back from your weekend. Hope it was a good one. It's Monday, it's the 9th of March. John Roberts together with Kiran Chetry, and big news today. The president is making a big announcement later on this morning.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and some big changes over a reversal from the prior administration. A lot to cover this morning, and here are the big stories topping our agenda right now. We'll be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes.
In just a few hours, President Obama will overturn the Bush administration's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. And while it holds great promise, it remains controversial. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is standing by live for us at the White House.
Also developing, an Illinois church pastor gunned down during his Sunday sermon. Police say that Reverend Fred Winters deflected the first of the gunman's four rounds with his Bible. This morning, there are a lot of unanswered questions about the suspect and his possible motive for the shooting. Carol Costello is following that story for us.
Also developing this morning, plans are now in the works for thousands of U.S. troops to soon leave Iraq. The U.S. military announcing 12,000 servicemen and women will be redeployed over the next six months.
CNN's Nic Robertson is standing by in Baghdad with details on the drawdown.
ROBERTS: Now we begin this morning with major political developments and in just a few hours time, President Obama will reverse one of the most hotly debated policies of the Bush administration, restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The move will free up money for research, reigniting the bitter debate between science and politics, ethics and morality.
Supporters believe the research could lead to cures and therapies for a wide variety of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes and potentially spinal cord industries. But embryos are destroyed when stem cells are extracted from them and critics say that is immoral. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is the only reporter live at the White House this early this morning. What's the administration hoping to accomplish with this announcement today, Suzanne?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: ... here at the White House, and he said it really wasn't a matter if this was going to happen but just how it was going to happen. The president has been grappling over the last couple of weeks whether or not to go ahead and issue this executive order or to allow Congress to actually make this change. It's something that Congress could do, but really what White House officials are saying this morning is that this is something the president wanted to put a stamp on. He didn't want it to go through a long legislative process, but he wants to send a very clear signal that this administration believes the last eight years that President Bush put politics and policy over science. And he wants to say this is a clear break, this is not business as usual. This is something they believe that the Bush administration did with stem cell research with abortion, with climate change. So that is really the fundamental message this morning, John.
ROBERTS: People are saying, Suzanne, of the president's action today, OK, so he's going to announce stem cells today. He did a health care summit last week, but the economy is still tanking. Why doesn't he just focus on the economy? Is some of this designed to deflect attention away from the economy?
MALVEAUX: That's a very good question and it was something that the Office of Management and Budget, Director Peter Orszag, actually addressed over the weekend because this is so much on the president's plate. And he acknowledged, he said, look, this economic fix is going to take some time. It's going to take months, if not years.
They're not going to sit on their hands and simply wait for this to happen. They're going to do other things. There's policy initiatives that they want to get done, get done, get in place. And so they're not necessarily waiting around for that to work. They're going to both at the same time. They say it's putting a lot on the grill, but they believe they can do it, John.
ROBERTS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks so much.
And President Obama's decision to lift restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. It's just the first step in the process because there are still laws on the books limiting the use of federal money.
Here's more on that in an "AM Extra." Administration officials say the president does not intend to call for the repeal the legislation that bans the use of tax dollars to create human embryos for experimentation. That ban known as the Dickey-Wicker Amendment first became law in 1996. It has been renewed by Congress every year. The president has no power to overturn that ban. He's going to turn it over to Congress as to whether or not to lift that ban.
As you can see, President Obama's on the economic order this morning live at 11:45 Eastern right here on CNN or on your computer at CNN.com/live.
CHETRY: Well, another developing story we're following for you. Police in Illinois are poring over audiotapes of a church shooting that has left a community in shock and mourning. It happened yesterday at the First Baptist Church of Maryville in southern Illinois, about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. The congregation's beloved pastor, Fred Winters, was gunned down by a man who witnesses say entered the church, walked up to the pulpit and fired four shots.
Police say the first shot was deflected by the pastor's Bible, unfortunately, the other three hit him. They know little about the suspect or his possible motive.
Carol Costello is following the story for us this morning from Washington. Also, some efforts on the part of some churchgoers to try to tackle this guy to the ground but unfortunately it was too late.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But they were heroes nonetheless because they might have saved other lives, Kiran.
You know people go to church for sanctuary, for peace and serenity and when the unthinkable happened at Illinois yesterday, some stunned congregants at first couldn't believe the horror was unfolding before them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And at first we thought that it was confetti, but later we found that he shot through his Bible and disintegrated his Bible.
COSTELLO (voice-over): The relative quiet among the congregants inside the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, quickly turned to chaos Sunday morning. Police say an unidentified gunman calmly walked down the aisle during Reverend Fred Winter's sermon, exchanged a few words with the well-liked pastor, then pulled out a gun and opened fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect said something to the pastor and the pastor said something back to him. We don't know what that was. It was almost as if the pastor may have recognized him, but we're not sure about that all.
COSTELLO: After the shots rang out, the Reverend Winters ran down the aisle before collapsing. Parishioners dropped for cover, praying and fearing they might be next.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were down on their knees on the floor screaming and praying. It was a terrible thing. It's just terrible.
COSTELLO: Police say the killer pulled a knife after his gun finally jammed. That's when two parishioners tackled him to the floor. In the struggle, all three were stabbed. Both the gunmen and one of those heroic churchgoers seriously injured.
Besides his wife and two children, Pastor Winter leaves behind his flock, which had grown to some 1,000 members since he took over the church more than 20 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He knew your name when you walked in the door. Even with over 1,000 members, he knew your name.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Very well-liked man. As for the two men who tackled the gunmen, one of them Terry Bullard remains hospitalized this morning. He's in serious condition. The other has been identified as Keith Melton. He's recovering at home.
Police have yet to reveal the identity of the shooter, although we do know he's 27 years old. He's from nearby Troy, Illinois. He's also in serious condition with knife wounds to his neck.
There are so many unanswered questions in this case. Of course, police will spend today listening to audiotapes from yesterday's service to see if they can figure out what words were exchanged between the gunman and Pastor Winters just before the shooting broke out, Kiran.
CHETRY: So disturbing though, Carol. All right, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Developing details this morning on the drawdown in Iraq. The U.S. military will reduce the number of troops in the war zone by 12,000 over the next six months. President Obama's plan is to have all combat troops out of the country by August of 2010.
Right now, there are 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, but news of the withdrawal comes amid a backdrop of new violence. CNN's Nic Robertson is live for us in Baghdad this morning.
Nic, you've spent a lot of time in the country. Are things good enough on the ground for this withdrawal to happen? There was that big bombing in Baghdad at the police academy over the weekend?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, General Odierno who's in charge of troops here, says that the situation is good enough for a drawdown, that there are enough Iraqi security forces and that are capable of doing the job. So this reduction of 12,000 troops by then end of September this year is a good and safe move but that does come at a time over the weekend where a suicide bomber attacked a police recruitment center.
There are over a half a million policemen in the country at the moment and according to the ministry of interior here, they need to recruit another 60,000. So these recruitment centers are going to continue with lines of people outside of them, potential targets, but the reduction will go ahead of U.S. troops. Two combat brigade teams currently rotating out will not be replaced. So come the end of September this year, there will be about 130,000 U.S. troops and also 4,000 British troops we're told yesterday will be leaving the country by early summer -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. Nic Robertson for us in Baghdad this morning with the latest on the ground there. Nic, thanks so much. CHETRY: And we're following breaking news, Asian stocks sinking overnight, a 26-year low in Japan. So, what will it mean for Wall Street's opening and your money?
Our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business." She'll be joining us in just a moment.
It's eight minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 10 minutes past the hour. We're going to fast forward right now to some of the stories that are going to be making news later today.
There's a new study finding the number of Americans who called themselves Christians has dropped more than 11 percent in the past 18 years. A survey of more than 54,000 people also found 15 percent of Americans say they had no religious identification. It's a category that increased in every state.
There's a court hearing this morning for a Tennessee college student accused of hacking into governor of Alaska's Sarah Palin's private e-mail account. Prosecutors say that David Kernell accessed the account. It was a Yahoo account after she was selected as John McCain's running mate. They say that he reset the password and posted it online with screen grabs of some of Palin's e-mail exchanges. Kernell is the son of a Democratic lawmaker in Tennessee.
And Investors are bracing for more stock market turmoil. U.S. stocks set to open lower today. Folks who see the glass half full say that there's never been a better time for bargains.
And we are already also seeing some dismal signs this morning for markets overseas, which is why we have Christine Romans with us hoping to find the bright spot, right, John?
ROBERTS: Oh, yes, but things are looking pretty stinky out there. We've got some breaking news this morning.
Asian markets taking a tumble overnight. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost nearly five percent. The Nikkei in Japan dropped to a 26-year low, wiping out more than a quarter century's worth of gains.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Ouch.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business" this morning. And, you know, we kind of wonder where the bottom is in all of this.
ROMANS: You know, and we just don't know.
ROBERTS: If there is one.
ROMANS: That's right. And we just don't know where the bottom is. But you're right, Kiran, that there are some people out there who are starting to say look, stocks are really, really cheap. You know, this is the time now. If you're bailing out now and doing crisis management on your portfolio and bailing out now, you're missing some really good buys.
There are other people who are saying until they get the financial sector stable and until we get some idea of just how long the pain in the economy is going to last, stocks are going to wobble.
You look at the Dow. The Dow is near 1997 lows. The S&P as well. I mean, that's an awful lot of wealth that has evaporated and it has been -- you look at the end of that chart there, it's just almost like it's gone off a cliff. Stocks will continue to wobble a lot of people say until we can find some footing in the economy. And as you know every day we report on the economic news, we haven't been able to find that footing yet.
ROBERTS: Yes. If a stock is five bucks now, it might be four bucks tomorrow. But we want to turn things over to one of our iReporters right now, and get a perspective on that.
We've been asking people to send us videos about the economy. You can do it simply by clicking the iReport icon on our Web site, CNN.com/am. Here's what iReporter Scott Bratcher sent in to us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BRATCHER, IREPORTER: When are we going to stop letting the banks decide whether or not to help the homeowner? My house is worth a third of what it was when I bought it four years ago, and what the American people need who are upside-down in their mortgages like we are is a writedown.
My bank is unwilling to do a writedown, and they're only willing to do a refinance if we come current on our mortgage and that's just not feasible. I'm just afraid that we're screwed. Where is the real change?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You know, unfortunately, we don't know where Scott lives.
ROMANS: I know.
ROBERTS: So we don't know his particular geographic area and situation, but a lot of people are worried about this.
ROMANS: I know and I have a lot of questions for Scott. How much did he put down on this house? I mean, you know, did he take any money out of his house? But think of it, it's worth a third now, he says, when he bought it four years ago. I mean, that is has got to be a terrifying situation to be in and the bank is saying, according to him, that, you know, they're not going to do a writedown.
What that means is they're not going to -- they're not going to forgive -- CHETRY: Revalue.
ROMANS: Right, revalue the cost of his house or write it down or refinancing is when maybe you can lower the interest rate a little bit. It says it sounds like they want him to get current on his payments and then they would talk. And he says it's just not feasible for him.
When you look at the two plans that the president and his team have brought forward, one is to refinance for people who are not in his position, people who are current, and the other one is to modify those loans. He sounds like he is so underwater that it would be very difficult for him to modify his loan as well.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: I mean, the next step would be if there is this change they're talking about in the bankruptcy code so that bankruptcy judges could write down for you and there's a lot of opposition to that, but that looks like it's moving forward. That would be the next step then you have to file for bankruptcy. So it's a lot of kind of unsavory choices for people like Scott. It's really troublesome, and that's being played out all over the country.
CHETRY: It is. All right. Well, we're glad that Scott sent in that iReport. We like to play them every morning. So if you have one, if you like to tell your story and get us to be able to have a chance to have others hear it and also, Christine...
ROMANS: Right. To hear their voice, I mean, it's so important to hear their voice of what's happening to people out there.
CHETRY: Right. Thanks so much.
Well some other stories new this morning. Right now, rain and snow hitting the northeast. It could spark delays at airports this morning. That same storm is responsible for what they think was a tornado in southern Indiana. At least four people were hurt in parts of Lawrence County. Six homes destroyed.
Well, it was a star-studded birthday celebration for Senator Ted Kennedy. Last night, Barack Obama, the president, led the crowd in serenading the 77-year-old senator at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The entertainment included some of Kennedy's favorites, like James Taylor, Bill Cosby, as well as Lauren Bacall.
And it's a cart by day that doubles as a mini camper at night, a Hollywood producer launching a new effort to help those who don't have a home. We'll show you the roof on wheels and tell you how it's being received.
It's 16 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's now 19 minutes after the hour. And a quick look at some of the most popular videos on CNN.com right now.
It's an ode to the commode. A new restaurant in Hong Kong making it OK to eat out of the toilet.
You're kidding (ph) but it was wondering whether it was. Food is served in a mini hopper, the drinks in a mini urinal. And while you're dining, you sit down on a toilet, lid down, of course.
Also, officials are looking for a third passenger after a plane crashed into a lake in Georgia. So far, officials have recovered two bodies. Witnesses say they heard the plane's engine sputtering before it went down.
And mega auctions, hammering home the foreclosure crisis. Bargain hunters are now hitting up foreclosure auctions hoping to capitalize on the misfortunes of homeowners who lost their properties. Officials say some places are going for 50 to 60 percent off their highest values.
CHETRY: Back to the toilet, why? I mean, why?
ROBERTS: I mean, why would you -- the toilet-themed restaurant, did anybody say, you know, there's a lot of people in this world who'd like to eat out of a toilet.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: So let's create a restaurant like that.
CHETRY: And it's sushi on top no less. All right. Well, sorry if you were eating your Wheaties.
When you think of the housing crisis, you probably think of people facing foreclose, and not people who are homeless. Well, there's a Hollywood producer. He's come up with a creative solution to make life on the street more bearable.
CNN's Ted Rowlands shows us the new mobile homeless shelter seen on the streets of Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's called an EDAR, which stands for Everybody Deserves a Roof. It's sort of a mini mobile home for the homeless. It has plenty of waterproof storage space and can be pushed along the street. Park it and it can expand into a tent that's raised off the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody calls it the hobo condo.
ROWLANDS: Fifty-year-old Jose Font (ph), who says he's been homeless on and off since 1979, is one of 60 people testing the EDAR on the streets of Los Angeles. Jose says it's already made a difference in his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had the EDAR for about three weeks now, and it makes me feel like I got something to come to.
ROWLANDS: The EDAR is also being used in shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very comfortable.
ROWLANDS: For the past years, 60-year-old Barbara Gartentire (ph) has been sleeping on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have your own little space. Read, eat, sleep, whatever, this is yours.
ROWLANDS: The EDAR was an epiphany that "Revenge of the Nerds" movie producer Peter Samuelson says he had after meeting some local homeless people.
PETER SAMUELSON, FOUNDER, EVERYONE DESERVES A ROOF: And I asked them, how do you get money and where do you sleep? I thought they went to shelters or whatever. There's only a shelter bed for about a fifth of our urban homeless in this country. Four-fifths are sleeping somewhere that we wouldn't want to sleep.
ROWLANDS: Samuelson sponsored a design contest to develop the prototype and used his own money and donations to build the first batch of EDARs.
SAMUELSON: And we built shelters and we won't need EDARs. And we'll gather them all up, put them in a big bonfire, set fire to it. I'll light the first match.
ROWLANDS: But for now, at $500 a pop, Samuelson says the EDAR is an affordable way to give the homeless a less horrible place to sleep.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Such a future problem in this country with the homeless growing too with the bad economy.
CHETRY: Absolutely. These tent cities in Sacramento where people have literally just taken over this area that's open, open spaces and they're really setting up almost literally a city, hanging their laundry on lines. It's a really bad situation.
ROBERTS: One guy there trying to help out in any way he can.
Right now, President Obama hinting that it might be time to talk to the Taliban but is negotiating with the enemy a way to end the war in Afghanistan? We'll talk to the former CIA agent who led operations during the war in Afghanistan about all that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: They're cropping up all over America, auctions for foreclosed homes where the bidding is fast and furious and you can get a house for 50 to 60 percent off of its highest value, where one person's housing nightmare could turn into another's dream come true.
Our Susan Candiotti is with one family as they ride the emotional roller coaster over a house.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, good morning. Here in New York City, Woodhaven, Queens is one of the areas hardest hit by the housing crisis. But for one family, this foreclosed property could be their ticket to the American dream.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): At any foreclosure auction, grab your earplugs, your wallet and prepare for a madhouse. Victor Guevares' family is preparing for much more.
VICTOR GUEVARES, PROSPECTIVE HOME BUYER: This is -- this is my dream.
CANDIOTTI: After 12 years of renting and saving, the Brooklyn native is ready to buy his first home in the foreclosure market.
V. GUEVARES: I just have a feeling that within six to nine months I think when we start to see a resurgence in the market, so I think now is the time for us to get into it if we can.
CANDIOTTI: He'd like to get his family into this three bedroom, 1,300 square foot home in Queens that once was valued at more than $500,000.
V. GUEVARES: Now, it's asking bid $90,000.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): So the opening bid is $90,000.
V. GUEVARES: Ninety thousand dollars.
CANDIOTTI: How much do you hope to get it for?
V. GUEVARES: Ninety thousand dollars.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Don't laugh. USHomeAuction (ph) says places are going for 50 to 60 percent off their highest values.
ROB FRIEDMAN, CHAIRMAN, USHOMEAUCTION: I hate to say it but take advantage of the marketplace. Get in there and buy. Get, you know, help us turn these houses back into homes for the communities.
CANDIOTTI: Eight-year-old Devon Guevares has his eye on his own bedroom and privacy.
DEVON GUEVARES, VICTOR'S SON: It's like I'm like by myself. It's not like there's people living downstairs.
V. GUEVARES: I feel all this is happening to me is now someone this is the time, Victor. This is your property. You're going to get it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bidders, what do you say now?
CANDIOTTI: Will he get it? Hold on. Guevares is at the auction with a required good faith $5,000 cashier's check but he's competing against who knows? Three hundred seventy-five properties in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are on the block.
After more than four hours, Guevares' dream home comes up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We start the bid at $89,000.
CANDIOTTI: The opening bid blows by. At least two others are challenging him. Guevares wins at $230,000, but he has to bring it up to code before he'll get a loan. He's almost too tired to celebrate.
V. GUEVARES: The first part of my journey I've completed this. Now I'm on my second final stretch.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: For winning bidders who need a loan, auctioneers predict a far better chance of avoiding foreclosure again because banks are getting stingier. Well, will these properties hold on to their value? Well, that's another issue -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: Susan Candiotti for us. Thanks so much.
Well, we're just about half past the hour now. And here's what we're following for you.
A new threat from North Korea. Pyongyang says it will retaliate against any attempt to intercept its planned satellite launch and interference with "mean a war." Both U.S. and South Korean officials believe the North is actually preparing to test fire a missile with a range of about 4,200 miles that would be capable of reaching Alaska or Hawaii.
Also this morning, police in Maryville, Illinois, are hoping to question the man who shot and killed a pastor during his Sunday sermon. Reverend Fred Winters managed to deflect the first of four rounds with his Bible, but one of the shots hit him the chest killing him.
The shooter then injured himself with a knife before two members of the First Baptist Church were able to wrestle him to the ground. They also suffered injuries. The 27-year-old gunman remains hospitalized in serious condition. Police still don't know of a motive.
And the price of gas hovering around $2 a gallon. AAA reporting the national average price of regular unleaded $1.95, down just slightly from yesterday. Eleven states as well as Washington, D.C. now have gas prices of $2 or higher. Last year at this time, the national average was $3.22 a gallon -- John.
ROBERTS: Well, this morning, there are signs of a possible strategy shift for the war in Afghanistan. In an interview over the weekend, the president suggested it may be time to engage some members of America's sworn enemy there, the Taliban, a strategy U.S. forces used in Iraq by reaching out to Sunni militants there.
And here to talk more about this is Gary Berntsen. Gary was in the CIA for more than two decades. He's the author of "Human Intelligence, Counterterrorism & National Leadership." Probably as important, more important in this particular case is he led CIA operations in Afghanistan and you were up there in Tora Bora during the war in 2001.
So this idea that it worked in Iraq by embracing Sunni tribal leaders and bringing them over to the American side to help police their areas, fight al Qaeda, tamp down the violence, taking that, applying that to Afghanistan and the Taliban, will it work?
GARY BERNTSEN, CIA OFFICER 1982-2005: Well, Afghanistan is clearly not Iraq. The problem in Afghanistan is that you might be able to split individuals, but you're not going to split entire groups. Plus in Afghanistan, we're fighting five or six different groups -- Taliban, the Haqqani network, Hizb-i-Islami of Gulbuddin, al Qaeda and others.
We flipped people early on in Afghanistan. We were able to convince some people to come over. They reconciled. Some of them are members of the parliament now. These are people we fought early on. But if you keep saying the Taliban are winning, what incentive is there now for individuals who are fighting against us to come over to us right now?
ROBERTS: Yes, because the president also said in the interview we're not winning in Afghanistan, so we need to reach out to the Taliban. But can you reach out to the Taliban as a group - as a political group? Because this is an organization that we gave $43 million to in May of 2001 and four months later planes flew into the World Trade Center and then Pentagon.
BERNTSEN: You don't want to reach out to them -- to them directly from the United States. You want to work through the Afghans. You want to work through Karzai or through Akhtar, the Ministry of the Interior, or Bismillah Khan, head of the army, or Amrullah Saleh, the head of the NDS.
You want to be work with the Afghans as partners as you reach out to individuals. You're not getting them as a group. If you do bring some of them in as a group, they'll cooperate with you just like they did in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. But the second you're gone, they're going to start abusing the population, violating human rights. And this is not what anyone wants to see.
ROBERTS: But that's happening now in the Swat Valley. They had this deal. They played by the rules for what -- about a week and a half, two weeks?
BERNTSEN: Yes, for a couple of days. And then, of course, if you play music, you fly kites, if you're a woman, you can't be educated. They've destroyed many girls' schools already. I mean it's horrible.
ROBERTS: OK. A couple of years ago, back to 2007, the British managed to bring a Taliban commander over and made him I think governor of a certain area. But now there are some complaints about this guy.
BERNTSEN: Oh, yes, of course. Nothing but, you know, corruption there. You have to pay him off. This is down Helmand Province. There were some success stories like Rocketi -- Salam Rocketi, who is a corps commander for the Taliban back in RC east in 2001. He's a member of the parliament. He's been successful. The funny thing is that they put a number of these guys in the parliament. That has worked once they've come over because they have a voice but they don't have executive authority.
ROBERTS: And do you think with everything on his plate right now, the economy, health care, all of this, even the stem cell announcement today, that the president can focus enough on this or does he need to turn more authority over to General Petraeus?
BERNTSEN: I think he needs to turn this over to Petraeus. He needs to -- they need to be letting CENTCOM run this. Now, Holbrooke's fabulous. Holbrooke's smart and he's tough. If the White House would be wise to allow Holbrooke and Petraeus to work on this thing and for them not to comment all that much on this, because the reality is they don't have experience on the ground doing this sort of thing most of them.
ROBERTS: Gary, it's always great to get your perspective on this because you were so plugged into this whole area.
BERNTSEN: A pleasure.
ROBERTS: Appreciate it. Good to see you this morning - Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we're watching a severe weather system hitting now in the northeast. The storm already producing possible tornadoes. We're going to get the latest track and let you know if it could affect your travel plans today.
Also, diplomatic business taking a detour for Hillary Clinton. Secretary of State speaking candidly overseas, talking about life, even falling in love. You'll see it.
It's 33 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. And welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. 36 minutes past the hour. We're going to fast forward to some stories that will be making news later today. Right now, we're just hours away from President Obama reversing a Bush administration policy on embryonic stem cell research. The president will sign that executive order at 11:45 Eastern. You can see it right here on CNN or cnn.com/live. And President Obama's auto task force taking a road trip to Detroit. The task force will meet with senior executives at General Motors and Chrysler as well as the United Auto Workers. He'll also tour GM and Chrysler facilities. His trip wraps up nearly three weeks of fact gathering by the team since the automakers submitted their rescue plans to the Treasury Department seeking billions in more bailout money.
And if you ended up taking the bus or train more often last year, you weren't alone. A new report to be released shows that Americans took more than 10 billion rides on public transportation last year. It's a 52 year old high, a 52-year high, rather. The report found ridership surged during the summer's record high gas prices and has held steady ever since. There you go. So we talked about, you know, the high price of gas changing habits. And I guess it did have an effect.
ROBERTS: I always love taking the subway. It gets you where you need to go in a relatively short period of time. I love it.
We're watching extreme weather right now. A tornado ripped through southern Indiana on Sunday. Take a look at these pictures at a Columbia city. A half a dozen homes destroyed. Four people injured there. Our Rob Marciano is tracking all of it from the CNN weather center in Atlanta.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: All right, Rob, thanks very much. 39 minutes now after the hour. The politics of race in America. We've got the nation's first African-American president but does that mean that we're entering a post-racial society or some of the old ways still at work in this country? We'll find out, coming up next on the Most News in the Morning. Stay with us.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
The nation's first African-American Attorney General Eric Holder drew a lot of attention for the comments that he made when he said we're a, quote, "nation of cowards" when it comes to race. Well, President Obama took issue with his choice of words. Here's what he said about it in an interview with the "New York Times."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think it's fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language. I'm not somebody who believes that constantly talking about race somehow solves racial tensions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right, well, should the president be doing more to engage the nation in a dialogue about race? Joining us from Washington, Michael Fauntroy. He's a professor of Public Policy who specializes in race and politics at George Mason University. Thanks so much for being with us this morning, Michael.
MICHAEL FAUNTROY, PROFESSOR, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: So it sounds like the president was taking the attorney general to task. What was your reaction to President Obama's remarks?
FAUNTROY: There are a couple of things. The first one, he said if I were advising my attorney general, which struck me as pretty curious. It seem like he's clearly not happy about the comment.
But the other point that really needs to be emphasized here is his notion that he says he is not someone who believes that constantly talking about race will somehow solve these problems. But there's a whole lot of space between constantly talking about race and never talking about race. And the president, I think is uniquely positioned to find some space in between those two polls to move the country into a more inform and necessary dialogue on race.
CHETRY: He also said, though, that he took issue with the wording, so do you think that he has a point in dwelling too much on the things that divide us, instead of the things that we actually agree on, make it harder for us to move forward?
FAUNTROY: Well, I don't think there's any question that the world in which I now live is substantially better than the world in which my father came up in, and my wife and I have toddlers, and their world is much better than the world in which I was born in. So we ought to celebrate the successes, but we ought not lose sight of the serious and systemic problems going forward.
It is my hope that if the president is not comfortable taking the lead on that that he will allow others in the administration to speak truth on this issue.
CHETRY: Here's something interesting, I'm glad we have you on to talk about this. Political and cultural analysts are saying that like other politicians before him, even his predecessor, President Obama uses what they called dog whistle politics. This is when leaders use language that will connect with one targeted group, yet it's not often recognize significant by the public at large.
And analyst say that President Obama uses dog whistle politics as a way to connect with African-Americans and the African-American community. So here's one example they point to. This is the president at Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: No, no, I got it. You just keep that. You got my -- no, we straight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. So explain what he was saying and what's going on there with that?
You're laughing right now.
FAUNTROY: Yes. I mean, it's borderline hysterical to me. This is sort of the classic barber shoptalk. We clip some of the language, but we know what we're talking -- we know what we're saying when we're talking to one another. And he would never use that sort of language in a cabinet meeting, but he knows that he can go to Ben's Chili Bowl or any barber shop in the city, and everybody would understand exactly what he was saying.
And this is the sort of thing that adept politician without regard to race do all the time. And sometimes a dog whistle could be in the color of a tie, it could be in some other nonverbal cue that also is used to convey a message.
CHETRY: And let's show you one more example so people get what we're talking about. This is at a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina last April. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: When you're running for the presidency, then you've got to expect it. And know, you've just got to kind of let it -- you know. You know. That's what you got to do.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go, so it's a dirt off your shoulder. Of course. If we all listen to Jay-Z, we know what he's talking about. But -- yes -- but as a whole, perhaps people don't -- how do you go from that being effective to not being considered pandering?
FAUNTROY: Well, the key is to not overuse it, you know. There are all these sorts of affectations that candidates take on as they travel around the country. It's not unusual for candidates to get a southern twang when they hit the south.
CHETRY: Right.
FAUNTROY: For example, to speak to groups. So the key is to not overuse it, because it will be seen as pandering.
CHETRY: I got you. And, you know, his predecessor as we said did it as well with certain things. People say that the culture of life using that in the political lexicon.
FAUNTROY: Yes.
CHETRY: Also as an example that he got -- I'm one of you as an evangelical Christian. And so, it's not just about race, but it's about being able to speak to one certain group and let them know, I'm with you. FAUNTROY: Oh, without question. President Reagan in his -- then Governor Reagan in his 1980 campaign used all of these allusions to the concept of American exceptionalism when he talked about America being the shining city on the Hill, to people who are religious conservatives. That praise shining city on the Hill means something.
CHETRY: Right. All right, Michael Fauntroy, great to have you with us.
FAUNTROY: Thanks.
CHETRY: Professor at George Mason University. He's the author of "Republicans and the Black Vote." Maybe we'll get you to talk about the GOP next time you're on. Thanks so much for being with us.
FAUNTROY: It's all right.
CHETRY: It's 47 minutes after the hour.
ROBERTS: New victims of the foreclosure crisis. And she paid her apartment on time, every month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a single mom with three boys. I'm just trying to raise my three kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Renters at risk. Who can rescue them? Ahead on the Most News in the Morning.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
It is one of the more painful aspects of the country's economic crisis right now -- foreclosure. Families fall behind in their payments then get forced out of their homes, but there are some people who don't wait for the banks to push them out. They just up and leave long before the property even hit the auction block. Listen to this from iReporter David Seaman who is all fired up over it.
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DAVID SEAMAN, IREPORTER, NEW YORK: If you are locking away from your home, and you haven't tried to refinance, you haven't tried to negotiate with your bank, and you haven't hassled living the hell out of your elected officials to help you out, then you're part of the problem. It's un-American to not stand by your word.
If you signed a contract, if you signed a mortgage, try your best to live up to that. Don't just give up at the first sign of trouble, because that is honestly part of the financial problem in this country right now as people are just walking away and then not honoring their commitments. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: IReporter David Seaman there from New York. And we want to hear from you about the housing crisis or anything. Head to our Web page at cnn.com/am, and send us your iReport.
And it's not just owners losing their homes in the housing crisis, but renters as well. Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan with one mother's story.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, paying your rent on time doesn't mean you won't still end up on the street. Renters are often the unwitting victims of the foreclosure crisis.
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MARIA STEPHENS, RENTER: OK, run the bases.
BOLDUAN: Maria Stephens was comfortably middle-class making $80,000 a year when the housing crisis hit.
STEPHENS: I was in a situation of no fault of my own. I'm a single mom with three boys. I'm just trying to raise my three kids.
BOLDUAN: She lost her job, and ended up homeless living in a shelter with her sons for seven months.
STEPHENS: I promised my son, I promised that -- that I would do everything I could to get out of the shelter.
BOLDUAN: Stephens was a renter and was forced out of her home. Why? The lease dissolved because her landlord went into foreclosure, leaving Stephens little notice or recourse. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, about 40 percent of people facing eviction due to foreclosure don't hold the mortgage. They're renters.
LINDA COUCH, NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION: People who have been paying their rent on time, have been keeping up with their lease requirements, all of a sudden, they're served with foreclosure notices.
BOLDUAN: Advocates like Linda Couch want more protection for renters, and more affordable housing option nationwide. President Obama's 2010 budget proposal increases funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by $6 billion. Puts $1 billion towards housing for the poorest families, and boosts funding for rental vouchers.
Measures Couch applauds, but argues don't go far enough.
COUCH: If banks and new owners tomorrow were required to allow people to stay in those homes for 90 days through the term of their lease, we would see immediate and dramatic impact on potentially millions of people's lives.
BOLDUAN: Maria Stephens is finally moving on with hers, renting another home but now saving a little more, just in case.
STEPHENS: I can look back at this picture and say, I might have been there, but this is where I am now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Housing advocate Linda Couch says low-income renters are especially vulnerable. It makes sense. They don't have the money it takes to secure new housing in a pinch. And often these evictions happen with little or no notice -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Globe trotting with the secretary of state.
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HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What's happening today?
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ROBERTS: Plus -- a bigger, badder American enemy, backing the Mexican mayhem. Who's really right on our doorstep? You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is working to improve America's image abroad. She's hitting some Middle East hot spots, but during a TV interview in Turkey, the talk veered far from diplomacy, actually.
Jim Acosta is live in Washington with the details this morning.
It was Secretary Clinton letting her hair down, right?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. From the rust belt to the Russians, Kiran. In many ways, Hillary Clinton is back on the campaign trail, but this time she's trying to win over parts of the world where America's image has taken a beating. The Clinton charm offensive has gone global.
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CLINTON: That was the last time I fell in love, and it was so long ago with my husband. I'm trying to remember.
ACOSTA (voice-over): When the secretary of state landed on Turkey's talk show version of "The View," it wasn't Barbara Walters or Joy Behar asking the questions, but the subject matter sounded familiar.
So Madam Secretary, tell us about your life with the former president?
CLINTON: We go to the movies. We talk and play games together, card games and board games. We go for long walks. I try to do that every chance I can with my husband.
ACOSTA: When the conversation turned to how much sugar she puts in her coffee, not too little, not too much.
CLINTON: You know, somebody said that-- that I'm always trying to find the middle, which is probably true because I think that, you know, it's exciting to be on both ends, but life is mostly lived in the middle and trying to get along with people.
ACOSTA: She revealed her foreign policy philosophy, smart power, which may taste a little sweeter around the world than the Bush doctrine. Take that reset button she presented to Russia's foreign minister.
CLINTON: We worked hard to get the right Russian word. You think you got it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got it wrong.
CLINTON: I got it wrong.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It should be -- (SPEAKING RUSSIAN). And this says (SPEAKING RUSSIAN) which means overture.
(LAUGHTER)
ACOSTA: Clinton aims to reverse America's overcharged relations. She sent diplomatic envoys to Syria to work on Middle East peace. And dangled the idea of inviting Iran to an upcoming summit on Afghanistan.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think what Secretary Clinton and the rest of the foreign policy team, I think they've gotten off to an excellent start. They're making important strategic moves.
ACOSTA: A political rock star on a world stage, Clinton has reinvented herself again.
DONNA BRAZILLE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: As you know, over the next four years, being secretary of state is going to be a very highly visible and a very important position for President Obama.
ACOSTA: A position that sometimes gets personal.
CLINTON: I like, you know -- I like sitting in sidewalk cafes or coffee shops and watching people. And, you know, that's impossible for me now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: But so far the world is only seeing the softer side of smart power. Secretary Clinton has yet to show the grit Americans saw during the campaign, but she will get that chance when the nation is tested by its first foreign crisis. Something that hasn't happened yet, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Jim Acosta for us this morning. Thanks so much.
