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American Morning
Obama Makes Prime-Time Push for Health Care Reform; Terror Turncoat?; Coping in Captivity; Harvard's Gates Reacts to Arrest; Firefighters Rescue Child in Burning SUV
Aired July 23, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, we're coming up on just before 8:00 here in New York on this Thursday, July 23rd. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING, I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. We are following several developing stories this morning. We'll be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes.
President Obama, weighing in on the arrest of a Harvard professor who claims that he was a victim of racial profiling. We'll tell you what the president and the mayor of Cambridge are saying about the incident.
CHETRY: And President Obama, keeping the heat on Congress to pass health care reform. Today he takes his speech to Ohio, to visit a Cleveland clinic. Just -- just who will pay for the plan, though, and how much? We're live on Capitol Hill to break it down for you.
ROBERTS: As the U.S. military steps up the search for the American soldier captured by the Taliban, there are new concerns about how he may be holding up. Our Barbara Starr has inside information coming up on how the military trains the ranks on surviving as a hostage.
CHETRY: President Obama speaking out on the arrest of his friend, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates that triggered charges of racial profiling. The president says he doesn't know all the facts about the arrest, but offered this during last night's news conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, Gates was hauled-off by police after mistakenly being accused of trying to break into his home and then being arrested for disorderly conduct. He is demanding an apology from the arresting officer. That officer has refused to do so.
The Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts did apologize to Professor Gates.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, John talked to her about what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Do you believe he should apologize?
MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: What I believe is that we should continue finding out the facts, what actually happened, so that we can take the appropriate action.
ROBERTS: Does it suggest to you at this point that there may need to be some changes to these procedures?
SIMMONS: What I suggest is that something happened that should not have happened.
ROBERTS: Right.
SIMMONS: That is very clear to me.
The next steps are how do we -- first we have to sit down, and that's what I'm certainly going to do is sit down with the parties involved and have a discussion about how do we -- how did this -- how did we get this outcome? How did this happen?
And from there to look at -- to talk with the police commissioner in particular and the city manager to say this can't happen again in Cambridge and how he's going to prevent it from happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Meantime, Professor Gates speaking exclusively to CNN and says he is considering legal action, and apology or not, he is planning to keep the issue of racial profiling alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY LOUIS GATES, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: I would be prepared as a human being to forgive him, that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for America. Because if this can happen to me in Harvard Square, this can happen to anybody in the United States and I'm determined that it never happen to anybody again.
And what it made me realize was how vulnerable all black men are. How vulnerable all people of color are and all poor people to capricious forces like a rouge policeman. And this man clearly was a rouge police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Professor Gates also claims that there were fabrications in that police report. Well stay tuned, at 8:30 Eastern Soledad O'Brien is going to be joining us with a preview of tonight's "BLACK IN AMERICA 2" special. It will examine today's pioneers, you can see that tonight 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: President Obama making his strongest case yet for a complete overhaul of America's health care system. Speaking last night the president promised that reform will not add to the deficit.
So, the big question, how will he pay for it? Two thirds, according to plans will come from the government by eliminating waste and one third from higher taxes. The president also stressed health care reform is key to rebuilding the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: It's an economy that simply wasn't ready to compete in the 21st century. One where we've been slow to invest in clean energy technologies that have created new jobs and industries in other countries, where we've watched our graduation rates lag behind too much of the world and where we spend much more on health care than any other nation, but aren't any healthier for it.
And that's why I've said that even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we must rebuild it stronger than before. And health insurance reform is central to that effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And while lawmakers from both parties scramble to find common ground, there are a lot of questions about what the president's plan means for you.
CNN's Brianna Keilar breaks it down for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here's what Democrats say their insurance overhaul would do for you. Insurance companies could not deny you coverage for a preexisting condition and you would be required to purchase health insurance or pay a fine.
Can't afford insurance? The government would chip in and in most cases so would your employer. So how much would you pay? House Democrats say they will cap your health care costs.
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: There will be an annual limit on out of pocket expenses and no lifetime limits on care. There will be no more co-pays or deductibles for preventive care that can catch devastating illnesses in time.
KEILAR: If you don't get insurance through your employer, some in Congress want to change how you buy it on the individual market by creating a central clearinghouse. It's also called a gateway or an exchange where you could buy insurance after comparing different plans.
Many Democrats in the House and Senate want a government-run insurance plan included among those options, insisting private insurers won't lower their prices without the competition. But Republicans say it will drive private insurers out of business.
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R), TENNESSEE: You have a very good risk of losing your health care and ending up, if you're poor, your only option, is a failed government program that none of us would join if we could possibly avoid it.
KEILAR: But Democrats and President Obama say if you like the private coverage you have now, you can keep it.
OBAMA: If anyone says otherwise, they are either trying to mislead you or don't have their facts straight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: This idea of a government-run insurance plan obviously a big flash point in this debate. Republicans oppose it, so do some Democrats and that's why we're keeping an eye on a key proposal that some Democrats and Republicans in the Senate Finance Committee are hashing out.
It's likely to include a non-profit health cooperative approach as an alternative to this government-run plan -- John.
ROBERTS: Something that Kent Conrad's been floating -- what do we know about that co-op plan?
KEILAR: Well, the Senate Finance Committee has not released its plan so we don't have the details, but our understanding is that it would be roughly based on the models that we've seen in other cooperatives. Like farm, co-op, credit unions and rural electricity co-op still waiting for those details -- key details -- John.
ROBERTS: All right, Brianna Keilar for us at the Rosa Rotunda (ph) this morning, Brianna thanks so much.
And stick with us; in a moment, we're going to take a look at how President Obama's plan can affect how you get health care. We're talking to Dr. Bernadine Healy; she used to run the American Red Cross. And Donna Shalala was the longest serving secretary of Health and Human Services serving under President Clinton.
They're coming up straight ahead.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, a U.S. counter terrorism official says one of Osama Bin Laden's sons was probably killed earlier this year in Pakistan. Saad Bin Laden is believed to have died in a missile strike by a U.S. predator drone. Officials say it is hard to be completely sure that he was killed because of the lack of DNA.
This other story that we're about to tell you related to al Qaeda, and really it reads like a plot of a thriller. A New York man providing al Qaeda leaders with information about the New York City transit system and the Long Island Commuter Railroad.
ROBERTS: But after his arrest, he becomes a secret informant for the U.S. government cooperating in the fight against terrorism here and overseas.
Deborah Feyerick joins us now live to untangle the story. Good morning, Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, and good morning, Kiran.
That's what makes this so interesting. 26-year-old American Bryant Neal Vinas left Long Island, New York to train with al Qaeda in Pakistan. This is according to a newly unsealed indictment.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year with conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan during a rocket attack on a U.S. military base there last September. He also admitted providing details of the New York transit system and Long Island railroad to al Qaeda militants, which may have led to a heightened alert level in the city last November.
Now, a source close to the investigation says Vinas went to Pakistan about a year and a half ago after leaving Long Island and the mosque he attended there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLEEN PRUNTY, NEIGHBOR: Honestly you know that it's out there, but you don't truly think it's in your own backyard or next door to you. That's a scary thing.
NAYYAR IMAM, PRESIDENT, ISLAMIC ASSOCIATION OF LONG ISLAND: I have a feeling that everything that he has done, he had done when he left the mosque about a year and a half ago. So it's when he was there. I don't think that at that time he was involved in any kind of activity that links to the things that happened in Afghanistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now, the imam there at the mosque says that Vinas converted to Islam. After his capture, he cooperated with European authorities and that led to one of the largest counter terrorism operations in Belgian history last December and the arrest of two well-placed al Qaeda operatives.
Vinas trained with al Qaeda using the names of Bashir al-Ameriki and Ben Yameen Al-Kandee; references to America and to Canada -- John.
ROBERTS: Was there ever an imminent threat to the New York City Transit System or the Long Island Rail Road?
FEYERICK: It doesn't appear so. But again, authorities are quick to tell you, that's this is why it's so important to get these people because the New York City subway system is always going to be a target of attack. So it was good that they beefed-up security, but no eminent, not quite.
ROBERTS: Do we know anything about the plea, too, or he'll get favorable treatment because he helped the American authorities?
FEYERICK: He has not been sentenced yet, he did plead guilty, so that's to come. But again, obviously they thought he was a good value to provide the kind of information they needed.
ROBERTS: All right Deb Feyerick for us this morning.
FEYERICK: It's a pleasure.
ROBERTS: Fascinating story, thanks, Deb.
CHETRY: And we all know about the fight of a soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, he's being held by the Taliban. We're going to take a look at how he's been trained to cope with being a prisoner of war.
Nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Cloudy day right now in Boston, Massachusetts, 71 degrees. A little bit later it's going to be cloudy and the temperatures will drop to 69 a bit later in the day.
Welcome back to THE MOST NEWS IN THE MORNING. The U.S. military stepping up the search for the captured soldier who's being held hostage by the Taliban. They're also holding out hope in his hometown. More than 500 people attended a vigil for Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl yesterday.
There were some new concerns also about how the 23-year-old may be holding up in captivity.
Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr joins us live with new information this morning. And of course, soldiers are trained to deal with this. But when it actually happens, there are a lot of questions. How is that training working in unthinkable circumstances?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know Kiran, that is the question. How much training would a young soldier like Bowe Bergdahl have really gotten to deal with the unlikely prospect of being held in captivity? The answer -- not a lot of training.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): No one knows how much duress Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl was under when he spoke.
PFC BOWE BERGDAHL, CAPTURED BY TALIBAN: My fellow soldiers, my friends that I fight with, they all agree when I say this is a waste. We should not be here.
STARR: When a U.S. Soldier is captured, the army code of conduct is blunt. It states "I am required to only give my name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country." Bergdahl, like all soldiers is taught the code.
But how prepared would he have been for captivity? Robert Bever Lacroix (ph) conducts military security training. Bergdahl, he believes, is doing the best he can.
ROBERT BEVER LACROIX (PH), CONDUCTS MILITARY SECURITY TRAINING: The evidence that I see that he's resisting is the fact he will not directly engage the camera with his eyes; that he tends to look down and look away.
STARR: Ever since POWs were tortured in Vietnam, the military has improved survival training. The most intensive is reserved for troops at the highest risk: air crews and special operations units. They learn to survive interrogation and even torture.
Junior troops like Bergdahl who are at minimal risk of capture because they operate in large groups get lectures on the code of conduct, but little other training.
BEVER LACROIX: He truly does not know how to survive outside of his own wits and he's very familiar with what he shouldn't do as far as the code of conduct goes. Outside of that, he's pretty much...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, CNN has learned that the army, the U.S. military has already opened a separate fact-finding investigation separate from the hunt for Private First Class Bergdahl, looking into what happened, what went wrong to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Because the bottom line, Kiran, this is a very significant mystery to the U.S. military, how one soldier disappeared from his combat outpost. This was not a combat situation. Somehow he's appeared to simply have left his post and they want to know what happened -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Barbara Starr for us this morning, thanks.
ROBERTS: Talking a lot about health care this morning, because that's what the president was talking about last night. He's trying to get a new health care plan out of Congress. He was trying to get it by August; doesn't look like that's going to happen.
People have a lot of legitimate concerns about where, in fact, these changes to health care may be going. We'll break that all down coming up next with two very fine minds when it comes to health care policy: Bernadine Healy and the former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala.
Stay with us. Fifteen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Back to the president's prime time push on health care reform. We want to cut through the politics and really answer some questions about how this could affect you.
In particular, will this reform force people to use a government- run plan and will you get the care that you get from doctors? Or at least the care that you're used to from doctors, or will that suffer?
For some answers, let's bring in Dr. Bernadine Healy. She's the health editor of "U.S. News and World Report." She's also the former president of the American Red Cross. And Donna Shalala. She is President Clinton's secretary of health and human services, now of course president of the University of Miami.
So, the two big concerns that people have, will private insurers be forced out of business because they just won't be able to compete with a public plan? And the other one is, will there be any kind of diminution of service.
Let's tackle the first one. Dr. Healy, what do you think? Will private insurers be forced out of business because of a public plan? Or will at least people not be able to resist the siren call of a public plan because it'll be so much cheaper than private insurance?
DR. BERNADINE HEALY, FORMER PRESIDENT, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Well, I think what you said is correct. I think if the public option which appears to be is going to be cheaper, and we're talking about an 8 percent penalty if an employer doesn't offer insurance and that can be a lot lower than what they might be spending, maybe 10 percent or 12 percent.
In fact I spoke to one of my colleagues recently. He said that. He said, "How can I not go into a public plan and save that amount of money that I'm currently spending for health care?" So I think that is an unknown.
And, in fact, those are the kinds of questions I wish the president had addressed last night. I don't think he moved the ball. We heard the same things he's been telling us for six months, but tell us about that concern because it is one that the American people are worried about.
ROBERTS: Secretary Shalala, do you agree, disagree?
DONNA SHALALA, FORMER SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I do disagree. First of all, we don't know precisely what the public plan looks like. I have a lot more confidence in the private sector. In their ability to design very attractive plans to make them efficient, to offer things that aren't offered by a public plan.
Right now, the private insurance companies run the Medicare system. They essentially deliver those services. So I think it's quite possible that the public plan will be cheaper, but people don't necessarily take the cheapest plan. They'll take the plan that's a high quality and very efficient for them.
ROBERTS: Would you agree, though, Madame Secretary, but it is at this point a bit of an unknown what the effect will be?
SHALALA: Well, we don't know every element of the new health care reform plan because we don't have bills out of the Senate or the House.
What we do know is they're all trying to do the same thing. They're trying to cover more people and they're trying to hold our costs down. And that's what everybody wants. There'll be different kinds of delivery systems, different kinds of insurance plans that will be available to people. But most people who are employed will keep what they have.
ROBERTS: Another thought here, Dr. Healy, and then I want to move on to service.
HEALY: I think the big issue is the unknowns are huge. This is one of the plans over 1,000 pages. The president hasn't read it and even the CBO admitted that they haven't read the whole thing when they scored.
I think every American should read it. It's available online, but the unknowns are huge. And we hope there's good will here, I know there's good will here, but we better project what this might look like.
ROBERTS: Let's talk about service. The president was asked last night by Jake Tapper of ABC whether Americans would have to give up anything to get health care reform. Let's listen to what the president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: They're going to have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier. You take one test, then you go to another specialist, you take a second test. Then you go to another specialist, you take a third test and nobody's bothering to send the first test you took, same test to the next doctors? You're wasting money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Madam Secretary, the president indicating last night that the only changes -- the only diminution of service will be getting rid of these redundant tests. Do you believe, that in fact, will be the case? I don't want to say health care rationing because it might not get to that point. But might people have to take a little bit less out of their health insurance than they have now?
SHALALA: Look, the president is going off to the Cleveland Clinic, where Dr. Healy has spent much of her career. They have an excellent communication system. That means that the doctors, the specialists don't redo their paperwork or their tests.
What the president was pointing out is anything that does not add value and quality to your health care ought to be eliminated. It ought to be a very integrated, a very smooth, well-communicated system. That's why he's put a big amount of money into health information systems. I think the Cleveland Clinic is a model, you can get more efficient.
ROBERTS: I think you would probably agree with that, Dr. Healy, that the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic, as well, models when it comes to efficiencies. But is that scaleable across the country? Is it repeatable? And don't a lot of these repetitive tests come from the fear that doctors have about being sued and there's nothing in any of these bills about medical malpractice reform?
HEALY: Well, I think all of that is correct. But I think that even with the Cleveland Clinic, it's very coordinated when you're within the hospital. But the coordination of care when people go home is something the president is concerned about that health care wants to focus on. And I think that's very reasonable so you don't have those redundancies.
But I think to say that we aren't going to see restrictions on care, avoid the R word, there's going to be restrictions on care.
In this particular bill we're talking about having a health choice commissioner who is going to decide your health choices. The federal government will be telling you what kind of a health policy you can have. And I think the president did not answer this last night, john, but he did answer the question directly when ABC asked him and that was what happens if you want to get your grand mom's hip replaced and it's not approved by the public option? You know what he said, I'd put my hands in my pocket and I'd pay for it.
ROBERTS: Right. But Dr. Healy isn't that true with private plans now? I know so many doctors personally who have gone to bat for their patients because the health insurance company won't pay for it. Secretary Shalala, are we talking about something here that happens every day anyway?
SHALALA: Employers put those restrictions on, Bernadine.
HEALY: But, I think, John, what you said -- and I think voters (ph) said, yes. But right now, the health insurance system in this country is broken. That's what we should be focusing on. We should be focusing on making sure that no one can be turned away, that everybody can sign up, that you can't have a preexisting exclusion.
We also have to look at the cost of insurance. There is not an incentive for insurance companies to bring prices down. Do you know, John, other countries who pay half of what we do for health insurance, they spend more time in hospitalizations, seek more doctors, and they use more medicines. Our prices are too high -- no one is looking at prices.
SHALALA: Well, I think that's exactly -- she has summarized what the president is trying to achieve. Dr. Healy is right on. We want to give access to people, but simultaneously we want appropriate pricing.
In other words, we don't want to reward volume, we want to get value out of our health care system and to do that, we're going to have to get our arms around it. The public option is a very tiny piece of this overall strategy.
ROBERTS: It's always great to have these discussions. And thanks so much for joining us. Donna Shalala and Dr. Bernadine Healy, really appreciate it.
SHALALA: You're welcome.
HEALY: Thanks John.
ROBERTS: Twenty-five, almost 26 minutes after the hour. What do you think about the president's health care speech? We'd like to know. Sound off at cnn.com/amfix or call our show hotline at 1-877- myamfix -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Still ahead, we're going to show you the amazing video of a boy rescued from a burning car with the help of many. We're going to talk with the father. Can you imagine what must have been going through his mind as people were struggling to rescue his son?
Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to THE MOST NEWS IN THE MORNING; 29 minutes past the hour. We're tracking several developing stories this morning.
North Korea says it will not return to six-party talks over its nuclear program and is firing back an insult at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying, quote, "She is by no means intelligent." Now, Pyongyang upset after Clinton compared its nuclear and missile tests to the actions of small children demanding attention. She's also pushing for Asian nations to impose U.N. sanctions on North Korea.
ROBERTS: Not mincing words there.
Police in Houston investigating whether a drive-by shooting that wounded 6 people is linked to a rivalry between two gangs. It happened at a community rally at Texas Southern University. Witnesses reportedly told police that a car drove by and just started spraying the crowd with bullets. None of the injuries, thankful, are said to be life threatening though.
CHETRY: There's a new autopsy on Kathleen Savio. She is the third wife of former Illinois policeman Drew Peterson, and this autopsy showed she was killed. Savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004. It was ruled an accidental drowning at the time. CNN has learned that the re-examination revealed a blunt force laceration in the back of her head as well as several other bruises.
Peterson is currently in jail awaiting trial for Savio's murder. He denies he had any involvement in it. And he is also a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, which is what led to the autopsy of his third wife. Stacy Peterson. ROBERTS: President Obama says the arrest of noted black scholar and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a reminder that racism still haunts us. The president also added Cambridge police acted stupidly, but admitted that he might be biased since Gates is a friend.
The professor was arrested at his own house after a neighbor called in a possible burglary. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we talked with the city's mayor and asked if she thought race was an issue in this case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: Yes, race is a factor. It's knowledge we all know that black and Latino, particularly men, have historically had problems with police. And so you can't not talk about this without talking about it or (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: Right. And do you believe race was a factor in this particular case?
SIMMONS: I'm not going to make that judgment now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Professor Gates says his arrest is a clear case of racial profiling.
CHETRY: Professor Gates sat down exclusively with our Soledad O'Brien as part of last night's premiere of "BLACK IN AMERICA 2." And this is the first time that he talked about his arrest on television.
ROBERTS: Soledad joins us now to talk about that, and the second half of "BLACK IN AMERICA 2," it's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. First of all, congratulations on last night's program. It was just fantastic.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. And you what a real honor to have a chance to sit down with Professor Henry Louis Gates. We read about what he was saying, but to have him come and talk to us as we did a premiere, the first time on television that he told his story. And he talked about how humiliating and upsetting it was, you know, to be basically cuffed on the porch of his own house. But also looking ahead, he mentioned thinking about lawsuits, et cetera, and I asked him, you know, what about the cop? What are you - what happens there? Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GATES: I would be prepared as a human being to forgive him, that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for America. Because if this can happen to me in Harvard Square, this can happen to anybody in the United States, and I'm determined that it never happens to anybody again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: You can hear the cheering there, obviously. And I think what has really touched people has been this sense that other African-Americans and Latinos as the president said last night have had similar experiences, maybe it's not being arrested in your own house, maybe it's someone stopping you in a car that they thinking that you might not be driving or shouldn't own. Maybe it's somebody stopping you and asking for I.D. because you're in a neighborhood where maybe you don't look like you don't belong.
And Harvard in May, I'd gone earlier a few months ago to talk to the black students there, and they told me how they'd all been asked to show their I.D. when they were doing some group event on one of the lawns at Harvard. You know, if 50 kids had been asked to show - white kids had been asked to show their I.D. on the lawn, it wouldn't happen. It just wouldn't happen. So, I think when the mayor talks about, is race a factor in this case, how do you know? I mean, you know, it's hard to say exactly. But you definitely have to raise the questions of this happens to a lot of people, and it's why some people are really outraged.
ROBERTS: Right. Now the president weighed in on this whole thing last night. He was asked at the very end of the press conference, it was probably the most captivating moment of the entire night. Let's listen to what the president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof they were in their own home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: It's interesting the way that he jumped in on it that way. He has avoided issues of race for the most part during the campaign and so far during his presidency and he's friends with...
O'BRIEN: But he knows Cambridge well.
ROBERTS: Professor Gates as well...
O'BRIEN: He went to Harvard Law School, so he knows it well. Gates is a friend. And here's a guy who spent a lot of his time precampaigning for the presidency dealing with issues like this. So, it didn't surprise me at all. I think some people were surprised that he jumped in. I was not surprised. We thought the timing was very good, actually, to lead us right into our documentary.
CHETRY: He also went farther than that and actually made a joke saying, OK, if I try to break into my house, at least here, I'd be shot. I'm talking about the White House.
O'BRIEN: Well, it probably although - would that be race or with that be just pretty much anybody trying to break into the White House? You've got to agree with that. CHETRY: Exactly. Well, Soledad, great to talk to you. Thanks for joining us. You must be on some Red Bull, too, because you're going non-stop.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Yes, I am.
CHETRY: And she's going to be joining us tonight again, as well, and you don't want to miss part two of part two. It's another special tonight and we are going to be profiling some of the pioneers today in "BLACK IN AMERICA 2," 8:00 p.m. Eastern, you don't want to miss it, right here on CNN. Thanks, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Pleasure.
ROBERTS: All right. We also have the video earlier this week that SUV on fire as two off-duty firefighters are just frantically trying to get a four-year-old boy out of the back of the car. We're going to be talking to his father coming up in just a couple of minutes. We're going to find out how the boy is. There you can see him being put on the ground. He suffered second and third-degree burns to 20 percent of his body. And the father's also got something to say about those firefighters who risked their own lives to save his son. Coming up.
Thirty-five minutes now after the hour.
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(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBERTS: Two off-duty firefighters are being hailed as heroes after a dramatic rescue. Take a look at this. We saw this video earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... for the kid!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A woman's SUV burst into flames after she lost control and struck a tree. The mother and her two-year-old daughter were saved first, but four-year-old David Harper, D.J. as he's known, was trapped inside the vehicle. That's when two firefighters, two off- duty firefighters, rushed into the burning car to rescue the boy. Joining me now is D.J.'s father, James "Chris" Harper. He's up there in Milwaukee. James -- Chris, rather, it's great to talk you this morning. How is D.J. doing this morning?
JAMES "CHRIS" HARPER, SON RESCUED FROM BURNING SUV BY OFF-DUTY FIREFIGHTERS: Well, he's stable right now. He's still, he's been upgraded. He's had his first surgery last night, his first skin graft surgery, and he's got a couple more surgeries, but right now he's stable. He's heavily sedated. And he's very comfortable right now.
ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. Yes, he was burned, I guess, over 20 percent of his body, second and third-degree burns just to tell folks at home, and his face, his arms, his scalp, his back, as well. Any idea, you know, you said it's his first surgery. What were they operating on last night?
HARPER: They were doing skin grafts on his arms and his shoulders last night.
ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. He came through that surgery OK?
HARPER: Yes, sir, he did. The doctor said he did really well in surgery. Right now they have him covered up - like I said, he's sedated. He's feeling no pain right now. He needs to heal, and he's a strong - he's a strong-willed boy. A lot of prayers. A lot of prayers.
ROBERTS: Well, ours go along with that, as well, Chris. You know, we showed a little bit of that video. And when we first saw it this week, we just could not believe what we were witnessing. And I know that you've seen the video, you know, it's to the point where you can't watch it anymore. But what went through your mind when you first saw those images?
HARPER: The first thing that went through my mind was the people, the community. They all pulled together to get my son out of the car. There were so many people involved in that rescue. The firefighters, the people that - I mean just Good Samaritans, the angels that - they come to his rescue. And that's - it shows what America's really about.
ROBERTS: Yes, Joel and John Rechlitz, the two off-duty firefighters. We were hoping to get them on with you today, they're apparently taking a few days off. They were on our sister network Headline News yesterday and John said, you know, he cut the seat belt, as D.J. was trapped in the car, held him by his seat belt. He said I cut the seat belt, I did everything that I could. When I really started feeling relieved was I was inside the vehicle, I was able to pull him forward towards me and basically rolled out of the vehicle with him in my arms. If not for them, Chris, it might have been a completely different outcome, huh?
HARPER: Oh, yes, sir. Anything could've happened another minute, another second. God was watching over us. And he provided us with these wonderful firefighters. They deserve so much. Words can't explain the gratefulness that we have in my heart for these people.
ROBERTS: Yes. They risk their own lives to get D.J. out. And I know the firefighters themselves suffered some burns, a little bit of smoke inhalation. You had an opportunity to speak with them on Monday night, what did you say to them?
HARPER: There was a lot of crying and a lot of hugging. A lot of thankfulness. I talked with them again last night and their wives. And we have - we've decided that we're going to relocate up here to Milwaukee because we - we want to be part of, you know, to help other people out, as well, up here, the citizens of Wisconsin were just - I mean, it's amazing. And I want to be part of that. Our family wants to be part of that.
ROBERTS: Yes, you were up from Tennessee. You said you were working a game at a carnival. You know, this could be a long road for your son with a lot of operations. Do you have health insurance? Are you going to be OK financially with all of this?
HARPER: We have a fund set up at U.S. bank for D.J., a David Harper fund. We do not have health insurance. So it's going to be a long road.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, folks at home will probably take note of that and you know, maybe people can dig in and help out and pitch in here. Chris, it's great to talk to you this morning. I know it's a real terrible time for you. We thank you for taking the time and of course, again, our thoughts and prayers are with you and the family and D.J. in particular as he faces this long ordeal of coming back.
HARPER: Thank you so much. Thank you.
ROBERTS: All right. God bless, thanks.
So, coming up on 43 minutes now after the hour.
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CHETRY: You make a grown man cry. Well, you might not think that coffee and beer mix, but I guess in this economy, maybe.
ROBERTS: Yes, sometimes odd fellows here work. In our special "Money & Main Street" series, Stephanie Elam shows you how a woman with a hot idea about espresso got help from a big brewery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lucy Valena is hooked on coffee.
LUCY VALENA, OWNER, VOLTAGE COFFEE: I had my first shot of espresso when I was 14. And it was pretty amazing for me.
ELAM: With the dream of opening a coffee house, Valena went to Seattle to learn at the aprons of the best.
VALENA: I just saw the inspiration for that, and said I'm not leaving this town until I learn how to do that.
ELAM: Valena returned to Boston and last fall launched Voltage Coffee, a mobile espresso catering company. Her corporate headquarters...
VALENA: This is where all of magic happens, yes.
ELAM: Valena knew her business acumen could use a jolt. So with the help of a few aides. VALENA: I wrote my business plan with "Business Plan for Dummies" and all these things.
ELAM: Valena then took her plan to the small business administration and was directed to a Axion (ph) USA, a company specializing in microloans. It had just begun a partnership with Samuel Adams to help small food and beverage businesses to get funding and free advice.
JIM KOCH, FOUNDER, SAMUEL ADAMS: I love Lucy's dedication to the quality of her product and I'm a big believer that, you know, a great product and the patience an entrepreneur can brings to that can carry a long way if you have the helping hand.
ELAM: Valena started Voltage with her $2,000 and the $4,000 loan she got through the Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream Program.
VALENA: So it covered the espresso machine, the grinders, my tables, the membership cost, licensing, and my costs for a few months with the commercial kitchen facility that I use.
ELAM: Now she's focused on a store front, but she has to incorporate, find a space, and get a loan.
VALENA: I need to convince someone to give me $180,000. That's a good chunk of change.
ELAM: Despite the economy, Valena remains undaunted.
VALENA: I'm just going to keep working at it. I'm not letting up, I'm not letting up, Boston. I don't care.
ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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CHETRY: Our own Sanjay Gupta is about to hit a major milestone. Sanjay is just a couple of months away from turning 40. And his plan is to get into the best shape of his life and he wants you to join him. So he's taking some of your questions on how do you do that? So the first one came in from twitter.
Hey, Sanjay, by the way.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
CHETRY: You know, there is something to be said, as you get older, it's harder to stay in shape, it's harder to keep the weight off. It's harder to build muscle. And one of the people who wrote to us via Twitter wants to know what is your best advice for maintaining muscle mass?
GUPTA: Well, first of all, you're absolutely right. And hiramort (ph), I think sent that in on Twitter. You know, you do start to lose muscle mass just naturally as you get older. That's something that's unfortunate because the muscle is sort of a metabolic engine for the body. It's what burns calories at rest. Even as you're sitting here talking to me, Kiran, you're burning calories, and people who have more muscle are going to burn calories. Some of the advice is going to be exactly what you expect. You've got to do exercises that build muscle mass. And I always talk about this.
For men and women, focusing on upper-body training, whether they be push-ups or using some sort of resistance training, resistance bands are a great thing you can take with you even, and you can do some upper-body training, but you're also going to need to make sure your fuel is right - the right sort of fuel, which is mainly going to be protein. So, if you're doing more upper-body training or just muscle training in general, you've got to make sure you're getting enough protein. You don't need to do a lot of this. You know, 10 minutes a day is enough. Just make sure you're consistent.
CHETRY: All right. Well, this one comes from Barbara in Chicago, and she says that she's lost five pounds since she jumped on board with your fitness forum.
GUPTA: Oh, great.
CHETRY: And she wants to know how you're doing so far and whether or not you've noticed any changes as 40 starts creeping up on you.
GUPTA: Practice what you preach, right, Barbara. Well, congratulations, five pounds is great. It's been a month so far, that's terrific. That's about on par. You don't want to lose more than 1.5 to two pounds per week. Just as a starting point for you, Barbara. For me, you know, I think the biggest thing that I've noticed is I've really been able to finally get on some sort of routine. That's what's been sort of the biggest inspiration for me is finally saying, look, I'm doing this now for the television twitter folks. So I haven't missed breakfast once since I started. It's been about a month. I worked out most days of the week, about five times a week. And I think my overall intensity of work outs has improved, as well.
I mean, I've really tried to hold myself accountable. My biggest problem sort of goes back to the first question right now, Kiran. Something you mentioned, I'm probably getting a little too lean. I've still not found the right balance between aerobic and anaerobic activity. I need to probably do a little bit more of the muscle mass training and maybe even cut back on the aerobics stuff a little bit. So, it's finding that balance. It's been about a month so far.
CHETRY: And for people who have the opposite problem, do you think it's more diet-based and then your exercise around it? I mean, what you put in your mouth first and foremost the most important part of this?
GUPTA: No question. In fact, I would take it even a step further and say you cannot get fit unless you're focusing on diet. You can exercise all you want, but if you're one of those people who said I just ran five miles therefore I can have French fries and ice cream, it's just not going to work. And you know what, I'm not going to pretend that I don't do that myself from time to time. I do. But I know that it's just not going to work unless you really focus on the diet. So, do it for three more months and it'll become a habit.
CHETRY: Sounds good. All right. And then you make the French fries, the exception to the rule. I know. I know. We all have to practice what we preach, as well. Sanjay, great to talk to you. Hey, if people want to follow you on twitter, twitter.com/...
GUPTA: At sanjaygupta@cnn. A lot of people are interested in this stuff, Kiran. I'm almost 500,000 followers. So join the movement.
CHETRY: Wow. You're creeping up into Sanchez territory. All right. Sanjay, great to talk to you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
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CHETRY: It's four minutes before the top of the hour, and last night, CNN premiered the groundbreaking documentary "BLACK IN AMERICA 2." An interesting twist, the program debuted right after President Obama criticized the arrest of a prominent black Harvard professor at his own home after a call, one of his neighbors made a call, saying they thought his home was being broken into. Well, Professor Henry Louis Gates spoke exclusively to CNN last night. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GATES: I would be prepared as a human being to forgive him, that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for America. Because if this can happen to me in Harvard Square, this can happen to anybody in the United States, and I'm determined that it never happens to anybody again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN analyst Roland Martin joins us now. You had a chance, first of all, weigh in on what you heard. Good to see you, by the way. Weigh in on what you heard from the professor. He said that he is willing to forgive, but at the same time, he wants to make this issue of racial profiling, he wants to make it prominent and part of the national conversation. What do you think?
ROLAND MARTIN, POLITICAL EDITOR, TV ONE CABLE NETWORK: Absolutely. Look, and it's real. I've experienced it. I remember in Austin, Texas, helping a girlfriend move into an apartment and somebody called the cops saying we were breaking and entering. I'm like we're taking stuff out of the car into the apartment. And so it is real, it does not matter if you live in the inner city or the suburbs or if you went to HBCU or Harvard University. And so it is real, and some people say, well, it's not that big of a deal. Trust me, when you've been pulled over unnecessarily and you've been accosted based upon your race, yes, then it's an issue.
CHETRY: What's the answer? What do you think some of the bigger things we can do about it are?
MARTIN: Well, I think, first and foremost, you have to confront the level of ignorance that exists, and that is you don't prejudge someone. You know, when I go in the store, I just don't grab the first black person I see and say, hey, where can I go buy this? I look for a badge. Hey, do you work here? I don't make assumptions. We also cannot base things on stereotypes. You ought to see some of the e-mails that I get every day from frankly a lot of bigoted white people who say, you're on CNN because you're a product of affirmative action.
Forget the fact that I've actually been working in terms of media since I was 13 years old, forget all of that. Oh, it's just because you're black, you're on television. Because they make these assumptions and so we have to eradicate hate every single day, and that is don't allow some bigoted parent to pass that nonsense on to their child and that continues for the next generation.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about this because President Obama weighed in on it last night, as well, when he was asked about the situation that happened to the Harvard professor. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof they were in their own home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: We know he is a friend of Skip Gates -- that's what his friends call him -- the Harvard professor. But what did you think about what the president said that the Cambridge police acted stupidly?
MARTIN: Yes. This arrogant cop who still says oh, I can guarantee you I will not apologize, because it's clear he did not want his authority questioned when Skip Gates said, give me your name and your badge number. When we are actually told that's what officers are to do when a citizen actually requests the information. That's what it boils down to. Again, you must remove this kind of nonsense.
And people deal with it every day. Let me tell you something, Skip Gates has the opportunity to call his friends at Harvard to sit with him in jail. Trust me, some young black guy in Chicago or in Oakland or in Houston, they don't have that opportunity. They're stuck sitting in that jail cell.
CHETRY: Very interesting that this whole entire debate made its way up to the presidential news conference last night. In just a minute, you guys are going to be holding a discussion about "BLACK IN AMERICA 2." This will probably be a big topic of discussion on your radio show. MARTIN: I'm sure it will. So, folks can give us a call at 1- 877-2664189. I will be streaming it live on cnn.com, and so we're taking all calls from everybody, your thoughts on the special last night. What you liked, you didn't like, what do you want to see? But also more importantly, Kiran, where do we go from here? What's next? How do we keep getting better and keep improving? So that's really the most important thing.
CHETRY: All right. we look forward to it. People can also hear it on cnn.com as well. Roland, great to talk to you this morning.
MARTIN: Also, Kiran, tell John Roberts I'm rocking the open- collar look for him this morning.
CHETRY: There you go. Is that a purple? Is that a little purple...
MARTIN: Oh, yes, you know, you got to have a little purple and pink pocket squares.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE). Love you, Roland, thanks very much.
MARTIN: Thanks a lot.
ROBERTS: All right. Stay tuned to CNN tonight as the special prime-time continues, "BLACK IN AMERICA 2," examines today's pioneers. That's starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. And continue the conversation on today's stories, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins.
