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Campbell Brown
Can President Obama Turn the Tide?; Any Closer to Victory in Afghanistan?; Whoopi Goldberg Interviewed
Aired September 07, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, here are the questions we want answered. Can the president pull out of his summer slump? He got his base fired up today.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Your voice can save the world. Your voice will get health care passed. You can build America. I need your help. Are you fired up, ready to go? Fired up, ready to go? Fired up, ready to go?
I love you.
ROBERTS: Three big speeches in three days. Will it be enough to turn the tide?
Plus, what will it take to win the war in Afghanistan? Anderson Cooper live on the front lines. And, for a change, there may be some good news.
And tonight's newsmaker, Whoopi Goldberg.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, ACTRESS: Fame is really costly. And it doesn't just cost you. It costs your family. It costs your friends.
What does she think of Sarah Palin?
GOLDBERG: I think she was much smarter than she let on, and it irritated the hell out of me.
Plus, tonight's other newsmaker, Laura Bush. Find out what she thinks of the new president.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he's doing a good job, President Obama?
LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: I think is he. I think he's got -- you know, he's got a lot on his plate.
And U2's The Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. What happens when three rock gods get together on the same stage? Warning, it might get loud.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is your only source for news. CNN prime time begins now.
In for Campbell Brown, John Roberts.
ROBERTS: Hi, everybody. Thanks for being with us. Campbell Brown is off tonight.
And those are our big questions this evening. But we start as always with the "Mash-Up," our look at all the stories making an impact right now and the moments that you might have missed. We're watching it all so you don't have to.
His vacation over, President Obama swept on to the main stage again today, ahead this week, two big speeches to schoolkids tomorrow and to Congress on Wednesday. He used a Labor Day rally full of union members in Cincinnati to set the agenda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I see reform where Americans and small businesses that are shut out of health insurance today will be able to purchase coverage at a price they can afford, where you never again have to worry about going without coverage, that a public option within that basket of insurance choices will help improve quality and bring down costs.
The financial system has been saved from collapse. We're seeing signs of life in the auto industry, growth in manufacturing. We're moving in the right direction. We're on the road to recovery.
We have got to do a better job educating our sons and our daughters. The countries that outeducate today will outcompete us tomorrow. And, yes, I am going to have something to say tomorrow to our children, telling them to stay in school and work hard.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: This afternoon, the White House put tomorrow's speech on the White House Web site. Critics and some parents had complained that the speech would be political. But the text released today only asks students to make the most of their education.
The president named another czar today. Ron Bloom will be his senior adviser on manufacturing. His appointment comes right after the resignation of green job czar Van Jones. The question today, who is vetting these people?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A political career badly damaged over a 9/11 controversy. Van Jones is stepping down now for signing a petition in 2004 that suggested the government let the 9/11 attacks happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Blaming a smear campaign. But with his troubling past, how does he even get into the White House in the first place? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This shows a real weakness in the vetting of lower-level officials.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we saw here is that the right, if they focus on a specific person, can do real damage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an embarrassment for the White House. This is a victory for conservatives who have been trying to call attention to all the controversy in his past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was something that the White House did to itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The White House has nearly 30 czars who are officially called special advisers. They cover issues from AIDS and health care to Middle East peace.
Controversy for a Louisville, Kentucky, church. The pastor wants to ordain a registered sex offender as a minister. He says about it's forgiveness, but a lot of other people are saying, not so fast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: This is about a Kentucky man who also was convicted of molesting a young boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: City of Refuge Church proclaims that everyone is welcome. That's probably what attracted Mark Hourigan. Hourigan was charged back in 1998 with sodomizing, sexually abusing and intimidating an 11-year-old boy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That probation is over now. And he says the court-ordered treatment programs changed him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I completed the sex offender treatment program while I was in prison and also since I was released while I was on parole. So, I have actually completed it twice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pastor, you admit it's the first time you have heard of a church in the U.S. ordaining someone who is registered for life as a sex offender. Is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Hourigan will sign an agreement not to minister to children. His ordination is set to go forward on Sunday.
To Illinois now, where a woman says she was only trying to protect her grandson by hiding him in a crawlspace for two years. Police found the 6-year-old boy and his mother on Friday and arrested grandma, who is now out on bail and talking to "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mother and son disappeared two years ago in the middle of a bitter custody battle with Ricky's dad. Fresh out of the county jail, Diane Dobbs shows us the home that was a hiding place for her daughter and grandson. On "Good Morning America," Ricky's father expressed his relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when I found out, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shannon Wilfong was charged with felony kidnapping, Diane Dobbs and her fiance, who works as a carpenter, charged with aiding and abetting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much time were they in there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In two years' time, maybe five minutes. We have not done anything wrong in our eyes. We had to do something. We had to take a desperate measure to protect a little boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Diane Dobbs has accused the boy's father of abuse, but he denies it and was awarded temporary custody two years ago.
Well, a few Cape Cod beaches are going to stay closed until tomorrow. Several great white sharks have been spotted not far from where the movie "Jaws" was made 35 years ago. That was fiction. This is real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So little is known about the elusive great white Why these waters? Why now? Scientists suspect they may have an appetite for the thousands of seals who choose the waters off the cape as their seasonal resting stop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Officials were able to tag two great white sharks. One of them was 10 feet long. Now, sharks are common in the Cape Cod area in those waters during the summertime. But great whites are pretty rare around New England in general.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The great whites were tagged with high-tech devices programmed to stay on the sharks until January 15. And then the devices will pop off, float to the surface and then they should begin transmitting data via satellite back to the researchers. Scientists hope the information will help them learn more about the sharks' migratory patterns and will lead to better conservation efforts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Many beaches reopened today, but swimmers were told to stay close to shore. A lot of them probably didn't have to be told, but good advice anyways.
A 17-year-old from Georgia keeps winning matches and hearts at the U.S. Open here in New York City. Melanie Oudin did it again today, a come-from-behind win, this time beating 13th seed Nadia Petrova. Oudin is the younger to reach the Open quarterfinals since Serena Williams did it 10 years ago. And is she excited?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIE OUDIN, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: This has been my dream forever. I have worked so hard for this. And it's finally happening. And I'm in my first quarterfinal of a Grand Slam. So, it's amazing. This is what I have wanted forever. And I'm finally achieving my goal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Good luck to Melanie this week.
Tiger Woods, by the way, could use some of that magic. Tiger had trouble at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. At the fifth hole on Friday, he actually threw his driver away. A fan posted the video on YouTube. Tiger's caddy had to go into the rough, digging around to find the club.
Tiger did do better today. He shot a 63. That was the best score of the day. But he ended the tournament five shots behind winner Steve Stricker.
And this brings us back to President Obama's speech to students tomorrow. Here's the "Punchline" tonight, courtesy of Conan O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN": A lot of people talking about this. President Obama plans to make a televised speech to the nation's students during school hours. Many Republicans are planning to keep their kids home from school in protest. As a result, those kids have voted Obama best president ever.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And that's the "Mash-Up" tonight.
Two big newsmakers coming your way this evening, Laura Bush in an exclusive interview. Hear what she says about presidential name- calling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Do you think that it's fair that Obama is criticized as a socialist?
BUSH: I have no idea whether it's fair. Do you think I thought it was fair when President Bush was criticized? Not really.
(LAUGHTER) BUSH: So, I guess not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That's still ahead.
Plus, tonight's other newsmaker, Whoopi Goldberg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDBERG: If you become the next hot model, the next hot designer, you better be hot 24 hours a day every day. You better not have a bad day, better not get a period, better not have anything that's irritating you. You better be what people expect you to be every second of the day, or somebody is going to talk about you, start to tear you down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Our first big question tonight, can President Obama get his mojo back?
It's been a long hot summer of controversy. Now the White House strategy seems to be the big speech. The president is making three of them in as many days, today, to union workers in Cincinnati, tomorrow to students, and Wednesday to a joint session of Congress on health care.
His back-to-school speech to students tomorrow has created quite an uproar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tomorrow President Obama will address the nation's schoolchildren as millions of them go back to school. Conservative critics are asking, what's the real agenda, while others ask, what's the real agenda? Republican presidents have done this before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The White House pushed back today, calling the criticism -- quote -- "a sad state of affairs." And as promised, they posted the entire speech online.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: They released these remarks ahead of time. I want to read one of the passages from this, his remarks tomorrow. He tells students: "Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a couple excerpts from the text. And we're pulling them for you. The president will be telling students nationwide: "You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You have got to work for it, and train for it and learn for it." And he will also be asking these children, "What is your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make?"
Joining me now to talk about all of this is Daily Beast contributor John Avlon. Also, syndicated columnist David Sirota is with us from Denver, and Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, one of the first to object to president's speech to students.
Jim Greer, let's start with you.
You had said last week in anticipation of the president's speech tomorrow -- quote -- "Schoolchildren across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans for government-run health care, banks and automobile companies, increasing taxes, while bypassing American parents through an evasive abuse of power."
The text is out there. The speech is out there. I believe that you've read it. There's nothing about any of that in there. And the White House says the speech has not changed basically one iota since last week when you first started complaining about all this.
So, did you make a mistake? Do you regret what you said?
JIM GREER, CHAIRMAN, FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PARTY: No, John, I didn't make a mistake. I think the speech that we will see tomorrow, I still don't believe necessarily it's the one that would have been given three days ago.
ROBERTS: The White House says it is.
GREER: The White House -- well, the White House says it is. And I certainly respect them for promoting their position.
But we have to remember the lesson plans that came out five days ago, which was an end-run by the White House to try and get around parents. And it was going to ask teachers to lead students in a direction that would deal with, how do we help the president with his new ideas? What has Barack Obama done in the last nine months that you admire?
This was an issue that never dealt with the president talking to schoolchildren. That was never the issue. Every president, as you said, John, should have that opportunity, if it's not public policy discussion. I believe, based on the lesson plans, based on the fact that the White House wasn't going to release the text and then on Friday they did, that there was another agenda, another plan.
ROBERTS: All right.
And let's get an independent perspective on this from John Avlon. And we should point out also that at one point in his presidency, Ronald Reagan brought a bunch of students into the White House and did have a public policy discussion with them.
JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR, "INDEPENDENT NATION": God forbid what agenda he was pushing. I think what it sounds like is Jim Greer is trying to spin a victory and do a CYA move when the reality is this didn't have anything to do with socialist ideology. It's a speech about personal responsibility.
There's more opposite than socialism than a speech about personal responsibility. There weren't liberal lines. This wasn't a policy speech. This is about a president trying to speak to kids, telling them to stay in school, work hard and take responsibility for their education.
And you're trying to spin this as a victory for you, when, in fact, it was really an attempt to play to the base and turn the president into a fearful figure. And that's shameful.
ROBERTS: Let's get David Sirota's perspective from the left here -- David.
DAVID SIROTA, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Yes, well, my take is simple.
Look, "The Orlando Sentinel" wrote about what Jim Greer put out there. Jim Greer put out his criticism of Obama's socialist indoctrination plan before any of these lesson plans came out. What the effect of this is going to be is going to be, it may have been a short-term controversy that helped Republicans.
But what's going to happen is all the parents who tuned into this speech because of the hysteria by people like Jim Greer are going to read this speech and realize that the Jim Greers of the world, that the right-wing Republican base are a bunch of psychopaths to try to make this into a giant controversy about socialist indoctrination.
ROBERTS: Well, we have got to let Jim Greer respond to that.
GREER: Well, let's talk about the timeline for a moment, because he's a little confused.
SIROTA: I'm reading from "The Orlando Sentinel."
(CROSSTALK)
GREER: I let you speak. I let you speak. So, let me be -- let me make...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Well, maybe, Jim, what you could do is just answer the psychopath charge, if you will.
(CROSSTALK)
GREER: I had not even raised this issue until a principal sent us the lesson plans and said, you need to see what these things include.
And after looking at the lesson plans, where the teachers were told to talk about the president's -- what can we do to help him before the speech and after, that's when the issue was raised.
(CROSSTALK)
GREER: Now, when you talk about psychopath, because, John, you asked me to comment on that.
ROBERTS: Go ahead.
GREER: When you talk about psychopath, it's strictly an issue of parental control and parents being involved in what their children listen and see.
(CROSSTALK)
GREER: That's not a psychopath.
(CROSSTALK)
SIROTA: Jim, you yourself have gone to schools and spoken out. You yourself were giving speeches at school to children.
(CROSSTALK)
SIROTA: You were giving speech to kids at school, and you now raise this issue?
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Gentlemen, let me just hold that for a second, because Jim Greer raises the point here that the Obama administration had asked students to write a letter to the president asking how they could help him.
Let's rewind the clock and play this portion of a George H.W. speech to students from his presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, OCTOBER 1, 1991)
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Write me a letter -- and I'm serious about this one -- write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals. I think you know the address.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: All right, John Avlon, do you want to ring in? Is that any different than what this White House asked students to do?
AVLON: Someone from archives gets a gold star. That's good work.
Yes, exactly right. And that's the spirit this was meant in. In the current hysterical hyperpartisan environment, people read the worst into everything. And the Department of Education, maybe it was a ham- fisted move. But, as we see clearly, there's a precedent.
And every president of the United States deserves the benefit of the doubt. That's what's missing here in this environment. And we're just going to crazy town every day when we stir stuff up, firing off press releases that have nothing to do with reality and they run down America. And it serves no positive purpose, only partisan ads.
ROBERTS: All right, Jim, final...
(CROSSTALK)
GREER: First of all, first of all...
ROBERTS: Quick final word, Jim, and then we have got to run.
GREER: This was not -- OK.
Quick word is President Obama has a vision for America, which is government in our lives in every aspect. That's not the vision that I and many parents across this country want. And that's why parents wanted to have input and some decision-making into what their children would hear and see.
ROBERTS: Right.
GREER: I'm glad the president released the text. I'm glad the White House revised their lesson plans, because that was the problem.
ROBERTS: In fact they did.
GREER: And hopefully the president will think twice again in the future.
ROBERTS: All right, gentlemen, we have got to go, but thanks very much for kicking this around tonight. Really appreciate it.
Wednesday night, President Obama addresses Congress on his health care reform plan. And we're going to have live coverage with the best political team on television. It all starts Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern, only on CNN, the worldwide leader in news.
Tonight's big question, is the United States any closer to winning the war in Afghanistan? Anderson Cooper is live from the front lines tonight.
Plus, our two big newsmakers, Whoopi Goldberg and Laura Bush.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
ROBERTS: Tonight's newsmaker, Whoopi Goldberg, she shares her viewers on everything from the cost of fame to Sarah Palin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDBERG: All you had to was listen to some of the...
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Commentary.
GOLDBERG: ... commentary, and you could hear the thuds under -- under the tables. Come on. (LAUGHTER)
GOLDBERG: You know, there are a lot of things that play into what bothers people about Sarah Palin. What bothered me about Sarah Palin is, I thought she was pretending to be dumb, and I didn't like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Whoopi Goldberg is a true renaissance woman. The Oscar-, Grammy-, Tony-, and Emmy Award-winning entertainer is also one of the outspoken hosts of ABC's "The View," which returns for a new season tomorrow morning.
Recently, Whoopi sat down with Campbell, and they started off talking about another outspoken woman, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Sarah Palin. What is it about her that gets people so riled up?
GOLDBERG: I think what -- it depends on who you're talking to. Some people, I think, are riled up because they feel that maybe people -- it's condescending, you know. If you're going to grab a woman to put out there, is this the right woman for your party? Is this the woman you want representing you? Is this how you want to be represented, especially if you're saying this is an all-inclusive party?
This party is supposed to include everybody. So is there a better person to get out there with a little more of oomph to her? Some don't like it. Of course, she's really cute. I mean, she's really cute.
BROWN: How much do you think looks played into it?
GOLDBERG: Oh, with the guys?
BROWN: I mean, the strong reaction that people had to her and...
GOLDBERG: Oh, my God, all you have to do is listen to some of the...
BROWN: Commentary.
GOLDBERG: ... commentary and you could hear the thuds under the table. Come on. You know.
I mean there are a lot of things that play into what bothers people about Sarah Palin. What bothered me about Sarah Palin is I thought she was pretending to be dumb and I didn't like it.
BROWN: You thought she was pretending to be dumb?
GOLDBERG: Yes, I thought she was pretending. I thought she was trying to pull off I'm just a regular old person, you know. And maybe you are, but you don't get to be governor...
BROWN: By being a regular...
GOLDBERG: By not knowing your geography, your not knowing how to communicate with people, and certainly not putting people down for being somewhat different, because, you know, if you talk to the Inuit community, there's a whole different community up in -- I love Alaska. I think it's one of the greatest states in the world, you know. But I think she was much smarter than she let on and it irritated the hell out of me.
BROWN: Why do you think she felt the need to, you know, have that persona?
GOLDBERG: Well, maybe that's what they told her she was supposed to be. I mean, because, listen, on Monday, John McCain did not have a running mate. On Tuesday, he had this woman. And it was a gorgeous woman, like, OK. Well, what do you have to say? Because you better be as smart as the other woman in this race. You better as smart and as on top of it.
It bothered me that she didn't -- that she didn't put what I thought was her best foot forward.
BROWN: Elisabeth Hasselbeck, of course, one of your co-hosts, campaigned for her.
GOLDBERG: Yes.
BROWN: She's a huge fan of Sarah Palin.
GOLDBERG: Yes. Yes, she is.
BROWN: You and Elisabeth have very different points of views.
GOLDBERG: Yes. Sometimes, not all the time. Sometimes.
BROWN: Well, I was going to ask you that. Has she ever -- she's very conservative. Has she ever convinced you, brought you around on an issue that the two of you have debated?
GOLDBERG: I don't know if she's brought me around on the issue.
But I will tell you what Elisabeth has done for me. She has made me realize that I have to listen, as well as talk. And, sometimes, she will say something that makes absolute sense to me, and I know I'm getting better because I heard it, you know what I mean?
BROWN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: I can hear her, and I think we have that -- we've had that effect on each other. Sometimes we still get passionate. But the great thing about "The View" and particularly with she and I and really with all of us, is that it's not personal. You know what I mean? It's like you're sitting with your sister and your brother and your aunt, you know, your crazy aunt in the corner. And wanting to hear --
BROWN: Which one is the crazy aunt in the corner?
GOLDBERG: And somebody says something, your crazy aunt says something and you go, are you out of your mind? You don't mean are you out of your mind you're an idiot. But it's family talk.
BROWN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: And so what we do is we get together and we family talk. And sometimes we don't agree and sometimes it's absolutely you're never going to change my mind, you know, but let's talk about the newest pasties they have, you know. It's a very odd dynamic.
BROWN: It works.
GOLDBERG: But sex and politics seem to go together no matter how you put them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Whoopi Goldberg would be the first to tell you that she clawed her way to the top. Now it seems almost anyone can be famous. But next, Whoopi tells us there's a big price to pay to become famous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, ACTRESS: Fame is really costly. And it doesn't just cost you. It costs your family. It costs your friends. There is the downside that people only see what they want to see when they look at family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We're back with more of Campbell Brown's conversation with Whoopi Goldberg. Some candid talk about surviving in show business and the real price of fame.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We see so many of these young women flame out in Hollywood. Why happens? Why is it happening?
GOLDBERG: Well, because I think because they're hot, people don't recognize that they need the experience to stay hot. You know, just because you're hot doesn't mean you're going to be hot in the next thing. And also it's a lot of pressure, man. If you're like 22 --
BROWN: I was going to say, do we -- are we -- I mean, you guys talk about them and chew them up on "The View." We chew them up on the show.
GOLDBERG: Not me. I don't chew them because I've been there. BROWN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: You know, and I know how hard it is. You know, when you suddenly are presented with everything that you ever dreamed of, you want to do everything.
BROWN: When you're still a child basically.
GOLDBERG: When you're still a child and you want to do everything. And you want to go everywhere and you want to meet everyone and you want to try everything. And you get the opportunity to go everywhere all the time, every second of the day. And some folks, they're just not prepared for it.
BROWN: Right.
GOLDBERG: And because we, as a society, don't say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute...
BROWN: Right.
GOLDBERG: ... you're really good, but you got to take a break. Because once you take a break, we don't let you come back. See? So people feel like they have to stay on that treadmill. And some people are just sociopaths and are going to flip out. You know? That's just the way it is.
It's like, you know, you never know who you're going to get. But sometimes, man, you know, people don't stop and say, hey, are you OK? Because they're supporting their entire family, or they're supporting everyone around them and they have entourages and no one says, you know, you're paying for all this. And this money may not last because no one sits down with the -- you remember when you went to school they had the big circle, and then they had the -- you know, this is what a half looks like. And then this is what goes into quarters.
Well, no one says, OK, here is your paycheck. OK? Now you think you're making $1 million, but here's actually how it works out. Half of that is going to go to the government. So really, you only have $500,000.
Now, you have to take 10 percent of that...
BROWN: And pay your agent.
GOLDBERG: ... and pay your agent and then another 10 percent and pay your manager. And then there's, you know, all the people that work for you just in business, like the business folks, the people that take care of the -- and if God help you, if have you a nanny, if you have a nanny and you have rent, and a mortgage? So you're making about four cents when you get down to it.
Now people always say, oh, that's not true. You know, you people who make money -- but people have no idea what that actually means or what the costs of that is, or what the cost of fame is because fame is really costly. And it doesn't just cost you, it costs your family. It costs your friends.
There is the downside that people only see what they want to see when they look at fame. That's why people want to be on TV. They want to be famous. They want to eat a bug or, you know, do this or do that. But, man, you have to keep that up.
So if you become the next hot model, the next hot designer, you better be hot 24 hours a day, every day. You better not have a bad day, better not get a period, better not -- better not have anything that's irritating you. You better be what people expect you to be every second of the day, or somebody's going to talk about you. Start to tear you down. And if you can take it, you'll survive.
If you can take it, it's a consequence. But you better be ready for the whole picture. That fame adds, and it ain't always pretty.
BROWN: Words of wisdom from Whoopi Goldberg.
GOLDBERG: Words of experience.
BROWN: Oh.
GOLDBERG: Wisdom? No.
BROWN: Where did it come from?
GOLDBERG: Experience, yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And experience is what it's all about. Whoopi Goldberg with Campbell Brown tonight.
Next, an exclusive CNN interview with former First Lady Laura Bush. What does she think about the controversy surrounding President Obama's speech to schoolkids tomorrow? The one that we talked about earlier this hour. And how does she feel about the president himself?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he's doing a good job, President Obama?
LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I think he is. I think he's got, you know, he's got a lot on his plate, you know. He's tackled a lot to start with, and that's probably made it more difficult.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: And now a CNN exclusive. Laura Bush unplugged and unfiltered. The former first lady sat down for a one-on-one with CNN's Zain Verjee. You may be surprised to hear what she has to say about President Obama and the controversy surrounding his back to school speech to students tomorrow. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: What's it like for you being a private citizen?
LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES Well, it's great. It really is nice. We're enjoying our home in Texas a lot. We have a new house.
VERJEE: Furniture yet?
BUSH: Getting us some furniture. We had a lot of fun working on that. We're both working on our memoirs, writing our memoirs.
VERJEE: How's President Bush doing? Is he glad to be out of the spotlight?
BUSH: He's doing very well. Thank you for asking. He's riding his mountain bike a lot. He likes that. He's very disciplined about writing his memoirs. In fact, I'm --
VERJEE: Better than you?
BUSH: Yes, a lot better than me. He's always been a lot more disciplined than I am. So he's working on those. I keep telling him that I've gotten to the second grade in my memoirs.
VERJEE: How do you think Michelle Obama is doing?
BUSH: I think she's doing great. I think she's doing very well.
VERJEE: President Obama is giving a back-to-school speech. There's so much controversy over that. Do you think it's a good idea?
BUSH: I think that there is a place for the president of the United States to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren. And I think there are a lot of people that should do the same, and that is encourage their own children to stay in school and study hard and to try to achieve the dreams that they have.
VERJEE: The issue that's been raised is by many conservatives that are critical of this, they say that this is a dangerous socialist plot that's indoctrinating schoolchildren. Some parents say, no, our kids are staying home and not going to listen to the president talk about education and schools.
BUSH: Well, that's their right. You know, that's certainly is the right of parents to choose what they want their children to hear in school. But I think really what people were unhappy about were the guidelines that went out with the -- before the speech went out. And I think those have been changed. And I think it's also really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States.
VERJEE: Do you think that it's fair that Obama is criticized as a socialist? BUSH: I have no idea whether it's fair. Do you think I thought it was fair when President Bush was criticized? Not really. So I guess not.
VERJEE: Do you think he's doing a good job, President Obama?
BUSH: I think he is. I think he's got, you know, he's got a lot on his plate. And he's tackled a lot to start with, and that's probably made it more difficult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Laura Bush exclusively with our Zain Verjee tonight.
Three generations of rock's greatest guitar gods share their secrets. And you can listen in, coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have this record at home of a guitar and a lot of disdain (ph) on it. And I got him to come down and have them listen to it. I said, can you get that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: If you love rock and roll, it doesn't get much better than this. Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, U2's The Edge, and Jack White of the Raconteurs and White Stripes together to crank it up for a jam session. That's the idea behind "It Might Get Loud," a documentary that manages from there to dig even deeper. We also get a taste of how each guitar god developed their own distinct style and passion for the music. Campbell Brown sat down with director, Dennis Guggenheim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, why these three? Why did you want to bring these three guys together?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM, DIRECTOR, "IT MIGHT GET LOUD": We just thought it would be so cool to bring three guitarists from three different generations. A kid from Detroit, a kid from London, a kid from Dublin, who became rock guys and put them on a sound stage for two days and see what they'd play, what music they will play and what would they come with.
BROWN: So, where they in to it? And when you first approach them, did you have to convince any of them to do it?
GUGGENHEIM: I begged.
BROWN: Really?
GUGGENHEIM: I was in London. Jimmy Paige has never done a movie like this before. He's never done an interview. BROWN: I was reading, he describes himself as kind of a hermit.
GUGGENHEIM: He's a private guy. He's -- for 40 years, he's been a mystery. If you're, you know, a Led Zeppelin fan, you know, there's nothing. And so to get him to come to L.A. and sit for two days was just unbelievable.
BROWN: So what did you tell him? How did you convince him?
GUGGENHEIM: I just said there's a different kind of documentary. You know, it wasn't about car wrecks and drug overdoses and ex- girlfriends. It was about the music. Wouldn't it be cool to play your music for people? And when we got them on the sound stage, it was a little tense for a little bit.
BROWN: Really?
GUGGENHEIM: And then out of nowhere, he picks up his Les Paul and plays "Whole Lot of Love." And you see it in the movie and Edge from U2 and Jack White are just like -- can't believe it.
BROWN: OK. Hold that thought.
GUGGENHEIM: Yes.
BROWN: Because I've got a little clip of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have this record a home of a guitar and a lot of disdain (ph) on it. And I got him to come down and have them listen to it. I said, can you get that?
They went away and came back with this phenomenal thing. A distortion pedal which overloads the signal. And you try the sound and make it sound pretty rude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: I mean, what do you think?
GUGGENHEIM: I've, you know, worked with Al Gore. I worked with Barack Obama.
BROWN: Right.
GUGGENHEIM: I worked with --
BROWN: And we should tell people who don't know, you directed "An Inconvenient Truth."
GUGGENHEIM: I did. And I was so much more nervous around these guys because when they pick up a guitar and play, and those speakers are blasting rock and roll, you just melt. Like -- like the Edge melts. And in that moment, it was a throw-down. Like Jimmy Paige is like this is my stuff, OK. And so Edge had to get up and play U2. And then Jack --
BROWN: So what was the interaction like? Were they competitive? Were they sort of in awe of one another in different ways? Or --
GUGGENHEIM: There was a little bit of coming together. They're from different generations, and every generation comes up, you know, trying to destroy the generation before it, you know.
BROWN: Right.
GUGGENHEIM: U2 was a direct, you know, rebellion against bands like Led Zeppelin and Jack White. So, they're I guess -- but then when they started playing music, it just became this love fest. And when we finished shooting the last two days, they didn't want to leave.
BROWN: They are not only different generations, but they come from different backgrounds and sort of have different influences in their lives.
GUGGENHEIM: Yes.
BROWN: But is there -- is there some commonality, something that makes these guys extraordinary guitarists?
GUGGENHEIM: Well, there's a lot of guitarists, and they're, you know, virtuosos.
BROWN: Right.
GUGGENHEIM: But these guys are songwriters and so the movie builds to is how these guys write songs. So you're with Edge in a studio in Dublin alone where Bono and him and Larry and Adam write their songs. He's showing us how he writes a song. And then it's out now and the new album is called "Get on Your Boots." And he's there in the early, early musings so they're all trying to figure out music. And to me, that's a mystery.
BROWN: So is it -- do you think, I mean, having watched the three of them so closely, is it just like a God-given talent? Something they're born with?
GUGGENHEIM: Well, I used to think that these guys are rock gods.
BROWN: Right.
GUGGENHEIM: And they're sprinkled with some magic rock god dust. But when you meet them, you realize like Jimmy was just a kid in London in the '50s.
BROWN: Right.
GUGGENHEIM: And Jack was the kid in Detroit. He was an upholsterer, like upholstering couches. And what you find is that they needed to say something. Like as artists, they needed to find a voice.
And like U2 in Dublin, they just said we do not like the music we are hearing and we are going to become U2 and they write these amazing songs. But when they come together, you realize there's something -- like there's a thread between them. Like every generation passes the thread to somebody else.
BROWN: As we said earlier, you directed "An Inconvenient Truth." You worked with Al Gore on that project -- global warming. How do you go from sort of global warming to rock and roll? I mean, you were dying to do a rock and roll documentary or what?
GUGGENHEIN: Well, there are no glaciers melting in this one.
BROWN: Yes.
GUGGENHEIM: There's no like CO2 rising. But there is the challenge of telling the personal story of people we think we know. We think we know these rock stars.
And that was true with Al Gore, is like we thought we knew who he was. And I love telling stories about people, I'm sure like you do, you know, and really revealing what's in their hearts. And that's the challenge of a good documentary, when you get someone -- like Jimmy Paige takes us to his home and plays his favorite albums for us. And suddenly he's listening to his favorite album that he learned as a kid and he's playing air guitar. And, you're like, this is a moment that only a documentary can have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Davis Guggenheim talking to Campbell. I saw the documentary a couple of weeks ago, and well worth seeing if you're a fan of any of those guys.
Tonight, Anderson Cooper is in Afghanistan to begin with a week of special reporting from the battle zone. He got a look at how the United States is using more than firepower to try to stop the Taliban.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Word just coming in to CNN tonight, that the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan met this evening with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai over what the State Department calls "increasingly credible allegations of vote fraud, widespread vote fraud in Afghanistan. American officials are urging Karzai to allow a thorough investigation of those allegations to determine if a runoff election is necessary.
CNN's Anderson Cooper is in Afghanistan all this week reporting on the war there. Tonight, he is at a forward-operating base in the treacherous Helmand province.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How bad was the fight when you first got here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was every day, pretty much all day. COOPER (voice-over): Lieutenant Bill McCullough (ph) and his Marines can now openly walk the streets in this district, and they're moving quickly to help rebuild. There's a new road being organized with U.S. funds. Dozens of businesses have already re-opened and soon the local school closed by the Taliban, will re-open as well.
(on camera): Some people will see this and say, well, this seems an awful lot like nation building. And is that something -- is that part of the mission? Is nation building part of the mission?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you call enabling governments nation building, then yes.
COOPER: So to really win in Afghanistan, to win long term and to win for real, you've got to build governments here that work. It's not just a government in Kabul but a government here in smaller areas like this, in local districts that really provide services to people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: You can see much more of Anderson Cooper in Afghanistan, live from the battle zone all this week, beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on "AC 360," right here on CNN. And again just to let you know what the latest is there, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry and officials from the United Nations met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to talk about what the State Department calls "increasingly credible allegations and evidence of vote fraud there."
Now, of course, that has been a big issue in Afghanistan. There were some fake polling sites that were set up, and apparently a lot of those votes went to President Karzai. So they're urging that the Afghanistan election commission be allowed a full investigation there and to determine whether or not a runoff election is necessary.
On Wednesday night, by the way, President Obama addresses Congress on his health care reform plan. We're going to have live coverage with the best political team on television. It all starts Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern only on CNN, the worldwide leader in news.
That's all for us. Campbell Brown is back tomorrow when our newsmaker will be comedian Kathy Griffin. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. on "AMERICAN MORNING."
Stay tuned. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.
