Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
White House Won't Say Whether Obama Will Push for Public Option; More Airline Fees on the Horizon; Green Jobs Czar Van Jones Resigns Amid Controversy; Man Reenlists in Army to Obtain Health Coverage Then Dies in Afghanistan; National Kidney Foundation in Florida Holds Annual Surfing Tournaments; Are Year-Round Schools Better Alternative to Long Summer Breaks?
Aired September 07, 2009 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And meanwhile, thank you all for being with us on this Labor Day Monday. It's September 7th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm John Roberts. Here's what's on our agenda this morning. The big story we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
President Obama tried to take control in this critical week for health care reform. He's going to be on the road, in the airwaves, and on line. We've got new details on exactly what the president wants to see when it comes to health care reform.
CHETRY: 9.7 percent of Americans, unemployed right now, but as fall approaches, there is hope that the worst may be over. What does that mean for Americans looking for work? The secretary of labor will be joining us with her take on the job market.
ROBERTS: And the president's go-to man on the economy talking to CNN. Hear what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has to say about the economy and what work still needs to be done.
CHETRY: We begin, though, with President Obama's make-or-break push for health care reform. Ahead of his speech Wednesday on Capitol Hill, the president's inner circle is out in full force hitting the Sunday talk show circuit. They were noticeably tight-lipped though on whether or not the president's plan must include a public option.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): After months of debate and deadlock on Capitol Hill and weeks of hostile crowds and plenty of shouting at town hall meetings, will President Obama's plan for health care reform continue to include a government insurance plan to compete with private ones known as the public option? His inner circle still won't say yes or no.
DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: He believes the public option is a -- is a good tool. Now, it shouldn't define the whole health care debate, however.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president strongly believes that we have to have an option like this to provide choice and competition, to provide a check on insurance companies, because without it, again, we're going to have markets as big as a whole state of Alabama, almost 90 percent of which is dominated by one insurance.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: But is it essential? I mean, that's the key question. We've known for months that the president is for it. Is it essential to health care reform?
GIBBS: The president -- the president believes that is a valuable tool.
CHETRY: Along with an answer to the "will he" or "won't he" on the public option, the president's senior adviser says after Wednesday night's speech to the House, the Senate, and the nation, we'll know exactly where his boss stands on all of the details of the plan. And why he thinks reform is an absolute must.
AXELROD: Well, I think they'll come away with a clear sense of what it is and what it's not. What it is is a plan that, again, will give more security and stability to people who have insurance today and it will make it easier for those who don't.
CHETRY: And while there's been some talk of compromise inside the beltway, other lawmakers on Capitol Hill still seem miles apart.
REP. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: The American people don't want another speech. They want to know the plan. But they don't want a government-run plan that will send us on a pathway towards socialized medicine and over $800 billion in higher taxes.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: Our speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has made it very clear that we will have public option in any bill that goes off on the House side. The president is going to have to use his muscle on the Senate side.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, there we go. We're going to head right now to Washington and dig a little bit deeper on this with our own Ed Henry. He's live at the White House. And we also have joining us, Brianna Keilar in our D.C. bureau.
And we'll start with you, Ed. Bottom line, how important -- how hard is the president going to fight for this public option so many on the left feel is vital to any significant reform?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, top aides to the president, some of his outside advisers are suggesting he will push hard Wednesday night on Capitol Hill for a public option, but not hard enough to spike a deal.
The bottom line is that, he will push to show liberals that he is with him on this, that he is fighting for it, and aides say he does believe it. It's not just political posturing. That he does think the public option will be the best option in terms of keeping insurance companies honest.
But he's not going to let that one issue -- as you heard David Axelrod essentially say there a moment ago -- spike an entire deal. I think if you look at this way, he's not going to throw the public option under the bus, but it's sort of taped to the side of the bus, it's hanging on the road. And they're going to push it off whenever they need to get a deal.
ROBERTS: That's a great way of putting it, Ed. Meantime, some people on Capitol Hill say it's the president's chance to make sure that the public option stays on the table. Listen to what Congressman Keith Ellison told our John King on "STATE OF THE UNION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": What if the president said, "I need this, I know you don't like it, I know it's not enough, but I need this. Politically, I can't afford to pass a health care bill, don't walk away"?
REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA: I say he needs to go talk to those people that won't compromise with him and insist there will be no public option. He can talk to them as well as he can talk to us. I think that -- you know, why should the progressives, why should the liberals always cave? The fact is, those folks who are getting all kinds of campaign donations and getting lobbied to the tune of $1.4 million a day by the insurance industry, why don't they compromise a little bit?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Let's bring in our Brianna Keilar now.
Brianna, there's still this core group of Democrats saying that there has to be a public option, no room for discussion. So, really, the president is between the proverbial rock and a hard place here.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He is, John. There are dozens of rank-and-file liberal Democrats in the House of Representatives who think that health care reform without a public option is not reform. And the trigger, to many of them, is just a way of setting up a plan for this government-run health insurance and then never actually putting it into effect. So, these liberals are balking at doing away with the public option.
But the reality is, in the Senate -- we've known this for some time -- passing a public option, next to impossible. Because support among not just Republicans lacking, but conservative Democrats lacking.
And so, I've spoken with some Democratic leadership sources in the Senate and they say, even if they want a public option, what they really want is a health care bill. And if the public option is going to get in the way of that, they still want a bill, John.
CHETRY: And back to Ed here.
If the president does drop his push for a public option, how does he prevent the left from then revolting, which is something that could very well happen?
HENRY: That's right. And the way I'm hearing it is that he's going to present this as saying, "Look, you know, we've come this far. Why spike an entire deal over this one issue." And that he may have some sort of fallback position, like Senator Olympia Snowe has been pushing where you'd have a trigger that would kick in if the insurance companies a couple of years later did not reform themselves that they said they would do.
But, I think, the bottom line here is that the president is going to try to tell liberals, "Look, something is better than nothing. We can come back next year and the year after and finish the job. But let's at least do incremental reform."
The problem is, there may be some liberals -- as Brianna suggests -- who believe that nothing is better than something here.
ROBERTS: Ed Henry this morning along with Brianna Keilar -- thanks so much.
And a reminder, CNN is the place to watch the president's health care reform speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. We'll have full coverage with the best political team on television Wednesday night starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And as if the president's plate was not full enough, he has now forced to deal with a setback, the resignation of green jobs czar Van Jones. Jones has been under fire from the right for some extreme comments that he made before joining the administration. At the center of the controversy, a petition that Jones signed back in 2004 questioning whether the Bush administration knew that the September 11th attacks were going to take place.
CHETRY: Also, the massive wildfire burning north of Los Angeles is now 51 percent contained. Meantime, the price tag so far: $50 million. It's taken the lives of two firefighters, also destroyed 78 homes and burned nearly 276 square miles of national forest so far. California's governor offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and the conviction of the arsonist responsible for starting it.
ROBERTS: And the new head of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. says we will see visible improvements to America's front yard over the next year. Right now, the Mall is stained by dead grass, crumbling sidewalks, and green, foul-smelling water in the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. The renovation project will cost nearly $50 million of federal stimulus money.
CHETRY: And speaking of federal stimulus money, has the stimulus helped create more jobs, as it was intended to do? We're looking at the unemployment numbers for the month, hovering near 10 percent. We're going to be joined next by the secretary of labor, Hilda Solis. We're going to talk to her about whether or not we'll see an improving jobs picture on the horizon.
It's eight minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
New right now -- a significant crack has been discovered in San Francisco's Bay Bridge and it's considered serious enough to keep that bridge closed. The Bay Bridge was shut down on Thursday for earthquake retrofitting when the crack was found. About 280,000 vehicles cross that landmark bridge every day. So, if they can't get it sorted out very quickly, it's really going to throw a wrench into everybody's commuting plans.
CHETRY: And it's already a mess anyway. Wow.
All right. Well, more than 2,000 students at Washington State University reporting symptoms of swine flu. That's more than 10 percent of the entire student body. A nurse at the university says the outbreak started during sorority and fraternity rush before classes started. Right now, the university is handing out free flu kits to students.
ROBERTS: Pro-football star Shawne Merriman is challenging claims that he attacked his girlfriend Tila Tequila. She is the answer of the MTV reality show "A Shot at Love." Police accused the San Diego Charges linebacker of choking Tequila at their home on Sunday morning.
An attorney for Merriman says he was only trying to protect his girlfriend, who police say had been drinking. Merriman's attorney would not comment specifically on reports that Merriman was trying to keep Tequila from driving drunk.
CHETRY: Well, it's the unofficial end of the summer, and for the 9.7 percent of Americans currently unemployed and probably several thousands more who actually have simply given up looking, there is hope, perhaps, that the worst is behind us, that the job market might pick up. But most analysts say that a little more patience will be needed as the first part of the recovery is likely to be a jobless one.
So, what does that mean for people who are looking for work?
Hilda Solis is the secretary of labor and she joins us this morning from Washington, D.C.
Secretary Solis, thanks so much for being with us on this Labor Day.
HILDA SOLIS, U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR: Thank you for having me, and Happy Labor Day.
CHETRY: To you as well.
Now, one of the things that we're talking about this morning is the fact that we have seen unemployment, the monthly unemployment, as you know, at 9.7 percent right now, upticking a bit higher than it was from the months before. When you take a look at the picture down the road, what advice or insight can you offer people about whether or not we're going to see more jobs created quite soon?
SOLIS: Well, what I would remind people is that we've been in this recession since December of 2007. In January, we saw a job loss of about 700,000 jobs. This last month in August, we saw 216,000. That's not to say that we're satisfied, but we're going to keep moving forward. We've helped to stabilize this a bit.
But I would encourage people to go into our one-stop shop centers that we have, that we run through the DOL, Department of Labor. They give free information and help to provide assistance for people looking for jobs, but also people who may want to get into an education or new training program. A lot of that is offered for our unemployed workers right now.
And we've done two things. One is to help rescue people who have been dislocated from their jobs -- so increasing the amount of unemployment insurance for several weeks, but also $25 additional during that week, and also providing assistance for people who need health insurance. They can also apply through our programs for some coverage there if they're eligible.
CHETRY: Right.
SOLIS: But more importantly, we got -- we got to get ready for the new jobs, green jobs, new technology, high tech, and health care. That's where we're going to see the uptick.
And I think the Recovery Act is working. It's slow. But it's like -- it's like moving a big battle ship around and it's going to take some time and patience. But we are there with the American worker, and today, we celebrate all the contributions that workers and their families have made to this great country.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about what you said when it comes to creation of jobs, green jobs, and the stimulus working. What we were talking about before was the stimulus program billed as a move that would not just save jobs, but actually help create 3.3 million jobs. Since January, actually, 2.8 million jobs have been lost.
What do you say to critics who say that that's evidence that the stimulus is actually not working?
SOLIS: Well, I would disagree. I think that, you know, alone in my department, we've seen over 225,000 young people work during the course of this summer. And we know that there are many people who kept their jobs -- law enforcement officers, teachers, and also clinics stayed open. In fact, we were able to increase the number of people who were seen in health care clinics by about 300,000.
So, I mean, things are happening. That may not be as apparent for some people. But I would just encourage people not to be distressed and discouraged. We want to do everything we can. We're not going to stop until we make sure the job loss goes down.
CHETRY: You know, also left out of the way is unemployment numbers -- millions of people who actually simply gave up looking. They actually don't get counted in that 9.7 percent unemployment because they are not actively looking, but it doesn't mean that they don't want a job.
What hope can you offer them that perhaps, down the road, we will be turning a corner and that perhaps there are opportunities out there?
SOLIS: Well, there is more financial assistance going out by way of programs like through the Department of Energy for creation of manufacturing jobs, creating lithium batteries, for example, or new industries that are starting up. I think that you're seeing more credit available. People are buying houses. You know, that is happening.
And we did see an uptick in careers, like health careers. For example, there were about 28,000 jobs that were created. And that's been a steady, you know, increase.
So, I would encourage people -- now is the time to go in. If you need a new job training program you want to get into or new education program, all those opportunities are available right now.
And I would encourage people -- if they are unemployed -- to go into our offices. There are some financial assistance available. The Pell Grant Program that people can apply to, a college education -- now is the time to do that. And I think we're on our steady way to recovery.
CHETRY: Some of our viewers are asking, when I told them I was going to be talking to you, I asked them what they wanted to do, and the big question that seems to be coming up is: do you have any predictions, or -- you know, of course, you're getting information and your getting some input that perhaps we don't see from advisers and economists about when we will start to see this job market turn around.
SOLIS: I think that -- you know, keep in mind the recovery program is just in like its sixth month right now and it's a two-year project. So, we still have more funding opportunities that will go into creating and helping to build our infrastructure, so that will help in construction and manufacturing. We're also going to see these new hybrid technologies created. And I think, the money alone that I am providing through our department for job training won't be fully effective until later this year around October and November.
So, there are, you know, flickers of hope out there. And I would just hope people -- please, come by and visit our one-shop centers where people can get free information.
CHETRY: All right. You say that's for the Department of Labor, people want to check that out online.
Great to have you talk to us this morning. Secretary Hilda Solis, thanks for being with us.
SOLIS: Thank you so much.
ROBERTS: So, airlines are tacking on all kinds of fees. First of all, it was a second bag, now it's the first back, and then if you got golf clubs or something else, or if you want to get first in line.
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: There are some airlines that charge you a fee for that. Is it all just a legitimate way for airlines to make money or is it gouging? Our Carol Costello takes a look at that -- coming right up.
It's 17 minutes now after the hour..
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 20 minutes after the hour.
Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" and joins us now. She's got something with Tim Geithner coming up in just a second.
But first of all, you were listening to the interview...
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
ROBERTS: ... with Hilda Solis, labor secretary. Your take on what she said?
ROMANS: Well, I think that it's -- I think people shouldn't be discouraged, and I think she's right. But this is -- this is much bigger than being discouraged about the job market. I mean, there are 30 million people in this country ready, willing, and able to work a full-time job, and this economy is not giving them the opportunities.
There are green job hopes, but so far those green jobs aren't giving 30 million Americans the opportunities to feed their families and to progress in the biggest economy in the world. I mean, it's a really incredible situation we're in right now. And you just can't tell people to go look at a Web site, not to be discouraged, and try to get some retraining.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: It is much bigger than that.
ROBERTS: On top of that, they just blew their green jobs czar out the door.
ROMANS: That's -- and the starting salary for the average green job is $12 an hour. You try to feed a family on a green job. And much of the technology is being developed overseas. Much of the production is still overseas. So, we don't have -- we're not there yet, and there are a lot of big challenges here.
CHETRY: Yes. And, of course, and -- as we talked about as well -- that when you talk about the number 9.7 percent, that doesn't give you the whole picture.
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
CHETRY: As you said, there are millions and millions of people who right now have given up. They're not considered actively unemployed.
ROMANS: Fourteen point nine million are unemployed -- that's a 9.7 percent unemployment rate; 9.1 million are underemployed, they're working part-time because they can't get anything else.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: Two point three million are marginally attached to the labor market. And in that category, 758,000 are discouraged. They simply can't find a job and are considered -- none of those people are included in the 14.9 million. When you look at the percentage of America's working age population that's working, it's 52.9 percent. That is not good for a country like this.
ROBERTS: So, our Richard Quest talked to the treasury secretary over the weekend. Do you got some of that for us this morning?
ROMANS: I do. And this is what the treasury secretary had to say about, you know, where we are in the economy and what kind of progress we're making. He said, basically, it's still fragile here, the economy, the job market is still too fragile to grow without government help, but we're making progress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: We have brought the world economy back from the edge of the abyss, and you are starting to see the necessary conditions for a recovery, but we don't have recovery yet. We have growth on the way, but we don't yet have the conditions for a self-sustaining recovery led by private demand, which is what we're all committed to achieving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, lead by private demand. That's what we're looking for here.
Right now, the government has stepped in over the past year to fill in this void so that we didn't completely go -- as he said -- over the edge of the abyss, but we're still waiting for private demand. That's companies. That's really the economy to start working again on its own. So, we're still waiting for that.
Sorry. I get so fired up about the jobs market. I do -- you know, I'm just so passionate about the fact that it's such a big economy...
ROBERTS: Don't apologize.
ROMANS: ... that I really -- there's something not working here, and we haven't figured out how to fix it yet.
CHETRY: Right. But the other thing too, and she said it as well, the secretary of labor said, we're only get -- we're only six months into the stimulus. That it's supposed to go -- we're supposed to see this in two years. But as you said, some of the stimulus jobs are three-day jobs on a construction site.
ROMANS: And "The New York Times" Saturday had this amazing piece about these men and women who are working at a factory that Joe Biden stood in front of them, and said, "We're going to -- stimulus is going to keep your jobs, create your jobs."
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: And a bunch of these people are out of work now.
CHETRY: That was New Flyer bus factory, and they had to lay off 328 people.
ROMANS: Yes. So, then, stimulus didn't help there.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Christine, keep at it. Hopefully, things will turn around soon, but we appreciate your reports on that.
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: And meanwhile, as John said, the green energy czar or I guess as he was called, he was supposed to be the adviser for green energy jobs in the administration, Van Jones, resigning under a lot of pressure. Some say it was a political witch hunt. Others say he shouldn't have been there in the first place. David Sirota and David Frum join us live to debate it.
Twenty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
You know, if you check your bag when you fly, you pay, right, you pay the airlines a half billion dollars for the privilege, if you add it all up. That was just the first three months of this year. The convenience that used to be free, and that's just the beginning of conveniences that used to be free that you're now getting charged for.
Carol Costello joins us live from Washington with the latest new fees courtesy of the airlines.
Hey, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yay!
Well, there's good news and bad news. So, I'm going to give you the good news first. According to "The Wall Street Journal," the demand for air travel has bottomed out. It has nowhere to go but up. But here's the bad news, it does not matter one iota to air travelers' wallet, as in, no, you won't see airline fees going away -- even Southwest has gotten into the game.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Southwest Airlines just got a little enhancement. That's what the airline is calling its EarlyBird Program. If you don't like the airline's no reserve seating policy, the airline will now allow you to board early to grab a plum seat if you dole out 10 bucks each way. Already, some are saying, hmm.
ANNOUNCER: Tired of being nickeled and dimed by other airlines?
COSTELLO: The EarlyBird program, they say, is nothing more than an extra fee, something Southwest prides itself on resisting.
ANNOUNCER: On Southwest Airlines, we don't charge fees for stuff that should be free.
COSTELLO: Southwest insists, though, it's not breaking that promise. EarlyBird, it says, is an enhancement.
BRAD HAWKINS, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SPOKESMAN: This is a value- added extra that people can decide for themselves if they want to do it.
COSTELLO: Southwest does find itself in a tough position. It's one of the few airlines turning a profit again, but it's not as fat and happy as it once was.
Ben Mutzabaugh covers the airlines for "USA Today."
BEN MUTZABAUGH, USA TODAY: They're feeling some pressure from shareholders, for example, for not adding a checked bag fee, whereas their competitors are making hundreds of millions of dollars off of these fees.
COSTELLO: He's not kidding. In the first quarter of 2009 alone, U.S. air carriers charged $566 million in baggage fees. That's more than four times what they collected in 2008. Southwest has tried to save money by cutting back on some flights, but says it has to find a revenue source too so it won't have to raise ticket prices.
Travelers have mixed feelings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not the amount. It's the concept that you give me $10. Well, then, what if I give you $50, can I get in front of him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If that's a way for them to turn a profit and keep my ticket down, because I'm not going to be paying the $10 to get ahead, now, I'm all for it.
COSTELLO: Analysts say EarlyBird will turn a profit for Southwest. One financial research analyst says, if 25 to 30 passengers on each flight buy the service, Southwest could rake in $250 million a year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And that's not chump change. Southwest, by the way, will also put Wi-Fi on 500 flights come 2010. I asked how much it would charge. So far, free. But that could change.
Just depends, Kiran. That's what they told me.
CHETRY: Yes, you never know, right? What -- they can get another $15, $20 out of you for it, right?
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly. And don't expect these airline fees to go away, either -- because airlines are making so much money off of them and people seem very willing to pay. The baggage fee profits just like -- it's astounding.
CHETRY: Yes. Is this fuel surcharge, that's still in effect too? Because that was -- that was there for a while, it was supposed to go away.
COSTELLO: Well, I don't think it will go away, because they fear that fuel prices will go up again and they need to cover themselves. So that's why they're keeping some of these fees in place.
CHETRY: Oh, man. All right. Get you coming and going, as my grandmother used to say. Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
CHETRY: Here's a look at the top stories right now.
President Obama is warming up for his make or break health care push to both chambers of Congress and the entire nation. White House officials are saying the president still wants to see government- backed health care included in the plan, a so-called public option, but that they won't say whether or not he'll veto any bill that's passed without it.
ROBERTS: If you're headed out on Labor Day, you'll be glad to know that the price of gasoline is still heading down, despite the fact that some airlines still might have fuel surcharges. AAA reports the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded, $2.58, down a fraction of a penny since yesterday, and three cents over the past week.
And if you want to buy the cheapest gas? I bought some in Charleston yesterday. It was $2.36 a gallon.
CHETRY: Hey, should have brought some back.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: But they only let me bring, you know, 3.5 ounces on the plane.
CHETRY: Right. And then you would have had to pay a surcharge (INAUDIBLE).
All right. Well, one of Michael Jackson's famous jewel-covered white gloves just sold in Australia for more than $48,000. It was nearly twice the asking price. A buyer for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Vegas was the winning bidder. The auction house says that's the first of Jackson's gloves sold since his death on June 25th.
ROBERTS: The president hired Van Jones to find more green jobs, putting more Americans back to work and helping the environment. Now, Jones is looking for a job himself. He has been under fire for some pointed comments about Republicans and a petition that he signed back in 2004 questioning what the Bush White House knew about 9/11. He has now resigned.
To talk more about that, let's bring in syndicated columnist David Sirota and David Frum, the editor of newmajority.com and former speech writer for the Bush White House.
David Sirota, let's start with you, because you wrote quite a scathing column that appeared on the newleft.org and as well on the huffingtonpost.com, saying you're absolutely outraged by the way the White House handled this.
DAVID SIROTA, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Van Jones is a national hero for his work on green jobs. He's known as an expert on energy policy, on economic policy. He's somebody who made a mistake, who acknowledged that he made a mistake a long time ago, and he was tossed out by this White House.
And I think what we can learn from what happened is what this White House values and what this White House doesn't value. The White House stuck by Tim Geithner as Tim Geithner was involved, the treasury secretary, in a tax scandal. He's accepted gifts from the banking industry. The White House stood by him.
The White House has stood by other people, like Ben Bernanke, who has really been at the heart of our economic problems. And they're basically putting Van Jones out to pasture because of something Van Jones said was a mistake.
And I think what's going on here is that the White House is listening to the white right wing's political terrorists, people like Glenn Beck, people like conservative activists who have targeted Van Jones because Van Jones is an African-American with a progressive movement background working on behalf of social justice.
That's something, unfortunately, that is apparently, according to the right wing, not allowed in this country.
ROBERTS: Let's bring in David Frum. What do you think about what David Sirota just said there, and did the president have any choice but to ask for the resignation of Van Jones?
DAVID FRUM, FORMER BUSH SPEECH WRITER: Denying the truth about not an intellectual mistake. It is an attempt to shift the blame for one of the worst crimes in history from the people who did it to the people who suffered. It's not unlike holocaust denial in that way.
And this is not a right or left issue. When President Clinton, Bill Clinton was confronted by such people at an event in 2007, he reacted decently. He said, how dare you. And I think that's the way all Americans feel.
Van Jones may have done all these other good things, or not. If you are associated with this kind of horrific lie -- and by the way, the only -- he must also have lied to his superiors in the White House in not alerting that he had done such a thing -- if you traffic in such a horrific lie, you have no place in American government.
ROBERTS: David Sirota, it's one thing to when you're an activist and you're not actively in government to criticize the opposition, but when you signed that petition that questioned whether or not the Bush administration knowingly allowed 9/11 to happen, it's known as the "9/11 truthers petition," I mean, he said that he didn't read it all the way through, you put your name to something you didn't read all the way through, was that a big enough mistake that he couldn't serve in this administration?
SIROTA: Well, John, look, he said it was a mistake. And, you know, I think his name was lent to something that he clearly wasn't fully aware of. He said it was a mistake. I don't think anybody -- nobody's debating whether he said it was a mistake or not.
My point here is that what are the standards, right? You have a Bush administration, for instance, that lied us into war. Nobody was fired at all for that. Thousands of people have died because of that.
You have an economic team that has conflicts of interest with the financial industry that it's regulating. Nobody has said a thing about this.
What happened here was that Van Jones was originally targeted because he's an African-American man who worked on behalf of social justice issues. Remember, he was targeted by the right wing, but the Glenn Becks of this world right before this 9/11 issue ever came out. He was targeted because of that.
ROBERTS: Let's bring in David Frum. Was this a matter of race, David Frum?
FRUM: I think that's crazy. And I think David Sirota does his own cause an injustice. His administration did do the right thing here. If Glenn Beck went on TV, and he fulminates all the time, and he says all these foolish things, I never like being on the same side of him. It was not Glenn Beck, however, who discovered this fact that destroyed Van Jones' political career. That was discovered by...
SIROTA: But he was originally targeted...
(CROSSTALK)
FRUM: He could have survived -- he could have laughed off all those other things, he could have laughed off. He could have laughed off all the empty accusations.
The thing was Gateway Pundit got the goods. It discovered he was a 9/11 denialist. It is not a mistake, it is a lie. It is a hurtful lie. It is a terrible lie. It is a lie that completely invalidates -- and by the way, Van Jones, why would someone that would believed the United States government would murder 3,000 of its own people want to work for such a terrible government?
He has no place in government, he has no place in decent society if he believes that.
ROBERTS: All right, so Van Jones is gone, he's not going to be back. But let's look at this going forward.
David Sirota, do you think now that Republicans smell blood in the water, and they're going to go after the remaining 30 or so czars that this administration has got left, people who were in prominent positions who didn't have to go through Senate confirmation to get their jobs?
SIROTA: Absolutely. I think what the White House has done has said to a right wing lynch mob that they will accept their demands, their politically -- their political terrorism.
And what you're going to see is this White House, you cannot appease political terrorists. You cannot appease a right-wing lynch mob.
And so the next time, the next target of this lynch mob, I think, you're not going to be able to appease them. I think the White House is on the retreat. And I think it's really been a political mistake as much as anything.
ROBERTS: All right. David...
FRUM: Van Jones appeased actual terrorists. That's why he's out.
SIROTA: That is absolutely ridiculous. Van Jones...
FRUM: Sorry, he endorsed, excused, condoned...
(CROSSTALK)
SIROTA: It was a witch hunt, and a lynch mob going after this guy.
FRUM: He acted as the David Irving of Al Qaeda.
SIROTA: He said that he was sorry. He said he made a mistake.
(CROSSTALK)
FRUM: He shouldn't have done it.
ROBERTS: David Sirota and David Frum, I hate to jump in here as the referee, but I'm going to have to get in between you here. We're out of time, unfortunately. Great discussion this morning, gentleman. Thanks both for joining us.
David Sirota on the left, David Frum on the right, appreciate it very much.
SIROTA: Thank you.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, we're always looking at ways that our students can improve, do better, compete with the rest of the world and come out on top. What about doing with a long summer break, too much time to lay around, sit around, forget what you learned?
Year-round school, it's an idea that's picking up some steam. Our Kate Bolduan takes a look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 40 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. A shot there of the capitol in Washington.
How far would you go to get good health insurance? One man who lost his job and lost his medical benefits decided to reenlist in the Army to get his family covered, and then he paid the ultimate price.
This is story that you'll see only here on CNN. Jim Acosta joins us now from Washington for this heart wrenching story. It's just so sad on so many levels to think about what he went through.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Kiran. The story of Craig Missman is not just about a soldier's sacrifice in the intensifying war in Afghanistan. It's also about a father's sacrifice to his family when that family has no health insurance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Army specialist Greg Missman was only on the ground in Afghanistan for one month.
JIM MISSMAN, FATHER OF FALLEN SON: My son's convoy had been ambushed.
ACOSTA: In July his father Jim got that knock on the door.
MISSMAN: The chaplain and master sergeant showed up, so it was not a pleasant day.
ACOSTA: It was an abrupt end to what was actually Missman's second stint in the army. He left the service 11 years ago, but last year he lost his job as a computer consultant.
ACOSTA (on camera): He lost his job?
MISSMAN: Mm-hmm.
ACOSTA: And became unemployed?
MISSMAN: Became unemployed, lost his health insurance.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Missman says he son reenlisted to see to it his family had health insurance. He was full of confidence on the day he left for Afghanistan.
MISSMAN: So he said, you know, I'm going to go back in the army and make sure Jack has -- his son, Jack, would have health insurance. That was really the motivating thing to have him go back in.
ACOSTA (on camera): Greg Missman grew up in a community that's already lost two of its sons in the war in Iraq. Greg made it three, only in Afghanistan.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Keith Mopan's son Matt is one of those other fallen soldiers.
ACOSTA (on camera): Do you think we'll be seeing other cases like Greg Missman?
MISSMAN: No doubt about it. We probably will. I just was going to say hoping it ain't from here, but I just hope it ain't from anywhere, but it will happen again.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Jim Missman looks at the letters he's received from the president and military leaders and worries about the future.
MISSMAN: I'm a gold star parent because of my son's sacrifice, and I'd rather not see any more gold star parents.
ACOSTA: But this gold star parent doesn't have an answer on how to fix the nation's health care system.
MISSMAN: He made quite a sacrifice. Health care is going to be a tough one.
ACOSTA: These days, he's remembering a son who sacrificed to country and family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: A Pentagon spokesman says there's no way to count how many soldiers have joined the armed forces to get health care benefits. As for Greg Missman, his son will continue to receive military health insurance, so this soldier's sacrifice, Kiran, will live on.
CHETRY: A sad story, and as is for every family who has a loved one who's paid the ultimate sacrifice.
ACOSTA: Absolutely
CHETRY: Jim Acosta, thanks for bringing it to us this morning.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: It's 44 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Good morning, Miami. Look at those big, puffy cumulus clouds out there, a thing of beauty. Later on today, chance of thunderstorms, but what else is new in Miami? Always get a thunderstorm in the afternoon. High of 88 degrees.
We're back with the most news in the morning.
Sure he's great with the weather, but with a surfboard, that just could be another matter. "Rob's Road Show" is back, and Rob is in Coco Bach, Florida, this morning. Remember, what was the famous TV show set in Coco beach back in the '60s?
CHETRY: "I Dream of Genie." I was going to go with "Hawaii Five-Oh," but I thought it's got to be "I Dream of Genie."
ROBERTS: Rob's on the beach this morning. You getting body slammed out there, Rob?
CHETRY: Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I'm search of the bottle and I'm talking -- you know which bottle I'm talking about.
(LAUGHTER)
Yes, this is not Major Nelson's Coco Beach anymore, at least not this weekend. Throngs of people showing up to the 24th anniversary of the National Kidney Foundation surfing festival, at least here for Florida.
You've got them of all shapes and sizes out here. Check out some of the surfers. Right now we're in the amateurs final heats here, the kids out there just tearing it up, taking in some gnarly waves, dude. Maybe not some gnarly, but we've got some good ground swells rolling in here.
All right, but unpopular demand, I've never surfed before in my entire life, and, you know, the bosses said it would please them if I made a fool out of myself. So that's what we did yesterday.
One, two, on the fourth, try I finally made it somewhat to shore. But On the third try, more importantly, I took out some kids with the board, and that was not only embarrassing, but frightening at the same time. I'm felt awful about it, and I'm sorry if the CNN lawyers get a call today.
Take it out of my salary, I guess. Hopefully we have the insurance for that.
But the amount of humility I swallowed yesterday pales in comparison to the guy who founded this thing 24 years ago. His name is Rich Salick, and he has a little bit of history with kidneys. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICH SALICK, NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION OF FLORIDA: In '74, '68, '99.
MARCIANO (on camera): Three kidney transplants?
SALICK: Yes, and add on three years of intensive cancer therapy, and there I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: So three kidney transplants plus cancer -- the guy has survived it all. And over the past 24 years, they have raised between $4 million and $5 million with this particular event.
You know, it's not a bad place to have a Labor Day road show, don't you think, guys, here at Coco Beach, the home of "I Dream of Genie" and this particular surfing festival?
The water's nice and toasty, by the way, 84 degrees. Not a bad weekend to be out here on the beach.
Did they show that video? They got that video of me taking in that ten-footer?
ROBERTS: Yes. I thought that the learning curve you displayed on those 20-foot waves was terrific. You were really doing well.
And if you're going to swallow your pride for anything, that's a great cause to do it.
ROBERTS: Yes, and actually, Rob, in all seriousness, for your first time on a board, you weren't that bad. You got up. That's more than you can say for a lot of people.
MARCIANO: I did get up.
CHETRY: You're a snowboarder, aren't you?
MARCIANO: But to qualify -- I have, but I'm more of a skier. But to qualify it, when they gave me a board, they said, a cow could get up on this size of a board. So I kind of had some training wheels on there. But I kind of got the hook. I think I want to go surfing now. ROBERTS: And as you found, a surf board is a great way to meet people too, right?
MARCIANO: It is. There are great people at this event. And you get them all shapes and sizes. The kids are out here tearing it up.
The kids, definitely no strangers to long hair or to blond hair. They want to be West Coast at heart.
ROBERTS: Rob, good job. Thanks for joining us this morning, buddy.
MARCIANO: All right, see you guys.
ROBERTS: It's 10 minutes now to the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Labor Day, he's laboring. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
While America debates the president's plan to speak of nation's school kids tomorrow, there's another school idea that's actually causing quite a stir this morning. It's sending kids to school all year long. Labor Day wouldn't be the end of summer or the start of a new school year.
Our Kate Bolduan shows us which towns are already doing it and whether or not it's working in our "Educating America" report.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, one of the Obama administration's top priorities is education reform. And one idea getting traction may be the last thing students want to hear, more time at school.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
While most students were off enjoying summer vacation, schools like Barcroft Elementary in Arlington, Virginia, were open and bustling with activity.
MIRIAM HUGHEY-GUY, PRINCIPAL, BARCROFT ELEMENTARY: Well, we would like to think about our calendar as being the 21st century calendar.
BOLDUAN: Instead of a long summer break, Barcroft keeps students in class year round with shorter breaks throughout, offering about 20 additional school days.
HUGHEY-GUY: It gives them learning experiences that they may not be able to get over the summertime.
BOLDUAN: It's a strategy school districts across the country are experimenting with, perhaps the most closely watched in Massachusetts, which has extended class time for 22 of its low-performing schools. The idea has even won the endorsement of both President Obama and his education chief.
ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: We have a significantly shorter school year, 20, 25, 30 days versus India, versus China, other places. Our students are at a competitive disadvantage.
BOLDUAN: The major argument for extending school time is summer learning loss. Researchers have found students can lose about a month's worth of achievement during the summer break.
ELENA SILVA, SENIOR POLICY ANALYST/EDUCATION SECTOR: It's particularly true for low-income kids who don't have the opportunities that other kids have during those big breaks.
BOLDUAN: But more time is no silver bullet for reform. Miami- Dade county schools in Florida used an extended day program for three years, but dropped it because they didn't see improvement in test scores.
Critics say it disrupts family life and is expensive. The Miami- Dade program cost more than $100 million.
MARTA PEREZ, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD: The teachers were fatigued at the end of the day. The students were fatigued and unmotivated.
BOLDUAN: Which is another criticism -- it's not just time, but the quality of the extra time that matters.
SILVA: One of the risks, of course, is that you end up extending time in schools that aren't working well. And that, I think, it goes without saying that no one wants to extend bad time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: While test scores at Barcroft Elementary back here near Washington haven't yet shown great improvement, the principal says she's confident it's worth it. She says it's not just about test scores, it's about helping the whole child -- John, Kiran?
ROBERTS: Kate Boldaun this morning
There's something to be said for that, because, as Kate pointed out, students do lose a certain amount, particularly in their younger years, over the course of a couple of months of summer vacation.
CHETRY: Families like to plan a lot of different things, you know.
ROBERTS: Stop the hate mail!
CHETRY: I know, I know.
But if there's some way you can figure out -- kids do a lot of homework, a lot of homework. If they could maybe go to school a couple extra days and maybe have a little bit more family time when you are in school. ROBERTS: It sort of breaks throughout, staggered throughout the year. But one thing they've got to do is stop getting these kids up. I'm sorry, my daughter and son did this for four years of high school, getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go to school. They sleep for half the day. It's just ridiculous.
CHETRY: And a half-hour bus ride on top of that, it's crazy.
ROBERTS: Kids don't work that way. I had to walk three miles in the snow in flip-flops.
CHETRY: But you didn't have to walk through tarantula alley like Jason. So we all had it easy.
ROBERTS: OK
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: It's 57 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Our laboring is over.
ROBERTS: Pretty much. It's getting close.
CHETRY: We wanted to say thanks so much for being with us on this Labor Day. And we will see you back here tomorrow.
ROBERTS: Looking ahead to what you can see this week right here on "A.M.," we have a whole lot of stuff coming up. A special series, "Spies Among Us." On Wednesday, the growing problem of restricted technology, trade secrets and espionage between the U.S. and China.
CHETRY: I'm trying to get us out of here a little bit earlier. Sorry.
All right, more ahead on Thursday. We go global. We're looking into the black market for bombs. How easy would it be to smuggle one into the U.S.? As we know, there has not been a terror attack in the United States since 9/11. Should our government get credit, and how much is luck?
Join us for "Spies Like This" starting this Wednesday right here on the most news in the morning.
ROBERTS: Continue the conversations on today's stories. Go to our blog at CNN.com/amfix.
Now then that's going to wrap it up for us. Our labors are through here. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you again bright and early tomorrow morning.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, the news continues. "CNN NEWSROOM" starts now with Heidi Collins.
