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American Morning
Obama's Media Blitz Touts Reform Message; Questions Raised on Intelligence Gleaned after Terror Suspect's Arrest; Many Americans Seem Angry, Anxious about Country; Obama's Media Blitz; Cuban's Pack "Peace" Concert; Emmy Awards Wrap Up
Aired September 21, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: That brings us up now to the top of the hour. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning on this Monday the 21st of September. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. Here are the stories we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
First, the president was on a media blitz this weekend, taking his health care pitch to the people. And it is not over yet. Our AMERICAN MORNING team is covering reaction from every angle this morning. We're going to have Ed Henry with us live at the White House in just a moment.
ROBERTS: A new warning about the war in Afghanistan. President Obama saying he's skeptical about sending more troops there while his top military commander says more troops are needed or the conflict could end in failure. Our Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon for us this morning.
CHETRY: And why is everyone in America so angry? Or, at least, it seems that way lately. You've seen the outbursts at some of the town halls, some of the tea parties. Are we a nation on the edge? Our Carol Costello takes an in-depth look at what's behind some of the rage.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning with President Obama's full-court press, hitting the Sunday talk show circuit on five networks, including CNN. The interviews all taped on Friday in the White House Roosevelt Room not only look the same, but with the president totally on message, a lot of his answers even sounded the same.
And his top priority -- selling health care reform. Our entire team is covering that story for us this morning. Ed Henry is live at the White House, Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon, and Christine Romans here in New York.
And Ed, let's begin our coverage with you. Good morning to you.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
What's clear is the president sort of made some history yesterday by doing all of these talk shows in one fell swoop. What's still unclear, though, is whether he actually changed any minds. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: After uttering more than 10,000 words, one question remains. Did the president move the ball forward on health care?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the Baucus bill made it to your desk as is, would you sign it? Does it meet your goals?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: That's such a hypothetical since it won't get there as is, that I won't answer that question. But can I say that it does meet some broad goals that all the bills that have been introduced meet.
HENRY: Bottom line, the president still did not get very specific or break much new ground on health care, and he was confronted on a range of other tough issues, including the still- sluggish economy.
OBAMA: The jobs picture is not going to improve considerably and it could even get a little bit worse over the next couple of months, and we're probably not going to start seeing enough job creation to deal with, you know, a rising population until sometime next year.
HENRY: On Afghanistan, the public is getting anxious, but the president said he wants more time to sort out the strategy before deciding whether to send more troops.
OBAMA: There's a natural inclination to say, if I get more, then I can do more. But right now the question is, the first question is, are we doing the right thing? Are we pursuing the right strategy?
HENRY: As for health care, the president acknowledged it has not gone as planned.
OBAMA: During this whole health care debate, there have been times where I've said --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You lost control?
OBAMA: Well, not so much lost control, but I've said to myself, somehow I'm not breaking through.
HENRY: Top Republicans insist he still has not broken through despite all the interviews and high-profile speeches.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: He can be on every news show until the end of time. If he doesn't get Republicans and Democrats in a room and get off TV, we're never going to solve this problem.
HENRY: But asked about another Republican claiming they're winning the health battle, the president expressed confidence about the final stretch.
OBAMA: Well, you know, they were saying they were winning during the election too. (LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: You can see the president confident there that he will prevail in the end on his key domestic initiative, but over the next few days he'll be at the United Nations General Assembly meeting, have to shift the focus a little bit to foreign affairs.
He'll be talking about Mideast peace, trying to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear program, also trying to bring allies along to help with the war in Afghanistan - John.
ROBERTS: Busy week ahead of him. Ed Henry at the White House -- Ed, thanks.
CHETRY: And during his sit-down interview with our John King, President Obama would not say whether or not he'll be sending more troops to Afghanistan, adding that he will not make that call based on, quote, "the politics of the moment."
But the top U.S. general there says having more boots on the ground is a must. In a new report obtained by "The Washington Post," General Stanley McChrystal writes, quote, "Success is not ensured by additional forces alone, but continued under-resourcing will likely cause failure."
Out Barbara Starr is tracking this story live at the Pentagon. And as we said, this 66 page report was sent to the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, under the review of the president right now. What do we expect to hear as to how much impact this report will have?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: Well, it should have plenty of impact, Kiran. This is a very grim assessment by General McChrystal. He goes through point by point saying what he thinks is not going very well in that war in Afghanistan.
Two quick things -- he does say that more troops are needed, and he says that the Taliban threat now is so severe that it surpasses the ability of the current strategy to even deal with it.
Here's a little bit more. He says, and I quote, "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term," 12 months, he says, "while Afghan security matures risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."
It's hard to see that as anything but an urgent call for more troops, more resources, and General McChrystal also emphasizes, more civilian aid, more rebuilding, more economic assistance, more helping the people of Afghanistan so they can reject the insurgency -- Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning. Thanks.
And as we mentioned, it was "The Washington Post" that first got a copy of General McChrystal's report. The reporter was the paper's associate editor, Bob Woodward. He's going to be joining us live in a CNN exclusive coming up at 8:15 eastern time right here on the most news in the morning.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that.
New this morning, President Obama is preparing to host Israeli- Palestinian peace talks in New York tomorrow. The White House confirms the president will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas separately at first, and then the three will get together.
The United States and Israel still disagree on Israeli plans to build housing on disputed land in the West Bank.
CHETRY: There could be a crackdown coming on banks that charge consumers large fees for debit card overdrafts. One lawmaker says banks will have to find another way to, quote, "whack the consumer." One idea in Congress would require banks to get permission from customers to cover overdrafts before assessing the fees.
It's estimated banks could rake in over $38 billion in overdraft fees this year alone.
ROBERTS: And major protests are expected in Pittsburgh this Thursday and Friday as world leaders gather there for the G-20 summit. The anti-war, anti-government, and anti-poverty protesters are expected to descend on the city just as President Obama and China's president meet.
Pittsburgh has beefed up security with 4,000 highly trained federal police officers.
CHETRY: Our Carol Costello will be looking at us, just looking at what all the anger is about out there. "Mad as Hell" -- that is the name of the special that we're doing in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Three suspects in an alleged terror plot will be in court later on today. They were arrested over the weekend. The feds reportedly found notes on how to make bombs and listened in on a telephone call between the three men.
So just how big a threat could we be talking about here? For more, let's bring in our CNN national security contributor Fred Townsend and former CIA officer Peter Brookes to break this all down.
Fran, what kind of questions would you be asking this morning based on the evidence as you know it today?
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: There is no question we'd really care to know, what are the connections back in the tribal areas? What is Zazi not telling us and that we need to do about Al Qaeda central. And more importantly, perhaps, who else is there here in the United States? What other cities are involved? What are the implications for other sleeper cells in the United States that may not have been uncovered because the searches were done so soon in the investigation?
ROBERTS: Yes, Najibullah, we should point out, or Zazi, is Najibullah Zazi, who is the alleged ringleader of this group.
Although, Peter, we should point out that none of them have been charged with terrorism-related charges. So far they've only be charged with lying to investigators.
And you had two large agencies involved here. You had the FBI and the New York Police Department. Does it sound like this thing was sprung before the investigation was fully cooked? They'd been looking at these guys for apparently a year or more.
PETER BROOKES, FORMER CIA OFFICER: That's always a possibility, John. There's always this tension between the intelligence types who have information and law enforcement, who may want to let the investigation go on a little bit longer so they can get as many people that might be involved in this web.
As Fran pointed out, there may be others in the United States here that may have been involved with that that still may be looking at some sort of operation. Of course, with overseas intelligence, you want to know who's involved in tribal areas and other places.
So there's always this little bit of tension about people who have information, want to deal with it, make sure they cannot slip through and perpetrate a terrorist act, and then the others who may want to wait a little bit longer, like law enforcement, to get as many people in the web as possible.
ROBERTS: Fran, what do we know about the targets here? Were they going after hardened targets, or were they going after these so- called "soft targets," which we understand from terrorist operations overseas, may now becoming the preferred targets of terrorists worldwide?
TOWNSEND: It's interesting, John, the Justice Department is saying they didn't know either the specific targets or the timing.
But it does seem from what we do know -- backpack bombs, hydrogen peroxide-based explosives -- that they were looking at soft targets. We look at transportation hubs, subways, buses, that sort of thing, more the soft target type, and those are much harder. As we've come to experience, they're much harder to protect.
ROBERTS: And according to the reporting, at least one of the suspects had images of Grand Central Station, football and baseball stadiums in their possession.
Peter, is this close to what anti-terrorism experts call the worst-case scenario? Najibullah Zazi was an immigrant in this country, apparently had a green card or some kind of permit, had been here since 1999. You've got a westernized militant who can freely move about the country.
BROOKES: This is our nightmare. The military recalled us having somebody inside the wire. He doesn't need to go through immigration, he doesn't need to go through customs, although they probably noticed him traveling to Pakistan.
But, yes, it's absolutely what al Qaeda has been looking for. Osama bin Laden has been saying this for many years, to go out looking to recruit either Americans or those who have legal residence or status in the United States, can travel freely.
If you can get in and out of here, it just makes it so much easier to perpetrate a terrorist act than having to come across the borders in a post-9/11 environment.
ROBERTS: So if you not only have to watch the borders, Fran, but you have to watch -- you have to have your ears to the ground across the country. How difficult a job is that in terms of anti-terrorism efforts?
TOWNSEND: Very, very difficult, John. And in addition to be legal, permanent residents, in law enforcement they call them "clean skins," that is, no known associations with terrorists.
That's why it makes informants and electronic surveillance so important. When you put that together with odd travel patterns, you try to weed out those who may have suspicious activity and suspicious affiliations that require more investigation.
It also makes it more important not to spring these cases too early. We know -- you know, Peter mentioned this tension between law enforcement and the feds and intelligence agencies. In this case, you know, the NYPD and the FBI have had these tensions before. And NYPD's questioning of the imam may have caused this thing to spring too soon.
ROBERTS: Yes, we should mention that one of the suspects was an imam based in Queens. Apparently he was also an NYPD informant, and the story goes, the NYPD asked him about the other two fellows, the Zazis here, the father and son, and he might have tipped them off.
Peter, Fran touched on this a couple of moments ago. Let me get you to dig deeper on this. If there is one sleeper cell in the United States, is it logical to assume that there are many more inside the country?
BROOKES: That's certainly a possibility. And of course, the FBI will tell you, John, their big nightmare is the lone wolf terrorist, the person who may not travel to Pakistan, who may be inspired by al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and plan to undertake a terrorist act all by himself, building the bomb in the basement sort of situation.
So it doesn't necessarily have to be a cell. Some individual could build a bomb, put it in a backpack, and walk into Grand Central Station or into an airport and explode it. So that's worse than a cell, because cell people have to communicate, but a lone terrorist is even worse, and that's certainly a possibility.
Al Qaeda has become more than a terrorist organization. It's become a terrorist inspiration, a theology by some. And some could be inspired by it and take up their own acts of terror.
ROBERTS: We'll keep following this case very closely.
Peter Brookes, Fran Townsend, great to see you this morning, thanks so much.
BROOKES: Thank you.
ROBERTS: It's 14 1/2 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: A little spooky, Halloween coming early to Atlanta this morning, because, boy, we see the fog over the buildings there. Right now, it raining, 69 degrees. A little bit later, looking at some storms, 80 degrees for a high in Atlanta.
And welcome back to the most news in the morning. Our Christine Romans is here. She has a closer look this morning at President Obama's media blitz and also some of the things that he was saying in terms of how to pay for health care. She's minding your business this morning.
There was an interesting exchange that took place between George Stephanopoulos on ABC and the president when it comes to taxes and these mandates that you have to pay penalties if you don't get insurance.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And this is the closest thing to fireworks, the president really being testy that we saw yesterday in that media blitz. President Obama insists that requiring health insurance is not a tax increase on the middle class. But here he is sparring with George Stephanopoulos on ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it's saying is that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you, anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It's true, in most states, I think there are a couple of exceptions, you have to get auto insurance just to protect everybody. The president's saying requiring health insurance is the same kind of concept.
And the president has also vowed that he will not raise taxes on the middle class. So his opponents and critics and journalists are always looking for any indication that middle class taxes are going to rise.
And under the Baucus proposal, what the president is talking about here is a penalty, as high as $3,800 per family of four, a penalty if you don't get health insurance. That's in the Baucus proposal.
It's interesting, an op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" calls this Obama's "non-tax tax," and says on the Sunday shows, "The president offers a revealing definition of what he thinks a tax is."
But the question here is really more of a political debate, I think, than an economic debate. You're talking about requiring health insurance, penalizing families who don't get this health insurance.
But then there are also subsidies all the way up and down the income chain for helping you subsidize to pay for that insurance.
So an interesting exchange there.
CHETRY: Yes, it was. Christine, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: So Howard Biel on the movie "Network" was "mad as hell" and he wasn't going to take it.
(LAUGHTER)
Well, it seems that a lot of the country is that way these days. Our Carol Costello takes a look at what's fueling the anger and the big partisan divides across the United States, coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: That's a song about anger. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 23 minutes past the hour.
Let's face it, America seems to be, right now, an angry nation. We've seen it from the rowdy town halls, the screaming at the tea party protests, a lot of other anger as it relates to health care debates. But it looks like, in some cases, Americans are mad as hell.
ROBERTS: Carol Costello live in Washington this morning. She's getting to the bottom of all of this, what the rage is really all about, and it almost seems, Carol, sometimes like the nation is on the verge of a national nervous breakdown.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does, doesn't it? I actually asked a psychiatrist, if America were your patient, what would be your diagnosis? And she told me, chronic depression, anxiety, with a dash of narcissism.
I wondered if she was right, so I went to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. You decide.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: The Gateway Gators versus the Latrub Wildcats on a cool, western Pennsylvania night. What can be more American?
(CHEERING)
But even here, where love of a game unites us, is the fear that America is being torn apart.
CAROLYN MURRAY, REPUBLICAN: I hate to see the name-calling and the innuendos and the digs at everybody. I think we need to get together and we need to work and have some compassion.
COSTELLO (on camera): You have tears in your eyes.
MURRAY: I do! I love America.
COSTELLO (voice-over): But Carolyn Murray's wish isn't likely to be granted.
WALLING: America's angry. Everybody I talked to is angry.
COSTELLO: It's buffalo wing night at the Texburg fire hall in Pennsylvania.
COSTELLO (on camera): Do you think that the anger, Janet, is just about health care, or is health care just a symptom of a bigger...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's the bailout, it's the stimulus, it's the health thing. Why don't we have a vote on so many things that's going on in the country?
COSTELLO: So is it that people feel powerless?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, very powerless.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Middle America is still bleeding jobs. Janet feels her middle-class way of life is over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody has to bring us back to where we was 40 years ago.
COSTELLO: Chris Walling owns a trucking company.
CHRIS WALLING: What we really need in Washington is common sense. You've got too many people that have their own agendas, and they don't care about us, the people.
COSTELLO: And, they say, that's led to an "every man for himself" mentality.
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST: We are, you know, not in the decades of nationalism, patriotism, community-minded. We have moved -- the pendulum has swung to the individual.
COSTELLO (on camera): Whatever happened to ask not... JOHN F. KENNEDY, THEN-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody thinks about that.
COSTELLO: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ask the politicians.
COSTELLO: Erwin Polanski (ph), who's retired, has embraced individualism. He says all the shouting is cathartic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it makes you feel better, yes.
COSTELLO: Really? So it's OK to call someone a liar or for someone to call...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. If he is a liar, call him one.
COSTELLO: Or a racist?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call him one.
COSTELLO: Even if he is the president of the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call him one. You call them as you see it.
COSTELLO: But some in Pennsylvania fear that attitude.
LEON MCCRAY, DEMOCRAT: When people are angry and people feel powerless, at some point people will strike out and take action.
COSTELLO: The McCrays are retired, Leon from the post office.
COSTELLO (on camera): Do you fear there'll be violence?
MCCRAY: Sure. When you hear phrases like "Taking America back," taking America back to where? I'm 81 years old. I don't want to see America go back to what I saw.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Back at Gateway high school, many do yearn for the past, for the part in our history where love of country also meant compassion for one another.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: This is just a snapshot of what one part of the country is feeling, but I leave you with this from Ronald Reagan's second inaugural address. He said, "We look forward to a world rich in possibilities, and all this because we have worked and acted together, not as members of political parties, but as Americans," John, Kiran?
ROBERTS: Carol, what about this president? Are people still listening to President Obama? COSTELLO: I would have to say no. They've heard all they're going to hear. They're not going to listen again until the jobs start coming back.
You know, unemployment's really high in western Pennsylvania. And they're hurting. And the president can say the recession is easing, which it is, but it's not easing for them.
ROBERTS: Great report this morning. Carol Costello kicking off our series on anger in America.
Now it's your turn. Where do you think all this national rage is coming from. And are you mad as hell too? Go to CNN.com/amfix to weigh in.
And tomorrow, our special series "Mad as Hell" continues. They're up in arms, literally -- angry gun owners afraid that their right to bear arms will be taken away by the Obama administration. "Angry Americans with Guns" tomorrow on "American Morning."
CHETRY: We're 28 minutes past the hour right now. We're checking the other top stories this morning.
More people around the world are suffering from Alzheimer's disease than scientists and doctors previously thought. The new numbers show the problem could nearly double every 20 years. The just-released World Alzheimer's Report suggests that right now 35 million people on earth are living with the disease or other forms of dementia.
ROBERTS: Two federal reports this morning show a lot of state and local governments are still not ready to deal with a possible flu pandemic this fall. "The Washington Post" reports the biggest problems would be a surge of patients and trying to quickly get medicines to the people who need them most.
On CNN's "State of the Union," our John King asked President Obama about the first family's flu plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Here's the Obama family plan, is to call up my HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and my CDC director, and just ask them, what's your recommendation? And whatever they tell me to do, I will do.
Here's what I guarantee you -- we want to get vaccinated. We think it's the right thing to do. We will stand in line like everybody else. And when folks say it's our turn, that's when we'll get it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The president by the way caps off his media blitz tonight, sitting down with David Letterman. CHETRY: The space shuttle Discovery is due back in Florida this morning after making stops in Louisiana and Texas. The shuttle was taking a cross-country trip, piggybacking on a modified 747. The "Discovery" landed at Edwards Air Force base in California 10 days ago.
And President Obama may be ending his media blitz later tonight with David Letterman, but there is still a long list of serious problems as he know this well enough. Sitting on his desk at the Oval Office and the big ones include Afghanistan, health care and the debate over race, and one really unpopular governor.
To talk more about this, we go to Washington, we bring in former DNC communications director Karen Finney. We also have with us former speech writer, former president George W. Bush and columnist for theweek.com, David Frum. Good to see both of you this morning. Thanks.
DAVID FRUM, COLUMNIST THEWEEK.COM: Good morning.
CHETRY: All right. Let's start with Afghanistan. And we're talking about this classified report. "The Washington Post" reporting that general Stanley McChrystal who is the man in charge of the mission in Afghanistan is going to be asking for more troops, saying that without them, the conflict will, "likely result in failure."
At the same time, we have the latest CNN poll of people asked. Only 39 percent of those asked support the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Karen, it seems that it's really a no-win situation for the president when it comes to figuring out whether or not to commit even deeper to an unpopular war.
KAREN FINNEY, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I think we heard the president say yesterday, was that he wants to be clear on what the strategy should be before he makes a commitment to sending more troops and that what I saw in the McChrystal report that I read this morning was again, actually McChrystal agreeing that we need to focus our strategy more narrowly, because we haven't quite had that up to this point.
So, look, the president has said he's going to be very skeptical on how he makes that decision. He's going to really take a lot of factors into consideration, which certainly, I think, should put people at ease. But, you know, a lot of things have changed, also, in Afghanistan. The election has really undermined the confidence of the Afghani people in their government and actually created an opportunity for the Taliban. So there are a number of factors that have to be considered.
CHETRY: David, how much of this, when you're listening to this debate go on right now and the talk about needing to change strategy, needing to do a better job fighting the counterinsurgency, it sounds like what George W. Bush was dealing with with Iraq.
FRUM: No, it sounds like the president is tiptoeing away from his campaign commitments. President Obama in 2008 always pointed to Afghanistan as the war to which he wanted to be more committed. He had the entire campaign season of 18 months and now 10 months in office to decide what he's going to do about it.
So for him to be saying on the Sunday shows, well, gee, I need to make up my mind about what the strategy is, presumably, he's been thinking about that for now more than two years. And now he's got the report this is put out time. This is not the moment to start your thinking, this is the critical moment in a war that's going very much the wrong way. And so when the president is hemming and hawing and telling interviewers he's not exactly sure, that's a sign of looking for the escape hatch, it seems to me.
FINNEY: But David, that's not exactly what the president said. What the president said was he wanted to get an assessment of what's going on. And we know that over the course of the last year, things have changed dramatically on the ground. We've had an election that has called into question the legitimacy of the government. It's created an opening for the Taliban.
We also know that the Taliban, actually, has basically been running their operations out of the prisons. And we know the conditions in Pakistan have changed to the degree that you can't expect that what we do today will be the same what we did a year ago.
(CROSSTALK)
FRUM: I was in Afghanistan - I was in Afghanistan exactly a year ago, and everything that is being said now was being said inside Afghanistan in October 2008. By the way, when Candidate Obama visited and got all of these briefings, so I think there is very little that is known to the president today that was not personally briefed to the candidate a year ago. He's had a long time...
FINNEY: I don't think you can make that assessment.
CHETRY: All right. Well, let's move off of Afghanistan. Because we're clearly not going to agree there. But I want to talk about, of course, what the president was talking about this weekend, where he blanketed the airwaves, pushing health care reform again, talking about why the American people want it.
One of the things that Republicans are saying, David, is that the reason that he had to do this is because he's trying to sell something that the American people don't want. And Karen, let me get your take on that first. I mean, again, the assessment for most of the people who interviewed him was is that we didn't really go over much new ground and we also didn't get many more specifics than from what we've heard before from the president. Was this a success, Karen?
FINNEY: I think it was, although I think it's hard for us to know. Look, here inside Washington and those of us for whom this is our business, we talk about this all the time, we talk to each other about it all the time, even when we're out to dinner. But for most of the American people, they're not sitting around watching television all day. So this was another opportunity to hear directly from the president. Some may have had the opportunity to tune into his speech to Congress, some may not have. So I think it's hard to assess whether or not it was a success, but I think from the perspective of did he deliver a clear message, yes, he did. And did he do it, you know, quite effectively across all the networks? Yes, he did.
CHETRY: David, this is one thing that he said that is interesting. He said he welcomed Republican efforts, but, "I don't count on them. If you're a Republican member of Congress right now, you're watching his performance, selling this on the Sunday talk shows, what's your next move?
FRUM: I think the Republicans' next move is to decide whether they want in or whether they're content to let this thing unravel. It is not Republican opposition that is President Obama's biggest problem. In fact, that wouldn't be one of his top three problems with this issue, because Republicans don't have a lot of clout.
His big problem is that America's over-65s are very comfortable with the Medicare system that they know is in financial trouble and they fear that the president's plans will make the troubles of Medicare worse. He's engaged in a dialogue with that constituency. And if he thinks that his problem is the Republicans in Congress, he's going to totally continue, I think, to get his communications strategy wrong.
CHETRY: All right. I got to quickly ask you guys about this one. David, first, the White House apparently sending word or at least reportedly sending word to Governor Paterson, hey, maybe you need to stay out of this race. How unprecedented is that? Was it a strange move by the White House?
FRUM: Is that to me? I think it's unprecedented for these things to be reported on...
CHETRY: Right.
FRUM: But I think the White House indicate all the time. I don't know that Rod Blagojevich departed entirely voluntarily. There have been a long set of precedents where presidents inform people, governors, senators that they have a chance to do something for the good of the party.
CHETRY: Well, Karen, some columnists have noted though that this has put the White House in an awkward situation. Governor Paterson, only one of two African-American governors right now.
FINNEY: That's true. Although, you know, the chatter in political circles for some time has questioned whether or not it would be wise for Governor Paterson to run again, so I don't think that this conversation was anything different than what's already been discussed. And certainly, Governor Paterson, you know, is aware that there are many people who believe that perhaps, in the good of the party, so that we can hold on to the state, he actually shouldn't run again. CHETRY: He says he's running, so we'll see...
FINNEY: He says he's running.
FRUM: I would like to see him defy this ugly pressure.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see what happens. Karen Finney and David Frum, always great to talk to you. Thanks.
FRUM: Bye-bye.
CHETRY: Stay with us, by the way, we'll be talking more about Afghanistan and the challenges facing the president in our next hour. We'll be live with "Washington Post" associate editor Bob Woodward. It's a CNN exclusive, 8:15 Eastern time right here on the Most News in the Morning.
ROBERTS: It was the biggest concert in Cuba in 50 years. The question today, though, will it open the door to democratic reforms? Our Soledad O'Brien is live in Havana for us this morning. Thirty- seven minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Hundreds of thousands of Cubans gathered in Havana yesterday to witness a rare event. A peace concert. Latin rock star Juanes organized the show drawing criticism from some Cuban exiles here in the United States. Our Soledad O'Brien is live in the Cuban capital for us this morning. We understand that a million people, may be more than a million people came out to witness that concert, but it also brought death threats from a lot of people who were just not very happy that this was all going on.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, the death threat was really one of a handful of road bumps on the path to get to this peace concert. For one, Juanes lives in Miami and he got a death threat, the police were called. But I got to tell you, by and large, those Miami protests were much more muted than we have seen, certainly in past years.
And Juanes told me that even three years ago, he never would have been able to pull off a concert of this magnitude in Havana, Cuba. He said to me it was because the U.S. administration and also the Cuban government both gave him their blessing to make this concert happen. Take a look.
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O'BRIEN (voice-over): The concert was called "Peace Without Borders" and came to a place that never sees concerts of this magnitude - Havana, Cuba. With a lineup of 15 international rock stars, superstars of Latin music like Olga Tanon and Miguel Bose, and of course, Juanes.
The concert is the brain child of Juanes, a 37-year-old Colombian rock star whose fans stretch across the world. He's won 17 Latin Grammys and today won the affection of the Cuban people. His aim, as Juanes has said over 2 1/2 months of planning this concert, is peace. That in spite of numerous logistical obstacles and even death threats.
JUANES, LATIN ROCK STAR: I can't believe it. It's just amazing.
O'BRIEN (on camera): They have said...
JUANES: More than a million.
O'BRIEN: 1.2 million, is what I heard.
JUANES: Yes, just amazing.
O'BRIEN: Is that success for you?
JUANES: Oh, it's more than that. More than that. And when I saw all those beautiful faces, of all people, smiling and singing and - that's it, you know, that's the only thing that matters.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Another goal, to help thaw U.S.-Cuba relations.
(on camera): What does that say to you then, about opportunities down the road?
JUANES: You know, I mean, at least culture and music-wise, it's changing. I mean, something is happening. And this is a message for them. You know, like, hey, guys, we are here. I mean, we want to be together. Please, do something.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Juanes sang with Cuban performers barred from the U.S. like Silvio Rodriguez. But missing from this concert, well-known Cuban-American performers like Gloria Estefan and Willy Chirino, fierce critics of the Cuban government.
WILLY CHIRINO, CUBAN MUSICIAN: A solution is going to win. You know, a system that's dying already, you know, and they're going to give oxygen.
JUANES: I hope in years to come, Willy or Gloria or all of them can come to Cuba, their country, as they are Cubans. And they have to come, you know, sooner or later.
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O'BRIEN: To pull off a concert like this, the entire infrastructure really had to be built and Juanes was responsible for pretty much flying all of that in. He underwrote a bulk of it. The estimate is around $350,000. Olga Tanon and also Miguel Bose pitching in, we're told. The crowd estimate, 1.2 million, as was pointed out, done by satellite by Cuban authorities. Keep in mind, when Pope John Paul II spoke in the same exact place, his crowd was about 850,000 people. That was considered to be a massive crowd. So really, everybody, pretty much surprised. The crowd estimates early on, John, has been about 600,000 and they were telling me last night to double the crowd estimates. They were blown away, especially in the temperatures that we saw yesterday.
ROBERTS: That was a pretty incredible scene. Now, Juanes said to you, that he is hoping for greater cultural ties between Cuba and the United States, but does it logically follow out of that that there may be greater political ties? Was anybody in the crowd talking about that, was anybody in the crowd really thinking about that?
O'BRIEN: You know, not in the crowd. But I tell you, Juanes, what he said to me consistently was, this is about peace. And this is about opening a window and that music and art can lead the way to those conversations. And when he would talk about change, he was talking about change on both sides. He wasn't saying Cubans need to change. He wasn't saying change, America needs to change. He was saying, across the board, people are ready for change on both sides.
And he consistently, over the last 10 weeks that he's really taken to make this concert a reality, he's been talking about, people want peace, and not just peace between the United States and Cuba, but peace in the world and that change also has to come and that people, the voice of the people can carry. That's been his message from the get-go. It was not a political concert in a way. No one was allowed to give speeches and take a stand on anything. They would speak to the crowd and they got a lot of love back from the crowd as well.
ROBERTS: Certainly, seems though that something's definitely in the wind. Soledad O'Brien for us from Havana, this morning. Soledad, thanks so much.
And by the way, coming this October, look for CNN's "LATINOS IN AMERICA." We'll explore how Latinos are reshaping our communities and culture. And it's reported by Soledad -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And still ahead, the annual Emmy Awards taking place last night and for some reason, what was old was new again. We'll explain. Forty-six minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Wow, that should just make you want to wake up and crawl right back in bed if you live in - where is this? New York City or Atlanta?
ROBERTS: Atlanta.
CHETRY: Is it Atlanta? Oh goodness. All right. We're even getting internal e-mails saying certain roads are flooded. A lot of rain this morning in Atlanta. 72 degrees and some thunderstorms, 78 degrees a little bit later. Rob Marciano made it to work, even though you guys were dealing with quite a mess this morning. Hey, there.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi. Craigslist is just crowded with ads of people looking for folks who can build an ark. It's unbelievable, the amount of rain. New pictures, John and Kiran, coming into the CNN NEWSROOM here. Flooding out of (INAUDIBLE) county. This scene certainly echoed throughout parts of north central Georgia. And we've had a number of high-water rescues in Little Burn (ph) and Lawrenceville, across parts of Gwinnett county. Also in places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama, seeing some action.
A lot of bright colors here, but really all you need to know is that everything you see in white that is over 10 inches of rainfall that we've seen here in the last couple of days. Here it is on the radar scope. And also, what we're seeing, back from all the way southwest Louisiana up to the Carolinas, we see rainfall that's going over the same area. We call that training and it's never ever a good thing, with rainfall not only going over the same area, but areas that have saturated grounds.
So the city of Atlanta certainly seeing quite a bit of rain right now. Flash flood warnings up through this morning and then probably continuing right on through tomorrow morning and then back through Texas, looks like we're going to get another round of rain across parts of northern Texas with a severe weather front coming in to this area.
If you are doing some travel today, obviously, in Atlanta and Charlotte, we'll see rain delays. Denver, Detroit and Cincinnati, we'll also see a little bit of rain. Maybe even a little snow in the mountains there, west of Denver. And San Francisco, Los Angeles, may see a little bit of low clouds, but I think the big story out west will be building heat and critical fire danger in California. If we can get some of that rain over out west, that would be an ideal situation. But right now it is flooding pretty bad across parts of Georgia and Alabama.
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: So I take that the drought down there is final, over, over?
MARCIANO: I think we can sound the trumpets there quite confidently, John. Yes, the drought is definitely over across the southeast.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks so much.
That was a huge night in Hollywood, the Emmy Awards.
CHETRY: That's right and some of the after parties, probably still going on actually, if you think about it. With a wrap of the winners and losers on Emmy night, here's Kara Finnstrom.
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, "30 Rock," "Mad Men," and many of the other major winners from last year were back in the fight. So the big question was, would they win again or were the Emmys ready for some new faces?
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NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, HOST, EMMY AWARDS: Flip that switch, aren't you curious which stars got Emmy's votes.
FINNSTROM (voice-over): Host Neil Patrick Harris got the show off to a fun musical start and then it was on to the comedy awards. Supporting actor and actress went to first-time winners.
KRISTIN CHENOWETH, ACTRESS: I'm not unemployed now, so I would like to be on "Mad men."
FINNSTROM: Kristin Chenoweth won for the canceled ABC comedy, "Pushing Daisies." "Two and Half Men's" John Cryer beat out the competition, including the Emmy host.
JOHN CRYER, "TWO AND A HALF MEN": It felt awesome. I bet it did. Awesome.
FINNSTORM: Lead comedy actress Toni Collette also nabbed her first Emmy for her title role in "United States of Terror." "30 Rock's" Alec Baldwin became the first repeat winner of the night, taking lead comedy actor for the second year in a row.
ALEC BALDWIN, "30 ROCK": I'm shocked. Really, I'm shocked that I won again.
FINNSTROM: Michael Emerson won his second supporting actor drama Emmy for playing the creepy Benjamin Linus on "Lost." And it was hail to the chief for first time winner Cherry Jones who took the supporting actor drama actress prize for playing the president on "24."
CHERRY JONES, "24": It's just now that it's dawning on me that there really were probably millions of people around the world watching. I'm sorry, I'm a little speechless right now just thinking about that.
FINNSTRM: From then on, every big winner from last year, won again. Glenn Close earned her second lead actress Emmy in a row for "Damages."
While Bryan Cranston repeated for "Breaking Bad."
BRYAN CRANSTON, "BREAKING BAD": Lee Trevina was struck by lightning twice and now I know how he feels.
FINNSTROM: "30 Rock" earned comedy series the third year running and Emmy voters were enthralled once more with "Mad Men." The 60s era show repeated as best drama series, proving that everything old is indeed new again.
MATTHEW WEINER, "MAD MEN" CREATOR: We worked very hard to not have it stink the second year.
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FINNSTROM: And speaking of old favorites, the biggest winner this year was based on something really old. A 150-year-old Charles Dickens novel. PBS' mini series "Little Dorrit" took home seven Emmys. John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Kara Finnstrom for us this morning. Thanks so much.
So General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of all forces in Afghanistan says that without more combat troops there, the mission is in danger of failure. Bob Woodward from "The Washington Post" broke the story yesterday. He's going to join us exclusively live, coming up. It's 54 1/2 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
It was all Obama, all the time. The president popping up just about everywhere on the Sunday talk shows. He pushed his health care reform plan in five separate TV interviews and he's going to talk about it some more tonight when he goes on the David Letterman show.
Our Ed Henry is live at the White House this morning looking at the impact of the media blitz and does the White House consider it mission accomplished, Ed?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The White House certainly feels good about it. They believe every time that they get the president out there talking about substantive issues, he gets just a little bit more momentum. Even though Republican critics are saying he didn't really get very much momentum, didn't really change the game.
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HENRY (voice-over): After uttering more than 10,000 words, one question remains - did the president move the word forward on health care?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): If the Baucus bill made it to your desk as is, would you sign it? Does it meet your goals?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, that's such a hypothetical sense, it won't get there as is, that I'm not going to answer that question. But can I say that it does meet some broad goals that all the bills that have been introduced meet.
HENRY: Bottom line, the president still did not get very specific or break much new ground on health care and he was confronted on a range of other tough issues, including the still-sluggish economy.
OBAMA: The jobs picture is not going to improve considerably and it could even get a little bit worse over the next couple of months and we're probably not going to start seeing enough job creation to deal with the, you know, a rising population until some time next year.
HENRY: On Afghanistan, the public is getting anxious, but the president said he wants more time to sort out the strategy before deciding whether to send more troops.
OBAMA: There's a natural inclination to say, if I get more, then I can do more. But right now the question is, the first question is, are we doing the right thing? Are we pursuing the right strategy?
HENRY: As for health care, the president acknowledged it has not gone as planned.
OBAMA: During this whole health care debate, there have been times where I've said...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You lost control?
OBAMA: Well, not so much lost control, but I've said to myself, somehow I'm not breaking through.
HENRY: Top Republicans insist he still has not broken through despite all the interviews and high-profile speeches.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: He can be on every news show until the end of time. If he doesn't get Republicans and Democrats in a room and get off TV, we're never going to solve this problem.
HENRY: But asked about another Republican claiming they're winning the health battle, the president expressed confidence about the final stretch.
OBAMA: Well, you know, they were saying they were winning during the election, too.
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HENRY: Now, the president said he also believes the public option is still alive, but he was not adamant about saying that he believes the government-run insurance program would survive the final negotiations, John.
ROBERTS: Ed Henry for us this morning at the White House. Ed, thanks so much.
