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American Morning

Obama's Media Blitz; Top General Says U.S. Needs More Troops in Afghanistan; Terror Suspects in Court; White House May Be Urging Paterson Not to Run for Election in 2010; Dallas Cowboys Have First Regular Season Game In New Stadium; TV's Emmy Awards

Aired September 21, 2009 - 08:00   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 to the top of the hour. Good Monday morning to you. It is September the 21st, not quite the first day of fall. We've still got about 24 more hours to go before that happens. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.

In a lot of places, it certainly feels like fall started though.

ROBERTS: But not here in New York though today. We got a beautiful day -- sunny, 76 degrees. It would be nice to get out there and enjoy it.

CHETRY: Yes, we're lucky this morning. Places like Atlanta, not so lucky.

Meantime, here's what's on the agenda this morning. These are the big stories we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.

First, the man in charge of running the war in Afghanistan wants a new strategy and he wants more boots on the ground. According to General Stanley McChrystal's assessment: without additional troops, the war will likely end in failure. We're going to be live at Pentagon in just a moment.

Also coming up in about 15 minutes, we're going to be speaking exclusively with "The Washington Post's" Bob Woodward, who got a first look at McChrystal's report.

ROBERTS: Three men arrested in connection with the terrorist plot are due in federal courtrooms today. They are charged with making false statements to federal agents. But legal experts say more charges could be coming. We're live in Denver with the latest in this ongoing investigation.

CHETRY: And national fury. We've seen outbursts from town halls to tea parties and beyond, chanting, waving signs. But why is everybody so angry it seems? Coming up: a special series, "Mad as Hell." Our Carol Costello takes an in-depth look at what the nation's rage is really all about.

We begin the hour, though, with a grim assessment coming from General Stanley McChrystal. He is the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan. According to "The New York Times" and "Washington Post," the general says that the war effort there is, quote, "deteriorating, and without additional troops, the war against insurgents will likely end in failure."

During an interview on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday, President Obama hinted that a decision on troop reinforcements for Afghanistan can wait.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: When we came in, I think everybody understood that our Afghanistan strategy was somewhat adrift, despite the extraordinary valor of the young women -- men and women who are -- who are fighting there.

So, what we said was, let's do a soup-to-nuts re-evaluation, focusing on what our original goal was, which was to get al Qaeda, the people that killed 3,000 Americans. To the extent that our strategy in Afghanistan is serving that goal, then we're on the right track. If it starts drifting away from that goal, then we may have a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Our Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon.

So -- and, Barbara, it sounds like the president is saying here, a decision can wait. And again, he's going to be reviewing or is in the process of reviewing that full report from General McChrystal. What's going on here?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kiran, look at it this way. One lesson that the general's learned out of the war in Iraq was to speak up -- very quickly and very loudly -- and that is what General McChrystal has done here. He has put his marker down on the table. The war is not working. He needs more troops.

He says -- even in this report -- and let me quote for you. He says, "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term -- 12 months -- while Afghan security capacity matures risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible." The general could not be more clear. He says he needs more help and all indications from what he says are: he needs it right now.

On the other hand, the president, the secretary of defense, the vice president are all saying that they want to take their time to think about all this, to think about the strategy and there is a lot of political reluctance emerging in Washington to send tens of thousands of more troops to the war.

So, on the one hand, you have the uniformed military, General McChrystal, Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, saying the situation is deteriorating and urgent and you have the political side of the house, just last week, Secretary Gates saying, everybody should take a deep breath about Afghanistan -- Kiran?

CHETRY: All right. So, what's the next step, then? And when did this decision start to happen and where do they go from here?

STARR: Exactly, what is the next step? Well, the next step is, in fact, already behind the scenes in the works, that whole question of more troops. General McChrystal -- we are told by officials very familiar with what's going on -- has made his decision about how many more troops he needs. When we asked a senior military official, "Would you say it's in the range of 30,000 to 40,000 more troops," he said, "I wouldn't wave you off that number."

So that's the second marker on the table from Stan McChrystal. The range of troops that he needs, that is going to be politically very tough for the president, and also in a military sense, very tough. They need to free up more troops and they have that 12-month marker lurking out there -- success, to show some success, 12 months from now.

And what happens just about one year from now? November 2010, the midterm congressional elections. The president certainly wants to show some progress by then -- Kiran?

CHETRY: Absolutely. There's political ramifications, as we know, as well. Barbara Starr for us this morning -- thanks so much.

And by the way, it was "The Washington Post" that first got a copy of General McChrystal's report. The reporter on the story was the paper's associate editor, Bob Woodward. And coming up, in just 10 minutes, he's going to be joining us live in a CNN exclusive right here on the "Most News in the Morning."

ROBERTS: Also developing this morning, three terrorism suspects arrested in Denver and New York are due in court today. The Justice Department says they were plotting to detonate bombs on U.S. soil and may -- may have been planning to bomb train stations and subways in New York City.

Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live in Denver for us this morning.

And, Jeanne, what are we learning about these three suspects?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've learned that Ahmad Afzali, he's the man arrested in New York, was a New York Police Department informant and that he tipped Najibullah Zazi off to the fact that he was under investigation. Three men will be appearing in court today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan national who's been the focal point of this terror probe, was arrested at his home outside Denver Saturday night, along with his father, Mohammed Zazi. The owner of this Muslim burial service in Queens, New York, Ahmad Afzali, was the third taken into custody. All are charged with making false statements to the FBI during a terror investigation.

Court documents reveal no details about the timing or targeting of the alleged explosives plot, but they allege that Najibullah Zazi lied about nine pages of detailed bomb-making instructions found on his computer.

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The FBI had taken his computer, had mirrored it, had copied it, in essence, put it back in his car. Mr. Zazi did not know that had happened apparently. So, when he was questioned about whether or not he knew anything about these written notes and they were showed to him, he denied that knowledge.

MESERVE: The court documents also allege that Najibullah Zazi admitted getting explosives and weapons training at an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan, though Zazi and his lawyer claim Saturday he had not made such an admission.

Experts say the charges were filed to pressure the man into cooperating with the ongoing investigation of Najibullah Zazi.

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: What direction is he getting from al Qaeda members and the federally administered tribal areas in addition to the training that he got? Secondly, who else has he communicated with here in the United States? Obviously, the government has some idea of who that is, based on their surveillance, both electronic and physical, but what they want to do is make sure they've identified the entire net, the whole range of conspirators.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: It's likely that there will be more charges. Meanwhile, the investigation is continuing. Federal officials say they still don't have the specifics on the timing or location of any planned attacks.

John, back to you.

ROBERTS: Jeanne Meserve for us in Denver this morning, following the unfolding investigation -- Jeanne, thanks so much.

Coming up next here on the "Most News in the Morning," Bob Woodward about General Stanley McChrystal's assessment report of the situation in Afghanistan and the news that if the United States does not put more combat forces on the ground there, the whole thing could be lost. Bob's standing by, he'll be with us in just a moment.

Nine minutes now after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning."

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan says we have 12 months to get more combat boots on the ground there -- thousands more -- or the U.S. risks, quote, "failure in the war-torn nation."

President Obama told our John King any decision on Afghanistan won't be driven by, quote, "the politics of the moment" and that the goal remains getting al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: To the extent that our strategy in Afghanistan is serving that goal, then we're on the right track. If it starts drifting away from that goal, then we may have a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: "The Washington Post" was the first to get General Stanley McChrystal's report, and Bob Woodward, veteran correspondent, broke the story. CNN is the only network he's talking to this morning.

Bob, just want to say thanks for being with us and congratulations. Another big and important scoop you've got today.

BOB WOODWARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: OK, thanks.

ROBERTS: I want to pull a quote from the report, that you have, by the way, posted on "The Washington Post" Web site, in which General McChrystal said, quote, "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months), while Afghan security capacity matures, risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible." That's a pretty dire and striking statement.

WOODWARD: It really says: 12 months, I need more troops, I need to have really have a full counterinsurgency strategy, which is protect the people, go out into the villages, set up the kinds of security stations in contact with the population that was done in Iraq by General Petraeus. If I don't get that, likely failure, defeating them is impossible.

This is a striking thing for a general to say to the secretary of defense and the commander-in-chief. It really takes his finger and puts it in their eye.

ROBERTS: Right.

WOODWARD: Deliver or this won't work. And he says, "If they don't endorse this full counterinsurgency strategy, don't even give me the troops, because it won't work."

ROBERTS: And he paints the consequences in very stark terms as well, saying that Afghanistan, or at least parts of it, could again become a base for terrorism, the way it was pre-9/11.

WOODWARD: It suggests that, of course, this is the debate going on in the White House, do you need -- we already have or are on the way to having 68,000 of our troops in Afghanistan. That is a giant land army -- plus, all kinds of air and intelligence capacity. Is that enough to keep al Qaeda, which is now in Pakistan, from moving in to Afghanistan? A lot of people would say it is.

What the president's instructions in March, when he was released his strategy, he said, do counterinsurgency, protect the population. You get into this -- you edge into the area of nation building, doing something more than just preventing al Qaeda from resurfacing there.

The president is very much hinting, well, what's the mission? What exactly do we want to do here? There's an intense debate going on among his advisers. What's the alternative? The alternative is we don't have to fix this nation. We don't have to protect the population. There is this insurgency going on, led by the Taliban, but they do not want to attack the United States, and al Qaeda, which does...

ROBERTS: Right.

WOODWARD: ... is not in this country.

ROBERTS: Right. But al Qaeda could definitely move back into the country, though, if it becomes a failed state.

But the president, as you pointed out, Bob, is skeptical about this idea of putting more troops on the ground and he's also sailing into a headwind with members of his own party. We had Senator Russ Feingold on last week who said that he wants a flexible timetable for withdrawal as opposed to putting more troops in and he told us flat- out that he would not support the president's call for more troops if he asked for them.

WOODWARD: That's true. And the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Carl Levin, has said the solution here is to train more Afghan forces, security forces, police and army. Actually, the numbers that Levin has released a couple of weeks ago are the ones proposed in this confidential assessment by General McChrystal himself.

The problem is, you can't do that overnight. In fact, it will take years and essentially, what General McChrystal is doing is saying, let's develop a bridging strategy, use more U.S. troops until we can get the Afghan army and police force up to speed, up to numbers where they can actually do this themselves. Now, that's two, three years away, at least.

ROBERTS: Right. And he's also very critical of the Afghan government, saying it's rife with corruption, that many Afghans don't trust the government, that you really have to reform the governing process there in Afghanistan. Is that something that is possible in the near-term? Can you get that done if 12 months?

WOODWARD: You probably can't. And the question now becomes, in this election where President Karzai apparently has won re- election, but there are really documented allegations of massive voter proud, if he takes office again, is this perceived to be a legitimate government? And one of the histories in counterinsurgencies going way back is it's very difficult if not impossible to win over the people if you don't have a government that's respected and considered legitimate. So, this is another giant obstacle in this war.

ROBERTS: A lot of tall orders and a short timetable. Bob Woodward for us this morning -- Bob, it's so great to see you. Thanks for dropping by.

WOODWARD: Thank you.

ROBERTS: We really appreciate it.

WOODWARD: Sure.

ROBERTS: Kiran?

CHETRY: All right. Well, the president talked a lot on the Sunday talk shows. One of the things he talked about was the jobs picture, unemployment. We know it's nearly at 10 percent. What did he say about when he sees unemployment turning around? Our Christine Romans joins us live with more -- coming up.

Seventeen minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHETRY: The bottom of your screen on the right, we're showing you our A.M. play list. Sometimes you hear it and think, what song is that? Who sang that again? Well, now, the answer is right there on your screen.

And a beautiful picture, by the way, of Lady Liberty in New York harbor this morning. It is going to be a gorgeous day. Sunny and 59 right now. And it's supposed to be, what, a few clouds this afternoon, but going up to 75 degrees. It should be gorgeous.

Twenty minutes after the hour right now.

President Obama says that high unemployment is here to stay -- at least for a while. In an interview with CNN's John King, the president said that despite signs of economic recovery, we will not see large-scale job growth for some time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I want to be clear, that probably 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 a rising population until some time next year.

Our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning, taking a closer look at some of the president's comments as they relate to the economy as well.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And you hear him talk about a rising population. When we start to see jobs grow, maybe 10,000 jobs, 20,000, 30,000 jobs growth, it won't be enough to absorb the people who are entering the workforce every month. I mean, there are new people coming on all the time, graduating from college, new -- just regular population growth. So, we need to be growing jobs all the time.

Also, productivity. We all work harder every hour. Technology, innovation means companies can get more from the workers they have. So, the economy's got to grow and grow strongly to absorb all these people. And the president is pretty much laying out some difficult math for labor economics.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I think we'll be adding jobs, but you need 150,000 additional jobs each month just to keep pace with a growing population. So, if we're only adding 50,000 jobs, that's a great reversal from losing 700,000 jobs early this year. But, you know, it means that we've still got a ways to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A long ways to go, because we've lost, you know, more than 6 million jobs just in this recession so far and you need to have a robust economy to start getting those people back to work. Instead, we're seeing the job openings dwindling still. When you look back at this economy, when the recession began, there were 4.4 million job openings. When the stimulus passed, there were 3 million. Now there are 2.4 million.

As I've told you many, many times -- there are almost six qualified applicants for every job opening in this country. That means the dynamic American economy is not providing opportunities for people who want to get to work -- and that is a problem for this president, for his economic team, that will persist for some time.

ROBERTS: And, Christine has got a jobs-related "Romans' Numeral" this morning that is really going to surprise the pants off of you, right?

ROMANS: Yes. Fourteen is the number here. And this has to do with this persistent high unemployment rate. You've heard many, many times that we're really concerned about getting to 10 percent. Like, what's going the happen when the nationwide unemployment rate gets to 10 percent. My number is 14 -- 14 states and the District of Columbia are already above 14 percent unemployment.

ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness.

ROMANS: And so, there are some parts of the country where it's feeling a little bit worse already.

ROBERTS: And New York City is above 10 percent as well.

ROMANS: Yes. Yes. Lots of finance jobs here gone. I mean, more than 20,000 finance jobs gone here just in the last year. I mean, it's tough out there. The president has to walk this tightrope to make sure that he is accentuating glimmers of hope in the overall economy, but not overselling it, because people at home, some people at aren't feeling so great about things.

ROBERTS: Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

ROMANS: Sure.

ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much.

Maybe it's the economy, maybe it's the deficit, maybe it's a lot of different things, but so many people in this country seem to be -- like Howard Beale was -- mad as hell. What's driving all of the anger? Carol Costello kicks off a new series here in the "Most News in the Morning" coming right up. It's coming up now.

Twenty-four minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

CHETRY: A dash of positivity this morning if you're just waking up.

Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

Well, we've all seen them. We've all heard them from the town halls to the tea parties -- a lot of anger out there. America seems to be one angry nation right now.

ROBERTS: Our Carol Costello is live in Washington with the first report in our special series -- we're calling it "Mad as Hell."

And, carol, have you discovered yet what this rage is really all about?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I actually did. I asked a psychiatrist if America was your patient, what would be the diagnosis? 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 (voice-over): The Gateway Gators versus the Latrobe Wildcats on a cool, western Pennsylvania night. What can be more American?

(CHEERING)

COSTELLO: But even here, where love of a game unites us, is the fear that America is being torn apart.

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kill the bill!

(SHOUTING)

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. We need to work and have some compassion and understanding.

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.

CHRIS WALLING, CONSERVATIVE: America's angry. Everybody I talked to is angry.

COSTELLO: It's Buffalo wing night at the Sharpsburg (ph) fire hall in Pennsylvania.

(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.

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, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: ... what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

IRWIN POLANSKY, JEANNETTE, PA RESIDENT: Nobody thinks about that.

COSTELLO: Why?

POLANSKY: Ask the politicians.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Erwin Polansky, who's retired, has embraced individualism. He says all the shouting is cathartic.

POLANSKY: If it makes you feel better, yes.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Really? So, it's OK to call someone a liar or for someone to call...

POLANSKY: Sure. If he is a liar, yes, call him one!

COSTELLO: Or a racist?

POLANSKY: Call him.

COSTELLO: Even if he's the president of the United States?

POLANSKY: Call him one. If that's -- you call it as you see it.

COSTELLO (voice-over): 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.

(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: 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.

(on camera): 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Not a whole lot of people working together these days. Carol Costello for us this morning. 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 and sound off.

And tomorrow, our special series, "Mad as Hell" continues. Angry gun owners are up in arms, literally. They're afraid their right to bear arms will be taken away by the Obama administration. "Angry Americans with Guns" tomorrow on "American Morning."

CHETRY: It's 31 minutes past the hour right now. A check of our top stories this morning.

More people around the world are suffering from Alzheimer's disease than scientists and doctors previously thought. These new numbers show the problem could nearly double every 20 years.

This all comes from a just-released report on Alzheimer' suggesting that right now 35 million people on the planet are living with the disease or some other form 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)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 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: Well, the space shuttle "Discovery" is due back in Florida this morning after making stops in Texas and Louisiana. The shuttle's on a cross-country trip piggybacking on top of the modified 747.

It makes for a beautiful picture to see, but astronauts at NASA don't like that as much because it costs a ton of money to haul it back over when it can't land in Florida. "Discovery" had to land at Edwards Air Force base in California due to weather complications in Florida ten days ago.

It certainly is an important week for the president. He's fresh off the weekend media blitz, his push for health care reform, it all continues in high gear.

Then on top of that, you have the man in charge of running the war in Afghanistan apparently saying that he thinks more troops will be needed there. But the president doesn't appear to be in a hurry to send in reinforcements.

So the to-do list keeps growing. CNN's senior political analyst David Gergen is here to discuss everything that's on the president's plate this morning. Thanks for being with us, David. Good to see you.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: We would have to lunch together to discuss everything on the president's plate.

CHETRY: That's true, or at least this show would have to continue through the lunch hour to get to all of it.

But let's hit some of the big points. As we know, the president blanketed the television airwaves yesterday in defense of his health care reform effort. Did he break anymore new ground in your opinion?

GERGEN: I don't think he broke much new ground. He reached some people who might not otherwise have seen his big speech to the joint session. The audience numbers for that joint session speech were down, from 52 million from his first joint session to about 32 million then. So he needed to pick up some audience.

I think he gave himself a little insulation. He's going into a foreign policy period here over the next 10 days or so, and I think they wanted to keep the momentum going in the White House.

But he did it at great risk to, you know, his viewability, if you would like, to his ratings, or whatever you would call them, because he's been out so often. The overexposure is dramatic.

CHETRY: Oh, so you think -- because there's been a debate whether there is such a thing of overexposure in this 24-hour digital world. You think there was some risk of that?

GERGEN: I understand those who say we've got such a fractured media world that you've got to appear many, many times. I don't buy that, and I think you see it in the numbers.

And that is, over the course of this past year, since he took office in January, he's appeared more times in primetime television than any other president in history by some measure.

And what we're seeing is, both in the press conference and in the joint session speeches, the audience size is diminishing and has diminished quite sharply, over 40 percent in the case of the joint session. So I think you pay a price -- I understand why he needs to feel -- feels he needs to do it, but I do think he pays a price with the public in terms of being in the living room so often, people can't hit a mute button.

People do want to hear from Barack Obama, but even the most popular television shows, if you rerun them too many times, people don't listen.

CHETRY: We learned that with "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" at one point, right? It was on , like, seven days a week.

But Republicans say, though, especially Lindsey Graham -- Senator Graham came out and said it's not because it's the president out there speaking. It's because people, as he put it, aren't buying, and he's selling something that people aren't buying. And he went on to say he's been on everything but the Food Channel.

But some of the other criticisms that came from just people who conducted the interview were, it was still short on specific. And part of the reason why is he's not writing the bill himself.

But when questions came up about various things and various groups' concerns, whether or not middle class families will end up being taxed or penalized under this, and some of the other questions and concerns out there, did he do a good enough job answering it to people's satisfaction who already have health insurance?

GERGEN: I doubt he won over many people opposed to it. He may have won some people who were wavering in the middle with these interviews. I frankly doubt many people saw more than one. He did five, and I thought that was about four too many in terms of getting a message out.

But he was also, because it was so repetitive, he tended to get questions that were a little aggressive, say, whether this plan to put extra fees from insurance companies and to require people to buy insurance, whether those don't amount, as some of his own Democrats have said, to new tax increases on the middle class, something he obviously pledged he wouldn't do.

So I think he got himself into -- he was a little bit on the defensive at times.

But the other part of this, coming out of these interviews, it seems to me the story that's really growing now in significance is this Afghan story, because I was -- he did break ground in these interviews in saying he was now skeptical about putting more troops into Afghanistan.

He has not gone that far before. He's had a very high bar. And within 24 hours, we had the leak of this long memo from General McChrystal, a hand-picked general in Afghanistan, saying if you don't increase troops by substantial amount, you risk mission failure. And "risking mission failure" is a very strong term.

So he's now got himself -- with his statement about being skeptical and the leak, it puts him in a bit of a box.

CHETRY: Well, speaking of that, being put in a box, add on to that the opinion polls, the latest one we have from CNN, shows only 39 percent of people are in favor of a war in Afghanistan right now. They kind of see it as not really -- not really looking like it can be a successful mission, either way. So what does he do then?

GERGEN: Well, Kiran, that's exactly the point now, because if he now refuses to put more troops in after saying this is a war we must win earlier on, after saying this was a necessary war, if he refuses to put more troops in, he risks looking as if he's buckled to public opinion and to the left wing of his party.

If he goes ahead and puts more troops in after saying he's skeptical, then it looks like he's buckled to the generals. And so in that sense, I think that becomes a no-win proposition for him.

You know, Bob Gates has helped him. Maybe he can find a way to smooth out that tension. But at this moment I think that there's a real clash between the skepticism and McChrystal saying, you don't do it, you get mission failure. And that is not a good place for a president to be.

And I think that that's why there's -- you know, the press is going to go where there's a lot of tension in a story, and there is tension in this Afghan story right now.

CHETRY: There sure is. We've been hearing it from Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us as well.

David Gergen, always great to talk to you, senior political analyst, former presidential adviser. Thanks for being with us this morning.

GERGEN: Thank you.

ROBERTS: He was appointed governor of New York when Eliot Spitzer imploded, but does the White House want him to run for reelection? We're looking at the story of New York governor David Paterson, coming right up.

It's 39 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

It's been anything but a smooth ride for New York Governor David Paterson since he took office 18 months ago, and there are growing concerns that his low approval ratings may be beyond repair.

CHETRY: But the governor says, hey, "I'm still running for reelection." But I guess you wouldn't call it reelection since he had to step in after Governor Spitzer had to step down.

In 2010, though, he wants to be in it, despite a request from President Obama himself to bow out. Jason Carroll following the story joins us live.

So a couple of our pundits said it's not that unusual to get those messages sent from the White House, but in this case it became publicly known pretty quickly that even the president is saying you probably can't win this.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And at this point, the governor is being really defiant in all this, despite all that he has to accomplish. Governor Paterson really has an uphill battle. His poll numbers are terrible. He's unpopular with some members of his own party. The White House is not convinced he can win, but the governor says he's going to run anyway.

According to senior White House officials, presidential aides told the governor they were not confident about his chances to win the upcoming election. Political observers say the White House is concerned Paterson could bring down other Democrats in the state if he does not drop out of the race.

This weekend at a parade, Paterson would not say what, if anything, the White House asked him to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DAVID PATERSON, (D) NEW YORK: I'm not talking about any specific conversations. As I said, I am running for office. I'm not going to discuss confidential conversations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: New York Congressman Charlie Rangel also attended the parade. Rangel said it would not be appropriate for the president to meddle in a governor's race. New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg says Paterson should do whatever he wants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (I) NEW YORK: I'm going to do everything I can to help him. I don't know whether he wants to run for reelection, but if he does, I would urge him to go for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Governor Paterson may have the backing of a few of his peers, but he has a ways to go to win over the people of New York, one recent poll showing the governor with a dismal 20 percent approval rating. He's really got a lot to make up here if he's going to be able to take that off.

ROBERTS: Well 20 percent, not so good.

CARROLL: No.

ROBERTS: What's driving his ratings so low?

CARROLL: What it comes down to, the economy. When you look at the numbers, 66 percent disapprove how he's handling the economic crisis in the state, 68 percent disapprove of the way he's handle the state budget, 74 -- what are you doing? -- 74 percent of those polled say that the state is moving in the wrong direction.

So he's got a lot to make up here. But again, election not until 2010 of November, so in the political life, a lot can happen between now and then.

CHETRY: That's true. Look out quickly things changed for Governor Spitzer.

CARROLL: Correct.

CHETRY: I was looking down my shirt because my microphone fell.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: At least it wasn't one of us.

CHETRY: Everyone is talking about the new Dallas stadium, the new place where the Dallas Cowboys are playing. It's huge, incredible, look at this huge Jumbotron, the biggest ever.

Well, it's now getting in way of the game at times. Maybe people should have tried to think of that before the season started. Anyhow, we'll be showing you more about the controversy there.

It's 46 minutes after the hour. Stop laughing, Jason.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Atlanta dealing with some weather there. Some of the roads actually flooded out because of all the rain they've gotten down there this morning.

It's cloudy, 72 degrees, thunderstorms also in the forecast today, 78 for a high.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROBERTS: Week two of the NFL, and the Dallas Cowboys opened their spectacular new digs last night. But their archrival New York Giants spoiled the party, kicking a game winning field goal as time expired -- 33-31 was the final.

The game drew the largest crowd in NFL history. Listen to this crowd -- 105,121 in attendance at the new Cowboy stadium. The crowd included some 30,000 people who had standing room tickets.

The new Cowboy stadium cost more than $1 billion to build, that's right, $1 billion. Some might say it's just about the size of owner Jerry Jones' ego.

CHETRY: Though wouldn't be Cowboy fans that say that, right?

The centerpiece of this new palace is the largest Jumbotron on earth, a colossal TV, you could say, but not immune to some flaws. Our Ed Lavandera has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to what's been sarcastically dubbed "Jerry's world." Jerry, of course, is Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. It's a stadium that cost more than $1.2 billion. It's where hardnosed football meets the swanky, plush high life.

Even Randy Galloway, a crusty old-school newspaper columnist and sports talk show host, can't criticize the stadium.

RANDY GALLOWAY, COLUMNIST, FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM: Jerry was building a monument to himself. You walk in and go, "Oh!" I mean, it is amazing. And by the way, that Jerry Jumbotron is really what touches it off.

LAVANDERA: Galloway is talking about the grand daddy of all scoreboards, back-to-back screens in high definition, 72 feet tall, 160 feet wide. The video-board uses 30 million light bulbs and stretches almost the length of the field.

This scoreboard will be like an altar for couch potatoes to fall to their knees and worship on football Sundays.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe that. This is like, it's bigger than life.

LAVANDERA: But during one of the Cowboy's preseason games, a punter for the Tennessee Titans kicked the ball into the bottom of the scoreboard. In the time it took for the ball to fall back to earth, the sports world erupted in laughter. How could you spend more than $1 billion on a stadium and not know the ball could hit the scoreboard?

GALLOWAY: It was radio gold. It was newspaper gold. I got about five newspaper columns out of it, and about, what, at least two or three days of radio shows out of it.

LAVANDERA: It turns out the Cowboys did nothing wrong. NFL rules say the scoreboard must be 85 feet above the field. This screen is 90 feet high.

BRETT DANIELS, SPOKESMAN, DALLAS COWBOYS: We've been in close talks with the NFL throughout the process and determining that height. A lot of study and a lot of research went into it.

LAVANDERA: Some coaches still want the scoreboard raised, but it stays put for now. If the ball hits the screen during the game, they'll just have a do-over.

LAVANDERA (on camera): As you walk around this stadium, it is amazing to take in just how massive this scoreboard is, dangling in the middle of this stadium.

And you know that somewhere in America, there are men sitting around and plotting of ways to get something like this into their garage.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Arlington, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Imagine that -- a minute left to go in the Super Bowl and they kick it into the scoreboard. Oh, do-over!

CHETRY: It's a do-over. Wow.

Meanwhile, how about this -- we have a Jumbotron, now we're going to build our house around it. They don't want it anymore at the Dallas stadium.

Still ahead, we'll take a quick peek at the Emmy award winners -- who came out on top, who didn't, and why it seems like at least for some categories, a repeat of last year and the year before and the year before.

It's 55 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: There you go, our a.m. playlist right here, a little Britney Spears to get your morning started. We're about two minutes before the top of the hour.

And it's always a huge night in Hollywood. It's the Emmy awards -- a huge night for TV, at least.

ROBERTS: Absolutely. With a the wrap-up the winners and losers on Emmy night, here's our 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?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FINNSTROM: Host Neil Patrick Harris got the show off to a fun musical start. Then it was on to the comedy awards. Supporting actor and actress went to first-time winners.

KRISTIN CHENOWETH, ACTRESS: I'm now unemployed now, so I would like to be on "Mad Men."

FINNSTROM: Kristin Chenoweth won for canceled ABC comedy, "Pushing Daisies," while "Two and a Half Men's" Jon Cryer beat out the competition, including the Emmy host.

JON CRYER, ACTOR: It felt awesome.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, ACTOR: I bet it did.

CRYER: Awesome. FINNSTROM: Lead comedy actress Toni Collette also nabbed her first Emmy for title comedy role in "United States of Terra." "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, ACTOR: And I literally am 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 drama actress prize for playing the president on "24."

CHERRY JONES, ACTRESS: It's just now dawning on me that there really were probably were millions of people around the world watching. I'm sorry. I'm a little speechless right now, just thinking about that.

FINNSTROM: From then on, every big winner from last year won again.

Glenn Close earned her second lead drama actress Emmy in a row for "Damages," while Brian Cranston repeated for "Breaking Bad."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 this morning. Continue the conversation on today's stories. Go to our blog at CNN.com/amfix. And that's going to wrap it up for us today. We'll see you again bright and early tomorrow.

CHETRY: And the news continues right now. Here's "CNN NEWSROOM" with Heidi Collins.