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American Morning
Dems Vote to Put Public Option in Baucus Bill; Albright's Pin Diplomacy; Secret Service Alarmed by Facebook Poll About Assassinating Obama; Experts Debate Level of Racism in America; Conan O'Brien Returns to TV after Concussion
Aired September 29, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you again. Two minutes before the top of the hour right now, and it's Tuesday, September 29th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Here are the big stories that we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
The Secret Service wants to know who was behind a Facebook poll asking whether President Obama should be assassinated. Hundreds of people weighed in before it was pulled off the site. We're live at the White House in just a moment. And later on this hour, we'll take a look at how race may have fueled this threat.
CHETRY: Also, Democrats right now readying for a health care showdown. At least two senators now promising to jam a government-run insurance provision into the Senate Finance Committee bill that did not have one. As you know, it was co-ops that were being pushed in Senator Baucus' bill. We're live in Washington with the debate that's now pitting Democrats against fellow Democrats.
ROBERTS: Plus, President Obama is turning to his National Security team for the first of several strategy meetings for the war in Afghanistan. The top US commander on the ground there, General Stanley McChrystal, is calling for tens of thousands of new troops. So how could more manpower turn things around? We're talking with two of General McChrystal's expert advisers, just ahead.
But we begin the hour with a developing story. A weekend posting on Facebook is getting the attention of the Secret Service. Someone put up a poll asking, "Should President Obama be killed?" Suzanne Malveaux was following developments live from the White House and what's the White House's reaction to all of this this morning, Suzanne?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as you know, the White House takes all of these potential threats quite seriously, so the Secret Service is working with the FBI, an investigation to find out how all this happened. It was posted on Saturday. It was an independent person, a user, if you will, who posted this on Facebook, a question - a survey about whether or not President Obama should be assassinated.
The question - the poll being asked, "Should Obama be killed?" and then there were possible responses. There was "yes," "maybe, if he cuts my health care," and "no."
Now, there were about 700 people who responded to this. Facebook would not give any other information in terms of, you know, what the results of the poll were, but they found out about this through users who had complained and reported this. They took it down immediately. And then they are essentially trying to get in touch or trying to find out who that third party would be and they are working now with the Secret Service, with the FBI, to figure that out.
But, obviously, this did raise the attention and the concern of the White House and Secret Service who tried to take care of this as quickly as possible, John.
ROBERTS: Suzanne, every president gets threats. The threats against President Obama, though, significantly elevated over the ones from President Bush. What, if anything, is this latest threat going to do to President Obama's security?
MALVEAUX: You know, John, as you know, I don't think it's going to do anything to his security, because it's already at the highest level. We know from reports that it's about 400 percent greater when it comes to the number of threats against President Obama than it was for former President Bush. And so, they are always on the highest alert when it comes to the president's security.
So they are always looking at these kinds of things, whether it's Web sites, whether it's letters, whether it's videotapes or physical threats, people coming to various places at the White House, or where the president travels. It is constant security, 24/7, very, very vigilant. This is just one of many incidents of a potential threat, John.
ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning.
And coming up, by the way, at 8:30 Eastern, we're digging deeper on how race may have fueled the Facebook threat. We'll talk with Syracuse Professor Boyce Watkins and former DNC communications director Jamal Simmons about that.
CHETRY: Well, if you thought the public insurance option was dead on arrival, you may have to think again. The most explosive issue in the make or break debate on health care is apparently back on the table and it's pitting Democrat against Democrat.
Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington with more on this.
So, we're talking about the Senate side. And, of course, the bill that many said was the best chance of any type of bipartisan package was Max Baucus's and did not contain the government-run insurance plan. Instead, nonprofit co-ops.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that has irked a lot of Democrats who say the public option ought to be in there. So Senators Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer are expected later this morning to offer amendments on the public option for a vote when the Senate Finance Committee meets in just about an hour and a half from now. The idea is to get key Democrats who have wavered on the public option to take a stand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), MONTANA: A couple of public option amendments...
ACOSTA (voice-over): The pressure is building on the Senate Finance Committee. Not only has the debate over health care reform gotten testy...
BAUCUS: You're delaying, Senator. And we just have to move on.
SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: Mr. Chairman, I am not delaying. I'm making an extremely important point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last June, I collapsed because of congenital heart problems.
ACOSTA: Even the committee's chairman, Max Baucus, has become the target of an ad sponsored by liberal reform supporters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to ask: whose side are you on?
ACOSTA: Now, two key members of that committee, Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer, plan to put their Democratic colleagues to the spot, offering amendments on whether to give the uninsured the choice of joining a government insurance program: the public option.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Something to keep competition real in the marketplace. Otherwise the insurance companies will have them for lunch.
ACOSTA: The showdown pitting liberal versus centrist Democrats was put off last week.
BAUCUS: I want to take that up soon. It's an extremely important amendment.
ACOSTA: But the focus on public option has irked some Democrats who don't like the way the health care sausage is being made.
SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: This is the problem with this entire process. The administration did not come down with the specific proposal. So, instead, legislation boiled up through five different congressional committees, and now, they are trying to be resolved.
ACOSTA: Don't tell that to the White House. Remember when the president said he would pass on making a trip to Denmark to sell Chicago's bid for the Olympics?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would make the case in Copenhagen personally if I weren't so firmly committed to making real the promise of quality, affordable health care for every American.
ACOSTA: He is opting to go now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it look like it's in better shape, or is it that this is in worse shape?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the president believes health care is in better shape. I'll go on background as a senior administration official with intimate knowledge of the press secretary's thinking and say, yes, we think health care is in a -- is in a better place.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And the place to be will be in about an hour and a half from now, when the Senate Finance Committee meets on all this. It is still unclear whether the public option has the votes to pass the committee. Either way, public option supporters will keep on fighting. There's still the option of putting the amendment up for a vote in front of the full Senate.
And, Kiran, yesterday, we talked to Chuck Schumer's office, who was not available for an interview. He often is, but was not yesterday because of Yom Kippur. And one of his staffers said that they believe putting this up for a vote in front of the finance committee has revitalized the public option, believe it or not.
CHETRY: Yes. Well...
ACOSTA: Not so dead after all.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, we're going to have to see what happens, again, because as we said, the committee chairs are not for it and have been speaking out publicly against it, yet there are people who think that it's vital. So, we're going to...
ACOSTA: It's going to be very close.
CHETRY: All right. Jim Acosta for us this morning, thanks.
ACOSTA: You bet.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, the president has been sliding in the polls. Now, it appears the sale of Obama memorabilia has been sinking. Back in January, it was nearly impossible to escape the Obama commercial boom, then came the bailout, the stimulus, and the health care debate. Of course, the president's face still sells, but retailers report a rise in the sale of anti-Obama items.
CHETRY: Well, just four months after she announced her book deal, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has now finished writing her memoir. The book's title, "Going Rogue: An American Life." The phrase refers to anonymous criticism that was directed at Palin by aides of John McCain during the final days of last year's presidential race. The publisher has moved up the release date to November 17th, just in time for the holiday shopping season. It was originally scheduled for release next spring.
ROBERTS: Nine months after the miracle on the Hudson, the hero pilot who landed a U.S. Airways jet safely in the river, he is returning to work. Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger will have a new role as a management pilot. He's also going to be part of the airline's safety management organization. Sully says that he has missed working and he's eager to get back in the cockpit.
So, a lot of suggestions about what to do in Afghanistan going forward. More troops? Change the mission? We're going to find out what a couple of experts have to say about it. As many as 40,000 troops might be needed to stave off what General McChrystal calls the potential for failure in Afghanistan. Is that the right way to go about doing it? We'll ask the questions.
Six and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
CHETRY: A shot of Atlanta, Georgia, this morning, where it's now nine minutes after the hour. It's sunny, 52 degrees. And a little bit later, it's going to be sunny, a high of 72 in Atlanta this morning.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
You know, violence is raging in Afghanistan and a roadside bomb, just this morning, hit a bus filled with civilians. It happened near the southern city of Kandahar. Thirty people reported killed and dozens of others hurt. And now the top U.S. commander there says the situation is not getting better. General Stanley McChrystal says that the mission will likely result in failure without thousands of new forces.
Joining me now, Fred and Kimberly Kagan, two experts who study wars and threats. They also advised General McChrystal and wrote a new report calling for 40,000 to 45,000 new troops in Afghanistan by next year.
Kimberly and Fred, thanks for joining me this morning.
FRED KAGAN, DIRECTOR OF CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: A pleasure.
KIMBERLY KAGAN, PRESIDENT, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR: Good morning.
CHETRY: So, you know, just as we were preparing to do this interview, we hear of yet another attack. They believe this was the result of insurgents, either laying a roadside bomb or somehow bombing this bus, killing civilians. The situation seems to have been deteriorating. This August will be the deadliest month for civilians in some time.
What's the solution to the problem of militants attacking Afghan civilians, Fred?
F. KAGAN: Well, militants actually generally try to avoid attacking Afghan civilians. They're very sensitive to the issue of being seen to cause civilian casualties. So, when you see attacks like this, it's a little bit odd, it's a little bit of an aberration. But the solution, in general terms, is defeating the insurgency. And that's what General McChrystal is trying to do. That was the intent of the strategy that he designed and it's the reason why we need more forces.
CHETRY: And where, Kimberly, did you arrive at the number 40,000 to 45,000 -- how would that number of additional U.S. forces in Afghanistan make a difference?
K. KAGAN: There are traditional ratios of forces that are required to protect a population from insurgents. And generally, the rule of thumb is one counterinsurgent per every 50 people.
As we look at Afghanistan, there are only some limited number of places where we need to obtain that ratio, places such as Kandahar, places as Khost. And if you look at the populations there, we need to put enough troops there to secure them, and that's how you get to a number of 40,000 to 45,000.
CHETRY: Right.
And, Fred, I want to ask you about whether or not protecting the Afghan civilians, how does that -- and many people have been asking this -- ultimately lead to us winning the military mission in Afghanistan?
F. KAGAN: Well, what you're trying to do is to protect the people so that the people -- you can help the people that reject the Taliban. And we should keep in mind that in every poll and by every measure, the Afghan people overwhelmingly do reject the Taliban. But when they are isolated, when the people are vulnerable to insurgent attacks, when they're vulnerable to insurgent influence, especially, when there are no Afghan or coalition forces around, they often have no choice but to support the Taliban, either actively or passively.
So, what we're trying to do is what General Petraeus used to describe in Iraq as separating the reconcilables from the irreconcilables. And the way to do that is to protect the people from the enemy so that those, the majority of the Afghans who reject the Taliban, are free to do so.
CHETRY: Kimberly, Democratic Senator John Kerry wrote an op-ed about Afghanistan in "The Wall Street Journal." And a lot of people are weighing in about the situation. Many agree with you that we need to send in more troops and in large numbers.
John Kerry, however, doesn't agree with that. He wrote that "one of the lessons from Vietnam is that we should not commit troops to the battlefield without a clear understanding of what we expect them to accomplish, how long it will take, and how we maintain the consent of the American people."
And right now, as we see, support for the wars dropping. According to our recent polls, nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan and less than a third are supporting the sending of more troops.
So, how do you convince people that we know what the mission is and we know how long it's going to take?
K. KAGAN: General McChrystal, in my opinion, has clearly defined the mission in his strategic assessment that he rendered to the secretary of defense and to the NATO secretary general.
But we also need to remember that there are lessons that the United States has learned from Iraq, not just lessons learned many years ago from Vietnam. One of them is that we actually need enough forces on the ground to secure the population and that if we do so, and if we apply those forces wisely, we really do have every opportunity to support the people, to help the government reach the people, and help the people reject the insurgents as we described before.
And so, although the idea of adding more troops seems to some to be very difficult, and it is, nevertheless, we have actually seen it work, and work recently in Iraq.
CHETRY: Yet, the thing is, we had so many more troops in Iraq than we're even talking about. If we do get 40,000 to 45,000, right, then we'll be up to 86,000 in Afghanistan, in a country much larger, and in some cases, the terrain much more difficult. So, you know, if we go by that measure, shouldn't we be talking hundreds of thousands of more troops?
F. KAGAN: Well, not really. I mean, the issue -- first of all, we'll be up to about 100,000 if we get 40,000 to 45,000 and then there's another 30,000 to 40,000 NATO troops on top of that. And in addition to that, there are a number of Afghan army forces, all of which count as counterinsurgents.
And the basis of our report and our recommendation was looking at the area where the insurgency is active, looking at the area where there are population centers that are important to the government of Afghanistan, to us, and to the enemy that are contested. This is the number of troops that you need. We're not applying and nor should we apply an Iraq yardstick and say, "Well, Iraq had this many people, this many troops, therefore Afghanistan with this many people need this many troops."
CHETRY: No, I was just...
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Because Kimberly said we learned a recent lesson from Iraq, and I was looking through your assessment today, and I'm just curious because of the fact that Afghanistan is larger country and a difficult country as we've talked about before in terms of being able to put troops in certain areas. And I believe by your assessment right now, there's only about what 36,000 combat -- American combat forces in Afghanistan. The rest are playing support roles, doing special operations, as well as other things.
F. KAGAN: Right, that's right. And what we're looking at is, what are the key areas that we have to be dealing with? What are the populations of those areas? There are lots of parts of the country that we don't have to worry about because they're relatively stable because the Taliban doesn't operate there. And other parts of the country where the Taliban might operate, but they're so remote and so isolated that we don't need to focus on them.
And we have to keep in mind, also, is what we're proposing is a phased operation. And this is similar to what we did in Iraq. You don't try to do the whole thing all at once. You do it in pieces. And we're reasonably confident that the numbers that we're talking about would allow us to achieve success in the critical phase of retaking the initiative from the insurgency and then beginning a counter offensive to take back the other key areas that are threatened.
CHETRY: Yes, well you know I know a lot of people will be reading your report and certainly taking it to heart. A huge challenge and you guys are laying out one way that you believe it can be handled. Fred Kagan, as well as Kimberly Kagan, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
KAGAN: Thank you.
KIMBERLY KAGAN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: You might remember years ago, one of the big environmental acts of terrorism was when the earth liberation front burned down the two elks lodge that sits atop the mountain there in Vale, Colorado, many people have wondered, what's behind this shadowy group. Why were they doing what they were doing? Our Drew Griffin caught up with a former member of the earth liberation front, a guy who turned on his colleagues and has some surprising things to say. So stay tuned to that, 17 minutes after the hour
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning, it is on the FBI's list of domestic terrorist organizations, the earth liberation front. This morning, we have an exclusive inside look at how the environmental group moved from the mainstream to the fringe. A former member is sharing the secrets of the terrorist cell and how he helped the Feds bring him down.
Our Drew Griffin with our special investigations unit has got the exclusive report. This was such a secretive group, and this man, as we said, helped bring this cell down. Why is he coming forward, Drew?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Because, John, he's seeing a resurgence in eco-terrorism with the E.L.F label. We just saw two radio towers toppled near Seattle just this month. He said those actions like his actions are misguided and actually hurt the environmental cause.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
They were idealistic and young, all motivated environmentalists, from the pacific Northwest, Hoping to stop development in America's pristine places. But their protests didn't stop anything. So Jake Ferguson and the group called Family went radical.
JACOB "JAKE" FERGUSON, FORMER FAMILY MEMBER: Maybe you do an arson fire and you burn down a truck. And you're like, that wasn't good enough, I want to go from there. So then you do a building. Then you're doing two buildings, you know. Then you're doing multiple buildings in different states, you know. And it kept getting more and more and more. You never wanted to backtrack and do something smaller.
GRIFFIN: It did start small beginning with a dare to burn down the Detroit Oregon Ranger Station. It was 1996
FERGUSON: I just kind of on a whim spray painted ELF on the building and on some vehicles at the Detroit Ranger Station. And I think that was the first time like an ELF action had happened in North America.
GRIFFIN: ELF, Earth Liberation Front. A secret group. Fear of their attacks grew across seven Western States, living in warehouses, communicating by code. The six or seven hard core members of the Family would develop target after target, always bigger, always bolder.
Were you surprised at what you were able to pull off?
FERGUSON: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Scary, surprised?
FERGUSON: It's a lot scarier when I think about it because there were a lot of times where, you know, the incendiary devices that we're transporting could have gone off in the van we were in. Or, you know, there were a couple times when we were setting them up that they almost went off right in our faces.
GRIFFIN: They were destroying entire car lots of SUVs, building incendiary devices, paranoid they were being watched.
FERGUSON: What broke things up was that we were starting -- they were starting to catch on to us.
GRIFFIN: The FBI was hunting them and had his van. Ferguson didn't know it, but his friends had used that van in an attack and police traced it back to him. It was the one break they needed. Ferguson was called in by a FBI and caught in a lie. He was given just two options. Turn on his friends or spend the rest of his life in prison.
His evidence that he provided tore apart the Family. Correct? Brought it down?
KIRK ENGDALL, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: It certainly, it was essential. It was absolutely essential in our investigation to find out who the perpetrators were and to Approach them, make our arrest, get our indictments. So you're right. He was essential.
GRIFFIN: At the time, were you considering yourself, hey this is a terror cell.
FERGUSON: I think, pretty much, yes, we considered ourselves being at War, you know, with the government.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: John, he wore a wire and actually got taped confessions from members of that terrorist group known as the Family of the ELF. Many of them, ten of them, in fact, went to prison for long stretches. He got five years parole and one felony count.
ROBERTS: Remarkable listening to that fellow this morning. Drew Griffin, great work for us in our special investigations unit this morning. Drew, thanks so much - Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, we told you about that threatening Facebook poll that asked the question, "Should president Obama be killed?" What is behind that type of sentiment? We're going to be speaking with Boyce Watkins and Jammal Simmons, just ahead
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. The data broker business is a multi-billion dollar industry that makes money by digging up dirt on people.
ROBERTS: But what happens if a company hired to do a background check on you makes a mistake? Our special series, "Watching You 24/7," our personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here for the story of rap sheets on the wrong people. And you get one of those, it's a nightmare.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right. Good morning, guys. The information collected by data brokers is more important than ever as millions of Americans get into the job market and look for work. Employers rely on reports from data brokers, which track everything from past due loans to police records to determine whether their hiring decisions are sound. It sounds simple, but as one Georgia family found, the information isn't always right.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIS (voice-over): It was all the good stuff. A job offer with good benefits. A dream for this woman's husband that suddenly turned into a nightmare. You know, he did the drug test, and of course, that was fine. All we needed was the background check, and that was supposed to turn out fine.
WILLIS: But his background check revealed two felony convictions. And like that, the job offer was gone. She wants her identity hidden to avoid further problems for her husband.
And we just were in shock.
WILLIS: In shock because the records belonged to another man with the same name and same birthday as her husband.
How did they put these two together? You know, how could they miss this?
WILLIS: The report came from Choicepoint, one of the Nation's largest commercial data brokers, part of a multi-billion dollar industry that sells your personal information, obtained From public and private records to employers and law enforcement. Privacy advocate Lily Coney says most people have no clue what's in these databases that can include incorrect or outdated information.
LILLY CONEY, ELECTORNIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: Let's say it was an arrest that was based on faulty information and it was resolved and there was no trial, no conviction, they still have that original arrest record that may be in the database somewhere that was being passed along -- repeatedly people outside of your knowledge.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: I think most of us don't know how exposed we are.
WILLIS: Senator Patrick Leahy has introduced legislation to make those databases more accessible and more secure.
LEAHY: I want to know what's in my records and I want to know how to stop misinformation in my records. And today, people cannot do that with surety.
WILLIS: For its part, Choicepoint says that under the fair credit reporting act, " individuals may obtain copies of previously prepared reports about them, as well as public record information used for such reports and correct such information, as appropriate." The company says those corrections typically take two weeks, time this woman says her husband didn't have.
I called the department of Justice and the FBI.
WILLIS: And her Congressman, who was able to get Choicepoint to quickly correct the mistake. Her husband got the job, but she's still concerned.
Because this will happen again. If my husband ever has to have a background check or maybe if he ever changes jobs, that record is out there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIS: So an employer should tell you if their decision not hire you is based on information contained in a background check. If they do, get a copy of the report. It's your right to have it.
ROBERTS: So how do people get a copy of that report?
WILLIS: Well, the Choicepoint report you can get on their Web site at Choicepoint.com. It usually takes a couple of weeks to get your report. Look at it for errors, contact the company if you find problems and while you're at it, get a copy of your credit report at Annualcreditreport.com. It's free. Not all employers are allowed to look at this but many of them do and more of them are doing it all the time.
ROBERTS: Gerry, good tips for us this morning. Thanks so much.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
CHETRY: We want to know what you think of all this. Sound off on bad background checks. Go to CNN.com/amfix and weigh in.
And also tomorrow on "Watching you 24/7," our series continues -- can you say what you want to online without attracting police? Well, police are on high alert and perhaps watching you in a fusion center.
These are all over the country, so we'll show you what they are and what goes on tomorrow as our series continues right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour, it's 8:30 Eastern. We're tracking several developing stories this morning.
The man at center of a cross-country terror investigation, Najibullah Zazi, will be in front of a judge in Brooklyn in just a few hours, facing charges of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction.
A federal prosecutor says Zazi planned to bomb a target in New York on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
CHETRY: Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski will file a motion today in a Swiss court to be released from prison, according to his lawyer. The district court in Los Angeles is working with the Department of Justice to have him extradited.
Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor back in 1977. Several fellow directors are now signing a petition calling for him to be released. Those include Woody Allen, David Lynch, and Martin Scorsese.
ROBERTS: And lawmakers want to know, are your pills safe? In a few hours the Senate Judiciary Committee will be looking into the possibility of reregulating dietary supplements. The concern, steroids and other banned substances are finding their way into over- the-counter muscle-building products.
This morning the Secret Service and the FBI are investigating a threatening poll that was posted on Facebook. It posed the question, should Obama be killed? Hundreds of people responded before the social networking site took it down.
Joining us to talk more about what may be behind it, from Syracuse, New York, Boyce Watkins -- he's a Syracuse professor and resident scholar for AOL black voices -- and from Washington, Jamal Simmons, former DNC communications adviser now with the Raben Group, a communication consulting firm.
Let's take a look, gentleman, first of all, at what the poll said posted on Facebook. And again, it was only for a few hours. It said, "Should Obama be killed?" The responses, yes, maybe, if he cuts my health care, and no.
It was put up by a third party application. More than 700 people responded before it was taken down. Boyce, what did you think when you saw that?
BOYCE WATKINS, PROFESSOR, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Well, obviously, I was sickened by it.
What's interesting, though, is that this poll in itself is really more of a symptom of a bigger problem that exists in our country. We know this president gets more death threats than pretty much any president in recent history.
And so if we really just focus on this issue and don't focus on the broader problem, we'll really miss the point, because we have to realize that America is a country that's sick with the disease of racism.
And the disease of racism has its greatest impact on those who think who think they've been cured. So I'm not so angry about this incident as much I am about the environment that's been created around our president.
ROBERTS: Jamal, on that point, former President Jimmy Carter famously said a couple weeks ago that he thought a good deal of the anger and animosity toward the president was race-based. Let's run a little bit of what the former president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: An overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Jamal, President Obama says, yes, he does think there is racism, but that it's not an overriding issue. What do you think? JAMAL SIMMONS, PRINCIPAL, THE RABEN GROUP: I agree with President Obama on this, but I don't think that President Carter is wrong. It's clear that race is a part of some of the animosity that you hear about President Obama.
You know, the fact that Joe Wilson yelled out "you lie" in Congress, the first time in 220 years of Congressional -- presidential Congressional addresses that this has ever happened, I think that's something we have to be concerned about. Why is there that level of disrespect for this American institution, the presidency?
But on the other hand, I think that America has clearly shown that we've made great strides in this issue of race. And while it still exists, it hasn't gone away, it is certainly much, much, much better than it ever has been in American history.
ROBERTS: Boyce, where do you think that level of disrespect as demonstrated by Congressman Joe Wilson comes from?
WATKINS: Well, what we've got to understand is that racism is not always the primary factor that drives a certain action. Racism is, to some extent, an accelerant of issues that may, at least on the surface, appear to have nothing to do with race.
Racism is what makes Joe Wilson feel confident in expressing his discontent with the president in the halls of Congress in an incredibly disrespectful way, and then to further disrespect to the president by saying I'm not even going to apologize because I know there are people that support me.
If Obama were not an African-American, I don't think he would feel that same degree of boldness.
Now we understand, though, that most people in America want to bed good people. Most people in America don't wake up and say, how do I disrespect a black person today?
But what we have to understand is racism lies within the fabric of the institutional infrastructure of the country in which we live. And so if we don't deal with the root causes of some of these actions, then we'll continue to miss point.
ROBERTS: Now, Joe Wilson has said, of course, that this has nothing to do about race, that the president was shading the truth on that particular issue about whether or not the health care plans would cover illegal immigrants.
So is it really, do you think, if not founded in race, Jamal, backed up by at least, as Boyce was saying, the idea that some racial intolerance there may give him a good point to stand on?
SIMMONS: Yes, I'm not going to, you know, make an accusation about what Joe Wilson's heart was feeling at that moment. But I will say there's a certain amount of disrespect, or the language that's being used about this presidency, which is pretty fierce. I will also say, though, I've worked for Bill Clinton for years, and Bill Clinton, another Democrat who pushed socially responsible programs, got a lot of animosity from the right.
The one thing that's happening right now is in the 1960s or '70s, a lot of political violence on the country, you start to see from the left, the anti-war movement, the black panthers, people like that.
In the 1990s and 2000s, all the political violence in the country and the political animosity, the real heat is on the right. You see anti-abortion protesters who kill doctors. You see it with the Michigan militia and what happened in Oklahoma City.
I think the Republican Party has got to make the same decision the Democratic Party did, which is to separate itself from the extreme elements on the right and say to America, we're not as crazy as these people are.
And frankly, I don't think the Republicans in Congress and the leadership have done a good enough job in separating themselves from some of the heated rhetoric coming out of the right wing of this country.
ROBERTS: Boyce, all this talk about the beginning of a post- racial America after President Obama was first elected, and when you see where we are now, what do these cases say about us as a nation and where we're headed in the future?
WATKINS: This presidency is teaching us a lot about where we stand as it pertains to race. The Obama presidency, as painful as it may be for some of us, is really a measuring stick. It's a reminder that you cannot solve a 400-year-old problem with 20 or 25 years of good intentions.
If you want to fulfill the dream of Dr. Martin Luther king, you have got to be willing to do the work. And the truth of the matter is that our country hasn't been willing to do the work. We hold celebrations every year to celebrate King's birthday. We say, oh, well, we believe in diversity and this post-racial this, this post- racial that.
But then you see all these death threats coming in, you see this disrespect coming in. You see this behavior that is part of a tradition in America of disrespecting African-American leadership.
So it doesn't mean that America is a country full of bad people or that everybody's racist or anything like that. What it means is that if we're really going to fix this problem, we have got to start being honest, and we haven't been honest with ourselves.
ROBERTS: Some food for thought this morning, gentleman. Boyce Watkins -- go ahead, Jamal.
SIMMONS: John, on one quick positive note. I think African- Americans have always faced obstacles in this country, the country has always faced obstacles on the issue of race. What we have now is different. There are incredible opportunities for people of color to really succeed in this country, and we've got to really pay attention to that while we still deal with the obstacles we face.
ROBERTS: That does indeed leave it on a positive note.
Jamal Simmons, Boyce Watkins, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate you coming in.
We want to know what you think about this poll. Is race a factor? Where is the disrespect coming from? Sound off. Call our show hot line or go to our blog at CNN.com/amfix.
CHETRY: We know that Conan O'Brien hurt himself after trying to tape a little sketch. Now we have the video. He shows what exactly happened after that head injury and concussion.
It's 38 minutes past the hour.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": People have been asking me all weekend, people were asking me how bad it was. Folks, I'll be honest with you, I hit my head so hard that for five seconds I actually understood the plot of "Lost."
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Making a joke about it, but it could have been really bad.
ROBERTS: You've got to hit your head pretty hard to understand "Lost."
CHETRY: I guess so.
Well, Conan O'Brien was back last night after Friday's show had to be halted because he got a concussion. He showed what happened. It was during a fall when he was having a sketch between him and "Desperate Housewives" star Teri Hatcher who just completed a triathlon.
ROBERTS: Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Ouch!
ROBERTS: He is so long and lanky that when he falls down like that, it's like a whip. And that head just hit the ground so hard. Ever hit the back of your head?
CHETRY: Yes, unfortunately, it does not feel good. And he did try to keep going, but people started to notice, he wasn't acting right when he went back to the dressing room.
There we see it again.
ROBERTS: Watch this. Comes out to the finish line, slam. Wow, that must have been really, really hurt.
That happened to me once playing floor hockey in high school and my vision from here up, everything was great, and from here down, it was like I was looking through a swimming pool. It was really incredible.
He did manage, though, to still make some jokes afterwards.
CHETRY: He did, let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: And when I got injured, I was doing a stunt with Teri Hatcher, and I couldn't help but notice, I got a lot of media attention for it, everywhere, yes.
So folks, tune in tomorrow when Eva Longoria pushes me down an elevator shaft.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Just wear your helmet next time, Conan.
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ROBERTS: She was the secretary of state in the Clinton administration. She was the first woman to be secretary of state in this nation's history. And she was famous for always wearing a pin on the left shoulder. And some of those pins were more than just fashion statements, they were actually diplomatic statements.
Madeleine Albright has got a new book about her collection of pins. And, as well, she's got an installation at the new Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. We'll be checking in with the former secretary of state coming right up.
It's 44 1/2 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, not only famous for becoming the first woman ever to hold the post, but also because of her love of pins.
ROBERTS: Yes, broaches that she used to send messages, some of them subtle, some not so much, to dictators, presidents and foreign ministers.
It's the focus of a brand new book that she's just released, entitled "Read My Pins." And I had a chance to talk with the Secretary yesterday at New York's Museum of Arts and Design where more than 200 of her most important pins are on display.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Madame Secretary, this penchant for wearing pins, particularly pins that had some sort of meaning and wearing them with a little bit of attitude, where did that whole idea come from?
MEDELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it was kind of an accident, actually and none of this would have happened if it hadn't been for Saddam Hussein. He called me a serpent. And there was this horrible poem about that I was a terrible serpent.
And so I decided I had a snake pin that I have bought earlier since time, so I thought I would wear it, when we do Iraq. So in fact did wear it and President Bush had said, "Read my lips," so I said, "Read my pins."
ROBERTS: This is a great pin here with a fabulous story, this missile pin.
ALBRIGHT: This is a great pin and this was actually made for me by the wife of our NATO ambassador, Lisa Vershbow...
ROBERTS: She did a great job.
ALBRIGHT: And it's terrific and I just loved it. And so I wore it when Foreign Minister of Russia Igor Ivanov (ph) and I were negotiating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and he looked over at me and he said, "Is that one of your interceptor missiles." And I said, "Yes, and we know how to make them very small and so you better negotiate."
ROBERTS: I love this American flag pin. This is the very ornate.
ALBRIGHT: Isn't that a great pin? And I just thought it was really beautiful.
And I wore it when I went to North Korea and met Kim Jong-Il. Now, if you notice, that is exactly the same background that when President Clinton was just there...
ROBERTS: When he went to get the journalists.
ALBRIGHT: When he went there - I mean, this is their favorite scene. And so I wanted to have it be absolutely clear who I represented and it was...
ROBERTS: There's no mistaking that.
ALBRIGHT: No mistaking. ROBERTS: I love this line here, you say Kim Jong-Il, you wore high heels and so did he.
ALBRIGHT: Right. I mean, we were having our first press conference and I looked over and we were the same height. And I thought, well, I know I have on heels, and then I looked over at him and his hairs is a lot puffier (ph) than me.
ROBERTS: You wore the dove when you were involved in the Middle East Peace, but you also on occasion wore this wasp, this bee.
ALBRIGHT: This bee, I wore that. This is one of these pictures, where if looks could kill. So I wore a bee - Arafat is sitting next to me and I was planning to be pretty tough and I was. He then gave me a butterfly. So...
ROBERTS: So what was the bee to symbolize?
ALBRIGHT: To symbolize that there needed to be some tough action and that I would tell the truth with a little sting.
ROBERTS: There are so many ornate pins here and so many that have so much meaning in terms of diplomacy. But sometimes it's the simplest thing that's the best, isn't it?
ALBRIGHT: Sure.
ROBERTS: And you said that this is your favorite pin?
ALBRIGHT: Well, it is. I mean, it's a heart. I wear it on Valentine's Day and it was made for me by my daughter. And when people say, well, how old is she and now she's 41 and she'll say, "Mom, you've got to tell them I made it when I was 5."
And her daughter, my granddaughter said to her mother, so what's the big deal about grandma Maddy being Secretary of State. She's seven years old, and she said, "Only girls are Secretaries of State."
And I have had a lot of fun with this. And it's, you know, it's somebody said it was a very Democratic, small "D," collection, because it's mostly costume jewelry. That's just kind of fun.
ROBERTS: Tell me the story of the pin that nearly ignited an international diplomatic incident.
ALBRIGHT: Well, I'll tell you, what happened was I perfected the art of diplomatic kissing. That was not something that had been done a lot before, so I would arrive somewhere and I would get a hug and a kiss.
And so I was in South Korea and the minister there, after I'd left, I was out with -- a friendly dinner with some journalists, and he said, "I'm about the same age as Secretary Albright, but I just love when she comes here, because she makes me feel so young and when I hug her, she has very firm breasts."
ROBERTS: Oh, no.
ALBRIGHT: And so all of a sudden there's this whole thing about how could he have said something like this, should he be fired or whatever. And felt, well, this -- this is a silly thing, and I said, well, what do you expect me to put those pins on.
ROBERTS: I'm blushing just listening to you tell the story.
ALBRIGHT: But then what happened was the next time we met we shook hands at a very proper distance.
ROBERTS: So what was the South Korean kiss thing?
ALBRIGHT: You want to do?
ROBERTS: Sure.
ALBRIGHT: Closer. Thanks a lot.
ROBERTS: I won't say anything.
ALBRIGHT: All right.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CHETRY: You don't just say anything, you just see it. That was cute.
ROBERTS: Yes, I mean, the whole installation there was fascinating. I thought as a guy, why do I want to come in there and look at a bunch of pins? But the pins, the design on some of them are beautiful, they're really amazing.
And then the diplomatic stories that go along with them and the way that she used the pins to sometimes to not so subtly send signals to the people that she was meeting is really fascinating.
There's two other pins there that we didn't get a chance to put on the air, there's one that's made out of broken glass that she used to wear, that was symbolizing breaking the glass ceiling, becoming the first female Secretary of State.
And the other one is a really interesting pin that's made with a piece of the Berlin Wall and even has a little piece barb wire wrapped around it.
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: It's pretty incredible if you got a chance get out there and see it. It's the Museum of Arts and Design. But she's also got the book about it too.
CHETRY: Yes, it's really interesting and I love the story about her daughter. She goes -- tell mom, I'm 40 now, I made that when I was five.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
CHETRY: But it's so cute. And you can tell that Madeleine Albright truly relished and loved the job of secretary of state.
ROBERTS: Oh she did. Yes. And she loved wearing the pins to send these little signals. By the way, she still wears that heart every Valentine's Day.
CHETRY: She does.
ROBERTS: Though she may not be able to because to year this time around, because it might still be on exhibit.
CHETRY: On exhibit.
ROBERTS: On exhibit yes. Well, you can see a sample of Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's pins from her book at our blog CNN.com/amfix.
CHETRY: And when we come back, we're going to show you a new way if you have an iPhone and you're a news junkie that CNN is going to make it a whole lot easier for you to get news.
It's 53 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, we're taking journalism to a whole new level today. We are talking about the new CNN iPhone app, if you've got one of these, it's really, really cool. And we have a bigger one here to show you how it works, but we're Blackberry users, so this is our first foray into this. What do you think?
ROBERTS: Yes. We're kind of newbies with this whole thing. So if we screw it up just a little bit, please forgive us.
But at any rate, what this program is -- it's an application for your iPhone. It's personalization tools, it gives you the ability to upload reports, also file iReport things from your cell phone. Basically get the news anywhere you are, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Just $1.99 at the App Store.
Let's take a look here. For example, we've got the headlines up right now. What you can do, like you do with your iPhone is you can scroll through it and key in on a story and there you get the news about Honduras.
If you want, you can follow this topic and that puts it into what's called "My CNN." So if you go to "My CNN," you can get - if you like all of the followed stories that you're doing, or as Kieran goes to demonstrate you can get some news locally, things like traffic and weather.
CHETRY: Yes. This is a cool thing. If you're in the car already, you need to know what the traffic's going to be. It doesn't make if you're sitting at home trying to figure it out. So check it out. You can get real-time traffic, this is for the New York area, and you can just scroll up, go through all the various places where there are problems on the roads.
And then you can also check out the weather, that's also at your fingertips with new application. Click up, get the ten-day forecast. This is constantly updated of course through the CNN Weather Center.
And the other neat thing, when you hit weather, is that you can actually go to radar and you can see the radar picture for your region as well. This is all happening in real-time, pretty cool.
ROBERTS: That's pretty cool stuff.
We also have live streaming video here. For example, here is a story that Eunice Yuan did for us on emergency drills. Flip your iPhone sideways and you got like the full 16 x 9 video screen there and you can eminently control all of this as well.
$1.99 at the App Store; put the CNN app on your iPhone and get your news 24/7, wherever you are.
CHETRY: Pretty cool.
ROBERTS: Although you shouldn't be using that while you're driving, should you?
CHETRY: If you're on a train, maybe. How about that? And I'm sure Blackberry will catch up in no time at all. Then we'll be able to get it.
ROBERTS: Either that or we have to switch.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And we want to say thanks for being with us today on AMERICAN MORNING. Hope to see you back here tomorrow.
Meanwhile, you can continue the conversation on all of today's stories by heading to our blog, cnn.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: But the news continues on CNN. Heidi Collins is in the "CNN NEWSROOM."
