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Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo; What Tone Obama's Peace Prize Speech Strikes; Monster Snowstorm Continues to Ravage Big Parts of U.S.; Companies Starting to Repay T.A.R.P. Money to Government; Geithner Asks for T.A.R.P Extension on Capitol Hill
Aired December 10, 2009 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Apple may soon change the way people buy music. The company is considering allowing iTunes user to buy songs straight from the web. That would give users more ways to manage their music and they wouldn't have to download iTunes software. ITunes is generating around $2 billion for Apple this year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It's an award that speaks that our highest aspirations. For all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter and can bend history in the direction of justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: President Obama, a war-time president, commended for his commitment to peace. The president spoke of that and other aspects of his controversial acceptance the Nobel Peace Prize.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president. She is joining us in a very, very warm and woolly coat from Oslo, Norway. Suzanne, good morning to you.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. It's a little chilly here, but President Obama, first lady Michelle, they have been up and moving around Oslo since 2:00 in the morning Eastern essentially going to all these different activities around the Nobel Peace Prize, I have to say covering President Bush for eight years, his presidency was defined by war and his legacy defined by war. Really the 9/11 attacks set his agenda.
It was very clear in the speech that President Barack Obama gave that he is a reluctant war president. He used much of the speech to talk about this idea of a just war. The necessity of war sometimes to ultimately bring about peace. Here's how he explained it to the committee as well as the others who attended.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the commander-in-chief of the military, of the nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek. One in which we are joined by 42 other countries, including Norway. In an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Heidi, earlier in the day we saw the president as well as the first lady sign a book. Now, this is a book that previous Nobel Prize winners have signed, including Nelson Mandela as well as Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King. He was asked about what he wrote in that book and he really gave the credit to the committee, the Nobel committee. He said for carrying on a history, a legacy, if you will, of recognizing those who ultimately work for peace as their goal.
He had mentioned Martin Luther King, again saying that once Martin Luther King had received the Nobel Peace Prize, that it bolstered what was his credibility and the rest of the world and really helped in his cause of the civil rights movement in the United States.
It is certainly something that this president hopes that it gives a certain legitimacy on the world stage, if you will, to go back and deal with things like the wars he was talking about, bringing an end to Iraq, obviously escalating and hopefully bringing an end to Afghanistan and trying to promote climate change and denuclearization in Iran as well as North Korea, hoping that this will bolster that effort and encourage others to get involved in those movements. Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. He had a bit of a news conference before this ceremony regarding those topics which we'll get to in a moment. But Suzanne, I know that the president also addressed the controversy of people who say that he was given this award too soon.
MALVEAUX: Yes, he was asked about that, whether or not he was - he would respond to the idea that it was premature. We've seen some signs, Heidi, from people, some protesters out in the streets saying congratulations, you won it, now go earn it.
The president addressed this directly in his speech pretty early on saying here that "I am at the beginning, not the end of my labors on the world stage compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize (INAUDIBLE), Mandela. My accomplishments are slight" and then he went ones to that "I cannot argue with those who find these men and women, some known, to be far more deserving this honor than I."
Clearly the president and his administration in some ways trying to downplay this award today. They are grateful, they are humble. It is one of the reasons, Heidi, that the president is doing this in 24 hours. He made the point to tell people, yes, he'd like to stay a little bit longer but he has a lot of work to do. That certainly his work has just begun. The expectations of what he's going to accomplish after today a lot higher, Heidi.
COLLINS: And there she is, Suzanne Malveaux in Oslo, Norway, traveling with the president and working on only six hours of daylight that you get there, so already dark in Norway. Thanks, Suzanne. Appreciate that.
As we mentioned before the Nobel ceremony, President Obama held a news conference where he talked about several issues, including Afghanistan. The president defended his new strategy and his decision to announce a start date to draw down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We believe we've got the right strategy. We believe we can execute this strategy, that we can build Afghan capacity, protect population centers and blunt and degrade the Taliban capacity so that beginning on July of 2011 we are beginning to transfer responsibility to the Afghan people. And Afghan security forces. I've been unambiguous about this, so there should not be a debate. Starting in July, 2011, we will begin that transition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The president also flanked by Norway's prime minister as well in that news conference before the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
Now, the president talked about statements from General Stanley McChrystal and he is on Capitol Hill this morning testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Some live pictures for you from that hearing. General David Petraeus there.
McChrystal and the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry are testifying yesterday. McChrystal's boss, General David Petraeus was on the Hill giving his assessment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: Achieving our objectives in Afghanistan thus will not be easy. The Taliban has in recent years been gaining strength and expanding the extent of its control of parts of Afghanistan. It is important to remember nevertheless that the Taliban command significantly less support among Pashtuans than either Sunni or other Shia extremist groups in Iraq had in their communities in 2007 and it commands virtually no support among Afghanistan's other ethnic groups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Petraeus also said to expect an increase in violence once additional U.S. troops arrive. He says it will take until next December to see if the increase has been effective.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Baghdad this morning. He arrived there after a two-day trip to Afghanistan. Gates is meeting later today with Iraqi leaders to talk about progress in that theater. He'll also offer condolences for the bombings that killed nearly 130 people earlier this week.
Millions of Americans facing dangerously icy conditions this morning. The powerful snowstorm hitting the upper midwest and northeast is blamed now for at least 17 deaths so far. Most of them from traffic accidents. Snow drifts as high as 15 feet in some places and with the wind-chill, it's going to feel more like 25 below zero in Iowa today. The storm has stranded thousands of travelers and left many more without power. Some people still find a way to go sledding, though.
See, Rob, if dressed properly -
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right.
COLLINS: You can go out there. Don't drive in it, though. What a mess.
MARCIANO: It is a mess. Snow days for a lot of kids, though. Kids having fun.
COLLINS: Pretty cool.
MARCIANO: Take it easy out there if you're doing your own shoveling, take frequent breaks and just enjoy the vigor being out in the cold. Sometimes when the wind is blowing, that vigor can turn quickly into misery, I don't care how well you're dressed.
60-mile-per-hour wind gusts yesterday, Toledo, Ohio. Ft. Wayne, 58-mile-an-hour gust. Lexington, Kentucky seeing 53, Islip, New York 52, Nantucket 51. So you see how widespread this was. I mean, pretty much from the coastline of Maine all the way back to the California coastline, this storm kept its winds up and they were brutal with even winds gusting in Mansfield, Vermont, which is only about 4,000 feet or so, winds gusted there well over 100 miles an hour. My goodness, it was definitely blowing around.
All right, snowfall, 14 inches at Chester, Vermont. We kind of ignored parts of New England because the focus of the blizzard was back across parts of the midwest, but they had a fair amount of snow as well. Parts of Massachusetts saw a foot, Auburn, Maine, saw 10 inches and Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania, saw nine inches. The winners were Madison, Wisconsin, with seeing a foot and a half of snow.
Now we are seeing the lake-effect snow machine start to kick in. Very warm waters here in the -- along the Great Lakes, especially Ontario and Erie. And with the cold air moving over top those warm waters, we're talking about amounts of snow that could range anywhere from one to three feet and it will be blowing at times. So that certainly is going to be a concern. It's been a relatively dry month in November for lake-effect snow but now we're starting to make up for it in a hurry.
Look at this bowl of cool air, cold air driving south and east. Right now pretty mild, 40 degrees in New York and 43 degrees in D.C. but, one degree currently in Chicago and minus five in Minneapolis. That does not include the wind chill so we'll roll through what could be a couple of wind chills that will be rather alarming. Minus 19 to start in Fargo, minus 7 or so in Minneapolis. There you get the idea. If you live in Detroit, it's 16 degrees with snow showers expected there. There's the shot looking over the river from Windsor. Chilly day, dress warmly if your are, just about anywhere with the exception of Miami today, Heidi, it's going to be downright cold.
COLLINS: Yes. It looks like it. All right, Rob, thank you.
MARCIANO: You bet.
COLLINS: President Obama's top money man is on Capitol Hill this morning to talk about the bank bailout. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifying before the congressional oversight panel and his comments will face some tough scrutiny. The White House has just extended the $700 billion program until October and that sets the stage for a new battle. Democrats say some of the unused cash should be used to help create jobs. Republicans want to use the money to pay down the soaring national debt.
Also on our radar this morning, the nation's housing crisis. We have new numbers on foreclosures. And while they're still nothing to celebrate, the overall picture may be a bit brightening. Joining us to explain a little more is CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis once again in New York.
Hi there, Gerri. So we can find sort -
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi there, Heidi.
COLLINS: -- the glass half full, right?
WILLIS: Well, well, let's look at the numbers and I'll let you make your own decision. November foreclosures were down eight percent. That's compared to the previous month, October. But they're still up 18 percent from November of last year. So year-to-year the numbers are still dismal.
Now, this is the fourth straight month we've seen month-to-month improvements as foreclosures hit an all-time high back in July. Here are some of the more surprising details in the report. OK, let's dig down a little bit. In Nevada foreclosures are down 33 percent. That is the second double-digit decline in that state. California foreclosures are down to 13 percent. That's the fourth consecutive decline. Idaho comes out of nowhere posting the fifth highest state foreclosure rate in November. The reason, unemployment. So you can see lots of surprises in this report. Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, and when you look at Nevada and California too, they were really hit hard off the top, so nice to see that it's going down at least a bit from where it was. What kind of clues, though, does this give us about the state of the housing market? Anything we can take away from this?
WILLIS: Yes, you know I talked to Rick (INAUDIBLE) yesterday who puts these numbers together and he said the underlying conditions really have not improved. Some of the things we're seeing in the marketplace now are the result of state and local programs that are slowing the pace of foreclosure. For example, banks are disposing of foreclosures more slowly. They're just writing them up in a longer time frame. This is also the ninth consecutive month foreclosures have exceed 300,000. Keep that in mind. And (INAUDIBLE) says 2010 will be the high water mark for foreclosure activity so we've got lots more coming.
Keep in mind other's spent real help for turning the tide. One factor has been a firming up of home prices as we've talked about. The S&P-Schiller home price index has reported five consecutive months of improved prices through September and the home buyer tax credit is really helping too. So there are some wins that are back but there's more rough road ahead. Heidi.
COLLINS: It definitely sounds like it. All right. Gerri Willis, our personal finance editor. Thank you, Gerri.
Five Americans under arrest, held in Pakistan this morning. Police there say they were looking for a terror group to join.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: He is a neo Nazi accused of murder and facing the death penalty. And now Florida taxpayers aside from all of the court costs in this obvious case are going to be paying $150 more dollars every day for his makeup artist. You're looking at John Allen Ditullio. He has a swastika tattooed under his right ear, barbed wire on the right side of his face and what you don't see, a very vulgar phrase tattooed on his neck.
Now, a Florida judge agreed these tattoos are potentially offensive and could influence a jury's opinion during his murder trial. So the state of Florida will pay a cosmetologist up to $150 a day to apply makeup to cover up those tattoos. So we are talking about this expensive tattoo cover-up on my blog this morning. We want to know what you think about the judge's ruling. A lot of people talking about it. Just go to cnn.com/heidi and click on comments. We'll share some of your comments a little later on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The FBI is questioning five Americans under arrest in Pakistan. Pakistani police say the men were planning terror attacks. It is also believed they tried to hook up with at least two militant groups but were unsuccessful. They were arrested near Islamabad. Police say the five men are the same men who were reported missing from Virginia last month. But U.S. officials are not confirming that. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton talked about the threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have been well aware of the threats that we continue to face along with friends and allies around the world. We know that much of the training and the direction for terrorists comes from Pakistan and the border area with Afghanistan. We know we've got to work more closely with both Afghanistan and Pakistan to try to root out the infrastructure of terrorism that continues to recruit and train people who are willing to do what is alleged with Mr. Zazi, you know, David Headily and others in the recent cases that have come to light.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The mother of one of the suspects tells CNN her son was in Pakistan to get married.
Al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for the deadly terror bombings in Baghdad earlier this week. 127 people died in a series of blasts on Tuesday, more than 400 others were injured. The claim of responsibility was made on an Al Qaeda supporter web site. Iraq's prime minister says the attacks were aimed at disrupting the upcoming elections.
Who's to blame and who should pay for global warming? The U.S. and Chinese negotiators went back and forth about it today during the United Nations climate change summit. Now, the U.S. urged China to stand behind its promise to reduce its carbon footprint. The Chinese criticized the U.S. for not living up to its word to help poor nations do just that other the past 17 years.
They are the world's two largest polluters and they can't agree on what to do, there might not be a deal for President Obama and other world leaders to sign when the climate summit wraps up one week from Friday.
Over the next two weeks, CNN has the Copenhagen climate summit covered. Why it matters and what it means to you. Make sure you stick with us to find out. Be sure to watch tonight when Campbell Brown takes an in-depth look at the e-mail controversy that threatens to overshadow the summit, coming your way 8:00 p.m. Eastern only right here on CNN.
The Senate finds common ground on the health care reform and the public option of it is making some people happy but others a little nervous. We'll take a look at whether this bill will stick.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Checking our top stories now, the EPA says cold weather is helping to slow a spill in Alaska. About 46,000 gallons of a water, gas and oil mixture leaked from a burst pipe under snow-covered tundra on Alaska's north slope. BP, which owns the pipe, says ice plunged at the pipeline is what probably caused the rupture. It happened late last month. Officials say wildlife was not affected.
Film director Roman Polanski's statutory rape case goes before a three-judge panel today. Lawmakers in Los Angeles will argue whether Polanski must return to California for his case to be resolved. The 76-year-old director was arrested in Switzerland in September and released under house arrest last week. Polanski has been a wanted man since he fled the United States in the '70s after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
And in Washington, mum's the word from a so-called White House party crashers, Tareq and Michaele Salahi say they'll invoke their fifth amendment right and refuse to answer questions before a House committee. The Homeland Security Committee has authorized subpoenas compelling them to testify about how they got into a state dinner without an invitation.
More debate on Capitol Hill today about the Senate's health care bill. Meanwhile the deal negotiated by Democrats to drop the controversial public option is getting both praise and criticism.
Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anxious to move forward on his top priority, the president praised a tentative deal to drop a public option from the Senate health care bill.
OBAMA: I support this effort, especially since it's aimed at increasing choice in competition and lowering cost.
BASH: That's the goal of the preliminary agreement hammered out in secret by 10 democrats, five moderates and five liberals. Whether it will hold remains to be seen. One negotiator is already openly reluctant.
SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: I am not happy with the possibility that there would not be a public option.
BASH: Instead of a government-run insurance option, a government agency, the Office of Personnel Management, would oversee not-for- profit private insurance plans. That appeals to moderates. Democratic sources tell CNN if that plan doesn't work, it would trigger a public option, but that could scare away Joe Lieberman whose vote Democrats likely need.
He issued this statement, underscoring his, "opposition to a government-run insurance option, including any option with a trigger." To appeal to liberals eager to expand government-run insurance, Democratic negotiators included a huge change in Medicare, allowing uninsured Americans ages 55 to 64 to buy into the program.
One estimate says four million people could be eligible. Data on how much it would cost to buy into Medicare under this plan is not yet available. But a recent Congressional Budget Office study on 62 to 64-year-olds put premiums at a whopping $7600 a year, $634 a month. Democrats say out of pocket costs under the plan wouldn't be that high because many people would be eligible for government subsidies starting in 2014. Still, moderate Democrats are wary of adding more strain to already stretched Medicare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The national concern is what is the effect on Medicare and Medicare solvency since Medicare already headed for insolvency.
BASH (on camera): Democratic leaders were clearly eager to show momentum but several negotiators, both liberals and moderates say there's no deal yet. They're waiting to hear from the Congressional Budget Office to determine how much it will cost and another very important factors. We won't hear from the CBO according to Democratic sources for nearly a week.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: So as you just heard, clearly a very long way to go here. We want to take a closer look at how these Senate changes would affect you if they eventually become part of a final health care me. Joining me now to do that is CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. All right. So what's the deal, Elizabeth? What's the latest on this?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The very latest is this is going to affect the millions of Americans who don't have insurance. It will change the way that they might possibly be able to get insurance. So let's take a look at the two big provisions that Dana just mentioned in her story. First of all, what this new plan would do is uninsured people would be able to try to participate in a nonprofit private insurance option.
COLLINS: What's that?
COHEN: I know, doesn't that sound crazy? I'll get to that in a second. And then the second one is that Medicare would basically start at age 55 instead 65. So, right, what is that? What that is, is theoretically the government would negotiate with private insurers to develop a program for people who currently don't have insurance. And so you - if you're uninsured now -
COLLINS: So that sounds like a public option.
COHEN: Well, but it would be administered by a private insurance company. It would be administered by an Aetna, a United, by a private insurance company.
COLLINS: But it would be a government plan first and then the insurance companies would administer it, right?
COHEN: They would administer it but it would be something - it would be sort of like the way federal employees are insured right now. Federal employees have private insurance.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: It's negotiated by the government but they have private insurance. But the big question here is how much is it going to cost? I mean, the reason why people are uninsured for the most part is they don't have enough money to buy insurance. So if the government negotiates a plan that's expensive, what's the point? COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: They can't afford it. So those are the details that remain to be seen.
COLLINS: Yes, yes. And then the Medicare thing, I guess the minute that you turn 55, you then get to go on Medicare which used to be 65, as you said.
COHEN: Yes. It would seem like it might work that way because that's the way that it works now. Your 65th birthday and you get Medicare, it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how wealthy you are or it doesn't matter if you have insurance. It appears that this might not work that way.
For example, if you're 55 and you have insurance through your employer, you might not be able to get Medicare. You might have to wait another 10 years. So it might not be exactly the way that it works now. And the concern here is that let's say you have a nice healthy 55-year-old and that 55-year-old has insurance on their own through the private sector and let's say they could get Medicare.
Well, that's bad news for the private insurance companies, right? They want that healthy 55-year-old as one of their insured. They don't want that person to have Medicare. So, anticipate some battling between insurance company and Congress.
COLLINS: Yes. A long, long way to go here -
COHEN: Yes.
COLLINS: What's next? What is the next phase?
COHEN: What's next is they need to put something on paper because right now we're all just talking, there's nothing on paper. So, gosh knows (AUDIO GAP) Congressional Budget Office needs to look at it, as Dan had mentioned. The CBO needs to say, yes, this is affordable or, no, this is going to cost a fortune. Right now, these are all just ideas, and someone needs to put it on paper and see if it makes financial sense.
COLLINS: Yes. I guess they have to agree before they can put it on paper.
COHEN: That's a good point.
COLLINS: Yes. We'll be watching as we have been. Elizabeth, thank you.
President Obama, only the second U.S. president to win a Nobel Prize while in office. We'll talk about how it might help him and how it might hurt him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins. COLLINS: In Oslo, Norway, Barack Obama becomes the fourth U.S. president to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. He praised the non- violence of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., while also saying war is sometimes justified and necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the commander-in-chief of the military, of the nation, in the midst of two wars.
One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek, one in which we are joined by 42 other countries, including Norway. In an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The president also said that a nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies and negotiations cannot persuade al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms.
So, that being said, a Nobel Peace Prize is great for anyone's resume, but for a sitting president with three years left in his first term, the benefits are a little hard to sort out. Here to help us with all of this, presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley.
Nice to have you on, Doug. Appreciate you being here. Off the top, how did you think the president did this morning?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I think it was a terrific speech and a major speech. It's really the Obama doctrine that was articulated here, meaning he really told the world why we are in Afghanistan, why in the modern world -- and he talked about technology and how quickly you can have a holocaust of sorts due to dirty bombs, due to anthrax, et cetera -- and we need to rally behind it. He said sometimes you have to kill to make peace.
This is very dramatic stuff. I think the conservative movement in the United States will have to embrace the speech to a degree. Some people on the left will think why are you injecting war into a Peace Prize speech, but he covered himself very well. He talked about that "I'm not really fit to be Mahatma Ghandi or Albert Schweitzer or even George Marshall. He called it a "great humility that I'm here," and that was an important tone.
So, I think he kind of defused his critics and ended up giving an important foreign policy speech that's going to be reprinted quite a bit because it shows his philosophy of what the United States needs to do now as we're heading into the new year.
COLLINS: Yes, I mean you say dramatic. I think I understand you to say dramatic because talking about people dying for the freedom of this country in war is a difficult thing to talk about in front of the audience for a peace prize. Obviously there have been many, many people who have lost their lives in fighting for the freedom of the United States, but there are people who say, you know, he's been in office less than a year when he won this peace prize, and they don't know where it's going to go from here. He's got a lot on his plate, obviously. What do you think about that?
BRINKLEY: Well, look, he didn't ask the to win the peace prize. If the question was phrased to me, has this prize been helpful to Barack Obama, that's a borderline call.
But if we're critiquing how he did in Oslo, what this speech meant, how well was it written, what messages did it send, it seems exactly right. It articulated his administration's foreign policy to the world, and I think it has important ramifications.
If we're going to be successful in Afghanistan and Pakistan, we need the world community. He talked with Woodrow Wilson and the League. He talked about the United Nations, and he even called out allies around the world and how we need their help to fight a global war on terror. He equated al Qaeda to Hitler and said sometimes there's evil in the world -- he actually said there's evil in the world and we have to take it out. That echoed Bush's kind of "Axis of Evil" speech.
And then there was a line, he didn't credit it to FDR, but it came from Franklin Roosevelt's "For Freedom" speech. Obama said, "You can't just fight freedom from fear but also freedom from want." He went in about how we have to do more on world hunger, and he called out by name people in Zimbabwe and other countries that are real freedom fighters. People working in shanty towns and ghettos trying to help the impoverished of the world, so he did strike that note also. It was an amalgam speech of what Obama thinks of the globe.
COLLINS: I know that you had an opportunity, Doug, to meet with him over the summer and for any president, I think their legacy is very important to them. Did you get a sense of what legacy means to him?
BRINKLEY: All presidents care about their legacy and particularly once they leave office. But he loves biographies of presidents. He likes talking about the other Nobel Peace Prize winning presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, specifically. I think he's one of those people -- he's wonkish in the sense that he loves presidential history, my field, so I'm grateful for that. He likes to talk about how past presidents, you know, dealt with crises, particularly Abraham Lincoln, who's his favorite.
COLLINS: All right, very good. Nice to have you this morning. Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian. Thanks so much.
And President Obama is just the fourth U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The first was Teddy Roosevelt in 1906. You heard us talking about here. Roosevelt won the award for brokering a treaty between Russia and Japan. Woodrow Wilson won the award in 1919 just after the end of World War I. He was honored for being the driving force behind the formation of the League of Nations.
President Jimmy Carter is the only one to win it after he left office. Carter was honored in 2002 for his more than 20 years of working to end global conflict.
Dozens of you now are responding to our blog this morning. The story of a Florida man on trial for murder, but a judge that wants to make him go into the makeup room first. Some of your responses could capture the judge's attention.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Checking our top stories now.
More debate today in the Senate on its health care reform bill. Meanwhile, a deal negotiated by Democrats to drop the controversial public option for a package of health care alternatives is getting praise from President Obama. But some medical and hospital groups oppose one part of the package that would allow people 55 and older to buy into the Medicare program.
The top U.S. envoy to North Korea is headed home without an agreement on new talks. Steven Bosworth says the two sides did come to a common understanding about the importance of nuclear disarmament. He was there to discuss restarting multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear program.
Day four now of the climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. And delegates are still pointing fingers over who's to blame for global warming and who should pay for it. The European Union is calling on all members to chip in and help poor nations curb their carbon emissions.
Over the next two weeks, CNN has the Copenhagen Climate Summit covered. Why it matters and what it means to you. Stay with us to find out and watch tonight when Campbell Brown takes an in-depth look at the e-mail controversy that threatens to overshadow the summit. That's tonight 8:00 Eastern, only on CNN.
And that brings us to today's blog question. We were telling you a little bit about this case that's going on and a judge has actually ordered the defendant to be detattooed, if you will. They have hired a makeup artist to come in and cover up some potentially offensive tattoos in this murder trial.
A lot of people against the idea. A lot of people say he deserves to have that fair shake before the jury makes a decision. So we went ahead and asked you what you thought about it. In fact, this cosmetologist that they're bringing in is going to be paid something like $150 a day to make sure that that makeup is applied to cover up the tattoos. So CNN.com/heidi.
Jinx writes this, "Really? This is ridiculous! Buy him a $10 turtleneck and be done with it. Why have taxpayers pay for this nonsense?"
And Antonio writes this, "When he put those tattoos on his face he decided that's the way he wanted the world to see him. See be it! The judge should have his forehead tattooed with the word gullible."
And then Brandon writes this, "I think this judge is horribly wrong. This defendant chose to make a public statement about who he is/was when he got tattooed. Doesn't the jury deserve to know who he thinks he is?"
And remember, we do like to hear from you. Just go ahead and log on to CNN.com/heidi. And there you see the tattoos on this defendant's face. Go ahead and log on to CNN.com/heidi and we'll share some more of your comments.
President Obama's top money man on the Hill and under the gun. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner talks about the bank bailouts -- what worked, what didn't and what's ahead.
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COLLINS: Well, I don't know if you can get any colder than this. Actually, I know that you can, I've lived it. But minus 25 degrees with the wind chill is not fun, and that is definitely what it's going to feel like in the upper Midwest today. A lot of traffic accidents to talk about, too. In fact, at least 17 deaths are reported there and in New England from monster snowstorm. Thousands of homes are without power, a lot of businesses and schools also shut down for at least another day.
Rob Marciano has been following this storm.
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COLLINS: All right, Rob, we know you're watching all of it, including the dogs. Thank you.
The government threw $700 billion at the financial sector last year and now one of the biggest recipients of that bailout money could be paying it back. Felicia Taylor is in New York with details on Citigroup.
Felicia, good morning to you. Yes, we've been hearing about this with a lot of companies who want to be paying back the government. How much did Citigroup get, remind us, in the beginning?
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Citigroup got $45 billion in TARP money. It is trying to pay back almost half of that, about $20 billion, in a stock sale. Several reports say the bank is working to reach an agreement with federal officials.
Remember, though, banks can't actually repay the bailout money without government approval. Officials want to make sure that Citi is actually healthy enough to return the money. Citigroup so far isn't commenting. This is after Bank of America we heard also got a $45 billion bailout, they gave the money back to the government in the full amount -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So if Citigroup repays the bailout money, then the bank will be free of government's control, right?
TAYLOR: Yes and no. Pay restrictions -- yes, it's never an easy deal, right?
COLLINS: No, it's not.
TAYLOR: Pay restrictions on Citigroup's top 25 earners will be lifted, but the bank and others that took TARP money will still have those bonus caps. Bonuses can only be doled out in stock and only up to a third of a person's overall salary. So it's kind of a little bit of a caveat. If they did pay it back in full or even half of the money, there's kind of an upside and downside to it with returns for those top earners, the 25 top earners.
So on Wall Street, though, we've got a pretty upbeat day. We had a report that showed the nation's trade deficit improved in October. Right now we're still up across the board where we've been at the open. The Dow Industrials up two-thirds of 1 percent as is the Nasdaq and the S&P. So, so far it's a good day -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So far, so good. All right, thanks so much, Felicia.
They are also talking TARP on Capitol Hill. One day after announcing the bailout program would be extended, the treasury secretary is explaining why. Stephanie Elam is in the CNNMoney.com newsroom in New York to talk a little more about this side of things.
Hey there, Stephanie. A lot of disagreement over the future of this program, right?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
Oh, for sure. We all know that the TARP has been wildly unpopular and there are a lot of lawmakers who would like to see it expire at the end of the year. But as of yesterday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner notified lawmakers that the bailout program will stay in place until next October.
Right now he's on Capitol Hill testifying before the Congressional Oversight Panel. That's the independent body that oversees the bailout program, and so far that panel has been pretty critical of the TARP. Although the panel credits the program with stopping a financial collapse, it says TARP hasn't done enough to get banks lending again or to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
That's exactly why Geithner says TARP needs to be extended.
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TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. SECRETARY OF TREASURY: We will limit new commitments under this program in 2010 to three areas -- housing, small banks and credit markets for consumers and small businesses. For housing, we're going to continue to work to mitigate foreclosures for responsible American homeowners as we take the steps necessary to continue to help stabilize the housing market. For small businesses we recently launched initiatives to provide capital to small and community banks that commit to increase lending to small businesses and we are reserving additional funds for additional efforts to facilitate small business lending. And finally, we are going to continue to support the securities markets that are necessary for credit flows to consumers and small businesses.
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ELAM: Now, at the hearing Geithner is also stressing that bailout's price tag will be about $200 billion less than originally expected.
If you have more questions about this, Heidi, for everyone out there, you can always head to CNNMoney.com and read the full article here.
Back to you.
COLLINS: All right, very good. We'll do it. Thanks, Stephanie.
Danger on your doorstep. How would you like to come home and find this little guy at your door? See ya later, alligator. That story is ahead.
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COLLINS: Wow, that's some serious animation, isn't it?
MARCIANO: Yes. Welcome back. Heidi has been gone for a little bit, but we've got this video to show you.
COLLINS: Yes, we want to show you the alligator we were telling you about, because -- yes, Palm Harbor, Florida, near Tampa. I don't know. How big?
MARCIANO: The gator?
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: Probably size 12, 12-and-a-half, pretty decent-size bag. I don't know -- 10-footer, 10-foot gator found at a home. They took care of it.
COLLINS: They took pictures too. Nobody hurt. The gator was caught, but not sure of its fate now, because they deal with this a lot in Florida.
