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American Morning
Black Leaders Want Race Discussion from Obama; Obama Defending Reid's Remarks; McGwire Confesses Steroids Use; Madonna Opening School in Malawi
Aired January 12, 2010 - 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: Good morning. Thanks very much for being with us on the Most News in the Morning on this Tuesday, the 12th of January. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. There are a lot of big stories we're going to be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
First, President Obama is now defending Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for comments he made about the president's race back in 2008. The president also says it's time to move on.
But some black leaders say that the president is missing a chance for a real discussion about race in America. We're going to be talking about that with Suzanne Malveaux live from the White House in just a moment.
ROBERTS: Former slugger Mark McGwire confirming what most fans already suspected, that he took steroids. McGwire is calling it a foolish mistake, asking for a second chance in baseball. That is one thing that he is not willing to admit that has some people questioning his motives.
CHETRY: Also, Madonna giving back. After adopting two children from the African nation of Malawi, the star is putting her money where her mouth is, building a $15 million school for girls there. And she's talking about it only to our Alina Cho.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADONNA, SINGER/FOUNDER, "RAISING MALAWI": My biggest asset as a human being is, I would say my resiliency and my survival skills. You know, that -- you know, I'm like a cockroach, you can't get rid of me.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, you want to talk about, so -- but that's helpful in philanthropy.
MADONNA: It is. Yes, right? It is. I mean, you have to -- you have to be pretty tireless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: We're going to have more on Alina Cho's exclusive one- on-one with Madonna -- coming up. But first, President Obama is stepping into the controversy surrounding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Many in the GOP want Reid gone after comments from 2008 surfaced in a new book. Reid quoted as privately saying that then-Senator Obama would be a good candidate for president because he's, quote, "light-skinned with No negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
Reid apologized. And now, both he and the president say they just want to move on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NEV), MAJORITY LEADER: I've apologized to the president. I've apologized to everyone that -- within the sound of my voice, that I could have used a better choice of words. So, I am -- I'm not going to dwell on this anymore. It's in the book. I made all the statements I'm going to.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a good man who has always been on the right side of history. For him to have used some inartful language in trying to praise me and for people to try to make hay out of that, makes absolutely no sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So there you hear it. The president is saying about it, trying to put the whole issue behind him. But some leaders in the black community say he is missing a major chance to kick-start a real discussion about race in this country.
Our Suzanne Malveaux is tracking that side of the story and joins us live from the White House this morning.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran.
Well, in covering President Obama during the campaign, there were many occasions to talk about race, whether it's slavery reparations or affirmative action, it is something that he really embraced, per se. This president says he accepts Reid's apology, that this is a close door case here. He does not feel like it's important or necessary to keep talking about this.
But I did get a chance to speak with some of his biggest supporters to get a sense from them, and some people want him to take a more active leadership role. Why? Because it is so different for people to address the issue of race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Some want the president to step into the controversy.
PROF. MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, SOCIOLOGY DEPT. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: We cannot have an open, honest, real discussion about race in this country. And I think this is, quite frankly, one of the failures of our new president. He's a remarkable man. He's an insightful man. But I think he's aloof to speak about race.
MALVEAUX: He avoided the issue throughout the campaign, until he was forced to address it after his pastor made racial remarks. In July, as president, Mr. Obama tried to cool off a hot confrontation between a black professor and white police officer.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: President Obama cannot always have a beer summit every time there are problems or the issue of race come up, as he did last year when the situation involving Professor Gates and Officer Crowley.
MALVEAUX: But could this be another teachable moment?
DYSON: We don't expect Mr. Obama to speak to this issue of the race because he's a black man. We expect him to speak to the issue of race because he's the president. We have a teachable moment here but the professor will not come to the classroom.
MALVEAUX: Many believe President Obama is uniquely suited to take on the issue of race, being racial, a strong communicator with the bully pulpit of the presidency. But Americans struggle to talk about race in an open and honest way.
Black leaders say sure, Senator Reid's comments were offensive, to call Mr. Obama appealing for being light-skinned with no Negro dialect. But they also say he's speaking the hard truth.
DYSON: Ninety-nine percent of people in this country who heard that probably and readily understood what he meant and the question is: how can we get beyond some of this vicious epithet and name- calling, and get to some of the deeper issues.
MALVEAUX: Deeper issues like the reality, that light-skinned blacks are sometimes favored.
BRAZILE: I come from a very large family. I am -- I'm darker. My skin is -- my tone, my complexion, is much darker than some of my siblings, and yet, as a child growing up in the segregated Deep South, we often talked about whether or not we could succeed given the complexion of our skin.
MALVEAUX: And how one speaks.
DYSON: We know what Harry Reid meant. He doesn't have the typical intonations of African-American culture. But a lot of black people don't do that. They get accused of sounding white.
MALVEAUX: The problem some believe is Americans still either cannot or do not want to talk about race.
BRAZILE: We don't have the common language to discuss issues, especially issues like racism and the sensitivity around discussing race. And because of that, people often, you know, trip over themselves. DYSON: This is Mr. Obama's Achilles' heel as well, and I think we need to call him on that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And, Kiran, just an inside tidbit, it was -- the first lady, Michelle Obama as well as close friends the last go around who gave the president a little more of a nudge to get involved in the racial incident that led to the beer summit back in July. I am told by people who I speak with, "Look, this is ripe to that occasion. This is not the same kind of scenario that the president, if he thought it would be helpful to really have a serious conversation about race, he would. But he feels like this is one of the moments that's kind of like a gotcha moment -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. And the other element of about is that it was from a -- it happened so long ago. I mean, he wasn't even president at the time, right? I mean, this is a quote from when they were talking of getting him to run a few years back.
MALVEAUX: And, Kiran, you also saw in that clip, the sound from the president, clearly he's frustrated here because he says, look, he believes that Senator Reid is a good man with a good heart and he's got a track record in supporting civil rights to back it up. These are two individuals who also need each other, Kiran, politically as well, the president depending on Senator Reid to push through the health care legislation in the next couple weeks, and, of course, Senator Reid, who needs the president to help him get re-elected.
Senior administration officials told us that President Obama is going to be on the campaign trail with Reid in February in Nevada to back him.
CHETRY: Yes. We'll see what happens, because, of course, as always, there's huge political elements in this as well.
Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning -- thanks.
ROBERTS: Disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is now backpedaling after boasting to "Esquire" magazine that he is, quote, "blacker than Barack Obama," because, as he said, he used to shine shoes, live in an five-room apartment and his father owned a Laundromat in a black neighborhood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FMR. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: What is said was stupid, stupid, stupid. It was a metaphor. I was speaking metaphorically. Obviously, I'm not blacker than President Obama. What I was saying was stupid, and, again, if anybody is offended, I deeply apologize for the way that was said and for having said it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: If you didn't get that, he said it was a stupid thing to say. Ahead on the Most News in the Morning: a frank discussion about race in America. We'll be talking with Boyce Watkins, assistant professor at Syracuse University, and Dawn Turner Trice, columnist and blogger with the "Chicago Tribune."
CHETRY: All right. Well, a story that's developing right now that we're watching for you.
Iraqi security forces locked down parts of Baghdad this morning. People were told to take shelter in fear of what was being called a, quote, "massive terror attack." Now, military officials say they were searching neighborhoods for possible car bombs. The security operation comes as Iraq gets ready for crucial nationwide elections which are taking place in March.
ROBERTS: Eight minutes after the hour. Rob Marciano is tracking the extreme weather across the country for us today, and he is live in the weather center in Atlanta.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John.
Still cold across the east coast. We have such a slow -- agonizing slow warm-up, and that continues today as far as not really getting a whole lot warmer. Temps are below freezing in places like Orlando, not quite as freezing in Fort Lauderdale. So, a few degrees warmer across Florida, but still chilly. In the mid-20s in Memphis, and upper 20s in Atlanta.
We actually have a reinforcing shot of cool air. I wouldn't call it as arctic air, but it's going to be enough to slow down the warming by another day, day and a half. And then we'll start the warm-up process, late in the week. A series of storms are coming into the west coast, we'll talk more about that. The pattern, finally guys, is beginning to shift.
We'll talk more in 30 minutes. See you then.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much.
Mark McGwire sobs and apologizes for using steroids back when he was on the chase for the home run record. What was McGwire up to and why did he wait so long to tell anybody about it? We'll ask those questions coming up.
It's nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We're back with the Most News in the Morning, at 11 1/2 minutes after the hour.
Mark McGwire admits that he used steroids for some 10 years. The former slugger confessing that he broke Roger Maris' single season home run record in 1998 while using performance-enhancing drugs. CHETRY: But he claims that they did not enhance his performance. In fact, he's saying he only took them because they were helping out with injuries.
So, Jason Carroll joins us now.
Jason, you know, a player who never wanted to discuss the situation, he didn't want to discuss his past, what he said in 2005 when he testified before Congress about the issue. But now, it looks like he's opening up with an eye toward the future.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Opening up because he -- you know, he's accepted this new job. He wants to come in it with a clean slate. We're going to see if he accomplished that after this particular interview.
You know, he raked up huge numbers: 70 home runs in a record- breaking season -- a super human performance that left a lot of people wondering if he was getting a little boost. Now the all-star says he's trying to set the record straight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK MCGWIRE, FORMER MLB SLUGGER: I have let a lot of people down. It doesn't feel good.
CARROLL (voice-over): During an emotional interview, the former slugger finally admitting what many had suspected, he used steroids.
MCGWIRE: It was the era that we played in. I wish I never played in that era. I wish we had drug testing.
CARROLL: That era included an epic battle with Sammy Sosa, a home run race during the 1998 season that captivated the country and ended with McGwire breaking the single season record set by Roger Maris.
MCGWIRE: It's actually amazing. It's you know, just -- it blows me away.
CARROLL: McGwire made his way to stands for an emotional moment with Maris' children, a bond that came full circle this week when McGwire picked up a phone and broke the news to Maris' widow.
MCGWIRE: She was disappointed and she has every right to be. And I -- and I couldn't tell her how much sorry -- how much -- how so sorry I was.
CARROLL: But it's what McGwire isn't saying that's causing another controversy. While McGwire admitted to taking the illegal drugs, he says he did to overcome injuries from the game, but would not say the drugs improved his game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you have done those things? Could you have hit 70 home runs without using steroids?
MCGWIRE: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think so?
MCGWIRE: I actually believe so. I was given this gift by the man upstairs.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, USA TODAY COLUMNIST: There is a word for taking performance-enhancing drugs to get better from injury, and that word is: it's cheating.
CARROLL: Questions have swirled around McGwire for a decade. At least one broadcaster admits he and his colleagues were suspicious at the time but had no proof.
CHARLEY STEINER, SPORTS BROADCASTER: We covered the stories as best we could. Here are these guys breaking the home run record, and they are very large.
CARROLL: In his 2005 tell-all book "Juiced," Jose Canseco says he injected McGwire with steroids. McGwire now says not true. But that same year, McGwire was famously silent on the topic when testifying to Congress.
MCGWIRE: I'm not here to discuss the past. I'm here to be positive about this.
CARROLL: In terms of what's next, McGwire says he's hoping for a chance to focus on the future and his new job with the St. Louis Cardinals.
MCGWIRE: I just want to be a really good-hitting coach. I have a lot to offer. I'm asking for a second chance. I hope they give it to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, that remains to be seen. McGwire says he's speaking out now so he can move forward with that job as the Cardinal's batting coach. And so far, the Cardinals are standing by him. You know, he also said during that interview, he did not want to be a distraction to the Cardinals. It seems like it's kind of distracting at this point, but, you know, we'll see what time -- what happens over time.
CHETRY: Yes, and we will see if some of the fans who are so upset about this are willing to move on.
CARROLL: Yes.
Another interesting point was the fact that, which we did not have an opportunity to bring out in the pieces was he did explain why he was stonewalling Congress. He basically said it was because he was trying to protect his family and friends.
CHETRY: Jason Carroll for us this morning, thank you.
CARROLL: All right.
ROBERTS: Be sure and catch Mark McGwire's former Oakland As teammate Jose Canseco. He's going to be appearing tonight with Larry King on "LARRY KING LIVE." Canseco claims that he introduced McGwire to steroids, actually, as Jason says, injected him. That's tonight at 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.
CHETRY: All right, well, still ahead, you know a lot of anger over the bailout still and the big bonuses from the banks. Perhaps there's a new plan in the works in Washington, a tax on the banks and the bankers. Stephanie Elam is Minding your Business, and she will join us after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": The Winter Olympics are coming up. Yes. This is true. NBC announced they expect to lose $200 million on the Winter Olympics next month. Folks, is it just me, or is that story hilarious?
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: As you said before, there you go, right? He is getting paid to sit there and rip on his bosses.
ROBERTS: Amazing.
CHETRY: Stephanie Elam is Minding your Business this morning. She joins us now. It's 19 minutes past the hour.
So with all the outrage about the bailouts and the bonuses and on and on, is there a way perhaps to smooth things over and make things better when it comes to the banks?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Therein lies the question that the White House is busy mulling right now as they put together the 2011 budget. And that's one of the things that we're hearing a bit about. We're hearing a discussion that perhaps the White House is going to find a way to tax the large financial institutions that have received some of that TARP money.
So let's take a look at what they really want to do here. They want to make sure that taxpayers who help bail out the banks actually get their money back. They want to reduce the budget deficit, and they want to rein in the banks' excessive risk-taking.
They also are very much aware that people are a little ticked off about bonus season, which will be here in the next few weeks or so. They hope that this will curb some of the anger that you have been seeing around that. So what I can tell you is it doesn't look like it will target companies like AIG and the auto companies simply because they're still hurting. They're not back on their feet. A lot of those larger financial institutions are reporting record profits.
You do have people saying this is too much for the banks to deal with because they are just now getting back on their feet, and if they have to do this then they will not be able to help small businesses in lending. And a lot of people are saying that's not true.
CHETRY: Will it basically be a windfall on what they made this past year?
ELAM: That's what they're still working out. We do know when TARP was built in October of 2008, this is one of the things that it included that they could go ahead and find a way to recoup money they did not get.
ROBERTS: Will the banks say, OK, and reach into their pockets and pull up the cash, or will they say, we don't have the money, so we are going to pass it along to our valued customers?
ELAM: More than likely they will try to find a way to pass it on the customers. They are being very quiet about what the plans are until we get to the budget in February.
ROBERTS: OK, Stephanie Elam Minding your Business this morning. Steph, thanks.
It's 21 minutes after the hour. Senator Reid's comments from a couple years ago have prompted another discussion about race in America, what should and should not be said. We will get into the conversation ourselves this morning with Boyce Watkins and Don Turner Trice coming right up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 24 minutes after the hour, and that means it's time for an "A.M." original, something that you will only see on "American Morning." And this week we're spotlighting celebrities who are giving back in a big way. Today we focus on Madonna.
CHETRY: She adopted two children from Malawi. And now the global superstar has returned to the impoverished African nation to help young girls in need.
Our Alina Cho joins us now with her special series "Big Stars, Big Giving." And we had run this around the holidays, and we got such an enormous response we wanted to show people again what some of these big-name celebrities are doing.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wanted to run it again, too. Yes, it did get a lot of attention, this interview. And I was lucky to sit down with her.
A lot of people know that Madonna has two children from Malawi, but few know what she was doing in the small African nation to change lives. She is actually building a $15 million academy for girls there, and for the first time she is talking about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: She is a woman that only needs one name.
CHO (on camera): So, you are Madonna.
MADONNA, SINGER/SONGWRITER: No, I'm not.
CHO: Yes, you are.
(LAUGHTER)
CHO (voice-over): Madonna has spent most of her life being provocative, but these days nothing is more important than her children, two of them adopted from Malawi, a small African nation where more than a half million children are orphaned by AIDS.
CHO (on camera): All of those orphans --
MADONNA: I would like to take them all hope, yes, if I could.
CHO (voice-over): Because she can't and because she's Madonna, she made a documentary about the country.
MADONNA: People always ask me why I chose Malawi, and I tell them, I didn't, it chose me.
CHO: She also founded the charity Raising Malawi to help the orphans she can't bring home.
MADONNA: We found a lot of people sick and dying of HIV, and it felt like a death camp. And it was astonishing. And so, on the other hand, though, everybody that I met was also incredibly brave. So it's a confusing paradox.
CHO (on camera): As much suffering as there is there, there's a certain spirit to the people.
MADONNA: Yes, there is, because, on the one hand, I went and thought I have to help, and I have to save these people. And then I thought wait, I think they might be saving me.
CHO: Why do you say that?
MADONNA: Because they help you get a sense of appreciation for life and for what you have.
CHO (voice-over): A new appreciation for life, and a new sense of responsibility. Her latest project, breaking ground on a $15 million boarding school, the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, slated to open in 2012.
MADONNA: I never intended to go to Malawi and just sort of dump a bunch of aid on people and flee the country. It's always been about partnership.
CHO: And she is putting her money where her mouth is. Every dollar donated to RaisingMalawi.org, Madonna will match. It's at $300,000 and counting.
MADONNA: My biggest asset as a human being, I would say, is my resiliency and my survival skills. I am like a cockroach. You can't get rid of me.
CHO (on camera): But that's helpful in philanthropy.
MADONNA: It is. You have to be pretty tireless.
CHO (voice-over): Her tenacity was on display back in 2006, when many people, both in Malawi and around the world, accused her of using her celebrity and her money to buy an adoption. She won. David, now four, calls Madonna mom.
MADONNA: It seems a lot of the things I do end up being controversial, even when I don't mean to be.
CHO (on camera): Does it hurt your feelings?
MADONNA: Hurt my feelings -- I don't know if it hurts my feelings. Sometimes I am pretty prepared often for some of the thing that I say and do, and I know it will freak some people up. And other things that I do, like adopting a child that is about to die, I don't think I am going to get a hard time, and I do.
CHO: Yet Madonna says she will take the criticism if it means one more child in Malawi gets to go to school, survive, and thrive.
CHO (on camera): It seems like you help one kid and there is 1,000 more standing in line. And it can be overwhelming.
MADONNA: Yes, it can. Sometimes it stops you dead in your tracks and you think, my god, I can't do this. But then I see the success rate and I talk to the people in Malawi whose lives have been changed, and that helps me and keeps me going.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: When I asked Madonna how aware she is of her celebrity today, she said I am aware of it when I was on the red carpet and I'm aware of it when there was paparazzi waiting out my door, and I am aware of it when I can use my name to change lives.
And guys, that's exactly what she's doing. You know, you think about it. I asked her why girls. And she said I visited Malawi, and the women were the ones doing all the work. They had the babies on the back and were raking up the dirt, and yet there were no opportunities for them for education.
And when you think about it, the life expectancy of a woman in Malawi is 35 years old. She believes that by building this school she is literally saving lives. And that is exactly what she will do. ROBERTS: And, you know, anecdotally, at least, there is proof that when agencies come in and they help lift up women in impoverished countries, they actually do really, really well.
CHO: That's exactly right. And also that's why you see so many people, so many celebrities, really, too, building schools, because education, really at the end of the day, is key, especially in those kinds of countries.
CHETRY: The only way out of that situation that you were just describing.
Great stuff, Alina, thanks so much.
And, by the way, if you would like to know more about this and find out more about it, check out our web extra. Go to CNN.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: Half past the hour now, and that means it's time for this morning's top stories.
President Obama and the first lady will go to Wilmington, Delaware today to attend the funeral of Gene Biden, the vice president's mother. She died Friday at 92 years of age. The funeral mass is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. eastern.
CHETRY: It's an update to a story we first brought you yesterday. Wal-Mart now says it is pulling children's jewelry made in China that contain dangerous metals like cadmium. The move follows an Associated Press investigation that found items purchased in New York, Ohio, Texas, and California that they had tested all had high levels of cadmium, and in some cases 90 percent.
Cadmium is linked to some cancers and other behavioral and developmental problems in children.
ROBERTS: And New Jersey is set to become the 14th state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana. Chronically ill patients will be allowed to buy two ounces of marijuana a month from registered alternative treatment centers.
Both President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say they want to move past the controversial comments that Reid made about the president's race during the 2008 election. But some leaders in the black community say the president is missing a chance to start a real discussion about race in America.
Here for the a.m. breakdown this morning, Boyce Watkins, an assistant professor with Syracuse University and the author of the "Chicago Tribune's" online forum exploring race, and columnists and blogger Dawn Turner Trice. It's good to talk to you both this morning
Dawn, let's start off with you. I guess you could say this has prompted another, quote, "teachable moment" in America. What's the takeaway for you here?
DAWN TURNER TRICE, COLUMNIST AND BLOGGER, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": For me it's that we have to continue to talk about this. We can't only talk about it when we have these national flare-ups regarding race. This takes time and nuanced conversations.
ROBERTS: So Boyce, what is this for you, what's the take away for you in this sort of teachable moment?
BOYCE WATKINS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: The takeaway is that there is a teachable moment, but we can't allow politicians to do all the teaching. If you watched President Obama's interview with Roland Martin, the conversation tends to be let's sweep this under the rug and throw the baby out with the bathwater and move on.
But the truth is that they are trying to get health care passed, and that's good, I respect that, but I want to have the conversation on race.
When I spoke to Reverend Al Sharpton the other day, we asked why is it the case that we keep saying we will have this conversation on race but never do it. That's a conversation that needs to be had in the American public and not on Capitol Hill. So we are pushing forward with the national conversation now.
ROBERTS: It may be that politics inevitably creeps into this. For example, conservatives are accusing Democrats of a double standard. Democrats called for Trent Lott's head when he made statements in support of Strom Thurmond, but they rushed to forgive Harry Reid. Michael Steele, the RNC Chairman, made a direct comparison between Reid and Lott.
What do you think, Dawn, of that comparison, and is there a double standard at work in America?
TRICE: The comparison is not a fair one. It's very different when a person, as Trent Lott did, is supportive of a campaign that was segregationist. Compare that to the comments that Harry Reid made, really acknowledging a truth.
It's unfortunate that light skin is still prized over dark skin in some circles. But those are very different occasions. It's one thing to talk about race or to say something that may be racially insensitive, and to make racists comments.
And so I think that -- and Michael Steele, he, again, as Boyce said we're talking about politics. And if we inject that in it, it makes it a little more sullied, the discussion. And it's not a nuanced discussion about race.
Michael Steele -- and I believe he understands the difference in these two situations. Michael Steele himself kind of trafficked in this using the language last week when he made the honest engine comment.
ROBERTS: Correct.
TRICE: And so I think a lot of this -- and I honestly don't believe he understood what he was saying at the time when he said it. So a lot of this is us not understanding each other and not talking about it in a way that really gets beyond the surface.
ROBERTS: Let me bring forward one more point forward and pitch it your way, Boyce. Ward Connerly writing in "The Wall Street Journal" about the statements that Reid made and how Reid was quick to receive forgiveness from prominent African-Americans.
He writes, quote, "We are too quick to take offense about race when none was intended. Some are too anxious to manufacture outrage over matters that do not justify the attention that we give them, and we're too quick to politicize race.
As far as I'm concerned, Misters Bond, Sharpton, Jackson, and a host of other Americans formerly identified as "negroes" have forever forfeited the right to be outraged whenever a Republican or a talk show host makes an inappropriate or insensitive racial comment."
Your take on that, Boyce?
WATKINS: Well, I think that when considering controversial comments, you must consider the context and the character of the commentator. And so what someone says is not nearly as important as who is actually saying it.
If you look Ward Connerly's history in terms of dismantling affirmative action and doing the things he has done, you know you won't a fair and square analysis of this situation.
I think that Harry Reid's words were incredibly inappropriate, but at the same time, he was not necessarily saying I will not support Obama if he were dark-skinned or I would not support him if he spoke in "negro dialect," whatever that is. He was saying that America would not support him if these things were true, which I think was ultimately true.
I was probably more offended by what Bill Clinton said that a few years ago this guy would have been getting us coffee. That was more offensive than the comments made by Harry Reid. But why are the Republicans going after Harry Reid but not Clinton? It's because Harry Reid has power and they want to chop off the head of the Democratic Party.
ROBERTS: Dawn, final thoughts here?
TRICE: What we tried to do on the "Chicago Tribune" website in this discussion is to make it open and honest. Studies have shown that it's not just -- some of these fears, people will avoid the conversation.
And the country is changing. In a couple decades, we will have a country with a very different racial makeup. And we will have to have these conversations, and it's to our peril if we don't.
ROBERTS: Thank you for being with us this morning and adding to the discussion. We appreciate it. CHETRY: And still ahead, we are talking about the suspected CIA bomber, the double agent. It's being called right now the biggest deception ever by intelligence agencies. How he managed to outsmart the CIA.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
There are many questions still about the suicide bomber that killed seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan last month. How this double agent was able to slip past security to outsmart his handlers and play the game better than our spies. Our Nic Robertson has been tracking his steps to extremism. He joins us live from Amman, Jordan, with this morning security watch.
And Nic, still a lot of questions of how this was able to happen in the first place.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning, Kiran. That's exactly the question people here are asking. We have been talking to intelligent sources here, some of them familiar with running agents in the region. They know what they are talking about.
They raised concerns like how could such a young spy as this Dr. Balawi be trusted. They say that there were many, many missed opportunities to stop this.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the murky world of spying, there are a few rules, no right, no wrong, only shades of gray. Success is by its nature rarely noticed, but failure is catastrophic.
So how was a Jordanian doctor from here in Amman able to play double agent and apparently outsmart his CIA handlers and prove he was better at the deadly game of espionage?
HASSAN HANIEH, REFORMED EXTREMIST (via translator): This is the biggest deception ever of intelligence agencies, whether CIA or Jordanian agents. From the beginning he was deceiving them.
ROBERTSON: He was once an Islamic extremist, but not a member of Al Qaeda. He has read the bombers radical blogs and says intelligence agencies made an obvious mistake in believing Dr. Humam al-Balawi could change.
HANIEH (via translator): We have never seen in the history of Al Qaeda a person who changed his ideas completely in this sudden way, a person who writes Jihadi stuff and then suddenly switches sides.
ALI SHUKRI, FORMER ADVISER TO KING HUSSEIN: This was always a red flag, and it should always be that. For somebody who has been doing this to be turned is not an easy thing to do. ROBERTSON: According to the Shukri, a veteran of Middle East espionage, it wasn't the only mistake intelligence agencies made. Al- Balawi was in Pakistan only a few months before offering high grade tips, too soon for him to be trusted by Al Qaeda.
SHUKRI: Was he really that much on the inside? Or was it a competent intelligence operation?
ROBERTSON (on camera): Would that have been a warning sign for you, because he was providing information so quickly?
SHUKRI: So quickly, exactly.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Sources familiar with intelligence operations here tell us that Al Qaeda takes at least a year to screen new recruits, check out their family background, and get input from jihadists who know them.
ROBERTSON (on camera): And Al Qaeda would never trust an outsider who had been arrested, and al-Balawi blogged about his own arrest by Jordanian intelligence.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In this picture taken two years before the attack, al-Balawi looks calm and relaxed. But his family says he was under pressure. Sources say if he was pushed by Jordanian intelligence into infiltrating Al Qaeda, as his family believes, that made him potentially unreliable.
SHUKRI: Rules are broken when you put something on the fast track. You tend to break rules. Maybe this is what happened.
ROBERTSON: Another of the basic lessons of espionage -- patience and caution are everything.
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ROBERTSON: And another warning that was missed according to sources we're talking here, they say a very obvious one, that the agents within this region have never been successful putting an agent into an organization like al Qaeda. They say you just have to find somebody already on the inside and recruit them if you want to be successful -- Kiran, John.
CHETRY: Nic Robertson for us this morning. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Our Rob Marciano is tracking the weather across the country today. A little bit of a relaxation in the chill down in the south. We've got lots of storms lining up in the west. Rob has got the complete travel forecast for you coming up.
It's now 45 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Good morning, New York where it's cloudy and 29 degrees right now later on today. A few snow flurries around in a high of 33 but it may be warming up toward the end of the week. We might get a good weekend out of it.
Our Rob Marciano is tracking the weather across the country; it's extreme in some places. He joins now us with a look. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, John. Yes, it's funny to see the white there in Central Park. And when you think about winters across parts of the East Coast and it's not every year...
ROBERTS: It actually wasn't white.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: I think it's the camera shot. There was no snow.
CHETRY: Yes, that was so weird.
ROBERTS: Yes there is no snow in New York. So it was just the color of the stone.
CHETRY: Yes, I thought the same thing. I thought, where did all that snow come from? But no it's just the stone.
ROBERTS: Yes.
MARCIANO: I am not going crazy. I feel better.
ROBERTS: No, you're not, you're fine, you're fine.
MARCIANO: Thanks for clarifying that.
All right, let's -- going to show you stuff that's happening here. Sean, if you can click on these stuffs; it seems to be stuck on me. A couple of record lows this morning across parts of Florida; Tampa, Melbourne, both got temps into the mid-20s again. And there's all sorts of comparisons being done with these cold snap.
Places like Nashville and Memphis and parts of the mid-south saying it's the third coldest start to a year that they have ever recorded. Places like Florida, where the temperature is not necessarily record breaking, but the number of hours or number of days that they have been at or below a certain temperature, that's the kind of thing that they have been keeping track of.
And I think in south Florida the sea temperature never get above 50 for a two-day stretch. That likely is one of the colder ones in history as well.
All right, tomorrow's daytime highs looking like this; a little bit of a warm-up; 64 in Miami and 59 degrees in Tampa. But still chilly in Atlanta 48 degrees there and 34 degrees in New York, holding out for snow but none in the forecast at least in the immediate future.
Storms are lining up out of west. That will be the next focal point for our weather here over the next couple days. John and Kiran back up to you. ROBERTS: Rob thanks.
CHETRY: We'll let you know if there is snow.
ROBERTS: Yes and we can actually show you Central Park right now, right?
CHETRY: Absolutely. Let's show it.
There we go. Everyone is doing push-ups, including our own Dr. Gupta. He's training by the way for a triathlon with six of our own viewers that also we're going to be training alongside of them. They got their workout for them and we're going to meet them next.
Fifty minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. Well, do you want to know what Dr. Gupta's New Year's resolution was? It was to become a tri-athlete.
ROBERTS: Yes and he is not alone on this one. Sanjay chose six "American Morning" viewers to train for the New York City Triathlon which is coming up in July. We introduced you to three of them in our last hour. Let's meet the rest of the team.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now live from Central Park.
Your life is about to get a whole lot busier, Sanjay as if that were even possible.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. About 30 degrees outside, it's like, I've always wanted to do a triathlon. I've been a runner for a long time but this idea of getting fit and watching your body change and all of that. I heard triathlons could potentially do that for you. I started to doing a lot of research and also I invited your viewers, John and Kiran to join us as well.
They sent in lots of videos and saying that they wanted to join us as well. There was an overwhelming response. And I want to introduce you to three more of our "Fit Nation's" colleagues here. First of all, Stanley thanks so much for joining us.
STANLEY SABALLETT, FIT NATION PARTICIPANT: Thank you.
GUPTA: You're from San Diego, you work with under privileged teens as you told us. And you also had a family history, both of your parents, your mother and your father died of heart disease and cancer.
SABALLETT: Sure.
GUPTA: You decided it was time to make a change in your life. You are 35. What motivated you? SABALLETT: Well, that's exactly right, you know, my history, my health family and my parents passing away from heart disease and cancer. And you know where I work with it's with young people between ages 16 and 24. And I really want to inspire them to work out and live healthy and be happy.
GUPTA: What has been their response? Have you told them about this?
SABALLETT: Oh man, they are so excited and jazzed. They are ready to pump out and I'm ready to go.
GUPTA: And you're doing well so far.
SABALLETT: Thank you.
GUPTA: So we're excited to have you. Thanks so much.
SABALLETT: Thank you.
GUPTA: Linda, you are joining us from Oregon. Thanks so much for being here. You wrote that you've been in a bad car accident and you had been off work for a long time. Now it's time to get back to work. You wanted to use this triathlon as sort of a motivator and a vehicle to get there.
Are you worried? Do you have apprehensions about this?
LINDA FISHER-LEWIS, FIT NATION PARTICIPANT: I think probably a little bit. But mostly I just want to show myself and others that I am ready to get back to the road. And it's been a struggle and I was supposedly never to return. And I think I showed that I can do that.
And I think -- just hope we will inspire others as well as myself to get out there and get fit and follow your dreams.
GUPTA: A triathlon is a big way to start coming back from something like this.
LEWIS: Yes, I think it is but I think in my job, you do all different kinds of things. It's like the triathlon asked for and so what better way to be prepared.
GUPTA: I can't wait to work out with you.
Dean, you are from right here in New York City. This is home for you. You are a police officer, which requires a certain level of fitness. You are recently married, you don't have children yet.
And you told me two things. You want to quit smoking. And you also want to be in great shape before you do have that first child.
What was the thinking in all this?
DEAN HANAN, FIT NATION PARTICIPANT: Well, when I was growing up, my dad was always running. He was like the only one in the neighborhood always going for a run. He provided a really good example for me. So I want to do that for the kids that I will have in the future.
GUPTA: Is this something you are apprehensive about?
HANAN: A little bit, yes. It's been a long time. It's probably been about 10 - 11 years since I've done anything near this. I've never done a triathlon but listen, nothing comes easy. You have to work for it, and I am ready to do it.
GUPTA: You're a police officer. How are your colleagues reacting to this? Are they giving you any grief?
HANAN: Let's just say my locker is probably not going to be that clean for the next month or so. We'll leave it at that.
GUPTA: All right. We'll see a brand new fit Dean in just about six months from now.
HANAN: Yes. Thanks.
GUPTA: Thanks so much.
It's a mile swim, 25-mile bike, 6-mile run; everyone that you have met -- all 6 participants -- they're going to have trainers in their hometowns as well to help get them started. And we're starting a lot of that training today.
Everyone seems pretty excited but fully acknowledging how much work is left to be done.
CHETRY: All right. And you know you talk about the training schedule. How intensive is it going to be?
GUPTA: Well, I think in the beginning really we're going to do no more than 30 to 45 minutes a day which sort of falls on the recommendations of the American Council on Exercise. But eventually, swim, bike, run, start incorporating, more and more exercise. And it's not just the aerobic part of the exercise, a lot of strength training as well necessary to do well in triathlons.
So they're going to gradually build up but again, this idea of having trainers in their home towns. We want to make sure they're doing this as safely as possible. They're also going to post their own work out schedules, their diets on line so people may find a colleague or workout buddy in one of our partners here and start to adopt their own routine.
ROBERTS: Right. Hey, where is the swim? Where does it take place?
GUPTA: The swim is in the Hudson River. I should have asked Dean about this, because he is here. That is probably what's got me the most apprehensive, a mile-swim in the Hudson River. I don't know how clean it is. We'll find out I guess.
ROBERTS: Hopefully you'll be going downstream, quite a current there.
CHETRY: They made tremendous strides getting that river nice and clean, and there is trout in it, the whole nine yards.
All right. So good luck.
GUPTA: That's right. We'll see if it's good enough. That's right. Thanks, guys.
ROBERTS: The trout are good eating too. You get more bang for your buck. They have two tails.
And if you're inspired to follow along with Sanjay and his Fit Nation followers, you can go to our blog at cnn.com/fitnation.
CHETRY: You eat fish too?
ROBERTS: It's 58 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, it's already 9:00 here in New York. We have run out of time and not able to bring you the Jeanne Moos story. But we are going to be able to get several fascinating news items today so please continue the conversation on today's stories. Head to our blog, cnn.com/amfix. That's going to do it for us.
ROBERTS: All right. The news continues though with CNN's "NEWSROOM", and here's Heidi Collins -- Hi Heidi.
